Li Heng

Biography

Family Background and Early Years

On the yihai day of the ninth month of the second year of Jingyun (October 19, 711), Li Heng was born in a side hall of the Eastern Palace in the capital Chang'an. His original name was Li Sisheng. His biological mother, Empress Yuanxian Yang, came from the Hongnong Yang lineage, a prominent family of the Guanzhong-Longxi region. Her great-grandfather Yang Shida had served in the Sui as a senior official of the Chancellery, and Wu Zetian's mother was one of Yang Shida's daughters. Yang's father, Yang Zhiqing, held office through hereditary privilege. In August 710, only a few days before Li Longji married Yang, Li Longji had been established as Crown Prince.

Soon afterward Yang became pregnant. At the time Li Longji's relations with Princess Taiping were tense. He feared that she might use the pregnancy to attack his position, as earlier crown princes had been accused of excessive attachment to women and then deposed. According to the Chinese source, Li Longji therefore became anxious and secretly had subordinates obtain abortifacient medicine, intending to terminate the pregnancy, but ultimately decided not to do so.

After Li Heng was born, he did not live with his biological mother. Yang was only one of the Crown Prince's consorts, while the principal consort was Lady Wang, later Emperor Xuanzong's empress. Because Lady Wang had no children of her own, she brought Li Heng into her household and raised him with great affection, being described as loving him even more than a birth mother.

Li Heng was enfeoffed as Prince of Shan at age two. In the first month of 716, the fourth year of Kaiyuan, the five-year-old prince was appointed Protector-General of Anxi and commissioner responsible for pacifying various peoples in Hedong, Guannei, and Longyou, with deputies assigned to carry out the actual work. His posts were nominal and did not require him to leave the palace. The Chinese source treats this as the beginning of the Tang practice of imperial princes nominally holding such regional commands. Emperor Xuanzong selected eminent scholars as tutors for the princes, including He Zhizhang, Pan Su, Lü Xiang, and Huangfu Bin, and Li Heng's education developed rapidly.

Years in the Ten Princes' Residence

In the eleventh month of 725, after Emperor Xuanzong returned from the Feng and Shan sacrifices at Mount Tai, he had a large residence constructed east of Anguo Monastery, known as the Ten Princes' Residence. Adult princes were placed there in separate compounds, supervised in daily affairs by eunuch administrators. Li Heng lived there as Prince Zhong at the age of fifteen and remained there for thirteen years, until Crown Prince Li Ying was deposed and killed in 737.

In the first month of 727, Li Heng was enfeoffed as Prince Zhong and renamed Jun. In the fifth month he was nominally placed in charge of Shuofang and made Chanyu Protector-General. In 730, when Xi and Khitan groups raided the northeastern frontier, Emperor Xuanzong named Li Heng commander-in-chief of Hebei Circuit, with Prince of Xin'an Li Yi as deputy, and assigned eight commanders including Censor-in-chief Li Chaoyin and Jingzhao governor Pei Zhouxian to resist the attackers. In 732, Li Heng nominally commanded the forces that defeated Xi and Khitan troops, and he was promoted to Defender-in-chief. In 735 he was renamed Yu.

The Succession Struggle and His Years as Crown Prince

In the fourth month of 737, Crown Prince Li Ying was deposed and killed. Emperor Xuanzong summoned Grand Councilor Li Linfu to discuss the succession. Consort Wu, mother of Prince of Shou Li Chang, was then Xuanzong's most favored consort, and Li Linfu strongly supported Li Chang. Xuanzong, however, favored the older Prince Zhong, Li Yu, described as benevolent, filial, respectful, cautious, and fond of learning. After more than a year of hesitation, Gao Lishi advised Xuanzong to establish the eldest eligible son, and on the third day of the sixth month of 738 Li Yu was made Crown Prince.

From the moment he entered the political foreground, Li Heng was surrounded by threats. The most serious came from Grand Councilor Li Linfu and, later, Yang Guozhong. In the conflict between Li Linfu and the Crown Prince, Xuanzong rarely intervened to restrain the attacks on Li Heng, suggesting that he too did not wish the Crown Prince to build an independent political base.

