Gao Xingzhou () (885History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 123. – September 10, 952History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 112.Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter.), courtesy name Shangzhi (), formally Prince Wuyi of Qin (), was a Chinese military general, monarch, and politician who served the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Jin, Later Tang, Later Jin, Liao Dynasty, Later Han, and Later Zhou. dynasties. His son Gao Huaide was later a famed general in the succeeding Song Dynasty.
Background Gao Xingzhou was born in 885, during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Tang. His family was originally from You Prefecture (幽州, in modern Beijing), but his male-line ancestors had served for several generations (since his great-grandfather Gao Shunli () at Huairong Base () at Gui Prefecture (媯州, in modern Zhangjiakou, Hebei), which belonged to Lulong Circuit (盧龍, headquartered at You Prefecture), and Gao Xingzhou was born at the fortress at Huairong. Gao Xingzhou's father Gao Siji () and Gao Siji's two brothers (one older, one younger, whose names are lost to history) were all known in the region for being brave and capable in military matters. In 895, when the major warlord Li Keyong the military governor (Jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan) was preparing to conquer Lulong, Li Keyong claimed to be avenging the prior military governor of Lulong, Li Kuangwei, as then-military governor of Lulong, Li Kuangchou, was a younger brother of Li Kuangwei's but had seized Li Kuangwei's circuit in a coup. The Gao brothers, believing in Li Keyong's assertions, joined the Hedong army and participated in the successful Hedong operations to conquer Lulong.New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 48.
After the Hedong army conquered Lulong, Li Keyong left the former Lulong officer Liu Rengong in command of Lulong, while leaving a Hedong army at Lulong to assist and guard Lulong.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 260. Liu made the Gao brothers the commanders of the forward, the middle, and the rear armies of Lulong, respectively, but either he himself (per the History of the Five Dynasties) or Li Keyong (per the New History of the Five Dynasties) was deeply suspicious of the Gao brothers, believing that they would eventually try to take over the circuit. Meanwhile, the Gao brothers imposed strict discipline on both the Lulong army and the Hedong soldiers that Li Keyong left at Lulong, and many were executed for violating laws. Li Keyong was displeased at the killing of the Hedong soldiers and complained to Liu. Liu blamed this on the Gao brothers, killing them. Wanting to appease the people of the circuit, however, as the Gao brothers were popular with the people, Liu made the Gao brothers' sons officers, and at the time, the more prominent one was Gao Xingzhou's cousin Gao Xinggui (), the son of Gao Siji's older brother. Gao Xingzhou was still young at the time, but was also made an officer. (Liu would eventually turn against Li Keyong, turning his Lulong Circuit into a domain independent of Li Keyong's.)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 261.
In 913, by which time Tang had fallen, and neither Li Keyong nor Liu Rengong was ruling his domain (by this time known respectively as the states of Jin and Yan) any more (Li Keyong had died in 908 and been succeeded by his son Li Cunxu as the Prince of Jin, while Liu Rengong had been overthrown by his son Liu Shouguang and put under arrest, with Liu Shouguang subsequently claiming the title of Emperor of Yan)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 266. the Jin army was launching a major attack on Yan. Gao Xinggui was then the prefect of Wu Prefecture (武州, in modern Zhangjiakou), and, unable to stand the attack of the Jin general (Li Cunxu's adoptive brother) Li Siyuan, surrendered Wu to Li Siyuan. When the major Yan general Yuan Xingqin heard this, he attacked Wu Prefecture. Gao Xinggui then sent Gao Xingzhou as a hostage to Li Siyuan and sought emergency aid. Li Siyuan, with Gao Xingzhou serving as his guide, was subsequently able to defeat Yuan, forcing Yuan's surrender. Subsequently, both Yuan and Gao Xingzhou remained as officers under Li Siyuan, with Gao and Li Siyuan's adoptive son Li Congke often serving as commanders of Li Siyuan's personal guards.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 268.
In 915, Li Cunxu was trying to build an elite guard corps serving under himself, and he requisitioned Yuan to serve as an officer of the corps. Li Siyuan felt compelled to allow Yuan to do so, and Li Cunxu subsequently gave Yuan the royal surname of Li, with a new name of Shaorong. Subsequently, there was a battle where Li Shaorong was surrounded by enemy soldiers (presumably soldiers of Jin's archrival Later Liang), when Gao Xingzhou fought into the encirclement and rescued Li Shaorong. Impressed, Li Cunxu also wanted Gao to serve under him, but did not feel that he could make another request to Li Siyuan. Instead, he secretly sent messengers to Gao, trying to entice him with higher offices. Gao declined, stating:Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 269.
Service during Later Tang In spring 923, Li Cunxu declared himself the emperor of a new Later Tang (as Emperor Zhuangzong). At that time, the Later Tang and Later Liang forces were stalemated on the Yellow River. Li Siyuan suggested a surprise attack on Later Liang's Tianping Circuit (天平, headquartered in modern Tai'an, Shandong), south of the Yellow River. Emperor Zhuangzong agreed, and in the subsequent surprise attack on Tianping's capital Yun Prefecture (), Gao Xingzhou served under Li Siyuan in capturing the city. (During the surprise attack on Yun, Li Siyuan's army was initially hindered by pouring rain, but Gao pointed out that this would make the defenders of Yun even less cautious about a potential attack, and encouraged the rest of the army to continue on.) Emperor Zhuangzong was thus able to use Yun as the base for another surprise operation later in 923, capturing Later Liang's capital Daliang and destroying Later Liang.Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 272. After destroying Later Liang, Emperor Zhuangzong made Gao the prefect of Duan Prefecture (端州, in modern Zhaoqing, Guangdong) (i.e., an honorary position, as Duan was then the territory of Southern Han), and later the prefect of Jiang Prefecture (絳州, in modern Yuncheng, Shanxi).
