Li Dewang

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Li Dewang was born into the Western Xia ruling house, originally the Tuoba clan and later bearing the surname Li. He was the second son of Emperor Shenzong, Li Zunxu. Li Zunxu was a son of Prince Qi Li Yanzong. In 1211, the second year of Huangjian, he deposed Emperor Xiangzong Li Anquan and seized the throne. During Shenzong's reign, the court followed a policy of siding with the Mongols while attacking the Jin. Repeated warfare exhausted Western Xia's military strength and damaged the livelihood of the population.

The historical record preserves little about Li Dewang's early life. As a prince, however, he grew up during intense instability and witnessed his father's repeated shifts between Mongol and Jin relations and the damaging consequences of prolonged war. In 1223, while Genghis Khan was campaigning in Khwarazm, Mongol forces still repeatedly raided Western Xia. Under increasing pressure, Li Zunxu abdicated in the twelfth month and passed the throne to Li Dewang, taking the title retired emperor. Li Dewang thus took power at a moment of national crisis and, according to the timeline in the Chinese source, adopted the Qianding era name.

Accession and Policy Reversal

At accession, Li inherited a severely weakened state. Years of warfare against Jin had consumed elite troops, emptied the treasury, and impoverished the population. Submission to the Mongols had not produced security and Mongol armies repeatedly raided Xia territory. Li therefore decided to reverse his father's policy, moving from cooperation with the Mongols against Jin toward resistance to the Mongols and renewed friendship with Jin.

In the tenth month of 1223 he accepted the proposal of Right Grand Councilor Gao Lianghui and sent envoys to Jin. In the same month, however, Mongol forces launched a major offensive, besieged Shazhou, and then captured Yinzhou. Tens of thousands of Xia soldiers were killed and general Tahai was captured. Northern tribes that Li hoped to contact were also dispersed. Under this pressure, in the eleventh month Li sent envoys to submit to the Mongols and promised to provide a hostage, after which the Mongol siege of Shazhou was lifted.

Struggle to Ally with Jin against the Mongols

In the second month of 1224 Li learned that Genghis Khan's main forces had not yet returned from the western campaigns and again sent envoys to contact unconquered tribes in the north. Genghis Khan responded by secretly ordering the Mongol commander Bo'ol, then responsible for operations in northern China, to attack Western Xia. That autumn the Mongols captured Yinzhou and Western Xia suffered heavy losses.

Facing a grave military crisis, Li followed Gao Lianghui's advice and in the tenth month sent another memorial seeking friendship with Jin. In the third month of 1225 Genghis Khan sent Botu to demand an explanation because Li had not supplied the promised hostage. Gao urged Li to keep faith and suggested sending a capable member of the ruling clan as hostage in order to ease the crisis. Military Affairs Commissioner Li Yuanji also urged him to honor the promise, warning that the Mongols were dangerous even when treated obediently and that repeated reversals would only provoke war. Li rejected the advice, arguing that he was now restoring relations with the Jin and that providing a hostage would place Western Xia under Mongol control. He therefore refused to fulfill the promise and sent the Mongol envoy away.

Li then turned more actively to internal reform and the anti-Mongol alliance with Jin. In the sixth month of 1225 he issued an edict asking for direct criticism throughout the realm. Palace Censor Zhang Gongfu submitted seven proposals: regroup dispersed people to stabilize morale; preserve trust in alliances to relieve national danger; repair walls and moats for defense; clarify military administration and train for war; link beacon posts for mutual support; practice frugality to increase military reserves; and study strategic advantages in order to break the enemy. Li valued the memorial and promoted Zhang to Censor-in-chief.

In the eighth month Li sent Minister of Personnel Li Zhong'e, Southern Court Commissioner Luo Shichang, Left Office Director Li Shaoying of the Department of State Affairs, and others to Jin. They concluded a treaty under which Jin and Xia were to be brother states, Xia would treat Jin as elder brother, each would retain its own era names, and Jin would not grant annual payments to Xia. Relations were thereby restored. In the twelfth month Li sent Hanlin scholar Li Bian to request the reopening of mutual trade. After negotiations an agreement was concluded and the long-interrupted exchange of New-Year and imperial-birthday embassies resumed.