The fifth year of Tianbao (746) was especially dangerous for Li Heng. Huangfu Weiming, formerly an associate of Prince Zhong and then a frontier military commissioner, came to Chang'an to present war trophies from campaigns against the Tibetan Empire. He maintained contacts with Li Heng, openly urged Xuanzong to dismiss Li Linfu, and praised Wei Jian's abilities. When Li Linfu learned of Huangfu Weiming's private memorial, he began a counterattack.

On the Lantern Festival night of the fifteenth day of the first month of 746, Li Heng went out and met Wei Jian in the city. Wei Jian later met Huangfu Weiming and the two went to a Daoist temple in Chongren Ward. Because Wei Jian was related to the Crown Prince by marriage and Huangfu Weiming was a frontier commander, their private nighttime meeting provided Li Linfu with an opening. He had Investigating Censor Yang Shenjin prepare an accusation that Wei Jian, as an imperial relative, should not have associated so closely with a frontier general. Li Linfu then reported that they had conspired to “jointly establish the Crown Prince,” and Emperor Xuanzong ordered an investigation.

After Wei Jian was demoted, his brothers Wei Lan and Wei Zhi submitted memorials protesting his innocence and cited Crown Prince Li Heng as a witness. Xuanzong became furious. Li Heng, frightened that he would be implicated, immediately defended himself and asked permission to divorce Consort Wei on the grounds that their relationship had broken down, thereby demonstrating that he would not “set kinship above the law.” Xuanzong reassured him and permitted the divorce. Consort Wei, after years of marriage, subsequently became a Buddhist nun. The Chinese source presents Li Heng's caution as allowing him to survive this political crisis.

Late in 746, Du Youlin, father of Li Heng's consort Lady Du, became involved in another political case. His son-in-law Liu Ji accused him of falsely invoking prophetic texts, forming improper ties with the Eastern Palace, and criticizing the emperor. Li Linfu took charge of the investigation. Although the accusation originated in Liu Ji's dispute with his wife's family, Li Linfu expanded the case and implicated Li Yong, Wang Zeng, and others. Li Heng was eventually drawn into the affair, and Xuanzong ordered the Jingzhao authorities and Censorate to investigate. The source states that the case proved to have been fabricated by Liu Ji, but that Li Linfu encouraged the accusations and widened the investigation. Du Youlin and Liu Ji were both beaten to death, and their families were exiled.

These two cases deeply affected Li Heng. Xuanzong arranged another marriage for him, to Lady Zhang, later Empress Zhang. Even after the marriage, Li Heng remained extremely cautious. In 751, Lady Zhang bore him a son, Li Zhao, later Prince of Xing. Li Linfu died the following year, but his successor Yang Guozhong likewise became an enemy of the Crown Prince. Li Heng and Yang Guozhong remained locked in political conflict until the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion changed the situation.

The Mawei Mutiny and Accession at Lingwu

On the ninth day of the eleventh month of 755, An Lushan, Military Commissioner of Fanyang, Hedong, and Pinglu, rebelled under the pretext of eliminating Yang Guozhong. His forces took Luoyang on the thirteenth day of the twelfth month. In the first month of 756 An Lushan proclaimed himself emperor of Great Yan at Luoyang and adopted the era name Shengwu. In the fifth month the rebel forces broke through Tong Pass, and on the thirteenth day of the sixth month Emperor Xuanzong fled Chang'an with a small group of consorts and attendants. On the following day, the Mawei Station Mutiny occurred.

According to the Chinese source, after making secret plans with trusted followers, Crown Prince Li Heng sent the eunuch Li Fuguo to win over General-in-Chief Chen Xuanli of the Left Dragon Martial Guard and prepare extraordinary measures against Yang Guozhong. The source suggests that these plans may already have begun in Chang'an. The entire refugee column numbered a little over three thousand people, while Li Heng's rear force included about two thousand men, among them elite Flying Dragon guards. His sons Li Chu, Prince of Guangping, later Emperor Daizong, and Li Tan, Prince of Jianning, commanded personal troops in the escort.

