Biography
Family Background and Early Years
Li Gang's ancestors were from Jiangnan; one account places them originally in Gushi County, Guangzhou. At the end of Tang, or according to another account after the fall of the Min state in the Five Dynasties period, they moved to Qingqinli in Balong Township, Shaowu, Jianzhou, to escape warfare. Another tradition held that his ancestors belonged to the Tang imperial clan and settled in Shaowu after one of them served as prefect of Jianzhou. By his grandfather's generation, the family had moved to Wuxi County in present-day Jiangsu. The “Liangxi” in Li Gang's style names referred to Liangxi in Wuxi.
Li Gang was born on the tenth day of the intercalary sixth month of the sixth year of Yuanfeng under Emperor Shenzong of Song (July 27, 1083), at an official residence in Huating, Xiuzhou, present-day Songjiang, Shanghai. His father Li Kui had passed the jinshi examination in 1080, the third year of Yuanfeng, and in 1087 was appointed county commandant and registrar of Songxi in Fujian. Li Gang and his mother Lady Wu accompanied him. Lü Huiqing, then a senior academician and prefect of Jianzhou, greatly appreciated Li Kui's abilities.
Li Gang grew up in an official family and received a good education. He studied diligently, became skilled in poetry and rhapsody, and developed a broad reputation for talent. From youth he took a strong interest in public affairs and was described as observing proper standards in word and conduct. Chen Guan, a friend of his father, predicted that Li Gang would later accomplish great things.
In 1096, the third year of Shaosheng, Lü Huiqing was serving as frontier commander in Fuyan and recruited Li Kui for work in the military administration. Li Kui went to Yan'an, accompanied by fourteen-year-old Li Gang. Western Xia troops attacked and the city came under severe pressure. Li Gang refused to imitate officials' sons who pretended to participate in the defense merely to gain rewards, but he frequently rode along the city wall, which the source presents as evidence of his courage.
Entry into Government and Forthright Remonstrance
In 1112, the second year of Zhenghe, thirty-year-old Li Gang passed the jinshi examination in Mo Chou's cohort in grade B and was specially promoted to grade A. He was appointed Chengwulang and instructor at Xiangzhou, later transferring to an instructional post at Zhenjiang for family reasons. In 1115 he became Investigating Censor and acting Attendant Censor. Soon afterward, because his criticism of government offended powerful figures, he was removed from censorial duties, made Vice Director of the Bureau of Receptions, and later transferred to the post of diarist.
In 1119, the first year of Xuanhe, severe flooding struck the Kaifeng region. Li Gang submitted the *Lun Shuizai Shi Qi Dui Zouzhuang*. He argued that powerful ministers and eunuchs should have exerted themselves to rescue the people, yet days after the flood victims still lacked relief. He condemned officials for failing to care for the population. Soon afterward he submitted another memorial criticizing current policy and urged Emperor Huizong to reduce the people's burdens by remitting taxes, providing disaster relief, stopping harmful measures, punishing officials guilty of negligence during the flood, and promoting officials concerned with popular welfare. The memorials struck at major political problems and provoked retaliation. Cai Jing accused him of advancing improper arguments and had him demoted to a minor tax post in Shaxian, Nanjianzhou.
Li Gang's memorials won praise among officials and scholars. Chen Guan compared him to the Tang statesman Di Renjie, increasing his reputation. In 1124, the sixth year of Xuanhe, he was appointed prefect of Xiuzhou; in the seventh month of the following year he returned to court as Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices.
The Jingkang Incident and the Defense of Kaifeng
In the tenth month of 1125, the seventh year of Xuanhe, the Jin dynasty, after destroying Liao, launched a major invasion of Song under the pretext that Song had accepted a Jin defector. The eastern army under Wanyan Zongwang advanced rapidly across the Yellow River toward Kaifeng. The court was shocked by the sudden frontier reports. Li Gang repeatedly memorialized Emperor Huizong, arguing that the essential measures were to rally public morale, strengthen military preparations, reduce popular grievances, employ officials genuinely concerned for the state, and unite the court and population. He also submitted ten concrete proposals for resisting Jin and advised Huizong to abdicate in favor of Crown Prince Zhao Huan so that the new ruler could rally the empire. Huizong hurriedly transferred the throne to Zhao Huan, Emperor Qinzong of Song. Within days of Qinzong's accession, Wanyan Zongwang's army neared Kaifeng. Li Gang was summoned and appointed Vice Minister of War, placing him at the front of the emergency response.
