Li Shouzhen

Li Shouzhen (; died 17 August 949 ) was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period states Later Jin and Later Han, as well as (briefly) the Khitan Liao dynasty. During the reign of Later Han's second emperor Liu Chengyou, he became concerned that he was being targeted by the officials assisting the young emperor, and therefore rebelled. His rebellion was defeated by the Later Han general Guo Wei, however, and he committed suicide.

Background It is not known when Li Shouzhen was born. It is known that he was from Heyang (河陽, in modern Jiaozuo, Henan). He was said to be intelligent and strong in character in but poor in his youth. He became an officer at Heyang Circuit (headquartered at Heyang). When Shi Jingtang served as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Heyang under his father-in-law, the Later Tang emperor Li Siyuan, he made Li his protocol officer. Thereafter, when Shi was moved to several other circuits, Li followed him and continued to serve under him. he made Li Shouzhen his imperial protocol officer (客省使, Keshengshi). Li Shouzhen served as Ma's army monitor during the campaign, Li Shouzhen was given the dual offices of commander of the imperial cavalry guards and military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan). His imperial guard office was soon changed to be discipline officer of the imperial guards. When the Liao general Yelü Mada tried to attack Shi Chonggui himself directly during the campaign, Li Shouzhen intercepted and defeated him. After the end of that campaign, Shi, while retaining him as discipline officer, also made him the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong). Around the new year 945, Yang Guangyuan's son Yang Chengxun put his father under house arrest and surrendered to Li. With Yang Chengxun's having surrendered on his own, Shi, while believing that Yang Guangyuan deserved death, did not want to execute him publicly, and therefore had Li secretly send executioners to batter Yang to death, while publicly claiming that Yang had died of an illness. Around this time, his military governorship was moved from Guide to Tainting (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong). (During the time that Li Shouzhen was kept at Kaifeng, the people of Kaifeng, whenever they saw him and Du out in public, would curse them; neither of them showed any sign of shamefulness.)

In 948, Liu Zhiyuan died and was succeeded by his son Liu Chengyou. Pursuant to instructions that Liu Zhiyuan left, a group of high-level officials and generals (Su Fengji, Yang Bin, Shi Hongzhao, and Guo Wei) were entrusted with the responsibilities of the imperial government. Liu Zhiyuan also left instructions to "defend against Du Chongwei", which these officials interpreted as an order to execute Du, and which they then carried out after Liu Zhiyuan's death.

Rebellion against Later Han In summer 948, Li Shouzhen rose in rebellion against Later Han at Huguo, claiming the title of Prince of Qin. He also enticed Fengxiang (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) and Yongxing (永興, headquartered in modern Xi'an, Shaanxi) Circuits to follow him in rebellion (under the leadership of Wang Jingchong and Zhao Siwan, respectively).

The Later Han regents initially sent the general Bai Wenke the military governor of Baoyi Circuit (保義, headquartered in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) against the three rebellious circuits. However, Bai and several other Later Han generals who were sent had little coordination with each other and became defensive in their actions. Concerned about how the campaign was turning out, the regents decided to have Guo Wei lead the imperial guards against Li and coordinate the overall operations. At the suggestion of the senior statesman Feng Dao, who pointed out that the imperial guard soldiers might still bear allegiance in their hearts to Li, Guo awarded the soldiers a great amount of treasure to turn their allegiance to him rather than to Li. Also, accepting the suggestion of Hu Yanke the military governor of Zhenguo Circuit (鎮國, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Guo abandoned the original plan advocated by many other generals to attack Yongxing (which Li had renamed back to Jinchang (晉昌, its prior name during Later Jin)) and Fengxiang, and decided to concentrate on defeating Li at Huguo first, believing that Li's destruction would lead to the collapse of the other two circuits.

Guo's imperial guard troops soon arrived at Huguo's capital in Hezhong Municipality . Li had anticipated that they would turn and support him, but the soldiers, having recently received the award of gold from Guo, no longer felt allegiance toward Li, and therefore began the siege enthusiastically, causing Li to be distressed. Guo's subordinates, seeing this, advocated a quick siege, but Guo pointed out that Li had great battlefield credentials and that a quick attack could lead to massive casualties because of the strength of Hezhong's defenses; rather, he resolved to put Hezhong under long-term siege to drain Li's food supplies and morale. As he tightened the encirclement of the city, Li made several attempts to break the siege, each time failing. He attempted to send emissaries to seek aid from Southern Tang, Later Shu, and Liao, but his emissaries were all intercepted. When he questioned Zonglun about Zonglun's predictions, Zonglun stated that the Huguo region was due for a disaster, but that after he suffered great casualties, he would be able to rebound and be victorious; Li believed Zonglun and therefore resolved to continue to resist. (Li Yiyin the military governor of Dingnan Circuit did consider aiding him, but upon hearing that Hezhong was completely surrounded, withdrew.) When Li Shouzhen's emissaries Zhu Yuan and Li Ping were eventually able to bypass Later Han guards and reach Southern Tang, Southern Tang's emperor Li Jing launched an abortive campaign to try to help him, but eventually concluded that his army could never reach Huguo, and therefore abandoned the campaign. He wrote a letter to Liu Chengyou asking that Li Shouzhen be pardoned; Liu ignored the letter.)

In spring 949, trying to take advantage of a Later Shu incursion intended to aid Wang Jingchong (who was then under siege by the Later Han general Zhao Hui ) (as Guo had to leave Huzhong to try to aid Zhao), Li Shouzhen prepared to have his officer Wang Jixun lead an attack to fight out of the siege. However, by the time that Wang launched his attack, Guo had already returned from the west, and Wang's attempt to fight out was a failure, with Wang himself seriously injured.

By summer 949, the food supplies at Hezhong had run out, and it was said that some 50-60% of the populace had died. Li made another attempt to fight out of the siege, but was again defeated. In the aftermaths of this defeat, Guo decided to make a final assault on the city. In fall 949, the outer city fell, and Li withdrew into the inner city. Guo's subordinates advocated a sustained attack, but Guo decided not to, believing that that may enable Li to make a final counterattack; rather, he had the inner city surrounded. Shortly after, Li, his wife, and a number of other family members, including Li Chongxun, committed suicide by fire. Guo then entered the inner city and captured several surviving sons of Li Shouzhen's, as well as his chancellors, chief of staff, and Zonglun; they were delivered to Kaifeng and executed.

Notes and references

Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 109. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 52. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 284, 285, 286, 287, 288.