Yang Pu

Biography

Succession as Prince of Wu

Yang Pu was the fourth son of Yang Xingmi, the founding emperor of Southern Wu. He was a half-brother to his elder brothers Yang Wo and Yang Longyan, and his mother was Lady Wang. In 919 (the sixteenth year of Tianyou), after Yang Longyan ascended to the position of Prince of Wu, he granted Yang Pu the title of Duke of Danyang Commandery. In the fifth month of 920 (the second year of Wuyi), Yang Longyan died. According to the order of seniority within the imperial clan, Yang Meng, the Duke of Lujiang, should have succeeded to the throne. However, Xu Wen, who held actual power, did not wish to install the elder brother and decided to support Yang Pu as the new Prince of Wu. On the eighteenth day of the sixth month, Yang Pu formally ascended the throne and honored his mother, Lady Wang, as Consort Dowager. In the seventh month of the same year, the Shengzhou Chief Military Commission was renamed the Jinling Prefecture, and Xu Wen was appointed the Intendant of Jinling.

The Shunyi Era

In the second month of 921 (the first year of Shunyi), Yang Pu changed the era name to Shunyi and issued an edict of general amnesty. In the eleventh month of the same year, he performed the ritual of sacrificing to Heaven at the southern suburb, then proceeded to the Tianxing Tower to implement another general amnesty. He appointed Xu Wen as Grand Preceptor and Yan Keqiu as Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs. In 923 (the third year of Shunyi), Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang, Li Cunxu, destroyed Later Liang. Yang Pu sent Lu Ping, the Minister of Agriculture, on a diplomatic mission to Later Tang. Yan Keqiu had previously secretly instructed Lu Ping on how to respond to inquiries. After Lu Ping arrived in Luoyang, he answered all of Emperor Zhuangzong's questions according to the instructions provided by Yan Keqiu.

In 924 (the fourth year of Shunyi), Yang Pu went to Baisha to inspect the navy and ordered that Baisha be renamed Yingluan Town. Previously, Zhai Qian, a close confidant of Xu Wen, held multiple positions including Commissioner of the Gate, Commissioner of the Palace City, and Commissioner of Martial Equipment, and strictly monitored Yang Pu's daily life. Yang Pu took this opportunity to point out Zhai Qian's impolite behavior to Xu Wen, stating that he had become proficient in writing the character for "rain" as "water" to avoid the taboo of Zhai Qian's father's name, and that much of the material needed by the palace and the imperial clan had been embezzled by Zhai Qian. Upon hearing this, Xu Wen admitted his fault and requested that Zhai Qian be executed. Yang Pu considered the punishment too severe and instead exiled Zhai Qian to Fuzhou.

In 925 (the fifth year of Shunyi), Later Tang sent Xue Zhaowen, a Grand Master for Remonstrance, on a diplomatic mission to Fuzhou, requesting to pass through Jiangxi via Southern Wu. The Southern Wu general Liu Xin went out of the city to console the envoy and engaged in an archery contest with Xue Zhaowen to display the military might of Southern Wu. In 926 (the sixth year of Shunyi), Yang Pu posthumously enfeoffed four generations of Xu Wen's ancestors and built a temple in Jinling. Xu Zhigao (Li Bian), the Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, was promoted to Palace Attendant, and Yan Keqiu, the Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, was appointed Participant in Determining Government Matters.

Ascension to the Imperial Throne

In 927 (the seventh year of Shunyi), Xu Wen led the civil and military officials to submit a memorial urging Yang Pu to proclaim himself emperor. Yang Pu initially did not agree, but Xu Wen died shortly thereafter. On the third day of the eleventh month, Yang Pu formally ascended the imperial throne in the Wenming Hall. He posthumously honored his father Yang Xingmi as Emperor Wu, his elder brother Yang Wo as Emperor Jing, and Yang Longyan as Emperor Xuan. On the seventeenth day of the eleventh month, a general amnesty was issued within the realm, and the era name was changed to Qianzhen. On the twenty-ninth day of the eleventh month, his mother, Consort Dowager Wang, was honored as Empress Dowager. Yang Pu appointed Li Bian as Defender-in-chief and Palace Attendant, and appointed Xu Wen's son, Xu Zhixun, as Grand General of the State and Intendant of Jinling. In the twelfth month, Yang Pu enfeoffed his elder brother Yang Meng as Prince of Changshan, his younger brother Yang Che as Prince of Pingyuan, and his elder brother's son Yang Gong as Prince of Jian'an.