On the second day of the first month of 1126, the first year of Jingkang, Jin troops captured Junzhou, and the eunuch Liang Fangping abandoned the northern bank of the Yellow River. Troops on the southern bank also broke and fled. The Jin army crossed the Yellow River on the third day. When the news reached the capital, Huizong and others fled toward Nanjing, present-day Shangqiu. Emperor Qinzong also prepared to flee but was stopped after Li Gang discovered the plan and repeatedly remonstrated. Li Gang rejected arguments by Grand Councilor Bai Shizhong and the eunuch Chen Liangbi that Kaifeng could not be defended. He argued that the court should immediately reorganize the capital's forces, prepare for battle, mobilize the inhabitants for defense, and await relief armies before counterattacking. Qinzong began to favor defense and ordered regional commanders to bring troops to rescue the emperor.
When Qinzong asked who should manage the defense, Li Gang first recommended Bai Shizhong and Li Bangyan. Bai Shizhong tried to avoid responsibility and angrily asked whether Li Gang himself could command troops. Li Gang replied that if the emperor did not consider him incapable, he was willing to die defending the capital. Qinzong immediately appointed him Right Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and placed him in charge of the capital's defense.
Despite Li Gang's repeated efforts to persuade Qinzong to remain in Kaifeng with the army and population, the emperor again prepared vehicles for flight that night. The next morning Li Gang saw the guard units arrayed to escort him away and asked the soldiers whether they preferred to defend the city or flee. They shouted that they wished to fight to the death in defense of the capital. Li Gang then pointed out that their parents, wives, and children were in the city; if they were ordered away, they might disperse, leaving the emperor unprotected and vulnerable to pursuit. Qinzong was finally persuaded to remain. Li Gang told the emperor's attendants that anyone who again advocated flight should be executed. The troops prostrated themselves and shouted “Long live the emperor,” and the source says soldiers throughout the army were moved to tears.
Qinzong made Li Gang commander of the imperial campaign headquarters and entrusted him with military defense. Auxiliary troops and local militia supported the imperial guards. Within three days Li Gang directed the construction of towers and artillery platforms, transported bricks and stones, installed large crossbows, prepared incendiary oil, and organized the city's four sectors. The vanguard was stationed outside Tongjin Gate at Tongfeng Granary, the rear army at Fanjia Ridge outside Chaoyang Gate, while the left, right, and central units remained inside as reserves.
On the seventh day of the first month, Jin troops reached Kaifeng. The next day they launched dozens of fireships against Xuanze Gate. Li Gang supervised the fighting personally. Two thousand soldiers used grappling hooks to catch the fireships while defenders hurled large stones from the walls, killing more than a hundred Jin soldiers according to the source. During a second assault, heavy artillery and archery drove the attackers away from the walls. Recognizing that Kaifeng could not easily be stormed, the Jin army shifted toward coercing Qinzong into negotiations.
At court, Li Bangyan argued that the Song forces were too weak and advocated territorial concessions for peace. Li Gang urged the court to encourage the troops and resist to the death. Qinzong chose negotiations. Li Gang volunteered to go to the Jin camp, but the emperor feared his uncompromising character would anger the Jin and instead sent Li Zhuo. The Jin demanded five million taels of gold, fifty million taels of silver, ten thousand cattle and horses, one million bolts of silk, the cession of Taiyuan, Hejian, and Zhongshan, and princes and grand councilors as hostages. Qinzong was prepared to accept. Li Gang strongly opposed what he considered a humiliating agreement, arguing that the capital could not provide the demanded wealth and that the three strategic frontier areas could not be surrendered. He proposed prolonging negotiations until relief forces arrived and then attacking the Jin during their withdrawal across the Yellow River. Qinzong did not accept his advice.
Relief forces from throughout the empire soon gathered around Kaifeng, reaching a reported total of two hundred thousand. Li Gang also helped ease tensions between Huizong and Qinzong. Yet Qinzong still refused to give him unified command of the relief armies. A separate pacification command was established under Zhong Shidao, with Yao Pingzhong as field commander, splitting authority between offices and weakening coordination.
