Duan Ning

 ( 9th-century Births ) 

In late 911, as Emperor Taizu was returning from a campaign against Jin, he made a stop at Huojia (獲嘉, in modern Xinxiang, Henan), within Huai Prefecture. Duan supplied him with many delicacies, pleasing him. In spring 912, when Emperor Taizu was departing for another campaign against Jin and its ally Zhao, he made a stop at Huojia again, and Duan made even more elaborate offerings. After Duan's display, Emperor Taizu remembered how another general, Li Si'an (李思安), had failed to do so earlier in 911, and in anger, had Li exiled and later forced Li to commit suicide, while he issued an edict praising Duan for his diligence. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 268. After this incident, Duan was made the prefect of the more prosperous Zheng Prefecture (鄭州, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan) and made the chief monitor of the army against Jin. Emperor Taizu's chief advisor Li Zhen, however, did not consider Duan an appropriate person for that role and sought to have him removed. Emperor Taizu, however, resisted the suggestion. At some point, he changed his name from Mingyuan to Ning.

Over the years, Later Liang had lost its territory, bit by bit, north of the Yellow River to Jin, causing the morale of the Later Liang army to be low. In 922, however, Duan was involved in a counterattack that, to a degree, restored the Later Liang morale. At that time, the main Jin army was attacking Zhang Chujin, whose father Zhang Wenli had assassinated Wang Rong the Prince of Zhao and taken over Zhao lands, before dying and leaving the lands in Zhang Chujin's hands. With the main Jin army in the north, the defense of the key border city Wei Prefecture (衛州, in modern Xinxiang, Henan) was left in the hands of its prefect Li Cunru (李存儒), an adoptive brother of Jin's prince Li Cunxu. Li Cunru, however, was incompetent, allowing soldiers to bribe themselves out of active duty. In fall 922, Duan, along with another officer, Zhang Lang (張朗), launched a surprise attack on Wei Prefecture, capturing it and taking Li Cunru captive. Duan subsequently rendezvoused with the supreme commander of the Later Liang forces against Jin, Dai Siyuan, and captured a number of other nearby Jin garrisons — Qimen (淇門, in modern Hebi, Henan), Gongcheng (共城), and Xinxiang (新鄉, both in modern Xinxiang). Jin suffered losses of a third of its food storage on the Jin/Later Liang border, and this greatly encouraged the Later Liang army.

In 923, shortly after Li Cunxu declared himself emperor of a new Later Tang (as its Emperor Zhuangzong), he sent his adoptive brother Li Siyuan to launch a surprise attack on a major Later Liang city south of the Yellow River, Yun Prefecture (鄆州, in modern Tai'an, Shandong) and captured it. This left the Later Liang capital Daliang (i.e., Kaifeng) relatively defenseless, and Zhu Zhen, in fear and anger, removed Dai (as he believed Dai to be responsible for leaving Yun Prefecture open to attack) and replaced him with Wang Yanzhang, with Duan serving as Wang's deputy. Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 272.

A quick counterattack by Wang captured the southern half of Desheng (德勝, in modern Puyang, Henan) (i.e., the southern part of the city south of the Yellow River), and Wang subsequently put Yangliu (楊劉, in modern Liaocheng, Shandong) under siege, to try to cut off the communications between Later Tang proper and Yun Prefecture. However, Zhu Zhen's close associates Zhao Yan (Zhu Zhen's brother-in-law) and four brothers/cousins of his deceased wife Consort Zhang were fearful that Wang was resentful of their influence on the governance — as Wang often spoke of wanting to kill the evildoers after he achieves victories on the battlefield, which they believed to be targeting them. On the other hand, Duan ingratiated them. Therefore, when news of the Desheng victory arrived, they credited Duan, rather than Wang, with the victory. After Wang subsequently failed to capture Yangliu and was forced to withdraw, they further spoke against Wang, so Zhu Zhen removed Wang from his post and recalled him to Daliang, replacing him with Duan, despite fervent opposition by Li Zhen, the chancellor Jing Xiang, and the senior military governor Zhang Quanyi.

After he was commissioned to be the supreme commander against Later Tang, Duan crossed the Yellow River and headed for Chan Prefecture (澶州, in modern Anyang, Henan) and prepared an ambitious four-prong attack against Later Tang:

1. Dong Zhang would head toward the major Later Tang city Taiyuan (formerly Jin's capital).
2. Huo Yanwei would head toward Zhen Prefecture (鎮州, in modern Baoding, Hebei, formerly Zhao's capital).
3. Wang Yanzhang and Zhang Hanjie (張漢傑, Consort Zhang's brother) would head toward Yun Prefecture.
4. Duan himself, along with Wang Yanqiu, would confront Later Tang's Emperor Zhuangzong.

Duan's masterplan, however, was revealed by the Later Liang officer Kang Yanxiao, who defected to Later Tang around this time. Under the advice of Kang and Guo Chongtao, Emperor Zhuangzong, instead of taking up Duan's challenge, took his main forces and swiftly went to Yun Prefecture to rendezvous with Li Siyuan, and then confronted the smaller army that Wang and Zhang commanded. He defeated them and took them captive, and, with their army being the only thing that stood between him and Daliang, quickly advanced toward Daliang. With Duan's army trapped north of the Yellow River and unable to return to Daliang to defend it, Zhu Zhen, believing capture to be imminent, committed suicide, ending Later Liang. Duan subsequently surrendered to Emperor Zhuangzong, whose Later Tang state then took over all of Later Liang territory.