On the fourteenth day of the sixth month the column reached Mawei Station, northwest of present-day Xingping in Shaanxi. Exhausted and hungry guards were already expressing resentment. Yang Guozhong was pursued inside the western gate and killed, and his head was cut off. His son Yang Xuan and the Lady of Han were also killed. The mutineers then compelled Emperor Xuanzong to order the death of Yang Guifei. Chen Xuanli, however, continued to profess loyalty to Xuanzong after the executions. The source presents the mutiny as clearing away Xuanzong's immediate political circle and creating the conditions for Li Heng to establish an independent political base.

With Xuanzong continuing toward Sichuan, Li Heng separated from him and moved north. His party traveled in severe hardship until reaching Lingwu, headquarters of the Shuofang Army. On the ninth day of the seventh month, accompanied by Du Hongjian and others, Li Heng arrived at Lingwu. After preparations, on the twelfth day he ascended the imperial throne, adopted the era name Zhide, honored Xuanzong as Retired Emperor, and became Emperor Suzong at the age of forty-six.

Suppression of the Rebellion and Final Years

After accession, Suzong summoned Guo Ziyi's and Li Guangbi's Shuofang forces from Hebei to Lingwu, allied with the Uyghurs, and mobilized troops from the fifteen prefectures of the Shuofang command for a large counteroffensive. In the first month of 757 An Lushan was killed by his son An Qingxu. In the ninth month Guo Ziyi, commanding Shuofang and Uyghur cavalry, recovered Chang'an; Luoyang was retaken in the tenth month. Retired Emperor Xuanzong returned to Chang'an in the twelfth month.

In the ninth month of 758, the first year of Qianyuan, Suzong mobilized armies from several commands against An Qingxu at Xiangzhou and appointed the eunuch Yu Chao'en as Army Supervisor and commissioner with broad authority over the campaign. Suzong also offered to return the throne to Xuanzong and resume his former position in the Eastern Palace, but Xuanzong refused.

After Xuanzong returned to Chang'an, he disliked Empress Zhang and Li Fuguo and repeatedly warned Suzong not to trust them excessively. Li Fuguo then accused Xuanzong of planning a restoration. Suzong consequently had the retired emperor confined in the Western Palace and exiled Gao Lishi to Wuzhou. In 760 Xuanzong was forced to move into the Western Inner Palace at Taiji Palace. He died at Ganlu Hall on May 3, 762. Soon afterward Suzong became critically ill and ordered Crown Prince Li Chu to act as regent.

On the eighteenth day of the fourth month of the first year of Baoying (May 16, 762), Empress Zhang attempted to kill Crown Prince Li Chu and establish Prince of Yue Li Xi in his place. Li Fuguo ordered Cheng Yuanzhen to lead palace troops into the compound and suppress the plot, killing Empress Zhang and Prince of Yue. The gravely ill Suzong was badly shocked and died at age fifty-two after a reign of only six years. Li Fuguo then supported Crown Prince Li Chu, who changed his name to Li Yu and succeeded as Emperor Daizong of Tang. Li Heng received the temple name Suzong and the posthumous name Wenming Wude Dasheng Daxuan Xiao Huangdi and was buried at the Tang Jianling mausoleum, northwest of present-day Liquan County, Shaanxi.

