Ge Rong

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Ge Rong's original surname was Hege, and he came from the Xianbei Hege clan. He was born at Woye Garrison. Historical sources preserve little about his early life, noting only that he was a soldier of Huaishuo Garrison—the Book of Wei calls him a “Huaishuo garrison soldier”—rather than a garrison commander. After the Six Garrisons Rebellion erupted and northern China descended into disorder, Ge eventually joined the Hebei rebel army led by Xianyu Xiuli.

Rebellion and Self-Proclamation

In the first month of 526, the second year of Xiaochang, Xianyu Xiuli, formerly a Huaishuo soldier and one of the surrendered households of Wuyuan, led northern-garrison refugees in revolt at Zuoren City in Dingzhou and adopted the era name Luxing. Ge Rong participated in the uprising. On the twenty-seventh day of the eighth month that year, internal turmoil broke out: leader Yuan Hongye killed Xianyu Xiuli and attempted to surrender to Northern Wei. Ge acted decisively, killed Yuan Hongye, assumed command, and continued the rebellion. The move stabilized the army and demonstrated his decisiveness and authority.

In the ninth month of the same year, Ge joined forces with another rebel leader, Du Luozhou, and advanced north against Yingzhou. Yuan Shen, Prince of Guangyang of Northern Wei, led troops in pursuit. On the fifteenth day of the ninth month, Ge led light cavalry in a surprise attack at Bainiuluo, in present-day Lixian, Hebei, and killed Yuan Rong, Prince of Zhangwu. He then proclaimed himself emperor, named his state Qi, and adopted the era name Guang'an. This was the first polity established by the Hebei rebels and marked a new phase in the uprising.

Expansion and Height of Power

After proclaiming himself emperor, Ge continued to expand. Soon afterward, Yuan Shen, Prince of Guangyang, fled into the Boling area after coming under suspicion from Yang Jin, prefect of Dingzhou, and was captured by Ge's roaming cavalry. Fearing that Yuan Shen's reputation might attract his own followers, Ge had him killed. On the seventh day of the first month of 527, the third year of Xiaochang, Ge captured Yinzhou and seized and killed its prefect, Cui Kai. Cui had resisted stubbornly and was killed after the city fell, together with his entire family. Ge then besieged Xindu, the seat of Jizhou. Yuan Fu, prefect of Jizhou, encouraged his troops to hold day and night, but when food was exhausted and no relief arrived, the city fell in November. Ge captured Yuan Fu and expelled all the city's inhabitants; six or seven out of every ten reportedly froze to death. Yuan Fu and his elder brother Yuan You each offered to die in the other's place. Moved by their loyalty, Ge spared the brothers and five hundred captured soldiers.

In the twelfth month, Northern Wei appointed Yuan Ziyong prefect of Jizhou and sent him with Pei Yan against Ge Rong. Yuan Ziyong had opposed serving alongside Pei Yan and predicted defeat, but his objections were rejected. On the twentieth day of the twelfth month, Ge led one hundred thousand followers against them at a bend of the Zhang River northeast of Yangping and killed both Yuan Ziyong and Pei Yan. Li Shen, prefect of Xiangzhou, held the city against him, and Ge failed to capture it despite a major assault.

In February 528, the first year of Yong'an, Ge attacked and killed Du Luozhou and absorbed his followers, greatly increasing his strength. On the twenty-sixth day of the third month he captured Cangzhou, seized and killed its prefect Xue Qingzhi, and eight or nine out of every ten inhabitants were said to have died. By this point Ge controlled most of Hebei and commanded hundreds of thousands of followers, claiming an army of one million.

Defeat and Death

In June 528, the first year of Yong'an, shortages in Ge's army led him to send his Vice Director Ren Bao south to plunder as far as the Qin River. Northern Wei appointed Yuan Tianmu commander-in-chief to campaign against him, and Ge withdrew to a position north of Xiangzhou. In August he led a large army to besiege Ye, while his roving forces had already passed Ji Commandery. Erzhu Rong, Pillar-of-State General-in-Chief of Northern Wei, memorialized requesting permission to fight and led seven thousand elite cavalry—one account says seventy thousand—from Jinyang, with Hou Jing as vanguard, east through Fukou directly toward Ye.

Confident in his superior numbers, Ge underestimated Erzhu Rong and ordered his men to prepare long ropes, saying that when Erzhu arrived they would simply bind him. Ge deployed his forces for dozens of li north of Ye in a broad, fanlike formation. Erzhu Rong concealed troops in the valleys and grouped senior commanders three at a time, each with several hundred cavalry, raising dust and making noise to magnify the apparent size of his force. He also ordered every soldier to carry a short club and not to count severed heads for merit, but simply to strike with the clubs in battle. Erzhu personally charged and broke out behind the rebel army, attacking from both front and rear. Ge's formations were too dispersed to organize effective resistance. His army collapsed, and Ge himself was captured on the battlefield.

