Volume 273 Biographies 161: Zuo Liangyu, Gao Jie, Zu Kuan

【列傳第一百六十一左良玉〈（鄧·賀人龍）〉 ·高傑〈（劉澤清）〉 ·祖寬】

[Biography 161: Zuo Liangyu (Deng Yan and He Renlong)]〉 · Gao Jie (Liu Zeqing)]〉 · Zu Kuan]

良玉少孤，育于叔父。其貴也，不知其母姓。長身赬面，驍勇，善左右射。目不知書，多智謀，撫士卒得其歡心，以故戰輒有功。時陝西賊入河南，圖懷慶。廷議令良玉將昌平兵往剿，大指專辦河南。會賊寇修武、清化者竄入平陽，因檄良玉入山西禦之，頗有斬獲。河南巡撫樊尚璟以良玉駐澤州，扼豫、晉咽侯，可四面為援兵。詔從之。時曹文詔將陝西兵，帝令良玉受尚璟節制，與文詔同心討賊，有急則秦兵東，豫兵西，良玉兵從中橫擊。

Zuo Liangyu lost his parents in childhood and was brought up by his uncle. By the time he rose to prominence, he no longer even knew his mother's family name. He was tall and ruddy-faced, ferocious in battle, and adept at shooting from either side while mounted. Though illiterate, he was shrewd and resourceful; he knew how to win his men over, and for that reason he seldom fought without success. When rebel forces from Shaanxi poured into Henan and threatened Huaiqing. The court decided to send Liangyu at the head of the Changping garrison to suppress them, with the main effort confined to Henan. Meanwhile rebels raiding Xiuwu and Qinghua slipped into Pingyang, so Liangyu was ordered into Shanxi to meet them and won a fair number of kills and captures. Henan governor Fan Shangjing urged that Liangyu be posted at Zezhou to hold the strategic throat between Henan and Shanxi, whence he could reinforce operations on every front. The emperor approved. Cao Wenzhao then commanded the Shaanxi forces; the emperor placed Liangyu under Shangjing's command and told him to cooperate with Wenzhao—if the rebels pressed hard, Shaanxi troops would strike east, Henan troops west, and Liangyu's men would cut in from the center.

六年正月，賊犯隰州，陷陽城。良玉敗之於涉縣之西陂。二月，良玉兵與賊戰武安，大敗。尚璟罷，乙太常少卿玄默代之。三月，賊再入河內，良玉自輝縣逐之。賊奔修武，殺遊擊越效忠，追參將陶希謙，希謙墜馬死。良玉擊之萬善驛，至柳樹口大敗之，擒賊首數人，賊遂西奔。河南額兵僅七千，數被賊，折亡殆盡。良玉將昌平兵二千余，數戰，雖有功，勢孤甚。總兵鄧方立功萊州，乃命將川兵益以石砫土司馬鳳儀兵馳赴良玉，與共角賊。已而鳳儀以孤軍戰沒于侯家莊。

In the first month of the sixth year, the rebels attacked Xizhou and captured Yangcheng. Liangyu routed them at Xipo in She County. In the second month his army met the rebels at Wu'an and suffered a crushing defeat. Shangjing was removed from office, and Vice Minister of Rites Xuan Mo was transferred in his place. In the third month the rebels again entered Henei, and Liangyu pursued them from Huixian. The rebels fled to Xiuwu, killed guerrilla commander Yue Xiaozhong, and chased down Assistant Commander Tao Xiqian, who fell from his horse and was killed. Liangyu struck them at Wanshan Post and then inflicted a major defeat at Willow Tree Pass, taking several rebel leaders; the rebels then fled west. Henan's allotted troops numbered only seven thousand; after repeated defeats by the rebels they were nearly annihilated. Liangyu had a little over two thousand Changping troops; though he fought repeatedly and won some victories, he was dangerously isolated. Regional commander Deng Yan was then winning laurels at Laizhou, so he was ordered to lead Sichuan troops, reinforced by the Shizhu native commander Ma Fengyi's forces, to Liangyu's aid to engage the rebels together. Soon afterward Fengyi was killed in action at Houjiazhuang, fighting with an isolated detachment.

當是時，賊勢已大熾，縱橫三晉、畿輔、河北間。諸將曹文詔、李卑、艾萬年、湯九州、鄧、良玉等先後與賊戰，勝負略相當。良玉、辦河南，屢破之於官村，於沁河，於清化，于萬善。良玉又扼之武安八德，斬獲尤多。會帝命倪寵、王朴為總兵，將京營兵六千赴河南，以中官楊進朝、盧九德監其軍，而別遣中官監良玉等軍。職方郎中李繼貞曰：「良玉、李卑身經百戰，位反在寵、樸下，恐聞而解體。」乃令良玉、卑署都督僉事，為援剿總兵官，與寵、樸體相敵。京營兵至，共擊賊，數有功。良玉敗賊濟源、河內，又敗之永甯青山嶺銀洞溝，又自葉縣追至小武當山，皆斬賊魁甚眾。然諸將以中官監軍，意弗善也。

By then the rebels had grown formidable, ranging across Shanxi, the capital region, and Hebei. Generals such as Cao Wenzhao, Li Bei, Ai Wannian, Tang Jiuzhou, Deng Yan, and Liangyu fought the rebels in turn, with neither side gaining a clear upper hand. Liangyu and Deng Yan, operating in Henan, repeatedly defeated them at Guancun, on the Qin River, at Qinghua, and at Wanshan. Liangyu also blocked them at Bade in Wu'an and took an especially large toll in kills and captures. The emperor then appointed Ni Chong and Wang Pu regional commanders and sent six thousand capital-garrison troops to Henan under the supervision of eunuchs Yang Jinchao and Lu Jiude, while dispatching other eunuchs to oversee Liangyu and the rest. Director of the Bureau of Military Affairs Li Jizhen said, "Liangyu and Li Bei are veterans of a hundred battles, yet they rank below Chong and Pu; I fear the troops will lose heart when they hear of it." Liangyu and Bei were therefore given acting appointments as Vice Commissioners-in-chief and made relief-suppression regional commanders, equal in rank to Chong and Pu. When the capital troops arrived, the combined forces struck the rebels repeatedly with success. Liangyu defeated the rebels at Jiyuan and Henei, again at Silver Cave Gully on Qingshan Ridge in Yongning, and pursued them from Ye County to Little Wudang Mountain, beheading a great many rebel leaders each time. Yet the generals deeply resented eunuch supervision of their commands.

其冬，賊西奔者復折而東。良玉、九州扼其前，京營兵尾其後，賊大困，官軍連破之柳泉、猛虎村。賊張妙手、賀雙全等三十六家詭詞乞撫於分巡布政司常道立，因監軍進朝以請。諸將俟朝命，不出戰。會天寒河冰合，賊遂從澠池徑渡，巡撫默率良玉、九州、卑、兵待之境上。賊乃竄盧氏山中，由此自鄖、襄入川中，折而掠秦隴，復出沒川中、湖北，以犯河南，中原益大殘破，而三晉、畿輔獨不受賊禍者十年。

That winter the rebels who had fled west turned back east. Liangyu and Tang Jiuzhou blocked them in front while the capital troops harried their rear; hard pressed, the rebels were beaten in succession at Liuquan and Fierce Tiger Village. Zhang Miaoshou, He Shuangquan, and thirty-six other rebel bands petitioned circuit intendant Chang Daoli with feigned offers of surrender, and asked through supervising eunuch Jinchao for imperial approval. The generals held their lines awaiting court orders and did not engage. Then the weather turned cold, the rivers froze, and the rebels crossed directly from Mianchi; Governor Xuan Mo led Liangyu, Jiuzhou, Bei, and Deng Yan's troops to meet them on the frontier. The rebels slipped into the Lu Clan mountains, entered Sichuan by way of Yun and Xiang, turned to raid Qin and Long, and then ranged through Sichuan and Hubei before striking Henan again; the Central Plain was laid waste, while Shanxi and the capital region alone escaped rebel devastation for a decade.

賊既渡河去，良玉與諸將分地守。陳奇瑜、盧象升方角賊秦、楚，七年春夏間，中州幸無事。既而奇瑜失李自成於車箱，廷議合晉、豫、楚、蜀兵四面剿之。賊乃分軍三：一向慶陽，一趨鄖陽，而一出關趨河南。趨河南者又分為三，郡邑所在告急。良玉扼新安、澠池，他將陳治邦駐汝州，陳永福扼南陽，皆坐甲自保而已，不能大創賊也。賊每營數萬，兵番進，皆因糧宿飽；我兵寡備多，饋餉不繼。賊介馬馳，一日夜數百里；我步兵多，騎少，行數十里輒疲乏，以故多畏賊。而良玉在懷慶時，與督撫議不合，因是生心，緩追養寇，多收降者以自重。督撫檄調，不時應命，稍稍露跋扈端矣。十二月遇賊於磁山，大戰數十，追奔百餘里。

Once the rebels had crossed the river and departed, Liangyu and the other generals divided the territory among themselves for defense. Chen Qiyu and Lu Xiangsheng were then fighting the rebels in Shaanxi and Huguang; through the spring and summer of the seventh year the Central Plain was spared trouble. Then Qiyu let Li Zicheng slip away at Chexiang, and the court resolved to combine forces from Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan for a four-front suppression. The rebels then split into three columns: one toward Qingyang, one toward Yunyang, and one through the pass into Henan. The column bound for Henan split again into three, and distress calls poured in from every quarter. Liangyu held Xin'an and Mianchi; Chen Zhibang garrisoned Ruzhou and Chen Yongfu Nanyang—they merely kept their troops in camp for self-protection and could not inflict a decisive blow on the rebels. The rebels camped in tens of thousands at a time, advancing in relays and living off the land; our troops were few but our garrisons many, and supplies could not keep up. The rebels rode armored horses and covered hundreds of li in a day and night; our forces were mostly infantry with little cavalry, and men tired after only a few dozen li—so government troops widely feared the rebels. Meanwhile, while posted at Huaiqing, Liangyu had fallen out with his superiors; he therefore grew disaffected, pursued half-heartedly and let the rebels grow stronger, and took in many surrendering bands to swell his own power. He no longer answered summons promptly, and began to show signs of arrogance and defiance. In the twelfth month he met the rebels at Cishan, fought dozens of engagements, and pursued them for more than a hundred li.

八年正月，河南賊破潁州，毀鳳陽皇陵。其陷鹿邑、柘城、寧陵、通許者，良玉在許州不能救。四月，督師洪承疇在汝州，令諸將分地遮賊。尤世威守雒南，陳永福控盧氏、永甯，鄧、尤翟文、張應昌、許成名遏湖廣。以吳村、瓦屋乃內鄉、淅川要地，令良玉與湯九州以五千人扼之。未幾，鄧圯以兵嘩死，而曹文詔討陝賊，敗沒于真寧。賊益張，遂超盧氏，奔永寧。巡撫默被逮未去，檄良玉自內鄉與陳治邦、馬良文等援盧氏。八月敗賊于鄢陵。九月躡賊於郟之神垕山。賊連營數十里，番休更戰，以疲我兵，良玉收其軍而止。賊再攻密，良玉自郟援之，乃去。十月，良玉抵靈寶，合遼東總兵祖寬兵剪賊於澗口、焦村。焦村，硃陽關地也。十一月，李自成出硃陽關，張獻忠久據靈寶，闖王高迎祥亦與合。良玉、寬禦之靈寶，不能支，陝州陷。賊東下攻洛陽，良玉、寬從巡撫陳必謙救洛陽，賊乃去。迎祥、自成走偃師、鞏。獻忠走嵩、汝。良玉出雒追迎祥、自成。寬分擊獻忠救汝。會總理盧象升至自湖廣，與寬大敗賊汝西，令裨將破賊于宜陽黃澗口。

In the first month of the eighth year Henan rebels captured Yingzhou and desecrated the imperial tombs at Fengyang. When Luyi, Zhecheng, Ningling, and Tongxu fell, Liangyu was at Xuzhou and could not relieve them. In the fourth month supreme commander Hong Chengchou was at Ruzhou and ordered the generals to divide the territory and block the rebels. You Shiwei held Luonan; Chen Yongfu controlled Lu Clan and Yongning; Deng Yan, You Zhaiwen, Zhang Yingchang, and Xu Chengming blocked the route into Huguang. Because Wucun and Wawu were vital points on the Neixiang–Xichuan route, he ordered Liangyu and Tang Jiuzhou to hold them with five thousand men. Before long Deng Yan died in a mutiny, and Cao Wenzhao, campaigning against Shaanxi rebels, was defeated and killed at Zhenning. The rebels grew bolder still, crossed Lu Clan territory, and fled toward Yongning. Governor Xuan Mo, though under arrest and not yet removed, ordered Liangyu from Neixiang, together with Chen Zhibang, Ma Liangwen, and others, to relieve Lu Clan. In the eighth month he defeated the rebels at Yanling. In the ninth month he pursued the rebels to Spirit Mound Mountain in Jia. The rebels strung their camps along several tens of li, fighting in relays to wear down government troops; Liangyu drew off his army and broke off. When the rebels attacked Mi again, Liangyu marched from Jia to its relief and they withdrew. In the tenth month Liangyu reached Lingbao, joined Liaodong commander Zu Kuan, and cut up the rebels at Jian Pass and Jiaocun. Jiaocun lies in the territory of Zhuyang Pass. In the eleventh month Li Zicheng came out through Zhuyang Pass; Zhang Xianzhong had long held Lingbao, and Surge King Gao Yingxiang joined them as well. Liangyu and Zu Kuan defended Lingbao but could not hold, and Shanzhou fell. The rebels marched east against Luoyang; Liangyu and Zu Kuan followed Governor Chen Biqian to its relief, and the rebels withdrew. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng fled toward Yanshi and Gong. Zhang Xianzhong fled toward Song and Ru. Liangyu marched out from Luoyang to pursue Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng. Zu Kuan struck at Zhang Xianzhong to relieve Ru prefecture. Grand coordinator Lu Xiangsheng arrived from Huguang; with Zu Kuan he inflicted a major defeat west of Ru, and a subordinate routed the rebels at Huangjian Pass in Yiyang.

九年二月，賊敗于登封郜城鎮，走石陽關，與伊、嵩之賊合。故總兵九州由嵩縣深入，與良玉夾剿。良玉中道遁歸，九州乘勝窮追四十里，無援敗歿，良玉反以捷聞。五月，象升遣祖寬、李重鎮隨陝西總督洪承疇西行。良玉軍最強，又率中州人，故獨久留之。而以其驕亢難用，用孔道興代其偏將趙柱駐靈寶，防雒西；良玉與羅岱駐宜、永，防雒東。七月，良玉兵抵開封，由登封之唐莊深入擊賊，自辰鏖至申，賊不支西走。陳永福方敗賊于唐河，賊至田家營，良玉渡河擊之，斬獲頗眾。九月，巡撫楊繩武劾良玉避賊，責令戴罪自贖。

In the second month of the ninth year the rebels were beaten at Gaocheng in Dengfeng, fled to Shiyang Pass, and joined forces with the bands in the Yi and Song ranges. Former commander Tang Jiuzhou advanced deep from Song County to attack them in concert with Liangyu. Liangyu slipped away midway; Jiuzhou pressed the pursuit for forty li without support, was defeated and killed, while Liangyu reported a victory. In the fifth month Lu Xiangsheng sent Zu Kuan and Li Chongzhen west with Shaanxi governor-general Hong Chengchou. Liangyu's army was the strongest and composed largely of men from the Central Plain, so he alone was kept in the region. But because he was proud and unmanageable, Kong Daoxing replaced his deputy Zhao Zhu at Lingbao to guard the western approaches to Luoyang; Liangyu and Luo Dai were posted at Yiyang and Yongning to guard the eastern approaches. In the seventh month Liangyu reached Kaifeng, advanced from Tangzhuang in Dengfeng, and fought from morning until late afternoon; the rebels gave way and fled west. Chen Yongfu had just defeated the rebels on the Tang River; when they reached Tianjia Camp, Liangyu crossed the river and struck them, taking a large toll in kills and captures. In the ninth month Governor Yang Shengwu impeached Liangyu for shirking combat and ordered him to redeem himself while under demerit.

十年正月，賊老回回合曹操、闖塌天諸部沿流東下，安慶告警，詔良玉從中州救之。良玉道剿殺南陽土寇楊四、侯馭民、郭三海，急抵六安，與賊遇。部將岱、道興乘勝連戰，大破賊。賊走霍、潛山。會馬爌、劉良佐亦屢敗賊於桐城、廬州、六安，賊在滁、和者亦西遁，江北警少息。應天巡撫張國維三檄良玉入山搜剿，不應，放兵掠婦女。屯舒城月余，河南監軍太監力促之，始北去，賊已飽掠入山矣。已，淅川陷，良玉擁兵不救。以六安破賊功，詔落職戴罪，尋復之。賊東下襲六合，攻天長，分掠瓜洲、儀真，破盱眙。良玉堅不肯救，令中州士大夫合疏留己。帝知出良玉意，不能奪也。十月，總理熊文燦至安慶，部檄以良玉軍隸焉，良玉輕文燦不為用。

In the first month of the tenth year Old Huihe united the bands of Cao Cao and Collapse-the-Sky and marched downriver east; when Anqing was threatened, Liangyu was ordered from the Central Plain to its relief. On the march Liangyu wiped out the Nanyang bandits Yang Si, Hou Yumin, and Guo Sanhai, hurried to Lu'an, and met the rebels. His deputies Luo Dai and Kong Daoxing pressed the advantage in repeated engagements and routed the rebels. The rebels fled toward Huo prefecture and Qianshan. Meanwhile Ma Xiang and Liu Liangzuo also won repeated victories at Tongcheng, Luzhou, and Lu'an; the rebels in Chuzhou and He fled west as well, and the alarm on the north bank of the Yangtze eased somewhat. Yingtian governor Zhang Guowei three times ordered Liangyu into the mountains to hunt the rebels down; he refused, and let his men roam freely looting women. He camped at Shucheng for more than a month until the Henan supervising eunuch pressed him hard; only then did he march north, by which time the rebels had already sacked their fill and vanished into the hills. Soon afterward Xichuan fell, and Liangyu, though he had troops in hand, did not go to its relief. For his victory at Lu'an he was demoted but allowed to redeem himself, and soon restored to rank. The rebels marched east, raided Liuhe, attacked Tianchang, plundered Guazhou and Yizhen, and captured Xuyi. Liangyu flatly refused to intervene and had Central Plain officials submit a joint memorial asking that he be kept in post. The emperor knew this was Liangyu's doing and could not overrule him. In the tenth month Grand Coordinator Xiong Wencan reached Anqing, and orders came placing Liangyu's army under his command; Liangyu despised Wencan and refused to obey.

十一年正月，良玉與總兵陳洪范大破賊於鄖西。張獻忠假官旗號襲南陽，屯于南關。良玉適至，疑而急召之，獻忠逸去。追及，發兩矢，中其肩，復揮刀擊之，面流血。其部下救以免，遂逃之穀城。未幾，請降，良玉知其偽，力請擊之，文燦不許。九月，文燦剿鄖、襄諸賊，良玉與洪范及副將龍在田擊破之雙溝營，斬首二千餘級。十二月，河南巡撫常道立調良玉於陝州。賊乘盧氏虛，遁入內、淅。是月，許州兵變，良玉家在許，殲焉。

In the first month of year eleven Liangyu and regional commander Chen Hongfan inflicted a crushing defeat on the rebels at Yuxi. Zhang Xianzhong attacked Nanyang under false imperial colors and camped outside the southern gate. Liangyu happened to arrive, grew suspicious, and sent an urgent summons; Xianzhong fled before he could be seized. The pursuers caught up; Liangyu shot twice and hit Xianzhong in the shoulder, then hacked at him with a blade until his face ran with blood. His men pulled him free, and he escaped to Gucheng. Soon afterward Xianzhong offered to surrender; Liangyu saw through the ruse and pressed hard for an attack, but Wencan refused. In the ninth month, as Wencan campaigned against the Yun and Xiang rebels, Liangyu, Hongfan, and vice commander Long Zaitian routed them at Shuanggou camp and took more than two thousand heads. In the twelfth month Henan governor Chang Daoli ordered Liangyu to Shaanzhou. The rebels exploited the gap at Lushi and slipped into Neixiang and Xichuan. That same month troops mutinied at Xuzhou, where Liangyu's family lived, and they were slaughtered to the last.

十二年二月，良玉率降將劉國能入援京師，詔還討河南賊。兵過灞頭、吳橋，大掠，太監盧九德疏聞，詔令戴罪。已而破賊馬進忠於鎮平關。進忠降。又與國能再破賊李萬慶于張家林、七里河，萬慶亦降。七月，獻忠叛去，良玉與羅岱追之，使岱為前鋒，己隨其後。逾房縣八十里，至羅猴山，軍乏食。伏起，岱馬掛於藤，抽刀斷之，蹶而復進，棄馬登山，賊圍急，矢盡被獲。良玉大敗奔還，軍符印信盡失，棄軍資千萬余，士卒死者萬人。事聞，以輕進貶三秩。

In the second month of year twelve Liangyu marched the surrendered general Liu Guoneng to the capital's relief, then was ordered back to fight the Henan rebels. On the march through Batou and Wuqiao his men looted on a large scale; eunuch Lu Jiude reported it, and the throne ordered Liangyu to serve under demotion. He soon afterward defeated the rebel Ma Jinzhong at Zhenping Pass. Jinzhong submitted. Together with Guoneng he again defeated Li Wanqing at Zhangjialin and Qilihe, and Wanqing surrendered as well. In the seventh month Xianzhong broke away again; Liangyu and Luo Dai pursued, with Dai in the van and Liangyu behind. They pressed eighty li past Fang County to Luohou Mountain, where the army ran out of provisions. Ambushers sprang up; Dai's horse snagged in creepers, and he cut himself free, stumbled on, then abandoned the mount and climbed the slope; the rebels closed in, his arrows ran out, and he was taken. Liangyu suffered a crushing defeat and fled; he lost his tallies and seals, abandoned supplies worth more than ten million, and left ten thousand dead on the field. When word reached the court he was stripped of three ranks for reckless advance.

十三年春，督師楊嗣昌薦良玉雖敗，有大將才，兵亦可用，遂拜平賊將軍。當是時，賊分為三：西則張獻忠，踞楚、蜀郊；東則革裏眼、左金王等四營，豕突隨、應、麻、黃；南則曹操、過天星等十營，伏漳、房、興、遠間。閏正月，良玉合諸軍擊賊于枸坪關，獻忠敗走，良玉乃請從漢陽、西鄉入蜀追之。嗣昌謀以陝西總督鄭崇儉率賀人龍、李國奇從西鄉入蜀，而令良玉駐兵興平，別遣偏將追剿，良玉不從。嗣昌檄良玉曰：「賊勢似不能入川，仍當走死秦界耳。將軍從漢陽、西鄉入川，萬一賊從舊路疾趨平利，仍入竹、房，將何以禦？不則走寧昌，入歸、巫，與曹操合，我以大將尾追，促賊反楚，非算也。」良玉報曰：「蜀地肥衍，賊渡險任其奔軼，後難制。且賊入川則有糧可因，回鄖則無地可掠，其不復竄楚境明矣。夫兵合則強，分則弱。今已留劉國能、李萬慶守鄖，若再分三千人入蜀，即駐興平，兵力已薄，賊來能遏之耶？今當出其不意疾攻之，一大創自然瓦解，縱折回房、竹間，人跡斷絕，彼從何得食？況鄖兵扼之于前，秦撫在紫、興扼之於右，勢必不得逞。若甯昌、歸、巫險且遠，曹操、獻忠不相下。倘窮而歸曹，必內相吞，其亡立見。」良玉已於二月朔涉蜀界之漁溪渡矣。嗣昌度力不能制，而其計良是，遂從之。

In the spring of year thirteen Grand Secretary Yang Sichang argued that despite his defeat Liangyu still had the makings of a great commander and his army remained serviceable, and he was made General Who Pacifies Bandits. At that time the rebels had split into three groups: in the west Zhang Xianzhong held the Chu and Shu frontier; in the east Ge Liyan, Zuo Jinwang, and four camps rampaged through Suizhou, Yingzhou, Macheng, and Huangzhou; in the south Cao Cao, Guo Tianxing, and ten camps lurked among Zhang, Fang, Xingshan, and Yuan'an. In the intercalary first month Liangyu combined the armies and beat the rebels at Gouping Pass; Xianzhong fled, and Liangyu asked to pursue into Sichuan through Hanyang and Xixiang. Sichang intended that Shaanxi governor Zheng Chongjian lead He Renlong and Li Guoqi into Sichuan from Xixiang while Liangyu held at Xingping and a subordinate general carried on the pursuit; Liangyu refused. Sichang wrote to Liangyu: "The rebels likely cannot push into Sichuan and will instead flee west to die on the Shaanxi border. If you march into Sichuan through Hanyang and Xixiang, and they double back swiftly toward Pingli and re-enter Zhushan and Fangxian, how will you stop them? Or they may run to Ningchang, slip into Guizhou and Wushan, and unite with Cao Cao; hounding them back into Huguang with our main forces at their heels would be poor strategy. Liangyu answered: "Sichuan is rich and broad. If we let them past the defiles to run where they will, they will be hard to control afterward. Once inside Sichuan they can live off its grain; back in Yun there is nothing left to loot, so they plainly will not bolt back into Huguang. Concentrated forces are strong; scattered ones are weak. Liu Guoneng and Li Wanqing already hold Yun; if we peel off another three thousand into Sichuan and you merely camp at Xingping, our strength is too thin—how will we stop them when they come? We should hit them now, before they expect it; one hard blow will break them. Even if they loop back through Fang and Zhu, those hills are deserted—where would they find food? Besides, our men at Yun will block them ahead and the Shaanxi governor at Ziyang and Xing will close the right— they cannot break through. Ningchang, Guizhou, and Wushan are rugged and remote, and Cao Cao and Xianzhong will not bow to each other. If they throw in with Cao in desperation, they will tear each other apart and perish at once. By then, on the first day of the second month, Liangyu had already crossed into Sichuan at Yuxi Ford. Sichang saw he could not compel Liangyu, but judged his plan sound and went along.

