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Videos about China's Resistance War:
The Battle of Shanghai & Nanking;
Bombing of Chungking;
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(in English)
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Sinitic Civilization-Book 1 
Sinitic Civilization-Book 2 
Tribute of Yu 
Heavenly Questions 
Zhou King Muwang's Travels 
The Legends of Mountains & Seas 
The Bamboo Annals - Book 1 
The Scourge-of-God-Tetralogy: From the Khitans to the Jurchens & Mongols: A History of Barbarians in Triangle Wars and Quartet Conflicts (available at iUniverse; Google; Amazon; B&N) |
THE SUI - TANG DYNASTIESWith the unification of China by Sui Emperor Yang Jian in A.D. 589, traces of the five nomadic groups had largely melted away. Both Emperor Yang Jian and later Tang Emperor Li Yuan were said to be semi-Tuoba. This would have to do with their families marrying with the Dugu family of Toba heritage. Dugu is a Tuoba [Toba or To'pa] name, with characters 'du' meaning lonely and 'gu' orphaned, a name derived from the nickname 'dugu-lang' or the lone boy when Dugu Xin was serving under Er-zhu-rong. Dugu Xin at one time single-handedly escorted Tuoba Emperor Xiaowudi on a trip of fleeing to Yuwen Tai's camp for seeking asylum. Xiaowudi re-established the Wei dynasty, which came to be known as Western Wei that had four emperors and lasted 22 years. Dugu Xin bore two daughters. Sui Emperor Wendi (Yang Jian) married with one of the Dugu daughters, and the other Dugu daughter was the mother of Tang Dynasty founder (Li Yuan). (Other than the Dugu clan, there was one more similar name clan called Dugu-hun-shi which changed to the Chinese surname of Du after the Northern Tuoba Wei Dynasty's relocation of the capital city to Luoyang.) Tuoba considered them successors of the Chinese culture. Emperor Tuoba Hong had decreed that their royal family name be changed to 'Yuan' when he relocated his capital to Luoyang of today's Henan Province. It would be the succeeding Western Tuoba Wei dynasty that would see the revival of the Xianbei (not merely Tuoba) clan names and furthermore the conferral of Xianbei names onto the ministers and generals of the Han ethnic Chinese. For example, Yang Zhong, father of Yang Jian the founding Sui Dynasty emperor, received the Tuoba conferred surname of Pu-liu-ru. This was the result of Emperor Yuwen Tai's attempt at regression towards the Xianbei clan names. In Northern Qi, erudite Yan Zhitui, who wrote the Yan Family Mottos, expressed his dismay over some Chinese minister's having his son learn the Xianbei language and the pipa (lute) music, which exhibited the kind of confrontation between the two ethnic groups. The Yang and Li surnames were among the nintey-nine double-character and other polysyllabic Xianbei surnames that were ordered to be reverted back to the Han ethnic surnames after the demise of the Yuwen's Western Wei Dynasty. After several hundreds of years, the only remaining trace of Tuoba, a sub-branch of Tungusic Xianbei, would be the group who had mixed up with Di[1] and Qiang[1] nomads in today's Gansu-Qinghai-Ningxia area. They established a state called 'Tuyuhun' which would be in constant fighting with the Tibetans for control of the area called Inner Tibet [against Frontal Tibet or Outer Tibet], namely, today's Qinghai-Gansu Province during the Tang Dynasty. Sui Dynasty, for its short life duration of 37 years and the despotic ruling of Sui Emperor Yangdi, was treated as part of the Northern Dynasties by Tang historian Li Yanshou. Similar to Qin Dynasty, Sui Dynasty had given itself away to the later Tang dynasty as Qin did to the later Han dynasty. Tang Dynasty lasted 290 years thereafter, considered a great international empire in the scale of Rome and Greece. The Tang Dynasty was full of inter-racial exchanges, with Koreans (Heichichang-zi & Kao Hsien-chih), Turks (Geshu Han, Qibi Heli and Pugu Huai'en) and many other barbarians and aliens serving as the generals in wars with the Turkic Khanates and the Arabs. One Japanese (Nakamaro) was given a post as a civil service official in the court. The Arabs, Persians and other Central Asians constantly travelled to China. Numerous campaigns had brought the relocation of hundreds of thousands of the Turkic tribesmen to the whole northern frontier as well as the capital city of Chang'an. Tang army general Su Dingfang was famous for fighting on both the front in the Oxus valley and on the Korean Peninsula. The Tang army heavily employed the barbarians, which eventually turned into the An-Shi Rebellion when barbarian-background generals staged revolts. Famous Tang general Li Guangbi's father was said to be a Khitan. With the weakening of Tang, the allied Tibetans and Uygurs encroached upon the Tang territories, and even invaded the Tang capital at one time. The consequence of the An-Shi Rebellion will be the abandonment of garrisons west of the Yellow River and the emergence of various governors-general across China, which led to disintegration of the dynastic rule. When the Tang Court was plagued by the eunuchs, Zhu Wen, who first betrayed rebel leader Huang Chao, led an army against the Tang capital and exterminated all eunuchs. Soon after that, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang dynasty and started the era of Five Dynasties by proclaiming the founding of his Posterior Liang Dynasty. Three dynasties of the Five Dynasties time period, in between Posterior Liang and Posterior Zhou, were said to be of the alien nature, founded by generals who belonged to a group of barbarians called Shatuo (Sha'to), a Turkic tribe. That would be Posterior Tang (A.D. 923-936), Posterior Jinn (A.D. 936-946) and Posterior Han. Sui Dynasty In A.D. 577, Northern Zhou destroyed Northern Qi. In A.D. 578, Northern Zhou Emperor Wudi died. Northern Zhou, in comparison with Northern Qi, had a better relation with the Turks. To deal with the various Hu barbarians residing in the northern Chinese territories extending from Anding to Lishi, Northern Zhou invited the Turks to the south. For example, in A.D. 564, Yang Zhong and the Sui army had a junction with the Turks in a campaign against the [Buluo-]Ji-hu barbarians, who dwelled in the mountains and valleys, i.e., a group of Hunnic-traits people who came to be known as 'Dan-zhou [Yan'an/Yenan] Bai-zhi [Bai-di]' by the Sui Dynasty time period and served as the mercenaries against the Khitans by the Tang Dynasty time period. Zhou Shu claimed that the Ji-hu barbarians were descendants of Hunnic King Liu Yuanhai's five tribal groups dating from the Sixteen Nation time period or descendants of the ancient Shan-rong and Chi-di barbarians. The barbarians claimed that they descended from the ancient Bai-di. Northern Zhou (A.D. 557-581) Emperor Xuandi (Yuwen Yun), a Xianbei, in order to indulge himself in leisure and sex, had decreed in A.D. 578 that his seven-year-old son (Yuwen Yan or Yuwen Chan) be put on the throne. The first year of the Dacheng Era became the first year of the Daxiang Era. In A.D. 579, seven year old son Yuwen Chan enthroned as Emperor Jingdi while Emperor Xuandi called himself Emperor Tianyuan-di. Xuandi had altogether four empresses, with the primary empress being the daughter of Yang Jian. Xuandi did not take over his step-mother who was an Ashina Turkic woman. Xuandi later grabbed the wife of Duke Xiyang-gong (Yuwen Wen) and made her into the fifth empress after killing the whole family of Yuwen Wen. Xuandi promised to marry over the daughter of King Zhao to the Turkic khan as Princess Qianjin for sake of having the Turks deliver Gao Shaoyi of former Northern Qi (A.D. 550-577) from the asylum in the Turkic territories. Xuandi also ordered a campaign against Chen Dynasty (557-589) in southern China. Usurpation By the Sui Dynasty (581-618) In A.D. 580, Emperor Xuandi died. When Xuandi died at the age of 22 after being in a kind of self-abdicated reign for less than three years. Ministers Liu Fang and Zheng Yi, who covered up the news of the emperor's death, called on Yang Jian to assume the throne. Liu Fang, in the name of the dead Emperor Xuandi, appointed Yang Jian the post of the commander-in-chief. Yang Jian, in the name of escorting Princess Qianjin to the Turks, called on five Yuwen-clan kings to come to the capital, among whom would be King Zhao-wang (Yuwen Zhao), King Chen-wang (Yuwen Chun), King Yue-wang (Yuwen Sheng), King Dai-wang (Yuwen Da), King Teng-wang (Yuwen You). The five kings were sons of Yuwen Tai. Yang Jian sent over Princess Qianjin to the Turks; Turkic Khan Tabo cheated Gao Baoyi out for a hunting trip and delivered Gao into Yang Jian's hands; Gao was exiled to today's Sichuan by Yang. For sake of usurping Northern Zhou, Yang Jian recalled the various Yuwen-surnamed kings of Northern Zhou to the capital in the name of conducting an imperial burial for the late emperor. In February of A.D. 580, Yang Jian was made into 'cheng xiang, i.e., grand [assistant] prime minister' for assisting the young emperor, i.e., Jingdi (Yuwen Yan, reign A.D. 578-581). Yang Jian eliminated King Chen-wang. In June of A.D. 580, Yuwen Xian, i.e., King Bi-wang and concurrent governor-general for Yongzhou, who was son of late Emperor Mingdi, conspired with the five kings to assassinate Yang Jian. Yang Jian diffused the plot and killed Yuwen Xian's family. Yang Jian killed the Yuewen king (King of Bi, Yuwen Xian) of the Yongzhou Prefecture. In July, King Zhao-wang attempted to kill Yang Jian in a home banquet. King of Zhao (Yuwen Zhao) failed to assassinate Yang Jian in a home banquet. Yang Jian safely left the scene with the bodyguard Tuoba Zhou. Yuwen Zhao was being restricted to his residency in Chang'an. Yang Jian ordered that Grand General Tuoba (Yuan) Zhou (who forced Yang Jian out of the banquet earlier) to lay siege on the residencies of King Zhao/King Yue and slaughtered the two families. In December, Yang Jian eliminated King Zhao-wang and King Yue-wang's families. Yang Jian was made into 'xiang guo, i.e., prime minister' for assisting the young emperor, i.e., Jingdi (Yuwen Yan, reign A.D. 578-581). Yang Jian forced Northern Zhou Emperor Jingdi to confer the post of Prime Minister onto him, and upgraded the hereditary title of Duke Sui to King Sui. Yang Jian subsequently eliminated King Dai-wang and King Teng-wang. A Northern Zhou duke, Shuguo-gong Yuchi Jiong, opposed Yang Jian. Duke Shuguo-gong Yuchi Jiong, at Xiangzhou (Yecheng), called upon the various Yuwen kings and governors to oppose Yang Jian, and contacted a remnant Southern Liang lord for forming an alliance. Yuchi Jiong borrowed the name of King Zhao-wang's young son who was left behind at the Zhao-guo fief. Governor Wang Qian of the Yizhou Prefecture in today's Sichuan Province and Duke Yingyang-gong Sima Xiaonan joined Yuchi Jiong's rebellion. Yuwen Zhou, a nephew-grandson of Yuewen Tai, rebelled at Xingzhou, who was concurrent 'ci shi', rebelled as well. Yang Su quelled the rebellion and killed Yuwen Zhou. Yang Jian dispatched Marshal Wei Xiaokuan to fighting Yuchi Jiong at the Qin-shui River (which originated from today's Shanxi Province and flowed into the Yellow River in Henan Province). The son of Yuchi Jiong, Yuchi Dun, with a 100,000 strong army, intended to attack Wei Xiaokuang when Wei's army were half crossing the river. Wei Xiaokuang managed to cross the river and then dismantled the bridges to show to his soldiers that they had no way out but to charge forward against the rebels, utilizing an ancient tactic of fighting without an exit. After being defeated, Yuchi Dun fled back to the Ye-cheng city (Anyang, Henan Province). While the two parties were fighting, numerous civilians, by the tens of thousands, were watching the fight on the sidelines. This was the origin of the 'bi-shang guan' idiom, meaning someone who seated himself on some cliff-like wall as a spectator. Wei Xiaokuan ordered that his soldiers shoot arrows at the civilians to make them panic and flee and then shouted that the enemy had fled. Yuchi Jiong's soldiers were shaken by the fleeing crowd and hence Yuchi Jiong lost the battle 68 days after he first rebelled against Yang Jian. Wei Xiaokuan killed Yuchi Jiong and his son, and sent their heads to Yang Jian. Duke Yingyang-gong (Sima Xiaonan) fled to the Chen dynasty domain in the south. Governor Wang Qian of the Yizhou Prefecture was betrayed by his own men to Yang Jian. In February of A.D. 581, Yang Jian forced Northern Zhou Emperor Jingdi into abdication and declared the founding of Sui Dynasty (A.D. 581-618). Days later, Yang Jian ordered the killing of all the Yuwen royals, including 13 descendants of Emperor Taizu, Emperor Mindi, Emperor Mingdi, Emperor Wudi, and Emperor Xuandi. In May, Yang Jian ordered the murder of the deposed Emperor Jingdi. Sui Emperor Wendi (Yang Jian or Yang Chien, r. 581-604) Sui's founder, Yang Chien (Jian), was said to be the descendant of a Han Dynasty official called Yang Zheng, while Tang's founder, Li Yuan, was said to be the 7th grandson of Emperor Xiliang-taizu (Li Hao) of Western Liang (A.D. 400-421) at Dunhuang on the Western Corridor, one of the few Chinese nations among the nomadic "Sixteen Nations" preceding the North-South Dynasties (A.D. 386-589). Li Hao claimed to be the 16th generation grandson of Han Dynasty General Li Guang. Li Hu, i.e., Li Yuan's grandfather, received the conferred Xianbei clan name of Daye-shi from the Western Wei emperor. Yang Jian and Li Yuan were relatives. Li Yuan's wife was the sister of Sui Dynasty's Empress Dugu. In A.D. 589, the Sui army defeated Chen Dynasty (557-589) and united China. Yang Guang personally caught Chen Shubao alive. Chen Shuda, a son of Chen Emperor Xuandi (Chen Xu), was taken to the Sui capital city where he served the court as 'nei-shi she-ren' for his talents and later a regional official "jun shou") for the Jiang-jun Prefecture. Later, when serving the Tang dynasty, Chen Shuda was authorized to compile a history of the Sui Dynasty, i.e., Sui Shi. Chen Shuda, together with Ouyang Xun and Pei Ju, compiled another bibliography book called Yi-wen (artistic literature) Lei Ju. Yang Su, in A.D. 598, commanded the Sui army in defeating the western Turks; and the next year, as "xingjun zongguan" of the Lingzhou-dao Circuit, launched a campaign against Western Turkic Khan Datou, for which he was compared with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing of Han Dynasty. In 602, Yang Su defeated the eastern Turks, and captured Turkic yijin Shi-si-li at Yunnei (Datong of Shanxi). Yang Su's son was later responsible for capsizing the Sui rule by staging a rebellion during Emperor Yang Jian's campaigns against the Korean peninsula. Sui Emperor Yangdi (Yang Guang, r. A.D. 605-618) Sui Emperor Yangdi (Yang Guang) was commonly said to have killed his own father after his affairs with his father's concubine was divulged. When he got enthroned, King Han-wang Yang Liang rebelled at Bingzhou. Yang Su, with the later famous Sui general Zhang Xutuo, led a campaign to quell the rebellion. In A.D. 610, Sui Emperor Yangdi (Yang Guang) toured Jiangdu a second time. In February of 611, the emperor took ride of the dragon boat in the Yongji-qu Canal for Zhuo-jun. He issued an order to campaign against Koguryo. He ordered Yuan Hongsi to build 300 ships in Donglai (Yexian of Shandong), and ordered the nationwide field army and water-borne army to assemble in Zhuo-zhou, including 10,000 fishermen industry people from the Huai and Yangtze river area, 30,000 bowmen, and 30,000 shield-spearmen from southern China. At Zhuozhou, Yang Guang further ordered the construction of 50,000 carts and chariots for shipping the supply to the north. In the autumn, flooding erupted in today's Shandong-Hebei. Rebellions erupted over the extraction of manpower and grain supply etc. In A.D. 612, Emperor Yangdi's first Koguryo campaign was defeated. In March of A.D. 612, Emperor Yangdi personally arrived at the Liao-he River which began melting already and ordered ‘gong-bu shang-shu’ Yuwen Kai to build three bridges over the river. Heh Chou completed the bridge while under the attack by the Koguryo army, with generals Mai Tiezhang, Qian Shixiong, and Meng Jincha killed in this battle. The Sui army crossed the bridge to surround the Liaodong-cheng city. In June, the emperor arrived at Liaodong-cheng to personally direct the siege from the newly-built Luhe-cheng command center, and scolded the generals for the incompetence. The emperor divided the troops to attack the outlying cities as well. An army of 305,000 men under the command of Yuwen Shu and Yu Zhongwen continued on to the Yalu-jiang River, with Koguryo General Yizhi-wende (Eulji Mundeok) faking surrender to cross the river for detecting the Sui army’s status. Korean General Yizhi-wende faked defeat seven times to induce the Sui army to Sa-shui (Qingchuan-jiang/Cheongcheon) River, and when the Sui army crossed the river to attack Pyongyang in July, Yizhi-wende again pretended to surrender with a promise to have the Koguryo king visit the Sui emperor to make apology and then broke a pre-constructed dam on the upperstream Sa-shui River to inundate the Sui army. Yizhi-wende then chased the Sui army all the way to the Yalu-jiang River, with 2700 Sui army troops surviving to return to Liaodong-cheng which the Sui army failed to take after five months’ siege. Over the sea, ‘Canghai-dao’ navy general Lai Hu’er, as ‘Pingrang-dao (Pyongyang) xingjun zongguan3’ and with a purported army strength of 200,000 men, crossed the Yellow Sea at Donglai, landed at the Pei-shui (Datong-jiang/Deadong) River estuary to attack Pyongyang, initially defeated the Koguryo army led by the king’s brother Gao Jian but was ambushed at the Pyongyang’s outer castles, where the Koguryo army spread money and weapons on the ground to loosen the Sui army’s guards. After learning that Yuwen Shu’s land army was defeated by Koguryo, Lai Hu’er aborted the Pyongyang campaign. In A.D. 613, Emperor Yangdi ordered a second campaign. The campaign aborted when Yang Xuan'gan, son of court minister Yang Su (Duke Yueguo-gong), rebelled at the hind. Yang Xuan'gan, who succeeded his father's title and was conferred the court minister title and post of 'honglu-qing' and 'libu shangshu', was assigned the task of collecting the military grains in Junxian when he rebelled in spring of A.D. 613, at the time when Sui launched the second campaign against Koguryo. Li Mi, a descendant of the Pushan-gong hereditary title, came to the aid of rebellion. Yang Xuan'gan befriended Li Mi after Yang Su met Li Mi in the countryside where the latter was seeking refuge. Li Mi first proposed to Yang Xuan'gan to attack Youzhou to cut off the return path of the expedition army from the Liao-dong area, and when not taken, advised to attack Chang'an. But on both occasions, Yang Xuan'gan did not heed the advice, and attacked Luoyang instead but failed to sack the heavily-fortified city. Luoyang, i.e., the central prefecture, was a fort that was called by 'si zhan zhi di', namely, a vulnerable land that had to be defended on four sides. Yang Xuan'gan incurred three defeats in face of the Sui relief army which returned from the expedition, with the expedition army soldiers eager to rescue their family members. Yang Xuan'gan asked to be killed by brother Yang Jishan after a defeat in the hands of Yuwen Shu's army at the Battle of Dongduyuan. Li Mi, after escaping alive, fled to seek refuge in the countryside a second time in his life, with his first escape being the incident of fleeing the Sui court where he was an imperial attache. In A.D. 614, Emperor Yangdi ordered a third futile campaign against Koguryo. Emperor Yangdi, while touring Yanmen (Shanxi) in A.D. 615, was surrounded by the Turks. The Turks came to aid Koguryo. However, Yangdi broke the promise to the Turks and reissued the decree to assemble an army to attack Koguryo. In A.D. 616, Yangdi, against the advice, left the capital for the Yangtze riverbank again. Rebellion against the Sui Rule Sui Dynasty's demise was very much to do with its two defeats in the campaign against Koguryo. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese never returned from the Koguryo battlefield. Koguryo erected monuments at the site of Sui Dynasty soldiers' mass graves. Dozen years later, Tang Emperor Taizong dispatched troops for dismantling the Koguryo monuments at the site of Sui Dynasty soldiers' mass graves, scaring Koguryo King Jianwu into building the defense walls from Fuyu to the seaside in the Koguryo coast. It would be in A.D. 668, during Tang Emperor Gaozong's reign, that China would defeat Koguryo, with 30,000 Koguryo people exiled to the Yangtze and Huai-shui River area as well as Shan-nan (i.e., south of the mountain, i.e., south of today's Qin-ling ridge). The Wagang-jun Rebels Over a dozen rebellions erupted against Sui Dynasty. In A.D. 611, the 7th year of the Daye era, rebellion first erupted in today's Zouping, Shandong, where heavy extractions for manpower, grains and ship building were ordered for the Koguryo campaign. In Mt. Changbai-shan (Zhangqiu of Shandong), Wang Bo, a rebel, called for the people to rebel against the emperor rather than to die in the campaign east of the Liao-he River of today's Manchuria. Liu Badao, a wealthy local hegemony, led a rebellion in Pingyuan (Pingyuan of Shandong), called his army by the Uncle's Army, and set the base at Douzihang (Huimin of Shandong). Gao Shida, in Xindu (Jingxian of Hebei), staged a Qinghe rebellion, and set the base at Gaojipo. In Zhangnan of Qinghe, Sun Anzu, being forced to join the expedition army for the Koguryo battles, killed the county magistrate, and led the rebels to Gaojipo. Zhang Jincheng, in Shuxian of Qinghe (Xiajin of Shandong), staged a rebellion and set his base at Hequ (the Daqing-he River inflexion point). Sun Anzu, Gaoshida and Zhang Jincheng's bands later all went under Dou Jiande's command. (Sun Anzu was killed by Zhang Jincheng, while Gao Shida and Zhang Jincheng were killed by Sui generals Guo Xun and Yang Yichen, respectively, in A.D. 616.) Meanwhile, in Weicheng of Dong-jun (today's Huaxian of Henan), Zhai Rang, a prefecture executioner, led a rebellion of hunters and fishermen, and together with Shan Xiongxin and Xu Shiji et al., amassed an army of over 10,000 on Mt. Wagang [tile hill]. The rebels intercepted the government transportation on the Yongji-qu Canal. In Zhangnan of Qinghe (Wucheng of Shandong), Dou Jiande, a chief of 200 people, staged a rebellion after being wanted by the government for aiding rebel Sun Anzu. Dou Jiande took his rebels to Gaojipo (Gucheng of Hebei) to join Gao Shida's rebellion. In Qijun (Shandong), Du Fuwei and Fu Gongtuo staged a rebellion, and led the rebels south to the area of the Huai and Yangtze rivers. Du Fuwei and Fu Gongtuo's rebels pressed on against the Sui emperor's temporary capital, Jiangdu (Yangzhou). The rebels defeated Sui general Chen Leng. After taking over Gaoyou and Liyang, the rebels declared the establishment of a regime. In A.D. 611, Sui general Zhang Xutuo, who was in charge of Qi-jun (Ji'nan) as 'cheng', cracked down on the Wang Bo rebellion, pressing the rebels on a flee southward to Lu-jun (Yanzhou). Zhang defeated the rebels, chasing them back to the north. In A.D. 613 and 614, Zhang Xutuo, in small numbers, repeatedly engaged with the rebels and defeated them. After defeating the rebels in today's Shandong, Zhang set his eyes on the Wagang-jun rebels to the west. Zhang Xutuo defeated the Wagang-jun rebels over 30 times. In A.D. 616, Wang Bodang, in Jiyin-jun (Dingtao of Shandong), staged a rebellion. In A.D. 616, rebels Wang Bodang and Li Mi came to Mt. Wagang to join the rebels. With Li Mi's strategy, the Wagang-jun Army planned to attack the Luokoucang grain barn. The rebels sacked Jinti-guan, a gateway to Xingyang. Zhang Xutuo was promoted to be head ('tong shou') of Xingyang (Henan), in place of 'tai shou' Yang Qing, i.e., Sui King Huan-wang, who failed to fight the rebels. Several times, Zhang Xutuo defeated Zhai Rang when the rebels attempted to raid the Luokou-cang grain barn; however, Zhang Xutuo was ambushed in the forests north of Dahaishi (large sea monastery) at the Battle of Dahaishi in Jintiguan by a small band of over 1,000 cavalry army arranged by rebel Li Mi. In Dahaishi of Xingyang, the rebels defeated a Sui army of 20,000, and killed Sui general Zhang Xutuo. Zhang Xutuo, who broke out of the siege, went back into the battlefield to save his troops, a bravery that history recorded to be four times in and out of the encirclement. About 5000 remnants of Zhang's fighters, who cried days over Zhang's death, were taken in by Pei Renji (imperial 'guanglu dafu') at Hulaoguan. The Wagang-jun Army took over the imperial Xingluocang grain barn. The Wagang-jun rebels took over Xingyang. Qin Shubao, a Sui general under Zhang Xutuo, who defeated numerous rebels including rebel Lu Mingyue in Xiapi in A.D. 614 and rebel Sun Xuanya in Haiqu (seaside curve), was taken in by Sui general Pei Renji after the death of Zhang Xutuo. At about the same time, Cheng Zhijie (Cheng Yaojin), a regional militia leader in Dong'a (Dong'e) of Jizhou, came to Wagang to join the ranks of Li Mi. Sui King Yue-wang Yang Jiong ordered Pei Renji to take in Zhang Xutuo's troops for garrison at Hulaoguan. In A.D. 616, Dou Jiande, who succeeded Gao Shida, defeated an attack led by Sui's Zhuojun general ('tong shou'), Guo Xun, and killed him. Dou, in 617, declared himself King of Changle-wang in Loushou (Xianxian of Hebei). At Hejian, Dou Jiande at one time destroyed a Sui relief army to Luoyang, about 30,000 troops led by Xue Shixiong ('liu shou' of Zhuo-jun). Xu Yuanlang, who staged a rebellion in Jan, joined Li Mi but later went to Dou Jiande's side after Li Mi's defeat. The rebels defeated an attack led by Sui General Xue Shixiong. In 618, Dou changed his title to King Xia-wang. In early A.D. 617, the rebels took over the Luokou-cang grain barn which was to the west of Xingyang. Emperor Yangdi decreed to have Wang Shichong organize an army against the rebels at Luokou. Sui general Wang Shichong was defeated by the rebels and fled back to Luoyang. Yang Jiong forgave Wang's defeat and ordered him to set up the camp at Hanjiacang. The rebels consecutively took over the Hui-luo-cang grain barn to the north of Luoyang and the Liyang-cang barn of Weizhou. Meng Rang and Hao Xiaode et al., joined the Wagang-jun rebels. In 617, Sui King Yue-wang (Yang Jiong), a Sui royal in charge of Luoyang, dispatched Liu Changgong and Pei Renji on another campaign against the rebels. At this time, Li Mi had formed the Pushan-gong-ying core troops within the Wagang-jun army. The rebels, forming ten columns, defeated the Sui army. Liu Changgong fled back to Luoyang, while Pei Renji, who guarded the Hulao-guan [lock-up tiger] pass, surrendered to the rebels. Qin Shubao, who served under Pei Renji, also surrendered to the Wagang-jun army. The Wagang-jun rebels declared the dynasty of Wei, with three ministries and six military wings. After the victory, Zhai Rang very much yielded the command to Li Mi for his exceptional military talents. Li Mi was conferred the title of Duke Wei-gong, and set his capital at Luokou of Xingyang, and declared the dynastic era of Yongping. Serving under Li Mi would be two intellectuals called Wei Zheng and Xu Jingzong whose father Xu Shanxin ('shilang' minister of Sui Dynasty's 'libu' [protocol] department) was killed by Yuwen Huaji during the Jiangdu (Yangzhou) coup. In April, Li Mi laid siege of Luoyang and obtained the defection of Pei Renji at Hulaoguan. The rebels took over the Liyang-cang grain barn. Zigzag battles with Wang Shichong continued. Rebels across the country, including Meng Rang, Dou Jiande, Zhu Can, Yang SHilin, Meng Haigong, Xu Yuanlang, Lu Zushang and Zhou Faming et al., called on Li Mi to be an emperor. Li Yuan, who took over Chang'an, sent a messenger to call Li Mi by brother. Later in the year, in November, Li Mi instigated the killing of the Zhai Rang brothers, and took over the Wagang-jun army leadership completely. The trigger came from the resentment expressed by Zhai Rang over the loss of power that he previously enjoyed. Wang Bodang, who became Li Mi's confidante and was conferred the title of Laya-jun-gong, stopped the mutineers from killing Xu Shiji. In 617, Wang Bodang defeated the Sui army led by Wang Shichong. In March of A.D. 618, Yuwen Huaji had Sui Emperor Yangdi killed by strangle in Jiangdu, and placed Yang Hao, King Qin-wang and a nephew of Sui Emperor Yangdi, on the throne as the new emperor while he himself acted as the prime minister. Yuwen Huaji massacred numerous Sui royals and ministers to solidify the control of the Jiangdu temporary capital. Yuwen Huaji, with over 100,0000 troops, pushed north. Yuwen Huaji first sailed to Xuzhou via the canal, and then took over Dongjun to the north. Yuwen Huaji intended to take the Liyangcang grain barn to the west so as to overpower the competing Sui court. In Luoyang, the seven elite Sui ministers (Duan Da, Wang Shichong, Yuan Wendu, Wei Jin, Huangfu Wuyi, Lu Chu, Guo Wenyi and Zhao Changwen) made Yang Jiong into the new emperor, declaring the era of Huangtai. Yang Hao, to impede Yuwen Huaji, offered to pacify Li Mi's Wagang-jun rebels, inducing the rebels to fight against Yuwen Huaji. Li Mi took the conferral as "tai wei" (imperial captain). In June, Yuwen Huaji's army reached Liyang (Junxian of Henan). Li Mi and the Wagang-jun rebels, at a great loss, defeated Yuwen Huaji, with Li Mi wounded in battle. However, at Luoyang, Wang Shichong staged a mutiny, killing Yuan Wendu et al., and hijacking the Sui court. Li Mi hence refused to enter the Sui court as agreed upon earlier. Li Mi set his camp at Mt. Mangshan, outside of Luoyang. Yuwen Huaji, after defeat in the hands of the Wagang-jun rebels, fled north to Weixian (Daming of Hebei). His followers continued to desert him for the Li Mi rebels' camp. In September of A.D. 618, Yuwen Huaji, seeing his imminent defeat, ordered to have the proxy emperor, Yang Hao, and other Sui royals killed, while he himself next declared himself to be an emperor, with the state name of Xu and the era of Tianshou (heaven's longevity). In 619, Li Shentong, an uncle of Li Yuan, defeated Yuwen Huaji and pressed him on a flee to Liaocheng (Shandong). In February of 619, Dou Jiande defeated and caught Yuwen Huaji, and executed him and his sons at Xiangguo-jun (Xingtai of Hebei). Yuwen's ancestor was formerly a Hun with the name of Poyetou who sought protection with the Yuwen Xianbei tribe. Dou Jiande retrieved Empress Xiao-hou, the former Sui empress who was taken in by Yuwen Huaji after the killing of Emperor Yangdi, and escorted the empress and the Sui Emperor's grandson (Yang Zhengdao) to the Turkic territories for protection under Princess Yicheng. In August 619, Dou Jiande moved his capital to Luozhou (Yongnian of Hebei). At this time, Dou Jiande had formed an alliance with Wang Shichong as well as with the Turks. In September of A.D. 618, the Sui army, under the command of Wang Shichong, defeated the Wagang-jun army. Li Mi, after a defeat, took the army to Yanshi, rather than taking Pei Renji's advice to launch a stealthy raid against Luoyang. Wang Shichong defeated the rebels, and caught Pei Renji, Zu Junyan and Cheng Zhijie (Cheng Yaojin). Shan Xiongxin, Cheng Yaojin and Qin Shubao surrendered to Yang Jiong, while Li Mi and Wang Bodang, with about 20,000 remnants, escaped to seek asylum with the Tang army, leading to the demise of the Wagang-jun's Wei dynasty regime. Months later, Li Mi and Wang Bodang obtained the Tang's approval to leave for pacifying the Wagang-jun army remnants at Liyang (Junxian of henan), but Tang emperor Li Yuan changed mind and recalled the entourage. Li Mi and Wang Bodang, fearing for their life, hence broke away from Tang, taking over Yaolin (Lingbao of Henan) and marching south through the Xiongershan mountain towards Xiangcheng-jun for combining forces with former subordinate Zhang Shanxiang. To the south of Mt. Xiongershan, Li Mi and Wang Bodang were ambushed at the Xinggong-xian steep-hill pass (Luhun of Henan) by Tang generals Shi Wanbao and Sheng Yanshi, and got killed. Wang Bodang, a legendary figure in the romance novel of Sui-Tang Romance (Sui Tang yan-yi), to save Li Mi, was shot by arrows first. Xu Shiji, upon seeing Li Mi's decapitated head, surrendered Liyang (Junxian of Henan) to the Tang army. (Li Mi had left a poem about having tears after reflecting upon the ancient history [Zhan jin he suo wei, chang ran huai gu yi] and vowing to let all contenders of the world know he was not to squander his life away for nothing [Ji yan shi shang xiong, xu sheng zhen ke kui]. Later, Tang minister Wei Zheng wrote a remembrance article, pointing out that Li Mi died for his over-sensitivity as to the lord's suspicion of his ambition. Li Mi first fled the Sui court for the countryside when he learnt that Sui emperor had inquired about him over his exceptional appearance, and then fled across the country over Yang Xingmi's rebellion, that earned him the title of 'no-dying king' for escaping alive numerous times.) In 619, Zhu Can, a notorious cannibal rebel, also surrendered to Wang Shichong after killing a Tang emissary. Dou Jiande nominally was pacified by Wang Shichong as well. In April of 619, Wang Shichong killed Yang Jiong and declared himself an emperor with the state of Zheng and the era of Kaiming (transparent). In 619, Cheng Zhijie (Cheng Yaojin), Qin Shubao, Wu Heita (?) and Niu Jingda et al., left Wang Shichong's camp prior to the Battle of Jiuqu (nine winding) and defected to the Tang side. Shan Xiongxin stayed on with Wang Shichong, to be defeated, caught and executed by Tang later, on which occasion blood-brother Xu Shiji (Li Ji) cut off a part of his buttocks to feed into the mouth of Shan Xiongxin as forever farewell. In May of 618, Li Yuan declared the founding of Tang Dynasty and set the capital in Chang'an. In June, Xue Ju attacked east against Tang. Xue, a colonel ('xiao wei') in Jincheng of western China, hijacked the Sui official ('ling') of Jincheng and rebelled against the Sui rule in A.D. 617; declared himself the western Qin hegemony king of Xi-Qin-bang-wang, with an era of Qinxing; and upgraded himself to being an emperor in today's Lanzhou area. In 617, Xue Ju's first attack against the Guan-zhong area was repelled by Li Shimin. Li managed to buy over the Turkic ruler Mo-he-duo-she, an ally of Xue Ju's. In June of 618, Xue Ju led another attack to the east, reaching Binzhou (Binxian) and Qizhou (Fengxiang of Shenxi). Li Shimin, who was conferred a marshal post, led eight 'zong guan' generals against Xue Ju. With Li Shimin being ill, Xue Jue defeated the Tang army led by Liu Wenjing and Yin Kaishan et al., and captured some Tang 'zong guan' generals. In August, Xue Ju died of illness; and son Xue Ren'gao succeeded. In November, Li Shimin adopted a defense strategy at Gaozhi (Changwu), leading to the drain-up of grains among the Xue army. After over 60 days' confrontation, the Tang army counterattacked Xue Ren'gao, defeated him at Qianshuiyuan (shallow water plateau), and captured and killed Xue Ren'gao.
