1
耶律休哥
Yelu Xiuge
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耶律休哥，字遜寧。 祖釋魯，隋國王。 父綰思，南院夷離堇。 休哥少有公輔器。 初烏古、室韋二部叛，休哥從北府宰相蕭幹討之。 應歷末，為惕隱。 乾亨元年，宋侵燕，北院大王奚底、統軍使蕭討古等敗績，南京被圍。 帝命休哥代奚底，將五院軍往救。 遇大敵於高梁河，與耶律斜軫分左右翼，擊敗之。 追殺三十餘里，斬首萬餘級，休哥被三創。 明旦，宋主遁去，休哥以創不能騎，輕車追至涿州，不及而還。 是年冬，上命韓匡嗣、耶律沙伐宋，以報圍城之役。 休哥率本部兵從匡嗣等戰於滿城。 翌日將復戰，宋人請降，匡嗣信之。 休哥曰：「彼眾整而銳，必不肯屈，乃誘我耳。 宜嚴兵以待。」 匡嗣不聽。 休哥引兵憑高而視。 須臾南兵大至，鼓噪疾馳。 匡嗣倉卒不知所為，士卒棄旗鼓而走，遂敗績。 休哥整兵進擊，敵乃卻。 詔總南面戍兵，為北院大王。 明年，車駕親征，圍瓦橋關。 宋兵來救，守將張師突圍出。 帝親督戰，休哥斬師，餘眾退走入城。 宋陣於水南。 將戰，帝以休哥馬介獨黃，慮為敵所識，乃賜玄甲、白馬易之。 休哥率精騎渡水，擊敗之，追至莫州。 橫屍滿道，靫矢俱罄，生獲數將以獻。 帝悅，賜御馬、金盂，勞之曰：「爾勇過於名，若人人如卿，何憂不克？」 師還，拜於越。
Yelu Xiuge, whose courtesy name was Xunning. His grandfather Shilu had been King of Sui. His father Wansi had served as Yilibi of the Southern Court. Even in youth Xiuge showed the makings of a chief minister. When the Ugu and Shiwei tribes first rebelled, Xiuge accompanied Northern Court Chancellor Xiao Gan to suppress them. At the close of the Yingli reign he was made Tiyi. In the first year of Qianheng, when Song invaded Yan, the Northern Court Great King Xidi, army commander Xiao Taogu, and others suffered defeat and the Southern Capital came under siege. The emperor ordered Xiuge to replace Xidi and march to the relief with the armies of the Five Corps. At the Gaoliang River he met the main enemy force; he and Yelu Xiezhen took the left and right wings and put them to flight. The pursuit ran more than thirty li, and heads numbered above ten thousand; Xiuge himself took three wounds. At dawn the Song ruler fled. Too badly wounded to ride, Xiuge pursued in a light cart as far as Zhuozhou but could not catch up and turned back. That winter the emperor sent Han Kuangsi and Yelu Sha against Song to repay the siege. Xiuge led his own troops to join Kuangsi and fought at Mancheng. When battle was to resume the next day, the Song troops offered surrender and Kuangsi believed them. Xiuge said, "Their ranks are tight and their troops are keen—they will never truly yield; this is a ruse. We should keep the army under strict guard and wait. Kuangsi would not listen. Xiuge drew his men up on high ground to watch. Presently the southern army arrived in force, beating drums and charging at full speed. Kuangsi, caught off guard, did not know what to do; his men threw down flags and drums and fled, and the army was routed. Xiuge reformed his lines and pressed forward, and only then did the enemy fall back. He was ordered to take command of all southern garrison troops and was made Great King of the Northern Court. The next year the emperor led a personal campaign and laid siege to Waqiao Pass. Song troops marched to relieve the pass, and the defending general Zhang Shi broke out through the encirclement. The emperor personally directed the battle; Xiuge killed Zhang Shi, and the survivors fled back into the city. The Song army drew up south of the river. Before battle the emperor saw that Xiuge's horse wore a distinctive yellow saddle cloth that might mark him to the enemy, so he gave him black armor and a white horse in exchange. Xiuge led crack cavalry across the river, routed them, and pursued as far as Mozhou. Corpses choked the roads; quivers were empty of arrows; several generals were taken alive and presented to the throne. Delighted, the emperor gave him an imperial horse and a golden bowl and praised him: "Your courage outstrips your fame. If every man were like you, how could we fail to prevail? When the army returned, he was appointed Yuyue.
