生平

憑父親李國貞的權勢，成為鳳翔府參軍。貞元初，當上了宗正少卿。後來藉賄賂勾結等手段，成為了潤州刺史、浙西觀察、鹽鐵轉運使。他增加私路小堰之稅（志第四十三　食貨三）。他收藏了不少奇寶，奉獻給德宗，使德宗信任他。李錡恃寵而驕，天下攉酒漕運都被他控制。貞元十七年（801年），浙西平民崔善貞上書揭露其罪行，反被李錡活埋。

李錡得志，於是募兵，揀選精於箭術的人為一屯，稱為「挽硬隨身」，又以外族為一將，稱為「蕃落健兒」。這些人都成了李錡的心腹，甚至喚李錡作「假父」。

永貞元年（805年）三月，升為鎮海節度使，但解除鹽鐵轉運使一職，實是明升暗降，削減他從中賺錢的機會。不料李錡變本加厲，殺了不少屬吏，逼污良家。寮佐力諫無效，辭了職。

謀反過程

元和初年，杜兼已上書說李錡意圖謀反。（列傳第九十七　於王二杜范）

李吉甫認為李錡一定會造反，勸憲宗召回他，派了三次使者去，都說病了。（列傳第七十一　二李）李錡要求延遲會面的時間。憲宗問宰相鄭絪意見，鄭絪請武元衡發表意見，武元衡指出是李錡犯錯，另一方面，憲宗即位不久，天下人都在注視，若任由一個奸臣自把自為，威名便會掃地。（列傳第七十七　張姜武李宋）

元和二年十月，李錡殺掉勸他入朝的判官王澹。他正式起兵，命令其鎮將殺五州刺史。

李吉甫認為李錡不過是庸才，手下的多是亡命群盜，鬥志不強，討伐的話不難取勝。（列傳第七十一　二李）事實證明他的看法正確——造反一個月便平息了。

• 常州刺史顏防用了他的客人李雲的謀計，殺了鎮將李深。他又傳檄蘇、杭、湖、睦四州的刺史，希望大家合力征討李錡。

• 蘇州刺史李素卻被鎮將姚志安捉了，釘在船舷上，獻了給李錡。

• 湖州刺史辛秘命令牙將丘知二在晚上開城，徵募了數百名壯士，與叛軍大戰，殺了鎮將趙惟忠。（列傳第六十八　高元李韋薛崔戴王徐郗辛）

憲宗以淮南節度使王鍔為諸道行營兵馬招討處置使，中官薛尚衍為都監招討宣慰使，出動了宣武、武寧、武昌、淮南、宣歙、江西、浙東這些地方的士兵，從宣州、杭州和信州三路進攻。李錡的外甥裴行立雖然有份預謀造反，但又想歸順朝廷。李錡的中丞張子良深知勝算不大，後來竟帶領軍隊回城。

在城中的李錡大驚，光著腳逃走。李鈞帶兵三百人，和裴行立的軍隊戰鬥，李鈞被殺。李錡知道了，哭了起來。李錡大勢而去，被擒獲。

他被押到京師，憲宗親自審問他，他將責任推卸給張子良，說是張子良教他謀反的。憲宗揭穿他的大話，問他身為宗室，為甚麼不能殺了張氏，李錡無言以對。他和兒子李師回腰斬，終年六十七歲，時只不過是元和二年十一月。

死後其祖墓差點為人破壞，盧坦上諫阻止。（列傳第八十四　鮑李蕭薛樊王吳鄭陸盧柳崔）

其他

鄭氏和杜秋娘是其妾侍，後來都被唐憲宗納入宮中。鄭氏入宮後當郭貴妃的侍兒，後來被唐憲宗臨幸，生下李忱，即後來的唐宣宗。

延伸閱讀

參考

• 《新唐書·列傳第一百四十九上　叛臣上》

Background and service during Emperor Dezongs reign

Li Qi was born in 741, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His father Li Ruoyou (李若幽), who was later renamed Li Guozhen by Emperor Xuanzong's son Emperor Suzong, was a member of Tang dynasty's imperial Li clan — his fifth-generation ancestor was one of the contributors to Tang's establishment, Li Shentong (李神通) the Prince of Huai'an, a cousin of Tang's founding emperor Emperor Gaozu. During the reign of Emperor Suzong, Li Guozhen was killed by soldier mutineers in the service of the imperial cause and, because of Li Guozhen's contributions, Emperor Suzong's grandson Emperor Dezong, during middle of the Zhenyuan era (785-805), had Li Qi serve as the prefect of Hu Prefecture (湖州, in modern Huzhou, Zhejiang) and then Hang Prefecture (杭州, in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang).

