An Lushan's Rebellion

The An Lushan rebellion was an eight-year civil war (from 755 to 763 AD) during the mid-point of the Tang dynasty that started as a commandery rebellion against the Imperial Government, attempting to overthrow and replace it with the rogue Yan dynasty. The more commonly referred term Ān-Shǐ is used to recognize the two families that led the rebellion, originally by An Lushan, a fangzhen (a system of autonomous military districts during Medieval China) general officer and jiedushi of the Taiyuan Commandery who led the rebellion for two years before he was assassinated by his son An Qingxu. Two years after An Qingxu's ascension, Shi Siming, the governor of Pinglu Commandery and a close ally to An Lushan, violently usurped the leadership and killed An Qingxu. Shi Siming ruled for two years, but in turn fell victim to patricide by his own son Shi Chaoyi, who ruled for another two years before the rebellion was finally quelled by Tang loyalists. The rebellion is also known in Chinese historiography either as the An–Shi rebellion, An–Shi Disturbances (simplified Chinese: 安史之乱; traditional Chinese: 安史之亂; pinyin: Ān Shǐ zhī luàn) or Tianbao Chaos (天寶之乱).

The rebellion began in the 14th year of the Tianbao era (755 AD), and its overt phase began on December 16 (November 9 on the traditional lunisolar calendar)[1] when An Lushan mobilized his army and marched to Fanyang, and ended when the Yan dynasty fell on 17 February, 763 AD[2] (although the extended effects lasted past this), spanning the reigns of three Tang emperors (Emperor Xuanzong, Suzong and Daizong). There were also other anti-Tang rebel forces, especially those in An Lushan's base area in Hebei, as well as Sogdian forces and other opportunist parties who took advantages of the chaos.

The rebellion was an important turning point in the history of Medieval China, as the military activities and associated combat deaths caused significant population loss from famine, population displacements and large-scale infrastructure destruction, significantly weakening the Tang dynasty, collapsing the prestige of the Tang emperors as the Khan of Heaven and leading to the permanent loss of the Western Regions. It was a direct cause of Tang dynasty's decline, and led to rampant regional warlord secessionism during the latter half of the dynasty that continued into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period for nearly a century after Tang's demise, and the fear of repeating Tang's commandery secessionism also led the Song dynasty that followed to distrust and oppress prominent military commanders even when invaded by hostile foreign states such as Liao, Western Xia and Jin. It also triggered the long-term decline of the Guanzhong region, which had then been a political and economic heartland of China at least since the Han dynasty, and the economic center of China had shifted towards the Jiangnan region afterwards.

Historical Scenarios

An Lushan's Rebellion

War for the Independence of Vietnam (938)

At the Battle of Bạch Đằng River in 938 near Hạ Long Bay in northern Vietnam, the military force of the Viet-ruled domain of Tĩnh Hải quân, led by Ngô Quyền, a Viet lord, defeated the invading forces of the Chinese state of Southern Han and put an end to the Third Era of Northern Domination (Chinese ruled Vietnam). It was considered the turning point in Vietnamese history.

In October 930, Southern Han, a Chinese state in southern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, launched an attack on the Jinghai circuit, which at the time was a Viet principality controlled by the Khúc clan. The leader of the Khuc, Khúc Thừa Mỹ, was taken prisoner by the Southern Han emperor Liu Yan. In 931, the local general Dương Đình Nghệ raised a 3,000-men army of retainers and drove the Southern Han back to the borders of the Jinghai Circuit.

In 937, Đình Nghệ was assassinated by Kiều Công Tiễn, a military officer. Đình Nghệ's son in law and also his general, Ngô Quyền, mobilized his army to overthrow Kiều Công Tiễn. Công Tiễn asked Liu Yan for support. Liu Yan dispatched his son Liu Hongcao in command of the expedition fleet, which sailed to the Gulf of Tonkin and headed inland up Bạch Đằng River. Liu Yan led an additional force following his son's fleet.

In late 938, the Southern Han fleet led by Liu Hongcao met Ngô Quyền's fleet on the gate of the Bạch Đằng River. The Southern Han fleet consisted fast warships carrying fifty men on each–twenty sailors, twenty five warriors, and two crossbowmen. Ngô Quyền and his force had set up massive stakes tipped with iron foiled points on the river bed. When the river tide rose, the sharpened stakes were covered by water. As the Southern Han sailed into the estuary, Viets in smaller crafts went down and harassed the Southern Han warships, luring them to follow upstream. When the tide fell, Ngô Quyền's force counterattacked and pushed the enemy fleet back to the sea. The Southern Han ships were immobilized by the stakes. Half of the Han army died, either killed or drowned, including Liu Hongcao. When the news of the defeat reached Liu Yan on the sea, he retreated back to Guangzhou.

