The Turbulent Origins of a Ming Loyalist

Li Dingguo, born in Suide, Shaanxi during the chaotic final years of the Ming Dynasty, emerged from humble origins to become one of the most formidable military leaders of the Southern Ming resistance. Like many young men displaced by famine and rebellion, he joined the peasant uprisings that swept across northern China in the 1630s. His exceptional military talents caught the attention of the rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong, who adopted him as a foster son—a common practice among military leaders to strengthen bonds with promising officers.

When the Ming capital fell to rebel forces in 1644 and the Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide, China plunged into a multi-sided conflict between remnant Ming forces, peasant rebels, and the rising Manchu Qing dynasty. In this maelstrom, Li Dingguo and his fellow commanders faced a fateful choice: continue their rebellion or join forces with the Southern Ming court against the common Qing threat. Li chose loyalty to the Ming cause, a decision that would define his life’s trajectory.

The Strategic Gamble: From Guangdong Campaigns to the Rescue of an Emperor

The years 1653-1654 marked a critical juncture in Li Dingguo’s career. With the Southern Ming court under the Yongli Emperor (Zhu Youlang) virtually imprisoned in Anlong by the powerful warlord Sun Kewang, Li launched two bold campaigns into Guangdong province. His strategic vision was ambitious—to link up with the maritime forces of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga) along the southern coast, creating a unified front that could both resist the Qing and counterbalance Sun Kewang’s domineering influence.

Historical documents preserve Li’s poignant letter to Zheng Chenggong: “The Emperor’s situation is indescribably precarious. Reading His Majesty’s sorrowful edicts pains me to the core.” This reveals not just military calculation but genuine devotion to the Ming cause. However, the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Xinhui in winter 1654 forced Li to abandon his Guangdong strategy. With his forces battered, he retreated to Nanning, Guangxi to regroup.

Facing the collapse of his eastern strategy and the imminent danger to the Yongli Emperor, Li made one of history’s most daring decisions—to march directly into Sun Kewang’s territory and rescue the emperor. In early 1656, through brilliant maneuvering that included changing his army’s banners to black and forced marches covering 60 miles in three days, Li broke through Sun’s defenses at Tianzhou. His treatment of captured enemy troops—distributing 20,000 taels of silver while declaring “We are all brothers”—demonstrated both military genius and political acumen.

The Dramatic Rescue and Its Aftermath

The operation to extract the Yongli Emperor from Anlong unfolded like a historical thriller. Sun Kewang, alerted to Li’s approach, dispatched his general Bai Wenxian to forcibly relocate the emperor to Guiyang. Bai, secretly sympathetic to the imperial cause, deliberately delayed the move while awaiting Li’s arrival. Contemporary accounts describe tense scenes of imperial household members weeping uncontrollably, fearing Sun’s retribution.

Li’s advance forces used clever deception—including a messenger disguised as a supply officer who smuggled a secret memorial to the emperor inside his armor. When Sun’s lieutenant Ye Yingzhen attempted to forcibly remove the emperor at swordpoint, Bai Wenxian intervened with the warning: “The imperial family are jade leaves and golden branches—not common lives like ours!” The dramatic climax came on a foggy morning when Li’s cavalry suddenly appeared at the city gates shouting “The Western Commander’s army has arrived!”—triggering jubilant celebrations among Anlong’s residents.

The emperor’s emotional meeting with Li Dingguo—”I have long known of your loyalty, but regret we meet so late”—marked the beginning of a new phase in the Southern Ming resistance. Li’s successful relocation of the court to Kunming in March 1656 temporarily stabilized the regime but came at significant strategic cost.

The High Price of Internal Strife

Li’s bold action, while heroic, created dangerous vulnerabilities. The withdrawal of his forces from Guangxi allowed Qing troops under Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao to rapidly occupy the province. Military reports from 1656 detail how Ming defenses collapsed without Li’s presence—Guangxi’s cities fell one after another with minimal resistance. This created a pincer threat that would later enable the Qing’s three-pronged invasion of Yunnan.

The deeper tragedy lay in the irreparable rift between Li Dingguo and Sun Kewang. Despite Li and Liu Wenxiu’s attempts at reconciliation—including sending Sun’s family back to Guiyang with honors—Sun remained obsessed with eliminating his rival. The Yongli court’s delicate balancing act, exemplified by its simultaneous ennoblement of both Li’s allies and Sun’s supporters, ultimately failed. As historian Feng Su later observed: “Had they united, the southwestern resistance might have endured indefinitely.”

Legacy of a Flawed Hero

Li Dingguo’s story embodies both the heroic persistence and fatal divisions of the Southern Ming resistance. His military brilliance shone in campaigns across five provinces, while his loyalty to the Ming ideal remained unshaken even as the cause became increasingly hopeless. The Kunming government he helped establish in 1656 represented the last credible Ming administration on Chinese soil.

Yet the strategic consequences of his actions remain debated by historians. The loss of Guangxi, while unavoidable given Sun Kewang’s threat, severely constrained future options. The bitter rivalry with Sun wasted precious resources better spent resisting the Qing—a lesson not lost on later Chinese revolutionaries who studied this period.

Modern excavations in Yunnan continue to uncover artifacts from Li’s campaigns, while his memory is honored by descendants of Ming loyalists across Southeast Asia. In the grand narrative of Chinese history, Li Dingguo stands as both a tragic figure—whose devotion to a fading dynasty ultimately proved futile—and an enduring symbol of loyalty against impossible odds. His story reminds us how personal rivalries and strategic dilemmas can shape the fate of nations during times of upheaval.