The Hou Jing Rebellion, also known as the Taiqing Rebellion, refers to an armed rebellion launched by Hou Jing, a Liang general of the Southern Dynasty during the Southern and Northern Dynasties of China. Eastern Wei controlled by Gao Huan and Western Wei controlled by Yuwen Tai were constantly at war between the two regimes. This, combined with the Liang Dynasty, which had been eager to regain the Central Plains in the south, formed the post-Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history. Among these three kingdoms, the eastern Wei dynasty had the strongest comprehensive strength. The Eastern Wei Dynasty inherited the Central Plains as the political and economic center, and occupied all the time and place, so the Eastern Wei and subsequent Northern Qi were the richest of the three kingdoms in China at that time. Western Wei was the poorest and weakest, but its de facto ruler Yuwen Tai issued a six-point edict to rectify internal affairs and implement the Guanzhong-based policy, "internal security is on the opposite side, and foreign governments are strong neighbors", which is the most vigorous country in the three kingdoms. However, the apparent prosperity of the Liang Dynasty masked profound social contradictions. During the Liang Dynasty, the southern shi clan door valves became more and more decayed and degenerate, they were "Fu Fan Shi Zhu" and "pedantic and flashy", living a life of drunken dreams and death, and had become a parasite of society; the social atmosphere was sluggish and passive, and people's thoughts, words, and deeds were filled with Buddhism and Qing Tan; in order to support the shi clan door valves headed by Wang, Xie, Yuan, and Xiao and the increasingly large bureaucracy, the people of the Liang Dynasty had to endure heavy enlistment, and a large number of peasants either went into bankruptcy or exile, or became slaves. Xiao Yan, the supreme ruler of the Liang Dynasty, was primarily responsible for this, and at the beginning of his reign he was able to exert great efforts to govern, but he gradually became satisfied, loved to listen to rumors, did not accept loyalty, and favored Zhu Yi and other courtiers. Emperor Wu of Liang indulged in Buddhism day by day, sacrificing himself three times since 547 to the Tongtai Temple, which not only wasted 400 million yuan of money, but also caused the society to set off the wind of Buddhahood, a large number of people became monks, and the temple was revived everywhere, which further led to the weakening of the country's economic and military strength.
It can be seen that in the confrontation between the Three Kingdoms, the Eastern Wei was the strongest, the Western Wei was the most integrated, and although the Liang Dynasty was economically and culturally developed, the accumulated social contradictions were on the verge of erupting. In this context, the ambitionist Hou Jing stepped to the center of the historical stage. Hou Jing was born in Shuo prefecture, and was a subordinate of Erzhu Rong in the early days, and later turned to Gao Huan, who was reused by him, and worshiped as the Daxingtai of Nandao Province, guarding the land of Henan, with strong strength. Although Gao Huan entrusted Hou Jing with a heavy responsibility, he was extremely jealous in his heart; although Hou Jing was still obedient to Gao Huan, he was not at peace with his son Gao Cheng, and once threatened: "Wang (Gao Huan) is here, I dare not be different; Wang Wu, I can't work with Xianbei Xiao'er (Gao Cheng)!" A few days after Gao Huan's death, Hou Jing openly rebelled against Eastern Wei, and he first requested that the six prefectures of Henan be attached to Western Wei, and Western Wei granted Hou Jing the titles of Taifu, Henan Daoxingtai, and Shanggu Jungong, but did not send troops, showing a calm and cautious attitude; later Hou Jing turned to Liang Dynasty for help, willing to attach Liang with thirteen states. The recovery of the Central Plains has always been a lingering complex of the Southern Dynasty, just when Emperor Wu of Liang dreamed of the pacification of the Central Plains, and soon after Hou Jing's demotion was sent to Jiankang, Emperor Wu of Liang was overjoyed, and the Liang Dynasty has been lacking good generals since Chen Qingzhi's death, so he has the idea of accepting Hou Jing. Emperor Wu of Liang made Hou Jing a general, made Him the King of Henan, the Governor of Henan and Northern Henan, and Daxingtai, and then sent Sizhou Toushi Yang yaren to lead an army to receive Hou Jing. At this time, although Hou Jing attached himself to the Liang Dynasty, he still communicated with Western Wei and left a way out for himself.
When Hou Jing first entered Liang, he wanted to propose marriage to Wang and Xie Mingmen, and asked Emperor Wu of Liang to be a matchmaker, but Emperor Wu of Liang refused to do so, so Hou Jing held a grudge against Liang. The more important trigger for Hou Jing's rebellion was liang's friendship with Eastern Wei. Soon after Eastern Wei expelled Hou Jing and Liang Jun, it threw an olive branch to Liang Chao and asked the captive Xiao Yuanming to write a letter to Emperor Wu of Liang, claiming that if the two countries were reconciled, Xiao Yuanming could be released. Emperor Wu of Liang always attached great importance to the unity of the clan and actually shed tears after seeing Xiao Yuanming's letter; at the same time, he had realized through the Battle of Hanshan that the Liang army's combat effectiveness was poor and could not withstand another battle, so he preferred to be good, and his close ministers Zhu Yi and Zhang Xuan were also in charge. However, Fu Qi and Hou Jing were firmly opposed, especially Hou Jing, who was afraid that he would be used by the Liang Dynasty as a bargaining chip in exchange for Xiao Yuanming, so he repeatedly wrote to Emperor Wu of Liang, stating the reasons for not being able to communicate with Gao Cheng, and asking for the Northern Expedition, all of which were rejected by Emperor Wu of Liang. He also wrote a letter to send money to Zhu Yi and asked him to change his mind, but Zhu Yi accepted the money but did not reply to the letter. Hou Jing also forged a letter from Eastern Wei asking Hou Jing to be exchanged for Xiao Yuanming, and Emperor Wu of Liang, after reading the forgery letter, actually accepted it, saying: "Marquis Zhenyang (Xiao Yuanming) returns in the morning, and Hou Jing can send it to you at night." Hou Jing was furious after seeing it and said, "I know that this bad old man has no heart and no lungs!" His confidant Wang Wei also advised him to rebel. Therefore, Hou Jing used Shouyang as a base to plot a rebellion.
After several months of preparations, by August 10, 548 (the first year of Liang Taiqing, the sixth year of Eastern Wei Wuding, and the fourteenth year of Western Wei),Hou Jing raised an army in Shouyang under the pretext of killing the central leader Zhu Yi, the Shaofu Qing Xu Yu, and the crown prince Right Guard, and Zhou Shizhen, the superintendent of the production bureau, with about 8,000 troops, officially opening the curtain on Hou Jing's rebellion. Emperor Wu of Liang appointed Xiao Zhengde (萧正德) as the general of Pingbei and the governor of the Capital Jing Division, and tuned Danyang (屯) (present-day southwest of Nanjing, Jiangsu). Xiao Zhengde had already made an internal agreement with Hou Jing, and sent dozens of large ships, in the name of transporting reeds, to secretly receive Hou Jing's army. At that time, Liang Ningyuan's general Wang Qian led a 3,000-strong water army to patrol the river, and Hou Jing was about to cross the river, fearing that he would be blocked by it, so he sent spies to check it out. At this time, Liang Linchuan Taishou Chen Xin suggested to Emperor Wu of Liang that the quarry urgently needed to be heavily defended, and the wang's water army was weak, requiring an increase in the number of shu troops. Emperor Wu of Liang then ordered the hostage to exchange defenses with Chen Xin. The spies informed Hou Jing of this news, and Hou Jing took the opportunity of the exchange of defenses between wang hostage and Chen Xin to lead an army of 8,000 to cross the river from Hengjiang (present-day southwest of Anhui and County), seize the quarrying, and capture Chen Xin. After dividing his forces to attack the city of Guyi (present-day Dangtu, Anhui), capturing Xiao Ning in Southern Huainan, the main force entered Cihu Lake (present-day northwest of Dangtu, Anhui), and Jiankang was shaken.
Hou Jingjun marched from October 24 to Zhuque Hang (present-day south of Nanjing, Jiangsu). Due to Xiao Zhengde's internal response, Hou Jing quickly broke through the Suzaku Gate, and yu Xin, the eastern palace scholar who was guarding the gate, escaped. Then, Xiao Zhengde opened the Xuanyang Gate to welcome Hou Jingjun into the city. Since October 25, Hou Jing's army has besieged Taicheng (Miyagi), and due to the insistence of Yang Kan, it has been unable to attack for a long time, so it has built a long siege to cut off the communication between the inside and outside of Taicheng. On the first day of November, Xiao Zhengde ascended the throne as emperor, changed Yuan Zhengping, made Hou Jing a chancellor, and stepped up his offensive against Taicheng. In March 549, Hou Jing once again diverted the water of Xuanwu Lake to flood Taicheng, and attacked on all sides, and Liang led Hou Jing's army to attack Taicheng from the northwest corner tower at dawn on the twelfth day. Hou Jing entered Emperor Wu of Liang and the crown prince, and ordered the disbandment of reinforcements. Reinforcements returned, Liu Zhongli and others surrendered, and Hou Jing occupied the entire city of Jiankang and controlled the military and political power of the Liang Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Liang was upset and did not meet Hou Jing's demands, so Hou Jing cut off his supply and died of starvation in Taicheng by the beginning of May. Crown Prince Xiao Gang ascended the throne as Emperor Jianwen, changed his name to Yuan Dabao, and remained a puppet in Hou Jing's hands. Xiao Zhengde, who had been addicted to the emperor, resented that he had been shot by Hou Jing, and Naimi summoned Xiao Fan, the king of Poyang, to bring troops to Beijing, and Hou Jing learned of this and strangled Xiao Zhengde to death.