Chapter 6 Chapter 5: Post-gold nemesis Yuan Chonghuan

The sixth year of the Ming Dynasty is the eleventh year of Tianming of the Houjin Dynasty (AD 1626). On the 23rd day of the first lunar month, the artillery fire shook the sky and the earth under the city of Ningyuan.Nurhachi commanded his brave Eight Banners soldiers to storm Ningyuan City.Under Yuan Chonghuan's well-arranged fierce artillery fire, the Eight Banners troops suffered serious setbacks and suffered heavy casualties. Nurhachi, who has ruled the world for more than forty years, stopped abruptly under the small city of Ningyuan. Eight months later, Nurhachi died. Among the many figures in the Ming Empire who competed with Nurhachi and Huang Taiji, Yuan Chonghuan may be the most special one.He brought more troubles to the father and son of the Later Jin Khanate than all the other emperors and ministers of the Ming Empire put together.

However, all the work and efforts he has made, his glory and misery, can only prove that the Ming Empire is no longer worthy of a better future. Yuan Chonghuan, whose characters are Elements and Ziru, was originally from Dongguan County, Guangdong.History books say that he is generous, courageous, and likes to talk about the military, especially likes to talk about the border situation with those veterans who have returned from the frontier.The year when he was admitted as a Jinshi was the forty-seventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty and the fourth year of the Mandate of Heaven in the Houjin Khanate (1619 A.D.).

Three years ago, Nurhachi formally established the Dajin regime, known as Houjin in history.If it wasn't for special hatred, Nurhachi probably wouldn't use this country name.Because he has been dealing with Han officials for a long time and has Han staff around him, he should know that the Dajin Kingdom once brought great suffering and humiliation to the people in the Central Plains, and it still uses this name today, which obviously contains the national feelings for the Central Plains people. Total contempt. Two years later, Nurhachi announced the "seven major hatreds" with the Ming Dynasty, vowed to defeat the Ming Dynasty, and successfully won the first battle against the Ming Dynasty-the Battle of Fushun.

In the year when Yuan Chonghuan passed the Jinshi examination, the significant and far-reaching Saarhu War ended with the defeat of the entire Ming Empire army. These must have greatly stimulated Yuan Chonghuan. According to historical records, he was appointed as the magistrate of Shaowu County, Fujian Province after he became a Jinshi.He especially likes to talk about things on the frontier with those veterans, and whenever he has the opportunity, he wants to understand the situation of mountains and rivers in Liaodong, local customs and customs. Once, he was going to be an examiner to review the papers, but he invited a veteran who had returned from Liaodong to talk about the battle of Liaodong, but he didn't read any papers.The history books say that he is "good at talking about war" and "only accepts himself when he is on the sidelines". This is probably how he started.

In the first month of the second year of the Apocalypse and the seventh year of the Mandate of Heaven of the Later Golden Khanate (AD 1622), according to the imperial system, Yuan Chonghuan came to Beijing to participate in the "big plan", which was to accept the three-year civil official performance assessment.At that time, a censor named Hou Xun discovered this feature of Yuan Chonghuan. He believed that Yuan Chonghuan's "heroic style and great strategy" could be used to great effect, and suggested that the emperor use it eclecticly.This Hou Xun is the father of Hou Fangyu, the son of Hou Fangyu, who had a good relationship with Li Xiangjun, one of the more famous Qinhuai Eight Beauties.Later, he also discovered and protected a general who had made a lot of troubles——Zuo Liangyu, it is said that he was the only literati who could convince this rebellious general.Like Yuan Chonghuan, Hou Xun Yushi may also be a "very hot" character.

In this way, Yuan Chonghuan was left in the capital and became the head of the Ministry of War.At that time, the Ministry of War had four divisions, the most important of which were the Military Selection Division and the Staff Division.The Military Selection Department is responsible for the promotion and promotion of officers, while the Staff Party Department is responsible for military and political management.The head of the post office is a sixth-rank official. Compared with the county magistrate who is from the seventh or regular seventh rank, it can be regarded as an exceptional appointment.

After Yuan Chonghuan came to serve in the Ministry of War, he was very concerned about the situation in Liaodong.As a result, he found to his dismay that it had been nearly five years since the war with the Houjin Khanate, and the highest military command organization of the entire Ming Empire could not find any information on the geography, topography, landforms, etc. aspect information.The existing information is either incomplete or hearsay, or it is simply a product of many years ago, and now it probably has the value of antiques.In the whole of the Ministry of Defense, the War Department, no one has this knowledge, and no one knows how to acquire it.People were sent outside Shanhaiguan to collect information, but the information they got was between hearsay and ambiguous. It is not even known whether the person who collected the information really went outside Shanhaiguan.

