Volume 309 Biographies 197: Traitors - Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong

李自成張獻忠

Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong

盜賊之禍，歷代恒有，至明末李自成、張獻忠極矣。史冊所載，未有若斯之酷者也。永樂中，唐賽兒倡亂山東。厥後乘瑕弄兵，頻見竊發，然皆旋就撲滅。惟武宗之世，流寇蔓延，幾危宗社，而卒以掃除。莊烈帝勵精有為，視武宗何啻天壤，而顧失天下，何也？明興百年，朝廷之綱紀既肅，天下之風俗未澆。孝宗選舉賢能，布列中外，與斯民休養生息者十餘年，仁澤深而人心固，元氣盛而國脈安。雖以武之童昏，亟行稗政，中官幸夫，濁亂左右，而本根尚未盡拔，宰輔亦多老成。迨盜賊四起，王瓊獨典中樞，陸完、彭澤分任閫帥，委寄既專，旁撓絕少，以故危而不亡。莊烈帝承神、熹之後，神宗怠荒棄政，熹宗暱近閹人，元氣盡澌，國脈垂絕。向使熹宗禦宇復延數載，則天下之亡不再傳矣。

Banditry has plagued every dynasty, but in the late Ming it reached its zenith with Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong. Nothing recorded in the annals of history approaches their savagery. During the Yongle reign, Tang Sai'er led a rebellion in Shandong. Afterward, rebels seized every opening to take up arms, and uprisings broke out again and again, but each was swiftly crushed. Only under Emperor Wuzong did roaming bandits spread so widely that they nearly toppled the dynasty, yet they were ultimately swept away. Emperor Chongzhen strove with energy and purpose, worlds apart from the feckless Wuzong—yet he lost the empire. Why? A century after the founding of the Ming, court discipline was firm and public morals had not yet decayed. Emperor Hongzhi appointed worthy men throughout the realm and gave the people more than a decade to recover. His benevolence ran deep, loyalty held firm, and the dynasty's vital energy remained strong. Even under the childish Wuzong, who pursued reckless policies while eunuchs and favorites corrupted the court, the dynasty's roots had not yet been torn up, and many senior ministers remained men of experience. When bandits rose on every side, Wang Qiong held sole authority at court while Lu Wan and Peng Ze commanded the frontiers. Power was concentrated and interference minimal, which is why the dynasty teetered but did not fall. Chongzhen inherited the throne after the Wanli and Tianqi emperors. Wanli had neglected government, Tianqi had favored eunuchs, and by then the dynasty's vital energy was spent and its life thread all but severed. Had Tianqi's reign lasted only a few years longer, the empire would have fallen before Chongzhen ever took the throne.

莊烈之繼統也，臣僚之党局已成，草野之物力已耗，國家之法令已壞，邊疆之搶攘已甚。莊烈雖銳意更始，治核名實，而人才之賢否，議論之是非，政事之得失，軍機之成敗，未能灼見於中，不搖於外也。且性多疑而任察，好剛而尚氣。任察則苛刻寡恩，尚氣則急遽失措。當夫群盜滿山，四方鼎沸，而委政柄者非庸即佞，剿撫兩端，茫無成算。內外大臣救過不給，人懷規利自全之心。言語戇直，切中事弊者，率皆摧折以去。其所任為閫帥者，事權中制，功過莫償。敗一方即戮一將，隳一城即殺一吏，賞罰太明而至於不能罰，制馭過嚴而至於不能制。加以天災流行，饑饉洊臻，政繁賦重，外訌內叛。譬一人之身，元氣羸然，疽毒併發，厥症固已甚危，而醫則良否錯進，劑則寒熱互投，病入膏肓，而無可救，不亡何待哉？是故明之亡，亡於流賊，而其致亡之本，不在於流賊也。嗚呼！莊烈非亡國之君，而當亡國之運，又乏救亡之術，徒見其焦勞瞀亂，孑立於上十有七年。而帷幄不聞良、平之謀，行間未睹李、郭之將，卒致宗社顛覆，徒以身殉，悲夫！

By the time Chongzhen ascended the throne, official factions were entrenched, the countryside was exhausted, laws lay in ruins, and the frontiers were in turmoil. Though Chongzhen was determined to reform and judge men by their deeds, he could not clearly discern who was talented, which policies were sound, which administrations succeeded, or which military plans worked—and he could not hold firm against outside pressures. Moreover, he was deeply suspicious and relied on minute scrutiny; he loved to be forceful and prized his own pride. His scrutiny made him harsh and unforgiving; his pride made him rash and prone to misjudgment. While bandits swarmed the hills and the realm seethed on every side, those he entrusted with power were either mediocre or sycophantic, vacillating between suppression and appeasement with no coherent strategy. Ministers at court and in the provinces could barely answer for their own mistakes; everyone schemed for personal gain and self-preservation. Those who spoke bluntly and hit the mark on the empire's ills were invariably crushed and driven from office. The frontier generals he appointed had their authority curtailed from the capital, and neither success nor failure could be properly rewarded or punished. Lose a battle and a general was executed; lose a city and an official was killed. His rewards and punishments were so rigid that in the end he could punish no one, and his control was so severe that in the end he controlled nothing. On top of all this came natural disasters, repeated famines, burdensome government and crushing taxes, foreign threats and internal rebellion. It was like a man whose vital energy was spent, with ulcers erupting everywhere—the illness was already grave, yet good and bad physicians were admitted in turn and hot and cold remedies prescribed at random. The disease reached the marrow with no cure in sight. How could the dynasty not fall? Thus the Ming fell to the bandit armies, but the root cause of its fall lay not in the bandits themselves. Alas! Chongzhen was not a ruler destined to lose his kingdom, yet he faced the fate of a dying dynasty without the means to save it. For seventeen years one could only watch him toil in anguish, confused and alone upon the throne. No Zhang Liang or Chen Ping offered counsel from within the tent; no Li Guangbi or Guo Ziyi led armies in the field. In the end the altars of state were overturned, and he could only die with his realm. How tragic!

自唐賽兒以下，本末易竟，事具剿賊諸臣傳中。獨志其亡天下者，立李自成、張獻忠傳。

From Tang Sai'er onward, the full course of events is readily traced in the biographies of the ministers who suppressed the bandits. For those who brought down the empire, biographies of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong alone are set forth here.

李自成

Li Zicheng

李自成，米脂人，世居懷遠堡李繼遷寨。父守忠，無子，禱于華山，夢神告曰：「以破軍星為若子。」已，生自成。幼牧羊于邑大姓艾氏，及長，充銀川驛卒。善騎射，鬥很無賴，數犯法。知縣晏子賓捕之，將置諸死，脫去為屠。天啟末，魏忠賢党喬應甲為陝西巡撫，硃童蒙為延綏巡撫，貪黷不詰盜，盜由是始。

Li Zicheng was a native of Mizhi in Shaanxi, his family having lived for generations at Li Jiqian's stockade in Huaiyuan Fort. His father Shouzhong, who had no son, prayed at Mount Hua and dreamed that a god told him, 'Take the Broken Army star as your son. Soon after, Zicheng was born. As a boy he herded sheep for the Ai clan, a prominent local family. When he came of age, he became a courier at the Yinchuan post station. He was skilled at riding and archery, fierce and unruly, and repeatedly ran afoul of the law. Magistrate Yan Zibin arrested him and was about to execute him, but he escaped and became a butcher. At the end of the Tianqi reign, Qiao Yingjia of Wei Zhongxian's faction became governor of Shaanxi and Zhu Tongmeng governor of Yan-sui. Corrupt and negligent, they failed to suppress banditry, and from this the troubles began.

崇禎元年，陝西大饑，延綏缺餉，固原兵劫州庫。白水賊王二，府谷賊王嘉胤，宜川賊王左掛、飛山虎、大紅狼等，一時並起。有安塞馬賊高迎祥者，自成舅也，與饑民王大樑聚眾應之。迎祥自稱闖王，大樑自稱大樑王。二年春，詔以楊鶴為三邊總督，捕之。參政劉應遇擊斬王二、王大樑，參政洪承疇擊破王左掛，賊稍稍懼。會京師戒嚴，山西巡撫耿如𣏌勤王兵嘩而西，延綏總兵吳自勉、甘肅巡撫梅之煥勤王兵亦潰，與群盜合。延綏巡撫張夢鯨恚死，承疇代之，召故總兵杜文煥督延綏、固原兵，便宜剿賊。

In the first year of Chongzhen, Shaanxi suffered a great famine. Yan-sui troops went unpaid, and soldiers at Guyuan raided the prefectural treasury. The bandits Wang Er of Baishui, Wang Jiayin of Fugu, and Wang Zuogua, Feishanhu, and Dahonglang of Yichuan all rose at once. Among them was the horse bandit Gao Yingxiang of Ansai, Zicheng's uncle, who with the famine refugee Wang Daliang raised a following and joined the uprising. Yingxiang styled himself the Dashing King; Daliang styled himself King Daliang. In the spring of the second year, Yang He was appointed supreme commander of the Three Frontiers with orders to capture them. Vice commissioner Liu Yingyu attacked and killed Wang Er and Wang Daliang; vice commissioner Hong Chengchou defeated Wang Zuogua, and the bandits began to grow fearful. When the capital declared martial law, the relief troops of Shanxi governor Geng Rubian mutinied and marched west; the relief forces of Yan-sui commander Wu Zimian and Gansu governor Mei Zhihuan also broke and joined the bandits. Yan-sui governor Zhang Mengjing died of despair; Chengchou replaced him. Former commander Du Wenhuan was recalled to direct the Yan-sui and Guyuan troops with full authority to suppress the bandits.

三年，王左掛、王子順、苗美等戰屢敗，乞降。而王嘉胤掠延安、慶陽間，楊鶴撫之，不聽，從神木渡河犯山西。是時，秦地所征曰新餉，曰均輸，曰間架，其目日增，吏因緣為奸，民大困。以給事中劉懋議，裁驛站，山、陝遊民仰驛糈者，無所得食，俱從賊，賊轉盛。兵部郎中李繼貞奏曰：「延民饑，將盡為盜，請以帑金十萬振之。」帝不聽。而嘉胤已襲破黃甫川、清水、木瓜三堡，陷府谷、河曲。又有神一元、不沾泥、可天飛、郝臨庵、紅軍友、點燈子、李老柴、混天猴、獨行狼諸賊，所在蜂起，或掠秦，或東入晉，屠陷城堡。官兵東西奔擊，賊或降或死，旋滅旋熾。延安賊張獻忠亦聚眾據十八寨，稱八大王。

In the third year, Wang Zuogua, Wang Zishun, Miao Mei, and others were repeatedly defeated and begged to surrender. But Wang Jiayin raided between Yan'an and Qingyang. Yang He tried to appease him, but he refused and crossed the Yellow River at Shenmu to invade Shanxi. At this time the levies in Shaanxi multiplied—new military tax, transport equalization, housing surtax—with categories growing daily while officials exploited the system. The people were driven to desperation. On the proposal of supervising secretary Liu Mao, post stations were abolished. Vagrants in Shaanxi and Shanxi who had depended on post-station rations lost their livelihood and joined the bandits, who grew ever stronger. Ministry of War director Li Jizhen memorialized: 'The people of Yan-sui are starving and will all become bandits. I request one hundred thousand taels from the treasury for relief. The emperor refused. But Jiayin had already stormed the forts of Huangfuchuan, Qingshui, and Mugua and captured Fugu and Hequ. Other bandits—Shen Yiyuan, Buzhanni, Ketianfei, Hao Lin'an, Hongjunyou, Lamp-Lighter, Li Laochai, Heaven-Stirring Monkey, Lone Wolf, and others—rose everywhere, some raiding Shaanxi, some pushing east into Shanxi, slaughtering and capturing walled towns. Government troops struck in every direction; bandits surrendered or were killed, yet as soon as one group was destroyed another rose. The Yan'an bandit Zhang Xianzhong also gathered followers, seized eighteen stockades, and styled himself the Eighth Great King.

四年，孤山副將曹文詔破賊河曲，王嘉胤遁去。已，復自岳陽突犯澤、潞，為左右所殺，其党共推王自用號紫金梁者為魁。自用結群賊老回回、曹操、八金剛、掃地王、射塌天、閻正虎、滿天星、破甲錐、刑紅狼、上天老、蠍子塊、過天星、混世王等及迎祥、獻忠共三十六營，眾二十余萬，聚山西。自成乃與兄子過往從迎祥，與獻忠等合，號闖將，未有名。楊鶴撫賊不效被逮，洪承疇代鶴，張福臻代承疇，督諸將曹文詔、楊嘉謨剿賊，所向克捷，陝地略定。而山西賊大盛，剽掠甯鄉、石樓、稷山、聞喜、河津間。

In the fourth year, vice commander Cao Wenzhao of Gushan defeated the bandits at Hequ, and Wang Jiayin fled. He later burst from Yueyang to raid Zezhou and Lu'an, where his own men killed him. His followers elevated Wang Ziyong, styled Purple-Gold Beam, as their leader. Ziyong allied with Old Huihui, Cao Cao, Eight Vajras, Sweeping-Earth King, Shooting-Sky Collapser, Yan Zhenghu, Full Sky of Stars, Armor-Breaking Awl, Punishment Red Wolf, Heaven-Ascending Elder, Scorpion Lump, Crossing Heaven Star, World-Mixing King, and others, together with Yingxiang and Xianzhong—thirty-six camps totaling more than two hundred thousand men gathered in Shanxi. Zicheng followed Yingxiang with his nephew Guo, joined forces with Xianzhong and the others, and was styled the Dashing General, though he had not yet made a name for himself. Yang He's appeasement policy failed and he was arrested. Hong Chengchou replaced him, then Zhang Fuzhen replaced Chengchou. They directed generals Cao Wenzhao and Yang Jiamo against the bandits, who met success wherever they marched, and Shaanxi was largely pacified. But the Shanxi bandits grew stronger still, plundering Ningxiang, Shilou, Jishan, Wenxi, Hejin, and the surrounding region.

五年，賊分道四出，連陷大寧、隰州、澤州、壽陽諸州縣，全晉震動。乃罷巡撫宋統殷，以許鼎臣代之，與宣大總督張宗衡分督諸將。宗衡督虎在威、駕人龍、左良玉等兵八千人，駐平陽，責以平陽、澤、潞四十一州縣。鼎臣督張應昌、頗希牧、艾萬年兵七千人，駐汾州，責以汾、太、沁遼三十八州縣。賊亦轉入磨盤山，分眾為三：「閻正虎據交城、文水，窺太原；邢紅狼、上天龍據吳城，窺汾州；自用、獻忠突沁州、武鄉，陷遼州。

In the fifth year the bandits split into four columns and overran Daning, Xi Prefecture, Zezhou, Shouyang, and other prefectures and counties, throwing all of Shanxi into alarm. Governor Song Tongyin was dismissed and replaced by Xu Dingchen, who with Xuan-Da supreme commander Zhang Zongheng divided command of the generals. Zongheng commanded eight thousand troops under Hu Zaiwei, Jia Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, and others, stationed at Pingyang with responsibility for forty-one prefectures and counties in the Pingyang, Zezhou, and Lu'an region. Dingchen commanded seven thousand troops under Zhang Yingchang, Po Ximu, and Ai Wannian, stationed at Fenzhou with responsibility for thirty-eight prefectures and counties in the Fen, Taiyuan, Qinzhou, and Liaozhou region. The bandits also shifted to Millstone Mountain and divided into three columns: 'Yan Zhenghu held Jiaocheng and Wenshui, threatening Taiyuan; Xing Honglang and Shang Tianlong held Wucheng, threatening Fenzhou; Ziyong and Xianzhong struck Qinzhou and Wuxiang and captured Liaozhou.

