Yang Zaixing, the pioneer in seeking national autonomy

Yang Zaixing [1] (1081-1062), also known as Yang Mantang, a member of the Wugang Army (now Shaoyang, Hunan). During the Song Dynasty, the leader of the Dongman of Buzhai, Chengbuzhai, had three sons, Zheng Xiu, Zheng Gong, Zheng Xin. He was once received several times by Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty, and was given official positions and rewarded countless money.

Since the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Yang Zaixing has been in power and secretly formed a secret association in southwestern Hunan (now Chengbu Nanjie), cast weapons, recruited troops to train, and actively sought national autonomy. In the first year of Shaoxing (1131), Yang Zaixing went to Yuanzhou to contact Xia Cheng, the general of Yang Yao, to contact the uprising matters.

During the Jianyan and Shaoxing periods, because they could not bear the levy of the Song court, Zaixing and Zi Zhengxiu and Zhenggong led the 90 rebels to revolt, and moved to Wugang, Quan, Yong, Shao and other prefectures. The rebels besieged Zhaishi (Suining County), forcing government agencies to move to Sujiazhou, controlled by the Song army in the north, and were exiled for more than 20 years [2].

In the fourth year of Shaoxing (1134), Xi Yi, the governor of Hunan, sent Wu Xi to defeat him. Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty pardoned him and ordered him to be a local official to continue to govern Chengbuzhai. Because the court did not fulfill its promise, Yang Zaixing continued to attack the government forces and seize the official land.

In October of the tenth year of Shaoxing (1140), Yang Zaixing surrendered to the court. Emperor Gaozong of Song Dynasty received him and gave him a nameless official position. The following year, Yang Zaixing claimed to be the former commander of the Yue family army and led the troops and rebelled. During the peace talks between the Song and Jin Dynasties, the court had no time to take care of it.

In the fifteenth year of Shaoxing (1145), under the persuasion of Wang Li, the general of Liu Fang of Tanzhou, he surrendered to the Song Dynasty and automatically disbanded the armed forces. He immediately became a capricious and deeply troubled border.

In March of the 24th year of Shaoxing (1154), Wugang Yang Zaixing rebelled against the border and invaded Wugang, Quanzhou and Shaozhou, and conquered dozens of prefectures and counties. The former commander of the army Li Dao was ordered to conquer.

Due to the betrayal of the traitor Zhang Dun [3], Yang Zaixing was surrounded in Wugang City. Li Dao defeated the rebel army with superior troops and firepower. Li Dao captured Zaixing and his son Zheng Xiu, and saw him off. In July, Shi Yi was sentenced to death by Shi Yi. Yang Zaixing was pardoned by Emperor Gaozong of Song because he was over 70 years old and released him back to his hometown.

In the first month of the 25th year of Shaoxing (1155 AD), Xinwei (Song Gaozong) rewarded Yang Zaixing for his contribution. The Baoning Army Chengxuan envoy Li Dao was appointed as the commander of the four-box commander of the Dragon God Guard. The soldiers were promoted to the office and gave him money. Seven years later, Yang Zaixing, the King of Miao, died without illness and lived at the age of 81.

References:

【1】,【3】The Dictionary of Nouns in Hunan, Hunan, Editorial Committee of the Dictionary of Nouns in Hunan, 1992 edition, page 39

【2】Volume 2 of Wugang Prefecture Chronicles,Volume 2 of Baoqing Prefecture Chronicles

【4】《Continued Zizhi Tongjian·Volume 130》

【5】《Chronology of Emperor Gaozong of Song (Continued) IV", Donghai Collection's Blog, December 24, 2015

Yang Shengtai, a Miao hero who shocked the three provinces with great righteousness

Yang Shengtai (in the genealogy, Yang Shengda), born and died unknown, was from Tu Tu, Bushijing, Northern Song Dynasty, the chief of the Miao people, and the leader of the peasant uprising in Hunan, Guizhou and Guizhou during the Yuanyou period of Zhezong. Yang Zaisi's sixth generation grandson, Prince Binshi, the Censor of the Northern Song Dynasty, the great-grandson of Yang Tongzhao (924-986), the minister of the Ministry of Personnel, the marshal of the capital, and the grandson of Yang Guangbin (955-1014), the grandson of Yang Guangbin (955-1014), the chief of the Yinqing Guanglu official [1].