As Li Qi often sent bribes to Emperor Dezong's close associate Li Qiyun, in 799, Li Qi, who was then referred to as the prefect of Chang Prefecture (常州, in modern Changzhou, Jiangsu) was further made the prefect of Run Prefecture (潤州, in modern Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) and governor (觀察使, Guanchashi) of Zhexi Circuit (浙西, headquartered at Run Prefecture) as well as the director of salt and iron monopolies (鹽鐵使, Yantieshi). He further made tributes to Emperor Dezong, drawing Emperor Dezong's favor. As he knew he had Emperor Dezong's favor, he became arrogant and unrestrained in his behavior, and it was said that he seized the salaries of his subordinates and often killed them without good cause. A civilian from Zhexi Circuit, Cui Shanzhen (崔善貞) submitted a petition to Emperor Dezong pointing out the harm that several of Emperor Dezong's policies were having on the people, and in the petition, he accused Li Qi of crimes. Emperor Dezong read the petition and was displeased. He ordered Cui arrested and delivered to Li Qi. Li Qi, in anticipation of Cui's arrival, dug a large hole in the ground, and when Cui arrived, he had Cui thrown into the hole and buried alive.

It was also around this time that Li Qi, trying to ensure his future safety, began to expand his forces. In particular, he selected the strongest archers and made them into a special Wanqiang Corps (挽強), while selected the ethnically Xiongnu or Xi soldiers and made them into a special Fanluo Corps (蕃落). The Wanqiang and Fanluo soldiers were paid 10 times as much as the regular soldiers, in order to garner their loyalty. They referred to him as their adopted father. It was also said that he often forced women from good households to become his concubines (one of those concubines, a Lady Zheng, would later enter the imperial palace and become the mother of Emperor Xuānzong.) Li Qi's staff members Lu Tan (盧坦) and Li Yue (李約), after being unable to persuade him to curb his actions, left his staff.

During Emperor Shunzongs reign

Emperor Dezong died in 805, and his son Emperor Shunzong took the throne. Soon after Emperor Shunzong became emperor, he made Li Qi the military governor of Zhenhai Circuit (i.e., Zhexi) but stripped him of the position of director of salt and iron monopolies, transferring the position to the chancellor Du You. It was said that while Li Qi thus lost the lucrative economic responsibilities, he gained a military command, and therefore did not resist the orders.

During Emperor Xianzongs reign

Later in 805, Emperor Shunzong, who was seriously ill, yielded the throne to his son Emperor Xianzong. By this point, it was commonly thought that Li Qi would eventually rebel — so much so that when the official Du Jian (杜兼) was made the prefect of Su Prefecture (蘇州, in modern Suzhou, Jiangsu) late in 805, Du declined on the basis that he believed that Li Qi would soon rebel and that Du and his clan would be killed in the rebellion. Emperor Xianzong accepted Du's rationale and kept him at the imperial government.

After the rebellious general Liu Pi, who occupied Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) was defeated and killed by imperial forces in 806, however, many regional governors became apprehensive and offered to pay homage to the new emperor. Li Qi also did so in 807, and Emperor Xianzong agreed and sent a eunuch to Zhenhai's capital Jingkou to comfort Li Qi and his soldiers. However, although Li Qi made his assistant Wang Dan (王儋) acting military governor in his anticipated absence, he did not actually intend to depart for the capital Chang'an, so he delayed his departure several times, despite urgings by the imperial eunuch and Wang for him to depart. Li Qi instead submitted a petition claiming illness and asking to delay the journey to 808. When Emperor Xianzong requested the chancellors' comments, Wu Yuanheng pointed out that Emperor Xianzong needed to assert imperial authority — and that Li Qi's offer to pay homage to him and then refusal to do so was a challenge to imperial authority. Emperor Xianzong agreed, and issued an edict summoning Li Qi to Chang'an. Li Qi, unable to think of anything else, decided to rebel. Meanwhile, Li Qi was also angered by how Wang, after being made acting military governor, was making decisions that changed his policies, and thus incited the soldiers to kill Wang. On a day when Wang and the imperial eunuch were meeting him, he had some several soldiers proclaim, "Who is this Wang Dan who dares to give orders?" The soldiers rushed into the headquarters and killed Wang, eating his body. When the officer Zhao Qi tried to comfort and stop the soldiers, the soldiers also killed Zhao and ate his body. When the soldiers dragged the imperial eunuch out, Li Qi pretended to be surprised and personally went to rescue the eunuch.

