Yang Xingmi
Yang Xingmi, né Yang Xingmin, courtesy name Huayuan, formally Prince Wuzhong of Wu, later posthumously honored King Xiaowu of Wu then Emperor Wu of Wu with the temple name of Taizu, was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician. He was the military governor of Huainan Circuit late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, whose takeover of Huainan and several nearby circuits allowed him and his family to rule over territory that would eventually become the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms state Wu, including most of modern Jiangsu and Anhui and parts of modern Jiangxi and Hubei.
Background
Yang Xingmin was born in 852, during the reign of Emperor Xuānzong of Tang. He was from Lu Prefecture. His ancestors, including his father Yang Fu, were farmers for generations. In youth, Tian Jun and he became close friends, and they came to refer to each other as brother. It was said that he was physically strong in his youth, and during the Qianfu era of Emperor Xuānzong's grandson Emperor Xizong, Yang Xingmin became a bandit. He was captured, but the prefect of Lu Prefecture, Zheng Qi, was impressed by his appearance, and stated to him, "You will be rich and honored one day. Why be a bandit?" Zheng then released him. Yang later became a soldier of the Lu Prefecture militia, and he distinguished himself in battles. However, as a result, his commander was apprehensive of him, and persuaded then-prefect Lang Youfu to send Yang on an away mission. When Yang subsequently met his commander to bid farewell, and the commander, wanting to pretend to favor Yang, asked Yang what favors Yang would want him to do, if any; Yang responded, "I need your head!" and then killed him. Yang then took control of the militia and declared himself the commander. Lang was unable to control him, and so submitted a report to Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit, which Lu Prefecture belonged to, recommending that Gao commission Yang the new prefect to replace Lang himself. Gao agreed, and Emperor Xizong subsequently, at Gao's recommendation, issued such a commission.As prefect of Lu Prefecture
Also in 883, two of Gao Pian's officers, Yu Gongchu and Yao Guiili, failed in an assassination attempt against Gao's favored sorcerer Lü Yongzhi, who had in effect taken over Huainan's governance due to Gao's trust in him. Lü thus made accusations against them, and Gao sent them out to combat agrarian rebels. Lü then secretly informed Yang that Yu and Yao's intent was to attack Lu Prefecture. Yang responded by laying an ambush for Yu and Yao, killing them, and then informing Gao that they had planned a mutiny. Gao, not knowing that Lü put this incident into motion, rewarded Yang for putting down the "mutiny."In 884, when Gao's nephew Gao Yu, then the prefect of nearby Shu Prefecture, came under the attack of the local agrarian rebel Chen Ru, Gao Yu sought aid from Yang. Yang did not have enough soldiers to respond, but sent his officer Li Shenfu, who tricked Chen into believing that a large army was arriving from Lu. As a result, Chen fled. Subsequently, when Qin Zongquan, who was previously the Tang military governor of Fengguo Circuit but who had rebelled against Tang by this point, sent a brother to attack Lu, Yang sent Tian Jun to repel Qin's attack. Meanwhile, when other agrarian rebels Wu Jiong and Li Ben attacked Shu, Gao Yu abandoned it. Yang then sent his officers Tao Ya and Zhang Xun to attack Wu and Li; after Tao and Zhang subsequently captured and executed Wu and Li, Yang commissioned Tao as the prefect of Shu.
In 886 — by which point the prefects of Huainan appeared to be attacking each other at will to enlarge their spheres of influence — Zhang Ao the prefect of Shou Prefecture sent his officer Wei Qian to attack Lu. Yang sent Tian, Li Shenfu, and Zhang Xun to resist, and they repelled Wei's attack. Meanwhile, though, Xu Qing the prefect of Chú Prefecture attacked Shu; Tao was unable to resist, and fled back to Lu, allowing Xu to take Shu. Also in 886, under Gao's order, for reasons unclear, Yang changed his name from Xingmin to Xingmi.
