Great and Lasting Brightness: Tales of a Surviving Ming

I hadn't really thought I would begin a new timeline. As I was researching about the Southern Ming, I was reading on one of the Ming imperial claimants, the Prince of Fu, and I came across how he narrowly escaped death after Li Zicheng took Luoyang. As I was reading about that, I came across how Li Zicheng was injured in the eye in his next major battle, the first siege of Kaifeng. I thought that was a great point of divergence, and one that nobody else had discussed. So therefore, I present a timeline where Li Zicheng was killed by that arrow during the siege of Kaifeng, thus giving the Ming Dynasty time to survive.

The name of the title comes from the name of the Ming Dynasty, Da Ming, which means Great Brightness.

Great and Lasting Brightness: Tales of a Surviving Ming

It is surely a surprise to later observers that the Ming Dynasty (明朝) managed to survive the era of Chongzhen (崇禎). The era name meant “Sublime Fortune,” but entailed a period of chaos. Droughts, famines, floods, epidemics, invasions, and rebellions all devastated the country. The Ming hold on the Mandate of Heaven seemed precipitously lost in the seven years of drought between 1637 and 1643. It seems a near miracle that the Ming not only managed to survive this period, but actually managed to flourish afterwards. Today, the Chongzhen period is not seen in the greatest light. A period of natural disaster is usually a negative portent of Heaven, and it continued to be a period of government corruption and sloth. However, the Chongzhen era was not the last Ming era, and that alone testifies to the benevolence of Heaven, the hard work and effort of the government, or both. It seems that the baptism under fire of the Ming Dynasty allowed the dynasty to survive but rebound. It was an act that had repercussions on all of East Asia and would spread around the world. It was a story that began with an arrow.

The Chongzhen Emperor's name at birth was Zhu Youjian (朱由檢). He came to the throne in 1628 at the age of seventeen following the death of his illiterate and incompetent older brother, who had died without children. Disasters ravaged China shortly afterwards, though no personal fault of the Emperor. A cold spell was first, followed by famines. Locusts and drought spread largely from the north to south, moving from the Yellow River Plain to the mouth of the Yangzi River. Following the drought was a wave of disease. And following the disease were more locusts. It was not the first period of trouble that the Ming had encountered, but it was the worst turmoil that China had seen during Yuan Dynasty.

During most of the 1630s, a rebel named Li Zicheng (李自成) had first begun to make a name for himself under the command of Gao Yingxiang (高迎祥), the Dashing King. After Gao's death, Li took the title of Dashing King, without specifically claiming to be king of anything. It was not a time of success for the rebel. The pressure of Ming generals Hong Chengchou (洪承疇) and Sun Chuanting (孫傳庭) proved too great, and he was isolated in Shaanxi (陝西) until 1640. Until 1639, the situation looked rather secure as well: Li Zicheng was trapped in Shaanxi, while Zhang Xianzhong (張獻忠) had accepted an imperial amnesty. But the threats remained: the two major rebel leaders remained very much alive, while the Manchus attacked Shandong and withdrew voluntarily. When Zhang rebelled again, Li followed suit. In 1640, with a mere 50 men, Li emerged in Henan (河南) once more. At first glance, Li would have seemed like a spent force posing little threat to the Ming armies which had defeated him. Li had not yet proclaimed a new dynasty, claiming to be loyal to the Ming and rebelling only against the corrupt princes and officials who had cheated the people.

When Zhang rebelled again, he managed to escape from Shaanxi into Sichuan (四川), where the Ming authorities were too slow to stop him. Zhang aimed for the city of Xiangyang (襄陽). Li had managed to gather up an army of refugees and set his sights on the city of Luoyang (洛陽). The Ming Dynasty, granted only a moment's respite from rebels in 1639, was once again plagued by war across the realm. In every sense, it had snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory, failing to take advantage of its superiority over Li and Zhang. Had the two rebels been crushed that summer, China could have been spared substantial chaos. Issues of corruption and infighting hampered the Ming government's ability to maneuver, and its poorly-controlled troops were little better than rebels in regards to their quality.

