{ "id": "ep30tmgmm0", "slug": "pubei", "title": "Pubei", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.china", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.china" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.china.ming-late", "label": "Late Ming (1521 to 1662)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.china.ming-late" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.china.ming-late.rebellions-and-ming-qing-transition", "label": "Rebellions and Ming–Qing transition", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.china.ming-late.rebellions-and-ming-qing-transition" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china.ming-late", "label": "China · 1000 to 1799: Late Ming (1521 to 1662)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china.ming-late", "path": [ { "id": "geo.chn", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000", "label": "China · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china", "label": "China", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china" }, { "id": "geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china.ming-late", "label": "Late Ming (1521 to 1662)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.chn.t1000.society.history.asia.china.ming-late" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Pubei (哱拜) was the leader of a rebellion against the Ming dynasty at Ningxia in 1592, allied with the Ordos Mongols; the revolt was crushed within months and his clan was exterminated.", "snippet": "Pubei (哱拜) was the leader of a rebellion against the Ming dynasty at Ningxia in 1592, allied with the Ordos Mongols; the revolt was crushed within months and his clan was exterminated.", "node": "society.history.asia.china.ming-late.rebellions-and-ming-qing-transition", "markdown": "# Pubei\n\n**Pubei** (哱拜) was the leader of a rebellion against the [Ming dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/ming-dynasty) in [Ningxia](https://www.edgepedia.org/ningxia); the court crushed the revolt within months of its outbreak,[3](https://www.1daixie.com/lwfbdl/4635.html) and Pubei's entire clan was exterminated.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) \n\n| Key facts | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Rebellion | Rose in Ningxia in Wanli 20[3](https://www.1daixie.com/lwfbdl/4635.html) |\n| Steppe alliance | Deeply allied with the Ordos Mongols, whose chiefs called him king and in whose tents he directed plans[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) |\n| Siege and fall | A water attack breached the north wall; Pubei and his son Bo Cheng'en (哱承恩) killed the rebel leaders Liu Dongyang (刘东旸) and Xu Chao (许朝) and begged for quarter; the clan was annihilated[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) |\n| Institutional mark | The campaign post created the title of *tidu* (提督) for a military officer, beginning with Li Rusong (李如松)[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) |\n\n## The revolt of Wanli 20\n\nThe rising began in the twentieth year of the Wanli reign.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238)\n\nThe standard history records the siege in detail. Generals Dong Yikui (董一奎), Ma Gui (麻贵), and others attacked the city repeatedly without success. Dong Yikui assaulted the south side, Li Xu (李昫) the west, Liu Chengsi (刘承嗣) the north, and Niu Bingzhong (牛秉忠) the east, with Ma Gui commanding a mobile force in support.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) When Li Rusong arrived the assaults intensified: soldiers carried 30,000 earth-filled sacks to build an approach and were driven back by cannon and stones; night escalade attempts failed; and the command resolved on a water attack.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) Pubei, hard pressed, sent his adopted son Ke Ligai (克力盖) to summon the Ordos Mongols, and [Li Rusong](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-rusong) ordered Li Ning (李宁) to pursue and kill him; more than 10,000 Ordos riders then appeared at Zhangliangbao (张亮堡), where Li Rusong fought them off, personally executing soldiers who shrank from combat.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) As the water rose and the north wall collapsed, Li Rusong and Xiao Ruxun (萧如薰) feigned an attack on the north gate while storming the south with picked troops. Pubei and his son Bo Cheng'en then killed their fellow rebels Liu Dongyang and [Xu Chao](https://www.edgepedia.org/xu-chao) and begged for their lives; the storming troops wiped out Pubei's whole clan.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238)\n\n## Political influence\n\nThe campaign left marks on court institutions. The court appointed Li Rusong as *tidu* of Shaanxi anti-rebel military affairs, and the history notes that a military officer holding the title of *tidu* began with him.