時獻忠營太平縣大竹河，良玉駐漁溪渡。未幾，總督崇儉引其兵來會。賊移軍九滾坪，見瑪瑙山峻險，將據之。良玉始抵山下，賊已踞山顛，乘高鼓噪。良玉下馬周覽者久之，曰：「吾知所以破賊矣。」分所進道為三，己當其二，秦兵當其一。令曰：「聞鼓聲而上。」兩軍夾擊，賊陣堅不可動。鏖戰久之，賊大潰，墜崖澗者無算。追奔四十里，良玉兵斬掃地王曹威、白馬鄧天王等渠魁十六人。獻忠妻妾亦被擒，遁入興山、歸州之山中，尋自鹽井竄興、歸界上。是役也，良玉功第一。事聞，加太子少保。四月，良玉進屯興安、平利諸山，連營百里。諸軍憚山險，圍而不攻。久之，獻忠自興、房走白羊山而西，與羅汝才合。七月，良玉乘勝擊過天星，降之。過天星者，名惠登相，既降，遂始終為良玉部將。

Xianzhong was then camped on the Dazhu River in Taiping County while Liangyu held Yuxi Ford. Soon afterward Governor Zheng Chongjian arrived with his troops. The rebels moved to Jiugunping and, seeing how steep Agate Mountain was, prepared to hold it. Liangyu had barely reached the foot of the slope when the rebels already held the crest, drumming and shouting from above. Liangyu dismounted and studied the ground at length, then said, "I know how to beat them. He split the assault routes into three: he would take two, the Shaanxi troops one. His order ran: "When you hear the drums, go up." The two wings closed in, but the rebel line held firm. After a long, bloody fight the rebels broke completely; countless men plunged off the cliffs. The pursuit ran forty li, and Liangyu's men killed sixteen rebel leaders, among them Cao Wei the Earth-Scanning King and Deng Yan the White Horse Heavenly King. Xianzhong's wives and concubines were taken as well; he vanished into the hills of Xingshan and Guizhou, then slipped from Yanjing back onto the Xing–Gui frontier. In this battle Liangyu's achievement ranked first. When word reached the throne he was made Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In the fourth month Liangyu pushed into the Xing'an and Pingli ranges and strung camps along a hundred li of ground. The allied armies feared the steep terrain and merely surrounded the rebels without attacking. In time Xianzhong broke out through Xing and Fang, crossed Baiyang Mountain westward, and joined Luo Rucai. In the seventh month Liangyu pressed his advantage, defeated Guo Tianxing, and accepted his surrender. Guo Tianxing was the rebel name of Hui Dengxiang; after he submitted he remained one of Liangyu's officers to the end.

初，良玉受平賊將軍印，浸驕，不肯受督師約束。而賀人龍屢破賊有功，嗣昌私許以人龍代良玉。及良玉奏瑪瑙山捷，嗣昌語人龍須後命。人龍大恨，具以前語告良玉，良玉亦內恨。當獻忠之敗走也，追且及，遣其党馬元利操重寶啖良玉曰：「獻忠在，故公見重。公所部多殺掠，而閣部猜且專。無獻忠，即公滅不久矣。」良玉心動，縱之去。監軍萬元吉知良玉跋扈不可使，勸嗣昌令前軍躡賊，後軍繼之，而身從間道出梓潼扼歸以俟濟師，嗣昌不用。賊既入蜀之巴州，人龍兵噪而西歸。召良玉兵合擊，九檄皆不至。

Once he received the seal of General Who Pacifies Bandits, Liangyu grew steadily more arrogant and refused to obey the Grand Secretary. He Renlong, meanwhile, had won repeated victories, and Sichang privately promised him Liangyu's post. After Liangyu reported the Agate Mountain victory, Sichang told Renlong to wait for further orders. Renlong was furious and told Liangyu every word of the earlier promise; Liangyu nursed a bitter grudge in turn. As Xianzhong fled in defeat, pursuit all but overtook him; he sent his follower Ma Yuanli with a heavy bribe to Liangyu, saying, "As long as Xianzhong remains, you are valued. Your men loot and kill heavily, and the Grand Secretary distrusts you and keeps you on a short leash. Without Xianzhong, you will not last long either. Liangyu wavered and let him escape. Supervising commander Wan Yuanji saw that Liangyu was too arrogant to command and urged Sichang to have the van press the rebels while the rear followed, while he himself slipped through bypaths to Zitong to block their retreat and wait for reinforcements; Sichang ignored him. After the rebels entered Bazhou in Sichuan, Renlong's men mutinied and marched west for home. He summoned Liangyu to join the attack, but nine orders brought no response.

十四年正月，諸軍追賊開縣之黃陵城。參將劉士傑深入，所當披靡。獻忠登高望，見無秦人旗幟，而良玉兵前部無鬥志，獨士傑孤軍。乃密選壯士潛行箐穀中，乘高大呼馳下，良玉兵先潰，總兵猛如虎潰圍出。嗣昌方悔不用元吉言，而獻忠已席捲出川，西絕新開驛置，楚、蜀消息中斷，遂以計紿入襄陽城。襄王被執，嗣昌不食卒。賊瀕死復縱，迄以亡國者，以良玉素驕蹇不用命故也。二月，詔良玉削職戴罪，平賊自贖。五月，獻忠陷南陽，即攻沁陽破之。良玉至南陽，賊遁去。良玉不戢士，沁人脫於賊者，遇官軍無噍類。既而獻忠陷鄖西，掠地至信陽，屢勝而驕。良玉乃從南陽進兵，復大破之，降其眾數萬。獻忠中股，負重傷夜遁。而是時，李自成方殘襄城，圍良玉於郾城，幾陷。會陝西總督汪喬年出關，自成乃輟圍，與喬年戰襄陽城外。喬年軍盡覆，良玉不能救。帝既斬賀人龍以肅軍攻，專倚良玉辦賊。

In the first month of year fourteen the allied armies pursued the rebels to Huanglingcheng in Kaixian. Assistant commander Liu Shijie pushed deep into the enemy line and swept all before him. Xianzhong climbed to a vantage point and saw no Shaanxi banners; Liangyu's leading units had no stomach for a fight, and only Shijie stood alone. He secretly picked strong men to creep through the ravines, then charged shouting from the heights; Liangyu's men broke first, and regional commander Meng Ruhu fought his way out of the trap. Sichang was only then regretting that he had ignored Yuanji, but Xianzhong had already burst out of Sichuan, severed the Xinkai courier route to the west, and cut off news between Huguang and Sichuan; by a ruse he then tricked his way into Xiangyang. The Prince of Xiang was taken captive, and Sichang starved himself to death. That the rebels, all but destroyed, were let loose again and in the end brought down the dynasty was because Liangyu had always been proud, defiant, and insubordinate. In the second month the throne demoted Liangyu but let him redeem himself by crushing the rebels. In the fifth month Xianzhong seized Nanyang and immediately stormed and took Qinyang. When Liangyu reached Nanyang the rebels slipped away. Liangyu would not discipline his men; refugees from Qinyang who fell in with the imperial army were slaughtered to the last. Soon afterward Xianzhong seized Yuxi, raided as far as Xinyang, and grew reckless with repeated victories. Liangyu marched out from Nanyang, routed him again, and accepted the surrender of tens of thousands. Xianzhong took a ball in the thigh, was badly wounded, and fled under cover of night. About then Li Zicheng was sacking Xiangcheng and had Liangyu besieged at Yancheng, nearly capturing him. When Shaanxi governor Wang Qiaonian marched out through the pass, Zicheng lifted the siege and met him outside Xiangyang. Qiaonian's army was wiped out, and Liangyu could not save him. The emperor had already executed He Renlong to restore discipline and now relied on Liangyu alone to deal with the rebels.

十五年四月，自成復圍開封，乃釋故尚書初薦良玉者侯恂於獄，起為督師，發帑金十五萬犒良玉營將士，激勸之。良玉及虎大威、楊德政會師硃仙鎮，賊營西，官軍營北。良玉見賊勢盛，一夕拔營遁，眾軍望見皆潰。自成戒士卒待良玉兵過，從後擊之。官軍幸追者緩，疾馳八十里。賊已於其前穿塹深廣各二尋，環繞百里，自成親率眾遮於後。良玉兵大亂，下馬渡溝，僵僕溪穀中，趾其顛而過。賊從而蹂之，軍大敗，棄馬騾萬匹，器械無算，良玉走襄陽。帝聞良玉敗，詔恂拒河圖賊，而令良玉以兵來會。良玉畏自成，遷延不至。九月，開封以河決而亡。帝怒恂，罷其官，不能罪良玉也。開封既亡，自成無所得，遽引兵西，謀拔襄陽為根本。

In the fourth month of year fifteen Zicheng again besieged Kaifeng; the court freed from prison Hou Xun, the former minister who had first backed Liangyu, made him Grand Secretary, and sent a hundred and fifty thousand taels of treasury silver to reward Liangyu's officers and men and spur them on. Liangyu joined Hu Dawei and Yang Dezheng at Zhuxian Town; the rebels camped to the west, the imperial army to the north. Seeing how strong the rebels were, Liangyu broke camp one night and fled, and every unit that saw it melted away. Zicheng ordered his men to let Liangyu's column pass, then hit it from the rear. The imperial troops, lucky that pursuit lagged, raced eighty li. The rebels had already cut ditches two xun deep and wide across a hundred-li arc ahead of them, while Zicheng himself barred the rear. Liangyu's army fell into chaos; men dismounted to cross the ditches, treading on the heaped dead in the streams and ravines to get across. The rebels rode them down; the army was shattered, leaving ten thousand horses and mules and countless arms, and Liangyu fled to Xiangyang. When the emperor heard of Liangyu's defeat he ordered Hou Xun to hold the Yellow River line against the rebels and told Liangyu to march and join him. Liangyu feared Zicheng and dragged his feet, never coming. In the ninth month Kaifeng was destroyed when the Yellow River broke its dikes. The emperor's wrath fell on Hou Xun, who was dismissed, but Liangyu went unpunished. After Kaifeng fell, Li Zicheng had won nothing for his trouble. He hurried west, intending to make Xiangyang his base.

時良玉壁樊城，大造戰艦，驅襄陽一郡人以實軍，諸降賊附之，有眾二十萬。然親軍愛將大半死，而降人不奉約束，良玉亦漸衰多病，不復能與自成角矣。自成乘勝攻良玉，良玉退兵南岸，結水寨相持，以萬人扼淺洲。賊兵十萬爭渡，不能遏。良玉乃宵遁，引其舟師，左步右騎而下。至武昌，從楚王乞二十萬人餉，曰：「我為王保境。」王不應，良玉縱兵大掠，火光照江中。宗室士民奔竄山谷，多為土寇所害。驛傳道王揚基奪門出，良玉兵掠其貲，並及其子女。自十二月二十四日抵武昌，至十六年正月中，兵始去。居人登蛇山以望，叫呼更生，曰：「左兵過矣！」良玉既東，自成遂陷承天，傍掠諸州縣。

Liangyu held Fancheng and built a large fleet. He pressed the entire Xiangyang region into service and took in surrendered rebels until his force numbered two hundred thousand. Most of his veteran officers were dead, however, and the surrendered troops obeyed no one. Liangyu himself grew old and sickly and could no longer stand against Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng pressed the attack. Liangyu pulled back to the south bank, entrenched in river camps, and posted ten thousand men at the ford. A hundred thousand rebel troops forced the crossing; nothing could hold them back. Liangyu fled by night, his fleet descending the river with infantry on one bank and cavalry on the other. At Wuchang he asked the Prince of Chu for two hundred thousand taels in rations, saying, "I will defend your territory for you." The prince refused. Liangyu then let his soldiers loot on a vast scale until the river glowed with fire. Imperial clansmen and townspeople fled into the hills, where many fell prey to local bandits. Prince Yang Ji of Chu fled through the gate; Liangyu's men looted his property and seized his children. They had arrived at Wuchang on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month and did not leave until the middle of the first month of Chongzhen 16. People climbed Serpent Hill to watch and shouted for joy: "The Left troops are gone!" Once Liangyu had moved east, Li Zicheng captured Chengtian and swept the neighboring districts.

當是時，降兵叛卒率假左軍號恣剽掠，蘄州守將王允成為亂首，破建德，劫池陽，去蕪湖四十里，泊舟三山、荻港，漕艘鹽舶盡奪以載兵。聲言諸將寄帑南京，請以親信三千人與俱。南京諸文武官及操江都御史至陳師江上為守禦。士民一夕數徙，商旅不行。都御史李邦華被召，道湖口，草檄告良玉，以危詞動之。而令安慶巡撫發九江庫銀十五萬兩，補六月糧，軍心乃定。邦華入見帝，論良玉潰兵之罪，請歸罪於王允成。帝乃令良玉誅允成，而獎其能定變。良玉卒留允成於軍中，不誅也。良玉留安慶久之，徐溯九江上。聞獻忠破湖廣，沉楚王于江，坐視不救。

Surrendered troops and mutineers everywhere marched under the banner of the Left Army. Wang Yuncheng, garrison commander of Qizhou, led them in sacking Jiande and Chiyang, advancing to within forty li of Wuhu and anchoring at Sanshan and Digang, where they seized grain barges and salt ships for transport. They claimed the generals had stored treasure in Nanjing and demanded three thousand trusted men to accompany them there. Nanjing's civil and military officials, together with river-defense censor Chen Shi, took up positions on the Yangtze to resist them. Families fled their homes night after night, and the roads fell silent. Censor Li Banghua was recalled to court. At Hukou he drafted an urgent appeal to Liangyu, warning him of disaster. He arranged for the Anqing governor to release one hundred fifty thousand taels from the Jiujiang treasury for June's pay, and the troops calmed down. When Li Banghua reached court he blamed Liangyu for the mutiny and urged that Wang Yuncheng bear the punishment. The emperor ordered Liangyu to kill Wang Yuncheng but praised him for restoring order. Liangyu kept Wang Yuncheng in his ranks and never carried out the sentence. Liangyu lingered at Anqing, then slowly moved up the Yangtze toward Jiujiang. He learned that Zhang Xianzhong had overrun Huguang and drowned the Prince of Chu, yet he did nothing to save him.