By the late Ming, the wealth of the imperial princes had grown massive, with state coffers and lands going to feeding a parasitic stratum of imperial relatives. Whether living in poverty or luxury, these imperial relations were ultimately sustained by government funds. As descendants of the imperial clan, they were largely banned from taking the government examinations or partaking in trade, being restrained to their palaces and banned from travel. Notable princes were installed at major cities, though they did not rule them in any feudal manner. The Prince of Fu (福王) was resident in Luoyang, a former Chinese imperial capital, in the year when Li Zicheng and his army attacked it in 1641.

The Prince of Fu was Zhu Changxun (朱常洵), who was the uncle of the Chongzhen Emperor. This prince had no popularity though, due to his corrupt and greedy nature. His massive palace in Luoyang, with its singing retinues and abundant supplies, was funded through the lands expropriated from commoners. The government troops defending Luoyang and the prince were paid little. It came as no surprise that mutiny government troops quickly murdered their superiors and let Li's soldiers into the city. Zhu Changxun was caught and executed, though his son succeeded in escaping. When the rebels entered Luoyang, they discovered that the Prince of Fu had a hundred thousand piculs (石) of grain and hundreds of thousands of taels (兩) of silver in his reserves. Ironically, Ming troops had betrayed him because they were not being paid.

The next city to be targeted was another Henan city and former capital of China, Kaifeng (開封). However, Kaifeng had walls from Song (宋) and Jin (金) that were still standing. Perhaps more importantly, Kaifeng had a resident prince who was much more forthcoming in finances. This man was the Prince of Zhou (周王), and is perhaps the unsung hero of this story. Unlike the Prince of Fu, whose father was the grandfather of the Chongzhen Emperor, the Prince of Zhou was a much more distant relation. The Prince of Zhou and the Chongzhen Emperor were of the same generation and their last common ancestor was Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), who lived from 1328 to 1398, over two centuries prior. The Princes of Zhou had been installeded in Kaifeng since the lifetime of Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been the first Emperor of the Ming. The Prince of Zhou, Zhu Gongxiao (朱恭枵), lived well. His estate was constructed on the former Song palaces, with terraces, waterfalls, and lakes. The Prince had at his possession tens of thousands of taels of silver. Unlike his distant relation, the Prince of Fu, the Prince of Zhou lacked the greed or complacency which paved the way for Luoyang's fall. He offered up his silver to the people of the city in return for service. The going price was fifty taels for a rebel head, thirty for other body parts, and ten for captives. In Ming times, one tael of silver was equal to about an ounce in weight, which was no small sum given it cost a landlord 12 taels to hire one agricultural worker. A soldier who managed to take a rebel's arm or leg would literally be paid the yearly wages of ten agricultural workers. The officials in charge of Kaifeng, such as Gao Mingheng (高名衡) and Huang Shu (黃澍), thus found themselves in charge of a reasonable military force, even if its members were more interested in the resident prince's silver than the defense of the country.

In 1641, Li Zicheng and his men besieged Kaifeng. The assault began on March 22. Li had around 3,000 cavalry and 30,000 men, and faced a reasonably organized defense in Kaifeng. The resulting siege lasted only a short period of time, as the defenders rained arrows on Li's army. It went poorly for rebel forces. For example, they attempted to hide in pits under the city walls, but this went poorly. Rebel troops failed to breach the wall, tunnel under it, or climb over it. On March 27, an arrow fired by Chen De (陳德) hit Li Zicheng in his left eye. The arrow instantly shattered his skull and killed him. After the death of their leader, the rebel forces withdrew that day. The remnants of Li Zicheng's soldiers fragmented into their own petty armies before 1641 was over.
 
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Update 2:

