Fu Pi

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Fu Pi belonged to the Former Qin imperial clan. He was a great-grandson of Fu Hong, Emperor Huiwu and founder of Former Qin; a grandson of Fu Xiong, Emperor Wenhuan; and the eldest illegitimate son of Fu Jian, Emperor Xuanzhao. His mother's family name is not recorded. In 357, the first year of the Yongxing era, the Prince of Donghai Fu Jian launched a coup, killed the tyrannical Fu Sheng, took the throne in Taiji Hall at Chang'an, assumed the title Heavenly King of Great Qin, inaugurated the Yongxing era, and enfeoffed Fu Pi as Duke of Changle.

Fu Pi was intelligent and studious from childhood and read widely in the classics and histories. Fu Jian discussed military strategy with him, was highly impressed, and ordered the general Deng Qiang to instruct him in the art of war. Fu Pi possessed both civil and military ability. Although he was considered inferior to his uncle, the Duke of Yangping Fu Rong, he was adept as a commander at winning the loyalty of soldiers. The Book of Jin, "Record 15," states that he was intelligent and eager to learn from youth, had a broad knowledge of the classics and histories, was praised by Fu Jian when discussing military strategy, was taught military methods by Deng Qiang, and, though inferior to Fu Rong in civil and military talent, was good at winning soldiers' hearts.

Governing a Region

In 368, the fourth year of Jianyuan, after Fu Jian sent Wang Jian and others to suppress the rebellions of Duke of Zhao Fu Shuang and Duke of Yan Fu Wu, he appointed Fu Pi Inspector of Yongzhou. In 371, the seventh year of Jianyuan, Fu Pi was appointed Bearer of Credentials, General Who Conquers the East, and Inspector of Yongzhou. He was later promoted to General Who Conquers the South, commander of military affairs for punitive campaigns, and Prefect of the Masters of Writing, gradually becoming one of Former Qin's central military figures.

In 380, the sixteenth year of Jianyuan, Fu Jian sought to strengthen control over the lands east of the passes. He moved 150,000 Di households from Sanyuan, Jiuzong, Wudu, Qiancheng, Yongcheng, and other places out of Guanzhong, assigning them to imperial relatives and trusted followers and scattering them among regional garrisons in a manner resembling the feudal lords of antiquity. Fu Pi was appointed commander of military affairs east of the passes, General Who Conquers the East, and Governor of Jizhou. He received three thousand Di households and was stationed at Ye. Fu Jian personally escorted him to Bashang and wept bitterly as they parted; the Di people, separated from their families, cried so loudly that passersby were moved. Fu Pi governed effectively after taking office. The Book of Jin states that after he went out to guard Ye, "the eastern lands were at peace." During his tenure in Jizhou, he employed members of the great families east of the passes. Hebei scholars such as Feng Quan, Feng Fu, Shen Shao, and Gao Tai all joined his staff, and public order remained stable in the region.

The Battle for Xiangyang

In the second lunar month of 378, the fourteenth year of Jianyuan, Fu Jian sent Fu Pi with seventy thousand infantry and cavalry to attack Eastern Jin's Xiangyang, while ordering Murong Chui, Yao Chang, and others to converge from separate routes. In the fourth lunar month the Former Qin army arrived north of the Mian River. Zhu Xu, Eastern Jin's Inspector of Liangzhou, believed the Qin army lacked boats and made no preparations. Former Qin general Shi Yue led five thousand elite cavalry downstream across the Han River, captured Xiangyang's outer city, and seized more than one hundred boats. Fu Pi directed the generals against the inner city. He initially intended an immediate assault, but General of the Martial Guard Gou Chang advised that Qin's forces outnumbered the enemy ten to one and had mountains of provisions. If the population around the Han and Mian rivers were gradually relocated to Xuchang and Luoyang, Jin's transport routes could be blocked and its reinforcements cut off; the defenders would then be like birds trapped in a net. There was no need, Gou argued, to seek quick success at the cost of excessive Qin casualties. Fu Pi accepted the advice and switched to a siege without direct assault.

