Li Huaiguang

Li Huaiguang (; 729 – September 19, 785 ) was a leading general of Mohe extraction of Tang China. He was credited with saving Emperor Dezong in the face of an attack by the rebel Zhu Ci in 783 but, dissatisfied with the lack of trust that Emperor Dezong displayed in him later, also rebelled, but his rebellion was stunted by the refusals of many of his subordinates to follow him. In 785, facing defeat by Tang imperial forces, he committed suicide.

Background Li Huaiguang was born in 729, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His ancestors were Mohe from Balhae, and had originally been surnamed Ru . Li Huaiguang's father was originally named Ru Chang , but due to his accomplishments while serving as a soldier at Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia), was given the imperial surname of Li and a new personal name of Jiaqing .

Service under Guo Ziyi Li Huaiguang started his military service when he was young, and he was known for his abilities in martial arts, his bravery, and his strength. He served under Guo Ziyi, who was then serving as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shuofang Circuit and who respected him greatly. Early in the Shangyuan era (760–762) of Emperor Xuanzong's son Emperor Suzong, Li Huaiguang became a commander of Guo's guards. Sometime thereafter, he was made the discipline officer of the Shuofang army. During the meantime, for his accomplishments, he was also getting progressively greater honorary positions. It was said that as discipline officer, he was honest, hard-working, harsh, and fierce, and was willing to put people to death for their violation of military disciplines and did not spare his own friends and relatives. As Guo was himself lax toward his officers, he entrusted the matters of discipline to Li, and the army much feared Li. In 767, when Guo, under Emperor Daizong's instruction, made a sudden attack against the rebellious general Zhou Zhiguang , the military governor of Tonghua Circuit (同華, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Guo had Li and Hun Jian command the advance troops, although even before Li and Hun could attack, Zhou's own subordinates killed him and surrendered. During an incursion by the Tibetan Empire in 777, it was Li that Guo sent to repel the Tibetan troops.

In 777, Li briefly left military service to observe a mourning period for his mother. In 778, he was recalled to military service and commanded the forces of Bin (邠州, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), Ning , and Qing (慶州, both in modern Qingyang, Gansu) Prefectures, and he participated in repelling another Tibetan incursion.

In 780, after a plan by the powerful chancellor Yang Yan to build forts in the no man's land between Tang and Tibetan territory was opposed by Duan Xiushi the military governor of Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), Yang persuaded Emperor Dezong to strip Duan of his command and recall him. Emperor Dezong had Li assume the command of Jingyuan Circuit as well as Binning Circuit and moved his command to Jingyuan's capital Yuan Prefecture . The Jingyuan soldiers feared Li's reputed harshness, particularly given his execution of the five Binning officers in 779. Duan's assistant Liu Wenxi took this opportunity to seize the circuit and resist Li's commission, requesting that either Duan be returned to command or that another general, Zhu Ci, be put in command of the circuit. Emperor Dezong agreed with the latter request and gave the command of Jingyuan to Zhu instead. Liu subsequently resisted that move as well and sought aid from the Tibetan Empire. Emperor Dezong ordered Li and Zhu to attack him. Subsequently, Liu's own subordinates killed him and surrendered.

In 782, with Tian Yue, Zhu Tao (Zhu Ci's brother), Wang Wujun, and Li Na resisting imperial authorities, Emperor Dezong ordered Li to take his Binning and Shuofang soldiers to attack Tian's Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei). After Li Huaiguang arrived and joined forces with Ma Sui and Li Baozhen, Ma believed that they should wait and rest their soldiers before attacking, but Li Huaiguang advocated an immediate attack, and did so. He initially had successes against Zhu, but Wang took the opportunity to charge against his troops, cutting them off from each other, and eventually the imperial forces were routed. They were forced to lift their siege of Weibo's capital Wei Prefecture , but held their position in stalemate against the rebel forces. Emperor Dezong gave Li Huaiguang the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi . Subsequently, in light of their victory, the rebel leaders all declared themselves princes independent from Tang. By the time that Li Huaiguang arrived in Chang'an's vicinity, Fengtian was under intense siege by Qin troops under Zhu Ci. Li Huaiguang sent his officer Zhang Shao to Fengtian to inform Emperor Dezong of his impending arrival, and then attacked Qin forces at Liquan (醴泉, in modern Xianyang) and defeated them. When Zhu Ci heard the news, he, in fear, lifted the siege on Fengtian and withdrew back to Chang'an. It was believed at the time that Li Huaiguang arrived right on time and that, if he were even three days late, Fengtian would have fallen.

