A Brief History of the Tujia — The Tujia After Gaitu Guiliu (III)
III. The Anti-Feudal White Lotus Rebellion: Although the Tujia region's society and economy developed rapidly after gaitu guiliu, the vast poor peasantry still held only small plots or no land at all, and had to tenant landlords' fields and "official estate lands" or sell their labor as long-term hired hands, enduring high rents and labor exploitation.
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III. The Anti-Feudal White Lotus Rebellion
After the replacement of native chieftains with government officials in the Tujia areas, although the society and economy developed rapidly, the vast number of poor peasants still owned only a small amount of land, or no land at all, and had to rent fields from landlords and "official estate fields" for cultivation, or sell their labor to work as long-term hired hands for landlords, enduring the exploitation of high rents and the extraction of their labor power. "Most of the propertied households rented their land to the weary and poor commoners," and "poor households took tenant farming as their livelihood and also hired themselves out to others." Landlords used the large tracts of fertile land they possessed to exploit the poor peasants through forms such as rent in kind, money rent, labor rent, and hired labor, among which rent in kind and hired labor were the main forms. Tenant farmers who rented land had to pay rent first, and generally the land rent was divided "fifty-fifty," while for fertile fields it was divided sixty-forty. When dividing the harvest, the tenant had to arrange for the landlord to come and inspect together; if the landlord did not arrive and the tenant harvested anyway, the tenant would be accused by the landlord of "stealing grain." In addition, tenants each year had to give gifts to the landlord, "obey the landlord's summons," and perform unpaid labor for the landlord. Some managerial landlords rented land from large landowners and then sublet it, taking advantage of the opportunity when old and new tenants vacated or took over the land to "shamelessly extort tenants... This is why the poor grew poorer and the rich grew richer." The landlord class used the great wealth they accumulated to buy land or seize property, causing "land prices to rise, and even barren hills to become expensive," with struggles over land and property leading to "a proliferation of lawsuits."
In the later period of the Qianlong reign, the ruling class became increasingly corrupt, taxes continuously increased, and the burden on the vast peasantry grew heavier and heavier. The fields that poor peasants worked hard to reclaim had to pay land taxes to the Qing court after three years. In Shinan Prefecture alone, during the twenty years from the nineteenth year of Qianlong (1754) to the thirty-ninth year (1774), 55,396 mu of land were reclaimed, increasing grain-silver revenue by 2,244 taels. As for the collection of poll taxes, it grew even more sharply. In the tenth year of Qianlong (1745), Hefeng Prefecture levied a poll tax of nine li and four hao, but by the thirty-first year it had surged to as much as one tael. In addition, Baojing and Longshan counties added new brokerage taxes, and Yongshun and Sangzhi counties added new land and house taxes, all collected and remitted in full with no fixed quota. Corvée labor assignments became even heavier, "assigned by locality and collected on schedule," and local Qing officials took the opportunity to line their own pockets, so that often dozens of poor native people waited at government offices for dozens of days, ready to be dispatched at any time. "Even sweeping the gates for inspections and tending livestock, and the luggage of various corvée teams, carrying loads back and forth, being whipped and cursed like cattle and horses—all were swallowed and endured in silence. This was the greatest harm to the people." Whenever the lean season came, the harvest was poor, or natural or man-made disasters struck, peasants were mostly forced to borrow from landlords and rich merchants, enduring exploitation by usury. At that time, usury in Longshan County reached annual interest rates of around 80 percent. After the fifty-third year of Qianlong (1788), the Xiangxi region suffered successive years of famine, with poor grain harvests: "A dou of rice was worth three thousand six hundred cash; some people ate soil and grass and died of illness; some exchanged a ball of rice flour for a woman; some used four hundred wen to buy a woman, a daughter, and a son." The vast peasantry struggled on the edge of death. In the sixtieth year of Qianlong, in order to suppress the large-scale Miao uprising in Yongshui, Qianzhou, and Fenghuang in western Hunan and eastern Guizhou, the Qing court again increased grain levies and corvée assignments in the neighboring Tujia areas. Thereupon, the vast Tujia people could bear it no longer and, together with the Miao, Han, and other peoples, launched a struggle against feudal exploitation and oppression.
