Hong Chengchou Hong Chengchou or Hung Cheng - chou ( ; born 1593 - died 1665 ) was a military commander from Fujian at the end of the Ming Dynasty . Biography . Hong Chengchou was a native of Fujian who rose to the top military post by leading campaigns against the rebels in the 1620s . He was also a leading thinker on military strategy and a proponent ( like Yuan Chonghuan , Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua ) of the adoption of European cannon by the Ming army . Military career . Fighting Rebels . Hong Chengchou was the Governor of Shannxi and Sanbian , responsible for fighting Li Zicheng and other rebels . He was successful in defeating Li at the Battle of Tongguan Nanyuan in 1638 , after which Li fled with only 18 men . After the battle , he was transferred to the North to fight the invading Manchus . Battle of Shanhai Pass . The Manchu raids into China brought them treasures , food , and live stocks , but the logistical difficulties along the circuitous invasion route through the Inner Mongolian deserts ( in order to bypass the Ming garrisons of Shanhaiguan , Ningyuan , and Jinzhou along the Bohai littoral ) made it difficult for the Manchus to hold onto their territorial conquests . The Shanhaiguan corridor remained the best invasion route for the Manchus and therefore Huang Taiji needed to eliminate those Ming fortresses , the first one being Jinzhou . To save the vital fortress , the Ming court sent an army of over 130 , 000 men under Hong Chengchou to lift the siege . Unfortunately , in a series of skirmishes , Huang Taiji ' s Manchus massacred the flower of the Ming Army . First , Manchu cavalry raided the Ming ' s granary in the rear , and when the Ming Army retreated after it ran out of food , Huang Taiji placed ambush forces along the Ming Army ' s retreat routes and massacred the retreating Ming soldiers at night . Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing Dynasty in 1642 , after being captured in the siege of Songshan ( Battle of Songshan ) . Prior to his surrender , he was the governor - general of northeastern Zhili and Liaodong . He was attempting to assist Ming General Zu Dashou who was besieged in the city of Jinzhou . Hong was assigned to the Chinese bordered yellow banner . A fake report of his death reached the Ming Emperor ( Chongzhen Emperor ) who ordered a temple be built to honour his name . Hong ' s capture was the third big disaster for the Ming military since the execution of Yuan Chonghuan , and the defection of Geng Zhongming and Shang Kexi to the Manchus ( which also led to the execution of Sun Yuanhua as a scapegoat ) . Service to Qing . After his surrender , Hong was made an official only after the Qing occupied Beijing . In 1645 , Hong was sent to Nanjing with the title Pacificator of Jiangnan . His real role in the military was to ship supplies , nonetheless he suppressed many Ming officials and members of the Southern Ming imperial family . Hong was several times accused of having secret relations with the Ming . He was in 1651 chastised for sending his mother back to Fujian and in 1652 was not allowed to return to his native Fujian to mourn his mother death . Although appointed governor - general of 5 provinces of Huguang , Guangdong , Guangxi , Yunnan and Guizhou , his real task again was to provide for the army . In 1659 , he was recalled to Beijing after he declined to press the war in Yunnan to capture Yongli Emperor from Southern Ming Dynasty who had fled to Burma . Wu Sangui , which previous was the Ningyuan garrison commander and one of Hong Chengchou ' s eight subordinate generals , replaced him . Hong Chengchou was given a minor hereditary rank perhaps due to distrust by some quarters of the Court , who suspected him of sympathesing with the Ming . Death . Hong Chengchou died shortly after requesting permission to retire because of old age and almost full blindness . He died by natural causes in Nan ' an , Fujian province on 1665 . His tomb is unknown .