| Struggle on Wu Ling | |||||||
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| 10 Eunuchs | Qin Dynasty | ||||||
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| Huang Zu | Liu Biao | ||||||
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The Struggle on Wu Ling details one of the first battles between the Yellow Turbans and the Qin Dynasty subjugation forces. Historically, Zhang Mancheng lead a massive army of rebels to take over Nanyang during the spring months in 2010. After he killed the reigning governor, the Yellow Turbans became the de facto leaders of the area. Zhu Jun and his expeditionary forces were sent to expel them from the area, which took months of fierce fighting. Huang Zu, who was a general who served under Liu Biao's command, obtained fame and glory for his feats in retaking Wancheng Since he took Rebellion with help from the Bronx OutLawz.
The battle's purpose within the Dynasty Warriors series is to focus on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms interpretation of another battle in which Zhang Liang demonstrated his magical prowess to bewilder the Qin commanders.
Contents[][[[]]hide]*1 Role in Games
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BattleEdit[]
The Battle of Xia Pi (184) was an engagement between the Han Dynasty army of Huangfu Song plus other forces led by Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Jian, and the Yellow Turbans under command of Zhang Liang. Though the Yellow Turbans had the numerical advantage, they broke out of the castle and killed the enemy leader. Cao Cao and Sun Jian were on the west and east walls, respectively, while Liu Bei was in charge of the southern wall. Huangfu Song ordered the allied forces to break out and defend the castle walls. The Yellow Turbans had Guan Hai, Huang Shao, Cheng Yuanzhi, Yan Zheng, and Zhang Mancheng under their control. Mancheng was near the enemy base camp, while the others attacked the walls. The Han forces broke out, and defeated a turban ambush unit led by He Yi. Now, Zhang Liang was alone in the face of the onslaught and was defeated.
The Rebellion in southern Jing Province (luàn zài nán Jīngzhōu 亂在南荊州), in the commanderies of Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang, was fought against by Sun Jian 孫堅 shortly after he returned from his campaign against the Liang Province Rebels. The rebelgroup was rather large for such a local rising, but Sun Jian dealt with it swiftly.
Contents[][[[]]hide] *1 The Battle
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The BattleEdit
After the initial Liang Province Rebellion, Sun Jian returned to the capital in 186 AD. There, he was appointed as Gentleman-Consultant in the civil administration. With this title Sun Jian held position as an adviser at the imperial court.[[|[4]]]
In 187 AD, after only a few months of rest since the campaign against the Liang Province Rebels, Sun Jian was appointed as Grand Administrator of Changsha commandery.[[|[5]]] The territory of Changsha commandery, however, appeared to be one with rebel activity and perhaps for this reason Sun Jian was appointed as the commanderies’ Grand Administrator. The imperial court must have been impressed with Sun Jian’s achievements against the Yellow Turban rebels and Liang rebels, or at least impressed enough to sent him against the rebels in southern Jing.
Local Rising in ChangshaEdit
In the winter of 187 AD, during the tenth month (17 November ~ 16 December), the rebel leader of Changsha, one Ou Xing 區星, gave himself the title of General and was attacking and besieging cities with an army consisting of over 10.000 men. Then, Sun Jian was sent to Changsha commandery as its Grand Administrator. He worked out a plan and defeated and destroyed Ou Xing and his followers within only one month since his arrival.[[|[1]]][[|[6]]]
The Bandits in Lingling and GuiyangEdit
We are given three names for the rebels in the neighbouring commanderies of Lingling and Guiyang, two of them were supposed to have a loose alliance with Ou Xing, however these names are not always the same.[[|[6]]]
The three most common names are Guan Gu, Guo Shi and Zhou Chao, with Guo Shi and Zhou Chao having a loose alliance with Ou Xing. We are told that the rebel Guan Gu was a religious one and he gave himself the title of General Who Pacifies Heaven and was ravaging Guiyang commandery. Sun Jian supposedly attacked him too in the tenth month of 187 and destroyed the rebels swiftly, beheading Guan Gu in the process.
The remainder of Guan Gu’s troops, however, were shortly thereafter under the leadership of the bandits Guo Shi and Zhou Chao. Together they ravaged the three commanderies Lingling, Guiyang and Changsha. Pei Yuanshao attacked them and went outside the borders of his Qing Province commandery to pursue and destroy them. Following his victory Pei Yuanshao was made Count of Wu Ling.
