Guo Zixing

Timeline

1. c. 1300–1351Dingyuan · AnhuiHis ancestors were from Caozhou; his father wandered Dingyuan practicing divination, married a blind daughter of a wealthy family, and the household prospered. Zixing was second-born, gallant and hospitable. During Yuan misrule he distributed family wealth, slaughtered oxen to court brave men, and took part in local White Lotus activities, stockpiling manpower for his uprising.
2. 1352Haozhou · AnhuiIn spring of Zhizheng 12, together with Sun Deya and Yu, Lu, Pan and others, he gathered several thousand youths and seized Haozhou; all five styled themselves commanders. In the intercalary third month, Zhu Yuanzhang of Zhongli came to join; Zixing marveled at his appearance and appointed him a decurion. This turned scattered anti-Yuan unrest in Huaixi into territorial separatism.
3. 1352–1354Haozhou · AnhuiBecause Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly distinguished himself in battle, and his secondary wife Lady Xiao Zhang also called him 'an extraordinary man,' he married off the daughter of the Ma he had raised — the future Empress Xiaoci Gao. After the Xuzhou routed troops of Peng Da and Zhao Junyong entered Haozhou, Sun Deya and others pushed them above him; Zixing was seized and rescued only through Zhu Yuanzhang and Peng Da. Yuan forces besieged the city for months, and after the siege was lifted internal divisions deepened.
4. 1354–1355Hezhou · AnhuiZhao Junyong, overbearing, coerced Zixing into attacking Xuyi and Sizhou. Zhu Yuanzhang had already taken Chuzhou, sent envoys to mediate and welcomed his followers to Chuzhou. Zixing at one point wished to declare himself king but was dissuaded by Zhu Yuanzhang. He took Hezhou in the first month of Zhizheng 15 and died of illness in the third month. Han Lin'er's Song regime then appointed Zhu Yuanzhang left deputy commander, and this army passed into Zhu's hands.