Yang Longyan, ne Yang Ying, known as Yang Wei, courtesy name Hongyuan, known by his temple name as the Emperor Gaozu of Yang Wu, was a monarch of the Yang Wu dynasty of China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, reigning initially as the Commandery Prince of Hongnong and later as the Prince of Wu.
21 Facts About Yang Longyan
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Yang Longyan was born in 897, during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang; he was the second son of Yang Xingmi, who, by the time of his birth, was a major warlord as the military governor of Huainan Circuit.
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Yang Longyan's mother was Yang Xingmi's concubine Lady Shi, who was the mother of his older brother Yang Wo.
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Yang Longyan announced that Li Maozhen the Prince of Qi had, under the authority of the Tang emperor, bestowed the greater honorary chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling and authorized him to inherit Yang Xingmi's title of Prince of Wu.
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Yang Longyan accepted the titles and issued a general pardon.
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Yang Longyan left his oldest biological son Xu Zhixun in command at Guangling as junior regent, with Xu Wen himself only ruling on the most important matters.
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Yang Longyan was even disrespectful to Yang Longyan, who was formally his sovereign.
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For example, once he put on a canjunxi play with himself playing the joker and with Yang Longyan playing the canghu, or the butt of jokes, following him around abjectly.
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Yang Longyan once fired slingshots at Yang Longyan when they both went on a river cruise.
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Xu Zhixun tried to give chase, and when he could not catch up to Yang Longyan, he killed some of Yang Longyan's attendants.
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In or around 917, there was an occasion when Yang Longyan sent an emissary to Emperor Taizu of Liao, the emperor of a newly established Khitan Empire.
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Yang Longyan's emissary delivered, as a gift, a kind of oil that, according to historical accounts, would make a fire that was set using it to be immune to being put out by water.
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Yang Longyan sent emissaries to Yang to announce his doing so and to urge Yang to claim imperial title.
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Yang Longyan therefore established a Jinghuai Circuit at Si Prefecture and made Zhu the military governor.
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Yang Longyan put Li Yan and the general Mi Zhicheng to death and considered carrying out many more executions.
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Yang Longyan refused, but in 919 took on the greater title of King of Wu.
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Yang Longyan changed the carry-over Tang era name of Tianyou to a new era name of Wuyi, in effect ending the vassal relationship to the defunct Tang Dynasty.
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Yang Longyan established an imperial administration, honored his mother Lady Dowager Shi as queen dowager, and created his brothers and his son Yang Jiming dukes.
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Yang Longyan displayed no displeasure at Xu and Xu's sons' having the actual reins of the state, and Xu did not suspect him of intent to seize power personally.
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Yang Longyan drank often and ate little, and thus became ill.
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Yang Longyan died shortly after, and Yang Pu took the throne.