Tian Jun (Chinese: 田頵; 858[1] – December 30, 903[2][3]), courtesy name Dechen (德臣), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord during the late medieval Tang dynasty, who ruled Ningguo Circuit (寧國, headquartered in modern Xuancheng, Anhui) at its military governor (jiedushi) from 892 to his death in 903.
He was from Lu Prefecture (廬州, in modern Hefei, Anhui), and, in his youth, established a deep friendship with Yang Xingmi, such that they agreed to become blood brothers.
[1] In 884, by which time Yang Xingmin had become the prefect of Lu Prefecture, under Gao Pian the military governor of Huainan Circuit, Qin Zongquan, a rebel general then ruling Fengguo Circuit (奉國, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan), sent his brother to attack Lu Prefecture.
Bi and his ally Qin Yan the governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Xuanshe Circuit (宣歙, i.e., the circuit that would eventually become Ningguo) were able to capture Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture (揚州); Lü fled, while Qin, who claimed the title of military governor of Huainan, and Bi put Gao under house arrest (and later executed him).
[6] In 889, he attacked Xuanshe Circuit, which Qin Yan had left for his officer Zhao Huang to govern.
When Zhao fled during a flood—believing that the floodwaters would protect him from pursuing Lu soldiers—it was Tian who got on a light vessel, chased him down, and captured him.
[7] Thereafter, Yang sent Tian to attack Chang Prefecture (常州, in modern Changzhou, Jiangsu), which was then under the control of Du Leng (杜稜), a follower of Qian Liu the prefect of Hang Prefecture (杭州, in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang).
His initial attacks were very successful, as he defeated Tian and An Renyi, advancing all the way to Xuanshe's capital Xuan Prefecture (宣州).
[8] It was said that Tian Jun was good at governing his territory; he was also lenient and promoted commerce, and was loved by his people.
He was also said to be welcoming to those with knowledge, and such individuals as Yang Kui (楊夔), Kang Peng (康軿), Xiahou Shu (夏侯淑), Yin Wengui (殷文圭), and Wang Xiyu (王希羽) became his guests.
Yin, in particular, had an excellent reputation, and had been invited by both Qian Liu and the major warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) to join them, but had refused them both.
[8] In 895, by which point Tian was referred to as full military governor of Ningguo, Qian, who then carried the title of military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (鎮海, headquartered at Hang Prefecture by that point), was attacking Qian's former superior Dong Chang the military governor of Weisheng Circuit (威勝, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang), under the reason that Dong had rebelled against the emperor by claiming imperial title himself earlier in the year.
[9] In 897, when the Huainan officer Wei Yue (魏約) was sieging the Zhenhai city of Jiaxing (嘉興, in modern Jiaxing, Zhejiang), Tian was providing Wei support by stationing at nearby Yiting Dam (驛亭埭).
However, the Zhenhai officer Gu Quanwu (顧全武) defeated Wei and captured him, and then also attacked Tian.
[10] Meanwhile, wedged between Huainan and Ningguo remained an independent warlord—Feng Hongduo, who then ruled Sheng Prefecture (昇州, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu) but who claimed the title of military governor of Wuning Circuit (武寧, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu) remotely—whose territory was small but whose military might was based on his having a powerful fleet of large ships, known as the "tower ships" (樓船), at one point allowing him to threaten Yang with attack if Yang refused to yield Run Prefecture to him.
That year, Qian was faced with a major mutiny by his officers Xu Wan and Xu Zaisi (許再思), whose forces were able to capture the outer parts of Hang Prefecture and force Qian to hold his defense within the inner city.
[11] It was said that after this incident, he further resented Yang for holding back on his expansion plans, which he had wanted to carry out because, at that time, he felt he had a strong army and plenty of monetary resources to finance the campaigns.
[2] Hearing that Tai was about to arrive in Ningguo, Tian changed plans and headed back downstream to engage Tai, while leaving Guo Xingcong (郭行悰), along with Wang Tan and Wang Jian, at Wuhu (蕪湖, in modern Wuhu, Anhui), to defend against Li's advance.
Tian tried to summon the army stationed at Wuhu to return to aid him, but, after Tai repelled them, Guo, Wang Tan, and Wang Jian, as well as the officers that Tian stationed at Dangtu (當塗, in modern Ma'anshan, Anhui) and Guangde, all surrendered to Tai.