Li Gao (李皋) | 24 Histories

Overview

Li Gao was a prince of Cao and Military Governor.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Courtesy name	Zilan	子蘭	Zilan
Posthumous name	Cheng	成	Cheng

Life and dates

Death

AD 792 貞元八年三月
Sudden
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 171

Age

60
Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 171

Attested activity

AD 760 to AD 805 father-generation of Daogu (元和十三年 = AD 818); historian's commendation
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 206-209
AD 787 三年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 158
AD 760 to AD 761 上元初
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 80
AD 752 天寶十一載
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 77
AD 782 建中三年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 150, passage 33
AD 781 建中二年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 119

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AD 780 建中元年
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 98
AD 792 貞元八年三月
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 171
AD 785 貞元初
Dated from the passage context · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 149

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Descendant of Li Ming (明)
great-great-grandson 玄孫 · paternal line · 4 generations
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 75
Parent of Li Daogu (道古)
father and son 父子
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 208
Child of Lady Zheng (鄭氏)
mother 太妃
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 79
Child of Li Ji (戢)
son 子
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 75
Parent of Li Xianggu (象古)
son 子
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 172
Parent of Li Fugu (復古)
son 子
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 172
Parent of Li Daogu (道古)
son 子
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 172

Key source chapters

Career and standing

Jiangxi military commissioner 江西道節度使
Appointed
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 120
Jingnan military commissioner 荊南節度使
Appointed
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 149
observation commissioner of Hunan 湖南觀察使
Appointed
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 98
Shannan East military commissioner 山南東道節度使
Appointed
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 158
Silver-Gleaming Grand Master for Splendid Happiness 銀青光祿大夫
Granted
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 138
Prince of Cao (inherited) 嗣封曹王
Inherited
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 77

Show 1 more source-backed claim

imperial clansman 宗臣
Imperial clansman · Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 206, 209

Places and affiliations

Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 75
Polity Tang 唐 · Relation Served
Strongly inferred · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 206
At Wenzhou 溫州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 81

Learning and skills

Skill warship design 戰艦 · Level inventive
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 162
Skill military command 治軍旅，禦寇戎 · Level renowned
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 207

Works and attributed material

Letter · Author · With Wang Guoliang (王國良)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 102-106
Speech · Speaker
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 83-84, 89-90, 101, 111-113, 168-169

Events and relationships

Accepted surrender
Military · Commander · With Wang Guoliang (王國良)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 110, 117-118
Defeated rebels
Military · Commander · With Li Xilie (李希烈)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passages 128, 132, 137
Relation Sworn brother of · Person Wang Guoliang (王國良)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 117

Assessments and attributes

Assessment among the finest of the imperial house; talents differed from Mian but moral way not far apart · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 209
Assessment filial · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 79
unfailing strategy and victory 謀必臧，戰必勝
Assessment superior to Li Mian in raising armies, repelling invaders, and winning battles · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 207
finest of the imperial clan 宗臣之英
Assessment upright, dignified, incorruptible; earned praise in governance; finest of the imperial clan · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 135, passage 206

References in the histories

Search passages

History

42 passages

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 135Volume 131 Biographies 81: Li Mian; Li Gao and His Sons Xianggu and Daogu · 41 passages

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李皋，字子蘭，曹王明玄孫，嗣王戢之子。 Li Gao, whose courtesy name was Zilan, was a great-great-grandson of Li Ming, Prince of Cao, and son of Li Ji, the succeeding prince.

皋度俸不足養，亟請外官，不允，乃故抵微法，貶溫州長史。 Gao found his salary insufficient to support his household and repeatedly asked for an outside post. When refused, he deliberately committed a minor offense and was demoted to chief secretary of Wenzhou.

歲儉，州有官粟數十萬斛，皋欲行賑救，掾吏叩頭乞候上旨，皋曰：「夫人日不再食，當死，安暇稟命！ In a year of famine the prefecture held several hundred thousand hu of government grain. Gao wished to distribute relief, but his clerks kowtowed and begged him to await imperial approval. Gao said, "When people cannot eat twice a day they die. Where is the time to wait for orders from above?

