Qi Wannian (died 299), or Qiwannian, was an ethnic Di chieftain and rebel leader during the Western Jin dynasty of China. In 296, he became leader of a tribal uprising against Jin in Qinzhou and Yongzhou that lasted until 299. The rebellion raised concerns among some ministers regarding the tension between the Han and tribal people while also triggering a mass migration of refugees into present-day southern
Gansu
Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province.
The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibe ...
and
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of t ...
.
Prelude
During the late
Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...
: *''ŋjweiC'' < Guanzhong region. However, various factors have led these groups to revolt during the Western Jin dynasty. In 270, the Xianbei chieftain, Tufa Shujineng, led a rebellion in
Liangzhou
Liangzhou District () is a district and the seat of the city of Wuwei, Gansu province of the People's Republic of China, bordering Inner Mongolia to the east.
Geography
Liangzhou District is located in east Hexi Corridor, north to the Qilian Mo ...
, Yongzhou and Qinzhou involving numerous different tribes against Jin, but he was eventually defeated in 279.
In 294, a Xiongnu leader named He San (郝散) rebelled. His reason was due to poor governance under Sima Lun, who was the Chief Controller of Qinzhou and Yongzhou at the time, along with a nation-wide famine that was taking place. He took
Shangdang Shangdang Commandery or Shangdang Prefecture (, also named Shangtang) was an administrative subdivision of ancient China from the time of the Spring and Autumn period (771–403 BCE). Consisting of a number of districts or ''Zhōu'' (, or prefe ...
and killed the Chief Clerk of the commandery, but in autumn of the same year, he decided to surrender back to Jin. However, after giving himself up, an unnamed Commandant of
Pingyi
Pingyi County () is a county in the south of Shandong Province, China. It is the westernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Linyi. It has a land area of and a population of in 2001. Its special local products are honeysuck ...
had him executed.
He San had a younger brother named He Duyuan (郝度元). In the summer of 296, Duyuan allied himself with the Qiang people of Mount Malan (馬蘭山) in Beidi Commandery (北地, roughly modern
Tongchuan
Tongchuan () is a prefecture-level city located in central Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China on the southern fringe of the Loess Plateau that defines the northern half of the province (Shanbei) and the northern reaches of the Guan ...
,
Shaanxi
Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...
) together with the Lushui tribes (盧水胡). They killed the Administrator of Beidi, Zhang Sun (張損), and routed the Administrator of Pingyi,
Ouyang Jian
Ouyang () is a Chinese surname. It is the most common two-character Chinese compound surname, being the only two-character name of the 400 most common Chinese surnames, according to a 2013 study, and is one of the few two-character surnames that ha ...
. The He brother's revolts led to Sima Lun being recalled to
Luoyang
Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyan ...
while Sima Rong (司馬肜) was appointed to replace him.
Qi Wannian's Uprising
In autumn of 296, the rebellion intensified after He Duyuan defeated the Inspector of Yongzhou, Hai Xi (解系). His victory inspired many of the Qiang and Di tribe in Qinzhou and Yongzhou to take up arms as well. Soon, the rebels elected a Di leader named Qi Wannian to be their Emperor before besieging Jingyang. In response, Jin ordered Xiahou Jun (夏侯駿) with Zhou Chu and Lu Bo (盧播) under his wing to quell the revolt. Qi Wannian was specifically worried about facing Zhou Chu, due to his esteemed reputation as a capable administrator and general, but he was confident that the rebels could beat him if he was restrained by someone's control. Coincidentally, another famine had struck the Guanzhong region, followed by a plague.
At the beginning of 297, Qi Wannian camped his forces at Mount Liang (梁山, in modern-day
Qian County
Qian County () or Qianxian is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xianyang, in the central part of Shaanxi province, China.
Administrative divisions
Qian County is divided into 1 subdistrict and 15 towns, which a ...
, Shaanxi) and amassed a huge force of 70,000 men. Zhou Chu was only given 5,000 men to attack the rebels, so he advised against this decision. Sima Rong and Xiahou Jun ignored his warning and forced him to go. Together with Lu Bo and Hai Xi, Zhou Chu attacked the rebels at Liumo (六陌, in modern-day
Qian County
Qian County () or Qianxian is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xianyang, in the central part of Shaanxi province, China.
Administrative divisions
Qian County is divided into 1 subdistrict and 15 towns, which a ...
, Shaanxi), where he and his soldiers made a famous last stand. Another famine occurred in Qinzhou and Yongzhou that year, once more followed by plague. Food had become so scarce that the price for ten pecks of rice rose to ten thousand in cash. The famine persisted into the following year, and it was around this time when many in the two provinces decided to migrate south into Yizhou.
The court eventually grew frustrated with Sima Rong's ineffectiveness. In 298, Zhang Hua and Chen Zhun (陳準) charged Sima Rong and Sima Lun with negligence of military affairs in Guanzhong. A general named
Meng Guan
Meng may refer to:
* Meng (surname) (孟), a Chinese surname
* Master of Engineering (MEng or M.Eng.), an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering
* , "M with hook", letter used in the International Phonetic Alphabet
* ...
was sent in instead to replace them and put an end to the rebellion once and for all. Meng Guan was more dedicated in his work, personally leading the campaigns against the rebels and consistently routing them. At the beginning of 299, Meng Guan fought Qi Wannian at Zhongting (中亭, west of present-day Wugong, Shaanxi). Meng defeated the Di army and killed Qi Wannian, ending the four-year-long rebellion.
Aftermath
The rebellion raised some concerns regarding the coexistence between the Han Chinese and tribal people. One minister,
Jiang Tong
Jiang may refer to:
* ''Jiang'' (rank), rank held by general officers in the military of China
* Jiang (surname), several Chinese surnames
**Jiang Zemin (1926–2022), as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
*Jiang River, an ancient ri ...
