Li Liangzuo

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

Li Liangzuo was born into the Western Xia imperial house. His grandfather was Emperor Taizong Li Deming and his father Emperor Jingzong Li Yuanhao. His mother, Lady Mozang, had originally been the wife of Li Yuanhao's senior official Yeli Yuqi. After Li Yuanhao ordered Yeli Yuqi to die, Lady Mozang became a Buddhist nun. The source says Li Yuanhao later sought out the surviving members of the Yeli household, brought Lady Mozang into the palace, and had a sexual relationship with her. When Empress Yeli discovered this, Lady Mozang was ordered to become a nun at Jietan Temple and received the religious title Master Mozang. Li Yuanhao frequently visited the temple. On the sixth day of the second lunar month in 1047, while accompanying him on a hunt in the Helan Mountains, Lady Mozang gave birth to Li Liangzuo. The History of Song records that his mother, later Empress Xuanmu Huiwen, gave birth to him while following Yuanhao on a hunt.

After his birth, Li Liangzuo was raised in the household of his maternal uncle Mozang Epang. Li Yuanhao had entrusted state affairs to Mozang Epang while spending time with his consorts at a palace in the Helan Mountains. The Mozang siblings then began plotting against Crown Prince Ningling Ge in order to have Li Liangzuo made heir apparent. After Empress Yeli lost favor and was deposed, the crown prince's wife was taken from him. In the first lunar month of 1048, Ningling Ge wounded Li Yuanhao, who died from the injury.

Childhood Accession and Mozang Domination

Before his death, Li Yuanhao had reportedly ordered that his cousin Weige Ningling succeed him. Senior officials including Nuoyi Shangdu supported following this instruction. Mozang Epang opposed them, arguing that Weige Ningling was not the ruler's son and lacked merit. When challenged about who should rule, he answered that Western Xia had followed father-to-son succession from its ancestors and that the late ruler's son by Lady Mozang was the legitimate heir. The ministers agreed, and Li Liangzuo, only eleven months old, was enthroned. Lady Mozang was honored as Empress Dowager Xuanmu Huiwen.

Because Li was an infant, Empress Dowager Mozang acted as regent. Her brother Mozang Epang, concerned that three senior generals including Nuoyi Shangdu controlled strong armies outside the capital, allowed them to divide state affairs while making himself chief minister and taking overall control. As senior figure of the powerful Mozang clan and chief minister, his authority spread throughout court, and his ceremonial retinue rivaled that of a ruler. In the fourth lunar month the Song sent Ren Zhuan, an official of the Ministry of Justice, as chief investiture envoy and Song Shouyue of the Imperial Supply Storehouse as deputy to invest Li Liangzuo as ruler of Western Xia.

In the seventh lunar month of 1049, Emperor Xingzong of Liao, seeking revenge for an earlier military reverse, used the recent Western Xia succession as an opportunity to invade personally. Western Xia forces hurried to respond but retreated in repeated defeats. By the fifth lunar month of the next year, Liao troops reached the area around Xingqing Prefecture, present-day Yinchuan, and plundered widely. They also captured Tanliang City in the northwest and carried away grain from Western Xia state granaries. In this second Battle of the Helan Mountains, Western Xia suffered heavy losses and submitted to the Liao. From the tenth through twelfth lunar months, Empress Dowager Mozang twice sent envoys seeking peace for Li Liangzuo and requesting formal vassal status, but Emperor Xingzong did not respond.

At first Mozang Epang still had to consider the three senior generals, each of whom held a strong army outside the capital. As they died one by one, he behaved increasingly without restraint. He repeatedly raided Song frontier forts. In 1055 he also sent troops to seize fertile farmland west of the Quye River, northwest of Song Linzhou, ordered people to cultivate it, and kept the income. The Song repeatedly protested. Mozang Epang responded by fighting when pressed and returning to farming when pressure eased.

In 1056, as Li Liangzuo grew old enough to understand affairs, he often accompanied his Buddhist mother to Chengtian Temple west of Xingqing Prefecture to worship and hear scriptures. The source also depicts Empress Dowager Mozang as sexually promiscuous and fond of nocturnal entertainment. It states that while she had been a nun she had relations with Li Shougui, an official in charge of receipts and expenditures, and later with Li Yuanhao's attendant Chiduoyi. Li Shougui therefore plotted to kill her and Chiduoyi. In the tenth lunar month, while the empress dowager and Chiduoyi were returning at night from a hunt in the Helan Mountains, several dozen mounted Tangut soldiers suddenly attacked and killed them. Mozang Epang discovered that Li Shougui was responsible. Because Li Shougui had earlier reported Mozang Epang's seizure of Quye River farmland and caused the empress dowager to order its return, the two men already had a feud. Mozang Epang used the killing to retaliate and ordered the extermination of Li Shougui's family.