In spring 939, Ngô Quyền proclaimed himself king and chose the town of Co Loa as the capital. This battle has been described as the point when Vietnamese history came into its own as the Jinghai Circuit achieved de facto independence.

Historical Scenarios

Battle of Bạch Đằng River (938)

Wang Kon's War for the unification of Korea

In 927, Kyon Hwon of Later Baekje led his forces into Silla's capital, Gyeongju, capturing and executing its king, King Gyeongae. Then he established King Gyeongsun as his puppet monarch before he turned his army toward Goryeo. Hearing of the news, Taejo planned a strike with 5,000 cavalrymen to attack Kyon's troops on the way back home at Gongsan near Daegu in the Battle of Gongsan. He met the Later Baekje army and suffered a disastrous defeat, losing most of his army including his generals Kim Nak and Sin Sung-gyom, the very same man who crowned Wang as a king. According to the legend, Taejo and Sin Sung-gyom exchanged their armor so that the king would be able to escape the battlefield. While Wang Geon escaped the battlefield, Sin and the remaining army fought bravely against the Later Baekje army. But eventually his army was routed and in the woods Sin was shot with arrows and was killed by the enemy.[18] Taejo escaped from this mountain and fled alone to Apsan Mountain, and he spent a few days hiding in a large cave at the peak of Apsan. While Taejo retreated from the battle and fled to Apsan Mountain, he left many place names related to him in Daegu. However, Goryeo quickly recovered from defeat and successfully defended Later Baekje's attack on its front.

In 935, the last king of Silla, King Gyeongsun, felt there was no way to revive his kingdom and surrendered his entire land to Taejo. Taejo gladly accepted his surrender and gave him the title of prince, and accepted his daughter as one of his wives (Wang had six queens, and many more wives as he married daughters of every single local leader). It caused much disgust to Kyon Hwon. Kyon's father, Ajagae, who held his own claim to the Sangju region, also defected and surrendered to Goryeo and was received as the father of a king.

In the same year, Kyon Hwon's oldest son, Kyŏn Sin-gŏm, led a coup with his brothers Yang-gŏm and Yong-gŏm, against their father, who favored their half-brother, Kŭmgang, as his successor to the throne. Kyon Hwon was sent into exile and imprisoned in the temple of Geumsansa, but escaped to Goryeo and was treated like Taejo's father, who died just before his surrender.

In 936, Wang led his final campaign against Sin-gom of Later Baekje. Sin-gom fought against Taejo, but facing much disadvantage and inner conflict, he surrendered to Taejo. Wang finally conquered Later Baekje, and unified the nation for the second time since Unified Silla; he ruled until 943, and died from disease.

Taejo sought to bring even his enemies into his ruling coalition. He gave titles and land to rulers and nobles from the various countries he had defeated: Later Baekje, Silla, and also Balhae, which disintegrated around the same time. Thus he sought to secure stability and unity for his kingdom which had been lacking in the later years of Silla.

After the destruction of Balhae by the Khitans in 926, Balhae's last crown prince and much of its ruling class sought refuge in Goryeo, where they were warmly welcomed and included into the ruling family by Taejo, thus uniting the two successor nations of Goguryeo. Taejo felt a strong familial kinship with Balhae, calling it his "Relative Country" and "Married Country", and protected Balhae refugees, many of whom were also of Goguryeo origin. This was in strong contrast to Later Silla, which had endured a hostile relationship with Balhae.

Taejo displayed strong animosity toward the Khitans who had destroyed Balhae. The Liao dynasty sent 30 envoys with 50 camels as a gift in 942, but he exiled the envoys and starved the camels under a bridge in retribution for Balhae, despite the major diplomatic repercussions. Taejo proposed to Gaozu of Later Jìn that they attack the Khitans as revenge for the destruction of Balhae, according to the Zizhi Tongjian. Furthermore, in his Ten Mandates to his descendants, he stated that the Khitans are no different from beasts and should be guarded against.

Historical Campaigns

Wang Kon's Campaign

The Rise of the Samurai in Japan

The Genpei War (源平合戦, Genpei Kassen, Genpei-Gassen, 1180–1185) was a national civil war[1] between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himself as Shōgun in 1192, governing Japan as a military dictator from the eastern city of Kamakura.

It followed a coup d'état by the Taira in 1179 with the removal of rivals from all government posts, and subsequently banishing them, and a call to arms against the Taira, led by the Minamoto in 1180. The ensuing Battle of Uji took place just outside Kyoto, starting a five-year-long war, concluding with a decisive Minamoto victory in the naval Battle of Dan-no-ura. However, it has been pointed out that the Battle of Ōshū in 1189 was the last battle during this period of civil war, as it completed Yoritomo's nationwide domination through the annexation of Northeast Japan.

Historical Campaigns

Minamoto no Yoritomo's Campaign

The Siege of Bianjing

The Jingkang Incident (Chinese: 靖康事變; pinyin: Jìngkāng shì biàn), also known as the Humiliation of Jingkang (靖康之恥; Jìngkāng zhī chǐ) and the Disorders of the Jingkang Period (靖康之亂; Jìngkāng zhī luàn), was an episode of invasions and war crimes that took place in 1127 during the Jin–Song Wars when the forces of the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty besieged and sacked the imperial palaces in Bianjing (present-day Kaifeng), the capital of the Han-led Northern Song dynasty. The Jin forces captured the Northern Song ruler, Emperor Qinzong, along with his father, the retired Emperor Huizong, and many members of the imperial family of Emperor Taizong's bloodline and officials of the Song imperial court. The ordinary Song civilians of Bianjing living in the non-imperial quarter were left alone after being forced to pay huge ransoms to the Jin.

This event marked the collapse of the Northern Song dynasty that originally controlled most of China proper. Many members of the Song imperial family, most notably Zhao Gou (later Emperor Gaozong), managed to escape to southern China, where they reestablished the Song dynasty (known in historiography as the Southern Song dynasty) in the new capital, Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou). This event also greatly contributed to the return of the descendants of Emperor Taizu to the line of succession, as most of Emperor Taizong's descendants were abducted; Emperor Gaozong himself failed to produce an heir as well.

Historical Scenarios

Siege of Bianjing

War between the Song and the Jurchen Jin Dynasty

The Jin–Song Wars were a series of conflicts between the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty (1115–1234) and the Han-led Song dynasty (960–1279). In 1115, Jurchen tribes rebelled against their overlords, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty (916–1125), and declared the formation of the Jin. Allying with the Song against their common enemy the Liao dynasty, the Jin promised to cede to the Song the Sixteen Prefectures that had fallen under Liao control since 938. The Song agreed but the Jin's quick defeat of the Liao combined with Song military failures made the Jin reluctant to cede territory. After a series of negotiations that embittered both sides, the Jurchens attacked the Song in the winter of 1125, dispatching one army to Taiyuan and the other to Bianjing (modern Kaifeng), the Song capital.

Surprised by news of an invasion, Song general Tong Guan retreated from Taiyuan, which was besieged and later captured. As the second Jin army approached the capital, Song emperor Huizong abdicated and fled south. Qinzong, his eldest son, was enthroned. The Jin dynasty laid siege to Kaifeng in 1126, but Qinzong negotiated their retreat from the capital by agreeing to a large annual indemnity. Qinzong reneged on the deal and ordered Song forces to defend the prefectures instead of fortifying the capital. The Jin resumed war and again besieged Kaifeng in the winter of 1127. They captured Qinzong, many members of the imperial family and high officials of the Song imperial court took part in an event known as the Jingkang Incident. This separated north and south China between Jin and Song. Remnants of the Song imperial family retreated to southern China and, after brief stays in several temporary capitals, eventually relocated to Lin'an (modern Hangzhou). The retreat divided the dynasty into two distinct periods, Northern Song and Southern Song.

The Jurchens tried to conquer southern China in the 1130s but were bogged down by a pro-Song insurgency in the north and a counteroffensive by Song generals, including Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. The Song generals regained some territories but retreated on the orders of Southern Song emperor Gaozong, who supported a peaceful resolution to the war. The Treaty of Shaoxing (1142) set the boundary of the two empires along the Huai River, but conflicts between the two dynasties continued until the fall of Jin in 1234. A war against the Song begun by the 4th Jin emperor, Wanyan Liang, was unsuccessful. He lost the Battle of Caishi (1161) and was later assassinated by his own disaffected officers. An invasion of Jin territory motivated by Song revanchism (1206–1208) was also unsuccessful. A decade later, Jin launched an abortive military campaign against the Song in 1217 to replace territory they had lost to the invading Mongols. The Song allied with the Mongols in 1233, and in the next year jointly captured Caizhou, the last refuge of the Jin emperor. The Jin dynasty collapsed that year.

Historical Campaigns

Jin-Song War

Fall of the Song Dynasty

The Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty or the Song-Yuan War beginning under Ögedei Khan (r. 1229–1241) and completed under Kublai Khan (r. 1260–1294) was the final step of the Mongol conquest of China. With the conquest the Mongols ruled all of the continental East Asia under the Yuan dynasty (a division of the Mongol Empire). It is also considered the Mongol Empire's last great military achievement.

Historical Campaigns

Kublai Khan's War for the Unification of China

Sino-Japanese War (1274-1281)

Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of macro-historical importance because they set a limit on Mongol expansion and rank as nation-defining events in the history of Japan. The invasions are referred to in many works of fiction and are the earliest events for which the word kamikaze (神風 "divine wind") is widely used, originating in reference to the two typhoons faced by the Yuan fleets.

