Yuan Chonghuan, whose ancestral home is Dongguan, Guangdong, has the courtesy name Yuan and the nickname Ziru. "Huan" means fire, which means bright, prominent and glorious; "Su" means straightforward simplicity, which is the nature of nature.
His blazing life, independent character, and free-spirited style are indeed what his name suggests. He has great courage, the courage to fight the enemy, and moral courage.
His soaring energy, stubborn brute force, and fierce ferocity were doubly prominent in the wretched and languid court of the late Ming Dynasty.
His character is like a sword that is extremely sharp and impeccable. When there is peace and tranquility, hanging on the wall, he will inevitably scream to himself in the middle of the night and jump out of the sword box. In the troubled times, when the sky is dark and the earth is dark, he will slay the dragon.
After killing the tiger, it was finally broken every inch.
He fights vigorously, but every battle leads to an inevitable tragic ending step by step.
When he was young, he considered himself a "rich man" and loved to travel. After passing the imperial examination, he passed the imperial examination, but failed many times. Every time he went to Beijing to take the exam, he always took the opportunity to travel, and traveled to almost half of China.
He likes to stay up all night chatting with his good friends, and the content of the conversation often involves military battles. He is generous and courageous, and likes to talk about military affairs with others. When he meets old retired officers and soldiers, he always asks them questions
The military situation on the frontier made me determined to handle border affairs when I was young.
Under the system of the Ming Dynasty, the Jinshi examination was held every three years. The joint examination began on the ninth day of February and ended on the fifteenth day of the second lunar month. There was also the imperial examination on the first day of March. Yuan Chonghuan took the imperial examination in Beijing in the 47th year of Wanli and passed the imperial examination. Yang Hao passed the imperial examination that year.
In February, they swore an oath to Liaoyang, and in March, they lost all their troops.
The two events of Xinzhong Jinshi and the defeat of the war happened at the same time. Yuan Chonghuan, a new Jinshi who had always been concerned about border defense, must have been in mixed moods. He was in the capital at that time, and of course he heard a lot of news about the Liaodong war.
After he became a Jinshi, he was assigned to be a county magistrate in Shaowu, Fujian. In the second year of Tianqi, he went to Beijing to report on his work. He usually liked to talk loudly. When talking to friends in Beijing, he expressed some opinions on Liaodong's military, which were very pertinent.
, attracted the attention of Hou Xun, the censor, and recommended him to the court for his military talents, and was promoted to the chief of the Ministry of War.
Not long after Yuan Chonghuan became the head of the Ministry of War, Wang Huazhen's army was destroyed in Guangning, and the whole court was panicked. So Beijing declared martial law and entered a state of emergency. At this time when people in the capital were panicking, Yuan Chonghuan rode a horse and went out alone to investigate.
Director Yuan suddenly disappeared from the Ministry of War. Everyone was very surprised, and his family did not know where he was. Soon he returned to Beijing and reported the Shanhaiguan situation in detail to his superiors, declaring: "As long as you give me soldiers, horses, food and pay, I can defend Shanhaiguan alone."
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After the imperial court heard what he said so eloquently, he was promoted to a military officer and sent to help guard Shanhaiguan. After Yuan Chonghuan arrived, he immediately carried out the construction of the city with great fanfare and resolutely, and established specifications: the city wall was three feet and two feet high, and the city pheasant was six feet higher.
, the city wall site was three feet wide, and Zu Dashou and others were sent to supervise the work.
Yuan Chonghuan shared the joys and sorrows with the soldiers and treated the people well, treating them as family members and fathers and brothers, so everyone tried their best when building the city. It was completed the following year, and the city walls were high and thick, making it an important town outside the pass. This city wall was the foundation of Yuan Chonghuan's lifelong achievements. This city wall
The Manchu and Qing troops blocked Shanhaiguan for twenty-one years. If Wu Sangui hadn't brought the Qing troops in, they would have been blocked for how many more years.
In the first month of the sixth year of Tianqi, the Manchus crossed the Liao River to attack Ningyuan, with 130,000 troops. They arrived at Ningyuan on the 23rd. Yuan Chonghuan, General Man Gui, deputy generals Zuo Fu, Zhu Mei, and generals Zu Dashou, He Kegang and others gathered the soldiers to swear to death. To defend the city, Yuan Chonghuan stabbed out his own blood, wrote a proclamation, circulated it to the soldiers, and even bowed to the soldiers to inspire loyalty. Under his encouragement, everyone in the army was enthusiastic and determined to fight to the death.
