Initial Uprising
Shen Faxing was from Hu Province (湖州, roughly modern Huzhou, Zhejiang). His father Shen Ke (沈恪) was a Chen Dynasty general who served all five of Chen's emperors until his death in 583 at the age of 73, with the title of the Marquess of Dongxing. After Shen Ke's death, Shen Faxing inherited the title of Marquess of Dongxing, but Chen was destroyed by Sui Dynasty in 589.
As of 618, Shen Faxing was serving as the governor of Wuxing Commandery (吳興, i.e., the former Hu Province) under Emperor Yang of Sui. He was on a campaign against the agrarian rebel leader Lou Shigan (樓世幹) when news came that Emperor Yang had been killed at Jiangdu (江都, in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) in a coup led by the general Yuwen Huaji. Shen therefore, claiming that he was attacking Yuwen, gathered the troops of the region, numbering more than 60,000 men, and he occupied more than 10 commanderies, including such cities as Yuhang (餘杭, in modern Hangzhou, Zhejiang), Piling (毗陵, in modern Changzhou, Jiangsu), and Danyang (丹楊, in modern Nanjing, Jiangsu). He declared himself the grand commandant of Jiangnan (i.e., the region south of the Yangtze River) and exercised imperial powers.
In fall 618, Shen sent messengers to declare submission to the Sui emperor Yang Tong (Emperor Yang's grandson), then at the eastern capital Luoyang, but he declared for himself the exceedingly honored titles of commander of the armed forces, grand secretary, and the Duke of Tianmen, and there was no record of Yang Tong accepting his submission or granting him offices.
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