Luo Shang (died 310),

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 ...

Jingzhi, also called Luo Zhong, courtesy name Jingzhen, was a military general of the

Jin dynasty (266–420) The Jin dynasty (; ) or the Jin Empire, sometimes distinguished as the (司馬晉) or the (兩晉), was an imperial dynasty of China that existed from 266 to 420. It was founded by Sima Yan (Emperor Wu), eldest son of Sima Zhao, who had pr ...

. In 300, the Jin court appointed him the Inspector of Yizhou and sent him to quell the rebellion of the previous officeholder, Zhao Xin. However, before Luo Shang arrived in the province, the refugee leader,

Li Te Li Te (李特, died 303), courtesy name Xuanxiu (玄休), posthumously King Jing of Chengdu (成都景王) and later Emperor Jing (景皇帝), was the spiritual founder of Cheng Han during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. He was a ...

, had ousted Zhao Xin from power. Luo Shang and Li Te attempted to coexist, but due to conflicting interests, the two men went to war with each other in 301. In 304, Li Te's son,

Li Xiong Li Xiong (李雄) (274–334), courtesy name Zhongjuan (仲雋), formally Emperor Wu of Cheng (Han) (成(漢)武帝), was the first emperor of the Di-led Chinese Cheng Han dynasty and commonly regarded as its founder (although some historians ...

, drove him out from provincial capital,

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

, allowing the Li clan to establish the

Cheng Han Cheng Han (; 303 or 304 – 347) was a Dynasties in Chinese history, dynastic state of China listed as one of the Sixteen Kingdoms in Chinese historiography. Ruled by the Di (Five Barbarians), Di people, its territory was based in what is modern- ...

dynasty in the Ba and Shu regions. Luo Shang continued to resist Cheng Han from Ba Commandery (巴郡; present-day

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

), but after his death in 310, Cheng was able to consolidate its power in southwest China.

Early life and career

Luo Shang was from

Xiangyang 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 ...

and his father Luo Shi (羅式) died when he was still very young. Luo Shang was thus adopted by his uncle

Luo Xian Luo Xian (died 270), courtesy name Lingze, was a military general of the Jin dynasty of China. He previously served in the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period. He is best known for defending his position at Yong'an (present-day Fengj ...

, the famed general of

Shu Han Han (; 221–263), known in historiography as Shu Han ( ) or Ji Han ( "Junior Han"), or often shortened to Shu (; pinyin: ''shŭ'' <

Yong'an Yong'an () is a county-level city in west-central Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It is located on the Sha River, which is a tributary of the Min River (Fujian), Min River. accessed August 14, 2005 Yong'an is located in the west-cen ...

from 30,000

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

soldiers. Luo Shang inherited his uncle's talents in writing articles and found himself a position as Army Adviser under the Inspector of

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' ...

, Wang Rong. He partook in Jin's conquest of Wu in 279, in which he was ordered to attack

Wuchang Wuchang forms part of the urban core of and is one of 13 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, China. It is the oldest of the three cities that merged into modern-day Wuhan, and stood on the ri ...

. After the conquest, he was appointed as Inspector of

Liangzhou Liangzhou District () is a district and the seat of the city of Wuwei, Gansu province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the east. Geography Liangzhou District is located in east Hexi Corridor, north to the Qilian Mo ...

Inspector of Yizhou

Establishing ties with Li Te

In 300, the Inspector of Yizhou, Zhao Xin rebelled against Jin in hopes of starting his own state. Hearing this, Luo Shang quickly wrote a petition to the Jin court volunteering himself to put down the rebellion. The court agreed, and Luo Shang was made the new Inspector of Yizhou. However, Luo Shang would not be the one to defeat Zhao Xin, rather it was a Ba- Di refugee named Li Te, who had originally joined Zhao but later turned on him. Along the way to

the following year, Luo Shang was openly welcomed by Li Te and presented with gifts. Luo Shang accepted the gifts and later made Li Te's brother, Li Xiang as his Cavalry Commander. However, Luo Shang's advisors, Xin Ran (辛冉) and Wang Dun (王敦, not to be confused with the more famous

Wang Dun Wang Dun () (266 – after 8 August 324According to Sima Shao's biography in ''Book of Jin'', Wang Dun died shortly after the ''renshen'' day of the 7th month of the 2nd year of the ''Taining'' era of Shao's reign; the date corresponds to 8 Aug 3 ...

