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Qin Liangyu
Late Ming commander of the Shizhu chieftaincy who led her White Staff troops against the Manchus, Sichuan rebels and Zhang Xianzhong, and has her own biography in the History of the Ming
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 Zhensu · Zhong Zhenhou
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Qin Liangyu, courtesy name Zhensu, came from Zhongzhou in Sichuan and married Ma Qiansheng, hereditary pacification commissioner of Shizhu. In 1599 she fought beside him against Yang Yinglong of Bozhou, earning first merit on her front. When Ma was falsely accused and died in prison, she took over his office, commanding troops armed with hooked white wooden staves, known as the White Staff army. In 1620 she sent her brothers Qin Bangping and Qin Minping to the Liaodong front; after Bangping fell at the Hun River in 1621 she led three thousand men to Shanhaiguan herself, then returned to help crush She Chongming's revolt around Chengdu. When Later Jin forces neared Beijing in 1630 she marched to the capital, where the Chongzhen emperor received her and gave her four poems. She fought Zhang Xianzhong's rebels repeatedly, held Shizhu after the fall of the Ming, and died in 1648 aged seventy-five. The History of the Ming (Mingshi) gives her a biography among the generals rather than among exemplary women.
Life and times
Dates 1574 CE–1648 CE