Zhang Xiaozhong

Zhang Xiaozhong (730 – April 30, 791 ), né Zhang Alao , posthumous name Prince Zhenwu of Shanggu , was a Chinese military general and politician of the Tang dynasty. He was of Xi ancestry. Initially he served the rebel state Yan, during the An Lushan rebellion, and later served the warlord Li Baochen. After Li Baochen's death he joined the Tang imperial cause, giving the Tang army a foothold north of the Yellow River in spite of being surrounded by semi-independent warlord realms.

Background Zhang Xiaozhong, initially known as Zhang Alao, was born in 730, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. He was of Xi ethnicity. His great-grandfather Zhang Jing and grandfather Zhang Xun were both chieftains of the Yishihuo tribe. During Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao era (742–756), Zhang Alao's father Zhang Mi led his tribal people in submitting to Tang rule and was given an honorary title as the minister of vassal affairs.

Zhang Alao himself was tall, brave, strong, and filially pious. In the region, he and Wang Monuogan (later known as Wang Wujun) were known as the strongest warriors. Near the end of the Tianbao era, as he was a capable archer, he came to serve under the Tang general An Lushan, and made contributions in defeating Tujue tribes. After An declared himself emperor of a new state of Yan, Zhang Alao served as a general of the Yan state, and later served under the later Yan emperor Shi Siming and Shi Siming's son and successor Shi Chaoyi as well in their campaigns against Tang. After Yan ended with Shi Chaoyi's death in 763, Zhang Zhongzhi surrendered to Tang, was bestowed the name Li Baochen, and became a Tang general — the military governor (Jiedushi) of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Zhang Alao served under Li Baochen.

Toward the end of Li Baochen's life, he, who was ruling Chengde Circuit as his own domain semi-independent from the Tang imperial government, wanted to pass his position to his son Li Weiyue, but believing Li Weiyue to be weak in personality and might not be able to stand up to some of the stronger officers, he found excuses to execute many of those officers. At one point, he sent Zhang Xiaozhong's brother Zhang Xiaojie to Yi Prefecture to summon Zhang Xiaozhong back to the circuit capital Heng Prefecture . Zhang Xiaozhong told Zhang Xiaojie to respond to Li Baochen:

Zhang Xiaojie protested that if he returned with this message that Li Baochen would surely kill him, but Zhang Xiaozhong pointed out that if they went back together, they would both die, but if he did not go, Li Baochen would not dare to act against Zhang Xiaojie — prediction that turned out to be correct. It was said that because of this, Zhang Xiaozhong and Wang Wujun, whose son Wang Shizhen was a son-in-law to Li Baochen, were the only two senior Chengde officers who survived Li Baochen's executions. Hearing that Zhang Xiaozhong had turned against him, Li Weiyue slaughtered Zhang Xiaozhong's younger brother Zhang Xiaoyi and three daughters already married still remaining at Heng Prefecture. while giving two prefectures each to Wang and Kang Rizhi (康日知, another Chengde general who had submitted to imperial authority during the campaign), with the lesser titles of military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi). Emperor Dezong, on paper, gave Lulong two additional prefectures — De (德州, in modern Dezhou, Shandong) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou, Shandong) — both still then held by Li Na. Zhu was angered by Emperor Dezong's refusal to give him any part of Chengde territory (in particular, Shen Prefecture) and requiring him to capture two additional prefectures on his own, while Wang was angered that contrary to Emperor Dezong's implicit promises to give whoever killed Li Weiyue Li Weiyue's offices, he not only received a lesser title, but was in a position where he could easily be destroyed. Tian Yue, who was then still under imperial attack, thus persuaded Zhu and Wang to join him in an alliance to defend against imperial forces. Zhu and Wang both agreed, although when Zhu further tried to persuade Zhang to join the alliance as well, Zhang refused. As Zhu advanced south to meet Wang and to aid Tian, then, he left his cousin Liu Peng in charge of Lulong Circuit, to defend against a potential attack by Zhang, while Zhang prepared for defending against attacks from Zhu and Wang. Subsequently, when Wang Wujun sent Wang Shizhen to put Kang under siege at Zhao Prefecture (趙州, in modern Shijiazhuang), the imperial general Li Sheng, whose forces had been part of the forces fighting against Tian in the south, requested leave to advance north to meet Zhang to relieve Zhao Prefecture, and Emperor Dezong agreed. Once Li Sheng arrived at Zhao Prefecture, Wang Shizhen lifted the siege and returned to Heng Prefecture. In spring 783, Li Sheng and Zhang's son Zhang Shengyun attacked Zhu's officer Zheng Jingji at Qingyuan (清苑, in modern Baoding). This, however, drew a response from Zhu, who left Tian's capital Wei Prefecture and arrived at Qingyuan to battle Li Sheng. He defeated Li Sheng, forcing Zhang Shengyun and Li Sheng, who grew ill after the defeat, back to Yiwu's capital Ding Prefecture .

In fall 783, troops from Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), then at Chang'an to wait for deployment to the eastern battlefield, mutinied when Emperor Dezong did not give them sufficient rewards, forcing Emperor Dezong to flee to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi). They supported Zhu Tao's brother Zhu Ci as their leader, and Zhu Ci soon declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qin and put Fengtian under siege.

In 786, after the realm had become relatively peaceful and submissive to Emperor Dezong's authority again, there was a famine for the region north of the Yellow River. In the aftermaths of the war, there was little food storage, and many people starved to death. During this time, Zhang reduced his own diet and ate just dried beans. It was said that the people appreciated his frugality and considered him a model of goodness. In 787, Emperor Dezong gave him the honorary title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies), and offered to let his son Zhang Maozong marry Emperor Dezong's daughter Princess Yizhang. Zhang sent his wife Lady Meigu, who was by this time carrying the title of Lady of Deng, to Chang'an to personally receive Princess Yizhang into the household, and Emperor Dezong welcomed Lady Meigu in a grand ceremony. In 789, for reasons unclear in history, Zhang attacked Wei Prefecture (蔚州, in modern Datong, Shanxi, not the same Wei Prefecture as Weibo's capital) and seized both people and livestock. Emperor Dezong issued an edict condemning the attack, and Zhang withdrew after some 10 days. As a result, Zhang was stripped of his honorary acting Sikong title. He died in 791. He was posthumously created the Prince of Shanggu and given a number of other posthumous honors.

Sons Zhang Maozhao , né Zhang Shengyun Zhang Maozong Zhang Maohe

Notes and references

Old Book of Tang, vol. 141 . New Book of Tang, vol. 148 . Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 217, 225, 226, 227, 228, 229, 231, 233.