The policy could no longer save the state. Jin itself was close to collapse, militarily and financially exhausted and unable to offer meaningful help. After returning from Jin, Luo Shichang repeatedly warned that Jin aid could not be relied upon and that Western Xia had to strengthen itself. Around the same time Li accepted Genghis Khan's enemy Nilqa Senggüm, son of Wang Khan of the Kereit. Luo strongly advised against this, but Li would not listen. Luo then requested retirement. His home in Yinzhou had already been occupied by Mongol forces, so he wandered to Longzhou in the region of present-day Zhidan, Shaanxi. Expecting Western Xia to fall, he wrote a twenty-juan work titled Xiaguo Shici and preserved it at home.

Death amid Fear and Crisis

In the second month of 1226 Genghis Khan personally led 100,000 troops into Xia territory from the north, crossed the desert, penetrated the Hexi region, and captured Heishui city. In the fourth month the Mongol army camped at Hunchui Mountain north of Jiuquan to avoid the summer heat. In the fifth month Suzhou refused to surrender; after the city fell, the Mongols massacred its soldiers and civilians according to the Chinese source.

In the sixth month Ganzhou was besieged. Mongol envoys attempted to persuade the Xia commander Quyeqielü to surrender. Deputy commander Achuo and thirty-five others killed Quyeqielü and the Mongol envoys and led the soldiers and population in a bloody defense. After the city fell, Achuo and the others died in resistance. In the seventh month Xiliang Prefecture, present-day Wuwei, also fell, and the Xia official Wazhaze surrendered after defeat.

Cities collapsed and people fled as Mongol forces advanced. Li Dewang could find no effective response. After his father Li Zunxu died in the fifth month, Li himself died from illness associated with fear and anxiety in the seventh month, aged forty-six. He received the temple name Xianzong. His nephew Li Xian, son of the Prince of Nanping, succeeded as the last emperor of Western Xia. In 1227 the Mongols captured Zhongxing Prefecture and the Western Xia state fell.

Major Activities

Alliance with Jin against the Mongols

After taking the throne, Li reversed his father's policy of alignment with the Mongols and sought alliance with Jin. In the tenth month of 1223 he followed Gao Lianghui's advice and opened negotiations. In the eighth month of 1225 Li Zhong'e, Luo Shichang, Li Shaoying, and others concluded a formal treaty with Jin establishing a brother-state relationship, preserving the separate era names of both states, and ending any expectation that Jin would provide annual payments to Xia. In the twelfth month, trade was restored and regular diplomatic missions resumed. By then, however, Jin itself was too weak to provide substantial military aid, and the policy produced limited results.

Reorganization of Government

In the sixth month of 1225 Li invited frank remonstrance and promoted Zhang Gongfu after receiving his seven proposals for political and military recovery. The recommendations called for recovering scattered populations, maintaining diplomatic credibility, strengthening fortifications, clarifying military administration, linking beacon systems, practicing frugality, and studying strategic opportunities. They show Li's attempt to strengthen Western Xia through internal reorganization, although the accumulated crisis was too severe for these measures to reverse the situation.

Anti-Mongol Measures and Failure

In 1224 Li attempted to organize northern tribes against the Mongols while Genghis Khan's main forces were still in the west. The Mongols responded with attacks on Western Xia and captured Yinzhou. In 1225 Li refused to provide the promised hostage and accepted Genghis Khan's enemy Nilqa Senggüm, further worsening relations. In 1226 Genghis Khan personally invaded, Western Xia could not resist effectively, and Li died during the crisis.

Sheltering Nilqa Senggüm

Around 1225 Li accepted the son of Kereit ruler Wang Khan, a personal enemy of Genghis Khan. Southern Court Commissioner Luo Shichang strongly objected, but Li rejected the remonstrance. The act further aggravated relations with the Mongols and was later treated as one of the pretexts for Genghis Khan's decision to destroy Western Xia.

