1
耶律化哥耶律斡臘耶律速撒蕭阿魯帶耶律那也耶律何魯掃古耶律世良
Yelu Huage, Yelu Wola, Yelu Susa, Xiao Aludai, Yelu Naye, Yelu Helusaogu, and Yelu Shiliang.
2
耶律斡臘，字斯寧，奚叠剌部人。 趫捷有力，善騎射。 保寧初，補護衛。 車駕獵頡山，適豪豬伏叢莽，帝射中，豬突出。 禦者托滿舍轡而避，廄人鶴骨翼之，斡臘復射而斃。 帝嘉賞。 及獵赤山，適奔鹿奮角突前，路隘不容避，垂犯蹕。 斡臘以身當之，鹿觸而顛。 帝謂曰：「朕因獵，兩瀕於危，賴卿以免，始見爾心。」 遷護衛太保。 從樞密使耶律斜軫破宋將楊繼業軍於山西。 統和十三年秋，為行軍都監，從都部署奚王和朔奴伐兀惹烏昭度，數月至其城。 昭度請降。 和朔奴利其俘掠，令四面急攻。 昭度率眾死守，隨方捍禦。 依埤堄虛構戰棚，誘我軍登陴，俄撤枝柱，登者盡覆。 和朔奴知不能下，欲退。 蕭恒德謂師久無功，何以藉口，若深入大掠，猶勝空返。 斡臘曰：「深入，恐所得不償所損。」 恒德不從，略地東南，循高麗北鄙還。 道遠糧絕，人馬多死。 詔奪諸將官，惟斡臘以前議得免。 尋加同政事門下平章事，為東京留守。 開泰中卒。
Yelu Wola, whose courtesy name was Sining, came from the Xi Diela tribe. Quick and powerful, he excelled at riding and shooting from horseback. Early in the Baoning era he entered service in the imperial guard. On a hunt at Jieshan Mountain, a giant boar lay hidden in the brush; the emperor struck it with an arrow, and the wounded beast charged out. The charioteer Tuoman dropped the reins to swerve aside, the groom Hegu threw himself in protection, and Wola loosed another shot that brought the boar down. The emperor praised and rewarded him. On another hunt at Red Mountain, a startled stag lowered its antlers and charged; the trail was too narrow to dodge, and the beast was on the verge of striking the imperial procession. Wola threw himself in its path; the stag struck him and knocked him to the ground. The emperor told him, "Twice on the hunt I stood at the edge of death, and twice you saved me—now I know where your loyalty lies." He was promoted to Senior Commissioner of the Imperial Guard. He followed the Privy Council director Yelu Xiezhen in crushing the Song commander Yang Ye's forces in Shanxi. In the autumn of Tonghe 13 he was made chief overseer of the field army and marched with the deployment commissioner, the Xi prince Heshuonu, against the Uyar leader Wuzhaodu; several months passed before they came to his stronghold. Wuzhaodu offered to submit. Heshuonu, eager for captives and plunder, ordered a fierce assault from every side. Wuzhaodu rallied his people in a desperate defense, beating back attacks wherever they struck. Along the parapets they built sham fighting platforms to lure our men onto the walls, then pulled away the props; every climber was buried beneath the collapse. Seeing the city could not be taken, Heshuonu wanted to pull back. Xiao Hengde argued, "We have campaigned for months without victory—what face can we show on our return? A deep raid with heavy spoils is still better than going home empty-handed. Wola replied, "If we push deep inland, I fear what we gain will not repay what we lose." Hengde would not heed him. They ravaged the southeast and marched back along Goryeo's northern border. The march was long, supplies ran out, and men and horses died in great numbers. An edict stripped the commanders of rank; only Wola was spared because he had argued against the raid. He was soon made associate director of the Directorate for State Affairs and appointed garrison commander of the Eastern Capital. He died during the Kaitai period.
