Liu Peng (; 727 – November 4, 785), formally Duke Gong of Pengcheng (), was a general of the Chinese

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

, who served as 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", ...

'')According to Liu Peng's biographies in the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the ''

New Book of Tang The ''New Book of Tang'', generally translated as the "New History of the Tang" or "New Tang History", is a work of official history covering the Tang dynasty in ten volumes and 225 chapters. The work was compiled by a team of scholars of the So ...

'', Liu Peng was made deputy military governor with the title ''Fudashi'' (副大使). See ''Old Book of Tang''
vol. 143
and ''New Book of Tang''

. However, the chronicles of Emperor Dezong's reign in the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the ''New Book of Tang'' both indicated that Liu was made military governor, and this was followed by the ''

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 ...

''. See ''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 12 (which, however, also referred to him as deputy military governor), ''New Book of Tang''
vol. 7
, and ''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 232. As the ''Fudashi'' title would also indicate that he was acting as governor but titularly serving as a deputy to an imperial prince — one of Emperor Dezong's brothers or sons — but none of Emperor Dezong's brothers or sons carried the title of military governor of Zhenwu, it would appear that he was made military governor. See ''New Book of Tang''
vol. 82
iographies of the sons of 11 emperors of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

) briefly in 785 following the death of his cousin, the warlord

Zhu Tao Zhu Tao (朱滔) (died 785), formally the Prince of Tongyi (通義王), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician during the Tang dynasty. He served as a general who initially served imperial causes during the reigns of Emperor Daiz ...

Background

Liu Peng was born in 727, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family was from You Prefecture (幽州, in modern

). According to the Gravestone Epitaph of his son Liu Ji, he was a 20th generation descendant of

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

. His father Liu Gong () at one point served as a commander of Dadou Army ().''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 143. In Liu Peng's youth, he served as an officer at Fanyang Circuit (范陽, headquartered in modern Beijing, later renamed Lulong Circuit), but left military service to care for his aging parents. When Li Huaixian served as the military governor of Lulong Circuit, he tried to recall Liu back to military service, but Liu declined.''New Book of Tang'', vol. 212.

Service under Zhu Tao

In 772, after Li Huaixian's successor

Zhu Xicai Zhu Xicai () (died 772), formally the Prince of Gaomi (), was a general of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. He initially served under Li Huaixian, the military governor (''Jiedushi'') of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), w ...

was assassinated, Liu Peng's cousin Zhu Ci (a son of Liu's mother's brother) became military governor. Contrary to the prior independent stand that Li and Zhu Xicai took as to the imperial government, Zhu Ci was more reconciliatory and submissive to the imperial government, and in 774, he went to the Tang 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 Shi ...

and thereafter served as an imperial general around the capital, leaving his brother (also Liu's cousin)

in actual control of the circuit.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 225. Liu served under Zhu Tao, and through his accomplishments was made the commander of the Xiongwu Army (雄武軍, based on modern

Chengde Chengde, formerly known as Jehol and Rehe, is a prefecture-level city in Hebei province, situated about 225 km northeast of Beijing. It is best known as the site of the Mountain Resort, a vast imperial garden and palace formerly used by t ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

). Later, he was made the prefect of Zhuo Prefecture (涿州, in modern Baoding,

). In 775, Zhu Tao, per mandate of

Emperor Daizong Emperor Daizong of Tang (9 January 727 According to Daizong's biography in the ''Old Book of Tang'', he was born on the 13th day in the 12th month of the 14th year of the Kaiyuan era of Tang Xuanzong's reign. This date corresponds to 9 Jan 727 i ...

, attacked Tian Chengsi the military governor of Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

), along with

Li Baochen Li Baochen () (718 – February 6, 781), originally named Zhang Zhongzhi (), courtesy name Weifu (), known as An Zhongzhi () during the Anshi Rebellion and Zhang Baochen () 778–779, formally the Prince of Longxi (), was a general of the Chines ...

the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern

Shijiazhuang Shijiazhuang (; ; Mandarin: ), formerly known as Shimen and romanized as Shihkiachwang, is the capital and most populous city of China’s North China's Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about southwest of Beijin ...

). Because Liu was loved by the army, Zhu put him in command of headquarters before launching his campaign. Tian, however, persuaded Li Baochen to turn against Zhu, and late in 775, Li Baochen launched a surprise attack on Zhu's army and then attacked north, hoping to capture Lulong's headquarters. However, with Li Baochen realizing that Liu had taken precautions, he stopped his attack. After Li Baochen died in 781, Li Baochen's son Li Weiyue requested imperial sanction to succeed him, but Emperor Daizong's son and successor Emperor Dezong refused, and subsequently, Li Weiyue, along with his allies Tian Yue (Tian Chengsi's nephew, who had succeeded Tian Chengsi in 779), Li Na, and Liang Chongyi, prepared to wage war against the imperial government, and the imperial government responded in kind. Emperor Dezong commissioned Zhu to attack Li Weiyue from the north, and Zhu did so; his victories eventually caused Li Weiyue's subordinate

