Duan Yanmo (段彥謨; died July 17, 882Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter
''

Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...

'', vol. 255.) was a Chinese military general and warlord during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

who, from 880 to 882, controlled Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern

Jingzhou Jingzhou ( zh, s=, c=荆州, t=, p=Jīngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the Seventh National Population Censu ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

) in conjunction with the

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

Zhu Jingmei, but later had a fallout with Zhu and was killed by Zhu.

Background

Not much is known about Duan Yanmo's background, as he did not have a biography in either of the official histories of the

, the ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

'' or the ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

''. What is known is that he was an army officer from Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern

Jining Jining () is a former capital of Shandong. Is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the no ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

) who participated in the operations against the major agrarian rebel

Huang Chao Huang Chao (835 – July 13, 884) was a wealthy Chinese salt trader and soldier who is primarily known for instigating the Huang Chao Rebellion. In 878, he proclaimed himself emperor and the establishment of a new Qi dynasty. Huang Chao's re ...

early in the reign of Emperor Xizong. In 879, the imperial government commissioned him to replace Cao Quanzhen () as the commander of the operations against Huang west of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

—while Cao was pursuing Huang in the aftermaths of a major defeat Cao and Liu Jurong () the military governor (''

Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (, Old Turkic: Tarduş) or jiedu, was a regional military governor in China; the title was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissi ...

'') of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern

Xiangfan Xiangyang is the second-largest prefecture-level city by population in northwestern Hubei province, China. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city north–south. The ci ...

) had just dealt Huang—which led to Cao's termination of the pursuit, allowing Huang and Huang's major general

Shang Rang Shang Rang (尚讓) (died 884) was a major follower of Huang Chao, an agrarian rebel leader against the rule of the Chinese Tang dynasty and carried prominent titles after Huang declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. As Huang neare ...

to escape.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 253.

Control of Jingnan

Meanwhile, with Liu Jurong having returned to Shannan East after defeating Huang, and with the overall commander of the operations, the former

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Wang Duo Wang Duo () (died 884), courtesy name Zhaofan (), formally the Duke of Jin (), was a Chinese politician of the medieval Tang dynasty, serving as a chancellor of the Tang dynasty, chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Yizong of Tang, Emperor Yiz ...

, who was also the military governor of Jingnan, having fled prior to Cao's and Liu's defeat of Huang Chao, there was no military governor around to govern Jingnan Circuit. The

monitor of the army in the region,

Yang Fuguang Yang Fuguang () (842–883''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 184.), formally Duke Zhongsu of Hongnong (弘農忠肅公), was a Chinese eunuch, military general, and politician of the Tang dynasty, who was considered a major contributor to the Tang cau ...

, put Song Hao (), an officer from Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern

Xuchang Xuchang ( zh, s=, t= ; postal: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province in Central China. It is bordered by the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

) in charge of the circuit until the imperial government could commission a replacement. The imperial government subsequently confirmed Song's temporary commission. This drew anger from Duan Yanmo, who considered himself superior to Song. The conflict came to a head in 880 when, in violation of an order that Song issued that soldiers were not to cut down trees on the streets of the circuit capital Jiangling Municipality (), some of Duan's soldiers did so, and Song whipped them on the back. Duan viewed this as an insult, and he intruded into Song's headquarters and killed Song and Song's two sons. Yang then submitted a report stating that Song was overly cruel and that was why the soldiers killed him. (According to Yang's biography in the ''New Book of Tang'', Yang encouraged Duan's actions since Song was disrespectful to Yang as well.) Emperor Xizong then issued an edict making Duan the prefect of Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern

Changde Changde (; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 常德區 ) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hunan province, People's Republic of China. Changde, known as "Wuling" in ancient times, is located on the west side of Do ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

) while making the imperial official Zheng Shaoye () the new military governor. However, it appeared that Duan did not report to Lang Prefecture, for it was said that Zheng, in fear of Duan's control of Jingnan, did not report to Jingnan for some half a year. Subsequently, when Huang captured the imperial capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

around the new year 881 and forced Emperor Xizong to flee to

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

,''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 254. Emperor Xizong recalled Zheng and made Duan the military governor of Jingnan.

Death

Duan Yanmo and the new eunuch monitor, Zhu Jingmei, soon developed an adversarial relationship. Zhu selected 3,000 elite soldiers and called them the Zhongyong Army, putting it under his own command. Duan, in anger, decided that he wanted to kill Zhu. However, Zhu took preemptive action in summer 882 and attacked Duan, killing him. Zhu initially made the deputy mayor of Jiangling, Li Sui (), acting military governor, and then, when Emperor Xizong commissioned Zheng again but Zheng hesitated to report to Jingnan, put the officer

Chen Ru Chen Ru (；d. 885) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who ruled Jingnan Circuit (荊南 modern Jingzhou, Hubei) from 882 to 885, most of that time as its military governor (''jiedushi''). Background It is not known when Chen Ru was ...

in charge.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duan, Yanmo 9th-century births 882 deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Jingnan Circuit