Li Sheng

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Li Sheng was born in 727, the fifteenth year of the Kaiyuan era under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, at Lintan in Tao Prefecture. His family belonged to the military households of Longxi. His father Li Qin had served as General-in-Chief of the Left Jinwu Guard and guarded the frontier. Li Sheng grew up under this military influence, read works on warfare, and developed formidable martial skills. The source describes him as tall and powerful, particularly skilled in mounted archery, and already conspicuous in youth.

When the An Lushan Rebellion broke out in 755, the Tang transferred large numbers of northwestern frontier troops inward to suppress it, allowing the Tibetan Empire to seize territory in Longyou and Hexi. Li Sheng entered military service on the northwestern frontier and fought Tibetan troops. He was bold in battle and often charged at the front. Historical sources are cited as calling him “Xiao Yong Jue Lun”; he is said in one engagement to have fought against superior numbers and personally killed several Tibetan warriors, thereby making his reputation.

Service on the Frontier

In 763, the first year of Guangde, Li Sheng served under Li Baoyu, Military Commissioner of Fengxiang, and was appointed commander of the Right Army. Tibetan forces frequently raided Longyou, making Fengxiang a primary target. Li Sheng repeatedly led forces against them and won victories. On one occasion a large Tibetan army besieged Fengxiang; Li Sheng led elite cavalry in a night raid, burned the enemy's provisions and baggage, and forced a withdrawal. Li Baoyu highly valued his ability and praised him as having “You Wan RenDiZhi Yong”.

During the Dali era Li Sheng was transferred to serve as commander of forces for the Jingyuan, Four Garrisons, and Beiting commands, continuing to resist the Tibetan Empire on the northwestern front. He maintained strict discipline, dispensed rewards and punishments clearly, and won the affection of his troops. The source depicts him not merely as brave but also as strategically capable, repeatedly defeating enemies by unexpected measures and deterring Tibetan incursions. He became as famous as the contemporary general Ma Sui, and the two were called “Li and Ma.”

Summoned to Court and Entrusted in Crisis

In 779, the fourteenth year of Dali, Emperor Dezong Li Shi ascended the throne. Seeking reform and restoration of central authority, Dezong valued Li Sheng's ability, summoned him to court, made him a Shence Army commander, and concurrently appointed him acting Minister of Works. The Shence Army was the central imperial guard, and Li Sheng thereby entered the military core of the Tang state. Yet Dezong's early drive to weaken the military governors helped provoke the rebellions of the Jianzhong era.

In 781 Li Weiyue, son of Li Baochen, Military Commissioner of Chengde, requested hereditary succession and was refused by the emperor. He joined Tian Yue of Weibo, Li Na of Ziqing, and others in rebellion. Li Sheng was ordered to campaign against them and performed effectively, for which he was enfeoffed Prince of Hechuan. Before the war was settled, however, an even greater crisis arose.

The Jingyuan Mutiny and Recovery of the Capital

In the tenth month of 783, the fourth year of Jianzhong, Yao Lingyan, Military Commissioner of Jingyuan, led troops through Chang'an. Dissatisfied with the court's rewards, the soldiers mutinied and broke into the capital. Emperor Dezong fled in haste to Fengtian, present-day Qian County in Shaanxi. The rebels enthroned Defender-in-chief Zhu Ci as emperor of a state called Qin; the episode is known as the Jingyuan Mutiny.

Li Sheng was then campaigning in Hebei. On learning that Chang'an had fallen, he immediately led his army back to assist the throne. Along the way he gathered various loyalist forces and encamped at East Wei Bridge outside Chang'an. Zhu Ci held the capital with strong forces while Li Sheng's troops were comparatively few, leaving him in a difficult position. He nevertheless prepared steadily for battle, reassured the population, and sought to win local support.

In the fifth month of 784, the first year of Xingyuan, Li Sheng launched a general assault on Chang'an after careful preparation. He led from the front and directed forces to enter from several directions. After fierce fighting, government troops defeated the rebels and recovered the capital. Zhu Ci was killed while fleeing. Li Sheng entered Chang'an under strict discipline, forbade plunder, reassured the population, and restored order. On hearing the news Emperor Dezong was deeply moved and praised Li Sheng as having “Zai Zao Tang Shi”. In reward, he made Li Sheng Minister over the Masses and Secretariat Director, enfeoffed him Prince of Xiping, and granted a fief of 1,500 households.

Suspicion in Later Life and Death

After the recovery of Chang'an, Li Sheng's reputation reached its height and he became one of Dezong's most relied-upon generals. In 786, the second year of Zhenyuan, the Tibetan Empire launched a large invasion. Li Sheng led forces against it and repeatedly defeated Tibetan troops around Long Prefecture and Qianyang, securing the northwestern frontier. Yet as his achievements and prestige rose, Dezong increasingly became suspicious of him.

The Tibetans, recognizing Li Sheng as a pillar of the Tang, deliberately tried to alienate him from the emperor. They spread rumors that he harbored disloyal intentions and even hung his portrait as an archery target before the armies to signal that he was their principal enemy. Dezong was already distrustful, and accusations at court further undermined his confidence in Li Sheng. In 787, the third year of Zhenyuan, Dezong removed Li Sheng's military command under the pretext of “border preparedness” and transferred him to honorific posts including Defender-in-chief and Secretariat Director. Though still highly ranked, Li Sheng no longer exercised substantive command. Understanding the emperor's attitude, he voiced no complaint and thereafter lived quietly in Chang'an.

Li Sheng died in Chang'an in 793, the ninth year of Zhenyuan, aged sixty-six. Emperor Dezong suspended court for five days, posthumously awarded him the rank of Grand Preceptor, and gave him the posthumous title Zhongwu.

His Entry into the Army and Wang Zhongsi's Praise as a Match for Ten Thousand

Li Sheng's forebears served in the Longyou army for several generations, his grandfather Li Sigong being a subordinate officer there and his father Li Qin rising to general of the left guard of the imperial insignia, the family "holding subordinate rank in Longyou from generation to generation." He was six feet tall, of unmatched bravery and skilled with bow and horse, and entered the army at eighteen. At that time the Hexi military commissioner Wang Zhongsi was attacking the Tibetans, and a Tibetan champion defending a city from the wall had killed a good many of his men, so Wang Zhongsi called for the best archers in the army to shoot at him; and Li Sheng drew his bow, loosed once and killed him, at which the whole army shouted, and Wang Zhongsi rewarded him richly and, patting his back, said that this was a man to match ten thousand. Thereafter he fought the Tibetans in the northwestern garrisons and was known in the army for his valour.

The Campaigns in the West under the Fengxiang Command and the Rescue of Ma Lin

In 763, the military commissioner of Fengxiang, Gao Sheng, who had long heard of his name, called him to be an officer of the ranks; he attacked the rebellious Qiang of Diezhou at Gaodangchuan and the Liankuang Qiang of Dangzhou at Hanshan, breaking them both, and rose to acting general of the left Feathered Forest. In the early Guangde years the commissioner Sun Zhizhi appointed him to command the mobile troops, and he broke the Tangut Qiang under Gao Yu and others, for which he was given the rank of specially advanced, was made acting master of ceremonies, and was transferred to acting chief of the temple rites. In the early Dali years Li Baoyu held Fengxiang and made Li Sheng commander of the right army; and in the fourth year, when the Tibetans besieged Lingzhou, Li Baoyu would have sent him with five thousand men against them, but Li Sheng declined, saying that with many he would be too few and with stratagem too many, and asked instead to take a thousand men swiftly out of the Dazhen pass to Lintao, where he stormed the Dingqin fort, burned its stores and brought back its commander Murong Guzhong, so that the Tibetans raised the siege of Lingzhou and went away, and Li Sheng was made chief minister of the ceremonial of the three offices; soon after he was also general of the left guard of the imperial insignia, commander of the Jingyuan four garrisons and northern court, and in charge of the mobile troops. Not long afterwards, when the commissioner Ma Lin fought the Tibetans at Cangcang and was beaten, Li Sheng led his own troops in a flank attack and brought Ma Lin out of the routed soldiers, and for this was made prince of Hechuan commandery; and Ma Lin, envying his fame and treating him without courtesy, had him come to the capital, where Daizong kept him in the guards as commander of the right Shence army.

