Chimei: Encyclopedia II - Chimei - The rise of what would become Chimei

Chimei - The rise of what would become Chimei

Circa 17, due to Wang Mang's incompetence in ruling -- particularly in his implementation of his land reform policy -- and a major Yellow River flood affecting the modern Shandong and northern Jiangsu regions, the people who could no longer subsist on farming were forced into rebellion to try to survive. The rebellions were numerous and fractured. Two key major examples are discussed below.

Chimei - Mother Lü

The case of Mother Lü (呂母, personal name unknown) was a highlyl unusual one. Her son was a minor official at the Haiqu (海曲, in modern Rizhao, Shandong) county government, who was falsely accused of crimes and executed by the county magistrate. Mother Lü, who apparently was a substantial landowner, sold off her property and used the proceeds to befriend poor young men, and when she gathered about 100, in 17, she led a raid against the county government and killed the magistrate to avenge her son. Once that happened, she could not remain, so she led her men to sea and became a pirate. Eventually, she would return to land and gain further strength.

Chimei - Fan Chong

Fan Chong (樊崇, who would eventually become the leader of all Chimei leaders, albeit in a collective leadership) had his own rebellion in 18, also in the modern Rizhao region. He used Mount Tai as his base, and he soon gathered about 10,000 men. He soon entered into an alliance with other rebel leaders Pang An (逄安), Xu Xuan (徐宣), Xie Lu (謝祿), and Yang Yin (楊音), pooling resources with them, and they soon became powerful and unstoppable for the local governments.

Chimei - The joining of the forces

In 19, at the behest of his official Tian Kuang (田況), Wang Mang oddly reacted to the agrarian rebellions by raising taxes. This only aggravated the agrarian rebels. In 21, Wang sent vice generals Jing Shang (景尚) and Wang Dang (王黨) to try to put down the rebellions, but Jing and Wang's soldiers were so lacking in military discipline that they further angered the populace which had not rebelled, which caused them to join or help the rebels in greater earnest. Tian, who had earlier aggravated the rebellions, however, had some success against them, and he advocated a policy where the villagers would be evacuated to the cities to trap the rebels into attacking fortifications. Wang, who by this point had distrusted Tian due to his military successes, refused and summoned him back to the capital Chang'an.

About this time, Mother Lü died, and her followers joined forces with Fan Chong's forces.

It should be noted that by this point, Fan and the other rebel leaders still lacked any real political ambition -- even as they were showing genuine military abilities. The only rules of law that they had among the rebels was that one who murders would die, and one who wounds would be responsible for the care of the victim until he or she heals. The only titles for the rebel leaders were "county educator" (三老, sanlao), county clerk (從事, congshi), and sheriff (卒史, zushi) -- not more grandiose titles as "general" or "prince".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The rise of what would become Chimei", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki