Quanzhong (全忠) | 24 Histories

Overview

Quanzhong was a warlord.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Epithet	usurper	盜	dao

Life and dates

Attested activity

AD 905 六月十一日
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 206
AD 904 哀帝初嗣位
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passages 199, 202, 204

Career and standing

Marshal 元帥
Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 200
King of Liang 梁王
Held
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 200

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 202

Events and relationships

Angered
Personal · Actor · With Shu (樞)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passages 202-203
Ordered killing
AD 905 六月十一日 · Legal · Orderer · With Shu (樞) · At Baima post station 白馬驛
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 206
Recommended appointment
AD 904 哀帝初嗣位 · Political · Memorialist · With Zhang Tingfan (張廷範)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 199
Relation Patron of · Person Shu (樞)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 220

Assessments and attributes

Assessment regarded Pei the Fourteenth as genuinely upright until this debate revealed his true nature · With Shu (樞) · Mode quoted-speech Speaker Quanzhong (全忠)
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 202
Assessment usurper through whom Shu rose and by whom Shu was destroyed · With Shu (樞) · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Old Book of Tang 113, passage 220

References in the histories

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 113Volume 109 Biographies 59: Feng Gang, Ashinashe'er, Qibi Heli, Heichi Changzhi, Li Duozuo, Li Siye, Bai Xiaode · 6 passages

Open chapter

哀帝初嗣位，柳璨用事，全忠嘗奏用牙將張廷範為太常卿，諸相議，樞曰：「廷範勛臣，幸有方鎮節鉞之命，何藉樂卿？ When Emperor Aidi first succeeded to the throne, Liu Can held power; Quanzhong once memorialized that his guard general Zhang Tingfan be made minister of ceremonies—the chancellors deliberated, and Shu said: "Tingfan is a meritorious minister; it would be fitting to grant him a frontier command with military insignia—why need he the post of master of music?

恐非元帥梁王之旨。」 I fear this is not the intent of Marshal, King of Liang."

俄而全忠聞樞言，謂賓佐曰：「吾常以裴十四器識真純，不入浮薄之伍，觀此議論，本態露矣。」 Soon Quanzhong heard what Shu had said and told his staff: "I always thought Pei the Fourteenth was genuinely upright and above the shallow crowd—but this remark shows his true colors."

柳璨聞全忠言，尋希旨罷樞相位，和陵祔享，拜尚書左僕射。 Liu Can heard Quanzhong's words and soon, to please him, stripped Shu of the chancellorship; at the joint offering at He-ling, Shu was made left vice director of the Department of State Affairs.

六月十一日，行及滑州，全忠遣人殺之於白馬驛，投屍於河，時年六十五。 On the eleventh day of the sixth month, as he reached Hua prefecture, Quanzhong sent men to kill him at Baima post station and throw his body into the river; he was sixty-five.

樞因盜而振，盜憎而亡，宜哉！ Shu rose through the usurper, and when the usurper turned against him he died—as was fitting!