Feng Changqing
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Feng Changqing ( (died January 24, 756) was a general of the Chinese
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 ...
. Feng was described as ugly in his appearance, and when he first met Gao Xianzhi and asked to be a guard for Gao, Gao initially rejected him, but eventually agreed to take Feng as a soldier under his command. He distinguished himself under the commands of Gao and Wang Zhengjian (), particularly in a battle against Greater Bolü (大勃律, near modern
Gilgit-Baltistan Gilgit-Baltistan (; ), formerly known as the Northern Areas, is a region administered by Pakistan as an administrative units of Pakistan, administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has b ...
,
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
) in 753, eventually commissioned as a 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 ...
''). After failing to defeat An Lushan's rebellion in 755, however, both he and Gao were executed due to accusations against them made by 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 ...
Bian Lingcheng ().


Background

Feng Changqing's family was from Yishi (猗氏, in modern Yuncheng,
Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...
). His maternal grandfather had committed a crime and was exiled to
Shymkent Shymkent (, ; ) is a city in southern Kazakhstan, located near the border with Uzbekistan. It holds the status of a city of republican significance, one of only three cities in Kazakhstan with this distinction, alongside Almaty and Astana. As of ...
, to serve in 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 ...
army, as part of the army for Anxi Circuit (安西, headquartered in modern Aksu Prefecture,
Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...
) with the responsibility to guard the south gate of the non- Han portion of the city. Feng's grandfather was learned, and often sat with Feng on the gate tower to teach him, giving Feng a broad education. After his grandfather died, Feng was in his 30s, but was poor and alone. At that time, Fumeng Lingcha () was 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 Anxi, and one of the generals serving under Fumeng was Gao Xianzhi. Gao was considered capable, and retained a corps of 30 guards with handsome clothes. Feng submitted a petition to Gao, asking to be one of the guards, but as Feng was thin, ugly, and walking with a limp with short legs, Gao rejected him. He submitted another petition the next day, and Gao responded, "I already have enough guards. Why come again?" Feng angrily responded: Gao still did not accept him. Feng stayed outside Gao's house door waiting for Gao to enter and leave, for tens of days. Eventually, Gao could not stand it and added him to the guard corps.


Army service in the Xiyu region

At one point, near the end of Emperor Xuanzong's ''Kaiyuan'' era (727-741), when Gao Xianzhi had been promoted to be Fumeng Lingcha's deputy, Fumeng had put Gao in charge of attacking the rebellious Daxi () tribe. Gao was successful in the attack, and was able to kill or capture nearly all of the rebels. Without having been directed by Gao to do so, Feng drafted a report of the victory on Gao's behalf, clearly stating the geographical features, the strategies used, and details of the victory. He presented it to Gao, who was surprised as how well-written it was and how it had anticipated everything Gao wanted to say. Gao submitted the report written by Feng to Fumeng, unsealed and written on a large banner, to allow the tribes on the way to see the victory. After Gao returned to Anxi headquarters, Fumeng held a feast in his honor, and Fumeng's assistants Liu Tiao () and Dugu Jun () both anxiously asked Gao, "Who was it who wrote the report? How did you, Lord, retain such an impressive person?" Gao responded, "It was my guard Feng Changqing." Liu and Dugu were surprised, and they invited Feng to join the feast as well. Feng thereafter became known to the Anxi headquarter staff, and was given the honorific title of castle defender and made Gao's assistant. He was thereafter several times promoted in rank. In 747, Feng served under Gao in the conquest of Lesser Bolü (小勃律, a city state centering on modern Gilgit,
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
). Around the new year 748, after Gao was promoted to be the military governor of Anxi, replacing Fumeng, Feng, at Gao's recommendation, received an honorary commission on the staff of Emperor Xuanzong's oldest son Li Cong the Prince of Qing, but remained at Anxi and served as Gao's assistant, with the position only below the deputy military governor. He often was put in charge of the headquarters when Gao was out conducting campaigns. Gao entrusted his household matters, however, to Zheng Dequan (), the son of Gao's wet nurse, whom Gao treated as a brother and therefore was powerful in the army. On one occasion, because of this, Zheng did not, as was proper under military protocol, salute Feng as a superior officer. Feng ordered Zheng to report to headquarters, and then locked the doors and stated to him: He then yelled out, "You, general, must temporarily die to affirm good order in the army." He thus caned Zheng 60 times, and Zheng died. Gao's wife and wet nurse cried bitterly outside but could not get in to save Zheng. They submitted an accusation to Gao, but all Gao said upon reading the accusation was, "Alas, he died?" When he and Feng met again, neither of them spoke of the matter, as Gao was impressed with Feng's discipline. In addition, when two other generals committed crimes, Feng also killed them, thus reaffirming military discipline. In 751, Gao was initially set to be made the military governor of Hexi Circuit (河西, headquartered in modern Wuwei, Gansu), and he asked that Feng be made his assistant. (Subsequently, though, due to machinations of An Sishun, then military governor of Hexi, who wanted to remain there, Gao was instead recalled to the capital to serve as a general of the imperial guards.) When Wang Zhengjian was named as the military governor of Anxi to replace Gao, he asked Feng to serve as his deputy. When Wang died in 752, Feng was made acting military governor. In 753, he attacked Greater Bolü and forced its submission to Tang. In 754, when he went to
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 ...
to meet Emperor Xuanzong, he was given a number of honors and a mansion in Chang'an, and his deceased parents also received posthumous honors; soon thereafter, he was officially made military governor. It was said that Feng was hard-working and frugal, and sometimes rode a mule while commanding the army. He was strict in discipline and awards.


