Volume 262 Biographies 150: Fu Zonglong, Wang Qiaonian, Yang Wenyue, Sun Chuanting

傅宗龍汪喬年〈（張國欽等）〉楊文嶽〈（傅汝為等）〉孫傳庭

Fu Zonglong and Wang Qiaonian (Zhang Guoqin and others)〉 Yang Wenyue (Fu Ruwei and others)〉 Sun Chuanting

傅宗龍，字仲綸，昆明人。萬歷三十八年進士。除銅梁知縣，調巴縣，行取，入為戶部主事。久之，授御史。

Fu Zonglong, whose courtesy name was Zhonglun, came from Kunming. He received his jinshi degree in the thirty-eighth year of the Wanli reign. After serving as magistrate of Tongliang and then Ba County, he was selected for promotion to the capital and appointed principal secretary in the Ministry of Revenue. Some time later he was made a censor.

天啟元年，遼陽破，帝下募兵之令，宗龍請行。一月余，得精卒五千。明年，安邦彥反，圍貴陽，土寇蜂起。請發帑金濟滇將士，開建昌，通由蜀入滇之路，別設偏沅巡撫，罷湖廣退怯總兵薛來允。帝多采納之。又上疏自請討賊，言：「為武定、尋甸患者，東川土酋祿千鐘。為沾益、羅平患者，賊婦設科及其黨李賢輩。攻圍普安，為滇、黔門戶患者，龍文治妻及其黨尹二。困安南，據關索嶺者，沙國珍及羅應魁輩。困烏撒者，安效良。臣皆悉其生平，非臣敵。臣願以四川巡按兼貴州監軍，滅此群醜。」帝大喜，下所司議。會宗龍以疾歸，不果行。

In the first year of Tianqi, after Liaoyang fell, the emperor called for recruits; Zonglong offered to undertake the mission himself. Within little more than a month he had raised five thousand crack troops. The following year An Bangyan rebelled and laid siege to Guiyang, while native raiders swarmed across the region. He urged the court to release treasury silver for Yunnan's armies, reopen Jianchang to restore the Sichuan route into Yunnan, create a separate Pian-Yuan grand coordinator, and remove the timid Huguang regional commander Xue Laiyun. The emperor accepted most of his recommendations. He submitted another memorial offering to lead the campaign himself, writing: "The scourge of Wuding and Xundian is the Dongchuan chieftain Lu Qianzhong. The scourge of Zhanyi and Luoping is the rebel woman She Ke and her followers, including Li Xian. Those threatening Pu'an—the gateway between Yunnan and Guizhou—are the wife of Long Wenzhi and her lieutenant Yin Er. Those harrying Annan and holding Guansuoling Pass are Sha Guozhen, Luo Yingkui, and their bands. The man plaguing Wusa is An Xiaoliang. I know each of them well—they are no match for me. I ask to serve as Sichuan touring censor with concurrent command over Guizhou troops, and to wipe out this whole rabble." The emperor was delighted and ordered the ministries to consider the plan. But Zonglong fell ill and went home before he could set out.

四年正月，貴州巡撫王三善為降賊陳其愚所紿，敗歿。其夏即家起宗龍巡按其地，兼監軍。初，部檄滇撫閔洪學援黔，以不能過盤江而止。宗龍既被命，洪學令參政謝存仁、參將袁善及土官普名聲、沙如玉等以兵五千送之。宗龍直渡盤江，戰且行，寇悉破。乃謝遣存仁、善，以名聲等土兵七百人入貴陽，擒斬其愚，軍民大快。宗龍盡知黔中要害及土酋逆順，將士勇怯。巡撫蔡復一倚信之，請敕宗龍專理軍務，設中軍旗鼓，裨將以下聽賞罰，可之。宗龍乃條上方略，又備陳黔中艱苦，請大發餉金，亦報可。初，三善令監軍道臣節制諸將，文武不和，進退牽制。宗龍反其所為，令監軍給芻糧，核功罪，不得專進止。由是諸將用命，連破賊汪家沖、蔣義寨，直抵織金。

In the first month of the fourth year, Guizhou grand coordinator Wang Shanshan was lured into a trap by the surrendered rebel Chen Qiyu and killed in battle. That summer the court recalled Zonglong from retirement to tour the region and supervise military affairs. Earlier the ministry had ordered Yunnan grand coordinator Min Hongxue to relieve Guizhou, but his force halted at the Pan River, unable to cross. After Zonglong received his orders, Hongxue sent administrative commissioner Xie Cunren, deputy commander Yuan Shan, and native leaders Pu Mingsheng and Sha Ruyu with five thousand men to escort him. Zonglong crossed the Pan River at once, fighting his way forward and shattering every enemy force in his path. He then sent Cunren and Shan back with thanks, entered Guiyang with seven hundred native troops under Mingsheng, captured and executed Qiyu, and the army and populace celebrated. Zonglong had mastered every strategic point in Guizhou, knew which chieftains would stand or turn, and could read the courage or cowardice of every officer and soldier. Grand coordinator Cai Fuyi came to rely on him entirely and asked the throne to put Zonglong in sole charge of operations, with his own headquarters staff and authority to reward or punish any officer below deputy commander rank; the court agreed. Zonglong laid out his strategy in full, described the grinding hardships of the Guizhou campaign, and asked for a major release of funds—all of which was approved. Under Wang Shanshan, the army-supervising circuit official had held command over the generals, leaving civil and military at odds and every movement hamstrung. Zonglong reversed the arrangement: the supervisor would supply provisions and assess merit and fault, but would no longer control movements. From then on the generals fought with full commitment, storming Wangjiachong and Jiangyizhai in succession and driving all the way to Zhijin.

五年正月，總理魯欽敗績於陸廣河。宗龍上言：「不合滇、蜀，則黔不能平賊；不專總督任，則不能合滇、蜀兵。請召還朱燮元，以復一兼督四川，開府遵義，而移蜀撫駐永寧，滇撫駐沾益，黔撫駐陸廣，沅撫駐偏橋，四面並進，發餉二百萬金給之。更設黔、蜀巡撫。」帝以復一新敗，令解官，即以燮元代，而命尹同臯撫蜀，王瑊撫黔，沅撫閔夢得移鎮，一如宗龍議。

In the first month of the fifth year, supreme commander Lu Qin was routed on the Luguang River. Zonglong wrote: "Without coordinating Yunnan and Sichuan, Guizhou cannot crush the rebels; and without a governor-general with full authority, those two armies cannot be brought together. He asked that Zhu Xieyuan be recalled, that Fuyi also take Sichuan and open headquarters at Zunyi, that the Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, and Yuan coordinators each move to Yongning, Zhanyi, Luguang, and Pianqiao respectively, that all four fronts advance together, and that two million taels be allocated for pay. He also proposed new Guizhou and Sichuan grand coordinators." Because Fuyi had just suffered defeat, the emperor removed him and installed Xieyuan in his place, appointing Yin Tonggao to Sichuan, Wang Ji to Guizhou, and moving Yuan coordinator Min Mengde—all exactly as Zonglong had urged.

陸廣敗後，諸苗復蠢動。復一、宗龍謀，討破烏粟、螺螄、長田諸叛苗，大破平越賊，毀其砦百七十，賊黨漸孤。宗龍乃條上屯守策，言：

After the disaster at Luguang, the Miao tribes rose again across the region. Fuyi and Zonglong planned a joint campaign, crushed the rebel Miao at Wusu, Luosi, and Changtian, routed the Pingyue rebels and destroyed one hundred seventy of their stockades, leaving the rebel bands increasingly isolated. Zonglong then laid out his garrison-and-settlement strategy in full:

蜀以屯為守，黔則當以守為屯。蓋安酋土地半在水外，仡佬、龍仲、蔡苗諸雜種，緩急與相助。賊有外藩，我無邊蔽，黔兵所以分力愈詘。臣謂以守為屯者，先發兵據河，奪賊所恃。然後撫剿諸種，隨渡口大小，置大小寨，深溝高壘，置烽墩炮臺。小渡則塞以木石，使一粟不入水內，一賊不出水外，賊無如我何。又令沿河兵習水戰，當賊耕耨時，頻出奇兵，渡河擾之。賊不敢附河而居，而後我可以議屯也。

Sichuan defends by colonizing the frontier; Guizhou must colonize by defending it. The An chieftains hold land mostly south of the rivers, and the Gelao, Longzhong, Caimiao, and other tribes rally to one another as needed. The rebels enjoy outer buffers while we have no frontier shield—hence Guizhou's forces are spread thin and grow weaker by the day. To defend by settling, I propose first seizing the river crossings and stripping the rebels of their strongholds. Then pacify or subdue the tribes, and at every ford, large or small, build stockades with deep trenches, high walls, beacon towers, and gun emplacements. Block the minor crossings with timber and stone so that not a grain of grain crosses inward and not a rebel slips outward—and the enemy will be helpless against us. Train the river garrisons in water fighting, and during planting season send raiding parties across the river again and again to harry the rebels. Once the rebels dare not live along the rivers, we can begin to establish colonies in earnest.

屯之策有二：一曰清衛所原田，一曰割逆賊故壤，而以衛所之法行之。蓋黔不患無田，患無人。客兵聚散無常，不能久駐，莫若仿祖制，盡舉屯田以授有功，因功大小，為官高下，自指揮至總、小旗，畀以應得田為世業，而禁其私賣買。不待招徠，戶口自實。臣所謂以守為屯者如此。然兵當用四萬八千人，餉當歲八十余萬，時當閱三年，如此而後賊可盡滅也。

Settlement policy has two parts: reclaim the guard-post lands that have fallen idle, and carve up the rebels' former territory under the guard-post system. Guizhou does not lack land—it lacks settlers. Mercenary troops come and go and cannot hold the frontier; better to follow the founding system and grant garrison lands to men of merit—commanders, company officers, and squad leaders alike—giving each his allotted fields as a hereditary estate and forbidding private sale. Without waiting to recruit settlers, the population will fill in on its own. This is what I mean by defending through settlement. It will take forty-eight thousand troops, more than eight hundred thousand taels a year in pay, and three years of effort—only then can the rebels be wiped out completely.

