Yang Xingmi
He was the military governor (jiedushi) of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) late in the Chinese Tang dynasty, whose takeover of Huainan and several nearby circuits allowed him and his family to rule over territory that would eventually become the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms state Wu (although Yang Xingmi would be the first ruler in his line to receive the title of Prince of Wu, it was a Tang-bestowed title and did not denote independence of the state), including most of modern Jiangsu and Anhui and parts of modern Jiangxi and Hubei.
He was captured, but the prefect of Lu Prefecture, Zheng Qi, was impressed by his appearance, and stated to him, "You will be rich and honored one day.
Yang did not have enough soldiers to respond, but sent his officer Li Shenfu, who tricked Chen into believing that a large army was arriving from Lu.
[8] In 887, Gao Pian's officer Bi Shiduo, fearing that Lü Yongzhi would have him killed, rebelled and put Huainan's capital Yang Prefecture (揚州) under siege.
Qin and Bi initially defended the city against the siege, but their attempts to counterattack were repelled by Yang Xingmi, who inflicted heavy losses on their troops.
He claimed the title of acting military governor, while putting Lü and several other officers whose loyalty he considered suspect to death, including Zhang Shenjian.
Qin Yan and Bi joined forces with Sun, who immediately put up a threatening posture against Yang Xingmi.
Yang Xingmi initially welcomed Zhang, but upon hearing that Zhu was sending Li Fan as acting military governor, turned angry.
Meanwhile, Li Fan, on his way south, was ambushed by Shi Pu the military governor of Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered in modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu), who was angry that Zhu, not he, was given Huainan.
In spring 888, Sun (who by this point had put Qin Yan and Bi to death and taken over their forces) finally attacked Yang Prefecture, capturing it easily.
Yang agreed, and also persuaded Sun Duan and Zhang Xiong, an independent general who was then at Shangyuan (上元, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu), to attack Zhao as well.
With Zhao's main forces distracted by Sun's and Zhang's attacks, Yang was able to cross the Yangtze River easily and put Xuanshe's capital Xuan Prefecture (宣州) under siege.
It was said that the morale of Yang's army fell low in light of the defeats, rebounding only somewhat after some successes by Li Shenfu and Tai Meng (臺濛).
He nevertheless was able to send his officers Kang Wang (康暀) and An Jingsi (安景思) to capture He and Chú Prefectures, respectively, although Li Shenfu soon recaptured them.
[10] In spring 892, With Sun's numerically superior army pressuring him, Yang considered abandoning Xuan Prefecture and withdrawing to Tongguan (銅官, in modern Tongling, Anhui).
Yang Xingmi was frugal, promoted farming, decreased the tax burden, and encouraged commerce with nearby circuits.
(Wu subsequently offered to resign since he feared further attack from Du; Yang then had Ju Zhang (瞿章) take over as prefect.)
[12] Meanwhile, Dong Chang the military governor of Yisheng Circuit (義勝, headquartered in modern Shaoxing, Zhejiang) had misjudged his strength and declared himself the emperor of a new state of Luoping (羅平).
Meanwhile, Qian, Du Hong, and Zhong Chuan, all fearing that they would be the next target of Yang's expansion, entered into an alliance with Zhu Quanzhong.
[12] Around this time, Emperor Zhaozong also gave Yang the honorary titles of acting Taifu (太傅) and Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事) and created him the Prince of Hongnong.
Meanwhile, Zhu Quanzhong, having conquered Tianping and Taining, decided to make Huainan his next target, so he gathered his available forces and sent his major general Pang Shigu (龐師古) with 70,000 soldiers from Xuanwu and Ganhua Circuits to Qingkou (清口, in modern Huai'an), posturing to head to Yang Prefecture; another major general Ge Congzhou with the forces from Tianping and Taining Circuits to Anfeng (安豐, in modern Lu'an), posturing to head to Shou Prefecture; and Zhu Quanzhong himself with his main forces to Sù Prefecture (宿州, in modern Suzhou, Anhui, note different tone from the prefecture in modern Jiangsu).
[13] In spring 898, Qian Liu, Zhong Chuan, Du Hong, and Wang Shifan, the military governor of Pinglu Circuit (平盧, headquartered in modern Weifang, Shandong), all submitted petitions to Emperor Zhaozong, requesting that the imperial government declare a general campaign against Yang, with Zhu Quanzhong as the campaign commander; Emperor Zhaozong refused.
Zhu Quanzhong, after first sending his officer Zhang Guihou (張歸厚) to try to relieve Xu, also personally led a relief force that trailed.
[14] With Fengxiang under siege, Emperor Zhaozong issued an edict (possibly under the eunuchs' duress) in spring 902 to Yang, commissioning him as the overall commander of the circuits to the east, bestowing him the honorary chancellor title of Zhongshu Ling (中書令), and created him the Prince of Wu.
[15] With the Feng threat over, Yang launched his attack on Zhu's domain, leaving Li Chengsi in charge at Huainan's headquarters.
[15] In spring 903, Yang sent Li Shenfu, assisted by Liu You (劉有), to attack Du Hong's Wuchang Circuit.
On the journey to Luoyang, Emperor Zhaozong sent one final secret communique to Yang, Li Keyong, and Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) to ask for them to make an attempt to rescue him; none of the three did.
"[6] In summer 904, Li Shenfu fell ill and died while attacking Wuchang; Yang replaced him with Liu Cun (劉存).
He also sent Cao Yanzuo (曹延祚) to Wuchang's capital E Prefecture (鄂州) to help Du defend it in light of Liu's siege.
[4] Through the years, Zhao Kuangning remained in communications with both Yang and Wang Jian, a situation that eventually drew Zhu's anger.