At that time, when Guangning fell, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen gave up a large area of ​​land in western Liaoning and retreated into Shanhaiguan in one go.The city of Beijing was in chaos. Apart from declaring martial law again, no one in the Manchu court knew what to do. Most people advocated completely abandoning Liaodong and concentrating their forces to guard Shanhaiguan. In this situation, Yuan Chonghuan made a shocking move—— He didn't say hello to anyone, so he rode alone to the Shanhaiguan area for a field trip.His colleagues in the Ministry of War did not know where he had gone, and his family did not know his exact whereabouts.Yuan Chonghuan returned after being missing for several months, talked about Liao affairs based on his own personal experience, and uttered a shocking bold statement, saying: "Give me money and food for the army and horses, and I can hold that place alone."

At that time, people believed that in extraordinary times, extraordinary achievements must be made by extraordinary people doing extraordinary things.At a time when the court was in fear, Yuan Chonghuan's move was extraordinary, and he really had the ancient style of a generous and great husband.As a result, the ruling and opposition parties were extremely talented.Under the recommendation of Sun Chengzong, the imperial court once again eclectic and exceptionally appointed, and promoted Yuan Chonghuan to be the official inspector of Shandong Province, concurrently Ning Qiandao Daoyin, and Shanhaiguan Foreign Supervision Army. This is an official position of the fifth rank.The so-called Ningqian Road refers to the two county governments of Ningyuan and Qiantunwei, which mainly include the Qiansuo, Qianwei, Suizhong, Shahousuo and Xingcheng of Shanhaiguan today.This year, Yuan Chonghuan was thirty-eight years old.

After Yuan Chonghuan took office, the situation he faced was extremely complicated.At that time, Sun Chengzong was a scholar of the Dongge University and Minister of the Ministry of War, equivalent to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Cabinet and Minister of Defense. While he recommended Yuan Chonghuan, he also recommended Yuan Chonghuan's immediate boss, the new Liaodong Economic Strategy who succeeded Xiong Tingbi.The strategy for governing Liaodong by the newly-appointed military and political chief of Liaodong is very simple, that is, to completely abandon the Liaodong area, and then build another majestic pass between the mountains and the sea at Balipu outside Shanhaiguan, the most powerful pass in the world. ", to ensure that Shanhaiguan is impenetrable.This plan was not implemented later, otherwise, the scenery of Shanhaiguan today must be much better.

The reason why the plan was not implemented was that Yuan Chonghuan and other senior officials firmly opposed the plan and received the support of Sun Chengzong. After Nurhachi took Guangning, he didn't plan to stay there for a long time, nor did he take advantage of the victory to attack Shanhaiguan.At that time, Xiong Tingbi, the economic strategist of Liaodong, and Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong, retreated from Guangning and entered Shanhaiguan. In order to fortify the wall and clear the country, they implemented the scorched earth policy and set fire to the towns and villages along the way.Seeing this situation, Nurhachi ordered to return to Guangning, and then returned to Shenyang.As a result, nearly five hundred miles of land from Guangning to Shanhaiguan fell into the hands of the Mongolian tribes who haunted it. When Yuan Chonghuan took up his new position, the emperor allocated 200,000 taels of silver for him to use the camera to recover the land occupied by Mongolian tribes.To put it bluntly, it is to use money to redeem the lost land.In fact, after those Mongolian tribes got such a large amount of silver that really fell from the sky, they did return those lands to the Ming Empire and Yuan Chonghuan one after another. Among the three new positions held by Yuan Chonghuan, there is a vacant position, that is, the inspector in Shandong Province;With these lands, Yuan Chonghuan's two real jobs can be regarded as landed, and he can display his ambitions on this land.If the plan of the new Liaodong Economic Strategy is implemented, a large number of officials with foreign titles in Shanhaiguan, such as Yuan Chonghuan, will immediately become unemployed youths. Personally, they must oppose this conservative plan. From the perspective of the overall situation of Liaodong and national interests, their opposition is also very reasonable. From the point of view of the principle, if they stick to Shanhaiguan and do not think about making progress, will the lost Liaodong region be lost from now on?Then how to face the ancestors who fought bloody battles to expand the territory?From the present point of view, the land of more than 400 miles from Guangning to Shanhaiguan is almost equivalent to the tens of thousands of square kilometers of land under the