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聖宗即位，太后稱制，令休哥總南面軍務，以便宜從事。 休哥均戍兵，立更休法，勸農桑，修武備，邊境大治。 統和四年，宋復來侵，其將範密、楊繼業出雲州； 曹彬、米信出雄、易，取歧溝、涿州，陷固安，置屯。 時北南院、奚部兵未至，休哥力寡，不敢出戰。 夜以輕騎出兩軍間，殺其單弱以脅餘眾； 晝則以精銳張其勢，使彼勞於防禦，以疲其力。 又設伏林莽，絕其糧道。 曹彬等以糧運不繼，退保白溝。 月餘，復至。 休哥以輕兵薄之，伺彼蓐食，擊其離伍單出者，且戰且卻。 由是南軍自救不暇，結方陣，塹地兩邊而行。 軍渴乏井，漉淖而飲，凡四日始達於涿。 聞太后軍至，彬等冒雨而遁。 太后益以銳卒，追及之。 彼力窮，環糧車自衛，休哥圍之。 至夜，彬、信以數騎亡去，餘眾悉潰。 追至易州東，聞宋師尚有數萬，瀕沙河而爨，促兵往擊之。 宋師望塵奔竄，墮岸相蹂死者過半，沙河為之不流。 太后旋旆，休哥收宋屍為京觀。 封宋國王。 又上言，可乘宋弱，略地至河為界。 書奏，不納。 及太后南征，休哥為先鋒，敗宋兵於望都。 時宋將劉廷讓以數萬騎並海而出，約與李敬源合兵，聲言取燕。 休哥聞之，先以兵扼其要地。 會太后軍至，接戰，殺敬源，廷讓走瀛州。 七年，宋遣劉廷讓等乘暑潦來攻易州，諸將憚之； 獨休哥率銳卒逆擊於沙河之北，殺傷數萬，獲輜重不可計，獻於朝。 太后嘉其功，詔免拜、不名。 自是宋不敢北向。 時宋人欲止兒啼，乃曰：「於越至矣！」
When Emperor Shengzong ascended the throne and the empress dowager assumed regency, Xiuge was placed in overall charge of southern military affairs with full discretion. Xiuge equalized the garrisons, instituted rotation and rest for the troops, promoted farming and sericulture, and strengthened defenses until the borderlands were thoroughly settled. In the fourth year of Tonghe the Song invaded again: Fan Mi and Yang Ye advanced from Yunzhou; while Cao Bin and Mi Xin marched from Xiong and Yi, seized Qigou and Zhuozhou, took Gu'an, and entrenched. The armies of the Northern and Southern Courts and the Xi tribes had not yet arrived, and with his small force Xiuge did not dare to offer battle. By night he sent light cavalry between the enemy armies to cut down stragglers and isolated parties and intimidate the rest; by day he paraded elite troops to inflate his apparent strength and wear them down with constant defense. He laid ambushes in the woods as well and severed their supply lines. When supplies failed, Cao Bin and his colleagues fell back to Baigou. After little more than a month they returned. Xiuge harassed them with light troops, striking men who left the ranks alone at mealtimes, fighting and giving ground by turns. The southern army could barely defend itself; they formed squares and dug trenches on both flanks as they advanced. Thirsty and short of wells, they strained muddy water to drink, and only after four days did they reach Zhuozhou. When they heard the empress dowager's army was coming, Bin and his commanders fled through the rain. The empress dowager reinforced the pursuit with crack troops and overtook them. With their strength spent, they circled their grain wagons for protection; Xiuge surrounded them. By night Cao Bin and Mi Xin slipped away with a few horsemen while the rest broke and fled. The pursuit reached east of Yizhou, where he learned that tens of thousands of Song troops were cooking along the Sha River; he pressed his men to attack at once. The Song army fled at the first dust of the pursuit; more than half perished tumbling from the banks or trampling one another, and the Sha River was dammed with the dead. As the empress dowager turned homeward, Xiuge heaped the Song dead into a victory mound. He was enfeoffed as King of Song. He also memorialized that with Song weakened, they could seize territory as far as the river for a new border. The memorial was rejected. On the empress dowager's southern campaign, Xiuge served as vanguard and defeated the Song at Wangdu. The Song general Liu Tingrang then led tens of thousands of cavalry along the coast, intending to join Li Jingyuan and proclaiming that they would take Yan. Xiuge heard of this and preemptively seized the key positions. When the empress dowager's army arrived they gave battle, killed Li Jingyuan, and Tingrang fled to Yingzhou. In the seventh year Liu Tingrang and others exploited the summer floods to attack Yizhou, and the other generals were wary; only Xiuge led crack troops to meet them north of the Sha River, killing and wounding tens of thousands and capturing baggage beyond count, all of which he presented at court. The empress dowager praised his achievements and decreed that he need not bow when appearing and that his name was not to be spoken aloud in his presence. From that time Song dared not campaign northward. In Song, mothers hushed crying infants by saying, "The Yuyue is here!"
