69 Facts About Yang Xingmi

Yang Xingmi's ancestors, including his father Yang Fu, were farmers for generations.

Yang Xingmi then took control of the militia and declared himself the commander.

Yang Xingmi responded by laying an ambush for Yu and Yao, killing them, and then informing Gao that they had planned a mutiny.

Yang Xingmi did not have enough soldiers to respond, but sent his officer Li Shenfu, who tricked Chen into believing that a large army was arriving from Lu.

Yang Xingmi then sent his officers Tao Ya and Zhang Xun to attack Wu and Li; after Tao and Zhang subsequently captured and executed Wu and Li, Yang Xingmi commissioned Tao as the prefect of Shu.

Yang Xingmi sent Tian, Li Shenfu, and Zhang Xun to resist, and they repelled Wei's attack.

Also in 886, under Gao's order, for reasons unclear, Yang changed his name from Xingmin to Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi gathered his own forces and requested additional forces from Sun Duan the prefect of neighboring Yang Xingmi Prefecture, and headed for Yang Prefecture.

Yang Xingmi then took these joint forces and put Yang Prefecture under siege.

Qin and Bi initially defended the city against the siege, but their attempts to counterattack were repelled by Yang Xingmi, who inflicted heavy losses on their troops.

Meanwhile, under siege, Yang Xingmi Prefecture was running out of food supplies, leaving to severe famine and cannibalism.

Yang Xingmi claimed the title of acting military governor, while putting Lu and several other officers whose loyalty he considered suspect to death, including Zhang Shenjian.

Yang Xingmi agreed, and he prepared for an evacuation and return to Lu Prefecture, but did not carry it out immediately.

Yang Xingmi sent his advisor Zhang Yanfan to Yang Prefecture to convey his good will and decisions to Yang Xingmi.

Yang Xingmi initially welcomed Zhang, but upon hearing that Zhu was sending Li Fan as acting military governor, turned angry.

Yang Xingmi subsequently recommended to the imperial government that Yang be made acting military governor.

In spring 888, Sun finally attacked Yang Xingmi Prefecture, capturing it easily.

Yang Xingmi fled, and per Yuan's suggestion, returned to Lu Prefecture to prepare his next step.

Yang Xingmi believed that Sun Ru would eventually attack him, and in fall 888, he considered heading south to attack Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit to try to take over Zhong's territory.

Yang Xingmi agreed, and persuaded Sun Duan and Zhang Xiong, an independent general who was then at Shangyuan, to attack Zhao as well.

When Zhao's brother Zhao Qianzhi the prefect of Chi Prefecture tried to come to aid Zhao Huang, Yang Xingmi sent Tao Ya to face him, and Tao defeated him, forcing him to flee to Zhennan.

However, Yang Xingmi, accepting Yuan's suggestion that doing so might leave Zhao as a threat, instead executed Zhao and gave Zhao's head to Zhu's emissaries.

Yang Xingmi sent Ma Jingyan to capture Run Prefecture, and Ma did so.

Yang Xingmi then sent Li You to capture Su Prefecture, but subsequently, Sun Ru attacked and took Su, killing Li You; Yang Xingmi's officer An Renyi, who was then at Run, then abandoned Run as well, allowing Sun to take Run.

When Sun attacked Lu, Cai Chou, whom Yang Xingmi had left in defense of Lu, surrendered it to Sun.

Yang Xingmi nevertheless was able to send his officers Kang Wang and An Jingsi to capture Yang Xingmi and Chu Prefectures, respectively, although Li Shenfu soon recaptured them.

Yang Xingmi thus forced the mature men and women of Yang Prefecture across the Yangtze to accompany his army, while killing the old and the weak.

Yang Xingmi sought aid from Qian, who then possessed the Hang Prefecture region; Qian did not launch troops, but did aid Yang's army with food.

In spring 892, With Sun's numerically superior army pressuring him, Yang Xingmi considered abandoning Xuan Prefecture and withdrawing to Tongguan.

Yang Xingmi, after hearing that Sun had fallen ill, made a final attack against Sun, defeating him.

Tian captured Sun on the battlefield, and Yang Xingmi executed Sun, sending his head to Emperor Zhaozong.

Emperor Zhaozong, receiving Yang Xingmi's report, made him the military governor of Huainan, while making Tian the acting military governor of Ningguo and An the prefect of Run.

Yang Xingmi was frugal, promoted farming, decreased the tax burden, and encouraged commerce with nearby circuits.

Yang Xingmi organized 5,000 of Sun Ru's soldiers who submitted to him into an elite corp known as the Heiyun Corps, and had them serve as his advance corps in battles against other circuits.

Yang Xingmi thanked Zhu and sent Li Shenfu to attack Cai, and commanded a follow-up army himself.

Yang Xingmi treated the imperially-commissioned prefect Pei Shu with respect, and sent him back to the imperial government.