jurisdiction of Jinzhou and Huludao in western Liaoning today.Even from a purely military point of view, it is better to guard the gates outside the gates and establish a defense mechanism with vast strategic depth and layers than to sit and guard an isolated city, even if this isolated city relies on the danger of mountains and seas. As a result, the emperor and the chief academician of the cabinet were in a fog and didn't know who to listen to.So, this difficult problem was placed in front of Sun Chengzong.At this time, Sun Chengzong was not only the emperor's teacher, but also a scholar of the Dongge University and Minister of the Ministry of War. Moreover, both parties in the current dispute took up their current positions under his recommendation, so he could only solve the problem. Sun Chengzong came to Shanhaiguan and quickly chose to support Yuan Chonghuan.It is said that in order to persuade the Liaodong economic strategist, Sun Chengzong talked with him continuously for seven days and seven nights. He resolutely refused to accept Sun Chengzong's views, and talked very emotionally: Compared with national security, personal wealth and life are insignificant.The past mistakes were that the empire was too frivolous: the battle of Fushun was lost due to underestimating the enemy, the battle of Saerhu was lost due to light advance, Shenyang and Liaoyang were lost due to light war, and Guangning was lost due to light escape.A light word led to the fall of the Liaodong Empire.People at the time said: Since the war in Liaodong, I have never seen anything done in an upright manner.Now we can only be careful to stick to Shanhaiguan, which is the way for a gentleman to do his best. In the end, Sun Chengzong couldn't persuade him, so he had to go back to Beijing and tell the emperor: This man can't take on the heavy responsibility of defending the frontiers of the empire. Please ask the emperor to promote him to a higher level and transfer him to Nanjing to serve as Minister of the Ministry of War. Just freeze it.History did not give the person involved the opportunity to verify everything he said. It only made him spend his official years in peace in his later years, but he also left a reputation of timidity and fighting in the history books.Not long after, with the peasant riots in the Shanshan area, the empire quickly fell into the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. I don't know if it can be regarded as an indirect proof of his judgment.In the midst of passionate and impassioned sensibility, appealing to the sublime and irrefutable truth in order to shut up the opponents in the debate is a long-lasting weapon from the officialdom to the people, even if it leads to countless tragic consequences, even though nine deaths I still haven't regretted it. Sun Chengzong asked himself to take over the position of Liaodong Economic Strategy, and the emperor readily approved it.Therefore, Sun Chengzong supervised the military affairs of Shanhaiguan, Jizhen, Liaodong, Tianjin, and Denglai with the title of emperor division, cabinet scholar and military minister, and became the most powerful supervisor since the Liaodong War. It was under the command and support of this supervisor that Yuan Chonghuan completed his arrangements for supervising the army outside Shanhaiguan and in Ningyuan City.Meanwhile, when he was rectifying the army, he did another shocking thing. At that time, there were endless incidents of officers in the army drinking blood, taking military pay, corrupting the law, and violating laws and disciplines.A school-level officer committed such a thing and ran into Yuan Chonghuan's hands.Yuan Manzi didn't care whether he had the authority to kill people or not, and he didn't ask for instructions to report, so he talked to himself and killed a mid-level officer who was not much lower than himself.Sun Chengzong was furious when he found out about this, and summoned Yuan Chonghuan to scold him severely, and almost sacrificed Shangfang's sword to punish Yuan Manzi. But in any case, after all, they are on the precarious front line of Liaodong, with Ningyuan City as the center, with Jinzhou, Dalinghe, Xiaolinghe and other places as the forwards, and with Shanhaiguan as the backing, they have established a strategically in-depth, multi-level mutual response. defense system.In just four years, they successively repaired nine big cities and forty-five castles outside Shanhaiguan, trained 110,000 troops, established 15 barracks for chariots and firearms, manufactured millions of ordnance, and expanded The land is four hundred miles away, 500,000 mu of land is cultivated, and the annual income reaches 500,000 taels of silver.Liao affairs as a whole quickly moved towards the strategic goal of "supporting Liao people with Liao soil and guarding Liao soil with Liao people". During this period, Nurhachi stayed in the east of the Liao River and did not go further into the west of Liao.After Sun Chengzong was forced to resign, this defense system achieved the glory of Yuan Chonghuan