Ding Hui

Ding Hui (; died 910/911), courtesy name Daoyin , was a general who, for most of his career, served under Zhu Quanzhong (formerly known as Zhu Wen) while Zhu was a major warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty. In 906, as Zhu was planning on seizing the Tang throne and establishing his own dynasty (which he eventually did, establishing Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu), Ding defected to Zhu's rival Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) and thereafter served in Li Keyong's state of Jin until his death.

Background It is not known when Ding Hui was born, but it is known that he was from Shouchun (壽春, in modern Lu'an, Anhui). His father's name was Ding Ji . In his youth, Ding Hui was said to be frivolous and inattentive to proper conduct. Instead of farming (which, implicitly, appeared to have been his family's profession), he followed professional mourners and learned their songs. When he grew older, the Tang realm was then overrun by agrarian rebellions, and he gathered strong young men around him to engage in banditry, gaining some acclaim in the process. He eventually joined the army of the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao, and came to serve under Huang's officer Zhu Wen.

In 890, when Zhu asked Luo Hongxin the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) for permission to go through Luo's territory to attack Hedong, Luo refused. Zhu reacted by sending Ding, Ge, Pang Shigu , and Huo Cun to attack Weibo. They won a series of battles, as did Zhu himself, against Weibo. In 891, Luo sued for peace, submitting a tribute of money. Zhu agreed, and it was said that from that point on, Weibo became a vassal of Zhu's.

Later in 891, under Zhu's orders, Ding attacked Su Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui), leading to Su's prefect Zhang Yun surrendering to him. Later in the year, Ding and Zhang Guiba engaged Zhu Jin the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong), who had been locked in years of warfare with Zhu Quanzhong; they defeated him and inflicted great casualties on his troops; he himself barely escaped. Not until 901, when, in the aftermaths of a major attack Zhu launched on Li Keyong's capital Taiyuan, Li Keyong's subordinate Meng Qian surrendered Zhaoyi to Zhu, that Ding was actually able to take over Zhaoyi Circuit and govern it. Subsequently, then-reigning Emperor Zhaozong formally commissioned Ding as the military governor of Zhaoyi and Meng as the military governor of Heyang.

Defection to and service under Li Keyong and Li Cunxu In 904, Zhu forced Emperor Zhaozong, who was then under his physical control, to move the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang. Later in the year, he further had Emperor Zhaozong assassinated and replaced with his son Emperor Ai. When the news of Emperor Zhaozong's death reached Zhaoyi, Ding had his army bear mourning clothes and wept for a long time. Thereafter, in 906, when Zhu was attacking Liu Rengong the military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) and Li Keyong tried to aid Liu by attacking Zhaoyi again to divert Zhu's troops, Ding surrendered the circuit. He stated to Li Keyong:

Li Keyong treated him with great respect, putting him in honored position above other officers, but made Li Sizhao the acting military governor of Zhaoyi to replace him. Zhu, upon hearing news of Ding's surrender, abandoned his campaign against Liu and withdrew. Ding died in late 910 or early 911, he bestowed posthumous honors on Ding.

Notes and references

History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 59. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 44. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 257, 258, 261, 262, 265, 266.