Yang Longyan

Yang Longyan (897 His mother was Yang Xingmi's concubine Lady Shi, who was also the mother of his older brother Yang Wo. (Yang Longyan's four younger brothers all appear to be born of different mothers; Yang Pu was known to be born of Lady Wang, while the mothers of the other three brothers were lost to history.) After Yang Xingmi's death in 905, Yang Wo inherited his domain and carried the title of Prince of Hongnong.

In 908, Yang Wo — whose Hongnong state was effectively an independent state after rival warlord Zhu Quanzhong had seized the Tang throne in 907 and established a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu but whose legitimacy Yang Wo and several other regional warlords refused to acknowledge — was assassinated by the officers Zhang Hao and Xu Wen. In the aftermaths of Yang Wo's death, Zhang postured taking command formally himself, but was urged not to by the official Yan Keqiu, who subsequently wrote and issued an order in the name of Yang Wo's and Yang Longyan's mother Lady Dowager Shi naming Yang Longyan acting military governor of Hongnong. Shortly after, Xu assassinated Zhang and took over the regency by himself, reassuring an alarmed Lady Dowager Shi (who requested to yield the seat of power to Xu himself and have the Yang household return to their ancestral home of Lu Prefecture (廬州, in modern Hefei, Anhui)) that he had no intent to seize power. In effect, though, the command of the domain was in Xu's hands. Thereafter, the Wu officials met with Li Yan, the official representative that Emperor Zhaozong had sent to Huainan, and Li, in the name of the Tang emperor, made Yang Longyan the full military governor of Huainan, the supreme commander of the southeastern circuits, the Prince of Hongnong, and honorary chancellor (同中書門下平章事, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi).

In 909, Wei Quanfeng, who controlled the Fu Prefecture (撫州, in modern Fuzhou, Jiangxi) region, rose to challenge Hongnong's control of Zhennan Circuit (鎮南, headquartered in modern Nanchang, Jiangxi). After the Hongnong general Zhou Ben defeated, captured, and delivered Wei to the Hongnong capital Guangling , Yang Longyan released Wei on the account of his having aided Yang Xingmi on one of his campaigns and also gave Wei many gifts.

Meanwhile, Liu also came under suspicion, and Xu Wen considered attacking him. Liu, knowing this, followed the advice of his guest Huang Na and went to Guangling to pay homage to Yang Longyan. Tao, hearing of Li Yu's death, also became fearful and therefore arrived with Liu. Xu Wen showed the both of them great respect, acting as if they were Yang Xingmi, and also granted them additional honors. Thereafter, Xu Wen, Liu, and Tao went to meet with Li Yan and requested Li Yan to, in Emperor Zhaozong's name, formally bestow Yang Longyan the titles of Taishi and Prince of Wu (apparently regarding Li Maozhen's bestowment to be insufficiently formal). As junior regent, Xu Zhixun grew arrogant, alienating the Wu officials and officers. He was even disrespectful to Yang Longyan, who was formally his sovereign. For example, once he put on a canjunxi play with himself playing the joker (canjun) and with Yang Longyan playing the canghu, or the butt of jokes, following him around abjectly. He also once fired slingshots at Yang Longyan when they both went on a river cruise. On yet another occasion, when they were both watching flowers at Chanzhi Temple , Xu Zhixun was drunk and became very insulting toward Yang Longyan, such that the prince became fearful and began to cry. The prince's attendants quickly put him on a boat and left the scene. Xu Zhixun tried to give chase, and when he could not catch up to Yang Longyan, he killed some of Yang Longyan's attendants. Once, when Xu Zhixun heard that the general Li Decheng had many singing girls in his household, he sent a demand to Li that the singing girls be given to him. When Li responded that these singing girls were too old for Xu and that he would try to find younger and more beautiful ones for Xu, Xu responded to Li's messenger, "One day I will kill Li Decheng and take even his wife!" These unlawful deeds, however, were said to be unreported to Xu Wen as the staff members were fearful of the consequences of reporting. He changed the carry-over Tang era name of Tianyou to a new era name of Wuyi, in effect ending the vassal relationship to the defunct Tang Dynasty. He also established an imperial administration, honored his mother Lady Dowager Shi as queen dowager, and created his brothers and his son Yang Jiming (楊繼明, who would later be renamed Yang Fen dukes.

As King of Wu

Also in 919, Xu Wen had a major victory against invading Wuyue troops at Wuxi. Xu then sent the Wuyue captives back to Wuyue and agreed to peace with Wuyue, and it was said that Wu would not be engaged in war with Wuyue for some 20 years thereafter. Both Yang Longyan and Xu frequently wrote Wuyue's prince Qian Liu, who was then a vassal to Later Liang, to urge him to declare independence from Later Liang, but Qian refused.

It was said that over the years, Yang displayed a serious, magnanimous, and respectful personality. He displayed no displeasure at Xu and Xu's sons' having the actual reins of the state, and Xu did not suspect him of intent to seize power personally. However, it was said that after the declaration of the independent Wu state, which he himself did not want to see, he became depressed. He drank often and ate little, and thus became ill. As of summer 920, he was near death. Xu Wen arrived from Run Prefecture to oversee the transition. Some of Xu's followers urged that he take over the throne himself, but Xu himself disavowed such an intent, stating, "If I had the intent to do so, I would have done so when I killed Zhang Hao and would not have waited until today. Even if the Yangs were out of males, I would have supported a female to take the throne. Anyone who says anything else will be decapitated!" However, while Yang Longyan's oldest younger brother was Yang Meng the Duke of Lujiang, Xu had often been suspicious at Yang Meng's intent if he took the throne since Yang Meng was known to have complained about the Xus' hold on power, and therefore decided to skip Yang Meng. Instead, he issued an order in Yang Longyan's name summoning his next younger brother, Yang Pu the Duke of Danyang, to Guangling to formally serve as regent, while moving Yang Meng, who had been made the military prefect of Chu Prefecture (楚州, in modern Huai'an, Jiangsu), to be the military prefect of Shu Prefecture (舒州, in modern Anqing, Anhui). Yang Longyan died shortly after, and Yang Pu took the throne.

Personal information Fathers Yang Xingmi Mother Lady Shi Child Yang Fen , né Yang Jiming , initially the Duke of Luling, later the Prince of Nanyang (created 928), later the Duke of Nanyang during Southern Tang

Notes and references

History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 134. New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 61. Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms , vol. 2. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 266, 267, 268, 269, 270, 271.