User:Zrnstnsr/Siege of Mount Maolu

The siege of Mount Maolu in 1664 was fought between the Thirteen houses of eastern Kuizhou and the Qing dynasty. The capture of the mountain marks the end of resistance of Ming loyalists in mainland China.

Foundation of Thirteen houses of eastern Kuizhou
In 1645, Li Zicheng, the emperor of Shun dynasty was killed in Mount Jiugong accidentally when his dynasty had lost almost all of the territory. Shun remnants, led by Li Zicheng's nephew, Li Guo, joined with Southern Ming and was designated as Zhongzhen Battalion (lit. 'faithful battalion'). However, they failed in Jingzhou because most bureaucrats in Southern Ming are hostile to union with Shun remnants. In 1646, Many of Shun's generals such as Liu Tichun and Yuan Zongdi marched north and occupied eastern Kuizhou as their base. The Zhongzhen Battalion, led by Li Guo and Gao Yigong, continued to fight and retreat with Southern Ming, and in 1650 they finally decided to leave Southern Ming court due to the lasting antagonism and shortage of supplies. Approximately in 1652, Zhongzhen Battalion reached eastern Kuizhou and joined with local Shun remnants, the combination of whom would be known as the Thirteen houses of eastern Kuizhou.

Fall of Yongli court
In 1652, Qing's forces captured Nanning when Zhu Youlang, the Yongli emperor of Southern Ming, was forced to retreat to Anlong, which is controlled by Xi remnants. Sun Kewang, one of Xi's commanders, was ambitious and coveted the throne, but Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, his step brothers and also Xi's commanders, were faithful to Southern Ming and considered Sun as a usurper. In 1657, a civil war broke out between Sun and Li, and Sun was defeated in Jiaoshui. Sun fled back to Guiyang and then surrendered to Qing, informing on Southern Ming's military deployment.

During 1658–59, Qing's forces occupied almost all of territories controlled by Southern Ming. After Battle of Mount Mopan, Qing armies conquered all of territory that Yongli court controlled and the latter fled to Burma. In 1661, Wu Sangui invaded Burma and forced the dynasty to forward Zhu Youlang, who was executed in 1662. Li Dingguo, still leading army near China-Burma border, died soon after hearing the death of Zhu, and his son surrendered to Qing.

Prelude
In 1659, in order to help Yongli court, Thirteen houses of eastern Kuizhou attacked Chongqing but failed due to Tan Yi's betrayal. After the failure, the Houses were unable to launch such a campaign to break out.

After the death of Zhu, Li and Koxinga, Qing conquered all of Ming but eastern Kuizhou and Taiwan. On 8 February, 1663, Qing mobilized troops in Shaanxi, Huguang and Sichuan to launch a three-pronged attack against the Houses. Qing's attack was successful initally, capturing many counties, but Huguang forces led by Dong Xueli was defeated at Xingshan on 25 August. To breakout the encirclement, the Houses then besieged Wushan on 9 September, but was defeated and forced to retreat on 8 October. The failure at Wushan made the Houses unable to break the encirclement and forced to defense.

In the autumn of 1663, Qing court ordered the Eight Banners to reinforce. On 17 January, 1664, Liu Tichun was defeated at Chenjiapo, who committed suicide after the battle. Many of the Houses' commanders surrendered under the worsening situation. In March 1664, former Shun's generals such as Dang Shousu surrendered to Qing, leaving Li Laiheng, Li Guo's adopted child, the last commander in eastern Kuizhou.

Siege
Mulima was the first to reach Mount Maolu. He was arrogant and attacked the mountain recklessly, resulting in a crushing defeat. Many Manchu soldiers fell to their death, including his third son. Remorseful, he used Han forces as vanguard and Manchu soldiers as barrier troops, besieging the mountain.

In March 1664, Li Guoying, viceroy of Sichuan, led his army to Mount Huanglong to the south of Mount Maolu at Mulima's invitation, joining with his troops. Li and Mulima found the rival's barracks were built on high and dangerous terrains, spreading over 150 li, and it was very hard to assault the mountain. The dangerous terrains, however, hindered Li Laiheng's ability to support himself. As a result, Qing decided to besiege the mountain.

Qing troops set up wooden fortress to prevent Ming troops from breaking out. A wooden fortress was surrounded by 8-chi-deep and 8-chi-wide trench; outside the trench were 5-chi-wide piles. The piles were comprised of 5-chi-long and 1-chi-wide wooden cylinders, half of which was underground; the cylinders were only 5 cun and was combined untrimmedly like plum blossom, so the piles were called plum blossom piles(梅花樁).

After several months of siege, Li Laiheng was running out of supplies and were forced to break out. On 8 July and 31 July, Li Laiheng initiated two offensives seeking for breakout. Ming troops were equipped with ladders and shields, used hooks, sickles and axes to cut off piles and filled trench. The breakout failed due to Qing's tight defense. Although Ming troops captured five fronts continuously, their strength was not enough to break Qing's defense, and they failed to breakout. Qing tried to call on him to surrender, but he beheaded the emissary, who was also a traitor.

On 23 September, Li Laiheng finally ran out of food, and meanwhile a few soldiers started to surrender to Qing. He killed his wife, burned his house, and hanged himself. His son also died with his father. After Li's death, most of the soldiers were killed during the following battle, the remaining surrendering. Qing's generals ordered their armies to search and kill anyone in the mountain, afraid of Ming troops escaping from the mountain.

Aftermath
The capture of Mount Maolu marked the end of Shun remnants' resistance. In July 1664, Zhang Huangyan, the leader of anti-Qing campaign in southeast, dismissed his army in despair. He was then arrested and executed after less than three months. After the battle of Mount Maolu, although the kingdom was still regarded Ming as its suzerain, Kingdom of Tungning participated in Revolt of the Three Feudatories, which was definitely not a part of Southern Ming. Hence, History of Southern Ming considered the battle as the end of Southern Ming.

Qing troops was pinned at Mount Maolu for near half a year, and the dangerous mountainous area made Qing soldiers, especially Manchu soldiers suffer a lot. In Jiaqing period, there was still Manchu saying "Climbing Mount Maolu again", meaning bearing hardships. In order to supply the 100,000 troops, Qing conscripted numerous labors to transport army provisions and supplies. As Wang Fuzhi wrote, "...and [Manchu] troops forced [labors] to transport. Deceased labors were piled in the valley, while law was more and more severe to conscript citizens. 3,000 li away were labors wearing straw rain hats. They walked against steep cliffs like ants; their queue were so long that one could not see its front or rear..." According to Li Wen, Li Guoying's son, supplies were first transported to Xirang and Zhaxi (in present-day Badong County), and then transported by labors; the route was so dangerous and long that the transportation took over half a month and that most labors were starved to death. Many local records and poems also recorded sufferings of citizens.