Li Mi

Background

Li Mi came from a line that was part of the nobility during successive dynasties Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Sui dynasty. His great-grandfather Li Bi was one of Eight Zhuguo (八柱国) of Western Wei. By the time of his father Li Kuan (李寬), who carried the Sui-created title of Duke of Pushan, the clan, although not originally from there, lived at the Sui capital Chang'an. Due to his father's position, Li Mi became a guard of Emperor Yang of Sui, and he was said to view money lightly, using it to instead gather friends around him. One day, however, when Emperor Yang saw him, Emperor Yang was apprehensive of his appearance, and told his associate Yuwen Shu the Duke of Xu to have Li Mi removed. Thereafter, Yuwen persuaded Li Mi to resign from the imperial guard corps, and Li instead often traveled around the capital, riding a bull and reading while doing so—particularly the Book of Han. When the prime minister Yang Su the Duke of Yue saw him, Li knew it was the prime minister and he bowed and stated his name. Yang Su took Li to his mansion and talked with him. Yang then told his son Yang Xuangan, "Li Mi's intelligence and capability is far beyond yours." Sometimes, Yang Xuangan would bully Li, and Li responded:

I will be honest and not flatter you. On the battlefield, when two armies were facing off with each other, I am not as good as you at yelling and screaming to cause the enemy to be fearful and submissive. However, as far as gathering the capable men of the earth and letting them serve properly in their capacity, you are not as good as I. Why do you look down on the knowledgeable people just based on your high rank?

Participation in Yang Xuangan's rebellion

In 613, with Emperor Yang at the frontlines attacking Goguryeo, Yang Xuangan, who had been apprehensive since he heard rumors that Emperor Yang had remarked, "If Yang Su did not die, his clan would have eventually been exterminated," considered rebelling. Emperor Yang had put him in charge of keeping the supply lines clear near the eastern capital Luoyang, and Yang Xuangan took the opportunity to seize the gathered food supply and then declare a general rebellion against Emperor Yang. At the same time, he secretly sent his servants to Chang'an to summon Li and his brother Yang Xuanting (楊玄挺). Once Li arrived, Yang Xuangan made Li his chief strategist, and Li gave him three options, in the order of Li's opinion as to their feasibility:

Li's "high strategy" involved making a surprise attack on Jicheng (薊城, in modern Beijing) and Linyu (臨榆, in modern Qinhuangdao, Hebei), capturing those key locations to trap Emperor Yang, who then was on the Goguryeo front. Li believed that Goguryeo would then make a crippling attack on Emperor Yang, and that Emperor Yang's forces would either collapse on their own or surrender.

Li's "middle strategy" involved making a surprise attack on Chang'an and capturing the surrounding Guanzhong region, and then holding the region and preparing for confrontation with Emperor Yang.

Li's "low strategy" involved making a surprise attack on the eastern capital Luoyang and trying to capture it quickly and hold it as the command center. However, he warned that Tang Hui (唐褘), who had initially submitted to Yang Xuangan but who had since fled back to Luoyang, might have already warned the city to firm up its defenses—and that if Yang Xuangan put Luoyang under siege and could not capture it quickly, he would soon be trapped by converging Sui forces.

Yang Xuangan, however, believing that he needed to capture Luoyang to show that his rebellion was serious, commented that Li's "low strategy" was in fact "high strategy," and headed toward Luoyang. However, as Li had predicted, Tang had warned Emperor Yang's grandson Yang Tong the Prince of Yue and the official Fan Zigai (樊子蓋), whom Emperor Yang left in charge of Luoyang, and Luoyang's defenses had been prepared. While Yang Xuangan and his brothers gained some victories, he could not quickly capture Luoyang. Meanwhile, many young noblemen were joining his cause. After he captured the highly regarded official Wei Fusi (韋福嗣), he trusted Wei as well and did not only trust Li any further, but strategies that Wei submitted were not wholeheartedly in support of the rebellion. Li requested that Yang Xuangan kill Wei, but Yang Xuangan refused. Li made the comment to his relatives, "The Duke of Chu wanted to rebel, but does not know how to gain final victory. We are now like turtles stuck in urns." When Li Zixiong (李子雄) suggested that Yang Xuangan take imperial title, however, Li advised him that the act was inadvisable, and Yang agreed and did not do so.

After Yang Xuangan's death

Li Mi was also captured, and he, Wei Fusi, Yang Jishan, and Wang Zhongbo (王仲伯) were taken by Fan Zigai, to be delivered to Emperor Yang, who was returning from the Goguryeo front as well. On the way, Li and Wang discussed escaping. They showed their jailers their gold, and told them, "When we die, please spend the proceeds to bury us; the rest of it, we leave it as a gift." The jailers began to be careless around Li and Wang, and they often feasted together. When they reached Wei Commandery (魏郡), they got the jailers drunk, and then Li, Wang, and five others dug a hole on the wall and escaped. As they fled, Li suggested to Wei that he flee with them—but Wei refused, believing that Emperor Yang would pardon him—a fateful decision, for Emperor Yang executed both him and Yang Jishan cruelly.

For the next few years, Li travelled around, trying to find an agrarian rebel leader who would listen to his grand strategies, but his attempt to persuade Hao Xiaode (郝孝德) and Wang Bo (王薄) fell on deaf ears. Li was poor and often went hungry. At one point, he took the pseudonym Liu Zhiyuan and began teaching students in farming communities in Huaiyang Commandery (淮陽, roughly modern Zhoukou, Henan) how to read and write. During this period, he was so depressed that he wrote a poem about his ordeals, reading:

A golden wind has lost its gust.

The dew has fallen on the dark forest.

Tonight, this poor and confused man,

Is depressed in this Tao region with a broken heart.

In the wild plains, the reed and the aloe are mixed;

In the wilderness near the village, the pigweed and the wild beans grow tall.

I look and I listen with many emotions,

I lie down on my pillow in tears.

But why do I shed tears?

Assassinating Zhai Rang

By 616, Li Mi saw that Zhai Rang was the strongest rebel leader of the region, met Zhai through Wang Bodang. Li proposed some strategies for Zhai and was able to persuade some other rebel leaders to follow Zhai. Li therefore suggested to Zhai that, with Emperor Yang away at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), he should gather his troops and attack Sui's two capitals: Luoyang and Chang'an. Zhai, not having the stomach yet of that grandiose design, did not accept the idea, but became more impressed with Li and kept Li as an honored guest.

Meanwhile, because of prophecies that the next emperor would be named Li, the rebel leaders began to believe Li Mi might be the one prophesied. They thus began to submit to Li personally. When Zhai saw this, Zhai became even more impressed, and he considered accepting Li's plan. Li persuaded Zhai's strategist and astrologer Jia Xiong (賈雄) to persuade Zhai to accept his plan. When Zhai asked Jia whether the signs indicated that Li's plan could succeed, Jia told him that it would, but that he might not be successful himself as the emperor, but should support Li. Zhai believed Jia and began to honor Li further. Under Li's advice, Zhai began to attack and capture the various cities within Yingyang Commandery. In response, Emperor Yang sent the general Zhang Xutuo (張須陀), who had previously been successful against rebel leaders, to attack Zhai. Zhai, who has previously lost some battles against Zhang, became fearful, but Li persuaded him that Zhang could be defeated. Under Li's suggestion, Zhai had Li take a thousand-man force and hide in a forest. As Zhang attacked Zhai, Li surprised Zhang, and Li, Zhai, Xu, and Wang surrounded Zhang. Zhang was initially able to fight his way out of the encirclement, but as he tried to rescue some of his officers, he was killed in battle, and Zhai's reputation was greatly enhanced, and he was able to gather much food supply. In light of the victory, Zhai let Li set up his own army, known as the Army of the Duke of Pushan. As Li's army grew, Zhai's soldiers began to have friction with Li's. Zhai thus separated his army from Li's and returned to Wagang, but soon regretted that decision and rejoined Li.

