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Sun Chuanting
Late Ming commander from Dai prefecture who captured Gao Yingxiang as governor of Shaanxi and fell when Li Zicheng stormed Tong Pass in 1643
At dusk on a hilltop, a large tent stands open with a table holding a map marked with small stones inside, a saddled horse tethered outside, and fire stands burning; campfires dot the river plain below, and one tiny sentry stands on the slope.
Also known as Zi Baiya · Hao Baigu
Sun Chuanting came from the Zhenwu garrison in Daizhou, Shanxi, and gained his jinshi in 1619. As governor of Shaanxi from 1636 he ambushed and captured the rebel leader Gao Yingxiang at Heishuiyu that summer. Summoned to defend the capital against the Qing incursion of 1638, he clashed with the war minister Yang Sichang, asked to retire on account of deafness, and was dismissed and imprisoned for three years. Recalled in 1642 as supreme commander in Shaanxi, he marched east that autumn and was routed near Jia county when rain cut off his supplies, the defeat remembered as the battle of the persimmon orchard. Forced to advance again in 1643 as minister of war, he was beaten once more by rain and hunger, and when Li Zicheng stormed Tong Pass he rode into the enemy and was killed at fifty-one. His body was never found, so the Chongzhen emperor withheld posthumous honours; the Qing later named him Zhongjing.
Life and times
Dates 1593 CE–1643 CE