Xiao Feng—Yelu Ji

Xiao Feng—Yelu Ji is a sworn-brother relationship formed when Xiao Feng frees the captured Khitan noble rather than treating him as a source of ransom. Its decisive significance lies in the way personal respect crosses political and ethnic boundaries, binding the two men through reciprocal recognition; that bond later pulls Xiao Feng into Liao’s imperial crisis and the burdens of state power.

From Captor and Captive to Friends

Yelu Ji is brought to the Jurchen camp after Xiao Feng has helped AguDa’s party and captured the Khitan leader. Though offered a ransom, Yelu Ji does not initially disclose his name or rank. He offers Xiao Feng 50 liang of gold, 500 liang of silver, and 30 fine horses for his release. AguDa’s uncle PoLaSu proposes multiplying that sum tenfold, and Yelu Ji agrees without hesitation. But when Xiao Feng asks him to identify himself, Yelu Ji refuses to give a false answer simply to satisfy the question: he says that he could invent a story, but would rather not deceive a man he regards as an honorable hero.

Xiao Feng tests that resolve by bending his own blade with a strike and warning Yelu Ji of what could happen if he refuses to answer. Yelu Ji remains composed, praises Xiao Feng’s skill, and says he would rather die than be compelled against his will. Xiao Feng answers not with violence but with a new proposal: he will not kill Yelu Ji there, and the two will meet again in combat. The shift from a prisoner’s threatened death to a promised duel lets Xiao Feng judge Yelu Ji as a person, not merely as a captive.

Outside the camp, Xiao Feng gives Yelu Ji a spear and bow, then hands over his own weapons as well. Yelu Ji objects that facing an opponent who is unarmed would be an insult. Xiao Feng explains that he respects brave men and wants to befriend him; he releases Yelu Ji to return to his people. When Yelu Ji offers to increase the ransom again, Xiao Feng rejects payment as incompatible with friendship. Yelu Ji bows in gratitude, but Xiao Feng kneels and returns the salute: he will neither accept a friend’s worship nor regard him as a slave. Yelu Ji then proposes that they become sworn brothers.

The Oath and Shared Identity

The oath carries weight for Xiao Feng because he has had few opportunities for such a bond. After mastering martial arts, he joined the Beggar Society, where strict seniority and rank shaped his place in the organization. He had not found a suitable person with whom to swear brotherhood until his earlier meeting with Duan Yu at Wuxi. Now, looking at Yelu Ji’s courage, Xiao Feng accepts the proposal. He says he is 31; Yelu Ji identifies himself by name and says he is 13 years older. Xiao Feng accordingly addresses him as elder brother, and the two exchange formal courtesies.

They plant three arrows in the ground, light their fletching as incense, and bow eight times to Heaven to seal their oath. This deliberate ritual turns a decision made in the aftermath of captivity into a lasting kinship. It also gives their relationship a reciprocal form: Xiao Feng has spared Yelu Ji and refused his ransom, while Yelu Ji has answered with trust and the offer of brotherhood rather than continued hostility.

Yelu Ji remarks that Xiao Feng’s surname resembles that of the Khitan people. Xiao Feng then tells him he is Khitan too and reveals the green wolf-head tattoo on his chest. Yelu Ji welcomes the discovery as evidence that Xiao Feng descends from an earlier generation of their people. The disclosure deepens the bond, but does not erase the difference in their circumstances: Yelu Ji invites his new younger brother to return with him to the Liao capital and share its wealth, while Xiao Feng declines. He prefers his modest, free life among the Jurchens, where he hunts and drinks, and says he will visit if he later misses his brother.

Gifts and Continuing Ties

The relationship continues after the two men part. Xiao Feng is living among the Jurchens with AhZi when a group of Khitan envoys arrives bearing gifts. He recognizes that the presents come from Yelu Ji. The messenger explains that his lord misses Xiao Feng and invites him to stay in the Liao capital. The gift list offers 5,000 liang of gold, 50,000 liang of silver, 2,000 rolls of brocade, 1,000 dan of fine wheat, 1,000 fat cattle, 5,000 fat sheep, 3,000 fine horses, and assorted valuables.

