Royals › Monarch / Emperor
Li Congke
Last emperor of the Later Tang, an adopted son of Li Siyuan who seized the throne from Fengxiang in 934 and burned himself to death when Shi Jingtang came with Khitan troops
In a side chamber of a palace, a yellow ceremonial robe embroidered with a dragon hangs on a wooden stand, its hem worked with waves and rocks, before a carved folding screen, while a black lacquer chest sits on a low table by a lattice window and no person is in view.
Also known as Wang Congke · Houtang Modi · Lu Wang
- Roles
- Monarch / Emperor
Li Congke was born Wang at Pingshan in Zhenzhou in 885. His mother was carried off by the general Li Siyuan, who adopted the boy and renamed him Congke. He fought beside Li Cunxu in the Hebei campaigns and became known for his daring; after Li Siyuan took the throne he held several military governorships and in 933 was made Prince of Lu, stationed at Fengxiang. When the young emperor Li Conghou tried to transfer him in 934, he rebelled, the armies sent against him changed sides, and he entered Luoyang as emperor under the era name Qingtai; the deposed emperor was soon killed. Mutual suspicion with Shi Jingtang, military governor at Taiyuan, led to war in 936, when Shi promised the Sixteen Prefectures to the Khitan in return for their army. Defeated, Li Congke climbed the Xuanwu tower in Luoyang with the dowager Empress Cao and others in January 937 and set it alight, ending the Later Tang.
Life and times
Dates 885 CE–937 CE