Chapter 126: Provincial Military Commander

The Qing commander leading troops to surround the mountain was none other than Wu Jinzhong, Right Wing Regional Commander under the Prince of Pingnan — the very man Zhou Shixiang wanted to flay alive with his own hands.

He was not of Han Banners origin, nor one of the old retainers Shang Kexi had brought from Liaodong, but came from the forces of Wang Guangtai, formerly of Li Zicheng's Dashun army.

Wang Guangtai, his elder brother Wang Guang'en, and younger brother Wang Chang had joined Li Zicheng's peasant army in their early years. Wang Guang'en bore the nickname Guansuo among the rebels and had gained some renown.

In the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Wang Guang'en and his two younger brothers accepted amnesty from Xu Qiyuan, Governor of Xunyang under the Ming, and their peasant troops were reorganized into government forces to hold Yunyang, repelling several Dashun army attacks in succession and stabilizing the Yunyang region for the Ming.

In the first year of Hongguang, when the Qing army under Ajige marched south in pursuit of the Dashun forces to Yunyang, Wang Guang'en surrendered to Ajige together with the Ming Governor of Xunyang, Xu Qiyuan.

After surrendering to the Qing, Wang Guang'en was appointed Regional Commander of Xiangyang, while Wu Jinzhong, then serving under Wang Guangtai, was merely a lowly Battalion Commander.

In the third year of Shunzhi, Wang Guang'en fell into conflict with Pan Shiliang, the Qing-appointed Governor of Xunyang, who framed him and had him arrested and sent to Beijing.

The Qing court then transferred Vice Regional Commander Yang Wenfu of Nanyang to act as Regional Commander of Xiangyang, intending to absorb and reorganize the troops of the three Wang brothers.

Seeing the danger, Wang Guangtai and Wang Chang struck first, leading their 8,000 troops in revolt against the Qing.

They killed Acting Regional Commander Yang Wenfu, Circuit Intendant Gan Wenkui, Prefect of Xiangyang Yang Kuang, Judge Li Shifa, County Magistrate of Xiangyang Pan Chaoyou, and the other Qing-appointed officials of Xiangyang.

After the revolt, Wang Guangtai dispatched Wu Jinzhong to Hunan to report to the Regional Commander He Tengjiao.

When the Yongli court learned that the two Wang brothers had turned back to the Ming at Yunyang, the whole court rejoiced.

The Yongli Son of Heaven immediately appointed Wang Guangtai as General Who Guards the Martial, with the title of Earl Who Guards the Martial; Wang Chang as Regional Commander of Yunxiang; and Li Shiying of their forces as Regional Commander of Henan.

Wu Jinzhong, who had gone to Hunan as an envoy to contact Regional Commander He Tengjiao, also won He Tengjiao's favor, and He personally secured for him the post of Assistant Vice Regional Commander of the Right Camp.

When the Qing court learned that Wang Guangtai and Wang Chang had gone over to the Ming, it immediately released Wang Guang'en in an attempt to salvage the situation in Yunyang.

Only after confirming that Wang Guangtai and Wang Chang had accepted Southern Ming appointments did it execute Wang Guang'en.

It then promptly dispatched 5,600 horse and foot soldiers under Sun Dingliao, Provincial Military Commander of Huguang, from Wuchang to Yunyang to suppress the rebellion. When Sun's force reached Anyangkou, forty li from Yunyang, it was ambushed by Wang Chang's hidden troops.

Sun Dingliao was caught completely off guard and fled in a crushing defeat; crossing at the river bend, the water was too deep to ford, and he fell from his horse and drowned.

When news of Sun Dingliao's crushing defeat reached Beijing, the Qing regent Dorgon immediately ordered the Vice Minister of Personnel Kakamu to lead 3,000 Manchu and Han troops south to suppress the two Wangs, and also ordered Regional Commander Zhang Yingxiang of Henan and Regional Commander Gao Di of Kaigui to combine forces in the campaign.

Learning that Manchu regulars were coming, along with the forces of Regional Commander Zhang Yingxiang of Henan and Regional Commander Gao Di of Kaigui, Wang Guangtai knew his own strength could not match the enemy, so he withdrew from Yunyang city.

Before leaving, he ordered Wu Jinzhong, the Assistant Vice Regional Commander of the Right Camp, to lead men and put Yunyang city to the torch.

Li Shiying, Regional Commander under Wang Guangtai, served as the two Wangs' vanguard and led his troops toward Shaanxi to link up with local anti-Qing forces. Unluckily, he was defeated by the Qing army and could not reach Shaanxi.

Afterward, Wang Guangtai and Wang Chang consulted and led their remaining force of over four thousand men to retreat to the Kuidong region, where they joined forces with the Dashun remnants under Li Laiheng, Liu Tichun, Yuan Zongdi, Hao Yaoqi, He Zhen, and others, becoming one of the later "Thirteen Camps of Kuidong."