Tang Dynasty In May of 618, Li Yuan declared the founding of Tang Dynasty and set the capital in Chang'an. The Tang dynasty was noted for the same destabilizing symptoms as the Han dynasty, i.e., empress intervention, eunuch power corruption, and warlord turmoil. Li Yuan was said to have rebelled against Sui Dynasty after he slept with Sui Emperor Yangdi's concubines in the imperial Jinyang Palace as a result of son Li Shimin's plot in intoxicating his father for sake of offending the Sui Dynasty emperor. Historians commented that the Tang Dynasty emperors were all womanizers who were doomed in losing their throne to their wives or concubines. Cai Dongfan commented that Tang Emperor Taizong's admonition official, Wei Zheng, never mentioned abstinence in sex in his "Ten Admonitions". After the death of Empress Zhangsun (again a Tuoba woman), Tang Emperor Taizong took in a young girl called Wu Zhao, i.e., later Empress Wu Zetian, someone who would kill two of her four own sons for sake of usurping the Tang Dynasty rule. Wu Zhao, being almost put to death by Tang Emperor Taizong for her affairs with heir Gaozong, was spared death after she begged to be a nun. After Tang Emperor Gaozong's enthronement, Wu Zhao was retrieved from the monastery. Under Wu Zhao's rule, the Tang royals were persecuted. Citing the story of the Han empress Zhao Feiyan's killing the emperor's siblings (i.e., 'yan [swallow, i.e., the given name of Zhao Feiyan] zhuo [pecking] huang [imperial] sun [grandsons]'), Luo Binwang, in the rebellion pronouncement to the nation on behalf of Xu Jingye, claimed that Wu Zhao put the emperor under house arrest, and killed own sons and brother. Tang Dynasty's decline started with the An-Shi Rebellion during Emperor Xuanzong's reign, with Concubine Yang Gui-fei being the scapegoat in history. Cai Dongfan called the Tang emperors by "turtles" for the apparent "incest" within the royal family. Tang Emperor Gaozu (reign A.D. 618-626) Tang Dynasty's founder, Li Yuan, rebelled against Sui Dynasty as a result of his son Li Shimin's masterminding. Li Yuan, for sake of fighting Sui Dynasty, colluded with the Turks. Li Yuan sent his minister (Liu Wenjing) to the Eastern Turks (ruled by Khan Shibi) for borrowing 2000 horses and 500 cavalry. At this time, Turkic Khan Shibi subjugated Tuyuhun in Gansu-Qinghai, Gaochang near Turpan, Khitans and Shiwei in northwestern Manchuria and eastern Mongolia. Khan Shibi intervened in China's civil wars and assisted Li Yuan's rivals, such as Liu Wuzhou & Liang Shidu. After the death of Khan Shibi, his brother, Chuluo Khan (same name as Chuluo Khan during Sui Dynasty time period but a different person), would be enthroned. Chuluo Khan assisted another Tang rival, Wang Shichong. Later, Chuluo Khan retrieved ex-Sui Empress Xiaohou and ex-Sui royal family from still another Tang rival called Dou Jiande. Chuluo Khan erected an ex-Sui royal member as the new Sui King. Chuluo Khan was determined to fight Tang on behalf of dethroned Sui Dynasty, saying that he wanted to return favor to Sui for Sui's helping his ancestors in the restoration of the Turkic khanate. Later, Chuluo Khan died and his brother, Khan Xieli, would be enthroned. Khan Xieli was dissuaded from an alliance with another Tang rival called Xue Ju. Khan Xieli would erect his cousin, i.e., Shibi Khan's son, as Khan Tuli (same name as Tuli during Sui Dynasty time period) in the east, and Tuli would take charge of the ancient tribes of Khitans and Mohe (ancestors of Jurchens. Khan Xieli would take over Princess Yicheng as his wife. Princess Yicheng's brother (Yang Sanjing) and Wang Shichong's emissary would somehow persuade Khan Xieli into challenging Tang Dynasty on behalf of dethroned Sui. In A.D. 621, Khan Xieli invaded Yanmenguan Pass and Dai Prefecture. In July of 619, Xu Yuanlang defected to the Tang side and received the conferral as the high official in charge of the Shandong peninsula, Duke Lujun-gong and 'zong guan' of Yanzhou. Later in August 621, Xu Yuanlang echoed the rebellion of Liu Heita's Zhangnan rebellion as a result of the execution death of Dou Jiande, i.e., their former leader, in the hands of Tang. In July of 620, Li Shimin commanded a Tang army in a campaign against the central plains. Li Shimin took over numerous cities and laid siege of Wang Shichong at Luoyang. Wang called on Dou Jiande for sending a relief army. In A.D. 621, i.e., the 4th year of Tang's Wude era, Li Shimin, at the Battle of Yuke, was almost killed by Shan Xiongxin. Yuchi Jingde and Xu Shiji intervened to save Li Shimin. At the siege battle of Funiushan the Tang army captured Shan Xiongxin. In A.D. 621, Dou Jiande, with 100,000 army, came to the aid of Wang Shichong in the battles against the Tang army for the control of central China of the time. Dou Jiande rebutted an advice to cross the Yellow River to take over the Tang army's old base. In May, at Hulao-guan, northwest of Xingyang, the Tang army defeated Dou Jiande's relief army and captured Dou Jiande. During the duel against the Wang Shichong-Dou Jiande allied army, Qin Shubao, commanding a commando cavalry team, raided into Dou Jiande's camp to defeat the enemy. Li Shimin rebuked Dou Jiande for coming a long distance to take part in the war. Dou Jiande sarcastically replied that he came here so that Li Shimin would not have to go a long distance to fight him. Dou Jiande was decapitated in Chang'an. Pei Ju, i.e., Dou Jiande's subordinate, surrendered Luozhou to the Tang army. Wang Shichong, en route of exile, was killed by feud Dugu Xiude at Yongzhou, while the rest of his family were killed before reaching the Sichuan basin, i.e., the land of exile. Wang was from the Yuezhi family of the western territories and took the family name after his mother was remarried. Liu Heita, an old acquaitance of Dou Jiande, first followed Hao Xiaode in joining the Wangang-jun army; after the Wagang-jun's defeat in the hands of Wang Shichong, fled to join Dou Jiande's army; and after Dou Jiande's defeat, returned to the countryside for farming before rebelling again as a result of death of Dou Jiande. Liu's rebels at the beginning defeated an allied Tang army led by Li Shentong and Luo Yi, repelled a Tang army attack led by Xu Shiji, and captured the Xue Wanjun brothers. In A.D. 622, Liu Heida declared himself King Handong-wang and set his capital at Luozhou, i.e., Dou Jiande's former capital. At Luoshui (Quzhou of Hebei), the Tang army led by Li Shimin defeated Liu Heida by breaking the dyke of the Luoshui-yan River. Liu Heida fled to seek help with the Turks. With reinforcements, Liu Heida returned south, and at Xiabo (Shenxian of Hebei), defeated and killed Li Daoxuan, i.e., Tang's King Huaiyang-wang and 'xingjun da zong guan' for the Hebei-dao Circuit. In A.D. 623, Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji defeated Liu Heita at the Battle of Changle (Nanle of Henan). The two Tang princes adopted Wei Zheng's advice to set free the prisoners to sow dissension among Liu Heida's army. Liu Heida thereafter lost control of his army and was defeated. Du Fuwei and Fu Gongtuo's rebels, who controlled today's Anhui-Jiangsu area, had a split in the face of the Tang attacks. Du Fuwei surrendered to Tang in 622, while Fu Gongtuo fought on at Danyang for another ten months till captured and killed. For several years, Tang and the Turks fought numerous battles across the northern border areas. By the 7th year of Tang Emperor Gaozu, in A.D. 626, Li Shimin or Li Shih-min (i.e., King Qin of Tang Dynasty and later Tang Emperor Taizong or Tai-tsung, A.D. 597-649), sowed a dissension among Xieli Khan and Tuli Khan. Unable to call upon Tuli to fight Tang further, Xieli Khan sent Tuli Khan and Simo to Tang for sake of striking a peace treaty with Tang. Tuli Khan and King Qin promised to be brothers, while Tang Emperor Gaozu said to Simo that he felt he had seen Khan Xieli by meeting with Simo. In the following two years, Tang was busy building ships around the North Bend of the Yellow River for defence against the Turks, while the Turks broke the peace and kept attacking Tang. Tang Emperor Taizong (reign A.D. 627-649) Li Shimin [aka Li Shih-min], being merely 16 years old at the time of rebellion against Sui, was credited as the real initiator and founder of the Tang state and the mastermind of rebellion against the Sui. During the 22 years of reign, Li Shimin, i.e., Tang Emperor Taizong, was able to build a grand-scale empire extending from Koguryo to Central Asia. Taizong defeated the Turks of Mongolia in A.D. 630, and the Tibetans in two campaigns of A.D. 639-40 & A.D. 647-48. However, Taizong's two wars against Koguryo during A.D. 640s failed. In the matter of Tibet, Taizong pacified King Srong-tsan-sgam-po of Tibet by marrying over a princess in A.D. 641 and helping to convert Tibet to Buddhism. Taizong was credited with propagating the civil service exam system that was well developed during Sui Dynasty. Though people attributed the developments of various religions, including Daoism, Buddhism and Nestorian Christian, to Emperor Taizong, do note that Tang Dynasty forbade travelling overseas. Note that Tang famous monk Xuanzang [Hsuan-tsang] had stealthily crossed the border, with no government sanctions. And, Tang Dynasty often resorted to forceful conversion of monks and nuns to civilians for sake of raising taxes and depriving religious facilities of their "tax-exempt" status. In A.D. 626, Tang Emperor Taizong killed two brothers (i.e., Li Jiancheng & Li Yuanji) and later forced Emperor Gaozu into abdication. This is called the 'Xuanwumen Coup' in Tang's history. Previously, Li Jiancheng had mounted several attempts at assassinating Li Shimin, and at one time sent shields to Yang Wen'gan, 'du du' [governor-general] for the Qingzhou prefecture, which led to the execution death of the latter for rebellion. History stated that Li Yuanji, a culprit, intended to hire over Li Shimin's generals by proposing to elder brother Li Jiancheng that a gift (i.e., "silver cart") be given to Yuchi Jingde. This is because Li Yuanji, having at one time lost three rounds of "shuo" (long spear) contest against Yuchi Jingde, was afraid of Yuchi Jingde (i.e., a general of To'pa clan origin, or alternatively speaking, origin in the western territories). Yuchi Jingde declined Li Jiancheng's offer and moreover informed Li Shimin of it. Li Jiancheng brothers then dispatched an assassin against Yuchi Jingde, but the assassin retreated after seeing that Yuchi Jingde deliberately left the door of his residency open. Ji Jiancheng brothers petitioned Tang Emperor Gaozu in 1) killing Yuchi Jingde, 2) banishing Cheng Zhijie to the Kangzhou prefecture as a satrap, and 3) removing the rest of Li Shimin cronies (like Fang Xuanling, and Du Ruhui et al.) from Li Shimin's King Qin Office. Fang Xuanling hence asked Zhangsun Wuji in relaying a message to Li Shimin for an initiative against Li Jiancheng brothers. Zhangsun Wuji was a brother of Li Shimin's wife, and son of Sui Dynasty general Zhangsun Cheng. Among Li Shimin's cronies, Li Jing & Li Shiji were said to have had no opinion as to coup. Using the Turkic invasion as an excuse, Li Jiancheng recommended Li Yuanji for the expedition job for sake of segregating those cronies away from Li Shimin. Li Yuanji requested for Yuchi Jingde and King Qin's cronies for joining the campaign against the Turks. When Li Shimin heard that Li Jiancheng brothers intended to assassinate him at the scene of seeing Li Yuanji off, Li Shimin instructed Yuchi Jingde and Zhangsun Wuji to arrange a coup. Li Shimin first went to see his father-emperor with accusation that Li Jiancheng brothers had sex with concubines inside the imperial palace. Tang Emperor Gaozu called on Li Jiancheng brothers to come to the court for an explanation. When Li Jiancheng brothers came, they fell into Li Shimin's ambush and were killed. The followers of Li Jiancheng brothers, after failing to come into palace, went to attack King Qin Li Shimin's residency. Yuchi Jingde took the heads of Li Jiancheng brothers to those followers and quelled/dispersed them. Thereafter, Yuchi Jingde rode to the palace to have Tang Emperor Gaozu decree that King Qin be the crown price to be in charge of the military. All sons of Li Jiancheng brothers were ordered to be executed. Wei Zheng, a counsellor (i.e., "si ma") of Li Jiancheng, was called over by Li Shimin. Li Shiming rebuked Wei Zheng for his constant advice to Li Jiancheng in getting rid of Li Shimin as well as for Wei Zheng's refusal to bow down in front of Li Shimin. After Wei Zheng cited the story of Guan Zhong of Qi Principality, Li Shimin pardoned Wei Zheng and retained him as a counsellor (i.e., "zhu bu"). A few more officials were retained by Li Shimin. At Youzhou (Peking), King Lujiangwang, a brother of Tang Emperor Gaozu, was sold out by his inlaw-general Wang Junkuo for the implication with Li Jiancheng. At the urge of Wei Zheng, an amnesty was issued to pardon the followers of Dong-gong (the Eastern Palace of Li Jiancheng), King Qi-wang, and King Lujiang-wang. Wei Zheng was dispatched to the east for pacification. A concubine of Li Yuanji was taken over by Li Shimin, and mourning and posthumous titles were given for the two slain brothers. Soon, Tang Emperor Gaozu abdicated. Once Li Shimin enthroned as Tang Emperor Taizong, he issued a general amnesty, including no taxation for two years for the capital area, an imperial bestowal of grain and cloth for the elder people above age 80, and the release of 3000 palace maids and concubines. The modest and economical Zhangsun-shi was made into the empress: she advised against his brother Zhangsun Wuji's taking up more imperial posts as well as abstained from interfering in politics. Empress Zhangsun was noted for her incessant reading of books, even at the time of doing the cosmetic makeup. For the empress' virtuousness, the emperor, similar to Eastern Han Dynasty founding emperor Guangwudi's devotion to empress Yin Lihua, had doted on Empress Zhangsun till her death. Just twenty days after Taizong got enthroned, Eastern Turkic Khan Xieli attacked Tang under the instigation of Liang Shidu (i.e., Emperor Liang-di). Over 100,000 Turks attacked the Jingzhou & Wugong area. Yuchi Jingde was dispatched to the front as "xingjun [travelling column] zongguan [commander]" for the Jingzhou-dao Circuit. After a defeat in the hands of Yuchi Jingde, Khan Xieli circumvented to the Wei-shui River, just a dozen miles away from the Tang capital. Turkic official Zhi-shi-si-li entered Chang'an to see Tang Emperor Taizong for extracting more Chinese tributes. Emperor Taizong then personally led the garrison troops to the Wei-shui bank and rebuked Khan Xieli for disrupting peace. Taizong was said to have a one-to-one discussion with the Turkic khan, over which people had speculated that Taizong knew how to speak the Turkic language and must be a Turk in disguise. Note that the Yang and Li surnames were among the ninety-nine double-character and other polysyllabic Xianbei surnames that were ordered to be reverted back to the Han ethnic surnames after