, because of the rebellion, wrote an essay titled "Discussion on Relocating the Rong Tribes (徙戎論)" which he submitted to the Jin court, warning them about the threat possessed by the tribes to the dynasty.(太子洗馬陳留江統以爲戎、狄亂華，宜早絕其原，乃作《徙戎論》以警朝廷曰：「夫夷、蠻、戎、狄，地在要荒，禹平九土而西戎卽敍。其性氣貪婪，凶悍不仁。四夷之中，戎、狄爲甚，弱則畏服，強則侵叛。當其強也，以漢高祖困於白登、孝文軍於霸上。及其弱也，以元、成之微而單于入朝。此其已然之效也。是以有道之君牧夷、狄也，惟以待之有備，禦之有常，雖稽顙執贄而邊城不弛固守，強暴爲寇而兵甲不加遠征，期令境內獲安，疆埸不侵而已。及至周室失統，諸侯專征，封疆不固，利害異心，戎、狄乘間，得入中國，或招誘安撫以爲己用，自是四夷交侵，與中國錯居。及秦始皇幷天下，兵威旁達，攘胡，走越，當是時，中國無復四夷也。漢建武中，馬援領隴西太守，討叛羌，徙其餘種於關中，居馮翊、河東空地。數歲之後，族類蕃息，旣恃其肥強，且苦漢人侵之；永初之元，羣羌叛亂，覆沒將守，屠破城邑，鄧騭敗北，侵及河內，十年之中，夷、夏俱敝，任尚、馬賢，僅乃克之。自此之後，餘燼不盡，小有際會，輒復侵叛，中世之寇，惟此爲大。魏興之初，與蜀分隔，疆埸之戎，一彼一此。武帝徙武都氐於秦川，欲以弱寇強國，扞禦蜀虜，此蓋權宜之計，非萬世之利也；今者當之，已受其敝矣。夫關中土沃物豐，帝王所居，未聞戎、狄宜在此土也。非我族類，其心必異。而因其衰敝，遷之畿服，士庶翫習，侮其輕弱，使其怨恨之氣毒於骨髓；至於蕃育衆盛，則坐生其心。以貪悍之性，挾憤怒之情，候隙乘便，輒爲橫逆；而居封域之內，無障塞之隔，掩不備之人，收散野之積，故能爲禍滋蔓，暴害不測，此必然之勢，已驗之事也。當今之宜，宜及兵威方盛，衆事未罷，徙馮翊、北地、新平、安定界內諸羌，著先零罕幵、析支之地，徙扶風、始平、京兆之氐，出還隴右，著陰平、武都之界，廩其道路之糧，令足自致，各附本種，反其舊土，使屬國、撫夷就安集之。戎、晉不雜，並得其所，縱有猾夏之心，風塵之警，則絕遠中國，隔閡山河，雖有寇暴，所害不廣矣。難者曰：氐寇新平，關中饑疫，百姓愁苦，咸望寧息；而欲使疲悴之衆，徙自猜之寇，恐勢盡力屈，緒業不卒，前害未及弭而後變復橫出矣。答曰：子以今者羣氐爲尚挾餘資，悔惡反善，懷我德惠而來柔附乎？將勢窮道盡，智力俱困，懼我兵誅以至於此乎？曰：無有餘力，勢窮道盡故也。然則我能制其短長之命而令其進退由己矣。夫樂其業者不易事，安其居者無遷志。方其自疑危懼，畏怖促遽，故可制以兵威，使之左右無違也。迨其死亡流散，離逷未鳩，與關中之人，戶皆爲讎，故可遐遷遠處，令其心不懷土也。夫聖賢之謀事也，爲之於未有，治之於未亂，道不著而平，德不顯而成。其次則能轉禍爲福，因敗爲功，值困必濟，遇否能通。今子遭敝事之終而不圖更制之始，愛易轍之勤而遵覆車之軌，何哉！且關中之人百餘萬口，率其少多，戎、狄居半，處之與遷，必須口實。若有窮乏，糝粒不繼者，故當傾關中之穀以全其生生之計，必無擠於溝壑而不爲侵掠之害也。今我遷之，傳食而至，附其種族，自使相贍，而秦地之人得其半穀，此爲濟行者以廩糧，遺居者以積倉，寬關中之逼，去盜賊之原，除旦夕之損，建終年之益。若憚蹔舉之小勞而忘永逸之弘策，惜日月之煩苦而遺累世之寇敵，非所謂能創業垂統，謀及子孫者也。幷州之胡，本實匈奴桀惡之寇也，建安中，使右賢王去卑誘質呼廚泉，聽其部落散居六郡。咸熙之際，以一部太強，分爲三率，泰始之初，又增爲四；於是劉猛內叛，連結外虜，近者郝散之變，發於穀遠。今五部之衆，戶至數萬，人口之盛，過於西戎；其天性驍勇，弓馬便利，倍於氐、羌。若有不虞風塵之慮，則幷州之域可爲寒心。正始中，毌丘儉討句驪，徙其餘種於滎陽。始徙之時，戶落百數；子孫孳息，今以千計；數世之後，必至殷熾。百姓失職，猶或亡叛，犬馬肥充，則有噬齧，況於夷、狄，能不爲變！但顧其微弱，勢力不逮耳。夫爲邦者，憂不在寡而在不安，以四海之廣，士民之富，豈須夷虜在內然後取足哉！此等皆可申諭發遣，還其本域，慰彼羈旅懷土之思，釋我華夏纖介之憂，『惠此中國，以綏四方，』德施永世，於計爲長也！」朝廷不能用。) Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 83 The Di states of Chouchi and Cheng Han were also established by refugee leaders displaced by Qi Wannian's rebellion.
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 ...
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 ...