Yang Guangyuan

Yang Guangyuan (; died January 21, 945 ), né Atan , later known as Yang Tang before changing his name to Guangyuan, courtesy name Deming , formally the Prince of Qi , was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Later Tang (and Later Tang's predecessor state Jin) and the Later Jin states. He rebelled against Later Jin in 944, believing that he would prevail with aid from the Khitan Liao dynasty, but after the Liao aid forces were repelled by Later Jin forces, his son Yang Chengxun put him under arrest and surrendered. He was subsequently killed by soldiers sent by the Later Jin general Li Shouzhen.

Background It is not known when Yang Guangyuan was born. He was ethnically Shatuo, and his family originally did not have a Chinese surname. His father was originally named Adengchuo , but later took the Chinese name of Yang Zhen . He himself originally had the name of Atan , but later, after his family took the surname of Yang, became known as Yang Tan .

Yang Tan's father Yang Zhen served as an officer under the major late Tang dynasty warlord Li Keyong, who was also ethnically Shatuo. Yang Tan thus later served as a cavalry officer under Li Keyong's son Li Cunxu, who then reigned the independent state Jin as its prince, although formally still regarding his state as a part of the defunct Tang dynasty. Yang Tan served under Zhou in the campaign. —Yang appeared to remain under Zhou's command at Lulong. He remembered Yang Tan's past contributions, and brought him back into active service, as a commander of the Lulong cavalry and infantry, stationed at Waqiao Pass (瓦橋關, in modern Baoding, Hebei). During Li Siyuan's reign, Yang Tan served successively as the prefect of four prefectures—Gui (媯州, in modern Zhangjiakou), Ying (瀛州, in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), Yi (易州, in modern Baoding), and Ji (冀州, in modern Hengshui, Hebei). It was said that while Yang was illiterate, he was capable in speaking and administration, such that he developed a good reputation in his governance and earned Li Siyuan's respect.

After Li Siyuan's reign As of 934—when Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke was emperor—Yang Tan was serving as the military governor of Zhenwu Circuit (振武, headquartered in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi). That year, there was a Khitan incursion into Later Tang's Yun Prefecture (雲州, in modern Datong, Shanxi). Yang launched his troops and repelled the Khitan incursion.

In 935, Li Congke bestowed a new name of Guangyuan on Yang.

During Later Jin

During Shi Jingtang's reign Shi Jingtang, for the time being, set his capital at Luoyang. (He would later move the capital to Daliang.) He commissioned Yang Guangyuan as the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered at Daliang); he also gave Yang the honorary titles of acting Taiwei and chancellor (同中書門下平章事, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi), and put him in command of the imperial guards at Luoyang. However, it was said that whenever Shi saw Yang, Yang always had an unhappy expression, and Shi became concerned about his loyalty. Shi sent his close associates to inquire of this from Yang. Yang's response to Shi, through them, was that while he was highly honored, he felt that it was Zhang Jingda who died an honorable death and that he could not compare to Zhang, and that was what was making him sad. Shi thus believed him to be honest and faithful, but historical accounts indicated that this was a statement to intentionally create the impression of faithfulness.

Around the same time, Fan Yanguang the military governor of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) rebelled against Shi's rule. Shi put Yang in charge of the operations against Fan. When Yang's army reached Hua Prefecture (滑州, in modern Anyang, Henan), there happened to be a disturbance there over one imperial general (Fu Yanrao killing another (Bai Fengjin over disciplinary disputes. Hearing of this disturbance, Yang's soldiers wanted to mutiny and declare him emperor. He responded to them, "Is a Son of Heaven something you peddle as merchandise? The surrender at Jinyang [(i.e., at Jin'an Base)] was due to duress. If I again change my colors, I would truly be a rebellious bandit." The soldiers thereafter did not dare to speak of this again. He put Tianxiong's capital Guangjin Municipality under siege. Fan wanted to surrender, but initially Shi declined his surrender, so Yang continued the siege. Meanwhile, it was said that Yang became arrogant about his power and was trying to participate in imperial policy decisions, and Shi was treating him meekly, giving his sons honorable offices and giving a daughter, Princess Chang'an, in marriage to his son Yang Chengzuo . In fall 938, with both the imperial army and Fan's army worn out, Shi accepted Fan's surrender, allowing Yang to enter the city. He delivered Fan and his sons to Daliang, which had become capital by that point. Shi subsequently made him the military governor of Tianxiong.

By 940, Fan had retired, and wanted to take up residence at Heyang. Shi initially agreed. Yang, however, was both envious of the wealth he had and concerned that, given their past adversarial relationship during the Guangjin campaign, that Fan might be up to no good. He thus suggested to Shi that Fan be killed. Shi refused, but agreed with Yang's subsequent proposal to have Fan take up residence at Luoyang. Yang subsequently surrounded Fan's mansion with his soldiers, and later dragged Fan to the Yellow River and pushed him into it to drown, while claiming that Fan had committed suicide.

