Wu Sangui - WikiHQ

Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty. In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is regarded as a disreputable Han Chinese traitor for his defection over to the Manchu invaders, suppression of the Southern Ming resistance and execution of the Yongli Emperor. Wu eventually double-crossed both of his masters, the Ming and the Qing dynasties.

In 1644, Wu was a Ming general in charge of garrisoning Shanhai Pass, the strategic choke point between Manchuria and Beijing. After learning that Li Zicheng's rebel army had conquered Beijing and captured his family, including his father Wu Xiang and concubine Chen Yuanyuan, Wu allowed the Manchu to enter China proper through Shanhai Pass to drive Li from Beijing, where the Manchu then set up the Qing dynasty. For his aid, the Qing rulers awarded him a fiefdom consisting of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, along with the title "Prince Who Pacifies the West" ().

In 1674, Wu decided to rebel against the Qing. In 1678, Wu declared himself the new Emperor of China and the ruler of Zhou, only to die within months. For a time, his grandson Wu Shifan succeeded him. The revolt was quelled in 1681.

Early years

Wu was born in Suizhong, Liaoxi province, in Northeastern China, to Wu Xiang and Lady Zu. His ancestral home was Gaoyou, Jiangsu. Wu Sangui's father and uncle had fought in many battles. Under their influence, Wu took great interest in war and politics at an early age. He was also a student of artist Dong Qichang. He and his two brothers joined the army, garrisoning the Daling River and Ningyuan in the army of general Zu Dashou.

In 1630, while gathering information about the enemy, Wu's father, Wu Xiang, was encircled by the Qing troops. Wu Sangui was denied help from his maternal uncle, Zu Dashou, and so decided to rescue his father with a force of about 20 soldiers chosen from his personal retinue. Wu Sangui and his small cavalry force charged into the enemy encirclement, killing the Manchu general and saved Wu Xiang. Both Hong Taiji and Zu were impressed by Wu's valour, and Zu recommended Wu's promotion. Wu Sangui gained the position of guerrilla general when he was no older than 20.

thumb|Wu Sangui (center)

In June 1641, Hong Chengchou and Wu Sangui returned to Songshan and garrisoned the northwest area. Prince Zheng Jirgalang attacked several times towards Songshan and Xinshan but was defeated repeatedly, the Ming army succeeding in surrounding the Qing army four times. Though the Qing army finally broke through the encirclement, their casualties were very high. Due to Wu Sangui's bravery, the Ming army remained on the offensive, but it also paid a heavy price. Wu did not side with the Qing dynasty until after the defensive capability of the Ming dynasty had been greatly weakened with its political apparatus destroyed by the rebel armies of Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty.

In early 1644, Li Zicheng, the head of a peasant rebel army, launched his force from Xi'an for his final offensive northeast toward Beijing. The Chongzhen Emperor decided to abandon Ningyuan and called upon Wu to defend Beijing against the rebels. Wu Sangui received the title Pingxi Bo () as he moved to face the peasant army.

At the time of Beijing's fall to Li Zicheng, on 25 April 1644, Wu and his 40,000-man army—the most significant Ming fighting force in northern China—were on the way to Beijing to come to the Chongzhen Emperor's aid but then received word of the emperor's suicide. So they garrisoned Shanhai Pass, the eastern terminus of the main Great Wall instead. Wu and his men were then caught between the rebels within the Great Wall and the Manchus without.

After the collapse of the Ming dynasty, Wu and his army became a vital military force in deciding the fate of China. Both Dorgon and Li Zicheng tried to gain Wu's support. Li took a number of measures to secure Wu's surrender, granting silver, gold, a dukedom, and most crucially by capturing Wu's father, Wu Xiang, and concubine, Chen Yuanyuan, ordering the former to write a letter to persuade Wu to pledge allegiance to Li. Aware that his force alone was insufficient to fight Li's main army, Wu wrote to the Manchu prince-regent Dorgon for military support, under the condition of restricting the dominance of the Manchus to northern China and the Ming to south. Dorgon replied that the Manchus would help Wu, but Wu would have to submit to the Qing. Wu did not accept at first. In order to secure his position, Li was determined to destroy Wu's army. On 18 May, he personally led 60,000 troops out of Beijing to attack Wu Wu ordered his soldiers to wear white cloths attached to their armour, to distinguish them from Li's forces. Together, Wu's army and the Qing forces defeated Li's main army in the Battle of Shanhai Pass on 27 May 1644. Li retreated to Beijing and took revenge on Wu by executing thirty-eight members of the Wu household, including Wu's father, whose head was displayed on the city wall.

On 3 June, Li held his coronation ceremony in Beijing and fled the next day. The Manchus marched into the Chinese capital unopposed shortly afterward and enthroned the young Shunzhi Emperor in the Forbidden City.

Suppressing the rebellion in Shaanxi

thumb|Qing seal for Wu as General Who Pacifies the West

Wu Sangui pledged allegiance to the Qing dynasty and received the title of Pingxi Wang (). However, he remained fearful that the Qing dynasty held him in suspicion. In 1673, Shang Kexi requested permission to retire and return to his homeland in the north, and the Kangxi Emperor granted the request at once. Forced into an awkward situation, Wu and Geng Jingzhong requested the same shortly afterwards. The Kangxi Emperor granted their requests and decided to dissolve the three vassal states, overriding all objections. The Kangxi Emperor sent parts of Wu's corpse to various provinces of China.

Zhou dynasty (1678–1681)

{| class="wikitable"

| colspan="4" style="text-align:center;" | Convention: use personal name

! Temple names

! Family name and first name

! Period of reign

! Era name

| Taizu

| Wú Sānguì

| March 1678 – 2 October 1678

| Zhāowǔ

| Wú Shìfán

| 1678–1681

| Hónghuà

Family

Brothers:

Wu Sanfeng ()
Wu Sanfu ()
Wu Sanmei ()

Consorts and Issue:

Empress Zhang (, 1615 – 1699)
Wu Yingxiong, Emperor Xiaogong (), first son, husband of Princess Jianning and uncle-in-law of the Kangxi Emperor
Concubine Chen Yuanyuan ()
Unknown:
6 daughters
Adopted son: Wu Yingqi ()

In culture

Wu Sangui has often been regarded as a traitor and an opportunist, due to his betrayals of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. Wu's name is synonymous with betrayal in Chinese culture (similar to the use of "Benedict Arnold" in the United States). Wu's story with his concubine, Chen Yuanyuan, who is sometimes compared to Helen of Troy, remains one of the classic love stories in China.

Wu Sangui and his son, Wu Yingxiong, appear as antagonists in the popular wuxia novel The Deer and the Cauldron by Jin Yong. In CTS drama Princess Huai Yu (2000), Wu appears as an antagonist but Wu Yingxiong features prominently as the best friend of the Kangxi Emperor and love interest of Princess Jianning. Wu and Chen's love story has often been romanticized, as in RTV drama Princess Cheung Ping (1981), ATV drama The Rise and Fall of Qing Dynasty (1987), CTV drama Chen Yuanyuan (1989), and TVB drama Perish in the Name of Love (2003). In CCTV series The Affaire in the Swing Age (2005), which covers his early life and military career, Wu is shown as being forced into making the fateful decisions that have made him infamous. In the CCTV series Kangxi Dynasty (2001), which covers his late career, Wu is depicted in a neutral way as a force in the power play with the Manchu overlords; his son, Wu Yingxiong, who was held in Beijing as an honored hostage and was eventually executed due to Wu Sangui’s revolt, is presented as torn between loyalty to the royalty and filial piety to his family.

References

Sources

. In two volumes.