Tian Hongzheng - As Military Governor of Chengde Circuit

As Military Governor of Chengde Circuit

In spring 820, Emperor Xianzong died and was succeeded by his son Emperor Muzong. In winter 820, after Wang Chengzong died, the Chengde soldiers supported Wang Chengzong's brother Wang Chengyuan as successor, but Wang Chengyuan, while pretending to accept, sent secret submissions to Emperor Muzong declining the position. Emperor Muzong thus carried out a group of military governor movements for Weibo, Chengde, and three other nearby circuits — making Tian Hongzheng the military governor of Chengde, Wang Chengyuan the military governor of Yicheng, Liu Wu the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), Li Su the military governor of Weibo, and Tian Bu the military governor of Heyang. (Emperor Muzong's making Tian Hongzheng military governor of Chengde was against the advice of the general Yang Yuanqing (楊元慶), who also tried to persuade the chancellors that it was not a good idea, but Yang's suggestions were also ignored by the chancellors.)

As Tian Hongzheng had battled Chengde forces for years, he believed that the Chengde soldiers would bear him great hatred. He thus took 2,000 Weibo soldiers with him to Chengde and kept them with him as his personal guards. He submitted requests to the directorate of finance for the soldiers to be paid out of the imperial treasury. However, the director of finances, Cui Ling (崔倰), a relative of the chancellor Cui Zhi, not understanding the scope of the situation, believed that Chengde soldiers had the responsibilities of protecting their governor and that Weibo soldiers should be returned to Weibo, and that approving Tian's request would create a bad precedent, and thus refused Tian's requests. After Tian made four requests and failed to receive approval, he had to order the Weibo soldiers to return to Weibo.

Meanwhile, Tian Hongzheng was also drawing resentment from the soldiers for another reason. He was known for treating his family well — so much so that his relatives at Chang'an and Luoyang were becoming extremely wasteful. As a result, while at Weibo and later at Chengde, he extracted much revenue from the people and sent them to Chang'an and Luoyang for his family to use. As a result, the soldiers of both circuits resented him for this. Further, at that time, Emperor Muzong had issued an edict that a large cash reward be given to the Chengde soldiers for their submission, but the directorate of finance did not deliver the reward quickly, and the Chengde soldiers became even more resentful. The officer Wang Tingcou, originally of Huigu extraction but whose great-grandfather had been adopted by Wang Chengzong's grandfather Wang Wujun, planned a mutiny, and often found ways to foster the soldiers' resentment toward Tian. He decided to act as soon as the Weibo soldiers left Chengde.

On the night of August 29, 821, Wang Tingcou gathered his soldiers outside headquarters and charged into the headquarters, slaughtering Tian, his staff, and their families — over 300 people. Subsequently, after an unsuccessful campaign against Wang, Emperor Muzong was forced to commission Wang as the new military governor. He gave Tian Hongzheng the posthumous name of Zhongmin (meaning, "faithful and suffering") and ordered Wang to return Tian's body. However, Wang claimed that Tian's body could not be located by that point.