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Li Zicheng's death did not mean the instant disintegration of his movement. He too had generals and lieutenants who could take his place, having also emerged from the chaotic enivornment that had engendered so many revolts and rebellions to begin with. Of these men, the closest to Li was Liu Zongmin ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]劉宗敏[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), who took over as the leader of Li Zicheng's men. However, Li Zicheng had also trusted and confided in his nephew, Li Guo ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]李過[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) almost equally. Without Li's decisive presence, the two remaining generals quickly began to turn on each other. Li's other advisors, such as Li Yan ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]李岩[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) and Song Xiance ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]宋獻策[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), decided to stay out of the affair at the moment until the two strongest men could resolve their conflict. [/FONT]
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Li Guo emphasized his family ties to Li Zicheng in order to gain leadership over the group, but Liu pointed out that Li had called him “Big Brother.” In the Confucian hierarchy, the elder brother would of course be more worthy of respect than a nephew, even one as close as Li Guo. Neither Li nor Liu were Confucians, but the mindset persisted. The two men only refrained from open warfare due to the strenuous efforts of Li Zicheng's Prime Minister, the civilian Niu Jinxing (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]牛金星[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). Liu, Niu, and Li could only agree on one decision: to avoid Kaifeng for the time being and and try to secure another base in Henan instead.[/FONT]
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The officials in Kaifeng, Gao Mingheng and Huang Shu, were too timid to march out from the city and confront the remaining rebel forces. Thus, Ming forces stayed put in Kaifeng and the rebels managed to escape once again. However, the rebel leadership was soon disorganized. Liu Zongmin persuaded his faction of Li Zicheng's rebels to follow him in Henan while Li Guo decided to take his men to Sichuan.
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It was a fortuitous decision for both sides. As Li Guo and the smaller portion of the rebels headed south, they managed to escape the attention of Ming troops, who were then led by Sun Chuanting. Sun and Liu's forces fought a series of minor clashes, which ended in a stalemate. In the meantime, the rebel Zhang Xianzhong held out in the west. In 1643, Zhang's rebellions were thwarted at the city of Wuchang (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]武昌[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), in Central China. The city also had local princes of the Ming imperial family present.[/FONT]
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As the situation stood in 1641, Zhang Xianzhong was limited to the Huguang area and chose to test Ming defenses in Anhui (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]安徽[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) and Jiangsu ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]江蘇[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). Those ventures proved disappointing, as he was defeated by local Ming forces. Unlike Shaanxi and Henan, the areas of Anhui and Jiangsu were not quite as devastated by crop failure and pestilence, and Zhang found himself unable to rally up as many men as before. However, political disputes in the capital at Beijing ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]北京[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), combined with indecision on the part of the Emperor, prevented the commander Huang Degong ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]黃得功[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) from following up on Ming success. Thus, Zhang returned to Huguang in 1642 and chose to attack the city of Wuchang. Zhang first struck at Macheng ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]麻城[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) but his success was middling. The elation of hearing Li Zicheng's defeat had begun to wear off and the local officials were disappointed that the Ming had failed to vanquish Zhang in 1642. They were not so discouraged that they abandoned the defense of the city overall. Thus, when Zhang attacked, the city of Macheng did not fold easily, and an infuriated Zhang ordered the people of Macheng slaughtered. Great numbers of people died, and the survivors fled the entire province.[/FONT]
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When Zhang approached Wuchang, he found himself at the head of moderately large army, but nothing spectacular. The local prince in Wuchang, the Prince of Chu (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]楚王[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) was yet another descendant of the Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang. His Ming officials, buoyed by the news of the success against Li Zicheng in Kaifeng, stayed behind in the city and urged him to take a similar course of action. Like his distant cousin in Kaifeng, the Prince of Chu too decided to distribute his funds amongst the people of Wuchang. The city of Wuchang thus held out against Zhang's troops in early 1643, despite Zhang's exhortations against the corruption and decadence of the Ming regime. News of Zhang's massacres, at Macheng amongst many other places, served to harden the defenders' resistance. Zhang's forces were routed in the siege of Wuchang.[/FONT]
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It was shortly afterwards that the general Zuo Liangyu (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]左良玉[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) emerged on to the fray. Zuo and his men forced Zhang from the Huguang area and back to the east. However, the conflict with Liu Zongmin took a sudden turn for the worse for Ming forces, and Zuo was quickly dispatched to Henan instead. The responsibility for fighting Zhang fell to the famously avaricious Ma Shiying ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]馬士英[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), whose immense greed was matched only by the size of his military forces. Ma and his men in turn succeeded in driving Zhang to the south, as Zhang certainly knew his troops were no match for the great cities at the mouth of the Yangzi. However, Anhui proved to be as resistant before, and inaction on the side of Ming commanders was the only thing that saved Zhang. Local officials attempted to have Ma Shiying impeached for accepting bribes from rebels, but Ma was too important to It was then that in 1643 that Zhang aimed for Changsha ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]長沙[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]).[/FONT]
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The local prince was much like his brother, the Prince of Fu, in that he had none of the largesse of the Prince of Zhou or Prince of Chu. The siege did not go immediately in Zhang's favor, nor against him. Mutinying soldiers inside Changsha nearly killed the local prince, Zhu Changrun (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]朱常潤[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), but the literati and minor officials took the initiative of seizing the property of the prince and distributing it amongst the people of the city. The troops were only temporarily won over. In the middle of 1643, Zhang managed to seize Changsha and devastate it. He finally had the capital he was looking for. He found himself spending much of his time deciding what to call his new regime, and how to set up his state. It was at that moment that Ming generals finally gained permission from the Emperor to pursue Zhang.[/FONT]
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At Changsha, a considerable force under Zuo Liangyu managed to besiege Zhang while he was still inside the city. It was this siege, in 1644, that finally ended Zhang Xianzhong's rebellion. Bringing superior numbers and artillery with them, Ming troops had the technical and military advantage over Zhang. It was also quite unhelpful for Zhang that he failed to repair the city walls after he had captured the city. In March of 1644, Ming troops constructed parapets that towered over the city walls and allowed Ming cannon to fire directly into the city. The walls were largely destroyed and Ming troops managed to enter the city, unleashing considerable looting, pillage, and murder amongst Zhang's soldiers and the remaining civilians.
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Zhang himself tried to escape in the chaos of the battle of Changsha. However, approaching Ming cavalry convinced him that he could not run away in time. At that point, he jumped into the Xiang River, committing suicide.
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif] It was the same month that both Li Guo and Liu Zongmin were also defeated.[/FONT]
 
