Takeover of Fengxiang Circuit

Little is known about Li Changyan's background, as neither of the official histories of Tang Dynasty (the Old Book of Tang and the New Book of Tang) contained a biography for him. It is known that as of 881, when Zheng Tian was serving as the military governor of Fengxiang and the overall commander against the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao—after Huang had captured the imperial capital Chang'an earlier that year and forced then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu—Li Changyan was serving as the commander of the Fengxiang forces (行軍司馬, Xingjun Sima) and stationed at Xingping (興平, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi). Due to the indecisive nature of the warfare with Huang, who declared himself emperor of a new state of Qi, the Fengxiang treasury was becoming drained, and Zheng was giving less rewards to the soldiers than the soldiers expected and cutting down on the salaries. Li Changyan, knowing that the soldiers were displeased, fanned their discontent. In winter 881, he took his soldiers from Xingyuan back to Fengxiang's capital Fengxiang Municipality and poised to attack. Zheng, not wanting to have his forces battle each other, transferred his powers to Li Changyan and headed toward Chengdu to join Emperor Xizong, but on the way also offered to resign. Emperor Xizong gave Zheng the post of advisor to the Crown Prince—a completely honorary post since there was no crown prince at the time—while making Li Changyan military governor.

As military governor

It is unclear what role Li Changyan had in the campaign against Huang Chao. In 883, Emperor Xizong bestowed on him the honorary chancellor title of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi.

Later that year, after Huang had been defeated and Tang forces recaptured Chang'an, Emperor Xizong was beginning to prepare for a return to Chang'an. At that time, Zheng was again chancellor, but was in sharp disagreement in many matters with the powerful eunuch Tian Lingzi and Tian's brother Chen Jingxuan the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered at Chengdu). In order to get Zheng to remove himself, Tian and Chen had Li Changyan submit a petition stating, "The soldiers are being troubled. When Zheng Tian follows Your Imperial Majesty back to the capital, he should not pass here." Zheng, seeing the nature of the threat, resigned.

In 884, Li Changyan became seriously ill. He commissioned his brother Li Changfu as acting military governor, and thereafter died. Emperor Xizong then commissioned Li Changfu as military governor.

Notes and references

接管鳳翔

李昌言背景不詳，《舊唐書》《新唐書》均無他的傳。乾符四年（877年），農民軍王仙芝陷隨州，山南東道節度使李福求援，李昌言時任左武衛大將軍，率鳳翔軍五百騎前去，于是王仙芝轉移。中和元年（881年），鄭畋任鳳翔節度使和京城四面諸軍行營都統時，農民軍黃巢已占領長安迫使唐僖宗逃往成都，李昌言任鳳翔軍的行軍司馬，駐軍興平。二月，黃巢將尚讓、王璠率眾五萬攻鳳翔，鄭畋命李昌言等伏于要害，以伏兵打敗之，追擊于龍尾陂，黃巢軍丟下兵仗潰逃，被斬首萬計，鳳翔軍得其鎧仗，大振。在和自稱大齊皇帝的黃巢的對戰中，鳳翔府庫耗竭，鄭畋減少了對士卒的犒賞，並削減軍餉。李昌言知道士兵不滿，予以煽動。十月，他遣麾下求為南面都統，引軍回鳳翔軍部鳳翔府，作進攻之勢。鄭畋不意遇襲，登城對李昌言說：「我正要入朝，公能戢兵愛人，為國滅賊嗎？能的話，就守此吧。」鄭畋不希望部下自相殘殺，讓權給李昌言後前往成都會合唐僖宗，李昌言自為留後，護衛鄭畋出境，鄭畋在途中染病辭職並表薦李昌言繼任。十一月，僖宗任鄭畋為太子少傅（由于當時並無太子，這完全只是榮譽職位），任李昌言為鳳翔節度行營招討使，二年（882年）二月兼京城西面行營都統。

任節度使

諸道行營都統王鐸命邠寧節度使朱玫以鳳翔、夏綏軍屯興平。七月，黃巢軍攻鳳翔，敗李昌言于澇水，又攻武功、槐里，涇原、邠寧軍都退兵，只有鳳翔軍堅壁而守。三年（883年），唐僖宗授予他同中書門下平章事的宰相榮銜。

同年稍遲時候，黃巢兵敗，唐軍收複長安，李昌言奏稱探知長安黃巢軍潰散，唐僖宗準備重返長安。此時，鄭畋再任宰相，但在很多問題上和當權宦官田令孜及其兄西川節度使陳敬瑄矛盾尖銳。為了讓鄭畋辭職，田令孜和陳敬瑄指使李昌言上表稱，士兵騷亂，如果鄭畋和陛下一同回京，不會讓鄭畋通過。鄭畋察覺到自己受到威脅，于是辭職。

四年（884年），李昌言病重。他任弟弟李昌符為留後，而後去世。僖宗任李昌符為節度使。

評價

• 《北夢瑣言》：鄭文公畋首倡中興，傳檄討賊，殺戮黃寇，鎮靜關畿。一旦部校李昌言脅而逐之，尚不能固位。

注釋