1
Li Maozhen came from Boye in Shen Prefecture. Originally surnamed Song with the given name Wentong, he served as a soldier in the Boye Army and was posted to Fengxiang. When Huang Chao struck the capital, Zheng Tian led the Boye Army against him. Maozhen rose from squad leader to army officer for his service. In Guangqi 1 (885) Zhu Mei rebelled, and Emperor Xizong withdrew to Xingyuan. Mei sent Wang Xingyu against Dasanguan. Maozhen and Palace Guard general Li Chan defeated him at Datang Peak. The next year Mei was defeated and killed. For his service Maozhen rose from commander of the imperial escort to military commissioner of Wuding and received the surname and name by which he was known. On the eastward return to court they reached Fengxiang. Li Changfu, military commissioner of Fengxiang, and Yang Shouli, commander of Celestial Might, fought over the road. Changfu lost and fled to Longzhou. Xizong sent Maozhen to kill Changfu and, for that service, made him military commissioner of Fengxiang and Longyou. In Dashun 1 (890) he was made Prince of Longxi.
2
二年，樞密使楊復恭得罪，奔於興元，興元節度使楊守亮，復恭之養子也，納之。 茂貞乃上書言復恭父子罪皆當誅，因自請為山南招討使。 昭宗以宦者故，難之，未許。 茂貞擅發兵攻破興元，復恭父子見殺。 茂貞表其子繼密權知興元軍府事，昭宗乃徙茂貞山南西道節度使，以宰相徐彥若鎮鳳翔。 茂貞不奉詔，上表自論曰：「但慮軍情忽變，戎馬難羈。 徒令甸服生靈，因茲受幣； 未審乘輿播越，自此何之？」 昭宗以茂貞表辭不遜，不能忍，以問宰相杜讓能，讓能以謂：「茂貞地大兵強，而唐力未可以致討； 鳳翔又近京師，易以自危而難於後悔，佗日雖欲誅晁錯以謝諸侯，恐不能也。」 昭宗怒曰：「吾不能孱孱坐受淩弱！」 乃責讓能治兵，而以覃王嗣周為京西招討使。 令下，京師市人皆知不可，相與聚承天門，遮宰相請無舉兵，爭投瓦石擊宰相，宰相下輿而走，亡其堂印，人情大恐，昭宗意益堅。 覃王率扈駕軍五十四都戰於盩厔，唐軍敗潰，茂貞遂犯京師，屯於三橋。 昭宗禦安福門，殺兩樞密以謝茂貞，使罷兵。 茂貞素與讓能有隙，因曰：「謀舉兵者非兩樞密，乃讓能也。」 陳兵臨臯驛，請殺讓能。 讓能曰：「臣故先言之矣，惟殺臣可以紓國難。」 昭宗泣下沾襟，貶讓能雷州司戶參軍，賜死，茂貞乃罷兵。
In the second year Yang Fugong, the Privy Council commissioner, lost the emperor’s trust and fled to Xingyuan. Yang Shouliang, military commissioner of Xingyuan and Fugong’s adopted son, took him in. Maozhen memorialized that Fugong and his son deserved death, and asked to lead the campaign into the southern mountains. Zhaozong, mindful of the eunuchs, hesitated and refused. Maozhen marched without leave, broke Xingyuan, and Fugong and his son were put to death. Maozhen asked that his son Jimi hold Xingyuan in his stead. Zhaozong moved Maozhen to Shannan West and sent Chancellor Xu Yanruo to Fengxiang. Maozhen refused the order and memorialized in his own defense: “I fear only that the troops may turn restless and the cavalry slip my grip. The heartland’s people would suffer for it— and if the Son of Heaven were driven from the capital, where would he turn?” Zhaozong read insolence in the memorial and could not swallow it. He asked Chancellor Du Rangneng. Rangneng said: “Maozhen holds a wide domain and a strong army; Tang lacks the force to call him to account; Fengxiang lies too close to Chang’an—strike at him and you court disaster you cannot undo. Another day, even if you wished to execute Chao Cuo to appease the feudal lords, you might not be able to.” Zhaozong flared: “I will not sit here and be pushed around!” He ordered Rangneng to mobilize and made Prince of Tan Sizhou commander of the western capital