Li Changfu (李昌符) (d. July 24, 887

Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...

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''

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. 19, part 2) was a warlord of the late

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 ruled Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern

Baoji Baoji ( zh, s= , t= , p=Bǎojī; ) is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a ...

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) from 884 to 887. In 887, his troops got into a conflict with imperial troops escorting then-reigning Emperor Xizong, and he was defeated by the imperial general

Li Maozhen Li Maozhen (; 856 – May 17, 924), born Song Wentong (), courtesy name Zhengchen (), formally Prince Zhongjing of Qin (), was the only ruler of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Qi (901–924). He had become a powerful ...

and subsequently executed by his own subordinate Xue Zhichou (薛知籌).

Background and takeover of Fengxiang

Little is known about Li Changfu's background, as neither of the official histories of Tang Dynasty (the ''

'' and 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 ...

'') contained a biography for him. The first historical reference to him was in 884, when his older brother

Li Changyan Li Changyan (李昌言) (d. 884) was a warlord of the late History of China, Chinese dynasty Tang dynasty, who controlled Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) from 881 to 884 as its military governor (''jiedushi'') aft ...

, then 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 Fengxiang Circuit, became ill and made Li Changfu the acting military governor. Then-reigning Emperor Xizong thereafter made Li Changfu full military governor.''

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. 256.

Alliance with and later turning against Zhu Mei

In 885, Li Changfu became involved in a power struggle that initially started as a confrontation between the powerful

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 ...

Tian Lingzi and Wang Chongrong the military governor of Huguo Circuit (護國, headquartered in modern

Yuncheng Yuncheng () is the southernmost prefecture-level city in Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jincheng municipalities to the north and east, and Henan (Luoyang and Jiyuan to the east, Sanmenxia to the south) and ...

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), over control of salt ponds at Huguo Circuit. Tian tried to remove Wang Chongrong from the scene by having Emperor Xizong issuing an edict transferring him to 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 ...

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), Qi Kerang the military governor of Taining to Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern

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), and Wang Chucun the military governor of Yiwu to Huguo. Wang Chongrong refused the order and prepared for confrontation with Tian, along with his ally Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

), while Tian allied with Li Changfu and Zhu Mei the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern

Xianyang Xianyang ( zh, s=咸阳 , p=Xiányáng) is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now int ...

). Around the new year, Li Keyong's and Wang Chongrong's troops engaged Tian's, Li Changfu's, and Zhu's troops at Shawan (沙苑, in modern

Weinan Weinan ( zh, s=渭南 , p=Wèinán) is a prefecture-level city in east-Guanzhong, central Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, northwest China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provinc ...

) and defeated them. As Li Keyong then approached the 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 ...

, Tian took Emperor Xizong and fled to Fengxiang, and then to Xingyuan (興元, in modern

Hanzhong Hanzhong ( zh, s= , t= , l=middle of the Han River (Hubei), Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi, the southwest of Shaanxi, Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gans ...

). Meanwhile, Zhu and Li Changfu became embarrassed about their own alliance with Tian, and decided to instead support a new emperor who was not influenced by Tian. At that time, Zhu had, under his control, Emperor Xizong's distant relative Li Yun the Prince of Xiang. Under agreement with Li Changfu, he took Li Yun back to Chang'an and initially declared Li Yun

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

and then emperor. They also sent troops to try to capture Emperor Xizong at Xingyuan, but they were repelled. However, after Zhu thereafter had himself made a

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 ...

and was showing that he was controlling Li Yun's court by himself, Li Changfu, in anger, refused all titles bestowed by Li Yun, instead submitting a petition to Emperor Xizong at Xingyuan to pledge his loyalty. Emperor Xizong thus bestowed on Li Changfu the honorary title of acting ''Situ'' (司徒, one of the Three Excellencies).

Defeat and death

In late 886, Zhu was killed by his own officer Wang Xingyu, and Li Yun fled to Wang Chongrong but was killed by Wang. As Emperor Xizong subsequently prepared to return to Chang'an in spring 887, he went first to Fengxiang. Li Changfu, fearing that once Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an he might revisit the issue of how Li Changfu had previously allied with Zhu and tried to capture him or, at the very least, show less favor to him, asked Emperor Xizong to stay at Fengxiang longer under the excuse that the palace in Chang'an had not been repaired. Emperor Xizong agreed. Keeping the emperor at Fengxiang would turn disastrous for Li Changfu, however. In summer 887, there was an incident that started when Li Changfu's procession encountered that of the imperial general Yang Shouli (). Their soldiers fought with each other, and the fight would not stop despite interventions by Emperor Xizong's eunuchs. That night, Li Changfu attacked Emperor Xizong's provisional palace at Fengxiang, but was soon defeated by Yang. He took his family and fled to Long Prefecture (隴州, in modern Baoji). Emperor Xizong thereafter sent the imperial general

the military governor of Wuding Circuit (武定, headquartered in modern Hanzhong) to attack Li Changfu at Long Prefecture. Subsequently, in fall 887, Xue Zhichou, the prefect of Long, surrendered, and slaughtered Li Changfu and his family. Li Maozhen thereafter took over Fengxiang Circuit.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 257.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li Changfu 9th-century births 887 deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Fengxiang Circuit People executed by the Tang dynasty by decapitation People executed by the Tang dynasty 9th-century executions by the Tang dynasty