Lü Yongzhi
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Lü Yongzhi (呂用之) (d. December 29, 887
Academia Sinica Academia Sinica (AS, ; zh, t=中央研究院) is the national academy of the Taiwan, Republic of China. It is headquartered in Nangang District, Taipei, Nangang, Taipei. Founded in Nanjing, the academy supports research activities in mathemat ...
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''
Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...
'', vol. 257.
) was a Chinese magician, military general, and politician during the late medieval
Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...
, who became trusted by Gao Pian the military governor (''
Jiedushi The ''jiedushi'' (, Old Turkic: Tarduş) or jiedu, was a regional military governor in China; the title was established in the Tang dynasty and abolished in the Yuan dynasty. The post of ''jiedushi'' has been translated as "military commissi ...
'') of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern
Yangzhou Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou, Jiangsu, ...
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Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
) and became very powerful at Huainan, at one point becoming more powerful than Gao himself. Subsequently, Gao's officer Bi Shiduo rose in resistance, plunging the circuit into intense internecine warfare. Lü, after Bi defeated him, aligned himself with Yang Xingmi, but after Yang's victory over Bi and
Qin Yan Qin Yan () (died March 2, 888Academia Sinica]Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Zizhi Tongjian'', :zh:s:資治通鑑/卷257, vol. 257.), né Qin Li (), was a Chinese military general, warlord and politician during the medieval Tang dynasty, who ...
, Yang executed him.


Background

It is not known when Lü Yongzhi was born, but it is known that he was from Poyang (鄱陽, in modern
Shangrao Shangrao ( zh, s= , t= , p=Shàngráo) is a medium-sized prefecture-level city located in the northeast of Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. The city borders the province of Anhui to the north, the province of Zhejiang to the east, and ...
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) and that he came from a family of tea merchants.''
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 ...
'', vol. 224, part 2.
''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 254. Because of the family's merchant tradition, he had visited and was familiar with Huainan Circuit's capital Guangling (廣陵). After his father's death, he became dependent on his maternal uncle, but at some point stole his uncle's money and fled to Mount Jiuhua, where he became a student of the sorcerer Niu Honghui (牛弘徽), who taught him magic. Lü subsequently returned to Guangling and peddled herbs and medicines on the street. He became acquainted with the army officer Yu Gongchu (俞公楚), who was a close associate of the military governor Gao Pian. After he convinced Yu that his magical abilities were genuine, Yu introduced him to Gao. Gao, who was himself dabbling in magic, came to believe in Lü's abilities as well, particularly since Lü also made a number of policy recommendations to him. He thus made Lü an officer in his army and became close to Lü.