部議從之。

The ministry approved the plan.

復一卒，王瑊代，事悉倚辦。宗龍乃漸剪水外逆黨，將大興屯田。邦彥懼，謀沮之，六年三月，大舉渡河入寇。宗龍擊破邦彥趙官屯，斬老蟲添，威名大著。當是時，大帥新亡，全黔震動，燮元遠在蜀，瑊擁虛位，非宗龍，黔幾殆。詔加太仆少卿。憂歸。

When Fuyi died, Wang Ji succeeded him, and Zonglong was left to handle everything. Zonglong steadily cut down the rebel bands south of the rivers and prepared to launch a major colonization drive. Bangyan, alarmed, plotted to stop him; in the third month of the sixth year he crossed the river in force to attack. Zonglong routed Bangyan at Zhao'guantun, killed Lao Chongtian, and his fame spread far and wide. The supreme commander had just fallen, all Guizhou was in turmoil, Xieyuan was far off in Sichuan, and Ji held only a nominal post—without Zonglong, Guizhou would have been lost. The court promoted him to vice minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud. He then went home to observe mourning.

崇禎三年起故官。用孫承宗薦，擢右僉都御史，巡撫順天。未幾，拜兵部右侍郎兼僉都御史，總督薊、遼、保定軍務。

In the third year of Chongzhen he was recalled to his former post. On Sun Chengzong's recommendation he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shuntian. Before long he was made vice minister of war with concurrent rank as vice censor-in-chief and charged as governor-general of Ji, Liaodong, and Baoding.

用小故奪官矣。居久之，十年十月流寇大入蜀，陷蜀三十余州縣，帝拊髀而思宗龍曰：「使宗龍撫蜀，賊安至是哉！」趣即家起宗龍。宗龍至蜀，代王維章與總兵羅尚文禦卻賊。十二年五月，以楊嗣昌薦，召為兵部尚書，去蜀。宗龍自定黔亂後，凡十有四年，輒起用，用不久輒遷去。八月至京，入見帝。宗龍為人伉直任氣，不能從諛承意。帝憤中樞失職，嗣昌以權詭得主知。宗龍樸忠，初入見，即言民窮財盡。帝頗然之，顧豤言不已，遂怫然曰：「卿當整理兵事爾。」既退，語嗣昌曰：「何哉？宗龍善策黔，而所言卑卑，皆他人唾余，何也？」自是所奏請，多中格。

He was stripped of office over a minor matter. After a long interval at home, in the tenth month of the tenth year roving rebels poured into Sichuan and overran more than thirty prefectures and counties. The emperor struck his thigh and said of Zonglong: "If Zonglong had been governing Sichuan, how could the rebels have reached this point!" He urgently recalled Zonglong from retirement. Zonglong reached Sichuan, replaced Wang Weizhang, and with regional commander Luo Shangwen drove the rebels back. In the fifth month of the twelfth year, on Yang Sichang's recommendation, he was summoned to the capital as minister of war and left Sichuan. From the time he pacified Guizhou, over fourteen years he was repeatedly called back to service—and each time, before long, moved on again. He reached the capital in the eighth month and was received in audience. Zonglong was blunt and proud by nature, incapable of flattery or bending to another's will. The emperor was furious at the failures of the central command, while Sichang had won favor through cunning manipulation of power. Zonglong was honest and plainspoken; at his first audience he declared outright that the people were exhausted and the treasury empty. The emperor was partly persuaded, but as the blunt talk went on he grew annoyed and said: "Your job is to put the army in order." After Zonglong left, the emperor said to Sichang: "What was that? Zonglong is a master of Guizhou strategy, yet everything he said was trite—leftovers everyone has chewed over already. Why?" From then on most of his proposals were turned down.

熊文粲既罷，宗龍乃言：「向者賊流突東西，嗣昌故建分剿之策。今則流突者各止其所，臣請收勢險節短之效。總理止轄楚、豫，秦督兼轄四川，鳳督兼轄安慶，各率所轄撫鎮，期十二月成功。」因薦湖廣巡撫方孔炤堪代文燦。帝不用，用嗣昌督師。

After Xiong Wencan was removed, Zonglong argued: "When the rebels were roaming east and west at will, Sichang devised the strategy of dividing forces to hunt them down. Now each band has settled in one place; I propose we exploit terrain and fight short, decisive campaigns. Let the supreme commander hold only Huguang and Henan; let the Shaanxi governor also take Sichuan; let the Fengyang governor also take Anqing—each leading his coordinators and commanders to finish the campaign within twelve months." He recommended Huguang grand coordinator Fang Kongzhao to replace Wencan. The emperor declined and appointed Sichang supreme commander instead.

嗣昌既督師，上章請兵食，不悉應，劾中樞不任。宗龍亦劾嗣昌徒耗敝國家，不能報效，以氣淩廷臣。會薊遼總督洪承疇請用劉肇基為團練總兵官，中官高起潛又揭肇基恇怯，宗龍不即覆。帝遂發怒，責以抗旨，令對狀。奏上，復以戲視封疆下吏。法司擬戍邊，不許，欲置之死。在獄二年矣，十四年春，嗣昌死，尚書陳新甲薦其才，帝未有以應也，良久曰：「樸忠，吾以夙負用之，宜盡死力。」遂釋之出獄，以兵部右侍郎兼右僉都御史代丁啟睿，總督陜西三邊軍務。

Once Sichang took command, he asked for troops and supplies; the court did not fully comply, and he accused the central command of incompetence. Zonglong in turn accused Sichang of draining the treasury without results and bullying his colleagues at court. About then Ji-Liaodong governor-general Hong Chengchou nominated Liu Zhaoji as training regional commander; eunuch Gao Qiqian denounced Zhaoji as timid, and Zonglong failed to respond promptly. The emperor flew into a rage, accused him of defying orders, and ordered him to answer the charges in person. When his reply was submitted, he was charged again with treating frontier officials as a joke. The judicial offices recommended exile; the emperor refused and sought his death. He had been in prison two years when, in the spring of the fourteenth year, Sichang died. Minister Chen Xinjia recommended him, and after a long silence the emperor said: "He is honest and loyal—I owe him an old debt. He should give his life for the cause." He released him, appointed him vice minister of war with concurrent rank as right vice censor-in-chief in place of Ding Qirui, and made him governor-general of the Shaanxi frontiers.

當是之時，李自成有眾五十萬，自陷河、洛，犯開封，羅汝才復自南陽趨鄧、淅，與合兵。帝命宗龍專辦自成。議盡括關中兵餉以出，然屬郡旱蝗，已不能應。

At that time Li Zicheng commanded five hundred thousand men, had overrun the Yellow and Luo river country, and was besieging Kaifeng, while Luo Rucai marched from Nanyang toward Dengzhou and Xixia to unite with him. The emperor ordered Zonglong to concentrate solely on Li Zicheng. The plan was to strip Guanzhong of every soldier and ration for the expedition, but drought and locusts had already left the surrounding prefectures unable to comply.

九月四日，以川、陜兵二萬出關，次新蔡，與保督楊文嶽兵會。賀人龍、李國奇將秦兵，虎大威將保兵，共結浮橋，東渡汝，合兵趨項城。五日，兩軍畢渡，走龍口。自成、汝才亦結浮橋於上流，將趨汝寧。覘兩督兵至，盡伏精銳於林中，陽驅諸賊自浮橋西渡。人龍使後騎覘賊，還報曰：「賊向汝矣，結浮橋將渡矣。」宗龍、文嶽夜會諸將於龍口，詰朝將戰。

On the fourth day of the ninth month he marched twenty thousand Sichuan and Shaanxi troops through the pass, stopped at Xincai, and united with the army of Baoding grand coordinator Yang Wenyue. He Renlong and Li Guoqi led the Shaanxi force, Hu Dawei the Baoding force; together they threw a pontoon bridge across the Ru, crossed to the east bank, and marched on Xiangcheng as one army. On the fifth day both armies finished crossing and pushed on to Longkou. Zicheng and Rucai had also built a pontoon bridge upstream and were preparing to march on Runing. When they saw both governors' armies arrive, they hid their crack troops in the woods and openly drove the rest of their men west across the pontoon bridge as a feint. Renlong sent scouts to the rear to watch the rebels; they came back reporting: "The rebels are heading for the Ru and building a pontoon bridge to cross." That night Zonglong and Wenyue assembled the generals at Longkou and set battle for the next morning.

六日，兩軍並進，中道一騎馳而告曰：「賊畢渡矣。」復進，一騎馳而告曰：「賊半渡矣，三分渡其二矣。」宗龍、文嶽曰：「驅之。」走三十里，至於孟家莊，日卓午。人龍、大威曰：「馬力乏矣，詰朝而戰，止兵為營。」諸軍弛馬甲，植戈錞，散行墟落求芻牧。賊覘之，塵起於林中，伏甲並出搏我兵。人龍有馬千騎不戰，國奇以麾下兵迎擊之，不勝。秦兵、保兵俱潰，人龍、大威奔沈丘，國奇從之，三帥師潰。宗龍、文嶽合兵屯火燒店，賊以步兵攻其營。諸軍鳴大炮，震死賊百余。日暮，賊引去。宗龍軍西北，文嶽軍東南，畫塹而守。保兵宵潰，保督副將挾文嶽騎而馳，夜奔於項城。宗龍復分秦兵立營於東南，諸將分壁當賊壘。

On the sixth day both armies advanced together; midway a rider galloped up shouting: "The rebels have finished crossing!" They pushed on again; another rider galloped up: "Half the rebels have crossed—two-thirds of them are already over!" Zonglong and Wenyue cried: "After them!" They raced thirty li to Mengjiazhuang, reaching it at high noon. Renlong and Dawei said: "The horses are spent—we should fight at dawn. Halt and make camp." The troops stripped their horses of armor, planted spears and halberds, and scattered through the villages looking for fodder. The rebels watched; dust rose from the woods and armored troops hidden there burst out and fell on the Ming army. Renlong held a thousand cavalry in reserve and would not engage; Guoqi met the attack with his own men and was beaten. The Shaanxi and Baoding forces both broke; Renlong and Dawei fled to Shenqiu, Guoqi with them, and all three commanders' armies were routed. Zonglong and Wenyue combined what remained and encamped at Huoshaodian; the rebels assaulted the camp with infantry. The army fired great guns and killed more than a hundred rebels with the blast. At dusk the rebels withdrew. Zonglong's force held the northwest, Wenyue's the southeast; they dug trenches and dug in. The Baoding troops broke that night; a deputy seized Wenyue on horseback and galloped off, reaching Xiangcheng under cover of darkness. Zonglong redeployed the Shaanxi troops to a camp in the southeast, and the generals built separate walls facing the rebel positions.

