Ji Sang (died 11 January 308) was a Chinese rebel of the

Western Jin dynasty Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. During his days as a shepherd, he befriended a Jie slave who he would name

Shi Le Shi Le (274–17 August 333), courtesy name Shilong, formally Emperor Ming of (Later) Zhao, was the founding emperor of the Jie-led Later Zhao dynasty of China. At a young age he was sold as a slave by Jin officials, but he later helped start a ...

(the future Emperor Ming of

Later Zhao The Later Zhao (; 319–351) was a dynasty of the Sixteen Kingdoms in northern China. It was founded by the Shi family of the Jie ethnicity. The Jie were most likely a Yeniseian people and spoke next to Chinese one of the Yeniseian languages.Vov ...

). The two raised a personal army and later joined Sima Ying's retainer, Gongshi Fan (公師藩), who rose up to avenge the prince after his removal. Following Gongshi Fan's death, Ji Sang and Shi Le continued on their own, sacking the city of Ye in the process. They were finally defeated by the Jin general

Gou Xi Gou Xi (died 311), courtesy name Daojiang, was a Chinese military commander of the Jin Dynasty (266-420). He came to prominence as a general under the Prince of Donghai, Sima Yue, after he quelled the rebellions of Gongshi Fan (公師藩), Ji Sa ...

, and Ji Sang was assassinated by the Qihuo in 308.

Life

Ji Sang was either from Beiqiu County (southeast of present-day

Boxing County Boxing County is a county of Binzhou in Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. History The area of Boxing County was mostly created within the last few millennia and long remained sparsely populated owing to the destructive ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

) in

Qinghe Commandery Qinghe Commandery ( zh, 清河郡) was a historical commandery of China, located in present-day southern Hebei and western Shandong. The commandery was established during late Qin dynasty. In Western Han dynasty, the commandery administered 14 co ...

or Yangping Commandery (陽平; present-day

Qingfeng County Qingfeng County is a county located in the northeast of Henan province, bordering the provinces of Hebei to the northwest and Shandong to the east. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Puyang. In the Han Dynasty, Dunqiu ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

). He was widely admired at the time for his strengths, as it was said he was capable of lifting extremely heavy weights and his breathing could be heard from great distances. He worked in a group of horse shepherds that were operating next to the household of Shi Huan (師懽) in

Chiping County Chiping District () is a district of northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is administered by Liaocheng, and is west of Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsina ...

. In 304, he befriended one of Shi Huan's slave, Bei (㔨) (or Fule (匐勒)), a Jie man who later went on to establish one of the most pivotal states of the

Sixteen Kingdoms The Sixteen Kingdoms (), less commonly the Sixteen States, was a chaotic period in Chinese history from AD 304 to 439 when northern China fragmented into a series of short-lived dynastic states. The majority of these states were founded by ...

. After Bei was released in 305, the two men agreed to become bandits, recruiting hundreds of men under their wing. Ji Sang also gave Bei his more commonly used name, Shi Le. That same year, the Prince of Chengdu, Sima Ying, was removed from his position of crown prince. His general Gongshi Fan, rose up against the Prince of Donghai,

Sima Yue Sima Yue (司馬越) (died 23 April 311According to Sima Chi's biography in the ''Book of Jin'', Sima Yue died on the ''bingzi'' day in the 3rd month of the 5th year of the ''Yongjia'' era of Emperor Huai's reign. This corresponds to 23 Apr 31 ...

, so Ji Sang and Shi Le joined him. Gongshi Fan was killed the following year in 306, after he was defeated by Sima Yue's general Gou Xi. Ji Sang fled back to the pasture he once worked at together with Shi Le, assembling new men to fight for their cause and plundering the region. He declared himself Grand General, stating his intentions to avenge the now deceased Sima Ying. He also made Shi Le his General Who Routs the Caitiffs. Ji Sang resumed his fight with Jin in early 307, when he attacked the city of Ye. Ji Sang first defeated the general Feng Song (馮嵩) before continuing to advance to the city. The Prince of Xincai and commander of Ye,

Sima Teng Sima or SIMA may refer to: People * Sima (Chinese surname) * Sima (given name), a Persian feminine name in use in Iran and Turkey * Sima (surname) Places * Sima, Comoros, on the island of Anjouan, near Madagascar * Atapuerca Mountains#Sima de ...

