Li Huaiguang - As Tang Jiedushi

As Tang Jiedushi

Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Dezong. Emperor Dezong, believing that Guo Ziyi was too lax and had too large of a responsibility area, honored Guo as Shangfu (尚父, "like an imperial father") but stripped him of his commands. He divided Guo's responsibility area among Li Huaiguang, Hun Zhen, and Chang Qianguang (常謙光), making Li the military governor of Binning Circuit (邠寧, headquartered in modern Xianyang) as well as the mayor of Hezhong Municipality, governing seven prefectures. Initially, he had difficulty in getting some senior officers whose reputations matched his own — Shi Kang (史抗), Wen Ruya, Pang Xianhe (龐仙鶴), Zhang Xianming (張獻明), and Li Guangyi (李光逸) — to obey him. At the suggestion of the imperial eunuch sent to monitor his army, Zhai Wenxiu (翟文秀), he ordered them to report to the imperial guards at the capital Chang'an to serve as imperial guard officers, but as soon as they left Bin Prefecture he had them arrested and executed, blaming them for a defeat that Hun suffered when commanding them in 773.

In 780, after a plan by the powerful chancellor Yang Yan to build forts in the no man's land between Tang and Tufan territory was opposed by Duan Xiushi the military governor of Jingyuan Circuit (涇原, headquartered in modern Pingliang, Gansu), Yang persuaded Emperor Dezong to strip Duan of his command and recall him. Emperor Dezong had Li assume the command of Jingyuan Circuit as well as Binning Circuit and moved his command to Jingyuan's capital Yuan Prefecture (原州). The Jingyuan soldiers feared Li's reputed harshness, particularly given his execution of the five Binning officers in 779. Duan's assistant Liu Wenxi (劉文喜) took this opportunity to seize the circuit and resist Li's commission, requesting that either Duan be returned to command or that another general, Zhu Ci, be put in command of the circuit. Emperor Dezong agreed with the latter request and gave the command of Jingyuan to Zhu instead. Liu subsequently resisted that move as well and sought aid from Tufan. Emperor Dezong ordered Li and Zhu to attack him. Subsequently, Liu's own subordinates killed him and surrendered. In 781, Emperor Dezong gave Li the command of the previously pared-down Shuofang Circuit (which was given to Chang Qianguang in the 779 division) in addition to Binning.

In 782, with Tian Yue, Zhu Tao (Zhu Ci's brother), Wang Wujun, and Li Na resisting imperial authorities, Emperor Dezong ordered Li to take his Binning and Shuofang soldiers to attack Tian's Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei). After Li Huaiguang arrived and joined forces with Ma Sui and Li Baozhen, Ma believed that they should wait and rest their soldiers before attacking, but Li Huaiguang advocated an immediate attack, and did so. He initially had successes against Zhu, but Wang took the opportunity to charge against his troops, cutting them off from each other, and eventually the imperial forces were routed. They were forced to lift their siege of Weibo's capital Wei Prefecture (魏州), but held their position in stalemate against the rebel forces. Emperor Dezong gave Li Huaiguang the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事). Subsequently, in light of their victory, the rebel leaders all declared themselves princes independent from Tang.

In fall 783, JIngyuan soldiers, then at Chang'an to be ready for deployment against the rebels in the east, mutinied when they were angry they did not get rewards. Emperor Dezong was forced to flee to Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang), while the Jingyuan soldiers supported Zhu Ci as their leader, and Zhu Ci soon declared himself emperor of a new state of Qin. Upon the news arriving in the imperial camp at Wei Prefecture, Ma, Li Baozhen, and Li Qiu (李艽) withdrew to their own circuits, while Li Huaiguang, under the suggestion of his logistics officer Cui Zong (崔縱), decided to march as quickly as he could toward Chang'an to save Emperor Dezong. By the time that Li Huaiguang arrived in Chang'an's vicinity, Fengtian was under intense siege by Qin troops under Zhu Ci. Li Huaiguang sent his officer Zhang Shao (張韶) to Fengtian to inform Emperor Dezong of his impending arrival, and then attacked Qin forces at Liquan (醴泉, in modern Xianyang) and defeated them. When Zhu Ci heard the news, he, in fear, lifted the siege on Fengtian and withdrew back to Chang'an. It was believed at the time that Li Huaiguang arrived right on time and that, if he were even three days late, Fengtian would have fallen. After the victory, Emperor Dezong gave Li Huaiguang the title of Zhongshu Ling (中書令) — the head of the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng) and a post considered one for a chancellor.

