釋氏稽古略 4.286

4.286

In the Liao, in the spring, the third month, the Jurchens broke through Zhongjing (the Xi kingdom). Tianzuo was in Yanjing and was terrified upon hearing the report. That very day, he left Juyong Pass, leading five thousand cavalry to flee westward to Yunzhong Prefecture. He left Chancellors Zhang Lin and Li Chuwen to defend Yan together with Chun, the Prince of Yan. Chun had resided in Yan for twenty years and had won the hearts of the people. Tianzuo headed towards Yuyang and entered Mount Jia. On the seventeenth day of the third month, Li Chuwen and others convened the hundred civil officials and elder notables, enthroning the Prince of Yan as Emperor Tianxi, changing the reign era to Jianfu, and issuing an imperial edict demoting Tianzuo to Prince of Xiangyin. Tianxi annexed the six circuits of Yan, Yun, Ping, Zhongjing, Shangjing, and Liaoxi as his own possession. Tianzuo governed north of the desert, as well as the southwestern front, the Pacification Offices of the Northwestern Circuit, and the various barbarian tribes, calling it the second year of Baoda. From this point, the Liao state was divided. In the eighth month, the Yan Emperor Chun fell ill and died; he was given the posthumous title Emperor Xuan. He had no heir. Prince Yue, Xiao Gan, convened the hundred civil officials and elder notables, and they deliberated to establish the Yan Emperor's wife, Lady Xiao, as Empress Dowager to temporarily oversee military and state affairs, while preparing to welcome Tianzuo's second son, the Prince of Qin, as emperor. Lady Xiao ascended the throne before the coffin and changed the reign era to Dexing. When Tianzuo heard of Chun's death, he issued an imperial edict stripping Chun of his official titles and nobility, and demoted him and his wife, Lady Xiao, to commoners, conferring upon them the surname Hui. The Jurchen ruler advanced towards Zhongjing. Tianzuo fled as far as the Xia state. In the twelfth month, the Jurchens reached Juyong Pass (Liaozhi).