my loyal spirit will continue to guard Liaodong." In the same time, the viceroy of Shaan-Gan, Hong Chengchou, was assigned to deal with the peasant uprising headed by Gao Yingxiang (Chuang King) and Li Zicheng (General Chuang later inherited Gao’s nickname and his forces) in northwest China. In order to suppress the peasant uprising, the Ming government set up the viceroy of five provinces including Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Huguang and Sichuan, Lu Xiangsheng was appointed to it and soon defeated Gao Yingxiang and his 300,000 troopys with just an army of 20,000. Before Lu could suppress all the remains of peasant uprising, he was appointed to be the viceroy of Xuanda to protect the north border of the empire to defend against the Manchus. In 1638, the 11th year of Chongzhen, Lu died for his country in the battle against the Manchus after facing a case of food shortage for seven days. Some people believe the death of the Ming dynasty was sealed after Hong Chengchou, the viceroy of Jiliao during 1639 and 1641, failed the Battle of Song-Jin and lost nearly half of Ming’s army. Though Hong Chengchou was highly regarded by Chongzhen emperor, he surrendered to the Qing. In 1644, the last emperor of Ming, Chongzhen emperor Zhu Youjian hanged himself in Beijing outside the Forbidden city when Li Zicheng marched into Beijing. Early Qing dynasty (before 1840 the Opium War) The Qing dynasty effectively inherited the late Ming system, wherein viceroys combined both military and civilian powers over one or more provinces. While the regularly-appointed Ming viceroys were concentrated on the northern border, against the military threat of the Mongols and Manchus, the Qing dynasty extended the system into China proper as well. The regional viceroys, along with subordinate provinces, during the Qing dynasty were: Viceroy of Zhili: Zhili (Hebei, Tianjin, Beijing) Viceroy of Liangjiang: Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Anhui Viceroy of Min-Zhe: Fujian, Zhejiang, Taiwan Viceroy of Huguang: Hunan, Hubei Viceroy of Shaan-Gan: Shaanxi, Gansu, Xinjiang Viceroy of Liangguang: Guangdong, Guangxi Viceroy of Yun-Gui: Yunnan, Guizhou Viceroy of Sichuan: Sichuan Viceroy of the Three Northeast Provinces: Fengtian (Liaoning), Jilin, Heilongjiang Chinese historians often rank the Viceroy of Zhili as the most honorable and powerful, and the Viceroy of Liangjiang as the richest of the eight. Certain provinces were not governed by any regional viceroys. These included the provinces of Shanxi, Shandong and Henan. Besides the regional viceroys, there