Background and seizure of Zhaoyi Circuit

It is not known when Meng Fangli was born, but it is known that he was from Xing Prefecture. As of 881, he was serving as the defender of Tianjing Pass (天井關, in modern Jincheng, Shanxi). That year, while the Gao Xun (高潯) the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit was leading his army as part of the Tang campaign to recapture the imperial capital Chang'an — which had fallen months earlier to the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao, forcing then-reigning Emperor Xizong to flee to Chengdu — Gao was assassinated by the officer Cheng Lin (成麟), who took over the army and returned to Lu Prefecture. Meng, hearing the news, launched an attack against the mutineers and killed Cheng.

After Meng killed Cheng, however, he did not remain at Lu Prefecture, and instead took his army and returned to his home Xing Prefecture. The people of Lu supported the eunuch Wu Quanxu to serve as acting military governor. Meanwhile, in 882, the overall commander against Huang, the former chancellor Wang Duo, issued an edict in Emperor Xizong's name making Meng the prefect of Xing. Meng refused to accept the commission, and further put Wu under arrest, claiming that a eunuch could not be an acting military governor. He wrote Wang, requesting that a civilian official be made the military governor. Wang made the official Zheng Changtu acting military governor. Subsequently, Emperor Xizong commissioned Wang Hui to be the new military governor, but Wang Hui, not wanting to travel far to his post and knowing that Meng had control of the three Zhaoyi prefectures east of the Taihang Mountains (Xing, Ming (洺州, in modern Handan, Hebei), and Ci (磁州, also in modern Handan)) anyway, declined to report to Zhaoyi, and instead recommended Zheng. Emperor Xizong agreed, making him instead the director of Chang'an's reconstruction. Zheng reported to Lu, but left after less than three months, leaving Meng in effective control of the circuit.

Movement of headquarters to Xing and subsequent warfare

Meng Fangli thereafter moved the circuit headquarters from Lu Prefecture to Xing Prefecture and claimed the title of acting military governor. He made his officer Li Yinrui (李殷銳) the prefect of Lu. (He was apparently then made military governor, as he was later referred to by that title.) Further, to weaken the power of Lu, as he believed that the people of Lu had a history of overthrowing the military governor, he forced the officers and the wealthy to move their families to the three prefectures east of the Taihang. Knowing that the people of Lu were distressed about these acts, the eunuch monitor Qi Shenhui (祁審誨) had the officer An Jushou (安居受) secretly write Li Keyong the military governor of Hedong Circuit, who had a powerful army, to ask for his intervention. In response, in winter 883, Li Keyong sent his officer He Gongya (賀公雅) to attack Meng, but Meng defeated He Gongya. Li Keyong then sent his cousin Li Kexiu (李克脩), who was able to capture Lu and kill Li Yinrui, taking it over. This started years of warfare between Li Keyong and Meng over the control of Zhaoyi, laying waste to the circuit. In fall 884, at Li Keyong's request, Emperor Xizong named Li Kexiu the military governor of Zhaoyi, thus leaving Zhaoyi with two contending military governors.

Meanwhile, because of a dispute between Meng's subordinates Ma Shuang the prefect of Ming and Xi Zhongxin (奚忠信) the commander of the Zhaoyi forces, Ma rebelled in summer 885 to try to force Meng to kill Xi. However, Ma was soon defeated, and fled to neighboring Weibo Circuit (魏博, headquartered in modern Handan). Meng then sent a gift to Weibo's military governor Le Yanzhen and persuaded Le to kill Ma.

In fall 886, Li Kexiu launched a major attack against Meng, capturing a number of cities east of the Taihang and commissioning his officer An Jinjun (安金俊) as the prefect of Xing. In 888, Meng tried to counterattack by having Xi attack Hedong's Liao Prefecture (遼州, in modern Jinzhong, Shanxi). Li Kexiu defeated and captured Xi, delivering him to Li Keyong.

Defeat and death

In summer 889, Li Keyong launched a major attack against Meng Fangli, sending Li Hanzhi and Li Cunxiao against him. Li Keyong's forces soon captured Ming and Ci Prefectures. Meng sent the officers Ma Gai and Yuan Fengtao (袁奉韜) to resist, but Meng's forces were defeated at Liuli Slope (琉璃陂, in modern Xingtai), with Ma and Yuan captured. Li Keyong then put Xing Prefecture under siege. As Meng was suspicious of the officers, the officers resented him, and they were no longer obeying him by this point. In distress, he committed suicide. The soldiers supported his brother or cousin Meng Qian (孟遷) as the acting military governor, but Meng Qian, after some resistance, surrendered, leaving Li Keyong in control of a reunified Zhaoyi Circuit.

Notes and references

• New Book of Tang, vol. 187.

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 254, 255, 256, 257, 258.

背景和奪取昭義

孟方立是邢州平鄉人，生年不詳。父親是邢州郡校孟察。孟方立年輕時為軍卒，因有勇力，被選為隊將。初為澤州天井戍將，稍遷游奕使。中和元年（881年），昭義節度使高潯率軍企圖收復數月前被黃巢農民反抗軍攻占的長安，攻打河陽節度使諸葛爽，派孟方立出天井關為先鋒。九月，高潯被十將成麟（《新唐書·孟方立傳》作成鄰）所殺。成麟奪取軍權，回師潞州。孟方立聞訊，攻打變軍，殺了成麟。

