Zhao Yanshou

Zhao Yanshou (; died November 10, 948 ), né Liu Yanshou , formally the Prince of Wei , was a Chinese military general, monarch, poet, and politician. He served as major general of Later Tang of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, as well as the Khitan Liao dynasty. He first became prominent as a son-in-law of Later Tang's second emperor Li Siyuan, but was captured by Liao's Emperor Taizong when Later Tang fell. He subsequently served Emperor Taizong, who promised him that he would be made the emperor of China if helped Emperor Taizong destroy Later Tang's successor state Later Jin. Emperor Taizong reneged on the promise after doing so, however, leading to Zhao's attempt to seize Liao's Chinese territory after Emperor Taizong's death. He was, however, arrested by Emperor Taizong's nephew and successor Emperor Shizong and held until his death.

Background It is not known when Zhao Yanshou—then carrying the birth surname of Liu and probably already using the personal name Yanshou—was born. However, it is known that his birth father Liu Yuan served as the magistrate of Xiu County (蓨縣, in modern Hengshui, Hebei), and that his mother was a Lady Zhong. Sometime during the Kaiping era (907-910) of Zhu Quanzhong the emperor of Later Liang, Zhao Xingshi, then an officer under Liu Shouwen the military governor (Jiedushi) of Yichang Circuit (義昌, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), raided Xiu and captured both Liu Yanshou and his mother Lady Zhong. Zhao then took Liu Yanshou as an adoptive son.

Zhao Yanshou was said to be handsome in his youth. He studied the Confucian classics and history, and was capable in writing poems. He also favored hosting guests. After his adoptive father Zhao Xingshi (after Liu Shouwen had been defeated and captured by his brother Liu Shouguang, who later declared himself the emperor of Yan), defected to Jin, Zhao Xingshi was treated well by Jin's prince Li Cunxu, who bestowed Tang dynasty imperial clan name Li on Zhao Xingshi and gave him a new name of Shaobin. Meanwhile, Zhao Yanshou married a daughter of Li Cunxu's adoptive brother, the major general Li Siyuan. Zhao Yanshou himself was commissioned the prefect of Ru Prefecture (汝州, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan). He later successively served as the military governor of Heyang Circuit (河陽, in modern Jiaozuo, Henan) and Guide Circuit (歸德, headquartered in modern Shangqiu, Henan), and then was recalled to the imperial government to serve as the director of palace affairs (宣徽使, Xuanhuishi). While serving as chief of staff, Zhao also carried the military governorship of Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu).

After Li Siyuan's reign After Li Conghou took the throne, Zhu Hongzhao and Fen Yun remained the most powerful figures at court. They were suspicious of Li Conghou's older adoptive brother Li Congke the Prince of Lu, who was then the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), and brother-in-law Shi Jingtang who was then the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi).

After Li Congke's victory, he considered keeping Shi at Luoyang, as the two of them also did not get along previously. (Shi had launched his own troops from Hedong toward Luoyang, initially intending to support Li Conghou, but with Li Congke quickly becoming victorious, he not only failed to support Li Conghou but, when encountering Li Conghou in flight, killed Li Conghou's guard soldiers and leaving Li Conghou subsequently unable to escape Li Congke's emissaries.) However, his officials Han Zhaoyin and Li Zhuanmei , believing that showing that he distrusted Shi would cause fear in Zhao Yanshou and Zhao's father Zhao Dejun as well (as both Shi and Zhao were his brothers-in-law), urged against detaining Shi. Li Congke thus sent Shi back to Hedong.

When Zhao was commissioned, he was initially serving as chief of staff concurrently with Han Zhaoyin. However, shortly after he became chief of staff, Han was sent out to serve as the military governor of Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), and replaced by Fang Gao. It was said that, though, while Zhao and Fang served as chiefs of staff, their opinions were actually not being listened to much, with the deputy chief of staff Liu Yanlang and Xue Wenyu , a scholar in residence at the office of the chief of staff, making more of the actual decisions.

Emperor Taizong declared Shi the emperor of China, as the founding emperor of a new Later Jin, intending to have him replace Li Congke. (In return, Shi agreed to cede 16 northern prefectures—modern northern Hebei, northern Shanxi, Beijing, and Tianjin—including all of Lulong, to Liao.) Zhao Dejun, however, was also secretly intending to replace Li Congke, and he sent secret communications with Emperor Taizong, offering peace with Shi if Emperor Taizong would support him instead. He did not try to advance to Jin'an as the negotiations were ongoing, but Emperor Taizong eventually cut off negotiations with him and intensified the siege on Jin'an. Zhang's army's food supplies ran out, and his deputy, the general Yang Guangyuan, killed him and then surrendered. The combined Liao/Later Jin forces then advanced on Zhao's position, and Zhao's army also collapsed. Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou fled and took up position at Lu Prefecture (潞州, in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), but when the Liao/Later Jin forces advanced there, one Later Tang general who had surrendered to Liao/Later Jin with Yang, Gao Xingzhou, persuaded them that defending Lu was futile, so they opened the city gates and surrendered. Emperor Taizong had the two of them locked up and delivered to his capital Linhuang (臨潢, in modern Chifeng, Inner Mongolia), to pay homage to his mother Empress Dowager Shulü Ping. Empress Dowager Shulü rebuked Zhao Dejun for his hypocrisy, and Zhao Dejun, in depression, died in 937, while Zhao Yanshou remained at the Khitan court. (Meanwhile, Shi advanced south to Luoyang. Li Congke, finding the situation hopeless, committed suicide with his family, ending Later Tang and allowing Shi's Later Jin to take over the Later Tang territory.)