九日，檄人龍、國奇還兵救，二帥不應。宗龍曰：「彼避死，宜不來，吾豈避死哉！」語其麾下曰：「宗龍老矣，今日陷賊中，當與諸軍決一死戰，不能效他人卷甲走也。」召裨校李本實，即文嶽壁穿塹築壘以拒賊。賊亦穿壕二重以圍之。

On the ninth day he sent urgent orders for Renlong and Guoqi to bring their troops back; neither commander answered. Zonglong said: "They are running from death, so of course they won't come—but do you think I will run from death!" He told his men: "Zonglong is old; trapped among rebels today, I mean to fight a last battle with you—I will not roll up my armor and flee like the others." He summoned staff officer Li Benshi to break through the trench at Wenyue's abandoned wall and build ramparts against the rebels. The rebels dug double trenches of their own to surround the camp.

十一日，秦師食盡，宗龍殺馬騾以享軍。明日，營中馬騾盡，殺賊取其屍分啖之。十八日，營中火藥、鉛子、矢並盡。宗龍簡士卒，夷傷死喪之余，有眾六千。夜半，潛勒諸軍突賊營，殺千余人，潰圍出。諸軍星散，宗龍徒步率諸軍且戰且走。十九日，日卓午，未至項城八里，賊追及之，執宗龍，呼於門曰：「秦督圍隨官丁也，請啟門納秦督。」宗龍大呼曰：「我秦督也，不幸墮賊手，左右皆賊耳。」賊唾宗龍。宗龍罵賊曰：「我大臣也，殺則殺耳，豈能為賊賺城以緩死哉！」賊抽刀擊宗龍，中其腦而仆，檆其耳鼻死城下。事聞，帝曰：「若此，可謂樸忠矣。」復官兵部尚書，加太子少保，謚忠壯，蔭子錦衣世百戶，予祭葬。

On the eleventh day the Shaanxi army ran out of food; Zonglong slaughtered horses and mules to feed his men. The next day every horse and mule in camp was gone; they killed rebels, took the corpses, and divided the flesh among themselves. On the eighteenth day gunpowder, shot, and arrows in the camp were all spent. Zonglong mustered his men; after clearing away the wounded and dead, six thousand remained. At midnight he led a surprise assault on the rebel camp, killed more than a thousand men, and broke out of the encirclement. The army scattered in every direction; Zonglong on foot led what remained, fighting as they fled. On the nineteenth day, at high noon, still eight li from Xiangcheng, the rebels caught up, seized Zonglong, and shouted at the gate: "The Shaanxi governor is here with his escort—open the gate and let him in!" Zonglong shouted: "I am the Shaanxi governor! I have fallen into rebel hands—every man beside me is a rebel!" The rebels spat on him. Zonglong cursed them: "I am a minister of state—kill me if you will! Do you think I would trick a city open to buy myself a slower death!" The rebels drew their blades and struck him in the head; he fell, and they cut off his ears and nose and left him dead below the wall. When word reached the court, the emperor said: "In this he showed himself plain and loyal indeed." He was posthumously restored to minister of war, made junior guardian of the heir apparent, given the posthumous name Zhongzhuang (Loyal and Valiant), his son ennobled as hereditary commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard with one hundred households, and granted state funeral honors.

人龍、國奇兵潰歸陜，賊遂屠項城。分兵屠商水、扶溝，遂攻葉縣。

Renlong and Guoqi's shattered troops straggled back to Shaanxi; the rebels then sacked and massacred Xiangcheng. They sent detachments to massacre Shangshui and Fugou, then attacked Yexian.

汪喬年，字歲星，遂安人。天啟二年進士。授刑部主事，歷郎中。母憂歸。

Wang Qiaonian, whose courtesy name was Suixing, came from Suian. He received his jinshi degree in the second year of the Tianqi reign. He was appointed principal secretary in the Ministry of Justice and eventually rose to bureau director. He went home to observe mourning for his mother.

崇禎二年起工部，遷青州知府。以治行卓異，遷登萊兵備副使，乞終養歸。父喪除，起官平陽，遷陜西右參政，提督學校。再以卓異，就遷按察使。喬年清若自勵，惡衣菲食，之官，攜二仆，不以家自隨。為青州，行廊置土銼十余，訟者自炊候鞫，吏無敢索一錢。自負才武，休沐輒馳騎，習弓刀擊刺，寢處風露中。

In the second year of Chongzhen he entered the Ministry of Works and was appointed prefect of Qingzhou. For outstanding administration he was promoted to Deng-Lai military defense vice commissioner, then asked to retire and care for his parents until their deaths. After his father's mourning period ended he was appointed at Pingyang, then transferred to right administrative commissioner of Shaanxi with charge over the schools. Again cited for outstanding service, he was promoted directly to surveillance commissioner. Qiaonian was austere and self-disciplined, dressed plainly and ate sparingly, and when he took office brought only two servants—never his family. As Qingzhou prefect he set out more than ten earthen stoves in the corridor so litigants could cook while waiting for their cases; not one clerk dared demand a coin. Confident in his martial talent, on his days off he would ride hard, drill with bow and blade, and sleep in the open air.

十四年，擢右僉都御史，巡撫陜西。時李自成已破河南，聲言入關。喬年疾驅至商、洛，不見賊。賊圍開封，而三邊總督傅宗龍亦至陜，議抽兵括餉，則關中兵食已盡，無以應。宗龍、喬年握手欷歔而別。未幾，宗龍敗歿於項城，喬年流涕嘆曰：「傅公死，討賊無人矣。」已，又聞詔擢喬年兵部右侍郎，總督三邊軍務，代宗龍。部檄踵至，趣出關。是時，關中精銳盡沒於項城。喬年曰：「兵疲餉乏，當方張之寇。我出，如以肉餵虎耳。然不可不一出，以持中原心。」乃收散亡，調邊卒，得馬步三萬人。

In the fourteenth year he was promoted to right vice censor-in-chief and appointed grand coordinator of Shaanxi. Li Zicheng had already overrun Henan and was threatening to cross into Shaanxi. Qiaonian raced to Shangzhou and Luonan but found no rebels. The rebels were besieging Kaifeng, and three-frontiers governor-general Fu Zonglong had also reached Shaanxi; when they discussed raising troops and supplies, Guanzhong had nothing left to give. The two men clasped hands, sighed, and went their separate ways. Before long Zonglong was defeated and killed at Xiangcheng; Qiaonian wept and said: "Master Fu is dead—there is no one left to fight the rebels." Soon after came word that Qiaonian had been promoted to vice minister of war and appointed governor-general of the three frontiers in Zonglong's place. Ministry orders arrived one after another, urging him to march out through the pass. By then Guanzhong's best troops had all been destroyed at Xiangcheng. Qiaonian said: "Our troops are exhausted, our supplies gone, and the enemy is at the height of his power. If I march out, I am only feeding meat to a tiger. Yet I must go out at least once, to keep hope alive in the Central Plains." He gathered the scattered survivors, mobilized frontier troops, and mustered thirty thousand infantry and cavalry.

十五年正月，率總兵賀人龍、鄭嘉棟、牛成虎出潼關。先是，臨潁為賊守，左良玉破而屠之，盡獲賊所擄。自成聞之怒，舍開封而攻良玉，良玉退保郾城，賊圍之急。喬年諸將議曰：「郾城危在旦夕。吾趨郾，賊方銳，難與爭鋒。吾聞襄城距郾四舍，賊老砦鹹在。吾舍郾而以精銳攻其必應，賊必還兵救，則郾城解矣。郾城解，我擊其前，良玉乘其背，賊可大破也。」諸將皆曰：「善。」乃留步兵火器於洛陽，簡精騎萬人兼程進。次郟縣，襄城人張永祺等迎喬年。

In the first month of the fifteenth year he led regional commanders He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, and Niu Chenghu through Tong Pass. Earlier the rebels had held Linying; Zuo Liangyu stormed it, massacred the garrison, and recovered all the captives the rebels had taken. Zicheng flew into a rage, abandoned Kaifeng, and attacked Liangyu; Liangyu fell back to Yancheng, where the rebels laid siege in force. Qiaonian and his generals debated: "Yancheng may fall at any moment. If we rush to Yancheng, the rebels are at their peak—we cannot fight them head-on. I hear Xiangcheng lies four stages from Yancheng, and the rebels' old strongholds are all there. If we leave Yancheng and strike their base with our best troops, the rebels will have to turn back—and Yancheng will be saved. Once Yancheng is relieved, we hit them from the front and Liangyu from the rear—the rebels can be destroyed." The generals all agreed: "Excellent." He left the infantry and firearms at Luoyang, picked ten thousand crack cavalry, and marched day and night. He stopped at Jia County, where Zhang Yongqi of Xiangcheng and others came out to welcome him.

