Li Xilie
Li Xilie | |||||||||
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Reign | 784 – May 9, 786 | ||||||||
Born | unknown | ||||||||
Died | May 9, 786[1][2] | ||||||||
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Dynasty | Chǔ (楚) | ||||||||
Occupation | Military general, monarch, politician |
Li Xilie (Chinese: 李希烈) (died May 9, 786[2]) was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician of the medieval Tang dynasty who, believing himself to be strong enough to claim imperial title, did so as the emperor of a new state of Chu. His efforts to expand Chu was repeatedly thwarted by generals loyal to Tang, however, and in 786, after he grew ill, he was killed with poison by his general Chen Xianqi.
Background
It is not known when Li Xilie was born, but it is known that his family was from Yan Prefecture (燕州, in modern
As of 779, Li Zhongchen was said to be greedy, violent, and sexually immoral. If his officers and soldiers had beautiful wives or daughters, he would often force the women to have sexual relations with him. He entrusted the important matters of the circuit to his brother-in-law Zhang Huiguang (張惠光), whom he made his deputy. Zhang was said to be corrupt and causing much grief to the soldiers. Zhang's son, an officer, was even more corrupt than his father. Li Xilie was supported by the soldiers, and he took this opportunity to plot a mutiny with his colleague Ding Gao (丁暠). On March 28, 779,
As Jiedushi of Huaixi Circuit
In imperial service
Li Xilie subsequently drew favors from Emperor Dezong by repeatedly suggesting to Emperor Dezong, who had wanted to wipe out the de facto independence of several circuits — Pinglu (the original territory of which had been abandoned and whose headquartered had moved to modern
In summer 781, Emperor Dezong created Li Xilie the Prince of Nanping and put him in command of overall operations against Liang — against warnings by the
Turning against imperial rule
After Li Xilie's victory over Liang, instead of turning Shannan East over to imperial authority, he began to act as if it were his private domain. Emperor Dezong, remembering Li Cheng's remarks, sent Li Cheng to Shannan East to serve as military governor — with no escorts, at Li Cheng's own request. Once Li Cheng got to Xiang Prefecture, Li Xilie initially refused to let him take over its governance and housed him at a pavilion for guests, and then tried to intimidate him with threats. Li Cheng refused to leave, and Li Xilie, unwilling to break with the imperial government at that time, allowed his soldiers to pillage Xiang Prefecture and then withdrew back to Huaixi. In 782, with imperial forces engaging the forces of Tian Yue,
In spring 783, Li Xilie finally took more apparent provocative action against the imperial government, by capturing Ru Prefecture (汝州, in modern
In fall 783, soldiers of Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), at Chang'an at the time in preparation for deployment to battle Zhu, Tian, Wang, and Li Na, mutinied, forcing Emperor Dezong to flee to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi). They supported Zhu Tao's brother Zhu Ci as their leader, and Zhu Ci soon declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qin. In the subsequent confusion, Xiangcheng (襄城, in modern Xuchang), which Geshu was defending, fell to Li Xilie, and Geshu fled back to Luoyang. Later in 783, Li Xilie attacked Li Mian's headquarters at Bian Prefecture, but could not capture it quickly enough. He forcibly conscripted civilians to participate in the siege and, when they could not complete the filling-up of the moat around Bian Prefecture on time, buried them alive, referring to them as "wet wood."[6] Around the new year 784, Li Mian abandoned Bian Prefecture, which then fell to Li Xilie, who then moved his headquarters to Bian Prefecture. Li Mian's subordinate Li Cheng (李澄, note different character than the Li Cheng who had previously resisted Li Xilie) surrendered Hua Prefecture (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan) to Li Xilie as well. The Yangtze-Huai region was all shocked by the development, and Chen Shaoyou (陳少游) the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) sent his subordinate Wen Shu (溫述) to Li Xilie to pledge allegiance to Li Xilie.
When Emperor Dezong, still at Fengtian, declared a general pardon in spring 784 — the scope of which included even Zhu Tao, Wang, Tian, Li Na, and Li Xilie and implicitly promising them that if they submitted to nominal imperial authority again, he would not dare to interfere with them again — Wang, Tian, and Li Na all renounced their self-claimed princely titles. Li Xilie refused, however, and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Chu and making Daliang (i.e., Bian Prefecture) his capital.