八月乃入武昌，立軍府招徠，下流粗定，分命副將吳學禮援袁州。江西巡撫郭都賢惡其淫掠，檄歸之，而自募土人為戍守。會賊陷長沙、吉州，復陷袁州、岳州，良玉遣馬進忠援袁州，馬士秀援岳州。士秀率水師敗賊岳州城下，二城遂並復。時帝命兵部侍郎呂大器代侯恂為總督，恂解任，中道逮下獄。良玉知其為己故，心鞅鞅，與大器齟齬。賊連陷建昌諸府，大器無兵不能救，良玉亦不援。進忠與賊戰嘉魚，再失利，良玉軍遂不振。會獻忠從荊河入蜀，良玉遣兵追之，距荊州七十里。荊、襄諸賊因自成入關，盡懈。良玉偵知，乃遣副將盧光祖上隨、棗、承德，而惠登相自均、房，劉洪起自南陽，掎賊後，收其空虛地以自為功。

In the eighth month he finally reoccupied Wuchang, opened a headquarters to recruit troops, and brought a measure of calm to the lower Yangtze. He sent Vice General Wu Xueli to relieve Yuanzhou. Jiangxi governor Guo Duxian, disgusted by the army's depredations, ordered Liangyu back and raised local militia to hold the province. When rebels seized Changsha, Jizhou, Yuanzhou, and Yuezhou, Liangyu dispatched Ma Jinzhong to Yuanzhou and Ma Shixiu to Yuezhou. Shixiu routed the rebels on the water below Yuezhou, and both cities were retaken. The court appointed Vice Minister of War Lü Daqi to replace Hou Xun as supreme commander. Hou Xun was dismissed and arrested on his way home. Liangyu knew Hou Xun had fallen because of him and resented Lü Daqi. Rebels overran Jianchang and neighboring prefectures. Lü Daqi had no forces to send, and Liangyu offered no help. Ma Jinzhong fought twice at Jiayu and lost both times. Liangyu's army never regained its edge. When Zhang Xianzhong marched into Sichuan by the Jing River, Liangyu pursued him to within seventy li of Jingzhou. With Li Zicheng gone through the Pass into the north, the rebel bands of Jing and Xiang grew lax. Liangyu sent scouts, then dispatched Lu Guangzu north through Sui, Zao, and Chengde while Huidengxiang advanced from Jun and Fang and Liu Hongqi from Nanyang, striking empty rebel-held lands from the rear to pad his own record.

十七年三月，詔封良玉為甯南伯，畀其子夢庚平賊將軍印，功成世守武昌。命給事中左懋第便道督戰，良玉乃條日月進兵狀以聞。疏入，未奉旨，聞京師被陷，諸將洶洶，以江南自立君，請引兵東下。良玉慟哭，誓不許。副將士秀奮曰：「有不奉公令復言東下者，吾擊之！」以巨艦置砲斷江，眾乃定。

In the third month of Chongzhen 17 the court made Liangyu Earl of Ningnan, gave his son Menggeng the seal of Pacifying-Bandits General, and promised that on victory Wuchang would be his family's hereditary seat. Supervising Secretary Zuo Maodi was sent to supervise the campaign en route, and Liangyu submitted a month-by-month plan of advance. Before the throne replied, news arrived that Beijing had fallen. His officers clamored to march east, crown a prince in the south, and descend the Yangtze. Liangyu wept and swore he would never permit it. Vice General Shixiu declared, "Anyone who speaks of marching east against the commander's order—I will kill him!" They lined the river with heavy ships and cannon, and the army quieted down.

福王立，晉良玉為侯，廕一子錦衣衛正千戶，且並封黃得功、高傑、劉澤清、劉良佐為諸鎮，俱廕子世襲，而以上流之事專委良玉，尋加太子太傅。時李自成敗於關門，良玉得以其間稍復楚西境之荊州、德安、承天。而湖廣巡撫何騰蛟及總督袁繼咸居江西，皆與良玉善，南都倚為遮罩。

When the Hongguang regime was proclaimed, Liangyu was made a marquis and his son ennobled in the Embroidered-Uniform Guard. Huang Degong, Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, and Liu Liangzuo were enfeoffed as regional commanders with hereditary honors for their sons. The court left the entire upper Yangtze to Liangyu and soon named him Grand Tutor of the Heir Apparent. Li Zicheng had just been broken at Shanhaiguan, and in the breathing space Liangyu recovered parts of western Huguang—Jingzhou, De'an, and Chengtian. Huguang governor He Tengjiao and supreme commander Yuan Jixian in Jiangxi were both friendly with Liangyu, and Nanjing counted on them as its shield.

良玉兵八十萬，號百萬，前五營為親軍，後五營為降軍。每春秋肄兵武昌諸山，一山幟一色，山谷為滿。軍法用兩人夾馬馳，曰：「過對」。馬足動地殷如雷，聲聞數里。諸鎮兵惟高傑最強，不及良玉遠甚。然良玉自硃仙鎮之敗，精銳略盡，其後歸者多烏合，軍容雖壯，法令不復相懾。良玉家殲于許州，其在武昌，諸營優娼歌舞達旦，良玉塊然獨處，無姬侍。嘗夜宴僚佐，召營妓十餘人行酒，履濆交錯，少焉左顧而欬，以次引出。賓客肅然，左右莫敢仰視。其統馭有體，為下所服多此類。而是時，良玉已老且病，無中原意矣。

Liangyu commanded eight hundred thousand men on paper—a million, he claimed. The first five camps were his household troops; the last five were surrendered rebels. Each spring and autumn he held grand reviews on the hills around Wuchang, one peak per banner color until the valleys brimmed with flags. Drill law required pairs of riders to gallop past each other, crying, "Pass in pairs!" Hoofbeats shook the earth like thunder and could be heard for miles. Of all the regional armies Gao Jie's was the strongest—and still no match for Liangyu. Since Zhuxianzhen, however, his elite were gone. What remained was mostly rabble. The host looked magnificent, but discipline had collapsed. His family had been slaughtered at Xuzhou. In Wuchang his camps caroused with actors and courtesans until dawn while he sat alone without a woman near him. At a midnight banquet for his staff he called in a dozen camp courtesans to pour wine. When slippers began to tangle under the table he glanced aside and coughed, and they were led out one by one. The guests sat in silence; no one beside him dared raise his eyes. In such ways he still commanded respect. By then, however, he was old, sick, and had lost any ambition for the north.

良玉之起由侯恂。恂，故東林也。馬士英、阮大鋮用事，慮東林倚良玉為難，謾語修好，而陰忌之，築板磯城為西防。良玉歎曰：「今西何所防，殆防我耳。」會朝事日非，監軍御史黃澍挾良玉勢，面觸馬、阮。既返，遣緹騎逮澍，良玉留澍不遣。澍與諸將日以清君側為請，良玉躊躇弗應。亡何，有北來太子事，澍借此激眾以報己怨，召三十六營大將與之盟。良玉反意乃決，傳檄討馬士英，自漢口達蘄州，列舟二百餘里。良玉疾已劇，至九江，邀總督袁繼咸入舟中，袖中出密諭，雲自皇太子，劫諸將盟，繼鹹正辭拒之。部將郝效忠陰入城，縱火殘其城而去。良玉望城中火光，曰：「予負袁公。」嘔血數升，是夜死。時順治二年四月也。諸將秘不發喪，共推其子夢庚為留後。七日，軍東下，朝命黃得功渡江防剿。

Liangyu owed his career to Hou Xun. Hou Xun belonged to the Donglin faction. Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng, fearing the Donglin might use Liangyu against them, made show of friendship while secretly building the fortress at Banji to block him from the west. Liangyu sighed. "What enemy lies to the west now? They are building that wall against me." As Nanjing politics rotted, supervising censor Huang Shu, backed by Liangyu, openly defied Ma and Ruan. When Huang Shu returned east, the court sent agents to arrest him. Liangyu held him back. Shu and the generals daily urged a purge of the court; Liangyu wavered and refused. Soon came rumors of a northern crown prince. Huang Shu seized on them to rouse the army for his private revenge and summoned the thirty-six camp commanders to swear an oath. Liangyu's rebellion was set. He issued a manifesto against Ma Shiying, and his fleet stretched two hundred li from Hankou to Qizhou. His illness was grave. At Jiujiang he invited Yuan Jixian aboard, produced a secret edict he claimed came from the true crown prince, and tried to bind the generals by oath. Yuan Jixian refused in the clearest terms. Divisional general Hao Xiaozhong slipped into the city, set it ablaze, and withdrew. Watching the flames, Liangyu said, "I have betrayed Master Yuan." He coughed up a great quantity of blood and died that night. It was the fourth month of Shunzhi 2—1645. The generals hid his death and installed his son Menggeng as acting commander. Seven days later the army marched east. The court ordered Huang Degong across the river to stop them.

初，夢庚自立，佯語繼咸至池州侯旨。抵池，繼鹹密以疏聞，道梗不得達。惠登相者，初為賊，既降，為良玉副將。諸軍自彭澤下，連陷建德、東流，殘安慶城，獨池州不破，貽書登相曰：「留此以待後軍。」登相大詬曰：「若此，則我反不如前為流賊時矣，如先帥末命何！」檄其軍返。夢庚見黑旗船西上，索輕舸追及之，登相與相見大慟。以夢庚不足事，引兵絕江而去，諸將乃議旋師。時大清兵已下泗州，逼儀真矣。夢庚遂偕澍以眾降於九江。

When Menggeng first took command he told Yuan Jixian to meet him at Chizhou for instructions. At Chizhou, Yuan Jixian secretly memorialized the throne, but the roads were cut and the dispatch never arrived. Huidengxiang had begun as a rebel; after surrendering he became one of Liangyu's vice generals. The host descended from Pengze, sacked Jiande and Dongliu, wrecked Anqing, and spared only Chizhou, writing Huidengxiang, "Hold this place for the rear guard." Huidengxiang raged: "If this is how you fight, I was nobler as a bandit. What of our dead lord's last command!" He turned his troops back. Menggeng saw black-banner ships heading west, took a light boat in pursuit, and met Huidengxiang in a storm of tears. Deciding Menggeng was unworthy, Huidengxiang crossed the Yangtze and marched away, and the other generals began to talk of retreat. By then the Qing army had taken Sizhou and was closing on Yizhen. Menggeng then surrendered at Jiujiang with Huang Shu and the whole army.

鄧，四川人。天啟初，從軍，積功得守備。安邦彥反，追賊織金，勇冠諸將。已，敗織績河濱。魯欽敗歿，賊犯威清。 夜斫營走賊，進都司僉書。討敗苗酋李阿二。自貴州用兵，裨將楊明楷、劉志敏、張雲鵬並驍勇，不得為大將，惟以功名聞。

Deng Yan was a native of Sichuan. Early in the Tianqi reign he entered military service and rose by merit to garrison commander. When An Bangyan rebelled, Deng Yan pursued the rebels to Zhijin with a valor that outshone every other commander. He was later defeated on the banks of the Zhiji River. When Lu Qin was defeated and killed, the rebels invaded Weiqing. Deng Yan raided the rebel camp by night and drove them off, earning promotion to assistant commander in the capital garrison. He campaigned against and defeated the Miao chieftain Li A'er. During the Guizhou campaigns, vice generals Yang Mingkai, Liu Zhimin, and Zhang Yunpeng were all fierce fighters who never won high command; only Deng Yan won fame for real achievement.

崇禎初，屢遷四川副總兵，與侯良柱共斬安邦彥。京師有警，率六千人勤王，共復遵、永四城。加署都督僉事，世廕千戶。尋擢總兵官，鎮守遵化。戰喜峰口及洪山，並有功，進秩為真。五年春，叛將亂登、萊，王洪等無功。 自請行，命為援剿總兵官，與洪及劉國柱禦賊沙河，戰相當。已而遁走，賊乘之，大敗。尋與諸將金國奇等復登、萊二城，錄功進署都督同知。

Early in Chongzhen he rose to Sichuan vice commander-in-chief and, with Hou Liangzhu, jointly beheaded An Bangyan. When Beijing was threatened he marched six thousand men to the capital's aid and helped recover the four Zun and Yong cities. He received acting rank as vice commissioner-in-chief and hereditary ennoblement as a guard thousand-household. He was soon made full commander-in-chief and posted to garrison Zunhua. He fought at Xifengkou and Hongshan with distinction, and his rank was made substantive. In the spring of the fifth year rebel generals mutinied in Dengzhou and Laizhou; Wang Hong and others accomplished nothing. Deng Yan volunteered, was named Pacifying-Rebellion commander-in-chief, and with Wang Hong and Liu Guozhu held the rebels on the Sha River to a stalemate. Soon they broke and fled; the rebels chased them down for a crushing defeat. He later joined Jin Guoqi and others in retaking Dengzhou and Laizhou and was promoted to acting commissioner-in-chief for the victory.