(1) The White Lotus Rebellion Centered on Laifeng
In the early years of the Jiaqing reign of Emperor Renzong of the Qing, a massive White Lotus uprising broke out in the five provinces of Sichuan, Hubei, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Henan, and the White Lotus in the Tujia areas was one of the larger and earlier-uprising branches.
During the reign of Emperor Qianlong, Liu Song, a native of Luyi in Henan, once organized an uprising under the White Lotus Sect. The plot was discovered and he was arrested. His disciples Liu Zhixie, Song Zhiqing, and others went separately to the regions of Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Hubei to spread the teachings, and the number of believers grew day by day. Han Long and Yang Long, who had preached in Shaanxi, together with Wang Zijun, a native of Pingli County in Shaanxi, traveled from Xiangyang deep into the Tujia areas such as Laifeng and Youyang to preach. Poor Tujia men, women, young, and old all flocked to join the sect. In Laifeng County alone, Yang Zi'ao, a sect leader, recruited more than four thousand followers. Most of those who joined the White Lotus Sect were poor peasants who had lost their land and worked as hired laborers for landlords, and handicraft workers in towns who relied on hired labor for a living and had no property.
In the first month of the first year of Jiaqing (1796), Wang Zijun came from Xiangyang to Laifeng, notified fellow believers, and set a date to rise in rebellion simultaneously with the White Lotus in the Jing and Xiang regions. Nie Jieren and Zhang Zhengmo of Zhijiang and Changyang in Hubei led the White Lotus in uprising first in the first month. Then the White Lotus of Laifeng and Changyang rose in response one after another, and the flames of struggle spread across the Tujia areas of Laifeng, Longshan, Xianfeng, Youyang, Xuan'en, Lichuan, Jianshi, Badong, Changyang, Changle, and elsewhere.
On the fifteenth day of the second month, sect leaders Hu Zhengzhong, Yang Zi'ao, Yang Yujiu, Tan Anxiang, and others of Laifeng held a knife sacrifice at the home of the great sect leader Tang Gui in Xiao'ao, wrapped white cloth around their heads, used white flags as their signal, and raised the banner of rebellion. The great sect leader Tian Gudun at Qigu Fort, Xiang Wenjin at Jianiu Cave, and Wang Changqing at Hengkangli rose in uprising at the same time upon hearing the news.
After the White Lotus uprising in Laifeng County, they concentrated on attacking corrupt officials and landlord gentry. The sect leader Wang Changqing led believers in killing Magistrate Zhuang Renlan and the county jailer and others at Hongyantuo, and of more than four hundred Qing soldiers and local militia, "eight out of ten died." As for those landlord gentry who had committed many evils, the serious offenders were executed and the lesser ones were bound and taken away, dealing the landlord class a heavy blow. "An investigation of the well-to-do households of Laifeng found that all had been burned and plundered, not one in a hundred remained, except within the layered peaks and ridges where traces could not be found, and occasionally one or two families were preserved... All the rich households of the entire county were extorted." On the eighteenth day of the second month, all White Lotus units gathered and captured Laifeng County town. In just a few days, the Tujia, Han, Miao, and other peoples who joined the White Lotus uprising reached thirty to forty thousand. Each sect leader "had under his name no fewer than seven or eight hundred people, and at most three or four thousand, distributed in various places." The towns, markets, and all major transportation routes within the county were occupied by the believers, and only the one hundred eighty soldiers led by Qing Deputy General Fan Jizu held out isolated at a corner of Maodong.
To prevent the Qing army from launching an attack from Sichuan, they made full use of the advantageous mountainous terrain and established strongholds at three places—Qigu Fort, Chayuan Stream, and Xiao'ao—which were surrounded by layered peaks, suitable for both attack and defense. With Qigu Fort and Chayuan Stream as the eastern and western horns, they could easily support and coordinate with each other. The sixty to seventy thousand believers gathered there actively built defensive fortifications at each stronghold, dug up all the mountain paths leading to the strongholds, and piled stones on the mountain tops to roll down on the Qing troops when they attacked, so as to hold firm. The central stronghold, Qigu Fort, located atop a high mountain with dense forests and winding paths, about eight or nine li long and four or five li wide, was surrounded by wooden walls, planted everywhere with bamboo spikes and iron nails, and encircled by moats and pits, making its defenses thorough. They collected iron tools from the people and made weapons themselves. With Qu Wenqing, who "made a living by blacksmithing in ordinary times," as their leader, they organized those among the believers who knew how to forge iron and "set up thirty furnaces, casting day and night," producing four to five thousand swords and spears, more than twenty mountain fowling pieces, and also collected "barbarian knives" used for chopping firewood from the people as weapons.
