Shi Siming
Shi Siming 史思明 | |
---|---|
Emperor of the Yan Dynasty | |
Reign | 9 May 759 Yan |
Occupation | Military general, monarch, politician |
Shi Siming (
Background
It is not known when Shi Sugan was born, other than that he was born one day before his friend
Under Emperor Xuanzong's rule
Shi Sugan first served under the
During the Anshi Rebellion
Under An Lushan's rule
In 755, An Lushan rose against Emperor Xuanzong's rule, and Shi Siming served under him. Initially, the Tang commanderies north of the
Under An Qingxu's rule
In spring 757, An Lushan was killed by his son An Qingxu, who succeeded to the Yan throne. Meanwhile, though, Shi Siming, who had not received the news of An Lushan's death, attacked Taiyuan, where Li Guangbi was at that point, along with Cai Xide, Gao Xiuyan (高秀巖), and Niu Tingjie (牛廷玠), with 100,000 troops total. They besieged Taiyuan for more than a month, but could not capture it. The news of An Lushan's death then arrived, and An Qingxu further ordered Shi to return to Fanyang to guard it, leaving Cai at Taiyuan to watch Li Guangbi. An Qingxu also made Shi the military governor of Fanyang and created him the Prince of Guichuan. Shi, however, hoarding the supplies that An Lushan had previously shipped to Fanyang, began to disobey An Qingxu's orders, and An Qingxu could not keep him in check. In winter 757, after An Qingxu was forced to abandon Luoyang after a joint Tang/Huihe counterattack, various non-Han tribal troops abandoned An Qingxu and fled north. Shi induced the elite Yeluohe (曵落河) troops, as well as various other tribes, to submit to him, but the Tongluo (同羅) forces refused, and he then defeated them.
Meanwhile, An Qingxu sent the generals Ashina Chengqing (阿史那承慶) and An Shouzhong (安守忠) to Fanyang to requisition troops from Shi, and also see if they could seize Fanyang. Shi, under the advice of his assistant Geng Renzhi (耿仁智), turned against An Qingxu, detaining Ashina and An Shouzhong, and offering to submit to Tang instead, along with Gao. Emperor Suzong was pleased. He commissioned Shi as the military governor of Fanyang and created him the Prince of Guiyi. He also sent the
Brief submission to Emperor Suzong and re-rebellion
After Shi Siming's submission to Tang, the other nearby prefectures also largely submitted to Tang, leaving An Qingxu isolated in
Meanwhile, the Tang generals Guo Ziyi, Lu Jiong (魯炅), Li Huan (李奐), Xu Shuji (許叔冀), Li Siye, Ji Guangchen (季廣琛), Cui Guangyuan (崔光遠), Dong Qin (董秦), Li Guangbi, and Wang Sili (王思禮), were gathering at Yecheng and putting it under siege. An Qingxu tried to fight out of the siege, but was defeated by Tang forces, and his brother An Qinghe (安慶和) was killed. Meanwhile, An sent the general Xue Song to Fanyang to seek aid from Shi, offering the throne to him. Shi thus advanced south toward Yecheng. Meanwhile, Tang forces, under the command of nine generals (with Li Siye having died during the siege), were uncoordinated. On 7 April 759,[7] Shi engaged Tang forces—and, when a storm suddenly arrived, both armies panicked; Shi's forces fled north, and Tang forces fled south, lifting the siege on Yecheng. An Qingxu's forces gathered the food and supplies abandoned by Tang forces, and An thereafter considered, with Sun Xiaozhe (孫孝哲) and Cui the possibility of refusing Shi, who gathered his troops and again approached Yecheng, admittance. Shi himself was not communicating with An, but was feasting his soldiers and watching Yecheng. Zhang and Gao Shang (高尚) requested permission to meet Shi, and An agreed; Shi gave them gifts and let them return to Yecheng. An, unsure what to do, again offered the throne to Shi, which Shi declined. Shi, instead, suggested to him that perhaps they could both be emperors of independent, allied states. An, pleased, exited Yecheng and met with Shi to swear to the alliance.
When An met Shi, he kneeled down to thank Shi for his help, stating:
I did not have the abilities to uphold the empire; I lost the two capitals and was put under siege. I did not know that Your Royal Highness would, on account of the Taishang Huang [i.e., An Lushan], arrive from far to save me from death. I have no way to repay your kindness.
Shi suddenly changed his expression and rebuked An:
Losing the two capitals is nothing worthy to be mentioned. You were a son, and you killed your father and usurped his throne. Heaven, earth, and the gods cannot tolerate you. I am attacking the bandits on behalf of the Taishang Huang, and I will not listen to your flattery.
Shi then executed An Qingxu, his four brothers, Gao, Sun, and Cui. He took over An's territory and troops, but returned to Fanyang and left his oldest son Shi Chaoyi in charge of Yecheng. He soon claimed for himself the title of emperor of Yan. He created his wife Lady Xin empress, Shi Chaoyi the Prince of Huai, and made Zhou Zhi (周摯) his chancellor and Li Guiren (李歸仁), the main chieftain who of the non-Han forces that had submitted to him in 757, his chief general.
