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Lu Xiangsheng
Yixing scholar-general who fought the rebels across five provinces, then led the armies against the Qing incursion of 1638 and died in battle at Jiazhuang near Julu
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 Jiandou · Hao Jiutai
Lu Xiangsheng, courtesy name Jiandou, came from Yixing and gained his jinshi in 1622. The troops he trained as prefect of Daming became known as the Tianxiong Army. In 1635 he was given command against the rebels in five provinces, dividing the theatre with Hong Chengchou, and he defeated Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng at Chuzhou and Qidingshan. From the end of 1636 he was supreme commander of Xuanfu, Datong and Shanxi. When Qing armies broke through the wall in the autumn of 1638 he was put in charge of all the relief armies while still mourning his father, but as an advocate of fighting he was at odds with Yang Sichang and the eunuch Gao Qiqian, who favoured talks, and his command was cut to fewer than twenty thousand men. In January 1639 he led his remaining troops against the Qing at Haoshui bridge near Jiazhuang in Julu and died with four arrow and three blade wounds, aged thirty-nine; the Southern Ming later named him Zhonglie.
Life and times
Dates 1600 CE–1639 CE