The Campaign in Jiannan, the Pacification of Hebei, and the Stand at Qingyuan

When Emperor Dezong came to the throne and the Tibetans raided Jiannan, the commissioner Cui Ning being at court, so that the three Sichuan were in terror, Li Sheng was ordered to take the Shence troops to their rescue and was made an attendant of the heir; and he crossed the Leaking Heaven, took Feiyue, cleared the three cities of Suning, crossed the Dadu river and took more than a thousand heads, whereupon the Tibetans withdrew, and he remained at Chengdu some months before returning. In that campaign the court sent four thousand imperial guards under Li Sheng and five thousand troops of Bin, Long and Fanyang under the general of the left guard Qu Huan; the eastern Sichuan army marched from Jiangyou towards Baiba and joined the Shannan troops in breaking the Tibetans and Nanzhao; the Fanyang troops came up with them at Qipan and broke them again, taking Wei and Mao; and Li Sheng pursued beyond the Dadu river and broke them yet again, "and of the Tibetans and men of Nanzhao eighty or ninety thousand died of cold and hunger falling into the gorges," so that Yimouxun of Nanzhao, in fear, moved to Jumie city and built walls fifteen li around. In 781, when Tian Yue of Weibo rebelled and besieged Linming and Xingzhou, Li Sheng was made acting commander of the Shence vanguard with the seals, and joined the Hedong commissioner Ma Sui and the Zhaoyi commissioner Li Baozhen to relieve Linming: the Hedong and Zhaoyi troops attacked Yang Chaoguang south of Linming, and Li Sheng with the Hedong cavalry officers Li Ziliang and Li Fengguo attacked Tian Yue at Shuanggang, so that Tian Yue's men fell back and Yang Chaoguang was killed; and when at Linming all the armies were giving way, Li Sheng led his troops across the Ming river over the ice and struck Tian Yue's army in the flank, so that the royal armies revived and together broke him. In the third year of Jianzhong he broke Tian Yue's army again at Huanshui and advanced on Weizhou, being made acting left cavalier attendant and given a hundred households in real fief, and soon after acting left administrator of the palace of Wei. At that time Zhu Tao and Wang Wujun had joined forces in Shen and Zhao, angry that the court's rewards were small; Tian Yue, knowing they could be divided from the court, asked their help, and Zhu Tao and Wang Wujun answered and besieged Kang Rizhi in Zhaozhou; and Li Sheng then submitted a plan to raise the siege of Zhaozhou, meaning to lead his troops to Dingzhou and join Zhang Xiaozhong with designs on Fanyang, at which Dezong, admiring his spirit, made him grand master of the imperial carriage and put the imperial guard generals Mo Renzhuo, Zhao Guangxi and Du Jici under him; and Li Sheng led his troops north from Weizhou straight for Zhaozhou, and Wang Wujun, hearing of it, raised the siege and went away. In the fourth year of Jianzhong he joined the Yiwu army in besieging the Youzhou general Zheng Jingji at Qingyuan and cutting the waters to flood the city, and Tian Yue and Wang Wujun sent troops to relieve him and were beaten; and Zhu Tao came in person with a great army and surrounded Li Sheng's force, so that Li Sheng attacked Zheng Jingji within and held Zhu Tao off without, in a stand-off of several months. Afterwards Li Sheng fell gravely ill and his officers agreed to withdraw from Qingyuan and hold Dingzhou; and Zhu Tao, fearing Li Sheng's fame, dared not send troops in pursuit.

