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伶官○羅衣輕
Music Officials ○ Luo Yiqing
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Court entertainers ranked among the lowest offices in the hierarchy. The History of the Five Dynasties devoted a full biography to the entertainer Jing Xinmo, which shows that such figures could merit historical notice. The Liao court had many entertainers, but only Luo Yiqing turned humor into counsel and defused brewing crises before they broke out. Confucius said, "A gentleman does not dismiss a saying merely because of who said it." For that reason he deserves a place in the annals.
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Luo Yiqing's place of origin is not recorded. Quick-witted and adaptable, he was the leading comic at court and often couched admonition in playful speech. After Emperor Xingzong's defeat at the hands of Li Yuanhao of Western Xia, he fled the field alone and nearly failed to get away. Before this, Yuanhao had captured Liao soldiers and routinely mutilated their noses, so men fleeing homeward lived in terror of being overtaken. Luo Yiqing therefore halted him and quipped, "Let us first check whether your nose is still in place." The emperor flew into a rage, bound him with a fur cord behind the tent, and prepared to put him to death. The crown prince laughed and said, "The fellow cracking jokes is no Huang Fanchuo!" Luo Yiqing shot back at once, "And the one commanding the army is no Emperor Taizong of Tang either!" Hearing this, the emperor set him free. The emperor had grown overly familiar with his younger brother Chongyuan; deep in wine at a banquet, he promised to abdicate in his favor in the distant future. Chongyuan was elated and became arrogant and unrestrained. They also played backgammon, wagering whole towns and their populations. The emperor lost again and again and had already forfeited several cities. Chongyuan enjoyed favor comparable to Prince Xiao of Liang under Emperor Wen of Han and repeated the overreaching of Duke Zhuang's brother Shuduan; no minister dared remonstrate, and travelers only dared signal their alarm with their eyes. One day they were at the board again; Luo Yiqing pointed at the game and said, "Enough of this backgammon folly—you are going to lose everything to him!" The emperor finally took the point and gave up the game. He died of illness during the Qingning period.
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◎ Eunuch Officials ○ Wang Jien and Zhao Anren
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The Rites of Zhou assign palace stewards to guard the inner gates. Later the "Palace Steward" ode entered the Greater Odes, and Bo Diao won fame in Jin—loyal to their masters, perhaps, but already acting outside their proper charge. In the middle Han and Tang periods eunuchs seized power and poisoned government, producing scandals too grim to relate in full—all the result of excessive favor. Liao produced two eunuchs whose conduct, good and bad, can instruct posterity; that is why they are recorded here.
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Wang Jien came from Dizhou. When Empress Ruizhi marched south, Jien was taken prisoner. Earlier the empress had gathered nearly a hundred children under ten, handsome boys taken in raids and by other means, sent them to Liangjin, and had them all castrated as palace attendants; Jien was one of them. Clever and quick to learn, he mastered written Chinese and the Khitan language. He rose to Inner Attendant and chief steward of the left wing of the inner palace. After Emperor Shengzong assumed personal rule, Jien was promoted in succession to Director of the Imperial Wardrobe, Left Commissioner of Announcement, Grand General of the Gate Guards, Military Commissioner of Lingzhou, and Chief Intendant of the Inner Treasury. Jien loved scholarly talk and cared nothing for power or gain; whenever he received rewards he bought books by the thousands, carried them wherever he went, and read without cease. Whenever Song envoys arrived on diplomatic missions, Jien was often appointed to distribute imperial gifts. What became of him afterward is not recorded.
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趙安仁，字小喜，深州樂壽人，自幼被俘。 統和中，為黃門令、秦晉國王府祗候。 王薨，授內侍省押班、禦院通進。 開泰八年，與李勝哥謀奔南土，為遊兵所擒。 初，仁德皇后與欽哀有隙，欽哀密令安仁伺皇后動靜，無不知者。 仁德皇后威權既重，安仁懼禍，復謀亡歸。 仁德欲誅之，欽哀以言營救。 聖宗曰：「小喜言父母兄弟俱在南朝，每一念，神魂隕越。 今為思親，冒死而亡，亦孝子用心，實可憐憫。」 赦之。 重熙初，欽哀攝政，欲廢帝，立少子重元。 帝與安仁謀，遷太后慶州守陵，授安仁左承宣、監門衛大將軍，充契丹漢人渤海內侍都知，兼都提點。 會上思太后，親馭奉迎，太后責曰：「汝負萬死，我嘗營救。 不望汝報，何為離間我母子耶！」 安仁無答。 後不知所終。
Zhao Anren, whose style was Xiaoxi, came from Leshou in Shenzhou and had been taken captive as a boy. During the Tonghe reign he served as Yellow Gate Commandant and attendant at the mansion of the Prince of Qin and Jin. After the prince's death he was appointed chief steward of the Inner Attendant Service and courier of the Imperial Park. In the eighth year of Kaitai he plotted with Li Shengge to escape south and was caught by patrol troops. Earlier Empress Rende and Empress Dowager Qin'ai were estranged; Qin'ai secretly set Anren to spy on the empress's every move, and nothing escaped him. When Empress Rende's power grew formidable, Anren feared for his life and again plotted to escape south. Rende sought to have him executed, but Qin'ai interceded for him. Emperor Shengzong said, "Xiaoxi reports that his parents and brothers all remain in the Song realm; the mere thought of them overwhelms his spirit. Now, moved by love for his family, he risked death to flee. That is the heart of a filial son and truly calls for compassion." He was pardoned. Early in the Chongxi era Empress Dowager Qin'ai served as regent, sought to depose the emperor, and planned to enthrone her younger son Chongyuan. The emperor conspired with Anren, sent the empress dowager to Qingzhou to tend the imperial tombs, and appointed Anren Left Commissioner of Announcement and Grand General of the Gate Guards, making him superintendent of Khitan, Han, and Bohai inner attendants and chief intendant as well. When the emperor missed his mother and went in person to escort her back, the empress dowager reproached him: "You deserved death a thousand times over, yet I once saved your life. I asked for no reward—why have you driven us mother and son apart!" Anren had nothing to say. What became of him afterward is not recorded.
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Commentary: Honorary titles and insignia exist to sharpen the realm's virtue; they must not be granted without merit and worthiness—and least of all to eunuchs. Jien as Inner Attendant and Anren as Yellow Gate Commandant would have been fitting enough—how could private affection run so deep that they were made military commissioners and grand generals? The Book of Changes says, "He carries a burden yet rides in a carriage—bandits will come upon him." Is this not why Anren failed to end well, while Jien was fortunate enough to escape a similar fate?