Gao was still serving under Li Siyuan in 926, when the Later Tang realm was overrun with mutinies in light of Emperor Zhuangzong's recent killing of major generals Guo Chongtao and Zhu Youqian without justification. When Li Siyuan was sent to combat mutineers at Yedu (鄴都, in modern Handan, Hebei), according to traditional accounts, his own soldiers mutinied and forced him to join the Yedu mutineers. Subsequently, he tried to send a number of officers, including Gao, to nearby Li Shaorong, to try to get Li Shaorong to join him in jointly acting against the mutineers, but Li Shaorong, suspecting Li Siyuan's intentions, did not respond, and subsequently reported to Emperor Zhuangzong that Li Siyuan had joined the mutiny. Unable to show himself to be still faithful to Emperor Zhuangzong, Li Siyuan headed south toward the capital Luoyang,Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 274. where Emperor Zhuangzong was then killed in a mutiny before Li Siyuan reached there. When Li Siyuan arrived, he declared himself regent, and later emperor (as Emperor Mingzong).Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 275.
Emperor Mingzong was said to respect Gao's abilities, and in 928, when Wang Du the military governor of Yiwu Circuit (義武, headquartered in modern Baoding, Hebei), whose domain had been semi-independent from the Later Tang imperial government, openly broke with the Later Tang,Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 276. Gao served under the general Wang Yanqiu in quelling Wang Du's rebellion and had much accomplishment during the campaign. After the campaign against Wang Du, he was made the military prefect (團練使, Tuanlianshi) of Ying Prefecture (潁州, in modern Fuyang, Anhui). Early in Emperor Mingzong's Changxing era (930–933), as at that time Later Tang's northern borders were often attacked by the Khitan Empire, Gao was made the military governor of Zhenwu (振武, headquartered in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi) to help defend the border. The next year, as Emperor Mingzong was preparing for an operation against the de facto independent Dingnan Circuit's military governor Li Yichao (), Gao was made the military governor of Zhangwu Circuit (彰武, headquartered in modern Yan'an, Shaanxi) to prepare for the operation.As the actual operations against Li Yichao was in 933, this suggests that Gao's commission was in 933 or slightly earlier. See Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 278.
Li Congke later became emperor after Emperor Mingzong's death, and early in his Qingtai era (934–937), Gao was made the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi). When, in 936, Li Congke's brother-in-law (Emperor Mingzong's son-in-law) Shi Jingtang the military governor of Hedong rebelled against Li Congke and solicited aid from Khitan's Emperor Taizong, Li Congke commissioned the general Zhang Jingda as the commander of the overall operations against Shi and had Gao serve under Zhang. Zhang's army quickly put Hedong's capital Taiyuan under siege, but was subsequently crushed by the Liao emperor's army and forced to retreat to Jin'an Fortress (晉安寨, near Taiyuan) and then was surrounded there by the joint Liao/Hedong army, unable to fight its way out, but Zhang refused to surrender. Another general serving under Zhang, Yang Guangyuan, wanted to assassinate Zhang and surrender to the Liao/Hedong army. Gao, knowing this, often followed Zhang around the camp to protect him, but Zhang, not knowing this, in fact became suspicious of Gao's intentions, such that Gao did not dare to continue this. Eventually, Yang was able to assassinate Zhang and then surrender the Later Tang army to the Liao/Hedong army. (As, during the Jin'an siege, the Khitan emperor had created Shi the emperor of a new Later Jin (as its Emperor Gaozu), the surrendered Later Tang army was then folded into the Hedong army to become the Later Jin army.)Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 280.
Service during Later Jin The joint Liao/Later Jin forces (now enlarged with the remnants of the Later Tang army at Jin'an) then engaged another Later Tang army sent to combat it, commanded by Zhao Dejun the military governor of Lulong, at Tuanbo Valley (團柏谷, in modern Jinzhong, Shanxi), crushing it. Zhao Dejun and his son Zhao Yanshou fled to and tried to defend Zhaoyi's capital Lu Prefecture (). The Later Jin emperor sent Gao Xingzhou back to Zhaoyi, and when he reached Lu, he persuaded Zhao Dejun and Zhao Yanshou to surrender. With the Zhaos out of the way, nothing was left to block the Liao/Later Jin forces from advancing on the Later Tang capital Luoyang, and so, as Emperor Gaozu did so (Liao's Emperor Taizong opined that if he advanced on Luoyang with Khitan troops, the people would panic, and therefore chose not to), Li Congke and his family committed suicide, ending Later Tang. Emperor Gaozu entered Luoyang and took over the rest of the Later Tang realm. He allowed Gao to return to his post at Zhaoyi, and bestowed on Gao the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi ().