Shi Chaoyi

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Shi Chaoyi was Turkic and was born in Ningyi Prefecture; his year of birth is not recorded. His father Shi Siming, described in the Tang histories as a Turkic mixed Hu from Ningyi Prefecture in Yingzhou, was a Tang frontier officer like An Lushan and rose to become military commander of Pinglu. Shi Chaoyi was Shi Siming's eldest son. Among Shi Siming's sons, however, there was no fixed distinction of legitimate and secondary sons and younger sons were favored. Although the eldest, Shi Chaoyi had relatively low status because he was born of a secondary mother. He was described as generous, respectful, cautious, and considerate toward soldiers, and many subordinates became attached to him. He nevertheless never enjoyed his father's favor. Shi Siming preferred his younger son Shi Chaoqing, placed him in command at Fanyang, and repeatedly considered killing Shi Chaoyi and making Chaoqing crown prince. These intentions became widely known among attendants and caused Shi Chaoyi deep fear.

Joining His Father in Rebellion and Enfeoffment

In the winter of 755, the fourteenth year of the Tianbao era, An Lushan rebelled at Fanyang. Shi Siming responded with his own forces, and Shi Chaoyi joined his father in the fighting, commanding troops left behind to garrison Jizhou, Xiangzhou, and other rear areas. In the first month of 757, the second year of the Zhide era, An Qingxu killed his father An Lushan and made himself emperor, but Shi Siming refused to accept his control. In the third month of 759, Shi Siming killed An Qingxu, and in the fourth month proclaimed himself Great Sage Emperor of Yan at Fanyang, making Fanyang the Yan capital. Shi Chaoyi was enfeoffed as Prince of Huai. He thereafter often campaigned with his father, but their relationship deteriorated. Shi Siming was suspicious and cruel and frequently exterminated whole families when subordinates displeased him. Although Shi Chaoyi was his eldest son, his lack of favor placed him in constant danger.

Killing His Father and Seizing the Throne

In the third month of 761, after defeating Li Guangbi's army, Shi Siming sought to press westward and capture Chang'an. He sent Shi Chaoyi as vanguard along the northern route against Shanzhou, while he led the main army on the southern route. Shi Chaoyi reached Jiangziling but was defeated by the Tang general Wei Boyu, and several renewed attacks were repulsed. Shi Siming withdrew to Yongning and angrily accused his son of cowardice in battle, saying that Shi Chaoyi would never accomplish his great enterprise. He threatened to execute Shi Chaoyi and the generals under military law. Shi Siming then ordered him to build a three-cornered fortified city in one day to store grain. When the walls had been completed but not yet plastered, Shi Siming arrived in anger and ordered mounted attendants to supervise the plastering until it was finished immediately. He declared that once Shanzhou was taken, Shi Chaoyi would ultimately be killed.

Shi Chaoyi became terrified and did not know what to do. His commanders Luo Yue and Cai Wenjing urged him to launch a coup. At first Shi lowered his head and did not respond. Luo and the others threatened to surrender to Tang, and Shi finally agreed in tears, telling them not to frighten his father. Luo Yue and the others summoned General Cao, one of Shi Siming's trusted officers, into the conspiracy. Seeing the resentment of the other commanders, Cao did not dare oppose them. That night Luo Yue led three hundred armored soldiers into Shi Siming's residence. Shi Siming jumped over a wall and fled to the stables, but an arrow struck his arm and he fell from his horse and was captured. Luo and the others imprisoned him at Liuquan Post Station. Shi Chaoyi asked whether they had frightened his father and was told they had not. Fearing that loyalties might change, Luo and his companions later strangled Shi Siming, wrapped the body in felt, and sent it back to Luoyang on a camel.

Shi Chaoyi immediately assumed the imperial title in Luoyang and adopted the era name Xiansheng. He sent Zhang Tongru, a Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary, to Fanyang with secret orders to kill Shi Chaoqing, his mother Lady Xin, and their faction. Fighting then broke out inside Youzhou and continued for more than two months, killing several thousand people.

Reign and Defeat

After taking the throne, Shi Chaoyi treated subordinates with humility and left decisions to senior officials, but he lacked strategic ability. The Luoyang region was devastated: people in the surrounding commanderies resorted to cannibalism, cities were overgrown and ruined, and the economy had collapsed. The regional military commanders were all former generals of An Lushan and had held standing comparable to that of Shi Siming. They were unwilling to submit to Shi Chaoyi, and when he summoned troops they often did not come. His authority steadily weakened, and he was unable even to return securely to Youzhou.

