Li Hao

Li Hao (李昊) (891? /893? ‒965? ), courtesy name Qiongzuo (穹佐), was an official for the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period states Former Shu, Later Tang, and Later Shu, serving as a chancellor during the reign of Later Shu's last emperor Meng Chang.

Background Li Hao was probably born in 893. — when Li tried to escape the city by scaling its walls out. He was captured, however, by Qi scout soldiers. Liu spoke with him and was impressed by him, and therefore retained him on staff; Liu also gave a daughter to him in marriage. In the aftermaths of Liu's death, Li was removed from his position.

During Later Tang After Wang Yan's surrender, he and his family, as well as Former Shu officials, were ordered to report from Chengdu to the Later Tang capital Luoyang. However, on the way, with Later Tang's own realm overrun by mutinies, Li Cunxu became concerned about Wang Yan, and had Wang Yan and his family put to death. and Li Hao apparently chose to return to the Shu lands, even though he had been given the title of acting Bingbu Langzhong (兵部郎中, a supervisory official at the ministry of defense (兵部, Bingbu)). Li Siyuan ordered Meng Zhixiang the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered at Chengdu) and the financial surveyor of the region, Zhao Jiliang, to find Li Hao a suitable governmental position in the matter of finances. However, upon his arrival at Chengdu, Li Hao was not initially given any positions. It was not until Li Hao then met Meng and requested to return to Luoyang that Meng made Li Hao a secretary to himself in his role as governor (觀察使, Guanchashi). The two circuits' resistance were successful, and at the end of 931, Li Siyuan put An to death for this and other reasons, and then tried to reconcile with Meng and Dong. Meng was interested, but Dong was against this, and further was blocking the path and not allowing Meng's messengers to head to Luoyang. Li Hao advocated that Meng should not break the alliance himself first, but that no further attacks should be made against imperial possessions. Meng thereafter sent Li to Dongchuan's capital Zi Prefecture to try to persuade Dong to agree to a reconciliation with the imperial government. Dong angrily refused. Upon returning to Chengdu, Li pointed out that Dong was showing signs that he may preemptively attack Xichuan, and that Meng should prepare for such an attack. When Dong eventually did attack Xichuan and almost reached Chengdu on his attack but was then defeated by the Xichuan general Zhao Tingyin, Meng had Li draft a declaration to the people of Dongchuan, trying to get them to turn against Dong. Dong was subsequently killed in a mutiny by his own officers, and Meng took over Dongchuan.

During Later Shu

Prior to chancellorship In 934 (shortly after Li Siyuan's death and succession by his son Li Conghou), Meng Zhixiang declared himself emperor of a new state of Shu (historically known as Later Shu). Early in Meng Chang's reign, Li was made the deputy minister of defense (兵部侍郎, Bingbu Shilang) and given the title of prefect of Han Prefecture (漢州, in modern Deyang, Sichuan). he was also given the title of chief imperial scholar . At one point, Meng wanted to give two of Li's sons positions in the imperial government. Li declined, instead requesting that those positions be given to sons of two colleagues he served with on Liu Zhijun's staff. Meng greatly praised him for this, and agreed to give positions to the sons of Li's colleagues — as well as Li's sons.

As chancellor One of the additional responsibilities that Li Hao took over after becoming chancellor was overseeing the editing of the imperial history. At his request, four well-known lower-level officials were assigned to serve under him in that task. Shortly after, he was given the additional title of Zuo Pushe (左僕射, one of the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng)).

Late in 958, Gao Baorong the ruler of Jingnan, which was then formally a vassal of Later Zhou (which, by that time, ruled central China and which had just dealt Southern Tang a major blow in a campaign, forcing Southern Tang to cede the territory between the Yangtze River and Huai River to Later Zhou), wrote Meng to try to persuade him to also formally submit to Later Zhou as a vassal. Meng gathered his high-level officials and generals for a meeting to discuss the situation, as he was concerned about a Later Zhou invasion, with Li Hao presiding over the meeting. When the generals opposed submitting to Later Zhou, Meng had Li write a letter back to Gao, rejecting the proposal. Subsequently, Later Zhou did consider an invasion, but the Later Zhou emperor Guo Rong subsequently fell ill and died, ending those plans. Subsequently, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin seized power in a coup, establishing his own Song dynasty as its Emperor Taizu.)

By 963, Li Hao had been sufficiently concerned about the growing power of Song that he was advocating to Meng that Later Shu formally submit to Song as a vassal. Meng initially agreed and was going to send an emissary to Song to submit, but Wang Zhaoyuan opposed it, and Meng changed his mind. Meng subsequently tried to strengthen his defenses at the borders to defend against a potential Song attack.

Song eventually launched its attack in late 964, and Wang, having an inflated sense of his own abilities, volunteered to command the armies against Song. At a feast that Li Hao, at Meng's order, held to send Wang off, Wang stated to Li, "My mission would not only result in stopping the enemy, but I will lead these 20 to 30 thousand fierce-looking young men to easily conquer the Central Plains!" However, instead, Wang's army was repeatedly defeated by the Song general Wang Quanbin , eventually resulting in the capture of Wang Zhaoyuan and his deputy Zhao Chongtao . Upon hearing of this, Meng decided to surrender, and he had Li draft the surrender petition. As Li had also drafted Wang Yan's surrender petition, someone who wanted to satirize Li secretly, at night, wrote, "The mansion of the Lis, traditional drafters of surrender petitions." Wang Quanbin subsequently accepted the surrender, ending Later Shu.

During Song dynasty After surrender, Meng Chang, his family members, and a number of high level Later Shu officials, including Li Hao, were taken to the Song capital Kaifeng. At Kaifeng, they formally wore mourning clothes and surrendered to the Song emperor in a grand ceremony. Emperor Taizu accepted their surrender and treated them with respect. He awarded Li Hao a mansion and gave him the title of minister of public works (工部尚書, Gongbu Shangshu), and gave his sons Li Xiaofeng and Li Xiaolian positions in the Song imperial government as well. Shortly after, Li Hao's family members who remained at Chengdu headed for Kaifeng down the Yangtze. When they reached Yiling (夷陵, in modern Yichang, Hubei), Li Hao's wife died. (It was not clearly stated in the historical records whether this was Liu Zhijun's daughter.) When the news of her death reached Li Hao, Li Hao became greatly saddened, such that he fell ill and died shortly after himself. He was given posthumous honors.

Notes and references

History of Song, vol. 479. Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, vol. 52. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 274, 275, 277, 278, 282, 286, 288, 294. Xu Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 2, 3, 4.