Meanwhile, Ni abandoned Shu and fled, and Yang Xingmi sent Li Shenfu to be its prefect.

When Wuchang's military governor Du Hong subsequently attacked Huang, Yang Xingmi sent Zhu Yanshou to aid Wu Tao, starting years of warfare with Wuchang.

In spring 895, Yang Xingmi submitted a petition to Emperor Zhaozong accusing Zhu of crimes, requesting that Emperor Zhaozong order the military governors to the north to attack Zhu with him; Emperor Zhaozong's court, which was extremely weak by that point, was not recorded as having taken any actions on Yang Xingmi's petition.

Yang Xingmi subsequently attacked Shou Prefecture and captured it; he made Zhu Yanshou its military prefect, and Zhu Yanshou was able to beat back a Xuanwu counterattack and able to hold Shou.

Yang Xingmi, not wanting to see Qian conquer Dong, tried to dissuade Qian, and sent emissaries to Dong urging him to immediately cancel any use of imperial title and resume offering tributes to Emperor Zhaozong.

Qian would not relent in his attack so Yang Xingmi sent Tai Meng to attack Su Prefecture to divert Qian's attention, while submitting petitions in Dong's defense.

Meanwhile, Qian, Du Hong, and Zhong Chuan, all fearing that they would be the next target of Yang Xingmi's expansion, entered into an alliance with Zhu Quanzhong.

Yang Xingmi personally went to Gaoyou to welcome them.

Later in spring 897, Yang Xingmi resumed his attacks against Wuchang.

Yang Xingmi had Zhu Jin serve as his advance commander, and Zhu constructed a dam on the Huai River.

When Yang Xingmi attacked Pang, Zhu released the waters to flood Pang's army, and then attacked Pang with Yang.

Feng, in light of his defeat, considered heading east out onto the East China Sea, but Yang Xingmi persuaded him that he would be treated well if he submitted to Yang Xingmi.

Feng did so, and Yang Xingmi commissioned him as deputy military governor of Huainan.

Yang Xingmi then sent Li Shenfu to serve as the prefect of Sheng.

Yang Xingmi sent Gu, with his son Qian Chuanliao, to Huainan as emissaries.

Yang Xingmi accepted the proposal and gave a daughter to Qian Chuanliao in marriage.

Yang Xingmi subsequently ordered Tian to withdraw, threatening that if he did not, Yang Xingmi would send someone else to take over Ningguo.

In spring 903, Yang Xingmi sent Li Shenfu, assisted by Liu You, to attack Du Hong's Wuchang Circuit.

Yang Xingmi sent Wang Maozhang to aid him and launched an attack on Su Prefecture, but soon withdrew his attack from Su.

Meanwhile, it was said that Tian had become deeply resentful against Yang Xingmi for forcing him to abandon Zhenhai.

Yang Xingmi's resentment was furthered when he went to Yang Prefecture to meet Yang Xingmi to request that Chi and She Prefecture, both of which had previously belonged to Ningguo, be returned to Ningguo, and Yang refused.

In face of the threat, Yang Xingmi recalled Li Shenfu to attack Tian and sent Wang Maozhang and Xu Wen to attack An.

Yang Xingmi, realizing that Zhu Yanshou was about to turn against him, pretended to have suffered a stroke and stated to his wife Lady Zhu that he would be entrusting the headquarters to Zhu Yanshou; she wrote Zhu Yanshou relaying Yang Xingmi's remarks.

At Li Shenfu's suggestion, Yang Xingmi then sent Tai Meng to attack Xuan after Tian left Xuan.

Yang Xingmi, remembering his friendship with Tian, pardoned Tian's mother Lady Yin and continued to honor her as she was a mother.

Yang Xingmi sent Gu and Qian Chuanliao, along with Qian Chuanliao's wife back to Qian Liu.

In summer 904, Li Shenfu fell ill and died while attacking Wuchang; Yang Xingmi replaced him with Liu Cun.

Meanwhile, Tai died, and Yang Xingmi replaced Tai with his oldest son Yang Xingmi Wo.

Yang Xingmi sent Cao Yanzuo to Wuchang's capital E Prefecture to help Du defend it in light of Liu's siege.

When Yang Xingmi brought up the matter with his secretary Zhou Yin and told Zhou to issue an order summoning Yang Wo back from Xuan Prefecture, Zhou opposed the idea, stating that he viewed Yang Wo as an inappropriate successor due to his love for drinking and games.

When Yang Xingmi again told Zhou to summon Yang Xingmi Wo, Zhou drafted such an order but then delayed sending it.

However, Xu and Zhang found the order and sent it, and Yang Xingmi Wo arrived in Yang Xingmi Prefecture in winter 905.

Yang Xingmi commissioned him as the acting military governor of Huainan and soon thereafter died.