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by Chiu, Kwong-wor

THE ROLE OF PRINCE TANG IN THE SOUTHERN MING DYNASTY (1644-168~) .???A S1'UDY OF THE MAN AND HIS TIME

Prine. Taag and ais Lung Wu Court in Fuk1 ??(Prinee T&llg, Cllu Lu Cai ? , alias:' Lu Wu '1'1)

Wlle. Li Tzu C ??ug captured tll. capi ""lPek~ng 1 ? April 1644,

tlle M3.ng EJIperor Cllu:ag C ??. Ti (1: fA If ) eoaa1tted suicide. Ta. Ming Co_aJ1der Wu Sa.-Kllei (~, ~ fl ) at Sllan-Hai-Kuan ( ~ ; .?);~, ) aeeepted Mane.u'a help in ord.r to puaiell 11 Tzu-Cll ?. g and re.tore tae

-rhi&

Mimg !>111aet,., butA oa11 ga:ve t ? Ma:ae:'aus a ella.e. to seiz ? la. taro ?

for t.ea.elvee.

fro. various refuges ia t ? soutll for a generatioa. Tll~. period was

called Soutllern Ming dynaaty waiell included t.e Prince of Eu (C.n Yu-sung, reign title Hu:ag-Kuang), ta. PriDe, 6f Taag (Cau Lu-Cai.n, reign title Lung-Wu), tlle Prince of La (Cau I-aai, no reign titl.) and tae Prince of Kuei (Cllu YU-~JI'~gl1 title Yu.g-L:I..) and Cla".g

'A-

Clleng Kung and laia a.irs.

Among ta.s. prinees, Prince Tang was tlle oBly ruler wita abilit,. .md virtue. Tllougll iaprieonedtor 24 ,.ears, lB.e fou:D.d tis.

to educate and distinguish hiaself in writing poea., ess.,.., letters and official docua.mt ? He led a ai.ple life witlB. Ai. Quee. Ts~ng

. ( t fa ) and did not keep isperial eoncubine. at all. His good

A I,..

character as well as lai. proaot1om of C.eng C.eag Kung to a aigk rank

of?eial aade tae latter serve .is 101ally tor the rest of Ais life.

So Prince Tang played an iaportant part in tlle aistory of ta.

Soutkern Ming D7nasty.

L\1-ClIl1en i. t 4l was born ia Mar 25, 1602 HORan (~Of I~ ) ?(Lunar calendar: tae

fi!tb. day of tlu Fourtk Moon, 1602. W~n-Li 3~~M:. 1- t )

During his eaild.oed .is grandfataer Dwan Wang ( ~t 3l )

did not like au but his great-granq.aotller Dowager Wai ( ~~ ~ )

loved hi. verT .uen.

At eigltt, ae received private tuition ill. Nall,..ag (It pt ).

Prinee Tang (Clau ill Nanyang ( rt f~ ) in When ae was 12 rears old, Dowager Wai ( :t1b f"v

) died.

Because of f ? il,. troubles and Dwan Wong's dislike of lilia, Prinee Tang and his father were put in jail for 16 years. During tllat period ~n

prison, he studied verT hard with tae help of ais father and bee ??e

a selll.olar.

J:!:. 111~:

His father Cau Clai-Saing (~Ji; t~ ) was aurdered b,. lailS two

uncles in the prison when he was 28 ,.ears old. Ten .o'~.e later, ia

1630 (Lunar Calendar: Twelfth Moon, 1629), his grandfat ? r DYaD. Wang

( 1<.u -- )

3,'lJ.::t- died and Ae was set free.

In Jul,. 18, 1632, Ae was ennobled Prince Tang by tlae

Eaperor. (Lunar Calendar: the second da,. of the Sixth MeeD, 1632).

