Everyone walked into the house and sat down according to the seating order. Han Suiyi, supported by his two sons, sat in the main seat with a heavy heart.
Looking at the slightly empty hall, his face looked very unhappy.
The Han family is no longer as prosperous as before. After the Liao-Song War, many members of the family migrated to the north due to the Liao's defeat.
These are all ethnic groups that have deep ties with the Liao Kingdom.
For example, those who married women from the Yelu or Xiao families, and those who were given the surname Yelu.
The rest were the Han family members who had done little in the Liao officialdom and had to return to their hometown to manage their clan business.
The most typical examples are Han Kuangtu, the eldest son of Han Zhigu, the founder of the Han family, and Han Kuangye, the second son.
The problem with these two people is that their mothers were Han people whom Han Zhigu married before he became famous, and their surnames were not Xiao.
After Han Zhigu became successful, Empress Dowager Shulü Ping of Liao arranged a marriage for him and he married a woman from the Xiao family, who gave birth to nine sons.
Among them was Han Derang's father Han Kuangsi.
Therefore, starting from Han Zhigu's third son Han Kuangsi, he held very high official positions, and was even named King of Qin.
Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye did not accomplish much and were only given honorary positions.
After that, it was basically an agreement in the Han family that the descendants of Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye would run the family business in Yutian.
The descendants of Han Kuangsi and others served as high-ranking officials in the Liao court for generations.
For example, if Han Derang had no descendants, the current head of the Han family should be Han Yuanzuo and Han Dilu, the fifth generation in power who inherited the political legacy of Han Derang and Han Lu.
One of them was the Northern Xuanhui Envoy and Prince, and the other was the Southern Military Governor and Duke. Both were high-ranking officials with honorary titles such as Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Jianxu Taishi, and Tongzhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, and had great say in the clan.
But these two people's Chinese names were Han Yuanzuo and Han Dilu, but they were actually given the surname Yelu, so they should be called Yelu Yuanzuo and Yelu Dilu. They ran away long ago after the defeat of the Liao Dynasty.
Therefore, the only ones left in the Han family now are the great-grandchildren of Han Kuangtu and Han Kuangye.
Han Suiyi is the only grandson and is 81 years old this year. Because he has lived a long life and is of a high generation, he is now the leader of the Han family.
It can be said that after a large number of Han descendants who had changed their surnames to Yelu fled, these people were the tallest among the short ones and gradually gained control of the Han family's power.
However, after all, they had never held any position in the Liao court, had never been involved in officialdom, had no experience in political struggles, and had not even participated in clan infighting.
They were once marginal figures in the clan, but now they control such a large family. How could they be willing to give it up?
Faced with the court's request, Han naturally was unwilling to agree.
The room was very quiet. Many old men in their fifties and sixties were silent. After a long while, Han Suiyi said, "Now that Zhao Jun is gone, do you think we'll be safe?"
"But we really have nothing to do now."
An old man named Han Gui said, "Uncle Ba, what are you worried about? He's gone now. Could he suddenly come back and point his gun at us?"
"I'm just a little uneasy."
Han Suiyi shook his head and said, "The Changping Liu family has risen in recent years and is also closely related to the Liao royal family. They are already the second largest family in Yanyun. However, they are willing to give up their status as a Yanyun family and choose to move south. I suspect there must be other secrets that cannot be revealed, and it may even be related to the survival of the family."
"The Liu family was willing to move south because some of their members held important positions in the Song court."
Han Kuangtu's great-grandson, Han Lang, sneered, "If Liu Liufu hadn't defected and leaked military secrets to the Song, how could the Liao Dynasty have been defeated? What a bunch of traitors!"
"That's right. Besides, the Liu family has only been married into the royal family in recent years, but we have been married into the royal family for many years. How can their relationship be compared to ours?"
"Eighth Uncle, the Liu family can distance themselves from the Liao Dynasty, but we can't. Besides, our ancestors have lived in Yutian for generations. Why would they chase us away?"
"Yes, I don't believe the Song Dynasty government can do anything to us. We own more than a hundred thousand acres of land and more than ten thousand tenants. Tens of thousands of people are dependent on our Han family. If they really push us to the limit, the worst that can happen is that both sides will be destroyed."
Several other members of the Han family also shouted.
In the final analysis, the Liu family did indeed marry into the royal family only in the last ten years or so and married several royal princesses.
On the other hand, the Han family not only had Khitan blood since the time of Han Kuangsi, but also continued to intermarry with the Khitan for several generations thereafter, even changing their surname to Yelu. How could their ties be as deep as the Han family's?
Just a sarcastic person.
In fact, all those present here are descendants of Han Zhigu’s Han Chinese wife. They have a lower status and are not qualified to marry Khitan nobles. Therefore, their marriage partners are basically Han Chinese families in Yan area.
So if we talk about their ancestry, most of these people are of Han descent, and very few have Khitan descent.
However, they did not recognize the Song Dynasty, which also had Han Chinese ancestry, but recognized the Liao Dynasty as their motherland. It can be seen that even the two Han Chinese bloodlines retained by their Han family had been completely assimilated by the Khitan.
"Um."
Han Suiyi thought what everyone said made sense, so he nodded and said, "That's reasonable, but since we are still in Yan, and Yan has returned to Song, we should be cautious."
"I think it would be better to sell the land early, leaving only a few families behind, and then we can all head north to join the Liao Dynasty."
Someone suggested, "In the past, the various noble families formed an alliance for attack and defense, sharing a common purpose. This made it difficult for the Song court to attack us. But traitors like the Liu, Ma, and Zhao families have all betrayed us, leaving us alone. We are afraid that the Song court will gradually divide us, and when our power dwindles, they will strike back."
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