戍遵化久，思歸。及登、萊事竣，復以為言。會賊入河北，言者請令剿，怏怏而行。給事中範淑泰劾虐民，帝不問，旋遣近侍監其軍。 至濟源，射殺王自用于善陽山，即賊紫金梁也。頃之，賊逼磁州，拒卻之彭城鎮。與左良玉擊賊清池、柳莊，賊走林縣。 部將楊遇春邀賊，中伏死。賊用其旗，並誘殺他將，自是輕。俄與良玉逐賊沙河，賊圍湯陰，被困土樵窩，良玉救乃免。已，共破賊官村、沁河、清化、萬善，移師畿南，敗賊白草關。賊犯平山，敗之紅子店、馬種川。賊遁青石嶺敗之紅澗村、醉漢口。賊犯臨城，敗之魚桂嶺。

After long service at Zunhua, Deng Yan yearned to go home. When the Deng-Lai campaign ended, he petitioned once more to be relieved. Just then the rebels entered Hebei, and memorialists urged that Deng Yan be sent to suppress them; he marched off in sullen reluctance. Supervising Secretary Fan Shutai impeached Deng Yan for oppressing civilians, but the emperor took no notice and soon dispatched a palace attendant to supervise his army. Deng Yan reached Jiyuan and shot dead Wang Ziyong on Mount Shanyang—the rebel known as Zijinliang. Before long the rebels pressed Cizhou; he drove them back at Pengcheng Town. With Zuo Liangyu he attacked the rebels at Qingchi and Liuzhuang, and the rebels fled toward Lin County. Deng Yan's subordinate Yang Yuchun intercepted the rebels and was killed in an ambush. The rebels flew his banners and lured other commanders to their deaths as well; from then on they held Deng Yan in contempt. Soon he and Liangyu pursued the rebels to the Sha River; when the rebels besieged Tangyin, Deng Yan was trapped at Tuchao Nest and escaped only because Liangyu came to his rescue. They then jointly defeated the rebels at Guancun, on the Qin River, at Qinghua, and at Wanshan, shifted the army to the south of the capital region, and beat the rebels at Baicao Pass. When the rebels invaded Pingshan, he defeated them at Hongzi Shop and Machuan. The rebels fled to Qing Stone Ridge; he defeated them at Hongjian Village and Drunkard’s Mouth. When the rebels invaded Lincheng, he defeated them at Yugui Ridge.

當是時，賊蔓河溯及畿南，天子特遣倪寵、王樸將京軍，而保定梁甫，河南左良玉，湯九州合軍足殄賊。群帥勢相軋，彼此觀望，托山深道岐以自解，莫利先入，賊遂由澠池南渡。而諸帥各有近侍為中軍，事易掩飾，所報功多不以實也。十一月，賊南遁，追敗之澠池扣子山，至宜陽、盧氏而還。是月以為保定總兵官，代梁甫。

By then the rebels had spread upriver into the region south of the capital. The emperor specially sent Ni Chong and Wang Pu with the capital army, while Liang Fu of Baoding, Zuo Liangyu of Henan, and Tang Jiuzhou together with Deng Yan’s forces were more than enough to destroy them. The commanders checked one another’s power, each holding back and excusing delay with rugged terrain and winding roads, unwilling to strike first; the rebels therefore crossed south from Mianchi. Moreover, each commander had a palace attendant on his staff, making cover-ups easy; the merit they reported often did not match reality. In the eleventh month the rebels fled south; Deng Yan pursued and defeated them at Kouzi Mountain in Mianchi, then withdrew after reaching Yiyang and Lushi. That month Deng Yan was appointed regional commander of Baoding, replacing Liang Fu.

七年正月以賊盡入鄖、襄，命援剿，解南漳圍。尋敗賊胡地沖，斬闖天王、九條龍、草上飛、抓山虎、雙翼虎。剿房縣、竹山、南漳賊，戰獅子崖、石漳山，斬一隻虎、滿天飛。已，擊賊洵陽乜家溝，連戰皆捷，獲首功一千有奇。八月敘五峰山破賊功，進右都督。 不善馭軍，軍心亦不附，噪於鄖西，渡河以避之，總督陳奇瑜犒慰乃定。奇瑜集諸將討竹山、竹溪諸賊，頻有功。十一月，賊大入河南，命援剿。

In the first month of the seventh year, with the rebels concentrated in Yun and Xiang, Deng Yan was ordered to reinforce the campaign and lift the siege of Nanzhang. He soon defeated the rebels at Hudi Chong and beheaded Dash Heavenly King, Nine-Striped Dragon, Grass Skimmer, Mountain-Grasping Tiger, and Double-Winged Tiger. He suppressed rebels in Fang, Zhushan, and Nanzhang, fought at Lion Cliff and Mount Shizhang, and killed One Tiger and Sky-Filling Flight. He then attacked the rebels at Yijia Gully in Xunyang; victory followed victory, and more than a thousand heads were taken. In the eighth month his victory over the rebels at Wufeng Mountain was entered on the merit rolls and he was promoted to Right Censor-in-Chief. Deng Yan was a poor disciplinarian and his men were not loyal to him; they mutinied west of Yun, and he crossed the river to escape them—only after Governor Chen Qiyu pacified them with rewards did the uproar subside. Qiyu gathered the generals to suppress rebels in Zhushan, Zhuxi, and elsewhere, and Deng Yan won repeated victories. In the eleventh month the rebels poured into Henan in force, and Deng Yan was ordered to reinforce the campaign.

八年春，賊陷新蔡，知縣王信罵賊死，追敗賊羅山。是時，賊陷鳳陽，命自黃州速援安慶。及桐城被圍，竟不至。御史錢守廉劾剿賊羅山，殺良冒功，命總督洪承疇核之。四月，承疇至汝州，令戍樊城，防漢江。是月，部將王允成以克餉鼓噪，殺其二僕。 懼，登樓越牆墮地死。

In the spring of the eighth year the rebels captured Xincai; Magistrate Wang Xin cursed them and was killed. Deng Yan pursued and defeated the rebels at Luoshan. By then the rebels had taken Fengyang, and Deng Yan was ordered to hurry from Huangzhou to relieve Anqing. When Tongcheng came under siege, he never arrived. Censor Qian Shoulian impeached Deng Yan for killing civilians and claiming merit while campaigning at Luoshan; the emperor ordered Governor Hong Chengchou to investigate. In the fourth month Chengchou reached Ruzhou and ordered Deng Yan to garrison Fancheng and guard the Han River. That month his subordinate Wang Yuncheng mutinied over withheld pay and killed two of his servants. Terrified, Deng Yan climbed a tower, leaped over the wall, fell to the ground, and died.

由小校，大小數百戰，所向克捷。以久戍觖望，恣其下淫掠。大學士王應熊以鄉里庇之，益無所憚。其死也，人以為逸罰雲。

Deng Yan had risen from the ranks; in several hundred engagements large and small, he had been victorious wherever he fought. After long years on garrison duty he grew resentful and let his men rape and plunder at will. Grand Secretary Wang Yingxiong shielded him as a fellow townsman, and Deng Yan grew ever more brazen. When he died, people said he had escaped the punishment he deserved.

賀人龍，米脂人。初以守備隸延綏巡撫洪承疇麾下。崇禎四年，承疇受賊降，命人龍勞以酒，伏兵擊斬三百二十人。其冬，張福臻代承疇，遣人龍剿賊黨雄，斬獲二百有奇。明年夏，從福臻擒賊孫守法。其秋，以所部援剿山西。六年春，與總兵尤世祿復遼州。已，敗賊垣曲、絳縣。進都司僉書。又連破賊水頭鎮、花池塞、湯湖村。會山西賊幾盡，乃還陝西。從巡撫陳奇瑜討平延川賊，浮斬一千有奇。奇瑜擢總督，以人龍自隨。

He Renlong was a native of Mizhi. He first served as garrison commander under Yan-sui governor Hong Chengchou. In the fourth year of Chongzhen, Chengchou accepted rebel surrenders and ordered Renlong to entertain them with wine while concealed troops struck and killed three hundred twenty men. That winter Zhang Fuzhen replaced Chengchou and sent Renlong against the rebel Dang Xiong; beheadings and captures exceeded two hundred. The following summer he followed Fuzhen in capturing the rebel Sun Shoufa. That autumn he led his command into Shanxi on reinforcement duty. In the spring of the sixth year he and regional commander You Shilu recovered Liaozhou. He then defeated rebels at Yuanqu and Jiang County. He was promoted to assistant commander in the capital garrison. He again defeated rebels at Shuitou Town, Huachi Stockade, and Tanghu Village. Once the Shanxi rebels were nearly wiped out, he returned to Shaanxi. Under Governor Chen Qiyu he pacified the Yanchuan rebels and beheaded more than a thousand in all. When Qiyu was promoted to governor-general, Renlong accompanied him.

七年四月擊賊隰州，擒克天虎，進參將。奇瑜追賊鄖、襄、興、漢，人龍並有功。賊軼車箱峽，陷隴州西去，奇瑜遣人龍救之。甫入隴州，李自成復至，環攻。以人龍同里閈，遣其將高傑移書令反，人龍不報。固守兩月，左光先救至，圍始解。十二月敗賊中莊。明年正月，鳳陽陷，總督洪承疇遣人龍馳救，敗賊睢州。進副總兵。承疇以陝西急，率人龍入關。商、洛賊馬光玉等薄西安，距大軍五十里。承疇命人龍入子午穀，邀賊之南；別將劉成功、王永祥邀賊之北；張全昌從咸陽繞興平東。賊以此不敢南遁，盡走武功、扶風，又渡渭走郿縣。承疇追至王渠鎮，賊方掠南山。人龍、成功等與戰，追奔三十里，至大泥峪，賊棄馬登山走。七月，高迎祥、張獻忠掠秦安、清水，人龍偕全昌破之張家川。已而失利，都司田應龍等死。八月，高傑降，承疇令人龍及遊擊孫守法挾之趨富平，乘夜擊敗賊。人龍尋移守延綏。

In the fourth month of the seventh year he attacked rebels at Xizhou, captured Ke Tianhu, and was promoted to colonel. As Qiyu pursued rebels through Yun, Xiang, Xing, and Han, Renlong won merit throughout. The rebels slipped through Chexiang Gorge, took Longzhou, and marched west; Qiyu sent Renlong to the rescue. He had barely entered Longzhou when Li Zicheng returned and laid siege to the city. Li, knowing Renlong was a fellow townsman, sent his general Gao Jie with a letter urging defection; Renlong did not reply. He held out for two months until Zuo Guangxian’s relief arrived and the siege was lifted. In the twelfth month he defeated rebels at Zhongzhuang. In the first month of the following year Fengyang fell; Governor-General Hong Chengchou sent Renlong to the rescue at full speed, and he defeated rebels at Suizhou. He was promoted to vice regional commander. With Shaanxi in crisis, Chengchou led Renlong through the passes into the interior. The Shang and Luo rebels Ma Guangyu and others pressed Xi’an, coming within fifty li of the main army. Chengchou ordered Renlong into Ziwu Valley to intercept the rebels from the south; other generals Liu Chenggong and Wang Yongxiang were to intercept them from the north; Zhang Quanchang was to swing east from Xianyang through Xingping. The rebels therefore dared not flee south; they all went to Wugong and Fufeng, then crossed the Wei and fled to Mei County. Chengchou pursued to Wangqu Town while the rebels were plundering the southern hills. Renlong, Chenggong, and the others fought them, pursued the rout thirty li to Dani Valley, and the rebels abandoned their horses and fled into the mountains. In the seventh month Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong plundered Qin’an and Qingshui; Renlong and Quanchang defeated them at Zhangjiachuan. Soon afterward they were defeated, and commandant Tian Yinglong and others were killed. In the eighth month Gao Jie surrendered; Chengchou ordered Renlong and raider Sun Shoufa to escort him toward Fuping and strike the rebels by night, defeating them. Before long Renlong was shifted to garrison Yan-sui.

九年七月從巡撫孫傳庭大破賊盩啡，擒迎祥。九月，惠登相等屯寶雞，承疇遣人龍等往擊，戰于賈家村。追奔，為賊所截。川將曾榮耀等來援，敗去，人龍坐褫官立功。十年，小紅狼圍漢中，瑞王告急。承疇率人龍兵由兩當趨救，賊解去，詔復人龍官。徽、秦逸賊東趨平、鳳，人龍躡至柳林，不利。賊窺西安，人龍禦之，斬獲多。其冬，自成、登相入四川，承疇率人龍等往援。歲暮至廣元，賊已逼成都，自成別由松潘還陝右。

In the seventh month of the ninth year he followed Governor Sun Chuanting in a great victory over the rebels at Zhouzhi and the capture of Yingxiang. In the ninth month Hui Dengxiang and others were encamped at Baoji; Chengchou sent Renlong and others against them, and battle was joined at Jia Family Village. During the pursuit he was cut off by the rebels. Sichuan generals Zeng Rongyao and others came to the rescue but were beaten back; Renlong was stripped of rank and ordered to redeem himself with merit. In the tenth year Little Red Wolf besieged Hanzhong, and the Prince of Rui sent an urgent appeal for help. Chengchou led Renlong’s troops by way of Liangdang to the rescue; when the rebels lifted the siege, an edict restored Renlong’s rank. Straggling rebels from Hui and Qin marched east toward Ping and Feng; Renlong followed them to Liulin but fared poorly. When the rebels probed Xi’an, Renlong blocked them and took many heads and captives. That winter Zicheng and Dengxiang entered Sichuan, and Chengchou led Renlong and others to reinforce. At year’s end they reached Guangyuan; the rebels had already pressed Chengdu, while Zicheng separately returned to Shaanxi by way of Songpan.