His Return to the Royal Rescue, the Joint Camp with Li Huaiguang, and the Move to the Eastern Wei Bridge

In the tenth month of 783 the troops of the Jingyuan garrison mutinied at Chang'an and set up Zhu Ci; and Li Sheng, then recovered from his illness and about to march north again, received an edict ordering him back to the rescue of the throne. Because the Yiwu army was then under threat from Zhu Tao and Wang Wujun and would not let him leave, Li Sheng left his son Li Ping as a hostage and took off his jade belt to bribe Zhang Xiaozhong's confidant, and so got his troops away westwards; soon he reached the north of the Wei and camped at the Eastern Wei bridge, being made acting president of the left of the chancellery. In the second month of 784 he beheaded the Shence general Liu Dexin for the crime of defeat and took over his troops. At that time the Shuofang commissioner Li Huaiguang had also come from Hebei to the royal rescue and was camped at Xianyang, and fearing that Li Sheng holding a front alone would take part of his own merit, he memorialized asking to join forces with him, and the court ordered Li Sheng to move his camp, so that Li Sheng shifted to Chentaoxie and camped together with Li Huaiguang; but Li Huaiguang still would not advance, and when Li Sheng asked him to send troops to recover Chang'an and asked to lead the vanguard himself, he was refused. Li Huaiguang memorialized that the Shence troops were better supplied and rewarded than the provincial troops and that the army was much discontented and he could not explain it; and Emperor Dezong sent Lu Zhi to Li Huaiguang's camp to reassure him and to discuss the supply of military grain with Li Sheng. Li Huaiguang, wishing to have Li Sheng himself ask for a reduction of his supplies so as to lose his soldiers' support, said that when pay and rewards were unequal, how could an army fight, and several times signalled to Li Sheng with his eyes; and Li Sheng answered that he was the marshal and had full disposal of military and political business, that he himself commanded only one body of troops and would obey his orders, and that as to increasing or reducing supplies he might decide as he thought fit. Li Huaiguang had no answer and let the matter drop. He camped at Xianyang more than eighty days, always refusing to move, on the pretext of awaiting his opportunity, and secretly made terms with Zhu Ci, his intention to rebel gradually showing; and Li Sheng, fearing that his own troops would be swallowed up, memorialized that measures should be taken at once and asked that the subordinate officers Zhao Guangxi, Tang Liangchen and Zhang Yu be made governors of Yang, Li and Jian to hold those places with troops so as to keep the road between Guanzhong and Sichuan open, and the court made no answer. Li Sheng then moved his army to the Eastern Wei bridge on the pretext of an edict, breaking away from Li Huaiguang. Dezong much regretted not having taken Li Sheng's advice, and asked Hun Jian anxiously whether Li Sheng, with his force isolated, could win; and Hun Jian answered that Li Sheng was by nature loyal and upright with a will that could not be shaken, and that he himself expected him to defeat the rebels; and only then was Dezong reassured, and he raised Li Sheng to president of the left of the chancellery. Accepting the appointment Li Sheng bowed and wept, saying that the capital was the root of the state and that if none would advance, who could recover it; and he repaired his armour and weapons, raised the walls, deepened the moats and planned the recovery of the capital. With his isolated army between Zhu Ci and Li Huaiguang, without grain within or relief without, in extreme danger, he on the one hand used humble words and rich gifts to feign wholeheartedness towards Li Huaiguang, and on the other had Zhang Yu act as assistant governor of the capital and call in the taxes of the country round about; and he assembled the whole army and told them that with the state in many troubles and the emperor in exile, to die for righteousness in the face of danger was their own part, and that if they did not kill the chief of the rebels now and win wealth and honour by their merit they were no heroes, at which all three armies were willing to die. Afterwards he wrote openly reproaching Li Huaiguang and calling on him to defeat Zhu Ci and atone for his crime; and Li Huaiguang would not listen, and fearing Li Sheng's attack fled to Hezhong. Soon after, Li Sheng was also made commissioner of Hezhong and of Jin, Jiang, Ci and Xi, and commissioner and commander of the capital region, the north of the Wei, Fufang and Danyan; and when Emperor Dezong wished to go west to Chengdu, Li Sheng held that he should stay in the region of Liang and Han to settle the minds of the realm. In the fourth month of 784 he was made vice commander of Fufang, the capital region, the north of the Wei and Shanghua. At that time Li Sheng and the families of many Shence officers were held hostage in Chang'an by Zhu Ci, and when someone raised the matter Li Sheng wept and said that he could not spare his own household; and he shared hardship with his officers and men and stirred their hearts by loyalty and affection, so that the whole army never murmured.

