Mavericks › Uprising Leaders
Zhang Xianzhong
Late Ming rebel leader from Yan'an who founded the Daxi regime at Chengdu in 1644 and was shot dead by Qing troops at Fenghuang Mountain in Xichong
A mountain camp at night, with a beacon fire burning on a wooden platform at the upper left, several white tents on the slope and a red cloth tied to a rope; a wooden palisade with a gate stands at the right beyond a timber bridge over a rough river, under a clouded moon.
Also known as Zi Bingwu · Hao Jingxuan
- Roles
- Uprising Leaders
Zhang Xianzhong came from Liushujian in the Yan'an garrison, and the Ming History (Mingshi) says he was born in the same year as Li Zicheng. In 1630 he rose at Mizhi, calling himself the Eighth Great King, and fought his way through Shaanxi, Henan and Huguang. He accepted a Ming amnesty at Gucheng in 1638 but revolted again the next year, and in 1641 he took Xiangyang by surprise and killed the Prince of Xiang. After capturing Wuchang in 1643 he styled himself King of the Great West, and the following year he took Chengdu and declared himself emperor of Daxi with the reign title Dashun. In 1646 a Qing army under Hooge marched into Sichuan, and in January 1647 Zhang was shot dead at Fenghuang Mountain in Xichong. The killings in Sichuan attributed to him are described in the Mingshi and in many early Qing private histories, and their scale is still disputed.
Life and times
Dates 1606 CE–1647 CE
- 1668Huguang Fills SichuanPrecursor