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休哥智略宏遠，料敵如神。 每戰勝，讓功諸將，故士卒樂為之用。 身更百戰，未嘗殺一無辜。 二子：高八，官至節度使； 高十，終於越。 孫馬哥。
Xiuge's plans were far-reaching and he read the enemy as if by divination. After every victory he credited his fellow generals, and for that reason his men fought willingly for him. Through a hundred battles he never once killed an innocent man. He had two sons: Gaoba, who rose to military commissioner; and Gaoshi, who ended his career as Yuyue. His grandson was Mage.
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〈附〉 馬哥
〈Supplement〉 Mage
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馬哥，字訛特懶。 興宗時，以散職入見，上問：「卿奉佛乎？」 對曰：「臣每旦誦太祖、太宗及先臣遺訓，未暇奉佛。」 帝悅。 清寧中，遷唐古部節度使。 咸雍中，累遷匡義軍節度使。 大康初，致仕，卒。
Mage, whose courtesy name was Wotelan. Under Emperor Xingzong he appeared at court in a minor post. The emperor asked, "Do you worship the Buddha? He answered, "Each morning I recite the precepts left by Taizu, Taizong, and my forebears; I have had no time for Buddhism." The emperor was pleased. During the Qingning era he was made military commissioner of the Tanggu tribes. Under the Xianyong era he rose in stages to military commissioner of the Kuangyi Army. At the beginning of Dakang he retired from office and died.
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耶律斜軫
Yelu Xiezhen
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統和初，皇太后稱制，益見委任，為北院樞密使。 會宋將曹彬、米信出雄、易，楊繼業出代州。 太后親帥師救燕，以斜軫為山西路兵馬都統。 繼業陷山西諸郡，各以兵守，自屯代州。 斜軫至定安，遇賀令圖軍，擊破之，追至五臺，斬首數萬級。 明日，至蔚州，敵不敢出，斜軫書帛射城上，諭以招慰意。 陰聞宋軍來救，令都監耶律題子夜伏兵險厄，俟敵至而發。 城守者見救至，突出。 斜軫擊其背，二軍俱潰，追至飛狐，斬首二萬餘級，遂取蔚州。 賀令圖、潘美復以兵來，斜軫逆於飛狐，擊敗之。 宋軍在渾源、應州者，皆棄城走。 斜軫聞繼業出兵，令蕭撻凜伏兵於路。 明旦，繼業兵至，斜軫擁眾為戰勢。 繼業麾幟而前，斜軫佯退。 伏兵發，斜軫進攻，繼業敗走，至狼牙村，眾軍皆潰。 繼業為流矢所中，被擒。 斜軫責曰：「汝與我國角勝三十餘年，今日何面目相見！」 繼業但稱死罪而已。 初，繼業在宋以驍勇聞，人號楊無敵，首建梗邊之策。 至狼牙村，心惡之，欲避不可得。 既擒，三日死。 斜軫歸闕，以功加守太保。 從太后南伐，卒於軍。 太后親為哀臨，仍給葬具。 庶子狗兒，官至小將軍。
At the beginning of Tonghe, when the empress dowager assumed regency, he was increasingly trusted and made Commissioner of the Northern Court Privy Council. When Song generals Cao Bin and Mi Xin advanced from Xiong and Yi, Yang Ye marched out from Daizhou. The empress dowager led the army in person to relieve Yan and appointed Xiezhen overall commander of the Shanxi Route forces. Ye had overrun the Shanxi commanderies and left troops to hold each; he himself encamped at Daizhou. Xiezhen reached Ding'an, met He Lingtu's army, routed it, and pursued to Wutai, taking tens of thousands of heads. The next day he reached Weizhou. The enemy would not sally forth, so Xiezhen shot a message written on silk onto the walls offering terms of surrender and reassurance. Learning secretly that Song relief was coming, he ordered Commandant Yelu Tizi to lay an ambush by night in a defile and strike when the enemy arrived. The garrison, seeing relief had arrived, burst out of the city. Xiezhen struck them from behind; both Song forces broke; he pursued to Feihu, took more than twenty thousand heads, and captured Weizhou. He Lingtu and Pan Mei returned with troops; Xiezhen met them at Feihu and put them to flight. Song garrisons at Hunyuan and Yingzhou all abandoned their cities and fled. When Xiezhen heard that Ye was marching out, he ordered Xiao Tadin to set an ambush along the road. At dawn Ye's army arrived, and Xiezhen drew up his troops for battle. Ye advanced under his banners; Xiezhen feigned a retreat. The ambush sprang up and Xiezhen pressed the attack. Ye was routed and fled to Langya Village, where his whole army broke apart. Ye was struck by a stray arrow and taken captive. Xiezhen reproached him: "You have fought our state for more than thirty years—what face do you bring to this meeting! Yang Ye could only plead for death. Earlier in Song service Yang Ye had been famed for valor; people called him Yang the Invincible, and he had been first to urge a hard line on the border. When he reached Langya Village he dreaded the name, wished to avoid the place, and could not. After his capture he died within three days. Xiezhen returned to court and, for his achievements, was promoted to Acting Grand Mentor. On the empress dowager's southern campaign he died in the field. The empress dowager mourned him in person and provided funeral goods. A son by a concubine, Gou'er, rose to junior general.