十一年，承疇督人龍等自階、文窮追，自成走入西羌界，人龍與曹變蛟等大戰二十七日。自成引殘卒入塞，竄山中，謀入四川，為人龍及馬科所追。突漢中，扼于左光先。其党祁總管降，自成幾滅。詳《變蛟傳》。其冬，京師戒嚴，擢人龍總兵官，帥師入衛。人龍所部多降賊，至山西而噪，尋撫定。抵京，與變蛟等奏捷于太平。明年事定，還陝西。其秋，張獻忠、羅汝才叛，謀入陝。人龍及副將李國奇等扼之興安，乃入川東。楊嗣昌檄陝西總督鄭崇儉率人龍、國奇軍會剿。十二月，人龍擊賊，大敗之。

In the eleventh year Chengchou led Renlong and others in pursuit from Jie and Wen to the limit; Zicheng fled into the Western Qiang frontier, and Renlong, Cao Bianjiao, and others fought major engagements for twenty-seven days. Zicheng led his remnant troops inside the passes and hid in the mountains, plotting to enter Sichuan, but Renlong and Ma Ke pursued him. He suddenly burst into Hanzhong and was blocked by Zuo Guangxian. His partisan Qi Zongguan surrendered, and Zicheng was nearly destroyed. The details are given in the biography of Cao Bianjiao. That winter the capital was placed on alert; Renlong was promoted to regional commander and led troops to guard the capital. Many of Renlong’s men were former surrendered rebels; in Shanxi they mutinied but were soon pacified. On reaching the capital he and Bianjiao and others reported victory at Taiping. The following year, once affairs were settled, he returned to Shaanxi. That autumn Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai rebelled and plotted to enter Shaanxi. Renlong and vice general Li Guoqi blocked them at Xing’an, so they turned into eastern Sichuan instead. Yang Sichang ordered Shaanxi governor-general Zheng Chongjian to lead the armies of Renlong and Guoqi in a joint campaign. In the twelfth month Renlong attacked the rebels and inflicted a crushing defeat.

十三年二月與左良玉大破賊瑪瑙山，人龍得一千三百餘級，降賊將二十五人。六月，汝才、登相犯開縣，總兵鄭嘉棟擊之仙寺嶺，人龍擊之馬弱溪，共斬首一千二百。汝才、登相東西走，追之不能及。時賊盡集於川，監軍萬元吉令川將守巴、巫諸隘，人龍、國奇及楚將張應元、汪雲龍、張奏凱專主追擊。及應元軍入夔，營土地嶺，人龍逗留不至，諸軍遂大敗，人龍竟還陝。已而獻忠、汝才陷劍州，趨廣元，將從間道入漢中。人龍拒之陽平、百丈二關，賊乃退。十二月，嗣昌至重慶，三檄人龍會師，不至。

In the second month of the thirteenth year he and Zuo Liangyu crushed the rebels at Agate Mountain; Renlong took more than thirteen hundred heads and accepted the surrender of twenty-five rebel generals. In the sixth month Rucai and Dengxiang invaded Kaixian; regional commander Zheng Jiadong struck them at Xiansi Ridge and Renlong at Maruo Stream, together taking twelve hundred heads. Rucai and Dengxiang fled east and west, and pursuit could not overtake them. By then the rebels were concentrated in Sichuan; supervising army commander Wan Yuanji ordered Sichuan troops to hold the passes at Ba, Wu, and other barriers, while Renlong, Guoqi, and the Huguang generals Zhang Yingyuan, Wang Yunlong, and Zhang Zoukai were assigned solely to pursuit. When Yingyuan’s army entered Kui and encamped at Tudi Ridge, Renlong lingered and never came up; the allied armies were therefore crushed, and Renlong eventually returned to Shaanxi. Before long Xianzhong and Rucai took Jianzhou and pressed toward Guangyuan, intending to enter Hanzhong by a hidden route. Renlong blocked them at Yangping and Baizhang passes, and the rebels withdrew. In the twelfth month Yang Sichang arrived at Chongqing and thrice summoned He Renlong to unite their armies, but Renlong never came.

初，嗣昌惡左良玉，許人龍代為平賊將軍。及戰瑪瑙山，良玉功第一，嗣昌語人龍姑待之。人龍大觖望，效良玉所為，不奉約束，嗣昌亦不能制。賊陷瀘州而北，人龍屯小市廂，隔一水不擊。賊遂越成都走漢州德陽，人龍軍大噪而歸。

Earlier, Sichang had despised Zuo Liangyu and had promised He Renlong that he would install him as general for the pacification of the bandits in Liangyu's stead. After the battle at Mount Agate, where Liangyu won the top honors, Sichang told Renlong to bide his time. He Renlong was bitterly disappointed. He began to act as Liangyu did—defying orders—and Sichang could no longer restrain him. When the rebels captured Luzhou and drove north, Renlong encamped at Xiaoshixiang on the far bank of a river and refused to strike. The rebels swept past Chengdu toward Hanzhou and Deyang while Renlong's troops raised a din and marched home.

十四年三月，嗣昌卒，丁啟睿代，令人龍、國奇出當陽，擊敗自成於靈寶山中。人龍子大明戰歿。九月，總督傅宗龍統人龍、國奇軍出關，次新蔡，遇賊孟家莊。將戰，人龍先走，國奇戰不勝，亦走，宗龍遂歿。十五年正月，總督汪喬年出關擊賊，人龍及鄭嘉棟、牛成虎從。至襄城遇賊，復不戰走，喬年亦歿。帝大怒，欲誅之，慮其為變，姑奪職，戴罪視事。及孫傳庭督師陝西，帝授以意。人龍駐咸陽虞禍，曉夜為備。傳庭以人龍家米脂，其宗族多在賊中，未可輕發，在道佯上疏曰：「人龍臣舊將，願貰其罪，俾從臣自效。」帝亦佯許之。人龍稍自安。傳庭至陝，密與巡撫張爾忠謀，以五月朔召人龍計事，數其罪斬之。其部將周國卿將精卒二百人與同黨魏大亨、賀國賢、高進庫等將逃還涇陽取其孥，與賊為亂。爾忠遣參將孫守法先入涇陽，質其妻子。國卿窮，謀斬大亨等以降。爾忠密聞之大亨，遂斬國卿，函送其首。他部將高傑、高汝利、賀勇、董學禮等十四人俱仍故官，一軍乃定。

In the third month of the fourteenth year Sichang died. Ding Qirui took his place and sent Renlong and Guo Qi through Dangyang, where they defeated Li Zicheng in the hills of Lingbao. Renlong's son Daming fell in the fighting. In the ninth month Governor-General Fu Zonglong led the forces of Renlong and Guo Qi out through the pass and had just reached Xincai when they encountered the rebels at Mengjiazhuang. On the eve of battle Renlong ran first. Guo Qi could not hold and fled too, and Fu Zonglong perished. In the first month of the fifteenth year Governor-General Wang Qiaonian marched out to attack the rebels, with He Renlong, Zheng Jiadong, and Niu Chenghu in his train. At Xiangcheng they ran into the rebels, once again declined to fight and bolted, and Wang Qiaonian likewise perished. The emperor was furious and meant to put them to death, but fearing mutiny he merely stripped their ranks for the moment and ordered them to continue on duty while awaiting punishment. When Sun Chuanting took command in Shaanxi, the emperor confided his wishes to him. Renlong was posted at Yuta near Xianyang and kept his men on alert around the clock. Sun Chuanting knew Renlong came from Mizhi and that much of his clan still rode with the rebels, so he dared not move too soon. While still on the road he filed a feigned memorial: "He Renlong is a veteran under my command. I beg leave to redeem his offense and let him follow me and prove his loyalty. The emperor pretended to consent. Renlong's fears eased a little. After Sun Chuanting reached Shaanxi he plotted in secret with the provincial governor Zhang Erzhong. On the first day of the fifth month he summoned Renlong to a council, recited his crimes, and had him executed. Among his officers, Zhou Guoqing gathered two hundred picked men and, with accomplices Wei Datong, He Guoxian, Gao Jinku, and others, planned to flee to Jingyang, seize their families, and raise rebellion with the rebels. Erzhong sent Assistant Commander Sun Shoufa ahead into Jingyang to hold their wives and children as hostages. Boxed in, Guoqing planned to kill Datong and the rest to win surrender. Erzhong secretly tipped Datong off, who then killed Guoqing and sent his head in a casket. The other officers—Gao Jie, Gao Ruli, He Yong, Dong Xueli, and fourteen besides—all kept their former ranks, and the army was steadied at last.

高傑，米脂人。與李自成同邑，同起為盜。崇禎七年閏八月，總督陳奇瑜遣參將賀人龍救隴州，被圍大困。自成令傑遺書約人龍反，不報。使者歸，先見傑，後見自成。比圍城兩月不拔，自成心疑傑，遣別部將往代，傑歸守營。自成妻邢氏武多智，掌軍資，每日支糧仗。傑過氏營，分合符驗。氏偉傑貌，與之通，恐自成覺，謀歸降。次年八月遂竊邢氏來歸。洪承疇以付人龍，使其遊擊孫守法挾以破賊，取立效為信，自是傑常隸人龍麾下。十三年，張獻忠敗於瑪瑙山，竄興、歸界上，傑隨人龍及副將李國奇大敗之鹽井。

Gao Jie was a native of Mizhi. He and Li Zicheng were from the same district and had risen together as bandits. In the intercalary eighth month of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Governor-General Chen Qiyu sent Assistant Commander He Renlong to relieve Longzhou, where he was besieged and hard pressed. Li Zicheng ordered Jie to send a letter inviting Renlong to defect, but received no answer. The messenger returned and was received by Jie before he saw Zicheng. After two months the siege still held, Zicheng grew suspicious of Jie and sent another commander to take his place, and Jie returned to guard the camp. Zicheng's wife, Lady Xing, was fierce and clever; she managed the army stores and issued grain and weapons every day. When Jie passed through Lady Xing's camp they matched their tally tokens. Lady Xing was struck by Jie's appearance, took him as her lover, and fearing Zicheng would find out, plotted to defect. The following year, in the eighth month, he slipped away with Lady Xing and surrendered to the government. Hong Chengchou placed him under Renlong and had the mobile brigadier Sun Shoufa use him against the rebels, demanding proof of merit at once; thereafter Jie usually served under Renlong. In the thirteenth year Zhang Xianzhong was beaten at Mount Agate and fled along the Xing–Gui frontier; Jie followed Renlong and Vice Commander Li Guoqi to rout him at Salt Wells.

十五年，人龍以罪誅，命傑為實授遊擊。十月，陝西總督孫傳庭至南陽，自成與羅汝才西行逆之。傳庭以傑與魯某為先鋒，遇于塚頭，大戰敗賊，追奔六十里。汝才見自成敗來救，繞出官軍後。後軍左勷望見賊，怖而先奔，眾軍皆奔，遂大潰，傑所亡失獨少。

In the fifteenth year Renlong was executed for his crimes, and Jie was given a substantive appointment as mobile brigadier. In the tenth month the Shaanxi governor Sun Chuanting reached Nanyang; Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai marched west to oppose him. Chuanting made Jie and a certain Lu his vanguard; at Zhongtou they fought a great battle, routed the rebels, and pursued them sixty li. Seeing Zicheng beaten, Rucai came to his aid and circled behind the government forces. The rear-guard commander Zuo Liang caught sight of the rebels, panicked, and fled first; the whole army broke and fled in a rout, yet Jie alone suffered few losses.