六年春，官兵共進力擊。自用懼，乞降於故錦衣僉事張道浚。約未定，陽和兵襲之。賊怒，敗約去。會總兵官曹文詔率陝西兵至，偕諸將猛如虎、虎大威、頗希牧、艾萬年、張應昌等合剿，屢戰皆大克，前後殺混世王、滿天星、姬關鎖、翻山動，掌世王、顯道神等，破自用、獻忠、老回回、蠍子塊、掃地王諸賊。其後，自用又為川將鄧射殺之。山西三大盜俱敗。初，賊之破澤州也，分其眾，南逾太行，掠濟源、清化、修武，圍懷慶。官軍擊之，賊遁走。別賊復闌入西山，大掠順德、真定間。大名道盧象升力戰劫賊。賊自邢臺摩天嶺西下，抵武安，敗總兵左良玉，河北三府焚劫殆遍。潞王上疏告急，兼請衛鳳、泗陵寢。詔特遣總兵倪寵、王朴率京營兵六千人，與諸將並進。賊聞之，欲從河內走太行。文詔邀擊之，不敢進。賊之敗於山西者，亦奔河北合營，迎祥、自成、獻忠、曹操、老回回等俱至。京兵蹙其後，左良玉，湯九州等扼其前，連戰於青店、石岡、石坡、牛尾、柳泉、猛虎村，屢敗之。賊欲逸，阻於河，大困。賊素畏文詔、道浚，道浚先坐事遣戍，文詔轉戰秦、晉、河北，遇賊輒大克，御史復劾其驕倨，調大同總兵去。賊遂詭辭乞降，監軍太監楊進朝信之，為入奏。會天寒河冰合，賊突從毛家寨策馬徑渡。河南諸軍無扼河者，賊遂連陷澠池、伊陽、盧氏三縣。河南巡撫玄默率諸將盛兵待之，賊竄入盧氏山中，由間道直走內鄉，掠鄖陽，又分掠南陽、汝寧，入棗陽、當陽，逼湖廣。巡撫唐暉斂兵守境。犯歸、巴、夷陵等處，破夔州，攻廣元，逼四川，所在告急。

In the spring of the sixth year, government troops advanced in concert and struck with full force. Ziyong grew fearful and offered to surrender to the former Embroidered Uniform Guard commissioner Zhang Daojun. Before terms were settled, Yanghe troops attacked them. Enraged, the bandits broke off negotiations and withdrew. When supreme commander Cao Wenzhao arrived with Shaanxi troops and joined generals Meng Ruhu, Hu Dawei, Po Ximu, Ai Wannian, Zhang Yingchang, and others in a joint campaign, victory followed victory. They killed World-Mixing King, Full Sky of Stars, Ji Guansuo, Overturning Mountain Shake, Palm World King, Manifest Way God, and others, and defeated Ziyong, Xianzhong, Old Huihui, Scorpion Lump, and Sweeping-Earth King. Later Ziyong was shot and killed by Sichuan commander Deng Chi. The three great Shanxi bandit leaders were all defeated. When the bandits first took Zezhou, they split their forces, crossed the Taihang Mountains southward, raided Jiyuan, Qinghua, and Xiuwu, and besieged Huaiqing. Government troops attacked and the bandits fled. Other bandits forced their way into the Western Hills and plundered widely between Shunde and Zhending. Daming circuit intendant Lu Xiangsheng fought fiercely against the raiding bandits. The bandits descended west from Motian Ridge at Xingtai, reached Wu'an, defeated commander Zuo Liangyu, and burned and plundered nearly all of the three Hebei prefectures. The Prince of Lu memorialized in urgent alarm and also requested guards for the imperial tombs at Feng and Si. An edict specially dispatched commanders Ni Chong and Wang Pu with six thousand capital camp troops to advance together with the other generals. Hearing this, the bandits planned to flee from Henei through the Taihang Mountains. Wenzhao intercepted them and they dared not advance. Bandits defeated in Shanxi also fled to Hebei to join the main force; Yingxiang, Zicheng, Xianzhong, Cao Cao, Old Huihui, and others all arrived. Capital troops pressed from the rear while Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou, and others blocked the front. Battles at Qingdian, Shigang, Shipo, Niwei, Liuquan, and Menghu Village repeatedly defeated them. The bandits tried to escape but were trapped by the river and fell into desperate straits. The bandits had always feared Wenzhao and Daojun. Daojun had earlier been banished for misconduct; Wenzhao fought across Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei, defeating the bandits wherever he met them. Censors impeached him for arrogance and he was transferred to command at Datong. The bandits then feigned surrender. Supervising eunuch Yang Jinchao believed them and memorialized the throne on their behalf. When cold weather froze the river, the bandits suddenly galloped across from Maojia Stockade. No Henan troops blocked the crossing, and the bandits successively captured Mianchi, Yiyang, and Lushi. Henan governor Xuan Mo gathered a large force to await them. The bandits slipped into the Lushi mountains, took hidden paths to Neixiang, raided Yunyang, split to raid Nanyang and Runing, entered Zaoyang and Dangyang, and pressed toward Huguang. Governor Tang Hui gathered his troops to guard the border. They attacked Gui, Ba, Yiling, and other places, captured Kuizhou, attacked Guangyuan, and pressed into Sichuan, with urgent alarms arriving from every quarter.

七年春，特設山、陝、河南、湖廣、四川總督，專辦賊，以延綏巡撫陳奇瑜為之，以盧象升撫治鄖陽，為奇瑜破賊延水關有威名，而象升曆戰陣知兵也。於是奇瑜自均州入，與象升並進，師次烏林關，斬賊數千級。賊走漢南，奇瑜以湖廣不足憂，引兵西擊。始，賊自澠池渡河，高迎祥最強，自成屬焉。及入河南，自成與兄子過結李牟、俞彬、白廣恩、李雙喜、顧君恩、高傑等自為一軍。過、傑善戰，君恩善謀。及奇瑜兵至，獻忠等奔商、雒，自成等陷於興安之車箱峽。會大雨兩月，馬乏芻多死，弓矢皆脫，自成用君恩計，賄奇瑜左右，詐降。奇瑜意輕賊，許之，檄諸將按兵毋殺，所過州縣為具糗傳送。賊甫渡棧，即大噪，盡屠所過七州縣。而略陽賊數萬亦來會，賊勢愈張。奇瑜坐削籍，而自成名始著矣。已，洪承疇代奇瑜，李喬巡撫陝西，吳甡巡撫山西。大學士溫體仁謂甡曰：「流賊癬疥疾，勿憂也。」未幾，西寧兵變，承疇甫受命而東，聞變遽返。迎祥、自成遂入鞏昌、平涼、臨洮、鳳翔諸府數十州縣。敗賀人龍、張天禮軍，殺固原道陸夢龍。圍隴州四十餘日，承疇檄總兵左光先與人龍合擊，大破之。會朝廷亦命豫、楚、晉、蜀兵四道入陝，迎祥、自成遂竄入終南山。已而東出，陷陳州、靈寶、汜水、滎陽。聞左良玉將至，移壁梅山、溱水間。部賊拔上蔡，燒汝寧郛。乃命承疇出關追賊，與山東巡撫硃大典並力擊，賊偵知之。

In the spring of the seventh year a special governor was created for Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, and Sichuan, devoted solely to suppressing the bandits, with Yan-sui governor Chen Qiyu appointed to the post and Lu Xiangsheng made pacification commissioner of Yunyang. Qiyu had won fame defeating bandits at Yanshui Pass, and Xiangsheng was a seasoned commander who knew warfare. Qiyu entered from Junzhou and advanced with Xiangsheng. At Wulin Pass they beheaded several thousand bandits. The bandits fled to southern Han. Qiyu judged Huguang not worth worrying about and led his troops west to attack. When the bandits first crossed the river at Mianchi, Gao Yingxiang was the strongest leader and Zicheng served under him. After entering Henan, Zicheng and his nephew Guo allied with Li Mou, Yu Bin, Bai Guang'en, Li Shuangxi, Gu Jun'en, Gao Jie, and others to form their own army. Guo and Gao Jie excelled in combat; Jun'en excelled in strategy. When Chen Qiyu's army arrived, Zhang Xianzhong and others fled toward Shang and Luo, while Li Zicheng and his followers were trapped at Chexiang Gorge in Xing'an. Heavy rains fell for two months. Horses went without fodder and many died; bowstrings rotted and fell slack. Li Zicheng followed Jun'en's counsel, bribing Chen Qiyu's staff and feigning surrender. Chen Qiyu underestimated the rebels, granted their plea, and ordered generals to hold their men back from killing. Every prefecture and county along the route was commanded to supply rations and escort the column forward. Hardly had the rebels crossed the plank roads when they raised a great uproar and massacred every county they passed through—seven in all. Tens of thousands more from Lüeyang joined them, and rebel strength swelled further. Chen Qiyu was stripped of his official rank; from this point Li Zicheng's reputation began to rise. Soon Hong Chengchou replaced Chen Qiyu; Li Qiao was appointed grand coordinator of Shaanxi and Wu Shen of Shanxi. Grand Secretary Wen Tiren told Wu Shen, "These roaming rebels are a mere itch—nothing to fret over. Before long the Xining garrison mutinied. Hong Chengchou had barely taken office and was marching east when word of the uprising sent him racing back. Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng overran dozens of prefectures and counties including Gongchang, Pingliang, Lintao, and Fengxiang. They routed the armies of He Renlong and Zhang Tianli and killed Lu Menglong, circuit intendant of Guyuan. They besieged Longzhou for more than forty days. Hong Chengchou ordered Commander Zuo Guangxian to join He Renlong in a pincer attack and broke them utterly. Meanwhile the court ordered four columns—from Henan, Huguang, Shanxi, and Sichuan—into Shaanxi. Yingxiang and Li Zicheng drove into the Zhongnan Mountains. Before long they burst eastward and seized Chenzhou, Lingbao, Sishui, and Xingyang. Learning that Zuo Liangyu was closing in, they moved their camp between Meishan and the Qin River. A rebel detachment seized Shangcai and set fire to the suburbs of Runing. The court then ordered Hong Chengchou out of the passes to hunt the rebels, joining Shandong grand coordinator Zhu Dadian in a combined pursuit—and the rebels learned of it through their spies.

八年正月，大會于滎陽。老回回、曹操、革裏眼、左金王、改世王、射塌天、橫天王、混十萬、過天星、九條龍、順天王及迎祥、獻忠共十三家七十二營，議拒敵，未決。自成進曰：「一夫猶奮，況十萬眾乎！官兵無能為也。宜分兵定所向，利鈍聽之天。」皆曰：「善。」乃議革裏眼、左金王當川、湖兵，橫天王、混十萬當陝兵，曹操、過天星扼河上，迎祥、獻忠及自成等略東方，老回回、九條龍往來策應。陝兵銳，益以謝塌天、改世王。所破城邑，子女玉帛惟均。眾如自成言。先是，南京兵部尚書呂維祺懼賊南犯，請加防鳳陽陵寢，不報。及迎祥、獻忠東下，江北兵單。固始、霍丘俱失守。賊燔壽州，陷潁州，知州尹夢鰲、州判趙士寬戰死，殺故尚書張鶴鳴。乘勝陷鳳陽，焚皇陵，留守署正硃國相等皆戰死。事聞，帝素服哭，遣官告廟。逮漕運都御史楊一鵬棄市，以硃大典代之，大徵兵討賊。賊乃大書幟曰古元真龍皇帝，合樂大飲。自成從獻忠求皇陵監小閹善鼓吹者，獻忠不與。自成怒，偕迎祥西趨歸德，與曹操、過天星合，復入陝西。獻忠獨東下廬州。

In the first month of the eighth year (1635) they convened a great council at Xingyang. Old Huihui, Cao Cao, Leather-Eye, Left Gold King, Alter-World King, Shooting-Sky Collapser, Crossing Heaven King, World-Mixing Myriad, Crossing Heaven Star, Nine Dragons, Compliance Heaven King—together with Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong—thirteen houses in seventy-two camps debated how to resist government forces and reached no decision. Li Zicheng spoke up: "If one man will fight to the death, what of a hundred thousand? Government troops cannot touch us. We should divide the army and set each column's destination—gain or loss, leave it to Heaven. All agreed: "Well said." They apportioned the fight: Leather-Eye and Left Gold King against Sichuan and Huguang armies; Crossing Heaven King and World-Mixing Myriad against Shaanxi forces; Cao Cao and Crossing Heaven Star to choke the Yellow River; Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong, and Li Zicheng to ravage the east; Old Huihui and Nine Dragons to coordinate between them. Because Shaanxi troops were the toughest foe, Collapsing Heaven and Alter-World King were added to that front. In every captured city, booty—women, jade, silks—was to be shared equally. The host did as Li Zicheng proposed. Earlier, Nanjing Minister of War Lü Weiqi, fearing a southern thrust, had begged stronger protection for the Fengyang imperial tombs—but the court never answered. When Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong drove east, defenses north of the Yangtze were thin. Gushi and Huoqiu both fell. The rebels torched Shouzhou and seized Yingzhou. Prefect Yin Meng'ao and assistant prefect Zhao Shikuan were killed in battle, along with the retired minister Zhang Heming. Riding momentum they stormed Fengyang and burned the imperial mausoleum. Custodian Zhu Guoxiang and the garrison died to a man. When news reached the capital, Chongzhen donned mourning garb and wept, then sent officers to announce the calamity at the ancestral shrines. Grain Transport grand coordinator Yang Yipeng was executed in the marketplace. Zhu Dadian took his post and the court mobilized a massive expedition against the rebels. The rebels raised banners proclaiming an "Ancient Primeval True Dragon Emperor" and feasted to music. Li Zicheng asked Zhang Xianzhong for eunuchs from the burned tomb who could play court music; Zhang Xianzhong refused. Li Zicheng flew into a rage. He and Yingxiang sped west to Guide, united with Cao Cao and Crossing Heaven Star, and plunged back into Shaanxi. Zhang Xianzhong alone drove east into Luzhou.

承疇方馳至汝州，命諸將左良玉、湯九州、尤世威、徐來朝、陳永福、鄧、張應昌分扼湖廣、河南、鄖陽諸關隘，召曹文詔為中軍。文詔未至，以兵亂死。迎祥、自成從終南山出，大掠富平、寧州。老回回、獻忠、曹操、蠍子塊、過天星諸賊，聞承疇出關，先後皆走陝西，焚掠西安、平涼、鳳翔諸郡。承疇亟還救，分遣諸將擊老回回等，令副總兵劉成功、艾萬年擊迎祥、自成于寧州。萬年中伏戰死，文詔怒，復擊之，亦中伏戰死。群賊乘勝掠地，火照西安城中。承疇力禦之涇陽、三原間，決死戰，賊不得過。獻忠、老回回等由他道轉突硃陽關，守關將徐來臣軍潰死，尤世威中箭遁。於是群賊皆出關，分十三營東犯，而迎祥、自成獨留陝西。

Hong Chengchou had just reached Ruzhou and ordered Zuo Liangyu, Tang Jiuzhou, You Shiwei, Xu Laichao, Chen Yongfu, Deng Chi, and Zhang Yingchang to hold the passes of Huguang, Henan, and Yunyang. He summoned Cao Wenzhao to command the center. Before Cao Wenzhao could arrive, Deng Chi was killed when his own soldiers mutinied. Yingxiang and Li Zicheng emerged from the Zhongnan Mountains and ravaged Fuping and Ningzhou. Old Huihui, Zhang Xianzhong, Cao Cao, Scorpion Lump, Crossing Heaven Star, and other chiefs—hearing Hong Chengchou had marched out—poured into Shaanxi one after another, burning Xi'an, Pingliang, Fengxiang, and the surrounding country. Hong Chengchou wheeled back to save the provinces, detached columns against Old Huihui and the others, and sent vice-commanders Liu Chenggong and Ai Wannian after Yingxiang and Li Zicheng at Ningzhou. Ai Wannian was ambushed and killed. Cao Wenzhao, enraged, pressed the attack and was ambushed and slain in turn. Victorious rebels swept the countryside; the glow of burning villages lit Xi'an from afar. Hong Chengchou held the line between Jingyang and Sanyuan in a death struggle and checked their advance. Zhang Xianzhong and Old Huihui swung through another gap and stormed Zhuyang Pass. Defender Xu Laichen's force broke and he was killed; You Shiwei took an arrow and fled. The rebel hosts then poured out of the passes in thirteen columns to ravage the east, while only Yingxiang and Li Zicheng stayed behind in Shaanxi.

時盧象升已改湖廣巡撫，總理直隸、河南、山東、四川、湖廣諸軍務。詔承疇督關中，象升督關外。賊亦分兵，迎祥略武功、扶風以西，自成略富平、固州以東。承疇遣將追自成，小捷，至醴泉。賊將高傑通于自成妻邢氏，懼誅，挾之來降。承疇身追自成，大戰渭南、臨潼，自成大敗東走。迎祥亦屢敗，東逾華陰南原，絕嶺，偕自成出硃陽關，與獻忠合。冬十一月，群賊薄閿鄉，左良玉、祖寬禦之不克，遂陷陝州，進攻雒陽。河南巡撫陳必謙督良玉、寬援雒陽，獻忠走嵩、汝。迎祥、自成走偃師、鞏縣，略魯山、葉縣，陷光州，象升擊敗之確山。

By then Lu Xiangsheng had become Huguang grand coordinator with overarching command over Zhili, Henan, Shandong, Sichuan, and Huguang. An edict placed Hong Chengchou in charge within the passes and Lu Xiangsheng beyond them. The rebels split likewise: Yingxiang harried west of Wugong and Fufeng; Li Zicheng east of Fuping and Guzhou. Hong Chengchou's pursuers skirmished successfully with Li Zicheng and pressed as far as Liquan. Rebel commander Gao Jie had been carrying on with Li Zicheng's wife Lady Xing; fearing punishment, he seized her and defected. Hong Chengchou led the pursuit himself. At Weinan and Lintong Li Zicheng was shattered and fled east. Yingxiang, too, lost battle after battle. He crossed Huayin's southern plateau by treacherous ridges, met Li Zicheng at Zhuyang Pass, and merged with Zhang Xianzhong's force. In the eleventh month the rebel horde pressed Tong Pass. Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan could not hold them; they seized Shanzhou and marched on Luoyang. Henan grand coordinator Chen Biqian rushed Liangyu and Kuan to relieve Luoyang, driving Zhang Xianzhong toward Songshan and Ruzhou. Yingxiang and Li Zicheng veered through Yanshi and Gongxian, pillaged Lushan and Yexian, and seized Guangzhou before Lu Xiangsheng beat them at Queshan.

九年春，迎祥、自成攻廬州，不拔。陷含山、和州，殺知州黎弘業及在籍御史馬如蛟等。又攻滁州，知州劉大鞏、太僕卿李覺斯堅守不下。象升親督祖寬、羅岱、楊世恩等來援，戰于硃龍橋，賊大敗，屍咽水不流。北攻壽州，故御史方震孺堅守。折而西，入歸德，邊將祖大樂破之。走密、登封，故總兵湯九州戰死。分道犯南陽、裕州，必謙援南陽，象升援裕，令大樂等擊賊，殺迎祥、自成精銳幾盡。賊復分兵再入陝，迎祥由鄖、襄趨興安、漢中，自成由南山逾商、雒，走延綏，犯鞏昌北境。諸將左光先、曹變蛟破之，自成走環縣。未幾，官軍敗于羅家山，盡亡士馬器仗，總兵官俞沖霄被執。自成執復振，進圍綏德，欲東渡河，山西兵遏之。復西掠米脂，呼知縣邊大綬，曰：「此吾故鄉也，勿虐我父老。」遺之金，令修文廟。將襲榆林，河水驟長，賊淹死甚眾，乃改道，從韓城而西。時象升及大樂、寬等皆入援京師。孫傳庭新除陝西巡撫，銳意滅賊。秋七月，擒迎祥於盩啡，獻俘闕下，磔死。於是賊黨乃共推自成為闖王矣。是月，犯階、徽。未幾，出、隴，犯鳳翔，渡渭河。

In the spring of the ninth year (1636) Yingxiang and Li Zicheng besieged Luzhou without success. They overran Hanshan and Hezhou, killing prefect Li Hongye and the retired censor Ma Rujiao among others. They stormed Chuzhou next, but prefect Liu Dagong and Grand Secretary of the Imperial Stud Li Juesi held firm and the city would not fall. Lu Xiangsheng led Zu Kuan, Luo Dai, Yang Shi'en, and others to the rescue. At Zhulong Bridge the rebels were annihilated—corpses dammed the stream. They turned north on Shouzhou, where retired censor Fang Zhenru held the walls. Swinging west into Guide, they were broken by frontier commander Zu Dale. They fled toward Mi and Dengfeng; former commander Tang Jiuzhou fell in battle. Splitting again, they struck Nanyang and Yuzhou. Chen Biqian relieved Nanyang while Lu Xiangsheng relieved Yuzhou; Zu Dale and others were ordered to engage and wiped out nearly all of Yingxiang's and Li Zicheng's veteran corps. The survivors split once more and re-entered Shaanxi—Yingxiang threading Yunyang and Xiangyang toward Xing'an and Hanzhong, Li Zicheng crossing the southern ranges over Shang and Luo into Yan-sui and raiding northern Gongchang. Zuo Guangxian and Cao Bianjiao routed Li Zicheng, who fled to Huan County. Soon afterward government forces lost at Mount Luojia—men, horses, and arms gone to the last item; commander Yu Chongxiao was taken prisoner. Li Zicheng rallied on the victory, besieged Suide, and tried to cross the Yellow River eastward—only to be blocked by Shanxi troops. He turned west to plunder Mizhi, summoned Magistrate Bian Dakuo, and said: "This is my homeland—do not harm my people. He left gold to repair the county Confucian temple. Planning a strike on Yulin, he found the river in sudden flood; countless rebels drowned, and he diverted west through Hancheng. By then Lu Xiangsheng, Zu Dale, Zu Kuan, and the main armies had been drawn north to relieve the capital. Sun Chuanting had just been named Shaanxi grand coordinator, determined to destroy the rebels. In the seventh month Yingxiang was taken at Zhouzhi, paraded as a captive before the throne, and executed by dismemberment. The rebel hosts thereupon acclaimed Li Zicheng King Who Charges. That same month they raided Jiezhou and Huizhou. Soon they burst from the Qin-Long region, struck Fengxiang, and forded the Wei.

十年，犯涇陽、三原。蠍於塊、過天星俱來會。傳庭督變蛟連戰七日，皆克，蠍子塊降。自成與過天星奔秦州。入蜀，陷寧羌，破七盤關，陷廣元，總兵官侯良柱戰死，遂連陷昭化、劍州、梓潼、江油、黎雅、青川等州縣。劍州知州徐尚卿、吏目李英俊、昭化知縣王時化、郫縣主簿張應奇、金堂典史潘夢科皆死。進攻成都，七日不克，巡撫王維章坐避賊征。

In the tenth year (1637) they ravaged Jingyang and Sanyuan. Scorpion Lump and Crossing Heaven Star joined them. Sun Chuanting and Cao Bianjiao fought seven days straight, winning every clash; Scorpion Lump surrendered. Li Zicheng and Crossing Heaven Star fled to Qinzhou. They invaded Sichuan, seized Ningqiang, smashed Qipan Pass, and took Guangyuan—commander Hou Liangzhu died in the fighting—then rolled through Zhaohua, Jianzhou, Zitong, Jiangyou, Liya, Qingchuan, and a string of counties. Jianzhou magistrate Xu Shangqing, clerk Li Yingjun, Zhaohua magistrate Wang Shihua, Pixian registrar Zhang Yingqi, and Jintang clerk Pan Mengke were among those who died defending their posts. They besieged Chengdu for seven days without success; grand coordinator Wang Weizhang was recalled and punished for evading the rebels.

十一年春，官軍敗賊梓潼，自成奔白水，食盡。承疇、傳庭合擊于潼關原，大破之。自成盡亡其卒，獨與劉宗敏、田見秀等十八騎潰圍，竄伏商、洛山中。其年，獻忠降，自成勢益衰。承疇改薊遼總督，傳庭改保定總督。傳庭以疾辭，逮下獄。二人去，自成稍得安。總理熊文燦方主撫，諜者或報自成死，益寬之。

In the spring of the eleventh year (1638) government forces beat them at Zitong; Li Zicheng fled to Baishui with his men starving. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting united at Tongguan Plain and shattered them. Li Zicheng's army was gone; he escaped the encirclement with Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, and only eighteen horsemen, hiding in the mountains of Shangluo. That year Zhang Xianzhong surrendered; Li Zicheng's power ebbed further. Hong Chengchou was made Jizhou-Liaodong supreme commander; Sun Chuanting Baoding supreme commander. Sun Chuanting pleaded illness, resigned, and was thrown into prison. Once those two were gone, Li Zicheng could breathe a little easier. Overall Pacification Commissioner Xiong Wencan favored negotiation; scouts sometimes reported Li Zicheng dead, and the court relaxed its guard further.

十二年夏，獻忠反穀城。自成大喜，出收眾，眾復大集。陝西總督鄭崇儉發兵圍之，令曰「圍師必缺。」自成乃由缺走，突武關，往依獻忠。獻忠欲圖之，覺，遁去。楊嗣昌督師夷陵，檄令降，自成出謾語。官軍圍自成于巴西、魚復諸山中，自成大困，欲自經，養子雙喜勸而止。賊將多出降。劉宗敏者，藍田鍛工也，最驍勇，亦欲降。自成與步入叢祠，顧而歎曰：「人言我當為天子，盍卜之，不吉，斷我頭以降。」宗敏諾，三卜三吉。宗敏還，殺其兩妻，謂自成曰：「吾死從君矣。」軍中壯士聞之，亦多殺妻子願從者。自成乃盡焚輜重，輕騎由鄖、均走河南。河南大旱，斛谷萬錢，饑民從自成者數萬。遂自南陽出，攻宜陽，殺知縣唐啟泰。攻永甯，殺知縣武大烈，戕萬安王采钅輕。攻偃師，知縣徐日泰罵賊死。時十三年十二月也。

In the summer of the twelfth year (1639) Zhang Xianzhong rose again at Gucheng. Li Zicheng rejoiced, came out of hiding, and his followers swelled once more. Shaanxi governor Zheng Chongjian encircled him with orders that a siege must always leave an opening. Li Zicheng slipped through the deliberate gap, broke past Wuguan, and threw in his lot with Zhang Xianzhong. Zhang Xianzhong meant to eliminate him; Li Zicheng sensed the trap and fled. Yang Sichang took command at Yiling and ordered the rebels to surrender; Li Zicheng answered with mockery. Imperial forces penned Li Zicheng in the Baxi and Yufu mountains; cornered and ready to take his own life, he was talked down by his adopted son Shuangxi. One rebel commander after another surrendered. Liu Zongmin, a smith from Lantian and their bravest fighter, was also ready to submit. Li Zicheng led him into a wooded shrine, turned, and sighed: "They say I am fated to rule—let us cast lots; if the sign is bad, take my head and surrender. Zongmin agreed; three divinations, all favorable. Zongmin went back, slew his two wives, and told Zicheng: "I will follow you to the death. Hearing this, many bold fighters in the ranks likewise killed their families and pledged to march on. Li Zicheng burned his entire train, then rode light through Yun and Jun into Henan. Henan was gripped by drought—grain sold for ten thousand cash a hu—and tens of thousands of the hungry joined Li Zicheng. He broke out of Nanyang, stormed Yiyang, and killed the magistrate Tang Qitai. At Yongning he killed Magistrate Wu Dalie and murdered Prince Wan'an, Caiqing. At Yanshi the magistrate Xu Ritai hurled defiance at the rebels and was killed. This was in the twelfth month of Chongzhen 13.

自成為人高顴深，鴟目曷鼻，聲如豺。性猜忍，日殺人斮足剖心為戲。所過，民皆保塢堡不下。杞縣舉人李信者，逆案中尚書李精白子也，嘗出粟振饑民，民德之曰：「李公子活我。」會繩伎紅娘子反，擄信，強委身焉。信逃歸，官以為賊，囚獄中。紅娘子來救，饑民應之，共出信。盧氏舉人牛金星磨勘被斥，私入自成軍為主謀，潛歸，事泄坐斬，已，得末減。二人皆往投自成，自成大喜，改信名曰岩。金星又薦卜者宋獻策，長三尺餘，上讖記云：「十八子，主神器。」自成大悅。岩因說曰：「取天下以人心為本，請勿殺人，收天下心。」自成從之，屠戮為減。又散所掠財物振饑民，民受餉者，不辨岩、自成也，雜呼曰：「李公子活我。」岩復造謠詞曰：「迎闖王，不納糧。」使兒童歌以相煽，從自成者日眾。

Li Zicheng was tall and gaunt, with prominent cheekbones, deep sockets, predatory eyes, a hooked nose, and a voice like a hunting dog. Suspicious and pitiless by nature, he amused himself each day by killing—severing feet and slicing open chests. Everywhere his army went, villagers barricaded themselves in fortified hamlets and refused to submit. Li Xin of Qixian, a jinshi and son of the disgraced minister Li Jingbai, had once distributed grain in famine relief; the people blessed him, saying, "Young Master Li has kept us alive. Then Hong Niangzi, a rebel leader among the rope-trick performers, captured Xin and compelled him to wed her. Xin escaped home, but officials branded him a rebel and threw him in jail. Hong Niangzi marched to free him; the hungry rose with her, and together they broke Xin out. Niu Jinxing of Lushi, also a jinshi, had been cashiered in a personnel review; he slipped into Zicheng's camp as chief adviser, slipped back out, was caught, condemned to death, and finally spared. Both men threw in their lot with Li Zicheng, who was delighted and gave Xin the name Yan. Jinxing also brought in the seer Song Xiance, a man barely three feet tall, whose prophecy ran: "The one named Eighteen shall possess the Mandate. Li Zicheng was overjoyed. Yan urged him: "Winning the empire depends on winning hearts—stop the killing, and you will win the people. Zicheng heeded him, and the massacres eased. He also handed out loot to feed the hungry; recipients could not tell Yan from Zicheng and shouted alike, "Young Master Li has kept us alive! Yan composed a slogan: "Welcome Lord Chuang—no grain levies." Children were taught to sing it as propaganda, and Zicheng's following swelled day by day.

十四年正月攻河南，有營卒勾賊，城遂陷，福王常洵遇害。自成兵汋王血，雜鹿醢嘗之，名「福祿酒。」王世子由崧裸而逃。自成發王邸金振饑民，遂移攻開封。時張獻忠亦陷襄陽，戕襄王翊銘。王開封者周王恭枵，聞賊至，急發庫金募死士，與巡撫都御史高名衡等固守。自成攻七晝夜，解去，屠密縣。賊魁羅汝才、土寇袁時中皆歸自成。時中眾二十萬，號小袁營。汝才即曹操，與獻忠同降復叛去者也。

In the first month of Chongzhen 14 he struck Henan; a camp soldier opened the gates to the rebels, the city fell, and Prince Fu Changxun was killed. Zicheng's men caught the prince's blood, blended it with venison stew, drank it, and called the brew "Wine of Fortune and Salary. The heir Yousong escaped stripped to the skin. Zicheng opened the princely vaults to feed the hungry, then marched on Kaifeng. Meanwhile Zhang Xianzhong seized Xiangyang and killed Prince Xiang Yiming. Prince Zhou of Kaifeng, Gongxiao, hearing the rebels approach, emptied his treasury to hire desperate fighters and, with Grand Coordinator Gao Mingheng and others, dug in to defend the city. After seven days and nights of assault Zicheng lifted the siege and slaughtered Mi County. The rebel chief Luo Rucai and the local bandit Yuan Shizhong both joined Li Zicheng. Yuan Shizhong commanded two hundred thousand men, known as the Little Yuan Camp. Rucai was the man called Cao Cao, who had surrendered with Zhang Xianzhong only to rebel once more.