campaign. The order went out and the markets knew disaster was coming. Crowds blocked the chancellors at Chengtian Gate, begging them to halt the war, and pelted them with brick and stone until they fled on foot, leaving their seals behind. Terror swept the city, but Zhaozong only hardened his will. Prince of Tan Sizhou led fifty-four guard companies against Maozhen at Zhouzhi. Tang collapsed. Maozhen drove on the capital and camped at Sanqiao. Zhaozong appeared at the Anfu Gate, sacrificed the two Privy Council commissioners to appease Maozhen, and bade him stand down. Maozhen had long hated Rangneng. He said: “The plotters were not the Privy Council commissioners—it was Rangneng.” He drew up troops at Lingao Station and demanded Rangneng’s life. Rangneng said: “I told you so from the start—kill me alone and the realm may breathe again.” Zhaozong wept until his robe was soaked, banished Rangneng to Leizhou as registrar, and ordered him to die. Only then did Maozhen withdraw.
3
The next year Wang Chongying of Hezhong died, and his sons Ke and Gong fought over the circuit. Li Keyong of Jin backed Ke; Maozhen, Han Jian, and Wang Xingyu backed Gong. Zhaozong refused. Enraged, Maozhen and his allies marched from three circuits on Chang’an, plotting to depose Zhaozong and raise Prince of Ji Bao. The coup failed, and Jin marched as well. Maozhen, afraid, killed Chancellors Wei Zhaodu and Li Xi, left his adopted son Jipeng with two thousand men as palace guard, and withdrew. Jin reached Hezhong. Jipeng and Xingyu’s brother Xingshi fought to drag Zhaozong away. Chang’an convulsed. The emperor took refuge at Shimen. Maozhen marched to E County and killed Jipeng to buy his peace. Jin had crushed Wang Xingyu and, camped north of the Wei, asked leave to strike Maozhen. Zhaozong reckoned Jin far and Maozhen near. He meant to shelter him as a favor and keep a warlord close at hand for trouble; and Maozhen had already killed his own son in atonement. He ordered Jin to stand down. Keyong sighed: “Until Tang kills Maozhen, the trouble will never end!”
4
Zhaozong came back from Shimen and raised ten thousand more for the Ansheng and Bengchen guards, putting princes at their head. Maozhen read the buildup as a move against him and mustered his own men to demand an audience. Chang’an panicked; people vanished into the hills. Maozhen struck the capital again. Zhaozong sent Prince of Tan Sizhou to hold him at Sanqiao; the army broke. The emperor withdrew to Hua. He sent Chancellor Sun Wo against Maozhen. Han Jian interceded, and the attack was called off. In time Maozhen was made Director of the Imperial Secretariat and Prince of Qi. Later eunuchs deposed Zhaozong; after his restoration Chancellor Cui Yin sought Liang’s blades to destroy them and conspired in secret with Liang Taizu Zhu Wen. Chief Eunuch Han Quanhui and his faction leaned on Maozhen’s power. Maozhen sent his son Jiyun with thousands of men into the capital. Backed by Qi’s army, the eunuchs grew brazen and ungovernable.