Very cool! How did the Chinese nobility system work? Were titles granted by the Emperor? Were there hereditary and non-hereditary peerages?

Cheers,
Ganesha
 
Very cool! How did the Chinese nobility system work? Were titles granted by the Emperor? Were there hereditary and non-hereditary peerages?

Cheers,
Ganesha
Basically, the only nobility to speak of is the imperial nobility. That is, all nobles are pretty much members of imperial family. Strictly speaking, a noble could be reduced to commoner status, but this basically never happens. There were lots of hereditary dukes and princes of non-imperial descent in early Ming, but many of these were purged so you don't hear much about them. By late Ming times, the hereditary military nobility no longer seems to have actually held any military responsibilities, though I don't know if the titles disappeared. They were probably held as sinecures.

So all descendants of the Emperor are princes (王), though the translation king may be considered more accurate but less clear. So you'll get X王 and Y王 as the sons of the Emperor. From there, the eldest son gets of the X王 will get that title and be X王 #2, but all other sons of X王 will get another title. You can tell it's a less important title because it'll be longer. So the first son will be X王 and the second son might be AB王 and the third might be CD王, but if the first son died, then AB王 will become the prince of that lineage instead.

This might be confusing. Let me make up an alternate historical example. So the first Emperor of the Ming had a son called the Prince of Zhao (趙王), who historically died young. So let's say he lived and was called Prince Ding of Zhao after he died (趙定王). Then Prince Ding's oldest son will also be the Prince of Zhao, say, Prince Kang of Zhao (趙康王). And Prince Ding's second son might be Prince of Anchuan (安川王). And the Prince of Anchuan might be called something like Prince Huigong of Anchuan (安川惠恭王). Prince Huigong's son will also have two characters in his name, something like Prince Daojian of Anchuan (安川悼簡王). And if Prince Kang has two sons, the oldest might be King Shun of Zhao (趙順王) but the second might be Prince Zhuangmu of a new title, say, Chengxing (成興莊穆王).

Basically, as my quick Internet research tells me, the noble nomenclature works by giving longer titles to less prestigious members of the imperial family.

This is a good start. Are you taking it to today?
Ideally. I already have ideas about how China's destiny plays out but I'm not sure how the rest of the world will. Any suggestions will be appreciated if not necessarily taken under consideration.
 
Interesting idea for a timeline! I'll be especially interested to see if the economic effect of a continued (but shaken) Ming on European trade in southeast Asia.
 
Great thoughts, though I did not know why you picked the Prince of Fu as his son did eventually become the Hongguang Emperor anyways, and also, both of the Fus' reputation of obesity precedes their apparent lack compentent administrative abilities......
 
