Gu Yanlang

Gu Yanlang (顧彥朗; died 891) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty who controlled Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in what became Mianyang, Sichuan) from 887 to his death in 891 as its military governor (jiedushi).

Background It is not known when Gu Yanlang was born. According to his biography in the New Book of Tang, he was from Feng Prefecture (豐州, in modern Bayan Nur, Inner Mongolia). Both he and his younger brother Gu Yanhui served as junior officers at Tiande (天德, in modern Bayan Nur). The defender of Tiande, Cai Jing (蔡京), considered both of them to have appearances that indicated that they would be later successful, and therefore had his son give them money. During the subsequent major agrarian rebellion led by Huang Chao, Gu Yanlang and Gu Yanhui served in the campaign against Huang and participated in Tang's recapture of the capital Chang'an from Huang. Gu Yanlang was subsequently made a general of the imperial guards.

As military governor In 887, then-reigning Emperor Xizong made Gu Yanlang the military governor of Dongchuan Circuit. When he reached Jianmen (劍門, in modern Guangyuan, Sichuan) on the way to his post, the subordinates of Chen Jingxuan the military governor of neighboring Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) seized the staff that Emperor Xizong bestowed on him and refused him entry toward Dongchuan, and he was forced to stay at Li Prefecture (利州, in modern Guangyuan) for some time. Only after further negotiations by imperial emissaries did Chen allow Gu to report to Dongchuan. Once he got there, he made his brother Gu Yanhui the prefect of Han Prefecture (漢州, in modern Deyang, Sichuan).

Wang, however, continued the campaign against Chen, and he raided and seized a number of prefectures of Xichuan Circuit. After Emperor Xizong died in 888 and was succeeded by his brother Emperor Zhaozong—who had despised Tian—Wang submitted a petition to Emperor Zhaozong that argued that Chen and Tian were renegades against imperial rule and that the imperial government should launch a campaign against them, and Gu joined Wang's petition as well. Emperor Zhaozong thereafter commissioned the chancellor Wei Zhaodu as the new military governor of Xichuan and summoned Chen back to Chang'an to serve as a general of the imperial guards. When Chen refused, Emperor Zhaozong declared a general campaign against Chen, with Wei in command and Gu, Wang, and Yang Shouliang the military governor of Shannan West Circuit (山南西道, headquartered in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi) serving as Wei's deputies.

His son Gu Zaixun (顾在珣) would later become a close associate of Wang Jian's son Wang Zongyan—the second emperor of Former Shu, which Wang Jian founded—and serve as Prefect of Jia Prefecture (嘉州).

Notes and references

New Book of Tang, vol. 186. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 256, 257, 258.