the demise of the Yuwen's Western Wei Dynasty. There could be a chance that the bi-lingual skill among the ruling elites was a necessity during the Yuwen Western Tuoba Dynasty time period, something that did not necessarily point to the possibility that the barbarian rulers had adopted the Chinese names for sake of appearing to be some orthodox Chinese ruling northern China. In another word, the Yang and Li families were indeed orthodox Chinese who survived under the barbarian rule for hundreds of years. Khan Xieli sent over an emissary for peace. Emperor Taizong (T'ai-tsong) sought peace with the Eastern Turks by using the blood of a white horse for writing a sworn testament on "bian qiao" (i.e., a convenience bridge). Emperor Taizong explained to Xiao Yu that he had sought for peace by loosening the guard of the Turks. Khan Xieli later sent in 3000 horses and 10000 sheep, but Taizong declined the offer but requested for repatriation of the Chinese taken captives by the Turks. Taizong also encouraged the practice of military exercises and training right inside of the palaces for sake of preparing for a future conflict with the Turks. Son Li Chengqian (619-645) was made into a Tang Dynasty crown prince in A.D. 626. On the new year day of A.D. 627, Taizong ordered the music "King Qin Stampeding the Enemy Positions". Days later, King Yanjun-wang Li Yi rebelled at Jingzhou with an attempt at grabbing the Binzhou prefecture. On the way of fleeing to the Turks, Li Yi was killed by his bodyguards. Li Yi's family was executed at the capital. Wang Junkuo, who had sold out his master before, was recalled to the capital; and on the road to the capital, he fled to the Turks and was also killed while en route to the Turks. Taizong often consulted with his counsellors for admonishing his behaviors. Aside from Wei Zheng, a justice official, i.e., dali shaoqing, Dai Zhou, was put in charge. Sun Fujia was made into an admonition official. Li Qianyou was made into "waitering censor". Zu Xiaosun was empowered with ridding the court music of "lascivious tones". Wang Gui was conferred the post as "shi zhong" (i.e., imperial attache). Wang Gui advised against Taizong's taking over King Lujiang-wang's concubine because this woman was previously grabbed by King Lujiang-wang after the killing of the woman's old man. Later in 643, Emperor Taizong, in imitation of Han Emperor Mingdi's order to display the drawings of Guangwu-di's twenty-eight generals at the Yuntai-ge [cloud terrace] Palace Building, ordered minister Yan Liben to make drawings of twenty-four generals and civil ministers at the Ling-yan-ge [above the cloud] Palace Building. The names were: Fang XuanLing, Du Ruhui, Zhangsun Wuji, Wei Zheng, Yuchi Jingde, Li Xiaogong, GAO SHILIAN, Li Jing, Xiao Yu, Duan ZhiXuan, Liu Hongji, Qu Tutong, Yin Kaishan, Chai shao, ZhangSun Shunde, Zhang Liang, Hou Junji, Zhang Gongjin, Cheng Zhijie, Yu Shinan, Liu Zhenghui, Tang Jian, Li Shiji and Qin Shubao. In 644, crown prince Li Chengqian was deposed for the A.D. 642 scheme to assassinate brother Li Tai (King Wei-wang) and subsequent scheming with Hou Junji et al to usurp the throne. Li Chengqian was known for adopting the Hunnic-Turkic hair style of 'ZHUI1 [back of the head] jie2 [bundling the hair]" - while the Sinitic Chinese bundled the hair at the top of the head, liked to eat the Hu style food and speak the Turkic language, and adopted the Turkic wolf-head 'dao' [military flag]. Hou Junji, for his involvement in the conspiracy, was killed years ago. Brother Li Zhi was made into a crown prince. Relations with the Turks After rezoning the country into ten circuits, Taizong ordered that Cai Shao (i.e., husband of Tang Princess Pingyang) and Xue Wanjun campaign against rival Liang Shidu. Liang Shidu colluded with the Turks for defence against the Tang army. Cai Shao, the Xue Wanjun brothers, and Liu Lancheng thoroughly defeated Liang Shidu and the Turks. After the Turks retreated northward, Liang Shidu's brother killed Liang Shidu and surrendered to Tang. China was completely reunited with Liang Shidu's demise. This would be after Liang Shidu's first rebelling against Sui 12 years before. The Shuofang fort was renamed the Xiazhou prefecture. This year, the Tiele Tribes, including Xueyantuo, Huihe and Bayegu, rebelled against the Turks. Khan Xieli accused Khan Tuli of failing to quell the Tiele rebellion. Being attacked by Khan Xieli, Khan Tuli requested for help with Tang Emperor Taizong in A.D. 628. The next year, Xueyantuo proclaimed themselves as a khan and sought an alliance with Tang. In November of A.D. 629, Li Ling was empowered with leading campaigns against the Turks with over 100,000 soldiers. Khan Tuli came to the court to see Emperor Taizong prior to the campaign. Taizong said that his father (Emperor Gaozu) had sought help and vassalage with the Turks because Tang was weak earlier, right after emerging victorious from a rebellion against Sui Dynasty and fighting long years of civil wars with the contenders. The Tang army defeated the Turks, with General Li Shiji (Xu Shiji) capturing over 50,000 Turks. Li Shiji was assigned the garrison post at Bingzhou for the following 16 years. A barbarian chieftain, Xie-yuan-shen, together with chieftains, came to see the emperor with tributes. Yan Shigu proposed to make a drawing of "the emperor receiving the [barbarian] chieftains". In the winter, a census was made, and China was added an addition of 1.2 million people as a result of the Chinese returnees from outside of the borders as well as numerous barbarians seeking vassalage with the Tang court. In the spring of the fourth year of Taizong's reign, A.D. 630, Tang Emperor Taizong received the victory news from Ling Jing: General Li Jing, on a full campaign against Khan Xieli with six columns of armies, captured Khan Xieli by taking advantage of the Turkic internal strife. General Li Jing, departing from Mayi, led 3000 cavalry into the Turk camp at Dingxiang and defeated Khan Xieli's army via a surprise strategy, and then led 10,000 soldiers all the way to the Yinshan Mountains (located in today's Inner Mongolia) in pursuit of Khan Xieli. A Turkic chieftain called Kang Sumi surrendered to the Tang army, together with former Sui Empress Xiaohou and a Sui descendant (Yang Zhengdao). General Li Jing retrieved the ex-empress of Sui and gave her to emperor Taizong who later took in as his mistress. General Li Jing killed princess Yicheng for her 4-time marriages without knowing 'shame'. Khan Xieli, after being defeated again, sought peace with Tang. Li Jing, thinking that the Turks might not be on alert while the Tang emissary was in their camp, attacked Khan Xieli again. Xieli alone fled to the territory of another chieftain called Shabolüe-she, but he was arrested and surrendered to the Tang army by his own cousin. Hence, the Chinese occupied Eastern Turkic Khanate (Mongolia). The remnant eastern Turks either fled to the Western Khanate or northward to the Tiele Tribe of Xueyantuo (Mandarin spelling, Turkic name unknown). Emperor Taizong, rebutting the advice of his minister Wei Zheng (who cited the Hunnic ravaging of China during the late Jinn Dynasty as a result of their dwelling to the south of the Yellow River, the Hetao [sheath] area), relocated over 100,000 eastern Turks to the border areas, all the way from today's Shaanxi-Shanxi to today's Beijing city. Taizong did accept the advice of Yan Shigu, Du Chuke and Li Baiyao in having the Turks settle down north of the Yellow River line. Taizong set up four more prefectures, i.e., Shunzhou, Youzhou, Huazhou, Changzhou, along the Great Wall, and made Khan Tuli governor-general in charge of the Shunzhou prefecture. Tuli Khan was conferred the title of King of Beiping-jun. Tuli died at the age of 29, and his son, Heluohu, succeeded the same title. During the attacks on the Eastern Turks, Emperor Taizong won over the support of eleven Tiele tribes including the Uygurs (Huihe), Bayegu, Tongluo and Pugu. The Huihe clan ranked second to the Xueyantuo tribe among the eleven tribes who had helped Tang in defeating the Eastern Turkic Khanate in A.D. 630-640. Under the sponsorship of Huihe, the tribal leaders devised a name called "Tian Ke-han" (the Heavenly Khan) for Emperor Taizong. Taizong subdivided the Eastern Khanate into altogether 10 "zhou" (an administrative unit larger than prefectures). He also allowed Khan Xieli and his officials to live in Chang'an the Tang capital, and altogether close to 10,000 Turk families moved in. A Turkic chieftain called Sijie-sijin surrendered to Tang with 40,000 people. (Sijin, a title having origin in the Xianbei and Ruruan eras, was a Turkic title equivalent to governorship. Among ten Turkic families, for example, Nushibi khan possessed five sijin. The Turks also conferred a sijin post on the Tiele Tribes and the Khitans [who mutated the name to their governor title of yilijin in the later Khitan empire era].) One brother of Khan Xieli, who first fled to Tuyuhun, came to submit to Tang, too. The Turkic chieftain at Yiwu surrendered his 7 forts to Tang, and Tang made it into Western Yizhou Prefecture. Shabolüe-she, with 50,000 people, was conferred the title of King Huaide (possessing virtues). Shabolüe-she relocated to north of Ningzhou Prefecture by vacating the land to the south of the desert. The Tang Emperor further exchanged money and silk for 80,000 Sui Chinese refugees who had earlier fled to the Turkic chieftains for asylum. Tang allowed those Chinese to come back to China as civilians. Tang's General Li Jing (a military strategist who once fled with a mistress of Sui prime minister Yang Su while being invited as a guest at the home of Yang) was later sent on another expedition to today's Qinghai-Gansu and the Tarim Basin to quell rebellion of the Tuyuhun, a group of the Qiangic people mixed with Xianbei. Tang married a princess over to the Tuyuhun king to pacify them. With the help of the Uygurs and other Tiele Tribes, the Tang Chinese subdued the Tarim Basin in 630-40. During this time, A.D. 629-645, a famous Tang Monk, Chen Hui, travelled to India and returned to Chang'an in 16 years, passing dozens of countries and tribal states in between, which include the so-called Gaochang State (near east of today's Turpan) where he was received by king Qu Wentai. Also in year A.D. 640, Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo, learning of Tuyuhun's intermarriage with Tang, initiated a war against Tang and requested intermarriage with the Tang princess. Tibetan Prime Minister Ludongzan was sent to Chang'an and passed imperial inquiries and tests. Princess Wencheng arrived in Tibet one year later. King of the Gaochang State, Qu Wentai, colluded with Western Turkic Khanate in subjugating small tribal states in today's Xinjjiang (New Dominion) area and rebelled against Tang. In A.D. 639, with the help of Xueyantuo [or Sheyanto] tribe (one component of the Tiele Tribes), a Tang army of 100,000 travelled 7,000 li distance to fight the Gaochang State, scaring Qu Wentai to death. Qu Wentai's son surrenderred after learning that a relief army of the Western Khanate Turks had fled home half way. Emperor Taizong renamed Gaochang to Xizhou, and made it the locality for the governor-general office in charge of Yutian, Suiye, Shule and Chouci. (Later, Xizhou or Anxi Protector-General Office was relocated to Chouci in A.D. 659.) In A.D. 702, Tang would set up the Beiting [north court] 'Protector-General (Marshal Presidio)' office in Tingwai or Tingzhou (present-day Jimsar), a place located to the east of Suiye (Tokmok), to the south of Xizhou (Turpan), and to the west of Yizhou (Hami). By A.D. 648, Tang subdued the remnant eastern Turks north of the Gobi. Meantime, Tang defeated the Khitans in today's Mongolia-Manchuria area, and controlled central and eastern Mongolia, thus stretching 9,510 li east to west and 10,918 li south to north in its territories. The Xueyantuo tribe, differentiated in the Chinese chronicle as a separate tribe from the Uygur tribe, was in charge of today's north Mongolia. (Non-Chinese historical accounts, including the U.S. Library of Congress website, however, stated that the Uygur vassal controlled west and north Mongolia, from Lake Alltai to Lake Balkash.) The Uygurs would gain control of north Mongolia at a later time. Tuli Khan's son, Heluohu, was targeted by his Turkic tribesmen for abduction back to the Turkic land. They fled to north of China and disturbed peace in the border areas. Taizong defeated the rebellion and exiled Heluohu to southern China. Emperor Taizong decided to send Simo (the cousin? of ex-khan Xieli) back to the land of the Eastern Khanate as ruler, thus making Simo into a rival of the Tiele Tribe (Xueyantuo). The Xueyantuo tribe, an ex-ally, now rebelled against Tang for Tang's dispatchment of Simo. Simo was commented to have looked like a 'Hu' [a former name for the Huns] versus the Turkic Ashina family. Hence, he was previously not employed for the high posts. He once served as a khan north of the desert when Khan Qimin fled to Sui Dynasty. When Qimin returned, Simo relinquished the khan title. Simo was frequently sent to Tang as a peace emissary. Simo was previously caught together with Khan Xieli. Simo was conferred the title of King Hedejun and governor-general of Huazhou Prefecture. Hearing that Simo led the Turks (100 thousand people, 40 thousand army and 90 thousand horses) in crossing the Yellow River in A.D. 641, the Xueyantuo Tribe tried to fight the Turks to stop them from returning north. Xueyantuo wrote to Tang saying that the Turks did not know to keep promise or peace. Tang said to Xueyantuo that the Turks could control south of the desert while Xueyantuo was to control north of the desert. Three years later, Simo, unable to harness his people, returned to the Tang court, later followed Taizong in the Koguryo campaign (on which occasion Taizong sucked the blood from the arrow wound that Simo incurred), and in the final died in the Tang capital. Simo's Youxianwang (rightside virtuous king), son of the late Sunishi, would have tears every time a Tang emissary arrived at north of the desert, and he was allowed to return to the Tang court. Some of Simo's people relocated south of the Yellow River and settled in Shengzhou and Xiazhou Prefectures. Replacing Simo would be the Turkic Khan called Chebi. Chebi at first fled to Xueyantuo. When being threatened by Xueyantuo, he fled from Xueyantuo. Xueyantuo chased him all the way westward. Chebi soon amassed 30 thousand people and asserted control over the Karlaks in the west and the Qigu in the north. Chebi often harassed the Xueyantuo tribe thereafter. The Xueyantuo tribe hence resented Tang and rebelled against Tang. Tang general Xu Shiji defeated the Xueyantuo tribe at the Battle of Nuozhenshui (Wulanchabu of Inner Mongolia). In the late A.D. 630s, Tang intervened in the civil wars of Koguryo. A son of the khan of Xueyantuo took advantage of Emperor Taizong’s first Koguryo expedition in attacking Tang south of the Yellow River. Simo and Li Shiji, et al., participated in Emperor Taizong’s