1m. 1636, he led all ara,. to aSlSist 'the state 1llfigll1l-:LllS'

agai:m.st Li Tzu CJa.elllg ( 1. ~ ~ ) t ? rebel. Bld 'iJa.is ".s .&,1.1n8' 'lae law because a Prince was prolaibited to leave Aie 0 ? ~0aailll ( i1 1~ )

witla all aray without peraission. So ]ae was agai:m. aade a priSQDer 1. Fengra:m.g ( ~~ r~ ) 1m Anllwei (.::/( 1tt. ). Taere Ae Jras?OBce ver,.

ill, bu t lB.e Jras luck,. to 111. ve Queen Tseng ( \t f~

)taltt:Jfl.g ear.e of

hia and Ja.e recovered soon. Be was able to produce so.e books illl his

eight years' iaprisonaelllt. Be was set tree sAortly before tae doaestic (-.)

f~

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rebel, Li Tzu-Caeng (~ ~)~ ) captured the capital ia April, 1644 and tke Ming Eaperor Cauag Cllen Ti (,*:f~ It ) h.aDged .iase1.f.

Thea the 101alists of Mimg aade the prinee ot Fu king ~n J.: .?

Nal1king (\~ :3 .. ) ia 1644. B~t tlle Mallellu geaerale went souill tros

eastern CAiaa aad in 1.645 the1 captured Nanking aad ki1.1ed tat PriDes

of Fu. At that ti.e, Prillce Tallg went soutA;u.". to Hamgellou ({ii.. +1-1 ).

There Ae aet a Mimg geaeral C.eng Hung Kwai (~r ~~~ ~) WAO respected !au and/u.rged hia to becoae "an meir to the throm.e". Witll tlle kelp

of Caeng HUll.g Kwai and Ci.eag Clau Lung, ae weni scutA to Fuki.en (~I~ rt ) .

Cheng Cll. Lung was a Fukienese who had gained great wealtll froa

eo.-erce, illegal taxation and pirac1 ?

. Ill. Ju1.1 29, 1.645 lle was first aade an heir to tlle tllrome. at

Fuehou ( 4~ ?+1 ) in Fuki ? (i,~ tt ). Taen in August 18, 1.645,

Prince Tang establislled his court with. the r*ign title of Lu.g-wu

~ .~~ ~ ~11

( fj:. -IP\J ) witll the support of Cheag ClLu Lung ( ,*p tit ~) and llis

faaily.

, '" 1.} During his reign in Fukien (.If~h ).t..

) (29-7-1645 -- 6-10-1646),

he had made so ? reforsa in law and ia taxation. He aad carried out twiee e:i.vil service eXalIinatiolle in Fukiel1( f\~ Q ).

III RUBan (~t~ It ), a capable otficer Ho Tung Giow (14 ~~l ) a.ccepted the surrender af Li Tzu CheD.g' 25 ( 1: (n~ ). followers after

Li was slaiD. by SOli. tar.ere. He reorganised 'ill. tollowers ? ad bui1.t

up all. ara1 of about 300,000 .en. He was lo7a1 to Prinee Tallg, and invited Ai. to lilt.an (~I;~ \~ ) ?

..?

11\ Yaa Ping ( ~.if ) in Fuellien, Pril1ceTamg assisted

Young Tin Lin (t~~,t~ ) in fighting against tJa.e Maneaus at KanJa.sien

) in Kiaagsi ( ~ J.. ,%7

) by sending soldiers and supplying

military needs. That was why general Young could guard theeity against Manehus for six months.

Prince Tang also tried his best to improve his relationship

with Prince Lu ("t?J- ) who was also made "an heir to tlle throne"

(!J- )~

) at Shaohsing ( ~g ~ ) in Chekiang. But Prinee Tang'lS

effort was not successful. Sp Prinee Tang and Prinee Lu were not able

to unite together to faee the co ? on ene.y, the Manchus.

Within the Lung Wu court, there was another problea. Caeng

Chu Lung was not 101al to Prince Tang and was ready to surrender to Ching (~~ ). So Lung Wu Ti felt uneas1 and was prepared to go to

HUllan through Kanhsien (1t +1-1 ) ?But his plaJl. was postponed

twiee b,. tlll.e discourage of CAeag Cau Lung and l\is OW1l. weakness ill. making decision. Wltell At did .ake up Iais .i:ad to leave Y ??P:i.Jag ( ~ if (Nan-Ping) in Fukien it was already too late. Tlte Maneltus .ad passed tlae Hsien.-hsia-kuan (1J.\ It(Y~~1 ) and was ehasing a.fterllU. He

disappeared at T1ng Cltou ( ~ T ?? ) (also calledClaaag T:h.g.f<.... ~ 1 )

in Oct. 6, 1646 (Lunar Calendar: 28th day of the Eiglath Moon, 1646).

