Yi Jeong Ki

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This is a Korean name; the family name is Yi.

Yi Jeong Ki (이정기, Korean Name), or in Chinese Li Zheng Ji (李正己), was a military general and governor of ethnic Goguryeo (Korean) descent, who ruled an independent nation during the Tang Dynasty from 768. He was the only Jiedushi (regional military governor) during the Tang Dynasty to have become an independent nation. Records of his rule and campaigns are relatively recorded in detail in 5 of the historical books currently surviving in China, such as the JiuTangShu 舊唐書 (구당서 "Old Book of Tang"), XinTangShu 新唐書 (신당서 "New Book of Tang"), ZiZhiTongJian 資治統鑑 (자치통감 "Compilation of Ruling Resourcefully"), etc.

Yi Jeong Ki was born in 735, 64 years since the fall of Goguryeo in 671. Since its fall, Tang soldiers beat all the women, children, and other peasants to easily split the remaining Goguryeo citizens into small groups. The Tang did this to prevent any large settlement of Goguryeo refugees to gather themselves into a military rebellion. These small groups were to be sent to various slave mines, fort constructions, and canal digs througout China. Before entering China, all refugees had to go through YingQao, a city north of the 발해만 Parhae Gulf (Chinese: Bohai 渤海灣). However, some groups were forcibly ordered to stay in this city, and Yi Jeong Ki's ancestors were one such groups of refugees.

Being a refugee and an ethnic minority, Jeong Ki suffered inequalities. For anyone to escape the harsh ruling of Chinese Jiedushis one could only enlist in the army, and he enlisted as a castle master's soldier. Jeong Ki excelled as a soldier, progressing through ranks with absurd speed and being an effective leader. The castle master, envying and fearing his JeongKi's leadership and influence among the officers within his own fortress, charged JeongKi for treason, without a trial. However, JeongKi was rescued from the fortress prison by his deputy friends, who started a coup d'etat the same night. The rebellion succeeded, and the castle master fled. The soldiers asked Jeong Ki to become the new master. Even the Imperial court of the Tang Dynasty could not ignore his influence and followed the decisions of the pro-JeongKi soldiers, officially naming him the Master of Qing Zhou (靑州) of Shandong, in Eastern china. He was 33 years old.

He made his headquarters in the castle of Qing Zhou, Shandong. JeongKi used his armies to attack the other counties within Shandong, eventually possessing 16 counties, or a land that equals to almost every part of Shandong, within a dozen years. This was possible because Jeong planned his armies to be centered around cavalries, whose mobilization was crucial. Additionally, his soldiers were well trained in the arts of fighting on horseback, 1/3 of his soldiers being descended from the infamous northern cavalry which Tang soldiers feared during the Sui and early Tang Dynasty. His influence increased his army from 30,000 into 100,000 in just 10 years.

As he won more and more counties, the Tang imperial court "officially" assigned him and gave him "official titles" to be a governor of that county, hoping to satisfy JeongKi. Although he was a Tang subject on paper, he was actually a powerful rebel leader whom the Tang imperial court officials feared. County governors in the vicinity of JeongKi's territories asked JeongKi to spare them at the cost of expensive tributes, and burnt incense and bowed to portraits of Jeong Ki. Such rituals were or normally specially reserved for gods and the Chinese emperors. Governors treated JeongKi's emissaries and messengers with great respect and fear.

Unlike the other rebelling Jiedushis of the Tang dynasty, JeongKi specially commanded his soldiers to not pillage, rape, or kill any of the citizens of any county they are conquering. As a result the counties under JeongKi's rule lived rather economically, peacefully prosperous and stable lives than other parts of China, as it was recorded in JiuTangShu.

During the Tang Dynasty's rule, half of China's total salt production came from the Shandong province alone. Salt at the time was incredibly valuable, to the point that salt production was directly overseen by the Tang imperial court officials. Along with ample deposits of iron, Shandong also had the benefits of having the only open oversea trading ports that connected with the Eastwardly located Korean nations ParhaeJe and Silla, where as many as 10000 Parhae horses, famed for strength and quality, were yearly imported. JeongKi usually used these horses to supply his cavalry or to sell to the rest of China at high prices. With Iron, Horses, and Salt, JeongKi could finance his own army and supply his military independent of the Tang imperial court. He also took taxes without the consent of the imperial court, but set organized and fair tax rates to the people he governed. Despite this, he never paid a penny to the Tang imperial court. (recorded in ZiZhiTongJian)

Several years into his conquest, he moved his capital from Qing Zhou to RongQiao, a river/canal city centered around a major bridge in the lower HuangHe (Huang River). He was powerful enough to stop the ships going through RongQiao. This stopped the ships from supplying the imperial capitals LuoYang and ChangAn (now Xian). 4 years later, he led an army to the imperial capital. The Tang emperor and his subjects, unable to come with an effective counermeasure, risked their border defenses in the north by recalling all border defense troops to protect the capital from Yi JeongKi's threat. JeongKi's army prepared for this assault for 3 years, soldiers were still being trained day and night a week before the planned assault. Unfortunately, JeongKi died of sickness, aged 49. The campaign was halted.

His succeeding son gave this independent nation the name Jeh (Korean), or pronounced Qi齊 in Chinese.