Shi Siming

However, a Lady Xin, a daughter of local gentry, insisted on marrying him despite her family's opposition, and she was eventually successful in doing so.

Early in Emperor Xuanzong's Tianbao era (741–756), because of Shi's repeated military accomplishments, he was made a general at Pinglu Army (平盧, headquartered in modern Chaoyang, Liaoning).

In 751, after a major defeat that An, who was then the military governor (jiedushi) of Pinglu (then converted into a military circuit) as well as Fanyang (范陽, headquartered in modern Beijing) and Hedong (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) Circuits, suffered at the hands of the Xi, Shi reorganized the collapsed troops to prevent further disaster, drawing accolades from An—although Shi commented that if he had met An just slightly earlier after the defeat, he would have been executed, as were Ge Jie (哥解) and Yu Chengxian (魚承仙), two other generals whom An blamed for the defeat.

An, who was then at Luoyang, sent Shi and Li Lijie (李立節) to attack Changshan and Boling (博陵, roughly modern Baoding, Hebei) Commanderies.

Lu Quancheng (盧全誠), the governor of Raoyang Commandery (饒陽, roughly modern Hengshui, Hebei), however, refused to submit, and Shi put Raoyang under siege but could not quickly capture it, and was forced to lift the siege when the Tang general Li Guangbi arrived with relief troops from Hedong Circuit.

Subsequently, he and Li Guangbi and another Tang general, Guo Ziyi, engaged in a number of battles, largely to Shi's detriment, eventually causing many commanderies to rise against An again.

Meanwhile, though, Shi Siming, who had not received the news of An Lushan's death, attacked Taiyuan, where Li Guangbi was at that point, along with Cai Xide, Gao Xiuyan (高秀巖), and Niu Tingjie (牛廷玠), with 100,000 troops total.

The news of An Lushan's death then arrived, and An Qingxu further ordered Shi to return to Fanyang to guard it, leaving Cai at Taiyuan to watch Li Guangbi.

Shi induced the elite Yeluohe (曵落河) troops, as well as various other tribes, to submit to him, but the Tongluo (同羅) forces refused, and he then defeated them.

Shi, under the advice of his assistant Geng Renzhi (耿仁智), turned against An Qingxu, detaining Ashina and An Shouzhong, and offering to submit to Tang instead, along with Gao.

However, a number of Tang generals, including Li Guangbi and Zhang Gao, doubted Shi's sincerity.

In summer 759, under Li Guangbi's advice, Emperor Suzong had Wu Cheng'en try to persuade Ashina Chengqing into killing Shi together and seizing Fanyang.

Shi quickly captured Wei Prefecture (魏州, in modern Handan, Hebei) from the Tang general Cui Guangyuan (崔光遠), and then declared himself "the Great Holy Prince of Yan" (大聖燕王) in spring 760.

I am attacking the bandits on behalf of the Taishang Huang, and I will not listen to your flattery.Shi then executed An Qingxu, his four brothers, Gao, Sun, and Cui.

He took over An's territory and troops, but returned to Fanyang and left his oldest son Shi Chaoyi in charge of Yecheng.

He created his wife Lady Xin empress, Shi Chaoyi the Prince of Huai, and made Zhou Zhi (周摯) his chancellor and Li Guiren (李歸仁), the main chieftain who of the non-Han forces that had submitted to him in 757, his chief general.

That night, Luo led 300 soldiers and ambushed Shi Siming, binding him and then beginning a return to Luoyang with the troops.

He had three children: Shi Chaoyi (史朝義), the Prince of Huai (created 759) and later emperor of the state of Yan.