Before the Huang Chao Uprising, which affected half of the country in the Tang Dynasty, the whole society almost fell apart, and all provinces and regions rose up to stand on their own feet, and people who could not make a living rose up. In Lingnan area, a group of soldiers guarding the frontier launched a mutiny because of their long-term desire to return to their homeland, which actually caused a catastrophe that spread to southeast China 17 months. This is the "Guilin uprising".

The origin of "Guilin Rebellion" can be traced back to Nanzhao. During the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao was located between the two great powers, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Sometimes friendly with the Tang Dynasty, and sometimes close to Tubo. In the 9th century, the Tang Dynasty was politically corrupt, and the relationship with Nanzhao was not handled well. Nanzhao broke with the Tang Dynasty and seized the territory of the Tang Dynasty (now Hanoi, Vietnam).

In order to quell the rebellion, Tang Yizong sent our special envoy Qiu Meng to lead 2000 soldiers from Xuzhou to the south. However, the number of soldiers is not enough, and young men who are willing to go to the wild can't be recruited at the moment.

Therefore, Qiu Meng recruited some mountain thieves to make up for this, and formed an expeditionary force to Jiaozhou. The court promised them that the time limit for entering Lingnan was three years, and when three years came, they would definitely return to their hometown. In the third year of Xian Tong (862), this expeditionary force marched from Xuzhou to Lingnan, among which 800 people were stationed in Guilin.

In the winter of 865, three years were about to expire, but the observation of Xuzhou (now Xuzhou, Jiangsu) and Sizhou (now Sixian, Anhui) made Cui Yanzeng order them to stay for another three years. The soldiers had to guard the border for another three years. At the end of the second three-year period, everyone was looking forward to going home, but they received a second military order ordering them to stay for another year. Now, the army seems to have exploded, and everyone is indignant and unwilling to work for the court that broke its word.

In a rage, someone killed Wang Zhongfu, the leader of the army who tried to stabilize the morale of the army. As a result, the situation became uncontrollable. No way back, the lawbreaker, simply got stuck, encouraged everyone to defect and organized himself to go back to his hometown. Pang Xun, an official in charge of grain management, was elected as the leader of the rebel army. They grabbed some weapons, armed themselves and marched north.

This move greatly alarmed the central government. The imperial court tried to appease the rebellious soldiers, so it ordered them to be pardoned for their disobedience and allowed them to return to Xuzhou. However, Pang Xun and others understand that this is just a delaying tactic of the imperial court, and what awaits them must be second guessed.

Therefore, Pang Xun's team remained vigilant, starting from Guilin and passing through Hunan, Hubei and Anhui. All the way against the officers and men, all the way to attract the vast number of farmers who were forced by their livelihood and had nowhere to go to join, and quickly expanded the team. When they arrived in Xuzhou, they rushed into the city gate and executed the official who ordered them to postpone their return.

The imperial court sent troops against Pang Xun's army. However, these dispatched generals were corrupt, demoralized and ineffective, so Pang Xun fought the Imperial Army for one year and five months. During this period, the number of casualties on both sides was very heavy. Most areas south of the Yellow River have been seriously damaged.

Finally, the court transferred Yuzhou (now Yuxian County, Hebei Province) to Li's Shatuo Corps for support. Shatuo people are a branch of Turks, brave and good at fighting. When Pang Xun's army heard about it, some people began to waver. General Meng tried to surrender and was executed by Pang Xun. In September of the 10th year of Xian Tong (869), Pang Xun led 20,000 people to cross the Bianshui River and attacked Bozhou south, and was pursued by Shatuo soldiers. Pang Xun was defeated and killed. Only about 1000 people survived in the whole rebel army.

The "Guilin Uprising" led by Pang Xun was the predecessor of the Huang Chao Uprising. This civilian uprising fully exposed the dark reality of the poverty of the people and the corruption and incompetence of the power class at the end of the Tang Dynasty. Although the Guilin uprising was finally suppressed, some historians believe that the mutiny before the Huang Chao uprising was the beginning of the demise of the Tang Dynasty.