After nearly a year the city still had not fallen. Censor-in-Chief Li Rou impeached Fu Pi for commanding one hundred thousand men around a small city, spending vast sums every day, and achieving nothing after so long. Fu Jian sent Palace Attendant Wei Hua with credentials to rebuke Fu Pi severely and gave him a sword, declaring that if he failed to take the city by the following spring, he should kill himself rather than show his face again. In the first lunar month of 379, the fifteenth year of Jianyuan, Fu Pi became fearful after receiving the edict. Wang Shi, Clerk to the General Who Conquers the South, argued that with Fu Pi's exceptional abilities and the generals' bravery, taking the small city of Xiangyang would be as easy as a furnace burning a feather. The previous delay had only been intended to win through strategy; if they launched a decisive assault, Xiangyang could be taken immediately. Fu Pi accepted the argument and ordered all forces to attack together. On the wuwu day of the second lunar month, he captured Xiangyang, took Zhu Xu prisoner, and sent him to Chang'an.

Defending Ye

In 383, the nineteenth year of Jianyuan, Fu Jian was defeated by Eastern Jin at the Battle of Fei River, and the Former Qin empire rapidly fragmented. The next year, Champion General Murong Chui gathered former Former Yan adherents east of the passes, rebelled, declared himself King of Yan, and led troops against Ye. Fu Pi sent his senior general Shi Yue against Murong Nong and others, but Shi Yue was defeated and killed, causing alarm among the population. Murong Chui wrote to Fu Pi and Fu Jian explaining the strategic situation and urging them to abandon Ye, but both angrily refused.

In the second lunar month Murong Chui began his attack on Ye. He commanded more than two hundred thousand Dingling and Wuhuan troops and assaulted the city with scaling ladders and tunnels, but could not take it. He then constructed a long encircling line around the city, moved the elderly and weak to Feixiang, and built Xinxing City to store baggage and supplies. Fu Pi led the soldiers and people of Hebei in determined resistance. At one point he ambushed Murong Chui in Hualin Garden. Arrows fell like rain, and Murong Chui nearly failed to escape, surviving only because Champion General Murong Long charged in with cavalry to rescue him. Commanderies and counties throughout Jizhou watched the outcome closely. Zhao Su and others from Zhao Commandery raised troops at Baixiang in support of Former Qin. The deadlock lasted for more than a year. Murong Chui remained unable to pacify Hebei, and Hebei magnates and former Former Yan officials who had initially submitted to Later Yan began to turn away from him.

As the siege dragged on, Ye exhausted its food and fodder and even fed pine wood to the warhorses. Fu Pi requested troops from Zhang Hao and Wang Teng, Inspector of Bingzhou, without success and was unwilling to ask Eastern Jin for assistance. When Eastern Jin general Xie Xuan led a northern expedition, Fu Pi sent troops against him but was defeated and was forced to write to Xie Xuan asking for grain. He promised that when the relief army arrived he would hand Ye over. Fu Pi, however, did not sincerely intend to submit to Eastern Jin. His subordinates, including Sima Yang Ying, secretly altered the letter to promise Fu Pi's surrender. When this was discovered, Fu Pi executed Yang Ying and the others. In the fourth lunar month of 385, the twenty-first year of Jianyuan, Liu Laozhi defeated Murong Chui at Ye and lifted the siege, forcing Murong Chui to withdraw north. Fu Pi led his followers to Fangtou to obtain grain from the Jin army, but on returning to Ye fought the Jin general Tan Xuan, ultimately defeated him, and retook the city.

Proclaiming Himself Emperor at Jinyang

After Yan and Qin had remained locked in conflict for more than a year, famine struck Youzhou and Jizhou. People ate one another, and towns and cities became desolate. Chang'an was then under attack by Western Yan. Fu Pi gathered troops locally and prepared to go west to Chang'an. Wang Yong, Inspector of Youzhou, unable to withstand Yan attacks, withdrew with his forces to Huguan and sent an envoy inviting Fu Pi to join him. Fu Pi therefore led more than sixty thousand people from Ye west to Luchuan. Zhang Hao and Wang Teng welcomed him and escorted him to Jinyang. Only after arriving did Fu Pi learn that Yao Chang had killed Fu Jian. He held mourning rites and then proclaimed himself emperor south of Jinyang, changing the era name to Taian.

