Qifu Gangui
Prince Wuyuan of Western Qin | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Prince of Western Qin | |||||||||||||||||||||
Ruler of Western Qin | |||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | 388–400 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Qifu Guoren | ||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | In abeyance | ||||||||||||||||||||
Reign | 409–412 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Predecessor | Recreated | ||||||||||||||||||||
Successor | Qifu Chipan | ||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 412 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Burial | Yuanping Mausoleum ( | ||||||||||||||||||||
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House | Qifu | ||||||||||||||||||||
Dynasty | Western Qin |
Qifu Gangui or Qifu Qiangui[1] (Chinese: 乞伏
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.
Early life[edit]
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 (
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.)
First reign[edit]
Qifu Gangui created his wife Lady Bian princess, and he also established a governmental structure designed similarly to a Han Chinese governmental structure. Over the next several years, Qifu Gangui used a variety of military and diplomatic pressure to get the various people around his—including people of Xianbei, Qiang, and Han ethnicities, to submit to him. Later in the year, he moved the capital from Yongshi (
In 389, the Former Qin emperor Fu Deng, to whom Qifu Guoren had nominally submitted as a vassal, created Qifu Gangui the Prince of Jincheng—a title that signified less dominion than his original title of Prince of Henan, because Jincheng Commandery only roughly corresponded to modern Lanzhou—but Qifu Gangui accepted the title.
In 390, the khan of Tuyuhun, Murong Shilian (慕容
In 391, Qifu Gangui's general Yuezhi Jiegui (
In 393, Qifu Gangui created his son Qifu Chipan as crown prince.
In 394, after the death of the Later Qin emperor Yao Chang, Fu Deng prepared a major offensive against Yao Chang's son and successor Yao Xing, and as part of the preparation he requested aid from Qifu Gangui and created Qifu Gangui the Prince of Henan and bestowed on him the nine bestowments. However, Fu Deng's campaign ended in failure, as his forces were defeated by Yao Xing's, and his brother Fu Guang (苻廣) and son Fu Chong abandoned his bases, forcing him to flee into the mountains. He then married his sister the Princess Dongping to Qifu Gangui as his princess and created him the Prince of Liang. Qifu Gangui sent his brother Qifu Yizhou (乞伏
Fu Deng's son Fu Chong fled to Huangzhong (湟中, in modern Xining, Qinghai), then under Qifu Gangui's control, and claimed imperial title. However, in winter 394, Qifu Gangui expelled him, and he fled to one of his father's last remaining generals, Yang Ding the Prince of Longxi. Yang led his forces to join Fu Chong's to attack Qifu Gangui. Qifu Gangui sent Qifu Yizhou and two other generals, Qifu Ketan (乞伏軻彈) and Yuezhi Jiegui against Yang and Fu Chong, and Yang was initially successful against Qifu Yizhou. However, the three Western Qin generals then counterattacked and killed Yang and Fu Chong in battle.
Around the new year 395, Qifu Gangui claimed the title Prince of Qin—a greater title that implicitly made himself a rival of Later Qin, and the state thus became known in history as Western Qin. In the summer, he sent Qifu Yizhou to attack the unsubmitting Di chief Jiang Ru (
In fall 395, Lü Guang made a major attack on Western Qin. Under the advice of his officials Mi Guizhou (
In 397, determined to punish Qifu Gangui, Lü Guang launched a major attack against Xicheng . This frightened Qifu Gangui's officials enough that they recommended a retreat to Chengji (
Later in 398, Qifu Yizhou battled Murong Shipi and defeated him. Murong Shipi, in fear, sent his son Murong Dangqi (慕容宕豈) as a hostage and sought peace. Qifu Gangui married the daughter of a clansman to Qifu Dangqi.
