Lin Shihong was an agrarian king who rose against the rule of the ChineseSui Dynasty near the end of Emperor Yang's reign. For several years, he controlled most of modern Jiangxi and Guangdong, but was then under attack by others, gradually reduced to fighting a guerrilla war against Tang Dynasty. He died in 622, and his followers scattered.
Initial uprising
Virtually nothing is known about Lin Shihong's background, other than that he was from Rao Province. In 616, he followed an agrarian rebel from the same locale, Cao Shiqi, in rising against Sui Dynasty rule. Cao claimed the title of the Prince of Yuanxing and made Lin a major general. Later that year, Emperor Yang of Sui sent the official Liu Ziyi to attack Cao, and Cao was killed by an arrow in battle. Lin took over Cao's troops and battled Liu at Lake Poyang, killing Liu in battle. Lin gained the allegiance of over 100,000 men. Around the new year 617, Lin claimed the title of Emperor of Chu, and he captured a number of commanderies in modern Jiangxi. It was said that the localgentry killed many of the Sui commandery governors and county magistrates to submit to him. By this point, his territory went as far north as Jiujiang and as far as Panyu.
Gradual loss of power
After that point on, however, territorial expansions by Lin Shihong were rarely mentioned in historical accounts; rather, contractions were mentioned. For example, around the new year 618, it was mentioned that Zhang Shan'an, a rebel leader from Fangyu, crossed the Yangtze River south to submit to Lin, but after Lin, not trusting his intentions, settled Zhang in outside his capital Yuzhang, Zhang became resentful and launched a surprise attack on Yuzhang, defeating Lin's forces and burning the exterior walls of Yuzhang, causing Lin to move his capital to Nankang. Subsequently, another rebel leader, Xiao Xian the Prince of Liang, sent his general Su Hu'er to attack Yuzhang, capturing it, prompting Lin to further retreat to Yugan. In 618, the Sui official Feng Ang, whose clan had controlled a number of commanderies in modern Guangdong and Hainan for several generations, submitted to Lin, although when Lin tried to persuade the Sui official Qiu He, who controlled modern northern Vietnam, to do the same, Qiu refused, and subsequently submitted to Xiao after hearing that Emperor Yang had been killed at Jiangdu in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji. By late 620, it also appeared that Feng was no longer submitting to Lin, for he attacked and captured the rebel leaders Gao Facheng and Shen Baoche, who had taken over Guang and Xin Prefectures respectively and submitted to Lin.
Brief recovery and eventual dissipation
In 621, the Tang Dynasty general Li Xiaogong destroyed Xiao Xian's state of Liang, seizing most of Liang territory and some of the troops, but much of the Liang troops fled and joined Lin, and Lin's military strength recovered. In fall 622, however, Feng officially submitted to Tang. Later that year, Lin sent his brother Lin Yaoshi the Prince of Poyang to attack Tang's Xun Prefecture, and the Tang prefect Yang Lüe defeated and killed Lin Yaoshi. Further, the Chu general Wang Rong then surrendered Nanchang Prefecture. In fear, in winter 622, Lin offered to surrender to Tang, but soon regretted it, abandoning his capital Yugan and fled to Ancheng, taking up positions in mountain caves, and the people of the region largely joined him. The Tang general Ruogan Ze attacked him, however, and defeated him, but was unable to capture him. However, Lin soon died, and his followers scattered, ending his state of Chu.