While building and consolidating their strongholds, the White Lotus of Laifeng County also actively expanded outward. On one hand, they ordered believers to go to Youyang in Sichuan and Xianfeng in Hubei to carry out activities; on the other hand, they sent believers to Zhaotou Fort in Tashali, and to Doucheba Pavilion, Yangque Slope, Tiantiao Flat, Luogu Pool, Xiche, and other places in Xiluoili of Longshan County, Hunan, to attack landlords and gentry. The vast poor Tujia, Miao, Han, and other peoples of Longshan County joined the sect one after another and joined the ranks of the anti-feudal struggle. When the White Lotus attacked Longshan, "many people of the county followed them." From Yantang and Chayuan Stream east of Shiliangzi in Laifeng County to Xiche, Miaozhaigou, and Xinglong'ao in Longshan County, all were gathering places for the White Lotus.
On the fourteenth day of the third month, the White Lotus took advantage of the opportunity when the Qing troops at the Longshan garrison were transferred to suppress the Miao uprising in western Hunan and the town's defenses were empty, and attacked Longshan County town. Because Qing officials were increasingly corrupt, Longshan County's "city walls were mostly collapsed, and the guns, cannons, swords, and spears stored in the arsenal were mostly rotten and unusable. Upon hearing the alarm, everyone inside and outside was panic-stricken and at a loss." Magistrate Lin Longzhang had no choice but to organize landlord militia and defend while building fortifications. The White Lotus believers, carrying large wooden planks on their backs and holding short knives, or holding long ladders, climbed the city walls, and Longshan County town was on the verge of falling. At this moment, Zhu Shenbao, the Qing commander of the Jianchang garrison in Sichuan, arrived with a large force of Qing troops, cutting off the rear of the rebel army, and the rebels were forced to abandon their plan to take the town and withdraw from the siege.
When the White Lotus first rose in Laifeng, Qing local officials thought the White Lotus was merely a "mob" that could be "dispersed after one or two suppressions" in a short time, and was not to be feared. However, the White Lotus developed rapidly, the number of followers increased daily, and the area of activity grew larger and larger. Even Sichuan Governor-General Sun Shiyi had to admit that the White Lotus not only had "a truly large number of people, among whom there were also quite a few fierce ones; it appears they have long harbored rebellious intentions." Facing the ever-growing White Lotus rebel army, Sun Shiyi was at his wit's end and could only "defend Longshan, not daring to neglect one for the other." The Qing court was extremely panicked and deeply felt that its forces were insufficient and inadequate for deployment. Emperor Jiaqing on one hand issued an edict ordering Zhu Shenbao to quickly lead troops to suppress the White Lotus in Laifeng and Longshan, and to prevent the Hubei White Lotus from linking up with the Miao rebel army in the Qianzhou area of western Hunan, which he considered "the most important"; on the other hand, he ordered Fukang'an and Helin to focus exclusively on directing Qing troops to suppress the Miao uprising, "not to act rashly," and "not to take Hubei into account." Huguang Governor-General Funing organized landlord militia to cooperate with the Qing army, adding military posts at strategic passes along the Sangzhi-Yongding line to prevent the White Lotus of Laifeng and Longshan from linking up with those of Changyang, Zhijiang, and Yidu; and also increased troops along the major transportation routes of Xianfeng and Xuan'en, guarding day and night, in an attempt to stop the White Lotus from spreading.
