Zheng Changtu
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Zheng Changtu (鄭昌圖) (died April 6, 887?[1][2][3][4]), courtesy name Guangye (光業), was an official of the Chinese Tang dynasty. He served as a chancellor in the administration of the pretender Li Yun, who claimed the throne in competition with Emperor Xizong. After the deaths of Li Yun and Li Yun's main proponent, Zhu Mei, Zheng was executed for his service under Li Yun.
It is not known when Zheng Changtu was born. His family claimed ancestry from the ruling house of the Spring and Autumn period state Zheng, and a number of chancellors came from the line, including his granduncle Zheng Yuqing and Zheng Yuqing's grandson (Zheng Changtu's second cousin) Zheng Congdang. Zheng Changtu's grandfather Zheng Juzhan (鄭具瞻) served as a county sheriff, while his father Zheng Juan (鄭涓) served as the military governor (jiedushi) of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi).[5]
Known service during Emperor Xizong's reign
As of spring 882, Zheng Changtu was serving as Zhongshu Sheren (中書舍人), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng), in the administration of Emperor Xizong, who had fled to Chengdu from the capital Chang'an in light of the attack that the major agrarian rebel Huang Chao launched on Chang'an late in 880. (After Huang took Chang'an, he declared himself emperor of a new state of Qi.) In spring 882, when the senior chancellor Wang Duo was put in overall command of the Tang operations against Huang, Wang retained a large number of imperial officials to serve on his staff, including Zheng, who was made Wang's chief of staff in Wang's capacity as the military governor of Yicheng Circuit (義成, headquartered in modern Anyang, Henan).[6]
As of late 882, Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi) had been going through much turmoil — as the officer Cheng Lin (成麟) had killed the military governor Gao Xun (高潯) in a mutiny in 881 and was in turn killed by another officer, Meng Fangli.[6] The people of Zhaoyi then asked the eunuch monitor Wu Quanxu (吳全勗) to act as military governor, but Meng rejected this (claiming that a eunuch should not be a governor) and put Wu under house arrest, instead claiming that he wanted the imperial government to send a replacement. Wang sent Zheng to temporarily act as military governor. The imperial government then commissioned Wang Hui to serve as Zhaoyi's military governor. Wang, however, knowing that Meng had full control of three of Zhaoyi's five prefectures (i.e., the ones east of the Taihang Mountains), believed that he would not be actually able to exercise control, and so declined the commission. The circuit was then instead given to Zheng, although Zheng left his post just three months later, leaving Meng in control.[7]