5
天復元年，胤召梁太祖以西，梁軍至同州，全誨等懼，與繼筠劫昭宗幸鳳翔。 梁軍圍之逾年，茂貞每戰輒敗，閉壁不敢出。 城中薪食俱盡，自冬涉春，雨雪不止，民凍餓死者日以千數。 米斗直錢七千，至燒人屎煮屍而食。 父自食其子，人有爭其肉者，曰：「此吾子也，汝安得而食之！」 人肉斤直錢百，狗肉斤直錢五百。 父甘食其子，而人肉賤於狗。 天子於宮中設小磨，遣宮人自屑豆麥以供禦，自後宮、諸王十六宅，凍餒而死者日三四。 城中人相與邀遮茂貞，求路以為生。 茂貞窮急，謀以天子與梁以為解。 昭宗謂茂貞曰：「朕與六宮皆一日食粥，一日食不托，安能不與梁和乎？」 三年正月，茂貞與梁約和，斬韓全誨等二十餘人，傳首梁軍，梁圍解。 天子雖得出，然梁遂劫東遷而唐亡，茂貞非惟亡唐，亦自困矣。
In Tianfu 1 (901) Yin called Zhu Wen west. Liang reached Tongzhou. Quanhui and his party, terrified, joined Jiyun and dragged Zhaozong to Fengxiang. Liang besieged Fengxiang for more than a year. Maozhen fought and lost again and again, then shut the gates and would not come out. Wood and grain ran out. Winter dragged into spring under unending snow and rain. A thousand people a day froze or starved in the streets. A dou of rice cost seven thousand cash. At last they burned nightsoil and boiled the dead for food. Fathers ate their sons. Men fought over the meat, crying: “This is my child—how dare you eat him!” Human flesh sold for a hundred cash a pound; dog meat for five hundred. Fathers ate their sons willingly, yet human flesh was cheaper than dog. The emperor set a hand-mill in the palace and had women grind beans and wheat for his table. In the inner quarters and the sixteen princely mansions, three or four died of cold and hunger every day. The townspeople mobbed Maozhen and begged him for a way out. Cornered, Maozhen plotted to hand the emperor to Liang to break the siege. Zhaozong told Maozhen: “The court and I eat gruel one day and flatbread the next—how can we refuse peace with Liang?” In the first month of Tianfu 3 Maozhen sued for peace with Liang, beheaded Han Quanhui and twenty-odd others, and sent their heads to the besiegers. The encirclement broke. The emperor walked free, but Liang seized him and dragged the court east—and Tang was finished. Maozhen had ruined Tang and ruined himself.
6
When Zhu Wen became emperor, the great warlords one by one took imperial titles. Maozhen alone could not. He called himself Prince of Qi, opened a court, named ministers, crowned his wife, kept court with watch-drums and feather fans, and aped the Son of Heaven in little else. Maozhen ruled Qi with a light hand and the people were fairly content. Once, taxes being thin on a narrow domain, he monopolized oil and barred pine kindling at the gates—it could be torched. A player jested: “Might I suggest we ban the moon as well?” Maozhen laughed and let it pass.
7
When Maozhen had crushed Yang Shouliang and taken Xingyuan, Bin, Ning, and Yan-Yan all came in—twenty prefectures in all. Under Liang’s siege Xingyuan went to Shu; after Kaiping, Bin, Ning, Yan, and Yan fell to Liang; Qin, Feng, Jie, and Cheng to Shu again; by Liang’s end he held seven prefectures only.
8
二十州者：岐、隴、涇、原、渭、武、秦、成、階、鳳、邠、寧、慶、衍、鄜、坊、丹、延、梁、洋也。
The twenty prefectures were Qi, Long, Jing, Yuan, Wei, Wu, Qin, Cheng, Jie, Feng, Bin, Ning, Qing, Yan, Fu, Fang, Dan, Yan, Liang, and Yang.
9
Once Zhuangzong destroyed Liang, Maozhen still called himself Prince of Qi and addressed Tang as a junior kinsman to an elder uncle. Hearing that Zhuangzong had entered Luoyang, he submitted as a subject and sent his son Congyan to court. Zhuangzong, honoring his age, changed his title to Prince of Qin and wrote edicts without naming him. In Tongguang 2 (924) he died at sixty-nine, posthumously Loyal and Respectful.