Rise to power

After Lü Yongzhi gained Gao Pian's trusts, he began to bribe Gao's attendants to keep Gao under surveillance, so that he could falsely claim to Gao that what he knew was based on his magical powers. He also alienated Gao from those officers that Gao had previously been close to — causing Gao to strip Liang Zuan (梁纘) of his command, kill Chen Gong (陳珙) and his household, and distance himself from Feng Shou (馮綬), Dong Jin (董瑾), Yu Gongchu, and Yao Guili (姚歸禮). He further introduced fellow sorcerers Zhang Shouyi (張守一), Zhuge Yin (諸葛殷), and Xiao Sheng (蕭勝) to Gao, grouping together to seize more and more of the actual power at Huainan's headquarters. He encouraged Gao to spend much of the army's wealth on building temples, and further established a group of secret police to spy on the people, using what they found as excuses to incriminate people and seize their wealth. Under Lü's suggestion, Gao established an elite Moxie Corps (莫邪), with Lü and Zhang in command. Lü lived luxuriously, and gained a group of over 100
concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
s, such that even with the great amount of wealth that Gao was giving him, he still had insufficient funds to maintain his households, so he embezzled the funds that Gao had access to as the director of Tang's governmental monopolies on salt and iron, for his own use. It was said that due to Lü's urging that Gao spend his time on seeking divinity, Gao no longer paid any attention to governance and rarely met his staff members, and the people began to not know who he was any more. As it was Yu who initially introduced Lü to Gao, many of Gao's officers blamed Yu for this situation. Yu thus periodically met with Lü to urge him to change his ways, drawing Lü's resentment. Lü was also resentful of Yao for often publicly rebuking him and trying, on one occasion, to assassinate him. In 883, Lü decided to eliminate Yu and Yao. He had Gao issue an order that they attack the agrarian rebels at Shen County (慎縣, in modern
Hefei Hefei is the Capital city, capital of Anhui, China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up (or ''metro'') area is made up of four u ...
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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
), and then falsely informed Yang Xingmin (who would later change his name to Yang Xingmi) the prefect of Lu Prefecture (廬州, in modern Hefei) that Yu and Yao were going to attack him. Yang reacted by ambushing Yu and Yao, killing them, and then informing Gao that Yu and Yao were intending to rebel. Gao, not knowing that this was all Lü's treachery, rewarded Yang. In 884, when Gao Pian's nephew Gao Yu (高澞) met with Gao Pian and submitted a list of 20 crimes of Lü's, Gao Pian confronted Lü with them, but Lü managed to convince Gao Pian that Gao Yu had only accused him of crimes because Gao Yu had previously tried to borrow money from Lü but Lü declined. Gao Pian expelled Gao Yu from his household, made him the prefect of Shu Prefecture (舒州, in modern
Anqing Anqing ( zh, s=, t=安慶, p=Ānqìng, l=, also Yicheng, Nganking and formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Anhui province of China, province, China, People's Republic of China. Its popu ...
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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
), and later, after Gao Yu suffered defeats at the hands of agrarian rebels, executed Gao Yu.''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 255. In 886, when Gao supported the claim of the pretender Li Yun for the Tang throne (in competition with the commonly recognized Emperor Xizong), Li Yun, whose main proponent Zhu Mei then-controlled the imperial capital
Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...
and forced Emperor Xizong to flee, bestowed on Gao various honors, but also gave Lü the title of military governor of Lingnan East Circuit (嶺南東道, headquartered in modern
Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...
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).''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 256. Because of this title, Lü, who made no attempts to report to Lingnan East, openly established his own headquarters, rivaling Gao's. Gao began to realize that Lü had too much power, but also was apprehensive that he no longer had enough power himself to eliminate Lü. However, Lü nevertheless realized Gao's loss of trust in him, and therefore began to plot to murder Gao and take over the circuit, although he did not carry out the plot at the time. Gao's officers have, by this point, all fearful of Lü's authority. Bi Shiduo, who had formerly been a follower of the agrarian rebel Huang Chao, was particularly anxious because of that fact. Further, Bi had a dispute with Lü over an incident involving one of Bi's
concubine Concubinage is an interpersonal relationship, interpersonal and Intimate relationship, sexual relationship between two people in which the couple does not want to, or cannot, enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarde ...
s, who was known for being beautiful; because of her reputation of beauty, Lü had wanted to see her appearance, and Bi refused, but on one occasion when Bi was not at home, Lü went to see her anyway, and Bi, in anger, threw her out of the household.


