Yang Guan, courtesy name Gongren, better known as Yang Gongren, formally Duke Xiao of Guan, was a Chinese military general and politician during the Sui and Tang dynasties, at one point serving as a Tang chancellor.
14 Facts About Yang Gongren
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Yang Gongren was the oldest son of Yang Xiong, a distant nephew of the Sui dynasty's founder Emperor Wen, who was considered one of the four most powerful officials at one point early in Sui, with Gao Jiong, Yu Qingze, and Su Wei and who was created an imperial prince with various titles, eventually the title of Prince of Guan.
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Late in the reign of Emperor Wen, Yang Gongren became the governor of Gan Province.
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Early in the reign of Emperor Wen's son Emperor Yang, Yang Gongren was the assistant minister of civil service matters.
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Yang Gongren received great praise from both Emperor Yang and Su Wei.
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Yang Gongren was considered honest and was not tolerated by Pei Yun, and therefore was instead commissioned to lead the army against agrarian rebels in the modern Hunan region.
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Yang Gongren was defeated by the rebel general Zhu Can at Qiao Commandery, and forced to flee to Emperor Yang's then-location at Jiangdu.
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In 619, the Tang official Wei Zheng persuaded another official Yuwen left at Wei, Yuan Baozang, to seize Yang Gongren and submit to Emperor Gaozu of Tang.
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Yang Gongren was able to govern effectively, and it was said that tribes east of the Pamir Mountains were all nominally submitting to Tang as a result.
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Yang Gongren was made the minister of civil service affairs.
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Yang Gongren continued to nominally serve as the commandant at Liang Prefecture.
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Yang Gongren took effective rein of the government and reorganized it.
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Yang Gongren's clan became an honored one, as his younger brother Yang Shidao married Emperor Gaozu's daughter Princess Guiyang; his niece was wife and princess of Li Yuanji and later became a favorite concubine of Emperor Taizong; and his nephew Yang Sijing married another daughter of Emperor Gaozu, the Princess Anping.
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Yang Gongren was given posthumous honored and buried near the tomb of Emperor Taizong's wife Empress Zhangsun, which would eventually become Emperor Taizong's tomb as well.