Li Maoxun () was a warlord late in the

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 seized control of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, 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 ...

) briefly from 875 to 876 before retiring and turning control of the circuit over to his son

Li Keju Li Keju (李可舉; died 885 CE) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who controlled Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) from 876 to 885. Background It is not known when Li Keju was born. His father Li Maoxun wa ...

Background

It is not known when Li Maoxun was born, but it was known that he was ethnically

Huigu The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; , Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. It ...

, of the Abusi () tribe. During the governance of Lulong's military governor

Zhang Zhongwu Zhang Zhongwu (; died 849''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 248.), formally Prince Zhuang of Lanling (; per the ''Old Book of Tang'Old Book of Tang'', vol. 180.) or Duke Zhuang of Lanling (; per the ''New Book of Tang'New Book of Tang'', vol. 212.), ...

(in office 841–849), Zhang waged many campaigns against the Huigu, and in one of the campaigns, Li Maoxun surrendered along with the other nobles of the tribe, and was granted a Chinese name, along with the imperial clan surname of Li. It was said that he was capable in riding and archery, and was much favored by Zhang, who often sent him on border campaigns.''

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. 180.

Seizure of Lulong Circuit

As of 875, Zhang Gongsu (not related to Zhang Zhongwu) was the military governor, and it was said that the soldiers despised him for his harshness and violence. Instead, the soldiers hoped that the officer Chen Gongyan (), who was then the defender of Naxiang Base (納降軍, in modern Beijing), would take over. The ambitious Li Maoxun, instead, assassinated Chen, took his army, and headed toward the circuit capital You Prefecture (), claiming to be Chen's forward commander against Zhang. Zhang engaged him and was defeated, and Zhang fled to 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 ...

. Once Li entered You Prefecture, the people realized that he was not acting on Chen's behalf, but given that he had the prefecture under control by this time, they were forced to support him. Then-reigning Emperor Xizong thus commissioned Li as the acting military governor, and then as 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. 252.

Retirement

In spring 876, Li Maoxun requested retirement and requested that his son

be made acting military governor. Emperor Xizong agreed, and allowed Li Maoxun to retire while making Li Keju acting military governor and later full military governor. That was the last historical reference to Li Maoxun, and it is not known when he died — although he presumably died long before his son Li Keju, facing the mutiny by his officer

Li Quanzhong Li Quanzhong () (d. 886) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, who controlled Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) from 885, when he overthrew the prior military governor (''jiedushi'') Li Keju, to his death in 886. ...

, committed suicide along with his entire family, in 885.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 256.

Notes and references

* ''

'', vol. 180. * ''

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 ...

'', vol. 212. * ''

'', vol. 252. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Maoxun 9th-century births 9th-century deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Lulong Circuit Uyghur people People from North China