Two Great Cases and the Mewei Incident during His Years as Heir

746 was a year of many troubles in Li Heng's career as heir apparent. In the first month Huangfu Weiming, who had once been an attendant of the prince of Zhong, came to court; he exchanged spoils taken from the Tibetans with the heir, told the Xuanzong emperor plainly that Li Linfu ought to be dismissed, and praised Wei Jian's abilities. The frontier general's intervention turned a private contest into an open secret, and Li Linfu, learning of Huangfu Weiming's secret memorial, used his standing as chancellor to prepare a counter-stroke. Wei Jian then arranged a night excursion with Huangfu Weiming to the Jinglong Daoist temple in the Chongren ward — a night meeting between the heir's brother-in-law and a frontier commander gave Li Linfu precisely the handle he wanted. He memorialized that they were plotting "to set up the heir together," and the emperor, on receiving it, ordered an inquiry without hesitation, but was unwilling to involve the heir himself, giving Wei Jian only the charge of "importuning for advancement"; Huangfu Weiming's troops were transferred to Wang Zhongsi, governor of Shuofang and Hedong, who was known to be close to the heir. Li Heng came through unharmed. When Wei Jian's brothers Wei Lan and Wei Zhi memorialized in his defence and cited the heir as witness, the emperor was the more angered, and the heir, frightened, at once memorialized in his own defence and asked leave to divorce Consort Wei on the ground that "affection had failed," so as to show that "kinship shall not set aside the law"; the emperor comforted him and allowed the divorce, and the consort, after long years of marriage, had to shave her head and become a nun. Li Linfu widened the case greatly: Wei Jian was exiled to Linfeng, Li Shizhi degraded to governor of Yichun, and dozens of kin and associates were exiled or degraded, many driven to their deaths, until Li Linfu's own death in 752.

A second case followed at once. Liu Ji accused his father-in-law Du Youlin of "falsely invoking prophetic writings and reviling the imperial carriage," and the case, being grave, was entrusted to Li Linfu; Liu Ji's motive had been a quarrel with his wife's family and a wish to injure them, but Li Linfu seized on it and drew in Li Yong, Wang Zeng and a circle of famous friends, until Li Heng too was implicated, and the emperor ordered the metropolitan prefecture to inquire jointly with other officers. The facts quickly showed that Liu Ji had contrived it, yet Li Linfu had his subordinates direct Liu Ji to bring false charges, widened the case and brought Li Yong in as a witness, extending it to provincial officials, so that "there was every prospect of the heir's deposition from one day to the next"; the emperor remained cautious, and Du Youlin and Liu Ji both died under heavy flogging. These two cases in succession did Li Heng deep harm in body and mind; that the emperor afterwards arranged his remarriage to the well-connected Consort Zhang, later empress, suggests he had not yet thought of deposing him, and Li Heng became the more circumspect.

In the eleventh month of 755 An Lushan, holding the three commands of Fanyang, Hedong and Pinglu, rose in revolt; in the first month of the following year he proclaimed himself emperor of Great Yan at Luoyang with the era name Shengwu. On the thirteenth of the sixth month the Xuanzong emperor fled Chang'an with a few consorts and attendants. The whole party numbered some three thousand, and the heir's rearguard alone two thousand, including those "commanding his own guards," which gave Li Heng an unmatched opportunity to act. On the fourteenth they reached Mewei post station, where the guards, hungry, tired and disordered, were already muttering. Chen Xuanli, their commander, held that Yang Guozhong was the cause of the trouble and wished to kill him, and told the heir through Li Fuguo, the eunuch of the Eastern Palace, but the heir hesitated; just then some twenty Tibetan envoys blocked Yang Guozhong's horse to complain of having no food, and before he could answer the soldiers shouted that "Guozhong plots rebellion with the barbarians" and shot at him, striking his saddle; he fled inside the west gate and was cut down by the guards, "his limbs hacked apart and his head raised on a spear outside the post station," with his son Yang Xuan, vice-minister of revenue, and the ladies of Han and Qin killed as well. The killing of Consort Yang followed; but to Li Heng's surprise Chen Xuanli, having secured her death, led the way in professing loyalty to the Xuanzong emperor, which ensured the emperor's safety. After the Yangs were destroyed the emperor's retreat to Shu became irreversible and the division of father and son inevitable.

Li Heng could not go on west with his father and had to divide the forces and seek his own way. Once separated his position was desperately narrow: "on the road, at every stir of grass and wind, in confusion and haste, his soul could not be stilled," until at last he reached Lingwu, headquarters of the Shuofang army, and the bedraggled party could breathe. After some arrangement, on the twelfth day of the seventh month of 756 Li Heng held a simple enthronement on the south gate tower of Lingwu, changing the era name to Zhide and the year to its first, and honouring the Xuanzong emperor as retired emperor. To take the throne as heir at a marching camp was a direct response to the emperor's flight west and the collapse of his authority, and it gave Tang a fresh banner and title under which to carry on the suppression of the rebellion.

