Qifu Gangui

Qifu Gangui or Qifu Qiangui (Chinese: 乞伏乾歸; died 412), formally Prince Wuyuan of Henan (河南武元王), was a prince of the Xianbei state Western Qin. He was a brother of the founding prince, Qifu Guoren (Prince Xuanlie), who became prince after Qifu Guoren's death in 388 because Qifu Guoren's son Qifu Gongfu (乞伏公府) was considered too young for leadership. He subsequently expanded the state's power and influence, but only to an extent, and in 400 after military losses to Later Qin, his state was annexed by Later Qin and he himself became a Later Qin general. However, after Later Qin was weakened by defeats at the hands of its rebel general Liu Bobo's Xia state, Qifu Gangui redeclared independence in 409, but ruled only three more years before he was killed by Qifu Gongfu in a coup. His son Qifu Chipan (Prince Wenzhao) defeated Qifu Gongfu and succeeded him as prince.

Qifu Gangui was known for using military strategies designed to expose weaknesses and to mislead enemies into acting in an overly dangerous manner, and then strike when the enemy became overconfident.

The first reference to Qifu Gangui in history was in 385, when his brother Qifu Guoren declared himself Chanyu and changed era name, thus signifying independence from Former Qin. At that time, Qifu Guoren named Qifu Gangui a major general. Nothing else is known about his life before or during Qifu Guoren's reign, other than an implied reference that he defeated the Former Qin general Wang Guang (王廣) in battle.

In 388, Qifu Guoren died. His son Qifu Gongfu was considered too young to take over the leadership, and the officials and generals supported Qifu Gangui to succeed Qifu Guoren, with the titles Grand Chanyu and Prince of Henan. (This title does not imply dominion over modern Henan; rather, it signified dominion over the portions of modern Gansu and Qinghai that are south of the Yellow River.)

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