A.D. 644 campaign against Koguryo. Emperor Taizong conducted several aborted A.D. 644-645, 647 and 648 attacks of Koguryo. In the late 630s, Tang intervened in the civil wars of Koguryo. A son of the khan of Xueyantuo took advantage of emperor Taizong's first Koguryo expedition in attacking Tang south of the Yellow River. (Gen. Li Shiji participated in Emperor Taizong's A.D. 644 campaign against Koguryo.) The Xueyantuo tribe fled when they heard of Taizong's return from today's Manchuria. But, at this moment, tribes of the Huihe (Uygur), who were appointed to the Hanhai [desert sea] prefecture, came to the aid of Tang and attacked the Xueyantuo tribe together with a Tang army consisting of several columns of various barbarians from the Liang and Dai prefectures. Around A.D. 640, the Huihe (Uygurs) helped the Tang army in successfully quelling the rebellion of Xueyantuo. Tribes of the Uygur killed the Xueyantuo tribe's khan and hence controlled north Mongolia where Xueyantuo once held control. Emperor Taizong re-zoned the northwestern territories into six fu (prefecture or province) and seven zhou (prefecture). After the north was settled, in A.D. 639, Tang Emperor Taizong attacked the Chouci State in the west, which wavered in its loyalty between Tang Dynasty and the Western Khanate. In A.D. 641-648, Tang defeated the Western Khanate and controlled today's New Dominion Province and areas west of the Pamir Mountains. However, in the north, there arose, after the defeat of Xueyantuo, a remnant eastern Turkic khan. In A.D. 649, Emperor Taizong, again with help from the Uygurs, campaigned against the north. In the same year, Emperor Taizong (T'ai-tsong) died. Altogether images of 14 khans had been inscribed on the stones and stood beside Taizong's tomb after one khan's request to be a funerary object buried alive was rejected by the succeeding emperor, Gaozong. Tang Emperor Gaozong (Li Zhi, 628-683; reign 649-683) Gaozong (Li Zhi) was the 3rd son born by Empress Zhangsun, and was known for having extraordinarily long beard. Other than Li Zhi, history recorded that King Teng-wang (Li She), a great grandson of Li Yuan, looked like a Hu barbarian. Tang Emperor Gaozong's reign was known as the 'Yong-hui Era Administration'. During his reign, the Tang territories covered the vast area from Central Asia to the Korean peninsula. In A.D. 650, General Gao Kan defeated Turkic Khan Che-bi and quelled the north-the-desert area. In 657, the Tang army quelled the Western Turkic Khanate. In A.D. 660, the Tang army defeated Paekche. Gen. Li Shiji, who participated in Emperor Taizong's A.D. 644 campaign against Koguryo, in August of A.D. 668, led a prong of the Tang army to cross the Yalu River against Koguryo, and made an injunction with Gen. Xue Rengui's army at today's Pyongyong. In A.D. 660, General Su Dingfang, with the conferred title of omnipotent superintendent for Shen-qiu-dao (the divine hill circuit), together with a Silla prince as deputy superintendent, departed Chengshan (Rongcheng, Shandong) for a cross-sea campaign. The Tang-Silla fleet defeated the Paekche (Baekje) forces at the Xiongjin (Woongjin)-kou (Jinjiang-kou) rivermouth. Ten days later, the joint army moved to take over the Paekche capital of Sabi. In today’s Liaodong area, the Tang army also attacked Koguryo and Mohe (Malgal). In A.D. 655, Silla King Gim Chunchu (r. A.D. 654-661) requested again with Tang China for military assistance after being invaded by the joint armies of Koguryo (Goguryeo), Paekche (Baekje), and Mohe (Malgal). Emperor Gaozong, in light of Emperor Taizong’s aborted A.D. 644-645, 647 and 648 attacks of Koguryo as well as the status of Silla’s rule by queen Seondeok (r. A.D. 632-647), was reluctant to intervene, and back in A.D. 650 ordered the Wa Japan king to aid Silla in the wars against Koguryo and Paekche, not knowing the same origin of Paekche and Japan’s ruling cliques. Paekche sent a delegation to Japan in A.D. 661 for picking up a prince, with Japan sending army and navy to aiding Paekche. A Tang navy, under Liu Ren’gui, was re-sent to aiding Silla against Paekche while another Tang army of 44,000 attacked Koguryo capital city Pyongyang. In A.D. 662, Koguryo also requested aid with Japan. Liu Ren’gui, against the emperor’s order of pullout, petitioned for reinforcement and linked up the Tang garrisons with the Silla forts for supplies. In A.D. 663, Japan sent an army of 27,000 men and 400 ships to Korea, with 170 Japanese ships burnt by Liu Ren’gui at the Battle of Bailongjiang (white dragon river estuary), known as Hakusonko no Tatakai (white sand estuary) in Japanese. On the land, Liu Renyuan and Sun Renshi, with additional reinforcement of 7000 troops from China and together with the Silla ally, defeated the Paekche (Baekje) infantry and cavalry. In A.D. 664, 665, 669, 670 & 671, the Tang court sent to Japan numerous missions, with obscure history entries pointing to the Japanese king’s being taken a prisoner of war in the A.D. 663 wars. After eliminating Paekche in July of A.D. 660, Tang Dynasty established five governor-general offices. Su Dingfang took the prisoners to China, and retained Generals Liu Renyuan as the head of the Tang garrison forces in Korea. Fu-xin, a follower of deposed Paekche (Baekje) king Fuyu Zhang, while defending the city of Zhouliu-cheng, sent emissaries to Japan for fetching Prince Fuyu Feng who were serving in Japan as a hostage in accordance with the A.D. 653 Japan-Paekche friendship agreement, and requested for Japan to send a relief army. The Paekche mission took with them over 100 Chinese prisoners of war as gift for Japan. In order to keep the influence on the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese emperor made a decision to escort Fuyu Feng to Korea and dispatched a Japanese fleet to aiding the remnant Paekche forces. In January of A.D. 661, the Japanese emperor moved the command to the west coast of Kyushu for directing the campaign, and sent troops to Korea for aiding Paekche. Meanwhile, the remnant Paekche forces launched a counterattack at the Chinese garrison force in Xiongjin (Woongjin). Tang Emperor Gaozong ordered to dispatch General Liu Ren'gui to the relief of Xiongjin (Woongjin). In April of A.D. 661, about 44,000 Tang army, attacked Goguryeo via sea and land. In July, the Tang army reached Pyongyang but failed to sack the fort, and had to pull back. In August, the succeeding Japanese emperor ordered to send in a full army to Korea. In September, Fuyu Feng was escorted back to Korea. In March of A.D. 662, Goguryeo requested with the Japanese for engaging with the Tang army. Against the withdrawal order from Tang Emperor Gaozong to pull out of Korea, Liu Ren'gui petitioned for more reinforcement, and further proactively attacked to link up with the Silla army. After the China-Silla joint army sacked the Zhenyan Fort, the Tang army was able to get the grain supply from Silla. In August of A.D. 663, the Japanese reinforcement arrived at the White River [Baijiang-kou or Baekgang in Korean] rivermouth, the estuary of a tributary of the Jinjiang (Geum) River. With the 7000-men reinforcement headed by Sun Renshi, the Tang army launched a two-prong attack at the Paekche (Baekje) remnants at the Zhouliu fort. While Liu Renyuan, Sun Renshi and the Silla army attacked via land, Liu Rengui's navy force and the Silla navy moved along the river to attack Zhouliu. En route, Liu Ren'gui encountered the Japanese Navy near a place called Baisha (white sand) where about 170 Japanese ships were anchored, with the Paekche cavalry guarding the riverbank. The Japanese ships, upon seeing the Tang-Silla navy, charged out of the anchor area. During the subsequent navy battle, the Chinese-Silla joint fleet completely routed the Japanese fleet via a strategy of inducing the enemy into the center of the battle scene for an encirclement. According to Xin Tang Shu, the Tang navy, after four engagements, burnt 400 Japanese ships. This came to be known as the Battle of Baijiang-kou (the white river rivermouth), or the Battle of the White River Village Estuary (Hakusuki-no-e no Tatakai or Hakusonko no Tatakai) in Japan. (It was deduced from miscellaneous records of history that the Japanese sent in their king, or tenno, to Tang China as hostage after the defeat. This Japanese delegation, not the later Japanese overseas students to China, which was responsible for the subsequent Japanese reforms.) Fuyu Feng and the Paekche cavalry, after seeing the defeat of the Japanese, fled the scene. At the Zhouliu fort, the Paekche (Baekje) princes surrendered to the Tang army on September 7th after learning of the defeat of the Japanese navy. The remnant Japanese army evacuated from Korea on September 19th. Five years later, the Tang Dynasty successfully eliminated Korguryo, making Silla the de facto ruling dynasty on the Korean Peninsula. Li Shiji, who participated in Emperor Taizong’s A.D. 644-645 campaign against Koguryo, led a prong of the Tang army to cross the Yalu River in August of A.D. 668, had a junction with Xue Rengui’s army at Pyongyang, and eliminated Koguryo which had a history of existence for 705 years. 30,000 Koguryo people were exiled to China. Silla King Kim Beommin (r. A.D. 661-681) rebelled against Tang in A.D. 672, and took out the Tang governor-general offices to unite Korea under one rule, with the Tang army retreating to north of the Taedong River by A.D. 676. Eastern and western Turks would rebel against Tang several times thereafter. During Gaozong's Xianqing Era (655-657), Cheng Zhijie, as 'xingjun zongguan' of Congshan-dao (onion mountain) Circuit, was ordered on a second campaign against the Western Turks headed by Ashina Helu. In September of 657, Cheng defeated Helu's son, Ashina Xiyun. Cheng conducted a massacre at Hengwucheng, and lost the time to chase Helu, over which Su Dingfang replaced him in December under an imperial decree. In A.D. 675, crown prince Li Hong died. (Previously, in 656, crown prince Li Zhong was deposed, and Li Hong was made into a crown prince.) Prince Li Xian was made into a crown prince. Li Xian, while acting as 'jian guo', was known as a historian who assembled a big team of scholars (Zhang Da'an, Liu Nagyan, Ge Xiyuan, Xu Shuya, Cheng Xuanyi, Shi Zangji and Zhou Baoning) and made a comprehensive annotation of the history annals HOU HAN SHU [written by Fan Ye], which was termed the Prince Zhuanghuai's Annotation. Qing Dynasty scholar Wang Xianqian compared Li Xian's annotation of HOU HAN SHU to Yan SHigu's annotation of Ban Gu's HAN SHU. In A.D. 680, Li Xian, i.e., Emperor Gaozong's 6th son and Wu Zetian's 2nd son, was implicated in the possible death of Ming Chongyan, i.e., empress Wu-hou's favourite prognosticator. ZI ZHI TONG JIAN of the Soong dynasty claimed that it was Li Xian's gigolo, Zhao Daosheng, who killed Ming Chongyan. Also implicated in the purge would be King Cao-wang (Li Ming) who was deposed and killed. In A.D. 680, Li Xian was exiled to Bazhou, i.e., the Sichuan basin. In A.D. 684, dowager-empress Wu Zetian (624-705) deposed the Tang emperor, and subsequently sent Qiu Shenji to Bazhou to have Li Xian put under the house arrest, and subsequently forced into committing suicide. Later in 690, Empress Wu Zetian took the throne herself, and changed the dynastic name to Zhou. For almost a hundred years, the Uygurs would assert control over north Mongolia in competition with the remaining Turks who re-established Eastern Khanate in A.D. 682/683 in Mongolia. Tang's civil minister Fei Xingjian would be responsible for quelling the Eastern Turkic rebellion in A.D. 680 and in A.D. 681 via strategies like 'hiding soldiers inside the grain carts' and 'offering 10,000 liang (a unit of weight similar to ounce) gold for the head of the khan'. Fei, earlier, escorted Persian Prince on his way Persia and captured the western Turkic khan who sought suzerainty from the Tibetans. Persian Prince, however, was afraid of going further to Persia. He stayed around Suiye, failed to organize any army, and then returned to Chang'an where he spent the rest of his life. Remnant Western Turks, under Tibetan suzerainty, would set up Turkic Khanate in the Tarim Basin in A.D. 691, to be defeated in A.D. 692 by Governor-General Tang Xiujing of Xizhou prefecture who re-took the four cities of Chouci (Kuqa), Yutian (Hotan), Shule (Kashi) and Suiye (today's Tokmok in Kyrgyzstan). The eastern Turks would ally with the Khitans in attacking Tang. Khitans were given royal family name of Li by Emperor Taizong in early times and once followed Taizong in his Koguryo campaigns. The Khitans first rebelled against Tang in A.D. 656-661 and again in A.D. 696. The eastern Turks (namely, Orkhon Turks) would ally with the Khitans in attacking Tang. Certainly, the Turks and Khitans were adversaries as well. Orchon Turks, under Khan Muchuo, would attack the Khitans as well. Tang mobilized an army of hundreds of thousands and defeated the Khitans. Hence, the Khitans fled to the Turks for protection. Tang Emperor Zhongzong (Li Zhe/Xian, 656-710 A.D.; reign 683-684, 705-710) Tang Emperor Zhongzong reigned for the periods of 683-684 and 705-710, with the interval in-between under the control of mother-dowager-empress Wu Zetian. Li Zhe/Xian was made into a crown prince after Prince Zhuanghuai, i.e., Li Xian, was deposed. Before him, among two brothers, Li Hong and Li Xian, one was killed by the mother-dowager-empress, and one was deposed. In 683, Li Zhe/Xian was made into an emperor, with minister Pei Yan ordained to assist him. 55 days after the rule with his mother as a curtain regent, he was deposed by mother-dowager-empress (i.e., Huang-tai-hou) in February of A.D. 684, and downgraded into King Luling-wang. The cause was his attempt to promote his father-in-law Wei Xuanzhen to 'shi zhong' (i.e., prime minister). Younger brother, Li Dan, was selected as the puppet Emperor Ruizong. Li Dan immediately yielded the throne back to his mother. Li Zhe/Xian was first exiled to the Junzhou (Danjiangkou) prefecture and successively to the Fangzhou (Fangxian, Hubei) prefecture. Xu Jingye launched a rebellion against Wu Zetian in Yangzhou. King Langye-wang (Li Chong) and King Yue-wang (Li Zhen) rebelled as well, all in the name of restoring King Luling-wang to the Tang emperor's throne, which scared Li Zhe/Xian into contemplating on suicide. Xu Jingye, also known as Li Jingye for his family's enjoying the conferral of the Li royal name and enjoyed the hereditary title of Duke Yinguo-gong, was said to have selected someone who looked similar to Prince Li Xian, as someone to rally the anti-Wu rebel army. In 699, the dowager-empress sent Xu Yanbo ('zhifang yuanwai-lang') to have Li Zhe/Xian recalled back to Luoyang as a crown prince under his mother's Wu-Zhou Dynasty. Li Zhe/Xian married his two daughters to sons of Wu-Zhou Dynasty King Liang-wang (Wu Yanji) and King Wei-wang (Wu Sansi) for forging a close tie with the Wu in-law family. Emperor Zhongzong was restored to the throne in 705. Empress Wu Zetian (624-705) & the Wu-zhou Dynasty Era (684-705) Empress Wu Zetian, who was compared with Roman