After his sister's death, Mozang Epang feared losing political power. He married his own daughter to Li Liangzuo as empress and continued to dominate government.

Personal Rule and Reform

In 1059, the third year of the Duodu era, the young Li Liangzuo began participating in state affairs. He watched Mozang Epang behave arrogantly and abuse power and became increasingly dissatisfied. Mozang Epang found pretexts to execute two of the emperor's trusted officials, Gao Huaichang and Mao Weizheng. Li understood this as a warning directed at him and cultivated Mozang's political enemy, the general Manmie, treating him with exceptional respect and making him a trusted ally. Li also had a sexual relationship with Lady Liang, the wife of Mozang Epang's son. Later, when Mozang Epang and his son plotted to kill the emperor, Lady Liang revealed the plan. With support from Manmie and others, Li arrested and executed Mozang Epang and his family and also killed his own Mozang-clan empress, ending the family's monopoly of power.

After beginning personal rule in 1061, Li pursued a more pro-Song policy. In the fifth lunar month he resolved the long-running boundary dispute over the Quye River. In the seventh lunar month, after learning that the Liao might coordinate with Qingtang forces to take Hexi territory, he sent Weiming Yuzheng to offer tribute to the Song and request marriage to a Song princess, seeking Song support. Emperor Renzong refused the marriage. In the ninth lunar month Li killed his Mozang-clan empress, made Lady Liang empress, and appointed her younger brother Liang Yimai as chief household minister.

At the start of his personal rule Li announced that Tangut ceremonial practices would no longer be used and that Chinese rites would be adopted. In the tenth lunar month he memorialized Emperor Renzong saying that he admired the dress and institutions of the Central Plains and intended to receive Song envoys the following year in Chinese-style attire. Emperor Renzong approved. In the first lunar month of 1062, Li requested a printed copy of stone inscriptions of poems composed by Emperor Taizong of Song, presented fifty horses, and asked for the Nine Classics, History of Tang, Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, and Song court ceremonial procedures. Emperor Renzong ordered the Nine Classics presented and returned the horses.

Li also greatly expanded Western Xia's administrative system. He added Chinese-style titles such as ministers and vice ministers for the various departments, northern and southern commissioners of the palace secretariat, and secretariat academicians. Among Tangut offices he added a series of titles recorded in Chinese transcription, including Angnie, Angxing, Mog'e, Ani, Baliang, Dingli, Chunyue, Yingwu, Zhuneng, Guangle, and Dingnu. In the fifth lunar month he reorganized several military supervisory commands, renaming the Xishou command Baotai Army, the Shizhou command Jingsai Army, the Weizhou command Xiangyou Army, and the Left-Wing supervisory command Shenyong Army. In 1063 he sent an envoy to the Song requesting restoration of the surname Li that the Tang had bestowed on his ancestors. Emperor Renzong rebuked him and ordered adherence to the existing agreement. Western Xia rulers nevertheless continued to use Weiming as a clan surname.

Later Years and Death

In 1063 Li requested restoration of border markets between Song and Western Xia, but the Song refused. He then sent Wu Zong and others to congratulate Emperor Yingzong of Song on his accession. The Song treated them poorly; Wu Zong spoke rudely and then, realizing his own position was weak, fell silent. The Song ordered Li Liangzuo to punish him. That autumn Western Xia troops attacked Qin-Feng and Jingyuan, killing and carrying off people and livestock said to number in the tens of thousands. The Song sent Wang Wuji to confront Li, but he did not accept the accusations and later, through the New Year envoy Li Maoxian, blamed Song frontier officials.

In 1064 Wu Zong again went to the Song court for New Year congratulations and quarreled with the Song escort official, who threatened that a million troops could drive Western Xia back into its Helan “lair.” After hearing the report, Li Liangzuo concluded that the Song had insulted Western Xia and decided to defend its dignity by force. In the seventh lunar month he led tens of thousands of troops against Qin-Feng and Jingyuan. Western Xia attacks continued over the next two or three years. The source interprets these actions less as an effort to break permanently with the Song than as coercive demonstrations intended to compel respect while preserving annual Song gifts and trade and preventing the Liao from exploiting a complete rupture. Diplomatic missions to the Song continued even during the fighting.

