We Trisig Shangnyen

We Trisig Shangnyen (Tibetan: དབའས་ཁྲི་གཟིགས་ཞང་ཉེན, Wylie: dbavs khri gzigs zhang nyen , ? – 721), also known as Shang Trisig (ཞང་ཁྲི་གཟིགས), was a general of the Tibetan Empire. In Chinese records, his name was given as Qǐ Lìxú (Chinese: 乞力徐).

After Tridu Songtsen's death in 'Jang (Nanzhao), Tibet had to face all kinds of difficulties, including unstable political situation, vasal kingdom's rebellion, and military conflict with Tang China. Trisig was appointed as "Great Minister" (Löchen) after his predecessor Khu Mongpoje's betrayal and execution in 705. It proved that he was an excellent assistant. With his help, the powerful empress regent Thrimalö quickly put down the rebellion, and re-established the king's authority. His term also saw the royal marriage of Me Agtsom and the Chinese princess Jincheng (金城公主).

He led 100 thousand troops invaded Tang China together with 'bod da ryal (འབོད་ད་རྒྱལ) in 714, but was defeated by Chinese general Xue Ne. He died in 721 together with two high minsters, zhang btsan bar (ཞང་བཙན་བར) and khri bzung stag tsab (ཁྲི་བཟང་སྟག་ཙབ), perhaps they were killed in action.

References

• (English)(Tibetan)Old Tibetan Annals (version I), I.T.J. 0750
• (English)(Tibetan)Old Tibetan Chronicle, P.T. 1287
• (simplified Chinese)New Book of Tang, vol. 230