As emperor
Shi Siming soon left Empress Xin's son Shi Chaoqing (史朝清) in charge of Fanyang and headed south. He quickly captured Bian Prefecture (汴州, roughly modern Kaifeng, Henan) and Luoyang, but his further attempts to advance were rebuffed by Tang forces at Heyang (河陽, in modern Jiaozuo, Henan) and Shan Prefecture (陝州, roughly modern Sanmenxia, Henan), and the sides stalemated.
At this time, Shi was described as cruel and prone to kill, terrorizing his army. He favored Shi Chaoqing over Shi Chaoyi and considered creating Shi Chaoqing crown prince and killing Shi Chaoyi.[8]
Death
In spring 761, Shi Siming began another attempt to attack Shan Prefecture, wanting to attack Chang'an. He had Shi Chaoyi serve as his forward commander, but Shi Chaoyi was repeatedly repelled by the Tang general Wei Boyu (衛伯玉). Shi Siming was angered by Shi Chaoyi's failures and considered punishing him and the generals below him. On 18 April,[2] Shi Siming ordered Shi Chaoyi to build a triangular fort with a hill as its side, to store food supplies, and ordered that it be completed in one day. Near the end of the day, Shi Chaoyi had completed it, but had not plastered the walls with mud, when Shi Siming arrived and rebuked him for not applying mud. He ordered his own servants to stay and watch the plastering. He then angrily stated, "After I capture Shan Prefecture, I will kill you, thief!" That night, Shi Chaoyi's subordinates Luo Yue (駱悅) and Cai Wenjing (蔡文景) warned him that he was in dire straits—and that if he refused to take action to depose Shi Siming, they would defect to Tang. Shi Chaoyi agreed to take action, and Luo persuaded Shi Siming's guard commander General Cao (personal name lost to history) to agree with the plot. That night, Luo led 300 soldiers and ambushed Shi Siming, binding him and then beginning a return to Luoyang with the troops. On the way back to Luoyang, Luo feared that someone might try to rescue Shi Siming, and so strangled him to death.
Shi Chaoyi enthroned as the new emperor of Yan. He was eventually defeated by Tang forces and committed suicide in 763.
Personal
His wife was
Popular culture
- Portrayed by Wong Chun-tong in 2000 Hong Kong television series, The Legend of Lady Yang
- Portrayed by Lu Xingyu in the 2017 Chinese television series, The Glory of Tang Dynasty
References
- era name (as recorded in volume 221 of Zizhi Tongjian; the date corresponds to the jiachen day of the 4th month of the 2nd year of the Qianyuan era of Tang Suzong's reign). However, he (at least according to some accounts such as Old Book of Tang) claimed the title of "Great Holy Prince of Yan" (大聖燕王) on 3 February, which corresponded to the first day of the 2nd year of the Qianyuan era of Tang Suzong's reign, some three months earlier.
- ^ a b c d Volume 222 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that Shi was killed on the jiawu day of the 3rd month of the 2nd year of the Shangyuan era of Tang Suzong's reign. This date corresponds to 18 Apr 761 on the Julian calendar.
- ^ Volume 216 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded a birthday celebration for An on the jiachen day of the 1st month, during the 10th year of the Tianbao era of Tang Xuanzong's reign (751). For that month, the jiachen day corresponds to the 20th day of the month. [(天宝十年正月)甲辰,禄山生日,...]. Thus, if Shi was indeed a day older than An, his birthday should be on the 19th day of the 1st month.
- ^ Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 214.
- Yuan Dynasty historian Hu Sanxing, however, doubted this version of events, pointing out that having Wu persuading Ashina to rebel was an impossible task that Li Guangbi would have known was impossible, and that, after Wu's death, Shi publicly displayed a list of generals that Emperor Suzong had ordered Wu to execute once the plot succeeded, which was implausible given that Tang most likely would have needed to pardon all of Shi's associates if Wu actually killed Shi. Hu opined that Shi contrived the entire situation -- falsely blaming Wu for wanting to kill him, and then manufacturing evidence to make it as if Emperor Suzong and Li Guangbi were persecuting him. See Bo YangEdition of the Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 53 [759].
- ^ That Shi declared himself the Great Holy Prince of Yan was per the Zizhi Tongjian. According to his biography in the New Book of Tang, the title he declared was "the Great Holy Prince of Zhou“ (大聖周王). Compare Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 221 and New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 1 Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Volume 221 of Zizhi Tongjian recorded that the siege of Yecheng was lifted on the renshen day of the 3rd month of the 2nd year of the Qianyuan era of Tang Suzong's reign. This date corresponds to 7 Apr 759 on the Gregorian calendar.
- ^ The sources conflict with each other as to whether Shi Chaoqing was, indeed, created crown prince. His biographies in the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang indicated that he was only considering it, but the Jimen Jiluan, an account of the Anshi Rebellion written by the Tang Dynasty historian Ping Zhimei (平致美) no longer extant but often cited by others,"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-02-04. Retrieved 2008-05-03.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) indicated that An did create Shi Chaoqing crown prince. Compare Old Book of Tang, vol. 200, part 1, and New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 1 Archived 2008-05-28 at the Wayback Machine, with Bo Yang Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 53 [761], citing Jimen Jiluan.
Further reading
- Old Book of Tang, vol. 200, part 1.
- New Book of Tang, vol. 225, part 1.
- Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 214, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222.