Li Congrong

Li Congrong (李從榮) (d. December 9, 933), formally the Prince of Qin (秦王), was a son of Li Siyuan, the second emperor of the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period state Later Tang. During Li Siyuan's reign, he, as Li Siyuan's oldest surviving biological son, was commonly expected to be Li Siyuan's heir. When his father became deathly ill, however, he, worried that his father's officials might try to divert succession away from him, tried to seize power by force, but was then defeated and killed.

It is not known when Li Congrong was born — although it would have been in or before 914, when his younger brother, Li Conghou, born of the same mother, was born. It is further unclear what status their mother Lady Xia had vis-a-vis his father Li Siyuan — while Lady Cao was traditionally regarded to be his wife on account of her later serving as empress, Lady Xia was not clearly stated as a prior wife, a co-wife, or a concubine, although it was known that she died prior to Li Siyuan's becoming emperor (during the early Tongguang era (923-926) of his predecessor and adoptive brother Li Cunxu) without having been created a title while alive, while Lady Cao was apparently created the Lady of Chu by Li Cunxu. What is known is that Li Congrong was Li Siyuan's second son, and Li Conghou his third. In their young age, both Li Congrong and Li Conghou had good relationships with Li Siyuan's close associate An Chonghui, who was effectively an older brotherly figure to them. As Li Congrong's older brother Li Congjing (李從璟, né Li Congshen (李從審)) was killed by Li Cunxu's general Li Shaorong near the end of Li Cunxu's reign (after Li Siyuan was effectively forced into rebelling against Li Cunxu, and Li Shaorong thus found Li Congjing to be unreliable as an imperial guard), Li Congrong was effectively Li Siyuan's oldest son after that point.

In 926, Li Cunxu was killed in a mutiny at the Later Tang capital Luoyang. Li Siyuan subsequently arrived at Luoyang and claimed rightful succession as emperor. Late in the year, he commissioned Li Congrong the military governor (Jiedushi) of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei) and gave Li Congrong the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi (同中書門下平章事). His brother Li Conghou was subsequently also given that honorary chancellor designation and made the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the Luoyang region) as well as the command of the imperial guards, and Li Congrong was displeased, apparently believing that effectively leads to Li Conghou's preempting him. (However, Li Siyuan's commission of Li Congrong was part of the military maneuver to take effective control of Tianxiong, as Tianxiong's capital Yedu (鄴都) had actually continued to be under the control of the same rebels that had forced him into rebelling against Li Cunxu, and, as part of the maneuver, Li Siyuan commissioned the general Fan Yanguang to serve as the military commander of the army at Yedu. Fan was able to attack Yedu and take control, allowing Li Congrong to take command of Tianxiong.)

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