), objected to his decisions and cautioned him agains Li Te. Luo Shang chose to ignore them, but suspicion between the two sides persisted.

Refugee issue in Yizhou

Later in 301, the Jin court in Luoyang issued an order to all refugees in Yizhou to return north to their original homes in

Yongzhou Yongzhou, formerly known as Lingling, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Hunan province, People's Republic of China, located on the southern bank of the Xiang River, which is formed by the confluence of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, and b ...

and Qinzhou (秦州, modern eastern

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 ...

). Many of the refugees refused to abide this as they received news that the north was still in disarray. Li Te decided to send his subordinate Yan Shi (閻式) along with bribes to Luo Shang to negotiate their stay until autumn, which Luo Shang permitted. As autumn approached, Luo Shang began making preparations to send the refugees back, but the refugees were still reluctant to leave. Li Te sent Yan Shi again to negotiate with Luo Shang but this time he did not permit. Luo Shang's popularity deteriorated further after he followed Xin Ran's advice of introducing checkpoints in Zitong to confiscate goods held by the refugees, with the reasoning that the refugees had stolen the goods from Chengdu when ousting Zhao Xin. Li Te had Yan Shi meet with Luo Shang for one last time, but was once more fruitless. Meanwhile, Xin Ran, frustrated at Li Te's persistence, started placing bounties on Li Te's family, but Li Te used this against him by editing the notices to make it seem that he also wanted the other major refugee families dead. The notices caused many of the refugees to band themselves with Li Te for protection, allowing him to amass a large under him. At this point, war between Li Te and Luo Shang was inevitable.

War with Li Te

Early defeats

Luo Shang's side would be the first to act, although without his knowledge. Xin Ran and Li Bi (李苾) personally ordered Ceng Yuan (曾元) and others to attack Li Te's camp. After being informed, Luo Shang backed their decision and sent Tian Zuo (田佐) to strengthen their attack. However, Li Te routed Luo Shang's forces and sent their generals' heads as a warning. Li Te then proceeded to attack Guanghan Commandery (廣漢郡; around present-day

Guanghan Guanghan ( zh, s=广汉, t=廣漢, p=Guǎnghàn; formerly known as Hanchow) is a county-level city under the administration of Deyang in Sichuan province, southwest China, and only from Chengdu. The predominant industries are tourism, pharmaceut ...

, Sichuan) where Xin Ran was based. Luo Shang ordered Li Bi and Fei Yuan (費遠) to rescue Xin Ran but they were defeated. The county soon fell, and Xin Ran fled to Deyang County as Li Te's forces advanced to Chengdu. Luo Shang's unpopular administration had caused many people to support Li Te over him. Because of this, Luo Shang decided to heavily rely on his defences, fortifying it and fighting Li Te to a stalemate. Meanwhile, he also called for reinforcements from Liangzhou. The following year, aid arrived in the form of Ya Bo (衙博), who marched into Zitong, so Luo Shang coordinated with Ya Bo by sending Zhang Gui (張龜) to

Fancheng Fancheng is a district of the city of Xiangyang, Hubei, People's Republic of China. History Fancheng, or Fan City, was an ancient city in Hubei, situated on the northern side of the Han River, opposite Xiangyang on the southern side of the r ...

. However, Zhang Gui was defeated by Li Te while Ya Bo was forced into retreating by Li Te's son, Li Dang. After this victory, Li Te challenged Luo Shang's position of Inspector of Yizhou by proclaiming himself the Governor of Yizhou. The armies of Li Liu and Li Xiang arrived at the outskirts of Chengdu later that year. Luo Shang sent an army to fight him, but they were routed. Luo Shang had his general Zhang Xing (張興) to feign surrender and scout Li Te's army. Once he returned and informed Luo Shang, Zhang Xing went back to Li Te's camp with thousands of Luo Shang's strongest soldiers during the night. They killed Li Pan (李攀) and routed Li Xiang, but Li Xiang returned with Li Liu's army to defeat Zhang Xing. Many of Luo Shang's men died that night, and most their equipment were abandoned.

