Li Shidao, or Yi Sado (; died March 8, 819Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 241.) was a Chinese military general and politician of the Chinese Tang dynasty, who, as the successor to his brother Li Shigu, ruled Pinglu Circuit (, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) in a de facto independent manner from the imperial government. In 818, after he reneged on an offer to submit three of Pinglu's 12 prefectures to imperial control, Emperor Xianzong declared a campaign against him. In 819, his officer Liu Wu turned against him and killed him, submitting to imperial authority.
Background It is not known when Li Shidao was born. His father was Li Na, the military governor (jiedushi) of Pinglu Circuit from 784 to 792 and who had inherited the circuit from Li Shidao's grandfather Li Zhengji. His mother was a daughter of Li Zhengji's ally Li Baochen, who had ruled Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei). He had one older half-brother, Li Shigu, who inherited the circuit after Li Na's death in 792.Old Book of Tang, vol. 124 .
It was said that during Li Shigu's rule, Li Shidao was sent out of the headquarters to govern locales, and at times he was impoverished—because Li Shigu wanted him to get experience on how life was so that he would be trained. Li Shigu later made him the prefect of Mi Prefecture. It was said that he liked painting and playing the bili.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 237.
As of 806, Li Shigu was ill, and he asked his staff members Gao Mu () and Li Gongdu () whom they planned to support as leader if he died—and when Gao and Li Gongdu did not answer quickly, Li Shigu guessed that they planned to support LI Shidao. Li Shigu tried to dissuade them—stating that while he loved Li Shidao as his brother, Li Shidao was not capable and spent his time on painting and playing bili—but did not give them any other person that he approved of. When Li Shigu died thereafter, Gao and Li Gongdu welcomed Li Shidao back to Pinglu's capital Yun Prefecture () and supported him to succeed Li Shigu.
Initial semi-submission to the imperial government After Li Shidao took over control of the circuit, for some time, Emperor Xianzong did not issue any approvals of his takeover. When Li Shidao consulted his staff members, some suggested pillaging the nearby circuits to create pressure on the imperial government. Gao Mu earnestly opposed this, and instead proposed that Li Shidao try to receive the emperor's favor by submitting the tax revenues that Li Shigu had withheld to the imperial government, giving the imperial government the authority to commission his subordinates, and joining the imperial salt monopoly system and submitting the funds to the imperial government. Meanwhile, the chancellor Du Huangchang advocated trying to strip Li Shidao of some territory, but as Emperor Xianzong was waging a campaign against another warlord, Liu Pi, at the time, he did not want to create another battlefront. He thus made his son Li Shen () the Prince of Jian the titular military governor but commissioned Li Shidao the acting military governor and, later in the year, made Li Shidao military governor officially.
In 809, there was an incident in which the great-great-grandson of the great early Tang chancellor Wei Zheng, Wei Chou (), was so impoverished that he mortgaged his ancestral home. Li Shidao offered to use his own money to pay off Wei Chou's mortgage, and Emperor Xianzong initially agreed. He had the imperial scholar Bai Juyi draft an edict approving Li Shidao's suggestion, but Bai pointed out that this is something the imperial government should do and that Emperor Xianzong should not allow Li Shidao to take credit for this. Emperor Xianzong agreed, and he used imperial treasury funds to pay off Wei's mortgage.
Also in 809, Wang Shizhen the military governor of Chengde died. Emperor Xianzong was initially willing to make Wang Shizhen's son Wang Chengzong the new military governor after Wang Chengzong offered to submit two of Chengde's six prefectures to imperial control, but after Wang Chengzong reneged on the offer, Emperor Xianzong declared a campaign against Wang Chengzong. The imperial campaign stalled, however, and Li Shidao repeatedly tried to intercede on Wang Chengzong's behalf. In 810, Emperor Xianzong ended the campaign and made Wang Chengzong military governor of Chengde.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 238.
In 812, when another ally of Li Shidao's, Tian Ji'an the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), his relative Tian Xing (later known as Tian Hongzheng) took over and submitted to imperial authority. Li Shidao later threatened to, along with Wang Chengzong, attack Tian Hongzheng, but Han Hong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), who was loyal to the imperial government, threatened to attack him if he attacked Weibo, and Li Shidao did not do so.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 239.
Alliance with Wu Yuanji In 814, another ally of Li Shidao's, Wu Shaoyang the military governor of Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan), died. When Emperor Xianzong did not commission Wu Shaoyang's son Wu Yuanji to succeed Wu Shaoyang, Wu Yuanji reacted by pillaging the nearby circuits, and Emperor Xianzong ordered a campaign against Zhangyi. Both LI Shidao and Wang Chengzong tried to intercede on Wu Yuanji's behalf, but Emperor Xianzong rebuffed them. Emperor Xianzong mobilized the troops from many circuits to attack Zhangyi, but did not request troops from Pinglu. Nevertheless, Li sent 2,000 soldiers to Shouchun (壽春, in modern Lu'an, Anhui), claiming to be joining the attack against Zhangyi, but instead trying to find a way to aid Zhangyi.
