Pei Du

Pei Du (裴度) (765 – April 21, 839[1]), courtesy name Zhongli (中立), formally Duke Wenzhong of Jin (晉文忠公), was a Chinese politician.

Although a civilian official, he was also known for his military strategies, and he is best known for being in charge of the campaign against the warlord Wu Yuanji during Emperor Xianzong's reign.

At one point, he submitted a secret petition that criticized those who were powerful due to their associations with Emperor Dezong, and thus was sent out of the capital Chang'an to serve as an administrator at the Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region) government.

Emperor Xianzong thus made Liu Yuxi the prefect of the somewhat less remote Lian Prefecture (連州, in modern Qingyuan, Guangdong).

[4] By that point, Emperor Xianzong was deeply involved in a campaign against the warlord Wu Yuanji, who controlled Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan).

Upon return, Pei reported his belief that Wu could be defeated, and further commended the general Li Guangyan for his bravery and righteousness.

When Li Guangyan subsequently often had victories against Zhangyi troops, Emperor Xianzong came to believe Pei to have good judgment of character.

There was suggestions by some officials that Pei should be removed from office to appease Wu Yuanji's allies Wang Chengzong the military governor of Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) and Li Shidao the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong).

Emperor Xianzong rejected such talk, stating, "If I remove Pei Du from office, it will fulfill the desires of the treacherous, and the imperial government will no longer have any authority.

In summer 816, after the imperial general Gao Xiayu (高霞寓) suffered a major defeat against Zhangyi troops, there were renewed talks among officials that the campaign should end.

Pei's colleague Li Fengji advocated ending the campaign on account of army fatigue and treasury depletion.

Before Pei departed, he stated to Emperor Xianzong:[5] If the bandit [i.e., Wu Yuanji] can be destroyed, your subject will still have a chance to come back to the heavenly court.

[5] Meanwhile, one of the imperial generals, Li Su the military governor of Tangsuideng Circuit (唐隨鄧, headquartered in modern Zhumadian) was planning a surprise attack on Zhangyi's capital Cai Prefecture (蔡州).

In winter 817, Li Su launched his attack and captured Cai Prefecture, taking Wu Yuanji captive and delivering him to Chang'an.

When there was warning by his subordinates that there were still many rebellious individuals in the Cai Prefecture army, Pei laughed and responded:[5] I am the military governor of Zhangyi.

Pei made his officer Ma Zong (馬總) the acting military governor and departed Cai Prefecture.

On the way, he encountered the imperial eunuch Liang Shouqian (梁守謙), who had been bestowed two swords and given order to execute Wu Yuanji's former officers.

Pei accompanied Liang back to Cai Prefecture and, not following Emperor Xianzong's orders in entirety, carried out punishment according to the faults of the officers rather than executing them.

[5] While Pei was still at Zhangyi, his subordinate Han Yu recommended the commoner Bo Qi (柏耆) for a mission to persuade Wang Chengzong (whom Emperor Xianzong had believed to have been behind Wu Yuanheng's assassination and therefore declared a campaign against as well) to submit to imperial orders.

Li Yijian was thus sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu).

[6] After the campaign against Pinglu was complete, it was said that because of various accusations that Huangfu and his associates made against Pei, Pei was sent out of Chang'an to serve as the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shandong) and the mayor of its capital Taiyuan Municipality, continuing to carry the title of chancellor as an honorary title.

[7]) After the campaign ended, Pei was initially made Sikong (司空, one of the Three Excellencies) and defender of Luoyang, continuing to carry the honorary chancellor title.

Meanwhile, around the same time, Liu Wu, who had been made the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), had detained the imperial eunuch monitor Li Chengjie (李承偕) after Li Chengjie had disrespected him and further plotted with his subordinate Zhang Wen (張汶) to arrest him and replace him with Zhang.

Shortly after the incident involving Liu Wu, Pei was commissioned to serve as the military governor of Huainan Circuit.

When advisorial officials again objected, Emperor Muzong stripped Yuan of his additional title as director of Changchun Palace (長春宮) but left the orders otherwise unchanged.

[8] In 824, by which time Emperor Muzong had died and been succeeded by Li Zhan (as Emperor Jingzong), Wang Tingcou, upon hearing the Niu Yuanyi, who had been serving as the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南東道, headquartered in modern Xiangfan, Hubei), had died, slaughtered Niu's family, which he had detained at Chengde.

Emperor Jingzong, hearing reports of the Niu household being slaughtered, sighed and blamed the incident on the chancellors' lack of ability.

Meanwhile, at that time, both Wang Tingcou and Zhu Kerong were submitted impolite petitions that, on the surface, offered to send troops to help repair Luoyang's defenses, but were intending to threaten the imperial government, Emperor Jingzong, per Pei's advice, acted without undue alarm and simply declined their offers.

His colleague Lu Sui, however, opined that chancellors should not also handle financial matters, pointing out the prior examples of Yang Guozhong, Yuan Zai, and Huangfu Bo.

Emperor Wenzong, in response, made him Situ (司徒, also one of the Three Excellencies) and gave him the unusual chancellor title of Pingzhang Junguo Zhongshi (平章軍國重事), ordering him to report for duties only once every three or five days.