Li Siyuan (李嗣源, later changed to Li Dan (李亶)) (10 October 867 – 15 December 933), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Mingzong of Later Tang (後唐明宗), was the second emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China, reigning from 926 until his death. He was an ethnic Shatuo originally named, in the Shatuo language, Miaojilie (邈佶烈).
Adopted by the ethnic Shatuo ruler Li Keyong of the Former Jin dynasty, Li Siyuan became a trusted general under both Li Keyong and Li Keyong's successor Li Cunxu (Emperor Zhuangzong), the Later Tang founder. In 926 he seized power by a coup d'état when a mutiny called the Xingjiao Gate Incident killed Li Cunxu, and ruled with both discipline and compassion for the next seven years. Despite an abundance of natural disasters, his reign was markedly more peaceful than the half-century preceding it.
Background Li Siyuan was born with the Shatuo name of Miaojilie in 867 in Yingzhou (應州; present-day Ying County, Shanxi), without a surname like his nomadic Turkic ancestors. His father, referred in Chinese historiography books by his Chinese name Li Ni (李霓), was a military general under Li Guochang, the Shatuo leader in the region who received the imperial surname Li for contributions to the Tang dynasty court. He was Li Ni's oldest son. His mother was a Lady Liu, who was later honored with the title of Lady of Song.
In 878, however, Li Guochang and his son Li Keyong rebelled against the Tang. In 880, they were defeated by the joint forces of military governor Li Zhuo (李琢) and Tuyuhun chieftain Helian Duo, and the Shatuo army fled northward to the Yin Mountains where they sought refuge with a Mohe tribe. Some time after Li Ni's death (predating Li Guochang's and Li Keyong's defeat) in 879 (when Miaojilie was 12), Li Guochang took Miaojilie as a bodyguard, having been impressed by the son's mounted archery skills reminiscent of the father. It was said the teenager never missed when he aimed at hovering birds on hunting trips.
Career under Li Keyong Around that time the Tang court had great trouble with the large anti-government force of Huang Chao, who declared himself emperor of a new state of Qi, and therefore pardoned the Shatuos, allowing them to return to their home land on the condition that they join the military campaign against Huang's Qi state. In 883, Li Keyong was made the military governor (Jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) after a major victory against Qi.
Miaojilie had been serving Li Keyong, who, finding the quiet youngster earnest and dedicated, adopted him as a son and bestowed him the Chinese name Li Siyuan. On 11 June 884, Li Keyong unsuspectingly entered Bian Prefecture (汴州; today's Kaifeng, Henan) to attend a grand feast hosted by fellow military governor and Bianzhou's prefect Zhu Wen (Zhu Quanzhong), whom he had just saved from Huang Chao's siege. At night, a completely drunk Li Keyong was ambushed in his lodging by Zhu's assassins who had already placed felled trees, fences and wagons to block the exits. Amidst the chaos, 16-year-old Li Siyuan helped his master climb over a low wall; together they escaped flying arrows unharmed, helped in part by a thunderstorm, even though over 300 (mostly intoxicated) attendants were butchered. Upon their return to Hedong, Li Siyuan was given the command of Li Keyong's bodyguard cavalry.
In 890, Li Keyong's old enemy Helian Duo attacked northern Hedong with his Xianbei tribesmen, reinforced by Tibetan and Yenisei Kirghiz troops. Li Cunxin — an older adopted son of Li Keyong's — resisted the invasion but was defeated. Li Keyong sent Li Siyuan to assist him, and soon the Hedong force expelled the enemy, even capturing Helian's son-in-law. A couple of years later, Li Siyuan demonstrated his military leadership again by leading a force to quell a rebellion, capturing its leader Wang Bian (王弁). Once at a gathering, generals started bragging about their accomplishments, when Li Siyuan interrupted and spoke slowly: "You sirs, use your mouths to attack enemies. I use my hands to attack enemies." Everybody fell silent.
In 896, Li Cunxin was allocated 30,000 men to reinforce the warlord cousins Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin against the hated enemy Zhu Wen. Instead, Li Cunxin stayed behind and sent Li Siyuan to the front line with only 300 cavalrymen. Nevertheless, Li Siyuan successfully dispersed Zhu Wen's army and relieved Zhu Jin. When warlord Luo Hongxin surprised and defeated Li Cunxin afterwards, Li Siyuan fended off the attackers before returning home with Li Cunxin's main force. Praised by Li Keyong, he shared the rewards among his soldiers as usual.
In 898, Li Keyong's general Li Sizhao was soundly defeated by Zhu Wen's general Ge Congzhou, just as Li Siyuan arrived to reinforce him. Noticing the frightened soldiers, Li Siyuan told Li Sizhao, "If we return empty-handed, important things will be lost. Sir, I'd like to fight for you and die if I'm unsuccessful, it's better than imprisonment." He dismounted from his horse, sharpened his weapons, and ascended to an elevated position where he directed his soldiers in the rehearsed formation. When Ge's troops arrived, he shouted at them: "My prince ordered me to get Lord Ge. Nobody else needs to die with him!" In no time he led his soldiers into battle, and with the help of Li Sizhao, expelled the enemy. Only then was it discovered that Li Siyuan was soaked in his own blood; arrows had punctured his body in four places. As Li Keyong, already the Prince of Jin by title, personally removed the clothing and medicated the wounds with alcohol, he remarked with pride: "My son is such an extraordinary man!" Li Siyuan's fame started to spread. Another anecdote illustrated his frugal life style: once, seeing that Li Siyuan's residence had no material goods other than weapons, Li Keyong took him home and told his adopted son he could take anything he wanted. Li Siyuan left with a piece of cloth and a few strings.
