Li Siyuan, known by his temple name as the Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang, was the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 926 until his death.
72 Facts About Li Siyuan
2.
Li Siyuan was an ethnic Shatuo originally named, in the Shatuo language, Miaojilie.
3.
Li Siyuan was born with the Shatuo name of Miaojilie in 867 in Yingzhou, without a surname like his nomadic Turkic ancestors.
4.
Li Siyuan's father, referred in Chinese historiography books by his Chinese name Li Ni, was a military general under Li Guochang, the Shatuo leader in the region who received the imperial surname Li for contributions to the Tang dynasty court.
5.
Li Siyuan's mother was a Lady Liu, who was later honored with the title of Lady of Song.
6.
Amidst the chaos, 16-year-old Li Siyuan helped his master climb over a low wall; together they escaped flying arrows unharmed, helped in part by a thunderstorm, even though over 300 attendants were butchered.
7.
Li Keyong sent Li Siyuan to assist him, and soon the Hedong force expelled the enemy, even capturing Helian's son-in-law.
8.
Nevertheless, Li Siyuan successfully dispersed Zhu Wen's army and relieved Zhu Jin.
9.
When warlord Luo Hongxin surprised and defeated Li Cunxin afterwards, Li Siyuan fended off the attackers before returning home with Li Cunxin's main force.
10.
In 898, Li Keyong's general Li Sizhao was soundly defeated by Zhu Wen's general Ge Congzhou, just as Li Siyuan arrived to reinforce him.
11.
Only then was it discovered that Li Siyuan was soaked in his own blood; arrows had punctured his body in four places.
12.
Li Siyuan left with a piece of cloth and a few strings.
13.
Li Siyuan continued to serve his adoptive father in this new Jin state.
14.
Li Siyuan had Li Siyuan lead the assault on the northeast side, and Zhou Dewei lead the assault on the northwest side.
15.
Li Siyuan therefore decided to, by trick, seize Wushun's Shen and Ji Prefectures and slaughter the Wushun garrisons at those prefectures, with the intent to then use the prefectures as the base for taking over Wushun entirely.
16.
Subsequently, in a battle that Li Siyuan served as a battlefield commander, at Boxiang, the Jin army crushed the Later Liang army, securing Wushun and Yiwu from further Later Liang attack.
17.
Li Siyuan first attacked Wu Prefecture, and its prefect Gao Xinggui surrendered.
18.
Yuan then attacked Wu Prefecture, and when Li Siyuan came to its aid, Yuan tried to withdraw, but Li Siyuan subsequently engaged him eight times and forced him into surrendering.
19.
Li Siyuan took Yuan as an adoptive son and kept Yuan under his command.
20.
Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to pacify the region, and Li Siyuan subsequently sent Mao away to pay homage to Li Cunxu.
21.
Li Siyuan was made the military governor of Anguo Circuit.
22.
Zhou, Li Cunshen, and Li Siyuan all led their own troops to rendezvous with him there as well, along with troops sent by Wang Chuzhi.
23.
Li Siyuan crossed the Yellow River into Later Liang territory, with the intent of destroying Later Liang.
24.
When Li Siyuan rendezvoused with him, Li Cunxu was displeased, believing that Li Siyuan had thought that he died and was abandoning the battle.
25.
Li Siyuan then left Li Siyuan and Li Cunshen in defense of Desheng, while heading to join the Zhao campaign himself.
26.
When Dai subsequently tried to attack Wei Prefecture, Li Siyuan took his army to intercept Dai while warning Wei Prefecture.
27.
Li Siyuan was made the military governor of Henghai Circuit, which Li Cunshen had been the military governor of, but remained with Li Cunxu's army.
28.
At this juncture, though, an officer of Later Liang's Tianping Circuit, Lu Shunmi, defected to Later Tang, and revealed to Li Cunxu that Dai Li Siyuan, who was the military governor of Tianping, had left two unpopular officers, Liu Suiyan and Yan Yong, in defense of Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture, and that a surprise attack on Yun could cause it to fall.
29.
When Li Cunxu consulted Li Siyuan, Li Siyuan, who had long wanted to have a specular achievement since the Battle of Huliu Slope, advocated carrying out this attack and volunteered to command his own troops.
30.
Li Cunxu agreed, and Li Siyuan thereafter led 5,000 elite soldiers and launched a surprise attack across the Yellow River, catching Liu and Yan unaware.
31.
Li Siyuan captured Desheng quickly, but Yangliu's defenses held under the defense of Li Zhou, and Li Cunxu was able to lift the siege on Yangliu, allowing Yun to remain in contact with Later Tang proper.
32.
Li Siyuan defeated them, capturing both Wang and Zhang Hanjie at Zhongdu.
33.
However, Kang and Li Siyuan both advocated attacking Daliang before Duan could withdraw to aid the city.
34.
Li Siyuan ordered his general Huangfu Lin to kill him; Huangfu did, and then committed suicide himself.
35.
When Li Siyuan reached the gates of Daliang, he met no resistance, and he entered and pacified the city.
36.
Shortly after, though, there was yet another report of a Khitan incursion, so Li Siyuan was ordered to stop at Xing Prefecture to see if the Khitan would attack, while Li Congke and Li Shaobin were ordered to command cavalry forces to defend against the attack as well.