The Dispositions for the Recovery of Chang'an and His Conduct on Entering the City

Li Sheng led troops against the Tonghua gate of Chang'an and the rebels dared not come out. The next day he assembled his officers and asked how the city should be taken, and all of them wished to attack the outer city first and then clear the enemy from the palace; but Li Sheng held that if the rebels set an ambush and fought him in the lanes the inhabitants would be thrown into confusion and scatter, whereas the rebel elite were gathered in the imperial park, and that to strike straight at that was to pierce the heart, so that they would have no time to escape. He therefore moved his camp from the Eastern Wei bridge to the Guangtai gate and drove with his host at the capital, defeating Zhu Ci's officers Zhang Tingzhi and Li Xiqian. The Huazhou camp being then to the north with few men and the rebels massing against it, Li Sheng led picked troops to its relief, broke the enemy twice and entered the Guangtai gate on the crest of his success, and the rebels fled to Baihua with their weeping going on all night. The next day Li Sheng came out again, and his officers all asked to wait for the western army so as to attack from both sides; but Li Sheng said that the rebels were already beaten and should be destroyed while they were, and that to wait for the western troops would give them a chance to rise again to no advantage. He therefore gathered the whole army at the Guangtai gate, ordered Li Yan and others with the cavalry and Shi Wanqing with the infantry to advance to the north side of the imperial park, and had men break down two hundred paces of the park wall by night as a passage, so that when Li Yan and the rest arrived the rebels had already blocked it with a palisade; and Li Sheng angrily rebuked his officers, saying that they dared to let the enemy go so easily and that he would have them killed first. Shi Wanqing, in fear, led his men in first, tore away the palisade and broke into the imperial city, and Wang Bi followed with the cavalry, so that the rebels were heavily beaten. The government troops advanced by several roads, and Zhu Ci's men still resisted; Li Sheng ordered Tang Liangchen, commissioner of the decisive army, to press on with horse and foot, fighting as they went, and at the Baihua gate several thousand rebel cavalry appeared behind the government troops, whereupon Li Sheng turned back against them with more than a hundred horse, and those about him shouted that the chancellor had come, at which the rebels scattered in terror. Zhu Ci fled Chang'an with the beaten troops and Li Sheng sent the commander Tian Ziqi in pursuit, the rest of the rebels surrendering one after another. Li Sheng had the magistrates of Chang'an and Wannian go about comforting the inhabitants, and the army took nothing by force, so that the dwellers in the outer wards learned only a night later that the court's troops had entered; and the next day he had those who had followed Zhu Ci in the rebellion put to death, those who had held firm and not bent commended, and asked that those who had been forced to follow the rebels be pardoned.

Receiving the Emperor, Declining Credit, His Request to Hold Jingzhou, and the Loss of His Command

