Wu Sangui - Go Sankei

The first military commander of the late Ming and Qing dynasties in China. He was from Gaoyou, Jiangsu Province. His courtesy name was Changbai, Yueshuo. He succeeded his father Wu Xiang as commander of the Liaodong army and fought against the Qing before they entered the pass. In 1644, when Li Zicheng approached Beijing, the Ming dynasty appointed Wu Sangui as Pingxibo and ordered him to defend the capital, but on his way back, when Wu Sangui heard that Beijing had fallen, he returned to Shanhai Pass and surrendered to the Qing, allowing the Qing army to enter the pass and destroying Li Zicheng. For the next 30 years, Wu Sangui, as King of Pingxi, contributed to the unification of the Qing dynasty by suppressing the remnants of Zhang Xianzhong's rebels in Shaanxi and Sichuan, and pursuing the Southern Ming dynasty and assassinating the Yongli Emperor (King Gui) in Burma (present-day Myanmar).However, he also expanded his influence through his powerful military, independent finances, control of talented people mainly in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, and development of mines and salt wells, which made the Qing dynasty wary of him.

In 1673, when Emperor Kangxi issued an edict to abolish the feudal domains, Wu Sangui raised an army in Yunnan and established the Zhou Dynasty (1673-81), which was responded to by Geng Jingzhong (King of Jingnan) and Shang Zhixin (son of Kexi, King of Pingnan), sparking the "Three Feudal Domains Rebellion." The Qing army advanced to the south bank of the Yangtze River and initially had the upper hand, but in 1677 the Qing army began a counterattack, inviting Wu Sangui's generals and attacking both Hunan and Guangxi. In 1678, Wu Sangui ascended to the throne in Hengzhou (Hengyang, Hunan Province) and renamed the era name Zhaowu, but died of illness in the autumn of the same year. His grandson Wu Shihuan, who succeeded him and renamed the era name Honghua, also committed suicide at the end of 1681 when Kunming fell. The failure of Wu Sangui's rebellion is said to be due to the fact that his past record of assassinating the peasant army and the Ming dynasty's surviving kings prevented him from cooperating with the anti-Qing movement, and because the peasants, exhausted by the war, wanted order to be restored.

[Sae Okamoto]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)末清(しん)初の武将。江蘇(こうそ)省高郵(こうゆう)の人。字(あざな)は長白、月所。父の呉襄(ごじょう)を継いで遼東(りょうとう)総兵となり、入関前の清と戦った。1644年李自成(りじせい)が北京(ペキン)に迫ると、明朝は呉三桂を平西伯に封じて首都防衛を命じたが、呉三桂は帰途北京陥落を聞くと山海関(さんかいかん)に引き返して清に降(くだ)り、清軍を入関させ李自成を滅ぼした。以後約30年間、呉三桂は平西王として陝西(せんせい)、四川(しせん)の張献忠(ちょうけんちゅう)の残党を鎮圧し、南明(なんみん)王朝を追撃して永暦帝(えいれきてい)（桂王）をビルマ（現ミャンマー）で殺すなど清の全国統一に貢献したが、他方その強大な軍事力、独立財政、雲南・貴州両省を中心とした人材掌握、鉱山・塩井(えんせい)の開発により勢力を伸ばし、清朝の警戒を招いた。

　1673年康煕帝(こうきてい)が撤藩令を出すと呉三桂は雲南に挙兵して周（1673～81）を建て、これに耿精忠(こうせいちゅう)（靖南王）、尚之信(しょうししん)（可喜の子、平南王）が呼応して「三藩(さんぱん)の乱」を起こした。揚子江(ようすこう)南岸に進出した軍勢は初め優位にたったが、清軍は77年から反撃に転じ、呉三桂の部将を招撫(しょうぶ)する一方、湖南と広西の両面から進攻した。78年呉三桂は衡州(こうしゅう)（湖南省衡陽）で帝位につき、昭武と改元したが同年秋病死した。後を継いで洪化と改元した孫の呉世璠(ごせいはん)も81年末、昆明の陥落とともに自殺した。呉三桂の反乱失敗は農民軍や明の遺王を討った前歴が反清運動との連携を妨げたこと、戦乱に疲弊した農民が秩序回復を望んだことがその原因とされる。

［岡本さえ］

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