In the tenth day of the first month of 928 (the second year of Qianzhen), Yang Pu enfeoffed his sons Yang Lian as Prince of Jiangdu, Yang Lin as Prince of Jiangxia, and Yang Qiu as Prince of Yichun, and enfeoffed Yang Longyan's son Yang Bin as Prince of Nanyang. In the sixth month of the same year, Gao Jixing of Jingnan submitted to Southern Wu, and Yang Pu enfeoffed him as Prince of Qin. In the ninth month, Gao Jixing defeated the Chu army at Baitian and captured thirty-four officers and soldiers, whom he presented to Yang Pu.

Li Bian's Monopoly of Power

In the eleventh month of 929 (the third year of Qianzhen), Xu Zhixun, the Intendant of Jinling, came to court. Li Bian accused him of treason, detained him, and appointed him as Left Commander of the Army, while also executing his guest general, Zhou Tingwang. Yang Pu added to his honorific title, becoming Emperor Rui Sheng Wen Ming Xiao, issued a general amnesty, changed the era name to Dahe, and appointed Li Bian as Secretariat Director. In 930 (the second year of Dahe), Yang Pu installed his son, Prince of Jiangdu Yang Lian, as Crown Prince. In 931 (the third year of Dahe), Li Bian became the Intendant of Jinling; his son Li Jing was appointed Minister of Education; Wang Lingmou and Song Qiqiu were appointed Participants in Determining Government Matters. In 932 (the fourth year of Dahe), Yang Pu enfeoffed Li Bian as Prince of Donghai.

In 934 (the sixth year of Dahe), Yang Pu deposed Yang Meng, the Prince of Linchuan, to the title of Duke of Liyang. Li Bian sent his confidant Wang Hong to lead troops to defend the area. Li Bian summoned Li Jing back to Jinling to serve as Deputy Military Commissioner of the Zhenhai Army, and appointed his son Li Jingqian as Grand Protector and Participant in Determining Government Matters, governing jointly with Wang Lingmou and others.

Abdication and Death

In the ninth month of 935 (the seventh year of Dahe), Yang Pu added to his honorific title, becoming Emperor Rui Sheng Wen Ming Guang Xiao Ying Tian Hong Dao Guang De, issued a general amnesty, and changed the era name to Tianzuo. Li Bian was promoted to Grand Preceptor and Grand Marshal of the Armies of the Realm, and enfeoffed as Prince of Qi. In 937 (the third year of Tianzuo), Li Bian established the State of Qi, setting up ancestral temples, altars of soil and grain, and official posts, designating Jinling as the Western Capital and Guangling as the Eastern Capital. In the tenth month of the same year, Yang Pu sent Prince of Jiangxia Yang Lin to present theimperial register (imperial register) and abdicate in favor of Prince of Qi Li Bian. The Southern Wu regime formally perished. Li Bian bestowed the honorific title "Emperor Gao Shang Si Xuan Hong Gu Rang" upon Yang Pu, relocated him to Runzhou, and built Danyang Palace for his residence. Thereafter, Yang Pu wore Taoist robes and practiced the arts of grain avoidance and breathing exercises.

In the twelfth month of 938, Yang Pu died under house arrest at Danyang Palace at the age of thirty-eight. His posthumous name was Emperor Rui.

Yang Pu was the fourth son of Yang Xingmi, founder of Wu, and younger brother of Yang Wo and Yang Longyan, the last ruler of the state. In 919, when Yang Longyan took the title King of Wu, he was made Duke of Danyang; on Yang Longyan's death in 920, Xu Wen, holding power, raised Yang Pu as King of Wu. In 923 he sent the director of agriculture Lu Ping on a mission to the Later Tang, and in 924 renamed Baisha as Yingluan and reviewed his fleet. When Xu Wen died in 927, Yang Pu took the imperial title in the eleventh month of that year, changed the era to Qianzhen, honored his father and brothers posthumously as emperors and made Xu Zhigao grand commandant and palace attendant — real power lying with the Xu family.

Since Yang Xingmi founded the state, actual authority had passed gradually to Xu Wen and his son Xu Zhigao. In the ten years after Yang Pu took the title, all military and political matters were decided by Xu Zhigao; in 937 Yang Pu was forced to abdicate to him, ending Wu, and Xu Zhigao changed his name to Li Bian and founded the Southern Tang. Yang Pu was honored as the abdicated emperor and moved to Runzhou, dying the next year at thirty-nine, the sources suggesting he was killed.