Li Gang and Zhong Shidao favored holding the fortified city and waiting for the Jin to exhaust their supplies, then attacking while they crossed the river. Yao Pingzhong favored immediate battle. On the first day of the second month, under Qinzong's order, Yao led ten thousand men in a night attack on the Jin camp northwest of the city, with Li Gang presiding over the operation. The court hoped both to capture Wanyan Zongwang and to rescue Prince Kang Zhao Gou, who was being held as a hostage. The plan leaked, the Jin were prepared, and the assault failed. Yao fled to avoid punishment. Qinzong hurriedly ordered Li Gang to provide support; despite the confused circumstances, Li Gang engaged and drove back a Jin relief force at Mutian Slope.
After Yao Pingzhong's defeat, officials favoring peace blamed Li Gang. Li Bangyan in particular assigned responsibility for the failed raid to him. Qinzong dismissed Li Gang and even considered sending him bound to the Jin camp, while appointing Cai Mao in his place. Cai Mao immediately prohibited defenders from shooting arrows or throwing stones at the Jin, causing intense public resentment. On the fifth day of the second month, several hundred National University students led by Chen Dong petitioned at Xuande Gate for the restoration of Li Gang and Zhong Shidao and the dismissal of Li Bangyan and Bai Shizhong. Tens of thousands reportedly joined them and blocked the streets. Some entered the palace grounds and killed several dozen palace attendants. Under this pressure, Qinzong restored Li Gang and Zhong Shidao. Li Gang resumed his post as Right Vice Director and was additionally made commissioner for the defense of the capital's four walls. The crowds dispersed after seeing the two men enter the palace.
With public support, Li Gang immediately restored the city's defensive preparations and used thunderclap artillery against the Jin that night. After learning that Li Gang had returned to office and seeing the growing strength of Song relief forces, Wanyan Zongwang withdrew in the second month of 1126 after the Song court agreed to cede the three Hebei commands, even though the promised payments had not all been collected. The source therefore credits Li Gang's organization with the successful defense of Kaifeng.
Demotion and Exile
After the Jin army withdrew, Li Gang was again excluded and accused by officials favoring peace. Song forces in Hedong had been defeated, and Zhong Shidao retired because of illness. Geng Nanzhong proposed making Li Gang pacification commissioner in Zhong's place, nominally giving him military authority but in practice removing him from the court. Li Gang became ill after leaving court and repeatedly asked to retire, but Qinzong refused. Censors including Chen Guoting argued that he should remain at court, but Qinzong punished them for allegedly lobbying on behalf of a minister. Geng Nanzhong further alleged that Li Gang had instigated the popular palace protest of the fifth day of the second month. Qinzong increasingly distrusted him and issued a rescript criticizing ministers who monopolized power without naming Li Gang directly.
An acquaintance warned Li Gang that the assignment was intended to drive him from court and that refusing to depart would expose him to further slander. Xu Han, an official of the Bureau of Military Affairs, sent him the words “Duyou,” referring to the place where the Warring States general Bai Qi was forced by King Zhaoxiang of Qin to die after being slandered. Li Gang was terrified and accepted the assignment.
In the seventh month Li Gang reached the Hedong front. Deputy pacification commissioners and other senior officers reported directly to the court, and the central government restricted his decisions, leaving him with the title of pacification commissioner but little power to command the army. The campaign ended in defeat. In the eighth month he was recalled. In the ninth month he was removed from the Bureau of Military Affairs and, as a senior academician, sent to govern Yangzhou. He was then accused of insisting on war, losing armies, and wasting resources and was reassigned to supervise the Mingdao Palace in Bozhou. In the tenth month he was demoted to deputy military commissioner of Baojing Army and ordered to reside in Jianchang Commandery. He was later exiled farther to Kuizhou.
Soon after Li Gang's demotion, Jin armies again advanced south on two routes and besieged Kaifeng. Shortly before his capture, Qinzong sought to recall Li Gang as a senior academician to govern Kaifeng, but it was too late. By the time Li Gang received the order in Changsha, Kaifeng had fallen on the twenty-fifth day of the intercalary eleventh month. In the spring of 1127, the Jin carried Emperors Huizong and Qinzong north, Kaifeng was plundered, and Northern Song ended in the Jingkang Incident.
