Li Changyan (李昌言) (d. 884) was a warlord of the late

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

dynasty

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 controlled 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 ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

) from 881 to 884 as its 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 overthrowing his predecessor, the former chancellor

Zheng Tian Zheng Tian (, 821?''New Book of Tang'', vol. 185./825?''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 178.–883?), courtesy name Taiwen (), formally Duke Wenzhao of Xingyang (), was a Chinese politician and military commander of the late Tang dynasty who served ...

Takeover of Fengxiang Circuit

Little is known about Li Changyan's background, as neither of the official histories of the Tang dynasty (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 ...

'' 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. It is known that as of 881, when Zheng Tian was serving as the military governor of Fengxiang and the overall commander 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 ...

—after Huang had 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 ...

earlier that year and forced then-reigning 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 ...

—Li Changyan was serving as the commander of the Fengxiang forces (行軍司馬, ''Xingjun Sima'') and stationed at Xingping (興平, 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 ...

). Due to the indecisive nature of the warfare with Huang, who declared himself emperor of a new state of Qi, the Fengxiang treasury was becoming drained, and Zheng was giving less rewards to the soldiers than the soldiers expected and cutting down on the salaries. Li Changyan, knowing that the soldiers were displeased, fanned their discontent. In winter 881, he took his soldiers from Xingyuan back to Fengxiang's capital Fengxiang Municipality and poised to attack. Zheng, not wanting to have his forces battle each other, transferred his powers to Li Changyan and headed toward Chengdu to join Emperor Xizong, but on the way also offered to resign. Emperor Xizong gave Zheng the post of advisor to the

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

—a completely honorary post since there was no crown prince at the time—while making Li Changyan military governor.

As military governor

It is unclear what role Li Changyan had in the campaign against Huang Chao. In 883, Emperor Xizong bestowed on him the honorary

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 ...

title of ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'' ().''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 255. Later that year, after Huang had been defeated and Tang forces recaptured Chang'an, Emperor Xizong was beginning to prepare for a return to Chang'an. At that time, Zheng was again chancellor, but was in sharp disagreement in many matters with 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 Tian Lingzi (田令孜) (died 893), courtesy name Zhongze (仲則), formally the Duke of Jin (晉公), was a powerful eunuch during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang. During most of Emperor Xizong's reign, he had a stranglehold on power due to h ...

and Tian's brother

Chen Jingxuan Chen Jingxuan (陳敬瑄) (d. April 26, 893Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 259.) was a general of the Tang dynasty of China, who came to control Xichuan Circuit (西川), headquartered in modern Chengd ...

the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered at Chengdu). In order to get Zheng to remove himself, Tian and Chen had Li Changyan submit a petition stating, "The soldiers are being troubled. When Zheng Tian follows Your Imperial Majesty back to the capital, he should not pass here." Zheng, seeing the nature of the threat, resigned. In 884, Li Changyan became seriously ill. He commissioned his brother

Li Changfu Li Changfu (李昌符) (d. July 24, 887Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 19, part 2) was a warlord of the late Tang dynasty, who ruled Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi) f ...

as acting military governor, and thereafter died. Emperor Xizong then commissioned Li Changfu as military governor.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 256.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Changyan 9th-century births 884 deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Fengxiang Circuit