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'''Li Renfu''' (李仁福) (died March 10, 933<ref name=ZZTJ278>''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷278|vol. 278]].</ref><ref name=AS>[[Academia Sinica]] [http://sinocal.sinica.edu.tw Chinese-Western Calendar Converter].</ref>), possibly né '''Tuoba Renfu''' (拓拔仁福), formally the '''Prince of Guo''' (虢王), was an ethnic [[Dangxiang]] (Tangut) warlord during the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]], ruling [[Dingnan Jiedushi|Dingnan Circuit]] (定難, headquartered in modern [[Yulin, Shaanxi]]) from 909 or 910 to his death in 933, as its military governor (''[[jiedushi]]'') in ''de facto'' independence.
== Background ==
Li Renfu was said to be from the same Tuoba clan as the late-[[Tang dynasty]] warlord [[Li Sigong]] (né Tuoba Sigong), the first [[Dangxiang]] military governor of Dingnan,<ref name=HFD132>''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:舊五代史/卷132|vol. 132]].</ref> and therefore was ethnically [[Dangxiang]].<ref>See ''[[New Book of Tang]]'', [[:zh:s:新唐書/卷221上|vol. 221, part 1]].</ref>  His relationship to Li Sigong was not clear from the traditional Chinese sources—the ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'' indicated that he also took the [[Tang dynasty]] imperial clan surname of [[Li (李)|Li]] when Li Sigong was granted that surname for his contribution in Tang's defeat of the major agrarian rebel [[Huang Chao]], but did not otherwise specify their relationship;<ref name=HFD132/> the ''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'' indicated a lack of knowledge, on the part of its editors, as to their relationship;<ref name=NHFD40>''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷40|vol. 40]].</ref> while the ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'' indicated that he was a cousin of [[Li Yichang]],<ref name=ZZTJ267>''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷267|vol. 267]].</ref> who succeeded Li Sigong's younger brother and successor [[Li Sijian]], but whose relationship to Li Sigong was somewhat uncertain as well as different sources differed as to their relationship.<ref name=HFD132/><ref name=NHFD40/><ref name=ZZTJ267/><ref name=HS485>''[[History of Song (Yuan dynasty)|History of Song]]'', [[:zh:s:宋史/卷485|vol. 485]].</ref>  (The description in the ''[[History of Song (Yuan dynasty)|History of Song]]'' of Li Renfu as being one generation ''below'' Li Yichang appeared to be clearly erroneous given that Li Renfu's sons also used the generational character of "Yi" in their names.<ref name=HS485/>)
In any case, Li Renfu served as an officer at Dingnan, and as of the time of Li Yichang's rule of the circuit was serving as the commander of both the [[Han Chinese|Han]] and non-Han soldiers at the circuit.  In 910 (according to the ''Zizhi Tongjian'')<ref name=ZZTJ267/> or 909 (according to the ''Old History of the Five Dynasties'' and the ''New History of the Five Dynasties''<ref name=HFD132/><ref name=NHFD40/>) Li Yichang was assassinated by his officer Gao Zongyi ({{lang|zh|高宗益}}).  The Dingnan officers killed Gao and supported Li Renfu to succeed Li Yichang.  When Li Renfu reported this to [[Zhu Quanzhong]], the emperor of Tang's successor state [[Later Liang (Five Dynasties)|Later Liang]], Zhu gave Li Renfu the title of military governor of Dingnan.<ref name=ZZTJ267/>
== Rule as military governor ==
=== During Later Liang ===
Later in 910, [[Li Maozhen]] the Prince of [[Qi (Five Dynasties)|Qi]]—one of the rival states to Later Liang—as well as two military governors under him, [[Li Jihui]] the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern [[Xianyang]], [[Shaanxi]]) and [[Liu Zhijun (Later Liang)|Liu Zhijun]] the military governor of Zhangyi Circuit (彰義, headquartered in modern [[Pingliang]], [[Gansu]])—sent emissaries to [[Li Cunxu]], the Prince of [[Jin (Later Tang precursor)|Jin]] (another rival state to Later Liang), suggesting that they attack Dingnan together.  Li Cunxu sent his general [[Zhou Dewei]] to join the Qi forces.  The two armies put Dingnan's capital Xia Prefecture (夏州, in modern [[Yulin, Shaanxi|Yulin]], [[Shaanxi]]) under siege.  Li Renfu sought aid from the Later Liang imperial government, and Zhu Quanzhong sent the generals Li Yu ({{lang|zh|李遇}}) and Liu Wan ({{lang|zh-Hant|劉綰}}) to aid Li Renfu.  When Li and Liu reached Xia, the Qi and Jin forces lifted their siege and withdrew.<ref name=ZZTJ267/>  For his holding out against Qi and Jin, Zhu bestowed on Li Renfu the titles of acting ''Taibao'' ({{lang|zh|太保}}) and honorary [[chancellor of the Tang dynasty|chancellor]] (同中書門下平章事, ''Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi'').<ref name=HFD132/>
=== During Later Tang ===
Eventually, Later Liang was destroyed by Li Cunxu, who claimed imperial title as emperor of a new [[Later Tang]].  It was said that by the time of Li Cunxu's reign as emperor, Li Renfu had received, accumulatively, from Zhu Quanzhong's son and successor [[Zhu Youzhen|Zhu Zhen]] and Li Cunxu, the titles of acting ''Taishi'' ({{lang|zh|太師}}), the greater honorary chancellor title ''Zhongshu Ling'' ({{lang|zh|中書令}}), and Prince of Shuofang.<ref name=HFD132/>  It was said that throughout the years, it became perceived at the Later Tang court that Li Renfu was in secret communications with Later Tang's northern rival [[Liao dynasty|Khitan Empire]].  (However, after Li Renfu's death, it was reported by some persons who claimed to know Li Renfu's thinking process that Li Renfu was merely creating such rumors to discourage the Later Tang court from considering moving him to another circuit.)<ref name="ZZTJ278" />
Li Renfu died in 933, and was posthumously created the Prince of Guo by Li Cunxu's adoptive brother and successor [[Li Siyuan]].  Li Siyuan subsequently, believing the rumors of Li Renfu's secret communications with Khitan Empire, tried to move Li Renfu's son and successor [[Li Yichao]] to nearby Zhangwu Circuit (彰武, headquartered in modern [[Yan'an]], [[Shaanxi]]) while moving Zhangwu's military governor [[An Congjin]] to Dingnan.  The attempt failed, and Li Renfu's family would become entrenched at Dingnan for the rest of the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]].<ref name=ZZTJ278/>
== Notes and references ==
{{reflist}}
* ''[[Old History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:舊五代史/卷132|vol. 132]].
* ''[[New History of the Five Dynasties]]'', [[:zh:s:新五代史/卷40|vol. 40]].
* ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', vols. [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷267|267]], [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷278|278]].
{{DEFAULTSORT:Li, Renfu}}
[[Category:10th-century Tangut people]]
[[Category:Dingnan jiedushi]]
[[Category:Later Liang (Five Dynasties) jiedushi]]
[[Category:Later Tang jiedushi]]
[[Category:Chinese princes]]
[[Category:9th-century births]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:933 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Northwest China]]
[[Category:9th-century Tangut people]]