Empress Irene, controlled the Tang court for 45 years, and directly ruled the country from 684 to 705. In 637, Emperor Taizong took in the 14-year-old Wu Zetian as a concubine, and named her Wu-mei. Wu Zetian was the mother of two Tang emperors, Emperor Zhongzong (Chung Tsung) and Emperor Ruizong (Jui Tsung). In 655, Emperor Gaozong, who retrieved Wu Zetian from the monastery in 651, replaced Empress Wang with Wu Zetian, under the support of ministers Xu Jingzong, Cui Yixuan and Yuan Gongyu. Xu Jingzong was a learnt scholar who explained to Tang Emperor Gaozong what it meant in Shang-shu that the tribute ship sailed over the Ji-shui and Luo-shui River, validating the point that the rivers kept their taste and color waterflow while merging at some segment before entering, exiting and re-entering the Yellow River along the way --a method Soong Dynasty scholar Su Shi used to make a distinction of what Shang-shu recorded about the three branches of the Yangtze. Ministers Chu Suiliang and Zhangsun Wuji were opposed to the deposing of Empress Wang. Chu Suiliang was exiled for the opposition. In A.D. 659, the emperor and empress further exiled Zhangsun Wuji, Yu Zhining, Haan Yuan and Lai as revenge over those ministers' opposition to empress Wu Zetian's substitution. In 660, Wu Zetian, taking advantage of the emperor's eye disease, began to take control of the court affairs. In A.D., 662, Xu Jingzong was appointed the post as the rightside prime minister. Xu Jingzong was the only minister who supported Emperor Gaozong in making Wu Zetian an empress in A.D. 655. In 664, minister Shangguan Yi was killed for helping the emperor in the drafting of a decree to deprive the empress of the power over the court affairs. In 674, both the emperor and the empress were decreed to be called 'tian huang' [i.e., the heavenly emperor, which was appropriated by the Japanese to be tenno] and 'tian hou' [i.e., the heavenly empress]. In 675, prime minister Hao Chujun dissuaded the emperor from making the empress a regent. Crown Prince Li Hong, who attempted to help his two half-sister princesses [born by the deposed COncubine Xiao-shu-fei], was disliked by mother-empress Wu Zetian. Li Hong, who died in a mysterious circumstance, was speculated to be killed by Wu Zetian. The emperor gave son Li Hong the posthumous title of Emperor Xiaojing. In December of A.D. 683, Tang Emperor Gaozong passed away. Wu Zetian, after deposing son-emperor Zhongzong, used son-emperor Ruizong (Jui Tsung) as a ruler for a short time period before taking over the throne. In 690, Empress Wu Zetian took the throne herself, and changed the dynastic name to Zhou, which was called by Wu-zhou in history. One minister, Di Renjie, managed to dissuade the empress from selecting a Wu nephew as a crown minister by interpreting the empress' dream of a parrot's two broken wings. Di Renjie explained the dream by using the parrot's soundex word 'wu' with the two wings' parts, and admonished the empress a statement to the effect that no nephew had ever made their aunt into a revered ancestress in an oblation temple in the history. Di Renjie pointed that the two wings were the empress' two sons, i.e., Emperor Zhongzong (Chung Tsung) and Emperor Ruizong (Jui Tsung). In 699, the dowager-empress sent Xu Yanbo ('zhifang yuanwai-lang') to have Li Zhe/Xian recalled back to Luoyang as a crown prince under his mother's Wu-Zhou Dynasty. Li Zhe/Xian married his two daughters to the families of the Wu-Zhou Dynasty kings. At one time in 701, the empress ordered Li Zhe/Xian's son Li Chonglun, daughter Princess Yongtai and her Wu-family husband Wu Yanji to commit suicide over their resentment towards the empress' gigolo ministers, i.e., the Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Zongchang brothers. In 704, Wu Zetian, after getting ill, was surrounded by the Zhang Yizhi and Zhang Zongchang brothers, with nobody else getting access to the Yingxian-gong [welcome fairy people] Palace. Ministers Zhang Jianzhi, Cui Xuanwei, Jing Hui, Huan Yanfan, and Yuan Shuji conspired to take out the Zhang brothers and restored Emperor Zhongzong. The five conspirators were later conferred kingship after the coup. Zhang Jianzhi made Jing Hui and Huan Yanfan into commanders of the imperial guards at the palaces. Zhang Jianzhi further made Yang Yuanyan into a 'yulin jiangjun' (imperial palace general) commander. In 705, Zhang Jianzhi (prime minister), Li Duozuo ('you-yulin da-jiangjun'), and Xue Sixing ('zuo-weiwei jiangjun') launched the Shenlong [divine dragon] Coup during the first year of the Wu-Zhou Dynasty's Shenlong Era. Wu Zetian, seeing the two Zhang brothers killed, agreed to allow the crown prince to be a regent, and on the next day, yielded the throne. Emperor Zhongzong was restored to the throne in 705. The next month, February, the Tang dynastic name was restored. Relations with the Barbarians during Empress Wu Zetian's reign In A.D. 697, the Eastern Turks obtained from Empress Wu Zetian the old Turkic territories of six Tang prefectures: Pingzhou, Shenzhou, Lingzhou, Xiazhou, Shuozhou and Dai (Daizhou), and moreover, sought for his daughter the marriage with Chinese royal family. When Empress Wu Zetian sent her family's prince to the Turks, Khan Muchuo got angry after learning that his daughter was not to marry the Tang royal family of Li. Khan Muchuo held Prince Wu as a hostage and campaigned against Wu Zetian on behalf of Tang's emperors (two Li emperors, both Wu's sons, who were deprived of rights and placed in palace arrest). Khan Muchuo killed 80-90 thousand people in two prefectures of Dingzhou and Zhaozhou and retreated. In A.D. 700, two Tang nomadic generals defeated the Khitans again. In A.D. 712, Khitans submitted to Tang and was conferred King of Songmo Prefecture. Heads of eight Khitan tribes were conferred general posts as well. A Tang royal family princess, Princess Yongle, was sent to Khitan khan as wife. The Turks and the Tang Chinese had seesaw warfare, till dethroned Emperor Zhongzong got restored in A.D. 705. Emperor Xuanzong, in A.D. 712, defeated the Eastern Turkic Khan Muchuo and won over the defection of Muchuo's brother-in-law. However, the glorious days under Emperor Taizong were gone. Further details of Turkic history will be covered in Eastern Khanate and Western Khanate. Near the end of Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), Tuoba Sigong, a Dangxiang descendant carrying the Toba name of Toba and later the Toba last name of 'Yuan', would come to the aid of Tang Emperor during the Huang Chao rebellion, and hence was conferred the title of Duke Xia and the Tang family name of 'Li'. His descendant, Yuan Hao, would proclaim himself emperor of Xixia Dynasty (A.D. 1032-1227), namely, Western Xia, with an army of 500 thousand. Emperor Zhongzong & the Zhongzong Restoration Emperor Zhongzong continued the employment of the Wu family members, and allowed his empress Wei's family to control the power at the court, which made his reign into a replica of his mother-empress Wu Zetian's. Empress Wei-hou, who accompanied Emperor Zhongzong throughout the exile years, was allowed to make shots at the court. Wei-hou's daughter, i.e., Princess Anle, was married with Wu Chongxun, a son of Wu Sansi. The emperor also retained his mother's female palace shadow prime minister ('nei she-ren'), literatus Shangguan Wan'er, as 'zhao rong', which was empowered with issuing the imperial decrees. It was said that Shangguan Wan'er recommended Wu Sansi, i.e., the former King Liang-wang of the Wu-Zhou dynasty, to the emperor. Wu Sansi managed to purge the five coup kings. Shangguan Wan'er had adultery with Wu Sansi per Liu Xu's Jiu Tang Shu (old history of the Tang dynasty), a history book from the five dynasties' time period. In July of A.D. 707, Li Chong (crown prince) and Li Duozuo, commanding 300 imperial guards (i.e., the yulin-jun army), staged a coup. The crown prince and the rebels killed Wu Sansi, Wu Chongxun and et al., and intruded into the Xiaozhang-men Palace Gate in search of Shangguan Wan'er. Shangguan Wan'er fled to seek asylum with the emperor. The emperor ordered Liu Jingren ('you-yulin da-jiangjun') and 2000 cavalry to quell the rebellion. Li Chongjun was killed after the rebellion was put down. After the emperor died in May of A.D. 710, Dowager-empress Wei-hou selected a young son, King Wen-wang (Li Chongmao) as an emperor, i.e., Posthumous Tang Emperor Shang-di, with the Tanglong Era proclaimed. Shangguan Wan'er, to appease the discontent with the Wei-hou curtain regency, proposed a middle ground to Li Chongmai selected as a crown prince and Li Dan a regent while retaining dowager-empress Wei-hou as the grand empress regent. Prime minister Zong Chuke and minister Wei Wen schemed to have Wei-hou copycat Wu Zetian. In June, Li Longji, a third son of King Xiang-wang (Li Dan), in collusion with his aunt Princess Taiping, stated a coup with the support of imperial garrison commanders Ge Fushun and Chen Xuanli. This was called the Tanglong Coup in history. The rebels killed Dowager-empress Wei-hou, Princess Anle, and eliminated the Wei and Wu family members. Shangguan Wan'er, who had 32 poems in the collection of the Tang Dynasty poems, was not spared death by Li Longji, and ordered to be killed as well. It was said that Princess Taping had collected the poems to make them into a book in commemoration of Shangguan Wan'er. The young emperor Shang-di was deposed. Li Longji restored his father, i.e., King Xiang-wang (Li Dan or Wu Lun, a name given by Dowager Empress Wu Zetian), into Emperor Ruizong (662-716). Emperor Ruizong (Li Dan) In July of A.D. 712, Li Dan yielded the throne to son Li Longji, and called himself by 'tai-shang-huang', namely, the grandfather emperor. Li Dan had his administration set at the Taiji-dian Palace while son Li Longji used the Wude-dian Palace and declared the Xiantian (congenial) Era. In A.D. 713, Li Longji launched the Xiantian (congenial) Coup on the pretext that Princess Taiping intended to launch a coup. Li Longji rounded up the princess' gang and killed them, and further forced the princess, who at one time sought sanctuary in a mountain monastery, to commit suicide. The root cause was that the princess, fearing the power of nephew Li Longji, a junior son of Li Dan, planned to select another prince as crown prince. Among the top officials killed would be the leftside and rightside 'yulin-jun [feather-swift & forest-luxuriant army] da-jiangjun [grand general]' Chang Yuankai and Li Ci, as well as prime ministers Cen Yi and Xiao Zhizhong. Altogether seventeen families of the various court officials were impacted in the purge. After this coup, Li Dan completely yielded the power to son Li Longji. Tang Emperor Xuanzong Tang Emperor Xuanzong was noted for his special favor for concubine Yang-gui-fei, a woman who was his daughter-in-law or wife of King Shouwang (Li Mao). To marry with Yang-gui-fei, the emperor first made arrangement for Yang-gui-fei to become a nun. XIN TANG SHU stated that in October of the 28th year of the Kaiyuan Era, the emperor visited the Wen'quan-gong Palace for the ceremony of making the woman into a nun, with the title of 'tai-zhen' [great trueness]. In A.D. 755, An Lushan's rebellion broke out. An Lushan earlier had led an army of hundreds of thousands and tried to quell the Khitan rebellion with a Xi nomadic guide. An Lushan lost over 100,000 troops at Tianmenling (heavenly gate ridge) in the battle against the Khitans. An Lushan's rebellion (An-Shi rebellion) would bring about Tang's decline. General Feng Changqing, a lieutenant under Gao Xianzhi [who fought the A.D. 751 Battle of Talas against the Arabs], volunteered to go to Luoyang for organizing the civilians against the rebels. Feng Changying just returned from two campaigns against two Kashmir states in today's Central Asia. Feng was defeated by the rebels and retreated to the Tongguan Pass. Feng Changqing expressed wish to be like Lang-shen (Lang-tan) after he lost the Luoyang city to the rebels, which was a dereliction punishable by death penalty. This was a Zuo Zhuan story about the Battle of Ji1-di, when Lang-shen (Lang-tan) cited Zhou Zhi (Zhou annals), which was said to be part of the later Zhou Shu or Yi Zhou Shu, to ask for the right place to die, after Xian Zhen dismissed Lang-shen (Lang-tan) as chauffeur. Bian Lingcheng, a eunuch, first ordered Feng Chengqing to be killed before showing the death order for Gao Xianzhi. Feng wrote a death gratitude letter about knitting the grass or straw rings after death and creating the percolating wind at the battlefield to make contribution after he and Gao Xianzhi were ordered to be executed for defending the Tongguan Pass in lieu of proactively attacking the rebels. This was based on another Zuo Zhuan story in regards to the Qin army's being defeated at Fu-shi, i.e., Dali of Shenxi, when the Qin Samson-like general Du Hui was tripped by an old man and captured by the Jinn army. Jinn General Wei Ke defeated the Qin army at Fu-shi and captured a Hercules-like Qin warrior called Du Hui. Jinn General Wei Ke, who set free late father Wei Chou (Wei-wu-zi)'s concubine, had a dream to the effect that the old man who tripped the Qin general with straw rings was the concubine's father. An Lushan defeated a Tang general by the name of Ge-shu-han who was replacement for Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing and was forced to exit the pass to fight the war against the rebels. The two held an interesting dialogue to the effect that An Lushan claimed that they should cooperate since An was by the Turkic mother and Hu [Sogdian] father, while Geshu-han was by the Turkic father and Hu [Sogdian] mother. Emperor Xuanzong sneaked out of the capital without notifying his court. On the way of flight to today's Sichuan from Chang'an, Xuanzong's garrison troops killed prime minister Yang Guozhong. Emperor Xuanzong was forced by his garrison troops in ordering his empress Yang Gui-fei to commit suicide. The Yang brother and sisters were blamed for fostering rebel An Lushan. An Lushan had obtained the governor-general posts of today's Beijing, Taiyuan and Liaodong by bribing the notorious empress Yang. Thus, An was in control of the troops in almost whole northern China. The Masses of people gathered around the royal column and pleaded with the emperor for staying put so as to organize the counter-rebellion forces. Xuanzong, in order to continue on his flight into Sichuan Province, orally decreed that his elder son, Suzong, stay behind to be the new emperor. Emperor Suzong led his people northward to today's Ningxia area where he reorganized his army and requested with the Huihe [Uygurs] for help. Tang emperor Suzong had organized an army of over 100 thousand under the banners of two famous generals, Guo Ziyi & Li Guangbi. The Huihe [Uygurs] were invited by Su-tsung (Suzong), the Hsuan-tsung's (Xuanzong) successor, to send armies to help the Tang Chinese. The Uygur khan sent his elder son and 5,000 cavalry to helping Suzong, culminating in recapturing both Chang-An (Chang'an) and Lo-yang (Luoyang) in 757.
Tang China was able to survive the onslaught of the An Lushan rebels as a result of the dying-to-the-last-person defense of the Suiyang city (Shangqiu, Henan). The Yongqiu-Suiyang defense, by merely a few thousand county and commandery troops, thwarted the rebels from penetration towards the Huai-shui River, the Yangtze River and southern China. In the heartland of China, Zhang Xun, a former county magistrate of Zhenyuan, defeated waves of the rebels' attacks. From A.D. 756 to 757, Zhang Xun, who was versed in the military strategy of ancient China, defeated the rebels at Zhenyuan (Bozhou, Anhui) and Yongqiu (Qi3xian, Henan). At Yongqiu, Zhang Xun was at one time arrested by magistrate Linghu Chao who surrendered to the rebels. A mutiny of soldiers allowed Zhang Xun to take back Yongqiu. Employing the 36 tactics in Master Sun-zi's SUN-ZI BING FA (i.e., The Art of War), Zhang Xun fought numerous battles against the rebels and defeated them. Zhang Xun very much practiced the 36 strategies of Master Sun-zi, including the trick to use the strawmen to induce the rebels into shooting arrows at night for collecting the arrows. In January of A.D. 757, Yin Ziqi, a rebel under An Qingxu, led a over 100,000 army for laying the siege of Suiyang. At Ningling, Zhang Xun defeated the rebels led by Zhang Chaozong and killed dozens of rebel leaders and defeated over 20,000 rebels. Zhang Xun, with 3000 troops, abandoned Ningling for consolidating the army with Xu Yuan for the defense of Suiyang. Altogether the city defenders numbered 6800 men. Serving under Zhang Xun would be samson-like General Nan Jiyun and Lei Wanchun. Zhang Xun was invited by Xu Yuan (great grandson of Xu Jingzong), magistrate of the Suiyang-jun commandery, to the Suiyang city for fortifying the defense. In May, Nan Jiyun shot at one eye of rebel Yi Ziqi. With only 1600 soldiers left, Zhang Xun sent Nan Jiyun and 30 cavalrymen to breaking out of the siege for requesting relief. Nan Jiyun first went to the Pengcheng city (Xuzhou, Jiangsu), but was refused help by magistrate Xu Shuji. Nan Jiyun then traveled to Linhuai (Suining, Jiangsu) to request aid with magistrate Helan Jingming. Unable to borrow troops, Nan Jiyun declined Helan Jingming's request to retain him, refused to eat at the banquet, bit off one finger to show his loyalty for Zhang Xun, returned to Suiyang and charged through the rebels to enter the city. Running out of food, Zhang Xun ordered his concubine killed for food. The women in the city were all eaten up, followed by the elder men and children. By October, the city ran out of eatables completely. The survivors, with no food for dozen days, were immobilized when the rebels sacked the city. Out of the headcount of over 20,000 people, only 400 were alive at the time the rebels breached the city. Days after the loss of Suiyang, the Tang army came to the aid. Zhang Xun, et al., were arrested by the rebels and sent to Luoyang where the rebels killed them at the time of retreat. The Suiyang defenders were later listed by the emperor in the Lingyan-ge Palace. An's son, An Qingxu, later killed An Lushan and took over the title of emperor of Great Yan. An Qingxu, after a defeat, fled to seek protection with Shi Siming. An's general, Shi Siming, killed An Qingxu, in turn, and proclaimed himself the Yan emperor. Shi's son, Shi Chaoyi, killed his father Shi Siming in March of 761. Shi Chaoyi ordered General Gao Juren and Zhang Tonglu to intrude into the Rihua-men [sun splendor] Gate to kill palace garrison commanders Liu Xiangchang and Wei Minghe. Gao Juren subsequently ordered to kill Zhang Tonglu by taking advantage of the turmoil in the Fanyang city, and issued a similar order to Ran Min of the Sixteen Nation time period, namely, an order to kill the Hu (i.e., high nosebridge and hairy) barbarians. Ashina-chengqing, a loyal general under Shi Siming, after failing to resist Gao Juren's army, fled eastward to the Luxian County and subsequently retreated to Luoyang. Shi Chaoyi then appointed Li Huaixian as 'jiedu-shi' for Fanyang for containing Gao Juren who received the appointment as 'zhi-bingma-shi' for the Yan-jing-du, namely, garrison commander for the Yan capital city. Li Huaixian, a former Hu barbarian from Liucheng (Liaoyang, Liaoning), loosened the guard of Gao Juren and killed him when Gao made a visit to his office. By A.D. 763, Shi Chaoyi, after a defeat, fled to Guangyang (Fangshan, Beijing, Hebei), and committed suicide there. Li Huaixian surrendered to Tang Dynasty eunuch Luo Fengxian. Pugu-huai'en recommended to the Tang court to have Li Huaixian appointed as 'jiedu-shi' for the Youzhou and Lulong area. The eight year long rebellion was over. Later, when Pugu-huai'en rebelled against Tang, Li Huaixian severed himself from the Tang rule and declared independence for the three He-shuo garrisons of Yanji (Fanyang, Youzhou, or Lulong), Chengde and Weibo (Tianxiong), together with two other garrison commanders of Tian Chengsi of Weibo and Li Baochen of Chengde. Li Huaishan was killed by subordinate Zhu Xicai in 768 A.D. In 781 A.D., when Tang Emperor Dezong refused to allow Li Weiyue, i.e., son of Li Baochen, to succeed the 'jiedu-shi' post, the three garrisons rebelled. Li Xilie, a Tang 'jiedu-shi' for Huai-xi (west of the Huai River), colluded with the rebels, hence forcing the emperor to issue a decree of self-blame and to acknowledge the quasi-independence of the three garrisons --which continued through the demise of the Tang dynasty in the hands of the Huang Chao and Zhu Wen gang. Tang China's decline was a result of the An-Shi Rebellion. As a result of this rebellion, Tang China recalled all stationed armies and garrisons to the west of the Yellow River Bend. The recall of army forces being not enough, the Uygur mercenaries were also called upon to quell the 8-year-long rebellion. Since then, Tang China lost the western territories, including the pasture where the hundreds of thousands of the military horses were raised. Tang Emperor Suzong would call upon all the Chinese armies to the west of the Yellow River and to the right side of today's Gansu Province to come east to quell the rebellion. Hence, the Tibetans took advantage of the vacuum and moved in. Over one million Tang Chinese came under the rule of the Tibetans, including the prefectures of Ganzhou, Liangzhou, Guazhou and Shazhou on the Western Corridor. In the land to the west of the Yellow River and to the right side of Gansu Province, Tang China used to have 33 prefectures called 'zhou'. Tang China set up the Anxi Governor-General post here and it used to control 36 statelets in Western China. Xin Wu Dai Shi (i.e., The New History Of Five Dynasties) said Tang had raised altogether 300,000 horses in this area. Half a century later, when a Chinese emissary (under Tang Emperor Wenzong, reign A.D. 827-836) passed through the four Western Corridor prefectures, the emissary noted that those Chinese had changed a bit in accent but the clothing remained unchanged. The local Chinese, with tears, asked the emissary, 'Did the Emperor still remember the people stranded in the land occupied by the Tibetans?" The Tibetans, by taking over the Western Corridor, also cut off the link between China proper and today's Chinese Turkistan, where the four Tang China's forts continued existence for the dozens of years to come, often receiving the nominal awards from the Tang emperors for fending off the sieges from the barbarians, without the actual benefit of the Tang army coming to their aid. Guo Xin (?-A.D. 808), who was Guo Ziyi's nephew, in A.D. 781, sent an emissary through the Huihe (Uygur) territory to reach the Tang court. Emperor Dezong conferred the title of King WUwei-jun-wang onto Guo Xin. Fifteen years ago, in A.D. 766, Guo Xin was sent to the He-xi and An-xi territory as an inspector. Upon learning that Tang China was under Emperor Dezong, Guo Xin ordered to mint the "Da Tang Jian-zhong" coins which were unearthed in the modern times. Tang China appointed "guan-cha shi" (inspector) Guo Xin as "jiedu-shi" of the four forts, and "An-xi da du-hu" for Anxi, while Li Yuanzhong "Bei-ting da du-hu". Both Guo Xin and Li Yuanzhong received the title of "shang-shu pu-ye". The Tang Chinese garrison defenders relied on the Shatuo Turks and the Huihe for defense against the Tibetans. In A.D. 787, the Tibetans sacked the Bei-ting fort, cutting off the northern route of communication between China and the west. Yang Xigu, i.e., Li Yuanzhong's successor, fled to Xi-zhou where he was killed by the Huihe. In A.D. 789, when monk Wu-kong passed the Western Territories for returning to China, he met with the four Chinese "zhenshou-shi" generals, who were Lu Yang at Shule, Zheng Ju at Yutian (Hotan), Guo Xin at Qiuci, and Yang Riyou at Yanqi. In A.D. 808, the Tibetans sacked Qiuci, on which occasion Guo Xin and his white-haired army troops all died to the last person. There was no record of contact from the Western Territories. The year A.D. 808 was based on the excavated coins carrying the words of the eras used by Guo Xin's garrison armies. From the Qyzyl Grotto, there was discovery of some words carrying the year of the 10th year of the Zhenyuan Era, i.e., A.D. 794. The Tibetans had some upheaval after their king was killed by the monks in A.D. 842. Along the Western Corridor, there was a Liugu confederation or the six valleys' tribal alliance, having its origin from the Yangfei-gu valley tribe, some remnants of the Tuobo (Tibetan) state which was dissolved in A.D. 842 after its king ('zan pu') Lang-da-ma was killed by the monks over the Buddhism suppression movement. Zhang Yichao, 799-872, a civilian-turned Tang Dynasty general who was famous for re-asserting the Tang China's rule over the western territories, i.e., Today's Turkestan, defeated the Tibetans in the Guazhou and Shazhou territories in A.D. 848, recovered the Xizhou (Turpan) territory in A.D. 850, recovered the Guazhou and Shazhou territories from the Tibetans in A.D. 851, and recovered the Liangzhou territory from the Tibetans in A.D. 861. The Tang Chinese army called themselves by the Guiyi-jun [returning the loyalty] Army. (The Tang Chinese rule continued among Zhang Chaoyi's generals and their descendants till A.D. 1028, when Tangut Emperor Li Yuanhao led a surprise attack at Ganzhou [Zhangye of Gansu Province], took over the city from Huihe, took over Shuzhou, and pacified General Cao Jushun, i.e., the Tang China's Guiyi-jun [returning the loyalty] Army commander at Guazhou.) In A.D. 874, rebellions erupted in China, and by A.D. 880, rebel leader Huang Chao entered Chang'an. Tang Dynasty was hence a puppet government, to be usurped in A.D. 907 by an ex-peasant rebel leader, Zhu Wen, who had earlier defected to Tang from the camp of Huang Chao. (Huang Chao was famous for marching from Shandong Province to Zhejiang Province, opening up a road through the mountains of Fujian Province to reach Guangdong Province, and then coming back to the central plains, an accomplishment not secondary to the communists' Long March of 1930s.)
The Tang Mercenary Armies The Second Forced Chinese Migration Like many historians, Scholar Luo Xianglin, in History of Chinese Nationalities (Chinese Culture Publishing Enterprise Co, Taipei, Taiwang, May 1953 edition), traced the cause of the Second Forced Migration Of Chinese to the invasion by Nan-zhao of Southwestern China. Nan-zhao, consisting of elements from the Hundred Yue family and Western Qiang descendants, began to encroach on Tang Dynasty after the era of Tang Emperor Taizong. In 6, Nanzhao-guo attacked An-nan, i.e., Annam, three times, and sacked Jiaozhi, i.e., today's Hanoi. The Tang court stationed the garrison troops in Yongning of Guilin [Guangxi Province], and Ya'an & Songfan [Sichuan Province] against Nan-zhao. Succeeding Tang Emperor Xuanzong would be two lascivious emperors of Emperor Yizong and Emperor Xizong (Li Xuan1). During the Xiantong Era of Tang Emperor Yizong (Li Cui), who was notorious for gambling on the polo kind of game and the goose-fighting, two major incidents erupted. In today's eastern Zhejiang Province, Qiu Fu led a rebellion of 30,000 people, ravaging the Yuezhou territory. In southwestern China, in A.D. 868, a grains officer in charge of supplying soldiers from the Xuzhou-Sizhou area, by the name of Pang Xun (?-869), rebelled at the Guilin garrison. What happened was that Xu Xin, a "du yu hou" imperial guard officer, and eight others, killed the garrison column chief, Wang Zhongfu, and supported Pang Xun as the rebel leader. Over 800 soldiers, who were from the area of today's Xuzhou, Shandong Province, resented the extension of the military service beyond the three years to more than five years, and decided to fight their way back to home on the Shandong peninsula from southwestern China. (Another 1200 Xuzhou-Sizhou soldiers stationed at the Jiaozhi [Vietnam] territory.) The Pang Xun rebels departed Guilin for today's Hunan Province in the same way as the later Taiping Heavenly Kingdom rebels. The rebels, along the way, sacked and pillaged the areas of the Yangtze River and Huai-shui River. Passing today's Hunan, the rebels first entered today's western Zhejiang via Jiangxi, then north to the area south of the Huai River, sacked Su[4]zhou (Suxian of Anhui), crossed the Suishui River to take Pengcheng (Xuzhou of Jiangsu). When the rebels reached hometown Xuzhou, they developed into a force of 200,000 people. Further, the rebels took over Haozhou, Tuzhou and Hezhou etc. The Tang court dispatched Tang Chengxun and Zhuye Chixing (Li Guochang) to quelling the rebellion. At Liangcheng, north of Xuyi, the rebels destroyed a 20000 plus government force led by Dai Keshi. Linghu Tao, "jiedu-shi" for Huai'nan, managed to persuade Pang into seeking pardon with the court so as to delay the rebels' move. Government troops re-amassed to attack the rebels via three routes. Defector general Zhang Xuanren surrendered to the imperial army at Xuzhou, leading to the loss of Xuzhou and Suzhou consecutively. Pang Xun was killed in battle in Qixian (south of Suxian) after an aborted counterattack against the government army. The last stronghold of Haozhou was taken by the government troops in Oct of 869. After this rebellion, the Tang societal weakness began to emerge. Tang Emperor Xizong, who was notorious for indulging himself in cock fighting, goose fighting, hunting, swords and spears contest, music, chess and polo, trusted the government's decision-making with eunuch Tian Lingzi. Another rebellion by the name of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao assembled Pang Xun's remnants for a new round of pillage. Back in A.D. 874, Wang Xianzhi, a salt vendor who called himself a "grand general of equalization ordained by the heaven", staged a rebellion in Changyuan of Puzhou, near today's Fanxian, Henan. In Yuanju (Caoxian, Shandong), Huang Chao echoed the rebellion. Another salt vendor, Huang Chao, a prodigy when still a child, once wrote a poem stating that when his flower was to blossom, all other hundred flowers would die out (wo hua kai shi baihua sha). The rebels sacked Qizhou (Qichun of Hubei). The two had a split over Wang's accepting the government conferral. Splitting into the two prongs, Wang attacked west and Huang the east. In January of 877, Wang took over Ezhou (Wuchang); in July, Wang joined forces with Huang in attacking Songzhou (Shangqiu); and after setback, sacked Anzhou, Suizhou, Fuzhou and Yingzhou. After another failure to get pacified and at the cost of losing rebel leader Shang Junzhang, Wang returned to attack south, and crossed the Han-shui River to attack Jingnan (Jiangling). In January of 878, the rebels took over Luocheng. With the Shatuo Turkic cavalry coming, the rebels burnt Luocheng and fled. The government troops converged upon the rebels. In the Huangmei area, Wang was defeated and killed by the government army led by Zeng Yuanyu in February of A.D. 878, while the remnants, led by Shang Rang, went to join the Huang gang and another group crossed the Yangtze for fleeing southward. Huang Chao called himself the "grand general who charged against the heaven". Huang unsuccessfully attacked north against Luoyang. When attacking Bianzhou (Kaifeng)and Songzhou in March of 878, Zhu Wen, and his brother, joined the Huang Chao rebellion. Being impeded by Zhang