A Brief History of the Tujia — The Tujia in the Tang and Song Periods (III)
III. Tujia Resistance Struggles in the Tang and Song Periods: The Tang and Song periods saw various complex struggles in Tujia areas, including jimi prefectural governors resisting Tang and Song court control, the Tujia people fighting against oppression and exploitation, and Tujia rulers launching separatist wars at opportune moments. In the 12th year of the Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (724), Qin Xing, leader of the Xizhou Man...
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III. Tujia Resistance Struggles during the Tang and Song Periods
During the Tang and Song periods, various intricate and complex struggles appeared in Tujia areas: struggles by Jimi prefectural governors resisting Tang-Song dynastic control, struggles by the Tujia people against oppression and exploitation, and also separatist wars launched by Tujia rulers taking advantage of the situation. In the twelfth year of the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (724), Qin Xingzhang, leader of the Xizhou Man, led his followers in revolt against Tang control. Emperor Xuanzong sent Yang Sixu, a eunuch by background, as Qianzhong Zhaotao Shi, leading sixty thousand troops to suppress them. Because they were outnumbered, more than thirty thousand Xizhou Tujia soldiers died heroically, and Qin Xingzhang was defeated and captured.
After the An Lushan Rebellion, the north long remained in a chaotic situation of feudal separatism, and the Tang court intensified its squeezing and extortion of the people of all ethnic groups in the south, thus arousing resistance among them. In Shannan West Circuit, where a large number of Tujia lived, "the land is poor and the people impoverished; since the An Lushan period, 'bandits' have attacked and plundered, and the population has sharply declined"; this was still so in the time of Emperor Dezong of Tang. In the sixteenth year of the Zhenyuan era of Emperor Dezong of Tang (800), Wei Shizong, Qianzhong Guanchashi, issued harsh orders, and even the garrison officer Fu Jin could not endure it and rose in opposition; as a result, Wei Shizong fled to Shizhou. In the sixth year of the Yuanhe era of Emperor Xianzong of Tang (811), a great flood occurred in Qianzhou and destroyed the city walls of the seat of the Qianzhong Guanchashi. Dou Qun sent the stream-and-cave Man of the Jimi prefectures of Chen, Jin, Shi, Xu, Jiang, and Xi to repair the city walls. Because "the corvee was supervised too urgently," the people of all ethnic groups in Chen and Jin prefectures, under the leadership of Zhang Bojing, rose one after another against tyrannical rule. Although the Tang court demoted Dou Qun, the people of all ethnic groups still persisted in struggle and even fought as far as Feizhou and Bozhou. Although Cui Neng, Qianzhong Jinglüeshi, Liu Gongchuo, Hunan Guanchashi, and Yan Shou, Jingnan Jiedushi, repeatedly sent troops to suppress them, "in three years they could not be pacified." Later Zhang Bojing requested transfer to Jingnan; the court granted his request and appointed him Sima of Guizhou, entrusting him with service in the Jingnan army, and adopted a pacification policy, which only then temporarily calmed the struggle against corvee among the people of all ethnic groups in western Hunan.
In the late Tang period, factional strife continued unabated, politics became even more corrupt, and the people had no means of livelihood, arousing large-scale peasant uprisings throughout the country. In the first year of the Qianfu era (874), the great uprisings of Wang Xianzhi and Huang Chao broke out. Later Wang Xianzhi advanced troops into Jingnan, and Huang Chao went north from Lingnan and once captured the commanderies of Hunan. When he took Lizhou, he executed Li Xuan, prefect of Lizhou. At this time, the Youyang Man of Qianzhou also rose in uprising in response.
In the winter of the fourth year of the Chunhua era of Emperor Taizong of Song (993), Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun launched a great peasant uprising in Xichuan, which quickly spread throughout Sichuan, "reaching Jiange in the north and occupying the Wu Gorge in the south." When Song troops passed through the gorge passage, they met heroic resistance from Tujia and Han rebel forces in the gorge region. Later, Zhang Yu, remaining force of Li Shun, still persisted in struggle, again broke through Fu, Zhong, Wan, Kai, and other prefectures under Kuizhou Circuit, and captured Shizhou city. Zhang Yu's anti-Song activities in eastern Chongqing and western Hubei all received support from the Tujia people.
In the first year of the Tianxi era of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (1017), all the interior commanderies of Song suffered a great famine. Peng Rumeng, a Man of the Xi route, took the opportunity to expand into neighboring interior commanderies, moving the Xizhou bronze pillar northward to enlarge his territory. The Song court sent troops to stop him and ordered him to return the bronze pillar to its original place. The next year, Li Shouyuan, Chenzhou Duxunjianshi, led troops into Baiwu Tuan, and Qian Jiang, prefect of Chenzhou, led an attack as far as Xiaxizhou, routing Peng Rumeng's forces and capturing his son Peng Shihan, whom they took back to Bianjing as a hostage; Peng Rumeng fled into the mountains and forests. Later, through the mediation of Tian Yanyan, chief of the Man of Shunzhou (present-day Xuan'en), Peng Rumeng returned the Han households and weapons and armor he had obtained, and at Mingtan swore a blood oath with Song officials, ending the dispute. From around the Tianxi era of Zhenzong to the early Tiansheng era of Renzong (about 1019-1023), Peng Shihan escaped from Bianjing back to Xiaxizhou, and together with local officials such as Li Shuntong and She Hu led soldiers into Chenzhou territory to seize land and killed the Chenzhou xunjian. The Song general Shi Fang supervised troops into Xizhou, killed She Hu, and caused more than eight hundred people including Li Shuntong to surrender. Seeing that the Song army had already penetrated deep into Xizhou, to his disadvantage, Peng Rumeng immediately sent another son, Peng Shiduan, to kill Peng Shihan to show his loyalty. The Song court then promoted Peng Rumeng to Jianxiao Shangshu Zuo Puye and restored the feudal order among Xi, Li, and Chen.
