Liu Congxiao

Liu Congxiao was born in 906, at the very end of the Tang dynasty. He was from Yongchun (永春, in modern Quanzhou, Fujian), which was known as Taolin () early in his lifetime. His father Liu Zhang () died in his youth, and he became known for serving his mother filially and older brother piously. He was said to be somewhat educated in literature, and was a particularly avid reader of military strategies. == Rebellion against Zhu Wenjin and subsequent service to Yin/Min ==

As of 944, Liu Congxiao was serving as an army officer in the army of his home prefecture Quan Prefecture (泉州, in modern Quanzhou). By that time, the state that Quan had been ruled by, Min, ruled by the imperial Wang family, had been broken apart by civil war and political strife—and now was under the reign of the usurper general Zhu Wenjin (who had assassinated the emperor Wang Xi (Emperor Jingzong), with Zhu's hold on the throne being Min contested by Wang Xi's brother Wang Yanzheng, who had earlier declared himself emperor of a breakaway state of Yin. After seizing the Min throne, Zhu sent the general Huang Shaopo () to Quan Prefecture to serve as its prefect. Liu, however, was discontented, and he stated to his colleagues Wang Zhongshun (), Dong Si'an (), and Zhang Hansi: His colleagues agreed. In winter 944, they held a feast at Liu's house, and they gathered the soldiers below them whom they deemed reliable and strong. Liu spoke to them and stated (falsely, as it stood): The soldiers became roused by his words and followed him in attacking Huang. They climbed over the walls of the headquarters and killed Huang. Liu then took the prefectural government seal and presented it to Wang Jixun (), a nephew of Wang Yanzheng who resided at Quan, asking Wang Jixun to serve as acting prefect. Liu himself took the title of "Commander of the Army Against the Bandits" (). He boxed Huang's head and had the officer Chen Hongjin deliver it to Wang Yanzheng's capital Jian Prefecture (建州, in modern Nanping, Fujian). Wang Yanzheng commissioned Wang Jixun to be the prefect of Quan, and Liu, Wang Zhongshun, Dong, and Chen to be commanders of the army. Hearing of Huang's death, Zhu sent the generals Lin Shouliang () and Li Ting'e () to attack Quan. Wang Yanzheng, hearing the news, sent the general Du Jin () to aid the Quan army. However, even before Du arrived, Liu led the Quan army and engaged Zhu's army, killing Lin in battle and capturing Li. Subsequently, Zhu was assassinated by his officer Li Renhan (), who surrendered Fu to Wang Yanzheng, who then took the title of Emperor of Min. However, a subsequent rebellion led by Li Renda at Fu wrested that region away from Wang Yanzheng, and Wang Yanzheng's capital Jian Prefecture then came under attack by the Southern Tang general Cha Wenhui (). During the Jian siege, Wang Yanzheng ordered Quan to send a 5,000-men detachment to Jian to help defend the city; that detachment was commanded by Dong and Wang Zhongshun. == As Southern Tang subject ==

In fall 945, Jian fell to Southern Tang forces, and Wang Yanzheng surrendered. (Wang Zhongshun died in the battle, and Dong Si'an took the remnants of his army and fled back to Quan.) Initially, virtually the entire former Min domain submitted to Southern Tang's emperor Li Jing, including even Li Renda, who, however, continued to hold actual control of the Fu region. In spring 946, Liu Congxiao, alleging that, given the threats posed by Li Renda's army and that Wang Jixun was alienating the Quan soldiers by improper rewards and punishments, forced him to yield the command to Liu himself. Liu himself then attacked and defeated Li Renda in a battle, and then reported the news of the victory to Li Jing. Li Jing summoned Wang Jixun to the Southern Tang capital Jinling and commissioned Liu as the prefect of Quan, but also sent a detachment to Quan, apparently to both help defend it and to watch over Liu. In fall 946, the Zhang Prefecture (漳州, in modern Zhangzhou, Fujian) officer Lin Zanyao () rebelled against Southern Tang and killed the general Chen Hui (), whom Li Jing had sent to Zhang, and Chen's monitor of the army Zhou Chengyi (). Liu launched an army and expelled Lin from Zhang; he had Dong take over Zhang. Li Jing then commissioned Dong as the prefect of Zhang. (After Dong declined the position on grounds of naming taboo—because his father was named Dong Zhang ()—Li Jing renamed the prefecture Nan Prefecture (), and so Dong accepted.) Liu returned to Quan, and then held a feast for the commanding general of the Southern Tang detachment, stating to him: Not long after, he granted Liu honorary chancellor designations, and created him the Duke of E. Later, that title was upgraded to Prince of Jinjiang. == As dual subject to Southern Tang and Song ==

in Quanzhou, originally the South Garden of Liu Congxiao In 960, the Later Zhou general Zhao Kuangyin seized the throne from Guo Rong's son and successor Guo Zongxun, ending Later Zhou and starting a new Song dynasty as its Emperor Taizu. Later in the year, Liu Congxiao submitted a petition to the new Song emperor, offering to be a subject, and thereafter offered tributes. Liu, however, thought that movement of the capital was targeting him and feared a Southern Tang campaign against him, and therefore sent his nephew Liu Shaoji () to offer tributes to Li, while at the same time continued to send tributes to the Song emperor through Wuyue. The Song emperor sent an emissary, intending to comfort him, but before the emissary could arrive in Liu's territory, Liu had died from a tumor on his back, apparently in 962. Li Jing's son and successor Li Yu bestowed posthumous honors on him. As Liu Congxiao was sonless, he adopted both Liu Shaoji and another nephew, Liu Shaozi (both of them biological sons of Liu Congyuan) as his sons. The Xu Zizhi Tongjian indicated that after his death, as Liu Shaoji was at the Southern Tang court, Liu Shaozi took over as acting military governor, but was soon seized by the officer Chen Hongjin, who falsely accused Liu Shaozi of wanting to submit to Wuyue and delivered Liu Shaozi to Southern Tang, while supporting Zhang Hansi as the new acting military governor. Liu Congxiao's biography in the History of Song, however, gave a different account—that the coup took place while Liu Congxiao was ill but before his death—but its biography of Chen gave the same account as the Xu Zizhi Tongjian (i.e., the coup was during Liu Shaozi's rule). == Notes and references ==

• History of Song, vol. 483. • Spring and Autumn Annals of the Ten Kingdoms, vol. 93. • Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 284, 285, 286, 288, 294. • Xu Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 1, 2.