Personal Relations

• Father: Li Zunxu, Emperor Shenzong of Western Xia, eighth emperor of the state and proponent of the earlier pro-Mongol, anti-Jin policy
• Siblings: Li Dewang was Shenzong's second son; the historical record does not reliably detail all siblings
• Nephew: Li Xian, last emperor of Western Xia and son of the Prince of Nanping; succeeded Li Dewang and lost the state the following year
• Gao Lianghui: Right Grand Councilor; advised restoring relations with Jin and later urged fulfillment of the hostage promise to the Mongols
• Li Yuanji: Military Affairs Commissioner; strongly urged Li Dewang to keep faith and send the hostage
• Zhang Gongfu: Palace Censor who submitted seven proposals for reform and was promoted to Censor-in-chief
• Luo Shichang: Southern Court Commissioner; envoy to Jin who warned that Jin could not be relied upon and opposed accepting Nilqa Senggüm; later retired and wrote Xiaguo Shici
• Li Zhong'e: Minister of Personnel; envoy who helped conclude the treaty with Jin
• Li Shaoying: Left Office Director in the Department of State Affairs; accompanied the treaty mission to Jin
• Li Bian: Hanlin scholar; sent to Jin to restore mutual trade
• Jilasiyi: commander at Shazhou who held the city against Mongol attack
• Achuo: deputy commander at Ganzhou who killed the surrendering commander and Mongol envoys and died defending the city
• Genghis Khan: Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and Li Dewang's principal opponent; ultimately led the final invasion of Western Xia
• Bo'ol: Mongol commander in northern China who attacked Western Xia and captured Yinzhou
• Botu: Mongol official sent by Genghis Khan to demand an explanation over the unfulfilled hostage pledge
• Emperor Aizong of Jin: emperor with whom Western Xia restored treaty relations, though Jin was too weak to provide meaningful aid
• Nilqa Senggüm: son of Wang Khan of the Kereit and enemy of Genghis Khan, sheltered by Li Dewang

Historical Assessment

Western Xia / Contemporary Period

• Gao Lianghui criticized Li's refusal to send the promised hostage, arguing that trust was the foundation of relations between states and that a weaker state could not safely break its word to a stronger one. (Events of Western Xia)
• Li Yuanji warned that the Mongols were like tigers and wolves and that even obedience might not restrain them; repeated reversals, he argued, would actively bring war upon Western Xia. (Events of Western Xia)
• Luo Shichang repeatedly argued that Jin could not be relied upon and that Western Xia had to strengthen itself. Li ignored his advice, and Luo retired, convinced that the state would fall. (Events of Western Xia)

Song–Yuan Period

• The “Xia State” biography in the History of Song records Li Dewang's reign and death only briefly and offers little explicit evaluation. Its placement of Western Xia among “foreign states” reflects the historiographical perspective of the Song compilation tradition.
• Yuan compilers of the History of Song likewise provided only a relatively short account of Li's reign and did not offer an extended judgment.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Qing historian Wu Guangcheng praised Li for halting warfare and seeking alliances after inheriting a state in extreme danger, and for accepting loyal remonstrance and showing diplomatic and governing ability. Wu nevertheless argued that Western Xia's accumulated decline was too deep, its finances and armies too exhausted, and that Li's limited reforms could not avert collapse. He treated Li's death from fear after three years on the throne with sympathy. (Events of Western Xia)

Modern Period

• Modern scholars generally regard Li Dewang as a late Western Xia ruler who attempted to reverse impending collapse but faced circumstances that could no longer be changed. Some argue that alliance with Jin against the Mongols was strategically reasonable in theory but adopted too late, when both states were already too weak to form an effective coalition.
• Other scholars argue that refusing the hostage and sheltering Genghis Khan's enemy demonstrated anti-Mongol resolve but was too risky given the enormous disparity in power and helped accelerate the final Mongol campaign.
• Overall, modern assessments are often sympathetic, seeing him as a ruler who attempted recovery in the final years of Western Xia but lacked the resources to save the state.