Meng Fangli

Meng Fangli (孟方立) (died July 2, 889) was a warlord in the late Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty who, from 881 to 889, controlled all or part of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義) — the headquarters of which he moved from Lu Prefecture (潞州, in modern Changzhi, Shanxi) to his home Xing Prefecture (邢州, in modern Xingtai, Hebei) — as its military governor (Jiedushi). His move of the headquarters drew resentment from the people of Lu Prefecture, who threw their support behind Li Keyong the military governor of neighboring Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), whose forces eventually defeated his. Fearful that his subordinates were turning against him, he committed suicide.

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 (吳全勗) 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.

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