皋行縣，見一媼垂白而泣，哀而問之，對曰：「李氏之婦，有二子：鈞、鍔，宦游二十年不歸，貧無以自給。」 While touring the counties Gao saw a white-haired old woman weeping. Moved to pity, he asked her story. She said, "I am a widow of the Li family. My two sons, Jun and E, have been away in office for twenty years without returning. I am too poor to support myself."

皋曰：「『入則孝，出則悌，行有餘力，然後可以學文。』 Gao said, "The Analects teach: 'At home be filial, abroad be respectful; only when there is strength to spare may one study the arts.'

時楊炎謫官道州，知皋事直，及為相，復拜衡州。 Yang Yan was then in exile in Daozhou and knew Gao to be upright. When Yang became chief minister, Gao was restored to Heng.

初，皋為御史覆訊，懼貽太妃憂，竟出則素服，入則公服，言貌如平常，太妃竟不知。 Earlier, when Gao served as censor investigating a case, he feared distressing his mother. He wore plain dress when he left home and official dress when he entered, speaking and appearing as usual, so that she never learned of his troubles.

皋授命日，乃曰：「驅疲甿，誅反側，非所以奉聖朝事。」 On the day Li Gao received his commission, he declared, "Driving exhausted commoners to war and executing rebels is no way to serve the sacred court."

皋即日赴縣受降，中道有候騎馳告曰：「國良軍中有變，言降是詐也。」 That same day Li Gao set out for the county seat to accept the surrender. Midway, scouts galloped up with word: "There is trouble in Wang Guoliang's camp—the surrender is a trick."

皋曰：「非爾輩所知。」 Li Gao said, "That is beyond your understanding."

國良召使者入，皋遂大叫軍中曰：「有人識曹王否？ Wang Guoliang summoned the envoy inside. Li Gao then shouted through the camp, "Does anyone here know the Prince of Cao?

皋執手約為兄弟，盡焚攻守之備，散倉庫，給兵士，令復農桑。 Li Gao clasped his hand and pledged brotherhood. He burned all siege works, opened the storehouses, paid off the soldiers, and sent them back to farming.

會梁崇義反，乃授起復左衛大將軍，復還湖南，尋加散騎常侍李希烈反，遷江西道節度使、洪州刺史、兼御史大夫。 When Liang Chongyi rebelled, Li Gao was recalled from mourning as General of the Left Guard and sent back to Hunan; he was soon also made Regular Attendant Cavalier. When Li Xilie rebelled, he was transferred to military commissioner of the Jiangxi Circuit, prefect of Hong Prefecture, and concurrently Censor-in-Chief.

有裨將伊慎、李伯潛、劉旻皆自占，皋察其詞氣，驗其有功，悉補大將。 Subordinate generals Yi Shen, Li Boqian, and Liu Min all stepped forward. Li Gao read their bearing and verified their records, and appointed them all major generals.

初，伊慎將江西兵從李希烈平襄州，及反，懼皋任之，乃陰遣遺之鎖甲，又詐為慎書往復，置遺於境。 Earlier, Yi Shen had led Jiangxi troops under Li Xilie to capture Xiang Prefecture. When Xilie rebelled, fearing Li Gao would still employ Shen, Xilie secretly sent him chain mail as a gift and forged correspondence in Shen's name, leaving the gifts at the border.

上聞，即遣中使斬慎，皋表請捨令自效。 When the emperor heard of it, he dispatched an envoy to execute Yi Shen. Li Gao memorialized the throne asking that Shen be spared and allowed to prove his loyalty in battle.

會與賊夾江為陣，中使又至，皋乃勉令以功自贖，賜之以所乘馬及器甲，令將鋒而先，皋率軍繼之，責其有功，果大破賊，斬首數百級，慎方得免罪。 Just then they drew up against the enemy on opposite banks of the river. When the envoy arrived again, Li Gao urged Shen to win redemption through merit, gave him his own horse and armor, and sent him at the head of the vanguard while he followed with the main force. Shen broke the enemy soundly, taking several hundred heads, and only then escaped punishment.