10
Congyan was mild and skilled in calligraphy and painting. Maozhen had him appointed military commissioner of Zhangyi by imperial order. At Maozhen’s death Congyan succeeded him at Fengxiang. When Prince of Wei Jiye marched on Shu, Congyan served as supply and transport liaison commissioner. When Shu fell, Jiye put Congyan in charge of escorting Wang Yan. At Fengxiang, Military Supervisor Chai Zhonghou shut the gates on him. Congyan went east to Hua, then turned west on news of Zhuangzong’s peril. When Mingzong took the throne he learned Zhonghou had barred Congyan and sent men to kill him. Congyan wrote that Zhonghou had held Fengxiang without troubling troops or people and asked mercy for him. The pardon was denied, but men of letters praised Congyan for it. He later held Xuanyi and Tianping. Congyan owned a thousand qing of land and a thousand mu of bamboo at Fengxiang. Fearing he would burden the people, he never went to collect from them, and Fengxiang loved him for it. When Feidi raised his banner in Fengxiang and prepared to leave, the townspeople caught his horse and begged for Congyan. When Feidi became emperor he restored Congyan to Fengxiang. Congyan died at forty-nine.
11
韓建，字佐時，許州長社人也。 少為蔡州軍校，隸忠武軍將鹿晏弘。 從楊復光攻黃巢於長安，巢已破，復光亦死，晏弘與建等無所屬，乃以麾下兵西迎僖宗於蜀，所過攻劫。 行至興元，逐牛叢，據山南。 已而不能守，晏弘東走許州，建乃奔於蜀，拜金吾衛將軍。 僖宗還長安，建為潼關防禦使、華州刺史。 華州數經大兵，戶口流散，建少賤，習農事，乃披荊棘，督民耕植，出入閭里，問其疾苦。 建初不知書，乃使人題其所服器皿床榻，為其名目以視之，久乃漸通文字。 見《玉篇》，喜曰：「吾以類求之，何所不得也。」 因以通音韻聲偶，暇則課學書史。 是時，天下已亂，諸鎮皆武夫，獨建撫緝兵民，又好學。 荊南成汭時冒姓郭，亦善緝荊楚。 當時號為「北韓南郭」。
Han Jian, styled Zuoshi, came from Changshe in Xu Prefecture. As a youth he was an officer in Cai’s army under Lu Yanhong of Zhongwu. He followed Yang Fuguang against Huang Chao at Chang’an. When Chao fell and Fuguang died, Yanhong and Jian were left masterless. They marched west to fetch Emperor Xizong from Shu, looting every mile. At Xingyuan they drove out Niu Cong and seized the southern mountains. They could not hold the ground. Yanhong fled east to Xu; Jian went to Shu and was made a Gold Crow Guard general. When Xizong returned to Chang’an, Jian became Tong Pass defense commissioner and governor of Hua. Hua had been ravaged again and again; the people had fled. Jian, raised poor and knowing the soil, cleared the scrub, drove the farmers back to the plow, and walked the lanes asking after their wants. Jian could not read at first. He had his bowls, beds, and tables marked with their names until, slowly, he learned the script. He opened the Yupian and exclaimed: “Seek by category—what can I not find?” He taught himself rhyme and tone, and in his spare hours studied history. The realm was already broken; every circuit had a warlord—only Jian soothed his soldiers and people and loved books besides. Cheng Rui of Jingnan then falsely took the surname Guo and was likewise skilled at pacifying Jing-Chu. Men called them “Han in the north, Guo in the south.”
