Qian Liu
Qian Liu, courtesy name Jumei, childhood name Poliu, also known by his temple name as the King Taizu of Wuyue, was the founding king of Wuyue during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period of China. He was originally a warlord of the late Tang dynasty.
Background
Qian Liu was born in Lin'an County in 852, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang. His father was named Qian Kuan, and his mother, who was from the same clan as his paternal grandmother, was Qian Kuan's wife Lady Shuiqiu. He had four younger brothers—Qian Qi, Qian Biao, Qian Duo, and Qian Hua —all of whom were described in the Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms as "brothers of the same father," implying, but not definitely stating, that they were not born of Lady Shuiqiu. In his childhood neighborhood, there was a huge tree. When he played with the other children in the neighborhood near the tree, he would sit on a large rock and order the other children to march in formations; the other children feared him and followed his orders. After he grew up, he did not have a legitimate job, so he became a salt privateer. He befriended several sons of the county secretary Zhong Qi and often drank and gambled with them. Zhong, however, disliked Qian and initially forbade his sons from associating with Qian until, on one occasion, a traveling fortuneteller informed both Qian and Zhong that Qian would one day be extremely honored. Only after that did Zhong allow his sons to associate with Qian. Zhong's sons often gave Qian money. During this time, Qian was described to be good at archery and using spears, and he had a basic understanding of mystical texts.Service under Dong Chang and takeover of Zhenhai Circuit
During the rebellion of the army officer Wang Ying in 876–877, Qian and Dong Chang, also from Lin'an, joined a local militia to defend against Wang's raids. After Wang's rebellion was defeated, Dong, for his contributions during the campaign, was made the defender of Shijing Base, and Qian became a commander under Dong. In 878, when the agrarian rebel Cao Shixiong was pillaging both Zhenhai Circuit, which Hang Prefecture was a part of, and Zhedong Circuit, the Hang Prefecture government tried to resist the pillages by recruiting 1,000 men from each of the counties in the prefecture. Dong and seven others became the militia commanders, and their troops became known as the "Eight Corps of Hang Prefecture." Subsequently, when soldiers under the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao pillaged Zhenhai, Qian repelled the pillaging Huang army.In 881, after Huang headed northwest and captured the imperial capital Chang'an, forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu, Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit gathered troops in the nearby regions and claimed that he was going to launch troops to recapture Chang'an. As part of that, he summoned Dong to Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture as well. However, Qian discerned that Gao had no real intentions to attack Huang, and he advised Dong to claim that he needed to return to Hang Prefecture to defend it. Dong did so, and Gao agreed to let him leave. Meanwhile, the imperial government had just recently commissioned a new prefect of Hang Prefecture, Lu Shenzhong. Before Lu could get to Hang Prefecture, however, Dong took his troops from Shijing into Hang Prefecture to intimidate Lu. Lu, fearful of Dong, did not take office. Dong then claimed the title of acting prefect, and had his officers submit petitions to the military governor of Zhenhai, Zhou Bao, to have Dong be officially commissioned. Zhou, believing that he could not control Dong otherwise, made Dong the prefect of Hang Prefecture.
In 882, Liu Hanhong the governor of Zhedong, who wanted to take over Zhenhai, sent his brother Liu Hanyou and officer Xin Yue to attack Hang Prefecture. Dong sent Qian to resist the Zhedong army, and Qian defeated them, forcing them to flee. Liu made another attack in 883, and Dong's army, under Qian, again defeated the Zhedong army, killing Xin and Liu Hanhong's brother Liu Hanrong.
In 886, Dong and Qian were discussing what to do with Zhedong—which by this point had been renamed Yisheng Circuit —when Dong made the offer to Qian, "If you can capture Yue Prefecture , I will yield Hang Prefecture to you." Qian agreed, responding, "You are right. If Yue were not captured, it will eventually be harmful to us." Qian thus launched the Hang Prefecture army and attacked Liu Hanhong, repeatedly defeating his army. By winter 886, Qian had captured Yue Prefecture, and Liu Hanhong was captured by his own subordinate Du Xiong the prefect of Tai Prefecture. Dong executed Liu, and moved his headquarters to Yue, claiming the title of acting governor, while making Qian the prefect of Hang Prefecture. In 887, Emperor Xizong commissioned Dong as the governor of Zhedong and Qian as the prefect of Hang Prefecture. Later, Dong was made the military governor of Yisheng, which was then renamed to Weisheng.
