The Collapse of a Peasant Empire

The death of Li Zicheng in 1645 marked not just the end of a rebel leader but the disintegration of one of China’s most formidable peasant armies. The Shun forces, once capable of toppling the Ming dynasty, found themselves adrift without centralized leadership. Historical records reveal a poignant scene at Jingzhou where the Eastern and Western Shun armies – the former led personally by Li Zicheng through Henan to Hubei, the latter commanded by Li Guo and Gao Yigong through Sichuan – attempted unification. Their symbolic proposal to crown Li’s younger brother as successor ended tragically when Qing forces under Lekdehun crushed them at Jingzhou. This defeat accelerated the centrifugal forces tearing apart the Shun remnants.

Fragmented Resistance Across Southern China

The surviving Shun commanders adopted divergent survival strategies across multiple fronts:

– Liu Tichun led daring raids from Henan back into Shaanxi, besieging Xi’an before retreating to the mountainous Sichuan-Hubei border
– Yuan Zongdi maintained a small force in western Hunan alongside Ming loyalists
– The “Western Route Army” under Li Guo and Gao Yigong regrouped in Badong after their Jingzhou defeat

This geographical dispersion reflected both tactical necessity and the absence of unifying leadership. Notably, none of these commanders coordinated their movements, each operating independently against Qing forces.

The Ill-Fated Loyal and True Battalion

The most organized Shun remnant force emerged through an unlikely alliance. In 1645, Li Guo and Gao Yigong’s Western Route Army negotiated with Ming official Du Yinxi to form the “Zhongzhen Ying” (Loyal and True Battalion). This force maintained remarkable Shun traditions – addressing Li Zicheng’s widow Gao as “Empress Dowager” and Li as “Late Emperor.” Yet this symbolic continuity masked organizational weakness.

Contemporary documents reveal the battalion functioned more as a coalition than unified army. Commanders retained their original Shun noble titles rather than adopting a clear hierarchy. When Li Guo (granted the title Xingguo Hou by the Ming) coordinated operations, reports described decisions made through “discussions among various nobles” rather than centralized command.

Missed Opportunities in the Southern Ming Court

The Loyal and True Battalion’s potential was squandered by Southern Ming factionalism. In 1650, Gao Yigong proposed radical reforms to the Yongli Emperor:

1. Centralizing military authority under the War Ministry
2. Unifying financial administration under the Revenue Ministry

These measures could have transformed the Ming resistance, but regional warlords like Chen Bangfu sabotaged the plan. The court’s prejudice against former peasant rebels proved stronger than survival instinct. When Qing forces attacked Guangdong, the battalion’s proposed relief expedition was systematically undermined through deliberate supply shortages and false accusations of rebellion against their vanguard commander Liu Guochang.

The Long Retreat to Survival

By late 1650, the battalion became untenable in Ming territory. Their northward march to join other Shun remnants in the Three Gorges region (known as Kuizhou Donglu or “East of Kuizhou”) became a harrowing odyssey:

– Navigating hostile terrain through minority regions
– Suffering ambushes by Qing-aligned Tusi forces
– Losing Gao Yigong to a poisoned arrow in Baoxi

Despite these losses, the survivors under Li Laihang reached Kuizhou by 1651, merging with other anti-Qing holdouts to form the legendary “Thirteen Houses of Kuizhou.”

The Kuizhou Redoubt: Final Stronghold of Resistance

The convergence at Kuizhou created China’s last major anti-Qing bastion:

– Military Strength: 13+ allied commanders with complementary skills in mountain and river warfare
– Strategic Position: Control of Yangtze gorges enabled raids into Qing territory
– Fatal Weakness: No unified command structure

The Southern Ming court exacerbated this weakness by granting equal noble titles to all commanders, ensuring continued fragmentation. Even when appointing overseers like Wen Anzhi, the court maintained artificial parity among the Houses.

Historical Legacy and Modern Reflections

The Shun remnants’ two-decade resistance offers profound insights:

1. Leadership Vacuum: The absence of succession planning doomed Li Zicheng’s legacy
2. Ming Institutional Failure: Prejudice against peasant forces undermined anti-Qing unity
3. Regionalism’s Cost: Local warlord interests overrode national survival needs

Modern historians debate whether a unified Shun remnant force could have altered the Qing conquest. Their ultimate tragedy wasn’t military defeat but the inability to transform from rebel band to sustainable political movement – a challenge echoing through Chinese history from the Tangut Xi Xia to the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The Thirteen Houses’ final stand in the 1660s remains a testament to both peasant resilience and the high cost of disunity.