OBLIGATORY ADMINISTRATIVE STUFF: This timeline will focus on an alternate end to the Yuan Dynasty (OTL 1279-1368) In real life, the Yuan were finally put out of their misery in 1368 after more than fifteen years of decline and collapse by the army of warlord Zhu Yuanzhang, who had emerged victorious from a decade-long power struggle with other anti-Yuan rebels. Zhu is now more commonly referred to as the Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty. I’ll be writing about a different end to the Red Turban Rebellion, which is the catch-all term used to refer to the uprisings against the Yuan that began in 1351 and the struggles for power between various rebel warlords. This post will be mostly concerned with providing background and context; all events described are as per OTL until the end of the entry, at which point the POD will be discussed. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy it.
*It is 1363, the Year of the Rabbit, the eighty-fourth year of Great Yuan and the forty-third year of the reign of the Huizong Emperor. It is the twelfth year since all-under-Heaven was plunged into chaos and the great Rebellion of the Red Turbans began. After several years of flood and famine, things came to a head in 1351, when more than a hundred thousand peasants were forced to provide labor for a project intended to re-channel the Huang River. It was then that a rebellion broke out, led by the charismatic Han Shantong. The rebels drew support mostly from the impoverished classes, whom the previous lean years had affected most grievously, and there was an additional component of ethnic nationalism present as well; the Han majority rose up against their Mongol rulers. Religion also played an important role in the Red Turban Rebellion. Many of the rebel leaders and followers swore allegiance to the millenarian White Lotus sect of Buddhism (1), which preached the imminent return of the Maitreya Buddha (弥勒佛, milefo) to Earth. Although Han Shantong’s initial rebellion was cut unceremoniously short by his capture and execution at the hands of the Yuan, his followers continued to carry the torch of rebellion in his stead. Led by Liu Futong, the Red Turbans swept through the north in the mid-1350s, at one point sacking the Mongol summer capital of Shangdu itself. As the power of the Yuan began to decline with increasing speed, more rebel factions began to emerge in the south of China, where the Mongol presence had virtually ceased to exist. While Great Yuan was able to defend the north and their capital at Dadu (2) from the depredations of Liu Futong and his Northern Red Turbans, based in Anhui, in the south - and around the Chang River delta in particular - the main struggle was not between the Yuan and the rebels, but between several rebel factions vying for prominence. It is this uneasy balance of power that persists in 1363, as the rebels fight to break Great Yuan once and for all and to seize the Mandate of Heaven for themselves. Herewith, a guide to the most notable rebel leaders, and the factions they command:
CHEN YOULIANG (陈友谅), King of HAN: Chen assumed his position of power after betraying and murdering his superior Xu Shouhui, former Emperor of Tianwan before the fragmentation of the Southern Red Turbans. Chen controls the upper Chang River valley from his capital at Jiangzhou, and his naval forces in particular are feared by all. He has few friends among the other factions due to his betrayal of Xu Shouhui, but Chen has always been rash and impetuous, and this does not bother him overly much. His faction is one of the few remaining who still hold to the White Lotus doctrine of Buddhism that was such a key factor in the initial stages of the rebellion. Chen’s goal is simple: he wishes to crush the other rebel factions, unite them under his leadership, and march on Dadu to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty and usher in a new age.
ZHU YUANZHANG (朱元璋), King of MING: Zhu came to power after the death in battle of his mentor, the leader and general Guo Zixing. He currently controls the territory south of the Chang River delta from his capital at Nanjing, though his territories are not as rich or as populous as several of his rivals. Zhu pays lip service to the more fundamentalist elements present in his ranks - notably by naming his faction Ming as a nod to White Lotus leader Han Shantong’s proclamation 明王出世 (mingwang chushi, or “the king of light will appear”), but he is a conservative Confucian at heart. Of note is the fact that Zhu theoretically owes allegiance to Han Lin’er, son of Han Shantong, styled the King of Song, who is currently a ward of Liu Futong in Anhui. In reality, Zhu’s ultimate goals and aims are as unknown, and there are many who speculate that the only man he truly owes allegiance to is himself.
ZHANG SHICHENG (张士诚), King of WU: Zhang controls some of the richest territory in China from his capital at Suzhou north of the Chang River delta. Formerly a salt merchant, he rose to prominence in the mid-1350s and has maintained his position as one of the strongest of the warlords ever since. Zhang has more or less abandoned any pretense at adhering to White Lotus Buddhism; he runs his fief along strictly Confucian lines, in part to appease the large numbers of wealthy and upper-class families who are concentrated in his domain. Zhang has at times flirted with vassalage to the Yuan, taking bribes in exchange for titles, but he has maintained strict control over the area that he now considers to be more or less his private fief. While he is perhaps the strongest of the rebels on paper, Zhang is a relatively indecisive and cautious man, and often hesitates to take the fight to other factions.
MING YUZHEN (明玉珍), King of XIA: Formerly a general loyal to Xu Shouhui, Ming struck out on his own after Xu’s death at the hands of Chen Youliang. From his capital at Chongqing, Ming controls virtually the entirety of Sichuan. Ming embraces not White Lotus Buddhism, but another radical religious doctrine - Manichaeism, which emphasizes a struggle between forces of light and darkness. Ming has suppressed Buddhism and Daoism (save for the worship of the Maitreya Buddha) in his fief, but has at the same time attempted to co-opt the privileged classes by instituting examinations, building schools, and observing some Confucian rituals and ceremonies. Ming maintains cordial relations with Zhu Yuanzhang, but he is militantly opposed to Chen Youliang’s faction after Chen betrayed and murdered Xu Shouhui.
FANG GUOZHEN (方国珍), the PIRATE KING: Fang controls the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Jiangsu with the aid of his great fleet, unmatched in all of China. Yet he is less of a rebel and more of an opportunist; his current game involves swearing allegiance to the Mongols in exchange for money and titles, then coming back in a year or two and demanding more money and a higher rank in return for staying in the fold. While Fang could be a power in his own right, this behavior has led many to speculate that he lacks ambition and will not be a contender for the Mandate of Heaven. It is likely that he will simply throw his support to the eventual winner, whoever that may be, in return for - guess what - money and titles. Fang is a regional power and the uncontrolled overlord of the southern coast, but is not a major player in the struggle for ultimate supremacy.
LIU FUTONG (刘福通), Protector of SONG: From his capital at Anfeng in Anhui Province, Liu presides over the remnants of the once-powerful Northern Red Turbans. He is the guardian of Han Lin’er, son of Han Shantong and King of Song, but it is Liu who is firmly in charge of preserving Han’s legacy for the moment. While the Northern Red Turbans are not nearly the power that they once were, they still maraud through the north with near impunity at times, threatening what remains of Great Yuan. Liu Futong is tentatively allied with Zhu Yuanzhang, who in theory supports Han Lin’er as the future Emperor. He has reason to be worried about his neighbor to the immediate south, Zhang Shicheng, who has no love for Han and Liu or for the millenarian White Lotus faith that they continue to adhere to. It is becoming increasingly clear that young Han Lin’er is a king without a country.
TOGHUN TEMUR or HUIZONG (惠宗), Emperor of GREAT YUAN: Huizong presides over the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, whose power has waned precipitously over the past twelve years. Once the ruler of all China, Huizong now has virtually no power in the south, although a few regional warlords still swear allegiance to him, some with more feeling than others (3). The military situation seems to have stabilized somewhat in recent years, and it is not out of the question that the Yuan could maintain their current position or even seize back some of the territory that they have lost since the rebellions began. Yet the best days of the dynasty are clearly in the past, and they could be swept from China altogether unless things get better quickly.
*Tensions between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, which had been building up for years, finally burst in the fall of 1363 when Chen moved his armada downriver in a full-scale attack on Zhu’s domains. Zhu rushed to the scene, and the two forces met on September 30 in the Battle of Poyang Lake, which involved both naval and ground forces. The fighting raged on for three days and three nights without end. Yet ultimately it was the weight of numbers that told the tale, and Chen’s forces won a smashing and decisive victory (4). Zhu Yuanzhang’s part in our story ends here; he was killed during the battle by an arrow straight through his eye (5). As Chen’s seemingly unstoppable force swept toward Zhu’s capital of Nanjing, now home to a struggle for preeminence among the remaining members of that unlucky warlord’s faction, it appeared as though Chen’s Han faction was in the ascendance. Yet he had not counted on an intervention from his neighbors to the north and west. In the end, perhaps the only true winners of the Battle of Poyang Lake were the vultures.
NOTES
(1) Not really the same as the later White Lotus sect other than the name. While the Yuan White Lotus is all about the imminent return of the Maitreya Buddha, the later White Lotus worshipped the “eternal Mother” and was a bit more messianic. Our guys are more into vegetarianism and meditation. Well, that and killing Mongols.
(2) This is Beijing by a different name (Beijing has had a LOT of different names over the years). In Chinese it’s 大都, although that’s not really important to know or anything. It’s not like there’s going to be a quiz.
(3) Foremost among these loyal warlords being Basalawarmi in Yunnan, who will enter the story by and by. Foremost among the not-really-loyal warlords is Fang Guozhen, who has already been mentioned.
(4) And here’s our POD. In real life it was Zhu Yuanzhang’s army that emerged victorious from the Battle of Poyang Lake. It really could have gone either way, though, as Chen had quite the numerical advantage, and in this timeline it did.
(5) OTL it was Chen Youliang who met his end in this decidedly unpleasant manner.
*Welcome aboard the subversivepanda timeline train. Unlike a lot of previous efforts, I’ve actually got a pretty solid idea of where I want this one to go in the initial stages, which could be either good or bad. I’m hoping to dispense with the war-torn chaos period relatively quickly - I’ll be sticking to this straightforward here’s-what-happened style until then for reasons of clarity - and then when we get to postwar I’d like to switch it up a little and work in some short story-ish updates as well as some “primary sources.” The ultimate goal is to sketch out the early years of a non-Ming successor state to the Yuan, and I think I’ve picked a fairly interesting candidate. Thanks for reading.
*It is 1363, the Year of the Rabbit, the eighty-fourth year of Great Yuan and the forty-third year of the reign of the Huizong Emperor. It is the twelfth year since all-under-Heaven was plunged into chaos and the great Rebellion of the Red Turbans began. After several years of flood and famine, things came to a head in 1351, when more than a hundred thousand peasants were forced to provide labor for a project intended to re-channel the Huang River. It was then that a rebellion broke out, led by the charismatic Han Shantong. The rebels drew support mostly from the impoverished classes, whom the previous lean years had affected most grievously, and there was an additional component of ethnic nationalism present as well; the Han majority rose up against their Mongol rulers. Religion also played an important role in the Red Turban Rebellion. Many of the rebel leaders and followers swore allegiance to the millenarian White Lotus sect of Buddhism (1), which preached the imminent return of the Maitreya Buddha (弥勒佛, milefo) to Earth. Although Han Shantong’s initial rebellion was cut unceremoniously short by his capture and execution at the hands of the Yuan, his followers continued to carry the torch of rebellion in his stead. Led by Liu Futong, the Red Turbans swept through the north in the mid-1350s, at one point sacking the Mongol summer capital of Shangdu itself. As the power of the Yuan began to decline with increasing speed, more rebel factions began to emerge in the south of China, where the Mongol presence had virtually ceased to exist. While Great Yuan was able to defend the north and their capital at Dadu (2) from the depredations of Liu Futong and his Northern Red Turbans, based in Anhui, in the south - and around the Chang River delta in particular - the main struggle was not between the Yuan and the rebels, but between several rebel factions vying for prominence. It is this uneasy balance of power that persists in 1363, as the rebels fight to break Great Yuan once and for all and to seize the Mandate of Heaven for themselves. Herewith, a guide to the most notable rebel leaders, and the factions they command:
CHEN YOULIANG (陈友谅), King of HAN: Chen assumed his position of power after betraying and murdering his superior Xu Shouhui, former Emperor of Tianwan before the fragmentation of the Southern Red Turbans. Chen controls the upper Chang River valley from his capital at Jiangzhou, and his naval forces in particular are feared by all. He has few friends among the other factions due to his betrayal of Xu Shouhui, but Chen has always been rash and impetuous, and this does not bother him overly much. His faction is one of the few remaining who still hold to the White Lotus doctrine of Buddhism that was such a key factor in the initial stages of the rebellion. Chen’s goal is simple: he wishes to crush the other rebel factions, unite them under his leadership, and march on Dadu to overthrow the Yuan Dynasty and usher in a new age.
ZHU YUANZHANG (朱元璋), King of MING: Zhu came to power after the death in battle of his mentor, the leader and general Guo Zixing. He currently controls the territory south of the Chang River delta from his capital at Nanjing, though his territories are not as rich or as populous as several of his rivals. Zhu pays lip service to the more fundamentalist elements present in his ranks - notably by naming his faction Ming as a nod to White Lotus leader Han Shantong’s proclamation 明王出世 (mingwang chushi, or “the king of light will appear”), but he is a conservative Confucian at heart. Of note is the fact that Zhu theoretically owes allegiance to Han Lin’er, son of Han Shantong, styled the King of Song, who is currently a ward of Liu Futong in Anhui. In reality, Zhu’s ultimate goals and aims are as unknown, and there are many who speculate that the only man he truly owes allegiance to is himself.
ZHANG SHICHENG (张士诚), King of WU: Zhang controls some of the richest territory in China from his capital at Suzhou north of the Chang River delta. Formerly a salt merchant, he rose to prominence in the mid-1350s and has maintained his position as one of the strongest of the warlords ever since. Zhang has more or less abandoned any pretense at adhering to White Lotus Buddhism; he runs his fief along strictly Confucian lines, in part to appease the large numbers of wealthy and upper-class families who are concentrated in his domain. Zhang has at times flirted with vassalage to the Yuan, taking bribes in exchange for titles, but he has maintained strict control over the area that he now considers to be more or less his private fief. While he is perhaps the strongest of the rebels on paper, Zhang is a relatively indecisive and cautious man, and often hesitates to take the fight to other factions.
MING YUZHEN (明玉珍), King of XIA: Formerly a general loyal to Xu Shouhui, Ming struck out on his own after Xu’s death at the hands of Chen Youliang. From his capital at Chongqing, Ming controls virtually the entirety of Sichuan. Ming embraces not White Lotus Buddhism, but another radical religious doctrine - Manichaeism, which emphasizes a struggle between forces of light and darkness. Ming has suppressed Buddhism and Daoism (save for the worship of the Maitreya Buddha) in his fief, but has at the same time attempted to co-opt the privileged classes by instituting examinations, building schools, and observing some Confucian rituals and ceremonies. Ming maintains cordial relations with Zhu Yuanzhang, but he is militantly opposed to Chen Youliang’s faction after Chen betrayed and murdered Xu Shouhui.
FANG GUOZHEN (方国珍), the PIRATE KING: Fang controls the coastal areas of Zhejiang and Jiangsu with the aid of his great fleet, unmatched in all of China. Yet he is less of a rebel and more of an opportunist; his current game involves swearing allegiance to the Mongols in exchange for money and titles, then coming back in a year or two and demanding more money and a higher rank in return for staying in the fold. While Fang could be a power in his own right, this behavior has led many to speculate that he lacks ambition and will not be a contender for the Mandate of Heaven. It is likely that he will simply throw his support to the eventual winner, whoever that may be, in return for - guess what - money and titles. Fang is a regional power and the uncontrolled overlord of the southern coast, but is not a major player in the struggle for ultimate supremacy.
LIU FUTONG (刘福通), Protector of SONG: From his capital at Anfeng in Anhui Province, Liu presides over the remnants of the once-powerful Northern Red Turbans. He is the guardian of Han Lin’er, son of Han Shantong and King of Song, but it is Liu who is firmly in charge of preserving Han’s legacy for the moment. While the Northern Red Turbans are not nearly the power that they once were, they still maraud through the north with near impunity at times, threatening what remains of Great Yuan. Liu Futong is tentatively allied with Zhu Yuanzhang, who in theory supports Han Lin’er as the future Emperor. He has reason to be worried about his neighbor to the immediate south, Zhang Shicheng, who has no love for Han and Liu or for the millenarian White Lotus faith that they continue to adhere to. It is becoming increasingly clear that young Han Lin’er is a king without a country.
TOGHUN TEMUR or HUIZONG (惠宗), Emperor of GREAT YUAN: Huizong presides over the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty, whose power has waned precipitously over the past twelve years. Once the ruler of all China, Huizong now has virtually no power in the south, although a few regional warlords still swear allegiance to him, some with more feeling than others (3). The military situation seems to have stabilized somewhat in recent years, and it is not out of the question that the Yuan could maintain their current position or even seize back some of the territory that they have lost since the rebellions began. Yet the best days of the dynasty are clearly in the past, and they could be swept from China altogether unless things get better quickly.
*Tensions between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang, which had been building up for years, finally burst in the fall of 1363 when Chen moved his armada downriver in a full-scale attack on Zhu’s domains. Zhu rushed to the scene, and the two forces met on September 30 in the Battle of Poyang Lake, which involved both naval and ground forces. The fighting raged on for three days and three nights without end. Yet ultimately it was the weight of numbers that told the tale, and Chen’s forces won a smashing and decisive victory (4). Zhu Yuanzhang’s part in our story ends here; he was killed during the battle by an arrow straight through his eye (5). As Chen’s seemingly unstoppable force swept toward Zhu’s capital of Nanjing, now home to a struggle for preeminence among the remaining members of that unlucky warlord’s faction, it appeared as though Chen’s Han faction was in the ascendance. Yet he had not counted on an intervention from his neighbors to the north and west. In the end, perhaps the only true winners of the Battle of Poyang Lake were the vultures.
NOTES
(1) Not really the same as the later White Lotus sect other than the name. While the Yuan White Lotus is all about the imminent return of the Maitreya Buddha, the later White Lotus worshipped the “eternal Mother” and was a bit more messianic. Our guys are more into vegetarianism and meditation. Well, that and killing Mongols.
(2) This is Beijing by a different name (Beijing has had a LOT of different names over the years). In Chinese it’s 大都, although that’s not really important to know or anything. It’s not like there’s going to be a quiz.
(3) Foremost among these loyal warlords being Basalawarmi in Yunnan, who will enter the story by and by. Foremost among the not-really-loyal warlords is Fang Guozhen, who has already been mentioned.
(4) And here’s our POD. In real life it was Zhu Yuanzhang’s army that emerged victorious from the Battle of Poyang Lake. It really could have gone either way, though, as Chen had quite the numerical advantage, and in this timeline it did.
(5) OTL it was Chen Youliang who met his end in this decidedly unpleasant manner.
*Welcome aboard the subversivepanda timeline train. Unlike a lot of previous efforts, I’ve actually got a pretty solid idea of where I want this one to go in the initial stages, which could be either good or bad. I’m hoping to dispense with the war-torn chaos period relatively quickly - I’ll be sticking to this straightforward here’s-what-happened style until then for reasons of clarity - and then when we get to postwar I’d like to switch it up a little and work in some short story-ish updates as well as some “primary sources.” The ultimate goal is to sketch out the early years of a non-Ming successor state to the Yuan, and I think I’ve picked a fairly interesting candidate. Thanks for reading.