二月二日，喬年入襄城，分人龍、嘉棟、成虎軍三路，駐城東四十里，逼郾城而軍，而自勒兵駐城外。賊果解郾城而救襄城。賊至，三帥奔，良玉救不至，軍大潰。喬年嘆曰：「此吾死所也。」率步卒千余入城守。賊穴地實火藥攻城，喬年亦穿阱，視所鑿，長矛刺之。賊炮擊喬年坐纛，雉堞盡碎，左右環泣請避之，喬年怒，以足蹴其首曰：「汝畏死，我不畏死也。」十七日，城陷，巷戰，殺三賊，自剄不殊，為賊所執，大罵。賊割其舌，磔殺之。襄城人建祠而祀之。

On the second day of the second month Qiaonian entered Xiangcheng, deployed Renlong, Jiadong, and Chenghu in three columns forty li east of the city facing Yancheng, and himself took command outside the walls. The rebels did lift the siege of Yancheng and marched to relieve Xiangcheng. When the rebels arrived, all three commanders fled; Liangyu's relief never came, and the army was routed. Qiaonian sighed: "This is where I die." He led more than a thousand infantry into the city to hold it. The rebels tunneled under the walls and packed them with gunpowder; Qiaonian dug counter-mines, watched where they dug, and thrust with long spears. Rebel cannon shattered the parapets around Qiaonian's command banner; his attendants wept and begged him to move; he kicked them and shouted: "You fear death—I do not!" On the seventeenth day the city fell; he fought in the streets, killed three rebels, tried to cut his own throat but failed, was seized, and cursed them loudly. The rebels cut out his tongue and executed him by dismemberment. The people of Xiangcheng built a shrine in his honor.

時張國欽、張一貫、黨威、李萬慶及監紀西安同知孫兆祿、材官李可從、襄城知縣曹思正從喬年，皆死之。萬慶者，降將射塌天也。又有馬帥某者，逸其名。兆祿，鹽山人。可從，盩厔人。黨威，神木人。余莫考。黨威則嘗擊賊於西雒峪，擒賊首竇阿婆者也。

Zhang Guoqin, Zhang Yiguan, Dang Wei, Li Wanqing, supervising secretary and Xi'an vice prefect Sun Zhaolu, materiel officer Li Kecong, and Xiangcheng magistrate Cao Sizheng—all who had followed Qiaonian—died with him. Wanqing was the surrendered general known as Shetian (Collapsing Sky). There was also a certain Commander Ma whose name has been lost. Zhaolu came from Yanshan. Kecong came from Zhouzhi. Dang Wei came from Shenmu. I have been unable to verify the rest. Dang Wei had once fought rebels at Xiluoyu Valley and captured the chieftain Dou Apo.

自成購永祺不得，屠其族，劓刖諸生劉漢臣等百九十人。自成數月之間再敗秦師，獲馬二萬，降秦兵又數萬，威震河雒。

Unable to capture Yongqi, Zicheng massacred his entire clan and mutilated the student Liu Hanchen and one hundred ninety others. Within months Zicheng twice shattered the Shaanxi armies, seized twenty thousand horses, and accepted the surrender of tens of thousands more Shaanxi troops; his power shook the Yellow and Luo river country.

初，喬年之撫陜西也，奉詔發自成先冢。米脂令邊大受，河間靜海舉人，健令也，诇得其族人為縣吏者，掠之。言：「去縣二百里曰李氏村，亂山中，十六冢環而葬，中其始祖也。相傳，穴，仙人所定，壙中鐵燈檠，鐵燈不滅，李氏興。」如其言發之螻蟻數石，火光熒熒然。檆棺，骨青黑，被體黃毛，腦後穴大如錢，赤蛇盤，三四寸，角而飛，高丈許，咋咋吞日光者六七，反而伏。喬年函其顱骨、臘蛇以聞，焚其余，雜以穢，棄之。自成聞之，嚙齒大恨曰：「吾必致死於喬年。」既殺喬年，由西華攻陳州。

Earlier, when Qiaonian took office in Shaanxi, he received orders to excavate Li Zicheng's ancestral graves. Mizhi magistrate Bian Dashou, a juren from Jinghai in Hejian, was a forceful administrator; he found Zicheng's kinsmen serving as county clerks and seized them. He reported: "Two hundred li from the county lies Li Clan Village, deep in the wild hills. Sixteen graves form a ring—at the center rests their founding ancestor. Legend held that the spot had been fixed by an immortal. Inside the vault stood an iron lamp-stand; so long as its iron lamp never went out, the Li clan would flourish. Acting on this account, they opened the tomb. Ants swarmed out by the shihu-load, and a pale fire glowed within. Within was a catalpa coffin. The bones had turned green-black, the corpse clothed in yellow hair. At the back of the skull gaped a hole the size of a coin, around which coiled a red serpent some three or four cun long. Horned, it took wing and rose a zhang into the air, snapping and gulping at the sunlight six or seven times before wheeling back to settle down. Qiaonian boxed the skull and the preserved serpent and sent word to the court. The rest he burned, mingled with refuse, and threw away. When Zicheng heard the news, he gnashed his teeth in fury and swore: "Qiaonian shall surely die by my hand! After he killed Qiaonian, he marched from Xihua to attack Chen Prefecture.

楊文嶽，字鬥望，南充人。萬歷四十七年進士。授行人。天啟五年，擢兵科給事中，屢遷禮科都給事中。

Yang Wenyue, styled Douwang, came from Nanchong. He received his jinshi degree in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli reign. He was appointed bearer of credentials at court. In the fifth year of Tianqi he rose to supervising secretary in the Office of Military Affairs and was later promoted to chief supervising secretary in the Office of Rites.

崇禎二年，出為江西右參政，歷湖廣、廣西按察使，雲南、山西左右布政使，以右副都御史巡撫登、萊。十二年擢兵部右侍郎，總督保定、山東、河北軍務，代孫傳庭。

In the second year of Chongzhen he was posted as Jiangxi's deputy administrative commissioner; he then served as provincial surveillance commissioner in Huguang and Guangxi, as left and right administration commissioner in Yunnan and Shanxi, and finally as right vice censor-in-chief governing Dengzhou and Laizhou. In the twelfth year he was elevated to vice minister of the Right in the Ministry of War and appointed grand coordinator of Baoding, Shandong, and Hebei, succeeding Sun Chuanting.

十四年正月，李自成陷洛陽，犯開封，文嶽率總兵虎大威以眾二萬赴救。渡河，賊先遁，追擊於鳴臯。還，駐兵開封。疫作，乃頓兵於汝寧，出屯西平、新蔡間。七月，自成走內鄉、淅川，與羅汝才合。文嶽趨鄧州，自成還攻之。文嶽戰三捷，斬其魁一條龍、一只龍，賊遁去。

In the first month of the fourteenth year Li Zicheng seized Luoyang and pressed Kaifeng; Wenyue marched to the rescue with the commander Hu Dawei and twenty thousand troops. After crossing the river he found the rebels already in flight and chased them to Minggao. He then withdrew and stationed his army at Kaifeng. When epidemic disease spread, he halted at Runing and deployed between Xiping and Xincai. In the seventh month Zicheng withdrew toward Neixiang and Xichuan and joined forces with Luo Rucai. Wenyue rushed toward Dengzhou, and Zicheng wheeled back to attack him. Wenyue won three successive battles, killing the rebel leaders Yitiao Long and Yizhi Long, and the rebels withdrew.

九月，會陜西總督傅宗龍於新蔡，與賊遇，大潰於孟家莊，再潰於火燒店。部將挾文嶽夜入於項城。明日奔陳州，宗龍遂覆沒。事聞，文嶽革職，充為事官，戴罪自贖。乃收集散亡，率所部就巡撫高名衡防杞。賊遂破葉縣，拔泌陽，乘勝陷南陽，殺唐王，下鄧州等十四城，再圍開封。

In the ninth month he joined Shaanxi governor Fu Zonglong at Xincai; they met the rebels and suffered crushing defeats at Mengjia Village and again at Huoshaodian. One of his subordinates led Wenyue into Xiangcheng under cover of night. The next day Wenyue fled to Chen Prefecture while Zonglong's force was wiped out. News of the disaster reached the capital; Wenyue was stripped of rank, reduced to a nominal post, and ordered to atone through further service. He then rallied the scattered remnants and joined Pacification Commissioner Gao Mingheng in the defense of Qi County. The rebels went on to storm Ye County and Biyang, then seized Nanyang in the wake of victory, killed the Prince of Tang, took fourteen cities including Dengzhou, and once again besieged Kaifeng.

明年正月，文嶽馳救開封，論功復官。臨潁為賊守，左良玉破而屠之，退保郾城。自成圍郾城。二月，督師丁啟睿及文嶽、大威救郾城。賊潰，距官軍數里而營。文嶽、啟睿相掎角，持十一晝夜。總督汪喬年出關，賊引去，再攻開封。六月，詔起侯恂兵部右侍郎，總督保定、山東、河南、湖北軍務，代文嶽。命所司察文嶽罪狀。七月朔，文嶽、啟睿合良玉、大威及楊德政、方國安四總兵之師，次朱仙鎮。諸軍盡潰，啟睿、文嶽奔汝寧。賊渡河，追奔四百里，官軍失亡數萬。詔褫官候勘。

In the first month of the next year Wenyue hurried to Kaifeng's relief and was reinstated on merit. The rebels held Linying until Zuo Liangyu stormed it and put the city to the sword, then fell back to defend Yancheng. Zicheng then laid siege to Yancheng. In the second month Grand Secretary Ding Qirui, Wenyue, and Dawei marched to relieve Yancheng. The rebels broke and withdrew, pitching camp a few li from the imperial forces. Wenyue and Qirui coordinated in a pincer formation and held for eleven days and nights. When Governor Wang Qiaonian marched out through the pass, the rebels withdrew and renewed their assault on Kaifeng. In the sixth month the throne recalled Hou Xun as vice minister of the Right in the Ministry of War and appointed him grand coordinator over Baoding, Shandong, Henan, and Hubei, in Wenyue's place. The court ordered an inquiry into Wenyue's misconduct. On the first day of the seventh month Wenyue and Qirui assembled the armies of four regional commanders—Liangyu, Dawei, Yang Dezheng, and Fang Guo'an—and encamped at Zhuxian Town. The allied armies collapsed entirely; Qirui and Wenyue fled to Runing. The rebels crossed the river and chased the fugitives four hundred li, costing the imperial army tens of thousands of men. An edict removed him from office pending investigation.