In 887, a mutiny at Zhenhai's capital Run Prefecture, led by Zhou's officer Xue Lang, forced Zhou to flee from Run Prefecture to Chang Prefecture to come under the protection of his officer Ding Congshi the prefect of Chang Prefecture, while Xue claimed the title of acting military governor. In response, Qian sent three of the "Eight Corps" commanders, Du Leng, Ruan Jie, and Cheng Ji to attack Xue. After a victory over Xue's officer Li Junwang, however, for reasons unclear, Du attacked and captured Chang Prefecture, and Ding fled to Huainan. Qian had Zhou escorted to Hang Prefecture, where he welcomed Zhou in a grand ceremony fitting the ceremony welcome by a subordinate of a military governor. Zhou would die at Hang Prefecture soon thereafter. Meanwhile, Qian ordered Ruan to attack Run Prefecture, and Ruan captured it. Xue was taken captive, and Qian had his heart cut out of his body to be sacrificed to Zhou. Qian also sent his cousin Qian Qiu to attack Su Prefecture, and Qian Qiu captured it in spring 888, allowing Qian Liu to control most of Zhenhai territory, which he largely held onto from this point on—resisting even an imperial attempt to take control of Su, by a failed assassination attempt against the imperially-commissioned prefect Du Ruxiu, which caused Du Ruxiu to flee and allowed Qian to retain control. Meanwhile, to placate Qian, then-reigning Emperor Zhaozong created Qian the Baron of Wuxing, and in 892 gave him the title of the defender of a new Wusheng Circuit with its headquarters at Hang Prefecture, as well as governor of the Su-Hang region and created him the Marquess of Pengcheng. In 893, Emperor Zhaozong officially made him the military governor of Zhenhai—now with its headquarters at Hang, as Run and Chang prefectures fell into Yang's control in 892. In 894, Emperor Zhaozong bestowed on Qian the honorary chancellor title of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi. In spring 895, Emperor Zhaozong created Qian the Duke of Pengcheng.
Destruction of Dong Chang
Throughout the years, despite Qian Liu's expansion in power, Dong Chang still viewed him as a vassal. Meanwhile, Dong had become increasingly megalomanic, such that he had a temple built to himself fashioned similarly to the temple to Yu the Great and ordered his people to worship only at his temple, not at Yu's temple. He also petitioned Emperor Zhaozong, seeking to be created the greater title of Prince of Yue. The imperial government did not agree immediately, and Dong became displeased. His followers, wanting to please him, encouraged him to take the next step and become the Emperor of Yue. In spring 895, he declared himself the emperor of a new state of "Luoping of the Great Yue", after killing every staff member who dared to speak against it.Dong sent messengers to Qian to inform Qian that he had become emperor and that he was making Qian the commander of the forces of the "Two Zhes"—i.e., Zhenhai and Yisheng, which were on the opposite banks of the Qiantang River. Qian, disagreeing with Dong's decision to claim imperial title, wrote back: "Rather than closing up your gates to try to be the Son of Heaven, so that your entire clan and the people will all fall into fire, why not open your door to be Jiedushi, so that you will have honor and wealth the rest of your life? It is still not too late to repent." Dong refused Qian's suggestion, so Qian advanced to Yue Prefecture with 30,000 men, bowing down to him outside the Yue city gates, and stating to him that he brought soldiers to force Dong to repent. Dong, in fear, rewarded Qian money and delivered several sorcerers who advocated his taking the throne to Qian, claiming that he would soon submit a confession to Emperor Zhaozong. Only then did Qian withdraw and report the matter to Emperor Zhaozong.
Emperor Zhaozong, however, believed that Dong had great contributions over the years and that he must have just been afflicted with a mental illness. He thus pardoned Dong but ordered him to retire. However, the ambitious Qian, who was hopeful that the imperial government would declare a campaign against Dong so that he could be able to turn on Dong without appearing to be ungrateful, then submitted an accusation against Dong, pointing out that Dong committed the unpardonable crime of treason. Emperor Zhaozong thus issued an edict ordering Qian to attack Dong. Meanwhile, Yang Xingmi, who did not want to see Qian take over Weisheng, sent messengers to Qian to point out that Dong had already repented and should be pardoned, but Qian did not relent.
Yang thus tried to relieve Qian's pressure on Dong by sending his officer Tai Meng to attack Su Prefecture. Qian did not let up his attack, however, and Yang further sent Tian Jun the military governor of Ningguo Circuit and An Renyi the military prefect of Run Prefecture to attack Qian as well. The Huainan attack was bogged down for some time, however, allowing Qian to continue his attack of Weisheng, even after, in spring 896, because of Yang's request, Emperor Zhaozong pardoned Dong completely and restored his titles.
Qian's forces repeatedly defeated Dong's, and Dong exacerbated the matter by killing anyone who dared to give him accurate information about Qian's military strength. By summer 896, Qian's officer Gu Quanwu had reached Yue and put it under siege. Only then did Dong become fearful. He abandoned the title of emperor and referred to himself as military governor again, but the siege continued. Qian considered abandoning the siege after Huainan forces captured Su Prefecture about the same time, but Gu pointed out that capturing Yue should be the first priority, and Qian agreed.
Soon thereafter, the outer city of Yue fell, and Dong withdrew into the inner city to continue to defend it. Qian then sent Dong's old subordinate Luo Tuan to Dong, stating that there were imperial orders for Dong to retire to Lin'an. Dong thus agreed to surrender. Gu delivered Dong toward Hang Prefecture, but executed him and his family on the way, as well as some 300 subordinates who supported his imperial claim. Qian delivered Dong's head to Chang'an and took over his territory. As Dong's people had been greatly drained by his heavy taxation, Qian opened up the storages, gave money to the soldiers and food to the people, to relieve their financial distress.