自成初為迎祥裨將，至是勢大盛。帝以故尚書傅宗龍為陝西總督，使專辦自成，別敕保定總督楊文岳會師。宗龍馳入關，與巡撫汪喬年調兵，兵已發盡，乃檄河南大將李國奇、賀人龍兵隸部下，亟出關。文嶽率虎大威軍俱至新蔡，與自成遇。人龍卒先奔，國奇、大威繼之，宗龍、文嶽以親軍築壘自固。夜，文嶽兵潰奔陳州，宗龍與賊持數日，食盡，突圍走，被執死。自成陷葉縣，殺副將劉國能，遂圍左良玉於郾城。喬年代宗龍總督，出關，次襄城，自成盡銳攻之，喬年與副將李萬慶皆死。自成劓刖諸生百九十人。遂乘勝陷南陽、鄧州十四城，再圍開封。巡撫名衡、總兵陳永福力拒之，射中自成目，砲殪上天龍等，自成益怒。

Li Zicheng had begun as a lieutenant to Yingxiang; now his strength was supreme. Emperor Chongzhen named the former minister Fu Zonglong governor of Shaanxi to focus on Li Zicheng and ordered Yang Wenyue, governor of Baoding, to unite their armies. Zonglong raced through the pass and, with Governor Wang Qiaonian, scraped together every soldier already deployed, then drafted the Henan commanders Li Guoqi and He Renlong and pushed out of the pass at once. Wenyue brought Hu Dawei's troops to Xincai and collided with Li Zicheng. He Renlong's men broke first; Li Guoqi and Hu Dawei followed; Zonglong and Wenyue entrenched their bodyguards behind earthworks. That night Wenyue's force disintegrated and fled to Chenzhou; Zonglong held for days until provisions ran out, fought his way out, was taken, and executed. Zicheng seized Ye County, slew Vice Commander Liu Guoneng, and besieged Zuo Liangyu at Yancheng. Wang Qiaonian replaced Zonglong, marched out, and camped at Xiangcheng; Zicheng threw his full strength against him; Qiaonian and Vice Commander Li Wanqing were both killed. Li Zicheng maimed one hundred ninety degree-holders. Riding momentum he captured Nanyang, Dengzhou, and fourteen cities, then laid siege to Kaifeng once more. Mingheng and General Chen Yongfu fought back fiercely; a shot pierced Zicheng's eye, cannon fire killed Shang Tianlong and others, and his rage only deepened.

自成每攻城，不用古梯沖法，專取瓴甋，得一磚即歸營臥，後者必斬。取磚已，即穿穴穴城。初僅容一人，漸至百十，次第傅土以出。過三五步，留一土柱，系以巨糸亙。穿畢，萬人曳糸亙一呼，而柱折城崩矣。名衡於城上鑿橫道，聽其下有聲，用毒穢灌之，多死。賊乃即城壞處用火攻法，實藥甕中，火燃藥發，當者輒糜碎，名曰放迸。

In every siege he spurned ladders and rams; each man had to fetch roof tiles—bring one brick back to camp and rest; fail, and be executed. Once enough bricks were collected, they tunneled into the wall. The breach began wide enough for one man, then dozens, then hundreds, as diggers passed soil out behind them. Every few paces they left an earthen column and lashed it with heavy ropes. When the tunneling was done, ten thousand men hauled the ropes at once—the columns snapped and the wall came down. Mingheng bored listening galleries along the parapet; hearing digging below, defenders poured poison and filth into the tunnels, killing many. The rebels turned to fire assault at the breach—powder packed in jars, ignited to shatter defenders—a tactic they named "bursting advance."

十五年正月，城半圮，賊用放迸法攻之，鐵騎數千馳噪，伺城頹即擁入城。城故宋汴都，金人所重築也。厚數丈，土堅，火外擊，賊騎多殲，自成駭而去。南陷西華，尋屠陳州，副使關永傑、知州侯君擢皆罵賊死。歸德、睢州、寧陵、太康數十郡縣，悉殘毀。商丘知縣梁以樟創死復蘇，全家殲焉。已，復攻開封，築長圍為持久計。詔起孫傳庭為總督，釋故尚書侯恂命督師，召左良玉援開封。良玉至硃仙鎮，大敗，奔襄陽。諸軍皆屯河北，不敢進。開封食盡。山東總兵劉澤清亦奉詔至。傳庭知開封急，大會諸將西安，亟出關來救。未至，名衡等議決硃家寨口河灌賊，賊亦決馬家口河欲灌城。秋九月癸未，天大雨，二口並決，聲如雷，潰北門入，穿東南門出，注渦水。城中百萬戶皆沒，得脫者惟周王、妃、世子及撫按以下不及二萬人。賊亦漂沒萬餘，乃拔營西南去。

In the first month of Chongzhen 15 half the ramparts crumbled; rebels blasted the breach with bursting charges while thousands of armored horsemen waited to pour through the moment the wall gave way. The city was the old Song capital of Bian, massively refortified by the Jin. Walls several zhang thick of packed earth withstood external blasts; rebel cavalry were slaughtered in droves, and Zicheng retreated in shock. He drove south through Xihua, then butchered Chenzhou; Vice Commissioner Guan Yongjie and Magistrate Hou Junzhuo cursed the rebels and died. Guide, Suizhou, Ningling, Taikang, and dozens of other prefectures and counties were laid waste. At Shangqiu, Magistrate Liang Yizhang was beaten to death, revived, and then his entire household was wiped out. Soon he returned to Kaifeng, throwing up a continuous siege line meant to starve the city out. The court reappointed Sun Chuanating as grand coordinator, freed the former minister Hou Xun to take command, and called Zuo Liangyu to Kaifeng's aid. Zuo Liangyu reached Zhuxian Town, was routed, and fled to Xiangyang. Government armies massed north of the Yellow River and would not move forward. Kaifeng ran out of food. Liu Zeqing, commander of Shandong, likewise arrived on imperial orders. Knowing Kaifeng's peril, Sun Chuanating convened his generals at Xi'an and raced through the pass to relieve the city. Before he arrived, Mingheng and others decided to cut the Yellow River at Zhujiazhai to drown the rebels; the rebels cut the river at Majiakou to flood the city. On guimou day in the ninth month, torrential rain burst both dikes at once with thunderous roar; floodwater crashed through the north gate, exited the southeast gate, and poured into the Wo River. A million people drowned inside the walls; only the Prince of Zhou, his consort, the heir, and fewer than twenty thousand officials and soldiers escaped. The rebels lost more than ten thousand drowned as well, then broke camp and marched southwest.

先是，有馬守應稱老回回、賀一龍稱革裏眼、賀錦稱左金王、劉希堯稱爭世王、藺養成稱亂世王者，皆附自成，時號「革左五營。」自成乃西迎傳庭兵，遇於南陽，傳庭軍潰走，豫人所謂柿園之敗也。是時大清兵南侵，京師方告急，朝廷不暇復討賊。自成乃收群賊，連營五百餘里，再屠南陽，進攻汝寧。總兵虎大威中砲死，楊文嶽被殺。自成乃脅崇王由樻使從軍，遂由確山、信陽、泌陽向襄陽。左良玉望風南走，自成入襄陽。分徇屬城及德安諸州縣，皆下，再破夷陵、荊門州。自成自攻荊州，湘陰王儼钅尹遇害，燒獻陵木城，穿毀宮殿。

Earlier Ma Shouying ("Old Muslim"), He Yilong ("Green Eye"), He Jin ("Left Golden King"), Liu Xiyao ("Struggle-for-the-Era King"), and Lin Yangcheng ("Chaotic-Era King") had all joined Zicheng—the so-called Five Camps of Ge and Zuo. Zicheng turned west to meet Sun Chuanating at Nanyang; the government army broke and fled—the disaster Henan remembered as the rout at Persimmon Garden. Meanwhile the Qing armies drove south; Beijing itself was in crisis, and the court could spare no more attention for the rebels. Zicheng rallied every rebel band into a camp line five hundred li long, slaughtered Nanyang again, and advanced on Runing. General Hu Dawei died under cannon fire; Yang Wenyue was killed. He forced Prince Chong Youfu to march with him and drove through Queshan, Xinyang, and Biyang toward Xiangyang. Zuo Liangyu fled south at the first dust cloud; Li Zicheng entered Xiangyang. Columns fanned out to seize De'an and its counties, then Yiling and Jingmen fell again. Zicheng personally stormed Jingzhou, killing Prince Xiangyin; he burned the timber defenses around the Xianling Mausoleum and dug into the palace halls.

十六年春陷承天。將發獻陵，有聲震山谷，懼而止。帝掠潛山、京山、雲夢、黃陂、孝感等州縣，皆下。先驅逼漢陽，良玉走九江。攻鄖陽，撫治都御史徐起元及王光恩力守不下。光恩，賊反正者也。

In the spring of Chongzhen 16 he captured Chengtian. As he prepared to violate the Xianling tombs, a thunderous sound rolled through the valleys and he desisted in terror. He swept Qianshan, Jingshan, Yunmeng, Huangpi, Xiaogan, and neighboring districts—all submitted. His van reached Hanyang; Zuo Liangyu fled to Jiujiang. At Yunyang, Grand Coordinator Xu Qiyuan and Wang Guangen held firm and would not yield. Guangen was a former rebel who had returned to the government side.

自成自號奉天倡義大元帥，號羅汝才代天撫民威德大將軍。分其眾，曰標營，領兵百隊；曰先、後、左、右營，各領兵三十餘隊。標營白幟黑纛，自成獨白鬃大纛銀浮屠；左營幟白，右緋，前黑，後黃，纛隨其色。五營以序直晝夜，次第休息，巡徼嚴密。逃者謂之落草，磔之。收男子十五以上、四十以下者為兵。精兵一人，主芻、掌械、執爨者十人。軍令不得藏白金，過城邑不得室處，妻子外不得攜他婦人。寢興悉用單布幕。綿甲厚百層，矢砲不能入。一兵倅馬三四匹，冬則以茵褥籍其蹄。剖人腹為馬槽以飼馬，馬見人，輒鋸牙思噬若虎豹。軍止，即出較騎射，曰站隊。夜四鼓，蓐食以聽令。所過崇岡峻阪，騰馬直上。水惟憚黃河，若淮、泗、涇、渭，則萬眾翹足馬背，或抱鬣緣尾，呼風而渡，馬蹄所壅閼，水為不流。臨陣，列馬三萬，名三堵牆。前者返顧，後者殺之。戰久不勝，馬兵佯則誘官兵，步卒長槍三萬，擊刺如飛，馬兵回擊，無不大勝。攻城，迎降者不殺，守一日殺十之三，二日殺十之七，三日屠之。凡殺人，束屍為燎，謂之打亮。城將陷，步兵萬人環堞下，馬兵巡徼，無一人得免。獻忠雖至殘忍，不逮也。諸營較所獲，馬騾者上賞，弓夭鉛銃者次之，幣帛又次之，珠玉為下。

Zicheng took the title Grand Marshal of the Mandate of Heaven Who Raises the Righteous Cause; he gave Luo Rucai the title Great General Substituting for Heaven Who Pacifies the People in Majestic Virtue. He organized his forces into the Standard Camp, commanding one hundred companies; and the Forward, Rear, Left, and Right Camps, each with more than thirty companies. The Standard Camp flew white flags and black streamers; Zicheng alone carried a great white-maned banner topped with a silver pagoda; the Left white, the Right crimson, the Forward black, the Rear yellow—pennants matched each camp's color. The five camps rotated day and night in strict sequence, resting in turns under tight patrol. Deserters were called "fallen into the grass" and were torn apart alive. Every man from fifteen to forty was pressed into service. Each front-line fighter was supported by ten men who carried fodder, arms, and cooked. Army law forbade private silver, forbade sleeping indoors when passing towns, and forbade keeping any woman but one's wife. Sleep and waking were under single cloth awnings only. Quilted armor a hundred layers thick turned aside arrows and shot. Each fighter kept three or four horses; in winter they padded the hooves with bedding. They gutted captives to make feeding troughs; their horses, seeing men, gnashed their teeth to savage them like beasts. Whenever they camped, they held mounted archery contests called "standing formation." At the fourth night watch they ate a cold meal in bed awaiting orders. They galloped up the steepest ridges without slackening. Only the Yellow River gave them pause; on the Huai, Si, Jing, and Wei they crossed by the ten thousand—clinging to manes and tails, shouting across until hooves choked the current still. In battle they formed thirty thousand horsemen into what they called the Three Rampart Walls. Any man in the front rank who looked back was killed by those behind. If a battle stalled, cavalry feigned retreat to draw government troops in; thirty thousand spearmen struck like lightning, then the horsemen wheeled back—no engagement failed to end in rout. At a siege, those who opened the gates were spared; resist one day and three in ten died; two days, seven in ten; on the third day the city was slaughtered to the last. Every killing ended with corpses stacked and burned—a spectacle they called "making light." As a city neared collapse, ten thousand foot soldiers ringed the walls while cavalry patrolled—no one escaped. Even Zhang Xianzhong at his cruellest never matched this. Camps competed for loot: horses and mules won top prize; bows and guns next; cloth and silk after; pearls and jade last.

自成不好酒色，脫粟粗糲，與其下共甘苦。汝才妻妾數十，被服紈綺，帳下女樂數部，厚自奉養，自成嘗嗤鄙之。汝才眾數十萬，用山西舉人吉珪為謀主。自成善攻，汝才善戰，兩人相須若左右手。自成下宛、葉，克梁、宋，兵強士附，有專制心，顧獨忌汝才。乃召汝才所善賀一龍宴，縛之，晨以二十騎斬汝才於帳中，悉兼其眾。

Zicheng cared nothing for wine or women, ate coarse grain, and shared every hardship with his troops. Rucai kept dozens of concubines, dressed in silk, maintained female musicians, and lived in luxury—which Zicheng openly scorned. Rucai commanded hundreds of thousands and relied on the Shanxi jinshi Ji Gui as his adviser. Zicheng excelled at sieges, Rucai at open battle—they depended on each other like two hands. Having seized Wan, Ye, Liang, and Song, with a mighty army and growing ambition to rule alone, he still feared only Rucai. He invited Rucai's ally He Yilong to a banquet, seized him, and at dawn sent twenty riders to cut Rucai down in his tent and absorb his entire force.

自成在中州，所略城輒焚毀之。及渡漢江，謀以荊、襄為根本，改襄陽曰襄京，修襄王宮殿居之。改禹州曰均平府，承天府曰揚武州，他府縣多所更易。

Throughout the Central Plain, every city Zicheng captured was burned. After crossing the Han he made Jing and Xiang his base, renamed Xiangyang Xiangjing, restored the Prince of Xiang's palace, and made it his seat. Yuzhou became Junping Prefecture, Chengtian Yangwu Prefecture, and he renamed cities across the region.

牛金星教以創官爵名號，大行署置。自成無子，兄子過及妻弟高一功，迭居左右，親信用事。田見秀、劉宗敏為權將軍，李岩、賀錦、劉希堯等為制將軍，張鼐、黨守素等為威武將軍，谷可成、任維榮等為果毅將軍，凡五營二十二將。又置上相、左輔、右弼、六政府侍郎、郎中、從事等官。要地設防禦使，府曰尹，州曰牧，縣曰令。封崇王由樻襄陽伯、邵陵王在城棗陽伯、保甯王紹圮宣城伯、肅甯王術受順義伯。以張國紳為上相，牛金星為左輔，來儀為右弼。國紳，安定人，嘗官參政。既降，獻文翔鳳妻鄧氏以媚自成。自成惡其傷同類，殺之，而歸鄧氏於其家。六政府侍郎則石首喻上猷、江陵蕭應坤、招遠楊永裕、米脂李振聲、江陵鄧岩忠、西安姚錫胤，尋以宣城丘之陶代振聲為兵政府侍郎。其餘受偽職者甚眾，不具載。

Niu Jinxing devised offices and ranks; Zicheng filled posts on a vast scale. Childless, he relied on his nephew Guo and his brother-in-law Gao Yigong, who attended him in turn and held real power. Tian Jianxiu and Liu Zongmin became Quan generals; Li Yan, He Jin, and Liu Xiyao became Zhi generals; Zhang Nai and Dang Shousu became Wei generals; Gu Kecheng and Ren Weirong became Guo generals—twenty-two commanders in all. He also created Chief Minister, Left and Right Assistants, vice ministers, directors, and attendants for his six ministries. Key posts received defense commissioners; prefectures had governors called Yin, departments Mu, counties Ling. He ennobled Prince Chong as Marquis of Xiangyang, Prince Shaoling as Marquis of Zaoyang, Prince Baoning as Marquis of Xuancheng, and Prince Sunning as Marquis of Shunyi. Zhang Guoshen became Chief Minister, Niu Jinxing Left Assistant, Lai Yi Right Assistant. Guoshen, from Anding, had once been an administrative commissioner. After surrendering he offered Minister Wen Xiangfeng's wife Lady Deng to curry favor. Zicheng, loathing the betrayal of his own kind, executed him and sent Lady Deng home. Vice ministers included Yu Shangyou, Xiao Yingkun, Yang Yongyu, Li Zhensheng, Deng Yanzhong, and Yao Xiyin; later Qiu Zhitao replaced Zhensheng at the Military Ministry. Countless others took false titles; they are not all listed here.