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) The appointment also provoked a jurisdictional dispute: Li Rusong, holding heavy authority, refused to take orders from the supervising governor, officials of the Office of Scrutiny for War led by Xu Honggang (许弘纲) called this contrary to regulation, and Minister of War Shi Xing (石星) reminded the throne that his commission made him subject to the governor's direction, so the emperor issued an edict of admonition.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) Earlier, when censor Mei Guozhen (梅国桢) proposed reemploying the veteran [Li Chengliang](https://www.edgepedia.org/li-chengliang) (李成梁) against the revolt, sectional secretary Wang Dewan (王德完) objected and the proposal was dropped.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) A modern thesis reads the revolt as exposing institutional problems of the mid and late Ming, including civil-military relations and the household-retainer system.[4](http://abslw.com/71/abs2111271.html)\n\n## Military style\n\nThe record shows Pubei fighting as a frontier cavalry commander who fought in combination with steppe allies. He had long been closely bound to the Ordos tribes, whose chiefs addressed him as king and in whose tents he sat daily directing plans; at the height of the siege he no longer dared come out.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) His field actions recorded in the history include bringing 500 Ordos riders to besiege Pinglubao (平虏堡), and a sortie from the north gate intended to reach the Ordos tribes in person, which Ma Gui drove back into the city.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) His characteristic supply move was external: the rebels offered gold and embroidered python robes to Bo Shitu (卜失兔) and other chiefs, asking them to seize Lingzhou (灵州) and Xiamaguan (下马关) first and cut the government army's grain route; the chiefs attacked Dingbian (定边) and entered by Huamachi (花马池) before being checked.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) \n\n## Death, titles, and heirs\n\nThe standard history records that Pubei and his son killed the rebel leaders and begged for quarter as the city fell, and that the storming troops exterminated his clan; it does not describe his own death.[1](https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238) According to the *Mingshi Jishi Benmo*, only the surrender moves and the storming of the city are recorded, without describing his end.[5](http://www.xuge.org/ls/msjs/147.htm) \n\n## Assessment\n\nThe early Qing narrative history *Mingshi Jishi Benmo* goes further than the standard history, treating Liu Dongyang's mutiny as instigated by Pubei, who used Dang Xin's deductions of pay and rations as a pretext.[5](http://www.xuge.org/ls/msjs/147.htm) Against this, the columnist Tao Duanfang (陶短房) argues from the Wanli emperor's own words that impoverished border troops provoked by unsympathetic officials had mutinied, and contemporary memorials that the mutiny's ringleaders were Liu Dongyang and Xu Chao, that Pubei was provoked into joining rather than its organizer, and that fixing the label of chief rebel on him served the court's need to display the merit of suppression.[2](http://taoduanfang.blog.caixin.com/archives/241586)\n\n## Legacy\n\nThe revolt entered contemporary writing. Song Maocheng narrated the campaign in the factual tale *Xishi Juelüe* (《西师记略》).[3](https://www.1daixie.com/lwfbdl/4635.html) A modern master's thesis treats the affair as a case study in the institutional strains of the late Ming, arguing that the episode illuminates civil-military relations and the household-retainer system.[4](http://abslw.com/71/abs2111271.html)\n\n## References\n\n1. 《明史》卷二百三十八 (Wikisource transcription), https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/明史/卷238\n2. 陶短房, 被消失的问答：\"万历三大征\"之哱拜谋反 (财新网博客), http://taoduanfang.blog.caixin.com/archives/241586\n3. 以小说见证历史：宋懋澄纪实小说与哱拜之乱, https://www.1daixie.com/lwfbdl/4635.html\n4. 明代万历\"哱拜之乱\"原因新探 (硕士论文摘要), http://abslw.com/71/abs2111271.html\n5. 谷应泰, 《明史纪事本末》卷六十三 平哱拜, http://www.xuge.org/ls/msjs/147.htm\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › China › Late Ming (1521 to 1662) › Rebellions and Ming–Qing transition*\n\n*Initially written Sep 23, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Pubei\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Pubei](https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei](https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Pubei\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/pubei. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Pubei was the leader of a rebellion against the Ming dynasty at Ningxia in 1592, allied with the Ordos Mongols; the revolt was crushed within months and his clan was exterminated." }