Bond between sworn brothers

The Bond between sworn brothers becomes a measure of loyalty when Xiao Feng learns that YeLu Ji, the man he has befriended, is the Liao emperor YeLu HongJi. HongJi’s rank could have turned their relationship into a formal one of ruler and subject; instead, he insists that they meet first as brothers. When rebellion leaves HongJi facing defeat and possible death, Xiao Feng refuses to save himself alone. The bond thus carries both personal force and political consequence: it draws Xiao Feng into the defense of the Liao ruler, even as his sympathies remain divided by his upbringing in Song and his Khitan ancestry.

Recognition and the meaning of brotherhood

Xiao Feng meets the man then known to him as YeLu Ji before learning that he is emperor. When they reunite amid the Liao troops, the soldiers hail their ruler, and HongJi explains that his true name is YeLu HongJi. He says he had feared Xiao Feng might refuse sworn brotherhood had he known he was the emperor. In that admission, the relationship is defined by a deliberate separation of personal regard from political station: HongJi presents the friendship as something that might have been spoiled by the truth of his title.

Xiao Feng reacts to the revelation by kneeling, recognizing that a Khitan subject should pay respect to the emperor. HongJi immediately helps him to his feet and says that their brotherhood is the matter for that day, while the formal recognition due to the monarch can wait until the next. He then welcomes Xiao Feng into the imperial tent and gives him the place of honor. The public ceremony makes the contrast visible: the emperor is surrounded by officials and troops, but with Xiao Feng he insists on the language and obligations of kin-like friendship rather than rank.

A friendship across political divisions

The bond takes shape in a world where affiliation does not follow a single, simple line. Xiao Feng is Khitan by birth, yet he grew up in southern Song and feels the pull of the people and language of the Central Plains. His friendship with HongJi connects him to the Liao court, while his fellow Khitans’ attacks on Jurchen people expose the violence that can accompany shared ethnic identity. During an encounter between Khitan riders and Jurchen hunters, Xiao Feng refuses to harm his own people, but he also acts to stop the Khitans from killing the Jurchen. He dismounts several riders without killing them and later uses arrows to knock more Khitans from their horses without causing deaths.

That conflict helps explain why loyalty to HongJi cannot be reduced to simple allegiance to the Liao state. Xiao Feng’s attachment to a brother exists alongside his unease about the political and military order that brother represents. Later, when he sees Song captives taken in a Liao raid, he releases them and reflects on how each side raids the other’s border communities. His intervention shows that the moral demands he recognizes do not stop at the boundary between sworn loyalty and political identity. The brotherhood draws him toward HongJi, but it does not erase his concern for civilians caught in the larger conflict.

The rebellion tests the promise

The crisis that most sharply tests the bond grows out of Liao’s political history. HongJi’s grandfather, YeLu LongXu, had selected his eldest son YeLu ZongZhen to succeed him, while their mother favored the second son, YeLu ZhongYuan. ZhongYuan did not take the throne at that time and instead supported his brother, but later HongJi succeeded ZongZhen rather than ZhongYuan. To compensate for the succession, HongJi made his uncle royal emperor uncle and supreme commander of the army, placing him next in line, while giving ZhongYuan’s son YeLu NieLuGu control of military affairs as Prince of Chu and Lord of the Southern Chancellery.

When HongJi leaves to hunt, that arrangement leaves his uncle and cousin with exceptional power. The rebellion is led by YeLu NieLuGu, who declares his father the legitimate emperor and circulates an edict denouncing HongJi as a usurper. HongJi fears that the proclamation will weaken loyalty among the army and people, while his own force is greatly outnumbered. The past decisions that appeared to honor family and preserve succession now shape the danger facing the emperor; Xiao Feng’s personal loyalty becomes consequential within a crisis created by those political ties.

As the rebels advance, HongJi tells Xiao Feng that he expects to be captured and would rather die than be humiliated. He urges his sworn brother to escape, acknowledging that he cannot even protect his mother and wife. Xiao Feng refuses. He says that whether HongJi is emperor or commoner, he regards him as his brother, and that he will face danger with him rather than flee alone. HongJi is moved to tears and thanks him. The moment gives the bond its clearest definition: friendship is not a reward for power or success, but a commitment that holds when both are threatened with defeat.

Action and political consequences

Xiao Feng does not merely remain beside HongJi; he helps devise a way to change the course of the confrontation. When the Prince of Chu approaches, Xiao Feng quietly asks HongJi to distract him while he moves into position to shoot. HongJi agrees and publicly challenges the Prince of Chu over the deaths and injuries caused by the rebellion. Xiao Feng’s plan succeeds in killing the rebel leader, after which he brings the royal emperor uncle to HongJi. With the rebels leaderless, the uncle orders them to put down their weapons and seek the emperor’s pardon.

HongJi greets Xiao Feng with evident relief and says he will share his country with him. Xiao Feng, however, advises him to pardon his uncle, arguing that the immediate need is to steady the army and restore its morale. His advice reveals that the bond has not made Xiao Feng a seeker of power: when offered a share in HongJi’s realm, he instead presses for a settlement that can keep the defeated forces from returning to war. The brotherhood changes the political outcome, but Xiao Feng’s intervention is directed toward preventing further disorder as well as saving HongJi.

After the rebellion is suppressed, HongJi appoints Xiao Feng Lord of the Southern Chancellery. Xiao Feng understands the appointment as a sign of his brother’s regard, and at first he cannot bring himself to reject it. Yet the office places him within a state whose military policy troubles him. Liao’s soldiers raid neighboring territories for provisions, while Song forces retaliate against Liao civilians; Xiao Feng regards this cycle as cruel and immoral. He plans to serve for a time and later seek permission to resign, rather than remain indefinitely in a role that would require him to accept the raids.

What the bond can and cannot resolve

The sworn relationship gives Xiao Feng a powerful reason to stand by HongJi, but it does not reconcile the loyalties that shape his life. When he encounters the captives, he sees the human consequences of the same border warfare that has defined the political world he has entered. He asks where the raid took place, hears the plea of a young woman from Zhang village, and releases the captives rather than accept them as spoils. His act of mercy follows from a broader judgment: people on opposing sides share ordinary human needs, even when their governments and armies treat them as enemies.

The bond therefore resolves one immediate question—whether Xiao Feng will abandon HongJi in danger—but leaves a larger conflict intact. He can be loyal to his sworn brother without endorsing every action of the Liao state, just as he can recognize his Khitan ancestry without ceasing to feel kinship with the people of Song. His friendship with HongJi is neither a political cure nor a simple declaration of national allegiance. It is an intimate obligation that leads him into the center of power, where its demands are tested against the suffering of people beyond the court and the army.