璘 Lín

Lin, Prince of Yong, lost his mother when young, and Suzong raised and looked after him himself. Grown up, he was intelligent, quick and fond of learning. He was so ugly that people could not look straight at him. After he was enfeoffed he held the post of Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Jingzhou. When An Lushan rebelled and the emperor reached Fufeng, an edict ordered Lin to go to his command that same day. Soon he was also made Military Commissioner of the four circuits of Shannan, Jiangxi, Lingnan and Qianzhong, with Dou Zhao, Director of the Palace Workshops, as his deputy. When Lin reached Jiangling he recruited several tens of thousands of men and appointed his own court gentlemen and censors. Edit

At that time the land tax and levies of the Yangzi and Huai region amounted to hundreds of millions, piled up like mountains wherever they were stored. Lin had grown up in the palace and did not understand affairs; seeing himself rich and strong, he began to covet the lands east of the Yangzi, and took Xue Liu, Li Taiqing, Wei Zichun, Liu Julin and Cai Jiong as his chief advisers. When Suzong heard of it, he ordered Lin by edict to go to Shu to attend on the Retired Emperor, but Lin did not obey. His son Yi, Prince of Xiangcheng, was hard and fierce but lacked judgement, and he too welcomed disorder; he urged Lin to take Jinling. Lin then led his fleet down the river eastward and sent five thousand armoured men toward Guangling, with Hun Weiming, Ji Guangchen and Gao Xianqi as his generals, though he did not yet dare to say openly that he meant to take the lands east of the Yangzi. Edit

Just then Li Xiyan, Investigation Commissioner of Wu Commandery, sent Lin a document in the form used between equals, and Lin said in anger: "I am the son of the Retired Emperor and the younger brother of the Emperor; my position is exalted and the courtesy due me is beyond all others. Now Xiyan sends me a document as an equal to defy my authority, signing his name with his own brush. What does this mean?" He sent Weiming to attack Xiyan by surprise and ordered Guangchen to make for Guangling and attack Li Chengshi, the Investigation Commissioner there. When Lin reached Dangtu, Xiyan was already encamped at Danyang; he sent his general Yuan Jingyao and others to resist, but they could not win and surrendered to Lin, and the whole region of the Yangzi and Huai was shaken. Edit

The next year Suzong sent the eunuch Dan Tingyao and others to plan with Chengshi how to summon Lin back and win him over. At that time Li Xian, Assistant to the Bandit Suppression Commissioner of Hebei, was at Guangling with over a thousand troops; Tingyao invited Xian to encamp at Yangzi, and Chengshi also sent Pei Rong with three thousand soldiers of Guangling to guard the Yilou Dam, where they put up banners and held a great review of the troops. Lin and Yi climbed the battlements to watch and looked afraid. Guangchen knew the enterprise would fail and said to the other generals: "When we followed the prince, did we mean to rebel? The Retired Emperor had fled far away and the roads were cut, and of all his sons none was more able than the prince. If he had led the picked troops of the Yangzi and Huai and driven straight for Yong and Luo, a great deed could have been done. Now it is not so, and our names will be tied to rebellion; how shall we face later ages?" The others agreed, and they swore an oath, cutting their arms. Then Weiming fled to Jiangning, Feng Jikang to Baisha, and Guangchen with six thousand men to Guangling. Lin sent horsemen in pursuit, and Guangchen said: "I owe the prince gratitude, so I cannot bear to fight it out with him; I am only fleeing for my life to return to the court. If you press me, I will fight to the death." The pursuers stopped, and so he escaped. That night Xian drew up his troops on the north bank of the Yangzi and lit bundles of reeds in the dark, each man holding two torches; their reflections danced on the water, and the scouts reported twice as many men as there were. Lin's army raised torches in answer. Lin, suspecting that the imperial army had already crossed, fled with his sons and daughters and his followers. At dawn he realised he had been tricked, went back into the city, prepared boats, and had Yi drive his men toward Jinling. Spies reported: "The prince has fled!" Chengshi advanced with his troops, and his vanguard reached Xinfeng; Lin sent Yi and Xianqi to meet them. Xian joined his forces, spread out his left and right wings, and shot Yi in the shoulder, and Lin's army was routed. Xianqi and Lin fled to Poyang; the Administrator closed the city gates against them, and Lin in anger burned the gates and entered. He seized the weapons in the arsenal, plundered Yugan, and was about to flee south beyond the Ridges when Huangfu Shen's troops caught up with him. They fought at the Dayu Ridge; Lin was struck by an arrow and captured, and Shen killed him. Yi was killed by mutinous soldiers, and Xianqi got away. Before Lin's defeat the Retired Emperor had issued a decree: "Let him be reduced to a commoner and sent to live at Fangling." When he was dead, Shen sent his wife and children to Shu, and the Retired Emperor grieved for a long time. Because Suzong had raised Lin from childhood, he did not proclaim his crimes. He said to those about him: "Huangfu Shen captured my brother; why did he not send him to Shu, but kill him on his own authority?" After that Shen was not employed again. Xue Shi and the others were all executed. Of Lin's sons, Zan was made Prince of Yuyao, Zhen Duke of Ju, and Xuan Duke of Cheng, and Ling and Yi were both made Chancellor of the Directorate of Education. Edit