With the assistance of Wang Yong and others, surviving Former Qin forces in Guanzhong and Longyou rose in succession to support Fu Pi and resist the Murong and Yao powers. In 386, the second year of Taian, Fu Pi left forces to guard Jinyang and Huguan and personally led forty thousand troops to Pingyang. Western Yan ruler Murong Yong asked Fu Pi for passage east so that he could return to Hebei and join Murong Chui. Fu Pi refused and ordered Left Chancellor Wang Yong, Ju Shizi, and others to attack Murong Yong. The Western Yan army fought the Qin force under Wang Yong at Xiangling, where both Wang Yong and Ju Shizi were defeated and killed. Fu Pi feared that Fu Zuan, whom he distrusted, might take advantage of this new defeat to act against him. He therefore fled south with several thousand men to Dongyuan, intending to attack Luoyang, which was then controlled by Eastern Jin. Eastern Jin general Feng Gai marched from Shancheng to intercept him. Fu Pi was defeated and killed. After his death, his clansman Fu Deng succeeded him and posthumously titled him Emperor Aiping.

Fu Pi was the eldest son of Fu Jian, Emperor Xuanzhao of the Former Qin, by a concubine whose name is not recorded. In 357 the prince of Donghai, Fu Jian, rose in a coup, killed the tyrant Fu Sheng and took the throne in the Taiji hall at Chang'an as the Great Qin Heavenly King, changing the era to Yongxing, proclaiming an amnesty and enfeoffing Fu Pi as duke of Changle. Fu Pi was clever and studious from boyhood, widely read in the histories and classics; when Fu Jian discussed the art of war with him he thought well of him and had Deng Qiang teach him military method. He had both civil and military ability, less than his uncle Fu Rong, duke of Yangping, but as a commander he knew how to win the hearts of his soldiers, which was rare among the princes of the house.

In 368 Fu Jian made Fu Ya inspector of Qinzhou and Fu Pi, duke of Changle, inspector of Yongzhou; in 371 Fu Pi was made holder of the credentials, general-in-chief of the east and inspector of Yongzhou, becoming one of the chief commanders of the Former Qin on its eastern front. In the second month of 378 Fu Jian sent Fu Pi with a great army against Xiangyang in the Eastern Jin, in concert with Murong Chui and others; the siege lasted long and the city fell only the next year, its defender Zhu Xu being taken. His conduct in that campaign showed his capacity to command a large force, though the delay brought him reproof from Fu Jian.

After the battle of the Fei river in 383 the rule of the Former Qin broke up quickly: Murong Chui founded the Later Yan in Hebei, Murong Hong and Murong Chong rose within the passes, and Yao Chang set himself up as well. Fu Pi was then holding Ye, besieged for a long time by Murong Chui's armies and in hard case. In 385 Fu Jian was destroyed within the passes and killed by Yao Chang, and Fu Pi took the imperial title at Jinyang, changing the era to Tai'an as Emperor Aiping, and became the centre of the surviving Former Qin forces.

His situation was desperate: the lands of the Former Qin had mostly passed to the Later Yan, the Later Qin and the Western Yan, and he could rely only on the remnant forces about Bingzhou. In 386 Fu Pi was defeated by Murong Yong of the Western Yan, was forced to abandon Jinyang and move south, and was killed on the way by Eastern Jin troops, his kinsman Fu Deng succeeding him. He reigned little more than a year, and his brief imperial career is a miniature of the Former Qin's passage from the unification of the north to its collapse; his conduct at Xiangyang and elsewhere is often cited to show that Fu Jian's sons were not without ability, though they could not hold back the general ruin.

