Entry

The Minister of War Chen Qia, who was in general charge of the Jiao-zhi Provincial Administration Commission and Provincial Surveillance Commission, memorialized: "Although the bandit leader Li Li claimed to be surrendering, he has in fact been deceitful. He has gathered forces into rebellious gangs and opposed the government troops, surrounded Cha-long Subprefecture and killed the prefect Qin Peng. He has secretly joined with the Yu-ma Subprefecture native official Qin Gui and Laos chieftains and they are engaging in evil together. When the Eunuch Director Shan Shou came with Imperial orders pardoning all of Li's crimes and appointing him as the prefect of Qing-hua Prefecture, Li said that he would wait until the the cool of the Autumn before taking up his post. Now, he has again said that he has long had grievances with the Administration Vice Commissioner Liang Ru-hu and he has asked to be allowed to forego the position of prefect. He now wishes to put in charge of the affairs of Cha-long Subprefecture. Recently, many of the natives in Yan Subprefecture have followed Li in rebellion, and Li has sent his gang leaders Pan Liao and Lu Wen-lu to Jia-xing, Guang-wei and other subprefectures to collect followers for his revolt. Their evil influences are daily expanding. It is hoped that Imperial orders will be sent to the regional commanders requiring them to quickly eliminate this bandit, so as to bring peace to the border region." The Emperor, upon reading the memorial, sent orders to the Rong-chang Earl Chen Zhi, the An-ping Earl Li An, the Commissioner-in-chief Fang Zheng and the provincial administration commission, provincial surveillance commission and regional military commission. The orders read: "The rebellious bandit Li Li conceals an evil heart and has done so for a long time. If we had taken him in the beginning, it would have been as easy as picking mustard. However, trust was placed in the words of mediocre persons and continual efforts were made to pacify him through negotiation. This has gone on for eight years, he is still not listening to orders and he is nurturing a wild and violent force. He has killed innocent, loyal officials and good people are being poisoned by his influence and are rebelling. Whose fault is this? When these orders arrive, Chen Zhi and Fang Zheng are to personally supervise the advance of the troops. There must be coordination in order to achieve success and there must be no lost opportunities or mistakes made. If the Spring arrives and there is still no announcement of victory, blame will be affixed."