The history of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, many people think the chaos was on the battlefield, but in fact, the most chaotic was people's hearts.

On the day Kaifeng city fell in 947, I kept thinking, why does someone so ruthless end up with such a tragic fate in the end?

Zhang Yanze led tens of thousands of Khitan iron cavalry into the city, tearing Kaifeng apart over three days and nights. Looting, killing, arson, bodies piled higher than city walls, blood flowing through the streets. The historical records say that in just three days, more people died than in several months of previous battles. This person was so brutal to the bone, the first thing he did upon entering the city was to go straight to Kaifeng Prefecture, stab the Later Jin chancellor Sang Weihan in the heart, even snatch the emperor’s concubine to play with, and even used living people as military rations—beating them into minced meat for dry food. This is not an exaggeration; it’s written in black and white in the "Old Five Dynasties History."

A few days later, Yelü Deguang entered the city, but what he saw was a city full of resentment. The common people wished they could swallow Zhang Yanze alive, and the civil and military officials gritted their teeth. Yelü Deguang understood a truth: to secure a stable position in the Central Plains, he must first appease the Han people.

So Zhang Yanze became a scapegoat. Yelü Deguang found a reason—killing Sang Weihan without permission, relocating the emperor, and plundering with soldiers—ordering his execution. On the day of the execution, the people of Kaifeng went mad. Families and common folk who had been harmed by Zhang Yanze, holding wooden sticks and crutches, cursed and beat him, until his body was shattered and even his bones were unrecognizable. He loved to beat others into minced meat in his lifetime, and in the end, he became just that.

But the truly ruthless person was not Yelü Deguang, but Feng Dao.

Feng Dao, the unshakeable figure of the Five Dynasties, served through four dynasties and over a dozen emperors, and still lived well. On the day the city fell, the Later Jin emperor was forced to perform the "Sheep Leading Ceremony," wearing white, barefoot, kneeling outside the city and calling Yelü Deguang "Father Emperor." Almost all the nobles attended, including Zhao Kuangyin, but three people did not show up: Guo Rong, Qian Hongchu, and Feng Dao.

Feng Dao’s absence was a silent protest. He knew better than anyone that for Yelü Deguang to rule the Central Plains for the long term, he must gain the support of Han officials and the people. Killing Zhang Yanze was just the first step; Feng Dao and others piled all the evidence of guilt onto him, forcing Yelü Deguang to kill. Killing Zhang Yanze was like tearing off his sharpest sword himself, and it completely ignited the Han people's disloyalty and discontent.

Within a few months, chaos erupted across the Central Plains. Liu Zhiyuan declared himself emperor in Jin Yang, establishing Later Han; former generals, righteous armies, and common people rose up in rebellion, attacking prefectures and killing Khitan-appointed officials. Yelü Deguang could no longer hold on; high temperatures, plagues, and rebellions all came together, forcing him to hurriedly retreat north, where he suddenly died in Luan City.

He never understood until his death where he had truly lost. In fact, the loss was in people's hearts.

During nearly a century of the Five Dynasties, rituals collapsed and music decayed; the Three Bonds and Five Constants had long become empty words. The Later Jin, established by the Shatuo people, relied on paying tribute to the Khitan to stabilize itself; Shi Chonggui refused, and in the end, he played himself to death. Rebel generals like Du Chongwei and Zhang Yanze thought that defecting could lead to instant success, but in the end, one was marginalized and the other beaten into minced meat.

Such things have always been the same— for long-term peace and stability, sacrifices must be made first. Feng Dao saw through this. He was low-key and unobtrusive, unlike Sang Weihan who died loyal, or Liu Zhiyuan who directly raised armies. He simply refused to perform ceremonies or swear allegiance, maintaining a bit of Han official dignity, and by doing so, he fueled the fire even more. Some historians say that Feng Dao’s "curved resistance" was actually the greatest way to preserve the continuity of the Han bureaucratic system in chaotic times.

The blood rain in Kaifeng, on the surface, looked like the Khitan victory, but from the moment Zhang Yanze was beaten into minced meat, the outcome was already decided. Yelü Deguang took away Shi Chonggui and his concubines and daughters, but he could not take away the hearts of the Central Plains people. Shi Chonggui eventually died in Jianzhou, northern Liaoning, ending his life in despair. And Feng Dao? He continued to serve as a Han official, watching the Later Han and Later Zhou step by step toward the Northern Song.

In chaotic times, the cruelest are never those wielding the sword.