使高一功、馮雄守襄陽，任繼光守荊州，藺養成、牛萬才守夷陵，王文曜守澧州，白旺守安陸，蕭雲林守荊門，謝應龍守漢川，周鳳梧守萬禹州。於是河南、湖廣、江北諸賊莫不聽命。自成既殺汝才、一龍，又襲殺養成，奪守應兵，擊殺袁時中於杞縣。獻忠方據武昌，自成遣使賀，且脅之曰：「老回回已降，曹操輩誅死，行及汝矣。」獻忠大懼，南入長沙。當是時，十三家七十二營諸大賊，降死殆盡，惟自成、獻忠存，而自成獨勁，遂自稱曰新順王。集牛金星等議兵所向。金星請先取河北，直走京師。楊永裕請下金陵，斷燕都糧道。從事顧君恩曰：「金陵居下流，事雖濟，失之緩。直走京師，不勝，退安所歸，失之急。關中，大王桑梓邦也，百二山河，得天下三分之二，宜先取之，建立基業。然後旁略三邊，資其兵力，攻取山西，後向京師，庶幾進戰退守，萬全無失。」自成從之。

Gao Yigong and Feng Xiong held Xiangyang; Ren Jiguang Jingzhou; Lin Yangcheng and Niu Wancai Yiling; Wang Wenyao Lizhou; Bai Wang Anlu; Xiao Yunlin Jingmen; Xie Yinglong Hanchuan; Zhou Fengwu Wanzhou. From Henan to Huguang and Jiangbei, every major rebel band answered to him. Having killed Rucai and Yilong, he ambushed and killed Lin Yangcheng, absorbed Ma Shouying's army, and slew Yuan Shizhong at Qixian. Zhang Xianzhong held Wuchang; Zicheng sent messengers with congratulations and a threat: "Old Muslim has submitted; Cao Cao and the rest are dead—you are next. Terrified, Zhang Xianzhong fled south into Changsha. Of the thirteen great chieftains and seventy-two camps, nearly all were dead or surrendered; only Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong endured, and Zicheng alone stood supreme—he styled himself the New Shun King. He convened Niu Jinxing and his advisers to decide their next march. Jinxing urged seizing Hebei and marching directly on Beijing. Yang Yongyu proposed taking Nanjing and severing the capital's grain supply. Attendant Gu Jun'en argued: "Nanjing lies downstream; even if we took it, the campaign would be faulted as too slow. A direct strike on Beijing risks defeat with nowhere to retreat—faulted as too rash. Guanzhong is your homeland, defended by a hundred rivers and mountains—you would hold two-thirds of the empire. Take it first and build your base. Then overrun the frontier garrisons, enlist their soldiers, seize Shanxi, and only then march on Beijing—advance when you can, retreat when you must, with every advantage. Li Zicheng adopted the plan.

傳庭之敗於柿園而歸陝也，大治兵，制火車二萬輛，募壯士，使白廣恩、高傑將，欲俟賊饑而擊之。朝議日督戰，不得已出關。以牛成虎、盧光祖為前鋒，由靈寶入洛。高傑為是中軍，檄廣恩從新安來會。河南將陳永福守新灘，四川將秦翼明出商、洛，為掎角。前鋒敗賊澠池，至寶豐，再拔其城。次郟。自成率萬騎還戰，復大敗，幾被擒。會天大雨，道濘，糧車不進。自成遣輕騎出汝州，要截糧道。傳庭乃分軍三，令廣恩從大道，令高傑親隨從間道，迎糧，令永福守營。傳庭既行，永福兵亦爭發，不可禁，遂為賊所躡。至南陽，傳庭還戰，賊陣五重，官軍克其三。已而稍卻，火車奔，騎兵亦大奔。賊縱鐵騎踐之，傳庭大敗。自成空壁追，一日夜逾四百里，官軍死者四萬余人，失兵器輜重數十萬。傳庭奔河北，轉趨潼關，氣敗沮不復振。

Defeated at Persimmon Garden, Sun Chuanating returned to Shaanxi, drilled his army, built twenty thousand fire-carts, recruited tough fighters under Bai Guangen and Gao Jie, and planned to strike when the rebels ran short of food. The court daily demanded action; he had no choice but to march out. Niu Chenghu and Lu Guangzu led the van through Lingbao into Luoyang. Gao Jie commanded the center and ordered Guangen to rendezvous from Xin'an. Chen Yongfu held Xintan on the Henan front; Qin Yiming marched from Shang and Luo on the Sichuan wing to pinch the enemy. The van beat the rebels at Mianchi, reached Baofeng, and retook the city. They camped at Ye. Li Zicheng rode out with ten thousand horses, was routed again, and nearly captured. Then the skies opened; roads turned to mud and supply wagons stalled. Zicheng dispatched light cavalry from Ruzhou to cut the supply line. Chuanating split his force: Guangen on the main road, Gao Jie with his guard by a side path to escort supplies, Yongfu to hold camp. Once Chuanating left, Yongfu's men rushed out unrestrained and were shadowed by the rebels. At Nanyang, Chuanating turned to fight through five rebel lines and broke three. Then the line buckled; fire-carts bolted, and the cavalry stampeded. Rebel iron cavalry rode them down; Chuanating's army was destroyed. Zicheng pursued with stripped camps for a day and night, covering four hundred li; more than forty thousand government troops died; arms and baggage losses ran into the hundreds of thousands. Chuanating fled toward Hebei, then turned for Tong Pass, broken in spirit and beyond recovery.

冬十月，自成陷潼關，傳庭死，遂連破華陰、渭南、華、商、臨潼。進攻西安，守將王根子開東門納賊。自成執秦王存樞以為權將軍，永壽王誼曈為制將軍。巡撫馮師孔以下死者十余人，布政使陸之祺等俱降。自成大掠三日，下令禁止。改西安曰長安，稱西京。賜顧君恩女樂一部，賞入關策也。大發民，修長安城，開馳道。自成每三日親赴教場校射，百姓望見黃龍纛，咸伏地呼萬歲。諸將白廣恩、高汝利、左光先、梁甫先行後皆降。陳永福以先射中自成目，保山巔不敢下，自成折箭為誓，招之，亦降。惟高傑以竊自成妻走延安，為李過所追，折而東，渡宜川，絕蒲津以守。

In the tenth month Zicheng stormed Tong Pass; Chuanating fell; then Huayin, Weinan, Hua, Shang, and Lintong fell in turn. He advanced on Xi'an; the defender Wang Genzi opened the east gate to the rebels. He seized Prince Qin Cunshu as a Quan general and Prince Yongshou Yitang as a Zhi general. Grand Coordinator Feng Shikong and more than ten officials died; Administrative Commissioner Lu Zhiqi and others surrendered. Li Zicheng looted freely for three days, then forbade further pillage. He renamed Xi'an Chang'an and proclaimed it the Western Capital. He rewarded Gu Jun'en with a troupe of female musicians for the plan to take Guanzhong. He drafted the populace en masse to rebuild Chang'an's walls and open imperial roads. Every three days Zicheng inspected archery at the drill ground; commoners who saw his yellow dragon banner kowtowed and shouted "Long live ten thousand years!" Generals Bai Guangen, Gao Ruli, Zuo Guangxian, and Liang Fu, who had marched ahead, all surrendered in turn. Chen Yongfu, who had put out Zicheng's eye, held the mountains and would not descend until Zicheng snapped an arrow in pledge and called him down—then he too submitted. Only Gao Jie, who had run off with Zicheng's wife to Yan'an, was chased by Li Guo, veered east, crossed Yichuan, seized the Pu crossing, and held firm.

自成兵所至風靡，乃詣米脂祭墓。向為軍所發，焚棄遺骴，築土封之。求其宗人，贈金封爵以去。改延安府曰天保府，米脂曰天保縣，清澗曰天波府。鳳翔不下，屠之。始，自成入陝西，自謂故鄉，毋有侵暴，未一月抄掠如故。又以士大夫必不附己，悉索諸薦紳，搒掠征其金，死者瘞一穴。榆林故死守，李過等不能克，自成大發兵攻陷之。副使都任，總兵王世國、尤世威等，俱不屈死。乘勝取寧夏，屠慶陽，執韓王亶脊。移攻蘭州，甘肅巡撫林日端等亦死。進陷西寧，於是肅州、山丹、永昌、鎮番、莊浪皆降，陝西地悉歸自成。又遣賊渡河，陷平陽，殺宗室三百餘人。高傑奔澤州。詔以余應桂總督三邊，收邊兵剿賊，然全陝已沒，應桂不能進。

His armies swept all before them; he returned to Mizhi to worship at his family graves. Government troops had once desecrated the graves, leaving bare bones; he piled earth and resealed the mounds. He found his kinsmen, gave them gold and titles, and sent them on their way. Yan'an became Tianbao Prefecture, Mizhi Tianbao County, Qingjian Tianbo Prefecture. Fengxiang resisted; he slaughtered the city. Entering Shaanxi he had promised no looting in his homeland; within a month the pillaging resumed. Believing scholars would never join him willingly, he hunted down every local notable, tortured them for gold, and threw the dead into a common pit. Yulin had held out fiercely; Li Guo could not crack it until Zicheng threw his main army against the walls. Vice Commissioner Du Ren and generals Wang Shiguo and You Shiwei died defiant rather than yield. He pressed on to Ningxia, massacred Qingyang, and captured Prince Han Cangji. He turned on Lanzhou; Gansu Grand Coordinator Lin Riduan and others were killed. Xining fell, then Suzhou, Shandan, Yongchang, Zhenfan, and Zhuanglang submitted—Shaanxi was entirely his. He sent columns across the Yellow River to seize Pingyang and slaughter more than three hundred imperial clansmen. Gao Jie fled to Zezhou. The court named Yu Yinggui to command the three frontiers and gather border troops, but Shaanxi was already gone and he could not march.

十七年正月庚寅朔，自成稱王于西安，僭國號曰大順，改元永昌，改名自晟。追尊其曾祖以下，加諡號，以李繼遷為太祖。設天佑殿大學士，以牛金星為之。增置六政府尚書，設弘文館、文諭院、諫議、直指使、從政、統會、尚契司、驗馬寺、知政使、書寫房等官。以乾州宋企郊為吏政尚書、平湖陸之祺為戶政尚書、真甯鞏焴為禮政尚書、歸安張嶙然為兵政尚書。復五等爵，大封功臣，侯劉宗敏以下九人，伯劉體純以下七十二人，子三十人，男五十五人。定軍制。有一馬儳行列者斬之，馬騰入田苗者斬之。籍步兵四十萬、馬兵六十萬。兵政侍郎楊王休為都肄，出橫門，至渭橋，金鼓動地。令弘文館學士李化鱗等草檄馳諭遠近，指斥乘輿。是日，大風霾，黃霧四塞。事聞，帝大驚，召廷臣議。大學士李建泰請督師，帝許之。

On New Year's Day of Chongzhen 17, Li Zicheng declared himself king at Xi'an, proclaimed the Great Shun dynasty, adopted the era Yongchang, and took the name Zisheng. He ennobled his ancestors with posthumous titles and named the Tangut prince Li Jiqian as dynastic founder. He created the Hall of Heavenly Blessings Grand Academician and appointed Niu Jinxing. He expanded the six ministries, founded the Hongwen Hall, Wenyuan Academy, remonstrance office, censors, policy boards, seal office, horse inspection bureau, and secretariat. Song Qijiao of Qianzhou became Minister of Personnel, Lu Zhiqi of Pinghu Minister of Revenue, Gong Huang of Zhenning Minister of Rites, and Zhang Linran of Gui'an Minister of War. The five noble ranks were restored and the great captains rewarded: nine marquises beginning with Liu Zongmin, seventy-two earls from Liu Tichun, thirty viscounts, and fifty-five barons. Military discipline was codified. Any rider whose mount broke formation was executed; any whose horse ran into grain or seedlings was executed. The rolls listed four hundred thousand infantry and six hundred thousand horse. Vice Minister Yang Wangxiu directed the grand review; the host filed out Heng Gate to Wei Bridge amid thundering drums. Academicians of the Hongwen Hall, led by Li Hualin, drafted manifestos sent across the realm condemning the emperor. That day a gale rose and yellow dust blotted out the horizon. News of the march threw the emperor into alarm; he called the court into council. Grand Secretary Li Jiantai volunteered to lead the armies; the emperor consented.

時山西自平陽陷，河津、稷山、滎河皆陷，他府縣多望風送款。二月，自成渡河，破汾州，徇河曲、靜樂，攻太原，執晉王求桂，巡撫蔡懋德死之。北徇忻、代，甯武總兵周遇吉戰死。自成先遣遊兵入故關，掠大名、真定而北。身率眾賊並邊東犯，陷大同，巡撫衛景瑗、總兵硃三樂死。自成殺代王傳齊，代籓宗室殆盡。犯宣府，總兵姜環迎降，巡撫硃之馮死。遂犯陽和，由柳溝逼居庸，總兵官唐通、太監杜之秩迎降。

Pingyang was lost, then Hejin, Jishan, and Ronghe; across Shanxi, city after city opened its gates without a fight. In the second month Li Zicheng crossed the river, took Fenzhou, overran Hequ and Jingle, and besieged Taiyuan; Prince Jin was captured, Grand Coordinator Cai Maode killed. He pressed north into Xin and Dai; Zhou Yuji, commander at Ningwu, fell in battle. Li Zicheng sent scouts through the old frontier pass to ravage Daming and Zhending before turning north. At the head of the main army he struck along the frontier, seized Datong, and killed Wei Jingyuan and Zhu Sanle. Li Zicheng slaughtered Prince Dai and nearly wiped out the entire princely clan. At Xuanfu, Jiang Huan surrendered; Zhu Zhifeng died resisting. He drove on Yanghe, forced Juyong via Liugou, and Tang Tong and the eunuch Du Zhijie submitted.

三月十三日，焚昌平，總兵官李守鑅死。始，賊欲偵京師虛實，往往陰遣人輦重貨，賈販都市，又令充部院諸掾吏，探刺機密。朝廷有謀議，數千里立馳報。及抵昌平，兵部發騎探賊，賊輒勾之降，無一還者。賊游騎至平則門，京師猶不知也。十七日，帝召問群臣，莫對，有泣者。俄頃賊環攻九門，門外先設三大營，悉降賊。京師久乏餉，乘陴者少，益以內侍。內侍專守城事，百司不敢問。

On the thirteenth of the third month Changping burned; Li Shouzhen was killed. Early on Li Zicheng probed Beijing: agents posing as merchants flooded the markets with goods, while others infiltrated the ministries as clerks to steal secrets. Court deliberations were relayed to the rebel camp within days. At Changping the Ministry of War sent scouts; every man was turned or killed—none came back. Rebel horsemen were at Pingze Gate before Beijing knew war had come. On the seventeenth he called his ministers; none had a plan, and many wept. Soon the Nine Gates were besieged; the three camps outside had already gone over to the rebels. Pay was exhausted, defenders scarce on the walls, and eunuchs pressed into service. Eunuchs controlled the walls; no civil official dared interfere.

十八日，賊攻益急，自成駐彰義門外，遣降賊太監杜勳縋入見帝，求禪位。帝怒，叱之下，詔親征。日暝，太監曹化淳啟彰義門，賊盡入。帝出宮，登煤山，望烽火徹天，歎息曰：「苦我民耳。」徘徊久之，歸乾清宮，令送太子及永王、定王于戚臣周奎、田弘遇第，劍擊長公主，趣皇后自盡。十九日丁未，天未明，皇城不守，嗚鐘集百官，無至者。乃復登煤山，書衣襟為遺詔，以帛自縊於山亭，帝遂崩。太監王承恩縊於側。

On the eighteenth the attack intensified; Li Zicheng waited at Zhangyi Gate and sent the turncoat eunuch Du Xun to demand the throne. The emperor raged, dismissed him, and proclaimed he would lead the army himself. At dusk Cao Huachun opened Zhangyi Gate; the rebels flooded the city. He left the palace, climbed Coal Hill, saw beacon fires everywhere, and sighed: "My people—what they endure. He wandered, then returned to Qianqing Palace, sent the crown prince and Princes Yong and Ding to Zhou Kui and Tian Hongyu, cut down the eldest princess, and ordered the empress to die. Before dawn on the nineteenth the inner city fell; the court bell rang, and no minister came. He climbed Coal Hill again, wrote his last words on his robe, and hanged himself in the pavilion. The eunuch Wang Chengen hanged himself beside him.