In July of the first year of Yuanyou (1087), in order to facilitate military control of the five streams, the imperial court abolished Yuanzhou and Chengzhou, withdrew the troops and guardians of the two states and changed them to Quyang Army. Soon after, Quyang Army was abolished as a fort, and was subordinate to Yuanzhou, and appointed Hu Tian, ​​the governor of Yuanzhou, as well as Quyang Army.

In July of the same year, in order to resist the restraint of the court, Yang Shengtai, the leader of the Miao and Dong tribes in Huizhou, gathered a group of people in Feishan to carry out affairs, gathering five or six thousand rebels.

Yang Shengtai became famous in a surprise attack on Wenxizhai, and the rebel army won many battles. The Quyang army was panicked and had no good solutions for a while, so he trapped the Quyang army. The imperial court sent Tang Yiwen, the Hubei transshipment envoy, to conquer the expedition, and dispatched 10,000 troops to Quyang to suppress it. Hunan also added troops to support [2]. The three routes (Jinghu North Road in northern Hunan, Jinghu South Road in eastern Hunan, and Guangnan West Road in northern Guangxi) were all shocked.

Tang Yiwen, whose courtesy name was Shixuan, was a civil servant, and was from Jiangling. He was good at writing. As soon as he arrived in Chenghuizhou, he learned from Hu Tian's letter that there were only 6,000 rebels, and there were no fear of being a mob, so he rashly brought some troops into Quyang Army.

As a result, the news was soon learned by Yang Shengtai, so he led his troops to take the Quyang army directly. The rebel army destroyed the city gate and defeated the Song army. The official army was besieged in the narrow land of Quyang, and the ammunition and food were exhausted. The rebel army surrounded the Quyang army's officers' office, and Hu Tian and Tang Yiwen became turtles in the jar.

Tang Yiwen and Hu Tian used the delaying strategy, saying that they deceived the rebel army by "reporting the emperor to withdraw their troops and requesting the emperor to restore their posts to the chiefs." Yang Shengtai withdrew his troops. Yang Shengtai waited for half a month without any results, but only then did he realize that the old fox Tang Yiwen was deceived. He was furious, so he sent troops to continue to attack Tang Yiwen's camp.

Tang Yiwen was suppressing the battle reports of Yang Shengtai's attack on the Song army. He was eager to mobilize the army to eliminate all the rebels. The situation was very critical. Yang Shengtai had to connect with Xirong (Rongzhou, Guangxi) Man Su Ren to urge a unit. The rebel army grew rapidly, and the number of people surged to more than 20,000.

Gao Taiwei, the Song Dynasty's Inner Court, recommended to the emperor that the deputy envoy of Nanchangjie Long Yu, promoted him to Huguang to appease the recruitment of the recruitment, and transferred him to Guizhou to suppress the peasant uprising in Chengzhou. Long Yu was an indigenous person in Liping, Guizhou, and was an executioner who killed people without blinking. He advocated bloody suppression of the Miao people's uprising.

More than 20,000 rebels from Dong people led by Yang Shengtai stationed troops from the border of Qian and Chu, attacking Chengzhou, Huguang and Jingzhou Roads in an emergency. Long Yu led his troops to drive directly from Changde, Hunan to the Yuanshui River, and divided into two groups: one along the Qingshui River, calming some barbarian rebel leaders on both sides of the river, marching towards Wukai and Wunaozhai; one along the Yuanshui River to Jingzhou, towards Tanxi, Chengzhou, Wukai and Wunaozhai.

Upon hearing the news, Yang Shengtai led the barbarian and rebel army to fight against Wunaozhai (now Liping City) and stationed in the military camp. Long Yuguan [3] led his troops to Xinhua, Tan Xi, Yang Lin and Wu Tianyu, the generals of Yang Shengtai, each led 4,000 troops and horses. From Zhongchao and Jiasu, they reinforced Wunaozhai to fight against Long Yuguan of the Song army.

On the seventh day of the fourth month of the second year of Zhezong (1087), the two armies fought in Wunaozhai. After five hours of actual combat, Wunaozhai fought corpses everywhere and blood flowed into a river. Yang Shengtai's generals Yang Lin and Wu Tianyu were killed in the battle, and the barbarian Dong Yi army was defeated.

