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In March of 1645 Zhang formalized his conquest of Sichuan, declaring himself as the Hegemon-King (霸王, or Bawang) of a new nation, the State of Ba (巴国) (1). He first seized the town of Chongqing (重庆) before moving deeper into the countryside, eventually making his capital in the prosperous city of Chengdu (成都).
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Realizing that he could not hope to stand against these two powerful foes, Zhang left his stronghold in the central Chang River valley and moved his army deep into the rugged fastness of Sichuan (四川) Province. In addition to the Qing forces, he was also forced to deal with an active and vigorous opposition from Ming armies based in Anhui (安徽) Province. It was not out of love for his rival rather, it was clear that he would be next. Despite the long and bitter rivalry between the two, contemporary accounts report that after hearing of Li’s defeat and death in early 1645 Zhang sank into a deep depression. Li then flew into a rage and had all of the hapless troubadours executed on the spot. However, he had destroyed all of their instruments. Li was the senior rebel leader and - perhaps more importantly - his army was bigger, so Zhang gave in, turning over the musicians. A dispute supposedly broke out between Li and Zhang over who would assume custody of these musicians. Indeed, one perhaps apocryphal story holds that in 1635, when their combined forces sacked the Ming tombs located fifty kilometers outside of Beijing, they also captured a number of eunuch musicians who had been assigned to play music at the tombs. The peasant rebel leaders Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong (张献忠) had been rivals for many years. Excerpted from “The Yellow Tiger: A Biography of Zhang Xianzhong,” by Gary Grice.