Rebellion of the Three Guards
| Rebellion of the Three Guards | |||||||||
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 Approximate areas under Zhou loyalist (green) and rebel control (red). Loyalist reconquest of North China Plain (dark red), Zhou conquest of western Shandong (light blue), and loyalist campaigns against last rebel strongholds (purple). |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
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Zhou loyalists
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Three Guards, separatists and Shang loyalists
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Duke Dan of Zhou King Cheng of Zhou Duke Shi of Shao Duke Lü Shang Viscount Qi of Wey Grand Invocator Qin Duke Ke of Shao Duke of Lian Commander Zhi Commander Qian |
Guanshu Xian  Caishu Du Huoshu Chu (POW) Wu Geng † Ruler of Tang Marquis of Yan (POW) Elder of Feng † |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown; the old Shang capital of Yin is destroyed | |||||||||
Decisive Zhou loyalist victory
Zhou loyalists
Three Guards, separatists and Shang loyalists
The Rebellion of the Three Guards (simplified Chinese: 三监之乱; traditional Chinese: 三監之亂; pinyin: Sānjiànzhī Luàn), or less commonly the Wu Geng Rebellion, was a civil war, instigated by an alliance of discontent Zhou princes, Shang loyalists, vassal states and non-Chinese peoples against the Zhou government under the Duke of Zhou's regency in the latter 11th century BC.
After the fall of the Shang dynasty, King Wu of Zhou had appointed his brothers Guanshu, Caishu and Huoshu as the "Three Guards" of the East to secure the newly conquered Shang lands. After his death and his young son King Cheng's coronation, King Wu's brother Dan, the Duke of Zhou, declared himself regent and took over the court. This aroused the anger of the Three Guards who suspected Dan of usurpation and believed that they should serve as regents. Allied with many separatist eastern nobles, Shang loyalists under Prince Wu Geng, and several Dongyi and Huaiyi states, they rose in rebellion against the Duke of Zhou. The latter then launched a second "eastern campaign" to put down the rebellion, and defeated the rebels in three years, killing or disempowering their leaders. In doing so, he also further expanded the Zhou kingdom into eastern China, transforming it into an empire using the new Fengjian system.
Edward L. Shaughnessy called the rebellion "a succession crisis that has come to be seen as defining moment not only for the Western Zhou dynasty but for the entire history of Chinese statecraft".
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