INDEPENDENT REFERENCE · MANCHU LANGUAGE, HISTORY & CULTUREManchuCulture.net ↗
EXPLORE MORELearn ManchuManchu ScriptMing YeMain Website
Wiki › People & Biographies › Kong Youde: General of the Ming–Qing Transition
ENCYCLOPEDIA ENTRY   /   People & Biographies

Kong Youde: General of the Ming–Qing Transition

English editorial translation of the Chinese source entry

Kong Youde was a native of Liaodong who early in his career served under the Ming commander Mao Wenlong and subsequently became an assistant commander under Sun Yuanhua, governor of Shandong, at Dengzhou. Ordered to provide assistance to Liaodong during the Chongzhen reign, Kong …

Written by MING YEPeople & BiographiesManchuCulture Wiki
Source-based English editorial manuscript · Historical details subject to final source verification.

Overview

Kong Youde was a native of Liaodong who early in his career served under the Ming commander Mao Wenlong and subsequently became an assistant commander under Sun Yuanhua, governor of Shandong, at Dengzhou. Ordered to provide assistance to Liaodong during the Chongzhen reign, Kong became involved in a mutiny at Wuqiao and later seized Dengzhou. In Tiancong's seventh year he and Geng Zhongming brought troops, artillery, and accompanying family members by sea into submission to the Later Jin. Commanders including Jirgalang and Ajige were dispatched to receive them.

Historical Background

Kong's men possessed experience in the organization and use of artillery, and their submission contributed to the Later Jin state's absorption of former Ming soldiers and military expertise. This is not evidence that all Qing artillery technology originated with Kong personally. After the Qing entry into Beijing, he participated in campaigns advancing into southern China and received the princely title Dingnan. He established military positions in Guangxi and continued to fight the Southern Ming forces.

Sources and Interpretation

In the ninth year of Shunzhi, Li Dingguo's forces took Guilin and Kong killed himself. His biography also records the deaths of family members in a fire, the capture of his son Kong Tingxun, and the subsequent arrival of his daughter Kong Sizhen in Beijing. Kong's title as prince should be distinguished from the separate preferential or honorific treatment later accorded his daughter. The experiences and awards of relatives must not be recorded as if they were Kong's own appointments.

Sources and Bibliography

  1. Historical text at Wikisource

Links reproduce references supplied with the Chinese editorial manuscript; they do not establish that every individual statement has undergone independent archival verification.