家世

祖父安从义，官利州刺史。父安全，官至胜州刺史、振武蕃汉马步军都指挥使。

生平

安重荣臂力过人，善骑射，后唐长兴年间，在父亲所属的振武军中任巡边指挥使。他通晓文吏事务，后因犯法被下狱治罪。当时高行周为帅，想杀了他，安重荣之母赶赴京城向族人枢密使安重诲求情，讨得后唐明宗的赦免诏书才被释放。后唐清泰二年（935年），身兼太原尹、北京留守、河东节度使三要职的石敬瑭在晋阳举兵反叛，派人暗地招纳代北的安重荣。安重荣率领1000馀名骑兵赶赴太原，投于石敬瑭麾下。次年石敬瑭在契丹的帮助下推翻后唐，称帝建立后晋，安重荣被授为成德军（治镇州，今河北正定）节度使。

安重荣每遇诉讼案件，亲临大堂明辩曲直，依法裁决。至于百姓徭役、课税、仓库耗费等大事，他更是事必躬亲。因此手下诸司官员不敢贪赃枉法，胡作非为，镇州一带得以保境息民。曾经有一对夫妇控告他们的儿子不孝顺，安重荣当面诘问，并拔出剑交给那位父亲，让他自己杀掉儿子，那位父亲哭著说：「不忍心啊！」而母亲却在一旁大声叫骂，夺下他的剑追杀儿子。安重荣大惑不解，询问后才知道是继母，便呵斥他的继母出去，拿出弓箭，从后面一箭将她射死。听说此事的人无不大快人心。

安重荣出身于军伍，从小军官一跃而成为一个大镇节度使，他目睹后唐末帝李从珂、晋高祖石敬瑭靠兵变得践帝位的事实，也滋长了谋权篡位之心，曾对别人说：「天子，兵强马壮者当为之，宁有种耶！」他向朝廷奏请的要求超过底线，被权臣否决，内心愤愤不平，于是聚集亡命之徒，收集购买战马，企图叛乱。

安重荣一次因暴怒杀死部校贾章，宣称贾章阴谋叛乱，贾章有一个女儿，安重荣想放了她，贾氏女却说：「我一家三十口，在兵乱中死了二十八口，只剩我父女二人，今日我父亲死了，我保存性命有什么用！」再三请死，最后被杀。镇州人听闻后，感叹贾氏女的贞烈，厌恶安重荣的残酷。

安重荣对契丹人深恶痛绝，每次见到契丹使者，必定大骂不已。而晋高祖石敬瑭和契丹约定为父子，安重荣对石敬瑭的卑躬屈膝严重不满，天福六年（941年），契丹使臣拽剌等数十骑路过镇州，安重荣威逼羞辱他，拽剌出言不逊，安重荣将其全部杀死，契丹主耶律德光知道后大怒，责令后晋严惩安重荣。安重荣于是秘密联合吐谷浑节度使白承福、赫连公德、襄州安从进等人，并上表指责石敬瑭向契丹称臣，自称儿皇帝，「诎中国以事外蕃」，并起兵声讨，当时镇州有旱蝗之灾，安重荣领军裹挟数万饥民，向邺都（今河北大名东北）进发。晋高祖派天平军节度使杜重威率军抵御。天福六年（941年）冬十二月十三日，两军在宗城（今河北威县东）破家堤相遇，安重荣列偃月阵，晋军不能破。杜重威惧阵欲退，被指挥使王重胤劝止，王重胤说：「两兵方交，退者先败。」重胤以为偃月阵中军虽强，但两边太弱。杜重威先以左右队击其两翼，王重胤领兵击中军。安重荣部将赵彦之兵败投降，安重荣退至后方辎重营，阵列崩溃后，安军被杀和冻死者二万馀人。重荣与十馀骑向北逃回镇州，后被杜重威斩杀，时为天福七年（942年）正月初二。石敬瑭命漆其头颅，函送契丹。并改镇州为恒州，改成德军为顺国军，以杜重威为节度使。