Grand Councilorship in the Early Southern Song and Final Years
After the Song court moved south, Prince Kang Zhao Gou established the Southern Song at Nanjing, Yingtian Prefecture, present-day Shangqiu, on the fifth day of the fifth month of 1127 and became Emperor Gaozong of Song. Even while Kaifeng had been under siege, Gaozong, then Supreme Commander of the Empire's Armies at Xiangzhou, had written to Li Gang, who was leading Hunan relief troops, asking him to come for consultation. After Li Gang arrived, Gaozong appointed him Right Chief Minister of the Department of State Affairs and Vice Director of the Secretariat, making him Grand Councilor. Censor-in-chief Yan Qi argued that Li Gang was hated by the Jin and therefore should not be Grand Councilor; Fan Zongyin likewise opposed the appointment. Li Gang began his administration by presenting ten major measures. He aimed to reorganize the government, reject peace proposals, honor those who died resisting Jin, use volunteer forces from the Yellow River region to recover lost territory, recommend militant officials such as Zhang Suo, Fu Liang, and Zong Ze, reorganize the army, and prepare a northern expedition.
Li Gang remained in office for only seventy-five days. On the eighteenth day of the eighth month of the first year of Jianyan, he was dismissed, made a senior academician, and assigned nominal supervision of Dongxiao Palace in Hangzhou; his measures were reversed. On the eighth day of the tenth month, after impeachment by Attendant Censor Zhang Jun, he lost the academician title while retaining the palace assignment. He lived in Ezhou, and in the tenth month of the second year of Jianyan the court ordered him to move to Lizhou. Censor-in-chief Wang Tao accused him of failing for a year to proceed to his place of punishment. On the fourth day of the eleventh month he was further exiled to Wanan Army on Hainan. Late that month he crossed to Qiongzhou with his son Li Zongzhi.
In 1130, the fourth year of Jianyan, Li Gang received a pardon and withdrew to Danxia Cliff in Taining. Although he later returned to office several times, he continued submitting plans for resistance against Jin. In the first month of 1139, the ninth year of Shaoxing, Song concluded peace with Jin and agreed to tributary submission; the source says Li Gang became ill from grief and indignation. On the fifteenth day of the first month of 1140, February 5, he died at his residence at Luoyan Monastery on Cangqian Hill in Fuzhou, aged fifty-eight. He was posthumously appointed Junior Preceptor. In 1189 he received the additional title Duke of Longxi Commandery and the posthumous name Zhongding, explained in the source as combining loyalty to the state with deep concern for the people.
Li Gang was buried on the southern slope of Dajia Mountain in Guangming Village, Jingxi, Minhou County, Fuzhou.
Family and Early Years
Li Gang, styled Boji, was a man of Shaowu, his family having moved to Wuxi from his grandfather's generation. According to the epitaph of his father Li Kui in the Guishan collection, the Li were "originally men of Jiangnan who, fleeing the disorders at the end of Tang, moved their home to Shaowu, and so are now men of Shaowu," and one account makes their ancestor a prince of the Tang house who, serving as prefect of Jianzhou, settled there; the Song History records that "his father Kui ended as an expositor of the Dragon Diagram Pavilion." According to the chronological biography, he was born on the tenth day of the intercalary sixth month of 1083 in the official residence at Huating in Xiuzhou; while his father was assistant magistrate and registrar, Li Gang went with his mother Lady Wu to his father's post. Brought up in a family of officials, he was well educated and, being diligent and skilled in poetry and prose, was known for his talent; more notable still, he "had great ambitions from childhood and from youth paid close attention to the affairs of the state, in every word and act keeping to the rules," so that his elders thought well of him. In 1096 his father, called by the frontier commander to be an officer of the military commission, took up his post at Yan'an, and the fourteen-year-old Li Gang attended him; when the Western Xia invaded and the siege was urgent, he would not, like the sons of the other officers, pretend to mount the wall to repel the enemy in order to win reward, but "constantly rode around upon the wall," showing his courage.
