Zhou Dewei
Zhou Dewei , courtesy name Zhenyuan, nickname Yangwu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Jin.
Service under Li Keyong
It is not known when Zhou Dewei was born, but it is known that he was from Mayi. He started his service in the late Tang dynasty under Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit as a cavalry officer. He was said to be brave, intelligent, and capable in horsemanship and archery. As he grew up on the northern border, it was said that he gained the experience of watching the dust clouds created by cavalry and being able to judge the strength of the force that was proceeding. During the Qianning era of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, he became the commander of Tielin Base. During Li Keyong's campaign against Wang Xingyu the military governor of Jingnan Circuit, Zhou had accomplishments and was made the deputy commander of Li Keyong's headquarter guard corps.Later in 898, when Li Keyong sent his adoptive nephew Li Sizhao and Zhou to try to recover three prefectures east of the Taihang Mountains that he had previously lost to his archenemy Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit , Ci, and Ming ). However, they were defeated by Zhu's general Ge Congzhou, who subsequently cut off their escape path back into the Taihang. It was due to the effort of Li Keyong's adoptive son Li Siyuan in fighting through Ge's blockade that the Hedong army was able to escape.
In 899, Ge tried to attack Hedong's main territory, and his deputy Shi Shucong advanced to Yuci. Li Keyong sent Zhou to try to repel Shi. Shi's forward commander, one Chen Zhang, claimed that he could capture Zhou, but Zhou, in a one-to-one confrontation, hammered Chen off his horse and captured him. Subsequently, his soldiers defeated Shi's soldiers, and Shi fled. Following Shi's defeat, Ge also withdrew.
In late 899, Zhu sent Ge to attack Liu Rengong the military governor of Lulong Circuit, putting Liu's son Liu Shouwen the military governor of Yichang Circuit under siege at Yichang's capital Cang Prefecture. In spring 900, Li Keyong sent Zhou with a 5,000-men cavalry force, and then had Li Sizhao follow up with a 50,000-men force to attack Xing and Ming Prefectures to try to relieve the pressure on the Lius. Subsequently, though, Zhu recalled Ge, as Wang Rong the military governor of Chengde Circuit mediated the dispute, and Ge's army was also itself stalled by rainstorms. By that point, Li Sizhao had captured Ming Prefecture. Zhu sent Ge against Li Sizhao, and subsequently arrived himself with reinforcements. Li Sizhao withdrew, but suffered substantial losses.
In spring 901, Xuanwu forces under Shi launched a major attack against Hedong, advancing all the way to Hedong's capital Taiyuan Municipality and put it under siege. The city almost fell, but eventually, with Xuanwu forces bogged down by rain and running out of food supplies, Zhu recalled Shi. As Shi was retreating, Zhou and Li Sizhao attacked him, inflicting losses. Later in the year, Li Keyong sent Li Sizhao and Zhou to capture Xi and Ci Prefectures, which had become under Zhu's control when Zhu conquered Huguo Circuit earlier in 901.
Later in 901, the powerful eunuchs at the Tang imperial court at Chang'an, believing that then-reigning Emperor Zhaozong of Tang and the chancellor Cui Yin were able to slaughter them, forcibly seized Emperor Zhaozong and took him to Fengxiang Circuit, then reigned by the eunuchs' ally Li Maozhen. Cui, who was allied with Zhu, summoned Zhu to attack Fengxiang. Li Maozhen wrote Li Keyong to request aid. Li Keyong sent Li Sizhao to attack Jin Prefecture, and Li Sizhao defeated Xuanwu forces at Jin Prefecture. Subsequent battles in spring 902 in which Li Sizhao and Zhou engaged Shi and Zhu's nephew Zhu Youning, however, could not produce conclusive Hedong victories, and Shi was eventually able to defeat Li Sizhao and Zhou at Pu County. They tried to withdraw, but the Xuanwu forces chased them. In the subsequent engagement, Li Keyong's son Li Tingluan was captured by Xuanwu forces, who then again advanced to Taiyuan and put it under siege. The situation became so dire that Li Keyong, under the advice of his adoptive son Li Cunxin, considered abandoning Taiyuan and fleeing to the north; only at the urging of his wife Lady Liu, as well as Li Sizhao, Li Siyuan, and Zhou, did Li Keyong resolve to defend the city. Li Sizhao and Li Siyuan again led nightly counterattacks against the sieging Xuanwu forces, and eventually, the Xuanwu forces withdrew. Even though Hedong forces were in fact then able to further recapture Ci, Xi, and Fen, it was said that Li Keyong did not dare to again engage Zhu for several years.
Later in 906, Zhu advanced north and again put Liu Shouwen under siege at Cang Prefecture. Liu Rengong sought aid from Li Keyong to try to save Liu Shouwen. Under Li Keyong's demand, Liu Rengong sent troops to join Hedong forces under Li Sizhao and Zhou in attacking Lu Prefecture, to try to recapture Zhaoyi Circuit. When the joint Hedong/Lulong forces reached Lu Prefecture, Ding Hui, the military governor commissioned by Zhu, who had been mourning Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, surrendered Lu to them.
