Meng Fangli
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Meng Fangli (; died July 2, 889) was a warlord in the late 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 ...
who, from 881 to 889, controlled all or part of Zhaoyi Circuit ()—the headquarters of which he moved from Lu Prefecture (潞州, in modern
Changzhi Changzhi ( zh, s=长治) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Shanxi Province, China, bordering the provinces of Hebei and Henan to the northeast and east, respectively. Historically, the city was one of the 36 administrative areas ( ...
,
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 ...
) to his home Xing Prefecture (邢州, in modern
Xingtai Xingtai ( zh, s= , t=邢臺, p=Xíngtái , w=Hsing2-tʻai2), formerly known as Xingzhou and Shunde, is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has a total area of and administers 4 districts, 2 coun ...
,
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
)—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 ...
''). His move of the headquarters drew resentment from the people of Lu Prefecture, who threw their support behind
Li Keyong Li Keyong ( zh , c = 李克用 , p = Lǐ Kèyòng ) (October 24, 856 – February 24, 908) was a Chinese military general and politician of Shatuo ethnicity, and from January 896 the Prince of Jin ( zh, t=晉王, p=Jìn Wáng), which would becom ...
the military governor of neighboring 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 ...
,
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 ...
), whose forces eventually defeated his. Fearful that his subordinates were turning against him, he committed suicide.


Background and seizure of Zhaoyi Circuit

It is not known when Meng Fangli was born, but it is known that he was from Xing Prefecture.''
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. 187.
As of 881, he was serving as the defender of Tianjing Pass (天井關, in modern
Jincheng Jincheng is a prefecture-level city situated in the southeast of Shanxi province, China. It shares its border with Henan province to the south and southeast. The city is recognized as an industrial hub, with coal mining being one of its key indu ...
,
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 ...
). That year, while the Gao Xun () the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit was leading his army as part of the Tang campaign to recapture 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 ...
—which had fallen months earlier to 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 ...
, forcing 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 ...
—Gao was assassinated by the officer Cheng Lin (), who took over the army and returned to Lu Prefecture. Meng, hearing the news, launched an attack against the mutineers and killed Cheng. After Meng killed Cheng, however, he did not remain at Lu Prefecture, and instead took his army and returned to his home Xing Prefecture. The people of Lu supported 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 ...
Wu Quanxu () to serve as acting military governor. Meanwhile, in 882, the overall commander against Huang, the former chancellor
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 ...
, issued an edict in Emperor Xizong's name making Meng the prefect of Xing. Meng refused to accept the commission, and further put Wu under arrest, claiming that a eunuch could not be an acting military governor. He wrote Wang, requesting that a civilian official be made the military governor. Wang made the official Zheng Changtu acting military governor. Subsequently, Emperor Xizong commissioned Wang Hui to be the new military governor, but Wang Hui, not wanting to travel far to his post and knowing that Meng had control of the three Zhaoyi prefectures east of the
Taihang Mountains The Taihang Mountains () are a Chinese mountain range running down the eastern edge of the Loess Plateau in Shanxi, Henan and Hebei provinces. The range extends over from north to south and has an average elevation of ; its principal peak is ...
(Xing, Ming (洺州, in modern
Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...
,
Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...
), and Ci (磁州, also in modern Handan)) anyway, declined to report to Zhaoyi, and instead recommended Zheng. Emperor Xizong agreed, making him instead the director of Chang'an's reconstruction. Zheng reported to Lu, but left after less than three months, leaving Meng in effective control of the circuit.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 255.


