Qi Tai

Also known as Zi Shangli

Qi Tai came from Lishui and was first named De; the Hongwu emperor later gave him the name Tai. He placed first in the Yingtian provincial examination of 1384, gained his jinshi the next year, and in 1395 became vice minister of war. Under the Jianwen emperor he shared the direction of policy with Huang Zicheng and rose to minister of war, and within a year the princes of Zhou, Dai, Xiang, Qi and Min had all been deposed. In 1399 Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, rebelled in the name of removing Qi and Huang, and Qi urged that he be struck from the imperial register while planning much of the war against him. When Yan troops entered Nanjing in 1402 Qi tried to raise men in the provinces, but he was captured and executed with Huang Zicheng and Fang Xiaoru, and several cousins died with him. Under Qianlong the Qing court gave him the posthumous name Zhongjing.