Biography
Family Background and Early Years
Piluoge was born into the ruling house of Mengshe Zhao. Mengshe Zhao, located around present-day Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County in Yunnan, was one of the Six Zhao around the Erhai region. His ancestor Shelóng, also recorded as Longjiadu, had originally lived in the Ailao Mountains before moving to the Mengshe River valley, and the family thereafter held the rulership of Mengshe Zhao. Piluoge's father Shengluopi was the third ruler of Mengshe Zhao and, during his reign, submitted to the Tang dynasty and repeatedly sent tribute missions to court.
The source gives Piluoge's birth as 697, the first year of the Shengong era under Wu Zetian. Little is recorded about his early life. According to Hu Wei's version of the *Unofficial History of Nanzhao*, he was also recorded under the Chinese variant names Kuai Lejue and Zhuoluoji. In 713, the first year of the Kaiyuan era, Emperor Xuanzong granted him the title King of Taideng Commandery, indicating that he already held a significant position within Mengshe Zhao. He grew up in a tribal political environment and became familiar with military and intergroup affairs, experience that later aided his consolidation of the Six Zhao.
Succession and Unification of the Six Zhao
In 728, the sixteenth year of the Kaiyuan era, Shengluopi died and Piluoge succeeded him. He continued the policy of maintaining allegiance to the Tang court. At the time, six zhao existed around the Erhai region. Each was relatively weak, and the region was frequently affected by pressure from Tibet. Piluoge chose to use Tang support in an effort to unify the Six Zhao.
In 737, the twenty-fifth year of the Kaiyuan era, Piluoge defeated the Heman and seized Taihe City, in present-day Taihe Village, Dali. The following year Emperor Xuanzong issued an edict bestowing on him the name Meng Guiyi and advancing him to the rank of King of Yunnan. The investiture document stated that the Erhai groups had secretly maintained relations with Tibet and that Meng Guiyi had rendered service by campaigning against them.
In 738, Piluoge sought to annex the remaining five zhao. Acting on Zhang Jiancheng's advice, he gave substantial gifts to Wang Yu, the military governor of Jiannan, and asked that the Six Zhao be combined under one ruler. Wang Yu presented the request to the court and received approval. An imperial order sent to Wang Yu stated that Meng Guiyi had shown loyalty and rendered military service against the southwestern groups, while the five other zhao had maintained ties with both Tang and Tibet and therefore deserved to be broken. During the process of unification, the Tang court sent the palace envoy Wang Chengxun and the censor Yan Zhenghui to take part in the military operations. Piluoge first destroyed Yuexi Zhao, then the Three Lang zhao—Langqiong Zhao, Shilang Zhao, and Dengdan Zhao—and finally Mengxi Zhao, completing the unification of the Erhai region.
Move to Taihe City and Tang Investiture
In 738, the Tang court granted Piluoge the titles Duke of Yue and later King of Yunnan and bestowed on him the name Meng Guiyi. In the same year he moved his capital from Weishan to Taihe City. At this point Nanzhao expelled Tibetan influence from the Erhai region, unified the Six Zhao, and established a southwestern regional regime whose population included ancestors of the Yi and Bai peoples.
After moving to Taihe City, Piluoge adopted measures to develop production. The source states that he promoted ox-plowing and opened hillside fields, increasing grain output and strengthening the economy. At the same time, he continued friendly relations with the Tang dynasty and repeatedly sent tribute missions to the imperial court.
Expansion and Later Years
In the early Tianbao era, from 742 to 747, Piluoge and his son Geluofeng, with Tang support, gradually annexed the Eastern and Western Cuan and extended Nanzhao power from western into eastern Yunnan. The *New Book of Tang* records that Anning City had five salt wells from which local people made their living, and that Emperor Xuanzong ordered He Lüguang, bearing the title of Specially Advanced, to use troops to secure territory in the Nanzhao region, take Anning City and its wells, and re-erect Ma Yuan's bronze pillar before returning. The source interprets this as evidence of Tang military assistance in Nanzhao's seizure of Anning and the salt wells, facilitating further expansion.
Piluoge died in 748, the seventh year of the Tianbao era, after a reign of twenty years. The source states that he died at the age of sixty-eight. His eldest son Geluofeng succeeded him.