War for control of Huainan Circuit
War against Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo
In 887, Gao Pian's officer Bi Shiduo, fearing that Lü Yongzhi would have him killed, rebelled and put Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture under siege. Lü, who then had a fallout with Gao himself, sent Yang Xingmi an order in Gao's name requesting that he come to Yang Prefecture's aid. Yang, under the advice of his strategist Yuan Xi, decided to act. He gathered his own forces and requested additional forces from Sun Duan the prefect of neighboring He Prefecture, and headed for Yang Prefecture. Before he got there, Lü, with Gao and Gao's nephew Gao Jie turning against him, already fled Yang Prefecture, and they rendezvoused at Tianchang, along with Bi's one-time ally Zhang Shenjian, who had turned against Bi due to Bi's refusal to give him the spoils he wanted.Yang Xingmi then took these joint forces and put Yang Prefecture under siege. Qin and Bi initially defended the city against the siege, but their attempts to counterattack were repelled by Yang Xingmi, who inflicted heavy losses on their troops. Meanwhile, under siege, Yang Prefecture was running out of food supplies, leaving to severe famine and cannibalism. After several months, Yang Xingmi, unable to capture the city, considered withdrawing, but one night, Lü's former subordinate Zhang Shenwei opened the city gates and allowed Yang Xingmi's forces in. Qin and Bi fled, allowing Yang Xingmi to capture the city. He claimed the title of acting military governor, while putting Lü and several other officers whose loyalty he considered suspect to death, including Zhang Shenjian.
However, by this point, Qin Zongquan's general Sun Ru had arrived in the vicinity, having been sent earlier in the year by Qin Zongquan to vie for control of Huainan Circuit. Qin Yan and Bi joined forces with Sun, who immediately put up a threatening posture against Yang Xingmi. Yuan believed that with Yang Xingmi's forces worn out by the lengthy siege and the people of Yang Prefecture facing starvation, Yang Xingmi was in no shape to confront Sun. He suggested that Yang Xingmi abandon the city. Yang Xingmi agreed, and he prepared for an evacuation and return to Lu Prefecture, but did not carry it out immediately.
Meanwhile, the Tang imperial government, which was also weary of the developments at Huainan Circuit, had commissioned Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit the military governor of Huainan as well. Zhu announced that he was making Yang Xingmi deputy military governor, while announcing his own officer Li Fan as acting military governor. He sent his advisor Zhang Yanfan to Yang Prefecture to convey his good will and decisions to Yang Xingmi. Yang Xingmi initially welcomed Zhang, but upon hearing that Zhu was sending Li Fan as acting military governor, turned angry. Zhang, in fear, fled back to Xuanwu. Meanwhile, Li Fan, on his way south, was ambushed by Shi Pu the military governor of Ganhua Circuit, who was angry that Zhu, not he, was given Huainan. With both Yang Xingmi and Shi turning against him, Zhu abandoned his plans of taking control of Huainan. He subsequently recommended to the imperial government that Yang be made acting military governor. In spring 888, Sun finally attacked Yang Prefecture, capturing it easily. Sun claimed the title of military governor. Yang Xingmi fled, and per Yuan's suggestion, returned to Lu Prefecture to prepare his next step.