12
In Dashun 1 (890) he lent his troops to Zhang Jun’s campaign against Jin. Jun was beaten, and Jian fled back from Hanshan. When Wang Chongying of Hezhong died, his sons Ke and Gong fought over the circuit. Jin backed Ke; Jian, Wang Xingyu, and Li Maozhen backed Gong. Zhaozong refused. Jian and his allies, furious, marched on the capital from three circuits. Zhaozong confronted Jian and his allies and rebuked them. Xingyu and Maozhen shook with fear and could not speak. Only Jian stepped forward to plead his case. They killed Chancellors Wei Zhaodu and Li Xi and plotted to depose Zhaozong. Jin was marching too, and Jian and his allies, afraid, pulled back. Jin pressed the three circuits and besieged Hua. Jian mounted the wall and shouted: “My city has never slighted your great state—why attack us?” Jin answered: “You marched on the emperor and killed his ministers. That is why we fight you.” Soon afterward they made peace with Jin.
13
In Qianning 3 (896) Maozhen struck Chang’an again. Zhaozong meant to flee to Taiyuan and halted north of the Wei. Jian sent his son Yun to beg him to come to Hua. Zhaozong thought to go on to Yan. Jian overtook him at Fuping and wept: “The warlords are proud—Maozhen is not the only one. Leave the heartland for the far border, cross the river, and you will never come back!” Zhaozong wept too, and turned aside to Hua.
14
是時，天子孤弱，獨有殿後軍及定州三都將李筠等兵千餘人為衛，以諸王將之。 建已得昭宗幸其鎮，遂欲制之，因請罷諸王將兵，散去殿後諸軍，累表不報。 昭宗登齊雲樓，西北顧望京師，作《菩薩蠻辭》三章以思歸，其卒章曰：「野煙生碧樹，陌上行人去。 安得有英雄，迎歸大內中？」 酒酣，與從臣悲歌泣下，建與諸王皆屬和之。 建心尤不悅，因遣人告諸王謀殺建、劫天子幸佗鎮。 昭宗召建，將辨之，建稱疾不出，乃遣諸王自詣，建不見。 請送諸王十六宅，昭宗難之。 建乃率精兵數千圍行宮，請誅李筠。 昭宗大懼，遽詔斬筠，悉散殿後及三都衛兵，幽諸王於十六宅。 昭宗益悔幸華，遣延王戒丕使於晉，以謀興復。 戒丕還，建與中尉劉季述誣諸王謀反，以兵圍十六宅，諸王皆登屋叫呼，遂見殺。 昭宗無如之何，為建立德政碑以慰安之。
The emperor stood alone and weak. Only the Rear Guard and Li Yun’s three Dingzhou companies—a thousand men or so—shielded him, led by princes. Once Zhaozong was on his ground, Jian meant to cage him. He asked that princes be stripped of command and the Rear Guard dissolved. Memorial after memorial went unanswered. Zhaozong climbed Qiyun Tower, gazed northwest toward Chang’an, and wrote three stanzas of “Bodhisattva Barbarian” yearning for home. The last runs: “Wild smoke climbs from green trees; strangers on the road pass by. Where is the hero who will bring me home to the Inner Court?” Deep in wine he and his court sang until they wept. Jian and the princes took up the refrain. Jian’s mood turned darker still. He sent word that the princes plotted to murder him and drag the emperor to another warlord. Zhaozong summoned Jian to answer the charge. Jian pleaded illness and stayed away. He made the princes come to his door. Jian refused them. He demanded the princes be confined in the Sixteen Mansions. Zhaozong balked. Jian surrounded the traveling palace with picked troops and demanded Li Yun’s head. Terrified, Zhaozong ordered Yun killed at once, broke up the Rear Guard and the three capital companies, and walled the princes in the Sixteen Mansions. Zhaozong bitterly regretted Hua and sent Prince of Yan Jiepi to Jin to plot his restoration. When Jiepi returned, Jian and Chief Eunuch Liu Jishu accused the princes of treason, ringed the Sixteen Mansions with troops, and cut them down as they screamed from the rooftops. Zhaozong was powerless to stop it and raised a monument to Han Jian’s “virtuous rule” to soothe him.
