Editing Revolt of the Three Feudatories (section)

==Composition of Qing armies==
[[File:Wenceslas Hollar - The young Viceroy of Canton (State 1).jpg|thumb|250px|[[Shang Zhixin]], known to the Dutch as the "Young Viceroy of Canton", armed on horseback and protected by his bodyguards.]]
The Qing forces were initially defeated by Wu in 1673–1674.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Andrew Graff|author2=Robin Higham|title=A Military History of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sn3QpyJn9JIC&pg=PA119|year=2012|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-3584-7|pages=119–}}</ref> Manchu Generals and [[Eight Banners|Bannermen]] were put to shame by the performance of the Han Chinese [[Green Standard Army]], who fought better than them against the rebels. The Qing had the support of the majority of Han Chinese soldiers and the Han elite, as they did not join the Three Feudatories. Different sources offer different account of the Han and Manchu forces deployed against the rebels. According to one, 400,000 Green Standard Army soldiers and 150,000 Bannermen served on the Qing side during the war.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China|date=2006|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8piRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17 17]}}</ref> according to another, 213 Han Chinese Banner companies, and 527 companies of Mongol and Manchu Banners were mobilized by the Qing.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China|date=2006|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8piRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 23]}}</ref> According to a third, the Qing mustered a massive army of more than 900,000 northern Han Chinese to fight the Three Feudatories.<ref>{{cite book|author1=David Andrew Graff|author2=Robin Higham|title=A Military History of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sn3QpyJn9JIC&pg=PA120|year=2012|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-3584-7|pages=120–}}</ref>

Fighting in northwestern China against Wang Fuchen, the Qing put Bannermen in the rear as reserves while they used Han Chinese Green Standard Army soldiers and Han Chinese Generals like Zhang Liangdong, Wang Jinbao, and Zhang Yong as their main military force.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China: "My Service in the Army", by Dzengseo|date=2006|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-78955-8|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8piRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 24]}}</ref> The Qing thought that Han Chinese soldiers were superior at fighting other Han people and so used the Green Standard Army as their main army against the rebels instead of Bannermen.<ref name="Dennys1888">{{cite book|author=Nicholas Belfield Dennys|title=The China Review, Or, Notes and Queries on the Far East|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hVBAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA234|year=1888|publisher="China Mail" Office|pages=234–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China|date=2006|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8piRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 24–25]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Nicola Di Cosmo|title=The Diary of a Manchu Soldier in Seventeenth-Century China|date=2006|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=8piRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA15 15]}}</ref> As a result, after 1676, the tide turned in favor of the Qing forces. In the northwest, Wang Fuchen surrendered after a three-year-long stalemate, while Geng Jingzhong and Shang Zhixin surrendered in turn as their forces weakened.<ref>{{Cite book |editor=[[National Defense University (Republic of China)|三軍大學]] |title=《中國歷代戰爭史 第16冊 清（中）》 |publisher=中信出版社 |year=2013 |isbn=9787508637112 |location=Taiwan |page=30 }}</ref>