Li Congke (simplified Chinese: 李从珂; traditional Chinese: 李從珂; pinyin: Lǐ Cóngkē) (11 February 885 – 11 January 937), also known in historiography as the Last Emperor of Later Tang (後唐末帝), Deposed Emperor of Later Tang (後唐廢帝), Wang Congke (王從珂) (particularly during the succeeding Later Jin dynasty, which did not recognize him as a legitimate Later Tang emperor), or Prince of Lu (潞王, a title Li Congke carried prior to his reign), childhood name Ershisan (二十三, "23") or, in short, Asan (阿三), was the last emperor of the Later Tang dynasty of China.
Li Congke was born in 885, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang, in Pingshan (平山, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei).
Li Congke took on part of the household financial burdens by collecting lime and horse manure, for family use and/or for sale.
[3] Lady Wei died a few years after she was captured and was buried at Hedong's capital Taiyuan.
"[3][11] Li Congke participated in a major Jin victory over the Khitan Empire in 917, serving under his father.
The Jin counterattack was successful, allowing the Jin army to kill a large number of Later Liang soldiers and leading to the overall battle being effectively a draw, with both armies having lost two-thirds of their soldiers and unable to attack each other again for some time.
At that time, the main Later Liang army was commanded by Dai Siyuan, who also served as the military governor of Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong).
He left his officers Lu Shunmi (盧順密), Liu Suiyan (劉遂嚴), and Yan Yong (燕顒) at Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture (鄆州) to defend it.
As Yun was deep in Later Liang territory south of the Yellow River, however, most of Li Cunxu's generals, including his chief of staff (Shumishi) Guo Chongtao, opposed Lu's proposal, believing that it would be dangerous and futile.
Li Cunxu agreed, and allowed him to take 5,000 soldiers to, under cover of darkness, rapidly descend on Yun to attack it.
The city fell to Li Siyuan, who was commissioned the military governor of Tianping and held it for Later Tang over the next several months as the Later Liang army (by then under the command of Wang Yanzhang) futilely tried to cut off the supply route from Later Tang proper to Yun.
Duan crossed the Yellow River and headed for Chan Prefecture (澶州, in modern Anyang, Henan) and prepared an ambitious four-prong attack against Later Tang:[13] When Wang made an exploratory attack on Yun, however, Li Congke led a small contingent of cavalry soldiers and repelled his attack, causing him to withdraw to Zhongdu (中都, in modern Jining, Shandong).
[13] By 924, at which time there was a Khitan incursion, Li Congke carried the title of the commander of the left cavalry at the northern capital (Taiyuan), and was dispatched to the frontier, along with Li Shaobin the military governor of Henghai Circuit (橫海, headquartered in modern Cangzhou, Hebei), to defend against the Khitan.
)[3] In 926, Li Cunxu and his wife Empress Liu, suspecting Guo and another major general, Zhu Youqian, of treason, killed them.
[16] Apparently shortly after, Li Congke was made the full military governor of Huguo.
In 927, he received the honorary titles of acting Taibao (太保) and chancellor (同中書門下平章事, Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi).
Yang found an opportunity when Li Congke went outside the city walls of Huguo's capital Hezhong Municipality (河中) to examine cavalry troops, and locked the city gates, refusing Li Congke reentry.
[17] In 932, Li Congke was moved to be the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi).
[18] In spring 934, Zhu and Feng, not wanting Shi and Li Congke to become entrenched at their circuits, issued orders as chiefs of staff – without an imperial edict – transferring Li Congke to Hedong, Shi to Chengde, and Chengde's military governor Fan Yanguang to Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered at Yedu).
[2] Li Congke's declaration initially drew little support from other regional governors, most of whom arrested his messengers while some were acting ambiguously.
What crime have I committed that I now face death?Many of the imperial soldiers had already been inclined to support Li Congke, and the speech touched them.
Li Congke's chief of staff Han Zhaoyin and Li Zhuanmei, however, believed that keeping Shi at Luoyang would cause both another brother-in-law, Zhao Yanshou the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered at Daliang) and Zhao's father Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing), to become apprehensive.
As Shi appeared physically feeble at the time (after a lengthy illness), Li Congke considered him unlikely to be a future threat, and therefore sent him back to Hedong.
After she offered Li Congke wine to wish him long life, she asked to take leave of him and return to Hedong.
[4] The imperial scholars Li Song and Lü Qi (呂琦) believed that the solution was to ally with the Khitan Empire.
[4] In summer 936, at Xue's suggestion, Li Congke issued an edict moving Shi from Hedong to Tianping.
The remnants of Zhang's army was subsequently surrounded by the Khitan/Hedong troops at Jin'an Base (晉安寨, near Taiyuan).
Li Congke felt compelled to do so, but as he feared engaging Shi himself – as he was apparently both apprehensive of Shi's abilities and suffering from an illness at the time, and often resorted to drinking as a coping mechanism – stopped after reaching Heyang (河陽, slightly north of Luoyang).
Instead, he ordered Zhao Dejun and Fan Yanguang (then the military governor of Tianxiong) to launch their troops to try to lift the siege on Jin'an.
[19] Li Congke's background was the basis of a 14th-century zaju by the Yuan Dynasty playwright Guan Hanqing titled "Madame Liu Hosts the Celebration Feast for the Five Marquesses" (劉夫人慶賞五侯宴).