A brief introduction to Yang Fang, the first feudal lord in Guizhou and a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty
Yang Fang (1770-1846), whose courtesy name was Tongkui and whose name was Chengcun (Zhai), was from Songtaoting, Guizhou (now Songtao Miao Autonomous County). He was a famous general in the late Qing Dynasty and the first person to be awarded a title in Guizhou.
Character’s life
Early experience
He was born in a poor family, loved studying, and practiced martial arts hard. Forced to make a living, he joined the army and served as Chief Qian of Zhenyuan Town. .
In the second year of Jiaqing (1797), he successfully suppressed the Hunan and Guizhou Miao uprising led by Shi Liu, Deng and Wu August, and was promoted to the garrison of Taigong Camp.
Suppressing the White Lotus Uprising
In the third year of Jiaqing (1798), he followed Elden to protect the Qing Dynasty and suppressed the White Lotus Uprising. He was a vanguard in every battle. He defeated Zhang Hanchao in Nanzhang and was rewarded with a flower feather. , then entered Sichuan with the army and captured Luo Qiqing in Bazhou (today's Bazhong, Sichuan).
In the fourth year of Jiaqing (1799), he successively served as Pingyuan Xiedu Secretary and Xiajiangying Guerrilla.
In the fifth year of Jiaqing (1800), he followed the army into Gansu and was promoted to the post-war camp general of the Guangdong and Guangxi Supervision. In April, he followed Yang Yuchun to intercept Yang Kaijia and Zhang Tianlun, beheaded them at level 600, and was awarded the title of "Cheng Yong Batulu" for his merits. In July, he was promoted to deputy general of Guangxi Xintai Association. In August, Wu Huaizhi was defeated in Chengxian and Jiezhou, and his pioneering performance was praised by Emperor Jiaqing. In the sixth year of Jiaqing (1801), he was promoted to the chief soldier of Ningshan Town, Shaanxi Province.
Encountered setbacks
At the beginning of the 11th year of Jiaqing (1806), he was transferred to the admiral of Guyuan, and deputy general Yang Zhizhen succeeded him in the original position, which caused a mutiny in the army. Yang Fang surrendered to the rebel leader Pu Dafang on his own. He was ordered to be punished and sent to the frontier. Fortunately, De Lengtai protected him. In the twelfth year of Jiaqing (1807), he was released with permission and used for defense and Qian Zong for supplementary purposes.
In the 13th year of Jiaqing (1808), the pine and peach association Qianzong was established. In March of the 15th year of Jiaqing (1810), he was given the third rank Dingdai and transferred to the general army of Guangdong Right Wing Town. In October, he was transferred to the post of commander-in-chief of Xi'an Town, Shaanxi Province. An introduction to Delengtai in the 16th year of Jiaqing (1811), Ding Muyou.
In the 18th year of Jiaqing (1813), he served as the commander-in-chief of Hebei Town in Henan Province. Following Na Yancheng and Yang Yuchun's contribution in suppressing the Tianlijiao uprising, he was rewarded with the rank of Yunqi Wei and was reinstated as the chief soldier of Xi'an Town.
In the 20th year of Jiaqing (1815), he was promoted to admiral of Gansu. In the first year of Daoguang (1820), he was transferred to the post of Admiral of Zhili. In the third year of Daoguang's reign (1823), he was transferred to the admiral of Hunan. In the fifth year of Daoguang's reign (1825), he was transferred to Admiral Guyuan.
When the Opium War broke out, Yang Fang went to Guangdong with Counselor Yi Shan to meet the enemy, and used the Yinmen Formation to fight against the British warship De Lentai. Brief introduction, he was laughed at by his contemporaries and future generations, leaving a laughingstock for the ages. After failure, fear the enemy and seek peace. Later he returned to serve as the admiral of Hunan.
