Background

It is not known when Lei Yangong was born. His father Lei Man had taken over the area of Lang Prefecture (朗州, in modern Changde, Hunan) and later became the military governor (Jiedushi) of Wuzhen Circuit, headquartered at Lang Prefecture. When Lei Man died in 901, Lei Yangong's older brother Lei Yanwei claimed the title of acting military governor, Lei Yanwei was full military governor as of 903, when he sacked Jiangling Municipality, the capital of neighboring Jingnan Circuit (荊南), in the absence of Jingnan's military governor Cheng Rui. Lei Yanwei apparently occupied Jiangling for some time, but Lei Yangong rose against him and, in coordination with Zhao Kuangning the military governor of Zhongyi Circuit (忠義, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei), expelled him from Jiangling and, apparently, from Wuzhen Circuit as well.

Rule of Wuzhen

After overthrowing Lei Yanwei, Lei Yangong apparently occupied Jiangling for a short while, until Zhao Kuangning sent his brother Zhao Kuangming to expel Lei Yangong from Jiangling.

As of 906, by which time Lei Yangong was referred to as the military governor of Wuzhen, he was repeatedly pillaging Jingnan, which was then under the control of He Gui, a subordinate of the powerful warlord Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan). In 906, because He Gui was unable to stem the repeated pillages that Lei was carrying out, Zhu replaced him with Gao Jichang, who proceeded to build up Jiangling's defenses against future raids.

In 907 — by which time Zhu had taken over the Tang imperial throne and established a new Later Liang as its Emperor Taizu — Lei allied with Ma Yin the Prince of Chu to again attack Jiangling. (The attack was despite Chu's status as a Later Liang vassal, while Lei had submitted to Later Liang's rival Hongnong.) Gao stationed an army at Gong'an (公安, in modern Jingzhou) to cut off the Wuzhen forces' supply route, and then defeated them. Both Wuzhen and Chu forces withdrew. Apparently turning against his ally, Lei then attacked Chu's Yue Prefecture (岳州, in modern Yueyang, Hunan), but was unable to capture it.

Lei subsequently continued his pillage campaign against Jingnan. Emperor Taizu thereafter declared a general campaign against him and ordered Gao and Ma to attack him. Gao sent his general Ni Kefu (倪可福) to rendezvous with the Chu general Qin Yanhui (秦彥暉), and they put Lang Prefecture under siege. Lei sought aid from Hongnong's prince Yang Wo. Yang Wo sent the generals Ling Ye (泠業) and Li Rao (李饒) to try to save Lei, but they were defeated and captured by the Chu general Xu Dexun and never reached Lang Prefecture.

However, with waters that Lei Man had previously diverted to surround and protect Lang Prefecture serving as a defensive bulwark, Lang's defenses were initially holding. After Qin held off attacking for some time, Lei became less vigilant about defending the city. Qin then sent the officer Cao Dechang (曹德昌) with a group of soldiers to secretly cross the waters at night and get into the city, and then suddenly rise and set fires in the city. The city fell into panic, allowing Qin to march in with his soldiers. Lei Yangong took a small boat and fled to Hongnong's capital Guangling (廣陵, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu), where Yang Wo's brother and successor Yang Longyan made him the deputy military governor of Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered at Guangling). Qin captured Lei Yangong's younger brother Lei Yanxiong (雷彥雄) and delivered him to the Later Liang capital Daliang, where he, along with six other adherents of Lei Yangong's, were executed. It is not known when Lei Yangong himself died.

Notes and references

• New Book of Tang, vol. 186.

• History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 17.

• New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 41.

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 265, 266.

家世

雷彥恭生年不詳。其父雷滿占領朗州地區，後成為以朗州為軍部的武貞軍節度使。天複元年（901年）雷滿薨，雷彥恭兄雷彥威稱留後，大約三年（903年）成為全權節度使，九月，趁鄰鎮荊南節度使成汭在外，攻陷其軍部江陵府。雷彥威一度占領江陵，但雷彥恭起事反對他，並在忠義軍節度使趙匡凝協助下將雷彥威逐出江陵乃至武貞軍。雷彥恭依附淮南節度使楊行密。

統領武貞軍

推翻雷彥威後，雷彥恭也一度占領江陵，直至趙匡凝派弟弟趙匡明將他逐出。

天祐三年（906年），已被稱為武貞軍節度使的雷彥恭持續劫掠權勢軍閥宣武軍節度使朱全忠部下荊南留後賀瓌控制的荊南。雷彥恭狡猾有父風，南郡、武昌之間因此無人。他又結連楊行密之子和繼承人楊渥和西川節度使王建，阻絕朝命。十月，因賀瓌無力根除雷彥恭的劫掠，朱全忠以潁州防禦使高季昌代之，高季昌建起江陵的防禦工事以備襲擊。朱全忠又派駕前指揮使倪可福率官兵五千人戍荊南，倪可福指畫方略，雷彥恭的軍隊稍稍引去。

四年（907年），朱全忠奪取唐朝帝位，建立後梁，成為後梁太祖皇帝。儘管楚國附庸後梁，而雷彥恭已歸順後梁敵國弘農（即淮南），六月，雷彥恭卻聯合楚王馬殷再攻江陵。高季昌屯公安，斷武貞軍糧道，敗聯軍。武貞軍和楚軍都退走了。高季昌因功被任為節度使。七月，雷彥恭又將矛頭對準盟友，攻打楚國的岳州，岳州有備，不能克，遂回師。

雷彥恭貪婪殘暴，類似其父，仍常焚掠荊南，並斷江、嶺商路。曾引淮南軍攻平江，被楚岳州刺史許德勛所敗。九月，雷彥恭依附淮南，攻涔陽、公安，被高季昌擊敗。太祖下詔削雷彥恭官爵，命高季昌和馬殷討伐他。十月，高季昌派部將倪可福率所練精兵五千下澧州，會合楚將秦彥暉圍朗州。雷彥恭糧盡兵敗，遣使請降于弘農王楊渥並告急。楊渥派泠業、李饒去救，但被許德勛敗俘，未能抵達朗州。

但因雷滿曾經引沅江環朗州，雷彥恭得以自守。馬殷極盡兵力，未能克。秦彥暉一度暫緩攻城，雷彥恭在守城時放鬆了警惕。開平二年（908年）五月，秦彥暉派裨將曹德昌率壯士秘密乘夜潛水入城，突然起事，在城內舉火。朗州陷入恐慌，秦彥暉得以率軍進入。雷彥恭乘輕舟逃往弘農都城廣陵，被楊渥的弟弟和繼承人楊隆演任為淮南節度副使。秦彥暉俘獲雷彥恭的弟弟雷彥雄等七人（《十國春秋》作十人），送到後梁都城大梁，七人一同被誅。高季昌以破雷彥恭功，加平章事。澧州刺史向瑰原與雷彥恭呼應，也歸順楚國。澧州、朗州等地為楚所併。雷彥恭本人卒于淮南，卒年不詳。

雷彥恭的下場有一些不同記載，如《舊五代史·馬殷傳》載雷彥恭被生擒，《資治通鑑考異》引《梁太祖實錄》稱雷彥恭沉江而死，《五代春秋》載雷彥恭被攻破朗州的楚軍殺死，《十國紀年》等同《資治通鑑》。但胡三省及朱玉龍《五代十國方鎮年表》均以通鑑為是。