孟方立殺死成麟後，自稱留後，並未留在潞州，而是率軍回家鄉邢州。潞州人推監軍使吳全勗知兵馬留後。二年（882年），對黃巢作戰的總帥領諸道行營都統前宰相王鐸以僖宗名義墨敕任孟方立為檢校左散騎常侍、兼御史大夫，知邢州事。孟方立拒絕受命，並拘押了吳全勗，稱宦官不能為留後。他寫信給王鐸，要求派一名文官來任節度使。王鐸任鄭昌圖為留後。隨後，僖宗又任王徽為新任昭義節度使。但王徽嫌路途遙遠，且得知孟方立已控制了昭義鎮在太行山以東的邢州、洺州和磁州，拒絕赴任昭義，推薦鄭昌圖。僖宗同意了，改任王徽為大明宮留守、京畿安撫制置修奉使，負責修繕長安宮闕。鄭昌圖赴潞州就任，但不到三個月就離開了，使孟方立實際控制了昭義。

遷軍部于邢州和隨後的戰事

孟方立把昭義軍部從潞州遷到邢州，自稱留後。以監軍祁審誨知潞州，又表部將李殷銳為潞州刺史。後來史書提到孟方立時都稱他為節度使，可見他後來轉正了。三年（883年）九月，孟方立認為潞州人曾推翻節度使，為了削弱，他迫使大將和富人舉家遷到太行山以東的三個州。祁審誨得知潞州百姓不悅，讓武鄉鎮使安居受寫蠟丸密信給握有重兵的河東節度使李克用，請求他恢復潞州軍府。安居受以澤州歸附李克用。李克用命大將賀公雅、李筠、安金俊攻打孟方立，戰于銅鞮，被擊敗。十月，李克用又派出堂弟左營軍使李克脩攻陷潞州，殺李殷銳。李克用和孟方立從此為了昭義鎮的控制權而開戰。孟方立曾反攻潞州，朝廷授潞州人邛州刺史安文祐昭義節度使，令討孟方立，安文祐到澤州與孟方立作戰，戰敗身亡。四年（884年）十一月，在李克用要求下，僖宗任李克脩為昭義節度使，治潞州，使得昭義軍出現了兩位節度使。因孟方立倚仗李克用死敵宣武軍節度使朱全忠的幫助，李克用連年派騎將李存孝等進攻他，汾州刺史康君立亦以澤、潞之師為掎角相助，導致太行山以東三州的人半數被俘殺，昭義鎮撂荒了，而朱全忠卻因為正在攻打泰寧軍和天平軍而不能相救。

此時，洺州刺史馬爽和昭義軍行軍司馬奚忠信發生爭執，光啟元年（885年）八月，馬爽起兵屯邢州南，想迫使孟方立殺掉奚忠信，但他很快兵敗逃往鄰鎮魏博。孟方立向魏博節度使樂彥禎行賄，說服樂彥禎殺了馬爽。孟方立自擅兵賦，朝廷不能制。

二年（886年）九月，李克脩大舉進攻孟方立，占領了太行山以東的故鎮，攻武安，在焦岡與孟方立將呂臻所率援軍交戰，斬首萬級，生擒呂臻，攻克武安、臨洺、邯鄲、沙河等很多城市，任安金俊為邢州刺史以招撫降人。十月，再敗邢州軍。孟方立乞援于成德軍節度使王鎔，王鎔出兵三萬，李克脩回師。文德元年（888年）十月，孟方立試圖反擊，派奚忠信率軍三萬襲擊河東軍的遼州，並請兵于王鎔及以金錢聯合大同軍防禦使赫連鐸，但赫連鐸因被契丹攻打而未能如期出兵，王鎔也因故不能出兵，奚忠信兵分三路鼓譟而進，李克脩伏兵險道，殲其前軍，李克用亦派守嵐州刺史李承嗣伏兵榆社夾擊，奚忠信大敗並被俘虜移交給李克用，斬首萬級，只有十分之一二逃脫。孟方立部將石元佐善用兵而多智，曾為孟方立所信用，此敗後被安金俊所俘，安金俊厚待他，問攻邢州之策，石元佐說：「孟方立善守而邢州堅固，若攻之，必不得志。應該急攻其磁州，孟方立來救，可以打敗他。」安金俊以為然，在滏水之西屯軍，孟方立果然率兵來救，為安金俊所敗，馳入邢州，閉門不複出。

敗亡

龍紀元年（889年）五月，李克用派李罕之、李存孝大舉進攻孟方立，六月即攻占洺州和磁州。孟方立派大將馬溉和袁奉韜率軍數萬抵抗，在琉璃陂敗績，二將均被俘。李克用包圍邢州，並在城下斬殺馬溉向邢州軍營示威，呼喊孟方立早降，斬孟方立首級者即為三州節度使。王鎔也已依附李克用，常以芻糧奉河東軍。

孟方立外無救兵，城中糧食將盡，已無力支撐，治下州縣殘破，人心惶惶。由于孟方立性猜忌，剛愎性急，待下寡恩，將領們都怨恨他，此時已經不服從他了。被圍數十天後，一次夜間孟方立親自去城上，士兵都傲慢訴苦，號令守軍，守軍都不答應。孟方立慚愧而害怕，自知不能複振，回府飲鴆自殺。士兵推他的弟弟（一說堂弟）攝洺州刺史孟遷為留後，但孟遷略作抵抗後投降了，使李克用控制了昭義全境。

李克用打了勝仗回師潞州，置酒于三垂崗，伶人奏《百年歌》，奏到衰老之際的內容，樂聲很悲傷，座上的人都悽愴，李克用卻慨然捋須指著兒子李存勖笑道：「我行將老了，這是奇兒啊，二十年後當能代我在此戰鬥！」李克用回軍經過潞州，李克修性格儉樸吝嗇，供饋甚薄，李克用大怒，對他又罵又笞責，李克修慚憤病卒。

家族

弟弟孟道。孟道的兒子即後蜀開國皇帝孟知祥。

注釋