Gao Xingzhou

Gao Xingzhou (885 – September 10, 952 ), courtesy name Shangzhi , formally Prince Wuyi of Qin , was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician who served the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Jin, Later Tang, Later Jin, Liao Dynasty, Later Han, and Later Zhou. dynasties. His son Gao Huaide was later a famed general in the succeeding Song Dynasty.

Background Gao Xingzhou was born in 885, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang. His family was originally from You Prefecture (幽州, in modern Beijing), but his male-line ancestors had served for several generations (since his great-grandfather Gao Shunli at Huairong Base at Gui Prefecture (媯州, in modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), which belonged to Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered at You Prefecture), and Gao Xingzhou was born at the fortress at Huairong. Gao Xingzhou's father Gao Siji and Gao Siji's two brothers (one older, one younger, whose names are lost to history) were all known in the region for being brave and capable in military matters.

After the Hedong army conquered Lulong, Li Keyong left the former Lulong officer Liu Rengong in command of Lulong, while leaving a Hedong army at Lulong to assist and guard Lulong. Liu made the Gao brothers the commanders of the forward, the middle, and the rear armies of Lulong, respectively, but either he himself (per the History of the Five Dynasties)

In 913, by which time Tang had fallen, and neither Li Keyong nor Liu Rengong was ruling his domain (by this time known respectively as the states of Jin and Yan) any more (Li Keyong had died in 908 and been succeeded by his son Li Cunxu as the Prince of Jin, while Liu Rengong had been overthrown by his son Liu Shouguang and put under arrest, with Liu Shouguang subsequently claiming the title of Emperor of Yan) the Jin army was launching a major attack on Yan. Gao Xinggui was then the prefect of Wu Prefecture (武州, in modern Zhangjiakou), and, unable to stand the attack of the Jin general (Li Cunxu's adoptive brother) Li Siyuan, surrendered Wu to Li Siyuan. When the major Yan general Yuan Xingqin heard this, he attacked Wu Prefecture. Gao Xinggui then sent Gao Xingzhou as a hostage to Li Siyuan and sought emergency aid. Li Siyuan, with Gao Xingzhou serving as his guide, was subsequently able to defeat Yuan, forcing Yuan's surrender. Subsequently, both Yuan and Gao Xingzhou remained as officers under Li Siyuan, with Gao and Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke often serving as commanders of Li Siyuan's personal guards.

In 915, Li Cunxu was trying to build an elite guard corps serving under himself, and he requisitioned Yuan to serve as an officer of the corps. Li Siyuan felt compelled to allow Yuan to do so, and Li Cunxu subsequently gave Yuan the royal surname of Li, with a new name of Shaorong. Subsequently, there was a battle where Li Shaorong was surrounded by enemy soldiers (presumably soldiers of Jin's archrival Later Liang), when Gao Xingzhou fought into the encirclement and rescued Li Shaorong. Impressed, Li Cunxu also wanted Gao to serve under him, but did not feel that he could make another request to Li Siyuan. Instead, he secretly sent messengers to Gao, trying to entice him with higher offices. Gao declined, stating:

Service during Later Tang In spring 923, Li Cunxu declared himself the emperor of a new Later Tang (as Emperor Zhuangzong). At that time, the Later Tang and Later Liang forces were stalemated on the Yellow River. Li Siyuan suggested a surprise attack on Later Liang's Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), south of the Yellow River. Emperor Zhuangzong agreed, and in the subsequent surprise attack on Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture , Gao Xingzhou served under Li Siyuan in capturing the city. (During the surprise attack on Yun, Li Siyuan's army was initially hindered by pouring rain, but Gao pointed out that this would make the defenders of Yun even less cautious about a potential attack, and encouraged the rest of the army to continue on.) Emperor Zhuangzong was thus able to use Yun as the base for another surprise operation later in 923, capturing Later Liang's capital Daliang and destroying Later Liang. After destroying Later Liang, Emperor Zhuangzong made Gao the prefect of Duan Prefecture (端州, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong) (i.e., an honorary position, as Duan was then the territory of Southern Han), and later the prefect of Jiang Prefecture (絳州, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi). where Emperor Zhuangzong was then killed in a mutiny before Li Siyuan reached there. When Li Siyuan arrived, he declared himself regent, and later emperor (as Emperor Mingzong).

Emperor Mingzong was said to respect Gao's abilities, Gao served under the general Wang Yanqiu in quelling Wang Du's rebellion and had much accomplishment during the campaign. After the campaign against Wang Du, he was made the military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi) of Ying Prefecture (潁州, in modern Fuyang, Anhui). Early in Emperor Mingzong's Changxing era (930–933), as at that time Later Tang's northern borders were often attacked by the Khitan Empire, Gao was made the military governor of Zhenwu (振武, headquartered in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) to help defend the border.

Li Congke later became emperor after Emperor Mingzong's death, and early in his Qingtai era (934–937), Gao was made the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi).