Meanwhile, on November 8, 807, Emperor Xianzong, issued an edict recalling Li Qi to serve as Zuo Pushe (左僕射), one of the heads of the executive bureaus of government (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng) and naming the official Li Yuansu (李元素) as his replacement as military governor of Zhenghai. The next day, Li Qi submitted a report claiming that a mutiny had led to Wang's and Zhao's deaths, apparently seeking to be allowed to remain. Meanwhile, though, he also secretly ordered five military officers that he had stationed at five prefectures under his jurisdiction — Su, Chang, Hu, Hang, and Mu (睦州, in modern Hangzhou) — to kill the prefects and seize control, and further ordered his officer Yu Boliang (庾伯良) to prepare Shitou in anticipation of an imperial attack. However, Yan Fang (顏防) the prefect of Chang Prefecture had already heard of this and killed the officer Li Qi sent to monitor him, Li Shen (李深). Yan sent communiques to the other four prefectures ordering the other four prefects to attack the rebels, and those prefects were also able to defeat Li Qi's officers, except for Li Su (李素) the prefect of Su Prefecture, who was captured by Li Qi's officer Yao Zhi'an (姚志安).

On November 14, Emperor Xianzong issued an edict stripping Li Qi of his titles and of his imperial clan membership. He ordered seven circuits around Li Qi's to converge on Zhenhai. Meanwhile, Li Qi was intending to attack and capture Xuan Prefecture (宣州, in modern Xuancheng, Anhui) due to Xuan's prosperity, and he gave 3,000 soldiers to his officers Zhang Ziliang, Li Fengxian (李奉仙), and Tian Chaoqing (田少卿) to have them attack Xuan Prefecture. However, the three of them knew that Li Qi could not stand long, and they conspired with Li Qi's nephew Pei Xingli (裴行立) to act against Li Qi. The night after they departed Run Prefecture, they informed their soldiers their intentions, and the soldiers followed them back to Run Prefecture and attacked the city. When Li Qi heard that Zhang had turned against him, he initially angrily ordered resistance, but when he heard that Pei joined Zhang as well, he became saddened and found the situation hopeless; instead, he escaped and tried to hide. When one of his officers, Li Jun (李均), tried to resist with 300 Wanqiang soldiers, Pei defeated and killed Li Jun. Li Qi was captured and delivered to Chang'an. The Wanqiang and Fanluo soldiers, hearing this, all committed suicide.

The chancellors initially discussed executing Li Qi's cousins. The official Jiang Ai (蔣乂) pointed out that Li Qi's cousins were all Li Shentong's descendants and should not suffer this kind of fate. When the chancellors discussed alternatively that Li Qi's brothers be executed, Jiang further pointed out how Li Guozhen had died in imperial service, and that his descendants should be allowed to survive. The chancellors agreed and only exiled Li Qi's cousins.

On December 3, Li Qi arrived at Chang'an. Emperor Xianzong personally questioned him as to why he rebelled. Li Qi responded, "I did not want to rebel. It was Zhang Ziliang and others like him who told me to rebel." Emperor Xianzong responded, "You are the commander. If Zhang and the others were plotting treason, why did you not execute them and then come to see me?" Li Qi was unable to respond, and he was executed with his son Li Shihui (李師回) by being cut in half at the waist. His assets were confiscated by the imperial treasury; in substitution, because Li Qi's wealth came from the people, the people of Zhenhai were exempted from taxation that year.