In the wake of the absolute disaster at Fengyang, Hong Chengchou was given the task to crush the rebels within 6 months time and the emperor followed this up by pledging almost 1 million taels worth of supplies for the task. Drastic measures were enforced such as rushing 43,000 troops from other theaters, such as from the northeast where the Qing could strike at any moment. The bandits were moving further south freaking out the Ming Court and Emperor. These eunuchs of course were not military men and many had ulterior motives. Then as the bandits got close, his forces opened fire killing around a 1000 of them.Yet such local competent commanders were increasingly becoming rare and the Emperor continuously resorted to dispatching eunuchs wherever he could to resolve matters. He set up cannons atop walls and stockpiled large logs to be thrown at the rebels. Defending Luzhou was commander Wu Dapo who deployed peasants and troops to defend the town. Once they were done, Gao headed west and Zhang went east to attack Luzhou. They razed everything to the ground and looted the place for days. There they killed over 4000 Ming officials and civilians performing some heinous atrocities, some stating they even ripped fetuses out of pregnant women. They marched through Henan on their way into Nan Zhili, looting the town of Fengyang. Enroute to their target, their troops carried around banners declaring themselves followers of the True Primal Dragon Emperor and thus they were identifying themselves as something more than just mere bandits. The most successful of these groups would be the Rebel leaders Zhang Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang who hit Nan Zhili. They decided to divide their forces and strike out simultaneously in all directions. The overarching leader amongst them was Li Zicheng who would make many key decisions for them all. Then all the prominent rebel leaders got together for a meeting, which would be a rather dramatic turning point. They would avoid any open battles with Ming forces, always on the move. The rebels would routinely attack smaller towns, usually in groups of 10,000 and perform atrocities against officials. In the area between Shaanxi and Henan, over 200,000 rebels began taking smaller towns and killing local officials.
In turn when they would fail, they would be dismissed, leading to a further shortage of competent men to manage the terrible situation. So many officials in numerous provinces complained they lacked the resources necessary to feed their troops, distribute relief or quell rebellions. Droughts, famine, even cannibalism was seen all over, driving peasants to swell the ranks of bandits who soon became rebel armies. The Ming Court had realized the required authority necessary to coordinate operations against the wandering bandit menace. He was made Supreme commander of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang and Sichuan. In early 1634, one man, Chen Qiyu, was instilled with an incredible amount of power. This episode is The Rebellion of Li Zicheng So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on world war two and much more so go give them a look over on Youtube.
But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. With the Koreans now giving him tribute, he soon turned his gaze towards the Ming, with some new toys in hand.
Then Hung proclaimed his people to be the Manchu under a brand new Qing dynasty as he conquered all of Korea. Hung managed to gain some very valuable Ming defectors and upgraded his military with new cannons and naval units. Unfortunately it was not long when Yuan would fall victim to a sneaky ploy of Hung Taiji and was executed under the false pretense that he was a turncoat like Mao. Mao’s rival Yuan Chonghuan took little time to get rid of Mao, thus riding himself of the man stealing his limelight. The Sea King Mao Wenlong was finally caught lying about his military achievements and even secretly negotiating with the Jin. Last time we spoke, the death of Nurhaci led to the rise of his grandson Hung Taiji.