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 defeated. Removed from his post, he remained in obscurity until 1610 when he was sent to Liaotung as administrator. But he resigned shortly afterwards and went into retirement.

When the loss of Fu-shun (see under ) in 1618 showed the strength of the Manchu offensive, Yang was given the post of junior vice-president in the Board of War and sent to Liaotung as an expert on matters in that area. After careful planning he set in motion, April 5, 1619, four armies said to total 470,000 men, but numbering in reality perhaps less than a hundred thousand. Marching from Shên-yang by four different routes, they were to converge on the Manchu stronghold of Hsing-ching and to reach their objective on April 15. The first army under Tu Sung 杜松 (d. 1619) arrived alone in advance of the others and was completely annihilated by the Manchus on April 14 at Sarhû 薩爾濟. The second, led by Ma Lin 馬林 (d. 1619), met with disaster at Sanggiyan Hada on the following day. On April 17 the third army, under, together with its Korean auxiliaries, was destroyed at Dungge. Yang was able to save his fourth division, commanded by Li Ju-po (see under ), by ordering a hasty retreat to Shên-yang. The loss of life on the Chinese side during the four days of fighting is given in one estimate as 45,890. At the news of this disaster, which represented the outcome of the first major encounter between Chinese and Manchu troops, the Court ordered the arrest and imprisonment of Yang Hao. His execution was carried out ten years later.

[M.1/259/1a; M.3/223/1a; Ming-chi pei-lüeh (see bibl. under ), 1/2b, 5a; Hauer, E., K'ai-kuo fang-lüeh, 74–82.]

2em

YANG Hsiu-ch'ing 楊秀清 (original ming 嗣龍), d. Sept. 2 or 3, 1856, commander-inchief and prime minister of the Taiping Rebels, was a native of Kuei-p'ing, Kwangsi. His family migrated from Lei-yang, Hunan, to Chia-ying, Kwangtung, and thence to Kuei-p'ing where Yang made a living as a dealer in firewood and charcoal. Before he joined the Taiping Rebels he had no knowledge of military tactics and what he learned later he attributed to "divine revelation." When the Rebellion broke out in Kwangsi in 1850 he was made senior commander under. He advised Hung to create five assistant kings in order to pacify the various rebel chiefs, some of whom had wavered in their loyalty when they were surrounded by government troops at Yung-an, Kwangsi, in the winter of 1851. Hung acquiesced and began by proclaiming himself the Celestial King of the Tai-p'ing T'ien-kuo, or Celestial Kingdom of Peace. He made Yang Hsiu-ch'ing King of the East and commanderin-chief; Hsiao Ch'ao-kuei, King of the West; Fêng Yün-shan, King of the South; Wei Ch'anghui, King of the North (for these three see under ); and, Assistant King.

Yang Hsiu-ch'ing was talented and clever and made apt use of transcendental claims to accomplish his political purposes. While Hung Hsiu-ch'uan declared himself to be the son of God, Yang Hsiu-ch'ing professed to be the mouthpiece of God. Perhaps to inspire the loyalty and esteem of his co-generals he laid claim to visions which are recorded in two works of the same name but of different content, entitled 天父下凡詔書 T'ien-fu hsia-fan chao-shu, or Books of Declarations of the Divine Will made during the Heavenly Father's Descent upon Earth (published in 1852 and 1853). In December 1851, when the four assistant kings met in Yang's dwelling for a conference, it was revealed to him that there was a traitor to the Taiping cause who ought to be punished. When the accused was arrested Yang seemed mysteriously to know all the details—a fact which duly impressed his followers with his occult powers. In December 1853 there took place in Yang's house another alleged revelation which declared to the officials present that the utterances of Yang, the Eastern King, coincided with those of God Himself. Not only did he claim for himself this peculiar connection with God, but gradually appropriated the titles of Comforter, Holy Ghost, Healer of Disease, etc. By reason of his alleged supernatural guidance, and by virtue of the strict orders and the rewards and punishments he meted out, the Taiping rebels advanced rapidly from Kwangsi to Nanking. On April 6, 1852 they eluded the siege of Yung-an by an unfrequented pass in the mountains. After wasting some time in futile attacks on Kweilin, capital of Kwangsi (April 18-May 19, 1852), Hung Hsiu-ch'üan proposed to return to Yung-an, but Yang strongly advised him to proceed to Hunan because in his view it was unwise to confine the movement to one province. Consequently the rebels passed through Hsing-an (May 22, 1852) to Yung-chou, Hunan (June 9, see under  886