– 24 September 887[1][2]), courtesy name Qianli (千里), formally the Prince of Bohai (渤海王), was a Chinese military general, poet, and politician of the Tang dynasty.
He initially gained renown for defeating Nanzhao incursions, but later became known for his failure to repel the rebel army under Huang Chao and his mismanagement of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), which he governed as military governor (jiedushi).
A rebellion against him in 887 resulted in intense internal warfare in Huainan Circuit and his imprisonment by Qin Yan, who eventually put him to death.
[3] He was a grandson of the famed general Gao Chongwen,[4] who had suppressed the rebellion of Liu Pi during the reign of Emperor Xianzong.
It was said that, although Gao Pian's family had served for generations in the Shence Armies, he was good at writing in his youth and often had discussions with Confucian scholars.
[4][7] In 863, a major attack by Dali forces captured Annan District (安南, headquartered in modern Hanoi, Vietnam).
In 864, the chancellor Xiahou Zi recommended Gao Pian, who had by that point become a general of the imperial guards, to take over the Tang forces then under Zhang Yin (張茵) the military governor of Lingnan West Circuit (嶺南西道, headquartered in modern Nanning, Guangxi), to attack Annan.
When his reports of victory reached Haimen, however, Li Weizhou intercepted them and refused to relay them to the imperial capital Chang'an.
Li then submitted a report stating that Gao was stopping at Feng Prefecture (峯州, in modern Vĩnh Phúc Province, Vietnam) and refusing to advance.
Meanwhile, though, the messengers that Gao and Wei had sent previously to submit reports to Emperor Yizong, the officer Zeng Gun (曾袞) and the eunuch Wang Huizan (王惠贊), believing that Li Weizhou would again intercept them, took a roundabout route and avoided Li's and Wang Yanquan's camp, and then headed for Chang'an.
Upon Zeng's and Wang Huizan's arrival in Chang'an, Emperor Yizong was pleased by the reports, and issued another order promoting Gao and allowing him to keep his command.
When Gao received the edict at Haimen, he returned to the Jiaozhi front—where Li Weizhou and Wang Yanquan had taken over but had lifted the siege.
He resumed the siege, and finally captured it in winter 866, killing Duan and the local chieftain Zhu Daogu (朱道古), who was allied with Dali forces.
At his recommendation, his grandnephew Gao Xun (高潯), who fought in the campaign against Dali and had much contributions, was made the military governor of Jinghai to replace him.
[8][9] Gao Pian was subsequently made the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong) and was said to have governed it well.
I will make an accusation to Shangdi against you, so one day your family will be slaughtered like mine, you will be subjected to false accusations and humiliation like I, and you will be subjected to fear and distress like I!Gao was said to have even considered executing Raiders who were not at Chengdu at the time of the mutiny, and he only stopped when his subordinate Wang Yin (王殷) pointed out that they could not have participated in the mutiny, and that he, as a Taoist, should be more merciful.
He was also given the honorific title of acting Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and created the Duke of Yan,[4] hoping that Wang's followers would submit to him.
A number of Huang's followers surrendered to Zhang and Liang, including Qin Yan, Bi Shiduo, and Li Hanzhi.
[11] With Huang approaching Lingnan East's capital Guang Prefecture (廣州), Gao submitted a petition to Emperor Xizong.
[11] In fall 880, Huang crossed the Yangtze River at Caishi (采石, in modern Ma'anshan, Anhui) and headed into Huainan territory.
Emperor Xizong agreed, and, in spring 882, made Wang the overall commander against Qi instead, stripping that title from Gao, but allowing him to remain the military governor of Huainan and the director of the monopolies.
He submitted an angry and rude petition, complaining that he was not given sufficient authority, complaining that Wang Duo and Wang's deputy Cui Anqian were incompetent, and comparing Emperor Xizong to such failed leaders as the Qin dynasty's Ziying and the Han dynasty's Gengshi Emperor.
Emperor Xizong responded harshly, in an edict drafted by the chancellor Zheng Tian, and thereafter, Gao refused to submit any revenues to the imperial government.
[12] In 885, with Huang destroyed and Emperor Xizong returned to Chang'an, the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi, who controlled imperial governance and who had a dispute with Wang Chongrong the military governor of Hezhong Circuit (河中, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi), tried to remove Wang by transferring him to Tianping Circuit.
Wang, believing himself to be unjustly punished (as he had contributed much to Qi's destruction and the recapture of Chang'an) refused to be transferred to Tianping.
Zhu took the opportunity to proclaim a distant relative of Emperor Xizong's, Li Yun the Prince of Xiang, regent.
[13] Meanwhile, Gao was beginning to realize that Lü had, in effect, becoming the ruler of Huainan, and that he was unable to exercise his own power independently.
At this time, though, Bi, who was one of the commanders commissioned to resist Qin, came to believe that Lü was going to act against him next, and therefore gathered his forces, along with fellow officers Zheng Hanzhang (鄭漢章) and Zhang Shenjian (張神劍) and rose against the headquarters forces then nominally under Gao but actually under Lü's control.