This largesse recalls the ransom Xiao Feng refused, but its meaning has changed: it is not payment for a captive, but a brother’s hospitality and an effort to draw him closer. Xiao Feng accepts the list without reading it, explaining that he cannot understand the Khitan writing and does not wish to inspect it. The scene shows that their tie survives separation and carries material as well as emotional obligations, even though Xiao Feng has already made clear that wealth is not what will bring him to the capital.

Brotherhood in a Succession Crisis

Yelu Ji’s importance to Xiao Feng’s later choices becomes clearer during the rebellion against Yelu Hongji. The crisis has deep institutional roots. Under the previous emperor, Yelu Zongzhen, the emperor’s mother favored her younger son Yelu Zhongyuan for the throne, although the Holy Emperor had designated Zongzhen as successor. Zhongyuan helped his brother thwart their mother’s scheme and did not claim the throne. Zongzhen rewarded him with the status of royal emperor brother and placed him next in the succession. After Zongzhen’s death, however, the throne passed to his son Hongji. Hongji later elevated Zhongyuan again as royal emperor uncle, made him supreme commander of the army, and gave Zhongyuan’s son Yelu NieLuGu the title Prince of Chu and control of the Southern Chancellery.

That history shapes the danger facing Yelu Hongji when news arrives that the capital has rebelled. The insurgents proclaim Zhongyuan emperor and issue an edict calling Hongji a false ruler. The claim threatens more than one man’s position: Zhongyuan’s authority over the army and NieLuGu’s control of the Southern Chancellery give the rebellion substantial force. Xiao Feng hears that the soldiers fear for their families in the capital, and he stays with Hongji rather than leaving during the night. When the emperor’s forces march out, Xiao Feng takes up bow and spear beside him as his personal bodyguard; AhZi travels in the rear with the Flying Bear troops.

The relationship is therefore tested through action, not only remembered in private. Xiao Feng risks himself in defense of Yelu Hongji, Yelu Ji’s emperor, during a conflict rooted in succession and military command. After the rebellion is defeated, Xiao Feng brings Zhongyuan to Hongji. Hongji is overwhelmed with relief and tells Xiao Feng that he will share his country with him. Xiao Feng urges him to pardon Zhongyuan, reasoning that mercy is essential to restoring the rebels’ morale and stabilizing the army. Hongji agrees and appoints Xiao Feng Prince of Chu and Lord of the Southern Chancellery.

Office, Obligation, and Distance

Xiao Feng does not seek the appointment. He says he does not know how to serve as an official and asks Hongji to withdraw the order. Hongji instead insists on the honor and, in an expression of their closeness, says that if the highest office is not enough, he could give up the throne itself. The offer confirms that Xiao Feng has become more than a valued ally: his personal standing with Hongji now carries political consequences.

Those consequences expose the limits of the brothers’ shared identity. After more than a month of audiences, gifts, and flattery, Hongji tells Xiao Feng that he must be based in Nanjing and prepare for a future campaign against the Central Plains. Hongji counsels waiting until the Song is weakened by internal division, but the objective is still conquest. Xiao Feng is troubled: although he is a citizen of Liao, he grew up in the southern Song, and he is reluctant to attack it. He reasons that abandoning the post immediately would wound his bond with Hongji, so he decides to go to Nanjing first and later seek resignation if circumstances permit.

The appointment thus brings the brothers’ closeness into conflict with Xiao Feng’s own loyalties and judgment. Their oath was made between two men who chose respect over ransom and coercion; the state office offered in recognition of that bond demands service in a war Xiao Feng does not want to wage. Their relationship gives Xiao Feng a place within Liao’s power structure, but it does not settle the deeper tension between brotherhood, political duty, and the country where he was raised.