安重荣的儿子安德裕还不到两岁，乳母抱著他逃跑被俘，军校秦习因与安重荣有旧而收养他为孙，后来恢复本姓。

清代史学家王夫之点评说：「事虽逆而名正者，安重荣也」。

安重荣德政碑

2000年6月，河北正定（镇州）出土了一尊重约107吨的巨型青石贔屭碑座并18块大小不均的巨碑残块，这通巨碑，记载了碑主人「进检校太傅、进封武威郡开国侯」的封号。只是涉及到碑主人名字、官职处都被砸断，因此，目前已经找到残碑文字数百言，可没有一处碑主人的名字。这正说明砸毁该碑就是毁灭其主人业绩。好在碑文中还残留（成）「德军节度使安」和「军节度使、镇深等州观察处（置使）」的字样，中国复旦大学陈尚君教授其新编《新出石刻唐代文学研究》中认为：「在正定出土的巨大残碑」，「据我考证，此碑应即《册府元龟》所载后晋天福二年太子宾客任赞撰文的《安重荣德政碑》。几年后，安重荣谋反被杀，碑也遭砸碎」。

延伸阅读

参考书目

• 《旧五代史》卷九八〈安重荣传〉

• 《新五代史》卷五一〈安重荣传〉

Background

It is not known when An Chongrong was born. His family was from Shuo Prefecture (朔州, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi). His grandfather An Congyi (安从义) served as the prefect of Li Prefecture (利州, in modern Guangyuan, Sichuan), while his father An Quan (安全) served as the prefect of Sheng Prefecture (胜州, in modern Ordos, Inner Mongolia) and the commander of the infantry and cavalry soldiers at Zhenwu Circuit (振武, then probably headquartered in modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia). An Chongrong himself was said to be strong and good at both archery and horsemanship.

During Later Tang

During the Changxing era (930-933) of the Later Tang emperor Li Siyuan, An Chongrong served as a military commander at Zhenwu (which was then headquartered in modern Shuozhou). He had once committed an offense and was imprisoned, and then-military governor (Jiedushi) of Zhenwu, Gao Xingzhou, wanted to put him to death. An Chongrong's mother went to the Later Tang imperial government, then located at Luoyang, to appeal for his life. Li Siyuan's chief of staff An Chonghui protected An Chongrong, and An Chongrong was not put to death. It was not known what the aftermaths of that incident exactly were, but apparently at some point An Chongrong was free and became an officer at Zhenwu again.

In 936, Shi Jingtang (Li Siyuan's son-in-law), the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河东, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) rebelled against then-emperor Li Congke (Li Siyuan's adoptive son). He sent his officer Zhang Ying to entice An Chongrong to join his rebellion. Both An Chongrong's older brother and mother tried to stop him from doing so, and tried to kill Zhang. However, An Chongrong persuaded his older brother and mother that if he could use two arrows to hit targets 100 steps away, they would be signs that Shi would become emperor and that he would be a military governor. He then hit the targets, so his older brother and mother allowed him to take his soldiers and join Shi's army. Shi was pleased, and promised him that he would be made a military governor. An subsequently served under Shi's general Liu Zhiyuan in defending Hedong's capital Taiyuan against the siege by the Later Tang general Zhang Jingda, whom Li Congke sent to attack Shi.

During Later Jin

Shi Jingtang sought aid from Later Tang's northern rival Khitan Empire, promising to cede 16 prefectures to the north to the Khitan if the Khitan would support him as the emperor of China. Khitan's Emperor Taizong agreed and, in fall 936, arrived at Taiyuan and crushed Zhang Jingda's troops. He then declared Shi emperor of a new state of Later Jin. The joint Khitan/Later Jin forces then advanced toward Luoyang. Believing defeat to be inevitable, Li Congke committed suicide with his family, ending Later Tang. Shi entered Luoyang and took over the Later Tang lands.

During the transition from Later Tang to Later Jin, the Chengde Circuit (成德, headquartered in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei) officer Mi Qiong (秘琼) used the opportunity to seize control of the circuit (with Chengde's military governor Dong Wenqi (董温琪)'s having been captured by the Khitan) while trying to aid Zhang). In spring 937, Shi commissioned An Chongrong as the military governor of Chengde and Mi as the defender of Qi Prefecture (齐州, in modern Jinan, Shandong), sending An to seize control from Mi. He also first sent the officer Wang Jingchong to Chengde's capital Zhen Prefecture to persuade Mi to submit, while sending the Khitan officer Zhao Siwen with An to intimidate Mi. However, he secretly told An, "If Mi Qiong refuses to receive you, I will give you a different circuit. Do not forcibly seize the circuit, in case it creates other problems." This caused An to lose respect for Shi, believing that if Shi was easily intimidated by Mi — viewed by An to be an aged administrator — then he himself could more easily intimidate the emperor with his military abilities. Mi did not dare to resist An, however, and he allowed An to take control of the circuit and departed himself for Qi. (Mi was subsequently ambushed and killed by Fan Yanguang the military governor of Tianxiong Circuit (天雄, headquartered in modern Handan, Hebei), as Fan had unsuccessfully tried to persuade Mi into a joint rebellion against Later Jin and feared that Mi would leak the news, and was also enticed by the wealth — which Mi gained by killing Dong's family and seizing Dong's wealth — that Mi was carrying.)

