Duke Ling of Qi (), personal name Lü Huan, was a

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

of the Qi state, reigning from 581 BC to 554 BC. He succeeded his father, Duke Qing, and was in turn succeeded by one of his sons, Duke Zhuang II.

Attack from Jin

In 572 BC, Duke Dao of the State of Jin attacked Qi. Duke Ling made peace with Jin by sending his son Prince Guang (later Duke Zhuang II of Qi) to Jin as a hostage. Nine years later Prince Guang was made the crown prince of Qi.

Annexing the State of Lai

In 567 BC, the fifteenth year of Duke Ling's reign, the State of Lai attacked Qi but was decisively defeated. The Qi army counterattacked, killed the Lai ruler Duke Gong, and conquered the entire state. Lai was a large

Dongyi The Dongyi or Eastern Yi () was a collective term for ancient peoples found in Chinese records. The definition of Dongyi varied across the ages, but in most cases referred to inhabitants of eastern China, then later, the Korean peninsula and Jap ...

state to the east of Qi, and the state of Qi more than doubled the size of its territory after annexing Lai.

Battle of Pingyin

In 555 BC, Duke Ling switched his alliance from Jin to its enemy

State of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted ...

. To punish Qi, Duke Ping of Jin invaded and inflicted a crushing defeat on Qi. The Jin army, led by general Zhonghang Yan, occupied large swathes of Qi territory, besieged the Qi capital Linzi, and burned down the outer portion of the city. This was the worst defeat that Qi had suffered during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

Succession

Duke Ling's main wife was Yan Yi Ji, a princess of the

State of Lu Lu (; 249 BC) was a vassal state during the Zhou dynasty of ancient China located around modern Shandong. Founded in the 11th century BC, its rulers were from a cadet branch of the House of Ji () that ruled the Zhou dynasty. The f ...

, who had no son. His original heir, Crown Prince Guang, was the son of Sheng Ji, niece of Yan Yi Ji. Duke Ling also had at least two other concubines, Zhong Zi and Rong Zi, who were both princesses of the

State of Song Song was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty with its capital at Shangqiu. The state was founded soon after King Wu of Zhou conquered the Shang dynasty to establish the Zhou dynasty in 1046 BC. It was conquered by the state of ...

. Zhong Zi bore a son named Ya, while Rong Zi had no son but took Prince Ya under her wing. Duke Ling favoured Rong Zi, who asked him to make Prince Ya the new crown prince. Although Zhong Zi objected, Duke Ling still deposed Prince Guang and made Prince Ya his heir. In 554 BC, the 28th year of his reign, Duke Ling fell ill and died in the fifth month. The powerful minister Cui Zhu installed Guang, the original crown prince, on the throne, to be known as Duke Zhuang II of Qi. Cui Zhu and Duke Zhuang killed Rong Zi, Prince Ya, and rival minister Gao Hou, who supported Prince Ya. Duke Ling also had another son named Chujiu, born to another of Duke Ling's concubines, who was the daughter of Shusun Xuanbo, leader of the Shusun clan of Lu. Cui Zhu would later kill Duke Zhuang and install Chujiu on the throne, to be known as

Duke Jing of Qi Duke Jing of Qi (), personal name Lü Chujiu, was ruler of the Qi state from 547 BC to 490 BC. After years of unrest as two powerful ministers, Cui Zhu (崔杼) and Qing Feng (慶封), sought to control the Qi state, Duke Jing appointed Yan Yin ...

Family

Wives: * Yan Yi Ji, of the Ji clan of Lu () Concubines: * Zong Sheng Ji, of the Ji clan of Lu (), Yan Yi Ji's niece; the mother of Crown Prince Guang * Zhong Zi, of the Zi clan of

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

(), the mother of Crown Prince Ya * Rong Zi, of the Zi clan of

(; d. 554 BC), Zhong Ji's dowry younger sister * Mu Meng Ji, of the Shusun lineage of the Ji clan of Lu (), a daughter of Shusun Qiaoru (); the mother of Prince Chujiu Sons: * Crown Prince Guang (; d. 548 BC), ruled as Duke Zhuang II of Qi from 553–548 BC * Crown Prince Ya (; d. 554 BC) * Prince Chujiu (; d. 490 BC), ruled as

from 547–490 BC

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ling of Qi, Duke Year of birth unknown Monarchs of Qi (state) from the House of Jiang 6th-century BC Chinese monarchs 550s BC deaths