Battle against Bi Shiduo

In summer 887, the warlord Qin Zongquan, who had rebelled against Emperor Xizong's rule at Cai Prefecture (蔡州, in modern
Zhumadian Zhumadian ( zh, s= , t= , p=Zhùmǎdiàn; Postal romanization, postal: Chumatien) is a prefecture-level city in southern Henan province of China, province, China. It borders Xinyang to the south, Nanyang, Henan, Nanyang to the west, Pingdingshan to ...
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Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...
), was sending generals out to attack the nearby circuits. Gao, hearing news that Qin was sending an army his way, commissioned Bi to take the special Baiqi Corps (百騎) to Gaoyou to prepare to resist the Qin advance. As Bi was about to leave, Lü treated him especially well, which led Bi to fear that Lü was intending to get his guards down to act against him. Even Bi's mother was fearful, and she sent a messenger to him to state, "If something like that happens, you should strive for yourself. Do not worry about your mother or children." When Bi consulted the defender of Gaoyou, Zhang Shenjian (張神劍), whose daughter had married Bi's son, Zhang believed that Lü would not act against Bi. However, at that time, one of Gao's sons wanted Bi to act against Lü so that he could use this chance to show Lü's evil nature, intentionally sent Bi a message stating, "Lü Yongzhi had frequently met with the Chancellor i.e., Gao, who carried an honorary chancellor title)and wants to act against you. An order has already been sent to Minister Zhang i.e., Zhang, who carried an honorary minister title) Be careful!" Bi confronted Zhang, who knew nothing about it, but subsequently agreed, along with Bi and Bi's friend Zheng Hanzhang (鄭漢章), to rise against Lü. On May 1, 887, Bi and Zheng, after issuing public declarations denouncing Lü, departed Gaoyou and advanced toward Yang Prefecture. Lü oversaw the defense and was initially able to repel Bi's attacks. Bi, who believed that his army was not strong enough to capture Yang Prefecture, sent a letter to Qin Yan, who was then the governor (觀察使, ''Guanchashi'') of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, headquartered in modern
Xuancheng Xuancheng ( zh, s=宣城, p=Xuānchéng''; Xuanzhou Wu dialects, Xuanzhou Wu:'' Shye-san) is a city in the southeast of Anhui province. Archeological digs suggest that the city has been settled for over 4,000 years, and has been under formal admin ...
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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
), offering the military governorship of Huainan to him and asking for aid. Qin sent his officer Qin Chou (秦稠) to reinforce Bi. Meanwhile, Gao and Lü had a falling out inside the city, and Gao put up a defense at his headquarters, commanded by his nephew Gao Jie (高傑), to guard against Lü. Gao Pian subsequently sent the officer Shi E (石鍔) to meet with Bi, along with Bi's youngest son. Bi ordered his young son to return to Gao Pian, stating, "If the Chancellor executes Lü Yongzhi and Zhang Shouyi to show me his intent, I will surely not turn back on his grace, and I am willing to have my wife and children serve as hostages." Gao Pian, worried that Lü might preemptively slaughter Bi's family, put Bi's family under protective custody. On May 17, Bi made a fierce attack on Yang Prefecture, but Lü's counterattack defeated him. However, at this juncture, Gao Jie launched an attack from Gao Pian's headquarters, intending to capture Lü to deliver to Bi. Lü, hearing the news, abandoned Yang Prefecture and fled. Bi took over Yang Prefecture, slaughtered Lü's associates, put Gao and his family under effective arrest, and welcomed Qin Yan to Yang Prefecture to take over as military governor. After leaving Yang Prefecture, Lü attacked Zheng's base of Huaikou (淮口, in modern
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Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...
), where Zheng had left his wife in charge, but could not capture it. Meanwhile, during the siege, Lü had issued an order in Gao's name making Yang Xingmi the commander of the circuit forces and ordering him to come to Yang Prefecture's aid. Yang mobilized the troops of Lu Prefecture and that of neighboring He Prefecture (和州, in modern
Chaohu Chaohu () is a county-level city of Anhui Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hefei. Situated on the northeast and southeast shores of Lake Chao, from which the city was named, Chaohu is under the adm ...
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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
) and headed for Yang Prefecture. When Lü heard that Yang had arrived at Tianchang (天長, in modern
Chuzhou Chuzhou () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Anhui Provinces of China, Province, China. It borders the provincial capital of Hefei to the south and southwest, Huainan to the west, Bengbu to the northwest, and the province of Jiangsu to the ...
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Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...
), he went there to rendezvous with Yang, as did Zhang, when he got into a dispute with Bi over the pillages and decided to join Yang as well.


Alliance with Yang Xingmi and death

Yang Xingmi put Yang Prefecture under siege for months, but could not capture it, despite a terrible famine that developed inside the city. (During the siege, Qin Yan put Gao Pian and his family to death.) Yang thus considered withdrawing. However, on November 18, Lü Yongzhi's former subordinate Zhang Shenwei (張審威) opened the city gates and welcomed Yang's army in. The city thus fell to Yang; Qin and Bi Shiduo fled. Meanwhile, during the siege, Lü had falsely claimed to Yang that he had a secret stash of silver that he would offer to Yang's soldiers as rewards when the city fell. After the city fell and Lü failed to come up with the silver, Yang put him under arrest and had Yang's subordinate and friend Tian Jun interrogate Lü. Lü confessed to previously planning to murder Gao and take over the circuit. On the same day (December 29), Yang had Lü put to death by cutting him in two at the waist and slaughtered his followers. It was said that those who hated Lü came to cut off the flesh off his bones and, quickly, only a skeleton was left.


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. 182. * ''
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 ...
'', vol. 224, part 2. * ''
Zizhi Tongjian The ''Zizhi Tongjian'' (1084) is a chronicle published during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) that provides a record of Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynasties and spanning almost 1400 years. The main text is ...
'', vols. 254, 255, 256, 257. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lu Yongzhi 887 deaths 9th-century births 9th-century executions by the Tang dynasty Chinese magicians Executed people from Jiangxi People executed by the Tang dynasty People executed by cutting in half Politicians from Shangrao Tang dynasty generals from Jiangxi Tang dynasty jiedushi of Lingnan Circuit Tang dynasty Taoists 9th-century Taoists