3
耶律速撒，字阿敏，性忠直簡毅，練武事。 應歷初，為侍從，累遷突呂不部節度使。 歷霸、濟、祥、順、聖五州都總管，俄為敦睦宮太師。 保寧三年，改九部都詳穩。 四年，伐党項，屢立戰功，手詔勞之。 統和初，皇太后稱制，西邊甫定，速撒務安集諸蕃，利害輒具以聞，太后益信任之。 凡臨戎，與士卒同甘苦，所獲均賜將校。 賞順討逆，威信大振。 在邊二十年卒。
Yelu Susa, courtesy name Amin, was loyal and forthright by nature, austere in manner, and thoroughly trained in military affairs. Early in the Yingli reign he entered the emperor's entourage and rose step by step to military commissioner of the Tülübu tribe. He served in turn as chief commander of the five prefectures Ba, Ji, Xiang, Shun, and Sheng, and was soon made grand master of the Dunmu Palace. In Baoning 3 he was reassigned as chief commander of the Nine Tribes. The next year, on campaign against the Tangut, he won repeated victories; the emperor sent him a personal edict of commendation. When Tonghe began, the empress dowager ruled as regent and the western frontier had only just been pacified; Susa worked to settle the frontier tribes and reported every advantage and risk in full, and the empress dowager came to rely on him still more. Whenever he took command he shared the soldiers' hardships, and whatever was captured he divided evenly among his officers. He rewarded those who submitted and punished rebels, and his authority and reputation spread far. He served on the frontier for twenty years and then died.
4
那也為人廉介，長於理民，每有鬥訟，親核曲直，不尚威嚴，常曰：「凡治人，本欲分別是非，何事迫脅以立名。」 胡所至以惠化稱。
Naye was upright and incorruptible, and excelled at governing the people; whenever disputes arose he judged the rights and wrongs himself, without leaning on intimidation, and often said, "The point of governing people is to tell right from wrong—why browbeat them merely to build a reputation?" Wherever he served he was praised for ruling through kindness.
5
耶律何魯掃古，字烏古鄰，孟父房之後。 重熙末，補祗候郎君。 清寧初，加安州團練使。 大康中，歷懷德軍節度使、奚六部禿裏太尉。 詔與樞密官措畫東北邊事，改左護衛太保。 侍上，言多率易，察無他腸，以故上優貸之。 大安八年，知西北路招討使事。 時邊部耶睹刮等來侵，何魯掃古誘北阻卜酋豪磨古斯攻之，俘獲甚眾，以功加左僕射。 復討耶睹刮等，誤擊磨古斯，北阻卜由是叛命。 遣都監張九討之，不克，二室韋與六院部、特滿群牧、宮分等軍俱陷於敵。 何魯掃古不以實聞，坐是削官，決以大杖。 壽隆間，累遷惕隱，兼侍中，賜保節功臣。 道宗崩，與宰相耶律儼總山陵事。 乾統中，致仕，卒。
Yelu Helusaogu, whose courtesy name was Wugulin, was a descendant of the Mengfu branch of the imperial clan. Late in the Chongxi era he was appointed an attendant gentleman. Early in Qingning he was made training commissioner of An Prefecture. During Dakang he served in turn as military commissioner of the Huaide army and as grand commandant tuli of the Six Xi Tribes. He was ordered to work with privy council officials on northeastern frontier strategy and was made senior commissioner of the left guard. In the emperor's presence he spoke bluntly and without ceremony; inquiry showed no hidden designs, and for that reason the throne treated him with indulgence. In Da'an 8 he took charge of northwestern route frontier campaigns. When the frontier tribes led by Yeduogua raided the border, Helusaogu induced the Northern Zubu chieftain Mogusi to strike them, took a great haul of captives, and was promoted to left vice director for his service. On a renewed campaign against Yeduogua and his allies he mistakenly attacked Mogusi, and the Northern Zubu thereupon rebelled. The overseer Zhang Jiu was sent to suppress them but failed; the two Shiwei divisions, together with the Six Yuan Division, the Temun herd office, the palace garrison troops, and other units, were all lost to the enemy. Helusaogu failed to report what had really happened; for that his offices were stripped and he was sentenced to a heavy beating. During Shoulong he rose through several posts to tiyin and vice director, and was granted the title of meritous minister who preserves integrity. When Emperor Daozong died, he and the chancellor Yelu Yi jointly directed the imperial tomb works. Under Qiantong he retired from office and died.