Meanwhile, though, it had become common knowledge that Li Huaiguang despised several officials that Emperor Dezong trusted — the chancellor Lu Qi and other ministers Zhao Zan and Bai Zhizhen — and that he would recommend to Emperor Dezong that those officials be removed. When Lu heard this, he believed that he had to prevent a meeting between Emperor Dezong and Li Huaiguang at all costs, and therefore suggested to Emperor Dezong order Li Huaiguang to attack Chang'an at once. Emperor Dezong agreed, and ordered Li Huaiguang to rendezvous with Li Sheng, Li Jianhui , and Yang Huiyuan to attack Chang'an. Li Huaiguang, angry that he was not even able to meet the emperor, began to resent Emperor Dezong. He stopped his army's movement and submitted petitions accusing Lu and the others of crimes and further accusing them of being responsible for the Jingyuan mutiny. Emperor Dezong was forced to demote and exile Lu, Bai, and Zhao. Li Huaiguang also submitted a petition accusing Zhai Wenxiu of crimes, and Emperor Dezong executed Zhai in response.

Li Huaiguang, indeed, was then in secret communication with Zhu Ci and considering rebellion. Zhu promised Li Huaiguang that he would be willing to divide the realm into two, with both serving as emperors, and would be willing to honor Li Huaiguang like an older brother. Meanwhile, Li Sheng, believing Li Huaiguang to be ready to rebel, requested that precautions be made and that the road to the Hanzhong and Shu (蜀, modern Sichuan) regions be clear, in case of a Li Huaiguang rebellion. Emperor Dezong hesitated, and instead announced that he would go to Xianyang (咸陽, in modern Xianyang) to monitor the advancement of troops. Li Huaiguang, believing that the announcement was against him, further prepared for rebellion. Emperor Dezong, meanwhile, tried to calm Li Huaiguang by sending the official Li Bian to award him with the title of Taiwei (太尉, one of the Three Excellencies) and an iron certificate (鐵劵, Tiejuan), which promised that he would never be executed. Li Huaiguang, believing that these were actually signs of distrust, threw the iron certificate onto the ground and stated: with Li Huaiguang's declaration and posture of readiness to attack Fengtian, Emperor Dezong fled to Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong).

As rebel against Emperor Dezong Li Huaiguang sent his officers Meng Bao , Hui Jingshou , and Sun Fuda to chase after Emperor Dezong, but the three, not wanting to track down the emperor, intentionally slowed down, allowing Emperor Dezong to flee. Meanwhile, Li Sheng took a defensive posture and also wrote Li Huaiguang letters trying to persuade him to return to the imperial cause; while Li Huaiguang did not do so, he was sufficiently embarrassed and concerned that his soldiers would turn against him in an attack against Li Sheng that he did not attack Li Sheng. Meanwhile, a number of his subordinates, including Han Yougui , turned against him, weakening his army. As a result, Zhu Ci stopped treating him as an equal and instead was sending him edicts. His subordinate Li Jinglüe tried to persuade him to attack Zhu Ci and resubmit to Tang, but under the suggestion of Yan Yan , he decided to instead withdraw from the Chang'an region to Hezhong. to Chang'an to beg Emperor Dezong's forgiveness. Emperor Dezong thereafter sent the official Kong Chaofu to Hezhong to accept his resubmission. When Kong arrived, Li Huaiguang changed into civilian clothing to show meekness and remorse, but Kong did not tell him to change back into official uniform. When Kong further asked the soldiers, "Who can succeed the Taiwei in commanding this army?" the soldiers were incensed, and they rushed and killed Kong and the eunuch Dan Shouying , with no intercession from Li Huaiguang, and Li Huaiguang thereafter again took a posture against the imperial troops.

In spring 785, Li Huaiguang's subordinate Lü Mingyue was killed by Li Huaiguang after he discovered that Lü had been in secret communications with Ma. Li Huaiguang also put two other subordinates, Gao Ying and Li Yong, under arrest for associating with Lü. Meanwhile, Ma rendezvoused with Hun at Changchun Palace and put it under siege. By this point, the Shuofang soldiers were largely ready to turn against Li Huaiguang, and when Yan Yan tried to lead them against Han Yougui's Binning army — which was branched off the Shuofang army, and whose soldiers therefore mostly had family relationships with the Shuofang soldiers — the Shuofang soldiers refused to fight against Binning soldiers. Li Huaiguang declared to the soldiers that he was ready to resubmit to Tang and offer tributes to Emperor Dezong, but thereafter did nothing for another month. Meanwhile, as the Chang'an region lacked food, many officials suggested to Emperor Dezong that he pardon Li Huaiguang, but Li Sheng opposed, pointing out five reasons why pardoning Li Huaiguang would have undesirable effects, and Emperor Dezong agreed and did not pardon Li Huaiguang. In 789, Emperor Dezong gave Li Huaiguang's grandson, by a daughter, Yan Baba the new name of Li Chengxu and had him serve as Li Huaiguang's progeny in supporting Lady Wang and worshipping Li Huaiguang.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 121. New Book of Tang, vol. 224, part 1. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232.