In the tenth month of 762, the first year of the Baoying era, Emperor Daizong of Tang appointed Prince of Yong Li Shi supreme commander of the empire's armies and Pugu Huai'en deputy commander, bringing together circuit military governors and Uyghur forces against Luoyang. On the thirtieth day, Tang troops and Uyghur cavalry inflicted a major defeat on Shi's army at Hengshui north of Luoyang, killing more than sixty thousand and capturing over twenty thousand. Shi burned the Mingtang and fled east with only several hundred light cavalry. Tang forces recovered Luoyang. They then pursued, successively taking Zhengzhou, Bianzhou, Huazhou, and Weizhou. Shi's commanders Xue Song, Zhang Zhongzhi, and others surrendered their prefectures to Tang.

Shi fled to Beizhou, joined his general Xue Zhongyi, and moved south with thirty thousand men to fight. Pugu Yang ambushed and defeated the force. Shi then fled to Mozhou, north of present-day Renqiu in Hebei. Pugu Huai'en ordered Xue Jianxun, Hao Tingyu, Tian Shengong, Xin Yunjing, Hou Xiyi, and other forces to converge and besiege the city. In the first month of 763, after repeated defeats, Shi left Tian Chengsi to defend Mozhou and broke out with five thousand cavalry, heading north to seek assistance from Youzhou.

Once Shi had departed, Tian Chengsi opened the gates and surrendered to Tang and handed over Shi Chaoyi's mother and wife. Pugu Yang, Hou Xiyi, Xue Jianxun, and others pursued with thirty thousand men. Shi reached Fanyang, but the commander Li Huaixian had already submitted to Tang and closed the gates. Shi fled north to Guangyang and was again refused entry. He considered fleeing to the Xi or Khitan, but when he reached Wenquan Stockade, east of present-day Fengrun in Hebei, Li Huaixian's pursuers caught up. Abandoned by his followers and with no place left to go, Shi hanged himself in the shrine there. Another account says Li Huaixian lured and killed him east of Fanyang. Li cut off Shi's head and sent it to Chang'an, then summoned former followers to recover the body, changed into mourning clothes, went outside his headquarters to weep, and was joined by soldiers in loud mourning. Shi Siming and his son had held imperial titles for a total of four years. Their regime ended, and with Shi Chaoyi's death the An Lushan Rebellion came to a close.

Major Activities

Patricide and Seizure of Power

In the third month of 761, after Shi Chaoyi's failure at Shancheng brought a harsh rebuke from Shi Siming and after he learned that his father intended to make Shi Chaoqing crown prince, commanders Luo Yue and Cai Wenjing persuaded him to launch a coup. Luo led three hundred armored soldiers in a night attack on Shi Siming at Luqiao Post Station. Shi Siming escaped over a wall toward the stables but was shot in the arm, fell from his horse, and was captured. Shi Chaoyi ordered him confined at Liuquan Post Station, where Luo and others later strangled him out of fear that the situation might change. Shi then took the imperial throne at Luoyang and adopted the era name Xiansheng. To consolidate power, he secretly ordered Zhang Tongru and others in Fanyang to kill Shi Chaoqing, Lady Xin, and their supporters, provoking more than two months of internal warfare in Youzhou in which several thousand people died. The episode exposed the brutality of the rebel leadership's internal struggle and further weakened Yan's political foundations.

Fighting the Tang Counteroffensive

By the time Shi Chaoyi took power, Tang had already begun to reverse the course of the war. In the tenth month of 762, Emperor Daizong appointed Prince of Yong Li Shi as commander and Pugu Huai'en as deputy commander and launched a major counterattack with Uyghur support. Shi met them at Hengshui with a reported force of one hundred thousand but suffered a crushing defeat in which more than sixty thousand were killed; Luoyang fell. He retreated through Puzhou, Huazhou, and Weizhou to Mozhou. At Beizhou he assembled thirty thousand men for another southward attack but was ambushed and defeated. His commanders Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian, Xue Song, Zhang Zhongzhi, and others surrendered one after another. Repeated military defeats and defections left Shi isolated, and he ultimately hanged himself.

Travels and Areas of Activity

Shi Chaoyi's movements followed the course of the rebellion. He accompanied his father early in the uprising and garrisoned Jizhou and Xiangzhou. After being enfeoffed as Prince of Huai, he continued campaigning with Shi Siming, failed in an attack on Shanzhou, and withdrew to Yongning. After killing his father, he proclaimed himself emperor in Luoyang. During the Tang counteroffensive he fled through Puzhou, Beizhou, and Mozhou, then broke north toward Youzhou. Passing Fanyang and Guangyang without finding refuge, he finally hanged himself at the shrine at Wenquan Stockade. His route of retreat traces the final contraction and collapse of the rebel regime.

