War destroys the economy and life, but it is also a catalyst for historical progress. Without war, humanity would still be in a primitive society. Wars are divided into national wars, rebel wars and class wars (such as peasant uprisings), wars for hegemony, wars of annexation, etc. In many cases, the three natures are often intertwined. In the five thousand years of China's history, there have been countless wars, and there have been countless rebellions among them. This article examines the 10 major rebellions that had a profound impact on future generations.
After King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang, he divided Wu Geng, the son of King Huan, into Yin and was responsible for governing the remnants of the Shang Dynasty. He also divided the other Wang Qi regions into three princes, Wei, Yan, and Shao, and gave them to the three younger brothers of King Wu of Zhou, Guan Shu, Cai Shu, and Huo Shu, who were given to monitor Wu Geng, and called them the "Three Prisons". Outside the scope of the Yin Shang Wang Qi, the yan, qi, and lu states were divided into yan, qi, and lu to guard the east. After the death of King Wu of Zhou, the Duke of Zhou was regent, and the "Three Prisons" were dissatisfied with this, so they united with Wu Geng and forces such as Xiang, Pugu, Xuyi, and Huaiyi to launch a major rebellion in an attempt to seize the throne. After the rebellion, the Duke of Zhou joined forces with Yan, Qi, and Lu to launch the Eastern Expedition, and after three years of bitter fighting, the rebellion was finally put down. After that, the Duke of Zhou inherited the will of King Wu of Zhou and built Luoyi and Chengzhou City in Luoyang, as the eastern capital of the Zhou Dynasty, stationing the powerful "Yin Eighth Division" to guard the east. Since then, the pattern of Chang'an and Luoyang has been formed in Chinese history.
In the early western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang divided the princes of Han Xin, Yingbu, and Peng Yue, and later Liu Bang abolished the princes with different surnames through war, and divided Liu Shi as king in order to defend the imperial family. However, after decades of development, these princes gradually became full of wings and began to threaten centralized power, and small-scale rebellions occurred from time to time. During the reign of Emperor Jing of Han, he tried to strengthen the centralization of power by "cutting the domain", but it triggered the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms led by Wu Chu. With the cooperation of Generals such as Zhou Yafu, Liu Wu, Li Ji, Luan Bu, and Dou Bao, the Western Han Dynasty quickly quelled the civil unrest and achieved the goal of cutting off the domain. After quelling the Rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, the power of the princes was greatly reduced, and the imperial court was able to draw out its hands to deal with the Xiongnu, laying the foundation for the later expansion of the territory of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
In 184 AD, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the process of suppressing the uprising, the power of local warlords rose and the centralized system of the Eastern Han Dynasty collapsed. In 189, his cousin He Jin sent Dong Zhuo from the northwest to beijing to cooperate in the murder of eunuchs, but the matter was revealed and He Jin was executed. Subsequently, Dong Zhuo led an army into Luoyang, deposed the Young Emperor of Han, and established Liu Xie, the prince of Chenliu, as emperor, controlling the imperial government, and the Eastern Han Dynasty survived in name only. After that, Dong Zhuo did nothing wrong, and also forcibly moved the capital to Chang'an, burning the palaces and houses in Luoyang for two hundred miles, and the people did not have a good life. Subsequently, the princes of the Kwantung formed a coalition army and began a campaign against Dong Zhuo, and china once again entered the era of great division.
In 280, Emperor Wu of Jin destroyed Eastern Wu and achieved unification. However, Emperor Wu of Jin once again adopted a system of sub-feudalism and let the kings lead the army, which laid hidden dangers for the chaos in the Western Jin Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Wu of Jin, the idiot emperor Sima Zheng succeeded to the throne, and Empress Jia Nanfeng took power. In order to strengthen his power, Jia Nanfeng gave a cruel hand to the kings, which caused the dissatisfaction of the kings. The local clan kings also participated in the struggle for the emperor, which eventually caused a nationwide chaos. The "Rebellion of the Eight Kings" lasted for seven years, the economy of the north was seriously damaged, ethnic contradictions and class contradictions were stimulated at the same time, and lower-class peasants and nomads all launched uprisings, which basically collapsed the rule of the Western Jin Dynasty.
The "Yongjia Rebellion" was actually a consequence of the "Rebellion of the Eight Kings". After the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, peasant revolts broke out throughout the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Hu people who had previously moved into the Central Plains were also deeply oppressed by the Western Jin Dynasty, and they gradually led these uprisings, representative of which were Liu Yuan of the Southern Xiongnu, Shi Le of the Qiang, and Li Te of the Qi, who had begun to establish political power and launched an attack on the Western Jin Dynasty. At the same time, the Xianbei ethnic group also gradually developed in the Liaodong area. In 311, Liu Cong, Shi Le, and other combined forces attacked Luoyang, killing the Dukes of the Western Jin Dynasty and capturing Emperor Huai of Jin. In 316, Liu Yao invaded Chang'an again, captured Emperor Huan of Jin, and the Western Jin Dynasty perished.
The Yongjia Rebellion further damaged the economy of the north, causing a large number of Central Plains Warriors to move south, known in history as "Yiguan Nandu". The people of Nandu established the Eastern Jin Dynasty in the south and developed the south, so that the economy of the north and south of China basically reached a balance. In the north, more than a dozen regimes have emerged, called the "Sixteen Kingdoms", and the north is undergoing a national integration in the purgatory of ice and fire, which is brewing the foundation for another great unification.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, in order to deal with Rouran, six important military towns were set up in the south of the desert, and called "six towns". After Emperor Xiaowen's reforms, the capital was moved to Luoyang, and the xianbei nobles of the six towns did not enjoy the benefits brought by Sinicization and began to be dissatisfied with the imperial court. In 523, another uprising broke out among the people of the Liuzhen area, which spread to the Hebei region and seriously shook the rule of Northern Wei. Under these circumstances, Warlords such as Erzhu Rong took the opportunity to expand their power, gradually controlled the Northern Wei dynasty, and created the Heyin Revolution, the Northern Wei clan was massacred on a large scale, and the Northern Wei dynasty was destroyed. After that, the Erzhu Rong clique was divided, and the warlords of the six towns fought with each other, and eventually the Erzhu clan was destroyed, forming two major groups of Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai, laying the pattern of the late Northern Dynasty. The Rebellion of the Six Towns caused a large number of Xianbei tribes from the Six Towns to enter the Central Plains, which ended the Northern Wei Dynasty, but brought with it another powerful dynasty, the Northern Zhou.
Hou Jing's rebellion can be said to be the continuation of the rebellion of the six towns. After the formation of the two major groups of Gao Huan and Yuwen Tai, hou Jing, a general of the Qi clan, defected to Gao Huan and defended Henan, becoming a bridgehead against Yuwen Tai. After Gao Huan's death, Gao Cheng succeeded to the throne, and the contradictions between Gao Cheng and Hou Jing were deep, and Hou Jing decided to defect to Yuwen Tai. However, Yuwen Tai sent troops to seize Hou Jing's base, and Hou Jing had to go south to surrender to Emperor Wu of Liang. Later, Emperor Wu of Liang wanted to kill Hou Jing to make friends with the Northern Dynasty, which triggered Hou Jing's rebellion. Hou Jing's rebellion was very closely linked to the internal strife among Emperor Wu of Liang's sons, and the result was that Emperor Wu of Liang was trapped and the Liang Dynasty perished; the sons killed each other, and Yuwen Tai took the opportunity to occupy half of the country such as Bashu. After this rebellion, the territory of the Southern Dynasty was reduced by half, and the Yuwen clan's power was expanded, laying the foundation for the unification of the north. At the same time, Hou Jing's rebellion slaughtered a large number of Jiangnan Shi clans, which was an important turning point in the development of Shi clan politics to Hanmen politics.
In the later period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the Juntian system was destroyed, and the prefectural military system was disintegrated, so Tang Xuanzong fully implemented the conscription system. Tang Xuanzong set up 10 important military towns on the frontier, concentrated the elite troops of the whole country here, and let Jiedu envoys take charge, forming a situation of "guarding the outside and the void inside". In the later period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the envoys of Jiedu were mainly held by Hu people, and the imperial court was controlled by Yang Guozhong and other traitors, which eventually plunged the Tang Dynasty into crisis. In 744, An Lushan and other envoys launched a rebellion, and Tang Xuanzong's command mistake led to the fall of Guanzhong, which is known as the "Anshi Rebellion". The rebellion lasted for eight years, and even when the rebellion ended, the imperial court failed to abolish the three towns in Hebei. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty fell into a situation of division of feudal towns and declined ever since. At the same time, the Anshi Rebellion destroyed the economy of the north, and the economy of the Tang Dynasty began to rely on the south, and the economic center of gravity began to shift south. Subsequent dynasties, the division of the jian feudal towns, all of them tried to limit local power and promote the strengthening of centralized power in China.
After Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, to a certain extent, the sub-feudal system was restored, and the Yan and Ning kings who guarded the north still had a large number of troops. After Emperor Jianwen succeeded to the throne, he began to cut down the domain, which led to a rebellion by Zhu Di, the King of Yan, known in history as the "Battle of Jingnan". After four years of war, Zhu Di finally invaded Nanjing, overthrew Emperor Jianwen, and proclaimed himself emperor, that is, the Yongle Emperor (Ming Chengzu). The Battle of Jingnan was the only successful instance in Chinese history of a rebellion by the king of the domain, and the main reason for its success was that Zhu Yuanzhang killed too many meritorious generals, resulting in no generals available to the imperial court. After Zhu Di was proclaimed emperor, the Ming Dynasty continued to develop along Zhu Yuanzhang's old path, and developed the politics of centralization and espionage to the peak.
After the Qing Dynasty unified the interior, Wu Sangui, Shang Kexi, and Geng Jingzhong were three Han generals who were divided into kings of the domain, and the town guarded the southwest and south China. But the existence of San Francisco also threatened centralization. After Kangxi took strong measures against San Francisco, he tried to cut the domain, and San Francisco was also prepared and immediately launched a rebellion. After the San Francisco Rebellion, the Kangxi Emperor adopted a policy of differentiation, which soon led to the isolation of Wu Sangui. Finally, by 1681, Kangxi had quelled the "San Fan Rebellion", and the Qing Dynasty had completely unified the eighteen provinces of Han China. The pacification of the "San Francisco Rebellion" enabled the Qing Dynasty to focus on dealing with the Dzungar Khanate, and eventually the Qing Dynasty incorporated Taiwan, Outer Mongolia, Qinghai, Tibet, and Xinjiang into the territory without internal worries, laying the foundation for the territory of modern China.