自成毰笠縹衣，乘烏駁馬，入承天門。偽丞相牛金星，尚書宋企郊、喻上猷，侍郎黎志升、張嶙然等騎而從。登皇極殿，據御座，下令大索帝后，期百官三日朝見。文臣自范景文、勳戚自劉文炳以下，殉節者四十餘人。宮女魏氏投河，從者二百餘人。象房象皆哀吼流淚。太子投周奎家，不得入，二王亦不能匿，先後擁至，皆不屈，自成羈之宮中。長公主絕而復蘇，舁至，令賊劉宗敏療治。

Li Zicheng entered through the Gate of Accepting Heaven in a straw hat and pale silk, riding a piebald horse. Behind him rode the false chancellor Niu Jinxing, ministers Song Qijiao and Yu Shangyou, and vice ministers Li Zhisheng and Zhang Linran. He took the throne in the Hall of Supreme Harmony and ordered the emperor and empress hunted down, giving officials three days to present themselves. More than forty officials and nobles—from Fan Jingwen to Liu Wenbing—died refusing submission. Palace woman Wei drowned herself; over two hundred attendants followed. Court elephants trumpeted and wept. The crown prince was turned away at Zhou Kui's door; the two princes were captured; all refused to kneel, and Li Zicheng imprisoned them in the palace. The eldest princess, cut down but still alive, was brought before Liu Zongmin for medical care.

已，乃知帝后崩，自成命以宮扉載出，盛柳棺，置東華門外，百姓過者皆掩泣。越三日己酉，味爽，成國公硃純臣、大學士魏藻德率文武百官入賀，皆素服坐殿前。自成不出，群賊爭戲侮，為椎背、脫帽，或舉足加頸，相笑樂，百官懾伏不敢動。太監王德化叱諸臣曰：「國亡君喪，若曹不思殯先帝，乃在此耶！」因哭，內侍數十人皆哭，藻德等亦哭。顧君恩以告自成，改殮帝后，用兗冕禕翟，加葦廠雲。大學士陳演勸進，不許。封太子為宋王。放刑部、錦衣衛系囚。

Learning the sovereigns were dead, he had their bodies borne out on palace doors in willow coffins at Donghua Gate; the people wept as they passed. Three days later Duke Zhu Chunchen and Wei Zaode led the officials in congratulation, seated in mourning dress before the hall. Li Zicheng stayed away while rebels jeered, beat them, pulled off hats, and trod on their necks; the officials lay still in terror. Wang Dehua cried out: "The dynasty is fallen—will you not bury your emperor, but sit here? He wept; inner eunuchs wept; Zaode and the court wept with them. Gu Jun'en told Li Zicheng; the bodies were reburied in imperial robes beneath a reed shelter. Chen Yan pressed him to ascend; he refused. The crown prince was named Prince of Song. Prisoners in the Ministry of Justice and the secret police were freed.

自成自居西安，建置官吏，至是益盡改官制。六部曰六政府，司官曰從事，六科曰諫議，十三道曰直指使，翰林院曰弘文館，太僕寺曰驗馬寺，巡撫曰節度使，兵備曰防禦使，知府州縣曰尹、曰牧、曰令。召見朝官，自成南響坐，金星、宗敏、企郊等左右雜坐，以次呼名，分三等授職。自四品以下少詹事梁紹陽、楊觀光等無不汙偽命，三品以上獨用故侍郎侯恂。其餘勳戚、文武諸臣奎、純臣、演、藻德等共八百餘人，送宗敏等營中，拷掠責賕賂，至灼肉折脛，備諸慘毒。藻德遇馬世奇家人，泣曰：「吾不能為若主，今求死不得。」賊又編排甲，令五家養一賊，大縱淫掠，民不勝毒，縊死相望。征諸勳戚大臣金，金足輒殺之。焚太廟神主，遷太祖主于帝王廟。

Having ruled from Xi'an, he now remade every office in the capital. Ministries became governments, censors remonstrance officers, circuits direct-pointing commissioners, the Hanlin the Hongwen Hall, the stud the horse-inspection bureau, and local titles were all renamed. He received officials facing south, with Jinxing and Zongmin seated beside him, and assigned ranks in three tiers. Every man from fourth rank down took a rebel post; only Hou Xun of third rank and above was retained from the old court. More than eight hundred nobles and officials were handed to Zongmin for torture and extortion until flesh burned and bones snapped. Wei Zaode wept to Ma Shiji's kin: "I failed you as patron—and now I cannot even die. Five households were made to support one rebel; rape and looting were unchecked; corpses of the hanged filled the streets. Nobles and ministers were squeezed for gold—and killed once they paid. Ancestral tablets were burned; Taizu's tablet was moved to the temple of former emperors.

時賊黨已陷保定，李建泰降，畿內府縣悉附。山東、河南遍設官吏，所至無違者。及淮，巡撫路振飛發兵拒之，乃去。自成謂真得天命，金星率賊眾三表勸進，乃從之，令撰登極儀，諏吉日。及自成升御座，忽見白衣人長數丈，手劍怒視，座下龍爪鬣俱動，自成恐，亟下。鑄金璽及永昌錢，皆不就。聞山海關總兵吳三桂兵起，乃謀歸陝西。

Baoding had fallen; Li Jiantai surrendered; the capital districts submitted one after another. Shandong and Henan received rebel magistrates without a fight. Lu Zhenfei barred the Huai with an army; the rebels turned back. Believing Heaven had chosen him, Li Zicheng let Jinxing press three times for enthronement, set the rites, and chose a lucky day. As he took the throne a white figure many zhang high glared with a sword; the dragon claws on the seat seemed to move, and he fled in terror. The golden seal and Yongchang coins would not cast true. Word came that Wu Sangui had risen at Shanhai Pass; he prepared to retreat to Shaanxi.

初，三桂奉詔入援，至山海關，京師陷，猶豫不進。自成劫其父襄，作書招之，三桂欲降。至灤州，聞愛姬陳沅被劉宗敏掠去，憤甚，疾歸山海，襲破賊將。自成怒，親部賊十余萬，執吳襄於軍，東攻山海關，以別將從一片石越關外。三桂懼，乞降於我大清。四月二十二日，自成兵二十萬，陣於關內，自北山亙海。我兵對賊置陣，三桂居右翼末，悉銳卒搏戰，殺賊數千人，賊亦力鬥，圍開復合。戰良久，我兵從三桂陣右突出，沖賊中堅，萬馬奔躍，飛矢雨墮，天大風，沙石飛走，擊賊如雹。自成方挾太子登高岡觀戰，知為我兵，急策馬下岡走。我兵追奔四十里，賊眾大潰，自相踐踏死者無算，僵屍遍野，溝水盡赤。自成奔永平，我兵逐之。三桂先驅至永平，自成殺吳襄，奔還京師。

Wu Sangui had marched to relieve Beijing, halted at Shanhai Pass when the city fell, and would not advance. Li Zicheng captured Wu Xiang and summoned the son; Sangui was ready to submit. At Luanzhou he learned Liu Zongmin had taken his concubine Chen Yuan; he wheeled back, smashed the rebel detachment, and broke for Shanhai. Li Zicheng marched east with a hundred thousand men, Wu Xiang a hostage in camp, while a second column slipped past through Yipianshi. Terrified, Wu Sangui turned to the Great Qing for aid. On the twenty-second of the fourth month two hundred thousand rebels lined the pass from mountain to sea. Qing forces formed battle lines; Sangui on the right wing cut down thousands; the rebel ring broke and closed again. Then Qing cavalry burst from Sangui's right, shattered the rebel center under a storm of arrows and flying sand. Watching from a hill with the crown prince as hostage, Li Zicheng saw the Qing banners and fled. The pursuit ran forty li; rebels trampled one another dead; the fields were carpeted with bodies and the ditches ran red. Li Zicheng fled to Yongping with the Qing army at his heels. Sangui's van reached Yongping; Li Zicheng killed Wu Xiang and raced for Beijing.

時牛金星居守，諸降人往謁，執門生禮甚恭。金星曰：「訛言方起，諸君宜簡出。」由是降者始懼，多竄伏矣。自成至，悉鎔所拷索金及宮中帑藏、器皿，鑄為餅，每餅千金，約數萬餅，騾車載歸西安。二十九日丙戌僭帝號于武英殿，追尊七代皆為帝后，立妻高氏為皇后。自成被冠冕，列仗受朝。金星代行郊天禮。是夕焚宮殿及九門城樓。詰旦，挾太子、二王西走，而使偽將軍左光先、谷可成殿。

Niu Jinxing held Beijing; defecting officials were greeted with elaborate courtesy. Jinxing warned: "Rumors fly—you should lie low. The defectors grew afraid and vanished into hiding. He melted extorted gold and palace treasure into thousand-tael cakes—tens of thousands of them—and sent them west on mule trains. On the twenty-ninth he declared himself emperor in the Hall of Military Glory, ennobled seven generations, and crowned Gao empress. He wore the imperial regalia and took homage under guard. Jinxing conducted the heaven-worship rites for him. That night palaces and gate towers burned. At dawn he fled west with the princes, leaving Zuo Guangxian and Gu Kecheng to cover the retreat.

五月二日，我大清兵入京師，下令安輯百姓，為帝后發喪，議諡號，遣將偕三桂追自成。時福王已監國南京，大學士史可法督師討賊。自成至定州，我兵追之，與戰，斬谷可成，左光先傷足，賊負而逃。自成西走真定，益發眾來攻，我兵復擊之。自成中流矢創甚，西逾故關，入山西。會我兵東返，自成乃鳩合潰散，走平陽。

On the second of the fifth month the Qing entered Beijing, pacified the people, buried the Ming sovereigns, and sent armies with Sangui after Li Zicheng. The Prince of Fu ruled at Nanjing; Shi Kefa marched against the rebels. At Dingzhou Qing forces caught Li Zicheng, killed Gu Kecheng, wounded Zuo Guangxian, and drove the rebels west. He fled to Zhending, gathered fresh troops, and was beaten again. Wounded by an arrow, he crossed into Shanxi. The Qing army withdrew east; Li Zicheng rallied remnants and fled to Pingyang.

李岩者，故勸自成以不殺收人心者也。及陷京師，保護懿安皇后令自盡。又獨于士大夫無所拷掠，金星等大忌之。定州之敗，河南州縣多反正，自成召諸將議，岩請率兵往。金星陰告自成曰：「岩雄武有大略，非能久下人者。河南，岩故鄉，假以大兵，必不可制。十八子之讖，得非岩乎？」因譖其欲反。自成令金星與岩飲，殺之，賊眾俱解體。

Li Yan was the adviser who had told Li Zicheng to win the people by restraint in killing. At the fall of Beijing he shielded Empress Dowager Yi'an until she could die with dignity. He alone spared the gentry from torture; Jinxing and his faction hated him for it. After Dingzhou, Henan cities rebelled against the rebels; Li Zicheng called a council, and Li Yan volunteered to recover the province. Jinxing whispered to Li Zicheng: "Li Yan is too bold and brilliant to remain a subordinate. Henan is his home ground—give him an army and you will never control him. The prophecy of the Eighteen Sons—is it not fulfilled in Li Yan? He accused Li Yan of treason. Li Zicheng had Jinxing toast Li Yan, then had him killed; the army lost its nerve.

自成歸西安，復遣賊陷漢中，降總兵趙光遠，進略保寧。時獻忠以兵拒之，乃還。八月建祖禰廟成，將往祀，忽寒栗不能就禮。自成始以岩言，謬為仁義，及岩死，又屢敗，復強很自用，偽尚書張第元、耿始然皆以小忤死。制銅鏌，官吏坐賕，即鏌斬。民盜一雞者死。西人大懼。

Back in Xi'an he sent columns to seize Hanzhong, win Zhao Guangyuan, and threaten Baoning. Zhang Xianzhong blocked him with an army, and he withdrew. In the eighth month, at the dedication of the ancestral temple, he shook with cold and could not complete the ceremony. Once he had played at mercy on Li Yan's advice; after Li Yan's death and repeated defeats he turned cruel and capricious, killing Zhang Diyuan and Geng Shiran for trifles. He had a bronze headsman's blade forged; any official caught in graft was cut down immediately. Stealing a chicken meant death. Western Shaanxi lived in terror.

順治二年二月，我兵攻潼關，偽伯馬世耀以六十萬眾迎戰，敗死。潼關破，自成遂棄西安，由龍駒寨走武岡，入襄陽，復走武昌。我兵兩道追躡，連蹙之鄧州、承天、德安、武昌，窮追至賊老營，大破之者八。當是時，左良玉東下，武昌虛無人。自成屯五十餘日，賊眾尚五十余萬，改江夏曰瑞符縣。尋為我兵所迫，部眾多降，或逃散。自成走咸甯、蒲圻，至通城，竄於九宮山。秋九月，自成留李過守寨，自率二十騎略食山中，為村民所困、不能脫，遂縊死。或曰村民方築堡，見賊少，爭前擊之，人馬俱陷泥淖中，自成腦中鉏死。剝其衣，得龍衣金印，眇一目，村民乃大驚，謂為自成也。時我兵遣識自成者驗其屍，朽莫辨。獲自成兩從父偽趙侯、偽襄南侯及自成妻妾二人，金印一。又獲偽汝侯劉宗敏、偽總兵左光先、偽軍師宋獻策。於是斬自成從父及宗敏於軍。牛金星、宋企郊等皆遁亡。

In the second month of Shunzhi 2 Qing forces stormed Tong Pass; Ma Shiyao met them with six hundred thousand men and died. Tong Pass lost, he abandoned Xi'an, fled through Longju to Wugang and Xiangyang, then on to Wuchang. Two Qing columns harried him through Hubei, crushing his veteran camps eight times. Zuo Liangyu had marched east, leaving Wuchang undefended. He lingered fifty days with half a million men and renamed Jiangxia Ruifu County. Pressed by the Qing, his army melted away in surrenders and desertions. He fled through Xianning and Puqi to Tongcheng and hid on Jiugong Mountain. In the ninth month he left Li Guo in camp and rode out with twenty men to forage; peasants cornered him, and he hanged himself. Others say villagers building a fort overwhelmed his tiny party in the mud and brained him with a hoe. Stripping the corpse they found imperial robes, a golden seal, and one blind eye—the peasants knew it was Li Zicheng. Qing agents who had known him could not identify the rotted body. They seized two of his cousins, two wives, and a golden seal. Liu Zongmin, Zuo Guangxian, and Song Xiance were taken alive. His cousins and Liu Zongmin were executed in camp. Niu Jinxing, Song Qijiao, and the rest escaped.

自成兄子過改名錦，偕諸賊帥奉高氏降于總督何騰蛟。時唐王立於閩，賜錦名赤心，封高氏忠義夫人，號其軍曰忠貞營，隸騰蛟麾下。永明王時，赤心封興國侯，尋死。

His nephew Li Guo took the name Jin and, with other chiefs, surrendered Gao to He Tengjiao. The Prince of Tang named him Chixin, ennobled Gao as Lady of Loyal Righteousness, and enrolled the Loyal-Faithful Battalion under Tengjiao. Under the Prince of Yongming he became Marquis of Xingguo and soon died.

張獻忠

Zhang Xianzhong

張獻忠者，延安衛柳樹澗人也，與李自成同歲生。長隸延綏鎮為軍，犯法當斬，主將陳洪范奇其狀貌，為請于總兵官王威釋之，乃逃去。

Zhang Xianzhong came from Liushujian in Yan'an Guard and was Li Zicheng's age. As a soldier under Yan'an he faced execution; Chen Hongfan, struck by his looks, persuaded Wang Wei to spare him, and he fled.

崇禎三年，陝西賊大起，王嘉胤據府穀，陷河曲。獻忠以米脂十八寨應之，自稱八大王。明年，嘉胤死，其党王自用復聚眾三十六營，獻忠及高迎祥、羅汝才、馬守應等皆為之渠。其冬，洪承疇為總督，獻忠及汝才皆就撫。已而叛入山西，偕群賊焚掠。尋擾河北，又偕渡河。自是，陝西、河南、湖廣、四川，江北數千里地，皆被蹂躪。當此之時，賊渠率眾無專主，遇官軍，人自為鬥，勝則爭進，敗則竄山谷不相顧。官軍遇賊追殺，亦不知所逐何賊也。賊或分或合，東西奔突，勢日強盛。

In Chongzhen 3 rebellion swept Shaanxi; Wang Jiayin seized Fugu and Hequ. Xianzhong rose from Mizhi's Eighteen Stockades as the Eight Great King. Jiayin died the next year; Wang Ziyong rallied thirty-six camps, and Xianzhong, Gao Yingxiang, Luo Ruocai, and Ma Shouying became chiefs. That winter Hong Chengchou took command; Xianzhong and Ruocai briefly submitted. They soon rebelled again, crossed into Shanxi, and burned with the host. They ravaged Hebei and crossed the Yellow River again. Shaanxi, Henan, Huguang, Sichuan, and the land north of the Yangtze for thousands of li were laid waste. No single chief commanded the host; each band fought alone, advancing in victory and scattering in defeat without mutual aid. Imperial pursuers rarely knew which rebel band they were fighting. Rebels split and reunited, surging east and west, growing stronger by the day.

