| Hou Jing's Rebellion | |||||||
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| Part of Northern and Southern Dynasties | |||||||
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| Liang dynasty | State of Han | ||||||
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| Strength | |||||||
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90,000–120,000
| c. 300,000 | ||||||
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The Hou Jing's Rebellion (simplified Chinese: 侯景之乱; traditional Chinese: 侯景之亂) was a four-year civil war during late Liang dynasty. Hou Jing, a general that had surrendered to Liang in 547, revolted in the following year and captured Jiankang, the capital of Liang dynasty, with Emperor Wu starved to death. He then appointed other two puppet rulers to succeed the dynasty, before he evetually usurped the throne as the emperor of Han in 552, and in the same year, he was overthrown and assassinated by loyalists, who were led by Emperor Yuan.
The rebellion was considered as a major turning point in the history of Northern and Southern dynasties. The nobles and officials in the southern dynasty proved corrupted and incompetent to suppress the rebellion and were heavily weakened. The rebellion left the dynasty a number of warlords, and civil wars immediately broke out, during which the northern dynasties seized large territories. By the establishment of Chen dynasty, the southern dynasty had lost present-day Sichuan, Chongqing and all of territories north of Yangtze. As a result, the northern dynasties became much stronger than the southern dynasty, which ultimately collapsed in 589, roughly forty years after the rebellion.
Hou Jing was formerly a general under Gao Huan, the regent of Eastern Wei. Despite his admiration for Gao Huan, he despised his successor, Gao Cheng. After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng tried to summon Hou but was rejected before he revolted. He planned to surrender to Western Wei, but surrendered to Liang because Yuwen Tai, the regent of Western Wei, did not believe him. The Liang dynasty then launched a northern expedition along with Hou's army. The campaign failed and Eastern Wei captured the leader of Liang's army, Xiao Yuanming. Hou's troops were also routed and he captured Shouyang under Liang's control, while Emperor Wu allowed him to control it.
Emperor Wu, the founding emperor of Liang, embraced Buddhism in 510s. He was so devout that he offered himself to Buddha multiple times and his ministers had to redeem him with a lot of money. Influenced by the emperor, numerous temples were built during his reign, which, nevertheless, were free to pay tax and weakened the income of the dynasty. By 540s, the crisis of the dynasty had been in the simmering, and members of the royal family were actually becoming warlords.
In 548, Having recovered territories that was formerly under Hou Jing's control, Eastern Wei decided to make peace with Liang. Hou was panicked by the news, knowing that he was to be extradited to Eastern Wei, and sent numerous memorials to Emperor Wu, trying to persuade the emperor to continue the war against Eastern Wei. The emperor, however, gave no positive reply. Hou then faked a letter claiming that Eastern Wei would like to exchange Hou with Xiao Yuanming, which Emperor Wu agreed, saying "If Xiao arrives in the morning, Hou will be extradited before the evening". Knowing that the emperor was determined to sacrifice him, Hou was in despair and began to prepare to revolt.
Xiao Zhengde, the adopted son of Emperor Wu who committed numerous crimes and even once fled to Northern Wei ending with being forgiven by the emperor every time, also coveted the throne and unioned with Hou. During Hou's preparation, a number of letters that reported Hou's potential revolt were sent to Jiankang, while the emperor did not accept, thinking that Hou could not mobilize many troops after his defeat by Eastern Wei.
On 29 July, 548, or the gengshen day of the 7th lunar month of the 2nd year of taiqing era, Hou Jing revolted in Shouyang, declaring that he aimed to kill the treacherous officials Zhu Yi(朱異) and Xu Lin(徐驎). Contempting Hou's strength, Emperor Wu assigned Xiao Lun(蕭綸), Prince of Shaoling as the commander of troops of the court and claimed that he could use a stick to suppress the rebellion.
Wang Wei(王偉), the counsellor of Hou, suggested that Hou should have forward to Jiankang fast and directly, which Hou approved. Hou professed he would attack Hefei, but marched to Qiao Province(譙州) (present-day Chuzhou, Anhui) and captured its capital on November 18. Seventeen days later, the rebels captured Liyang(曆陽) (present-day Hexian, Anhui) when its guard general Zhuang Tie(莊鐵) surrendered to Hou on December 5. Yang Kan(羊侃) advised Emperor Wu to guard Caishi, but Zhu Yi was confident for no reason, saying that Hou did not aim to cross the river. The emperor approved Zhu's opinion and assigned Xiao Zhengde as the military leader of Jiankang ironically. Xiao Zhengde then used his ships to transport supplies for Hou. Hou then crossed the river and captured Caishi on December 7. The rebels then captured Gushu (present-day Dangtu, Anhui).
