Revolt of the Three Feudatories, 1673–1681

The Qing conquest had rewarded Wu Sangui and other surrendered Ming generals with large hereditary commands in the south. Kangxi’s attempt to abolish these semi-independent domains prompted rebellion in 1673.

Wu controlled much of southwest China and declared a new Zhou dynasty, while the conflict drew in additional provincial forces and the Zheng regime in Taiwan. Qing armies gradually recovered the rebel territories, and resistance ended in 1681.

The third volume of The Deer and the Cauldron places Trinket inside Wu Sangui’s court and makes his deceptions part of the rebellion’s collapse. The historical war gives the novel a large political test of his loyalty to Kangxi.