Office, and Two Memorials
Li Gang passed as a presented scholar in 1112 and rose to be investigating censor and acting palace censor; "because his words offended the powerful" he was made a vice-director of the bureau of comparison and then a diarist. In 1119, when the capital suffered a great flood, he memorialized that "the yin force is too abundant, and robbers and foreign troubles should be feared," and the court, disliking his words, degraded him to supervise the tax office of Sha county in Nanjianzhou. It is recorded that in this flood, though the damage was severe, "the ministers did not dare to speak of it," and Li Gang, regardless of his low office, memorialized in "On the Flood and the Request for an Audience," pointing out that the flood had washed away people's houses and that the powerful ministers and eunuchs should have "exhausted their wisdom and strength, given their bodies for the state and saved the people in the calamity," whereas days after the flood the sufferers still had no relief, and so attacking the responsible men for their indifference; soon after he memorialized on current politics, urging the emperor not to think only of pleasure but to take measures to lighten the people's burden, proposing the remission of that year's taxes, relief for the victims, an end to policies that harmed the people, severe punishment of officials who had neglected their duties in the flood and the promotion of men who cared for the people's hardships. The two memorials struck at the heart of the government and touched the ministers who controlled it, and he was quickly punished: Cai Jing declared that "what he discusses is improper" and degraded him to Sha county in Nanjianzhou. The two memorials, however, "won the praise of men of understanding at court and in the country and caused a great stir," Chen Guan praising him greatly and comparing him to famous ministers of Tang.
The Jingkang Crisis and the Defence of Kaifeng
In 1125 he was assistant director of the court of sacrifices, when the Jin broke faith, frontier reports poured in, the court discussed plans to avoid the enemy and called for troops to relieve the throne, making the crown prince prefect of Kaifeng and asking the attendants to state their views. After destroying Liao the Jin, on the pretext that Song had taken in their rebel generals, invaded in force, the eastern army marching south swiftly across the Yellow River toward Kaifeng, and "the frontier reports came suddenly and the court was shaken"; Huizong summoned his ministers, who "did not dare speak out honestly, but gathered daily in the hall, wholly without plan." Li Gang came forward, memorializing several times, holding that the root of resisting the enemy was "to gather men's hearts, increase military supplies, remove grievances and employ men who truly grieve for the state, so that high and low unite for the country's peril," and offering ten concrete proposals against the Jin besides advising Huizong to yield the throne to the crown prince so as to rally soldiers and people. Huizong hastily abdicated in favour of Zhao Huan, Emperor Qinzong. Within days of his accession Wanyan Zongwang was near Kaifeng; the commander on the Yellow River line fled with the imperial guard, the troops on the south bank scattered when they saw their leader gone, and on the third of the first month the Jin crossed the river. Qinzong, feeling the capital could not be held, thought of flight, and had not yet mounted when Li Gang found him out and, after repeated entreaties, brought him back. Insisting on an immediate audience, Li Gang refuted the chancellor Bai Shizhong and the eunuch Chen Liangbi, who held Kaifeng indefensible, and analysed the situation: "The only course now is at once to put the capital's troops in order and prepare to fight, and at the same time to call on the people of the city to defend the walls with one heart, and when the relief armies from everywhere arrive we may counter-attack." Asked who should direct the defence, Li Gang first named Bai Shizhong, who hastily shifted the responsibility and angrily asked whether Li Gang himself could not lead troops, and Li Gang answered calmly that "if Your Majesty does not think me incapable, I am willing to hold the capital to the death," whereupon he was made commissioner of the personal campaign. That night Qinzong still prepared carriages to flee, and the next morning, seeing the guard drawn up and the emperor about to mount, Li Gang asked the soldiers loudly whether they wished to hold the city or to flee, and they answered with one voice that they wished to die defending the capital; he then told the emperor that the soldiers' parents and wives were all in the city, and that if they were made to leave and scattered on the way no one would protect him, and that the Jin, knowing he had not gone far, would send cavalry after him. With this the emperor was persuaded, and Li Gang told those about him that "whoever dares speak again of leaving shall be beheaded," at which the guard bowed and