Zhang Lexing

Zhang was originally a landlord and a member of a powerful lineage involved in salt-smuggling.

Zhang also at this time claimed the title of "Great Han Prince with the Mandate of Heaven".

[1] He later joined forces with the Taiping Rebellion and became the "Commander of the Northern Expedition".

Prior to being executed, he confessed that he could no longer remember how many places he had plundered; he also claimed to not know the whereabouts of his wife, who had been chased off by government troops, or his brother Zhang Minxing, who had left for the southwest along with several thousand men, and that other Nian leaders had already been killed.

[3] Despite the apparent loss of leadership, the Nian rebellion would continue for another five years.