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Consort Dowager Liu (劉太妃, personal name unknown) (died May 30, 925?〔(Academia Sinica Chinese-Western Calendar Converter ).〕〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 273.〕〔It is unclear which day Consort Dowager Liu actually died. The officials at Taiyuan reported her death on May 30, but it is not clear whether the date referred to was the date of her actual death or the date when news of her death reached then-capital Luoyang.〕) was the wife of Li Keyong, the founder of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period state Jin. However, despite this status, after Li Keyong's son Li Cunxu later defeated Jin's rival Later Liang and established Later Tang as its Emperor Zhuangzong, she was not honored as empress dowager, but only given the lesser title of consort dowager. == During Li Keyong's life == It is not known when Lady Liu was born, and all that is known about her background is that she was from the Daibei (代北, i.e., the region around and north of modern Xinzhou, Shanxi) region. It is not known when she married Li Keyong other than that it was before he initially rebelled against the reign of Emperor Xizong in 878.〔''New History of the Five Dynasties'', vol. 14.〕〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 253.〕 Throughout the campaigns that Li Keyong subsequently waged through the years, both as a rebel against and later as a Tang Dynasty vassal, Lady Liu often accompanied him on campaigns. She was said to be intelligent, dextrous, and capable of strategies; she also often taught Li Keyong's concubines horsemanship and archery.〔 In 884, when Li Keyong, then a Tang vassal as the military governor (''Jiedushi'') of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), was on a campaign south of the Yellow River against Huang Chao, Lady Liu accompanied him. One night when Li Keyong was attending a feast that Zhu Quanzhong the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan) held in his honor at Xuanwu's capital Bian Prefecture (汴州) inside the city, Lady Liu remained outside the city at the Hedong army camp. At the feast, Li Keyong, who became drunk, insulted Zhu in his stupor, and Zhu reacted by having the mansion that Li Keyong was staying at surrounded and attacked. Li Keyong had to fight his way out of the encirclement and out of the city, but his guard commander Shi Jingsi was killed during the attack. While the battle was going on, one of Li Keyong's attendants fled back to the Hedong camp and reported the ambush to Lady Liu. Lady Liu, fearing that the news would leak, executed the attendant while calmly planning a plan to withdraw. Li Keyong was able to fight his way out of the city and arrive back in the Hedong camp in the morning, and he then prepared an attack on Zhu. Lady Liu, pointing out that he would have no way of showing the imperial government that he was the victim of Zhu's treachery if he attacked Zhu, counseled against the attack, and Li Keyong agreed, withdrawing from the area. (This assassination attempt would set in motion the rivalry that Li Keyong and Zhu had for the rest of their lives.)〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 255.〕 In 894, when Li Keyong was sieging his adoptive son Li Cunxiao, who had rebelled against him, at Xing Prefecture (邢州, in modern Xingtai, Hebei), when Li Cunxiao offered to surrender, it was Lady Liu that Li Keyong sent into the city to make sure that Li Cunxiao was, in fact, surrendering, and it was she who brought Li Cunxiao out to surrender.〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 259.〕 In 895, when Li Keyong defeated Wang Xingyu the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (靜難, headquartered in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi), who had threatened Emperor Xizong's brother and successor Emperor Zhaozong, and temporarily restored Jingnan to imperial control, Li Keyong was created the Prince of Jin,〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 260.〕 and Lady Liu was created the Lady of Qin.〔 By 902, however, much of Li Keyong's direct possessions and allied territories had been seized by Zhu. Zhu then took the opportunity to have Li Keyong's headquarters at Taiyuan put under siege, and the city nearly fell. Li Keyong considered a suggestion from his adoptive son Li Cunxin to abandon Taiyuan and flee to Yun Prefecture (雲州, in modern Datong, Shanxi). Lady Liu pointed out that if he abandoned Taiyuan, he might not be able to return later, and urged him to defend Taiyuan. With Lady Liu's advice (and those of his adoptive nephew Li Sizhao, adoptive son Li Siyuan, and officer Zhou Dewei), Li Keyong decided against abandoning Taiyuan. Eventually, the Xuanwu troops were forced to withdraw after suffering from illnesses, although for several years after Li Keyong did not dare to confront Zhu again.〔''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 263.〕 Lady Liu was sonless, so Li Keyong's oldest son Li Cunxu, by his concubine Lady Cao, became the apparent heir. Lady Cao thus gained much favor from Li Keyong. Instead of being jealous of Lady Cao, Lady Liu treated her well, drawing greater respect from Li Keyong. Li Keyong thus also had her raise the sons of other concubines, and she treated them like they were her own.〔 It was said that Lady Liu and Lady Cao thus developed a friendly relationship.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Consort Dowager Liu」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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