When's the next update?
Probably Monday but possibly tomorrow.
Interesting idea for a timeline! I'll be especially interested to see if the economic effect of a continued (but shaken) Ming on European trade in southeast Asia.
I'll be honest, that is one area that I don't know much about. I already have some thoughts on the idea, and they involve (in about a century) a lot of pirates.
Great thoughts, though I did not know why you picked the Prince of Fu as his son did eventually become the Hongguang Emperor anyways, and also, both of the Fus' reputation of obesity precedes their apparent lack compentent administrative abilities......
I'm not sure what you mean. I described the first Prince of Fu and his death only to give backstory about 1641 during Li Zicheng's revolt. Because the death of the Prince of Fu occurred before my point-of-divergence, I couldn't do anything to change it. I don't plan for the second Prince of Fu to be significant either. He might; I haven't thought about it. But there are no current plans. I didn't pick the Prince of Fu for anything other than descriptive purposes. That is also the same reason I described the Prince of Zhou.

In any case, the Ming will survive 1644 in this timeline, so the rest of the imperial family will descend from the Chongzhen Emperor ... or will it? Stay tuned.
 
I'm not sure what you mean. I described the first Prince of Fu and his death only to give backstory about 1641 during Li Zicheng's revolt. Because the death of the Prince of Fu occurred before my point-of-divergence said:
Oh, oops, my mistake, but I guess that if you are still getting Chongzhen killed (perhaps by Zhang Xianzhong) and the Manchus still enter the pass, Zhu Cilang will have an extremely hard time gathering support with the other princes around (especially those of the Tang lineage).

Anyways, will keep looking at the post (do u have any idea to perhaps "bookmark" the threads, as I'm relatively new and dont know the forum actually wroks).

thx

-Black Prince of Britannia
 
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I said I would have an update by Monday but I never stated which Monday.

