The Aging General’s Persistent Plea

In March 1673, Prince Pingnan Shang Kexi submitted his eleventh formal request to retire to his ancestral lands in Liaodong. The 72-year-old veteran had spent nearly three decades governing Guangdong province for the Qing dynasty, yet his seemingly reasonable petition masked a brewing political storm. Each previous denial from the Kangxi Emperor’s court carried unspoken implications – the southern territories remained volatile, and the Qing throne couldn’t risk losing an experienced stabilizer.

Shang’s provincial administration represented a delicate balance of power. As contemporary records noted: “Pingnan’s wealth surpassed all under heaven,” with control over salt monopolies, mining rights, and maritime trade yielding annual revenues exceeding millions of taels. Yet this prosperity came at personal cost. One 17th-century observer remarked how the aging warlord had become “weary in body and spirit, desiring only to see his homeland once more before death.”

The Problem of Princely Succession

Complications arose from Shang’s ambitious heir, Shang Zhixin. Once celebrated as a promising military prodigy – “his battle cry could paralyze a thousand men” according to campaign chronicles – the young prince underwent alarming transformation after being summoned to the Qing court in 1654. Emperor Shunzi’s deliberate policy of “cultural assimilation” saw Shang Zhixin immersed in Beijing’s decadent aristocratic circles, where he developed notorious habits.

Court documents from the Kangxi era reveal disturbing patterns:

– Uncontrollable violent outbursts against servants
– Public drunkenness and disregard for protocol
– Sadistic punishments including live burials

When Shang Kexi finally secured his son’s return to Guangdong in 1671, the horrified father immediately petitioned to disinherit him. Kangxi’s approval of this request in 1673, favoring second son Shang Zhixiao instead, triggered explosive consequences. Contemporary accounts describe Shang Zhixin “roaring through the governor’s compound like a caged beast, vowing fratricide should his brother dare accept the title.”

The Powder Keg of Provincial Power

Shang Kexi’s retirement crisis coincided with the Qing dynasty’s most dangerous political fault line – the Three Feudatories system established during the chaotic 1640s transition from Ming to Qing rule. These semi-autonomous regions, granted to former Ming generals who defected, became:

1. Wu Sangui’s Yunnan domain
2. Shang Kexi’s Guangdong territory
3. Geng Jingzhong’s Fujian fiefdom

Originally a pragmatic solution , these warlords developed into “states within states” by the 1670s. Their combined armies outnumbered Qing garrison forces three-to-one, while controlling critical revenue streams like:

– Southwest tea and horse trade
– Southern coastal customs
– Pearl River Delta industries

Kangxi’s Calculated Gambit

The 19-year-old emperor’s decision to approve Shang Kexi’s retirement in 1673 wasn’t compassion, but strategy. Secret memorials reveal Kangxi’s assessment: “The feudatories’ roots grow too deep. If not severed now, they will strangle the imperial tree.” His advisors warned that accepting one retirement might trigger others, particularly Wu Sangui’s inevitable parallel request.

Events unfolded with tragic inevitability:

– June 1673: Wu Sangui declares rebellion after Kangxi orders full abolition of feudatories
– January 1674: Shang Zhixin imprisons his father and joins the revolt
– 1676: Geng Jingzhong switches allegiance three times

The ensuing Eight Years’ War became Kangxi’s defining trial, testing the adolescent emperor’s political acumen against veteran warlords.

Legacy of the Rebellion

Kangxi’s ultimate victory reshaped imperial governance:

1. Centralization: Eliminated regional military autonomy
2. Economic Reform: Redirected southern revenues to Beijing
3. Ethnic Policy: Reduced Han Chinese warlord influence

Modern historians estimate the conflict cost 2 million lives, but cemented Qing authority for generations. The emperor’s handling of Shang Kexi’s retirement plea – initially appearing as bureaucratic obstruction – revealed profound statecraft. As Kangxi later reflected: “Sometimes the deepest currents flow beneath the smallest stones.”

The Three Feudatories crisis proved more consequential than the celebrated ousting of regent Oboi, demonstrating that true leadership requires not just removing obstacles, but dismantling entire systems of competing power. Shang Kexi never saw his homeland again, dying under house arrest in 1676 – a poignant symbol of how personal aspirations become collateral in grand historical transformations.