九月，文嶽在汝寧，夜襲賊營有功。賊既灌開封，旋敗孫傳庭兵，以閏十一月悉眾薄汝寧，老回回、革裏眼、左金王等畢會。文嶽遣都司康世德以輕騎偵賊，世德走還汝，將其步騎五百，夜縱火噪而奔。十三日，群賊並至，壓汝寧五里而軍。監軍僉事孔貞會以川兵屯城東，文嶽以保兵屯城西。賊兵進攻，相持一晝夜。川兵潰，殺傷數百。賊奪其馬騾，悉眾攻保兵，漸不支。僉事王世琮、知府傅汝為、通判朱國寶縋將士入城，副將賈悌、參將馮名聖亦掖文嶽、貞會登城。

In the ninth month, still at Runing, Wenyue scored success with a night attack on the rebel camp. Once they had inundated Kaifeng, the rebels soon routed Sun Chuanting's army; in the intercalary eleventh month they moved their entire force against Runing, and rebel chiefs including Lao Huikai, Ge Liyan, and Zuo Jinwang all rallied there. Wenyue dispatched Assistant Commander Kang Shide with light cavalry to reconnoiter the rebels, but Shide fled back to Ru with five hundred foot and horse soldiers, firing the camp and raising an uproar as he ran. On the thirteenth the rebel hosts converged and pitched camp five li from Runing. Military Supervisor Kong Zhenhui held the east wall with Sichuan troops, while Wenyue posted Baoding soldiers on the west. The rebels pressed the assault and the two sides battled through the day and night. The Sichuan detachment collapsed, with several hundred killed or wounded. The rebels seized their horses and mules, then hurled the whole host against the Baoding troops, who slowly gave way. Secretariat Member Wang Shizong, Prefect Fu Ruwei, and Assistant Prefect Zhu Guobao hauled soldiers into the city by rope; Vice Commander Jia Ti and Assistant Commander Feng Mingsheng also helped Wenyue and Zhenhui climb the wall to safety.

明日，賊四面環攻，戴扉以陣，矢石雲梯堵墻而立。城頭矢炮擂石雨集，賊死傷山積，而攻不休。一鼓百道並登，執文嶽及世琮、國寶、悌、名聖於城頭，殺汝陽知縣文師頤於城上。汝為聞變，赴水死。賊擁文嶽等見自成，大罵，賊怒，縛之城南三里鋪，以大炮擊之，洞胸糜骨而死。士民屠戮數萬，焚公私廨舍殆盡。貞會執去，不知所終。自成以文嶽死忠，備禮斂之。遂拔營走確山、信陽、泌陽，向襄陽，虜崇王由樻、崇世子、諸王妃及河南懷安諸王以行。

The next day the rebels assaulted from every side, advancing behind shield walls in formation; arrows, stones, siege ladders, and scaling gear massed against the ramparts. From the battlements a storm of arrows, cannon shot, and rolling stones poured down; rebel corpses heaped up like hills, yet the assault never stopped. At a single drumstroke a hundred assault columns scaled the walls together; they captured Wenyue along with Shizong, Guobao, Ti, and Mingsheng on the ramparts and killed Ruyang magistrate Wen Shiyi on the wall. When Ruwei heard what had happened, he drowned himself. The rebels dragged Wenyue and the others before Zicheng; they reviled him in fury, and the rebels, enraged, bound them at Sanlipu south of the city and blasted them with heavy cannon until their chests were torn open and their bones shattered. Tens of thousands of officials and townspeople were put to the sword, and nearly every public and private building was burned. Zhenhui was taken captive; nothing is known of his fate afterward. Zicheng honored Wenyue's loyalty in death and gave him a proper burial. The rebels then broke camp and marched toward Queshan, Xinyang, and Biyang on the road to Xiangyang, taking Prince Chong Youyu, the heir apparent, the consorts, and the Princes of Huai'an and other Henan princes with them as captives.

汝為，字於宣，江陵人。崇禎七年進士。世琮，字仲發，達州人。國寶，成都人。師頤，全州人。皆舉人。世琮嘗為汝寧推官，討土寇，流矢貫耳不為動，時號王鐵耳者也。師頤蒞任甫三日。

Fu Ruwei, styled Yuxuan, came from Jiangling. He received his jinshi degree in the seventh year of the Chongzhen reign. Wang Shizong, styled Zhongfa, came from Dazhou. Zhu Guobao was from Chengdu. Wen Shiyi came from Quanzhou. All four had passed the provincial examinations. Shizong had once served as Runing's assistant magistrate; while subduing local bandits an arrow drove through his ear without making him flinch, earning him the nickname Iron-Eared Wang. Shiyi had been in office barely three days.

孫傳庭，字百雅，代州振武衛人。自父以上，四世舉於鄉。傳庭儀表頎碩，沈毅多籌略。萬歷四十七年成進士，授永城知縣，以才調商丘。天啟初，擢吏部驗封主事，屢遷稽勛郎中，請告歸。家居久不出。

Sun Chuanting, styled Baiya, came from Zhenwu Guard in Daizhou. For four generations, from his father upward, the family had produced provincial graduates. Chuanting was tall and commanding in appearance, sober and resolute, and richly supplied with plans. He passed the jinshi examinations in the forty-seventh year of Wanli, served first as magistrate of Yongcheng, and was transferred to Shangqiu on account of his ability. Early in the Tianqi reign he rose to principal secretary in the Ministry of Personnel's Seals Bureau, was promoted to bureau director in the Meritorious Service Office, and then retired on leave. He stayed at home for many years without taking office again.

崇禎八年秋，始遷驗封郎中，超遷順天府丞。陜西巡撫甘學闊不能討賊，秦之士大夫嘩於朝，乃推邊才用傳庭，以九年三月受代。傳庭蒞秦，嚴征發期會，一從軍興法。秦人愛之不如總督洪承疇，然其才自足辦賊。賊首整齊王據商、雒，諸將不敢攻，檄副將羅尚文擊斬之。

In the autumn of the eighth year of Chongzhen he was at last recalled as bureau director in the Seals Office and then leapfrogged to vice prefect of Shuntian. Shaanxi Pacification Commissioner Gan Xuekuo failed to subdue the rebels, and Qin gentry raised an uproar at court; border talent was sought out and Chuanting was chosen, succeeding to office in the third month of the ninth year. Once Chuanting took charge in Qin, he enforced strict levies and rigid deadlines under the full wartime code. The people of Shaanxi liked him less than Governor Hong Chengchou, but his talent was more than enough to deal with the rebels. The rebel chieftain King Zhengqi held Shangzhou and Luozhou, and no general dared move against him until Chuanting ordered Vice Commander Luo Shangwen to attack and kill him.

當是時，賊亂關中，有名字者以十數，高迎祥最強，拓養坤黨最眾，所謂闖王、蠍子塊者也。傳庭設方略，親擊迎祥於盩厔之黑水峪，擒之，及其偽領哨黃龍、總管劉哲，獻俘闕下。錄功，增秩一等。而賊黨自是乃共推李自成為闖王矣。明年，養坤及其黨張耀文來降。已而養坤叛去，諭其下追斬之。擊賊惠登相於涇陽、三原，登相西走。河南賊馬進忠、劉國能等十七部入渭南，追之出關，復合河南兵夾擊之，先後斬首千余級。進忠等復擾商、雒、藍田，叛卒與之合，將犯西安。遣左光先、曹變蛟追走之渭南，降其渠一條龍，招還脅從。募健兒擊余賊，斬聖世王、瓦背、一翅飛，降鎮天王、上山虎，又殲白捍賊渠魁數人。關南稍靖。遣副將盛略等敗賊大天王於寶雞，賊走入山谷，傳庭追之鳳翔。他賊出棧道，謀越關犯河南，還軍擊，賊走伏斜谷，復大敗之，降其余眾。西安四衛，舊有屯軍二萬四千，田二萬余頃，其後田歸豪右，軍盡虛籍。傳庭厘得軍萬一千有奇，歲收屯課銀十四萬五千余兩，米麥萬三千五百余石。帝大喜，增秩，賚銀幣。

At that time bandits ravaged Guanzhong; a dozen or more had made names for themselves. Gao Yingxiang was the strongest, Tuo Yangkun commanded the largest following—the famed Dash King and Scorpion Lump. Chuanting laid his plans and personally struck Yingxiang at Heishui Valley in Zhouzhi, capturing him along with the rebel scout Huang Long and chief of staff Liu Zhe, and sent the prisoners to the capital. His victory was entered on the rolls of merit and his rank was raised one step. From then on the rebel bands united in proclaiming Li Zicheng the Dash King. The following year Yangkun and his lieutenant Zhang Yaowen surrendered. Before long Yangkun rebelled and fled, whereupon Chuanting ordered his men to hunt him down and kill him. He attacked the rebel Hui Dengxiang at Jingyang and Sanyuan, driving Dengxiang westward. Seventeen Henan rebel bands led by Ma Jinzhong and Liu Guoneng invaded Weinan; he chased them out through the pass, then joined Henan troops in a pincer attack, taking more than a thousand heads in successive clashes. Jinzhong and his fellows renewed their raids on Shangzhou, Luozhou, and Lantian; mutineers rallied to them and prepared to strike Xi'an. He sent Zuo Guangxian and Cao Bianjiao to drive them from Weinan, accepted the surrender of the chieftain Yitiao Long, and win back those who had followed under duress. He raised crack troops against the remaining rebels, killing Shengshi Wang, Wabei, and Yichi Fei, accepting the surrender of Zhen Tianwang and Shangshan Hu, and wiping out several chiefs of the White Club band. South of the Pass the country grew somewhat quieter. He dispatched Vice Commander Sheng Lue and others to rout the rebel Great Heavenly King at Baoji; the rebels fled into the hills and Chuanting chased them as far as Fengxiang. Other rebels emerged from the plank roads intending to cross the Pass into Henan; he wheeled his army back, drove them into Xie Valley, crushed them again, and took the survivors' surrender. Xi'an's four guards once fielded twenty-four thousand garrison troops on more than twenty thousand qing of farmland, but later the land passed to powerful families while the rolls listed phantom soldiers. Chuanting recovered a usable force of just over eleven thousand men, yielding annual garrison revenues of more than 145,000 taels of silver and 13,500 shi of grain. The emperor was delighted, raised his rank, and rewarded him with silver and silks.

