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Shi Kefa
Late Ming minister who, as grand secretary of the Southern Ming court, commanded the defence of Yangzhou and was killed when the Qing army stormed the city
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 Xianzhi · Hao Daolin
Shi Kefa, courtesy name Xianzhi and sobriquet Daolin, came of a Xiangfu family registered with the Embroidered Uniform Guard at Daxing; a protege of Zuo Guangdou, he passed the metropolitan examination in 1628. He fought rebel armies through the Chongzhen years and became minister of war at Nanjing in 1643. After Beijing fell in 1644 he favoured the Prince of Lu for the throne, but Ma Shiying installed the Prince of Fu; Shi joined the Hongguang cabinet as grand secretary and was soon sent out to Yangzhou to command the four garrisons north of the Yangzi. When the Qing regent Dorgon wrote urging surrender, Shi refused in a reply that became famous. Qing troops took Yangzhou on the twenty-fifth day of the fourth month of 1645; captured, he refused to submit and was killed, and as his body was never found his adopted son Shi Dewei built a cenotaph on Plum Blossom Ridge. In 1776 the Qianlong court named him Zhongzheng.
Life and times
- 1602 CEBorn
Ming
Qing - 1624Purge of the Donglin Faction
Under the Tianqi Emperor the eunuch Wei Zhongxian and Madam Ke dominated the court; after Yang Lian's memorial of twenty-four crimes, Donglin officials were dismissed and died in prison until the Chongzhen Emperor's accession brought Wei's fall and suicide.- Six Gentlemen Die in Imperial Prison1625age 23In 1625 Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and four other Donglin officials were framed by Wei Zhongxian's faction and died under torture in the imperial prison.
- Six Gentlemen Die in Imperial Prison
- 1644Qing Army Enters the Pass
Dorgon led Eight Banner forces through Shanhai Pass, joined Wu Sangui against Li Zicheng, and occupied Beijing as the Qing conquest began.- Qing Army Crosses Yangtze, Takes Nanjing1645age 43In 1645 Qing troops crossed the Yangtze, the Hongguang Emperor fled, Nanjing's officials surrendered and the first Southern Ming court fell.
- Qing Army Crosses Yangtze, Takes Nanjing
- 1645 CEDied
Connections
- Shared events4
- Teachers and students1
