Liu Congxiao

Liu Congxiao (; 906-962), formally the Prince of Jinjiang , was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Min and the first ruler of Qingyuan Circuit. After Min's fall, he initially submitted to Southern Tang (which had conquered Min), but eventually, taking advantage of Southern Tang's inability to fully control the region, took the southern part of the former Min realm under his own control, albeit in nominal submission to Southern Tang. After Southern Tang's repeated defeats by Later Zhou, he also nominally submitted to Later Zhou's successor state Song.

Background Liu Congxiao was born in 906, at the very end of the Tang dynasty. He was from Yongchun (永春, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian), which was known as Taolin early in his lifetime. His father Liu Zhang died in his youth, and he became known for serving his mother filially and older brother piously. He was said to be somewhat educated in literature, and was a particularly avid reader of military strategies.

Rebellion against Zhu Wenjin and subsequent service to Yin/Min As of 944, Liu Congxiao was serving as an army officer in the army of his home prefecture Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou). By that time, the state that Quan had been ruled by, Min, ruled by the imperial Wang family, had been broken apart by civil war and political strife—and now was under the reign of the usurper general Zhu Wenjin (who had assassinated the emperor Wang Xi (Emperor Jingzong), with Zhu's hold on the throne being Min contested by Wang Xi's brother Wang Yanzheng, who had earlier declared himself emperor of a breakaway state of Yin.

After seizing the Min throne, Zhu sent the general Huang Shaopo to Quan Prefecture to serve as its prefect. Liu, however, was discontented, and he stated to his colleagues Wang Zhongshun , Dong Si'an , and Zhang Hansi:

In fall 946, the Zhang Prefecture (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) officer Lin Zanyao rebelled against Southern Tang and killed the general Chen Hui , whom Li Jing had sent to Zhang, and Chen's monitor of the army Zhou Chengyi . Liu launched an army and expelled Lin from Zhang; he had Dong take over Zhang. Li Jing then commissioned Dong as the prefect of Zhang. (After Dong declined the position on grounds of naming taboo—because his father was named Dong Zhang —Li Jing renamed the prefecture Nan Prefecture , and so Dong accepted.)

Liu returned to Quan, and then held a feast for the commanding general of the Southern Tang detachment, stating to him: Not long after, he granted Liu honorary chancellor designations, and created him the Duke of E. Later, that title was upgraded to Prince of Jinjiang.

As dual subject to Southern Tang and Song

In 960, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin seized the throne from Guo Rong's son and successor Guo Zongxun, ending Later Zhou and starting a new Song dynasty as its Emperor Taizu. Later in the year, Liu Congxiao submitted a petition to the new Song emperor, offering to be a subject, and thereafter offered tributes. Liu, however, thought that movement of the capital was targeting him and feared a Southern Tang campaign against him, and therefore sent his nephew Liu Shaoji to offer tributes to Li, while at the same time continued to send tributes to the Song emperor through Wuyue. The Song emperor sent an emissary, intending to comfort him, but before the emissary could arrive in Liu's territory, Liu had died from a tumor on his back, apparently in 962. Li Jing's son and successor Li Yu bestowed posthumous honors on him.

As Liu Congxiao was sonless, he adopted both Liu Shaoji and another nephew, Liu Shaozi (both of them biological sons of Liu Congyuan) as his sons. The Xu Zizhi Tongjian indicated that after his death, as Liu Shaoji was at the Southern Tang court, Liu Shaozi took over as acting military governor, but was soon seized by the officer Chen Hongjin, who falsely accused Liu Shaozi of wanting to submit to Wuyue and delivered Liu Shaozi to Southern Tang, while supporting Zhang Hansi as the new acting military governor. Liu Congxiao's biography in the History of Song, however, gave a different account—that the coup took place while Liu Congxiao was ill but before his death—but its biography of Chen gave the same account as the Xu Zizhi Tongjian (i.e., the coup was during Liu Shaozi's rule).

Notes and references

History of Song, vol. 483. Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, vol. 93. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 284, 285, 286, 288, 294. Xu Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 1, 2.