會楊嗣昌入為本兵，條上方略。洪承疇以秦督兼剿務，而用廣撫熊文燦為總理。分四正六隅，馬三步七，計兵十二萬，加派至二百八十萬，期百日平賊。傳庭移書爭之，曰：「無益，且非特此也。部卒屢經潰蹶，民力竭矣，恐不堪命。必欲行之，賊不必盡，而害中於國家。」累數千言，嗣昌大忤。部議，秦撫當一正面，募土著萬人，給餉銀二十三萬，以商、雒等處為汛守。傳庭知其不可用也，乃核帑藏，蠲贖鍰，得銀四萬八千，市馬募兵，自辦滅賊具，不用部議。會諸撫報募兵及額，傳庭疏獨不至。嗣昌言軍法不行於秦，自請白衣領職，以激帝怒。傳庭奏曰：「使臣如他撫，籍郡縣民兵上之，遂謂及額，則臣先所報屯兵已及額矣。況更有募練馬步軍，數且逾萬，何嘗不遵部議。至百日之期，商、雒之汛守，臣皆不敢委。然使賊入商、雒，而臣不能禦，則治臣罪。若臣扼商、雒，而逾期不能滅賊，誤剿事者必非臣。」嗣昌無以難，然銜之彌甚。傳庭兩奉詔進秩，當加部銜，嗣昌抑弗奏。十一年春，賊破漢陰、石泉，則坐傳庭失援，削其所加秩。

About then Yang Sichang became minister of War and submitted a comprehensive strategic plan. Hong Chengchou, governor of Shaanxi, was given joint responsibility for suppression, and Huguang Pacification Commissioner Xiong Wencan was made overall coordinator. The plan divided the campaign into four cardinal fronts and six supporting sectors, three-tenths cavalry to seven-tenths infantry, totaling 120,000 troops; fresh levies were imposed worth 2.8 million taels, with a hundred-day deadline to crush the rebels. Chuanting wrote in protest: "It will do no good—and that is not the only problem. The troops have been broken again and again, and the people are exhausted; I fear they cannot sustain such demands. If you insist on pushing this through, the rebels may not be wiped out before the state itself is grievously harmed. The memorial ran to several thousand words—and Sichang took deep offense. The ministry decided that the Shaanxi governor should hold one of the four cardinal fronts, raise ten thousand local troops, supply 230,000 taels in pay, and garrison Shangzhou, Luonan, and the surrounding districts. Chuanting saw that the plan was unworkable. He audited the provincial coffers, remitted redemption fines, raised 48,000 taels, bought horses, recruited soldiers, and equipped a suppression force on his own—without relying on the ministry's scheme. About then every governor reported that recruitment quotas had been met—only Chuanting's memorial had not come in. Sichang declared that military law could not be enforced in Shaanxi and offered to serve in undress as a way to stir the emperor's wrath against Chuanting. Chuanting replied in a memorial: "If I were like the other governors—simply tallying county militia and reporting them as recruits—then the garrison troops I had already reported would count as meeting the quota. And I have besides recruited and drilled cavalry and infantry numbering more than ten thousand—how can you say I have not followed the ministry's plan? As for the hundred-day deadline and the garrison posts at Shangzhou and Luonan, I have not shirked a single duty. But if rebels break into Shangzhou or Luonan and I fail to stop them, then hold me accountable. If I hold Shangzhou and Luonan yet the rebels are not destroyed by the deadline, the failure will not be mine. Sichang could find no answer—but his resentment only deepened. Chuanting twice received imperial orders to advance in rank and was due a ministry title, but Sichang blocked the recommendation and never submitted it. In the spring of the eleventh year, after rebels overran Hanyin and Shiquan, Chuanting was blamed for failing to relieve them and stripped of the rank he had been granted.

傳庭出扼商、雒。大天王等犯慶陽、寶雞，還軍戰合水，破走之，獲其二子，追擊之延安。過天星、混天星等從徽、秦趨鳳翔，逼澄城。傳庭分兵五道擊之楊家嶺、黃龍山，大破之，斬首二千余級。大天王知二子不殺，遂降。賊引而北，犯延安。傳庭策鄜州西、合水東三四百里，荒山邃谷，賊入當自斃，乃率標兵中部遏其東，檄變蛟、慶陽拒其西，伏兵三水、淳化間。賊饑，出掠食，則大張旗幟，鳴鼓角以邀之，一日夜馳二百五十里。賊大驚，西奔，至職田莊，遇伏而敗；復走寶雞，取棧道，再中伏大敗；折而走隴州關山道，又為伏兵所挫。三敗，賊死者無算，過天星、混天星並降。又逐賊邠、寧間，陷陣，獲其渠。河南賊馬進忠、馬光玉驅宛、洛之眾，箕張而西。傳庭擊之，賊還走。又設伏於潼關原，變蛟逐賊入伏。而闖王李自成者，為洪承疇所逐，盡亡其卒，以十八騎潰圍遁。關中群盜悉平，是為崇禎之十一年春也。捷聞，大喜，先敘澄城之捷，命加傳庭部銜。嗣昌仍格不奏。

Chuanting marched out to hold Shangzhou and Luonan. When the Great Heavenly King and his followers struck Qingyang and Baoji, Chuanting wheeled his army about, fought them at Heshui, routed them, captured two of the rebel leader's sons, and chased them as far as Yan'an. Guo Tianxing, Hun Tianxing, and their bands advanced from Huizhou and Qinzhou toward Fengxiang and threatened Chengcheng. Chuanting split his force into five columns and struck them at Yangjialing and Huanglong Mountain, winning a crushing victory and claiming more than two thousand heads. When the Great Heavenly King learned that his two sons had been spared, he surrendered. The rebels pulled back north and raided Yan'an. Chuanting reckoned that the three or four hundred li west of Fuzhou and east of Heshui—wild mountains and deep ravines—would be a death trap for any rebel force. He led his banner troops to block the east, ordered Bian Jiao and the Qingyang garrison to hold the west, and hid troops in ambush between Sanshui and Chunhua. When hunger drove the rebels out to forage, he unfurled his banners, sounded drums and horns in challenge, and rode two hundred fifty li in a single day and night. The rebels panicked and fled west; at Zhitianzhuang they ran into an ambush and were broken; they retreated toward Baoji and took the plank road, only to walk into another ambush and suffer a second rout; they turned onto the Longzhou Guanshan road and were cut down by ambush troops once more. After three defeats the rebel dead were beyond count, and both Guo Tianxing and Hun Tianxing surrendered. He pursued the rebels again between Bin and Ning, broke their line, and captured their leader. The Henan rebels Ma Jinzhong and Ma Guangyu swept the hosts of Nanyang and Luoyang westward in a spreading advance. Chuanting struck them and drove them back. He laid another ambush on the Tongguan plain, and Bian Jiao herded the rebels straight into it. Li Zicheng, the Dashing King, had been hunted by Hong Chengchou until his army was destroyed; he broke out of encirclement with only eighteen horsemen. Every rebel band in Guanzhong had been crushed—this was the spring of Chongzhen's eleventh year. When word of victory reached the court, the emperor was overjoyed. He first recorded the triumph at Chengcheng and ordered that Chuanting be granted a ministry title. Sichang again blocked the recommendation and refused to submit it.

當是時，總理熊文燦主撫。湖廣賊張獻忠已降，惟河南賊如故。羅汝才、馬進忠、賀一龍、左金王等十三部西窺潼關，聯營數十里。傳庭計曰：「天下大寇盡在此矣。我出擊其西，總理擊其東，賊不降則滅。此賊平，天下無賊矣。獻忠即狙伏，無能為也。」乃遂引兵東，大敗賊閿鄉、靈寶山間，貫其營而東，復自東以西。賊窘甚，以文燦招降手諭上，言旦夕且降。傳庭曰：「爾曹日就熊公言撫，而日攻堡屠寨不已，是偽也。降即解甲來，有說即非真降，吾明日進兵矣。」明日擐甲而出，得文燦檄於途中曰：「毋妒吾撫功。」又進，得本兵嗣昌手書，亦雲。傳庭怏怏撤兵還。然賊迄不就撫，移瞰商、雒。文燦悔，期傳庭夾擊。屬吏王文清等三戰三敗之，賊奔內鄉、淅川而去。傳庭既屢建大功，其將校數奉旨優敘，嗣昌務抑之不為奏。傳庭懇請上其籍於部，嗣昌曰：「需之。」

At that time the overall coordinator Xiong Wencan was committed to negotiating surrender. Zhang Xianzhong of Huguang had already submitted, but the Henan rebels were as active as ever. Luo Rucai, Ma Jinzhong, He Yilong, Zuo Jinwang, and thirteen other bands watched Tong Pass from the west, their camps strung out for dozens of li. Chuanting reckoned: "Every major rebel in the empire is here. If I strike from the west and the coordinator from the east, they must either surrender or be destroyed. Crush this force and the rebellion is finished. Even if Xianzhong is lying in wait somewhere, he can do nothing. With that he marched east, routed the rebels in the hills between Wenxiang and Lingbao, drove straight through their camps from west to east, then swept back from east to west. Hard pressed, the rebels waved Wencan's handwritten summons to surrender and claimed they would submit at any moment. Chuanting replied: "Day after day you go to Lord Xiong to talk of surrender, yet day after day you storm forts and massacre stockades—this is a sham. If you mean to surrender, lay down your arms and come in; if there is only talk, it is not a real surrender—I march tomorrow. The next day he armored up and marched out, but on the road received a dispatch from Wencan: "Do not begrudge me my success in winning them over. Farther on he received a personal letter from War Minister Sichang saying the same thing. Chuanting withdrew his army in bitter frustration. The rebels never submitted, however, and turned their gaze toward Shangzhou and Luonan. Wencan repented of his policy and arranged a joint strike with Chuanting. Wang Wenqing and other subordinates fought them three times and won three times, driving the rebels off toward Neixiang and Xichuan. Chuanting had won victory after victory, and his officers repeatedly earned imperial orders for special commendation—but Sichang deliberately blocked every recommendation. Chuanting pleaded that the roster be forwarded to the ministry. Sichang replied: "In due time."

