Li Yantu

Who is Li Yantu?

Li Yantu was a ruler of Qian Prefecture from 912 to 913, early in the Chinese Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

Nearly nothing is known about Li Yantu's personal background, including where or when he was born. In 912, when Li Qiu, who had seized control of Qian Prefecture after assassinating the prior ruler Lu Yanchang and subsequently was given the title of defender of Qian by Emperor Taizu of Later Liang, died, Li Yantu took over by himself and apparently took the title of defender of Qian as well. After Li Yantu's seizure of power, the senior officer Tan Quanbo, a long-time strategist for Lu Yanchang's father Lu Guangchou, whom Li Qiu had considered killing, claimed to be seriously ill and retired from military service. Upon hearing of Tan's illness, Liu Yan the military governor of Qinghai Circuit, nominally a Later Liang vassal, attacked Shao Prefecture, which had been part of the domain of the Qian Prefecture rulers since Lu Guangchou's time. Liao Shuang the prefect of Shao, whom Lu Yanchang had commissioned, abandoned Shao and fled to Chu, ending Qian rulers' control of Shao.