Service during Later Jin The joint Liao/Later Jin forces (now enlarged with the remnants of the Later Tang army at Jin'an) then engaged another Later Tang army sent to combat it, commanded by Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong, at Tuanbo Valley (團柏谷, in modern Jinzhong, Shanxi), crushing it. Zhao Dejun and his son Zhao Yanshou fled to and tried to defend Zhaoyi's capital Lu Prefecture . The Later Jin emperor sent Gao Xingzhou back to Zhaoyi, and when he reached Lu, he persuaded Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou to surrender. With the Zhaos out of the way, nothing was left to block the Liao/Later Jin forces from advancing on the Later Tang capital Luoyang, and so, as Emperor Gaozu did so (Liao's Emperor Taizong opined that if he advanced on Luoyang with Khitan troops, the people would panic, and therefore chose not to), Li Congke and his family committed suicide, ending Later Tang. Emperor Gaozu entered Luoyang and took over the rest of the Later Tang realm.

In 941, as Emperor Gaozu went to Yedu, in anticipation of a rebellion by An Chongrong the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), he apparently moved Gao back to Luoyang — for Gao was referred to as the defender of Luoyang when, shortly afterwards, An Congjin the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei) rebelled. Emperor Gaozu's nephew Shi Chonggui the Prince of Zheng, whom Emperor Gaozu left in charge of then-capital Kaifeng (i.e., Daliang), commissioned Gao to head the army to be sent against An Congjin. The monitor of Gao's army, Zhang Cong'en , quickly engaged An Congjin's army, surprising it and defeating it, forcing An Congjin to flee back to Shannan East's capital Xiang Prefecture . Gao put it under siege. In fall 942, Xiang Prefecture fell, and An Congjin committed suicide with his family. A few months earlier, Emperor Gaozu had died and was succeeded by Shi Chonggui as emperor. Shi Chonggui moved Gao to Guide Circuit (歸德, headquartered in modern Shangqiu, Henan), and gave him the greater honorary chancellor title of Shizhong .

In 946, Shi Chonggui launched a major attack against Khitan, putting his uncle (husband of Emperor Gaozu's sister the Princess Song), Du Wei, in command of the army. Du, however, was not fully intending to attack Khitan. He advanced only half-heartedly, and his army was shortly thereafter trapped by the Khitan army under Emperor Taizong at Zhongdu Bridge (中度橋, in modern Baoding, Hebei). Shi Chonggui commissioned Gao to head a rescue force, with Fu serving as his deputy, but it appeared that before the army could be launched, Du surrendered to the Khitan emperor and subsequently served as the guide for the Khitan army south. Emperor Taizong shortly after approached Kaifeng. Shi Chonggui tried to commit suicide, but was stopped by his general Xue Chao . Subsequently, he surrendered to the Khitan, ending Later Jin.

Between Later Jin's destruction and Later Han's firm establishment After Shi Chonggui's surrender, both Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing also went to the Khitan emperor's headquarters to surrender as well. Gao was apparently allowed to return to Guide during this wave of redeployments.

Kaifeng was then virtually defenseless, as Xiao only left 1,000 soldiers from Lulong to serve as Li Congyi's guards. Li Congyi's adoptive mother (Emperor Mingzong's concubine) Consort Dowager Wang knew that the situation was untenable, but initially unsure what to do. She initially sent messengers to summon Gao from Guide and Wu Xingde from Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan), hoping that they would support Li Congyi, but neither responded. Emperor Yin also created him the Prince of Ye, and then changed the title to Prince of Qi upon the Tianping commission.

Service during Later Zhou The new Later Zhou emperor formally took the throne in spring 951, and most Later Han military governors formally submitted to him as emperor, including Gao Xingzhou and Murong Yanchao. (The main exception was Liu Chong the military governor of Hedong, the younger brother of Later Han's Emperor Gaozu (and father to Liu Yun, who was executed by Later Zhou), who declared himself the new emperor of Later Han, but whose state was subsequently known historically as Northern Han and not traditionally considered part of Later Han's history.) Murong, however, was apprehensive under Emperor Taizu due to his status as Emperor Gaozu's half-brother, so he gathered soldiers and food, considering a rebellion, and was in communications with Northern Han, Liao, and Southern Tang. To try to assuage concerns that Emperor Taizu may have about him, he repeatedly sent his attendant Zheng Lin to Kaifeng to claim loyalty and to also spy on the imperial court, while submitting letters that he claimed were written by Gao in which the writer defamed the Later Zhou imperial government and offered an alliance with Murong. Emperor Taizu, however, did not believe that Gao had written these letters, and sent the letters to Gao. Gao responded by submitting a petition thanking the new emperor. Murong subsequently rebelled against Later Zhou, but his rebellion was put down by summer 952.

Gao died in fall 952. He was remembered as being brave and righteous, having great accomplishments but not arrogant, willing to personally face enemies in battle, and approachable with his staff members. He was given posthumous honors, including the title of Prince of Qin.

Notes and references

History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 123. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 48. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 268, 269, 272, 274, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285, 287, 288, 289, 290.