Wang Wujun Wang Wujun () (735 – August 9, 801), courtesy name Yuanying (), né Monuogan (), formally Prince Zhonglie of Langye (), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician during the Tang dynasty. He served as a long-time ''Jiedushi'' of Che ...

to assassinate Li Weiyue and surrender.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 227. After the victory at Chengde, however, Emperor Dezong made a series of moves that simultaneously alienated Zhu and Wang. He refused to give Chengde's Shen Prefecture (深州, in modern Hengshui,

) to Lulong, as Zhu had requested. Rather, he divided the seven prefectures of Chengde into three smaller circuits, making

Zhang Xiaozhong Zhang Xiaozhong () (730 – April 30, 791), né Zhang Alao (), formally Prince Zhenwu of Shanggu (), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician of the History of China, Chinese Tang Dynasty. He was of Kumo Xi, Xi ancestry. Initially h ...

, the first major Chengde officer to submit to Zhu and join Zhu's operations against Li Weiyue, the military governor of a newly created Yidingcang Circuit (易定滄, headquartered in modern Baoding, soon renamed to Yiwu (), consisting of three prefectures, while giving two prefectures each to Wang and Kang Rizhi (康日知, another Chengde general who had submitted to imperial authority during the campaign), with the lesser titles of military prefect (團練使, ''Tuanlianshi''). Emperor Dezong, on paper, gave Lulong two additional prefectures — De (德州, in modern Dezhou,

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

) and Di (棣州, in modern Binzhou,

) — both still then held by Li Na. Zhu was angered by Emperor Dezong's refusal to give him any part of Chengde territory (in particular, Shen Prefecture) and requiring him to capture two additional prefectures on his own, while Wang was angered that contrary to Emperor Dezong's implicit promises to give whomever killed Li Weiyue Li Weiyue's offices, he not only received a lesser title, but was in a position where he could easily be destroyed. Tian, who was then still under imperial attack, thus persuaded Zhu and Wang to join him in an alliance to defend against imperial forces. When Liu heard that Zhu was planning to turn against imperial forces, he wrote an earnest letter to Zhu trying to change his mind: Zhu did not accept his suggestion, but it was said that because he knew that Liu was faithful to him, he did not fear that Liu would turn against him. Subsequently, as he was turning against the imperial government but Zhang refused to join his alliance with Wang and Tian, he had Liu take up position to defend a potential attack by Zhang. By 784, Zhu's campaign had ended in utter failure after Wang and Tian Yue's cousin and successor

Tian Xu Tian Xu ( 220–264) was a military officer of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Life Tian Xu was from Wuzhong County (無終縣), Youbeiping Commandery (右北平郡), which is in present-day Jizhou District, Tia ...

turned against him and defeated him along with the imperial general

Li Baozhen Li Baozhen () (733–794), né An Baozhen (), courtesy name Taixuan (), formally the Prince of Yiyang (), was a general of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty. He initially distinguished himself as deputy for his cousin Li Baoyu, and after Li Baoy ...

. Zhu was forced to withdraw with his remaining troops back to Lulong. As he was arriving back in Lulong, he was filled with shames of defeat and feared that Liu might turn against him in light of his defeat. As he was arriving at the headquarters at You Prefecture, however, Liu mobilized the remaining troops and exited the city to welcome him in grand ceremony. Zhu was touched in both sadness and joy when seeing Liu, and the popular opinion at the time credited Liu for his faithfulness.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 231. Zhu died in summer 785, and the soldiers supported Liu to succeed him. Emperor Dezong made Liu the military governor and also created him the Duke of Pengcheng.

As ''Jiedushi''

Liu Peng himself, however, soon fell ill, and Emperor Dezong had his son Liu Ji serve as acting military governor in Liu Peng's illness. Liu Peng only served for three months before he himself died, in fall 785. He was given posthumous honors, and Emperor Dezong made Liu Ji military governor to succeed him.

Notes and references

* ''

Old Book of Tang The ''Old Book of Tang'', or simply the ''Book of Tang'', is the first classic historical work about the Tang dynasty, comprising 200 chapters, and is one of the Twenty-Four Histories. Originally compiled during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

''
vol. 143
* ''

''
vol. 212
* ''

'', vols.

225 __NOTOC__ Year 225 ( CCXXV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fuscus and Domitius (or, less frequently, year 978 ''Ab ...

227 Year 227 ( CCXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Senecio and Fulvius (or, less frequently, year 980 ''Ab urbe condi ...

231 Year 231 ( CCXXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Claudius and Sallustus (or, less frequently, year 984 '' Ab urbe ...

232 Year 232 ( CCXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Lupus and Maximus (or, less frequently, year 985 ''Ab urbe condita'' ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Peng 727 births 785 deaths Tang dynasty jiedushi of Lulong Circuit