15
After killing the princes, Jian built the Southern Villa with towers and pavilions, hoping to lure Zhaozong on a visit, depose him, and raise Prince of De Yu. His father Shufeng told him: “You were a farmer between Chen and Xu. In these troubled times the emperor raised you this high. To attempt a coup with two prefectures and a hundred li is to invite the ruin of our whole clan. I cannot watch it—let me die first!” He wept aloud. Li Maozhen and Liang Taizu both prepared to march and rescue the emperor. Jian grew afraid and dropped the plan. In Guanghua 1 (898) Zhaozong returned to Chang’an, painted Jian’s portrait himself, made him Prince of Yingchuan, and granted him an iron certificate of mercy. Jian refused the princely title and was made Duke of Xu instead. Liang Taizu marched on Chang’an and sent Zhang Cunjing against Tong. Jian’s judge Sima Ye opened the gates. Taizu sent Ye to call Jian out, and Jian surrendered. Taizu accused Jian of betrayal. Jian said, “Judge Li Juchuan talked me into it.” Taizu flew into a rage, killed Juchuan on the spot, and kept Jian with the army.
16
When Zhaozong moved east, Jian went with him to Luoyang. The emperor raised his cup to Taizu and Jian: “Since we left Chang’an the realm has steadied a little. The throne rests on you two.” Then Empress He offered wine. Jian stepped on Taizu’s foot; Taizu pretended to be drunk and walked out. Outside, Jian told Taizu: “The emperor was signaling the women with his eyes. I heard weapons under the curtain. They mean to kill you.” Taizu owed him his life and made him military commissioner of Pinglu.
17
When Taizu became emperor, Jian was made Minister of Works and open-folder chancellor. Taizu was brutal; no one else dared speak plainly. Only Jian would venture a word, and Taizu usually let it pass. When Taizu sacrificed at the suburbs of Luoyang, Jian directed the rites. Stripped of the seal, he took Xu Prefecture. When Taizu died the Xu garrison rose and killed him. He was fifty-eight.
19
Of Li Renfu’s family nothing is recorded. Under Xizong a man named Tuoba Sijing was a deputy in Xia. For helping crush Huang Chao he took the imperial surname Li and became commissioner of Xia. Sijing died. In Qianning 2 his brother Sijian succeeded him at Xia.
20
Late Tang chaos left the historians’ records in tatters. Petty warlords sprang up everywhere; unless a man’s deeds were glaring, no one could trace his rise and fall. Armies from Xingyuan, Fengxiang, Binning, Bianfang, Hezhong, and Tonghua clashed on every side. Only Ling and Xia stayed out of Tang’s wars—and out of its glory. During Zhu Mei’s revolt, Sijing and Li Sixiao of Fu Prefecture encamped at Wei Bridge. When Chao seized Chang’an, Wang Chongrong and Li Keyong mustered the circuits against him. Sijing helped retake the city, but won no fame for it. His deeds and his line fade into silence.
21
In Liang Kaiping 2 Sijian died. The troops made his son Yizichang acting commissioner, and Liang confirmed him. The next year his general Gao Zongyi mutinied and killed Yizichang. Renfu was then a tribal commandant on frontier duty. The garrison brought him in and made him ruler; no one knew how he stood to Sijian. That fourth month Renfu was made Acting Minister of Works and commissioner of the Dingnan army. For all of Liang’s reign he did no more than keep the calendar. Li Maozhen of Qi and Li Keyong of Jin attacked him again and again; Liang marched to his aid each time. Renfu rose to Acting Grand Preceptor, open-folder chancellor, and Prince of Shuofang. In Changxing 4, third month, he died. His son Yichao made himself acting commissioner.
22
From Renfu’s day border commanders whispered that he courted the Khitan and would one day bite the realm. On Renfu’s death Mingzong named Yichao commissioner of Yan and the Zhangwu army, and sent An Congjin of Zhangwu to take Xia. Lest Yichao refuse the transfer, Mingzong sent Yao Yanchou of Bin with fifty thousand men to install Congjin. Yichao would not yield. Congjin and Yanchou besieged him for a hundred days and could not break in. Xia’s walls were legendary—old men said Helian Bobo had steamed the earth to raise them. The besiegers dug a mine to the foot of the wall and struck iron-hard stone they could not cut. Yichao rallied Tangut allies to cut their supplies. West of Shaan every peck and bundle cost a fortune; the people buckled under the levy and the roads filled with lament. Mingzong lifted the siege and let Yichao keep the Dingnan commission. He died in Qingtai 2.
23
24
Of Han Xun’s family nothing is recorded. He began as an officer at Lingwu. When Tang collapsed he seized Ling and Salt and Tang named him commissioner—but the record is lost and his story vanished. In Liang Kaiping 3 Shuofang commissioner Han Xun was made Prince of Yingchuan—the first trace of him in the annals. Yang Chongben of Bin, Li Zhouyi of Yan’an, and Li Maozhen of Fengxiang were all at war with Liang. Only Xun and Li Sijian of Xia bowed to Liang and kept the peace. Maozhen sent Liu Zhijun against him and failed. Xun ruled his people gently; they loved him and raised living shrines in his name.
25
In the Zhenming era Xun died. The troops made his son Zhu acting commissioner, and Liang confirmed him. Under Zhuangzong, Zhu also received the Hexi commission. In Tiancheng 4 Zhu died; his son Cheng became acting commissioner of Shuofang. General Li Bin mutinied. Cheng begged the court for help. Mingzong sent Kang Fu to replace him as commissioner of Shuofang and Hexi—the Han line ended and imperial appointees took over. From Xun’s day at Lingwu the Hans left nothing worth a line in the histories. After Cheng, their fate is unknown.
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Yang Chongben grew up in Li Maozhen's service, was adopted, took the Li surname and the name Jihui, and was made military commissioner of the Jingnan Army circuit. Taizu could not crack Qi and turned on Bin. Chongben surrendered. Taizu restored his Yang surname, renamed him Chongben, and took his family to Hezhong as hostages. Chongben’s wife was famed for her beauty. Whenever Taizu marched through Hezhong he slept with her. Ashamed beyond bearing, she sent word: “What kind of man cannot protect his own wife? I am Zhu’s woman now. I cannot meet your eyes—only rope or steel remain!” Chongben wept and raged. When Liang raised the siege of Qi his wife came home. Chongben broke with Liang and returned to Maozhen. Maozhen allied with Shu in the west and, with Chongben, struck Yong and Hua. The land beyond the Pass trembled. Taizu marched to Hezhong and sent Prince Youyu of Chen against them. Youyu died at Yongshou, and Liang turned back. Chongben held Meiyuan. Taizu sent Liu Zhijun and Kang Huaiying against him and broke him so completely he never marched east again. In Qianhua 4 his son Yanlu murdered him. His adopted son Li Baoheng killed Yanlu and submitted to Liang.
28
29
Gao Wanxing came from Hexi. Late Tang Hexi lay under Li Maozhen. Maozhen’s Hu Jingzhang held Yan; Wanxing and his brother Wanjin served him as cavalry officers. Jingzhang died. His officer Liu Wanzi became prefect. In Liang Kaiping 2, as they buried Jingzhang south of the city, Wanzi was at the rites. Officer Xu Congshi killed him and seized Yan. The brothers were then on frontier duty. Hearing of Wanzi’s death, they led several thousand men to Liang.
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Taizu was at Hezhong. He sent Liu Zhijun of Tong to join Wanxing, took Dan, and captured Prefect Cui Gongshi. They pressed on to Yan and took Xu Congshi. Li Yanrong of Fu Prefecture and Li Yanyu of Fang abandoned their posts and ran. Taizu made Wanxing commissioner of Yan and the Zhongyi army, and Niu Cunjie commissioner of the Baoda army. Soon Liu Zhijun rebelled. Cunjie was shifted to Tong; Wanjin took Baoda. Wanxing rose to Acting Grand Preceptor, open-folder chancellor, and Prince of Bohai. In Zhenming 4 Wanjin died. Wanxing took Bianyan, was made Prince of Yan’an, then Prince of Beiping. When Liang fell and Zhuangzong took Luoyang, Wanxing came to court once. He died in office in Tongguang 3.
