Li Dingguo (; 29 July 1621–10 August 1662), formally Prince of Jin, was a Chinese military general of the Southern Ming dynasty who fought against the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

As Zhang Xianzhong's general

Li was an adopted son of the rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong, and appointed a general in Zhang's army with the title General Pacifier of the West (). After Zhang's death in 1647, he and other generals of Zhang's, including Sun Kewang (), held out in

Guizhou ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = , image_map = Guizhou in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_alt = Map showing the location of Guizhou Province , map_caption = Map s ...

, then took over

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

in Sichuan, then south through Zunyi to take

Guiyang Guiyang; Mandarin pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively as Kweiyang is the capital of Guizhou, Guizhou province in China. It is centrally located within the province, on the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, eastern part of the Yun ...

in 1647.

Resistance to Qing

Li had tried to form a united front by combining Southern Ming forces with the rebels against the Qing dynasty, and became the most important military commander of the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty. He and Sun Kewang first aided Ming loyalists by suppressing a rebellion in Yunnan in 1648, they then made strikes to stop the advance of the Qing army in Sichuan and Huguang. In 1652 he led a list of successful campaigns in southern Huguang and eastern

Guangxi Guangxi,; officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam (Hà Giang Province, Hà Giang, Cao Bằn ...

. His troops took the city of

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''), postal map romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, romanized as Kweilin, is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the we ...

, and the Qing general Kong Youde committed suicide after his defeat. Li also occupied Hengzhou while his forces ambushed and killed the Manchu prince Nikan. By 1653, he was forced to withdraw to northern

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. In 1654 he attempted to take Xinhui, but was defeated and retreated to

Nanning Nanning; is the capital of the Guangxi, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China, southern China. It is known as the "Green City (绿城) " because of its abundance of lush subtropical foliage. Located in the South of Guangxi, Nanning ...

in 1655. In 1656 he escorted the Yongli Emperor from Anlong to Yunnan-fu where the emperor set up an administration. Li was awarded with the title "Prince of Jin" (晉王, ''Jin Wang''). Li and Sun Kewang became embroiled in a power struggle. In 1657, Sun attacked Li in eastern Yunnan, but his generals turned against him, and Sun was forced to retreat back to Guizhou. Sun then surrendered to the Qing authorities in December 1657, and urged the Qing to allow him to lead an attack on the Ming rebel forces. The Qing however chose to order

Wu Sangui Wu Sangui (; 8 June 1612 – 2 October 1678), courtesy name Changbai () or Changbo (), was a Chinese military leader who played a key role in the fall of the Ming dynasty and the founding of the Qing dynasty. In Chinese folklore, Wu Sangui is r ...

to push into Sichuan, and captured Chongqing and then Zunyi in Guizhou in 1658. In March 1659, Li Dingguo's army was defeated by

and Jobtei near Yunnan-fu, and had to retreat to northern Burma, while the Yongli Emperor sought refuge with the Burmese king Pindale Min and reached Ava in June 1659.

Death

In December 1661 and the following January, Wu Sangui and the Manchu duke

Aisingga Aixinga ( mnc, , v=aisingga; , d. 1664) was a Qing dynasty general who was a grandson of Prince Yangguri (揚古利) and the head of the Šumuru tribe. He served under Nurhaci and Hong Taiji. In 1660, he was appointed "General Who Pacifies the Wes ...

entered Burma and defeated Li, who withdrew eastwards. Wu then demanded that the Burmese king hand over Yongli. The previous Burmese king Pindale who gave shelter to Yongli had by then been deposed by Pye Min, and the new king of Burma complied with Wu's demand. Yongli and his sons were handed over, and they were executed in Yunnanfu in May 1662. Li despaired upon hearing the news, and soon died (probably in August 1662) near the border between Yunnan and

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. His last words, said to his son Li Sixing (李嗣興) and his generals Jin Tongwu (靳統武) and Ma Siliang (馬思良), were: "Rather die in wilderness than surrender!"“任死荒徼，勿降也” 《续编绥寇纪略》卷四《缅甸散》作“宁死荒外，毋降也”。《清史稿·李定国传》作“任死荒徼，毋降”。 However, his son would later surrender to the Qing.

As Zhang Xianzhong's general

Resistance to Qing

Death

See also

References

Further reading