At the same time as Peng Shihan resisted Song control, Tian Yanyan, a Man of Shunzhou (in present-day Xuan'en), led Tujia soldiers to attack Shizhou city. Shi Fang supervised troops from Kuizhou to Shizhou to relieve the siege, defeated the stockade soldiers, and pressed on to Fu and Shun prefectures, pursuing Tian Yanyan as far as Qinuo Shan; Tian Yanyan was defeated and surrendered.
In the tenth month of the second year of the Zhihe era of Emperor Renzong of Song (1055), when Peng Shixi, youngest son of Peng Rumeng, a Man of Xiaxizhou, served as prefect, he annexed the land of the thirteen oath-subordinate prefectures, seized the seals of the oath-subordinate prefectures, styled himself "Ruyi Dawang," appointed officials and filled offices on his own, monopolized the profits of "tribute and imperial grants," and did not accept Song court control. Because his wife had been taken by his father Peng Shixi, Peng Shibao went in anger to Chenzhou to lodge a complaint. The prefect, tongpan, and zhuanyunshi of Chenzhou consulted and sent several thousand Song troops to Xizhou to stop him, thus triggering a war of control and counter-control. Peng Shibao served as guide for the Song army; when the army reached Taohua Cave between Yongding and Cili, Peng Shixi fled to the deep mountains and old forests of Xiamuwan Cave. In this war the Song army leveled all the passes, broke through his residence, and captured his family and the bronze pillar, but sixty to seventy percent of the government troops also died in battle, and in the end they still could not stop him. In the eighth month of the following year, the Song court used "reducing the annual grants for the tribute of five or seven prefectures" as bait, hoping to induce Peng Shixi to resubmit, but Peng Shixi still opposed Song. In the third year of the Jiayou era of Emperor Renzong of Song (1058), the court again sent Lei Jianfu and Dou Shunqing to suppress him, building a stockade at Mingxi to control the strategic pass that Xizhou had to pass through to reach Chen and Li, and then Dou Shunqing led troops first to take Fuzhou (present-day Laifeng, Xianfeng, and other places). The Man general Wannian Zhou resisted at Shimaya, but the Tujia troops were weak; Wannian Zhou died in battle, and Fuzhou city fell. The Song army gained the area of Shimaya and Nuoxi, and then advanced toward Xiaxizhou city. Peng Shixi was willing to abide by the old agreement, and only then did the Song army halt at Xincheng. Peng Shixi returned the armor, weapons, and soldiers he had seized over the years, and Song officials "returned his family and the bronze pillar," writing the "Mingxi Xinzhai Timing Ji" (the Red-Character Stele), carved on the cliff at Mingxi north of Yuanling County, to make clear their pledge. The ten-year-long struggle of control and counter-control then came to an end.
In the ninth year of the Xining era of Emperor Shenzong of Song (1076), Peng Shiyan, a Man of Xizhou, and Sun Jingwei, Peng Deru, Xiang Yongsheng, Qin Wenmeng, and Qin Yanba, cave Man of the oath-subordinate prefectures, jointly launched a struggle against control, but they were very quickly won over by the Song court. Huixi city was built, and Xizhou and its oath-subordinate prefectures were transferred to Chenzhou to strengthen control over these Jimi prefectures. In the second year of the Yuanfeng era (1079), the Shunzhou Man in the Shizhou area again rose against Song, but were quickly suppressed by Song troops.
In the late Northern Song, the peasant uprisings led by Fang La and Song Jiang arose one after another, and the Jin people took the opportunity to move south. Kong Yanzhou, formerly a Song general, gathered routed soldiers and harassed Jingnan, Ding, Li, and other commanderies and counties, causing deep disaster to the Tujia, Miao, Han, and other peoples. In the second year of the Jianyan era of Emperor Gaozong of Southern Song (1128), Liao Yan of Cili led the people in resistance and raised troops at Baidi City (present-day Liaocheng). The next year, the Song general Wang Pi turned against Song, captured Guizhou, and entered present-day Chongqing municipality; "the various Man of Youyang rose in response," jointly opposing Song. In the second month of the fourth year of the Jianyan era (1130), the peasant uprising of Zhong Xiang and Yang Yao broke out in the Dongting Lake area. Zhong Xiang, with the call to "equalize the noble and the base, and equalize the rich and the poor," won the support of the people of all ethnic groups around Dingzhou. When Kong Yanzhou entered Lizhou, Zhong Xiang raised troops, captured Lizhou, killed the defending officials of Lizhou, and punished the local tyrants, dealing a heavy blow to Song court rule. The joint struggle of Tujia and Han and several other ethnic groups in Shimen and Cili of Lizhou, Yuanling of Chenzhou, and Changyang of Jingnan ended in failure. Ran Weiyi was therefore also granted the position of Xunfeng Dafu Zhizhoushi.
After the Mongol nobles moved south to pasture, the Song court repeatedly requisitioned Tujia soldiers from the borders of Hunan, Hubei, Chongqing, and Guizhou to resist the Mongol nobles. In the first year of the Jingyan era of Emperor Duanzong of Song (1276), Mongol nobles led troops to attack Shizhou and met firm resistance from local Tujia and Han people. The Mongol troops broke through Shizhou city, and Xiang Gen of Zhengxiang in Shizhou Dao still resolutely refused to submit and died heroically.