In 902, Li Keying's archenemy Zhu Quanzhong, after his Xuanwu (宣武, i.e., Bian Prefecture) army, commanded by his general Shi Shucong (氏叔琮) and nephew Zhu Youning (朱友寧), defeated the Hedong army commanded by Li Siyuan's adoptive brother Li Sizhao and Zhou Dewei at Pu County (蒲縣, in modern Linfen, Shanxi), ordered Shi and Zhu Youning to advance to Hedong's capital Taiyuan to put it under siege. With a substantial portion of Li Keyong's army not available at that time at Taiyuan, the city appeared that it would be falling, and Li Keyong considered abandoning it and fleeing to Yun Prefecture (雲州, in modern Datong, Shanxi) — a strategy that Li Cunxin advocated. However, Li Siyuan, along with Li Sizhao and Zhou, advocated steadfast defending the city, and they, as well as Li Keyong's wife Lady Liu, were able to convince Li Keyong to stay and defend the city. Subsequently, raids that Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan lead against the Xuanwu army disrupted the Xuanwu army's food supplies, and Zhu Quanzhong decided to order its withdrawal. (Still, because of this siege, for several years, Li Keyong did not dare to again battle Zhu for supremacy of northern China.)
In 907, Zhu seized the throne from Tang's last emperor Emperor Ai, ending Tang and starting a new state/dynasty of Later Liang. Li Keyong, as Prince of Jin bestowed by Tang dynasty, along with several other regional governors and warlords (Li Maozhen the Prince of Qi, Yang Wo the Prince of Hongnong, and Wang Jian the Prince of Shu), refused to recognize Zhu as emperor and continued to consider themselves as vassals of the now defunct Tang state — but were in effect, rulers of their own independent states by this point. Li Siyuan continued to serve his adoptive father in this new Jin state. Shortly after, Zhu sent his general Kang Huaizhen (康懷貞) to command an army to attack Jin's Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), then under Li Sizhao's governance. Zhu himself then followed with a larger army, and the Later Liang army put Zhaoyi's capital Lu Prefecture (潞州) under intense siege, fully intent on capturing it. Li Keyong sent a relief force, under the overall command of Zhou Dewei, with Li Siyuan, Li Siben (李嗣本, another adopted son of Li Keyong), Li Cunzhang (李存璋), and An Jinquan (安金全) serving under Zhou, to try to lift the siege, but while the relief army was able to harass the Later Liang army, it was unable to lift the siege. Soon, the city was in a desperate position as food supplies were dwindling. During the midst of the siege, Li Keyong grew ill at Taiyuan and died in spring 908 and was succeeded as Prince of Jin by his biological son Li Cunxu.
Career under Li Cunxu
During Jin Li Cunxu decided to lead the army to relieve Lu Prefecture himself, and as he advanced there, he caught the Later Liang army, which was not expecting him to be able to come so quickly, by surprise. He had Li Siyuan lead the assault on the northeast side, and Zhou Dewei lead the assault on the northwest side. The Later Liang army surrounding the city collapsed, and the siege was lifted.
In 910, another major confrontation between Jin and Later Liang began to take shape, as Zhu Quanzhong, believing that his vassal Wang Rong – the Prince of Zhao and the military governor of Wushun Circuit (headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) – might be considering to align with Jin and turning against Later Liang. He therefore decided to, by trick, seize Wushun's Shen (深州) and Ji (冀州, both in modern Hengshui, Hebei) Prefectures and slaughter the Wushun garrisons at those prefectures, with the intent to then use the prefectures as the base for taking over Wushun entirely. When this occurred, Wang Rong and his ally Wang Chuzhi, the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei) turned against Later Liang and sought aid from Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu launched an army to head to the aid of Wang Rong and Wang Chuzhi. Subsequently, in a battle that Li Siyuan served as a battlefield commander, at Boxiang (柏鄉, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), the Jin army crushed the Later Liang army, securing Wushun (which was then changed back to its Tang name Chengde (成德)) and Yiwu from further Later Liang attack.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 267.
In 912, Li Cunxu launched a major campaign, intending to destroy the Yan state ruled by Liu Shouguang, with Zhou in command of the overall operations. As part of the campaign, Li Siyuan was in charge of attacking Ying Prefecture (瀛州, in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), and he was successful in getting its prefect, Zhao Jing (趙敬), to surrender. Subsequently, when Liu sent his major general Yuan Xingqin to his northern borders with the Khitan Empire to await potential aid from Khitan's Emperor Taizu, Li Cunxu sent Li Siyuan to intercept Yuan's army. Li Siyuan first attacked Wu Prefecture (武州, in modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), and its prefect Gao Xinggui (高行珪) surrendered. Yuan then attacked Wu Prefecture, and when Li Siyuan came to its aid, Yuan tried to withdraw, but Li Siyuan subsequently engaged him eight times and forced him into surrendering. Li Siyuan took Yuan as an adoptive son and kept Yuan under his command. (Gao Xinggui's brother Gao Xingzhou, whom Gao Xinggui sent to seek aid from Li Siyuan, also joined Li Siyuan's army and subsequently often commanded Li Siyuan's guards along with Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke – the son of Li Siyuan's concubine Lady Wei.) Jin forces were subsequently able to destroy Yan and add its territory to Jin.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 268. (In 915, when Li Cunxu heard of Yuan's ferocity in battle, he requested that Li Siyuan send Yuan to serve under his own personal army, and Li Siyuan, unwilling to resist the order, reluctantly sent Yuan to Li Cunxu. Li Cunxu also wanted Gao Xingzhou and tried to entice Gao with promotion offers, but Gao declined to leave Li Siyuan's command.)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 269.