His case is one more instance of a powerful subject replacing a dynasty in the Ten Kingdoms: the founder's descendants hold the throne while power lies elsewhere, until abdication completes the change. After the Southern Tang was founded Li Bian guarded against and provided for the Yang clan, and most of Wu's old officials served the new court. Wu lasted more than forty years from Yang Xingmi's hold on Huainan in 892 and his title of King of Wu in 902 to its fall in 937, one of the earlier states of the Ten Kingdoms both to be founded and to perish.

Politics in Wu were dominated by powerful ministers after Yang Xingmi's death: first Zhang Hao and Xu Wen killed Yang Wo and raised Yang Longyan, then Xu Wen gradually took over military and political affairs and passed them to his adopted son Xu Zhigao. Both Yang Pu's accession to the imperial title and his abdication were arranged by the Xu family, the ceremonies and changes of title reflecting the standard procedure of replacement by a powerful subject in the Ten Kingdoms. After the Southern Tang was founded Li Bian achieved much in institutions and culture, and Wu's old officials such as Song Qiqiu and Li Jianxun continued to serve, the political order of the Jianghuai region not being broken by the change of dynasty.

Wu held roughly the Huainan and Jiangnan regions of what are now Jiangsu, Anhui and Jiangxi, one of the earlier-founded and better-endowed states of the Ten Kingdoms. After taking Huainan at the end of the Tang, Yang Xingmi settled refugees and restored production, leaving a substantial base for the Southern Tang; after its founding Li Bian continued a policy of guarding the borders and comforting the people, so that the Jianghuai region was comparatively settled through the Ten Kingdoms and became an important area of southern economic and cultural development.

Yang Pu's position as the last ruler resembled that of other sovereigns in the grip of powerful ministers: he could not control the armies or intervene in appointments, and both his assumption of the imperial title and his abdication were steps arranged by others. The old and new histories of the Five Dynasties treat his abdication and death briefly, which itself reflects his real political standing.

Wu's institutions largely followed the Tang with simplifications, and its ruler's titles ran from King of Wu to emperor and then, after abdication, to retired sovereign — a rise and fall recurring throughout Ten Kingdoms politics. Yang Pu left no writings or achievements; the changes in his titles are the whole of his political role.

After the Southern Tang was founded, the Jiangnan region continued to develop in institutions and culture, its stability preparing the ground for the prosperity of the region under the Song.

The residence and ceremonial arrangements made for him as retired sovereign are recorded in the Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms and elsewhere, such details reflecting the customary handling of a preceding sovereign at a change of regime.

His abdication and the founding ceremonies of the Southern Tang are briefly recorded in the volumes of the Comprehensive Mirror following the Later Liang annals and may be compared with the Spring and Autumn of the Ten Kingdoms.

Regimes of the Ten Kingdoms generally changed along the path of powerful subject and abdication, the passage from Wu to the Southern Tang being one of the more typical instances.

The Southern Tang's arrangements for the Yang clan of Wu remained a latent concern in its politics, still mentioned in the reign of the last ruler.

No clear posthumous or temple name for him appears in the sources; later ages generally call him the abdicated sovereign of Wu, one more reflection of his position as a figurehead.

After his abdication most of the Wu imperial clan were moved elsewhere, and the family thereafter appears little in the sources.

Though the Jianghuai region passed through changes of regime in the Five Dynasties, its social and economic base largely continued, providing conditions for the region's further growth under the Song.

The salt revenues and grain transport of the Jianghuai region remained important resources in the Ten Kingdoms, the finances of both Wu and the Southern Tang resting on them.

Runzhou, where he lived after abdicating, afterward became a key point for the Southern Tang between Jiangnan and the north bank.

In its early years the Southern Tang adjusted many institutions, its offices and taxes both continuing and changing what had existed under Wu.

The southern states of the Ten Kingdoms generally made a policy of guarding their borders, comforting the people and developing trade, the Jianghuai region of Wu and the Southern Tang being among the earlier beneficiaries.

The Southern Tang's management of the Jianghuai region was inherited by the Song in its taxes and grain transport.

The edicts of his reign were mostly drafted by the Xu family, and his own activity is recorded only briefly.

Most of Wu's old officials continued in office after his abdication, the change of regime going smoothly, so that the Jianghuai region saw no great disturbance from it.

Wu's clan and old ministers were still shown courtesy in the Southern Tang's early years and gradually merged into its bureaucracy.