In the eighth lunar month of 1066 Li again led infantry and cavalry against Dashun City in Qingzhou, northeast of present-day Huachi, Gansu. Wearing silver armor and a felt cap, he personally supervised combat at the front. Under heavy Song archery, a stray arrow pierced his armor, but he escaped death. Only a month later he sent envoys requesting seasonal clothing and annual gifts. When the Song issued an edict of rebuke, he promptly promised to observe the earlier agreements, and normal relations resumed.

In 1067 Li lured and killed a Song general in Suizhou, in present-day Zhidan, Shaanxi. He also attempted to dominate the Tibetan groups of the Hehuang region. Taking advantage of conflict between Qingtang and the Liao, he led an attack directly on Qingtang City, present-day Xining, Qinghai, and obtained the submission of Tibetan leaders Yuzang Huama, Muzheng, and others, strengthening Western Xia's southern frontier. He cultivated the Liao and sent as tribute a Uyghur monk, a gold Buddha, and the Fanjue Scripture.

While still active in relations with the Song, Liao, and Tibetan groups and in domestic reform, Li Liangzuo died in January 1068, the twelfth lunar month of the fifth Gonghua year, at the age of twenty-one. He received the posthumous title Emperor Zhaoying and the temple name Yizong, was buried at Anling, and was succeeded by his son Li Bingchang.

Major Activities

Eliminating the Mozang Faction

After Li's accession, the Mozang clan dominated government for years. Mozang Epang monopolized authority, repeatedly raided Song frontier forts, seized farmland west of the Quye River, and kept its produce. He also had Li's trusted officials Gao Huaichang and Mao Weizheng executed. Li understood this as intimidation and cultivated Mozang's rival, the general Manmie, as a trusted supporter. Through his relationship with Lady Liang, the wife of Mozang Epang's son, he learned that Mozang and his son planned to kill him. With Lady Liang's warning and the support of Manmie and others, Li arrested and executed Mozang Epang and his family and killed his Mozang-clan empress, ending the clan's domination and beginning personal rule.

Sinicizing Reforms

After taking power, Li ordered the abandonment of Tangut court rites and adoption of Chinese ceremonies. He asked the Song for the Nine Classics, History of Tang, Prime Tortoise of the Record Bureau, and court ceremonial procedures. He added Chinese-style titles such as departmental ministers and vice ministers, northern and southern palace commissioners, and secretariat academicians while also expanding Tangut offices with titles such as Angnie, Angxing, Mog'e, Ani, Baliang, Dingli, Chunyue, Yingwu, Zhuneng, Guangle, and Dingnu. He reorganized military regions, renaming the Xishou command Baotai Army, Shizhou command Jingsai Army, Weizhou command Xiangyou Army, and Left-Wing command Shenyong Army. In 1063 he asked to restore the Li surname originally granted by the Tang. The source argues that these policies strengthened imperial control over military and administrative authority, developed the central government, and reinforced local administration.

War and Diplomacy with the Song

After taking personal rule, Li continued military attacks on the Song while maintaining diplomatic exchanges. Western Xia still sent envoys at the Song New Year and imperial birthday celebrations to offer tribute, seeking annual grants of silk and precious metals and access to trade in the Song capital. In 1063, after Western Xia envoy Wu Zong was treated in a way regarded as insulting, troops attacked Qin-Feng and Jingyuan and killed or seized large numbers of people and livestock. In 1064 Li personally led tens of thousands of troops against Song territory in Qin-Feng and Jingyuan. In 1065 Western Xia attacked Qingzhou and Bao'an Army, besieged Shunning Stockade, again raided Jingyuan, and fought Song forces over Tongjia Stockade outside Weirong Fort in Deshun Army. In 1066 Li led infantry and cavalry against Dashun City, personally supervised battle, and survived after a stray arrow pierced his armor. A month later he requested seasonal clothing and annual gifts and assured the Song that he would honor earlier agreements, allowing relations to normalize.