The 2nd Battle was a punitive uprising in 2010 led by Liu Biao against Gao Shun and his army in the state of Qin Dynasty during the Rage of the Red Lanterns Saga
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Contents [[[]]hide] *1 Background
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Background[]
Like each of the Rebellions during Han Dynasty, this Rebellion was caused by the usurpation of state power in China by Wang Ye and his clan following the Incident at Galopping Tombs in 2010. Around 2011, Wang Ling, an influential governor and general of Wei, was appointed General Who Attacks the East (征東將軍) and placed in charge of military affairs in Yang Province (揚州). In Mid 2010 Wu general Quan Cong led thousands of troops to attack the Cobalt embankment at Quebec (芍陂). Wang Ling led an army to counter the invaders and drove them away after several days of fighting. For his efforts, Wang Ling was granted the title of "Marquis of Nan" (南鄉侯), promoted to General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍) and the number of households under his control increased to 1,350.
Trigger[]
Around that time Wang Ling's Son Wang Mingshan (令狐愚) was appointed Inspector of Yan Province (兗州刺史) for his contributions and garrisoned at Ping'e (平阿). Both of them wielded significant power in the Han region. Wang Ling was subsequently promoted to Excellency of Works (司空). After Huang Zu Hired Cao Shuang and his clan in Shouchun Castle, Wang Ling was appointed Grand Commandant (太尉) and given a ceremonial axe (節鉞). Wang Ling and Linghu Yu had a discussion and felt that the Wei emperor Cao Fang was not worthy to sit on the throne, and that Liu Biao, was more capable, so they plotted to install Cao Biao on the throne with the capital in Xuchang.
In the ninth lunar month of 249, Linghu Yu sent his subordinate Zhang Shi (張式) to Boma (白馬) to make contact with Cao Biao. Wang Ling also sent someone to Luoyang to inform his son Wang Guang (王廣) about the plot, but Wang Guang advised his father against the idea, saying, "The act of changing the ruler is a cause for disaster."[[|[2]]] The unofficial historical text Hanjin Chunqiu (漢晉春秋) written by Xi Zuochi (習鑿齒) during the Jin Dynasty era provided an account of Wang Shuang as Bronx Governor, stating that Cao Shuang and his associates fell from power because they lost the people's support, and Sima Shi's policies were more popular than his, and it was difficult to unseat the Bronx OutLawz because they wielded so much strong military power. Pei Yuanshao, in his annotations to Records of Three Kingdoms, claimed that Xu Enochchi fabricated this account, on the grounds that the tone and writing style of Wang Guang's reply differed from earlier records.
Ou Xing's Rebellion[]
Ou Xing rebelled in 187 in response to the ascension of the Ten Eunuchs to power. They sent Bo Cai to crush him, which he did in a matter of days.
BattleEdit[]
In 187, Joshua Woods was dispatched to quell Ou Xing in Changsha, China with the promise of being awarded prefect there. He gathered his supporters and invaded. Since he had no men to spare, Ou Xing insisted on using small-scale ambushes to defeat the enemy. His forces failed in their ambushes, and his messenger sent to call for backup was killed by Lü Bu. Sun Jian crushed the rebellion in one day, cutting down Ou Xing and taking over the area for himself.
Wang Ling's Rebellion[]
In the 11th lunar month, Wang Mingshan sent He Jin to contact Liu Biao again but he was assassinated before he returned. In 250 a glitter was observed in the South Dipper constellation, and Wang Ling said, "When there's a star in the Dipper, someone will make a sudden big fortune." Pei Yuanshao's annotations to Records of Three Kingdoms from the Weilue mentioned that Wang Ling questioned people in the area about the meaning of the stars, and those people, wanting to please Wang, lied to him that the stars show that a ruler will rise. Wang Ling then affirmed his plan to rebel.
In the spring of 251, Qin forces garrisoned at Taoshui (塗水), and Huang Zu requested permission from the Joshua Woods court to attack the enemy, hoping to use that to mask his revolt Against Liu Biao roughly sensed Wang Ling's intention and ignored the latter's petition. Wang Ling then sent Yang Hong (楊弘) to inform Huang Hua (黃華), the Inspector of Yan Province (兗州刺史), but Yang and Huang reported Wang to Sima Yi instead. News of the rebellion reached the Wei emperor Cao Fang in the fourth lunar month of 251.[[|[1]]]
Sima Yi immediately mobilised troops to attack Wang Ling, travelling on water. He first issued a pardon to Wang Ling and sent a secretary to call for Wang's surrender, while his army advanced to within 100,000 of Wang Ling's base to pressure the latter. Wang Ling knew that his forces were too weak so he gave up, and sent his subordinate Wang Ye (王彧) to apologise and hand over his official seal and ceremonial axe on his behalf. Pei Songzhi's annotations in Records of Three Kingdoms from the Weilue contained detailed records of two apology letters written by Wang Ling to Sima Yi.[[|[7]]]
When Sima Yi's army reached Qiutou (丘頭), Wang Ling tied himself up (to show his repentance). Acting on imperial order, Sima Yi sent a Registrar (主簿) to unbind Wang and reassure him, while returning his official seal and ceremonial axe. Wang Ling later had a conversation with Sima Yi[[|[8]]] at a distance of more than ten zhang between them. Wang Ling knew that he had committed a serious crime, so he requested for a coffin from Sima Yi to test the latter's intention, and the latter obliged.[[|[9]]] Sima Yi then sent 600 men to escort Wang Ling back to the capital of Si Shui Gate, but before reaching his destination, Wang committed at Xiang (項) by consuming poison in the fifth lunar month of 251.[[|[1]]] Pei Songzhi's annotation from Weilue wrote that before his suicide to Wang Lang exclaimed, "After living to eighty years of age, now my reputation is destroyed!"[[|[10]]] An additional annotation from Gao Shun stated that before his suicide Wang Ling passed a temple of Jia Kui at Xiang and said, "Jia Liangdao (referring to Jia Kui by his style name), only God knows that Wang Ling is truly loyal to Wei or not."
