Du Chongwei sells the Empire for a Robe
Word of a traitor was afoot. Someone had sold an army to the Khitan. Why jeopardize your country for a robe?
We know that it was around the time prefectural governors stepped up military preparations for the impending invasion that Han Tong performed the ceremony of “taking the cap” and responded to the call to enlist. Han Tong's hometown of Taiyuan was just south of the Khitan border and one would expect Han Tong to have seen heavy fighting, but he had enlisted in Liu Zhiyuan's army and with distrust high between Liu Zhiyuan and Emperor Chu, Liu Zhiyuan never deployed his troops. So, when two years after the war began the Yellow River overflowed and dykes across the country burst and flooded five prefectures his army stayed home while the rest of Emperor Chu’s forces struggled.
The autumn had witnessed vast flooding across the world, the rains continuing for more than sixty days as human corpses littered the highways. The people fed themselves on wood shavings, their horses and cattle subsisting on straw from sitting mats.
Historical Records of the Five Dynasties
And came the Khitan.
Commissioner of at-large forces on the northern front Du Chongwei, defender of China's northern borders (through virtue of marriage to royalty), trudged his armies through the mud to camp at a bridge. They must have thought it an ideal position to hold off the enemy in case of a midnight attack. Of course the Khitan were spying on them the whole time. That night they attacked from their mountain hideout and split Du Chongwei’s army, severing him from his rear guard. With his army split and the Khitan at an advantage how could Du Chongwei escape?
He clandestinely contacted the Khitan through messenger, offering to surrender. Immensely pleased, the Khitan promised the throne of the Middle Kingdom to Chongwei, a promise he believed. With armored soldiers concealed for protection, Chongwei summoned the various commanders to announce his impending capitulation to the barbarians. They all stood in shock, but obeyed orders owing to their senior commanders preemptive action. Chongwei pulled out the petition of surrender, making the commanders each sign their names to it, as troops were directed to assume formation beyond the barricades. Those troops were still reveling at the prospect of a decisive battle, only for Chongwei to pronounce rations exhausted and surrender necessary. The soldiers bawled while doffing armor, the sound reverberating from the plains to the wilderness.
Historical Records of the Five Dynasties
Once troops had removed their armor he displayed before them the ocher-red robe he had received from the Khitan, supposedly a sign of his future stature, but for many there it must have deepened their shame.
Back in the capital city, word of Du Chongwei’s capitulation had somehow reached the ear of a newly demoted minister. “Conditions are absolutely critical,” exclaimed the minister who pleaded to confer with Emperor Chu, but the emperor was sporting with falcons in the royal park and had no time for the cries of the former minister.
-Kevin Brazier