Li Huaiguang - Service Under Guo Ziyi

Service Under Guo Ziyi

Li Huaiguang started his military service when he was young, and he was known for his abilities in martial arts, his bravery, and his strength. He served under Guo Ziyi, who was then serving as the military governor (Jiedushi) of Shuofang Circuit and who respected him greatly. Early in the Shangyuan era (760–762) of Emperor Xuanzong's son Emperor Suzong, Li Huaiguang became a commander of Guo's guards. Sometime thereafter, he was made the discipline officer of the Shuofang army. During the meantime, for his accomplishments, he was also getting progressively greater honorary positions. It was said that as discipline officer, he was honest, hard-working, harsh, and fierce, and was willing to put people to death for their violation of military disciplines and did not spare his own friends and relatives. As Guo was himself lax toward his officers, he entrusted the matters of discipline to Li, and the army much feared Li.

In 763, during the reign of Emperor Suzong's son Emperor Daizong, by which time Pugu Huai'en had taken over the Shuofang army and was in a confrontational posture against the imperial government and another military governor, Xin Yunjing (辛雲京) the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), Pugu, who was then at Hezhong (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), had a number of Shuofang officers take up strategic positions, and in these maneuvers, Li was stationed at Jin Prefecture (晉州, in modern Linfen, Shanxi). By 764, however, most of the Shuofang army had defected back to the imperial cause after Pugu formally rose against the imperial government, and Li was again under Guo's command. In 767, when Guo, under Emperor Daizong's instruction, made a sudden attack against the rebellious general Zhou Zhiguang (周智光), the military governor of Tonghua Circuit (同華, headquartered in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Guo had Li and Hun Zhen command the advance troops, although even before Li and Hun could attack, Zhou's own subordinates killed him and surrendered. During a Tufan incursion in 777, it was Li that Guo sent to repel the Tufan troops.

In 777, Li briefly left military service to observe a mourning period for his mother. In 778, he was recalled to military service and commanded the forces of Bin (邠州, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), Ning (寧州), and Qing (慶州, both in modern Qingyang, Gansu) Prefectures, and he participated in repelling another Tufan incursion. It was said that at this time, there was an incident during Guo's absence that Li wanted to forge an imperial edict to execute several senior officers, including Wen Ruya (溫儒雅). His plan, however, was thwarted by Guo's secretary Du Huangshang, who confronted him. Du instead sent a number of officers who were disciplinary issues away from the headquarters — perhaps including Li.