Bian Hao


Bian Hao, nickname Kangle, was a general of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Southern Tang. Early in his career, he distinguished himself in campaigns against the agrarian army leader Zhang Yuxian and against Southern Tang's southeastern neighbor Min. Later, during Chu's collapse due to civil war, Bian was able to enter its territory and, for some time, secured the nominal submission of all of its territory for his emperor Li Jing. However, he was unable to deal with subsequent uprisings in the Chu realm and had to abandon it, causing him to be exiled for some time. He also fared poorly when later returned to the army, as he was defeated and captured by Later Zhou forces when Later Zhou invaded Southern Tang and eventually forced its submission as a vassal. After he was returned to Southern Tang, he had no further army commissions.

Early career

It is not known when Bian Hao was born, but it is known that he was from Sheng Prefecture. When he was born, his father dreamed of the Liu Song official Xie Lingyun coming to see him and offering to be his son. After he woke up, he believed that Bian Hao's appearance looked like the man in the dream, and therefore gave Bian Hao the nickname of Kangle — as Xie's noble title was the Duke of Kangle. Bian Hao later served under the founding emperor of Li Bian for a long duration as his protocol officer, and became known for his understanding and dexterity.

Campaigns against Zhang Yuxian and Min

In 943, by which time Li Bian's son and successor Li Jing was emperor, there was an incursion by the agrarian rebels, led by Zhang Yuxian and initially against Southern Tang's southern neighbor Southern Han, that entered Southern Tang territory. Zhang put Southern Tang's Baisheng Circuit under attack and built for himself a capital at Baiyun Cave, sending the agrarians under him to roam and pillage the territory. Li Jing commissioned the officer Yan En to command the army against Zhang, with Bian Hao serving as Yan's army monitor. Bian, employing Bai Changyu as his chief strategist, repeatedly defeated Zhang, and, under further advice from Bai, cut a road through the forest and attack Zhang's army from the rear. Zhang fled to his follower Li Tai, who, seeing the situation as hopeless, arrested Zhang and surrendered him to Southern Tang.
Subsequently, Bian apparently became the discipline officer of the Southern Tang army stationed at Hong Prefecture. In 944, with Southern Tang's southeastern neighbor Min deeply divided by a civil war, and with Wang Xi's younger brother Wang Yanzheng having claimed the title of Emperor of Yin at Jian Prefecture, the Southern Tang general Cha Wenhui advocated a campaign against Wang Yanzheng. Li Jing agreed and commissioned Cha to command the army against Wang. Bian was assigned to serve under Cha, as the army's discipline officer. In fall 945, Bian captured Xin Prefecture, and participated in the subsequent capture of Jian, which forced Wang's surrender. It was said that all of the officers argued for credit for their achievements during the campaign, but Bian was silent.