賊樹堡柵於蔡山，皋度峻險不可攻，乃聲言西取蘄州，理戰艦，分兵傍南涯，與舟師溯江而上。 The rebels fortified Cai Mountain. Judging the heights too steep to assault directly, Li Gao announced a march on Qi Prefecture to the west, fitted out warships, sent troops along the south bank, and sailed upstream with his fleet.

賊以老弱守柵，引軍循江隨戰艦，南北與皋兵相直。 The rebels left the weak to hold the fort and marched their main force downstream alongside the warships, drawing up north and south opposite Li Gao's army.

去蔡山三百餘里，皋令步兵登舟，順流東下，不日拔蔡山。 Three hundred-odd li downstream from Cai Mountain, Li Gao put his infantry aboard ship and swept downstream. Within days they took Cai Mountain.

賊還救，間一日方至，大破之，因進拔蘄州，降其將李良，又取黃州，斬首千餘，兵益振，舒王為元帥，加皋前軍兵馬使。 The enemy turned back to relieve the mountain but arrived a day too late. Li Gao routed them, took Qi Prefecture, and accepted the surrender of the rebel general Li Liang. He also captured Huang Prefecture, taking more than a thousand heads, and his army's morale soared. With the Prince of Shu as overall commander, Li Gao was made forward-army commissioner.

皋遣伊慎將七千眾御之，遇於永安戍。 Li Gao sent Yi Shen with seven thousand men to oppose them. They met at Yong'an garrison.

上至梁州，進獻繼至。 When the emperor moved to Liang Prefecture, Li Gao's contributions of supplies kept arriving.

皋以上蒙塵於外，不敢居城府，乃於西塞山上游大洲屯軍，從近縣為軍市，商貨畢至。 Because the emperor was in exile, Li Gao did not feel it fitting to occupy the prefectural seat. He encamped on Great Isle upstream on Mount Xisai, set up army markets with neighboring counties, and merchants flocked there.

駕還京師，又遣伊慎、王鍔將兵圍安州，州城阻□水為固，攻之累日不下。 After the emperor returned to the capital, Li Gao again sent Yi Shen and Wang E to besiege An Prefecture. The city was strongly defended by the Ru River, and the siege dragged on for days without success.

皋命李伯潛分師迎擊於應山，獲戒虛及大將二、裨將二十，斬首千餘。 Li Gao ordered Li Boqian to take a detachment and intercept them at Yingshan. They captured Liu Jiexu, two major generals, and twenty subordinate commanders, taking more than a thousand heads.

面縛戒虛等之城下，乃使人說之，賊曰：「得大將及賓佐一二人為信，當降。」 Li Gao paraded Jiexu and the others bound before the walls and sent envoys to negotiate. The defenders replied, "Give us one or two senior commanders or staff officers as hostages, and we will surrender."

皋乃使王鍔、馬彝繩城而入，城中大呼，乃出降。 Li Gao sent Wang E and Ma Yi over the wall on ropes. The city erupted in cheers, and the garrison surrendered.

希烈又遣兵援隨州，皋令伊慎擊於厲鄉，大破之，復平靜、白雁等關。 Li Xilie sent another force to relieve Suizhou. Li Gao ordered Yi Shen to strike at Lixiang, routed them thoroughly, and recaptured Jing Pass, Baiyan Pass, and the other strongpoints.

貞元初，拜江陵尹、荊南節度等使，江漢倚皋為固。 At the start of the Zhenyuan era, he was made magistrate of Jiangling and military commissioner of Jingnan. The Jiang and Han regions depended on him as their mainstay.