As emperor of Chu
After Li Xilie declared himself the Emperor of Chu, he sent emissaries to Chen Shaoyou and Zhang Jianfeng the prefect of Shou Prefecture (壽州, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), trying to get them to formally submit. Chen was receptive, but Zhang was not and killed Li Xilie's emissaries. Li Xilie sent his general Du Shaocheng (杜少誠) to attack Zhang, but was defeated by Zhang. Other efforts by him to expand were also repelled by Li Gao and Li Jian (李兼) the prefect of E Prefecture (鄂州, in modern Wuhan, Hubei). Meanwhile, when Li Xilie himself attacked Ningling (寧陵, in modern Shangqiu, Henan) and called on Li Cheng to aid him, Li Cheng refused. When Ningling's defender Liu Chang (劉昌) received archery reinforcements from Han Huang the military governor of Zhejiang West Circuit (浙江西道, headquartered in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu), Li Xilie was forced to lift the siege on Ningling and withdraw.
In late 784, the Tang general Li Sheng recaptured Chang'an and welcomed Emperor Dezong back to Chang'an. Li Xilie's brother Li Xiqian (李希倩), who had been serving under Zhu Ci, was executed. Hearing of Li Xiqian's death, in anger, Li Xilie executed Yan Zhenqing. Meanwhile, when he subsequently had difficulty in capturing Chen Prefecture (陳州, in modern Zhoukou, Henan), Li Cheng openly turned against him and resubmitted to Tang. Tang forces under Li Cheng, Liu Qia (劉洽), and Qu Huan (曲環) then converged on Bian Prefecture, and Li Xilie, in fear, left Bian Prefecture and moved his capital back to Cai Prefecture. Li Xilie's general Tian Huaizhen (田懷珍) then surrendered Bian Prefecture to Tang forces. Li Xilie was able to capture Deng Prefecture (鄧州, in modern Nanyang, Henan) in spring 785, but made no major gains thereafter. In fall 785, Emperor Dezong, at the advice of the chancellor Lu Zhi, issued an edict that ordered the surrounding circuits not to take further aggressive actions against Chu, but merely to defend themselves against Chu attacks. He also promised that if Li Xilie surrendered, his life would be spared. Li Xilie did not respond. His further attacks continued to be repelled by Tang generals, however, and it was said that his territory was constantly shrinking.
In spring 786, Li Xilie grew ill after eating beef. At the encouragement of his
Personal information
- Father
- Li?/Dong?[3] Dading (李/董大定)
- Wife
- Name unknown (killed by Chen Xianqi 786)
- Major concubine
- Lady Dou, daughter of Dou Liang (竇良) (killed by Wu Shaocheng 786)
- Children
- five sons, names unknown (killed by Chen Xianqi 786)[8]
Notes and references
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 232.
- ^ a b "中央研究院".
- ^ a b c d Li Xilie was said in the Zizhi Tongjian to be the son of a paternal cousin of Li Zhongchen's, and as Li Zhongchen was originally surnamed Dong (董), Li Xilie was probably originally surnamed Dong as well, but as Li Xilie's biographies in the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang do not positively indicate that he was, in fact, Li Zhongchen's cousin's son, it is not completely clear whether Li Xilie was originally surnamed Dong as well. Compare Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 225 with Old Book of Tang, vol. 145 Archived 2008-06-21 at the Wayback Machine and New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 2 Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ "中央研究院".
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 225.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 229.
- ^ Old Book of Tang, vol. 145.
- ^ That Li Xilie had five sons is deducible from the accounts in the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang that indicated that Chen Xianqi killed Li Xilie's wife, sons, and brothers — noticeably not mentioning daughters — and that Chen then presented the heads of Li Xilie, his wife, and his sons to Emperor Dezong, totaling seven heads. See Old Book of Tang, vol. 145, and New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 2.
- Old Book of Tang, vol. 145.
- New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 2.
- Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232.