张献忠

Born in Shaanxi, Zhang led a rebel army that swept across the Yangtze region during the Ming collapse. In 1644 he occupied Chengdu and proclaimed the 大西 (Daxi) dynasty, before being killed in battle against Qing forces in 1647. The Sichuan tradition blames him for catastrophic depopulation, though modern historians debate how much was Zhang vs Ming-Qing warfare overall.

In 2017 archaeologists confirmed the legend of his sunken treasure: 30,000+ Ming-era silver and gold artifacts were recovered from the Min River near 江口 (Jiāngkǒu), exactly where folklore said his river-battle loot went down.