In 907, Zhu forced Emperor Ai to yield the throne to him, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang with him as its Emperor Taizu. Li Keyong, along with Li Maozhen, Yang Wo the military governor of Huainan Circuit , and Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit , refused to recognize the Later Liang emperor, and thereafter was effectively the ruler of his own state of Jin. Shortly thereafter, the Later Liang emperor sent the general Kang Huaizhen to put Lu Prefecture under siege. After a conventional siege failed to capture the city after half a month, Kang built a centipede-like encampment around the city to try to starve it while also using it defensively against any Hedong relief troops. Li Keyong subsequently sent Zhou to command a relief army to try to lift the siege, but while both Li Sizhao and Zhou were able to disrupt the siege operations, Kang's encampment held, and Zhou was unable to lift the siege. By spring 908, with Li Keyong having fallen gravely ill, Zhou withdrew to Luanliu. Li Keyong entrusted his oldest biological son, Li Cunxu, whom he designated as his heir, to his brother Li Kening, the eunuch monitor of the army Zhang Chengye, the officers Li Cunzhang and Wu Gong, and the secretary Lu Zhi. Before dying, he stated to Li Cunxu:
Li Keyong, knowing that there was a rivalry between Li Sizhao and Zhou, also told Li Cunxu:
Li Keyong then died, and Li Cunxu succeeded him as the Prince of Jin.
Service under Li Cunxu
In Li Cunxu's initial campaigns
Li Cunxu himself had, immediately after becoming prince, had to deal with a conspiracy by Li Kening and an adoptive son of Li Keyong's, Li Cunhao, to overthrow him, but after executing Li Kening and Li Cunhao and Zhou showed submission by returning to Taiyuan to mourn Li Keyong and pay homage to Li Cunxu, Li Cunxu prepared for a campaign to save Li Sizhao. He put Ding Hui in nominal command of the operation, while he himself, Zhou, and Li Siyuan led the main attacks against the Later Liang centipede encampment. They attacked it under the cover of fog, and the Later Liang forces collapsed and fled. When Zhou subsequently arrived at the city walls and announced that the siege had been lifted, Li Sizhao initially did not believe him, but when Li Cunxu subsequently arrived, wearing white armor, Li Sizhao realized what had occurred and fell into deep mourning before opening the gates to let Li Cunxu enter. After the siege was lifted, Zhou put Later Liang's Ze Prefecture under siege, but could not quickly capture it against the defense put up by the Later Liang general Niu Cunjie ; when another Later Liang general, Liu Zhijun, arrived to aid Niu, Zhou lifted the siege and withdrew. For Zhou's contributions in saving Lu Prefecture, Li Cunxu made him the military governor of Zhenwu Circuit.In fall 908, Li Sizhao and Zhou attacked Later Liang's Jin Prefecture and put it under siege. Later Liang's Emperor Taizu personally went to aid Jin Prefecture, and when Li Sizhao and Zhou heard that the Later Liang emperor would be soon arriving, they withdrew.
In 909, after Liu Zhijun had surrendered to Qi, Li Maozhen planned to have Liu command an attack on Later Liang's Shuofang and Dingnan Circuits. He thus requested Li Cunxu to simultaneously attack Jin and Jiang Prefectures. Li Cunxu prepared to attack those prefectures, and he sent Zhou to attack Jin Prefecture first. Zhou put Jin Prefecture under siege, but could not capture it quickly. When the Later Liang general Yang Shihou then arrived, he withdrew.
In 910, in another coordinated attack between Qi and Jin, Li Maozhen personally went to attack Dingnan, then governed by Li Renfu, along with his vassals Li Jihui the military governor of Jingnan and Liu, while Li Cunxu sent Zhou. The joint Qi and Jin forces put Dingnan's capital Xia Prefecture under siege. When the Later Liang generals Li Yu and Liu Wan subsequently arrived to aid Li Renfu, however, the Qi and Jin forces withdrew.
In late 910, Later Liang's Emperor Taizu, believing that Wang Rong, who at that point was a Later Liang vassal carrying the title of Prince of Zhao, would turn against him eventually, decided to take Chengde by force. He sent his attendants Du Tingyin and Ding Yanhui to Wushun's Shen and Ji Prefectures with troops, claiming to be helping Wushun defend against a possible attack by Liu Shouguang. Despite advice by his officer Shi Gongli against doing so, Wang Rong received Du and Ding. However, once they settled into the cities, they slaughtered the remaining Wushun garrisons at the two prefectures and prepared for defense, waiting for the main Later Liang forces under the general Wang Jingren to arrive to try to conquer the rest of Wushun. Wang Rong ordered Shi to try to recapture the two prefectures, but Shi was unable to, so Wang sought emergency aid from both Li Cunxu and Liu Shouguang. Liu refused to act, but Li Cunxu immediately sent Zhou to reinforce the defenses of Wushun's Zhao Prefecture and then prepared to personally aid Wang Rong. Hearing of what Later Liang forces did to Wushun, Wang Chuzhi the military governor of nearby Yiwu Circuit also turned against Later Liang.
Soon thereafter, the main Later Liang army under Wang Jingren arrived, and the allied Jin/Zhao/Yiwu forces prepared to engage them. However, Zhou, while dealing the forward Later Liang forces minor defeats, urged caution—pointing out that the area of engagement was not an open field and therefore the Jin cavalry advantage would turn into a disadvantage. Li Cunxu initially refused to listen, but Zhou persuaded Zhang Chengye to also urge against immediate engagement. Li Cunxu listened to Zhang and followed Zhou's advice. He thus withdrew to a more open area and did not engage Wang Jingren until spring 911, at Boxiang. By that point, the Later Liang army was low on food supplies due to Zhou's raids against their food supply route, and after a full day of battle, they were worn out and eventually collapsed when Wang Jingren's immediate forces moved, causing the rest of the army to believe that he had fled. In the aftermaths, Du and Ding abandoned Shen and Ji, allowing Zhao to retake those prefectures. The Jin/Zhao combined army further attacked south, preparing to attack Later Liang's Tianxiong and Baoyi Circuits; during this advancement, Zhou attacked Bei and Chan, advancing as far as the Yellow River. When Liu Shouguang subsequently postured to get involved, however, Li Cunxu, fearing an attack by Liu from the back, withdrew the Jin army from the front and himself returned to Taiyuan, but left Zhou with 3,000 men to help defend Zhao Prefecture.