Nurhachi launched a massive attack on the city. Thousands of braided soldiers rushed to the edge of the city. Suddenly, tens of thousands of torches were raised on top of the city, and arrows rained down on the city. The fighting became more and more intense. Ningyuan was surrounded by more than ten miles of city walls. Thousands of holes had been dug, and seeing that the city was about to be destroyed, Yuan Chonghuan could no longer remain calm. He personally moved rocks to plug the gaps and was injured twice. His generals advised him to take care of himself.
He said sternly: "Although Ningyuan is only a small city, it is related to the survival of China. If Ningyuan is not defended, our parents and brothers will become slaves of the Tatars in a few years. If I am timid and afraid of death, even if I am lucky enough to survive, What fun is there if you lose your life?" He tore off his shirt, wrapped up the wound on his left arm and fought again. Following his example, the soldiers worked bravely and finally closed the gap.
On the 25th, the Qing troops attacked again, and Yuan Chonghuan oversaw the battle to the death. Nurhaci, the founder of the Qing Dynasty, was also injured. After three days of bloody fighting, the Qing troops suffered heavy losses and finally had to order their retreat. Nurhaci said to Zhu Beile: "I have been since I was twenty-five years old. Since then, we have been invincible in all battles and invincible in every attack. Why can't we defeat the city of Ningyuan alone?" He was very angry in his heart.
After that, the injury never healed. In July, he went to Qinghe Hot Spring to recuperate. He sent someone to summon Dafu Jin and returned to Shenyang with him. He died forty miles away from Shenyang at the age of 68. Nurhachi only fought this one major defeat in his life. From then on, the Qing people were in awe of Yuan Chonghuan. After Nurhachi's death, the eighth son Huang Taiji took over.
In May of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, Huang Taiji personally led two yellow flags and two white flags elite troops to attack the castles in western Liaoning, captured the two Mingfang fortresses of Dalinghe and Xiaolinghe, and then attacked Jinzhou, the peripheral fortress of Ningyuan.
Western artillery was fired in the city of Jinzhou, as well as artillery, fire bombs and arrows. The Qing soldiers suffered heavy losses. When the attack reached dawn, Huang Taiji saw that he could no longer hold on, so he had to retreat and camped at Xiaoling River to wait for the troops. Centralized reorganization. Huang Taiji organized his troops and turned to attack Ningyuan. Mangui led the Ming army to form a formation two miles south of the city, with guns and artillery arrayed under the city wall. The Ming army finally could not defeat the Qing army in the field, so they retreated into the city to defend it.
The battle was very fierce, and the trenches were filled with dead bodies of soldiers from both sides. The defenders bombarded with Portuguese cannons, smashing a Qing camp and the White Dragon Flag of Huang Taiji, killing and wounding many Qing soldiers. Huang Taiji Seeing that the troops suffered heavy losses, they had no choice but to retreat and attack the south of Jinzhou, but they could not escape. The soldiers suffered many casualties. In July, the Qing troops were defeated and returned to Shenyang.
This battle was called the "Ningjin Victory" by the Ming Dynasty, and it was the second bloody victory of the Ming army against the Qing army.
In November of the seventh year of Tianqi, Yuan Chonghuan was promoted to the position of censor of the right capital, and the Ministry of War added an additional note to the affairs of the left minister. In April of the first year of Chongzhen, he was promoted to minister of the Ministry of War, concurrently deputy censor of the right capital, supervisor of Ji Liao, and governor of the capital. Denglai Tianjin Military Affairs. The Minister of War is a senior official of the second rank, and the military region under his jurisdiction has nominally expanded to the northern part of Beizhili and the northern coast of Shandong.
In October of the second year of Chongzhen, Qing troops invaded from the west in large numbers, and Zunhua was the first to be attacked. This time, Huang Taiji personally led the troops and gathered more than 100,000 troops. Knowing that Yuan Chonghuan was guarding the east route and could not attack, he sent troops from Mongolia The troops took the lead and took a detour to the west to attack.