Movement of headquarters to Xing and subsequent warfare

Meng Fangli thereafter moved the circuit headquarters from Lu Prefecture to Xing Prefecture and claimed the title of acting military governor. He made his officer Li Yinrui () the prefect of Lu. (He was apparently then made military governor, as he was later referred to by that title.) Further, to weaken the power of Lu, as he believed that the people of Lu had a history of overthrowing the military governor, he forced the officers and the wealthy to move their families to the three prefectures east of the Taihang. Knowing that the people of Lu were distressed about these acts, the eunuch monitor Qi Shenhui () had the officer An Jushou () secretly write
Li Keyong Li Keyong ( zh , c = 李克用 , p = Lǐ Kèyòng ) (October 24, 856 – February 24, 908) was a Chinese military general and politician of Shatuo ethnicity, and from January 896 the Prince of Jin ( zh, t=晉王, p=Jìn Wáng), which would becom ...
the military governor of Hedong Circuit, who had a powerful army, to ask for his intervention. In response, in winter 883, Li Keyong sent his officer He Gongya () to attack Meng, but Meng defeated He Gongya. Li Keyong then sent his cousin Li Kexiu (), who was able to capture Lu and kill Li Yinrui, taking it over. This started years of warfare between Li Keyong and Meng over the control of Zhaoyi, laying waste to the circuit. In fall 884, at Li Keyong's request, Emperor Xizong named Li Kexiu the military governor of Zhaoyi, thus leaving Zhaoyi with two contending military governors.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 256. Meanwhile, because of a dispute between Meng's subordinates Ma Shuang () the prefect of Ming and Xi Zhongxin () the commander of the Zhaoyi forces, Ma rebelled in summer 885 to try to force Meng to kill Xi. However, Ma was soon defeated, and fled to neighboring Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan). Meng then sent a gift to Weibo's military governor Le Yanzhen and persuaded Le to kill Ma. In fall 886, Li Kexiu launched a major attack against Meng, capturing a number of cities east of the Taihang and commissioning his officer An Jinjun () as the prefect of Xing. In 888, Meng tried to counterattack by having Xi attack Hedong's Liao Prefecture (遼州, in modern
Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei province to the east. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,379,498 inhabitants of whom 1,226,61 ...
,
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 ...
). Li Kexiu defeated and captured Xi, delivering him to Li Keyong.


Defeat and death

In summer 889, Li Keyong launched a major attack against Meng Fangli, sending
Li Hanzhi Li Hanzhi (; 842''New Book of Tang'', vol. 187.'' History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 15.''New History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 42. – July 26, 899Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 261.), forma ...
and
Li Cunxiao Li Cunxiao () (d. 894), né An Jingsi (), was an adoptive son of the late-Tang dynasty warlord Li Keyong who contributed much to Li Keyong's campaigns, but who later rebelled against his adoptive father. He subsequently was defeated by Li Keyong a ...
against him. Li Keyong's forces soon captured Ming and Ci Prefectures. Meng sent the officers Ma Gai () and Yuan Fengtao () to resist, but Meng's forces were defeated at Liuli Slope (琉璃陂, in modern Xingtai), with Ma and Yuan captured. Li Keyong then put Xing Prefecture under siege. As Meng was suspicious of the officers, the officers resented him, and they were no longer obeying him by this point. In distress, he committed suicide. The soldiers supported his brother or cousin Meng Qian () as the acting military governor, but Meng Qian, after some resistance, surrendered, leaving Li Keyong in control of a reunified Zhaoyi Circuit.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 258.


Notes and references

* ''
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. 187. * ''
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.
254 Year 254 ( CCLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Gallienus (or, less frequently, year 1007 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 254 for th ...
, 255,
256 Year 256 ( CCLVI) was a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Claudius and Glabrio (or, less frequently, year 1009 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 256 for this y ...
,
257 __NOTOC__ Year 257 (Roman numerals, CCLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Valerianus and Gallienus (or, less frequently, year 1010 ''Ab urbe condita'') ...
,
258 Year 258 ( CCLVIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tuscus and Bassus (or, less frequently, year 1011 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 258 for this yea ...
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Meng, Fangli 9th-century births 889 deaths Politicians from Xingtai Tang dynasty jiedushi of Zhaoyi Circuit Suicides in the Tang dynasty Suicides by poison Tang dynasty generals from Hebei