, fled the city, but was killed by Ji Sang's general, Li Feng (李豐). After entering the city, Ji Sang dug up the coffin of Sima Ying and placed it in a cart. Previously, before carrying out a decision, Ji Sang would inform to a statue of Sima Ying before carrying it out. After acquiring Sima Ying's coffin, he turned to reporting to the coffin instead. Ji Sang sacked the city and left it to burn for ten days before leaving. Ji Sang marched south of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

and began threatening

Yanzhou Yanzhou ( postal: Yenchow; ) is a district in the prefecture-level city of Jining, in the southwest of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It was also the name of one of the Nine Provinces in ancient China, where Yu combated floods by ...

. Sima Yue, now regent to

Emperor Hui of Jin Emperor Hui of Jin (; 260 - January 8, 307), personal name Sima Zhong (司馬衷), courtesy name Zhengdu (正度), was the second emperor of the Jin dynasty (266–420). Emperor Hui was a developmentally disabled ruler, and throughout his reign, t ...

, worried greatly and sent his generals, Gou Xi and Wang Zan (王讚) to subdue Ji Sang. Ji Sang and Shi Le were locked in a stalemate with Gou Xi for months at Pingyuan and Yangping (陽平; in present-day

Shen County Shen County (), or Shenxian, is a county of western Shandong province, People's Republic of China, bordering Henan to the south and southwest and Hebei to the west. It is the southernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Liaoc ...

). On 14 September, Gou Xi routed Ji Sang at Dongwuyang (東武陽; in present-day Shen County, Shandong), forcing him to retreat to Qingyuan (清淵; in present-day Linxi County,

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

). Gou Xi pursued him and defeated him again, killing many of his followers. Ji Sang and Shi Le took the decision to flee to Liu Yuan's state of

Han Zhao The Han Zhao (; 304–329 AD), or Former Zhao (), was a dynastic state of China ruled by the Xiongnu people during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of Chinese history. In Chinese historiography, it was given two conditional state titles, the Northern ...

, but along the way, they were intercepted and beaten by Ding Shao (丁邵). After their defeat to Ding Shao, Ji Sang and Shi Le were separated from each other. Ji Sang fled to his pasture while Shi Le fled to Leping (樂平; in present-day

Jinzhong Jinzhong, formerly Yuci, is a prefecture-level city in east central Shanxi province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Hebei province to the east. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,379,498 inhabitants whom 1,226,617 ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

) to join Liu Yuan. Although Shi Le did manage to reach Liu Yuan, Ji Sang was not so lucky. A group of loyalists to Sima Teng called the Qihuo were angry about Ji Sang's killing of their late master. They raised their troops and killed Ji Sang at Leling (樂陵; present-day

Yangxin County, Shandong Yangxin County () is a county of northwestern Shandong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Binzhou. It covers . The population in 1999 was . Administrative divisions As 2012, this C ...

) on 11 January 308, finally ending the conflict between Sima Yue and Sima Ying's retainers.

Anecdote

A story tells that on a hot summer in one year, Ji Sang wrapped himself in pelts and asked someone to fan him. When he no longer felt cool, he had the fanner executed. A song titled "''Song of Bingzhou'' (并州歌)" was composed and sang by soldiers following his death which referenced this event:

References

* Fang, Xuanling (ed.) (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''). * Sima, Guang (1084). ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

''. * Wei, Shou (554). ''

Book of Wei The ''Book of Wei'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Wei Shu'', is a classic Chinese historical text compiled by Wei Shou from 551 to 554, and is an important text describing the history of the Northern Wei and Eastern Wei from 386 to 5 ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Ji, Sang Jin dynasty (266–420) generals Jin dynasty (266–420) rebels 307 deaths Later Zhao