Erzhu Rong sent Ge to Luoyang in a caged cart. In the tenth month of 528, the first year of Jianyi, Emperor Xiaozhuang ascended the Changhe Gate to observe as Ge was beheaded in the marketplace. More than two hundred thousand of Ge's former followers were relocated to Bingzhou and Sizhou. After suffering abuse from Qihu troops, they reportedly rose in resistance twenty-six times; more than half were massacred, yet uprisings continued.

Ge Rong, originally of the Hege surname and born at Hegezhen city, had been an officer of the Huaishuo garrison. In the first month of 526 Xianyu Xiuli and others of the surrendered households of Wuyuan raised the northern garrison refugees in revolt at Zuocheng in Dingzhou, taking the era name Luxing, and Ge Rong joined them. In the eighth month the rebel leader Yuan Hongye killed Xianyu Xiuli and sought to surrender to Wei, and Ge Rong killed Yuan Hongye and took command himself. In the ninth month he surprised and killed Yuan Rong, Prince Zhuangwu of Zhangwu, with light horse, then declared himself Son of Heaven, named his state Qi and took the era Guang'an. The Prince of Guangyang, Yuan Shen, marching back to Dingzhou, fell under the suspicion of the prefect Yang Jin and the commander Mao Mi, fled and was seized by Ge Rong's scouts in the Bokling district; since many of the rebels were glad to see Yuan Shen and Ge Rong had only just set himself up, he feared they would rally to him and had him killed.

In the first month of 527 Ge Rong took the newly created province of Yin, killed its governor Cui Kai and laid siege to Jizhou. Xindu was besieged from spring to winter; with its stores exhausted and no relief, the city fell in the eleventh month, its governor Yuan Fu was taken and the inhabitants driven out, six or seven in ten freezing to death. Ge Rong assembled his officers to decide the fate of Yuan Fu and his brother; each blamed himself and begged to die, and several hundred men under the commander Pan Shao knocked their heads on the ground asking to die in place of their lord, whereupon Ge Rong called them loyal ministers and worthies of Wei and pardoned the brothers and all five hundred prisoners. In the twelfth month Wei sent Yuan Ziyong as governor of Jizhou with Pei Yan to attack him; at the Zhangshui bend northeast of Yangping Ge Rong met them with a hundred thousand men and both were defeated and killed, though the prefect of Xiangzhou, Li Shen, held his city and could not be taken. In the second month of 528 Ge Rong attacked and killed the rival rebel chief Du Luozhou and absorbed his following; in the third month he took Cangzhou, seized its governor Xue Qingzhi, and eight or nine in ten of the inhabitants died. In the sixth month, short of food, he sent his director Ren Bao south as far as Qinshui; Wei appointed Yuan Tianmu commander of the northeast and Ge Rong withdrew north of Xiangzhou.

In the seventh month of the same year Ge Rong besieged Ye with a host claiming a million, his raiders already past Jijun and leaving ruin behind them. Erzhu Rong asked leave to attack and in the ninth month rode from Jinyang with seven thousand picked horse, each with a spare mount, by forced marches east through the Fukou pass with Hou Jing as vanguard. Long dominant in Hebei, Ge Rong made nothing of a few thousand men, told his troops to ready long ropes and "bind them when they come," and drew up his army north of Ye in a line dozens of li long, advancing like an opened winnowing basket. Erzhu Rong hid his troops in the valleys as a surprise force, posted parties of three officers with several hundred horse each to raise dust and beat drums and shout so that the rebels could not gauge his numbers, and, since at close quarters a saber is worse than a club, had each soldier carry a short club at his saddle and forbade the taking of heads in battle. He charged in person and came out behind the rebels; attacked front and rear at once, the rebel host broke, Ge Rong was taken in the battle line and the rest surrendered. Fearing that so many captives, if at once divided up, might take fright and gather again, he ordered them to go where they pleased, kin together, and settle where they would, so that hundreds of thousands dispersed in a single day; only when they were a hundred li off did he have them sorted into columns and settled, promoting their chiefs according to ability, and his contemporaries admired the speed of his handling. Ge Rong was sent to Luoyang in a prison cart, and in the tenth month of 528 the emperor watched from the Changhe gate as he was beheaded in the marketplace. More than two hundred thousand of his followers who entered Bingzhou and Sizhou were so brutally used by the Qihu troops that they rose in twenty-six revolts, more than half being slaughtered. The History of the Northern Dynasties adds a tale of two rabbits shot at his oath before Erzhu Rong's campaign and of Emperor Daowu demanding Ge Rong's sword in a dream, touches of the marvellous in the record.