Meanwhile, though, it had become common knowledge that Li Huaiguang despised several officials that Emperor Dezong trusted — the chancellor Lu Qi and other ministers Zhao Zan (趙贊) and Bai Zhizhen (白志貞) — and that he would recommend to Emperor Dezong that those officials be removed. When Lu heard this, he believed that he had to prevent a meeting between Emperor Dezong and Li Huaiguang at all costs, and therefore suggested to Emperor Dezong order Li Huaiguang to attack Chang'an at once. Emperor Dezong agreed, and ordered Li Huaiguang to rendezvous with Li Sheng, Li Jianhui (李建徽), and Yang Huiyuan (楊惠元) to attack Chang'an. Li Huaiguang, angry that he was not even able to meet the emperor, began to resent Emperor Dezong. He stopped his army's movement and submitted petitions accusing Lu and the others of crimes and further accusing them of being responsible for the Jingyuan mutiny. Emperor Dezong was forced to demote and exile Lu, Bai, and Zhao. Li Huaiguang also submitted a petition accusing Zhai Wenxiu of crimes, and Emperor Dezong executed Zhai in response. Only after these events occurred did Li Huaiguang rendezvous with Li Sheng, Li Jianhui, and Yang, in spring 784. Meanwhile, when Emperor Dezong sought aid from Tufan, Tufan's chancellor Shang Jiezan (尚結贊) refused to launch forces unless he could get an explicit cosigning of the aid request by Li Huaiguang, citing Tufan's own laws about how it would only launch troops in aid if the supreme commander of the state seeking aid also agreed with the aid request. Li Huaiguang was vehemently against seeking Tufan aid, however, citing how Tufan troops would surely pillage the region and also seek excessive rewards, and he refused to cosign the aid request, and Shang refused to launch aid troops. Emperor Dezong's trusted advisor Lu Zhi, believing Li Huaiguang to be on the verge of rebellion and fearing that Li Huaiguang would take over the troops under Li Sheng, Li Jianhui, and Yang, urged that those three armies be separated from Li Huaiguang's army and take up position elsewhere; Emperor Dezong repositioned Li Sheng, but believing that relocating Li Jianhui and Yang as well would bring further resentment from Li Huaiguang, did not move them.

Li Huaiguang, indeed, was then in secret communication with Zhu Ci and considering rebellion. Zhu promised Li Huaiguang that he would be willing to divide the realm into two, with both serving as emperors, and would be willing to honor Li Huaiguang like an older brother. Meanwhile, Li Sheng, believing Li Huaiguang to be ready to rebel, requested that precautions be made and that the road to the Hanzhong and Shu (蜀, modern Sichuan) regions be clear, in case of a Li Huaiguang rebellion. Emperor Dezong hesitated, and instead announced that he would go to Xianyang (咸陽, in modern Xianyang) to monitor the advancement of troops. Li Huaiguang, believing that the announcement was against him, further prepared for rebellion. Emperor Dezong, meanwhile, tried to calm Li Huaiguang by sending the official Li Bian (李卞) to award him with the title of Taiwei (太尉, one of the Three Excellencies) and an iron certificate (鐵劵, Tiejuan), which promised that he would never be executed. Li Huaiguang, believing that these were actually signs of distrust, threw the iron certificate onto the ground and stated:

The holy one is suspecting me. It is commonly said, "When a person is about to rebel, give him an iron certificate!" I am not planning to rebel, but giving me an iron certificate forces me to rebel.

When Li Bian returned to Fengtian and informed Emperor Dezong of these events, the officials at court began to prepare to evaluate Fengtian if necessary. Soon thereafter, Li Huaiguang made a surprise attack on Li Jianhui and Yang; Li Jianhui barely escaped with his life, while Yang was killed. Li Huaiguang thereafter made a declaration:

I am now making peace, in union with Zhu Ci. The Emperor should go far away!

On March 21, 784, with Li Huaiguang's declaration and posture of readiness to attack Fengtian, Emperor Dezong fled to Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong).