An Chonghui (d. June 25, 931?Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 277.Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.The description of the events in the Zizhi Tongjian implied that An Chonghui's death was on June 25, but does not clearly state it. Emperor Mingzong's edict ordering An's execution was on June 26, but based on the Zizhi Tongjian description was issued after An's death.) (, fl. 10th century) was the chief of staff (Shumishi) and chief advisor to Li Siyuan (Emperor Mingzong) (r. 926–933) of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Later Tang.
For most of Emperor Mingzong's reign, An was the most powerful figure at court, making key military and political decisions that, in his eyes, sought to strengthen the authority of the Later Tang imperial state. However, his ruthless actions toward political enemies—including Emperor Mingzong's adoptive son Li Congke the Prince of Lu—created much resentment. After the campaign against the regional warlords Meng Zhixiang and Dong Zhang, which An instigated, stalled, An was forced to retire, and then was killed in retirement, under accusations that he had alienated Meng, Dong, and the Later Tang nominal vassal Qian Liu the King of Wuyue, from the Later Tang emperor. He was said to have, at his death, lamented that he was not able to rid the state of Li Congke.
Background It is not known when An Chonghui was born, but it is known that his family was from Ying Prefecture (應州, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi)New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 24. and that his ancestors were tribal chiefs in the region.History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 66. His father An Fuqian () was known for ferocity in battle and became an officer under the late-Tang dynasty major warlord Li Keyong (founder of Jin) the military governor (jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi). In 894, when Li Keyong's allies Zhu Xuan the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) and Zhu Xuan's cousin Zhu Jin the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong) sought aid from Li Keyong as they were under attack by Li Keyong's archrival Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), Li Keyong sent An Fuqian and two brothers—older brother An Fushun () and An Fuqing (), who was likely older as well—with 500 cavalry soldiers, to aid Zhu Xuan and Zhu Jin.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 259. An Fuqian was subsequently killed in battle when fighting the Xuanwu forces.
During Li Cunxu's reign The first historical reference made to An Chonghui himself was in 916, by which time Tang had ended, and the sons of Li Keyong and Zhu Quanzhong were ruling separate and rival realms that they inherited from their fathers—Li Keyong's biological son Li Cunxu as the Prince of Jin and Zhu Quanzhong's son Zhu Zhen as the Emperor of Later Liang. In 916, Li Cunxu made his adoptive brother Li Siyuan the military governor of Anguo Circuit (安國, headquartered in modern Xingtai, Hebei). An was then serving under Li Siyuan with the officer rank of Zhongmenshi () and faithful to Li Siyuan, and Li Siyuan trusted him deeply.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 269. He was friendly with Li Siyuan's sons Li Congrong and Li Conghou from Li Congrong's and Li Conghou's childhood, and the brothers respected him.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 278. However, he did not have a good relationship with Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke, as there was a time when they were drinking and got into an argument, and Li Congke beat him badly. Li Congke later apologized, but An continued to bear a grudge against Li Congke.
For more than a decade, An followed Li Siyuan in his campaigns serving under Li Cunxu, who eventually declared himself emperor of a new Later Tang (as its Emperor Zhuangzong) and conquered Later Liang.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 272. However, by 926, the Later Tang realm was overrun by mutinies after Emperor Zhuangzong had, without good cause, executed two of the major generals, Guo Chongtao and Zhu Youqian. When Li Siyuan was sent to battle the mutineers at Yedu (鄴都, in modern Handan, Hebei), Li Siyuan's own forces mutinied and forced him to join the Yedu mutineers. After Li Siyuan freed himself from the Yedu mutineers, he considered returning to his own circuit Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), which he was then the military governor of, to consider his next step, but An and Li Siyuan's deputy Li Shaozhen pointed out that that exposed him to be defenseless against charges that another general, Li Shaorong, might lay against him, convinced him to head south back toward the capital Luoyang instead. Subsequently, with Li Shaorong indeed accusing Li Siyuan of treason and cutting off Li Siyuan's attempts to send messengers to Emperor Zhuangzong to defend himself, Li Siyuan decided to indeed rebel, and therefore had An draft summons on his behalf, asking other generals to join his army, as he advanced toward Kaifeng (Bian prefecture).Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 274.
Li Siyuan quickly entered Kaifeng, and then from there advanced toward Luoyang. Emperor Zhuangzong organized an army to try to resist him, but was shortly thereafter killed in a mutiny at Luoyang. When Li Siyuan arrived at Luoyang, he was welcomed into the city and assumed, for the time, the title of regent. He made An his chief of staff, with Zhang Yanlang, whose daughter was An's daughter-in-law, serving as An's deputy. Meanwhile, An and Li Shaozhen tried to get the political situation ready for Li Siyuan's eventual enthronement, by killing Li Cunxu's brothers Li Cunque () the Prince of Tong and Li Cunji () the Prince of Ya, without Li Siyuan's prior approval. Later, after Li Cunxu's oldest son Li Jiji the Prince of Wei committed suicide as his army refused to follow him in a campaign against Li Siyuan, Li Siyuan took the throne (as Emperor Mingzong).Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 275.
During Li Siyuan's reign
As shumishi
During the Tiancheng era (926–930) An Chonghui quickly became the most powerful advisor for Emperor Mingzong, and, as Emperor Mingzong was illiterate, he relied on An to read to him the petitions coming from throughout the realm, although An, realizing that he was also not capable of handling all these petitions, recommended the imperial scholars Feng Dao and Zhao Feng to serve in that role. As chief advisor, however, he quickly developed a rivalry with the chancellor Ren Huan, as Ren was putting much of his own imprint on the governance, drawing An's jealousy. Meanwhile, Emperor Mingzong wanted to reward An by commissioning him as the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei) and serving remotely (with an acting military governor at the circuit itself). An believed that Shannan East was too important of a circuit to lack an actual military governor at the circuit, and therefore declined; Emperor Mingzong subsequently agreed.
Despite his faithfulness to Emperor Mingzong, An was also known for his arrogance and violence. When the minor official Ma Yan () accidentally collided with his train, An had Ma executed on the spot. When the imperial censor (御史, yushi) Li Qi reported this to Emperor Mingzong, Emperor Mingzong reacted, at An's request, by issuing an edict blaming the executed-Ma for the incident and declaring that the people should be careful in respecting the senior officials of the state. Later, in 927, An and Ren had a major disagreement about whom to recommend to be chancellors to replace two chancellors recently removed from office, Doulu Ge and Wei Yue; Ren recommended Li Qi while An recommended Cui Xie at the suggestion of his close associate Kong Xun; Emperor Mingzong ultimately chose Cui and Feng to serve as chancellors, replacing Doulu and Wei. Shortly after, Emperor Mingzong also bestowed chancellor titles on An and Kong, with An receiving the greater title of Shizhong (), making him more honored than other chancellors. Emperor Mingzong eventually became displeased at Ren's continuous arguments with An, believing that to be an affront to himself, and when Ren, noticing the emperor's displeasure, offered to resign his secondary position as the director of the three financial agencies (taxation, treasury, and salt and iron monopolies), Emperor Mingzong accepted the resignation. In fall 927, Ren retired completely to Ci Prefecture (磁州, in modern Handan, Hebei), but shortly after, when the general Zhu Shouyin the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng) rebelled, An, believing that Ren could be complicit, requested Emperor Mingzong to order Ren to commit suicide, and Emperor Mingzong did so.
By late 926, An had begun to be concerned about two powerful military governors that Emperor Zhuangzong had commissioned prior to his death to govern the former territory of Former Shu—Meng Zhixiang the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) and Dong Zhang the military governor of Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan), because Meng was closely related to Emperor Zhuangzong (as his wife was a daughter of Li Keyong's and therefore a full-elder-sister of Emperor Zhuangzong's) and Dong was a favored general of Emperor Zhuangzong's. Meng was also acting fairly independently as the military governor of Xichuan Circuit, as he refused to yield tax revenues to the imperial administration. The official Li Yan () volunteered to serve as a monitor to the Xichuan army, believing that he could help curb Meng's exercise of authority, and An then sent him to Xichuan. Meng subsequently had Li executed, and another officer, Zhu Hongzhao, whom An sent to Dongchuan to serve as Dong's deputy military governor for a similar reason, fled back to Luoyang.
In late 927, Yang Pu the king of Later Tang's southeastern neighbor Wu declared himself emperor, thus putting himself at the same level, title-wise, as the Later Tang emperor. An advocated a campaign against Wu, but Emperor Mingzong ruled against it. However, subsequently, apparently with Emperor Mingzong's approval, An cut off the diplomatic communications between the two states, which had been frequent ever since Emperor Zhuangzong's destruction of Later Liang.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 276.
In 928, a rift developed between An and Kong, over the fact that Kong advised An against giving a daughter to one of Emperor Mingzong's sons in marriage, on the rationale that it would be improper for someone already so powerful to further engender himself to the emperor by a marriage of their children—and then himself gave a daughter in marriage to be the wife of Emperor Mingzong's son Li Conghou. An thus had Kong expelled from the imperial government to serve as the defender of Luoyang (as Emperor Mingzong was himself at Kaifeng at that time). However, when An had a dispute with Wang Jianli the military governor of Chengde, with accusations flying both ways—An accusing Wang of being aligned with the semi-independent warlord Wang Du the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei), while Wang Jianli accused An of allying himself with Zhang Yanlang and creating a power bloc. Emperor Mingzong, unhappy with what he saw of An, briefly considered replacing him with Wang Jianli, but ultimately did not do so, but kept Wang at Kaifeng as a chancellor and the director of the three financial agencies. Emperor Mingzong subsequently gave An the additional title of mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region).