'ftz / ..?

His Queen Tseng ('IEl hl ) was captured and she eouitted sui.cide

bT jumping into a ri Ter ea~led Kowloon Swirl (..Ju ~L ) f ). His whereabout was a question but it was sure that he was not killed by

the Manchu general as mentioned in the official dymastie histarT, Ming-fhih ( G~ ~ ), completed in 1739. From various sourees it

was very possible that after escapimg fro. Ting Cllou (~1 ?.f1 )

and learni~g that the queen was dead, he bee~e a moak at Wueaihteng

(Ji i~ t- ) ill MeiJosiu ( #t .,j:~, (.Lao e.lled Taia Un Cl>out J.t .H-!

(4)

in Kwangtung

). Even now tJaere is a Primce Tang Cave' in Wang .:?.Jr.. J ~1

) in Tsia Yin Chou (1ft1 /}!!,. '/' ), waere

Sho,! Moun. t

Prince Tang's poeMS are still found carved on the wall ot the eave.

~ B

Prince Tang (CAu Lu C.ien)

and Cke'llg c':~g Kung ( !l p fi\ J,~)

Cheng Ckeng-Kung (1624~1662), a Clainese general, was born

in 1624 an Hirado, Japan. He was the son of a CAmmese father (CAeng Clau Lung) and a Japanese".llother. men ke was born, he was nailed ClIeng

j~ ). Later he returned to Fukaen Provinee with his aother ?Wlaen Cm.ellg Sin .( If j~ ) was twenty two years old, his tatherbrought kim to see Prinee Tang (the King of Lung-Wu). The

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King was so hapP1 to find Claeng Cheng-Kung unusual in appearance and

.J.

Sin (1P

clever an replies that he conferred tke Ming Imperial surnaae (Chu) on him and called hill Chu Cli~ng-Kung ( *-fi\ 1)) ). Chu Ch~ng Kung

( U tJJ ) was therefore called Kuo-hsing-,.eh., "Lord of the Iaperial

Surname," froDl whick the Dutch later derived II Koxinga" ?

As Lung Wu Ti kad confidence in Cheng Cheng-Kung's ability and loyal t,., he ga ve Ch~ng Cheng-Kung (j~ p\ 1); ) a chanee to train armies and provided them with munitions and war expenses. So within

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Lung Wu eourt, Cheng had been trained to be a eapab~e and eourageou'

general and had acquired military experien~e. This was the aost important in!luence th.at Prince Tang had exercised on Ch.~ng Cn'e'ng-Kung.

In 1646, when Ch~ng Cnu Lung was considering to surrender

1\ 'A

to Manchus, Cheng Cheng-Kung op,osed strongly.

As his fath.er did not a.mcL

listen to his adviee, he gathered his ~ol~ciwers"started to !ight the

Manehu$ in MOl (Hsiamen Ii r j ) and Quesol (CaiMan, 1:"' , ~

Atter Lung Wu Ti had disappeared on the 28th. dal of the Eigh.th

) .

Moon 1646 (Lunar Calendar) 1 Ch.eng still held a portion of Fukien

under the reign title of LungWu and this lasted tar several 7ear$.

He continuously tought against the Manchus and refused their generous

surrender offers.

He continued to hold up the reign title of Lung Wu, hoping

that Lung Wu Ti would appear one dar. He did not accept Prinee Lu

as King beeause he would not forgive Prinee Lu's disobedienee to Lung

Wu Ti in November 1645.

/\

Then in ~66l Cheng invaded Taiwan and expelled the Dutch.

There h.e ruled for one more year. During that time he was both exhausted

by overwork and troubled by family difficulties and finally he tell

ill and died in ~un~ 23, 1662.

Before he died, he was sorry that he eould not restore tke

Ming Drnasty. He was also deeply gratetu~ to Lung Wu Ti for eonterring

Aim the Ming Imperial surname, promoting him and putting him in charge

of armies.

( 6 )

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After his death, nis heirs still ruled over Taiwan until

1683. So without Prince T ? g there .ight not be I",

Cheng-kung and his heirs in Taiwan, and the hi6~or1

Ming would be shortened for aore than 21 rears.

, ,

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'"

a successful Cheng

-rk(. ofA8outhern