八年，十三家會滎陽，議敵官軍。守應欲北渡，獻忠嗤之，守應怒，李自成為解，乃定議。獻忠始與高迎祥並起作賊，自成乃迎祥偏裨，不敢與獻忠並。及是遂相頡頏，與俱東掠，連破河南、江北諸縣，焚皇陵。已而迎祥、自成西去。獻忠獨東，圍廬州、舒城，俱不下。攻桐城，陷廬江，屠巢、無為、潛山、太湖、宿松諸城，應天巡撫張國維禦之。獻忠從英、霍遁，道麻城，合守應等入關，會迎祥於鳳翔。已，復出商、洛，屯靈寶，以待迎祥。迎祥至，則合兵復東。總兵官左良玉、祖寬擊之，獻忠與迎祥分道走。寬追獻忠，戰於嵩縣及九皋山，三戰皆克，俘斬甚眾。獻忠恚，再合迎祥眾還戰，復大敗。迎祥尋與自成入陝西，而守應、汝才諸賊，各盤踞鄖陽、商、洛山中，不能救，獻忠亦遁山中。

In the eighth year the Thirteen Families met at Xingyang to plot against the Ming. Ma Shouying wanted to cross north; Xianzhong ridiculed him; Zicheng patched the quarrel and they agreed. Xianzhong and Gao Yingxiang had been equals; Li Zicheng was only Yingxiang's lieutenant and dared not rival Xianzhong. Now he stood as Zicheng's equal; together they ravaged Henan and the north, and burned the imperial mausoleums. Yingxiang and Zicheng then turned west. Xianzhong marched east alone, failed before Luzhou and Shucheng. He took Lujiang, slaughtered Chao, Wuwei, Qianshan, Taihu, and Susong, and met Zhang Guowei of Nanjing. He slipped from Ying and Huo through Macheng, entered the pass with Shouying, and joined Yingxiang at Fengxiang. He emerged again through Shang and Luo, camped at Lingbao, and waited for Yingxiang. Yingxiang came; they united and marched east again. Zuo Liangyu and Zu Kuan attacked; Xianzhong and Yingxiang split and fled. Zu Kuan pursued Xianzhong, fought at Song and Jiugao Mountain, and won three victories with heavy slaughter. Enraged, Xianzhong reunited with Yingxiang and was crushed again. Yingxiang and Zicheng entered Shaanxi; other chiefs held the Yunyang mountains and could not help; Xianzhong fled into the hills.

明年秋，總督盧象升去，苗胙土巡撫湖廣，不習兵。於是獻忠自均州，守應自新野，蠍子塊自唐縣，並犯襄陽，眾二余萬。總兵秦翼明兵寡不能禦，湖廣震動。獻忠糾汝才、守應及闖塌天諸賊，順流東下，與江北賊賀一龍、賀錦等合，烽火達淮、揚。南京兵部尚書范景文、操江都御史黃道直、總兵官楊禦蕃分汛固守，安池道副使史可法親率兵當賊沖。賊從間道犯安慶，連營百里，巡撫國維告警。詔左良玉、馬爌、劉良佐合兵援之，遂大破賊。賊走潛山之天王古寨，國維檄良玉搜山，良玉不應，尋北去。賊乃復出太湖，連蘄、黃，敗官軍於酆家店，殺參將程龍、陳于王等四十餘人。會總兵官牟文綬偕良佐來援，復破賊。賊皆遁，獻忠入湖廣。是時，河南、湖廣賊十五家，惟獻忠最狡黠驍勍，次則汝才。獻忠嘗偽為官兵，欲給宛城，良玉適至，獻忠倉皇走，前鋒羅岱射之中額，良玉馬追及，刃拂獻忠面，馬馳以免。會熊文燦為總理，刊檄撫賊。闖塌天者，本名劉國能，與獻忠有郤，詣文燦降。獻忠創甚，不能戰，大恐。

Next autumn Lu Xiangsheng left; Miao Zhengtu, new governor of Huguang, knew nothing of war. Xianzhong came from Junzhou, Shouying from Xinye, Xiezi Kuai from Tang—they stormed Xiangyang with over twenty thousand men. Qin Yiming could not hold them; Huguang trembled. He joined Ruocai, Shouying, and Chuangtian, swept downriver, united with He Yilong and He Jin, and alarm fires reached the Huai. Fan Jingwen, Huang Daozhi, and Yang Yufan held Nanjing's approaches while Shi Kefa met the rebel spearhead at Anqing. They struck Anqing by a side road in camps a hundred li long; Guowei called for aid. Zuo Liangyu, Ma Guang, and Liu Liangzuo were ordered to relieve Anqing and shattered the rebel army. Rebels fled to Qianshan's King-of-Heaven stockade; Guowei ordered Liu Liangzuo to hunt them, but he marched north instead. They burst from Taihu, overran Qi and Huang, and at Fengjia Store killed Cheng Long, Chen Yuwang, and forty officers. Mou Wensui and Liu Liangzuo arrived and beat them again. The rebels scattered; Xianzhong withdrew into Huguang. Of fifteen rebel hosts in Henan and Huguang, Xianzhong was fiercest and most cunning, Ruocai next. He once dressed as Ming troops to take Wancheng; Zuo Liangyu arrived; Luo Dai put an arrow in his forehead; Liangyu's blade scarred his face as he escaped. Xiong Wencan became supreme pacifier and issued surrender proclamations. Chuangtian—Liu Guoneng—hated Xianzhong and surrendered to Wencan. Badly wounded, Xianzhong could not fight and was terrified.

十一年春，偵知陳洪范隸文燦麾下為總兵，大喜，因遣間齎重幣獻洪範曰：「獻忠蒙公大恩，得不死，公豈忘之邪？願率所部降以自效。」洪範亦喜，為告文燦，受其降。巡按御史林銘球、分巡道王瑞栴與良玉謀，俟獻忠至執之，文燦不可。獻忠遂據穀城，請十萬人餉，文燦不敢決。時群賊皆聚南陽，屠掠旁州縣。文燦赴裕州，益大發檄撫賊。汝才以戰敗乞降於太和山監軍太監李繼改。明年，射塌天、混十萬、過天星、關索、王光恩等十三家渠帥，先後俱降。陝西總督洪承疇、巡撫孫傳庭復大破李自成，自成竄崤、函山中，朝廷皆謂賊撲剪殆盡。

In the spring of the eleventh year he learned Chen Hongfan served under Wencan and sent gifts with a message: "You spared my life—have you forgotten? I will lead my men to surrender and serve you. Hongfan rejoiced, told Wencan, and surrender was accepted. Lin Mingqiu and Wang Ruizhi plotted with Liangyu to arrest him on arrival; Wencan refused. He occupied Gucheng and demanded rations for a hundred thousand men; Wencan hesitated. All rebel hosts gathered at Nanyang, ravaging the surrounding counties. Wencan went to Yuzhou and redoubled the surrender appeals. Ruocai, beaten in battle, surrendered to the eunuch Li Jigai at Taihe Mountain. The next year thirteen chiefs—Shetian, Hunshiwan, Guotianxing, and the rest—surrendered in turn. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting crushed Li Zicheng in the Xiao-Han mountains; the court thought the rebellion nearly ended.

獻忠在穀城，訓卒治甲仗，言者頗疑其欲反。帝方信兵部尚書楊嗣昌言，謂文燦能辦賊，不復憂也。夏五月，獻忠叛，殺知縣阮之鈿，隳穀城，陷房縣，合汝才兵，殺知縣郝景春。十三家降賊一時並叛，惟王光恩不從。獻忠去房縣，左良玉追擊之，羅岱為前鋒，至羅犬英山，岱中伏死，良玉大敗。

At Gucheng he drilled troops and forged arms; many suspected he would rebel again. The emperor trusted Yang Sichang and believed Wencan had the rebels in hand. In the fifth month he rebelled, killed Ruan Zhitong, destroyed Gucheng, took Fang County with Ruocai, and killed Hao Jingchun. All thirteen surrendered bands rose again; only Wang Guangen held back. Leaving Fang County he was pursued by Zuo Liangyu; Luo Dai was ambushed and killed at Luoying Mountain; Liangyu was routed.

嗣昌已拜大學士，乃自請督師，帝大悅。十月朔，嗣昌至襄陽，集諸將議進兵。時群賊大掠，賀一龍、賀錦犯隨、應、麻、黃，與官軍相持。汝才及過天星竄伏漳、房、興、遠，獻忠踞湖廣、四川界，將西犯。嗣昌視東略稍緩，乃宿輜重襄陽，浚濠築城甚固，令良玉專力剿獻忠。

Yang Sichang, now grand secretary, volunteered to command; the emperor was delighted. On the first of the tenth month he reached Xiangyang and convened the generals. Rebels ravaged everywhere; He Yilong and He Jin held Sui, Ying, Ma, and Huang against the Ming. Ruocai and Guotianxing lurked in the mountains; Xianzhong held the Huguang–Sichuan frontier and prepared to strike west. Sichang judged the east secondary, fortified Xiangyang, and ordered Liangyu to focus solely on Xianzhong.

十三年閏正月，良玉擊賊枸坪關，獻忠遁，追至瑪瑙山。賊據山拒敵，良玉先登，賀人龍、李國奇夾擊，大敗之，斬首千三百餘級，擒獻忠妻妾。湖廣將張應元、汪之鳳追敗之水右壩。川將張令、方國安又邀擊於岔溪。獻忠奔柯家坪，張令逐北深入，被圍，應元、之鳳援之，復破賊。獻忠率千餘騎竄興、歸山中，勢大蹙。

In the intercalary first month of the thirteenth year Liangyu drove him from Goupíng Pass to Manáo Mountain. Rebels held the heights; Liangyu led the climb; He Renlong and Li Guoqi flanked them; thirteen hundred heads fell and Xianzhong's wives were taken. Zhang Yingyuan and Wang Zhifeng beat them again at Shuiyouba. Zhang Ling and Fang Guo'an ambushed them at Chaxi. Xianzhong fled to Kejiaping; Zhang Ling pursued too far and was surrounded until Yingyuan and Zhifeng rescued him and won again. With a thousand horsemen he hid in the Xing-Gui mountains, his power broken.

初，良玉之進兵也，與嗣昌議不合。獻忠遣間說良玉，良玉乃圍而弗攻。獻忠因得與山民市鹽芻米酷，收潰散，掩旗息鼓，益西走白羊山。時汝才及過天星從寧昌窺大昌、巫山，欲渡江，為官兵所扼。獻忠至，遂與之合。獻忠雖累敗，氣益盛，立馬江岸，有不前赴者，輒戮之。賊爭死鬥，官軍退走。賊畢渡，屯萬頃山，歸、巫大震。已而汝才、過天星犯開縣不利，汝才東走，過天星復軼開縣而西。諸將往復追逐，獻忠乃悉眾攻楚兵於土地嶺，副將汪之鳳戰死。遂陷大昌，進屯開縣，張令戰死，石砫女土司秦良玉亦敗。汝才復自東至，與獻忠轉趨達州。川撫邵捷春退扼涪江。賊北陷劍州，將入漢中。總兵官趙光遠、賀人龍守陽平、百丈險。賊不得過，乃復走巴西。涪江師潰，捷春論死。獻忠屠綿州，越成都，陷滬州，北渡隱永川，走漢川、德陽，入巴州。又自巴走達州，復至開縣。

Liangyu and Sichang had quarreled over strategy from the first. Xianzhong's agents bought Liangyu, who surrounded him but would not close in. He traded salt, grain, and vinegar with hill folk, regathered stragglers, marched silently, and slipped west to Baiyang Mountain. Luo Rucai and Guo Tianxing had slipped out of Ningchang to probe Dachang and Wushan and cross the Yangtze, but government forces barred the way. Zhang Xianzhong came up and the bands united. Defeat after defeat only stoked Zhang Xianzhong's fury: on the riverbank he would cut down any man who hung back. The rebels fought as if glad to die, and the government lines broke. Once every man was across, they camped on Mount Wanqing, and the regions of Guizhou and Wushan trembled. Soon Rucai and Guo Tianxing struck Kaizhou and failed; Rucai veered east, Guo Tianxing slipped west of Kaizhou once more. While commanders wheeled and pursued, Xianzhong threw his whole host at Chu troops on Tudi Ridge; Vice Commander Wang Zhifeng fell. He seized Dachang, pushed on to Kaizhou—Zhang Ling died fighting—and even Qin Liangyu, the woman Tusi of Shizhu, was beaten. Rucai returned from the east; he and Xianzhong swung toward Dazhou. Sichuan governor Shao Jiechun fell back to block the Fu River. The rebels took Jianzhou northward and aimed for Hanzhong. Commander Zhao Guangyuan and He Renlong guarded Yangping and the Baizhang narrows. Blocked, they doubled back into Baxi. The Fu River line collapsed; Jiechun was condemned to die. Xianzhong sacked Mianzhou, swept past Chengdu, seized Luzhou, forded north into Yongchuan, and fled through Hannan and Deyang into Bazhou. From Ba he doubled to Dazhou, then came back to Kaizhou.

先是，嗣昌聞賊入川，進駐重慶。監軍萬元吉曰：「賊或東突，不可無備，宜分中軍間道出梓潼，扼歸路。」嗣昌不聽，擬令諸將盡赴滬州追賊。

Earlier, hearing the rebels had entered Sichuan, Yang Sichang moved his headquarters to Chongqing. Supervising secretary Wan Yuanji urged: "They may bolt east—we must be ready. Send a central column by a hidden road through Zitong to sever their retreat. Sichang refused and ordered every general to Luzhou in pursuit.

