Yun Restoration War

Yun Restoration War
Top: A painting of the battle fought between the Swordsmen army and the Lu's Army Bottom: Victims of the Hājìng plague on the Yun's side
Date February 1852 – September 1901 Location Daojing (Central and Southern regions) Result Lu Dynasty victory
Belligerents
Lu dynasty Later stages: [Foreign intervention add here]	Revived Yun Dynasty Co-belligerents: Swordsmen movement Heavenly Hosts of Yun Northern bandits
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Dàshèng Prince Zēng Hàn Zhèng Guō Liángzhēn Lǐ Xīnchéng	Lán Wénxiáng # Lán Tiānxiàng   Xuē Mǐngxián   Zhào Tiānlóng   Yáng Rǔlán  † Co-commanders: Zhāng Déchéng (Swordsmen) Xīliáng (Northern bandits)
Strength
7 million+	5 million
18 million (all combatants)
Casualties and losses
Total dead: 30–40 million

The Yun Restoration War, also known as the Yun Civil War, was a civil war in Daojing between the Lu dynasty and the Great Yun State, a theocratic, quasi-nationalist movement that sought to restore the mythical Yun Dynasty, that lasted from 1852 until 1901. The conflict, lasting nearly five decades, making it one of the longest and most devastating wars in Elazia's history.

The war began as a localized peasant uprising led by Lán Wénxiáng, a failed scholar and mystic who declared himself the divine descendant of the Yun Dynasty and the rightful heir to the Jade Mandate. Lán's Heavenly Hosts of Yun rapidly gained traction among disenfranchised peasants, impoverished scholars, and anti-imperialist factions, establishing the Great Yun State in 1852 with Tiānyún as its capital, on the previous site of the Yun dynasty's capital. At its height, the Great Yun State controlled significant portions of central and southern Daojing, enacting sweeping social reforms and fostering a militant theocracy rooted in traditional Daojing values. The rebellion was characterized by its brutal tactics, mass mobilizations, and eventual modernization efforts.

It ranks as one of the bloodiest wars in human history, the bloodiest civil war, and the largest conflict of the 19th century, comparable to World War I in terms of deaths. The war was characterized by extreme brutality on both sides. Yun soldiers carried out widespread massacres of ethnic minorities, foreigners and loyalists. Meanwhile, the Lu government also engaged in massacres, most notably against the civilian population of Tiānyún. The country also experienced the Hājìng plague, a pneumonic plague outbreak that spread to both sides, with the Yun being affected the most.

Weakened by internal conflicts following an attempted coup led by disillusioned generals and the disastrous Northern Campaign to capture the Wujing in 1892, the Yun forces entered a period of rapid decline. Despite initial successes, the siege of Wujing ended in chaos when the rebel leadership’s overconfidence and lack of logistical planning left their troops exposed to disease, starvation, and an opportunistic counteroffensive by loyalist forces. Adding to the chaos, Lán Wénxiáng became increasingly paranoid and eccentric in his later years. Believing himself immune to mortal afflictions due to his "divine bloodline", Lán began experimenting with bizarre health regimens, which included consuming raw meat soaked in mercury, a concoction he declared was a "potion of celestial vitality". And on a particularly sweltering summer afternoon in 1899, after ingesting a particularly large dose of his mercury-meat elixir, Lán collapsed mid-sermon while delivering a monologue about restoring the “Golden Age of Yun”. His followers initially interpreted his convulsions as a sign of divine rapture. It was only hours later that they realized their leader was dead.