十月，京師戒嚴，召傳庭及承疇入衛，擢兵部右侍郎兼右僉都御史，代總督盧象升督諸鎮援軍，賜劍。當是時，傳庭提兵抵近郊，與嗣昌不協，又與中官高起潛忤，降旨切責，不得朝京師。承疇至，郊勞，且命陛見，傳庭不能無觖望。無何，嗣昌用承疇以為薊督，欲盡留秦兵之入援者守薊、遼。傳庭曰：「秦軍不可留也。留則賊勢張，無益於邊，是代賊撤兵也。秦軍妻子俱在秦，兵日殺賊以為利，久留於邊，非嘩則逃，不復為吾用，必為賊用，是驅民使從賊也。安危之機，不可不察也。」嗣昌不聽。傳庭爭之不能得，不勝郁郁，耳遂聾。

In the tenth month, with the capital under martial law, Chuanting and Chengchou were called in to defend it. Chuanting was promoted to vice minister of War and vice censor-in-chief of the right, replacing Governor Lu Xiangsheng as commander of the relief armies from the border garrisons, and was granted the imperial sword. By then Chuanting had brought his army to the capital's outskirts. He was at odds with Sichang and had quarreled with the eunuch Gao Qiqian; the emperor sent down a stern rebuke and forbade him to enter the capital for an audience. When Chengchou arrived he was welcomed in the suburbs and granted an imperial audience—Chuanting could hardly suppress his bitterness. Before long Sichang installed Chengchou as governor of Ji and proposed keeping every Shaanxi unit that had marched east to garrison Ji and Liaodong. Chuanting objected: "The Shaanxi troops must not be kept here. Keep them here and the rebels grow stronger while the frontier gains nothing—you would be pulling troops away for the enemy's benefit. Their families are all back in Shaanxi; these men fight rebels because there is profit in it. Keep them on the frontier too long and they will riot or desert—they will no longer serve us, but the rebels—and you will be driving your own soldiers into the enemy's ranks. The fate of the realm hangs on such decisions—you cannot afford to ignore them. Sichang refused to listen. Chuanting argued in vain; crushed by frustration, he lost his hearing.

傳庭初受命，疏言：「年來疆事決裂，由計畫差謬。事竣，當面請決大計。」明年，帝移傳庭總督保定、山東、河南軍務。既解嚴，疏請陛見。嗣昌大驚，謂傳庭將傾之，斥來役賫疏還之傳庭。傳庭慍，引疾乞休。嗣昌又劾其托疾，非真聾，帝遂發怒，斥為民，下巡撫楊一俊核真偽，一俊奏言：「真聾，非托疾。」並下一俊獄。傳庭長系待決，舉朝知其冤，莫為言。在獄三年，文燦、嗣昌相繼敗。而是時，闖王李自成者，已攻破河南矣，犯開封，執宗龍，殺唐王，兵散而賊益橫。帝思傳庭言，朝士薦者益眾。

When Chuanting first took up his appointment, he wrote: "The frontier has collapsed in recent years because the strategy has been fundamentally wrong. When this campaign is over, I beg to lay the grand strategy before Your Majesty in person. The following year the emperor reassigned Chuanting to overall command of military affairs in Baoding, Shandong, and Henan. Once the emergency was lifted, he submitted a memorial requesting an audience with the emperor. Sichang was terrified, convinced Chuanting meant to destroy him, and sent the messenger back with the memorial undelivered. Furious, Chuanting pleaded illness and asked to retire. Sichang then accused him of faking his deafness. The emperor flew into a rage, stripped Chuanting of office and rank, and ordered Governor Yang Yijun to investigate. Yijun reported: "He is genuinely deaf, not feigning illness. Yijun was thrown into prison as well. Chuanting languished in prison awaiting sentence. The whole court knew he had been wronged, but no one dared speak up. After three years in prison, Wencan and Sichang both suffered ruin in turn. By then Li Zicheng, the Dashing King, had overrun Henan, besieged Kaifeng, captured Fu Zonglong, killed the Prince of Tang, and with imperial armies in disarray the rebels grew bolder than ever. The emperor remembered Chuanting's warnings, and ever more officials at court began recommending his recall.

十五年正月，起傳庭兵部右侍郎，親御文華殿問剿賊安民之策，傳庭侃侃言。帝嗟嘆久之，燕勞賞賚甚渥，命將禁旅援開封。開封圍已解，賊殺陜督汪喬年，帝即命傳庭往代。大集諸將於關中，縛援剿總兵賀人龍，坐之麾下，數而斬之。謂其開縣噪歸，猛帥以孤軍失利而獻、曹出柙也；又謂其遇敵先潰，新蔡、襄城連喪二督也。諸將莫不灑然動色者。

In the first month of the fifteenth year Chuanting was restored to vice minister of War. The emperor received him personally in the Wenhua Hall to ask how rebels might be crushed and the people secured, and Chuanting answered with calm, confident clarity. The emperor sighed with admiration, entertained him lavishly, heaped rewards upon him, and ordered him to lead the capital garrison to relieve Kaifeng. By the time the siege of Kaifeng was lifted, the rebels had killed Shaanxi Governor Wang Qiaonian, and the emperor immediately sent Chuanting to take his place. He summoned every general in Guanzhong, bound the relief commander He Renlong, placed him before the assembled officers, recited his crimes, and had him beheaded. He accused Renlong of mutinying at Kaixian and marching home, of letting fierce commanders lose battles with isolated forces, and of allowing Zhang and Cao to break loose like beasts from a cage; he further charged that Renlong had been first to flee in every engagement, costing the empire two governors in succession at Xincai and Xiangcheng. Every officer in the hall visibly paled.

傳庭既已誅殺人龍，威詟三邊，日夜治軍為平賊計，而賊遂已再圍開封。詔御史蘇京監延、寧、甘、固軍，趣傳庭出關。傳庭上言：「兵新募，不堪用。」帝不聽。傳庭不得已出師，以九月抵潼關。大雨連旬，自成決馬家口河灌開封。開封已陷，傳庭趨南陽，自成西行逆秦師。傳庭設三覆以待賊：牛成虎將前軍，左勷將左，鄭嘉棟將右，高傑將中軍。成虎陽北以誘賊，賊奔入伏中，成虎還兵而鬥，高傑、董學禮突起翼之，左勷、鄭嘉棟左右橫擊之。賊潰東走，斬首千余。追三十里，及之郟縣之冢頭，賊棄甲仗軍資於道，秦兵趨利。賊覘我軍囂，反兵乘之，左勷、蕭慎鼎之師潰，諸軍皆潰。副將孫枝秀躍馬以追賊，擊殺數十騎，賊兵圍之，馳突不得出，馬蹶被執，植立不撓。以刃臨之，瞠目不答。一人曰：「此孫副將也。」遂殺之。參將黑尚仁亦被執不屈而見殺，覆軍數千，材官小將之歿者，張渼奎、李棲鳳、任光裕、戴友仁以下七十有八人。賊倍獲其所喪馬。傳庭走鞏，由孟入關，執斬慎鼎；罰勷馬以二千，以勷父光先故，貸勷。是役也，天大雨，糧不至，士卒采青柿以食，凍且餒，故大敗。豫人所謂「柿園之役」也。

With Renlong dead, Chuanting's authority over the three frontiers was absolute; he drilled his army day and night to crush the rebels—yet even as he did so, the rebels were besieging Kaifeng again. An edict appointed Censor Su Jing to oversee the Yan, Ning, Gan, and Gu garrisons and ordered Chuanting to march out through the pass at once. Chuanting protested: "These are raw recruits—they are not fit for battle. The emperor would not hear of it. Chuanting had no choice but to take the field, reaching Tong Pass in the ninth month. Rain fell for weeks on end while Zicheng broke the Majiakou dikes and flooded Kaifeng. Kaifeng had already fallen. Chuanting pushed toward Nanyang while Zicheng marched west to intercept the Shaanxi army. Chuanting laid three ambushes to trap the rebels: Niu Chenghu led the vanguard, Zuo Rang the left wing, Zheng Jiadong the right, and Gao Jie the center. Chenghu feigned a northward retreat to draw the rebels in; when they charged into the trap he wheeled about to fight, Gao Jie and Dong Xueli surged up on the flanks, and Zuo Rang and Zheng Jiadong struck from both sides. The rebels broke and fled eastward; more than a thousand heads were taken. The pursuit ran thirty li to Zhongtou in Jia County, where the rebels abandoned arms and supplies along the road and the Shaanxi troops broke ranks to seize the loot. The rebels saw the disorder in our ranks, wheeled about, and counterattacked; the divisions of Zuo Rang and Xiao Shending broke, and the whole army collapsed. Vice general Sun Zhixiu spurred after the fleeing rebels and cut down dozens of horsemen before rebel troops surrounded him. He charged back and forth but could not break free; his horse fell and he was taken, yet he stood upright and unbowed. They put blades to his throat; he stared back and said nothing. Someone said: "This is Vice General Sun. They killed him on the spot. Regimental commander Hei Shangren was likewise captured, refused to yield, and was executed. Several thousand troops were lost, and among the officers and junior commanders who died were Zhang Meikui, Li Qifeng, Ren Guangyu, Dai Youren, and seventy-four others. The rebels recovered twice as many horses as they had lost. Chuanting fled to Gong County, re-entered the pass through Mengjin, and had Shending arrested and executed; He fined Zuo Rang two thousand horses in compensation, but because of Zuo Rang's father Zuoguang Xian, he spared Zuo Rang himself. That battle was lost to rain and supply failure: with no grain coming up, the troops subsisted on wild persimmons, freezing and starving until the army collapsed entirely. It became known in Henan as the Battle of the Persimmon Grove.

