The Fall of the Ming and the Rise of a Reluctant Hero

The collapse of the Ming Dynasty in 1644 marked the beginning of a tumultuous era in Chinese history. As the Qing forces advanced southward, the Southern Ming regime emerged as a last bastion of resistance. Among its prominent figures was He Tengjiao, a man whose legacy is as contradictory as the era itself. Appointed as the governor of Huguang (modern-day Hunan and Hubei) by the Longwu Emperor, He Tengjiao initially gained recognition for his refusal to surrender to the Qing, a stance that earned him a reputation as a loyalist martyr. Yet, his leadership during the resistance was fraught with missteps, revealing a tragic gap between intention and execution.

He Tengjiao’s rise to prominence came amid the chaos following the fall of the Hongguang regime in 1645. Fleeing from the warlord Zuo Liangyu’s forces, he escaped by leaping into a river and eventually regrouped in Changsha, Hunan. With the Qing preoccupied in southeastern China, He Tengjiao found himself in control of a critical region, wielding authority over military appointments and regional finances. This was a moment of opportunity—one that demanded strategic vision. Instead, his decisions would sow the seeds of failure.

Missteps and Mismanagement: The Downfall of a Leader

He Tengjiao’s fatal flaw lay in his inability to unify or effectively command the fragmented forces under his jurisdiction. Rather than leveraging the seasoned remnants of Li Zicheng’s rebel army—a formidable anti-Qing force—he sidelined them in favor of local warlords like Huang Zhaoxuan, Liu Chengyin, and Zhang Xianbi. These commanders, more interested in personal power than collective resistance, drained resources and destabilized the region.

Compounding this error, He Tengjiao and his advisor Zhang Kuang pursued a misguided strategy of building a personal army, recruiting mercenaries from Guangxi and Guizhou. This force, dubbed the “Governor’s Guard,” proved inept in battle. As historian Wang Fuzhi noted, He Tengjiao’s heavy taxation to fund these troops—sometimes six times the normal rate—devastated the local population, eroding the very support the resistance needed.

The disastrous Battle of Xinqiang in 1646 exposed these weaknesses. Despite numerical superiority, He Tengjiao’s forces were routed by Qing commanders like Zu Kefa and Ma Jiaolin. The defeat shattered morale and revealed the hollowness of his military reforms. Worse, it deepened rifts within the resistance, as He Tengjiao scapegoated allies like Wang Jincai, a former rebel leader, further fracturing the anti-Qing coalition.

Cultural and Social Devastation in Hunan

The human cost of He Tengjiao’s policies was staggering. His oppressive taxation and corruption sparked widespread suffering, with records describing Hunan’s populace as “reduced by half” due to famine and displacement. Local elites like Guo Duxian, a former official, openly criticized the regime, prompting He Tengjiao to retaliate with baseless accusations of hoarding wealth—a smear that later proved false but underscored his vindictiveness.

This period also highlighted the broader dysfunction of the Southern Ming. Factionalism, paranoia, and a lack of coherent strategy plagued the resistance. He Tengjiao’s fixation on controlling rival commanders, rather than confronting the Qing, mirrored the court’s self-destructive tendencies. As the scholar Meng Zhengfa lamented, the regime’s infighting made it “a house divided against itself.”

Legacy: A Cautionary Tale of Loyalty Without Wisdom

He Tengjiao’s eventual capture and execution in 1649 cemented his image as a martyr. Yet, his story is less one of heroism than of wasted potential. His loyalty was undeniable, but his leadership failures accelerated the Southern Ming’s collapse. Modern historians often cite him as a case study in how ideological purity, untempered by pragmatism, can undermine even the noblest causes.

Today, He Tengjiao’s legacy endures in debates about governance and resistance. Was he a victim of circumstances, or an architect of his own downfall? The answer lies somewhere in between—a reminder that in times of crisis, competence is as vital as conviction. His life serves as a poignant footnote in the Ming-Qing transition, a period where the line between hero and fool was often perilously thin.