On the road as the two Wang brothers retreated toward Kuidong, Wu Jinzhong suddenly turned his troops around and headed back to Yunyang.

When Wang Guangtai heard the news, he urgently sent an envoy to stop Wu's force, but before the envoy could even enter the camp, he was cut down by Wu Jinzhong's men.

After killing the envoy, Wu Jinzhong did not dare pause for a moment, racing through the night straight to Yunyang to surrender to the Qing army.

Having surrendered to the Qing a second time, Wu Jinzhong won the trust of Kakamu, who not only did not strip him of his personal troops but even appointed him Vice Regional Commander of Yunxiang.

In the sixth year of Shunzhi, because Wang Deren, Jin Shengheng, Li Chengdong, and others in the south had successively raised banners against the Qing, the Qing army lost several provinces in succession and its forces everywhere were stretched thin.

The Qing court therefore summoned Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming from Liaodong to lead their households and veteran troops through the pass and southward.

When the two princes reached Hubei, Shang Kexi took note of Wu Jinzhong — tall and powerfully built, with a full curly beard and the bearing of a great general of old — and was pleased.

Knowing too that Wu's troops were originally peasant soldiers, stronger in combat than the Green Standard troops converted from former Ming armies, he resolved to bring Wu into his command.

However, the Qing court had fixed quotas for the southern expedition of the Shang prince's forces and forbade him from recruiting on his own — especially from recruiting Green Standard officers and men, and still less from secretly keeping troops.

For this, Shang Kexi had to expend considerable effort before he could bring Wu's force under his command. At first, Wu Jinzhong merely served under the prince's command and was not enrolled in any banner.

Thereafter, the two princes of Pingnan and Jingnan swept into Guangdong, fighting over a hundred battles great and small. Wu Jinzhong's troops served as the vanguard in every engagement and took many heads.

In the assault on Guangzhou, Wu Jinzhong volunteered himself and eighteen brave men of his force as the vanguard to enter the city, tricking open the gates of Guangzhou under cover of night and rendering great service in the Qing army's entry into the city.

On the strength of this merit, Wu Jinzhong's standing under the Prince of Pingnan rose steadily. Though he was never enrolled in the Bordered Blue Han Banner, he could command banner troops in battle, and his rank was raised to Right Wing Regional Commander.

Within Guangzhou city, apart from the banner troops directly under the two princes and the Governor-General's and Governor's standard troops, all remaining forces were nominally under the command of Right Wing Regional Commander Wu Jinzhong.

When Li Dingguo attacked Xinhui for the second time, the two princes of Pingnan and Jingnan sent troops into the city in succession to defend it.

The Jingnan prince's forces took the Pingnan prince's as their lead, and the Pingnan prince's troops followed the lead of Han Banners Assistant Regional Commander You Yunlong and Right Wing Regional Commander Wu Jinzhong.

Wu Jinzhong knew his status could not compare with that of You Yunlong, a Han Banners Assistant Regional Commander, so in all defensive matters, great or small, he deferred to You Yunlong.

Yet in the actual defense of the city, Wu Jinzhong played a crucial role.

Having once been a peasant soldier, he knew well the siege tactics of Li Dingguo's great army, which likewise came from peasant-soldier stock, and several times used his experience to defuse crises at Xinhui.

He also repeatedly led death squads out of the city to beat back Li Dingguo's forces, and together with You Yunlong successfully held Xinhui.

After You Yunlong was stabbed to death by Zhou Shixiang, Wu Jinzhong took over the defense of Xinhui. The Han Banners and Green Standard troops in the city all came under his command.

It was said that the Prince of Pingnan, Shang Kexi, already intended to petition the Qing court to appoint Wu Jinzhong as Provincial Military Commander of Guangdong.

If the appointment passed, Wu Jinzhong would attain the very post of Guangdong Provincial Military Commander that Li Chengdong had once dreamed of holding.

As his rank rose step by step, Wu Jinzhong's hands were likewise soaked in the blood of his countrymen.

He had not only served as the Qing army's foremost vanguard in entering Guangdong, but had also labored with great zeal in the several massacres the Qing army carried out in Guangdong — his debts of blood piled high, too many to record.

During the defense of Xinhui, it was Wu Jinzhong's troops who first seized people for food, and it was the camp soldiers under Wu Jinzhong who had burst into Zhou Shixiang's home that day and carried off his parents, wife, and children.

You Yunlong, as the commanding general, deserved death; Wu Jinzhong, as the direct murderer of his parents, wife, and children, deserved death even more.

From the moment he thought of Wu Jinzhong, Zhou Shixiang had sworn that this man would die a miserable death, to console the spirits of his parents, wife, and children in heaven.