Li Xun (; died 421),

courtesy name A courtesy name (), also known as a style name, is a name bestowed upon one at adulthood in addition to one's given name. This practice is a tradition in the East Asian cultural sphere, including China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.Ulrich Theobald ...

Shiru (), was the final ruler of the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

Western Liang state, who tried to hold out against the conquering

Northern Liang The Northern Liang (; 397–439) was a dynastic state of the Sixteen Kingdoms in China. It was ruled by the Juqu family of Lushuihu origin (a branch of the Xiongnu). Although Duan Ye of Han ethnicity was initially enthroned as the Northern Liang ...

armies under its prince

Juqu Mengxun Juqu Mengxun (; 368–433) was a king of the Xiongnu-led Chinese Northern Liang dynasty, and the first from the Juqu clan. His cousin Juqu Nancheng (沮渠男成) and he initially supported Duan Ye as prince of Northern Liang in 397 after rebelli ...

, after his brother Li Xin's death in 420. He was only able to hold the city of

Dunhuang Dunhuang () is a county-level city in Northwestern Gansu Province, Western China. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the city has a population of 186,027, though 2019 estimates put the city's population at about 191,800. Dunhuang was a major ...

for several months, before Juqu Mengxun successfully sieged the city, and Li Xun committed suicide.

Brief reign

Very little is known about Li Xun's life, including whether he was the son of his brother Li Xin's mother Princess Dowager Yin. Under his father

Li Gao Li Gao or Li Hao (; 351–417), courtesy name Xuansheng (), nickname Changsheng (), formally Prince Wuzhao of (Western) Liang (), was the founding duke of the Han Chinese state Western Liang. (While he claimed only the title of duke during his r ...

(Prince Wuzhao) and/or Li Xin, Li Xun successively served as the governor of Jiuquan (酒泉, roughly modern

Jiuquan Jiuquan, formerly known as Suzhou, is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu Province in the People's Republic of China. It is more than wide from east to west, occupying , although its built-up area is mostly located in ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

) and Dunhuang Commanderies. His rule of Dunhuang was said to be benevolent and favored by the people. In 420, while trying to attack Northern Liang, Li Xin fell into a trap set by Juqu Mengxun and was killed in battle. Juqu Mengxun then quickly reached the Western Liang capital Jiuquan, and Li Xin's other brothers abandoned Jiuquan and fled to Dunhuang. Once they reached Dunhuang, they and Li Xun, then the governor of Dunhuang, abandoned Dunhuang and fled to the hills north of Dunhuang. Juqu Mengxun commissioned Suo Yuanxu () to be the governor of Dunhuang. However, Suo quickly lost favor with the people by being rude, dishonest, and cruel. Some people of Dunhuang, under the leadership of Song Cheng () and Zhang Hong (), secretly invited Li Xun back to Dunhuang, and in winter 420 he did so, forcing Suo to flee. Song and Zhang offered Li Xun the titles of Champion General () and Inspector of Liang Province (), and he changed the

era name A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin ''regnum'' meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year o ...

to signify that Western Liang was still a state. Juqu Mengxun then sent his

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

Juqu Zhengde () to attack Dunhuang, and Li Xun defended the city, refusing to engage Juqu Zhengde. However, Juqu Mengxun soon arrived, and he built levees to accumulate water around Dunhuang. Li Xun offered to surrender, but Juqu Mengxun refused. At this point, Song Cheng betrayed him and offered the city to Juqu Mengxun. Upon hearing this, Li Xun committed suicide, and Juqu Mengxun slaughtered the city. Western Liang was at its end.

References

* ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...

'', vol. 87. * ''

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...

'', vol. 99. * ''

History of the Northern Dynasties The ''History of the Northern Dynasties'' () is one of the official Chinese historical works in the ''Twenty-Four Histories'' canon. The text contains 100 volumes and covers the period from 386 to 618, the histories of Northern Wei, Western We ...

'', vol. 100. * ''

Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms The ''Spring and Autumn Annals of the Sixteen Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese title ''Shiliuguo Chunqiu'' () is a Chinese biographical historical work of the Sixteen Kingdoms compiled by the Northern Wei official Cui Hong between 501 and 52 ...

'', vol. 8. * ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

'', vol. 119. {{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Xun Western Liang (Sixteen Kingdoms) dukes 421 deaths Politicians from Gansu Year of birth unknown Generals from Gansu