Li Jinquan

Li Jinquan (died circa 950) was a military general during the Five Dynasties period, serving successively the Jin–Later Tang, Later Jin, and Southern Tang dynasties. He was of Tuyuhun ethnicity.

Li is best known for his 940 revolt against the Later Jin, after which he fled to Southern Tang. Later Jin demolished the Southern Tang force sent to receive him, and from this point on Southern Tang never dared to encroach on Central Plains again.

Early life Li Jinquan was born in the 880s during the Tang dynasty. Originally a menial servant of the Shatuo general Li Siyuan, Li Jinquan was described as fearless and skilled in mounted archery. As Li Siyuan served the warlords Li Keyong and his son Li Cunxu, Li Jinquan also fought in battles and won military merits. The Shatuo state, known as Jin after the Tang's collapse in 907, became Later Tang in 923.

Under Later Tang After Li Siyuan became Later Tang's emperor in 926, he appointed Li Jinquan military commissioner of Longwu , seated in Jing Prefecture in the western part of the empire. Li Jinquan's governance was greedy and oppressive. Following his recall to the capital Luoyang, he presented dozens of horses to Li Siyuan (then renamed Li Dan) as a gift, followed by another herd a few days later. This shocked the emperor, who questioned him: "You must suffer from a plentitude of horses. Why else would you offer so many? Moreover, you serve at Jing Prefecture. How would you characterize conditions there? Surely, you do more than merely trade in horses?" Li Jinquan was too ashamed to reply.

Li Jinquan later governed Henghai , seated in Cang Prefecture in the northeast. He was again recalled to the capital to command the "Right Guard" of the imperial guards at some point. Later Jin's emperor Shi Jingtang, busily fighting the rebellion of Fan Yanguang in the north, could not afford to battle on two fronts. Therefore, he issued a "letter-on-arrow" against slaughtering a single person in Anyuan, while also promising Wang Hui governorship of Tang Prefecture if he surrendered. He then sent Li Jinquan with a 1000-man cavalry to Anyuan to induce Wang Hui's surrender, and before Li's departure, admonished him: with the day-to-day operations of the military and government. After Shi Jingtang heard of Hu Hanyun's excesses, he sent an honest administrator named Jia Renzhao to Anyuan to replace Hu. Hu was terrified, so he persuaded Li Jingquan to submit a memorial which claimed that Hu was ill and could not be recalled back to the capital. Pang Lingtu , who hailed from the same hometown as Li Jinquan, repeated advised Li to appoint Jia Renzhao. Hu Hanyun then sent soldiers to massacre Pang Lingtu's entire family. He also poisoned Jia Renzhao to death. Because Hu Hanyun colluded with the flatterer Zhang Wei , Li Jingquan knew nothing of his wrongdoings and trusted him more than ever.

At that time, Wu had already been replaced by Southern Tang, and Li Jinquan sent Zhang Wei to Southern Tang to offer his surrender. Southern Tang's emperor Li Bian then commissioned a 3000-man force under general Li Chengyu and Duan Chugong to receive Li Jinquan from E Prefecture. Li Jinquan and his hundreds of soldiers surrendered without a problem, and Li Chengyu got hold of his women and wealth as well. Feeling overconfident, Li Chengyu disobeyed Li Bian's orders and plundered An Prefecture, acquiring items of "gold and silk too numerous to count". In the bloody two-day battle that followed, Duan Chugong was killed, while Li Chengyu was captured. Ma Quanjie executed Li Chengyu and thousands of Southern Tang soldiers. Li Jinquan managed to escape and it was said once he entered Southern Tang territory, he looked north and shed tears. He received a rather cool reception in Southern Tang.

Under Southern Tang Under Southern Tang, Li Jinquan served as the commander general of Tianwei and military commissioner of Zhenhai seated in Run Prefecture.

In 947, Later Han succeeded Later Jin (with a short period of Liao dynasty interregnum). In 948, general Li Shouzhen (who was under Ma Quanjie's command in 940) rebelled against Later Han in its western parts of the empire and requested help from Southern Tang. General Liu Yanzhen volunteered to lead an expeditionary force, but Southern Tang's emperor Li Jing considered Li Jinquan more prestigious, so Li Jinquan was named the overall commander of the northern expedition army with Liu Yanzhen assisting him. Li Jinquan considered Li Shouzhen's forces too far to make any coordinated efforts, and as a result the deployment was permanently postponed, even as reports indicated only hundreds of weak Later Han soldiers guarding the northern garrisons. When other generals suggested advancing, Li Jinquan said, "Whoever mentions advancing will be executed!" It turned out that there was indeed an ambush by Later Han, and when the other generals learned of this that evening, they began to respect Li Jinquan.

A month later, Li Jinquan was recalled and sent to Hai Prefecture. Subsequently he received other major posts, until his death in 950 in the Southern Tang capital of Jinling.

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