After the Qing rulers adopted various defensive measures, Sichuan Governor-General Sun Shiyi assembled troops from Sichuan and attacked the rebel stronghold of Xiao'ao on the eighteenth day of the third month. Intimidated by the large number of rebels and the dangerous terrain, Sun Shiyi did not dare attack head-on. He personally led one thousand officers and soldiers, made a detour from Sichuan to the mountain ridge behind Xiao'ao, and launched a surprise attack late at night while the rebels were unprepared. After fierce fighting, three to four thousand rebels were killed or wounded, and the rest broke out and retreated to Qigu Fort; Xiao'ao fell. Then the Qing army divided into four routes, first defeating the rebels at Yantang, Xinglong'ao, Xiaxiche, Miaozhaigou, Shijiangjun, Lanma Mountain, Tongpen Well, Shangxiche, Tangjia Mouth, and other places, and then concentrated forces to attack the Chayuan Stream stronghold by separate routes. The rebels at Chayuan Stream "upon seeing the government troops arrive, led the masses to resist, showing no fear at all," and engaged the Qing army in fierce hand-to-hand combat. In the end, overwhelmed by superior numbers, Chayuan Stream was occupied by the Qing army.
After the fall of the two important strongholds of Xiao'ao and Chayuan Stream, about tens of thousands of believers from the four counties of Xuan'en, Xianfeng, Longshan, and Sangzhi gathered at Qigu Fort, divided into nine camps, and their momentum revived. Several thousand rebels gathered at Hongyan Fort actively built defensive fortifications, prepared to strike hard at the Qing army's attack, and "constantly spied on the government troops' movements, without the slightest fear," forcing the Qing army to dare not act rashly for a long time. In late May, the Qing army attacked Hongyan Fort many times but was defeated by the rebels each time. Sichuan Governor-General Sun Shiyi, worried and anxious, died of anger. The rebel army took advantage of the victory to launch proactive attacks toward Sanbao Ridge, Jiucai Garden, and Hongyu Spring and Qijing Sha in Xuan'en County.
In early July, Huguang Governor-General Funing and Chengdu General Guancheng led large numbers of Qing troops from Sichuan and Hubei, dividing into four routes to jointly attack the isolated Qigu Fort rebels. When Zhu Shenbao's army crossed the river at Dayanping, the rebels "divided into several routes and came to resist." Taking advantage of the muddy roads and steep narrow paths after heavy rain, they fought the enemy bravely, "showing no fear at all, risking death and pressing forward." Just as the two armies were locked in fierce battle, the rebels suddenly sent two or three thousand men to make a detour toward the Longshan River to cut off the Qing army's rear and attack the weakly defended Longshan County town. Seeing the unfavorable situation, Funing said, "Longshan is of critical importance... the county town has only one or two hundred soldiers left, and it is difficult to hold," and "Zhu Shenbao also feared Longshan would fall," so they urgently ordered troops to withdraw to the Longshan River. With brave and tenacious fighting spirit and flexible tactics, the White Lotus rebel army shattered the Qing army's large-scale offensive. The Qing army could not take Qigu Fort for a long time, "and its wooden walls were very solid; guns and cannons were fired repeatedly without causing the slightest damage." They sent the defected believers and Longshan military students Xiang Qing and An Dingbang, awarded them the rank of camp lieutenant, and had them lead a small number of officers and soldiers to infiltrate Qigu Fort and secretly collude with Yang Zaiqi and dozens of others inside as internal collaborators. The Qing army attacked from all sides, and Xiang Qing, An Dingbang, and others took the opportunity to set fires, "houses and thatched huts all burning at once." More than ten thousand rebels were in imminent danger, "desperately resisting, with guns, stones, and rocks falling like rain." Both sides suffered heavy casualties: "the rebels suffered many casualties, and no few soldiers and militia were killed either."
After several days of fierce contention, the rebels' central stronghold, Qigu Fort, finally fell on the eighteenth day of the seventh month under the Qing army's internal and external pincer attack. Nearly ten thousand believers died heroically; sect leaders Tian Gudun, Tang Gui, Hu Zhengzhong, Yang Yujiu, Qin Yishi, and more than two thousand believers were captured one after another; more than one thousand several hundred tile-roofed buildings and several thousand thatched huts were all burned, and all stored grain and gunpowder were destroyed; Qigu Fort was reduced to ashes. The Qing army brutally massacred the fleeing and scattered believers: "Those captured and executed by the soldiers and militia at the various posts—there was not a day without them." Funing, under the pretext of distributing clothing and food, lured more than two thousand captives from Qigu Fort to Longshan County town and killed them all to claim credit. Wei Yuan once lamented this atrocity, saying it "strengthened the rebel party's determination to follow the rebellion and lost the court's credibility in offering amnesty." Even captured family members, from the elderly over eighty to infants of one or two years old, men and women alike, were all beheaded without exception—truly extreme brutality!