先，江陵東北有廢田傍漢古堤二處，每夏則溢，皋始命塞之，廣田五千頃，畝得一鐘。 Previously, northeast of Jiangling lay abandoned farmland beside two ancient Han-era dikes that flooded every summer. Li Gao had them repaired and reclaimed five thousand qing of fields, each mu yielding a full zhong of grain.

楚俗佻薄，不穿井，飲陂澤，皋始命合錢開井以便人。 The people of Chu were careless about sanitation—they dug no wells and drank from ponds and marshes. Li Gao organized collective funds to dig wells for public use.

初平希烈，吳少誠殺陳仙奇，上以襄、鄧要厄，三年，除襄州刺史、山南東道節度等使，割汝、隨隸焉。 After Li Xilie was subdued, Wu Shaocheng murdered Chen Xianqi. Considering Xiang and Deng strategic passes, in 787 the court appointed Li Gao prefect of Xiang Prefecture and military commissioner of Shannan East Circuit, attaching Ru and Suizhou to his jurisdiction.

初，扶風馬彝未知名，皋始辟之，卒以正直稱。 Ma Yi of Fufeng was unknown when Li Gao first recruited him, but he came to be renowned for his integrity.

漢陽王張柬之有林園在州西，公府多假之游宴，皋將買之，彝斂衽而言曰：「張漢陽有中興功，今遺業當百代保之，王縱欲之，奈何令其子孫自鬻焉！」 The estate and garden of Prince of Hanyang Zhang Jianzhi lay west of the city, and the government often borrowed it for banquets. When Li Gao was about to purchase it, Ma Yi straightened his robes and said, "Zhang of Hanyang restored the dynasty. His family holding should be preserved for generations. Even if Your Highness desires it, how can you have his descendants sell their own heritage!"

皋謝曰：「主吏失詞，為足下羞； Li Gao apologized, "My staff misspoke and brought shame upon you;

貞元八年三月，暴卒於位，年六十，廢朝三日，贈右僕射，賻吊有差，謚曰成。 In the third month of 792 he died suddenly in office at the age of sixty. Court mourning was observed for three days. He was posthumously ennobled as Right Vice Director, funeral gifts were sent in due measure, and he was given the posthumous name Cheng ("Accomplished").

初，以柳公綽在鎮無功，議將代之，裴度言：「道古嗣曹王皋之子，皋嘗以江漢兵遏希烈之亂，威惠至今在人，復用其子必能繼美。」 When Liu Gongchuo's tenure had yielded no results, the court considered replacing him. Pei Du argued, "Li Daogu is the son of Prince of Cao Li Gao. Li Gao once held the Jiang-Han line against Li Xilie's rebellion, and his prestige and kindness are remembered to this day. Appointing his son would carry on that legacy."

史臣曰：李勉、李皋，稟性端莊，處身廉潔，臨民蒞事，動有美聲，可謂宗臣之英也。 The historiographer writes: Li Mian and Li Gao were upright and dignified by nature, lived with incorruptible integrity, and in governing the people and conducting affairs always earned praise. They may truly be called the finest of the imperial clan.

若夫治軍旅，禦寇戎，謀必臧，戰必勝，則又勉不及皋遠矣。 In raising armies, repelling invaders, and achieving unfailing strategy and victory in battle, however, Mian fell far short of Gao.

贊曰：我宗之英，曰皋與勉，才雖不同，道豈相遠。 The commendation reads: The finest of our house are Gao and Mian. Their talents differed, yet how far apart could their moral way have been?

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 150Volume 146 Biographies 96: Xue Bo, Bao Fang, Li Ziliang, Li Shuo, Yan Shou, Xiao Xin, Du Ya, Wang Wei, Li Ruochu, Yu Qi, Lu Zheng, Yan Ping, Zheng Yuan, Du Jian, Pei Bin, Xue Pi · 1 passage

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江西節度使嗣曹王臯為前軍兵馬使，鄂嶽團練使李兼為之副。 Li Gao, the Prince of Cao and military commissioner of Jiangxi, was appointed front-army commander, with Li Jian, regimental commissioner of E and Yue, as his deputy.