傳庭既已敗歸陜西，計守潼關，扼京師上遊。且我軍新集，不利速戰，乃益募勇士，開屯田，繕器，積粟，三家出壯丁一。火車載火炮甲仗者三萬輛，戰則驅之拒馬，止則環以自衛。督工苛急，夜以繼日，秦民不能堪。而關中頻歲饑，駐大軍餉乏，士大夫厭苦傳庭所為，用法嚴，不樂其在秦。相與嘩於朝曰：「秦督玩寇矣。」又相與危語恫脅之曰：「秦督不出關，收者至矣。」明年五月，命兼督河南、四川軍務，尋進兵部尚書，改稱督師，加督山西、湖廣、貴州及江南、北軍務，賜劍。趣戰益急。傳庭頓足嘆曰：「奈何乎！吾固知往而不返也。然大丈夫豈能再對獄吏乎！」頃之，不得已遂再議出師。總兵牛成虎將前鋒，高傑將中軍，王定、官撫民將延、寧兵為後勁，白廣恩統火車營，檄左良玉赴汝寧夾擊。當是時，自成已據有河南、湖北十余郡，自號新順王，設官置戍，營襄陽而居之。將由內、淅窺商、雒，盡發荊、襄兵會於氾水、滎澤，伐竹結筏，人佩三葫蘆，將謀渡河。傳庭分兵防禦。八月十日，傳庭出師潼關，次於閿鄉。二十一日，師次陜州，檄河南諸軍渡河進剿。九月八日，師次汝州，偽都尉四天王李養純降。養純言賊虛實：諸賊老營在唐縣，偽將吏屯寶豐，自成精銳盡聚於襄城。遂破賊寶豐，斬偽州牧陳可新等。遂搗唐縣，破之，殺家口殆盡，賊滿營哭。轉戰至郟縣，遂擒偽果毅將軍謝君友，斫賊坐纛，尾自成幾獲。賊奔襄城，大軍遂進逼襄城。賊懼謀降，自成曰：「無畏！我殺王焚陵，罪大矣，姑決一死戰。不勝，則殺我而降未晚也。」而大軍時皆露宿與賊持，久雨道濘，糧車不能前。士饑，攻郟破之，獲馬騾啖之立盡。雨七日夜不止，後軍嘩於汝州。賊大至，流言四起。不得已還軍迎糧，留陳永福為後拒。前軍既移，後軍亂，永福斬之不能止。賊追及之南陽，官軍還戰。賊陣五重，饑民處外，次步卒，次馬軍，又次驍騎，老營家口處內。戰破其三重。賊驍騎殊死鬥，我師陣稍動，廣恩軍將火車者呼曰：「師敗矣！」脫挽輅而奔，車傾塞道，馬掛於衡不得前，賊之鐵騎淩而騰之，步賊手白棓遮擊，中者首兜鍪俱碎。自成空壁躡我，一日夜，官兵狂奔四百里，至於孟津，死者四萬余，失亡兵器輜重數十萬。傳庭單騎渡垣曲，由閿鄉濟。賊獲督師坐纛，乘勝破潼關，大敗官軍。傳庭與監軍副使喬遷高躍馬大呼而歿於陣，廣恩降賊。傳庭屍竟不可得。傳庭死，關以內無堅城矣。

Defeated, Chuanting withdrew to Shaanxi and set his mind on holding Tong Pass—the gateway upstream of the capital. His troops were freshly recruited and unfit for a quick fight, so he stepped up recruitment, opened military farms, repaired arms, stockpiled grain, and pressed one able-bodied man from every three households. He fielded thirty thousand gun-carts loaded with cannon, armor, and arms—deployed as mobile barricades in action and formed into defensive rings when halted. Construction was driven relentlessly around the clock, and the people of Shaanxi could bear it no longer. Guanzhong had been famine-stricken for years, and feeding a large garrison was impossible. Officials resented Chuanting's harsh methods and wished him gone from the province. Officials raised an uproar at court: "The Shaanxi governor is coddling the enemy." They piled on with threats: "If he does not march out, the arresting officers will be here." The following May he was given joint command over Henan and Sichuan, soon promoted to Minister of War and styled Supreme Commander, with authority extended to Shanxi, Huguang, Guizhou, and both capitals regions—and awarded the ceremonial sword. Pressure to fight mounted daily. Chuanting stamped his foot and cried out: "What can I do! I always knew this march would be one-way. But what man of honor could endure the prison warders a second time!" Soon after, with no alternative, he once more resolved to take the field. Niu Chenghu led the vanguard, Gao Jie the center, Wang Ding and Guan Fumin the Yan and Ning contingents in the rear, Bai Guang'en the gun-cart corps, with orders for Zuo Liangyu to rendezvous at Runing for a pincer strike. By then Zicheng held a dozen prefectures across Henan and Hubei, proclaimed himself King Xinshun, installed an administration and garrisons, and made Xiangyang his headquarters. He meant to probe toward Shangzhou and Luoyang from the Inner and Outer Xichuan routes, concentrating Jingxiang forces at Fanshui and Xingze, lashing bamboo into rafts with three gourds apiece for flotation—preparing a river crossing. Chuanting split his army to block each approach. On the tenth of the eighth month Chuanting crossed Tong Pass and camped at Mianchi. On the twenty-first the army reached Shanzhou and called up the Henan garrisons to cross the river and join the pursuit. On the eighth of the ninth month the army reached Ruzhou, where the rebel commandant "Four Heavenly Kings" Li Yangchun defected. Yangchun laid out the rebel dispositions: veteran camps at Tang County, field officers at Baofeng, and Zicheng's best troops massed at Xiangcheng. They stormed Baofeng, killing the rebel prefect Chen Kexin and others. They then raided Tang County, slaughtering rebel families almost to a person; wailing filled every camp. Fighting on to Jia County, they took the rebel general Xie Junyou, brought down the rebel command standard, and chased Zicheng so close he nearly fell into their hands. The rebels fled into Xiangcheng, and the main force closed in on the city. Panic spread and some rebels talked of surrender; Zicheng said: "Have no fear! I killed a prince and burned the imperial tombs—our guilt is beyond pardon. Better to stake everything on one final fight. If we lose, execute me and surrender then—it will still be in time." Meanwhile the imperial army camped in the open, locked in stalemate with the enemy; weeks of rain churned the roads to mud and supply wagons could not get through. Starving, the men stormed Jia, seized every horse and mule in the town, and devoured the meat on the spot. Rain fell without pause for seven days and nights; the rear echelon erupted in mutiny at Ruzhou. Rebel reinforcements poured in, and rumors flew in every direction. With no alternative he pulled back to meet the supply train, leaving Chen Yongfu to cover the retreat. As the vanguard withdrew the rear dissolved into chaos; even executions by Chen Yongfu could not restore order. The rebels caught the army at Nanyang, and the government troops turned to give battle. The rebels deployed in five rings: starving peasants outermost, then infantry, then cavalry, then crack horsemen, with veteran families and dependents at the core. Battle broke through three of the five lines. Rebel shock cavalry fought with desperate fury; the government line wavered, and an officer commanding Bai Guang'en's gun-carts shouted: "The army is defeated!" Gunners cut loose their traces and ran; overturned carts choked the road, horses tangled in the harness and could not move, rebel iron cavalry vaulted over the wreckage, and infantry with white clubs struck down anyone they reached—helmets and skulls alike were smashed. Zicheng stripped his defenses to pursue; in a single day and night the routed army ran four hundred li to Mengjin. More than forty thousand were killed, and countless arms and supplies were abandoned. Chuanting crossed alone at Yuanqu and forded back through Mianchi. The rebels seized the commander's battle standard, rode their momentum through Tong Pass, and crushed the government forces there. Chuanting and supervising censor Qiao Qian'gao spurred forward shouting and fell in battle; Bai Guang'en defected to the enemy. Chuanting's body was never recovered. With Chuanting's death, no fortified city within the passes still stood.

初，傳庭之出師也，自分必死，顧語繼妻張夫人曰：「爾若何？」夫人曰：「丈夫報國耳，毋憂我。」及西安破，張率二女三妾沈於井，揮其八歲兒世寧亟避賊去之。兒逾墻墮民舍中，一老翁收養之。長子世瑞聞之，重趼入秦，得夫人屍井中，面如生。翁歸其弟世寧，相扶攜還。道路見者，知與不知皆泣下。傳庭死時，年五十有一矣。傳庭再出師皆以雨敗也。或言傳庭未死者，帝疑之，故不予贈蔭。傳庭死而明亡矣。

Before he marched, Chuanting had resigned himself to death. He turned to his wife Lady Zhang and asked: "What will become of you?" She replied: "A man owes his country his life—do not trouble yourself over me." When Xi'an fell, Lady Zhang drowned herself in a well with her two daughters and three concubines, urging her eight-year-old son Shi Ning to flee before the rebels arrived. The boy climbed over a wall into a neighbor's yard and was taken in by an old man. The eldest son Shi Rui, upon hearing the news, walked barefoot into Shaanxi, recovered his mother's body from the well—her face still lifelike. The old man restored the boy to Shi Rui; the brothers supported each other home. Everyone who saw them on the road wept, stranger and acquaintance alike. Chuanting was fifty-one when he died. Both of Chuanting's campaigns ended in defeat—and both in the rain. Rumors that Chuanting was still alive made the emperor withhold posthumous honors and hereditary privileges for his family. With Chuanting's death, the Ming dynasty was lost.

贊曰：流賊蔓延中原，所恃以禦賊者獨秦兵耳。傅宗龍、孫傳庭遠近相望，倚以辦賊。汪喬年、楊文嶽奮力以當賊鋒，而終於潰僨。此殆有天焉，非其才之不任也。傳庭敗死，賊遂入關，勢以愈熾。存亡之際，所系豈不重哉！

In sum: as rebel armies engulfed the Central Plains, only the Shaanxi troops remained to hold them back. Fu Zonglong and Sun Chuanting stood as twin pillars of the frontier defense, upon whom all hope of crushing the rebels rested. Wang Qiaonian and Yang Wenyue fought with all their strength against the rebel vanguard, yet in the end their lines broke and they perished. Heaven itself seemed arrayed against them—it was not that they lacked the talent for the task. When Chuanting was killed in defeat, the rebels poured through the passes and their power grew unstoppable. At the hinge of a dynasty's survival, the stakes could scarcely have been greater.

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