The "Great Western King" Zhang Xianzhong and the Slaughter of Shu, Seven Kills Stele Poem: Heaven gives birth to all things to nourish people, yet people still complain that heaven is unkind. They do not know that locusts and pests are everywhere, making the common people and the king suffer. In life, there are rich and poor; the rich are favored by heaven. Wealth and nobility in life depend on heaven, while the poverty of the common people is punished by heaven. Suddenly, there are madmen sharpening their knives at night, the imperial star wavers and the comet rises high. From now on, the world will be turned upside down, why should killing be a labor of the hands? Those who are disloyal can be killed! Those who are unfilial can be killed! Those who are unkind can be killed! Those who are unjust can be killed! Those who are disrespectful, unwise, and untrustworthy, the Great Western King says kill, kill, kill! I do not live to hunt deer, I am too lazy to build a golden platform in the capital. The top scholars and officials are all like dogs, they are all just fodder under the knife. I command my four princes, breaking the city does not require sealing knives and daggers. On the mountain top, I set up this stele on behalf of heaven; those who go against heaven will die standing or kneeling! Zhang Xianzhong (1606-1647), courtesy name Bingwu, alias Jingxuan, leader of the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty. He was born in Dazhu, Sichuan, and grew up in poverty, working as a farmer. Later, he joined the army and received military training. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, due to years of natural disasters, heavy taxes, and corrupt officials, the people lived in misery. Zhang Xianzhong rose up and became an important figure in the peasant uprising at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Zhang Xianzhong's "Great Western Kingdom" only lasted three years. In 1646, the Qing army, in alliance with the Southern Ming, besieged Sichuan. Zhang Xianzhong attempted to go north to cooperate with Li Zicheng while also stubbornly resisting the Qing army in Chengdu. In 1647, he was killed by an arrow during a battle with the Qing army on Phoenix Mountain in Xichong, Sichuan.