Le Yanzhen

Le Yanzhen (d. 888), né Le Xingda , was a warlord late in the Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty, who ruled Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) as its military governor (Jiedushi) from 883 to 888.

Background It is not known when Le Xingda was born, but it is known that he was from Weibo Circuit's capital Wei Prefecture . His father Le Shaoji was also a Weibo officer, and had successively served as prefect of three of Weibo's prefectures — Chan (澶州, in modern Anyang, Henan), Bo (博州, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong), and Bei (貝州, in modern Xingtai, Hebei). Le Xingda became a Weibo officer in his youth. After Han Jian became military governor, Le Xingda was promoted, and later became the prefect of Bo Prefecture. After Han briefly captured Heyang Circuit (河陽, headquartered in modern Jiaozuo, Henan) in 882 and forced Heyang's military governor Zhuge Shuang to flee, as Le contributed to the victory, Han made him the prefect of Chan Prefecture. It was said that the people of Weibo had long heard of Wang's good reputation and regretted his death, and thereafter viewed Le Congxun poorly. Still, despite Wang's death, the imperial government thereafter granted the honorary titles of Kaifu Yitong Sansi and Situ (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies) on Le Yanzhen.

The soldiers thereafter supported the officer Zhao Wenbian (趙文㺹) to serve as acting military governor. Le Congxun, meanwhile, hearing about his father's forced retirement, took some 30,000 soldiers and advanced to Wei Prefecture. Zhao refused to engage Le Congxun. The Weibo soldiers, uncertain of what Zhao's intentions were, killed him and supported another officer, Luo Hongxin. Luo engaged Le Congxun and defeated him, forcing him to retreat to Neihuang (內黃, in modern Anyang). The Weibo forces put Neihuang under siege. Because the Weibo soldiers had killed Lei, Le Congxun decided to seek aid from Zhu. Zhu sent his officer Zhu Zhen north, capturing three Weibo cities and advancing to Neihuang, where he initially defeated Weibo forces. However, when Le Congxun subsequently tried to fight out of the siege, Luo's officer Cheng Gongxin attacked and killed him. Subsequently, Le Yanzhen was also executed, and both his head and his son's were publicly displayed on the gate to the Weibo camp. Luo subsequently sent messengers to apologize to Zhu Quanzhong and offer him gifts, so Zhu Quanzhong withdrew his forces, allowing Luo to take over Weibo without further opposition.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 181. New Book of Tang, vol. 210. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 255, 256, 257.