The next update. Expect more about China for the next two updates. As always, comments and critiques are welcome.
Sweet Dew: Update 18 (The Chen Downfall, Part 2)
Luo Yuan (羅沅) was a disgruntled farmer living in the outskirts of Datong, Shanxi, when the Chen Empire raised taxes in 1189. In order to pay the costs of the conflict against the rebels Zheng Yue (鄭岳), Qin Yu (秦鈺), and Gong Cunzhang (龔存璋), the imperial court decided to raise taxes on all land. Luo Yuan, who cultivated barely above subsistence level, had always been one tax raise away from destitution. The edict of 1189 was too much for him to handle, on top of a devastating famine that swept through the province just one year prior. That year in August, he chose to rise up in revolt against local authorities. He was followed in quick succession by tworebels he inspired: Lu Ziying (路子盈) and Tian Cheng (田誠). Tian and Luo both raised up their own armies, joined forces and attacked the provincial magistrate's office. Following their success, they moved to the north and attacked Taiyuan, seat of Zhang Yiren (張以仁), the governor of Shanxi. Zhang, however, had assembled his own forces, effectively creating a private army in violation of Chen rules. He attacked Luo Yuan in central Shanxi but failed to capture the rebel. In the meantime, he headed south to attack Lu Ziying, but his forces were defeated by Lu's men and he was routed.
The Imperial Court, already irritated at Zhang's failure in the south, decided to replace Zhang and sent Shi Jiong (石炯) to the north. The fall-out prompted Zhang to rebel. The imperial court armed Shi Jiong to fight Zhang and Ma Xunwei (馬遜威) to deal with Luo Yuan and Lu Ziying. At this point, the imperial court finally began to splinter. Though imperial officials were in unison when it came to the operations against the southern rebels, Zhang Yiren's revolt terrified them. One group of officials, led by Huang Chengxi (黃承熙), saw Zhang's revolt as an indicator of Chen decay. Huang also advocated closer watch on the generals, seeing them as a return to the lawlessness of the late Tang Dynasty, particularly the idea of reinforcing the central palace guard instead of stationing generals outside of the capital. Opposing him was Liang Xiao (梁嘯), who also opposed giving the generals more autonomy, but suggested that the state would be better served by generals across the country, as opposed to being stationed in the capital, away from the action.
In the meantime, the Emperor decided to follow in the advice of both bureaucrats by reinforcing the capital garrison as well as stationing soldiers across the country. Meanwhile, Shi and Ma continued to fight in Shanxi, to only middling success. The elderly Ma had managed to defeat most of Lu Ziying's forces, but grew ill and asked to be relieved of command: the Emperor granted this and Ma went into retirement. However, this granted Lu Ziying some precious time, and he rebuilt up his forces by drawing from other affected communities. Shi, on the other hand, was relatively unsuccessful and was defeated by Zhang Yiren several times. Ma's replacement was Yao Tingwu (姚庭武), who did not have Ma's success, and Yao's campaign saw many defeats. However, things were not considered catastrophic until Yao was defending the city of Taiyuan when Lu Ziying returned with troops in force. Lu was assisted by heavy floods in 1191, and chose to breach the levies around Taiyuan, flooding the city, destroying its walls, and forcing Yao to surrender. Lu captured Yao, who committed suicide in captivity.
Zhang had success against Shi, who was defeated several times. At Datong, Shi chose to flee when Zhang's troops approached. Shi fled to the area of Hebei, where he assembled troops only to see them wiped out when Zhang attacked him first. Shi managed to escaped to Shandong, where the local governor, Tao Shiqi (陶士奇) gave him temporary shelter. Tao resumed the offensive against Zhang under imperial orders, fighting against Zhang's troops who had intruded into Shandong, but refusing to go further into Shanxi province itself. As far as Tao was concerned, the imperial court could deal with that issue: he was already dealing with local peasant unrest in his own province. His battles against Zhang never amounted to more than a token effort, but Tao refused to contribute more.
Zhang, however, was killed not by imperial troops but by his officer Wang Jiansan (王建三) in an attempted takeover of Zhang's rebellion. Zhang was killed while staying at the house of a local farmer. Wang responded by burning the house and killing Zhang when he fled. Wang was opposed by Zhang's other officers, and one of these men, Liao Chuanghuan (廖創煥), managed to get the support of most of Zhang Yiren's men and force Wang out. Wang escaped from Liao's territory and headed for Henan. However, Chen forces caught him and executed him, never knowing that he had intended to defect back to the Chen. Liao, a former Chen officer who had served Zhang in Jiangxi, was willing to seek a truce with the Chen. This turned out to be immensely valuable.
Luo Yuan in 1189 was a farmer, thirty years old, with no military experience and a rather naïve conception of imperial politics. He had hoped that by revolting against Zhang Yiren he could lower taxes in his province and return to his life as a peasant. By 1192, Luo was a general, thirty-three years old, with plenty of experience fighting the Chen. He still hoped that he could return to his old life, preferably to live a comfortable life, and persuade the Emperor to lower taxes and fire his corrupt officials. For example, in one 1192 message, Luo mentioned Huang Chengxi, a corrupt bureaucrat, and Pei Zhao (裴釗), an old eunuch, in particular. In 1193, Pei was indeed executed on imperial command for bribery and corruption, though this was attributed more to his loss of power and influence after his patron, Empress Li (李皇后), had died. Huang Chengxi retained influence for a considerable period of time.
Shi Jiong was replaced by Yang Xun (楊勳), who was sent north to fight against Liao Chuanghuan after Zhang Yiren had died. Yang, who had been a general in the war against Gong Cunzhang, was brought out of retirement, as he had been the youngest of the major generals in that war, while his comrades had all passed away that year in 1193. However, Yang died in the same plague that killed many of his soldiers as well, and he never fought Liao's men. Yang's successor was his chief general, Cheng Wuyi (程武義). Cheng aggressively tried to win over Liao's men. One of Liao's generals, Dou Yun (竇贇), was persuaded to work for Cheng instead on the condition that he and his men would receive an imperial pardon regardless of the success of Cheng's battles. In a secret gambit, Dou led his soldiers away from Liao Chuanghuan's main force. However, Cheng could not bring his forces in time, and Liao managed to survive the next few battles.
Cheng immediately reneged on his agreement with Dou and had the rebel exiled to the far south. Liao continued his battles against Cheng. At that point, the imperial court grew impatient. Liang Xiao suggested that the Emperor could appoint a special general to command all military forces in the north. Huang's suggestion was to bring up a general from the capital's reserves, but Liang pointed out that the men in the capital were inexperienced. The Emperor agreed, appointing Bai Wenlong (白文龍) as a general with special powers. Bai would command the following commanders: Tao Shiqi, governor of Shandong; Cheng Wuyi, the top general for Shanxi; Yu Zhengkai (于正凱), the governor of the rump province of Shanxi; Kuang Daji (鄺大吉), the governor for Henan; and Zhou Yongxian (周永顯), the top general for Henan. Hebei was left out of the arrangement, as it was considered too important as a border province.
Bai Wenlong was a protege of Li Qing (李卿), who had died in 1192. Li was considered the most successful of the generals in fighting Zheng Yue and Gong Cunzhang, and Bai was considered his most reliable subordinate. After the war against Zheng and Gong, he was posted to the south to make sure the south did not revolt again. Bai knew that only coordination could defeat Luo Yuan, Lu Ziying, and Liao Chuanghuan. It had been coordination that defeated the Jiangxi revolts, after all. Bai ordered all four of his subordinates to send him troops for one push against all three rebels. Tao Shiqi refused, unimpressed by Bai's credentials. Liang Xiao tried to get Tao relieved, but the court was worried Tao would revolt too. Instead, the court waited just four months, until Tao's term ended. Tao was replaced by Wan Liang (萬諒).
Bai moved into Shanxi from the west, while Wan invaded from the east, and Kuang invaded from the south. Bai quickly moved rendezvoused with Cheng and his forces, while Kuang and Wan had to overcome some resistance as they fought Luo Yuan's soldiers. Cheng ordered Kuang and Wan to both attack Luo at his headquarters in southeast Shanxi. However, Wan and Kuang were inexperienced and slow while Luo had knowledge of the terrain and experience. For civil officials like Wan and Kuang, military affairs were beneath them. Luo and his men encircled Wan's force and destroyed it, while they ran Kuang's forces out of Shanxi and into Henan. However, Luo's reserves were depleted, and Luo chose to move into Shandong, leaving Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan for Shanxi. In Shandong, Luo Yuan found a largely undefended province, and resistance was spotty and weak. Wan abandoned the province and fled south.
The capture of Shandong changed Luo Yuan's ambitions. He found himself, at the age of 34, running one of the more populous provinces in China. The highest provincial officials had abandoned the province as Luo approached, but many of the low-rank officials stayed behind. A local magistrate, Zhuang Xiaode (莊孝德), ingratiated himself amongst Luo's movement, as one of the rare former Chen officials to go over to Luo's side. Tian Cheng tried to persuade Luo to remain loyal to the Chen. However, Luo grew suspicious of Tian and thought his ally was trying to undermine him. In his paranoia, Luo ordered Tian's execution. Tian's death allowed Zhuang to increase his influence on Luo. Under Zhuang's persuasive advice, Luo decided to declare his own dynasty, named Song (宋). However, Zhuang heavily underestimated the support that the Chen had amongst the populace. Shanxi was poor and overtaxed, while Shandong was relatively well-run and at the very least had avoided Shanxi's run of drought, followed by flooding, followed by drought, followed by drought again, and then flooding during the 1179-1189 decade.
When Luo Yuan declared his Song Dynasty in 1193, many of the people of his occupied territories rose up in revolt against him as well. Though Luo had some support amongst the more indigent members of the population, attracted to his message of ending corruption and assisting the peasantry, many more people suspected him of just trying to amass power for himself. However, Zhuang and Luo implemented an authoritarian regime in their territories in Shandong. They executed many remaining Chen officials and placed their favorites in command instead. Zhuang, taking command of civil affairs, ordered the confiscation of supplies and food from the local people, who responded by sabotaging their supplies. Peasants and merchants alike began killing Zhuang's agents in the countryside. At the same time, Luo also began to take some of the local women as his concubines, distracting him from his duties.
However, there was little that the Chen authorities could have done. After Wan Liang and Kuang Daji had been defeated, there was little that Bai Wenlong could have done. There were only so many officials in the empire that could be posted as governors, and the empire was beginning to run short of qualified officials. In the meantime, while Luo Yuan had left Shanxi, Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan proved to be just as difficult to deal with. Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan finally began to clash with each other, fighting over a diminishing resource supply. Lu's strategy was to wait for the inevitable clash between Liao and the Chen.
Liao and Bai Wenlong resumed fighting in 1193, and Liao proved himself to be more than a match for at least Cheng Wuyi, whose troops suffered defeats. Cheng's troops began to desert the Chen cause, going over to Liao's side. Liao and his men then began fighting the main force under Bai Wenlong. This was when Bai proved that he was more capable than his commanders, and an equal to his mentor, Li Qing. Bai's troops went on the offensive, but slowed down to await the inevitable defection of Liao's men. They then resumed the offensive, allowing Bai to defeat Liao in several more battles. Threatening with heavy siege weaponry, Bai was able to force Liao's strongholds to surrender without a great deal of fighting. Bai was so successful, in fact, that Liao was thinking of surrendering and ending the conflict as a whole. Unfortunately for Liao, Bai was not very concerned with surrender. He amassed his troops and destroyed Liao's last forces in the grass plains west of Shanxi. Liao committed suicide, and the revolt that started with Zhang Yiren finally ended.
Bai then attempted to turn his troops against Lu Ziying, but was caught by surprise. In a fluke defeat, Bai was killed by an arrow while fighting Lu Ziying's troops. Command of Chen troops fell to Cheng Wuyi instead. Cheng lacked Bai's skill, and the perimeter of troops around Lu Ziying was allowed to lapse. Cheng had ordered Yu Zhengkai to use local troops to secure the province. Yu had to deal with an utterly shattered system of provincial administration, lacking even the couriers to notify Cheng of Lu's movement. Lu and his troops, numbering in the tens of thousands, found a gap in the Chen lines, and seized the chance. It was at that moment in 1194, when Lu Ziying slipped through the Chen troops surrounding Shanxi, that Luo Yuan's troops attacked Cheng.
Sweet Dew: Update 18 (The Chen Downfall, Part 2)
Luo Yuan (羅沅) was a disgruntled farmer living in the outskirts of Datong, Shanxi, when the Chen Empire raised taxes in 1189. In order to pay the costs of the conflict against the rebels Zheng Yue (鄭岳), Qin Yu (秦鈺), and Gong Cunzhang (龔存璋), the imperial court decided to raise taxes on all land. Luo Yuan, who cultivated barely above subsistence level, had always been one tax raise away from destitution. The edict of 1189 was too much for him to handle, on top of a devastating famine that swept through the province just one year prior. That year in August, he chose to rise up in revolt against local authorities. He was followed in quick succession by tworebels he inspired: Lu Ziying (路子盈) and Tian Cheng (田誠). Tian and Luo both raised up their own armies, joined forces and attacked the provincial magistrate's office. Following their success, they moved to the north and attacked Taiyuan, seat of Zhang Yiren (張以仁), the governor of Shanxi. Zhang, however, had assembled his own forces, effectively creating a private army in violation of Chen rules. He attacked Luo Yuan in central Shanxi but failed to capture the rebel. In the meantime, he headed south to attack Lu Ziying, but his forces were defeated by Lu's men and he was routed.
The Imperial Court, already irritated at Zhang's failure in the south, decided to replace Zhang and sent Shi Jiong (石炯) to the north. The fall-out prompted Zhang to rebel. The imperial court armed Shi Jiong to fight Zhang and Ma Xunwei (馬遜威) to deal with Luo Yuan and Lu Ziying. At this point, the imperial court finally began to splinter. Though imperial officials were in unison when it came to the operations against the southern rebels, Zhang Yiren's revolt terrified them. One group of officials, led by Huang Chengxi (黃承熙), saw Zhang's revolt as an indicator of Chen decay. Huang also advocated closer watch on the generals, seeing them as a return to the lawlessness of the late Tang Dynasty, particularly the idea of reinforcing the central palace guard instead of stationing generals outside of the capital. Opposing him was Liang Xiao (梁嘯), who also opposed giving the generals more autonomy, but suggested that the state would be better served by generals across the country, as opposed to being stationed in the capital, away from the action.
In the meantime, the Emperor decided to follow in the advice of both bureaucrats by reinforcing the capital garrison as well as stationing soldiers across the country. Meanwhile, Shi and Ma continued to fight in Shanxi, to only middling success. The elderly Ma had managed to defeat most of Lu Ziying's forces, but grew ill and asked to be relieved of command: the Emperor granted this and Ma went into retirement. However, this granted Lu Ziying some precious time, and he rebuilt up his forces by drawing from other affected communities. Shi, on the other hand, was relatively unsuccessful and was defeated by Zhang Yiren several times. Ma's replacement was Yao Tingwu (姚庭武), who did not have Ma's success, and Yao's campaign saw many defeats. However, things were not considered catastrophic until Yao was defending the city of Taiyuan when Lu Ziying returned with troops in force. Lu was assisted by heavy floods in 1191, and chose to breach the levies around Taiyuan, flooding the city, destroying its walls, and forcing Yao to surrender. Lu captured Yao, who committed suicide in captivity.
Zhang had success against Shi, who was defeated several times. At Datong, Shi chose to flee when Zhang's troops approached. Shi fled to the area of Hebei, where he assembled troops only to see them wiped out when Zhang attacked him first. Shi managed to escaped to Shandong, where the local governor, Tao Shiqi (陶士奇) gave him temporary shelter. Tao resumed the offensive against Zhang under imperial orders, fighting against Zhang's troops who had intruded into Shandong, but refusing to go further into Shanxi province itself. As far as Tao was concerned, the imperial court could deal with that issue: he was already dealing with local peasant unrest in his own province. His battles against Zhang never amounted to more than a token effort, but Tao refused to contribute more.
Zhang, however, was killed not by imperial troops but by his officer Wang Jiansan (王建三) in an attempted takeover of Zhang's rebellion. Zhang was killed while staying at the house of a local farmer. Wang responded by burning the house and killing Zhang when he fled. Wang was opposed by Zhang's other officers, and one of these men, Liao Chuanghuan (廖創煥), managed to get the support of most of Zhang Yiren's men and force Wang out. Wang escaped from Liao's territory and headed for Henan. However, Chen forces caught him and executed him, never knowing that he had intended to defect back to the Chen. Liao, a former Chen officer who had served Zhang in Jiangxi, was willing to seek a truce with the Chen. This turned out to be immensely valuable.
Luo Yuan in 1189 was a farmer, thirty years old, with no military experience and a rather naïve conception of imperial politics. He had hoped that by revolting against Zhang Yiren he could lower taxes in his province and return to his life as a peasant. By 1192, Luo was a general, thirty-three years old, with plenty of experience fighting the Chen. He still hoped that he could return to his old life, preferably to live a comfortable life, and persuade the Emperor to lower taxes and fire his corrupt officials. For example, in one 1192 message, Luo mentioned Huang Chengxi, a corrupt bureaucrat, and Pei Zhao (裴釗), an old eunuch, in particular. In 1193, Pei was indeed executed on imperial command for bribery and corruption, though this was attributed more to his loss of power and influence after his patron, Empress Li (李皇后), had died. Huang Chengxi retained influence for a considerable period of time.
Shi Jiong was replaced by Yang Xun (楊勳), who was sent north to fight against Liao Chuanghuan after Zhang Yiren had died. Yang, who had been a general in the war against Gong Cunzhang, was brought out of retirement, as he had been the youngest of the major generals in that war, while his comrades had all passed away that year in 1193. However, Yang died in the same plague that killed many of his soldiers as well, and he never fought Liao's men. Yang's successor was his chief general, Cheng Wuyi (程武義). Cheng aggressively tried to win over Liao's men. One of Liao's generals, Dou Yun (竇贇), was persuaded to work for Cheng instead on the condition that he and his men would receive an imperial pardon regardless of the success of Cheng's battles. In a secret gambit, Dou led his soldiers away from Liao Chuanghuan's main force. However, Cheng could not bring his forces in time, and Liao managed to survive the next few battles.
Cheng immediately reneged on his agreement with Dou and had the rebel exiled to the far south. Liao continued his battles against Cheng. At that point, the imperial court grew impatient. Liang Xiao suggested that the Emperor could appoint a special general to command all military forces in the north. Huang's suggestion was to bring up a general from the capital's reserves, but Liang pointed out that the men in the capital were inexperienced. The Emperor agreed, appointing Bai Wenlong (白文龍) as a general with special powers. Bai would command the following commanders: Tao Shiqi, governor of Shandong; Cheng Wuyi, the top general for Shanxi; Yu Zhengkai (于正凱), the governor of the rump province of Shanxi; Kuang Daji (鄺大吉), the governor for Henan; and Zhou Yongxian (周永顯), the top general for Henan. Hebei was left out of the arrangement, as it was considered too important as a border province.
Bai Wenlong was a protege of Li Qing (李卿), who had died in 1192. Li was considered the most successful of the generals in fighting Zheng Yue and Gong Cunzhang, and Bai was considered his most reliable subordinate. After the war against Zheng and Gong, he was posted to the south to make sure the south did not revolt again. Bai knew that only coordination could defeat Luo Yuan, Lu Ziying, and Liao Chuanghuan. It had been coordination that defeated the Jiangxi revolts, after all. Bai ordered all four of his subordinates to send him troops for one push against all three rebels. Tao Shiqi refused, unimpressed by Bai's credentials. Liang Xiao tried to get Tao relieved, but the court was worried Tao would revolt too. Instead, the court waited just four months, until Tao's term ended. Tao was replaced by Wan Liang (萬諒).
Bai moved into Shanxi from the west, while Wan invaded from the east, and Kuang invaded from the south. Bai quickly moved rendezvoused with Cheng and his forces, while Kuang and Wan had to overcome some resistance as they fought Luo Yuan's soldiers. Cheng ordered Kuang and Wan to both attack Luo at his headquarters in southeast Shanxi. However, Wan and Kuang were inexperienced and slow while Luo had knowledge of the terrain and experience. For civil officials like Wan and Kuang, military affairs were beneath them. Luo and his men encircled Wan's force and destroyed it, while they ran Kuang's forces out of Shanxi and into Henan. However, Luo's reserves were depleted, and Luo chose to move into Shandong, leaving Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan for Shanxi. In Shandong, Luo Yuan found a largely undefended province, and resistance was spotty and weak. Wan abandoned the province and fled south.
The capture of Shandong changed Luo Yuan's ambitions. He found himself, at the age of 34, running one of the more populous provinces in China. The highest provincial officials had abandoned the province as Luo approached, but many of the low-rank officials stayed behind. A local magistrate, Zhuang Xiaode (莊孝德), ingratiated himself amongst Luo's movement, as one of the rare former Chen officials to go over to Luo's side. Tian Cheng tried to persuade Luo to remain loyal to the Chen. However, Luo grew suspicious of Tian and thought his ally was trying to undermine him. In his paranoia, Luo ordered Tian's execution. Tian's death allowed Zhuang to increase his influence on Luo. Under Zhuang's persuasive advice, Luo decided to declare his own dynasty, named Song (宋). However, Zhuang heavily underestimated the support that the Chen had amongst the populace. Shanxi was poor and overtaxed, while Shandong was relatively well-run and at the very least had avoided Shanxi's run of drought, followed by flooding, followed by drought, followed by drought again, and then flooding during the 1179-1189 decade.
When Luo Yuan declared his Song Dynasty in 1193, many of the people of his occupied territories rose up in revolt against him as well. Though Luo had some support amongst the more indigent members of the population, attracted to his message of ending corruption and assisting the peasantry, many more people suspected him of just trying to amass power for himself. However, Zhuang and Luo implemented an authoritarian regime in their territories in Shandong. They executed many remaining Chen officials and placed their favorites in command instead. Zhuang, taking command of civil affairs, ordered the confiscation of supplies and food from the local people, who responded by sabotaging their supplies. Peasants and merchants alike began killing Zhuang's agents in the countryside. At the same time, Luo also began to take some of the local women as his concubines, distracting him from his duties.
However, there was little that the Chen authorities could have done. After Wan Liang and Kuang Daji had been defeated, there was little that Bai Wenlong could have done. There were only so many officials in the empire that could be posted as governors, and the empire was beginning to run short of qualified officials. In the meantime, while Luo Yuan had left Shanxi, Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan proved to be just as difficult to deal with. Lu Ziying and Liao Chuanghuan finally began to clash with each other, fighting over a diminishing resource supply. Lu's strategy was to wait for the inevitable clash between Liao and the Chen.
Liao and Bai Wenlong resumed fighting in 1193, and Liao proved himself to be more than a match for at least Cheng Wuyi, whose troops suffered defeats. Cheng's troops began to desert the Chen cause, going over to Liao's side. Liao and his men then began fighting the main force under Bai Wenlong. This was when Bai proved that he was more capable than his commanders, and an equal to his mentor, Li Qing. Bai's troops went on the offensive, but slowed down to await the inevitable defection of Liao's men. They then resumed the offensive, allowing Bai to defeat Liao in several more battles. Threatening with heavy siege weaponry, Bai was able to force Liao's strongholds to surrender without a great deal of fighting. Bai was so successful, in fact, that Liao was thinking of surrendering and ending the conflict as a whole. Unfortunately for Liao, Bai was not very concerned with surrender. He amassed his troops and destroyed Liao's last forces in the grass plains west of Shanxi. Liao committed suicide, and the revolt that started with Zhang Yiren finally ended.
Bai then attempted to turn his troops against Lu Ziying, but was caught by surprise. In a fluke defeat, Bai was killed by an arrow while fighting Lu Ziying's troops. Command of Chen troops fell to Cheng Wuyi instead. Cheng lacked Bai's skill, and the perimeter of troops around Lu Ziying was allowed to lapse. Cheng had ordered Yu Zhengkai to use local troops to secure the province. Yu had to deal with an utterly shattered system of provincial administration, lacking even the couriers to notify Cheng of Lu's movement. Lu and his troops, numbering in the tens of thousands, found a gap in the Chen lines, and seized the chance. It was at that moment in 1194, when Lu Ziying slipped through the Chen troops surrounding Shanxi, that Luo Yuan's troops attacked Cheng.