During Shi Chonggui's reign Shi Jingtang died later in 942 and was succeeded as emperor by his nephew Shi Chonggui the Prince of Qi, who was supported in the succession by the general Jing Yanguang and the chancellor Feng Dao. As a result, early in his reign, Jing became powerful. Late in 943, there was an occasion when Jing ordered Yang Guangyuan to return 300 horses that Shi Jingtang had lent from the imperial guard corps to the Pinglu army. Yang believed that this move was targeting him and became angry. He secretly summoned his son Yang Chengzuo, who was then serving as the prefect of Dan Prefecture (單州, in modern Heze, Shandong), to his capital Qing Prefecture . Yang Chengzuo thus, claiming that his mother was ill, opened the city gates one night and fled to Qing. Shi Chonggui, in order to try to comfort Yang, sent a close associate to Qing to gift him jade belts, imperial horses, gold, and silver, but also sent the imperial guard generals Guo Jin and Cai Xingyu to Pinglu's neighboring circuit Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), apparently to defend against a potential attack from Yang, while Yang had the prefect of Zi Prefecture (淄州, in modern Zibo, Shandong) arrested and taken back to Qing.

Shi Chonggui tried to placate Yang by commissioning Yang Chengzuo as the prefect of one of Pinglu's prefectures, Deng Prefecture (登州, in modern Yantai, Shandong). This, however, only caused Yang to be more arrogant, and he secretly encouraged Emperor Taizong (who had changed his state's name from Khitan to Liao by that point) to attack Later Jin, citing, as the reason, that Shi Chonggui had turned away from the close tributary relationship Later Jin had with Liao. The Liao general Zhao Yanshou (who had previously been a Later Tang general) also advocated the same, so Emperor Taizong began to plan an invasion into Later Jin in earnest. Meanwhile, Shi Chonggui's uncle by marriage, Du Wei the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) sent his staff member Cao Guangyi to meet Yang, trying to persuade him that rebellion was a dangerous course. Yang sent Cao back with a message stating, "The only reason why Yang Guangzuo fled home was because of his mother's illness. Now that he has been forgiven, our entire clan thanks the Emperor for his grace." For the time being, Shi believed him, and sent another close associate and Cao back to Pinglu to comfort him.

Emperor Taizong nevertheless launched an attack against Later Jin in spring 944, planning to join with Yang. The Liao forces quickly reached Tianxiong, and then planned to cross the Yellow River at Majia Ford (馬家口, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong). The Later Jin forces defended all of the major Yellow River crossings in the area to block of the Liao forces, and they were unable to cross. Yang launched his own forces to try to join with the Liao forces as well, and he put Di Prefecture (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong) under siege. Di's prefect Li Qiong , however, repelled him, forcing him to retreat back to Qing. A further attempt by Liao forces to cross the Yellow River was also repelled by Later Jin forces, and Liao forces withdrew.

With Liao forces gone, the Later Jin forces started the direct assault on Pinglu in earnest. Shi sent Li Shouzhen the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong), to attack Qing. (Why he sent Li Shouzhen was that Li Shouzhen and Yang previously had grudges with each other.) By the time of new year 945, the food supply in the city was exhausted, and many people have starved to death. This caused Yang to, while bowing toward the direction of Liao, lament, "Emperor, Emperor, you have failed Guangyuan." His sons Yang Chengxun, Yang Chengzuo, and Yang Chengxin tried to persuade him to surrender, hoping that the clan could be saved, but he refused. Yang Chengxun finally forcibly seized Yang Guangyuan and put him under house arrest, executed a number of staff members who had encouraged his rebellion, and then surrendered to Li Shouzhen.

Shi was unsure what to do with Yang Guangyuan at first—he believed that Yang Guangyuan's crimes could not allow him to be spared, but also did not want to publicly execute him given that his sons surrendered. He therefore ordered Li Shouzhen to try to secretly kill him. Li thus entered Qing, and sent soldiers to batter Yang to death, but publicly announced that Yang had died from an illness. His sons were spared, and Shi in fact commissioned Yang Chengxun as the defender of Ru Prefecture (汝州, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan). (Later, after Liao's Emperor Taizong destroyed Later Jin, he accused Yang Chengxun of having murdered his father and betrayed Liao, and had Yang Chengxun put to death, while making Yang Chengxin the military governor of Shandong. After Liao withdrew from the Central Plains, the succeeding Later Han's founder Liu Zhiyuan posthumously honored Yang Guangyuan as the Prince of Qi and built a monument for him, but the monument soon thereafter fell on its own.)

Notes and references

History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 97. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 51. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 277, 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284.