The invasions were one of the earliest cases of gunpowder warfare outside of China. One of the most notable technological innovations during the war was the use of explosive, hand-thrown bombs.

Historical Scenarios

Mongol invasions of Korea (this scenario serves as a prelude)
Sino-Japanese War (1274-1281)

Sino-Vietnamese War (1258-1288)

Four major military campaigns were launched by the Mongol Empire, and later the Yuan dynasty, against the kingdom of Đại Việt (modern-day northern Vietnam) ruled by the Trần dynasty and the kingdom of Champa (modern-day central Vietnam) in 1258, 1282–1284, 1285, and 1287–88. The campaigns are treated by a number of scholars as a success due to the establishment of tributary relations with Đại Việt despite the Mongols suffering major military defeats. In contrast, modern Vietnamese historiography regards the war as a major victory against the foreign invaders.

The first invasion began in 1258 under the united Mongol Empire, as it looked for alternative paths to invade the Song dynasty. The Mongol general Uriyangkhadai was successful in capturing the Vietnamese capital Thang Long (modern-day Hanoi) before turning north in 1259 to invade the Song dynasty in modern-day Guangxi as part of a coordinated Mongol attack with armies attacking in Sichuan under Möngke Khan and other Mongol armies attacking in modern-day Shandong and Henan. The first invasion also established tributary relations between the Vietnamese kingdom, formerly a Song dynasty tributary state, and the Yuan dynasty. In 1283, Kublai Khan and the Yuan dynasty launched a naval invasion of Champa that also resulted in the establishment of tributary relations.

Intending to demand greater tribute and direct Yuan oversight of local affairs in Đại Việt and Champa, the Yuan launched another invasion in 1285. The second invasion of Đại Việt failed to accomplish its goals, and the Yuan launched a third invasion in 1287 with the intent of replacing the uncooperative Đại Việt ruler Trần Nhân Tông with the defected Trần prince Trần Ích Tắc. By the end of the second and third invasions, which involved both initial successes and eventual major defeats for the Mongols, both Đại Việt and Champa decided to accept the nominal supremacy of the Yuan dynasty and became tributary states to avoid further conflict.

Historical Campaigns

Tran Hung Dao's Campaign

Suryavarman I's Campaign

Suryavarman I (Khmer: សូរ្យវរ្ម័នទី១; posthumously Nirvanapada) was king of the Khmer Empire from 1006 to 1050.  Suryavarman usurped King Udayadityavarman I, defeating his armies in approximately 1002. After a protracted war with Udayadityavarman's would-be successor, Jayavirahvarman, Suryavarman I claimed the throne in 1010. Suryavarman was a Mahayana Buddhist  who was also tolerant of the growing Theravada Buddhist presence in the Khmer kingdom.

Historical Campaigns

Suryavarman I

Gajah Mada's Campaign

Gajah Mada (c. 1290 – c. 1364), also known as Jirnnodhara, was a powerful military leader and mahapatih (the approximate equivalent of a modern prime minister) of the Javanese empire of Majapahit during the 14th century. He is credited in Old Javanese manuscripts, poems, and inscriptions with bringing the empire to its peak of glory.

He delivered an oath called Sumpah Palapa, in which he vowed not to rest until he had conquered all of the Southeast Asian archipelago of Nusantara for Majapahit.  During his reign, the Hindu epics, including the Rāmāyana and the Mahābhārata, became ingrained in the Javanese culture and worldview through the performing arts of wayang kulit (“leather puppets”). He is considered an important national hero in modern Indonesia, as well as a symbol of patriotism and national unity. Historical accounts of his life, political career, and administration are taken from several sources, mainly the Pararaton ("The Book of Kings"), the Nagarakretagama (a Javanese-language eulogy), and an inscription dating from the mid-14th century.

Historical Campaigns

Gajah Mada

Ashikaga Takauji's Campaign

Ashikaga Takauji (足利 尊氏, August 18, 1305 – June 7, 1358) was the founder and first shōgun of the Ashikaga shogunate. His rule began in 1338, beginning the Muromachi period of Japan, and ended with his death in 1358. He was a male-line descendant of the samurai of the (Minamoto) Seiwa Genji line (meaning they were descendants of Emperor Seiwa) who had settled in the Ashikaga area of Shimotsuke Province, in present-day Tochigi Prefecture.

According to Zen master and intellectual Musō Soseki, who enjoyed his favor and collaborated with him, Takauji had three qualities. First, he kept his cool in battle and was not afraid of death. Second, he was merciful and tolerant. Third, he was very generous with those below him.

Historical Campaigns

Ashikaga Takauji