When the report of victory reached Liangzhou, Dezong wept without ceasing; and the ministers came to congratulate him, saying that Li Sheng had swept away the evil rebels and yet the market stalls had not moved, the ancestral temple had not been shaken and the people of Chang'an had not known the drums and banners, so that even the use of arms in the three dynasties could not surpass him. The emperor said that Heaven had brought forth Li Sheng for the sake of the state and the people and not for himself alone, and made Li Sheng minister of education and concurrently grand secretary, with a thousand households in real fief. Li Sheng sent the general Wu Shen with three thousand men to clear the road at Baoji, and asked leave himself to escort and guard the imperial carriage, which Dezong would not allow. When Dezong came back from Liangzhou, Li Sheng met him in armour at Sanqiao, and Dezong checked his horse to comfort him; and Li Sheng bowed twice and knocked his head, congratulating the emperor and then saying that as the emperor's servant he had failed to destroy the rebels quickly and had caused the emperor to go into exile twice, which was his own fault of incompetence, and he asked for the death penalty, lying prostrate on the left of the road, at which Dezong was so moved that he covered his face and wept, had Qi Ying raise him and set him in his place, and gave him a mansion, good land and gardens; and as Li Sheng entered his mansion the governor of the capital set up curtains and the court musicians played before him, and the emperor ordered the generals and ministers to see him home. Dezong also raised a monument of merit to Li Sheng at the Eastern Wei bridge, wrote the text himself, and had the heir make a copy and give it to Li Sheng. After the recovery of Chang'an Li Sheng, considering that Jingzhou lay near the frontier and was a place of military weight whose government had been poor and where trouble had often arisen, himself asked to be sent there; and Dezong made him commissioner of Fengxiang, Longyou and Jingyuan and vice commander in the field, and changed his fief to that of prince of Xiping. At that time the eunuch Yin Yuanzhen, bearing the tally, made an inspection tour and went of his own accord to Hezhong to comfort Li Huaiguang; and Li Sheng memorialized accusing him of borrowing the emperor's command to excuse the chief of the rebels from guilt, asked that he be punished, held that Li Huaiguang had five grounds on which no pardon was possible, and asked to take five thousand picked men to defeat him. The Tibetans above all hated Li Sheng, holding that Tang had only three famous generals, Li Sheng, Ma Sui and Hun Jian, and therefore set about sowing discord: sending envoys to seek peace by another route and then at the meeting seizing Hun Jian and betraying Ma Sui. In the ninth month of 786 the Tibetans raised troops and raided Qianyang without plundering, saying that they had been summoned and asking why they were not feasted with oxen and wine, and then slowly withdrew, this being to sow discord against Li Sheng; whereupon Li Sheng sent officers with three thousand picked men to lie in ambush at Qiancheng, broke the Tibetan army and almost took Shang Jiezan alive. Li Sheng came to court and held that the Tibetans could not be trusted, and the chancellor Han Huang supported him and asked that grain be sent to Li Sheng for an attack on the Tibetans. But Dezong then disliked war and suspected his generals of stirring it up for merit; and as it happened Han Huang died and the chief minister Zhang Yanshang, who was on bad terms with Li Sheng, disparaged him repeatedly before the emperor, holding that Li Sheng should not hold military power long, and recommended others to take charge of the northwestern frontier and win merit so as to press him down; and Dezong actually took Zhang Yanshang's advice and stripped Li Sheng of his command. In the third month of 787, when Dezong met the Tibetans at Pingliang, he "was indeed seized by the Tibetans," and the man recommended to the northwestern command was dismissed from Hedong. Li Sheng and Zhang Yanshang had long been at odds, and as the Tibetans sowed discord between Li Sheng and the court and Zhang Yanshang disparaged him there as well, Li Sheng on hearing of it wept all day until his eyes were red and swollen, sent all his sons to Chang'an as hostages and memorialized asking leave to shave his head and become a monk; and coming to court he asked, on the plea of a foot ailment, to resign his commission, which the emperor would not allow. Through the good offices of the chancellor Han Huang and others Li Sheng and Zhang Yanshang became sworn brothers, and Li Sheng recommended Zhang Yanshang as chancellor; but afterwards, when Li Sheng wished to marry their houses together, Zhang Yanshang refused, and Li Sheng said with feeling that soldiers were straightforward in temper and that a cup of wine left no grudge, while men of letters were different, seeming to be reconciled while keeping it in mind, and asked how he could help fearing men of letters. In 793 Li Sheng died at sixty-seven, and Dezong on hearing of it wept without ceasing, ordered the hundred officials to his mansion, and gave him the posthumous name Zhongwu; and at his burial Dezong went in person to the Wangchun gate to see him off, sent an envoy to read the edict before the coffin and ordered the officials to weep and bow by the roadside. In the Yuanhe years he was given a place in the temple of Dezong; and when Emperor Xizong fled to Sichuan, the vice director of the treasury collected Li Sheng's deeds and merits and compiled the Record of the Sacred Merit of Xingyuan to encourage the generals.

Major Activities

Military Contributions

Li Sheng's principal military achievements lay in resisting the Tibetan Empire and suppressing domestic rebellion. On the northwestern frontier he repeatedly repelled Tibetan attacks and helped defend Longyou and Jingyuan. In the campaign against Zhu Ci he reversed a grave crisis by recovering Chang'an and restoring the Tang court. The source therefore presents him as one of the outstanding mid-Tang generals.

Political Activity

Although a military man, Li Sheng is also described as politically farsighted. After suppressing Zhu Ci's rebellion, he advocated leniency toward officials who had followed the rebels in order to stabilize public feeling. On the military-governor question he supported Dezong's effort to reduce their power but also favored a combined use of grace and severity to avoid intensifying conflict. His dismissal from command late in life prevented further political activity.

Military Discipline

Li Sheng maintained strict discipline and clear rewards and punishments. He cared for his soldiers and shared hardships with them, strengthening the combat effectiveness of his forces. After recovering Chang'an he strictly prohibited harassment of civilians and severely punished violations, winning popular support. He was also receptive to remonstrance and often accepted suggestions from subordinates.

Relations with Contemporaries

Li Sheng interacted with many important contemporaries. He was grouped with the generals Ma Sui and Hun Jian, all of whom fought for Tang stability. He had a close relationship with Grand Councilor Lu Zhi, who admired his loyalty and courage. His relationship with Emperor Dezong, however, moved from deep trust to estrangement as suspicion grew around his prestige.

Instances of His Conduct in Battle, towards Others, and towards Himself

The histories sum him up as hating evil, clear-sighted in dealing with subordinates, knowing each officer's strength, daring to remonstrate to his face and fulfilling to the full the duties of a great minister, strict in governing the army and sure in reward and punishment; and they add that he was a man of great capacity and heroic talent and long on meeting changed circumstances. These judgements have instances behind them. The first concerns his purpose in the field: Li Sheng would always go into battle in a brocade leather coat and an embroidered coloured cap, commanding in front of the line, and Li Huaiguang warned him that a commander should act with caution and that dressing so conspicuously would make him the enemy's mark; and Li Sheng answered that he had long been on the Jingyuan front and was held in awe by the officers and men there, and that he wished them to recognize him and be afraid. The second concerns his self-discipline and plain speech: when he held Fengxiang he told his staff that he admired the loyal ministers whose outspoken remonstrance had won their sovereign achievements beyond those of earlier ages; and when Li Shudu said that this was the business of civil officials and asked why a man of his great merit and virtue should seek it, Li Sheng answered gravely that he was wrong, that he himself had the fortune to be both general and chancellor, and that if he kept silent to preserve himself, was that the servant the emperor wanted — so that Li Shudu was much ashamed; and therefore whenever he came to court and answered the emperor he fulfilled to the full the duties of a great minister, never trading on his merit nor showing his edge. The third is that he gave credit downwards and took blame on himself: at the meeting with the returning emperor he asked for the death penalty because he had not destroyed the rebels quickly and the emperor had gone into exile twice, and later ages drew from this the judgement that to yield credit to others and take the fault on oneself is what a wise man does. The fourth is that he shared hardship with his soldiers, not sparing his own household though it was held hostage in Chang'an, and stirred their hearts by loyalty and affection. The fifth is that he reconciled colleagues: when Li Baozhen detached two thousand men to garrison Xingzhou and Ma Sui in anger would have led his troops back to Hedong, Li Sheng reasoned with him that the three of them had been ordered against the rebels, that Xingzhou and Zhaozhou were neighbours, that if the rebels attacked Zhaozhou Xingzhou could not be at peace, that though Li Baozhen had detached troops his best men and officers were still here and the situation was little affected, and that to hurry away would be to put the state's business where; at which Ma Sui came to himself and went of his own accord to Li Baozhen's camp to bury the quarrel. He also, when at Fengxiang, rebuked his daughter before the company for attending his birthday feast instead of nursing her sick mother-in-law at home, sent her back at once and went himself afterwards to the Cui house to inquire and apologize for having failed to teach her. As to his limitations, later historians have their criticisms: some say that his measure was somewhat narrow and his mind somewhat full, and that in his handling of Zhang Yanshang he fell short of Guo Ziyi's handling of Yu Chaoen and Yuan Zai; others that "though slander came between him and the throne he could not trust himself calmly," which they attribute to his want of learning. These judgements stand alongside his achievements and must not be ignored in understanding his position in old age: when he camped at the Eastern Wei bridge, Zhu Ci holding the capital, Li Huaiguang in rebellion at Xianyang and the three rebels of Hebei each set up as princes, he had neither stores nor grain and led an isolated army against a crowd of rebels, yet bore the state's safety on himself without any slackening of spirit, simply by moving men with loyalty and righteousness, so that the brave and able were glad to die for him; and when his troops entered Chang'an and the people did not know it, later ages called him a general of benevolence and righteousness, while lamenting that "his merit could preserve the state's altar but he could not be trusted by a common sovereign, and his army was taken from him at last."