From the 19th year of Jiaqing (1814) to the 18th year of Daoguang, he was successively transferred to the governor of Gansu, Hunan, Zhili, Guyuan, Guangxi, Sichuan and other provinces. In February of the seventh year of Daoguang (1827), Yang Fang was ordered to lead 40,000 troops along with General Yangwei Changling and Counselor Yang Yuchun to quell the rebellion of Zhang Geer, the returning chieftain, and capture Zhang Geer alive. Emperor Daoguang was overjoyed and issued an edict announcing to China and abroad that he was granted the rank of Third-Class Guoyong Marquis, given a purple rein, peacock feathers with both eyes, promoted to imperial bodyguard, and given the title of Prince Taibao, and was painted in the Ziguang Pavilion. In the ninth year of Daoguang (1829), Emperor Daoguang came to Beijing and was summoned more than 20 times by Emperor Daoguang. The Jin Dynasty granted him the title of second-class Guo Yonghou and Prince Taifu, and allowed him to ride horses in the Forbidden City. In the 10th year of Daoguang's reign (1830), on Yang Fang's 60th birthday, Emperor Daoguang personally wrote a plaque with the words "Reward Yongxian" and the words "Fushou" as a gift to her. In the thirteenth year of Daoguang (1833), when Yang Fang was the admiral of Sichuan, he used a combination of appeasement and suppression
to suppress the Yi uprisings in Qingxi, Yuexi and other places in Sichuan. Wait for the fruit to be brave. The following year, due to another uprising of the Yi people, the situation escalated, and he was demoted to the second-class Guoyong Marquis, and the entire army was transferred to Gansu to supplement him. Yang Fang was so depressed that he stayed idle in his mansion, sorting out the poems and notes he had written over the years, and wrote the Chronicles compiled by Marquis Guo Yong and Ping Ping Lu, focusing on his more than 40 years of military experience. In the fifteenth year of Daoguang's reign (1835), Yang Fang was 65 years old and was allowed to retire due to illness. In the 16th year of Daoguang's reign (1836), there was a mutiny in Zhenyuzhen, Hunan, and Emperor Daoguang appointed him again.
In June of the 20th year of Daoguang's reign (1840), the first Opium War occurred in China's modern history. In the first month of the following year, Emperor Daoguang issued an edict to declare war on the British. He ordered Yang Fang and Longwen, the Minister of Household Affairs, to serve as counselors and mobilize troops to Guangzhou to fight against the British army. Before he came to Guangdong, he was the admiral of Hunan and was preparing to go to Beijing for training. He traveled to Fengcheng, Jiangxi Province. On February 12, he received the appointment of counselor and immediately turned south. Later, due to the corruption of the Qing court and the signing of the "Guangzhou Treaty" which was humiliating and unequal, Yang Fang was heartbroken and stayed in Guangzhou to continue to manage military affairs. In June, he rode out of the city to inspect the flood control fort. His horse accidentally stalled and he was seriously ill and bedridden. Emperor Daoguang thought that he could not recuperate quietly in Guangzhou, so he approved him to return to Hunan as the admiral for treatment. In the 23rd year of Daoguang's reign (1843), Yang Fang retired from Hunan and returned to his hometown, still receiving full salary. In the twenty-sixth year (1846), he died of illness at his home in Songtao Tuen. According to the regulations of the admiral, he was given compassionate care and was given the posthumous title Qinyong.
The genealogy compiled by Liu Yuan in Shuangliu Qing Dynasty includes his two articles "Epitaph of Peng Ruren" and "Farewell to Liu Zhitang".
Prince Taifu Guo Yonghou Yang Fangdou wrote the character tiger.
He is quite accomplished in writing books and establishing theories. Although Yang Fang served in the army for fifty years, he was also good at writing, poetry, calligraphy and painting. He became friends with the famous writers and poets at that time, such as Gong Zizhen, Wei Yuan, Zhang Qi, Xu Song, etc., and exchanged poetry couplets. He is the author of ten volumes of "Chronology of Marquis Guo Yong", "Ping Ping Lu", five volumes of "Notes on the Expedition to the West" and 730 five-character ancient poems. Zeng Shu has a seven-character couplet "Tianchi Rites and Music" in running script with 3,000 words. Haiguo Kunpeng's "Ninety Thousand Winds" has strong writing power. The Guizhou Provincial Museum has Yang Fang's "Collection of Letters to Eshan and Others". He was able to draw bamboo, and his ink bamboo paintings were handed down from generation to generation. When He Changling, the governor of Guizhou during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, evaluated Yang Fang's life, he praised him as a "wonderful man in the world" who had "wonderful talents, adventures, and extraordinary achievements." He, Li Shijie, and Liu Qing were known as the "Three Wonderful Men in Central Guizhou" ". Yang Fang is one of the three extraordinary men in central Guizhou who is known as "a very talented man with both civil and military talents".
Yang Fang's life was full of legend and controversy: he joined the army at the age of 16, retired and returned home at the age of 73, fought in more than a hundred battles, and traveled tens of thousands of miles;