Update 3
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[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]In Beijing, the court officials under the Chongzhen Emperor remained as recalcitrant and obstinate as ever. The factionalism under Chongzhen's predecessor had not ceased in any way. Chongzhen's brother was Zhu Youxiao ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]朱由校[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), whose era was Tianqi ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]天啟[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), or “Heavenly Opening.” Zhu's chief aid was the eunuch Wei Zhongxian ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]魏忠賢[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), a thoroughly unscrupulous man who had entered into the emperor's confidence and was responsible for purges amongst opposing members of the bureaucracy. After the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, Wei committed suicide and his partisans were persecuted as well. This animosity between the former opponents and supporters of Wei Zhongxian was not the only reason for the infighting in Chongzhen's court, but was a great reason.[/FONT]
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One official, Xue Guoguan (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]薛國觀[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) was one of the men embroiled in these disputes. His suggestion, in opposition to Yang Sichang ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]楊嗣昌[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), was to abolish the stipends for the imperial family and its hanger-ons. Yang's suggestion, which nearly won over the Emperor, was to raise taxes to fight rebels, despite the fact that taxes were indeed the cause of rebellion in the first place. Xue's policy was naturally opposed by the members of the imperial family itself. However, Yang Sichang committed suicide after the humiliation of losing Xiangyang to Zhang Xianzhong and Luoyang to Li Zicheng. Xue's policy was enacted. In 1641, the Chongzhen Emperor followed through in seizing the title and allowances given to a distaff relative, but the uproar from the imperial family forced the Emperor to reverse course. The relative was restored to his post and allowances, and continued to spend exorbitantly as before. Xue Guoguan fell out of favor momentarily, and was demoted from Senior Grand Secretary ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]首輔[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). He was replaced by Zhou Yanru ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]周延儒[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). It was Zhou who appointed Ma Shiying to the post in Anhui. However, despise factionalism as he might, Xue realized that he could not effect change in the Ming government without allies of his own. It was at a rather fortuitous moment that Zhou Yanru chose to make a political alliance with Wu Sheng ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]吳甡[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) and turn on the members of the bureaucracy which had brought him to power.[/FONT]
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Zhou Yanru had been a staunch enemy of Xue's patron, the deceased Wen Tiren (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]溫體仁[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), and headed a partisan group in opposition to Wen and Xue. It had been Wen who betrayed Zhou when the latter was accused of corruption. However, Zhou's former allies felt betrayed by the appointment of Ma Shiying, who turned around and accused a host of up-and-coming scholars of corruption. Zhou had slated the latter to the Emperor for promotion, but Ma's appointment reduced their chances. These men, soon to be quite prominent, included Li Banghua ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]李邦華[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), Fan Jingwen ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]范景文[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), Ni Yuanlu ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]倪元璐[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), and Zhang Guowei ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]張國維[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). It was through the work of Wu Sheng and Zhou Yanru that the Shandong faction of the bureaucracy retained office. That faction's remaining chief members were Xie Sheng ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]謝升[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) and Fan Fucui ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]范復粹[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]).[/FONT]
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The head of Zhou's former group was furious at this betrayal. As the dominant group amongst the court advisers, they had much greater sway than the Shandong faction. In their own Machiavellian maneuvers, they sided with Xue, who had been an erstwhile rival of Zhou Yanru and by extension Wu Sheng. After Zhou was accused of corruption by yet another palace eunuch, Xue jumped to his defense. His motivation had less to do with fairness, even though the charge was completely false, and more to do with political jockeying. Xue revealed that the eunuch in question, Cao Huachun (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]曹化淳[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), had been bribed to suggest Zhou's name to the Emperor. The Emperor ordered the libelous eunuch to tend ancestral graves in the south. This act boosted Xue's standing to a considerable degree. Zhou found himself indebted to Xue through the exoneration, the power of at least one powerful eunuch was curtailed, and Wu was deprived of an ally. Xue nominated new proteges, Li Banghua and Ni Yuanlu, for office in 1642, and named his new allies Fan Jingwen and Zhang Guowei for office in 1643. By then, he had become the dominant figure at court. The coup de grace came in 1644 when Zhou Yanru's servant was caught accepting bribes and turned on his master. Zhou denied knowing that his servant was involved in such perfidy, but Xue Guoguan did not come to the defense of Zhou. Despite Xue's opposition to granting yet more noble ranks and allowances, Zhou was given a noble title and a stipend before being dismissed by the Emperor. [/FONT]
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It was during this period of influence that Xue persuaded the Emperor, yet again, to abolish the stipends allotted to the numerous members of the imperial family present. In 1642, the Chongzhen Emperor gave an order that current imperial princes were henceforth banned from receiving state stipends. Imperial weddings were no longer paid by the state. Future land grants would not be given by the state. The size of imperial states then in existence was not touched, but the order was that no further territory was granted. Thus, inheritance would be solely taken from the lands that a prince already held. It was a quite outrageous act that infuriated many members of the imperial family. However, given their recent reduction in size, the imperial princes could do little. The resident princes at Luoyang, Xiangyang, and Changsha were all casualties, but they were hardly the only or last to die.