(2) The White Lotus Rebellion Centered on Changyang
Echoing the White Lotus uprising in Laifeng and Longshan from afar, Lin Zhihua at Jiuzhou River, Qin Shihui at Zongxi Hua'er Wuchang, and Qin Jiayao at Langping in Changyang County led uprisings in the same year in the second month. After the uprising, the various rebel units joined forces at Langping. Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua led more than fifteen thousand believers to move to the precipitous Huangbai Mountain to establish a stronghold, organize camps and troops, and confer official titles and ranks. Qin Jiayao was the old camp, Lin Zhihua the central camp, and separate left, right, front, and rear camps were also established, with official positions such as governor, military adviser, vanguard, inspector, and supervisor. At the same time, sect leaders Li Deng'ao at Longma Mountain in Xuan'en County, Zhu Dehong in Enshi County, and natives Lan Guangxian and Lao Tingzhu at Gepu Stream in Changle County, as well as those at Duima Mountain, Mazong Ridge, and Yangshu Flat in Badong County, rose up one after another in response. Some had several dozen people, some "numbered several hundred," among them about one thousand believers who rose at Jinxiangping in Badong County, and Li Deng'ao at Longma Mountain in Xuan'en County led as many as four thousand people. Apart from the Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua units, the other rebel units, because of their smaller numbers, scattered forces, and lack of support, were quickly suppressed by Qing local officers and soldiers together with landlord militia.
After Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua gathered at Huangbai Mountain, they defeated the attacks of several thousand Qing soldiers and militia at Chajiao Stone, Xiufeng Bridge, and other places in Changyang County, and proactively sent forces by separate routes toward Changle, Badong, and Guizhou (present-day Yichang) to pin down Qing forces. At the same time, the White Lotus of Fengjie County in Sichuan entered the Changyantang and Louziba areas of Lichuan County and gathered with nearly two thousand local believers, but suffered frenzied suppression by Qing troops and landlord militia from the three counties of Fengjie, Enshi, and Lichuan. In the ninth month of the same year, Chu Governor Hui Ling, Generals Chengde and Guancheng, and Provincial Military Commander Wentu led large numbers of officers and soldiers to besiege Huangbai Mountain; Sichuan Governor-General Fuling led troops from Sichuan to join them, and Huguang Governor-General Funing, after suppressing the White Lotus in Laifeng and Longshan, also moved his troops to the Langping area. The Qing army guarded every pass, blockaded layer upon layer, and also divided troops into three routes to attack. Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua's followers relied on the natural barrier of Huangbai Mountain, which stretched over a hundred li with dense ridges and obstacles, and faced off against the Qing army. But the Qing army, "with its forces divided, also found it difficult to penetrate deeply," and the standoff lasted as long as half a year, with the Qing army's prolonged attacks proving ineffective.
In the third month of the following year, Marquis Weiyong Eledengbao led troops as reinforcements, and the Qing army launched an all-out offensive against Huangbai Mountain: "Cannons bombarded day and night, the sound shaking hundreds of li." The rebels, overwhelmed by superior numbers, broke through the heavy Qing encirclement and retreated to Baye Mountain at the border of Hefeng Prefecture. In this campaign the rebels suffered heavy casualties and their numbers greatly decreased, so they changed tactics and adopted the flexible mobile strategy of "only in groups of several hundred, now dividing and now joining, now south and now north," waging mobile warfare and resisting the government troops in the high mountains and steep ridges of Jianshi, Changle, Xuan'en, Badong, Guizhou, and other places. Wherever the rebel army went, it received the support of poor Tujia and Han peasants. General Mingliang wrote in a memorial: the rebel army "wherever it arrived, had houses to rest in, food, clothing, and gunpowder to supply them, mules, horses, and fodder to seize for riding and replacement, and coerced people to serve as guides and porters." When the rebel army went from Jianshi in Hubei to the Tonggubao and Pinglongba areas of Wushan in Sichuan, the number of villagers along the way who joined the rebel army to fight reached two or three thousand, which shows how deeply the rebel army won the hearts of the people.