and Ningyuan City. Sun Chengzong's departure is sad. Just as he, Yuan Chonghuan and others worked hard to restore the situation in Liaodong, the situation in the court had changed beyond recognition. In the fifth year of Mingqi (AD 1625), Wei Zhongxian, a treacherous and evil person who is considered rare in Chinese history, gradually moved towards the glory of nine thousand years.Emperor Apocalypse hid in the huge palace courtyard, devoted himself to displaying his genius carpentry skills, and carved out many very creative and exquisite gadgets.Whenever he devotes himself to the creative and beloved work, the emperor doesn't like others to see his labor except those who serve him.Therefore, Wei Zhongxian would often come to ask for instructions on important military and state affairs at such moments. The emperor's usual reaction was: I know, you can do it with your heart; , What do you want you slave to do? By the second half of the fifth year of Ming Qi, Wei Zhongxian had firmly controlled the political center of the entire country.In the previous year, under Wei Zhongxian's aggressive offensive, a large number of Donglin Party members and their leaders were either forced to retire, or were dismissed from public office, or were dismissed from all positions, and thus were defeated across the board.Sun Chengzong has made outstanding achievements and is considered a mainstay figure, but he is also recognized as a member of the Donglin Party, or at least a close member of the Donglin Party.At that time, the Ningjin defense line was already quite stable. Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan planned to advance another 200 miles to the Daling River in the east of Jinxian County.For this reason, Sun Chengzong reported to the court that he hoped to quickly allocate 240,000 taels of military expenditure in order to prepare for this exciting strategic turning point.The highly respected Sun Chengzong even wrote optimistically in the report that great achievements can be "successful". At this time, it was the most turbulent moment of Nurhachi's Houjin Khanate.Due to Nurhachi's increasingly strict racial discrimination policy, Han riots in Liaodong area have occurred one after another in the past few years.Nurhachi adopted almost frenzied iron and blood methods to suppress it.As a direct result, for the Ming Empire, it was the best time for the strategic situation of the two sides to reverse since the Liaodong war started seven years ago.From this perspective, Sun Chengzong's optimism is indeed not unreasonable. However, the result was really embarrassing-after seeing Sun Chengzong's report, the emperor immediately ordered the relevant departments to allocate the military expenditure.Unexpectedly, the emperor's order was blocked by these relevant departments.After several leaders from the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the Ministry of Industry discussed this, they made a completely incomprehensible decision: the money can be promised, but not really given.The reason is said to be that they were worried that after Sun Chengzong had sufficient military expenditures, he would run amok.As a result, a long process of official document exchange began between these several departments in order to drag this discussion into a situation where it could not be resolved.There is also a technical term used in officialdom to refer to this kind of practice, which is: flooding. We can find no evidence to explain why they did this, in the end, only one explanation can be found, that is, they may not want Sun Chengzong to succeed.Because Sun Chengzong leaned towards the Donglin Party, not their own.Sun Chengzong's success has nothing to do with them. It is not beneficial to them personally, and may even be harmful. Therefore, there is no reason for him to succeed, and naturally there is no reason for him to get the money.This explanation is in line with a law in history: whenever a country is about to be subjugated, there will be a large number of such unreasonable chaos.People often use a term to summarize this phenomenon, that is - the omen of subjugation. Afterwards, Sun Chengzong kept sending urging reports, so these people explained their worries in front of the emperor as: the two sides have not fought for nearly four years, and Sun Chengzong's light start of the war may cause unpredictable disasters.So they're trying to figure out a surefire solution.At this time, Emperor Tianqi had developed a high love for carpentry.During the years of studying this skill wholeheartedly, the emperor may have truly felt the preciousness of peaceful time and the comfort and value of not being troubled by news of war, so he readily agreed that wars should not be lightly dismissed.In this regard, the strategic plan of the supreme commander of the former enemy of the empire was really "flooded". A long time later, the emperor probably remembered what the teacher taught him back then, and it might not be easy for the teacher now, so he ordered to send an eunuch with one hundred thousand