37.
In late 924, Li Cunxu ordered Li Siyuan to take 37,000 imperial guard soldiers to Bian Prefecture, and then to further take them north to be ready to engage the Khitan.
38.
Shortly after, Li Siyuan defeated Khitan forces at Zhuo Prefecture.
39.
However, when Li Siyuan subsequently sought to go to Xingtang, where he was at the time, to pay homage to him, he refused.
40.
In 925, when Li Cunxu's mother Empress Dowager Cao was seriously ill, Li Siyuan requested to be able to pay homage to her.
41.
When Li Siyuan was proposed by others, Guo argued that given the recurrence of Khitan incursions, Li Siyuan needed to stay at Chengde to guard against the Khitan.
42.
Li Siyuan was the subject of many rumors, leading to Li Cunxu's sending his close associate Zhu Shouyin to meet with and observe Li Siyuan.
43.
Li Siyuan initially wanted to return to Chengde and then submitting a petition begging forgiveness for being unable to properly rein in his troops, but Li Shaozhen and An Chonghui pointed out that he would then be vulnerable to accusations of occupying the land for his own benefit.
44.
Under the advice of his son-in-law Shi Jingtang, Li Siyuan changed his posture and instead prepared for battle against the imperial troops.
45.
Li Siyuan headed toward Daliang, as Li Cunxu prepared to do so.
46.
Li Siyuan subsequently arrived at Luoyang at Zhu Shouyin's invitation.
47.
Li Siyuan issued orders for the imperial princes to be found.
48.
Li Siyuan sent Shi Jingtang and Li Congke to take up defensive positions at Shan Prefecture, and Hezhong Municipality, respectively, to block Li Jiji's potential return.
49.
However, Li Siyuan, citing the fact that he had long served Li Guochang, Li Keyong, and Li Cunxu, declined.
50.
Li Siyuan commissioned An Chonghui and Kong Xun as his chiefs of staff, with An becoming effectively his chief advisor.
51.
Meanwhile, Li Siyuan tried to create a friendly relationship with Khitan.
52.
Li Siyuan sent his attendant Yao Kun as an emissary to Khitan, to announce to Khitan's Emperor Taizu Li Cunxu's death.
53.
The Khitan emperor initially tried to rebuke Yao for how Li Siyuan took the throne, but Yao replied back that the Khitan emperor took over power under similar circumstances, making the Khitan emperor unable to reply.
54.
However, open hostility did not immediately occur, and Li Siyuan allowed Meng's wife and son to join him in Xichuan.
55.
When Zhu Shouyin, then the military governor of Xuanwu, subsequently rebelled at Bian Prefecture, An, apparently believing that Ren might have instigated Zhu into doing so, persuaded Li Siyuan to have Ren put to death.
56.
An suggested a campaign against Wu, but Li Siyuan did not approve it.
57.
When Li Siyuan heard of this, he decided not to visit Yedu.
58.
However, as at that time Zheng Jue requested retirement, Li Siyuan kept Wang Jianli at the imperial government to serve as chancellor and the director of the three financial agencies.
59.
When Wang Yanqiu reported this to the imperial government, Li Siyuan ordered a general campaign against Wang Du, with Wang Yanqiu in command.
60.
When Li Siyuan heard this, he recalled Yang, but did not punish Yang on account of Yang's close association with Li Congrong.
61.
Li Siyuan agreed, and commissioned Gao Conghui as the military governor of Jingnan.
62.
In 929, Li Siyuan sent his attendants Wu Zhaoyu and Han Mei on a diplomatic mission to Wuyue.
63.
In 930, Li Siyuan created his wife Consort Cao, who then carried the imperial consort title of Shufei, empress, and made his favorite concubine, Consort Wang, Shufei.
64.
Li Siyuan induced Li Congke's subordinate Yan Yanwen into refusing to allow Li Congke to return to headquarters after Li Congke was out on a hunt once.
65.
Li Siyuan thus recalled An, and then relieved him of his position as chief of staff made him the military governor of Huguo.
66.
Li Siyuan subsequently tried to make a peace overture to Dong and Meng.
67.
Li Siyuan was defeated by Meng's general Zhao Tingyin and forced to flee back to Dongchuan's capital Zi Prefecture.
68.
At the suggestion of Fan Yanguang, Li Siyuan sent Meng's nephew Li Cungui as an emissary to Meng, to persuade him to resubmit to the imperial government.
69.
Subsequently, at Meng's request, Li Siyuan granted Meng the authority to commission the military governors and prefects of the six circuits now under this control.
70.
In late 932, when Li Siyuan considered installing a strong military governor of Hedong to defend against possible Khitan incursions, Fan and Zhao recommended Shi, and therefore Shi was commissioned as the military governor of Hedong.
71.
Li Siyuan decided to assert his authority over Dingnan, and he commissioned An Congjin the military governor of Zhangwu Circuit as the acting military governor of Dingnan, while commissioning Li Yichao as the acting military governor of Zhangwu.
72.
When Li Siyuan tried to quell them by giving out bonus rewards for the soldiers, it instead led the soldiers to greater arrogance.