Personal Relations

• Father: Li Qin, rose to General-in-Chief of the Left Jinwu Guard
• Sons: Li Yuan, Li Su, Li Ting, and others; Li Su later became famous for his night attack on Cai Prefecture in the Yuanhe era and the suppression of the Huaixi rebellion
• Li Baoyu: Military Commissioner of Fengxiang; Li Sheng served under him early in his career and benefited from his recognition
• Ma Sui: celebrated contemporary general, comparable in fame to Li Sheng and a fellow defender of the state
• Hun Jian: contemporary general who fought alongside Li Sheng
• Lu Zhi: grand councilor who greatly admired Li Sheng's loyalty and courage
• Emperor Dezong of Tang Li Shi: Li Sheng's ruler, who trusted him greatly at first but later removed his military command out of suspicion
• Zhu Ci: leader of the Jingyuan Mutiny, defeated by Li Sheng
• Tibetan Empire: principal foreign enemy of the Tang on the northwestern frontier, against which Li Sheng fought for many years

Historical Assessment

Tang / Contemporary

• Emperor Dezong of Tang is said after the recovery of Chang'an to have declared: “Tian ShengLiCheng，YiWei SheJi,” giving very high praise to his achievement. (Old Book of Tang, “Biography of Li Sheng”)
• Lu Zhi repeatedly praised Li Sheng in memorials as “loyal, indignant and devoted, wise and brave,” admiring both his loyalty and ability. (Collected Works of Duke Lu)
• Historian Liu Xu wrote in the Old Book of Tang that Li Sheng was “of heroic stature and great resolution, wise in strategy and decisive” and had “he swept away the great rebels and recovered the imperial capital,” treating him as an important contributor to Tang recovery.

Song and Yuan Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Li Sheng's recovery of Chang'an in detail and gives substantial recognition to his loyalty and military ability.
• Zhu Xi, discussing Tang generals, placed Li Sheng alongside Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi and said that his “ZhongYiZhi Jie，JiaoRuRiYue”.
• Yuan commentator Hu Sanxing, in his notes to the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance, frequently praised Li Sheng's use of troops and personal conduct.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi wrote in Du Tongjian Lun that Li Sheng “You KuangFuZhiDaGong，ErNengBuShi Chen Jie,” presenting him as a rare loyal and capable commander.
• Zhao Yi in Nian'ershi Zhaji gave high praise to Li Sheng's role in suppressing Zhu Ci, saying his “Gong Gai Tian Xia”.
• Wang Mingsheng in Shiqishi Shangque discussed his military ability and character in detail, praising him as “YongErYou Mou，ZhongErNeng Lian”.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian, in History of the Sui, Tang, and Five Dynasties, treated Li Sheng as one of the most important generals of the mid-Tang and argued that his military skill and loyalty were important to the continuation of the dynasty.
• Cen Zhongmian, in History of Sui and Tang, examined Li Sheng's career in detail and strongly affirmed his key role in suppressing Zhu Ci's rebellion.
• Modern scholarship, as summarized in the source, generally regards Li Sheng as one of the outstanding military figures of the mid-Tang and as an important pillar of Tang restoration because of his loyalty, courage, and strategic ability.