Death

In 755, An Lushan, the military governor of Fanyang Circuit (范陽, headquartered in modern
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
), launched a rebellion against Emperor Xuanzong's rule. Late that year, Feng Changqing arrived in Chang'an to meet with Emperor Xuanzong. When they met on December 23,Volume 217 of ''
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 ...
'' recorded that this meeting took place on the ''xinwei'' day of the 11th month of the 14th year of the Tianbao era of Tang Xuanzong's reign. This corresponds to 23 Dec 755 in the Gregorian calendar.
Emperor Xuanzong asked him what should be done. Feng, initially believing that An's rebellion could be quelled quickly, volunteered to head to the eastern capital
Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...
to defend it and then to counterattack. Emperor Xuanzong agreed, and commissioned Feng as the military governor of Fanyang and Pinglu (平盧, headquartered in modern Chaoyang, Liaoning) to replace An. That day, Feng headed to Luoyang to gather troops and prepare for defenses. Once he got there, he gathered 60,000 men and destroyed the
Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...
bridge to prepare for attack, but quickly found out that he had a major problem—there were insufficient weapons available for his troops. Meanwhile, An crossed the Yellow River elsewhere and captured Chenliu (陳留, roughly modern Kaifeng,
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 ...
) and Yingyang (滎陽, roughly modern
Zhengzhou Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan, China. Located in northern Henan, it is one of the nine National central city, national central cities in China, and serves as the political, economic, technological, and educational center of the province. Th ...
,
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 ...
) Commanderies, and then arrived at Luoyang. Feng tried to defend with his inadequately-supplied troops, but could not. An entered the city, and Feng was forced to destroy the western gate in order to get out of Luoyang and retreat west. Meanwhile, Gao Xianzhi, who was the acting supreme commander of the forces, was stationed at Shan Prefecture (陝郡, roughly modern Sanmenxia,
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 ...
). Feng retreated to Shan, where Emperor Xuanzong sent an order stripping him of titles but allowing him to remain in the army under Gao. Feng warned Gao that Shan Prefecture was difficult to defend—that they should retreat to Tong Pass and fortify its defenses against An's attack. Gao agreed, and they abandoned Shan and withdrew to Tong Pass. When An later arrived, he could not capture it. Meanwhile, though, Feng was detecting signs that he might be in trouble, and anticipatorily wrote a final submission to Emperor Xuanzong, warning him about An's strengths and cautioning against overconfidence, as the other officials at the time generally believed that An could be defeated quickly. Meanwhile, during the campaign, Gao had caused much offense against 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 ...
Bian Lingcheng, serving as his monitor, as Bian was making demands of him that he was not meeting. When Bian returned to Chang'an, he accused Feng of exaggerating An's strength, and accused Gao of improperly abandoning Shan as well as corruptly withholding food supplies and imperial rewards to soldiers for personal benefit. Emperor Xuanzong, believing Bian, issued edicts for Feng's and Gao's executions. After Bian returned to Tong Pass, he first read the edict for Feng's execution. Feng, after giving his submission to Bian to submit to Emperor Xuanzong, was beheaded, and upon the completion of that execution, Bian then read the second edict ordering Gao's execution. Gao cried out: The soldiers cried out for Gao as well, but Bian still beheaded Gao. As Gao was to be killed, he looked at Feng's body and stated:


Notes


References

* ''
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 ...
''
vol. 104
* '' New Book of Tang''
vol. 135
* ''
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 ...
'', vols. 216, 217. *Xue, Zongzheng(1998). ''Anxi and Beiting Protectorates: A Research on Frontier Policy in Tang Dynasty's Western Boundary''. Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press. . p. 262-264. {{DEFAULTSORT:Feng, Changqing 756 deaths 8th-century executions by the Tang dynasty Tang dynasty jiedushi of Anxi Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Lulong Circuit Tang dynasty jiedushi of Pinglu Circuit Year of birth unknown Politicians from Yuncheng Tang dynasty generals from Shanxi Protector generals of the Protectorate General to Pacify the West People executed by the Tang dynasty People of An Lushan Rebellion