At Chengde, An was said to be diligent — whereas the other military governors of the time often took bribes and ruled according to the amount of bribes they received, An was attentive to the administration of laws and often used logic in ruling on cases. His subordinates therefore also did not dare to receive bribes. There was one occasion when a couple was claiming that their son was not filially pious. An gave the father a sword and said, "Kill him yourself." The father wept and stated, "I do not have the heart to do so." The mother cursed at the father and took the sword herself, chasing the father away. An, finding this illogical, inquired further, and found out that she was a stepmother, not the son's birth mother. He chased her out and then shot her to death with an arrow. This much impressed the people of the realm, and he initially enjoyed popularity. As a result, however, he became arrogant, and he began to gather troops, believing that he could seek the throne (just as Li Congke and Shi did), stating, "The Son of Heaven's throne is based on those who have strong armies and healthy horses, not based on preordination." However, the people began to see him as overly harsh when, on one occasion, he, out of anger, killed his officer Jia Zhang (贾章) on false excuse of Jia's committing treason, and slaughtered Jia's entire household, except for Jia's daughter. Jia's daughter, however, did not want to live alone, and sought to share her father's fate, so he killed her as well.

Part of the territory that Shi ceded to the Khitan (which, by this point, has renamed their state Liao) included territory inhabited by the Tuyuhun tribespeople. The Tuyuhun were mistreated by the Liao. An enticed them to join his army, and so large Tuyuhun contingents fled to his territory in or about 940. Subsequently, Emperor Taizong angrily rebuked Shi, and Shi, under Liao pressure, forcibly expelled the Tuyuhun and sent them back to Liao.

This aggravated An, who had long been (at least publicly) ashamed of how Shi had submitted to Emperor Taizong, not only as subject, but also titularly as son. (However, despite public protestations against Liao, he was also in secret communications with the Liao military governor of Lulong Circuit (卢龙, headquartered in modern Beijing), Liu Xi (刘唏).) He himself was arrogant to Liao emissaries whenever they passed through Chengde, and, if they were particularly distasteful to him, would kill them. In 941, he submitted a lengthy, public petition to Shi, in which he urged, in harsh terms, the repudiation of the alliance with Liao. He also wrote letters with similar contents to the important officials at the imperial court and the military governors throughout the Later Jin realm. Shi's advisor Sang Weihan, then the military governor of Taining Circuit (泰宁, headquartered in modern Jining, Shandong), wrote him and suggested that he (Shi) head to Yedu (邺都, Tianxiong's capital) and take up court there, so that he could react quickly if An did rebel. Shi did so. Once he reached Yedu, he wrote An, stating:

The letter, however, did not change An's mind, and he became even more arrogant. He also heard that An Congjin the military governor of Shannan East Circuit (山南东道, headquartered in modern Xiangyang, Hubei) was also planning to rebel against Shi, and therefore sent secret messengers establishing an alliance with An Congjin.

At the same time, Shi sent Liu Zhiyuan to Hedong to serve as its military governor, to also monitor the situation with An. Liu enticed the Tuyuhun chieftain Bai Chengfu (白承福), who had previously submitted to An Chongrong, into joining the Hedong army with his tribesmen. That, and the failure of Dada and Qibi (契苾) tribesmen to join An Chongrong (as he had claimed that they would), hampered the impact of An's public pronouncements.

Nevertheless, when An Congjin shortly after rebelled against Later Jin, An Chongrong resolved to rebel anyway. Shi sent his brother-in-law Du Chongwei against An Chongrong, with Ma Quanjie serving as Du's deputy. When the armies encountered each other, An's officer Zhao Yanzhi surrendered to Du (although he was nevertheless killed after the surrender), causing a general rout of An's army. An fled back to Zhen and took up defense there. In spring 942, a Chengde officer opened a water gate and allowed Du's army into the city, and An was captured and executed. Shi had An's head painted (for preservation) and delivered it to Emperor Taizong.

Notes and references

• Old History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 98.

• New History of the Five Dynasties, vol. 51.

• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 280, 281, 282, 283.