Major Activities

Political Activities

Li Heng's most important political act was his accession at Lingwu during the An Lushan Rebellion, through which he became the political center of the counterinsurgency. He rapidly consolidated the Shuofang forces, appointed Guo Ziyi as Deputy Supreme Commander of the Empire's Armies, and relied on Li Guangbi as Military Commissioner of Hedong. He also accepted advice to borrow Uyghur troops, agreeing that after a city was recovered, its land and ordinary population would remain Tang while movable wealth and captives would go to the Uyghurs. The allied forces recovered Chang'an and Luoyang in the ninth and tenth months of 757, reversing the course of the war.

The Chinese source also attributes major errors to his conduct of the war. In 758, the first year of Qianyuan, he appointed the eunuch Yu Chao'en to supervise the armies besieging Xiangzhou. Command remained divided among the regional commanders, and the coalition was defeated by Shi Siming at Yecheng. The source treats this appointment as an important precedent for eunuchs exercising military power in the middle and late Tang.

Mawei Mutiny

The Mawei Station Mutiny was the turning point in Li Heng's political career. On the fourteenth day of the sixth month of 756, when Xuanzong's refugee column reached Mawei Station, the Chinese source states that Li Heng used the eunuch Li Fuguo to establish contact with General-in-Chief Chen Xuanli and prepare military action against Yang Guozhong. The guards killed Yang Guozhong, his son Yang Xuan, and the Lady of Han, and then forced Xuanzong to order Yang Guifei's death. The mutiny eliminated the principal political forces around Xuanzong and made it possible for Li Heng to separate from his father and later take the throne at Lingwu.

Travels and Places of Activity

Li Heng's life was centered mainly on Chang'an, Lingwu, and the two capitals. He lived in the Ten Princes' Residence for thirteen years during his youth, with a very restricted sphere of movement. After the outbreak of the An Lushan Rebellion, he fled Chang'an with Xuanzong, separated at Mawei Station, traveled north through Xinping, Anding, Wushi, and Pengyuan, and finally reached Lingwu, headquarters of the Shuofang Army. After accession, he returned to Chang'an in the ninth month of 757 and remained in the capital until his death.

Relations with Contemporaries

Li Heng relied closely on Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi during the suppression of the rebellion. His relationship with the eunuch Li Fuguo developed from dependence into effective political subordination. Li Fuguo had played an important role in the Lingwu accession, and Suzong later entrusted him with major military and administrative posts. His relationship with Empress Zhang similarly evolved from political marriage into tolerance of political intervention. In Suzong's final years she interfered in government and ultimately attempted a coup.

The Planning and Execution of the Mewei Incident

The Mewei incident was the step by which Li Heng passed from passivity to initiative, and the histories set out its layers clearly. The plot to deal with Yang Guozhong by extraordinary means may have begun already in Chang'an, and the presence in the party of men "commanding his own guards" gave Li Heng considerable real force on the march. On the day, the guards' hunger, fatigue and murmuring gave the heir, who was secretly directing and planning the mutiny, an excellent moment: Yang Guozhong was hunted down inside the west gate of Mewei by the carefully posted guards and cut to pieces, his head taken, and his son Yang Xuan and the ladies of Han and Qin died with the mob — the first step, the destruction of the Yangs, was accomplished.

The second was the forcing of Consort Yang's death. Yet Chen Xuanli, though of one mind with Li Heng about the Yangs, remained loyal to the Xuanzong emperor and led the way in professing loyalty once the consort was dead, which both secured the emperor's person and prevented Li Heng's plan from turning against him. In effect the extinction of the Yang family, the emperor's irreversible withdrawal to Shu and the necessary division of father and son together created the conditions in which Li Heng could leave his father's control and establish his own headquarters: he took two thousand men from the rearguard, came through hardship to Lingwu, headquarters of the Shuofang army, and took the throne on its south gate tower, changing the era to Zhide and honouring the Xuanzong emperor from afar as retired emperor. This sequence continues the Mewei incident and marks the transfer of the direction of the war from the fleeing imperial party to the Shuofang base.