The stability of Jianghuai and the Southern Tang's management made the region a center of southern culture in the Ten Kingdoms, drawing painters, lyric poets and scholars.

At its height under Li Bian and Li Jing the Southern Tang held the Jianghuai and Jiangxi regions, ranking among the foremost of the Ten Kingdoms.

Wu's revenue from salt, iron and tea was considerable among the Ten Kingdoms, one reason the state could last as long as it did.

The appointments and edicts of his reign generally matched the Xu family's intentions, his own influence on affairs being very limited.

Wu's taxes and salt revenue went largely to maintaining its fleet and defending against neighboring states.

Waterworks and polder fields in the Jianghuai region were already extensive in the Tang and continued to develop in the Five Dynasties, underpinning the prosperity of the Southern Tang and Wuyue.

Wu traded frequently with Wuyue, Min and Chu, transit trade forming part of the Jianghuai economy.

Wu's fleet was central to its defenses, the Yangtze being its first barrier against the central dynasties.

His abdication and the founding of the Southern Tang both fall in the Later Jin's Tianfu years, the overlap of dates interlacing the Ten Kingdoms with the chronology of the central dynasties.

His life ran with the decline of Wu.

The Southern Tang at its founding kept many of Wu's officials and institutions, so that Jianghuai government suffered no sharp break.

The successive changes of his title from King of Wu to emperor to retired sovereign are a direct reflection of the changes in the state's character.

Major Activities

Political Measures

During Yang Pu's reign, political power was gradually marginalized by Li Bian. In the fifth month of 933 (the fifth year of Dahe), Song Qiqiu persuaded Li Bian to move the capital to Jinling, and Li Bian subsequently began constructing the palace city in Jinling. Many of the people of Southern Wu were unwilling to move the capital. Zhou Zong, the Commandant of the Headquarters Guard, advised Li Bian, pointing out that moving the capital would be laborious and costly in terms of manpower and material resources, and would go against the will of the people. In 934 (the sixth year of Dahe), Yang Pu sent Song Qiqiu to Jinling to inform Li Bian that the plan to move the capital was abandoned.

Diplomatic Activities

The relationship between Southern Wu and Later Tang went through a process from interaction to severance during Yang Pu's period. In 923 (the third year of Shunyi), Yang Pu sent Lu Ping on a diplomatic mission to Later Tang, using the pre-instructions from Yan Keqiu to respond to inquiries from Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang. On the fourth day of the second month of 928 (the second year of Qianzhen), a Southern Wu envoy was sent to Later Tang. An Zhonghui, the Military Affairs Commissioner of Later Tang, considered that Yang Pu dared to stand on equal footing with the court, so he sent envoys to secretly observe and refused to receive the Southern Wu envoy. From then on, Southern Wu severed diplomatic relations with Later Tang.

Personal Relations

• Father**: Yang Xingmi, the founding emperor of Southern Wu
• Mother**: Lady Wang (later honored as Consort Dowager and Empress Dowager)
• Elder Brothers**:
• Yang Wo, the Emperor Liezong of Southern Wu
• Yang Longyan, the Emperor Gaozu of Southern Wu
• Yang Meng, the Prince of Linchuan
• Younger Brothers**:
• Yang Xun, the Prince of Xin'an
• Yang Che, the Prince of Dehua
• Sisters**:
• Yang, the Grand Princess of Xunyang (married to Qian Chuanyi, son of Qian Liu)
• Yang (married to Jiang Yanhui)
• Wife**: Lady Wang (Empress Wang), initially enfeoffed as Consort De, installed as Empress in 933
• Children**:
• Yang Lian, Crown Prince (later Prince Jing of Hongnong)
• Yang Lin, Prince of Jiangxia
• Yang Qiu, Prince of Yichun
• Princess of Shangrao (married to Xu Jingqian/Li Jingqian, the second son of Xu Zhigao/Li Bian; died before the Southern Tang succession; posthumously enfeoffed as Lord of Yan, with the posthumous name Zhenzhuang)

Historical Assessment

The New History of the Five Dynasties commented: "By the time Yang Wo had passed away, power lay with Xu Wen. At this time, the realm was in great disorder, and in the Central Plains, usurpation and regicide followed one another. Yet the Xu father and son, with their meager deceit and force, hesitated before three rulers and did not dare to seize the throne lightly. Why? Was it perhaps that their benevolence and authority also had some effect on people?"