taels of silver to reward the front soldiers and his teacher, and also specially brought it to the teacher. A special reward was given as a kind of compensation for rejecting the teacher's strategic plan.Looking through historical materials, we can find that similar situations have become the behavior style of this great country's monarch and his officials. From this, we can roughly see why the Ming Empire was so stagnant and unsatisfactory at that time. So far, things have only just begun. The eunuch who came to condolences also received a special task from Wei Zhongxian, which was to convey Wei Zhongxian's greetings to Sun Chengzong, to see if the two sides could work closely together and develop together.Sun Chengzong's prestige is too high, Wei Zhongxian needs such a partner.Unexpectedly, after the enthusiastic eunuch arrived, Sun Chengzong didn't say a word except accepting the emperor's edict and rewards, so this eunuch with a special mission had no chance to confide in Sun Chengzong.From this, Wei Zhongxian knew that Sun Chengzong seemed to be going to toast instead of eating fine wine. At this time, Wei Zhongxian was flexing his muscles in the court of the empire, and the situation in the court was flourishing. It was completely different from when Sun Chengzong left Beijing to take office a few years ago-the famous "Six Gentlemen Case" in the late Ming Dynasty had ended. All the famous gentlemen died unjustly and unjustly under the hands of Wei Zhongxian; Xiong Tingbi was also killed, and his dead head was touring the borders of the empire for public display. The famous "Seven Gentlemen Case" is brewing, and no one knows what other jaw-dropping things will happen. Sun Chengzong was extremely depressed.As the emperor's teacher, Sun Chengzong knew very well that this emperor was not bad, and he would sometimes make people think that he was simple, even cute.However, if a leader of a precarious big country is so pure, so intoxicated in the carpenter's workshop all day long, and let Wei Zhongxian and his ilk manipulate him, it is really irritating.Sun Chengzong knew that if he wrote a letter to the emperor for this reason, he might not reach the emperor's hands at all, so he decided to take the opportunity of inspecting the defense of Jizhou and Changping to return to Beijing in the name of the emperor's birthday, and report to the emperor in person. Turn the tables. Sun Chengzong held a heavy military force, had great prestige, and was also the emperor's teacher. Wei Zhongxian was deeply jealous and even feared that Sun Chengzong would return to the capital.So he reported to the emperor that Sun Chengzong supported his own troops and planned to bring heavy troops to the side of the Qing emperor.Emperor Tianqi didn't believe it at first, but Wei Zhongxian cried around the imperial bed repeatedly, and the emperor couldn't help being unmoved by it.Finally, the emperor sighed and ordered the cabinet to draft an edict, which said: "Leaving the special post without the emperor's order is not the law of the ancestors. Violators will not be forgiven!" Feiqi went to Sun Chengzong to pass the decree.It is said that Sun Chengzong only brought an assistant, a guard, and a servant with him at that time. The four of them had already arrived near Beijing, and after receiving the emperor's imperial decree, they took a long breath and returned. At this time when the situation is changing, another factor must have played a major role, and this factor is Nurhachi. Scholars who have studied the war history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties have noticed that an important part of the military talents of the father and son Nurhachi and Huang Taiji was that they were particularly good at launching rumor warfare, psychological warfare, and spy warfare. By buying spies, a special force with high efficiency and great effect was formed.The tasks of this unit are generally: collecting intelligence, approaching and buying imperial dignitaries, eunuchs, and officials of all levels, creating and disseminating various rumors, shaking people's will, instigating rebellion, responding internally during wartime, and so on.Carefully reviewing the battles of Nurhachi and Huang Taiji against the Ming Dynasty, we can see that many of the above aspects have been extremely successful. At this time, for Sun Chengzong, the tasks of the special forces staff sent to Beijing by the Later Jin Khanate were: Tell various officials how much military salary a certain general trusted by Sun Chengzong had received, and how much military expenses he had embezzled by Jinglue himself, which effectively increased Sun Chengzong's difficulty in receiving military expenses. Tell the eunuchs how Sun Chengzong hated Wei Zhongxian, the factory minister, and was going to lead his troops back to Beijing to remonstrate with the Qing emperor. At the same time, they used the family letters of military relatives to spread to the soldiers under Sun Chengzong the facts that Wei Zhongxian had stolen power and wronged the