After the Fei river the position of Fu Pi shows best what the princes of the house faced as the Former Qin came apart. He was holding Ye when Murong Chui rose and moved south, and the city was besieged for nearly a year; with the grain gone and the troops worn out he held on, negotiating with Murong Chui by turns and even seeking support from the Eastern Jin. In 385 he finally gave up Ye and led his people west to Jinyang, and the city passed to Murong Chui.

That same year Fu Jian was destroyed within the passes and strangled by Yao Chang in a Buddhist temple at Xinping. Fu Pi held mourning for him at Jinyang and then took the imperial title, changing the era to Tai'an and giving Fu Jian the posthumous name Emperor Xuanzhao. By then most of the Former Qin's territory was lost: Hebei belonged to the Later Yan, the region within the passes to the Later Qin, and Longyou and Hexi were held by various local powers, so that Fu Pi commanded only the country about Bingzhou. To steady his position he encouraged his officers and men and sought to win over Murong Yong of the Western Yan, but the two fell out over the passage eastward and came to blows.

In 386 Fu Pi fought Murong Yong at Xiangling and was heavily defeated; he abandoned Jinyang and moved south by way of the Zhi pass toward Luoyang and the region within the passes, and was killed on the road by Eastern Jin troops at about forty. His kinsman Fu Deng succeeded him and struggled on with the remnants of the Former Qin for several years before being destroyed in the end by the Later Qin.

In later discussion of the rise and fall of the Former Qin, the battle of the Fei river is commonly taken as the dividing line: before it the state had unified the north, after it broke apart within a few years. Fu Pi, as Fu Jian's eldest son by a concubine, had some ability but could not turn the general course; his defence of Ye and his accession at Jinyang were a brief and difficult holding of the wreck, and his failure is often used to show how swiftly and how harshly states changed hands in the Sixteen Kingdoms.

The straits Fu Pi faced at his accession may be seen the more clearly from the situation: though Bingzhou was still in Former Qin hands, to its north lay the rising Northern Wei and the Dai, to the south the Eastern Jin's Hedong line, and to the west the road into the passes toward the Later Qin and Xinping, so that he was in fact beset on several sides. He sought passage eastward through cooperation with Murong Yong, but Murong Yong meant to hold Bingzhou and expand eastward, and the quarrel between them could not be composed. After the defeat at Xiangling Fu Pi's followers scattered in numbers and his rule at Jinyang dissolved; his move south was meant to bring him back into the passes to revive the Former Qin with Fu Deng and others, but the Eastern Jin garrisons about Luoyang barred the way, and he was killed on the road.

His conduct at Xiangyang deserves notice too: he led a great army against the Eastern Jin's Xiangyang and took it only after a year, having been reproved by Fu Jian for the delay; after the city fell its defender Zhu Xu was taken, and the Former Qin gained the upper waters of the Han, its name for a time much feared.

Seen over the longer term, the fate of Fu Pi and the other Former Qin rulers is an instance of how quickly states changed hands in the Sixteen Kingdoms: a power that had unified the north came apart within some ten years of the defeat at the Fei river, and the princes of the house, though they resisted in numbers, were destroyed one after another for want of a firm base and resources. The record of Fu Pi is found chiefly in the account of Fu Jian in the Jin History and in the Eastern Jin portion of the Comprehensive Mirror, his career interwoven with the disorder in the north after the Fei river.

The temple name Shizu and the posthumous name Xuanzhao he gave to Fu Jian were used afterward by the remaining adherents of the Former Qin.

His failure and Fu Deng's continued resistance together make up the last chapter of the Former Qin before its extinction.

His brothers Fu Hui and Fu Xi likewise each had their part in the battles of the Former Qin.

After his death the old adherents of the Former Qin still resisted in his name.

