Guanqiu Jian Guanqiu Jian (died 16 March 255), courtesy name Zhonggong, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Life Guanqiu Jian was from Wenxi County (), Hedong Commandery, which i ...

Wen Qin Wen Qin (died February or March 258), courtesy name Zhongruo, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He served as the Inspector of Yang Province during the reign of t ...

Cao Wei Wei ( Hanzi: 魏; pinyin: ''Wèi'' <

: *''ŋjwei^C'' <

, against the regent

Sima Shi Sima Shi () (208 – 23 March 255), courtesy name Ziyuan, was a military general and regent of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. In 249, he assisted his father Sima Yi in overthrowing the emperor Cao Fang's regent Cao Shuang, all ...

and his clan. This was the second of a series of three rebellions that all took place in Shouchun (壽春; present-day

Shou County Shou County or Shouxian () is a county in the north-central part of Anhui Province, China, and is located on the southern (right) bank of the Huai River. It is the southernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city A prefectur ...

,

Lu'an Lu'an (), is a prefecture-level city in western Anhui province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan to the northwest and Hubei to the southwest. As of the 2020 census, it had a total population of 4,393,699 inhabitants whom 1,752,537 liv ...

,

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

) in the 250s during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty and wa ...

period in Chinese history.

Background

In 249, the Wei regent

Sima Yi Sima Yi ( ; 179 CE – 7 September 251 CE), courtesy name Zhongda, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He formally began his political career in 208 un ...

seized power from his co-regent,

Cao Shuang Cao Shuang (died 9 February 249), courtesy name Zhaobo, was a Chinese military general and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the eldest son of Cao Zhen, a prominent general of Wei. He initially held ...

, at the

Incident at Gaoping Tombs The Incident at the Gaoping Tombs was a ''coup d'état'' that took place on 5 February 249 in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. The parties involved were Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, who were both regents for ...

and completely controlled the Wei government. His eldest son,

Sima Shi Sima Shi () (208 – 23 March 255), courtesy name Ziyuan, was a military general and regent of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. In 249, he assisted his father Sima Yi in overthrowing the emperor Cao Fang's regent Cao Shuang, all ...

, who succeeded him, deposed the Wei emperor

Cao Fang Cao Fang () (232–274), courtesy name Lanqing, was the third emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was an adopted son of Cao Rui, the second ruler of Wei. Cao Fang ruled from 239 to 254 as a nominal emperor bef ...

in 254 and replaced him with

Cao Mao Cao Mao () (241 – 2 June 260), courtesy name Yanshi, was the fourth emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a grandson of Cao Pi, the first emperor of Wei. Described as intelligent and studious, ...

upon discovering Cao Fang's plot to return power back to the imperial family. The generals

Guanqiu Jian Guanqiu Jian (died 16 March 255), courtesy name Zhonggong, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Life Guanqiu Jian was from Wenxi County (), Hedong Commandery, which i ...

and

Wen Qin Wen Qin (died February or March 258), courtesy name Zhongruo, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He served as the Inspector of Yang Province during the reign of t ...

, who were stationed in Shouchun, were disgruntled with the Simas and decided to rebel only months after the installment of Cao Mao to the Wei throne.

Planning

When Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin rebelled, they decided to secretly obtain masses of troops without giving away that their intentions were to revolt. They sent a messenger to Zhuge Dan to recruit and levy heavy quantities from Yu Province. Finding that this was an unreasonable request, Zhuge Dan deduced that they were plotting a revolt and had the messenger executed.

Rebellion

News of the uprising quickly reached Wei's rival state,

Eastern Wu Wu ( Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' <

Eastern Han Chinese

: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in h ...

, which had long desired Shouchun. The Wu emperor

Sun Liang Sun Liang (245–260), courtesy name Ziming, was the second emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the youngest son and heir of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu. He is also known as the Prince of ...

sent troops to aid Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin to weaken the Wei forces. Sun Jun led the support forces with

Liu Zan Liu Zan (183–255), courtesy name Zhengming, was a military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under the warlord Sun Quan (later the founding emperor of Wu) in the late Eastern Han ...

and

Lü Ju Lü Ju (died 12 November 256), courtesy name Shiyi, was a military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Lü Fan, a general who served under Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu ...

. Sima Shi,

Hu Zun HU or Hu may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Hu Sanniang, a fictional character in the ''Water Margin'', one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature * Tian Hu, one of the antagonists in the ''Water Margin'' * Hollywood Unde ...

,

Deng Ai Deng Ai (197 – late March 264Vol.04 of ''Sanguozhi'' and vol.02 of ''Jin Shu'' both indicated that Deng Ai was arrested in the 1st month of the 1st year of the ''Xianxi'' era. The month corresponds to 15 Feb to 14 Mar 264 in the Julian calendar ...

and

Zhuge Dan Zhuge Dan (died 10 April 258), courtesy name Gongxiu, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. When he held key military appointments throughout his middle to late career, h ...

merged forces and marched upon the rebels. Wang Ji, the Inspector of

Jing Province Jingzhou or Jing Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China referenced in Chinese historical texts such as the ''Tribute of Yu'', '' Erya'' and '' Rites of Zhou''. Jingzhou became an administrative division during the reign of Empe ...

, was told to capture Nandun before Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin could do so. The Wei army then halted and mobilised, successfully instilling fear in movements in the rebel army, which would ultimately end their uprising. The

Huai River The Huai River (), Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in China. It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...

northern region was where the rebels' families were, which brought down the rebels' morale. Troops abandoned Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin. When Sima Shi saw this, Deng Ai was ordered to take his forces into Yuejia garrison, with a mere number of troops. He then fooled Wen Qin into attacking it, with Wen Qin thinking that there was only a small force there. That night Sima Shi was able to bring his main force to reinforce Luojia without Wen Qin’s knowing though a pontoon bridge. Wen Qin sent his son, Wen Yang, to attack the city in the night. As a result, Wen Yang threw himself against a massive force of more than 100,000 men and was completely unsuccessful. When morning came, Wen Qin saw how large the army against him suddenly was and he fled. He ordered a retreat but was ultimately routed by Sima Ban. This caused a massive amount of Shouchun's population to flee to Wu in fear that they would be massacred. The rest of the rebels disbanded, and Guanqiu Jian was murdered in Shen County by Zhang Shu. Wen Qin immediately fled to Wu. By the time Wen Qin had reached Xiang county, Shouchun, and the rest of the Huai River region was captured by Zhuge Dan. The Wu forces by this time had not yet arrived, so they quickly ordered retreat from Dongxing. Zhuge Dan sent troops to attack the Wu forces, killing Liu Zan and many of their troops.

Aftermath

Wen Qin and his family successfully retreated to Wu, but was killed by Zhuge Dan when the latter rebelled a few years later. Sima Shi was young and had no heirs, so the regency was given to his second brother,

Sima Zhao Sima Zhao () (211 – 6 September 265), courtesy name Zishang, was a Chinese military general, politician, and regent of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Sima Zhao capably maintained control of Wei, which had been ...

. Sima Zhao quelled a

third rebellion in Shouchun Zhuge Dan's Rebellion, or the Third Rebellion in Shouchun, was a revolt led by Zhuge Dan, a general from the state of Cao Wei, against the regent Sima Zhao. Zhuge Dan received some support from Eastern Wu, Cao Wei's rival state. It was the thi ...

led by Zhuge Dan a few years later, and later launched the conquest of Shu a few years later. Then Sima Zhao died and the regency was given to his son,

Sima Yan Emperor Wu of Jin (; 236 – 16 May 290), personal name Sima Yan (), courtesy name Anshi (安世), was the grandson of Sima Yi, nephew of Sima Shi and son of Sima Zhao. He became the first emperor of the Jin dynasty after forcing Cao Huan, ...

. Sima Yan then quickly had

Cao Huan Cao Huan () (245/246–302/303), courtesy name Jingming, was the fifth and last emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. On 4 February 266, he abdicated the throne in favour of Sima Yan (later Emperor Wu of the Jin dyn ...

abdicate the Wei throne to him, establishing the Jin dynasty. In 280, Wu fell to Jin and the Three Kingdoms period ended.

Order of battle

In popular culture

This stage, along with the other two rebellions, are all featured as playable stages during the Jin Story Mode in the ''

Dynasty Warriors is a series of Japanese hack and slash action video games created by Omega Force and Koei (now is Koei Tecmo). The series is a spin-off of Koei's turn-based strategy '' Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' series, based upon the Chinese novel of ...

'' video game series. It made its first appearance in ''

Dynasty Warriors 7 is a hack and slash video game and the seventh official installment of the ''Dynasty Warriors'' series. It is developed by Omega Force and published by Tecmo Koei. The story is based on the 14th-century Chinese historical novel ''Romance of the ...

''.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * Fang, Xuanling (648). ''

Book of Jin The ''Book of Jin'' is an official Chinese historical text covering the history of the Jin dynasty from 266 to 420. It was compiled in 648 by a number of officials commissioned by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty, with chancellor Fang X ...

'' (''Jin Shu''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 255 250s conflicts 3rd-century rebellions Campaigns of the Three Kingdoms Cao Wei Rebellions in China Three Rebellions in Shouchun