In 938, Emperor Taizong sent an emissary to Luoyang, ordering that Shi Jingtang release Zhao Yanshou's wife—whom Shi had, as a sister-in-law, created the Grand Princess of Yan—to Liao. The emissary subsequently brought her back to Liao to reunite with Zhao. (In particular, while Shi Jingtang submitted petitions to Emperor Taizong (showing himself to be a subject), he also referred to himself as "subject" and "son" when communicating with Emperor Taizong, whom he referred to as "father,"

In winter 944, Emperor Taizong launched a second invasion into Later Jin territory, again with Zhao Yanshou serving as his forward commander. Subsequently, when Zhao could not capture Xiang Prefecture (相州, in modern Handan) quickly, the Liao army withdrew. Believing this to be a sign of weakness on Liao's part, Shi ordered the Later Jin forces to attack north, with most of the army under his uncle-by-marriage, Du Wei, and Li Shouzhen. They captured Liao's Tai Prefecture (泰州, in modern Baoding, Hebei). However, a major Liao counterattack subsequently surrounded the Later Jin army. A Later Jin charge, led by the general Fu Yanqing, however, led to a general collapse of the Liao army, with Emperor Taizong barely escaping the battle, although Du and Li then judged it inadvisable to chase the Liao forces further, and withdrew back to Ding Prefecture (定州, in modern Baoding). As a result of this defeat, Emperor Taizong caned all of his general several hundred times, but did not punish Zhao.

Rather than creating Zhao emperor, as he had promised, however, Emperor Taizong postured to the Later Jin officials and the general population that he was now their emperor. Distrusting the Later Jin army that surrendered to him, he considered slaughtering the entire army. Zhao, however, pointed out to him that doing so would leave Later Jin's borders with Later Shu to the southwest and Southern Tang to the southeast completely unguarded, and was able to persuade him not to carry out a massacre. Emperor Taizong thereafter made Zhao's son Zhao Kuangzan the military governor of Huguo. Meanwhile, though, when Zhao suggested that tax revenues be used to purchase food supplies for the Liao soldiers, Emperor Taizong instead had his soldiers pillage the surrounding regions for food, causing them to kill many Han civilians and thereafter causing much Han resistance to Liao rule.

Meanwhile, having realized that Emperor Taizong had no intention to fulfill his promise, Zhao Yanshou became upset. He, through Li Song, expressed to Emperor Taizong the sentiment that he no longer wished to be emperor, but would be satisfied being Crown Prince. Emperor Taizong, rejecting the idea, stated, "When it comes to the Prince of Wei, I would not even hesitate to cut my own flesh. However, the Crown Prince needs to be the son of the Son of Heaven. How can the Prince of Wei be Crown Prince?" He then ordered that additional honors be considered for Zhao. At the suggestion of the imperial scholar Zhang Li , he gave Zhao the titles of defender of the central capital (i.e., Heng Prefecture (恆州, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei)), and Grand Chancellor, in addition to continuing to have him be chief of staff. he married her younger sister as his second wife. ) Not knowing this, Zhao only supplied Yelü Ruan with the same level of supplies as any other Liao general, causing Yelü Ruan to be displeased. Zhao also claimed that Emperor Taizong had left a will making him in charge of the Southern Court (i.e., the former Later Jin territory).

Over the next few days, Zhao requested that Yelü Ruan turn over the control of the gates and the storages at Heng—as Yelü Ruan had his soldiers take control of the gates and the storages as soon as he entered the city. Yelü Ruan refused. He also continued to meet with the other Khitan generals. Zhao's strategists suggested to him that there must be something that the Khitan generals were up to, and suggested that he act against them first, using the Han troops that he had with him. He hesitated, however. Meanwhile, he also prepared for a grand ceremony where he would apparently ascend a throne and, while not taking imperial title, he would let the other officials, including as high-level officials as chancellors, bow to him. Li Song, pointing out that it was unclear yet whether the Khitan generals would agree to this, urged him not to carry out this ceremony. Zhao agreed.

Shortly after, Yelü Ruan invited Zhao, Zhang Li, and the former Later Jin chancellors He Ning, Li Song, and Feng Dao to a feast. At the feast, Yelü Ruan told Zhao that Yelü Ruan's wife, who had previously agreed to a brotherly-sisterly relationship with Zhao and called him "older brother," had arrived from Linhuang, and wanted to see him. Zhao, not suspecting anything, entered Yelü Ruan's living quarters to meet her. Once inside the living quarters, he was seized and put under arrest. Several days later, Yelü Ruan public declared himself emperor (as Emperor Shizong). (He subsequently defeated an army that Empress Dowager Shulü launched to resist him, and forced her into relinquishing her powers and staying for the rest of her life at the tomb of her husband (his grandfather) Emperor Taizu of Liao.) When Zhao's son Zhao Kuangzan was later informed of these events and further heard rumors that Emperor Shizong had killed Zhao Yanshou, he first submitted to Later Shu, but then to Later Han (founded by the Later Jin general Liu Zhiyuan the military governor of Hedong and which then took over most of Later Jin's former territory); Zhao Kuangzan would subsequently serve Later Han's successor states Later Zhou and Song dynasty as well, never returning to Liao. In reality, though, Zhao had not been killed, and would not die until 948.

History of Liao account The History of Liao, however, described none of these conflicts. Rather, it had a terse assertion that after Emperor Shizong took the throne, he rewarded Zhao Yanshou for having supported him in taking the throne, and had Zhao remain as his chief of staff, until Zhao's death in 948. Indeed, the chronicles of Emperor Shizong's reign indicated that Zhao also remained as the defender of the southern capital (i.e., Lulong's capital Youdu until his death.

Notes and references

History of Liao, vol. 76. History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 98. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 286, 287.