Hou Jing's Rebellion (Part 2)

Therefore, when he learned of emperor Wu of Liang's peace with Eastern Wei, he did not hesitate to raise an army at Shouyang, launch a rebellion, and openly rebel against Liang. In 548, Hou Jing led his troops south, and his men and horses soon reached the north bank of the Yangtze River, and Emperor Wu of Liang heard the news and hurriedly sent his sixth son Xiao Lun to lead troops to attack Hou Jing, and also sent his nephew, the Pingbei general Xiao Zhengde, to deploy on the south bank of the Yangtze River to guard the south bank of the Yangtze River, resist Hou Jing's advance, and defend the capital Jiankang. Who knew that when Emperor Wu of Liang was childless, he had succeeded his brother Xiao Hong's son Xiao Zhengde as crown prince, made a son to Emperor Wu of Liang, and was made crown prince, and later Emperor Wu of Liang had a son Xiao Tong, and with his own son, he cancelled the title of Prince of Xiao Zhengde and sent Xiao Zhengde back to Xiao Hong. Therefore, Xiao Zhengde has always held a grudge in his heart because he lost the opportunity to inherit the throne, and he has long had ambitions to seize the throne. Hou Jing took advantage of this contradiction to incite Xiao Zhengde, as long as he was willing to do internal response, and after overthrowing Emperor Wu of Liang, he would support him as the emperor of the Liang Dynasty. Xiao Zhengdequan was obsessed and thought that this was a great opportunity for him to become emperor, so he secretly sent dozens of large ships at night to connect these ships end to end and help Hou Jing's troops cross the Yangtze River smoothly. Then, Xiao Zhengde shamelessly led Hou Jing's rebels across the Qinhuai River, opened the city gates, and welcomed Hou Jing into Jiankang (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu). Jiankang City is divided into three parts, the middle of which is Taicheng, in which Emperor Wu of Liang lives; to the west is Shicheng, where the Janissaries are stationed; and to the east is called Fucheng, which is inhabited by high officials such as Zai Chancellor and Yangzhou Assassin Shi. Although Hou Jing had already entered Jiankang City, he had only entered the outer city, while Emperor Wu of Liang lived in the middle of Taicheng (present-day Jiming Temple, Nanjing). Hou Jing took the method of trapping Taicheng for a long time and surrounded the inner city of Taicheng, where Emperor Wu of Liang lived. He wanted taicheng to be isolated from the outside, and when all the grain inside was eaten, they would take the initiative to sacrifice the city. Hou Jing was afraid that the ordinary people outside Taicheng would receive the officers and soldiers inside Taicheng, so he snatched up all their grain, and also let them perform military service, building tushan on the outskirts of Taicheng to prepare for the siege. The people who served in the military endured hunger, were forced to carry heavy soil day and night, overloaded with work every day, and starved the emperor and killed many people. Most of the residents outside Taicheng starved to death and were piled up on Tushan Mountain, and Hou Jing also ordered his soldiers to kill the tired residents and pile them on Tushan Mountain, so that the Tushan mountain built by Hou Jing soon rose above the walls of Taicheng. Yang Kan commanded the army to resist the enemy in many ways, and unfortunately fell ill and died. At this time, the kings of the Liang Dynasty were ordered to rescue from all over the country, and the rescued troops were about 200,000 to 300,000, gradually converging around Jiankang, which was still superior to the rebels. However, these close relatives of Emperor Liangwu were not really sincere at all, but they all looked forward to the death of Emperor Liangwu and their own opportunity to seize the throne. Therefore, they all stood still, pushed and blocked each other, looked at each other, and said that they would wait for other rescuers to come. Liu Zhongli, who was temporarily promoted to the position of governor, also hid at home, eating and drinking every day. Hou Jing was even more brazen and bold in attacking the city. After more than 130 days of siege, the inner city of Taicheng, the capital of the Liang Dynasty, Jiankang, was finally breached, Taicheng finally fell, the rebels slaughtered and plundered on a large scale, and Emperor Wu of Liang, known as the "Bodhisattva Emperor", also became Hou Jing's prisoner, and reinforcements from all over the country either surrendered or left, like birds and beasts scattered. After Hou Jing took control of the imperial court, he immediately turned his face and ordered his subordinates to kill Xiao Zhengde, who was making internal responses for him, and also said: "This guy, even the great uncle who raised him for many years can betray, what is the use of keeping it?" ”

Hou Jing then broke into the palace, captured Emperor Liangwu, put him under house arrest, and finally starved the 86-year-old Emperor Liangwu to death. Hou Jing also introduced Xiao Gang and became a puppet emperor, Xiao Gang was Emperor Jianwen of Liang, Hou Jing declared himself a cosmic general, became the prime minister, and took charge of military and political power, and not long after, Xiao Gang was also deposed and killed by Hou Jing. After that, Xiao Dong was established again, and in 551, Hou Jing finally forced Xiao Dong to "zen seat", personally appeared on the scene, and established himself as the Emperor of Han. In the same year (551), Hou Jing again omitted sanwu and sent three men and horses to capture the rich areas of Wu Commandery (in present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu) and Huiji (around present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), so that the rich lower reaches of the Yangtze River were uninhabited for thousands of miles.

He then marched to Jiangling (江陵, in present-day Jiangling, Hubei), where Hou Jing's army was frustrated in its attack on Jiangling, where Xiao Xuan was the seventh son of Emperor Wu of Liang. Xiao Xuan fought jointly with the army led by the generals Wang Shengquan and Chen Baxian.

The following year (552), the Liang generals Chen Baxian and Wang Shengquan took a ship to the east, and then defeated Hou Jing at Jiankang, and Jiankang was recovered. Hou Jing fled in a hurry by boat, was killed by his subordinates on the road, died in the boat, and disturbed the farce of "Hou Jing's Rebellion" for three years, which ended here. The rebellion launched by Hou Jing, although it lasted only three years, caused serious damage to society and brought great suffering to the people. When Hou Jing's rebels first besieged Taicheng, there were still more than 100,000 men and women in the city, and on the day of the destruction of the city, only 2,000 or 3,000 people were left, and almost all the books and cultural relics hidden in the palace were burned. Jiankang, a bustling capital city of 280,000 households that used to be the center of politics and culture, has been in operation for more than 200 years since Eastern Wu, and has been reduced to rubble after this unprecedented catastrophe. The people of Jiangnan hated Hou Jing to the bone, and when Hou Jing's body was transported back to Jiankang and thrown in the street, the people who were extremely resentful rushed to cut his flesh, bite his corpse, and even burn his bones and ashes to relieve the hatred in their hearts. After this great chaos, the Southern Liang Dynasty was internally divided, and in 554 AD, western Wei broke through Jiangling, Xiao Xuan died, chen Baxian conspired with Wang Shengxian, and welcomed Xiao Fangzhi's ninth son Xiao Fangzhi as emperor. The following year (555), Chen Ba's army attacked Jiankang, killed Wang Shengjie, deposed Xiao Yuanming, and embraced Xiao Fangzhi as emperor. In 557, after Chen Baxian enfeoffed Chen, he immediately deposed the Liang Jing Emperor Xiao Fangzhi in the form of "Zen Concession", became emperor himself, and changed the name of the country to Chen, and Chen Baxian was Emperor Chen wu.