shouted, and the whole army wept. As commissioner he had the walls repaired and fire-oil prepared within three days, posting the forward army at the Tongfeng granary outside the Tongjin gate, the rear at Fanjiagang outside the Chaoyang gate, and keeping the left, right and centre within the city as reserves. On the seventh of the first month the Jin reached the walls; the next day they sent out several dozen fire-boats against the Xuanze gate, and Li Gang, directing the fight in person, sent two thousand men to hook the boats while stones were thrown from the wall, killing more than a hundred. At their second assault he had the men drive them back with heavy artillery and arrows. Finding Kaifeng hard to take, the Jin changed to forcing a negotiation. In the council Li Bangyan argued that troops and generals were few and urged ceding land for peace, while Li Gang urged rousing the soldiers to fight to the death, and the emperor took Li Bangyan's advice. The Jin demanded five million taels of gold and fifty million of silver, ten thousand head of cattle and horses, a million bolts of silk, the cession of the three garrison towns of Taiyuan, Hejian and Zhongshan, and a prince and a chancellor as hostages. Li Gang opposed it, arguing that "to give the Jin so much gold and silver would exhaust the wealth of the empire and still not suffice, let alone one capital. Taiyuan, Zhongshan and Hejian are frontier strongholds; how can they be ceded?... The Jin have only sixty thousand men, deep in our country with no supply line and unable to hold out; when they withdraw across the Yellow River, fall on them suddenly and we shall surely win." The emperor would not listen.
The Failure of Yao Pingzhong, the Students' Petition, and His Restoration
After Kaifeng was besieged relief armies came from everywhere, and the troops gathered about the capital numbered two hundred thousand, making the situation unfavourable to the Jin; Li Gang also succeeded in reconciling the emperor and the retired emperor. But when he asked for unified command of all the relief armies, the emperor refused, setting up a separate pacification office with Yao Pingzhong as commander, transferring the relief forces to it and giving Yao the forward and rear armies outside the city, so that Li Gang's own office kept only the left, right and centre — "the commands were not one and the forces were divided, so that the two offices acted separately, greatly weakening the strength against the Jin." On strategy Li Gang and Zhong Shidao held that "the walls should be held and no battle fought," to strike "when they are half across" the river as the enemy withdrew for want of food, while Yao Pingzhong urged a quick decision; on the first day of the second month of 1126, on the emperor's order, Yao Pingzhong took ten thousand men to raid the Jin camp northwest of the city by night, Li Gang directing the attack, in the hope of seizing Wanyan Zongwang and rescuing the prince of Kang, then a hostage; but the plan leaked, the Jin were on guard, the raid failed, and Yao Pingzhong fled for fear of punishment, and Li Gang, ordered hastily to support him, fought at a disadvantage. After the defeat the ministers who wanted only peace spread rumours and fabricated charges against Li Gang, Li Bangyan laying the whole failure on him; the emperor, seeking a scapegoat, at once dismissed Li Gang and meant to bind and send him to the Jin camp to please them, making Cai Mao commissioner of the personal campaign in his place. Cai Mao at once forbade the defenders to shoot arrows or throw stones at the Jin, to the great indignation of soldiers and people. On the fifth of the second month the imperial student Chen Dong and others went to petition the emperor, demanding the restoration of Li Gang and Zhong Shidao and the continuation of the war and the dismissal of Li Bangyan and Bai Shizhong, "and in a moment the crowd answering numbered tens of thousands, blocking the streets"; the angry crowd broke into the palace and killed several dozen eunuchs, and Li Bangyan, leaving court, was pelted with stones and cursed, and fled back into the palace. Under this pressure the emperor restored Li Gang and Zhong Shidao, summoned them to the palace, reinstated Li Gang as assistant director of the right of the secretariat and made him commissioner for the defence of the four walls of the capital, at which the crowd cheered and dispersed. Restored, Li Gang at once had the defences repaired and attacked the Jin that night; Wanyan Zongwang, learning of his return and seeing the relief armies growing, withdrew northward without waiting for the full payment of the gold and silver, once the court had agreed to cede the three garrisons of Hebei. After the withdrawal Li Gang was at once pushed aside and slandered by the peace party: the Song army was beaten by the Jin in Hedong, Zhong Shidao retired on grounds of age and illness, and the men who had gone over to the enemy laid the disaster of Jingkang at the door of the advocates of resistance such as himself.