十六年進副總兵，與總兵白廣恩為軍鋒，兩人皆降將也。廣恩鷙鰲，素不奉約束，而傑尤兇暴。朝廷以傑為自成所切齒，故命隸傳庭辦賊。九月從傳庭克寶豐，復郟縣。時官軍乘勝深入，乏食。降將李際遇通賊，自成帥精騎大至。傳庭問計于諸將，傑請戰，廣恩不可。傳庭以廣恩為怯，廣恩不懌，引所部遁去。官軍接戰，陷伏中。傑登嶺上望之曰：「不可支矣。」亦麾眾退。軍遂大奔，死者數萬。廣恩走汝州不救，傑乃隨傳庭走河北。已而自山西渡河，轉入潼關，廣恩已先至。十一月，自成攻關，廣恩力戰。而傑怨廣恩以寶豐之敗不救己，亦擁眾不肯救。廣恩戰敗，關遂破，傳庭被殺。自成破西安，據之。傑北走延安，賊將李過追傑。傑東走宜川，河冰適合，遂渡，入蒲津以守。賊至，冰解不得渡，乃免。廣恩既敗，走固原，為賊將追及，遂以城降。十七年進傑總兵。帝令總督李化熙率傑兵馳救山西，而蒲州、平陽已陷久，傑退至澤州，沿途大掠，賊遂薄太原。

In the sixteenth year he was promoted deputy commander-in-chief; he and the full commander Bai Guang'en served as the army's spearhead—both were former rebels who had surrendered. Guang'en was savage and headstrong and had never submitted to discipline; Jie was even more violent. Because Li Zicheng hated Jie with a personal fury, the court assigned him to Chuanting's command to hunt the rebels. In the ninth month he followed Chuanting in capturing Baofeng and recovering Jiaxian. The government army, drunk on victory, had pushed deep into enemy country and was starving. The surrendered general Li Jiyu was in league with the rebels, and Li Zicheng arrived at the head of a great force of elite cavalry. Chuanting asked his generals for counsel; Jie urged an attack, Guang'en refused. Chuanting judged Guang'en a coward; stung, Guang'en led his own troops away. The government army engaged and walked into an ambush. Jie climbed a hill to watch and said, "This cannot be held. He too ordered his men to fall back. The army broke and ran; tens of thousands were killed. Guang'en fled to Ruzhou without lending aid; Jie followed Chuanting in flight into Hebei. Later they crossed the Yellow River from Shanxi, swung back toward Tong Pass, and found Guang'en already there ahead of them. In the eleventh month Li Zicheng assaulted the pass, and Guang'en fought hard. Jie, still bitter that Guang'en had not rescued him at Baofeng, likewise held his troops back and refused to help. Guang'en was beaten, the pass fell, and Chuanting was killed. Li Zicheng took Xi'an and made it his seat. Jie fled north to Yan'an, pursued by the rebel commander Li Guo. Jie turned east to Yichuan; the river ice was firm enough to bear him, so he crossed and took post at Pujin. When the rebels came up, the ice had broken and they could not follow; he was spared. Guang'en, already beaten, fled to Guyuan, was overtaken by a rebel commander, and surrendered the city. In the seventeenth year Jie was promoted to full commander. The emperor ordered Governor-General Li Huaxi to rush Jie's troops to relieve Shanxi, but Puzhou and Pingyang had been lost for some time. Jie fell back to Zezhou, plundering savagely as he went, and the rebels closed on Taiyuan.

京師陷，傑南走，福王封傑興平伯，列于四鎮，領揚州，駐城外。傑固欲入城，揚州民畏傑不納。傑攻城急，日掠廂村婦女，民益惡之。知府馬鳴騄、推官湯來賀堅守月餘。傑知不可攻，意稍怠。閣部史可法議以瓜州予傑，乃止。九月命傑移駐徐州，以左中允衛胤文兼兵科給事中監其軍西討。徐州土賊程繼孔被擒至京師，乘李自成亂逃歸，十二月，傑擒斬之。加太子少傅，廕一子，世襲錦衣僉事。

When the capital fell, Jie fled south. The Prince of Fu enfeoffed him as Marquis of Xingping, ranked him among the Four Garrisons, gave him Yangzhou to hold, and he encamped outside the walls. Jie was determined to enter the city, but the people of Yangzhou, terrified of him, refused him entry. Jie pressed the siege hard and day after day seized women from the suburbs and villages; the populace loathed him all the more. Prefect Ma Mingcong and Assistant Magistrate Tang Laihe held out for more than a month. Seeing the city could not be taken, Jie's zeal for the assault cooled. Grand Secretary Shi Kefa proposed granting him Guazhou instead, and the siege was called off. In the ninth month Jie was ordered to move his camp to Xuzhou, with Left Attendant Instructor Wei Yinwen appointed supervising censor of military affairs to oversee his army on a western campaign. The Xuzhou bandit Cheng Jikong had once been captured and sent to the capital, but escaped home during Li Zicheng's upheaval; in the twelfth month Jie seized and executed him. He was made Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent; one son received an imperial grace, with hereditary rank as assistant commander of the Embroidered-Uniform Guard.

初，傑伏兵要擊黃得功於土橋，得功幾不免，兩鎮遂相仇怨，事見《得功傳》。傑爭揚州時，可法頗為所窘。至是，傑感可法忠，與謀恢復。議調得功與劉澤清二鎮赴邳、宿防河，傑自提兵直趨歸、開，且瞰宛、洛、荊、襄，以為根本。遂具疏上之，語激切。且云：「得功與臣猶介介前事。臣知報君雪恥而已，安能與同列較短長哉！」然得功終不欲為傑後勁，而澤清尤狡橫難任。可法不得已，調劉良佐赴徐與傑為聲援。

Earlier Jie had set an ambush for Huang Degong at Tuqiao and nearly killed him; the two garrisons became bitter enemies, as told in the Biography of Degong. During Jie's struggle for Yangzhou, Kefa had been sorely pressed by him. Now Jie was moved by Kefa's loyalty and joined him in planning the reconquest. They proposed shifting the garrisons of Degong and Liu Zeqing to Pi and Su to hold the river line, while Jie himself would lead troops straight for Guide and Kaifeng and keep an eye on Nanyang, Luoyang, Jingzhou, and Xiangyang as his strategic base. He drew up a memorial and submitted it in language fierce and impassioned. In it he wrote: "Degong and I still nurse old grudges. I care only to repay my sovereign and avenge our shame—how could I bicker over rank with my fellows! Yet Degong would not serve as his rearguard, and Zeqing was especially sly, overbearing, and impossible to command. Kefa had no choice but to transfer Liu Liangzuo to Xuzhou to back Jie up.

順治二年正月，傑抵歸德。總兵許定國方駐睢州，有言其送子渡河者。傑招定國來會，不應。復邀巡撫越其傑、巡按陳潛夫同往睢州，定國始郊逆。其傑諷傑勿入城，傑心輕定國，不聽，遂入城。十一日，定國置酒享傑。傑飲酣，為定國刻行期，且微及送子事。定國益疑，無離睢意。傑固促之行，定國怒，夜伏兵傳砲大呼。其傑等急遁走，傑醉臥帳中未起，眾擁至定國所殺之。先是，傑以定國將去睢，盡發兵戍開封，所留親卒數十人而已。定國偽恭順，多選妓侍傑，而以二妓偶一卒寢。卒盡醉，及聞砲欲起，為二妓所掣不得脫，皆死。明日，傑部下至，攻城，老弱無孑遺。定國走降大清軍。

In the first month of the second year of Shunzhi, Jie reached Guide. The commander Xu Dingguo was then posted at Suizhou, and word spread that he had sent his son across the river to safety. Jie summoned Dingguo to a parley; he did not come. Jie then asked the governor Yue Qijie and the investigating censor Chen Qianfu to accompany him to Suizhou; only then did Dingguo come out to the suburbs to receive them. Qijie warned Jie not to enter the city, but Jie despised Dingguo, ignored the advice, and went in. On the eleventh, Dingguo laid on a feast for Jie. Jie drank heavily, pressed a departure date on Dingguo, and obliquely raised the story of his son's flight. Dingguo's suspicions deepened, and he had no mind to leave Suizhou. Jie kept pressing him to march; enraged, Dingguo hid troops by night, passed the word along the guns, and raised a great shout. Qijie and the others fled for their lives; Jie, drunk and still in his bed, was overrun and killed in Dingguo's quarters. Earlier, believing Dingguo would quit Suizhou, Jie had sent nearly all his troops to garrison Kaifeng, leaving only a few dozen of his personal guard. Dingguo played the obedient host, sent many courtesans to wait on Jie, and assigned two women to each soldier for the night. The men drank themselves senseless; when the guns sounded and they tried to rise, the women held them fast so they could not escape, and every one was killed. The next day Jie's troops came up, stormed the city, and spared neither old nor young. Dingguo fled and surrendered to the Qing armies.

傑為人淫毒，揚民聞其死，皆相賀。然是行也，進取意甚銳，故時有惜之者。始朝廷許諸鎮與聞國是，故傑屢條奏救降賊者，及請釋武愫於獄，不允。復疏薦吳甡、鄭三俊、金光辰、姜埰、熊開元、金聲、沈正宗等。大抵其時武臣風尚多類此。傑死，贈太子太保，以其子元爵襲興平伯。

Jie was a man of violent lust and cruelty; when the people of Yangzhou heard he was dead, they celebrated in the streets. Yet on this campaign his hunger to advance had been fierce, and some at the time mourned what he might have done. When the court first allowed the regional commanders a voice in state affairs, Jie repeatedly petitioned to spare surrendered rebels and to free Wu Su from prison; both were refused. He again submitted recommendations for Wu Shen, Zheng Sanjun, Jin Guangchen, Jiang Cai, Xiong Kaiyuan, Jin Sheng, Shen Zhengzong, and others. For the most part, the temper of military men in those days ran much the same way. After Jie's death the court posthumously named him Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent, and his son Yuanjue inherited the earldom of Xingping.

劉澤清，曹縣人。以將材授遼東甯、前衛守備，遷山東都司僉書，加參將。崇禎三年，大清兵攻鐵廠，欲據以絕豐潤糧道。援守三屯總兵楊肇基遣澤清來援，未至鐵廠一十五里，遇大兵，力戰，自辰至午不決。得濟師，轉戰至遵化，夾擊，遂得入城。敘功，加二級至副總兵。五年以侵克軍糧被劾，詔立功沖要地。六年遷總兵。其冬加左都督，恢復登州有功。八年詔統山東兵防漕。九年，京師戒嚴，統兵入衛，令駐新城為南北控扼，復命留守通州。加左都督、太子太師。

Liu Zeqing was a native of Cao County. Recognized for martial ability, he was made defender of the Liaodong Ning Front Guard, then transferred to assistant commissioner of the Shandong command with the added rank of vice commander. In the third year of Chongzhen the Qing army attacked Tiechang, aiming to hold it and sever Fengrun's grain lifeline. Relief commander Yang Zhaoqi of Santun sent Zeqing forward; fifteen li from Tiechang he met the main Qing force and fought from morning until noon without breaking the stalemate. Reinforcements arrived, he fought through to Zunhua, and a converging attack let him enter the city. His service was entered on the rolls of merit and he was raised two grades to vice regional commander. In the fifth year he was impeached for seizing and embezzling army grain; the court ordered him to redeem himself with merit at a vital post. In the sixth year he was made regional commander. That winter he was named Left Censor-in-chief for recovering Dengzhou. In the eighth year an edict placed Shandong's troops under him to guard the Grand Canal. In the ninth year, when the capital went on war footing, he marched in with his army, was posted at New City to choke north–south traffic, and was then ordered to hold Tongzhou. He received the titles Left Censor-in-chief and Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent.

十三年五月，山東大饑，民相聚為寇，曹、濮尤甚。帝命澤清會總兵楊禦蕃兵剿捕之。八月降右都督，鎮守山東防海。澤清以生長山東，久鎮東省非宜，請辭任。帝令整旅渡河，合諸鎮星馳援剿。

In the fifth month of the thirteenth year Shandong was stricken with famine; people banded together as marauders, above all in Cao and Pu. The emperor ordered Zeqing to join regional commander Yang Yufan in hunting them down. In the eighth month he was reduced to Right Censor-in-chief and assigned to guard Shandong's coast. Zeqing, a Shandong native, argued that holding his home province for long was improper and asked to be relieved. The emperor ordered him to take his brigade across the river, join the other garrisons, and race to the relief campaign.

十六年二月，賊圍開封久，澤清赴援。以硃家寨去汴八里，提五千人南渡，倚河為寨，疏水環之，欲以次結八寨達大堤，築甬道，饋饟城中。壁壘未成，賊來爭。相持三日，互有殺傷。澤清即命拔營去，惶擾奔迸，士爭舟，多溺死者。

In the second month of the sixteenth year rebels had long held Kaifeng under siege; Zeqing marched to its relief. At Zhujia Stockade, eight li from Bian, he ferried five thousand men south, pitched camp on the riverbank, and ringed it with channels—planning to chain eight camps to the great dike, build a covered supply road, and feed the city. Before the works were finished the rebels came to dispute the ground. For three days they grappled, each side taking losses. Zeqing then ordered the camp broken; panic spread, men stampeded for the boats, and many drowned.

澤清為人性恇怯，懷私觀望。嘗妄報大捷邀賞賜，又詭稱墮馬被傷，詔賚藥資四十兩。命赴保定剿賊，不從，日大掠臨清。率兵南下，所至焚劫一空。寇氛日急，給事中韓如愈、馬嘉植皆謀奉使南歸。如愈常劾澤清，過東昌，澤清遣人殺之於道，無敢上聞者。

Zeqing was timid by nature, nursed private schemes, and hung back. He once invented a great victory to claim reward, and another time pretended a fall from his horse had wounded him—the court sent forty taels for medicine. Ordered to Baoding to fight rebels, he refused and spent his days plundering Linqing. He marched south with his army and left every place he touched burned bare. As the crisis deepened, supervising secretaries Han Ruyu and Ma Jiazhi both schemed for commissions that would take them south and home. Ruyu had often impeached him; when he passed Dongchang, Zeqing had him killed on the road, and no one dared report it.

