Li Weiyue

Li Weiyue (died 9 March 782) was a Chinese officer during the late Tang dynasty. His father Li Baochen was the military governor of Chengde around present-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei, which he ruled in independence from imperial control. After Li Baochen's death in 781, Li Weiyue tried to succeed him as the Chengde military governor and waged a campaign against the Tang when Emperor Dezong refused to let him do so. In 782, with his losses mounting, his own officer Wang Wujun killed him and submitted to imperial government.

Life Early years The exact year of Li Weiyue's birth is unknown but, though his half-brother Li Weicheng was older, he was considered Li Baochen's proper heir since he was the eldest son of Li Bochen's wife. Li also had at least one younger brother, Li Weijian .

Li Baochen had been a general of the rebel state of Yan during the Anshi Rebellion, but nominally submitted to the Tang in 762 in exchange for recognition as the lawful military governor of Chengde. He ruled his province as a independent state and wanted to eventually pass it on to Li Weiyue, who served as his chief general (, ) and as the prefect of the provincial capital's Heng Prefecture. However, since Li Weiyue was considered young and weak willed, Li Baochen began to kill a number of his officers that he viewed as potential threats to his son. The only two major officers who escaped this fate were Zhang Xiaozhong, who remained in Yi Prefecture within modern Baoding, Hebei, and refused repeated summons by Li Baochen to report to Hengzhou, and Wang Wujun, whose son Wang Shizhen was a son-in-law to Li Baochen and brother-in-law to Li Weiyue.

Attempted succession to Changde Li Baochen died in the spring of 781. Initially, Li Weiyue did not announce his father's death but forged an imperial petition in his father's name, requesting that Li Weiyue be allowed to succeed him as the military governor of Changde. Emperor Dezong refused and sent the imperial official Ban Hong to visit Li Baochen. When Ban arrived in Chengde, he realized that Li Baochen had died and Li Weiyue tried to bribe him to recommend Li's succession to his father's office. Ban refused. Once Ban returned to the imperial capital Chang'an and reported everything to Emperor Dezong, Li Weiyue publicly announced his father's death and claimed the title of acting military governor. He had his subordinate officers submit an imperial petition requesting that he be formally commissioned as full military governor, but Emperor Dezong rejected that petition as well.

In spring 782, despite the defense put up by joint Chengde and Weibo effort, Zhu and Zhang captured Shulu in modern Shijiazhuang and then put Shenzhou under siege. Li Weiyue became deeply worried and Shao again suggested to him that he submit to the imperial government. Shao proposed that he first send Li Weijian to Chang'an to declare his intent, execute any officers who would not agree, leave his father-in-law Zheng Shen in charge of his lands, and then personally head to Chang'an to pay homage to Emperor Dezong. Li Weiyue finally agreed and had Shao draft a petition. However, the news leaked and Meng informed Tian. Tian was incensed and sent his staff member Hu Ji to Li Weiyue, demanding Shao's death. Li Weiyue, in fear, beheaded Shao in Hu's presence and with Bi's encouragement. He then commanded 10,000 soldiers himself and joined forces with Meng, trying to recapture Shulu with Wang Wujun as his forward commander. By this point, though, there had been rumors that Wang would turn against Li Weiyue. Wang, fearing that Li Weiyue would believe these rumors, intentionally did not use his best efforts in attacking Shulu. Subsequently, Zhu and Zhang arrived and defeated Li Weiyue, forcing him to flee back to Hengzhou.

Li Weiyue began to suspect Wangparticularly after yet another officer, Kang Rizhi , surrendered Zhaozhou in modern Shijiazhuang to the imperial causebut his staff members urged him not to suspect Wang, as Wang was the only officer he could depend on by this point. Li Weiyue agreed, and put Wang Shizhen in charge of security while putting Wang Wujun in command of an army, assisted by Wei Changning , to try to recapture Zhaozhou.

As soon as Wang Wujun left Hengzhou, however, he considered surrendering to Zhang. Wei persuaded him that it would be his best course to simply turn against Li Weiyue and capture him. Wang agreed, and therefore turned his army around and headed back to Hengzhou. Wang Shizhen and Wang Wujun's associate Xie Zun opened the city gates to welcome Wang Wujun in. Wang Wujun then captured Li Weiyue and executed his close associates, including Bi, Zheng, and the powerful servant Wang Tanu . Initially, because of Wang Wujun's prior service under Li Baochen, he considered sparing Li Weiyue and delivering him to Chang'an. Wei pointed out that if he did so, Li Weiyue might blame the entire rebellion on Wang instead. Wang therefore strangled Li Weiyue to death, cutting off his head for delivery to Chang'an.