Zhang Yanze was an ethnic Gokturk general of the Later Tang, Later Jin, and Liao dynasties of China.
20 Facts About Zhang Yanze
1.
2.
Zhang Yanze was reviled in traditional sources for his cruelty, avarice, and lack of faithfulness to the Later Jin.
3.
Zhang Yanze was said to be of Tujue ancestry, but whose ancestors had settled in Taiyuan.
4.
At that time, one of Zhang Yanze's sons served on his staff, but often displeased his father Zhang Yanze, and was often physically punished by whipping and battering.
5.
Shi ordered that he be sent back to his father Zhang Yanze, believing that Zhang Yanze would not punish his son harshly.
6.
Zhang Shi, finding this to be overly cruel, urged against it repeatedly, such that Zhang Yanze got angry at him and shot at him with arrows.
7.
Zhang Yanze launched soldiers to try to chase Zhang Shi down, but was unable to catch Zhang Shi before Zhang Shi fled to nearby Jingnan Circuit.
8.
Shi, not wanting to offend Zhang Yanze, ordered that Zhang Shi be exiled to Shang Prefecture.
9.
In 942, as a result, Shi ordered that Zhang Yanze be replaced with Wang Zhou.
10.
Once Wang took office, he submitted a report listing 26 unlawful deeds that Zhang Yanze had carried out as military governor of Zhangyi and reporting that, as a result, over 5,000 households had fled or been displaced.
11.
Zhang Yanze kept Zhang in his imperial guards as a general, only demoting him one rank each in military rank and in noble title, while Zhang Shi's father, brothers, and sons were given commissions, and the people of Zhangyi who fled and returned were given tax relief.
12.
Apparently at the behest of Shi Chonggui's chief of staff Sang Weihan, Zhang Yanze was often sent out to defend against these incursions as a commanding general of the imperial guards in response, including in 944 and 945.
13.
Du and Li initially intended to withdraw quickly, but Zhang Yanze joined forces with them and argued that the Liao army could be defeated, and so they remained in the region for some time.
14.
Zhang Yanze sent Zhang Yanze ahead of him to take control of Daliang, with 2,000 cavalry soldiers.
15.
Zhang Yanze summoned Zhang, wanting to confer with Zhang what his appropriate response should be.
16.
Zhang Yanze put Shi's close associate, the director of palace affairs, Meng Chenghui, to death.
17.
Zhang Yanze had his soldiers pillage the city of its wealth, and the poor took the opportunity to join in the pillaging of the rich households.
18.
Zhang Yanze then forced Shi Chonggui and his family to move out of the palace to temporary living quarters at the Kaifeng Municipal Government offices and surrender all their treasure.
19.
Some treasures were presented to Emperor Taizong, while Zhang Yanze kept the rest himself.
20.
Zhang Yanze seized the mother of Shi Chonggui's adoptive son Shi Yanxu, Lady Ding the Lady of Chu, apparently to be his concubine.