京師陷，澤清走南都，福王以為諸鎮之一，封東平伯，駐廬州。時武臣各占分地，賦入不以上供，恣其所用，置封疆兵事一切不問。與廷臣互分黨援，干預朝政，排擠異已，奏牘紛如，紀綱盡裂，而澤清所言尤狂悖。王初立，即援靖康故事，請以今歲五月改元，又請宥故輔周延儒助餉髒銀。都御史劉宗周劾諸將跋扈狀，澤清遂兩疏劾宗周，且曰：「上若誅宗周，臣即卸職。」朝廷不得已，溫詔解之。又請禁巡按不得拿訪追髒，請法司嚴緝故總督侯恂及其子方域，朝廷皆曲意從之。

When Beijing fell, Zeqing fled to Nanjing; the Hongguang court counted him among the regional commanders, made him Earl of Dongping, and posted him at Luzhou. Each commander then held his own territory, kept the taxes for himself, and ignored the defense of the realm. They courted factions among the ministers, meddled in policy, and drove out rivals; memorials snowed in and discipline collapsed—and Zeqing's were the most outrageous of all. Hardly enthroned, he cited the Jingkang precedent to demand a new reign title that fifth month, and asked pardon for the former grand secretary Zhou Yanru together with his tainted silver paid as war funds. Censor-in-chief Liu Zongzhou impeached the generals for insolence; Zeqing answered with two memorials attacking Zongzhou, declaring: "If Your Majesty puts Zongzhou to death, this servant will lay down his command." The court could only soothe both sides with a gentle edict. He also demanded that touring censors be barred from seizing illicit funds, and pressed the judiciary to hunt down the former governor-general Hou Xun and his son Fangyu—the court bent to every request.

順治二年四月，揚州告急，命澤清等往援，而澤清已潛謀輸款矣。大清惡其反覆，磔誅之。

In the fourth month of Shunzhi year two Yangzhou was in peril; Zeqing was ordered to the rescue, but he had already secretly opened surrender talks. The Qing, despising his double-dealing, had him torn apart in execution.

澤清頗涉文藝，好吟詠。嘗召客飲酒唱和。幕中蓄兩猿，以名呼之即至。一日，宴其故人子，酌酒金甌中，甌可容三升許，呼猿捧酒跪送客。猿猙獰甚，客戰掉，逡巡不敢取。澤清笑曰：「君怖耶？」命取囚撲死階下，剜其腦及心肝，置甌中，和酒，付猿捧之前。飲酹，顏色自若。其凶忍多此類。

Zeqing dabbled in letters and loved to versify. He often gathered guests for wine and exchanged lines of poetry. His staff kept two gibbons trained to come at the call of their names. One day he entertained an old friend's son, poured wine into a golden bowl that held some three sheng, and had a gibbon kneel and present it to the guest. The beast looked savage; the guest shook with fear and hung back, afraid to take the cup. Zeqing laughed: "Are you frightened?" He had a prisoner dragged out and clubbed to death on the steps, his brains and heart and liver scooped into the bowl, stirred into the wine, and set before the guest again in the gibbon's paws. He drank his toast, face unchanged. His cruelty ran to such things again and again.

祖寬，遼東人。少有勇力。給侍祖大壽家，從軍有功，累官寧遠參將。部卒多塞外降人，所向克捷。

Zu Kuan came from Liaodong. As a youth he was strong and bold. He served in Zu Dashou's household, followed the campaigns with merit, and rose step by step to vice commander at Ningyuan. His men were mostly surrendered tribesmen from beyond the passes, and they seldom met defeat.

崇禎五年七月，叛將李九成等圍萊州急，詔發關外兵討之。寬與靳國臣、祖大弼、張韜率兵抵昌邑。巡撫硃大黃典獲賊書，約寬等為內應，以示寬等。皆誓滅賊以自明，乃用寬、國臣為前鋒。寬至沙河與賊遇，眾寡不敵，稍卻。會國臣至，拔刀大呼直前，寬、大弼、韜鹹殊死戰，大敗賊兵，逐北抵城下，立解萊州圍。是月晦，進兵黃縣。賊傾巢出戰，寬等復大敗之，遂與劉澤清等築長圍以困登州。明年二月，賊始平。語詳《大典傳》。寬以解圍功，進都督僉事。再敘功，世廕外衛副千戶，進副總兵。

In the seventh month of Chongzhen year five the rebel Li Jiucheng and others pressed Laizhou hard; the court sent troops from beyond the passes against them. Kuan marched with Jin Guochen, Zu Dabi, and Zhang Tao to Changyi. Grand coordinator Zhu Dahuang seized rebel letters through an informer that named Kuan's party as inside collaborators, and confronted them with the evidence. They all swore to exterminate the rebels to prove their loyalty, and Kuan and Guochen were placed in the van. Kuan met the rebels at Shahe; outnumbered, he gave a little ground. Guochen came up, drew his blade, and charged with a roar; Kuan, Dabi, and Tao threw themselves into the fight; the rebel host broke, was chased to the walls, and the siege of Laizhou was lifted on the spot. On the last day of that month they pushed on to Huang County. The rebels came out in full strength; Kuan beat them again, then with Liu Zeqing and others threw a long cordon around Dengzhou. By the second month of the following year the rebellion was crushed. The campaign is told at length in the Biography of Zhu Dadian. For lifting the siege Kuan was promoted to Vice Commissioner-in-chief. Further merit brought hereditary rank as vice battalion chief of an outer guard and promotion to vice regional commander.

八年秋，命為援剿總兵官，督關外兵三千討流賊。十月至河南，巡撫陳必謙、監紀推官湯開遠令與左良玉抵靈寶，至則挫張獻忠於焦村。無何，高迎祥、李自成至，與獻忠合攻閿鄉。寬赴救，賊解而趨靈寶，斷良玉、寬軍不相應，遂東陷陝州，攻洛陽。良玉、寬至，迎祥、自成、獻忠皆走。良玉追迎祥，而寬分擊獻忠，夜督副將祖克勇等趨葛家莊，黎明遇賊，大破之。賊奔嵩縣九皋山，寬伏二軍於山溝誘之。賊趨下，伏發，斬馘九百有奇。尋與副將劉肇基、羅岱遇賊汝州圪料鎮，復大敗賊，伏屍二十餘里，斬馘千六百有奇。獻忠憤，合迎祥、自成兵，與寬戰龍門、白沙，截官軍為二。寬自斷後，士卒殊死鬥，自晨至夜分，復大捷，斬馘一千有奇。迎祥、自成乃走窺光州，寬督副將李輔明躡其後。賊走攻確山，寬等馳救，大破之，斬馘五百八十有奇。自成等遂東走廬州，攻圍七晝夜。明年正月，寬等至，賊奔全椒，遂圍滁州。南京太僕卿李覺斯、知州劉大鞏力禦之。而寬等軍至，奮擊大呼，諸軍無不一當百，自晨至晡，賊大敗。從城東五里追至關山之硃龍橋，橫屍枕藉，水為不流。二月，又從總理盧象升破賊七頂山，殲自成精卒殆盡。象升移軍南陽，命寬備鄧州。會賊渡漢江，入鄖、襄，余眾三萬匿內鄉、淅川山中。象升命寬與祖大樂等入山搜討。

That autumn of the eighth year he was named pacification commander, leading three thousand border troops against the roving rebels. In the tenth month he entered Henan; Governor Chen Biqian and supervising secretary Tang Kaiyuan sent him with Zuo Liangyu to Lingbao, where they beat Zhang Xianzhong at Jiaocun. Soon Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng came up, united with Xianzhong, and together struck Yingxiang. Kuan marched to relieve them; the rebels slipped away toward Lingbao, severed Liangyu and Kuan from each other, then swept east, took Shanzhou, and threatened Luoyang. When Liangyu and Kuan came up, Yingxiang, Zicheng, and Xianzhong all withdrew. Liangyu chased Yingxiang while Kuan turned on Xianzhong; he drove his deputies Zu Keyong and others through the night to Gejiazhuang and at dawn shattered the rebel force. The rebels fled to Jiugao Mountain in Song; Kuan hid two bodies in the gullies to bait them down. As they rushed downhill the trap closed; more than nine hundred heads were taken. Soon he and deputies Liu Zhaoqi and Luo Dai met the rebels at Gelia in Ruzhou and broke them again—corpses stretched twenty li, with more than sixteen hundred heads counted. Enraged, Xianzhong joined Yingxiang and Zicheng and met Kuan at Longmen and Baisha, slicing the government force in two. Kuan himself held the rear; his men fought to the death from dawn far into the night and won again, taking more than a thousand heads. Yingxiang and Zicheng then turned toward Guang prefecture; Kuan sent deputy Li Fuming to dog their steps. The rebels swung to attack Queshan; Kuan raced to its relief and crushed them, taking more than five hundred eighty heads. Zicheng and the rest fled east to Luzhou and besieged it for seven days and nights. In the first month of the following year Kuan came up; the rebels fled to Quanjiao, then turned to besiege Chuzhou. Li Juesi of the Nanjing Court of Imperial Stud and Prefect Liu Dagong held the city with all their strength. When Kuan arrived his men charged with a roar; each soldier fought like ten; from morning until afternoon the rebel host was shattered. They chased them five li east of the city to the Vermilion Dragon Bridge at Guanshan; the dead lay heaped and the water dammed with corpses. In the second month, with Grand Coordinator Lu Xiangsheng, he broke the rebels at Seven-Peak Mountain and all but wiped out Zicheng's picked troops. Xiangsheng moved south to Nanyang and left Kuan to hold Dengzhou. The rebels crossed the Han into Yun and Xiang; thirty thousand survivors hid in the mountains of Neixiang and Xichuan. Xiangsheng ordered Kuan, Zu Dale, and others into the hills to hunt them down.

邊軍強憨，性異他卒，不可以法繩。往時官軍多關中人，與賊鄉里，臨陣相勞苦，拋生口，棄輜重，即縱之去，謂之「打活仗」。邊軍不通言語，逢賊即殺，故多勝。然所過焚廬舍，淫婦女，恃功不戢；又利野戰，憚搜山；且見賊遠竄，非旬朔可定，自以為客將，無持久心。寬卒方過河，噪而逸。象升激勸再三，始聽命。至黨子口，仍按甲不行。而總兵李重鎮素恇怯，冀卸責，眾益思歸。象升乃力陳入山搜剿之難，請令寬、重鎮赴關中討賊。會總督洪承疇亦請之，寬等遂移軍陝西，隸承疇麾下。八月，京師被兵，召入衛。錄滁州功，進右都督，賚銀幣。事定，命赴寧遠協守。

Border troops were hard and headstrong, unlike other soldiers, and would not bend to discipline. In earlier days government troops were mostly Guanzhong men, often kin to the rebels; in battle they would hail one another, drop prisoners and baggage, and let the enemy slip away—a practice called "fighting a live battle." Border troops shared no tongue with the enemy; they killed on sight, and so won more often. Yet they burned dwellings and violated women wherever they marched, swaggering on their victories; they preferred open field fights and shrank from mountain sweeps; and seeing the rebels driven far off, with no end in a month or two, they counted themselves guest generals with no will to stay. Kuan's men had barely crossed the river when they broke into mutinous clamor and bolted. Xiangsheng exhorted them again and again before they would listen. At Dangzi Pass they halted again and refused to march. Regional commander Li Chongzhen was himself timid and hoped to escape blame; the men only wanted to go home. Xiangsheng then argued at length how hard mountain suppression was and asked that Kuan and Chongzhen be sent to Guanzhong to fight rebels there. Governor-General Hong Chengchou asked the same; Kuan and his force were shifted to Shaanxi and placed under Chengchou. In the eighth month, when the capital was besieged, he was called in to defend it. For his victory at Chuzhou he was promoted to Right Commissioner-in-chief and rewarded with silver and silks. After the crisis passed, he was ordered to Ningyuan to help hold the frontier.

十一年冬，詔寬率師援畿輔。及山東告急，寬逗遛。明年正月，濟南失守，褫職被逮，坐失陷籓封，竟棄市。

In the winter of the eleventh year he was ordered to march to the capital region with his army. When Shandong sent urgent appeals for help, Kuan dawdled on the road. The next year, in the first month, Jinan fell; he was stripped of rank, arrested, convicted of allowing a princely domain to be lost, and finally executed in public.

寬敢戰有功，稱驍將。性剛使氣，不為文吏所喜，卒致大辟，莫為論救。

Kuan was bold in battle and won real merit, and was accounted a fierce commander. He was proud and quick to take offense, disliked by the civil bureaucracy; in the end he went to the block, and no one spoke up for him.

贊曰：左良玉以驍勇之材，頻殲劇寇，遂擁強兵，驕亢自恣，緩則養寇以貽憂，急則棄甲以致潰。當時以不用命罪諸將者屢矣，而良玉偃蹇僨事，未正刑章，姑息釀患，是以卒至稱兵犯闕而不顧也。高傑、祖寬皆剛悍難馴，恃功不戢，而傑尤為凶驁。然傑被戕于銳意進取之時，寬受誅於力戰赴援之後，死非其罪，不能無遺憾焉。

The appraiser says: Zuo Liangyu was a fierce fighter who repeatedly smashed major rebel bands and thereby came to command a huge army; arrogant and self-willed, in quiet times he let the rebels grow stronger and in crises he threw away his armor and brought on rout. In those days commanders were often punished for disobedience, yet Liangyu defied his superiors and wrecked campaigns without ever facing the law; indulgence bred disaster, until at last he marched on the court itself without a second thought. Gao Jie and Zu Kuan were both brutal and ungovernable, swollen with their victories and unwilling to submit—and Jie was the most violent and overbearing of all. Yet Jie was murdered at the height of an aggressive campaign, and Kuan was put to death after fighting his way to a relief mission; neither death matched his true deserts, and that leaves a bitter aftertaste.

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