Zhang Hansi

Zhang Hansi (張漢思) was a military officer of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Min. After Min's fall, he served under Liu Congxiao, who controlled Qingyuan Circuit (headquartered in modern Quanzhou, Fujian), in nominal submission to Southern Tang. After Liu's death, the officer Chen Hongjin overthrew Liu's nephew and successor Liu Shaozi and supported Zhang, but later overthrew Zhang as well and took over himself.

During Min It is not known when Zhang Hansi was born or what his geographic origins were, as there were no biographies of his in traditional histories—although he was described as being old aged at the time of his eventual death. In any case, as of 944, he was serving as an army officer at Min's Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian). At that time, the Min state was in turmoil, as the general Zhu Wenjin had just assassinated the emperor Wang Yanxi (Emperor Jingzong) and seized the throne, and was battling with Wang Yanxi's younger brother Wang Yanzheng (who had earlier declared himself the emperor of a new branch state of Yin) for the control of the realm.

Zhu, after his coup, sent the general Huang Shaopo (黃紹頗) to serve as the prefect of Quan. Zhang's colleague Liu Congxiao encouraged other officers, including Wang Zhongshun (王忠順), Zhang, and Dong Si'an (董思安) to join him in a plot against Huang, arguing that they, having been the long-term subjects of Min's ruling Wang family, could not stand by and allow Zhu to take over. They agreed, and they assassinated Huang and supported Wang Yanzheng's nephew Wang Jixun (王繼勳) to serve as the acting prefect, pledging their allegiance to Wang Yanzheng. Wang Yanzheng subsequently commissioned Wang Jixun as prefect and gave commander titles to Liu, Wang Zhongshun, Dong, and Chen Hongjin—with no reference to Zhang at that point.

Liu Congxiao apparently died in 962. Under the account given in the Xu Zizhi Tongjian (also adopted in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms), after Liu Congxiao's death, as Liu Shaoji was then on a tributary mission sent by Liu Congxiao to the Southern Tang court, Liu Shaozi took over as acting military governor. However, not long after, Chen Hongjin seized him and falsely accused him of planning to submit to Wuyue, and then delivered him to Southern Tang and supported Zhang Hansi, who was then the deputy military governor, as the new acting military governor. Under the account in Liu's biography in the History of Song, the coup happened before Liu Congxiao's death, and therefore (implicitly) Liu Shaozi never controlled the circuit—but under Chen's biography, it gave the same account as the Xu Zizhi Tongjian (i.e., the coup was during Liu Shaozi's rule).

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