War against Sun Ru
Yang Xingmi, however, believed that Sun Ru would eventually attack him, and in fall 888, he considered heading south to attack Zhong Chuan the military governor of Zhennan Circuit to try to take over Zhong's territory. Yuan Xi, however, pointed out that Zhong had possessed Zhennan for years and was well-prepared for an attack; instead, he suggested that Yang attack Zhao Huang the governor of Xuanshe. Yang agreed, and also persuaded Sun Duan and Zhang Xiong, an independent general who was then at Shangyuan, to attack Zhao as well. With Zhao's main forces distracted by Sun's and Zhang's attacks, Yang was able to cross the Yangtze River easily and put Xuanshe's capital Xuan Prefecture under siege. When Zhao's brother Zhao Qianzhi the prefect of Chi Prefecture tried to come to aid Zhao Huang, Yang sent Tao Ya to face him, and Tao defeated him, forcing him to flee to Zhennan. By 889, With Xuan Prefecture running out of food, Zhao Huang's officer Zhou Jinsi expelled him; he tried to flee to Yang Prefecture, but Tian Jun captured him. After Yang reported what occurred to Emperor Xizong's brother and successor Emperor Zhaozong, Emperor Zhaozong commissioned Yang as the governor of Xuanshe. Meanwhile, Zhu Quanzhong, who was an old friend of Zhao Huang's, sent emissaries to request that Yang release Zhao to him. However, Yang, accepting Yuan's suggestion that doing so might leave Zhao as a threat, instead executed Zhao and gave Zhao's head to Zhu's emissaries. Meanwhile, he sent Tian to attack Chang Prefecture, then held by Du Leng, a subordinate of Qian Liu; Tian surprised Du and captured him, taking Chang Prefecture. Yang also sent Ma Jingyan to capture Run Prefecture, and Ma did so. Subsequently, Emperor Zhaozong upgraded Xuanshe to a circuit with a military governor, renamed it Ningguo, and made Yang its military governor. Yang then also sent Li You to capture Sū Prefecture, but subsequently, Sun Ru attacked and took Su, killing Li You; Yang's officer An Renyi, who was then at Run, then abandoned Run as well, allowing Sun to take Run. When Sun attacked Lu, Cai Chou, whom Yang had left in defense of Lu, also surrendered it to Sun.In spring 891, Sun pressed his attack, repeatedly defeating An and Tian, pushing toward Xuan Prefecture. It was said that the morale of Yang's army fell low in light of the defeats, rebounding only somewhat after some successes by Li Shenfu and Tai Meng. Sun pushed forward to Huangchi and defeated Yang's officers Liu Wei and Zhu Yanshou. However, Sun's army was thereafter stricken by a flood, forcing him to withdraw and return to Yang Prefecture. He nevertheless was able to send his officers Kang Wang and An Jingsi to capture He and Chú Prefectures, respectively, although Li Shenfu soon recaptured them.
Subsequently, Yang and Zhu Quanzhong entered into an alliance against Sun. When Sun heard this, he decided that he would destroy Yang first and then attack Zhu. He thus forced the mature men and women of Yang Prefecture across the Yangtze to accompany his army, while killing the old and the weak. Sun subsequently surrounded Yang Xingmi at Guangde, and Yang Xingmi only escaped through the efforts of his officer Li Jian. Sun then advanced toward Xuan Prefecture. Yang Xingmi sought aid from Qian, who then possessed the Hang Prefecture region; Qian did not launch troops, but did aid Yang's army with food.
In spring 892, With Sun's numerically superior army pressuring him, Yang considered abandoning Xuan Prefecture and withdrawing to Tongguan. Liu, Li Shenfu, and Dai Yougui dissuaded him, pointing out that Sun believed that he could destroy Yang quickly and therefore carried a minimal amount of food, and if Yang could simply refuse to engage Sun and wear Sun's army down, he could be destroyed. Dai further persuaded Yang to send the Yang Prefecture refugees who had fled to Ningguo back to Yang Prefecture to settle down, to try to see if that would cause Sun's army to miss Yang Prefecture. Meanwhile, Zhang and Yang's other officers also retook Chang and Run Prefectures. When Shi Pu also wanted to use this opportunity to advance south, Zhang and Li Decheng repelled his forces and further took Chǔ Prefecture.
By summer 892, Sun's army had been worn down sufficiently that Yang's army was beginning to have successes, and Zhang cut off Sun's army's food supply routes. Further, Sun's army was suffering from diseases, and Sun himself was stricken with malaria. With food supplies running low, he sent his officers Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin to the nearby countryside to pillage for food. Yang, after hearing that Sun had fallen ill, made a final attack against Sun, defeating him. Tian captured Sun on the battlefield, and Yang executed Sun, sending his head to Emperor Zhaozong. Most of Sun's army surrendered to Yang, although Liu Jianfeng and Ma Yin took some of the remnants and advanced south. Yang then marched victoriously to Yang Prefecture and made it his headquarters again, while stationing Tian at Xuan Prefecture and An Renyi at Run Prefecture. Emperor Zhaozong, receiving Yang's report, made him the military governor of Huainan, while making Tian the acting military governor of Ningguo and An the prefect of Run.