King of Ducks IV

So, on May 29 Zhu Yigui proclaimed himself Zhong-xing wang (中興王) at the seat of the prefectural government of Tainan, creating his own reign title of Yunghe (永和) or Eternal Peace. He had a special Heavenly Altar (天壇) set up to report to Koxinga as well as all the Ming emperors that he now ascended the throne to restore Han Chinese rule, at least on Taiwan. He wore the crown and robe picked from the Tapu troupe's wardrobes to preside over the Heavenly Altar ceremonies.

The King of Ducks also appointed ministers and commissioned generals for his new government. People under his rule, totaling more than 300,000, were required to give up their Manchu-style queue and wear Han Chinese apparel, a symbolic gesture of restoring the Ming system. His government lasted for only 50 days, however.

On receiving reports of the fall of Taiwan-fu, the Qing governor-general of Fujian and Zhejian, Wang Pao (萬寶), sent an expeditionary force of 17,000 men to Taiwan. Lan Ting-chen (藍廷珍), general in command of the garrison in Nanao (南澳), and Shi Shi-piao (施世馬票), commandant of the marines in Fujian, headed the expedition, that reached Luermen (鹿耳門), near present-day Anpingon on June 16. Luermen fell on the same day. Lan led his contingent of 7,000 men to attack Anping and conquered it on the following day.

Zhu Yigui ordered a counterattack, which was unsuccessful. The Qing force then attacked the rebels in Taiwan-fu, which fell on June 24, and Zhu Yigui had to flee to Zhulo (諸羅) or present-day Chiayi with most of his army. On June 28 the Qing force launched another attack on the rebels. Defeated, Zhu had to flee to Jiadong (茄苳) about 20 miles to the north. By July 7 he was still able to command a demoralized 1,000-troop force.

Yang Xu (楊旭), a village headsman at Kouweizhuang (溝尾莊) near Chiayi and his brother Yang Xiong (楊雄) conspired to kidnap the King of Ducks and surrender him to the Qing generals. On July 15, Yang Xiong invited Zhu Yigui to a feast at Kouweizhuang. Totally unsuspicious, the self-styled emperor went to attend the party.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email