In 400, Qifu Gangui moved his capital from Xicheng to Wanchuan (
In summer 400, Later Qin's general, Yao Xing's uncle Yao Shuode (姚
As Later Qin general[edit]
Upon Qifu Gangui's arrival in the Later Qin capital Chang'an, Yao Xing created him the Marquess of Guiyi. In 401, Yao Xing inexplicably gave Qifu Gangui his entire captured army back to him and had him defend his old capital Wanchuan, effectively putting him back in the position he had before, but now as a Later Qin vassal. He quickly put his governmental structure back in place, but now with inferior titles to show submission to Later Qin. Later in 401, Yao Xing sent Qifu Gangui to serve as Yao Shuode's assistant in a major campaign against Later Yang's emperor Lü Long (Lü Guang's nephew), forcing Lü Long's submission.
In 402, Qifu Chipan, who had previously made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from Southern Liang to join his father, succeeded in fleeing to Wanchuan. The Southern Liang prince Tufa Rutan sent Qifu Chipan's wife (who might be Tufa Rutan's daughter) and children to join him.
In 403, Lü Long decided to give up his state (now consisting of little more than the capital city of Guzang) to Later Qin, ending Later Liang, and Qifu Gangui was one of the generals whom Yao Xing sent to escort Lü Long to Chang'an and to escort his replacement, the Later Qin general Wang Shang (
For the next few years, Qifu Gangui appeared to begin to act more independently again. For example, in 405, apparently without Later Qin sanction, he attacked Murong Dahai (慕容
Around the new year 407, Qifu Gangui went on an official visit to Chang'an. Yao Xing, apprehensive about Qifu Gangui's strength and independence, detained him and made him a minister, giving his command to Qifu Chipan.
In 408, with Tufa Rutan, who had previously submitted as a Later Qin vassal, acting independently but yet suffering many internal problems, Yao Xing became resolved to destroy Southern Liang, and Qifu Gangui was one of the generals he sent under the command of his son Yao Bi (姚弼) to try to destroy Southern Liang. However, Yao Bi's campaign resulted in failure, and while Tufa Rutan nominally continued to submit for a time, he soon declared full independence. In 409, Qifu Gangui himself escaped and returned to Wanchuan. Later in the year, he redeclared the Western Qin state with the title Prince of Qin and changed his era name.
Second reign[edit]
After his restoration, Qifu Gangui again created his wife Princess Bian as princess and Qifu Chipan as crown prince, and he temporarily set his capital at Dujianshan (
In summer 412, Qifu Guoren's son Qifu Gongfu killed Qifu Gangui in a coup and also killed more than 10 of Qifu Gangui's sons. After a short campaign between Qifu Gongfu and Qifu Chipan, Qifu Chipan succeeded and killed Qifu Gongfu. He took the throne as Prince Wenzhao.
Notes[edit]
- ^ It is unclear whether the character
乾 in his name should be pronounced "Gan" or "Qian" (both of which are common pronunciations for the character in modern Mandarin, depending on context). Since, prior to this article's creation, there were already a number of anticipatory Wikipedia links to "Qifu Gangui", "Gan" is used in this article.
Personal information[edit]
- Father
- Qifu Sifan (乞伏
司 繁 ), Xianbei tribal chief
- Qifu Sifan (乞伏
- Wives
- Queen Bian (created 388 and again in 409)
- Queen Fu (created 394)
- Children
- Qifu Chipan (乞伏
熾 磐 ), the Crown Prince and the Duke of Pingchang, later Prince Wenzhao - Qifu Chibo (乞伏敕勃)
- Qifu Muyigan (乞伏
木 奕干) - Qifu Shenqian (乞伏
審 虔 ) - Qifu Zhida (乞伏
智 達 ) - Qifu Tanda (乞伏
曇 達 ) - Qifu Louji (乞伏婁機)
- Qifu Qiannian (乞伏
千 年 ) - Qifu Woling (乞伏沃陵)
- Qifu Shiyin (乞伏什寅) (executed by Qifu Mumo 429)
- Qifu Baiyang (乞伏
白 養 ) (executed by Qifu Mumo 430) - Qifu Qulie (乞伏
去 列 ) (executed by Qifu Mumo 430) - Princess Pingchang, wife of Juqu Xingguo (沮渠
興國 ), the heir apparent of Juqu Mengxun, the prince of Northern Liang
- Qifu Chipan (乞伏