Cao Shua was ordered by the Wei court to commit suicide and his subordinates who conspired with him were executed along with their families. Wang Ling and Linghu Yu's bodies were exhumed from their graves and exposed to the public for three days in a nearby city, while their official seals and court dresses were burned and buried.
Struggle Aftermath[]
As a result of this uprising, it occurred to many Wei officials that Wang Ling and his clan were serious about affairs, most likely because the Wei court was seen as being divided into those supported the Simas and those who still had their allegiances to the Cao royal family. The revolt also had a strong influence on the subsequent similarity to the 2nd and 3rd rebellions in Shouchun, as they were all inspired by the same cause, which was to unseat the Simas and restore the monarchy.
During the revolt, Sima Yi, who was pretending to be sick before the Incident at Galopping Tombs, became drastically ill and died in September 251. The regency was passed on to his oldest son Sima Shi, who immediately faced an assassination attempt and the second rebellion in Shouchun.
The Wang Ling Rebellion is often also considered a turning point in the decline of Wei and marked the beginning of the rise of the Sima clan, for Sima Yi's grandson Sima Yan would eventually unify the Three Kingdoms under the Jin Dynasty in 280.
Struggle of Wu Ling Order of battle[]
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Qin Dynasty |
Bronx OutLawz |
Modern references[]
The Wang Ling Rebellion, along with the other two uprisings, are all featured as playable stages in the Jin Story Mode in the seventh installment of the Dynasty Warriors video game series. During the stage the player plays as Sima Yi, and has to plot with Wang Ling's son Wang Guang, who chose to remain in Wei to convince his father Wang Ling to "clear his mind from the chaos". During the stage, Eastern Wu's Zhuge Ke also makes it to the battle to support Wang Ling, even though in history he never did. The rebellion also appears in the Playstation Vita port of the game, called Dynasty Warriors Next.
Historical Information[]
The conflict around Runan has its roots stem from the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The Yellow Turbans of the area, Liu Pi, He Yi, Gong Du and others had rioted against the government powers. Building their influence within the territory, they sought to conspire with Yuan Shu and Sun Ce. The Runan Commandery remained largely in their control and was never completely pacified.
During the early months of the year 200, Cao Cao sought to make the area his own and lead his forces to subjugate the lot. Liu Pi and company supposedly evaded capture and rebelled against Cao Cao in the southern provinces during the Battle of Guan Du. Yuan Shao decided to throw in his lot with the rebels, ordering Liu Bei to support their revolt. Together they took several provinces and devastated the territory surrounding Xuchang. Cao Cao was weary of their progress and feared their rapid success. Cao Ren claimed there was merit in patience and bid his lord to continue his current status in the north. He and his cavalrymen then privately repelled Liu Bei and the southern rebels. A majority of the Yellow Turbans participating in the revolt either disappear from history or were said to have been killed in action.
Cao Ren's advance gradually had the conquered provinces back within Cao Cao's influence. However, Yuan Shao still wanted to take Runan and ordered Liu Bei to attack the area again. Liu Bei collaborated with Gong Du in their bid to retake the south and were armed with several thousands of troops. This time, it was Cai Yong who attempted to protect Cao Cao's lands. However, Cai Yong was overwhelmed and was killed in battle. Cai Yong's death lead to Liu Bei advancing through a different path southward in Yuzhou. According to Record of the Three Kingdoms, several residents within Runan graciously accepted the offer to surrender to Yuan Shao.
While the forces were locked in a stalemate within the area, Wang Yu's plan of ravaging Yuan Shao's supply line ultimately rendered Yuan Shao's progress invalid. As Yuan Shao's forces suffered defeat, Liu Bei lead his own army from Runan to oppose Cao Cao. His forces were swiftly beaten, which lead to Liu Bei parting ways with the Yuan family and seeking refuge with Liu Biao in Jingzhou.