Tian Hongzheng

Tian Hongzheng (; 764 – August 29, 821 ), né Tian Xing , courtesy name Andao , posthumous name Duke Zhongmin of Yi , was a Chinese military general and politician of the Tang dynasty. Under his governance, Weibo Circuit (魏博; headquartered in modern-day Handan, Hebei), which had not been under the actual control of the Tang court for decades, submitted to imperial control, but he was killed by mutineers while later serving as military governor (jiedushi) of Chengde Circuit (成德; headquartered in modern-day Shijiazhuang, Hebei).

Background Tian Xing was born in 764, during the reign of Emperor Daizong. He was the second son of Tian Tingjie , a cousin of Tian Chengsi, who was then ruling Weibo Circuit as its military governor, in de facto independence from the imperial government. It was said that in Tian Xing's youth, he studied the Confucian classics but particularly military strategies. He was also said to be capable in horsemanship and archery, and was brave and polite. Tian Chengsi favored him and had him named Xing (meaning "prosperity"). After Tian Tingjie died in 782 in distress (after being unable to dissuade Tian Chengsi's nephew and successor Tian Yue from turning against the imperial government), Tian Xing's older brother Tian Rong became in charge of watching over his younger brothers. On one occasion, after Tian Xing won an archery contest among Weibo soldiers, Tian Rong battered him and told him, "If you do not keep your abilities hidden, disaster will come to you." Traditional historians credited Tian Rong's teaching for Tian Xing's ability to survive in the following years.

Service under Tian Ji'an and Tian Huaijian During the governance of Tian Chengsi's grandson Tian Ji'an (796–812), Tian Xing became the commander of the headquarters guards. It was said that Tian Ji'an was wasteful, uncaring of soldiers, and harsh in punishment, and Tian Xing often spoke to him, hoping to correct his behavior, and that the soldiers often looked up to Tian Xing for support. Tian Ji'an became suspicious of Tian Xing and demoted him out of the headquarters, to be the defender of Linqing (臨清, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), and considered executing Tian Xing. Tian Xing, in order to avoid disaster, pretended to suffer from paralysis. Meanwhile, by 812, Tian Ji'an himself fell ill and behaved erratically. Tian Ji'an's wife Lady Yuan had their 10-year-old son Tian Huaijian designated deputy military governor and acting military governor, and Tian Ji'an died shortly after. Tian Xing was recalled from Linqing to serve as the commander of the soldiers.

Meanwhile, because of Tian Huaijian's youth, the servant Jiang Shize came to be making the key decisions, and Jiang made movements that were based on his own likes and dislikes, causing the soldiers to be disgruntled. Further, then-reigning Emperor Xianzong (Emperor Dezong's grandson) was withholding the official commissioning for Tian Huaijian, hoping to cause a mutiny at Weibo. One morning, when Tian Xing was set to enter headquarters to meet Tian Huaijian, the soldiers surrounding him and bowed to him, asking him to be active military governor. Tian Xing agreed under the conditions that the soldiers would not harm Tian Huaijian and would be willing to submit to imperial orders, and the soldiers agreed. Tian Xing then executed Jiang and his associates and moved Tian Huaijian out of the headquarters. After a debate between the chancellors Li Jifu (who advocated making Tian acting military governor) and Li Jiang (who advocated making Tian the official military governor immediately and further advocated a large money reward to the soldiers of Weibo for their submission), Emperor Xianzong agreed with Li Jiang. He sent the official Pei Du to Weibo to show approval and encouragement to Tian, and it was said that when Pei discussed with Tian the proper ways to be loyal, Tian was respectful and not bored in his hearing Pei's statements. He further accepted the imperial government's commissions of 90 officials below him—including the deputy military governor Hu Zheng —without objection, submitted taxes that Tian Ji'an had withheld to the imperial treasury, and rebuffed attempts by Tian Ji'an's allied circuits—Pinglu (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), Chengde, and Zhangyi (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan)—to bring him into the alliance. Emperor Xianzong further gave him a new name—Hongzheng (meaning "magnification of righteousness").

Li Shidao initially also offered to do the same as Wang—sending his sons as hostages and submitting three of Pinglu's 12 prefectures—to show submission to the imperial government, but soon reneged on his offer. In anger, Emperor Xianzong declared a campaign against Pinglu. In the initial stages, Emperor Xianzong, at Pei's suggestion, had the Weibo forces remain at Weibo to rest themselves (and to prevent unnecessary expenditures, as once a circuit's troops left the circuit, the imperial treasury would be responsible for their expenditures) until winter 818, when under imperial orders Weibo forces under Tian Hongzheng crossed the Yellow River and approached Pinglu's capital prefecture Yun Prefecture, causing much alarm at Yun Prefecture. Tian scored several victories against Pinglu forces under the Pinglu officer Liu Wu, in spring 819. (Emperor Muzong's making Tian Hongzheng military governor of Chengde was against the advice of the general Yang Yuanqing , who also tried to persuade the chancellors that it was not a good idea, but Yang's suggestions were also ignored by the chancellors.)

As Tian Hongzheng had battled Chengde forces for years, he believed that the Chengde soldiers would bear him great hatred. He thus took 2,000 Weibo soldiers with him to Chengde and kept them with him as his personal guards. He submitted requests to the directorate of finance for the soldiers to be paid out of the imperial treasury. However, the director of finances, Cui Ling , a relative of the chancellor Cui Zhi, not understanding the scope of the situation, believed that Chengde soldiers had the responsibilities of protecting their governor and that Weibo soldiers should be returned to Weibo, and that approving Tian's request would create a bad precedent, and thus refused Tian's requests. After Tian made four requests and failed to receive approval, he had to order the Weibo soldiers to return to Weibo.

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 141. New Book of Tang, vol. 148. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 238, 239, 240, 241, 242.