In October, Zhao Ta left a group of Northwest Forbidden Army who couldn't lift their heads and drove to Linhuang Mansion by himself. But for Song Jun, the matter was not over, Zhao Ta left the privy deputy envoy Zhao Yi in Dading, and said that he presided over the summary meeting of the autumn performance, supervising the generals to find mistakes in the battle and find solutions, so as to really achieve a breakthrough, instead of going through the motions.

The reason why Zhao Ta came to Linhuang Mansion was mainly for Yu Liyan and Zhao Xin, because this was the time of the Khitan people's annual 'mountain sacrifice', and this ritual had an important position for the Khitan people. According to legend, this ceremony was formulated by the Khitan Yaoran Khan Hura, with Black Mountain and Konoha Mountain as sacred mountains, and sacrificed according to the season. The Khitan people regard Montenegro as the destination of the soul after death, the abode of the god 'Black Mountain God' who is in charge of the soul of the Khitan people, and is the holy mountain of their nation, and its status is like Mount Tai in the hearts of the people of the Central Plains;

When Zhao Ta arrived at Linhuang Mansion, the Khitan remnants who were scattered all over the country had gathered here, and the original Wujing nobles paid a large number of sacrifices as usual. His original intention here was just to satisfy an unfulfilled wish of the two imperial concubines as a spectator, and he had no intention of mixing in, but the original Khitan royal family led by Yelu Yuxuan, Yelu Ning and Yelu Xi Nilie and the Khitan descendants led by Xiao Chongjian jointly asked the emperor to preside over the mountain sacrifice ceremony.

On this table, not only Zhao Ta was very surprised, but even a group of ministers who accompanied him were surprised. The sacrificial mountain ceremony was placed in the first place in the auspicious rites in the original Liao State "Etiquette", and as the important rituals of the country such as the Chai Book Ceremony to announce the enthronement of the new Khitan Emperor were relegated to the second, and it has been made clear that the mountain sacrifice ceremony is the most important gift of the Liao Dynasty. The sacrificial scene far exceeds other relatively simple ceremonial systems, and the solemn and grand ceremonial process of sacrificing the mountain is presided over by the Khitan emperor and empress.

Based on the concept of mountain worship of the Khitan people, the mountain sacrifice ceremony has integrated the connotation of Central Plains culture after a hundred years. It has an extremely important political significance. It is said that the Khitan mountain ritual includes the core parts of the ceremonies such as the firewood book ceremony, the sun worship ceremony, and the temple ceremony in terms of content; In the worship of heaven and earth, worship of ancestors and ceremonies, what is prominent is the idea of the divine mandate of the emperor and the supremacy of imperial power, which reflects the centripetal force of the nation.

And although Zhao Ta is the emperor. But for the Khitans, whether they ruled the old land of Liao as an 'invader' or a 'liberator', or married a Khitan princess and county lord, psychologically speaking, he should be an 'outsider', a foreign ruler, not a 'emperor' in the real sense. Now the Khitan relics have invited Zhao Ta to preside over the mountain sacrifice ceremony with profound political and cultural connotations, which can be said to have extremely important and far-reaching symbolic significance, that is to say, the Khitan people have recognized Zhao Ta as the co-lord of the world and sincerely accepted his rule, and the Khitan people are also willing to become the subjects of the Great Song Dynasty......

Now, the Khitan people asked Zhao Ta to preside over the 'sacrificial mountain ceremony' to show their intention to return to the Song Dynasty sincerely. Zhao Ta was very surprised at first, but when he thought about it carefully, he felt that it was smooth. He knew that in history, various nations were divided and integrated with each other, gathered and scattered, intricate and complex, but there are only two ways for one nation to merge with another:

One is to adopt political coercive means to merge one ethnic group with another, change their language and script, and follow their religion, that is, 'assimilation', and the other is the role of economy and culture. With the development of history, it is natural to change the social economy and lifestyle of the nation, and the clothing, language and customs are integrated with other nations, that is, the 'integration' of the nation.

The Liao regime, established by the Khitans, occupied the Sea of Japan in the east. It extends to the west of the Altai Mountains in the west, to Lake Baikal in the north, and to the vast area inside and outside the Great Wall in the south. Its central force is in the Youyun region on the Great Wall Belt. And every war in history has been accompanied by the acquisition of control over the occupied areas by a certain national power. In order to realize the survival of the conquering nation in the conquered and occupied areas, a large number of people of their own nationality will be migrated to live. It is necessary to operate and develop the scope of the nation's survival and rule and expand its influence, with a view to achieving the goal of long-term peace and stability.

Because of this, a large number of Khitan people who originally lived in the northern grasslands moved south, and at the same time, a large number of residents were relocated along the Great Wall under Liao rule, forming a situation where Han, Khitan, Bohai and other ethnic groups lived together, making the ethnic composition more complex, which in fact laid the foundation for the integration of Khitan and Han people. During this period, although there were constant wars and conflicts between the two major political entities of Song and Liao, the time for peaceful coexistence accounted for the majority, especially after the signing of the "Alliance of the Yuanyuan", the two countries maintained peace for a hundred years.