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耶律奚低
Yelu Xidi
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耶律奚低，孟父楚國王之後。 便弓馬，勇於攻戰。 景宗時，多任以軍事。 統和四年，為右皮室詳穩。 時宋將楊繼業陷山西郡縣，奚低從樞密使斜軫討之。 凡戰必以身先，矢無虛發。 繼業敗於朔州之南，匿深林中。 奚低望袍影而射，繼業墮馬。 先是，軍令須生擒繼業，奚低以故不能為功。 後太后南伐，屢有戰績。 以病卒。
Yelu Xidi was descended from the Prince of Chu on his mother's side. He was skilled with bow and horse and bold in attack. Under Emperor Jingzong he was often entrusted with military command. In the fourth year of Tonghe he became Right Pishi Xiangwen. When the Song general Yang Ye overran the Shanxi commanderies, Xidi followed Privy Council Commissioner Xiezhen against him. In every battle he led from the front, and never wasted an arrow. Ye was defeated south of Shuozhou and hid in deep forest. Xidi caught sight of a robe's shadow and shot; Ye fell from his horse. Earlier orders had required Ye to be taken alive, so for that reason Xidi could not claim the credit. On the empress dowager's later southern campaigns he won repeated victories. He died of illness.
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耶律學古
Yelu Xuegu
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耶律學古，字乙辛隱，於越窪之庶孫。 穎悟好學，工譯鞮及詩。 保寧中，補禦盞郎君。 乾亨元年，宋既下河東，乘勝侵燕，學古受詔往援。 始至京，宋敗耶律奚底、蕭討古等，勢益張，圍城三周，穴地而進，城中民懷二心。 學古以計安反側，隨宜備禦，晝夜不少懈。 適有敵三百餘人夜登城，學古戰卻之。 會援軍至，圍遂解。 學古開門列陣，四面鳴鼓，居民大呼，聲震天地。 旋有高梁之捷。 以功遙授保靜軍節度使，為南京馬步軍都指揮使。 二年，伐宋，乞將漢軍，從之，改彰國軍節度使。 時南境未靜，民思休息，學古禁寇掠以安之。 會宋將潘美率兵分道來侵，學古以軍少，虛張旗幟，雜丁黃為疑兵。 是夜，適獨虎峪舉烽火，遣人偵視，見敵俘掠村野，擊之，悉獲所掠物，擒其將領。 自是學古與潘美各守邊約，無相侵軼，民獲安業。 以功為惕隱，卒。 弟烏不呂。
Yelu Xuegu, whose courtesy name was Yixin, was a grandson by a concubine of the Yuyue Wa. Quick-witted and studious, he was skilled at translating the Di tongue and at poetry. During Baoning he was appointed cupbearer of the imperial guard. In the first year of Qianheng, after Song had taken Hedong and pressed on into Yan, Xuegu was ordered to the relief. When he first reached the capital, Song had already defeated Yelu Xidi, Xiao Taogu, and others. Their momentum swelled; they besieged the city on three sides, tunneled underground to advance, and the townspeople wavered in loyalty. Xuegu by stratagem reassured the wavering, made defenses as each situation required, and never slackened day or night. When more than three hundred enemy troops climbed the walls by night, Xuegu fought them off. When relief arrived the siege was lifted. Xuegu opened the gates and drew up his ranks; drums sounded on every side and the townspeople shouted until the noise shook heaven and earth. Soon came the victory at Gaoliang. For his merit he was given in absentia the post of military commissioner of the Baojing Army and made overall commander of the Southern Capital's cavalry and infantry. In the second year, on the campaign against Song, he asked to command Han troops and was granted this; he was made military commissioner of the Zhangguo Army. The southern border was not yet quiet and the people longed for peace; Xuegu forbade raiding and plunder to reassure them. When the Song general Pan Mei invaded by several routes, Xuegu's force was small; he displayed many banners and mixed men and boys as dummy troops. That night a beacon happened to be raised at Duhu Valley; he sent scouts, found the enemy plundering villages, attacked them, recovered all that had been taken, and captured their officers. From then on Xuegu and Pan Mei each kept the border pact and did not encroach on one another, and the people lived in peace. For his achievements he was made Tiyi; he died. His younger brother was Wubulü.