Ge Rong's following consisted chiefly of refugees from the northern garrisons, and at its height it held the provinces of Ji, Ding, Yin and Cang, facing across the plain the rising of Xing Gao, who styled himself King of Han at Beihai in Qingzhou; together they formed the largest resistance in Hebei and Shandong in the last years of the Northern Wei.

His followers were scattered over the Ji and Ding region, and the long fighting badly depleted the households and farming of Hebei, a setting that let the Erzhu rise to power through the suppression of the revolt.

Major Activities

Military Activity

Ge's career centered on military expansion. He successively killed or caused the deaths of Northern Wei figures including Yuan Rong, Yuan Shen, Cui Kai, Yuan Ziyong, Pei Yan, and Xue Qingzhi, and captured major centers such as Yinzhou, Jizhou, and Cangzhou, bringing much of Hebei under his control. He showed an ability to seize battlefield opportunities, as in the surprise attack at Bainiuluo and the engagement at the bend of the Zhang River, both of which resulted in victories despite unfavorable circumstances. In the later Battle of Ye, however, overconfidence and faulty deployment enabled Erzhu Rong to defeat his much larger force.

Regime Building

Ge proclaimed himself emperor, named his state Qi, adopted the era name Guang'an, and established a rebel regime. He appointed officials such as Vice Director Ren Bao and attempted to construct an administrative system. The regime nevertheless remained relatively loose, lacked a stable institutional base, and depended mainly on military conquest.

Relations with Contemporaries

Ge briefly cooperated with Du Luozhou before the two struggled for leadership and Ge killed him. After capturing Yuan Fu, Ge spared him in recognition of his loyalty, showing a degree of political calculation. Ge also attempted to recruit the later Northern Qi statesman Yang Yin and intended to marry a daughter to him, but Yang feigned illness and escaped. Yuwen Tai and his brothers also once served in Ge's forces; Yuwen Taish's elder brother Yuwen Luosheng was enfeoffed as Prince of Yuyang.

Personal Relations

• Hege clan: His clan
• Yuwen Luosheng: Subordinate, enfeoffed as Prince of Yuyang
• Yuwen Tai: Subordinate, later a founder of Northern Zhou
• Xianyu Xiuli: Rebel leader whose uprising Ge joined
• Du Luozhou: Early ally, later killed by Ge
• Yuan Hongye: Rebel leader killed by Ge
• Ren Bao: Vice Director and subordinate of Ge
• Yuan Rong: Northern Wei Prince of Zhangwu, killed by Ge
• Yuan Shen: Northern Wei Prince of Guangyang, captured and killed by Ge
• Cui Kai: Prefect of Yinzhou, killed by Ge
• Yuan Ziyong: Prefect of Jizhou, killed by Ge in battle
• Pei Yan: Northern Wei general who died in the same battle as Yuan Ziyong
• Yuan Fu: Prefect of Jizhou, captured and later spared
• Xue Qingzhi: Prefect of Cangzhou, captured and killed by Ge
• Erzhu Rong: Northern Wei Pillar-of-State General-in-Chief who defeated and captured Ge
• Gao Huan: Subordinate of Erzhu Rong who induced Ge's troops to surrender on the battlefield

Historical Assessment

Northern Wei / Contemporary

• Erzhu Rong treated Ge as a formidable enemy, prepared carefully before battle, and rapidly moved to pacify his followers afterward, showing the importance attached to Ge's forces.
• The Northern Wei court described Ge as a “bandit commander.” After his capture, Emperor Xiaozhuang personally appeared at Changhe Gate to observe his execution as a warning to others.
• Yang Yin: Ge attempted to recruit him, but Yang feigned illness and escaped, reflecting Ge's poor image among some members of the educated elite.

Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Periods

• Wei Shou's Book of Wei placed Ge in the “Biographies of Rebels,” treating him as a rebel while recording his military activity in relatively factual terms.
• Northern Qi historians mentioned Ge in the Book of Northern Qi mainly as background and did not assess him highly.

Tang and Song Periods

• Sima Guang's Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance records Ge's activities in detail, gives positive descriptions of his military ability, but criticizes acts of brutality such as expelling civilians to freeze to death.
• Tang historical commentators generally regarded him as a rebel while acknowledging the strength that allowed him to dominate Hebei.

Modern Period

• Lü Simian's History of the Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties treats Ge's uprising as a continuation of the Six Garrisons Rebellion, reflecting the suffering of northern-garrison soldiers and civilians, but argues that Ge lacked strategic vision and ultimately failed.
• Tian Yuqing's Aristocratic Politics of the Eastern Jin discusses the late Northern Wei situation and analyzes Ge's military expansion and defeat, identifying his underestimation of the enemy as a principal cause of his fall.
• Modern scholars generally hold that Ge's rebellion dealt a severe blow to Northern Wei rule and accelerated the dynasty's fragmentation, while the rebels' brutality and internal conflicts also contributed to their eventual defeat.