Personal Relations

• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji (father); Empress Yuanxian Yang (mother); Empress Wang (foster mother); Emperor Daizong of Tang, Li Yu (eldest son); Li Xi (second son); Li Tan (third son); Li Bi, Li Jin, Li Xian, Li Ting, Li Rong, Li Huang, Li Chui, Li Gui, Li Zhao, Li Tong, and Li Xi (sons); Princess of Su, Princess of Xiao, Princess Hezheng, Princess of Tan, Princess of Ji, Princess Yonghe, Princess of Gao, and Princess Yongmu (daughters).
• Consort Wei (first wife, later divorced); Empress Zhang; Empress Zhangjing Wu; Consort Cui; Lady Du; Jieyu Duan; Jieyu Chen; Jieyu Dong; Beauty Zhang; Zhaoyi Pei; Liangyuan Zheng, and others.
• He Zhizhang (reader-tutor); Pan Su (reader-tutor); Lü Xiang (reader-tutor); Huangfu Bin (reader-tutor); Zhang Shuo; Du Hongjian; Li Fuguo (trusted eunuch).
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (father and Retired Emperor); Guo Ziyi (general); Li Guangbi (general); Yu Chao'en (eunuch); Li Linfu (political enemy); Yang Guozhong (political enemy); Chen Xuanli (imperial guard commander); Gao Lishi (eunuch); Cheng Yuanzhen (eunuch).
• Li Linfu (political struggle); Yang Guozhong (political struggle); Empress Zhang (late-reign coup); Li Fuguo (late-reign political conflict).

Historical Assessment

Tang and Contemporary Assessments

When Emperor Daizong assigned honors to his father, he gave him the posthumous name Wenming Wude Dasheng Daxuan Xiao Huangdi and the temple name Suzong. The choice of “Suzong,” explained in the source through the classical formula “majestic, beneficent, wise, and sage is called su,” affirmed his role in taking power during crisis and directing the suppression of the rebellion.

The Old Book of Tang gave Suzong a mixed assessment, crediting him with restoration yet criticizing the damaging effects of slander and political estrangement in his final years. The New Book of Tang likewise recognized his role in gaining the empire while identifying his reliance on eunuchs as a central failure.

Song and Yuan Periods

Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Suzong's reign in detail and is critical of the Mawei Mutiny and the Lingwu accession, presenting questions about the proper father-son hierarchy while also acknowledging his practical role in suppressing the rebellion.

Fan Zuyu's Tang Jian criticized the legitimacy of Suzong's accession from the standpoint of Confucian political hierarchy, arguing that a son should not establish himself while his father still lived.

Hu Sanxing's commentary on the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance criticized Suzong's reliance on Uyghur troops, arguing that although the two capitals were recovered, it created later difficulties with the Uyghurs.

Ming and Qing Periods

Wang Fuzhi, in Du Tongjian Lun, harshly criticized Suzong's accession as taking advantage of his father's peril, while acknowledging that later military success could not erase the moral problem as he understood it.

Zhao Yi, in Notes on the Twenty-Two Histories, recognized Suzong's achievements in recovering the two capitals but argued that empowering Li Fuguo and Yu Chao'en helped initiate the later Tang problem of eunuch military control.

Wang Mingsheng, in Critical Discussions of the Seventeen Histories, offered a more accommodating judgment, arguing that with Xuanzong far away in Sichuan and the realm lacking an effective political center, Suzong's accession and mobilization of support could be understood as a response to extraordinary circumstances.

Modern Assessments

Fan Wenlan, in A Concise General History of China, credited Suzong with organizing the counteroffensive and recovering the two capitals, while criticizing his reliance on eunuchs and tolerance of Empress Zhang's intervention in politics.

Historian Cen Zhongmian, in History of the Sui and Tang, characterized Suzong's career as containing both achievements and failures: stabilizing the anti-rebel effort in a moment of crisis, but making poor personnel choices and favoring eunuchs and palace consorts.

Ray Huang, in China: A Macro History, is cited in the Chinese source as viewing Suzong's reign as preserving the Tang after the An Lushan Rebellion while marking the end of the High Tang order, with weakened central authority, regional military separatism, and eunuch power becoming persistent structural problems.