Operations toward Tibetan Areas and Relations with the Liao

In the eighth lunar month of 1062, hearing of conflict between Qingtang Tibetan forces and the Liao, Li attacked Qingtang. He stationed troops at ancient Weizhou and planned to absorb local settled tribal groups. Zhang Fangping, the Song prefect of Qinzhou, issued a proclamation calling officials and inhabitants to strengthen defenses, frustrating Li's plan. Li then moved west and fought at Qingtang, where he was heavily defeated. Fearing a counterattack, he built a fort near ancient Weizhou and stationed troops there. In 1067, taking advantage of renewed conflict between Qingtang and the Liao, he attacked Qingtang City and received the submission of Yuzang Huama, Muzheng, and others, strengthening the southern frontier. He also cultivated the Liao and offered a Uyghur monk, a gold Buddha, and the Fanjue Scripture as tribute.

Development of Buddhism

Li's mother Lady Mozang was a Buddhist patron who built temples, sponsored recitations of scriptures, and organized major Buddhist ceremonies. The source states that tens of thousands of soldiers and commoners were mobilized over five years to construct Chengtian Temple at great cost. As a child Li often accompanied her to Chengtian Temple west of Xingqing Prefecture to worship and hear Buddhist scriptures explained. Buddhism continued to develop during his reign. His later presentation to the Liao of a Uyghur monk, a gold Buddha, and the Fanjue Scripture is presented as evidence of his continuing interest in Buddhism.

Personal Relations

• Grandfather: Li Deming, Emperor Taizong of Western Xia
• Grandmother: Lady Weimu
• Father: Li Yuanhao, Emperor Jingzong of Western Xia
• Mother: Lady Mozang, Empress Xuanmu Huiwen
• Maternal uncle: Mozang Epang, Western Xia chief minister and powerful regent
• Empresses: Lady Mozang, daughter of Mozang Epang, later deposed and ordered to die; Lady Liang, formerly the wife of Mozang Epang's son and later made empress
• Son: Li Bingchang, Emperor Huizong of Western Xia
• Daughter: a Lady Li born to Empress Liang who later married Linpubi, son of the Tibetan leader Dongzhan
• Manmie: general whom Li treated with exceptional respect and made a trusted ally; supported the elimination of Mozang Epang
• Liang Yimai: younger brother of Empress Liang, appointed chief household minister
• Nuoyi Shangdu: senior official who initially supported following Li Yuanhao's deathbed order to enthrone Weige Ningling; later assigned a share of state affairs under Mozang Epang
• Mozang Epang: maternal uncle and powerful regent who plotted to kill Li and was executed by him
• Lady Mozang, empress: daughter of Mozang Epang, deposed and ordered to die
• Emperor Xingzong of Liao: invaded Western Xia after the succession and forced it into submission after a major defeat

Historical Assessment

Western Xia and Contemporary Views

• When Li was enthroned, Mozang Epang argued that Western Xia had long followed father-to-son succession and that the son of Empress Mozang was the late ruler's legitimate heir, thereby asserting the legitimacy of Li's accession. The source attributes this argument to History of the Western Xia, juan 18.
• The Song accepted Li's desire to adopt Chinese ceremonial dress and institutions. Emperor Renzong permitted his request to receive Song envoys in Chinese-style attire and sent him the Nine Classics.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The History of Song records Li among the accounts of foreign states and notes that he ascended the throne as a child under domination by his maternal clan, then after taking personal rule ordered Tangut rites abandoned and Chinese ceremonial forms adopted.
• Song historical accounts criticized his repeated attacks on Song territory but also described his personal bravery in battle, including the episode at Dashun City where an arrow pierced his armor while he supervised combat at the front.
• Qing scholar Wu Guangcheng, author of History of the Western Xia, later praised him as a capable Western Xia ruler despite frequent warfare because he admired Chinese dress and institutions, requested the Nine Classics, and replaced Tangut rites with Chinese ceremonies.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wu Guangcheng's History of the Western Xia gives a detailed account of Li's life and evaluates positively his destruction of the Mozang faction and his Sinicizing reforms, praising the transformation of government and culture after he took personal control.
• Ming and Qing historians also noted his maneuvering among the Liao, Song, and Tibetan groups and regarded his diplomacy as flexible, seeking support for Western Xia amid competing powers.

Modern Scholarship

• Modern Western Xia historian Li Fanwen, in A General History of Western Xia, regards Li Liangzuo as an active and capable emperor whose reforms after assuming personal rule strengthened imperial power and advanced Sinicization.
• Shi Jinbo, in Western Xia Society, argues that Li's expansion of Tangut and Chinese official titles and reorganization of regional military commands improved both central and local administrative structures.
• Modern scholarship generally considers that although Li came to the throne as a child, during his twenty-year reign he became an active ruler in domestic and foreign affairs and helped lay foundations for Western Xia's subsequent development.