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Cheng Yaojin
Early Tang general, later named Cheng Zhijie, who left Wang Shichong for Li Shimin, fought in the founding wars and was dismissed after a botched Western Turk campaign
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Cheng Zhijie · Luguo Gong · Shi Xiang
- Roles
- Commanders
Cheng Yaojin, who later took the name Zhijie, came from Dong'e in Jizhou and at the end of the Sui led a few hundred men defending his home district before joining Li Mi. In Li Mi's battle with Wang Shichong at Mount Mang he went to rescue Pei Xingyan, was run through by a lance, snapped the shaft and killed his pursuer. After Li Mi's fall he served Wang Shichong, but in 619 he told Qin Shubao that Wang was a petty man who swore oaths like a village witch, and the two went over to the Tang. As an officer of Li Shimin he fought Song Jingang, Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, took part in the Xuanwu Gate coup of 626, and was made Duke of Lu with a portrait in the Lingyan Pavilion. Sent against the Western Turks early in the Xianqing era, he let his deputy Wang Wendu halt the army with a forged edict and massacre a surrendered town, and was dismissed. He died in 665.
Life and times
Dates 589 CE–665 CE