Meanwhile, some tens of assassins that Li had retained were suggesting to him that the way for him to save Zhangyi would be to use guerilla warfare—retain a group of bandits to burn the imperial food supplies around the eastern capital Luoyang such that the imperial government would be forced to concentrate on Luoyang's security and decrease the pressure on Zhangyi. Li agreed, and starting in summer 815, there were frequent bandit attacks near Luoyang—sufficiently frequent that many officials suggested to Emperor Xianzong to end the campaign against Zhangyi, but Emperor Xianzong refused.
Li's assassins then suggested the next move—assassinate the chancellor Wu Yuanheng, whom Emperor Xianzong had put in charge of the logistics of the operations against Zhangyi. Li agreed, and sent them with sufficient funds to the capital Chang'an to carry out the operation. Shortly after, Wu Yuanheng was assassinated, and the assassins also attacked another official in favor of the campaign against Wu Yuanji, Pei Du, but failed to kill Pei. Suspicions quickly fell on soldiers that Wang had sent to Chang'an as liaisons—as Wang had, shortly before, submitted a petition that attacked Wu Yuanheng bitterly. Wang's liaisons were arrested and, probably under torture, confessed to assassinating Wu Yuanheng. Emperor Xianzong thus declared Wang a renegade, while, at that point, not suspecting Li, and his assassins were able to flee Chang'an without being arrested. When some officials suggested ending the campaign against Zhangyi, Emperor Xianzong firmly refused, and further made Pei chancellor.
Meanwhile, Li was planning another attack on Luoyang. He had a detachment of Pinglu soldiers stationed at Luoyang, serving as his liaisons, and they were led by the Buddhist monk Yuanjing (), who had previously been an officer under Shi Siming during the Anshi Rebellion. They planned to burn the imperial palaces and carry out a slaughter of Luoyang's population. The plot was leaked to the imperial defender of Luoyang, Lü Yuanying (), however, and Lü mobilized his guards and surrounded the Pinglu liaison office. The Pinglu soldiers fought their way out into the hills south of Luoyang, but later, with them pillaging the prey of the hill hunters in the region, the hunters led the imperial troops to their location, and they were mostly captured and executed. After Lü interrogated two of the Pinglu officers, Zi Jiazhen () and Men Cha (), he found out the extent of Li Shidao's plot and further found out that Wu Yuanheng was assassinated by assassins sent by Li, not Wang Chengzong. Lü submitted a secret petition pointing out that Li was even more treasonous than Wu Yuanji and Wang. Emperor Xianzong agreed, but as he was already waging two campaigns simultaneously against Wu and Wang, he could not declare a third one against Li at that time.
By late 815, Li was openly attacking Xu Prefecture (徐州, in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), belonging to neighboring Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered at Xu Prefecture), to try to distract the imperial forces. The Wuning officer Wang Zhixing, however, was able to defeat the Pinglu troops. After the imperial generals Li Guangyan and Wu Chongyin captured the Zhangyi outpost Lingyun Fence (陵雲柵, in modern Luohe, Henan) in fall 816, however, Li became apprehensive and submitted a petition offering to submit. Emperor Xianzong, having no ability to attack him at the moment, gave him the honorary title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies).
During these anti-imperial government actions of Li Shidao's, Gao Mu, Li Gongdu, and Guo Hu () repeatedly urged him not to act against the imperial government. Li Shidao's close associates Li Wenhui () and Li Ying (), however, accused Gao and Li Gongdu of being disloyal. Li Shidao eventually executed Gao and imprisoned Guo.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 240.
Li Shidao continued to be concerned about Zhangyi's viability, and he sent his officer Liu Yanping () to secretly head to Zhangyi to confer with Wu Yuanji. Liu had to get by the imperial lines carefully, and when he arrived at Zhangyi, Wu gave him many gifts and sent him back to Liu. When Liu returned to Pinglu, however, he reported to Li that Wu was not diligent, was wasting time in games with his wife and concubines, and was not able in military matters. Liu predicted an imminent defeat for Wu. Li, who had hoped for a more optimistic report, did not want to hear this, and he soon thereafter found an excuse to put Liu to death. As the Song dynasty historian Hu Sanxing commented:Bo Yang Edition of the Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 58 .
Campaign against imperial government In late 817, the imperial general Li Su captured Wu Yuanji, who was soon executed. When the news of Wu's defeat reached Li Shidao and Wang Chengzong, both became fearful. Wang again offered to surrender two of his six prefectures to imperial control and further sent his two sons to Chang'an to serve as hostages, and Emperor Xianzong accepted his submission. Li Gongdu and another officer, Li Yingtan (), thus persuaded Li Shidao to submit three of his 12 prefectures—Yi (沂州, in modern Linyi, Shandong), Mi, and Hai (海州, in modern Lianyungang, Jiangsu) to imperial control and to send his oldest son Li Hongfang ()New Book of Tang, vol. 213 . to Chang'an as a hostage. Emperor Xianzong initially agreed, and he sent the official Li Sun () to Pinglu to comfort Li Shidao.