Takeover of Chu and subsequent abandonment

By 951, another Southern Tang neighboring state — Chu, to its southwest — had been devastated by a civil war between brothers Ma Xiguang and Ma Xi'e. Ma Xi'e eventually prevailed, with Southern Tang support, and therefore, in 951, sent his secretary Liu Guangfu to Jinling to submit tributes to Li Jing. Li Jing welcomed Liu with respect, and Liu secretly told him, "Hunan has tired people and an arrogant lord. It can be taken." Li thereafter commissioned Bian Hao as the prefect of Xin Prefecture, but stationed him and his troops at Yuan Prefecture, in anticipation of a potential chance to strike.
Later in the year, Ma Xi'e, who angered the people by his viciousness, particularly against prior enemies, and was himself overthrown in a coup led by his brother Ma Xichong, who seized the throne. However, he faced armed opposition from the general Liu Yan, who controlled Wuping Circuit, and of a group of generals who supported Ma Xi'e and redeclared him prince in the Mount Heng region. Further, Ma Xichong himself alienated the people by being unfair in his governance and by his frivolousness and drunkenness. Several generals who supported Ma Xichong's coup, led by Xu Wei, were concerned that Ma Xichong could not possibly prevail against the Wuping and Mount Heng forces, and therefore considered killing him. Ma Xichong became aware that a plot was occurring. In fear, he sent his officer Fan Shoumu to the Southern Tang court, offering to submit the realm. Li thereafter ordered Bian to take his army into the Chu capital Changsha. When Bian arrived, Ma Xichong opened the city and welcomed him in, surrendering the realm to him and ending Chu. As the people were then suffering from starvation due to the lengthy civil war, Bian opened up the food storage and distributed the grain previously stored by the Chu princes to the people, gaining their support.
In the aftermaths of Ma Xichong's surrender, Ma Xi'e hoped that Li would restore him to power at Changsha. However, the people of Changsha were resentful of Ma Xi'e's rule, and therefore submitted a petition that Bian be put in command. Li therefore commissioned Bian as the military governor of Wu'an Circuit. He subsequently ordered Ma Xichong and his clan to move to Jinling. They tried to bribe him to be able to stay at Changsha, but he, with a sarcastic smile, stated to Ma Xichong:
Ma Xichong had no convincing response to him. Shortly after, they were placed on ships and sent to Jinling, with both they and their senders-off crying bitterly and loudly. He subsequently also sent the officer Li Chengjian to Mount Heng to order Ma Xi'e to report to Jinling as well. Ma Xi'e, apparently intimidated, took his army and, after first visiting Changsha, reported to Jinling as well.
In the aftermaths of Chu's fall, Chu's southern neighbor Southern Han's emperor Liu Sheng also had design on parts of Chu territory, and in winter 951, the Southern Han generals Pang Chongche and Xie Guan captured Chen Prefecture, notwithstanding Bian's attempt to resist the attack. Subsequently, at Bian's request that prefects be commissioned at Quan and Dao to defend against future attacks by Southern Han, Li commissioned the general Liao Yan as the prefect of Dao and the officer Zhang Luan as the acting prefect of Quan.
Trouble would soon brew for Bian at Changsha itself as well. After Bian's takeover, much of the treasures and stored wealth of Chu were delivered to Jinling. The official Yang Jixun collected taxes from the people of the Hunan region to pay the expenses of the occupying army, disappointing the people of Hunan. Further, the supply officer Wang Shaoyan was decreasing the food and money supplies to the soldiers. Two officers, Sun Lang and Cao Jin, thereafter entered a conspiracy to kill Bian and Wang, and then submit to Later Zhou. When they rose in uprising in spring 952, however, Bian realized what was occurring and successfully defended against the attack. Sun and Wang, realizing they could not defeat him, fled to Wuping's capital Lang Prefecture and submitted to Liu Yan. They revealed to Liu's general Wang Kui that the Southern Tang imperial administration itself was deeply flawed with corruption and improper policies and argued that Changsha could be easily taken. Later in the year, one Ouyang Guang submitted a petition to Li Jing, pointing out that Bian was indecisive, incompetent, and unable to rein in his subordinates and arguing that Bian needed to be replaced, or that the former Chu realm would be lost. Li took no heed.
Meanwhile, though, as Liu was nominally submissive to Li, Bian did not expect a potential attack from him. When Li sent emissaries to Lang to summon Liu to Jinling, however, Liu refused, and, after informing Wang and another general, Zhou Xingfeng, that he would thus expect an attack from Southern Tang, Wang and Zhou advocated an attack against Bian. Liu decided to launch an attack, and sent Wang, Zhou, and eight other generals, with Sun and Cao serving as their guides, quickly toward Changsha. The Southern Tang positions along the way quickly collapsed, and Bian, after briefly defending the city but having no prospect of reinforcement, decided to abandon Changsha and flee, allowing Wang to enter Changsha and take it over and ending Southern Tang's brief control of the region.
In the aftermaths, Li stripped Bian of his commissions and exiled him to Rao Prefecture. It was said that, because Bian was a devout Buddhist, he often guided his actions by Buddhist principles of mercy. When he followed Cha in the campaign against Min, he tried to save as many people from death as possible, and therefore gained the nickname of "Arhat Bian" from the people of Jian. When he took over Changsha, he made sure that the people were comforted and that not even the daily business routines were disrupted, and therefore gained the nickname of "Bodhisattva Bian" from the people of Changsha. But after he became governor, his rule lacked proper principles, and he spent all day offering sacrifices to deities. In disappointment, the people of Changsha nicknamed him, "Monk Bian."

Campaign against Later Zhou

In 956, with Southern Tang facing a major invasion by Later Zhou's emperor Guo Rong, Li Jing commissioned his younger brother Li Jingda the Prince of Qi to command an army resisting the Later Zhou invasion, but with the official Chen Jue as Li Jingda's army monitor and effectively in actual command of the army. Bian Hao was made the army commander serving below Li Jingda and Chen. Li Jingda's army subsequently headed for the vicinity of Shou Prefecture, which had been under Later Zhou siege from the start of the war, as it sat on the Later Zhou/Southern Tang border. However, Li Jingda's army was unable to lift the siege against the Later Zhou general Li Chongjin. As another Later Zhou army, commanded by Guo himself, was set to arrive to renew the effort to capture the city, Shou's defender Liu Renshan proposed that Bian enter the city and defend it, while Liu himself make a preemptive attack against the Later Zhou army, but Li Jingda refused to grant approval.
As of spring 957, Shou Prefecture was in a desperate position, as it was running out of food, and Liu himself was falling ill. However, the Later Zhou army was still not able to defeat the Southern Tang army, until the Southern Tang general Zhu Yuan, fearful that he would be stripped of his command because of his strained relationship with Chen, defected to Later Zhou. The Later Zhou army then attacked Li Jingda's army, and it collapsed. Li Jingda and Chen fled back to Jinling. Bian, along with other generals Xu Wenzhen and Yang Shouzhong, was captured. With Liu deathly ill, the Shou garrison surrendered.
In winter 958, after a peace agreement had been entered between the two states, Guo returned Bian, Xu, and Liu's army monitor Zhou Tinggou to Southern Tang. However, Li Jing considered Bian and Xu to be losing generals unworthy of restoration, and therefore did not restore their commissions for the rest of their lives. Bian later died at Jinling.