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〈附〉 烏不呂
〈Supplement〉 Wubulü
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烏不呂，字留隱。 嚴重，有膂力，善屬文。 統和中伐宋，屢任以軍事。 嘗與爻直不相能，因曰：「爾奴才，何所知？」 爻直訟於北院樞密使韓德讓。 德讓怒，問曰：「爾安得此奴耶？」 烏不呂對曰：「三父異籍時亦易得。」 德讓笑而釋之。 後從蕭恒德伐蒲盧毛朵部，以功為東路統軍都監。 及德讓為大丞相，薦其材可任統軍使，太后曰：「烏不呂嘗不遜於卿，何善而薦？」 德讓奏曰：「臣忝相位，於臣猶不屈，況於其餘。 以此知可用。 若任使之，必能鎮撫諸蕃。」 太后從之，加金紫崇祿大夫、檢校太尉。 而弟國留以罪亡，烏不呂及其母俱下吏。 恐禍及母，陰使人召國留，紿曰：「太后知事之誣，汝第來勿畏。」 國留至，送有司，坐誅。 其後，退歸田里，以疾卒。
Wubulü, whose courtesy name was Liuyin. Stern and imposing, powerfully built, and skilled at literary composition. During the Tonghe campaigns against Song he was repeatedly entrusted with military command. He once quarreled with Yaozhi and said, "You slave—what do you know? Yaozhi brought suit before Northern Court Privy Council Commissioner Han Derang. Derang was angry and asked, "How did you come by such a slave? Wubulü answered, "In the days when the three fathers kept separate registers they were easy to come by too." Derang laughed and let the matter drop. Later he followed Xiao Hengde against the Pulumao Duo tribe and, for his merit, was made eastern-route army overall commandant. When Derang became Grand Chancellor he recommended Wubulü as fit to be an army commander. The empress dowager said, "Wubulü was once disrespectful to you—why do you praise him now? Derang replied, "I have humbly held the chief ministership, yet he would not yield even to me—how much more to others. From this I know he can be used. If he is employed, he will surely be able to pacify the frontier tribes." The empress dowager agreed and added the titles Golden Purple Glory Grandee and Inspector Grand Preceptor. But his younger brother Guoliu fled after committing a crime, and Wubulü and his mother were both handed over to the authorities. Fearing harm would reach his mother, he secretly sent men to summon Guoliu, telling him, "The empress dowager knows the charge is false—come alone and have no fear. Guoliu came, was handed to the authorities, and was executed. Afterward he retired to his home village and died of illness.
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論曰：宋乘下太原之銳，以師圍燕，繼遣曹彬、楊繼業等分道來伐。 是兩役也，遼亦岌岌乎殆哉！ 休哥奮擊於高梁，敵兵奔潰； 斜軫擒繼業於朔州，旋復故地。 宋自是不復深入，社稷固而邊境寧，雖配古名將，無愧矣。 然非學古之在南京安其反側，則二將之功，蓋亦難致。 故曰國以人重，信哉！
The historians comment: Song, riding the momentum of taking Taiyuan, besieged Yan with their army and then sent Cao Bin, Yang Ye, and others to attack by separate routes. In these two campaigns Liao was brought to the brink indeed! Xiuge struck hard at Gaoliang and the enemy broke and fled; Xiezhen captured Yang Ye at Shuo and soon recovered the lost territory. From then on Song did not penetrate deeply again; the altars were secure and the borders quiet—matched against famous generals of old, they need not blush. Yet had Xuegu not settled the wavering hearts at the Southern Capital, the achievements of the two generals would probably have been hard to win. Thus it is said that a state is made weighty by its men—how true!