In spring 617, Li persuaded Zhai that, with Emperor Yang away and Yang Tong in charge at Luoyang, the officials there were not of one mind. They thus sent Pei Shufang (裴叔方) to Luoyang to scout it, but Pei was discovered, and the Sui officials at Luoyang began to prepare for an attack. In response, Li and Zhai launched their assault at Luokou Storage (洛口倉), a massive food storage that Emperor Yang built, and they captured it. They opened the food storage to allow the people to take food, and many people joined them. The Sui generals Liu Changgong (劉長恭) and Fang Shi (房崱), viewing Zhai's forces as nothing more than bandits looking for food, took them lightly and attacked. Li and Zhai wore out the army from Luoyang with hunger, and then attacked, defeating it.

As Duke of Wei

In the aftermaths of the battle, Zhai Rang supported Li Mi as leader and offered the title of Duke of Wei—a title that Li's grandfather Li Yao (李曜) had previously carried during Northern Zhou—to Li. Li accepted, and changed the era name to show independence from Sui. Li made Zhai his prime minister and created him the Duke of Dong Commandery. Once Li made his declaration, the rebel generals of the region largely submitted to him, and much of modern central and eastern Henan came under Li's rule. However, after Sui reinforcements arrived from Jiangdu under the command of Wang Shichong, Li's advances, while initially successful over Wang as well, became stalled. By fall 617, Pei Renji had surrendered to him as well. Also joining him were Qin Shubao and Cheng Zhijie (程知節). Despite the increasing number of followers, however, Li continued to be unable to capture Luoyang. When Chai Zhaohe (柴昭和) suggested to him—in accordance with his own suggestion to Yang Xuangan years earlier—that he commission Zhai and Pei to remain near Luoyang to keep the Luoyang troops checked, while he himself lead a surprise attack against Chang'an, Li responded that without capture Luoyang first, his followers would not be convinced that they could prevail, and so he did not accept Chai's suggestion.

Meanwhile, another Sui general named Li—Li Yuan the Duke of Tang, who had been in charge of Taiyuan (太原, roughly modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) to guard against Eastern Tujue's attacks—rebelled at Taiyuan, claiming that he wished to support Emperor Yang's grandson Yang You the Prince of Dai, then nominally in charge at Chang'an, emperor. Li Yuan initially wrote Li Mi, trying to see if Li Mi would be willing to follow him, but Li Mi, believing in his own strength, had his secretary Zu Junyan (祖君彥, the son of the Northern Qi prime minister Zu Ting, whom both Emperor Yang and his father Emperor Wen had rejected as an official because Zu's false accusations against Hulü Guang had led to Northern Qi's downfall) write Li Yuan for him in this way:

Although I and you, my older brother, are of different branches, but we are both Lis. I know that I do not have sufficient strength, but by the love of the men on this earth, I have been made the leader. I hope that you will support and help me. Let us capture Ziying at Xianyang, and let us kill Xin of Shang at Muye; would it not be a great accomplishment?

Li Yuan was dismayed but, not wanting to make another enemy, wrote back humbly:

Defeat

Upon the news of Emperor Yang's death arriving at Sui's two capitals, two different reactions came about. At Chang'an, Li Yuan had Yang You pass the throne to him, establishing Tang dynasty as its Emperor Gaozu, while at Luoyang, the Sui officials, led by a collective leadership of Duan Da, Wang Shichong, Yuan Wendu (元文都), Huangfu Wuyi (皇甫無逸), Lu Chu (盧楚), Guo Wenyi (郭文懿), and Zhao Changwen (趙長文), declared Yang Tong emperor.

Both the Sui officials and Li Mi were apprehensive about the approaching Yuwen Huaji. Yuan and Lu decided that the proper strategy was to seek Li's submission by pardoning him and awarding him high titles, and have him resist Yuwen—with an eye toward eventually turning against Li after he had been worn out. Meanwhile, Li had already engaged Yuwen several times, repeatedly prevailing over Yuwen but unable to definitively defeat him. Therefore, when Yang Tong's messengers arrived, Li seized the opportunity to suggest, making a submission to Yang Tong agreeing to be a Sui official and offering to attack Yuwen. Yang Tong then heaped a number of honors on Li—including creating him the Duke of Wei, now as formal Sui creation, and making him the nominal commander of all Sui forces. However, Wang opposed this rapprochement with Li, remarking that Yuan and Lu were awarding honors on a bandit, drawing suspicions from Yuan and Lu that Wang was intending to surrender the city to Yuwen. The Sui collective leadership thus began to suspect each other.

In fall 618, Li, knowing that Yuwen's food supplies were running out, pretended to offer peace to Yuwen, agreeing to supply Yuwen's army with food, but instead planning to withhold food and, once Yuwen's food supplies did run out, attack. Li's plans, however, became known by Yuwen, and he in turn made a surprise attack on Li, nearly killing Li, but Qin Shubao protected Li from death, and eventually Yuwen was repelled. Yuwen, unable to gain food, headed north away from Li, and Li did not trail him.

Meanwhile, at Luoyang, Wang began to incite his troops by telling them that they would soon fall into Li Mi's trap, and that if Li Mi received the command over them (as Li Mi was nominally bestowed the office of supreme commander of the armed forces), he would surely slaughter them for having resisted him. When Yuan received news that Wang was doing this, he planned to ambush Wang. However, Duan revealed the plot to Wang, and Wang started a coup himself first, killing Lu and surrounding the palace. Huangfu fled to Chang'an (to Tang). At Wang's insistence, Yang Tong surrendered Yuan, who remarked to Yang Tong, "If I die in the morning, Your Imperial Majesty will die in the evening." Yang Tong wept, but still sent Yuan to Wang, who executed Yuan. Wang then met Yang Tong and pledged his loyalty, swearing that all he intended was to save himself and save the empire. Yang Tong took Wang inside the palace to meet Empress Dowager Wang, and Wang swore before her as well. Nevertheless, from this point, all power was in Wang's hands, and Yang Tong himself was powerless.

Surrender to Tang and death

By winter 618, Li Mi was approaching Chang'an. Tang's Emperor Gaozu initially sent numerous messengers to him to express gratitude and welcome, and Li Mi expected Emperor Gaozu to give him a position equivalent to prime minister. However, once he actually arrived at Chang'an, his men were not respected and were given insufficient supplies. Soon, Emperor Gaozu made him the minister of palace supplies and created him the Duke of Xing. Li was not satisfied, particularly because the Tang officials largely looked down on him, and some demanded bribes. Only Emperor Gaozu himself showed him some respect, still referring to Li Mi as "my younger brother," and gave Li Mi his cousin Lady Dugu in marriage.

Meanwhile, while most of Li Mi's holdings had surrendered to Yang Tong, Xu Shiji did not. Li Mi's follower Wei Zheng suggested to Emperor Gaozu that he be sent to encourage Xu to submit to Tang, and Emperor Gaozu sent Wei to do so. Xu Shiji decided to submit, but believing that it was proper that Li Mi himself make the submission, since he was still, in Xu's eyes, the sovereign of the lands, he declined to write a submission to Emperor Gaozu, only a report to Li Mi. Li Mi submitted Xu's report to Emperor Gaozu, and Emperor Gaozu, impressed with Xu, bestowed on him the imperial surname of Li.

Later that year, at an imperial feast, Li Mi, as the minister of palace supplies, was forced to organize the feast, and he felt humiliated. He discussed the situation with Wang Bodang, who had followed him to Chang'an, and they believed that, with Xu Shiji and Zhang Shanxiang (張善相) still having substantial troops under their control, that he could reestablish himself. Li Mi thus spoke with Emperor Gaozu and offered to head back east to persuade his old adherents to submit to Tang. Around the new year 619, Emperor Gaozu, despite opposition by many of his officials, agreed, and he sent Li Mi east, assisted by Jia Runfu (賈閏甫) and Wang Bodang.

After Li Mi departed Chang'an, however, Emperor Gaozu changed his mind and tried to summon Li Mi back to Chang'an. Li Mi had reached Chousang (綢桑, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) by that point, and he was fearful of what Emperor Gaozu was intending. Despite Jia's and Wang's opposition, he decided to rebel. He made a surprise attack on Taolin (桃林, also in modern Sanmenxia), capturing it. He then publicly declared that he was heading to Luoyang, but instead was heading to Xiangcheng (襄城, in modern Pingdingshan, Henan), where Zhang was. His movement was anticipated by the Tang general Sheng Yanshi, however, who laid a trap for him on the way to Xiangcheng. Sheng killed him and Wang.

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