十四年正月，總兵猛如虎、參將劉士傑追之開縣之黃陵城，賊還戰，官軍大敗，士傑及遊擊郭開等皆死。獻忠果東出，令汝才拒鄖撫袁繼鹹兵，自率輕騎，一日夜馳三百里，殺督師使者于道，取軍符，紿陷襄陽城。獻忠縛襄王翊銘置堂下，屬之酒曰：「我欲借王頭，使楊嗣昌以陷籓誅，王其努力盡此酒。」遂殺之，並殺鄖襄道張克儉、推官鄺曰廣，復得其所失妻妾。又去，陷樊城、當陽、郟。合汝才入光州，殘商城、羅山、息縣、信陽、固始。分軍犯茶山、應城，陷隨州。偽張良玉幟，入泌陽。再攻應山，不克，去。攻鄖陽，守將王光恩力戰，始解。又拔鄖西，群盜附者萬計，遂東略地。獻忠自瑪瑙山之敗，心畏良玉，及屢勝，有驕色。秋八月，良玉追擊之信陽，大破之，降賊眾數萬。獻忠傷股，乘夜東奔，良玉急追之。會大雨，江溢道絕，官軍不能進，獻忠走免。已，復出商城，將向英山，又為副將王允成所破，眾道散且盡，從騎止數十。時汝才已先與自成合，獻忠遂投自成。自成以部曲遇之，不從。自成欲殺之，汝才諫曰：「留之使擾漢南，分官軍兵力。」乃陰與獻忠五百騎，使遁去。道糾土賊一斗穀、瓦罐子等，眾復盛，然猶佯推自成。先是，賊營革、左二賀陷含、巢、潛諸縣，欲西合獻忠，以湖廣官兵沮不得達。及汴圍急，督師丁啟睿及左良玉皆往援汴，獻忠乘間陷亳州，入英、霍山中，與革、左、二賀相見，皆大喜。

In the first month of the fourteenth year, Meng Ruhu and Liu Shijie chased them to Huanglingcheng in Kaizhou; the rebels wheeled and shattered the government host—Shijie, Guerrilla Commander Guo Kai, and many more died. Xianzhong did break east: Rucai held Yuan Jixian's Yun force at bay while he rode light three hundred li in a day and a night, slew the Grand Secretary's courier, seized the tallies, and duped his way into Xiangyang. He bound Prince Xiang, Yi Ming, set wine before him in the hall, and said: "I need your highness's head so Sichang may be put to death for losing a prince—drain this cup. Then he killed the prince, Xiangyang intendant Zhang Kejian, and assistant magistrate Kuang Yueguang, and took back the wives and concubines he had lost. He marched on, seizing Fancheng, Dangyang, and Ye. With Rucai he entered Guangzhou and laid waste to Shangcheng, Luoshan, Xixian, Xinyang, and Gushi. He sent columns against Chashan and Yingcheng and seized Suizhou. Under false banners of Zhang Liangyu he entered Biyang. He struck Yingshan again, failed, and withdrew. At Yunyang, garrison commander Wang Guang'en fought so hard the siege broke. He seized western Yun as well; tens of thousands of outlaws rallied to him, and he turned east to carve out ground. Since Agate Mountain he had feared Liangyu; now, after repeated wins, pride overtook him. In the eighth month, Liangyu ran him down at Xinyang and broke him utterly; tens of thousands surrendered. Xianzhong took an arrow in the thigh and fled east by night; Liangyu clung to his heels. Rain flooded the rivers and severed the roads; the government host could not follow, and Xianzhong slipped away. Later he broke from Shangcheng toward Yingshan, was shattered again by deputy Wang Yuncheng, and his host melted away until only a few dozen riders remained. Rucai had already thrown in with Zicheng; Xianzhong now cast his lot with him too. Zicheng treated him as a subordinate; he refused. Zicheng meant to kill him. Rucai pleaded: "Keep him to harry southern Han and split the government forces. In secret he gave Xianzhong five hundred horse and let him escape. On the road he gathered hill bandits like Yidougu and Waguanzi; his ranks swelled again, yet he still feigned deference to Zicheng. Earlier the chiefs Ge and Zuo Erhe had seized Han, Chao, and Qian and meant to join Xianzhong in the west, but Huguang troops barred the way. When Bian was hard pressed, Ding Qirui and Zuo Liangyu hurried to its relief; Xianzhong seized the gap, took Bozhou, and entered the Ying and Huo hills to meet Ge, Zuo, and Erhe—great was their joy.

明年合攻，陷舒城、六安，掠民益軍。陷廬州，知府鄭履祥死。陷無為、廬江，習水師於巢湖。太監盧九德以總兵官黃得功、劉良佐之兵戰於夾山，敗績，江南大震。鳳陽總督高鬥光、安慶巡撫鄭二陽逮治，詔起馬士英代鬥光。是秋，得功、良佐大破賊於潛山，獻忠腹心婦豎盡走蘄水，革、左二賀北投自成。已，獻忠復襲陷太湖。會良玉避自成東下，盡撤湖廣兵自從。獻忠聞之，又襲陷黃梅。

The next year they struck together, took Shucheng and Lu'an, and drove the people into the ranks. They seized Luzhou; prefect Zheng Luxiang died. They took Wuwei and Lujiang and trained a fleet on Chaohu. Eunuch Lu Jiude met Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo at Jiashan and was beaten; all Jiangnan shook. Fengyang governor Gao Douguang and Anqing governor Zheng Eryang were seized and tried; Ma Shiying was summoned to replace Douguang. That autumn Degong and Liangzuo crushed the rebels at Qianshan; Xianzhong's women and boys fled to Qishui, and Ge, Zuo, and Erhe went north to Zicheng. Soon Xianzhong stormed Taihu again. Liangyu, sidestepping Zicheng's eastward march, pulled every Huguang soldier after him. Hearing of it, Xianzhong struck Huangmei once more.

十六年春，連陷廣濟、蘄州、蘄水。入黃州，黃民盡逃，乃驅婦女鏟城，尋殺之以填塹。麻城人湯志者，大姓奴也，殺諸生六十人，以城降賊。獻中改麻城為州。又西陷漢陽，全軍從鴨蛋洲渡，陷武昌，執楚王華奎，籠而沈諸江，盡殺楚宗室。錄男子二十以下、十五以上為兵，餘皆殺之。由鸚鵡洲至道士洑，浮胔蔽江，逾月人脂厚累寸，魚鱉不可食。獻忠遂僭號，改武昌曰天授府，江夏曰上江縣。據楚王第，鑄西王之寶，偽設尚書、都督、巡撫等官，開科取士。以興國州柯、陳兩姓土官悍勇，招降之。題詩黃鶴樓。下令發楚邸金振饑民。蘄、黃等二十一州縣悉附。

In the spring of the sixteenth year he seized Guangji, Qizhou, and Qishui in turn. At Huangzhou the people had all fled; he forced women to dig the walls, then slew them to fill the ditches. Tang Zhi of Macheng—a great family's bondsman—killed sixty students and opened the city to the rebels. Xianzhong made Macheng a prefecture. He drove west, seized Hanyang, and the whole host crossed from Yadanzhou to take Wuchang. He seized Prince Chu Hua Kui, caged him, and sank him in the river, and slaughtered the entire Chu imperial house. Boys from fifteen to twenty were pressed into the ranks; all others were killed. From Parrot Isle to Daoshifu the dead clogged the river; for a month human grease lay inches deep, and fish and turtles could not be eaten. Xianzhong then took the throne, renaming Wuchang Heavenly Bestowed Prefecture and Jiangxia Shangjiang County. He seized the Chu palace, cast the Western King's seal, set up false ministers, grand marshals, and governors, and held examinations. The Ke and Chen native officers of Xingguo were fierce fighters; he called them to submit. He wrote a poem on the Yellow Crane Tower. He ordered the Chu palace treasuries opened to feed the starving. Twenty-one prefectures and counties, Qi and Huang among them, submitted.

時李自成在襄陽，聞之忌且怒，貽書譙責。左良玉兵復西上，偽官吏多被擒殺。獻忠懼，乃悉眾趨岳州、長沙。於是監軍道王質、沔陽知州章曠、武昌生員程天一、白雲寨長易道三皆起兵討賊，蘄、黃、漢陽三府皆反正。獻忠遂陷咸甯、蒲圻，逼岳州。沅撫李乾德、總兵孔希貴等據城陵磯拒戰，三戰三克，殲其前部。獻忠怒，百道並進，乾德等不支，皆走，岳州陷。獻忠欲渡洞庭湖，卜於神，不吉，投珓而訽。將渡，風大作，獻忠怒，連巨舟千艘，載婦女焚之，水光夜如晝。騎而逼長沙，巡按劉熙祚奉吉王、惠王走衡州，總兵尹先民降，長沙陷。尋破衡州，吉王、惠王、桂王俱走永州。乃拆桂府材，載至長沙，造偽殿，而自追三王於永。熙祚命中軍護三王入廣西，身入永死守，城陷見殺。又陷寶慶、常德，發故督師楊嗣昌祖墓，斬其屍見血。攻道州，守備沈至緒戰歿，其女再戰，奪父屍還，城獲全。遂東犯江西，陷吉安、袁州、建昌、撫州、永新、安福、萬載、南豐諸府縣。廣東大震，南、韶屬城官民盡逃。賊有獻計取吳、越者，獻忠憚良玉在，不聽，決策入川中。

Li Zicheng was at Xiangyang; hearing of it he burned with envy and sent a scolding letter. Zuo Liangyu's army marched west again; false officials were seized and killed in droves. Afraid, Xianzhong drove his whole host toward Yuezhou and Changsha. Then military inspector Wang Zhi, Mianyang magistrate Zhang Kuang, Wuchang student Cheng Tianyi, and White Cloud stockade chief Yi Daosan all rose against the rebels; Qishui, Huang, and Hanyang turned back to the dynasty. Xianzhong seized Xianning and Puci and closed on Yuezhou. Hunan governor Li Qiande and commander Kong Xigui held Chenglingji and beat them back three times, destroying his van. Xianzhong raged and pressed on a hundred roads; Qiande could not stand and fled—Yuezhou fell. He meant to cross Dongting and divined to the god; the omens were bad, and he cursed as he cast the lots. As he was about to cross, a gale rose. In fury he chained a thousand great boats full of women and burned them; the lake blazed through the night like noon. He galloped on Changsha. Censor Liu Xizuo bore the Ji and Hui princes to Hengzhou; commander Yin Xianmin surrendered, and Changsha fell. Soon he took Hengzhou; the Ji, Hui, and Gui princes fled to Yongzhou. He tore down the Gui palace for timber, rafted it to Changsha to build a false hall, and himself chased the three princes toward Yong. Xizuo sent the central army to escort the three princes into Guangxi; he entered Yong to die defending it and was killed when the city fell. He took Shaoyang and Changde, opened Grand Secretary Yang Sichang's tomb, and hacked the corpse until blood ran. At Daozhou garrison commander Shen Zhixu fell; his daughter fought twice more, bore her father's body back, and the city held. He turned east into Jiangxi, seizing Ji'an, Yuanzhou, Jianchang, Fuzhou, Yongxin, Anfu, Wanzai, Nanfeng, and more. Guangdong shook; in Nan and Shao officials and people fled to the last man. One man urged him to take Wu and Yue; fearing Liangyu, Xianzhong would not listen and chose to enter Sichuan.

十七年春陷夔州，至萬縣，水漲，留屯三月。已，破涪州，敗守道劉麟長、總兵曾英兵。進陷佛圖關。破重慶，瑞王常浩遇害。是日，天無雲而雷，賊有震者。獻忠怒，發巨砲與天角。遂進陷成都，蜀王至澍率妃、夫人以下投于井，巡撫龍文光被殺。是時我大清兵已定京師，李自成遁歸西安。南京諸臣尊立福王，命故大學士王應熊督川、湖軍事，兵力弱，不能討賊。獻忠遂僭號大西國王，改元大順，冬十一月庚寅，即偽位，以蜀王府為宮，名成都曰西京。用汪兆麟為左丞相，嚴錫命為右丞相。設六部五軍都督府等官，王國麟、江鼎鎮、龔完敬等為尚書。養子孫可望、艾能奇、劉文秀、李定國等皆為將軍，賜姓張氏，分徇諸府州縣，悉陷之。保甯、順慶先已降自成，置官吏，獻忠悉逐去。自成發兵攻，不克，遂據有全蜀。惟遵義一郡及黎州土司馬金堅不下。

In the spring of the seventeenth year he took Kuizhou and reached Wanxian; floods held him there three months. Soon he took Fuzhou, beating circuit defender Liu Linchang and commander Zeng Ying. He pushed on and seized Fotuguan. He took Chongqing; Prince Rui Chang Hao died. That day thunder pealed under a clear sky; some rebels were struck dead. Xianzhong raged and turned great guns on the sky. He advanced on Chengdu. Prince Shu Zhi Shu led consorts and ladies into a well; governor Long Wenguang was slain. By then the Great Qing had taken the capital; Li Zicheng had fled to Xi'an. Nanjing ministers enthroned the Prince of Fu and set former grand secretary Wang Yingxiong over Sichuan and Huguang, but his forces were too weak to crush the rebels. Xianzhong declared himself king of the Great Western State, took the era name Dashun, and in the eleventh month on the day gengyin mounted the false throne, made the Shu palace his hall, and called Chengdu Western Capital. He made Wang Zhaolin left chancellor and Yan Timing right chancellor. He set up six ministries and a grand marshal's office; Wang Guolin, Jiang Dingzhen, Gong Wanjing, and others became ministers. Adopted sons Sun Kewang, Ai Nengqi, Liu Wenxiu, and Li Dingguo were made generals, given the surname Zhang, and sent to overrun the provinces—all fell. Baoning and Shunqing had already submitted to Zicheng and taken his officials; Xianzhong expelled them all. Zicheng sent troops but could not break him; Xianzhong held all Shu. Only Zunyi and Lizhou native officer Ma Jin held out and would not yield.

獻忠黃面長身虎頷，人號黃虎。性狡譎，嗜殺，一日不殺人，輒悒悒不樂。詭開科取士，集于青羊宮，盡殺之，筆墨成丘塚。坑成都民於中園。殺各衛籍軍九十八萬。又遣四將軍分屠各府縣，名草殺。偽官朝會拜伏，呼獒數十下殿，獒所嗅者，引出斬之，名天殺。又創生剝皮法，皮未去而先絕者，刑者抵死。將卒以殺人多少敘功次，共殺男女六萬萬有奇。賊將有不忍至縊死者。偽都督張君用、王明等數十人，皆坐殺人少，剝皮死，並屠其家。脅川中士大夫使受偽職，敘州布政使尹伸、廣元給事中吳宇英不屈死。諸受職者，後尋亦皆見殺。其慘虐無人理，不可勝紀。又用法移錦江，涸而闕之，深數丈，埋金寶億萬計，然後決堤放流，名水藏，曰：「無為後人有也。」當是時，曾英、李占春、于大海、王祥、楊展、曹勳等議兵並起，故獻忠誅殺益毒。川中民盡，乃謀窺西安。

Xianzhong was sallow, long of body, tiger-jawed; men called him Yellow Tiger. Cunning and murderous by nature—if he killed no one in a day, he grew dark and restless. He lured scholars to examinations at Qingyang Palace and slaughtered them all; pens and ink piled like graves. He buried the people of Chengdu alive in the central park. He killed nine hundred eighty thousand registered guard troops. He sent four generals to massacre every prefecture and county—a slaughter called "mowing the grass." At false court audiences, officials kowtowed; he loosed mastiffs down the hall, and whom the dogs sniffed was dragged out and killed—"heaven's slaughter." He invented flaying alive; if the skin was not off before the victim died, the flayer was executed. Officers were promoted by the body count; men and women killed exceeded six hundred thousand. Some rebel generals could not bear it and hanged themselves. False grand marshals Zhang Junyong, Wang Ming, and dozens more were flayed for killing too few, and their families were wiped out. He forced Sichuan gentry into office; pacification commissioner Yin Shen of Yizhou and supervising secretary Wu Yuying of Guangyuan died refusing. Those who took office were hunted down and killed in turn. His cruelties passed human telling and cannot all be written. He dammed the Jin River, drained it, and dug it deep, burying treasure beyond count, then broke the dike to flood it back—"water burial," he said: "Let nothing remain for those who come after. Then Zeng Ying, Li Zhanchun, Yu Dahai, Wang Xiang, Yang Zhan, Cao Xun, and others raised arms, and Xianzhong's killing grew fouler still. When Sichuan was emptied of people, he cast his eye on Xi'an.

順治三年，獻忠盡焚成都宮殿廬舍，夷其城，率眾出川北，又欲盡殺川兵。偽將劉進忠故統川兵，聞之，率一軍逃。會我大清兵至漢中，進忠來奔，乞為鄉導。至鹽亭界，大霧。獻忠曉行，猝遇我兵於鳳凰坡，中矢墜馬，蒲伏積薪下。於是我兵擒獻忠出，斬之。

In Shunzhi 3, Xianzhong burned Chengdu's palaces and houses, leveled the city, and marched north out of Sichuan; he meant again to slaughter every Sichuan soldier. False general Liu Jinzhong had once led Sichuan troops; hearing this, he deserted with his command. When the Great Qing reached Hanzhong, Jinzhong came in and offered to guide them. At the Yanting border, fog swallowed the land. Xianzhong marched at dawn, met our troops at Fenghuang Slope, took an arrow, fell from his horse, and crawled under a stack of firewood. Our troops dragged him out and struck off his head.

川中自遭獻忠亂，列城內雜樹成拱，狗食人肉若猛獸虎豹，齧人死輒棄去，不盡食也。民逃深山中，草衣不食久，遍體皆生毛。獻忠既誅，賊黨可望、能奇、文秀、定國等潰入川南，殺曾英、李乾德等，後皆降于永明王。

After Xianzhong's ravaging of Sichuan, trees in the cities grew wrist-thick; dogs ate men like tigers, and when a man was dead they left the corpse half eaten. Survivors hid deep in the hills, clothed in grass, starved so long that hair covered their bodies. After Xianzhong's death, Kewang, Nengqi, Wenxiu, Dingguo, and the rest broke into southern Sichuan, killed Zeng Ying and Li Qiande, and later surrendered to the Prince of Yongming.

Cite this Chapter