During the period of peaceful coexistence between Song and Liao, the two countries carried out frequent exchanges through mutual envoys, tribute, mutual markets, marriages, etc., and carried out more extensive economic and cultural exchanges. The rulers of the Liao State realized that the advanced nature of the Central Plains civilization was inevitably affected, and began to take the initiative to absorb and learn Han culture, and the state system and behavior were changed, and gradually Sinicized. Under their rule, the people of all ethnic groups lived together and coexisted, and with the development of history, cultural characteristics such as social economy, life, language, clothing and customs were integrated with those of other ethnic groups.

With the rise of the Jurchens and Zhao Ji's unrealistic ambitions, both Liaojin and Jin were impacted, and the situation of peaceful coexistence was broken. The Liao State perished under the iron hooves of the Jurchens, and the Song capital was breached and was on the verge of annihilation, and this qiē was broken by the out-of-the-box freak Zhao Ta. In order to find a place where he could gain a foothold and prevent the Jurchen invasion of the northwest, he first secretly took advantage of the chaos to hide his identity and enter the Xijing region of the Liao State to develop his own power.

When he entered the Khitan sphere of influence, Zhao Ta used the banner of 'United Resistance against Jin', of course, in order to win the support of the local Han people, he also used some means to sow discord, but in general, he did not use indiscriminate killing. Later, in the battle of the Jurchens invading Xijing Province, Tong Guò showed his strength and gave favors to win people's hearts. Especially after persuading the captured Yelu Yu, he finally gradually gained the trust of the Khitans and gained a firm foothold.

In the later stages of consolidation and expansion, Zhao Ta took advantage of the influence of Yelu Yu and the chaotic situation of Liao Emperor Yelu Yanxi being captured by the Jurchens and the contradictions of various forces in Xijing, and finally was able to take control of Xijing Dao after repelling the Aguda pro-conquest, and began to rule the Khitans with an unexpected political marriage. During this period, Zhao Ta's strong military and economic strength made all parties have to rely on him, although it was passive, but it also enabled Zhao Ta to complete the integration of the strength of all parties.

After Zhao took control of Xijing, he did not reject the Khitan nobles, but still reused them and trusted them to a certain extent. At the same time, he used land redistribution and a new military system to win the support and trust of the Khitan people. After he ran away from Tokyo to Xijing, he became the new master of Remnant Liao with the support of Yelu Yu and Yu Liyan. Zhao Ta continued to take advantage of the pressure brought by the Jurchens and the Great Song Dynasty to the Khitans to recruit and unite the Khitan forces to resist the Jin and develop the economy, winning the respect of all parties with his ability to govern the country and military command.

After Zhao Ta succeeded to the throne as the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, Yu Liyan led the people to return to the Song Dynasty, making Remnant Liao a dependency of the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Ta not only did not unload and kill donkeys for these 'alien races' who had supported him, but also rewarded them for meritorious deeds, retained the titles and official positions of those Tianhuang nobles, and allowed them to retain a certain territory and private army for limited autonomy. Of course, the ordinary Khitan people were not treated differently from the common people of the Great Song Dynasty, allowing them to own their own land and pastures, apply the same laws, pay the same taxes, and respect their religious beliefs.

In the following ten years, Zhao Tatong guò drove the Jurchens out of the Central Plains in several wars, recovered four of the five capitals of the original Liao State, and occupied most of the homeland of the Liao State, but at this time the master had been replaced by the Han people, and the Khitans had become vassals. In addition to regrets, the Khitan people are left with nothing to do, this is their own inability to guide the loss of the country, the Great Song Dynasty was taken back from the Jurchens, and the accounts cannot be recorded on others, but they have to hurry up and the Song people give them a place to stay.

As more Han Chinese moved into the northwest, the Khitans, who were already in a small minority population, became a real minority, but the culture and policies of the Great Song Dynasty had a deep attraction to them, and the harmonious ethnic relations and gradually affluent life also made them feel satisfied, and of course no one missed the mediocre and incompetent Emperor Liao and defected to the Jurchens, whom they regarded as barbarians. After more than ten years, they gradually made them forget the unrealistic idea of recovering the country, and last year's drought they also received relief, exempted from taxes, and received more aid, which moved them and decided to become the people of the Great Song Dynasty......

On the winter solstice of the year, Zhao Ta led the Khitan relics to the north to worship Montenegro, kill white sheep, white horses, and white geese, and burn paper horses, armor and other things sent from all over the country to sacrifice to the mountain, praying for the blessing of the Khitan people from the gods of Montenegro; On the 15th, Zhao Ta led Hu Hanchen and the three fathers of the Khitan royal family and the leaders of various tribes to Konoha Mountain, worshiped with the Khitan ceremony, and circled the Shenmen tree for three weeks in the sound of music, and everyone circled for seven weeks. Then the incense is offered, the shaman gives a speech, and the wine and food are thrown eastward. After sacrificing heaven and earth, Zhao Ta went to the white-clothed Guanyin Temple to pay tribute to the family god, burn incense and paper, burn the sacrificial text, and complete the ceremony.

After the ceremony, Zhao Ta held a feast to entertain the leaders of the Khitan tribes and awarded rewards. Three days later, the holy driver left the northwest and returned to the south, hurried and hurried, and finally returned to Bianjing on the eve of Chinese New Year's Eve! (To be continued......)