Feng Xingxi , courtesy nameZhengchen, formally Prince Zhongjing of Changle, was a warlord late in the Chinese dynastyTang Dynasty who later became a subject of the succeeding Later Liang. He was tall and strong and known as "Green Face Feng" for his green birthmark on his face.
Background
It is not known when Feng Xingxi was born, but it is known that he was from Wudang, and that he was known in his home territory for his strategies and his bravery. At one point, he became an officer at Jun Prefecture, which Wudang was part of. In or shortly before 884, there was an incident where the agrarian rebel leader Sun Xi gathered several thousand people and prepared to attack Jun Prefecture. The prefect Lü Ye was panicking, but Feng reacted by hiding the troops and then personally, without escort, going to see Sun, to state to him: Sun was pleased and did not suspect Feng. Once Sun crossed the river, the Jun Prefecture soldiers all went to Sun, ostensibly to show respect. The soldiers that Feng had hidden then ambushed Sun, and Feng himself killed Sun and the few followers he had with him. His army, left north of the Han River, collapsed and fled. Following his success Feng also had Lü Ye expelled. When Liu Jurong the military governor of Shannan East Circuit, which Jun Prefecture belonged to, reported this to then-reigning Emperor Xizong, who was then at Chengdu, Feng was commissioned as the prefect of Jun. Meanwhile, there were bandits to the west of Jun who frequently intercepted the tributes that the eastern circuits were submitting to Emperor Xizong at Chengdu. Feng attacked and killed them, to ensure that the tributes would properly reach Emperor Xizong. At one subsequent point, when Li Maozhen the military governor of Fengxiang Circuit sent his adoptive son Li Jizhen to occupy Jin Prefecture, Feng attacked Li Jizhen and took over Jin. The emperor thereafter made the defender of a new Zhaoxin Circuit with its capital at Jin Prefecture.
As warlord in late Tang Dynasty
In 891, by which time the powerful eunuchYang Fugong had a fall out with Emperor Zhaozong and started a rebellion against Emperor Zhaozong with his adoptive sons and nephews Yang Shouliang, Yang Shouzhong, Yang Shouzhen, and Yang Shouhou, Yang Shouliang wanted to try to attack Chang'an through Feng Xingxi's territory, but Feng repelled his attack. In 898, the status of Zhaoxin Circuit was upgraded, as Feng was made a military governor. in 901, after a plan by Emperor Zhaozong and the chancellorCui Yin to slaughter the eunuchs was discovered, the eunuch Han Quanhui forcibly took Emperor Zhaozong to Li Maozhen's Fengxiang Circuit. Cui summoned the powerful warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit to Chang'an, and Zhu subsequently put Fengxiang's capital Fengxiang Municipality under siege. During the siege, Han sent some 20 eunuchs through Jin Prefecture, intending to have them head to the southeastern circuits to order the military governors there to attack Zhu. By this point, though, Feng had already sent his deputy military governor Lu Chongju to Zhu to submit to him, and when the eunuchs got to Jin Prefecture, Feng executed them and delivered the edicts that Han issued in Emperor Zhaozong's name that the eunuchs were carrying to Zhu. In 904, Feng was additionally appointed military governor of Wuding Circuit. While Zhu Quanzhong later attacked and conquered Shannan East Circuit and Jingnan Circuit, Feng Xingxi sent his son Feng Xu to lead naval troops to Jun and Fang prefectures to gather with Zhu's troops. In 905, Wang Jian the military governor of Xichuan Circuit sent his adoptive son Wang Zonghe to attack Rongzhao, and after Wang Zonghe achieved repeated victories against him, Feng abandoned Jin Prefecture and fled back to Jun Prefecture. Feng's officer Quan Shilang surrendered Jin to Wang Zonghe. However, later in the year, after Wang Zonglang came to believe that he could not hold Jin, he burned the city and fled to Wang Jian's capital Chengdu. Feng retook it, but, finding it too damaged to serve as headquarters, received permission to move the capital of the circuit to Jun Prefecture. In 906, Rongzhao Circuit was abolished by Zhu's order ; its prefectures were merged into Zhongyi Circuit. Feng himself was transferred to be the military governor of Kuangguo Circuit.
During Later Liang
After Zhu Quanzhong seized the throne in 907, ending Tang and starting a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu, Feng Xingxi continued to serve under Later Liang. When Emperor Taizu was set to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth as an emperor, Feng offered to attend to him during the ceremony, and offered a large amount of tribute; in response, Emperor Taizu treated him with great respect. Emperor Taizu also created him the Prince of Changle. In 910, Feng fell gravely ill. Apparently fearing that Feng's soldiers or Feng's own family might try to seize control of Kuangguo Circuit, which was very close to the Later Liang capital Kaifeng, Emperor Taizu sent the imperial scholarLi Ting to Kuangguo's capital Xu Prefecture to effectively take control of the circuit. Feng transferred his authorities to Li, and soon thereafter died.
