The Twilight of Southern Ming Resistance

As the Qing conquest of China gained momentum in the mid-17th century, the Southern Ming resistance—a loose coalition of Ming loyalists and peasant rebels—faced increasingly desperate circumstances. By the early 1660s, most major Ming claimants had been captured or killed, including the Yongli Emperor, executed by the Qing in 1662. Yet in the remote, mountainous border region between Hubei, Sichuan, and Shaanxi provinces, a final bastion of resistance endured. Known as the “Thirteen Houses of Kuizhou East,” this group, primarily composed of remnants from Li Zicheng’s peasant rebellion who had later allied with the Ming, continued to defy Qing authority under increasingly impossible odds.

The resistance movement’s gradual collapse reveals much about the challenges of maintaining opposition to the newly established Qing dynasty. Key leaders like Prince Jingguo Wang Guangxing, who had previously vowed never to surrender—citing the unjust execution of his brother Wang Guang’en as making compromise impossible—eventually capitulated. In October 1663, Wang and Ming-appointed governor Jiang Shangying surrendered with 7,000 troops. By early 1664, even Mao Shoudeng, the Yongli court’s highest-ranking official coordinating resistance efforts in the region, submitted to Qing authority. The defections of former rebel generals like Ma Tengyun, Dang Shousu, and Ta Tianbao further eroded the movement.

The Siege of Maolu Mountain: A Final Desperate Defense

By spring 1664, only one significant leader remained: Li Laiheng, Prince Linguo, who made his last stand at Maolu Mountain in Xingshan County, Hubei. With perhaps 4,000-5,000 troops, Li faced a Qing force exceeding 100,000 soldiers drawn from multiple provinces and including elite Manchu Eight Banner divisions under commanders like穆里玛 (Muli玛) and 图海 (Tu Hai).

The mountainous terrain favored the defenders initially. When Muli玛 arrogantly ordered a direct assault, Li’s forces inflicted devastating losses, killing prominent Manchu officers including the Bordered Red Banner’s deputy commander Hebosuo and Muli玛’s own son Suerma. Forced to reconsider tactics, the Qing adopted a strategy of protracted siege, constructing elaborate fortifications including:

– Wooden stockades for troop quarters
– Deep trenches (8 feet wide and deep)
– “Plum blossom stakes”—dense arrays of sharpened logs arranged in interlocking patterns

These measures, while costly and labor-intensive, gradually strangled Li’s resistance by cutting off supply lines and mobility.

The Last Battles and Legacy of Defiance

By summer 1664, Li’s situation became untenable. Two desperate breakout attempts failed:

1. June 15 nighttime assault: Several thousand Ming troops attacked with ladders, shields, and axes to breach Qing lines but were repelled.
2. Intercalary June 9 follow-up attack: Another fierce assault with concentrated gunfire and artillery also failed against superior Qing numbers.

With food exhausted and defections increasing, Li made his final preparations on August 4, 1664. After executing his wife to prevent capture, he burned his headquarters and committed suicide rather than surrender—a fate shared by most remaining soldiers as Qing troops conducted exhaustive “clean-up” operations to eliminate any survivors.

Li’s background remains somewhat obscure—he was likely the adopted son of Li Guo (Li Zicheng’s nephew)—but his defiance became legendary. Contemporary Qing records grudgingly noted his son (name unknown) also commanding troops during the siege, suggesting multiple generations participated in this final resistance.

The Human Cost: A Region Devastated

The Qing victory came at staggering human cost:

– Military losses: Heavy casualties among Manchu and Han troops in repeated assaults
– Civilian suffering: Massive conscription of laborers for supply lines:
– Hubei’s Songzi County reported civilians fleeing conscription “like avoiding swords and daggers”
– Hunan’s Anfu County lost half its adult male population to corvée labor deaths
– Sichuan and Shaanxi faced similar depopulation from forced logistics work
– Economic collapse: Contemporary poetry and county gazetteers describe:
– Families selling children to survive
– Farmland abandoned as entire villages fled
– Local officials lamenting “bones filling the valleys” from labor casualties

The campaign’s brutality entered popular memory through sayings like Beijing’s later proverb about impossible tasks: “Is this another Maolu Mountain?”

Historical Significance: The End of Ming Resistance?

This episode marked several key transitions:

1. Military: The elimination of the last major land-based Ming loyalist force on the mainland (only Taiwan’s Zheng family held out until 1683).
2. Historiographical: Many scholars consider 1664 the true end of the Southern Ming era, as:
– Kuizhou East represented the final organized resistance recognizing Ming legitimacy
– Subsequent resistance (like Zhang Huangyan’s coastal efforts) lacked comparable institutional continuity
3. Social: Demonstrated the Qing’s willingness to expend enormous resources to eliminate opposition, foreshadowing similarly brutal campaigns like the coastal evacuations against Zheng forces.

The Maolu Mountain campaign remains a powerful symbol of desperate resistance against impossible odds—a story of tactical brilliance, environmental warfare, and ultimately, tragic sacrifice that continues to resonate in Chinese historical memory.