In the second month of 378 Fu Jian appointed the duke of Changle, Fu Pi, as acting commissioner, general of the expedition to the south, commander of all campaigns and president of the secretariat, and sent him with 70,000 foot and horse under the guard general Gou Chang against the Eastern Jin city of Xiangyang. Yang An led the troops of Fan and Deng as vanguard, Shi Yue 10,000 picked cavalry through the Lu Yang pass, Murong Chui and Yao Chang 50,000 by way of Nanxiang, and Gou Chi 40,000 by way of Wudang. In the fourth month the Qin army reached the north bank of the Mian; the Jin governor Zhu Xu, thinking the Qin had no boats, took no precautions. Shi Yue crossed the Han with 5,000 horse, and Zhu Xu in alarm withdrew into the inner city; Shi Yue took the outer wall, seized more than a hundred Jin vessels to ferry the rest of the army, and Fu Pi pressed the attack on the inner city.

Fu Pi wished to storm it at once, but Gou Chang argued that with ten times the enemy's numbers and granaries piled like mountains they need only move the people of the Han and Mian districts away, block the Jin supply route and cut off relief, and Xiangyang would be a bird in a net; the siege should not be bought with the lives of their own men. Fu Pi agreed and settled into a long blockade. In the twelfth month the censor Li Rou impeached him for holding 100,000 men, spending ten thousand in gold a day and achieving nothing, and asked that he be handed to the judge. Fu Jian replied that an army so long afield could not return empty-handed, pardoned him on condition that he win, sent the palace attendant Wei Hua to rebuke him sharply, and gave him a sword with the message that if he had not won by spring he might take his own life. The next year, after Wang Shi begged for ten days' grace, Fu Pi drove the assault home and took Xiangyang in the second month, sending Zhu Xu captive to Chang'an. The year-long operation was one of Former Qin's greatest undertakings against the Eastern Jin, and set the stage for the struggle in the Huai region that followed.

Major Activities

Military Activities

Fu Pi's two most important military campaigns were the Battle for Xiangyang from the fourteenth to fifteenth years of Jianyuan (378–379) and the defense of Ye from the nineteenth to twenty-first years of Jianyuan (384–385).

At Xiangyang, Fu Pi initially followed Gou Chang's advice and adopted a strategy of siege without direct assault, reducing casualties among his soldiers. Although Fu Jian severely rebuked him because the siege lasted too long, he ultimately succeeded in capturing Xiangyang and took Eastern Jin Inspector of Liangzhou Zhu Xu prisoner, demonstrating a cautious and steady approach to war.

The defense of Ye was the high point of Fu Pi's military career. Facing Murong Chui's army of two hundred thousand, he held an isolated city for more than a year, repeatedly defeated enemy assaults, and at one point nearly killed Murong Chui in an ambush in Hualin Garden. His determined resistance prevented Murong Chui from pacifying Hebei for a long period, caused powerful families east of the passes to waver in their support of the Murong clan, and preserved Former Qin's last major power base in the region.

Political Measures

While guarding Ye, Fu Pi paid close attention to winning the support of the great families east of the passes. Hebei scholars such as Feng Quan, Feng Fu, Shen Shao, and Gao Tai all joined his staff. Although the former Former Yan official Gao Tai was treated with suspicion, Fu Pi praised the principles governing his decision to stay or leave and called him a "gentleman." This tolerant policy toward the great clans gave Fu Pi relatively broad support in the eastern territories.

After proclaiming himself emperor, Fu Pi, with the help of Wang Yong and others, attempted to consolidate the surviving Former Qin forces of Guanzhong and Longyou. He appointed Wang Yong Bearer of Credentials, Palace Attendant, commander of military affairs inside and outside the court, General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Prefect of the Masters of Writing, and enfeoffed him as Duke of Qinghe. Zhang Hao became Palace Attendant and Minister of Works and was enfeoffed as Duke of Shangdang Commandery. Wang Teng became Regular Mounted Attendant, General of the Central Army, and Colonel Director of Retainers and was enfeoffed as Duke of Yangping Commandery. Through these appointments Fu Pi constructed a new governing core.

