Duan Yanmo (段彥謨; died July 17, 882Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter
''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song (960–1127), Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959&n ...

'', vol. 255.) was a Chinese military general and warlord during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

who, from 880 to 882, controlled Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern

Jingzhou Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro' ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The ...

) in conjunction with the

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

Zhu Jingmei Zhu Jingmei (朱敬玫) (d. 885) was a Chinese eunuch during the late Tang Dynasty who, after killing Duan Yanmo the military governor (''Jiedushi'') of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), became the effective ruling ...

, but later had a fallout with Zhu and was killed by Zhu.

Background

Not much is known about Duan Yanmo's background, as he did not have a biography in either of the official histories of the

, the '' Old Book of Tang'' or the '' New Book of Tang''. What is known is that he was an army officer from Taining Circuit (泰寧, headquartered in modern

Jining Jining () is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Shandong province. It borders Heze to the southwest, Zaozhuang to the southeast, Tai'an to the northeast, and the provinces of Henan and Jiangsu to the northwest and south respectively. Jinin ...

, Shandong) who participated in the operations against the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao early in the reign of Emperor Xizong. In 879, the imperial government commissioned him to replace Cao Quanzhen () as the commander of the operations against Huang west of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...

—while Cao was pursuing Huang in the aftermaths of a major defeat Cao and Liu Jurong () the military governor (''

Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (), or jiedu, was a title for regional military governors in China which was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissioner", " legate" ...

'') of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern

Xiangfan Xiangyang is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei province, China and the second largest city in Hubei by population. It was known as Xiangfan from 1950 to 2010. The Han River runs through Xiangyang's centre and divides the city no ...

) had just dealt Huang—which led to Cao's termination of the pursuit, allowing Huang and Huang's major general

Shang Rang Shang Rang (尚讓) (died 884) was a major follower of Huang Chao, an agrarian rebel leader against the rule of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, and carried prominent titles after Huang declared himself the emperor of a new state of Qi. As Huang ...

to escape.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 253.

Control of Jingnan

Meanwhile, with Liu Jurong having returned to Shannan East after defeating Huang, and with the overall commander of the operations, the former chancellor

Wang Duo Wang Duo () (died 884), courtesy name Zhaofan (), formally the Duke of Jin (), was a Chinese politician of the medieval Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Yizong and Emperor Yizong's son Emperor Xizong. After th ...

, who was also the military governor of Jingnan, having fled prior to Cao's and Liu's defeat of Huang Chao, there was no military governor around to govern Jingnan Circuit. The

monitor of the army in the region,

Yang Fuguang Yang Fuguang () (842–883'' Old Book of Tang'', vol. 184.), formally Duke Zhongsu of Hongnong (弘農忠肅公), was a Chinese eunuch, military general, and politician of the Tang dynasty, who was considered a major contributor to the Tang ca ...

, put Song Hao (), an officer from Zhongwu Circuit (忠武, headquartered in modern

Xuchang Xuchang (; postal: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province in Central China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe to the southeast, and Pi ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

) in charge of the circuit until the imperial government could commission a replacement. The imperial government subsequently confirmed Song's temporary commission. This drew anger from Duan Yanmo, who considered himself superior to Song. The conflict came to a head in 880 when, in violation of an order that Song issued that soldiers were not to cut down trees on the streets of the circuit capital Jiangling Municipality (), some of Duan's soldiers did so, and Song whipped them on the back. Duan viewed this as an insult, and he intruded into Song's headquarters and killed Song and Song's two sons. Yang then submitted a report stating that Song was overly cruel and that was why the soldiers killed him. (According to Yang's biography in the ''New Book of Tang'', Yang encouraged Duan's actions since Song was disrespectful to Yang as well.) Emperor Xizong then issued an edict making Duan the prefect of Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern

Changde Changde ( ) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hunan province, People's Republic of China. In addition to the urban districts, Changde also administers the county-level city of Jinshi and six counties. Changde is adjacent to Dongt ...

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

) while making the imperial official Zheng Shaoye () the new military governor. However, it appeared that Duan did not report to Lang Prefecture, for it was said that Zheng, in fear of Duan's control of Jingnan, did not report to Jingnan for some half a year. Subsequently, when Huang captured the imperial capital

Chang'an Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin S ...

around the new year 881 and forced Emperor Xizong to flee to

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...

,''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 254. Emperor Xizong recalled Zheng and made Duan the military governor of Jingnan.

Death

Duan Yanmo and the new eunuch monitor,

, soon developed an adversarial relationship. Zhu selected 3,000 elite soldiers and called them the Zhongyong Army, putting it under his own command. Duan, in anger, decided that he wanted to kill Zhu. However, Zhu took preemptive action in summer 882 and attacked Duan, killing him. Zhu initially made the deputy mayor of Jiangling, Li Sui (), acting military governor, and then, when Emperor Xizong commissioned Zheng again but Zheng hesitated to report to Jingnan, put the officer

Chen Ru Chen Ru (；d. 885) was a warlord late in the Chinese Tang Dynasty, who ruled Jingnan Circuit (荊南 modern Jingzhou, Hubei) from 882 to 885, most of that time as its military governor (''Jiedushi''). Background It is not known when Chen Ru wa ...

in charge.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duan, Yanmo 9th-century births 882 deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Jingnan Circuit