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萬興兄弟皆驍勇，而未嘗立戰功，然以戍兵降梁，梁取鄜、坊、丹、延自萬興始，故其兄弟世守其土。
The brothers were fierce riders who never won a famous battle—yet by leading frontier garrisons to Liang they handed Bin, Fang, Dan, and Yan to the dynasty, and their line held that country for generations.
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Wanjin’s son Yunquan was magistrate of Fushi under Later Jin’s Kaiyun era, then retired home. Zhou Mi held Zhangxin when the Khitan destroyed Jin. Yan’s garrison revolted, drove Mi into the eastern city, and made Yunquan acting commissioner in the west. When he heard Gaozu of Han was rising at Taiyuan he submitted and was confirmed commissioner; he died in Guangshun 3.
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Wen Tao was from Huayuan in Jingzhao. As a youth he robbed on the roads. He entered Maozhen’s service, became garrison commander of Huayuan, took the Li surname, and was called Yanbiao. Maozhen raised Huayuan to Yao Prefecture and made Tao its prefect. Taizu besieged Maozhen at Fengxiang. Tao surrendered Yao, then rebelled back to Maozhen. Maozhen then made Meiyuan into Ding Prefecture, created the Yisheng army, and made Tao its commissioner. Under the Last Emperor he broke with Maozhen again and joined Liang. Liang renamed Yao Chong, Ding Yu, and Yisheng Jingsheng; Tao kept the commission, took back the Wen surname, and was renamed Zhaotu.
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Seven years he ruled that land. Every Tang imperial tomb in his circuit he plundered for its gold—but Zhaoling resisted him longest. He entered by the spirit tunnel and found halls as splendid as any palace: a central chamber, side rooms with stone couches, iron caskets within stone boxes holding ancient books and the calligraphy of Zhong Yao and Wang Xizhi, ink and paper fresh as the day they were laid in. He took everything. Only at Qianling did wind and rain turn his men back.
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When Zhu Youqian rebelled and took Tong, Jin marched to help him and threatened Huayuan. Tao begged a new post and was shifted to Zhongwu. When Zhuangzong destroyed Liang, Tao came from Xu to court, bribed Empress Liu through the actor Jing Jin, and won her word. Zhuangzong favored him lavishly and renamed him Li Shaochong. Guo Chongtao said, “He is a tomb-robber. His crime admits no mercy!” Zhuangzong said, “I have already spared him. A ruler cannot eat his word.” He sent him back to his command at once. When Mingzong took Luoyang he and Duan Ning were thrown into prison, then pardoned and sent home. The next year he was exiled to Dezhou and granted death.
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Alas—the curse of rich tombs! Since Qin and Han it has chiefly seduced the clever and the bold. Eloquent men preached disaster in vain; they could not pierce the delusion. Men drown in the wish for glory while the unseen ruin ahead has no shape to frighten them—how should it stir the heart? Yet Wen Tao’s story might warn even the stubborn a little. Five Dynasties emperors rarely died in bed. Who had leisure to plan for the dead? Only Zhou Taizu took Tao’s lesson to heart. On his deathbed he wrote Shizong: bury me in a tile coffin clad in paper. Before burial he opened the coffin for all to see, then carved stone for posterity: no underground palace, no concubines to guard the mound. He meant every word—and still the veritable record does not say whether the grave was humble or grand. He also had duplicate sets of the regalia he had worn in life—the full court dress, the Tongtian crown, the crimson gauze gown—buried two of each, one at the capital and one at Chunzhou; The same for his sword and armor: two of each, one laid in the earth at Hezhong, one at Daming. None could read what he meant.