The Qing army crossed Sanhe, crossed Shunyi, reached Tongzhou, crossed the river, and marched towards Muma Factory. The troops were like the wind and attacked Beijing. Manchu, the general of Datong, was intercepted by Hou Shilu, the general of Xuanfu, and they were defeated. Both Manchu and Hou troops were defeated.
The soldiers and horses retreated to Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan received the news of the fall of Zunhua and knew that the situation was serious, so he marched more than 300 miles in two days and two nights, arriving two days earlier than the Qing army, and stationed his troops outside Guangqumen in Beijing.
As soon as Yuan Chonghuan arrived, Chongzhen immediately summoned him and expressed his condolences. He asked him to report a strategy for dealing with the Qing soldiers and gave him royal food and mink fur. At the same time, he also summoned Man Gui. He took off his clothes and showed the emperor the numerous scars on his body.
, Chongzhen was greatly impressed. Yuan Chonghuan asked to enter the city to rest because his soldiers and horses were tired. However, Chongzhen was quite suspicious and did not allow his troops to enter the city. Yuan Chonghuan asked to station troops in the outer city, but Chongzhen did not allow it, and insisted that they fight in the field outside the city.
The Qing troops attacked eastward and were unstoppable along the way. When they detected the arrival of Yuan's army in Gaomidian, they were all shocked. They never expected that Yuan Chonghuan would arrive so quickly. On the 20th, the two armies fought outside Guangqumen. Yuan Chonghuan could not do anything at this time.
No longer wearing a light robe, he was talking and laughing about fighting. He put on armor and went to the battle in person to supervise the battle. From eight o'clock in the morning to four o'clock in the afternoon, the battle was fierce for eight hours, and the outcome was undecided.
Mangui led five thousand troops to guard Desheng Gate. At that time, the soldiers and civilians of Beijing were watching the battle at the top of the city, but they saw the Qing soldiers clashing to the west. Looking down from the city, they looked like thousands of black clouds, carrying the swift wind, and a moment passed.
In a fierce battle, Mangui was injured and his uniforms were stained with blood. Only 3,000 of the 5,000 soldiers were left. The main battlefield was at Guangqumen. Yuan Chonghuan and the Qing soldiers fought until dusk. The Qing soldiers were finally defeated and retreated for more than ten miles.
Yuan Jun pursued them to the edge of the canal. Huang Taiji and Zhu Beile both said: "In the past fifteen years, we have never encountered such a powerful enemy as Yuan Chonghuan." So they did not dare to approach Beijing anymore, and stationed troops in Haizi to collect and capture them.
between.
When Yuan Chonghuan came to aid Beijing, he only brought 5,000 cavalry troops as the vanguard because of the urgent need of 100,000 troops. Later, he brought 4,000 cavalry troops. In this battle, Guangqu and his troops used 9,000 troops as an army of more than 100,000 troops. In fact, they won a great victory.
Lucky.
At that time, Yuan Jun worked hard and fought bravely against the enemy. Secondly, when the Qing army suddenly encountered Yuan Jun, he was already timid and his fighting spirit was not strong. However, Chongzhen was a very impatient and tenacious young man. He was not yet 19 years old at that time.
, when he saw Yuan Chonghuan standing still, he immediately became impatient and kept urging him to go out to fight. Yuan Chonghuan repeatedly said that he could not attack until the entire infantry army arrived. Now there are only 9,000 cavalry, and it is difficult to fight decisively with more than 100,000 enemy soldiers.
win.
Unexpectedly, Chongzhen became suspicious because of this: "Why are you unwilling to go to war? Do you want to usurp the throne? Do you want to coerce me into agreeing to negotiate peace? You have been exchanging letters with Huang Taiji in the past. What is your conspiracy? Why did you wake up so early in the morning?
Did you expect the Jin soldiers to attack Beijing from the west?"
The Qing troops retreated to Nanhaizi on November 27th. After their defeat, they felt dissatisfied and set out to vent their anger on the outskirts of Beijing.
The residents of Beijing had the same mentality as the emperor. They only cared about their own wealth and life. Everyone believed the rumor that Yuan Chonghuan was unwilling to go to war and had ulterior motives. Many people said that he had attracted the Qing soldiers with the purpose of "threatening peace."
, forcing the emperor to accept the peace proposal he had always advocated.