Ambushing Li Te

In early 303, Li Te also arrived and took the Lesser City section of Chengdu. After Te declared a new reign era, Luo Shang sent his agents to negotiate peace with Te. Many of Li Te's generals doubted Luo Shang's intentions, but he ignored their concerns and thought nothing more. While they were discussing, Jin forces from Jingzhou led by Sun Fu (孫阜) and Zong Dai (宗岱) made their way to Yizhou to help Luo Shang. It was then when Luo Shang's subordinate, Ren Rui (任叡) proposed to him a plan to ambush Li Te. One night, Luo Shang and Ren Rui secretly slipped out of the city. Ren Rui then went to the fortifications around Chengdu to share his plans and get the local leaders to join. Ren Rui later surrendered to Li Te and lied to him about Luo Shang's situation. Finally, Li Te, believing Ren Rui's excuse of wanting to see his family, allowed him to return to Chengdu, where Ren revealed to Luo about important information he received from Li Te. In February or March 303, Luo Shang and the fortification leaders ambushed Li Te's camp. Li Te fought desperately for two days but died in the end alongside Li Fu (李輔) and Li Yuan (李遠). Luo Shang had their bodies burnt and sent their heads to the capital.

War with Li Liu and Li Xiong

War with Li Liu

Li Te's sudden death rocked the rebel army. Many of their generals did not know what to do, so they retreated to Chizu (赤祖, in present day

Mianzhu Mianzhu ( zh, s=绵竹, t=綿竹, w=Mienchu, p=Miánzhú) is a county-level city of Deyang, Sichuan province in Southwest China. It has an area of and a population of 510,000 in 2004. The city was heavily damaged during the 2008 Sichuan earthq ...

, Sichuan), where they elected Li Te's brother Li Liu as the new leader. Luo Shang took advantage of the confusion by sending He Chong (何沖) and Chang Shen (常深) to attack Chizu. A native named Yao Shen (藥紳) also rose up in support of Luo Shang. As the two sides fought, the Di chieftains, Fu Cheng (苻成) and Kui Bo (隗伯) defected over to He Chong. Li Liu's camp was on the verge of falling but against all odds, Li Liu managed to not only repel Luo Shang's forces, but also the traitors within his camp. Li Liu capitalised on his victory by putting Chengdu under siege. Sun Fu and Zong Dai's reinforcements did not arrive as Sun Fu was defeated by Li Xiong and Zong Dai died of natural causes. Luo Shang's subordinate Xu Yu (徐轝) begged him to ally with the Taoist hermit at

Mount Qingcheng Mount Qingcheng () is a sacred Taoist mountain in Dujiangyan, Chengdu, Sichuan, China. It is considered one of the birthplaces of Taoism and one of the most important Taoist religious sites in China. In Taoist mythology, it was the site of the ...

Fan Changsheng Fan Changsheng (范長生 fàn chángshēng) (died 318) was a Taoist priest and leader who was instrumental in the establishment of the Cheng Han state during the Sixteen Kingdoms era in China. He led a Taoist community of over one thousand families ...

, as he had thousands of families under his wing. Luo Shang refused, and this backfired as Xu Yu defected in anger to Li Liu, who told Liu about Changsheng. As a result, Li Liu was able to restock his supplies to continue fighting.

War with Li Xiong

Li Liu died during the winter of 303. Before his death, he chose his nephew, Li Te's son Li Xiong to succeed him. Upon his succession, Li Xiong sent a man named Pu Tai (朴泰) to trick Luo Shang into attacking Picheng (郫城, in present-day Pixian County, Sichuan). Luo Shang ordered Kui Bo to attack the city during the night but he was defeated by Li Xiang. Li Xiang then led his army to Chengdu and pretended to be Kui Bo by shouting at the gates, "We had already taken Picheng!" As it was too dark, Luo Shang believed he was Kui Bo and allowed them entry into the city. Before he could realize, Li Xiang and his men had already swarmed into the Lesser City. Luo Shang holed himself up in the Greater City section of Chengdu. Li Xiong intensified his attack on Chengdu. Luo Shang's food supply had been cut off after Li Xiang captured

Qianwei Qianwei County () is a county in the central part of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of Leshan Leshan, formerly known as Jiading or Jiazhou, is a prefecture-level city located at the confluence of the Dadu and Min river ...

, leaving the city with little to no ration. In 304, Luo Shang entrusted Zhang Luo (張羅) to hold the city while he fled during the night. However, Chengdu eventually fell to Li Xiong, allowing him to officially break away from Jin and form his state of Cheng. Luo Shang reached

Jiangyang Jiangyang District () is the central urban District (China), district of the city of Luzhou, in the Sichuan province of China. History The district, as the main part of the old city, has a history of 2100 years. With the expansion of the city, th ...

, where he sent a letter to the Jin court about the situation in Yizhou. He also asked the Inspector of Jingzhou, Liu Hong for supplies.

Commanding from Ba Commandery

With the fall of Chengdu, Luo Shang based himself at Ba Commandery. He sent his men to raid the Shu region and captured Li Xiang's wife Lady Zan (昝氏) and their child

Li Shou Li Shou (; 300–343), courtesy name Wukao (武考), formally Emperor Zhaowen of (Cheng) Han ((成)漢昭文帝), was an emperor of the Di-led Chinese Cheng Han dynasty. He was the cousin of Cheng Han's founding emperor Li Xiong, but after he ov ...

in the process. By 307, Luo Shang had established his camps and defenses around Yizhou. As many were fleeing from Jingzhou to Yizhou at the time, he set up new counties and commanderies for the refugees to settle in to dissuade them from returning. Despite his early failures, the court rewarded Luo Shang with Cavalier In Regular Attendance and Commander of Yizhou and Liangzhou in 308.

Campaign against Cheng (309 –310)

In 309, Luo Shang began a campaign against Cheng after he received the surrender of Zitong Commandery. Li Xiong sent Li Xiang, Li Yun (李雲) and Li Huang (李璜) to retake the commandery, but Luo Shang defeated them and killed Li Yun and Li Huang. Meanwhile, the Jin general, Qiao Deng, was marching west to attack Cheng and asked Luo Shang for troops, but he refused. Despite his rejection, Qiao Deng went ahead and captured

Fucheng County Fucheng County () is a county in Hengshui, Hebei province, China. Administrative Divisions Towns: * Fucheng, Fucheng County, Fucheng (), Gucheng (), Matou (), Xiakou (), Cuijiamiao () Townships: * Manhe Township (), Jianqiao Township (), Jiang ...

from Cheng. Luo Shang also sent Xiang Fen (向奮) to camp at Anhan (安漢, in present-day

Nanchong Nanchong (; Sichuanese: lan2cong1) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of Sichuan province, China, with an area of . At the 2020 census it was home to 5,607,565 people, of whom 1,936,534 lived in the built-up (or 'metro') area made of th ...

, Sichuan), where Li Xiong attacked him but to no avail. In 310, Luo Shang received the surrender of Baxi Commandery (巴西郡; in present-day

Langzhong Langzhong (formerly known as Paoning) is a county-level city in northeastern Sichuan province, China, located on the middle reaches of the Jialing River. It is administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Nanchong. Langzhong has a total ...

, Sichuan) from Wen Shi (文石).

Death and aftermath

Luo Shang died of natural causes in August 310 while his campaign was still ongoing, and his office of Inspector of Yizhou was succeeded by Pi Su (邳皮). Despite the string of victories in 309 and early 310, Cheng was able to change the tide in the following months of 310. Before Luo Shang's death, Cheng's general, Zhang Bao (張寶), recaptured Zitong after feigning a surrender. Following his death, infighting began among the Jin generals. While Pi Su made his way to Ba, Luo Shang's son, Luo Yu (羅宇), who hated Qiao Deng, refused to send supplies to Fucheng. Pi Su was furious when he heard of Luo Yu's actions and wanted to punish him once he arrived in Ba. However, after arriving, Luo Yu killed Pi Su, and Luo Yu was then killed by the Commandant of Jianping, Bao Zhong (暴重). Cheng took advantage of the situtation in Ba to recover their lost territories. In February 311, Cheng reclaimed Baxi Commandery and Fucheng County, reversing Luo Shang's gains from the two previous years.(五年，春正月，李驤破涪城，獲登。巴西、梓潼復為雄有... ) ''Huayang Guozhi'', vol.8.9

References

* Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (648). ''

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 ...

'' (''Jin Shu''). * Chang, Qu (4th century). ''

Chronicles of Huayang The ''Chronicles of Huayang'' or ''Huayang Guo Zhi'' () is the oldest extant gazetteer of a region of China. It was compiled by Chang Qu during the Jin Dynasty. It contains roughly 110,000 characters. Its contents comprise history, geography and ...

'' (''Huayang Guozhi'') * Sima, Guang (1084). ''

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 ...

''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Luo, Shang 310 deaths Jin dynasty (266–420) generals