6
耶律世良，小字斡，六院部人。 才敏給，練達國朝典故及世譜。 上書與族弟敵烈爭嫡庶，帝始識之。 時北院樞密使韓德讓病，帝問：「孰可代卿？」 德讓曰：「世良可。」 北院大王耶律室魯復問北院之選，德讓曰：「無出世良。」 統和末，為北院大王。 開泰初，因大冊禮，加檢校太尉、同政事門下平章事。 時邊部拒命，詔北院樞密使耶律化哥將兵，以世良為都監，往禦之。 明年，化哥還，將罷兵，世良上書曰：「化哥以為無事而還，不思師老糧乏，敵人已去，焉能久守？ 若益兵，可克也。」 帝即命化哥益兵，與世良追之。 至安真河，大破而還。 自是邊境以寧。 以功王岐，拜北院樞密使。 三年，命選馬駝於烏古部。 會敵烈部人夷剌殺其酋長稍瓦而叛，鄰部皆應，攻陷巨母古城。 世良率兵壓境，遣人招之，降數部，各復故地。 四年，伐高麗，為副部署。 都統劉慎行逗留失期，執還京師，世良獨進兵。 明年，至北都護府，破追兵於郭州。 以暴疾卒。
Yelu Shiliang, known in youth as Wo, came from the Six Yuan Division. Quick-witted and capable, he had mastered the court's precedents and the imperial genealogies. He submitted a memorial disputing legitimacy of birth with his clansman Dilie, and the emperor first took notice of him. When the northern privy council director Han Derang fell ill, the emperor asked, "Who can take your place?" Derang answered, "Shiliang will do." The northern great king Yelu Shilu asked again who should lead the northern court; Derang said, "No one stands above Shiliang." At the end of Tonghe he was made northern great king. Early in Kaitai, on the great enthronement ceremony, he was made honorary grand commandant and associate director of the directorate for state affairs. When frontier tribes defied orders, the court ordered the northern privy council director Yelu Huage to take the field, with Shiliang as chief overseer, to repel them. The following year Huage returned and was about to disband the army; Shiliang memorialized, "Huage thinks all is well and comes home, heedless of our weary troops and empty stores; the enemy has only withdrawn—how can they be held at bay for long? Reinforce the army and they can still be defeated." The emperor at once ordered Huage to add troops and pursue with Shiliang. At the Anzhen River they won a crushing victory and returned. From that time the frontier was calm. For his service he was enfeoffed as prince of Qi and appointed northern privy council director. In the third year of his tenure he was ordered to levy horses and camels from the Ugu tribe. Then Yila of the Dilie tribe murdered his chieftain Shaowa and rose in revolt; neighboring tribes joined him and they stormed Jumu Old City. Shiliang marched to the border, sent envoys to win them over, and several tribes submitted and were restored to their former lands. In the fourth year, on the campaign against Goryeo, he served as deputy deployment commissioner. The commander-in-chief Liu Shenxing lingered and missed the rendezvous; he was arrested and sent back to the capital, and Shiliang pressed forward alone. The next year he reached the northern capital protectorate and routed pursuing troops at Guo Prefecture. He died suddenly of a violent illness.
7
論曰：大之懷小也以德，制之也以威。 德不足懷，威不足制，而欲服人也難矣。 化哥利俘獲，而諸蕃不附，何魯掃古誤擊磨古斯，而阻卜叛命，是皆喜於一旦之功，而不圖後日之患，庸何議焉。 若斡臘之戒深入，速撒之務安集，亦鐵中之錚錚者邪？
The historian remarks: The great win the loyalty of the small through virtue and restrain them through might. When virtue is too thin to win hearts and might too weak to enforce obedience, making others submit is hard indeed. Huage prized captives while the frontier tribes would not attach themselves; Helusaogu struck Mogusi by mistake and the Zubu rebelled—these men rejoiced in a single day's gain and gave no thought to tomorrow's trouble; what is there to commend? Yet are not Wola, who warned against pushing too deep, and Susa, who labored to settle the tribes, the true steel among iron?