Li Zhongchen - As Jiedushi of Huaixi Circuit

As Jiedushi of Huaixi Circuit

In 765, when the general Pugu Huai'en, who had rebelled earlier, persuaded Huige and Tufan troops to join him to attack Chang'an, Emperor Daizong, at Guo Ziyi's suggestion, issued orders summoning the generals Li Baoyu, Li Guangjin (李光進, Li Guangbi's brother), Bai Xiaode (白孝德), Ma Lin (馬璘), Hao Tingyu (郝庭玉), and Li Zhongchen. It was said that, though, when most of these generals received the orders, they did not launch their forces immediately. As to Li Zhongchen, though, after he received the orders while playing a ball game with the officers, he immediately ordered that the army be launched. When his subordinates and the eunuch monitoring his army suggested that the army should be launched on a day considered to be lucky, Li Zhongchen became angry and responded, "If parents have a sudden disaster, children cannot wait until a good day to save them." Subsequently, before he and the other generals could reach Chang'an, Pugu died, and the Huige and Tufan army, while initially still advancing toward Chang'an, slowed down. He participated in the subsequent defense of Chang'an, although Huige forces withdrew after Guo persuaded them to do so, and Tufan forces withdrew thereafter as well.

In 767, as the military governor of Tonghua Circuit (同華, in modern Weinan, Shaanxi), Zhou Zhiguang (周智光), became increasingly violent (including, among other things, slaughtering the entire household of fellow military governor Du Mian (杜冕)) and threatening to the emperor, Emperor Daizong sent Guo to attack Zhou, whose subordinates subsequently killed him and surrendered. At that time, Li Zhongchen happened to be heading toward Chang'an from Huaixi to pay homage to the emperor, and he used the excuse of attacking Zhou to enter Hua Prefecture (華州, also in modern Weinan), one of the prefectures under Zhou's command, and pillaged it heavily. It was said that the entire region between the Tong Pass and Chi River (赤水, flowing through Hua Prefecture), all of the people's wealth was stripped, and even the officials' clothes were stripped such that they had to wear clothes made of paper.

In 771, Li Zhongchen personally participated in the yearly defense rotation on the western border against possible Tufan attacks.

In 775, there was a disturbance at Shan Prefecture in which the soldiers mutinied and forcibly expelled their military commander, Zhao Lingzhen (趙令珍). They also pillaged the prefectural treasury. The circuit governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) Li Guoqing (李國清) could not suppress them and only was spared by humiliating himself before them. Emperor Daizong ordered Li Zhongchen, then on another trip to Chang'an to pay homage to him, to suppress the mutiny. When Li Zhongchen arrived at Shan Prefecture, the soldiers knew his reputation and submitted to him, not daring to do anything else. He ordered that they surrender the pillaged items and promised that those who did would not be further prosecuted. They did so, and after he collected the plunders, he did not return them to Shan Prefecture's treasury, but distributed them to his own soldiers.

Later in 775, when Tian Chengsi, the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), had offended both the emperor and the military governors nearby, Emperor Daizong ordered a campaign be waged against him. Li Zhongchen and Li Zhengji were to attack Weibo from the south, and Zhu Tao, Li Baochen, and Xue Jianxun (薛兼訓) were to attack from the north. Li Zhongchen initially put Weibo's Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Xinxiang, Henan) under siege, but after Li Zhengji withdrew from the campaign due to fears that his own soldiers would mutiny and a humble letter Tian sent him, Li Zhongchen withdrew as well. Emperor Daizong was subsequently forced to abandon the campaign against Tian.

In 776, after the death of Tian Shen'gong's brother Tian Shenyu (田神玉), the circuit he then governed, Biansong Circuit (汴宋, headquartered in modern Kaifeng), fell into the hands of his officer Li Lingyao (李靈曜). Emperor Daizong ordered the military governors around Biansong to attack it. Li Zhongchen joined forces with Ma Sui, and their armies constituted the main assault force against Biansong's capital Bian Prefecture. After an initial defeat at Li Lingyao's hands, Li Zhongchen considered withdrawing, but when Ma stood his ground, Li Zhongchen stayed as well and continued the campaign. After several victories, in winter 776, they put Bian Prefecture under siege. When Tian Chengsi dispatched an army commanded by his nephew Tian Yue to aid Li Lingyao, Li Zhongchen sent his subordinate Li Chongqian (李重倩) to launch a surprise attack on Tian Yue's army, causing it to collapse. Without aid, Li Lingyao fled, but was captured by Li Mian the military governor of Yongping Circuit (永平, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan) and delivered to Chang'an to be executed. It was said that Ma knew that Li Zhongchen would credit only himself with the victory, and so did not enter Bian Prefecture in order to avoid a conflict. When Li Senghui (李僧惠), a Biansong general who had submitted to imperial authority early in the campaign and who had participated in Li Lingyao's defeat, disputed with Li Zhongchen, Li Zhongchen surprised him and killed him at a meeting. Emperor Daizong subsequently gave Li Zhongchen the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事) and issued orders adding Bian Prefecture to his circuit and moving Huaixi's headquarters to Bian Prefecture. (However, Li Zhongchen appeared to not have actually moved headquarters to Bian Prefecture from his then-headquarters at Cai Prefecture (蔡州), based on subsequent events.)

It was said that by this point, Li Zhongchen was greedy, violent, and sexually immoral. If his officers' and soldiers' had beautiful wives or daughters, he would often force the women to have sexual relations with him. He entrusted the important matters of the circuit to his brother-in-law Zhang Huiguang (張惠光), whom he made his deputy. Zhang was said to be corrupt and causing much grief to the soldiers. Zhang's son, an officer, was even more corrupt than his father. The officer Li Xilie, a son of a cousin of Li Zhongchen's, was supported by the soldiers, and he took this opportunity to plot a mutiny with his colleague Ding Gao (丁暠). On March 28, 779, Li Xilie and Ding killed Zhang and his son and expelled Li Zhongchen. Li Zhongchen fled to Chang'an. Emperor Daizong, crediting him for his past achievements, kept him at Chang'an and gave him the honorary title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and allowed him to exercise his previously-honorary authorities as a chancellor. He made Li Xilie acting military governor, but stripped the circuit of Bian and Ying (潁州, in modern Fuyang, Anhui) Prefectures, transferring them to Yongping Circuit under Li Mian's command.