Official Long Yu continued to calm down the middle tide, Yongcong and Tonggu area remnants of the rebel army, and sent some officers and soldiers to garrison the local area to prevent rebellion from the rebel army. Yang Shengtai retreated to Miaojiang, and the uprising entered a low tide. The rebel army was not frightened and insisted on resisting.

After Yang Shengtai was defeated by Wunaozhai, he learned that Long Yuguan died of illness in Taoyuan, Changde, and collected 10,000 remaining troops of the rebel army, attacked Chengzhou, and invaded Li. The rebel army cut off the way of Quyang, and the Song army was not allowed to advance.

In the third year of Yuanyou (1088), Tang Kewen saw that Yang Shengtai suffered heavy losses and thought that the opportunity to wipe out the rebel army had come, so he sent Wang An, the seventh general in the southeast, to lead troops to attack the rebel army. Wang An was proudly underestimated the enemy, and he stepped forward rashly, entering the Feishan area. During the fierce battle, Wang An was accidentally killed, and his plan to wipe out Feishan was failed, and the rebel army shocked the court.

Su Che was very disgusted with Tang Yiwen's two-faced personality, so he wrote "A Note on Quyang Barbarian Affairs" overnight, requesting to be pacified. Zhao Zhan, the Privy Council, also reported that "Although Chengzhou is located in a remote area, with small sparrows, and complete all internal organs. There are many people in the cave, with a large sphere of influence, strong and rough, brave and good at fighting, it is difficult to win Chengzhou within one year. The most urgent task is to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people of Dong, quell the war, and let the people live and work in peace and contentment." He asked the emperor to abolish Quyang's army.

The pro-war faction led by Taiwei Gao had the upper hand, and Emperor Zhezong was undecided for a moment, so the court sent Xie Lin and Li Xi to supervise the army to control barbarian affairs.

After learning about the situation in Chenghuizhou (now Chengbu, Suining, Jingzhou), Xie Lin and Li Xi believed that the establishment of officials in the ethnic minority areas in this area was not yet ripe, and advocated giving up the prefectures and counties they established to ease ethnic conflicts.

So the two jointly wrote a letter to Emperor Zhezong of Song, saying that the force could not temporarily suppress Yang Shengtai's resistance and Su Ren urged him to stop pursuing Yang Shengtai's rebel army, focusing on appeasement, and soon to relieve Jinghu's power.

Because Yang Shengtai's rebel army continued to defeat the Song army in Chenghuizhou area, military generals and civil servants in the court who requested a peaceful resolution continued to write letters, and the court agreed: "Abandon the fortress, withdraw the garrison, and give the barbarians the land."

In October, Song Zhezong issued an edict saying that in Hunan, Hubei and Guangxi Road, Yang Shengtai and others were exempted from "recovery". The roads opened by the various roads were first established and the forts were abolished.

The Northern Song Dynasty abolished Quyang Army and still called Chengzhou, Huizhou and Quyang County. Yang Changda, the son of Yang Guangzhi, was appointed as the governor of Chengzhou. Guanbao and other places were all dismissed from garrisons, and local officials were appointed to destroy towers (military buildings), and officials (camps) were removed, and residents were removed from their captains. Those who were entrusted with the border officials were punished. The roads were opened by various roads and the forts were established and abolished [4].

Since then, the Yang Shengtai Uprising has achieved a major victory, thus saving the fining. Since then, the Song court once abandoned the counties and counties in the Wuxi area.

After Emperor Huizong of Song ascended the throne, he took the Yang family's influence in Chengbuzhai too much, fearing that they would gather again to revolt, and moved all the descendants of the Yang family to Liping, Guizhou.

A few years later, Yang Shengtai sneaked back to southwestern Hunan and passed on the secrets of military tactics and martial arts to Yang Zaixing, one of the "Four Major Revival Generals" of Emperor Gaozong, who disappeared.

References:

【1】The Yang Family Genealogy Volume No. 7, 33rd year of the Republic of China, Tang Youping Publication

【2】Daoguang's "Baoqing Prefecture Chronicle·Da Zhengzhi·IV", "The history of the Miao people in Chengbu proves that only ** can save the Miao people", China Social Science Network, Lei Xueye, June 18, 2016

[3] "Preface to Family Genealogy", "Long Family Genealogy" in Hsinchu County, Hsinchu City, Taiwan, June 16, 2015??

【4】Volume 328, Four Destiny Test 5, Ma Duanlin, July 23, 2017
Chapter completed!