country, deceived the emperor, played with ministers, withheld military pay, corrupted and brutalized the people, etc., to create doubts and dissatisfaction among the frontline soldiers towards the rear central government . After Wei Zhongxian persuaded the emperor to ban Sun Chengzong from entering Beijing, the news widely circulated in the capital was that the actual number of troops led by Sun Chengzong was only 50,000, while the number of soldiers receiving military pay was 120,000, and more than half of the military pay was paid by Sun Chengzong and his cronies. collective corruption. Another piece of news is closely related to this: the reason why Sun Chengzong wanted to go outside Shanhaiguan and march into Jinzhou, Dalinghe and other places was because he was afraid that the imperial court would send someone to count the number of troops; the land outside the pass was not worth defending, and Nurhachi didn't even think about it For those sites, Sun Chengzong deliberately provoked Nurhachi under his nose in order to provoke Nurhachi and start a war, so that he could falsely report a large number of casualties and make up for the vacancy of corruption. The last piece of news is the most shocking: Sun Chengzong's most trusted general lost a battle. In fact, it was a trap.As a result, the imperial eunuchs—supervisory officials were really angry and impeached Sun Chengzong like a cannonball.In October of that year, Sun Chengzong, the supreme commander of the empire's Liaodong frontline, who had managed Liaodong for nearly four years and made Nurhachi dare not take a step further, finally could not withstand the fierce criticism from his colleagues in the DPRK and China, and was recalled to Beijing by the central government three times. Pending punishment.It is said that there were as many as dozens of officials at all levels and various types who impeached Sun Chengzong, and Sun Chengzong hung up the crown and left. Yuan Chonghuan saw and heard the whole process, so we don't know what he thinks about it.A few years later, when he fell into a similar situation and was ordered again in danger, from the letter he wrote to the emperor, it can be seen that Sun Chengzong's experience had left him the deepest impression.In any case, he would never have thought that compared with the fate he was about to face, Sun Chengzong was considered too lucky. At this time, Nurhachi had already moved the capital of the Houjin regime from Liaoyang to the new capital Shenyang in March of that year.Sun Chengzong had just left the front line in Liaodong, and Nurhachi immediately mobilized his troops and began large-scale war mobilization.It seems that he didn't pay attention to the new Liaodong governor of the Ming Empire who succeeded Sun Chengzong.In a sense, Nurhachi is doing exactly the right thing.The Ming Empire came to replace Sun Chengzong's supervisor, and proved with practical actions that he was indeed not worthy of being valued by the enemy. The name of the new Liaodong Economic Commissioner is Gaodi, and it is said that he has won the appreciation and support of Wei Zhongxian.After he took office, he basically abolished the three-year arrangement and three-year painstaking efforts of Sun Chengzong—ordered to abandon all the land four hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan, and ordered all relevant foreign military and political personnel, materials, and people Retreat inside the pass. Later circumstances showed that, except for Yuan Chonghuan, who was born in Dongguan, Guangdong, the orders of Gao Dushi were executed very efficiently.Two months later, in the first month of the sixth year of Mingqi (AD 1626), the military fortresses Dalinghe, Jinzhou, Songshan, Xingshan, Tashan, etc. had been completely evacuated.There is only a solitary Ningyuan City left, two hundred miles away from Guxuan Pass, where less than 20,000 defenders are stationed, and Yuan Chonghuan, the only surviving fruit of Sun Chengzong's four-year hard work, is ready to "ly lie alone in the lonely city and be the enemy", vowing Live and die with Ningyuan City. Ningyuan is today's Xingcheng County, Liaoning Province. Like Jinzhou, it is located on a narrow strip with mountains in the north and the sea in the south. Guarding one of these two cities will lock the throat leading to Shanhaiguan in the northeast. Corridors are strategically important places that military strategists must contend for.Now, the Jinzhou defenders have withdrawn, and Yuan Chonghuan is left, who refuses to withdraw at the risk of being killed by Gao Di Shangfang Jian, which shows his extraordinary courage and temperament. The reason why such a bizarre thing happened is directly related to the fierce political struggle in the imperial court. Gaodi, the new Liaodong economic manager, came to Shanhaiguan with two firm beliefs. First, he firmly believed that the total number of all Shanhaiguan and outside troops led by Sun Chengzong would not exceed 50,000.The 120,000 people that Sun Chengzong applied for in the past were not for raising soldiers, but for enriching himself. Therefore, it was his responsibility to let him and his cronies spit out the money and food they swallowed.Sun Chengzong is a prestigious and close member of the Donglin Party. Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party are at odds with each other. Since Sun Chengzong is not for his own use, he must be killed.Gaudí's firm belief comes from the life-and-death political struggle situation in the court. Second, Gaudi firmly believed that the vast land outside Shanhaiguan and the flat terrain made it impossible to defend for a long time, and the line of defense should be placed in Shanhaiguan. In order to confirm the exact number of troops and to prove Sun Chengzong's crime, Gao Yi immediately ordered when he arrived at Shanhaiguan: all defensive strongholds outside the pass should be dismantled, and all troops, officials and people, etc. should be moved into Shanhaiguan. After the order was issued, many frontline soldiers were dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what the route was.Tens of millions of military money and food were spent, the land recovered after going through untold hardships, the well-built towns and military facilities, the people of Li who live and work in peace and contentment, everything, everything, all of which can be lost overnight?How many times has the country withstood such retreats, and how many times has the people endured such upheavals?In the whole world, where can I find such a prodigal son? This is a veritable chaos, and it is impossible not to be questioned and resisted.Faced with doubts, dissatisfaction and resistance, Gaudy became more and more convinced that the reason why these officials and generals were unwilling to carry out the order was that they were afraid of withdrawing from the pass to count the number of people and expose their crimes after collectively embezzling the empty military pay.As a result, Gaodi's attitude became tougher, and threatened with Shangfang's sword, and severely ordered the withdrawal of all the above-mentioned strategic strongholds, even the two cities of Ningyuan and Qiantun where Yuan Chonghuan was stationed.For those who disobeyed, he was going to sacrifice Shangfang's sword to see if it was sharp. Gaodi's actions annoyed the famous Yuan Chonghuan, who even the emperor knew he was barbaric.Yuan Chonghuan saw that his immediate superior was so unreasonable, so he simply wrote to his immediate superior with the same unreasonable attitude in Gaodi's view, announcing: "I am Ning Qiandao Yin. , the official position is on the ground under the jurisdiction of the two cities of Ningyuan and Qiantunwei, and the official should die here, and I will definitely not go anywhere." Gaudi was furious.It is said that he sent someone to carefully check the official records, and found that Yuan Chonghuan was indeed Ning Qiandao Yin concurrently. Generally speaking, in such a situation, if there is no emperor to speak, there is really nothing to do with him.However, Gao Di at this time should not be treated in a normal way. He holds the Shangfang sword and is the highest representative of the emperor's Liaodong military.In theory, he has the power to kill civilian officials below the governor and military officers below the general.At this time, Yuan Chonghuan's three official positions were Shandong's procuratorate, Ningqian Daoyin, and Shanhaiguan's foreign supervising army. The civilian position was not enough to be a governor, and the military position was not up to the rank of commander-in-chief.His rank as a Taoist happened to be within the range that Gao Di could invite Shang Fang to kill him with his sword.If it weren't for an unexpected reason, Yuan Chonghuan's famous name would probably never be seen again in Chinese history. It is said that when Gao Di was about to move out Shang Fangjian to kill Yuan Chonghuan, he accidentally heard a gossip that Yuan Chonghuan escaped the disaster. This gossip came from Beijing, from the emperor's side. At this time, the emperor of our empire has already fully shifted the focus of his work, from governing the country to carpentry.He loves this career very much, and while shirtless and sweating profusely, he discovers the true location of his talents and interests, and is fascinated by it.But one day, during his spare time at work, someone talked to the emperor about Ningyuan.So, our talented carpenter emperor suddenly uttered a shocking insight when he was in a daze about everything.He believes that Ningyuan is the last barrier of Shanhaiguan, and the defense should indeed be strengthened.This is one of the few plain words spoken by Zhu Youxiao, Emperor Qi of Ming Dynasty, during his seven-year career as an emperor, and it was recorded in the annals of history, and made Liaodong Jing, who held a lot of power in his hand, angrily withdraw it. The Shangfang sword that was about to be out of its sheath. In this way, all the government and civilian troops outside Shanhaiguan were withdrawn into Shanhaiguan, leaving