Zimian's government troops, the rebels attacked Weinan (Huaxian), Ye and Yangdi (Yuxian). Seeing that the imperial "yi cheng jun" army took defense of the Yique and Wulao passes around Luoyang, Huang Chao intruded into south of the Huai-shui River from today's Henan Province, attacked today's eastern Zhejiang Province, took over Yuezhou and Quzhou (Quxian of Zhejiang), changed direction to sack today's Jiangxi Province, swept south into the 700-li mountain roads and took over Jianzhou (Jian'ou of today's Fujian), in A.D. 878 massacred the coastal Quanzhou port of today's Fujian, returned to today's Jiangxi Prov, further entered today's Hunan Province, touched today's eastern Guangxi Province, and rerouted southward to sack coastal Chaozhou and in A.D. 879 massacred Guangzhou [Canton] of today's Guangdong Province, where they eradicated a 200,000 Arab-Persian [plus Jews and Zoroastrian] paramilitary regime [that earlier overthrew the local Chinese rule and rendered terror to the local Chinese population]. (Murudj aldhahab, i.e., The Meadows of Gold, by Al-Masudi, penned down the number of Arab-Persian dead at 200,000, more than the 120,000 recorded by Relation de la Chine et de L'Inde redigee, i.e., Sulaiman's Travels.) Previously, over 121 years earlier, during the An Lushan-Shi Siming rebellion of the 8th century A.D., thousands of Arab, Persian and Central Asian mercenaries, who joined the Huihe (i.e., later Uygurs) in answering the Tang dynasty's call for cracking down on the An-Shi rebellion, chose to travel to Canton for returning to the Middle East, Persia and Central Asia over the seas. In A.D. 758, during the stopover in Canton, the mercenaries pillaged and massacred the city before taking off. As recorded by Sima Guang's Zi Zhi Tong-jian, troops from the two countries of Da-shi (Arabs) and Bo-si (Persia) attacked and sacked the Canton satrap office, pillaged the warehouses, burnt the residences, and escaped by the sea. History annals Jiu Tang Shu (Old History of the Tang Dynasty) claimed that the Tang court one month later dispatched Zhang Fangxu to Canton as 'du du' (governor-general) for Guangzhou (Canton) and 'jiedu-shi' (satrap) for the five southern prefectures, replacing satrap Wei Li[jian] who fled the city upon the Arab-Persian pillaging. (Canton, as an international trading metropolis, did not fall into disgrace due to Huang Chao's ravaging but the future Mongol invasion and massacre. The successor to Canton as a trading port was Quanzhou in today's Fujian Province where formed a similar Arab-Persia ghetto in the Mongol Yuan and Ming dynasties. However, a predictable Cycle in Cathay would see the new Arab-Persian paramilitary Quanzhou regime being wiped out in A.D. 1366 by Chen Youding, a competitor to Ming Dynasty founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. The Arab-Persians, under Pu Shougeng, previously betrayed the Southern Soong dynasty in A.D. 1276 and joined the Mongols' A.D. 1279 Yashan campaign that led to death of more than 100,000 Southern Soong Chinese.) Huang Chao then returned north to today's Hunan Province after incurring pestilence south of the Nan-ling (southern) Ridge, went north to today's Hubei Province after defeating Wang Duo ("jiedu-shi" for Jingnan), crossed the Yangtze and defeated Gao Pian ("jiedu-shi" for Huainan) and harassed today's Anhui Province. In A.D. 880, Huang Chao's army of 600,000, which snowballed along the way, crossed the Huai-shui River to take over Luoyang of today's Henan Province, and pressed against the Tongguan Pass. After taking over Tongguan, the emperor and eunuch leader Tian Lingzi fled towards the Sichuan basin. Wang Jian fought for the Tang emperor in the Zhongwu-jun Army when rebel Huang Chao attacked Chang'an in 880 A.D. Tang prime minister Lu Xie committed suicide. The rebels finally took over the capital of Chang'an [Shenxi Province]. Huang declared the dynasty of Da-qi in the Daminggong Palace. At one time, the government troops counterattacked the rebels and entered Chang'an again, over which the Huang Chao rebels conducted a massacre of the city population for siding with the government troops. The Tang court called in Li Keyong's 40,000 Shatuo cavalry. At Tongzhou (Dali), north of Chang'an, a rebel general, Zhu Wen, resenting the indifference to his fighting efforts, defected to the government side in A.D. 882. Li Keyong defeated Huang Cao at Tianbei and drove the rebels out of the Hangu'guan Pass. Under the attacks of both Zhu Wen and Li Keyong, Huang Chao fled the Chang'an capital. Huang Chao, after a defeat in the siege of Chenzhou (Huaiyang of Henan), escaped east towards the Shandong peninsula, where he was killed in the Langhugu (wolf-tiger valley) of Mt. Taishan in A.D. 884. Tang Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an in March of A.D. 885. To crack down on the Huang Chao Rebellion, the Tang court had to rely upon nomadic mercenaries, including the Shatuo and the Tanguts, for quelling the rebellion. The regional military strongmen took over the territories as independent kingdoms. Qin Yan took over the Xuan-She land; Liu Hanhong took over today's eastern Zhejiang; Zhu Quanzhong (i.e., Zhu Wen, with 'quanzhong' meaning all loyalty and a conferred name from the emperor) took over the Bian-Hua land; Li Keyong took over the Taiyuan-Shangdang land; Li Changfu took over the Fengxiang land; Zhuge Shuang the He-yang and Luoyang land; Qin Zongquan the Xu-Cai land; Wang Jingwu the Zi-Qing land; and Gao Pian the eight south-of-the-Huai-River prefectures. Out of the local strongmen, Qin Zongquan was the most notorious for practicing the massive cannibalism on the same par as another notorious cannibal by the name of Zhu Can of the 7th century A.D. The end result of the Huang Chao Rebellion would be the usurpation of the Tang Dynasty by Zhu Wen who defected to the government side from Huang Chao's camp. Zhu Wen's establishing Posterior Liang Dynasty would throw northern China into the turmoil time period called the "Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms". Scholar Luo Xianglin, stating that Chinese had been fleeing Huang Chao's rebellion throughout the territories sacked by the rebels, summarized the following safe havens: refugees to today's Sichuan Prov where Wang Jian established the Shu Regime; refugees to Hunan Prov where Ma Yin established the Chu Regime; refugees to Guangdong & Guangxi provinces where Liu Yin established the Southern Han Regime; refugees to Fujian Prov where Wang Shenzhi established the Min Regime; refugees to Zhejiang Province where Qian Mu established the Wu-Yue Regime; and refugees to Anhui-Jiangsu provinces where Yang Xingmi & Li Zhigao established the Yang-Wu and Southern Tang regimes. Zhu Wen's Liang Dynasty In A.D. 883, Zhu Wen was appointed the post as "jiedu-shi" for Xuanwu. Li Maozhen (Soong Wentong), "zhi hui shi" for the "shen ce jun" [Divine Tactics Garrison], defeated Shang Rang's Huang Chao rebels. Rebels Huang Chao and Qin Zongquan combined forces in attacking he nan (south of the river). In A.D. 884, Li Keyong led the he dong (east of the Yellow River) and dai bei (north of Dai) soldiers southward. Li Keyong chased enemies to Bei-cao-zhou (north Caozhou prefecture); when returning via Bian (Kaifeng), Zhu Wen (Zhu Quanzhong) invited him for a stay; Li Keyong left his soldiers at the outskirts and went to the Shangyuan-guan Guest-house. At night, Zhu Wen (Zhu Quanzhong) personally served the dinner, offered the treasures, and held hands as a show of condolence for Li's war efforts. Zhu Wen fed Li Keyong into intoxication; Zhu Wen, meantime, arranged his troops to have the guest house surrounded for sake of eradicating Li Keyong. Zhu Wen was jealous of Li Keyong's ferociousness and intended to kill Li so that he would usurp the Tang dynasty in an easy way. When Zhu Wen's soldiers attacked the guest house, Li Keyong's bodyguard general (Guo Jingzhu) blew off the candles and walked Li Keyong off by putting his arms around Li; still intoxicated, Li pulled his bow and shot arrows at the enemies. Utilizing the heavy smoke from the fires and lightening in the skies, Li Keyong and Xue Zhiqin escaped from the guest house, climbed the city gate of the Nan-qiao-men (watch-tower gate at the south of the city), threw down a thread and climbed down the wall. Li Keyong, seeing that hundreds of his followers had died, would re-assemble his troops and retreat to Taiyuan for the preparation of revenge. Li Keyong then ordered that his brother Li Keqin to station the troops at he zhong (area in the middle segment of the river). Li Keyong petitioned with the emperor to attack Zhu Wen. Emissaries exchanged messages and condolences eight times between the emperor and Li Keyong. The Tang emperor conferred the titles of jianxiao taifu and King of Longxi-jun-wang onto Li Keyong to pacify him. In A.D. 885, eunuch Tian Lingzi quarreled with Wang Zhongrong, i.e., 'jiedu-shi' for the He-zhong territory. Wang Zhongrong requested aid with Li Keyong. Wang Zhongrong and Li Keyong's army defeated Zhu Mei ('jing-nan jiedu-shi') and Li Changfu, and pressed on against Chang'an. Eunuch Tian Lingzi, together with Emperor Xizong, fled to Fengxiang (Baoji, Shenxi). Zhu Mei erected King Xiang-wang (Li Yun) as the new emperor. Emperor Xizhong ordered Wang Zhongrong and Li Keyong to attack Zhu Mei. Wang Xingyu, a subordinate, killed Zhu Mei. Wang Zhongrong killed King Xiang-wang. Soong Wentong, who served under Wang Xingyu, received the imperial conferral as "Wuding jiedu-shi", and the name of Li Maozhen. In 886, Li Maozhen (Soong Wentong) was assigned the post of "jiedu-shi" for Wuding and granted the royal name for his contribution to defeating rebel "jiedu-shi" generals like Zhu Mei et al. Li protected Tang emperor Xizong in 887 when the emperor was en route of return to Chang'an from Fengxiang. In Fengxiang, Li Changfu attacked the emperor's camp in A.D. 887, which was to do with Li Changfu's obstruction of the emperor's plan to return to the nation's capital. Li Maozhen killed Li Changfu, for which he received the appointment as "Fengxiang jiedu-shi". In February of A.D. 888, the emperor returned to Chang'an, and died soon afterwards. In A.D. 890, Li Maozhen was upgraded to King Longxi-jun-wang. After the new emperor was enthroned, Li became arrogant and showed disrespect. From 893 onward, Li repeatedly beat back the imperial army. The Tang court had to offer Li further titles such as King Qi-wang. In A.D. 890, Zhu Wen and prime minister Zhang Ruili proposed to attack the Hedong territory to weaken Li Keyong's power. The allied troops were defeated by Li Keyong. The emperor had to restore Li Keyong's ranking and titles. Li Maozhen was given the posts of "jiedu-shi" for Longyou and Fengxiang. In 890, Li was further assigned the title of King Longxi-jun-wang. After the new emperor was enthroned, Li became arrogant and showed disrespect. From 893 onward, Li repeatedly beat back the imperial army. The Tang court had to offer Li further titles such as King Qi-wang. From the Hanzhong territory, Wang Jian expanded towards the Sichuan basin. In A.D. 891, Wang Jian, with two thousand troops, attacked towards Chengdu and fought against Chen Jingxuan. Wang Jian sacked Lutou-guan (i.e., the deer head pass), and Han-zhou, attacked Peng-zhou, defeated an army of 50,000 under Chen Jingxian, and sacked Chengdu. Chen Jingxuan and eunuch Tian Lingzi surrendered, and were killed. Wang Jian then defeated Wang Jianzhao ('qian-nan jiedu-shi'), Gu Yanhui ('dong-chuan jiedu-shi'), and Tuoba Sijing ('wu-ding jiedu-shi'). In A.D. 897, Wang Jian took over Zi (Santai, Sichuan) and Yu (Chongqing, Sichuan). By A.D. 902, Wang Jian controlled the 'shan-nan' (i.e., south of the Qin-lin Ridge) territory. In A.D. 902, Wang Jian received the title of King Shu-wang from Tang Emperor Zhaozong. In A.D. 893, Tang Emperor Zhaozong ordered King Sitan-wang (Li Sizhou) to take the imperial garrison army against Li Maozhen. Li Maozhen and Wang Xingyu defeated the emperor's army. The emperor was forced to order prime minister Du Rangneng killed as a scapegoat. In A.D. 895, Wang Chongying, who was "Huguo jiedu-shi" (or "Hezhong jiedu-shi"), died. Li Keyong and Li Maozhen supported two different persons as successor, one being a nephew and Li Keyong's son-in-law and the other a son of Wang Chongying's. For the emperor's attitude, Li Maozhen and et al, killed two prime ministers without the emperor's approval, and further attempted to depose the emperor. Li Keyong came south of the river to defeat the Li Maozhen army, killed Wang Xingyu, and wrestled back the emperor. Emperor Zhaozong, for balancing against Li Keyong, stopped the further campaign against Li Maozhen. After Li Keyong returned to Hedong, Li Maozhen re-asserted control in the Hexi [west of the river] territory, and took over Jingnan-jun and Jingyuan-jun territories. In A.D. 896, Li Maozhen attacked the nation's capital over the emperor's attempt at organizing an army, forcing the emperor into fleeing to Huazhou (Huaxian, Shenxi). In A.D. 896, Li Keyong received the emperor's conferral as King Jinn-wang. For the next few years, Li Keyong, Liu Ren'gong and Zhu Wen were engaged in the zigzag wars, which somehow delayed Zhu Wen's usurpation of the Tang throne. Liu Ren'gong, who sought shelter with Li Keyong after an aborted rebellion against Li Kuangchou ("Fanyang jiedu-shi") in 893 and obtained the "Fanyang jiedu-shi" after Li Keyong sacked Fanyang in 894, rebelled against Li Keyong in 897. Li Keyong failed to attack Fanyang. In 898, Liu Ren'gong defeated Lu Yanwei ("Yichang jiedu-shi"). But when Liu Ren'gong attempted to attack further south in 899, he was defeated by Zhu Wen. Li Keyong failed to rescue son-in-law Li Ke ("Hezong jiedu-shi") who surrendered to Zhu Wen. By A.D. 900, Zhu Wen gained an upper hand over Li Keyong. In 901 and 902, Zhu Wen laid siege of Taiyuan consecutively. Li Keyong repelled the two-time attacks. Later in A.D. 906, Li Keyong recovered Luzhou (Changzhi, Shanxi)from Zhu Wen's army. In A.D. 906, Li Keyong led a relief to the aid of Liu Ren'gong when Zhu Wen attacked Youzhou. In 901, Tang Emperor Zhaozong (Li Ye) was hijacked by eunuch Haan Quanhui, and moved to Fengxiang where Li Maozhen (Soong Wentong) was in charge. The trigger was Zhu Wen ("Xuanwu jiedu-shi")'s march towards the nation's capital. In 902, Zhu Wen led an attack at Fengxiang but failed to sack the fort after about one year's fighting. Gao Jixing proposed to induce Li Maozhen out of the city by spreading rumor that Zhu Wen's army had retreated. With Li Maozhen lured out of Fengxiang, Zhu Wen managed to defeat the city defenders and forced Li Maozhen into handing over the emperor. The emperor returned to the throne in Chang'an. Li Maozhen also lost control of the territories to the south of the Qin-ling Ridge to Wang Jian. In 904, Zhu Wen forced the emperor into relocating to Luoyang over prime minister Cui Yin's scheme against Zhu Wen. Months later, Zu Wen sent "shu-mi shi" Jiang Xuanhui to killing the emperor. Zhu Wen selected a young son of the emperor, Li Zuo, as an emperor, i.e., Tang Emperor Aidi. In 905, Zhu Wen killed the young emperor's nine brothers, as well as killing all the court ministers. In 907, Zhu Wen usurped the Tang dynasty, forced Emperor Tang Aidi into abdication, and declared the founding of the Liang dynasty in Kaifeng which was the ancient Liang city. Zhu Wen killed the emperor the next year. Zhu Wen, who was lascivious and conducted incest in his later life and after his wife's death, was later killed by his third son Zhu Zhen (Zhu Yougui) in A.D. 912. While wife Zhang Hui was still alive, Zhu Wen was restrained. Zhu Wen first spotted the young girl, who was a daughter of the Songzhou 'ci shi', before the rebellion, and made a similar claim as Eastern Han Emperor Guangwu-di as to beauty Yin Lihua. The end of the 289-year Tang dynasty led to the turmoil period called the Five Dynasties and Ten Nations.
Written by Ah Xiang |
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![Though, Anna Wang [Anneliese Martens], in her memoirs, expressed jealousy over Gong Peng by stating that the Anglo-American reporters had flattered the Chinese communists and the communist movement as a result of being entranced with the goldfish-eye'ed personal assistant of Zhou Enlai](GongPeng.jpg)