At this time, the Qing soldiers captured two eunuchs assigned by the Ming government to raise horses outside the city, one named Yang Chun and the other named Wang Chengde. Huang Taiji had a plan in mind and sent his deputy general Gao Hongzhong, generals Bao Chengxian and Ning Wan
I, Bake Shen, Dahai and others were on guard. Two young eunuchs were captured. Why did we need to send five generals to guard them? Of course there was a plan. Gao, Bao and Ning were Han Chinese who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.
At night, Bao Chengxian and Ning Wanwo followed the secret plan taught by Huang Taiji and "whispered" loudly to each other: "This withdrawal is not because we have lost the battle, it is the emperor's clever plan. Don't you see?
?
The emperor rode alone and approached the enemy. Two officers from the enemy army came over to see the emperor. After a long discussion, the two officers went back. The emperor and Governor Yuan have made a secret agreement, and the important matter will be successful soon."
The two eunuchs were sleeping next to each other and could hear their words clearly. On November 30, the guardian of Huang Taiji pretended to be negligent and allowed Yang Chun to escape back to Beijing. What Yang Chun heard was 151
Ten reports were sent to Chongzhen.
The next day, the first day of December, Chongzhen summoned Yuan Chonghuan and Zu Taishou into the palace. After asking for a few words, he ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be arrested and imprisoned in the imperial prison. Yuan Chonghuan was unjustly imprisoned, and most of the officials in the court knew that he was wronged. Cabinet University
Scholars Zhou Yanru and Cheng Jiming, and the official minister Wang came to Guangdu Shangshu to rescue him.
The general of the army, Zu Dashou, wrote a letter, willing to reduce his position to serve the people, fight to the death for the emperor, and use his rank as a gift to atone for Yuan Chonghuan's "sin". Yuan Chonghuan's subordinate He Zhibi led his family of more than 40 people to apply outside the palace, and was willing to let the whole family enter.
He came out from prison to replace Yuan Chonghuan.
Chongzhen was not sure at all. Chongzhen must have known very well that it was unconvincing to convict Yuan Chonghuan based on a few words that Eunuch Yang heard from the Qing army. Chongzhen refused to admit his mistake or that he was mistaken.
The stupidity of counterintuitive schemes. Killing Yuan Chonghuan was not because he really suspected him of being rebellious, but just to conceal his own stupidity. He used eternal despicability to cover up his temporary stupidity.
Yuan Chonghuan's crime was finally confirmed, and it was a so-called "treason" out of nowhere.
Yuan Chonghuan was tied to the execution ground. Before the executioner took action, the people in Beijing rushed to bite his flesh until they bit his internal organs. The executioner followed the regulations and cut off his muscles with one knife. The people gathered around,
They yelled and cursed one after another and paid for his meat. One penny could only buy one piece. After buying it, they took a bite and cursed: "Traitor!" because the people in Beijing believed that he deliberately caused the Qing troops to siege the city last year.
After Yuan Chonghuan died, his bones were abandoned underground and no one dared to collect them for burial. He had a servant named Yu, who was from Majiang, Shunde, and stole the bones in the middle of the night and buried them in Guangdong Yiyuan inside Guangqumen. Across the street
On the city wall, on the square outside Guangqumen, and in the city trench, is the place where Yuan Chonghuan led his soldiers to shout for a fierce battle eight and a half months ago. He risked his life to repel ten times the invading enemy force and defended the emperor and Beijing.
The lives of the people in the city were cut into pieces by the emperor and the people of Beijing.
Yuan Chonghuan is one of the heroes I admire most. I used to read "History of the Ming Dynasty". Whenever I read the description of Yuan Chonghuan, I would always sigh with emotion for his loyalty to the country, his great achievements, and his tragic life experience. Yuan Chonghuan is in my book
He is a real hero in his heart. His great talent and heroic spirit have enveloped the world. Even his shortcomings are heroic and shocking. He has more heroic spirit than the fictional heroes in novels. He fought bravely,
He left traces in history. His dignity and might have shocked my soul many times.
I never thought that Chang Bailing would mention such a historical hero in front of me at this time. At this time, I suddenly understood: the most important reason why Yuan Chonghuan can shock the souls of future generations is because of him
of sadness.
Qu Yuan, Xiang Yu, Yue Fei... they are all tragic figures in history, which is why they can make people sigh even more.
I can't do that because I simply don't have the most basic quality of a hero: the courage to sacrifice everything for my ideals. (To be continued)