In August, just as the rebel armies of Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua were active in the mountainous areas of western Hubei fighting government troops, two rebel forces from Fengjie in Sichuan, led by sect leaders Yang Xiulong and Tang Yongli, merged. Each had gathered several thousand followers and entered places such as Wujiaba in Lichuan County to encamp. Lichuan sect leaders Chen Dapeng, Chen Weixin, and others led their followers in active operations around Shizhuangping, Yagongtou, and other places, pinning down government troops. Yang Xiulong and Tang Yongli then ordered Wang Zuojin and others to slip into Enshi County to make contact with Enshi sect leader Chen Yaochuan and others, gathering more than a thousand people at Mugong to coordinate and fight in concert. Yang Xiulong and Tang Yongli assembled over ten thousand people and, with the speed of a thunderbolt, suddenly attacked the Nanping area of Lichuan County.
As rebel armies rose on all sides, the Qing rulers were greatly shaken and felt deeply that their forces were insufficient, "not enough for the purpose of suppression." They feared that the rebel armies might capture Shinan Prefecture city, less than a hundred li away, and Lichuan County town, only forty li distant, and also feared that this rebel force might link up with the Qin Jiayao and Lin Zhihua units in Badong County, only one post-station away. The Jiaqing Emperor repeatedly issued edicts reprimanding Sichuan Governor Yi Mian: "As Governor, you have been there conducting suppression for a long time without any planning, allowing the bandits to run rampant. They have even crossed into Chu territory—truly incompetent and shameless." On one hand, troops were mobilized from Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Jiangxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and other provinces; on the other hand, landlord militia and local levies were vigorously organized to compensate for the Eight Banners and Green Standard troops' growing corruption and loss of combat effectiveness. It was stipulated that "all gentry and local braves"—"those who are especially outstanding in their efforts shall be given the sixth-rank button, and the rest who exert extraordinary effort shall be granted seventh- or eighth-rank buttons as appropriate." Thereupon, landlords and local magnates vied with one another to organize militia to assist government troops in battle, pursuing and killing rebel forces, or guarding strategic passes, or protecting cities, or supplying rice to the local braves; some even "donated their own family wealth to cast cannons and present them to the officials"—in all manner of forms, too numerous to mention. In October, government troops from various provinces converged on western Hubei, and the landlord militia aided the tyrant in his evil deeds, causing rebel forces everywhere to suffer brutal suppression; even some innocent common people were massacred. When the Qing army attacked the rebel forces who had disguised themselves as government troops and were encamped at Baiyizhai in Changle County, Funing actually ordered that anyone who captured a rebel alive would be "rewarded with five thousand cash." "Soldiers and braves vied with one another to seize common people to claim credit; upon reaching camp, without any inquiry into guilt or innocence, they killed them." Lin Zhihua died in battle at Damaotian in Wushan County. Qin Jiayao led his followers back to Zhulizhai in Changyang County, then moved on to Zhongbaozhai in Guizhou. In the spring of the third year of Jiaqing (1798), rebel leaders Qin Jiayao, Zhang Zhengchao, and others were captured by landlord magnates of Jianshi County. The two-year White Lotus Rebellion in the Tujia region thus completely failed under the suppression of the Qing army and landlord militia.
In this large-scale White Lotus Rebellion spanning the Hunan-Hubei-Sichuan-Guizhou border region, from leaders to rank-and-file, most were Tujia people, and some poor Han and Miao peasants also joined successively. Although this uprising failed, it dealt a heavy blow to the feudal rule of the Qing dynasty, forcing it to adopt certain measures to ease class contradictions. It proclaimed the exemption of land taxes for two years in Enshi, Lichuan, and other places, and provided seeds and cattle to those with farmland in Laifeng and Longshan as appropriate, so that they could resume production as quickly as possible. In this struggle, many heroic and moving figures emerged among the Tujia people, and their deeds are still celebrated among the Tujia to this day.