Relations with Contemporaries

Shi's relationship with his father was extremely tense. Shi Siming was suspicious and cruel, frequently insulted Shi Chaoyi, threatened to kill him, and wished to make his younger son crown prince. Shi Chaoyi, by contrast, was generous toward soldiers, and commanders such as Luo Yue, Cai Wenjing, and Xu Jichang were willing to support him. These men carried out the coup that enabled his seizure of power. Once Shi became emperor, however, the major military governors were old generals of An Lushan and were unwilling to submit to him. Tian Chengsi was entrusted with Mozhou; when Shi departed, he grasped Tian's hand and entrusted his mother, wife, and young children to him, but Tian soon surrendered and delivered Shi's family to Tang. Li Huaixian likewise had already surrendered, shut the gates of Fanyang against him, and sent troops in pursuit. These reversals and defections were major causes of Shi's rapid collapse.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: Shi Siming, emperor of Yan, strangled after Shi Chaoyi's coup.
• Younger brother: Shi Chaoqing, designated heir of Yan, killed on Shi Chaoyi's orders.
• Mother: Lady Xin, mother of Shi Chaoqing, killed on Shi Chaoyi's orders as stated in the source.

Commanders

• Luo Yue: Shi Chaoyi's commander who helped plan and execute the killing of Shi Siming.
• Cai Wenjing: commander who helped plan the coup.
• Xu Jichang: son of Xu Shuji, helped contact General Cao.
• General Cao: trusted officer of Shi Siming who changed sides during the coup.
• Tian Chengsi: commander entrusted with Mozhou; later surrendered and handed over Shi's mother and wife.
• Li Huaixian: former subordinate who surrendered to Tang, refused Shi entry, and pursued him to his death.

Adversaries

• Li Shi, Prince of Yong: supreme commander of Tang armies, led the force that recovered Luoyang.
• Pugu Huai'en: Tang deputy commander, led Shuofang and Uyghur forces in pursuit of Shi Chaoyi.
• Wei Boyu: Tang general who defeated Shi's force at Jiangziling.

Historical Assessment

Tang / Contemporary

• Shi Siming condemned his son as cowardly and unable to accomplish his enterprise, according to the New Book of Tang.
• The Old Book of Tang grouped Shi Chaoyi with later rebels as men who exploited disorder, devastated prefectures and counties, usurped imperial symbols, and inflicted enormous harm before their destruction.
• The New Book of Tang describes Shi Chaoyi as “generous, with many subordinates attached to him” and as humble and respectful toward others, while also saying that he lacked strategic talent.
• After Shi's death, Emperor Daizong ordered that more than one hundred women and children from rebel households delivered to the authorities be treated as members of good families who had been coerced and abducted; they were to be fed and returned to relatives, or supported by the government if no family could be found.

Song and Yuan Periods

• The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records the killing of Shi Siming in detail. Sima Guang's narrative includes Shi Siming's admission that his own reckless words brought the disaster upon him, implying criticism both of the father and of Shi Chaoyi's patricide.
• Song scholar Hu Yin, in Views from Reading History, treated Shi Chaoyi's seizure of power through patricide and subsequent destruction as an example of a regime based on broken human relationships that could not last.
• Yuan historian Hu Sanxing, commenting on the Comprehensive Mirror, examined the circumstances of Shi's defeat and emphasized that he possessed a reputation for generosity but lacked strategic ability, leaving him vulnerable to universal defection.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Wang Fuzhi, in Reflections on Reading the Comprehensive Mirror, held that Shi's patricide and seizure of power temporarily succeeded but that the rebel camp's breakdown of ethical order and competing ambitions among its commanders made defeat inevitable.
• Zhao Yi, in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, argued that Shi failed because he could not control An Lushan's old generals, who considered themselves his equals and were ashamed to serve under him, so that calls for troops went unanswered.
• Qian Daxin, in Critical Differences among the Twenty-Two Histories, examined discrepancies over Shi's birth, accession, and place of death.

Modern Period

• Chen Yinke, in Draft Discussion of Tang Political History, argued that the An–Shi group combined different ethnic elements and retained strong features of a tribal military order, and that after killing his father Shi Chaoyi could not construct an effective political hierarchy.
• Huang Yongnian, in Political History of China from the Sixth to Ninth Centuries, held that military defeat was compounded by Shi's inability to integrate rival factions in the rebel coalition and that defections by Tian Chengsi, Li Huaixian, and other military governors directly caused his collapse.
• Modern scholarship generally portrays Shi as personally generous but lacking great political and military talent. Although his patricide arose from fear for his own survival, it brought lasting condemnation under traditional ethical standards, and his weakness left him as the final tragic ruler of the rebellion.