At this time, the court finally realized the severity of the rebellion, and Xiao Gang, the crown prince, was assigned as the military minister. Xiao Gang then ordered the defected Xiao Zhengde to defend Xuanyang Gate of Jiankang. As a result, the outer city of Jiankang was easily fallen to the rebels through Xuanyang Gate, leaving the defenders of Taicheng (lit. 'the fort of central goverment') led by Yang Kan alone.
However, the isolated fort blocked Hou for almost half a year. During the siege, approximately total 200,000–300,000 troops led by Xiao Lun gathered around Jiankang continually, only to be defeated multiple times, which revealed the contradiction among generals of the allied forces. The pending siege also shaked some officials who had surrendered to Hou. Zhuang Tie, for instance, lied to Liyang's defenders that Hou Jing had been killed and Liyang was recovered to Liang when they believed Zhuang and fled the city. Noting that he was running out of supply, Hou pretended to negotiate with Emperor Wu for peace, who accepted. Hou then transported supply to Stone City during the negotiation, and resumed the offensive thereafter.
On 24 April, 549, the devastated Taicheng fell ultimately. How then forged a decree ordering the reinforcements to be rebanded, who did so. Emperor Wu was imprisoned and starved to death on June 12. The companion of Hou, Xiao Zhengde, planned to murder Hou, annoyed by Hou's snub to him, but was executed on August 8. In the same year, Hou occupied Wuxing(吳興), Wujun(吳郡) and Yixing(義興) Province (present-day regions around Tai Lake), which were the main tax sources of the dynasty.
Xiao Yi, enfeoffed at Jiangling, was one of the most powerful force in the members of royal family. After Hou Jing's revolt, he annexed Xiang Province (present-day Changsha, Hunan), which was Xiao Yu [zh]'s fief, instead of suppressing the rebellion. Panicked by the death of Xiao Yu, Xiao Cha, controlling Xiangyang, surrendered to Western Wei. Western Wei then occupied Shicheng (present-day Zhongxiang, Hubei) and Anlu, and Xiao Yi was forced to submit to Western Wei.
Meanwhile, Xiao Fan [zh], enfeoffed at Hefei, traded Hefei to Eastern Wei for its reinforcements, which proved a dishonoured cheque. Losing his fief, Xiao Fan fled to Xiao Daxin [zh] at Jiang Province(江州) (present-day Jiujiang, Jiangxi). However, days saw the dispute between the two and Xiao Daxin cut down the supply of Xiao Fan's troops, causing Xiao Fan to be annoyed to death.
In August 550, Hou Jing assigned general Ren Yue(任約) to advance west, who soon captured Jiang Province. Xiao Lun, having fled from Kuaiji, prepared to attack Ren at Xiakou (present-day Hankou, Hubei). Xiao Yi, who did not want Xiao Lun to claim the credit, order Wang Sengbian to attack Xiakou. Xiao Lun was defeated by Xiao Yi and Ren Yue and compelled to flee. Ren Yue then captured Wuchang (present-day Ezhou). However, Ren was defeated twice by Xu Wensheng(徐文盛) and forced to retreat to Xiyang (present-day Huanggang, Hubei). On the other hand, Xiao Lun prepared to attack Anlu, now belonging to Western Wei, but was killed in actionbyYang Zhong.
In December 550, Xiao Ji, enfeoffed at Chengdu, decided to advance east and joined the civil war. Worried of Xiao Ji's participation, Xiao Yi sent a letter persuading Xiao Ji not to dispatch his troops, which Xiao Ji approved and marched north to repel another rebellion.
After the assassination attempt in December 550, Hou's troops advanced west again in 551. Hou noted that Xiakou was weak and ordered Ren to raid it. Ren succeeded to capture Xiakou on May 23, isolating Xu's armies and forcing Xu to retreat back to Jiangling. Wang Sengbian, now at Baling (present-day Yueyang, Hunan), was ordered to defend the city. Hou followed on his victory and besieged Baling, but failed to capture it until July 21 when he was forced to lift the siege. Wang Sengbian then continued to recover Xiakou and Jiang Province, joining the troops of Chen Baxian, who had suppressed the rebellion in Gao Province (present-day southern Jiangxi).
After occupying regions around Jiankang, Hou got full control of the Jiankang court. In order to cultivate popularity, Hou promoted offcials excessively. For example, Kaifu yitongsansi (simplified Chinese: 开府仪同三司; traditional Chinese: 開府儀同三司, lit. 'set own mufu and be treated same as three ducal ministers') was formerly a rare title, but during Hou's reign everyone who surrendered could be given a kaifu yitongsansi. Hou also forced the daughter of Xiao Gang, now Emperor Jianwen, to marry him.
Inspired by the victory of Ren Yue's western expedition, Hou promoted himself as grand chancellor on October 24, 550. He then assigned himself as "Universe Grand General" (Chinese: 宇宙大將軍) on November 13, at which Emperor Jianwen was astonished, questioning if a general could be named "universe". After Hou left Jiankang to reinforce Ren in December 550, Xiao clans in Jiankang planned to murder Wang Wei, who in turn was killed because their plan was leaked.
After his crushing defeat in 551, Hou Jing knew that he was in a bad situation and wanted to usurp the throne. On October 2, 551, Hou dethroned Emperor Jianwen and appointed Xiao Dong to succeed the throne. He then massacre the royal family including the crown prince, including the former emperor, who was crushed to death on November 15. On the first day of 552 AD, Hou Jing had Xiao Dong yield the throne to him, establishing the state of Han(漢)
Having eliminating all of threat to his credit, Xiao Yi ordered to attack Hou Jing on March 24, 552. Within a month, troops of Wang Sengbian and Chen Baxian reached Qinhuai River on April 22. Hou Jing was panicked and he ordered to block Yangtze with sinking ships and build barracks on the north of Qinhuai. Chen then landed near Stone City and built barracks, while Hou also built barracks against him.
On April 28, 552, the battle between two armies broke out. Chen Baxian asked his archers to aim at Hou's rear army, forcing Hou to move back to protect them. Then Chen led his calvaries himself to charge at Hou's army, and Hou was defeated subsequently coordinated by Wang's main forces. The defenders of Stone City surrendered to Wang. Unwilling to resign, Hou launched an onslaught at Chen's barracks, but Chen guarded with no burst, resulting in Hou's total defeat. Hou fled into Jiankang and yelled to Wang Wei, "It all blames to you!" Wang Wei tried to deter Hou from fleeing, but Hou was crushed and persisted to flee east. Wang Sengbian then entered Jiankang, while the civilians suffered another loot. It was exactly when the diplomatic corpsofBaekje arrived at Jiankang, who cried at the devastating scene. At the same night, a mysterious fire destroyed multiple palaces in Taicheng.
Wang Wei lost Hou Jing's trace during their flight. He was then captured and decapitated at Jiangling. Hou Jing fled to Wujun, during which he managed to gather thousands of soldiers and approximately 200 ships. However, he was defeated again and fled in Yangtze with his henchmen, aiming to enter the sea and hide in Yimeng Mountains in Shandong. Yang Kun(羊鵾), the son of Yang Kan, threatened the boatman to row west to Jingkou when Hou was sleeping. When Hou was awake, he tried to flee to Guangling (present-day Yangzhou, Jiangsu), but was killed by Yang and other subordinates. The body of Hou was beheaded, with the head sent to Jiangling and the remains carved up and eaten by civillians in Jiankang.
During the rebellion, Liang dynasty suffered heavy population loss, especially in Jiankang. During the siege of Taicheng, the civillians in Jiankang not only was enslaved and looted by rebels, but also suffered famine and pandemic, since the rebels blocked Taicheng completely for months. The famine was so severe that even cannibalism occurred. According to Zizhi Tongjian and Book of Liang, approximately eight to nine tenth of population died during the siege.
Like almost all the peasant uprising at the end of dynasties, the rebellion not only heavily weakened Liang dynasty, but also left the dynasty a number of warlords. Several days before Hou's death, Xiao Ji, controlling Yi Province, declared himself as the emperor and rised the first war of Liang's succession. The continual civil wars among warlords lasted another four years and culminated with the victory of Chen Baxian, who then founded Chen dynasty in 557. However, unlike the other dynasties, Liang dynasty was not a unified regime. Similar to War of the Eight Princes, almost all of the warlords appealed to foreign dynasties for help, which caused the southern dynasty to lose territory. By the time Chen dynasty was established, the southern dynasty had lost modern-day Sichuan and Chongqing (orBashu area) and all of territories north of Yangtze, which were strategically significant for the southern court to defend itself. Although Emperor Xuan of Chen recovered territories between Huai River and Yangtze in 573, he then lost them in 577 after fall of Northern Qi and Chen dynasty was ultimately conquested by Sui dynasty in 589.
The rebellion also severely weakened the official clans of southern dynasties. Starting from Eastern Jin, the senior officials were monoplized by several clans like Wang, Xie, preventing others from promoting. This circumstance lasted until Hou Jing's rebellion, during which many members of the official clans in Hou Jing's controlled districts were killed. After the rebellion, some poor clans rose quickly thanks to their military credits, shaking the position of traditional official clans.