Relations with Eastern Jin

Fu Pi's relationship with Eastern Jin was complex. During the siege of Ye, he was forced to seek assistance from Xie Xuan, promised to hand over Ye, and sent his cousin Fu Jiu with a bronze mirror, a gold braided cord, and other valuables as tokens. He did not sincerely intend to submit, however. When his subordinate Yang Ying and others secretly altered the letter to promise surrender, Fu Pi decisively executed them after the matter was discovered. After the siege was lifted, he again fought the Jin general Tan Xuan and recovered Ye, showing that he continued to regard Eastern Jin as an enemy rather than an ally. He ultimately died on a battlefield while attempting to attack Eastern Jin-controlled Luoyang.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Fu Xiong, Emperor Wenhuan of Former Qin
• Father: Fu Jian, Emperor Xuanzhao of Former Qin
• Uncle: Fu Rong, Duke of Yangping
• Younger brothers: Fu Hui, Fu Xi, Fu Rui, and others
• Empress: Lady Yang, younger sister of Yang Ying; after Fu Pi's death she was taken by Murong Yong and was killed after resisting him
• Sons: Crown Prince Fu Ning; Prince of Changle Fu Shou; Prince of Pingyuan Fu Qiang; Prince of Bohai Fu Yi; Prince of Jibei Fu Chang
• Deng Qiang: ordered by Fu Jian to teach Fu Pi military methods
• Gou Chang: General of the Martial Guard and an important adviser to Fu Pi at Xiangyang
• Wang Shi: Clerk to the General Who Conquers the South who urged Fu Pi to assault Xiangyang
• Fu Jian: Fu Pi's father and Emperor Xuanzhao of Former Qin
• Wang Yong: Inspector of Youzhou and later Fu Pi's Left Chancellor
• Zhang Hao: Palace Attendant and Minister of Works
• Wang Teng: Inspector of Bingzhou who welcomed Fu Pi to Jinyang
• Murong Chui: founder of Later Yan who contested Ye with Fu Pi
• Murong Yong: Western Yan ruler whose forces defeated Fu Pi's main army at Xiangling
• Feng Gai: Eastern Jin general who killed Fu Pi

Historical Assessment

Contemporary

• Gao Tai's conduct was praised by Fu Pi with the words that choosing whether to stay or leave according to principle was the behavior of a gentleman (Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 105), reflecting Fu Pi's view of political integrity.
• During the Xiangyang campaign, Fu Jian rebuked Fu Pi for spending widely without achieving success and declared that he deserved demotion or execution (Book of Jin, "Record 13"), reflecting dissatisfaction with his military efficiency.
• Murong Chui remained wary of Fu Pi's defense when repeated attacks on Ye failed and ultimately had to alter his strategy and attack elsewhere in Jizhou.

Northern and Southern Dynasties through the Tang Period

• The Book of Jin says Fu Pi was intelligent and studious from youth and broadly versed in the classics and histories, praising his cultural learning while also saying that his civil and military abilities were inferior to Fu Rong's.
• The Book of Jin states that when Fu Pi went out to guard Ye, the eastern lands were pacified, affirming his achievements in local governance.
• When Tang historians including Fang Xuanling compiled the Book of Jin, they placed Fu Pi among the "Records," acknowledging his historical status as a successor ruler of Former Qin.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian records Fu Pi's defense of Ye in detail and treats sympathetically his determination to continue resisting under severe conditions.
• In his commentary on the Zizhi Tongjian, Hu Sansheng praised Fu Pi's refusal to accept Murong Chui's demands for surrender and his insistence on retaining Ye.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian, in History of the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, argued that Fu Pi's defeat marked the collapse of the last major hope for Former Qin's restoration. His defense of Ye could not reverse the broader situation but delayed Later Yan's unification of Hebei.
• Tian Yuqing, discussing the northern political situation after the Battle of Fei River in Aristocratic Politics in the Eastern Jin, treated Fu Pi as a representative of Former Qin's surviving forces and argued that his short-lived rule reflected the political fragmentation of northern China after Former Qin's collapse.
• Modern scholars generally regard Fu Pi as a ruler who lacked extraordinary strategic talent but whose persistence under extreme conditions embodied the resolve of the Former Qin imperial clan and makes him a notable figure of the late Sixteen Kingdoms period.