Zhang Zhongwu (Chinese: 張仲武; died 849[1]), formally Prince Zhuang of Lanling (蘭陵莊王; per the Old Book of Tang[2]) or Duke Zhuang of Lanling (蘭陵莊公; per the New Book of Tang[3]), was a Chinese military general and politician of the Tang dynasty who governed Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered in modern Beijing) as its military governor (jiedushi) in de facto independence from the imperial government, but who followed imperial orders in campaigns against Huigu Khanate remnants, as well as Khitan, Xi, and Shiwei tribes.
It is not known when Zhang Zhongwu was born, but it is known that his family was from Fanyang, the capital of Lulong Circuit, which was then in de facto independence from the imperial government.
The lead chancellor Li Deyu believed that part of the reason why the three de facto independent circuits north of the Yellow River (Lulong, Chengde (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Weibo (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei)) had been so disobedient to the imperial government was that the imperial government had, in the past, been too quick to confirm their military governors, and thus suggested that Emperor Wuzong wait and observe the situation further, to further create uncertainty within the Lulong army.
Zhang Jiang also sought an imperial commission, and Emperor Wuzong again failed to act, in accordance with Li Deyu's suggestion.
[4] Emperor Wuzong had his granduncle Li Hong (李紘) the Prince of Fu nominally named the military governor of Lulong and commissioned Zhang Zhongwu as the deputy military governor, and created Zhang Zhongwu the Prince of Lanling[2] or the Duke of Lanling.
The Huigu splintered into many groups, and in 842, the noble Najiachuo (那頡啜) advanced on Xiongwu Base, threatening You Prefecture.
Zhang Zhongzhi defeated Najiachuo, killed many Huigu, and accepted the surrender of some 7,000 tents of people, who were subsequently distributed to the various circuits.
)[4] Later in the year, Emperor Wuzong ordered Zhang Zhongwu to rendezvous with Liu Mian (劉沔) the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) and the Huigu noble Li Sizhong, who had submitted to Tang and become a Tang general, at Hedong's capital Taiyuan, to further plan a major attack against the Huigu remnants led by Wujie Khan.
Later in the year, when Liu was one of the generals ordered to attack the warlord Liu Zhen, who had seized Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), the other circuits around Zhaoyi were also commissioned, but Emperor Wuzong did not request Zhang to launch his troops as well, stating instead that Zhang should watch the border for possible further Huigu attacks.
(Yang's mutiny was soon put down by Hedong soldiers under the command of the eunuch monitor of the army, Lü Yizhong (呂義忠).
Li Deyu, who encouraged Emperor Wuzong to suppress Buddhism, summoned Zhang's emissary at Chang'an and informed him that it would merely damage his relationship with the imperial government if he accepted the Mount Wutai monks.