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The greater unity of leadership also had vast effects on the direction of government. Xue Guoguan did not control the court by himself. Yang Sichang's successor as Minister of War was Chen Xinjia (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]陳新甲[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), who enjoyed the confidence of the Emperor in the dealings with the Manchus. Wu Sheng also remained in office despite Xue's best efforts: his attempts to remove Wu seemed petty and were henceforth ignored. But overall, Xue remained the dominant figure at court.[/FONT]
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In the period from 1641 to 1644, the chief concern of the Emperor and his court was never that of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, nor of the other petty rebels in Central China. Rather, the focus of the court's attention was always on the Manchu threat to the north.
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Unlike the Chinese, the Manchus were mostly but not totally a group of nomadic horsemen from the northeast. They were originally called the Jurchens when their first leader Nuerhachi (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]努爾哈赤[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) first unified them. Their leader in the Chongzhen era was a man known among the Chinese as Hong Taiji ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]洪太極[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) or Huang Taiji ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]皇太極[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), the latter being a distortion of the former. It was Hong Taiji who changed the name of the Jurchen state to Qing ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif][/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) and the name of the Jurchen people to Manchu ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]滿洲[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]). In 1641, the Manchus began a siege of the city of Jinzhou ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]錦州[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) which would have great effect on all of them.[/FONT]
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The Ming position in the area now called Manchuria, of which they only occupied the Liaodong Peninsula, had been defended for several years by well-known military men. The most feared was Yuan Chonghuan (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]袁崇煥[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), who had been executed in 1630 by the Chongzhen Emperor due to a rumor. Perhaps less well-known was Zu Dashou ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]祖大壽[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), who was stationed in Liaodong and was besieged in Jinzhou. Also stationed in Liaodong was Hong Chengchou, a civil bureaucrat who had great success against Li Zicheng in 1638. In late 1641, the Chinese Emperor was suspicious of Zu Dashou. Word had leaked that Zu's two sons were already in Manchu service, and the rumor spread that Zu planned to surrender the Ming position in Liaodong already. The Chongzhen Emperor was suspicious that Hong would surrender too, for Hong had noted the poor morale amongst his men. He ordered Hong to retreat with his troops and ordered Chen Xinjia to go to battle and lead from the frontlines. Hong was actually grateful, not at being suspected for treason but because his army of over 100,000 Shaanxi men could finally return from the frontlines. Only the strenuous persuasion of court officials convinced the Emperor to order troops to Jinzhou, and the Emperor abandoned his plan to abandon the garrison there to the Manchus.[/FONT]
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In 1642, the Ming court finally ordered Jinzhou relieved, after the disputes over personnel had been resolved. Chen Xinjia was ordered to go to the frontlines and defend Jinzhou in place of Hong Chengchou, who was returned to service against the remnants of Liu Zongmin and Li Guo's revolt. The Emperor still held out hope for temporary settlement with the Qing, telling Chen to win a great victory that would buy time for the Ming to defeat the rebels first. The Ming Empire was still in a considerably stronger position. The Ming position in Central China held out as long as Zhang was meandering about and not besieging cities. Li Zicheng had died and his two successors were not on good terms. Other rebels were even weaker. While the pressure of a two-front war had not yet lifted, the imperial court felt far less pressure from the rebels.
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Chen Xinjia had tried to command Hong Chengchou on the matter of the relief army. Chen demanded that Hong's 130,000 men army be split in four. When Hong objected, wanting to keep his army together, Chen had him fired. But Hong's success against Li Zicheng had been too widely noted for Chen to simply replace, so Hong was sent back to Shaanxi with the Shaanxi soldiers. The remnant was supplemented by 15,000 men under Chen's command. Unlike Hong Chengchou's veterans or Hong Taiji's best troops, Chen's men were inexperienced and raised mostly from the capital area. A newly promoted general named Wu Sangui (
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]吳三桂[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]) was assigned to assist Chen instead. Chen and Wu went to Songshan to relieve Hong Chengchou, who returned to China. As they marched to Jinzhou, they were attacked first by Hong Taiji's men and were utterly routed, with many of their number being killed. Much of the remainder was captured and defected as well. Wu Sangui managed to return to Ningyuan ([/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]寧遠[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]), where he was stationed, and Chen Xinjia was killed in battle. The Manchus then captured Jinzhou, which could not hold out any longer, and the general Zu Dashou gladly joined his kinsmen fighting for the Manchu side.[/FONT]
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The Manchus had greatly feared Yuan Chonghuan and Hong Chengchou, but after 1642, they faced neither man. After the defeat outside Jinzhou, the Manchus did not merely pick up deserters. The Manchus found themselves in contact with their greatest enemy.
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A month after defeating the Chinese, Hong Taiji went to sleep while suffering from a headache and nausea. When he woke up the next morning, he could see in the mirror that his mouth and tongue had the lesions of smallpox.
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Awesome, an imperial Chinese timeline; consider me subscribed. Are the Manchu's going to fall apart after Hong's [probable] death, or is there someone else waiting in the wings?
 
