Zhang Yanlang
Zhang Yanlang was an official of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period states Later Liang and Later Tang. He had his most powerful positions during the reign of Later Tang's last emperor Li Congke, as both chancellor and the director of the three financial agencies. After Li Congke was overthrown by his brother-in-law Shi Jingtang, who established his own Later Jin, Shi ordered Zhang be put to death.
Background and service during Later Liang
It is not known when Zhang Yanlang was born, but it is known that he was from Kaifeng. During Later Liang, he served as an administrator under the director of material pricing, later becoming the material pricing adjustor at Yun Prefecture.During Later Tang
During Li Cunxu's reign
In 923, Li Siyuan, a major general for Later Liang's archrival Later Tang, which was then ruled by Li Siyuan's adoptive brother Li Cunxu, captured Yun Prefecture in a surprise attack, and was subsequently commissioned by Li Cunxu as the military governor of Tianping Circuit. Zhang Yanlang came under his command, and he had Zhang continue to serve as the material pricing adjustor. Later, when as Li Suyuan was moved to Xuanwu Circuit and later Chengde Circuit , Zhang followed him to those assignments and served as the circuit treasurer. At some point, Zhang fostered his relationship with Li Siyuan's chief strategist An Chonghui by giving a daughter in marriage to An's son.During Li Siyuan's reign
In 926, Li Cunxu was killed in a mutiny at the capital Luoyang. Li Siyuan claimed the throne thereafter. He made An Chonghui his chief of staff, and An, on account of the marital relationship between his son and Zhang Yanlang's daughter, had Zhang made the deputy chief of staff.Meanwhile, Li Siyuan had executed Li Cunxu's director of material pricing, Kong Qian, under the rationale that Kong's harsh taxes had driven the people against Li Cunxu. The directorate of material pricing — which Later Liang had established to replace Tang's three financial agencies and merge them into one — was abolished. Rather, the three agencies were reestablished, at least in name, as separate agencies, and typically placed under the command of a chancellor. In 927, Zhang, who was then also carrying the title of director of palace affairs, was made the acting director of the three agencies, but continued to also serve as the director of palace affairs. He was also apparently, at the same time, serving as the military governor of Zhongwu Circuit. In 928, when Li Siyuan was preparing to launch a general campaign against the warlord Wang Du the military governor of Yiwu Circuit after Wang Du had tried to, but failed to, assassinate the imperial general Wang Yanqiu, it was Zhang that Li Siyuan sent to the front to consult with Wang Yanqiu and the other generals stationed nearby to determine the strategy. Later, when the Khitan Empire sent an army to try to aid Wang Du, Zhang and Wang Yanqiu both commanded armies in defeating the joint Yiwu/Khitan army.
In 930, Zhang Yanlang was given the titles of acting minister of public works and director of the three agencies. This was the first time that anyone was given the title of Sansishi. , and then of Xiongwu Circuit
During Li Congke's reign
In 934 — by which time Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke was emperor — Zhang Yanlang was serving as the military governor of Xiongwu. That year, the commander of the army at Wen Prefecture, Cheng Yangui, surrendered the prefecture to Later Shu. Zhang launched his army and put Wen Prefecture under siege. When the Later Shu general Li Yanhou sent a relief force, however, Zhang lifted the siege and withdrew, allowing Later Shu to retain Wen. Shortly after, Li Congke recalled him from Xiongwu, made him Zhongshu Shilang, and made him a chancellor with the designation Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi, as well as acting director of the three financial agencies.In early 936, Li Congke, concerned that his brother-in-law, Shi Jingtang the military governor of Hedong Circuit, would rebel, consulted a number of imperial officials on what to do to ward off a Hedong rebellion. Lü Qi advocated entering into an alliance with the Khitan by submitting a large financial gift to the Khitan. Zhang was very supportive of Lü's proposal, believing that not only would it ward off a Hedong rebellion, but it would create great savings in border defenses. He and Lü therefore drafted a proposed communique to the Khitan. However, when Li Congke consulted the imperial scholar Xue Wenyu, Xue not only opposed, but persuaded Li Congke that it would be humiliating, particularly because the Khitan Emperor Taizong may insist on marrying Li Congke's daughter under the Heqin system. Li Congke thus rejected the proposal. Meanwhile, over the years he served as Li Congke's acting director of the three agencies, Zhang, apprehensive of a possible Hedong rebellion, tried to reduce the amount of revenues Shi had access to by strictly examining the tax revenues from Hedong, allowing the circuit to retain only the amount of revenues it was entitled to keep legally and requiring it to submit all other tax revenue to the imperial government, drawing Shi's resentment.
Later in the year, when Li Congke tried to test Shi's loyalty by transferring him to Tianping, Shi rebelled and, with a Khitan force commanded by Emperor Taizong himself aiding him, defeated the Later Tang force Li Congke sent against him, commanded by Zhang Jingda. The remnants of Zhang Jingda's army was surrounded by the Hedong/Khitan forces at Jin'an Base. Upon Zhang Jingda's defeat, Li Congke's young son Li Chongmei the Prince of Yong volunteered to command another Later Tang army against the combined Hedong/Khitan forces, and initially Li Congke was inclined to agree. However, Zhang Yanlang, Liu Yanlang, and Li Congke's brother-in-law Liu Yanhao, all advocated that Li Congke himself command the army, despite Li Congke's own lack of desire to do so. Li Congke felt compelled to do so. Zhang, not trusting Li Congke's chief of staff Zhao Yanshou, also had Zhao removed from the scene by supporting fellow chancellor Lu Wenji's proposal to have Li Congke send Zhao north to rendezvous with Zhao's father Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong Circuit to jointly face the Hedong/Khitan army, and Li Congke did so. Meanwhile, also under Zhang Yanlang's suggestion, Li Congke issued a general conscription order, requiring a collection of the people's horses, as well as the requirement to have one man enter the military for every seven households. The result of the conscription order only yielded 5,000 soldiers and 2,000 horses, creating no real help for the imperial army but causing the people much alarm.
Subsequently, Zhang Jingda's army, which was then facing starvation, surrendered after Zhang Jingda's deputy Yang Guangyuan killed him. The Later Jin/Khitan army also defeated Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou's army, and was heading for Luoyang. Li Congke, believing the situation to be hopeless, committed suicide with his family by fire, ending Later Tang. Shi subsequently entered Luoyang.