Awesome, an imperial Chinese timeline; consider me subscribed. Are the Manchu's going to fall apart after Hong's [probable] death, or is there someone else waiting in the wings?
The Manchus are not going to fall apart. They are far too important for my story to take out now. But what happens to them in terms of leadership, in the long-run, is for my next update.
 
Oh, oops, my mistake, but I guess that if you are still getting Chongzhen killed (perhaps by Zhang Xianzhong) and the Manchus still enter the pass, Zhu Cilang will have an extremely hard time gathering support with the other princes around (especially those of the Tang lineage).

Anyways, will keep looking at the post (do u have any idea to perhaps "bookmark" the threads, as I'm relatively new and dont know the forum actually wroks).

thx

-Black Prince of Britannia
I don't think so. The Prince of Fu, Zhu Yousong, is still around and he's closer in the line of succession, so the Princes of Tang are not going to be too prominent unless something disastrous happens.

I don't use bookmarks so I can't tell you.

Will you look at pop culture, technology, etc.?

Good start.

Don't abandon this.
Pop culture is something I don't usually bother with but I'll try to fit technology in. Of course, all of this depends on whether I get enough response. If I don't feel like anybody's reading, I won't continue. But I have some stuff for the Manchus written already, though I need to fine-tune it sometime after Thanksgiving.
 
A short update. The Manchus will be next. The current projection is that the Ming fall sometime before 1800 but probably around 1700 or maybe a bit later. What happens with the Manchus will not yet be said. What happens with the rest of the world has not yet been said, but I have some ideas. Expect Monday updates.

Update 5


Li Zicheng's men were a motley crew that split immediately upon his death in 1642. Li's nephew Li Guo and his lieutenant Liu Zongmin were the most loyal to him personally, but the rebel Luo Rucai (
羅汝才) was the strongest of the subordinated rebels. Gao Mingheng, the Grand Coordinator (巡撫) of Henan, attempted to deceive Luo by informing the rebel that he was going to receive an official post from the Ming court in exchange for laying down his arms. Given the frequent rate at which rebels became officials and vice versa, Luo was inclined to believe. Late in 1642, Luo and his men received an amnesty from Gao. Gao had been acting without orders, and the annoyed imperial court was forced to go ahead and promise Luo an amnesty. It was a break that proved to be quite temporary.

Liu Zongmin took a portion of Li Zicheng's remaining troops and remained in Henan. Gao Mingheng and Sun Chuanting, in charge of Henan and north Shaanxi, respectively, were Liu's main opponents. Sun and his men reached into Henan first, where Ming supply lines were quite limited. The resulting conflict between Liu and Sun was a draw, and Sun retreated to north Henan along the banks of the Yellow River. Gao Mingheng then put pressure on Liu Zongmin from northern Henan, using Kaifeng as a supply base and Liu's fate was sealed. While he remained in Kaifeng, Gao sent two generals with their armies to meet Sun: Yang Wenyue (
楊文岳) and Hu Dawei (虎大威). At the city of Yancheng (郾城) in Henan, the combined forces of Sun, Yang, and Hu confronted Liu Zongmin. Yancheng had a Ming garrison but was abandoned by authorities. After Liu had captured Yancheng from the rather apathetic local commander, he attempted to stay in the city while planning his next move. His plans were to take Kaifeng. Luoyang had been devastated and Kaifeng remained the center of Ming power in Henan. For the winter of 1642-1643, which was quite cold, neither Ming nor rebel forces chose to take any campaigning.

Ming forces surrounded Yancheng while Liu was trapped in the city. The Ming forces were hampered by a lack of coordination: Sun desired to surround the city and starve it, while Yang and Hu hoped to take it by siege. In the end, the three men compromised. Sun's Shaanxi troops surrounded the city while Yang and Hu's Henan armies attacked the city. Initially, it was quite successful, with parts of the wall destroyed, until Yang's men ran out of gunpowder for their firearms. The siege began in March of 1643, and lasted for four months with little activity. Things changed in July when the general Zuo Liangyu, who had fled Yancheng last year, finally rejoined Ming forces. The combined four Ming armies then attacked the city. In August, Liu made the mistake of attacking from inside the city. Ming forces managed to beat them back and Sun's men then gained access to the city gate. In the next week of fighting, rebel forces inside Yancheng were completely destroyed and Liu was forced to flee.


Liu succeeded in evading government forces for almost a year, but the momentum was broken. With the loss at Yancheng, and the destruction of his portion of Li Zicheng's men, the Ming peasant rebellions grew steadily weaker. Zhang Xianzhong was still in Huguang and Li Guo was still in Sichuan, but these two provinces were much less important. With Liu Zongmin's defeat in 1643, the Ming court was able to regain control of the valuable provinces of Henan and maintain control over Shaanxi as well. By 1644, it would be able to defeat all of these rebels as well.
 
Well, that takes care of Li Zicheng's remnants quite nicely, though the Ming are going to have to make sure the peasant revolts don't re-erupt. Something tells me the Manchus aren't going to fold as easily - maybe a separate Manchu state in Manchuria? Regardless, waiting for the next update. :)
 
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