behind a Ningyuan City, "a place two hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan".In this regard, Nurhachi almost gave up four hundred miles of combat space in one go. Gao Di didn't know that his retracted hand made a piece of history, Yuan Chonghuan's fame, and Nurhachi's life, which came to an abrupt end under the small city of Ningyuan. Gaudí may also not have thought that his troubles had just begun.The reason is that something happened that no one except Sun Chengzong may have thought of. After the troops withdrew into Shanhaiguan, the result of counting the number of people was completely beyond Gao Di's expectations - the entire army that had withdrawn into the pass had exceeded 100,000 people. , the total number of which has exceeded 120,000.That is to say, not only did Sun Chengzong and his subordinates not pretend to be paid by the army, they may still lose money in it.Now Gaodi is in big trouble.Because, not only did he firmly believe in the court that Sun Chengzong was greedy for military pay, what's worse, in order to strengthen his own power of speech, he also vowed to only declare the share of 50,000 people to the court for the new military pay.Now, he regretted Meng Lang deeply, and was so annoyed that he wanted to slap his own mouth. In the end, this guy came up with the worst idea of ​​all bad ideas. When paying soldiers, they will be paid according to the standard of half discount and another half discount. That is to say, each soldier can only receive a quarter of the military salary. , As a result, it aroused widespread resentment among the officers and soldiers, and many people fled the army to find their own way out.Therefore, Gaudi used this to punish the chiefs of these deserters, saying that they had falsely received food, embezzled and cheated.So this real bastard had done almost as much as a scoundrel can do when he's an officer in the army, and the rancor and loathing it aroused can be imagined.It is said that many people in the army at that time uttered cruel words, saying that they were willing to exchange one life for another, and die together with their supreme commander, which means "die with you". In this way, our Liaodong Economic Strategy was frightened again.According to historical records: "Gao Di was so afraid that he began to stop his traces a little."That is to say, those guys who wanted to play with his life frightened him, so Gao Di restrained himself, and also began to change his attitude towards Yuan Chonghuan. In the past, Gaodi might have wanted to watch Yuan Chonghuan make a fool of himself, to see how he "lyed alone in the lonely city" in front of Nurhachi's Eight Banners cavalry.Nowadays, those who apply to be transferred to Ningyuan are not only approved, but also rewarded.Later, seeing Yuan Chonghuan's fame and popularity because of "Lonely lying in the lonely city", this Gao Di did not know what motive, and suddenly sent a report to the court, praising Yuan Chonghuan for being brave and resourceful, and he should Promote again.There is a saying that Gaodi wanted to be promoted secretly, and through promotion, Yuan Chonghuan's real power would be stripped away, and then he would be taken out of Ningyuan.There is also a saying that Gao Di was very jealous of Yuan Chonghuan's lofty prestige, and he wanted to try it himself, so he resorted to this trick. Unexpectedly, the imperial court not only readily agreed to promote Yuan Chonghuan, appointed him as an inspector, but also let him concurrently serve as Ning Qiandao Yin, so that all the officials outside the pass would be Zuoru generals, deputy generals, generals, and guards. Yuan Chonghuan's subordinates.Yuan Chonghuan seemed to form his own army outside Shanhaiguan, and Gaodi couldn't tell what he was suffering, and he was helpless against him. At this time, Yuan Chonghuan summoned all the soldiers of the army, stabbed blood in public, wrote a blood book, vowed to live and die with Ningyuan, and solemnly knelt down to the soldiers, pleading for the country and the people.The soldiers burst into tears and vowed to die.据说，当时全城官民尽皆遥遥下拜并挥泪宣誓，愿与袁崇焕共生死，场面至为感人。 随后，袁崇焕分兵几路：一路动员城外百姓迁居城内，以便坚壁清野；一路严密盘查奸细内应，准备将计就计；一路筹备守卒食粮；一路准备战守器具。然后，传令宁远以西的前屯卫守将和山海关守将：“凡有逃到这里的宁远将士，一律斩首示众。” 就此，宁远城中已是众志成城。 努尔哈赤则全然没有把宁远城和袁崇焕放在心上。因为，在以往的岁月中，他已经得到了太多蔑视大明帝国的理由。如今，似乎没有什么东西可以让他对宁远城与袁崇焕格外高看一眼。 论城池高大坚固，宁远城远远不如开原、铁岭、沈阳、辽阳中的任何一座，与那些辽东名城比起来，宁远城是什么？一个在此之前甚至很少有人知道的弹丸之地。 论起官爵高低，袁崇焕虽然当上了副省级的按察使，若和辽东经略比起来，可还差着好几级呢。这些年，直接间接死在努尔哈赤手里的大明辽东经略已经不止一个。 论起实战经验，据说这个袁崇焕从来没有亲临战阵打过仗，更不要说身经百战了。在横行天下的努尔哈赤眼中，“何物袁崇焕？”——袁崇焕是什么东西？充其量是个纸上谈兵的书生罢了。 此外，论兵力、论军备物资、论财力等等，袁崇焕和努尔哈赤以前的对手根本就不在一个量级上。 因此，开战之前，努尔哈赤志在必得，几乎是出动了倾巢之兵。据说，他此次出兵的目的，是要直下山海关，然后与大明帝国以山海关长城为界，正式划定疆域。 大明天启六年（公元1626年）正月十四日，高第尽撤关外诸城没几日，努尔哈赤便带重兵席卷上述各地，并于二十三日直奔宁远城下。 此刻，努尔哈赤最忧虑的不是拿不下宁远，而是担心开战后袁崇焕会率军跑掉，增加了山海关的防守力量。于是，当他率领十三余万大军来到前敌时，所做的布置不是攻坚，而是跨过宁远城五里扎下营寨，将宁远通往山海关的大道拦腰截断。意思很明白：防止袁崇焕跑掉。显然，努尔哈赤对自己和自己指挥的军队充满信心。 应该说，努尔哈赤有理由这样做。 后金军队已经快四年没有教训大明帝国了。在那个庞大的国家里，帝国的官员和将士常常具有卓越的学识与才能，可是，由于身处一种愚不可及的制度之下，在这些人身上，便时常只能看到过多的傲慢、自私、贪婪与怯懦。那些试图表现杰出才华与品行的人，如熊廷弼与孙承宗，很快就会在他们自己人的争斗中被淘汰出局。努尔哈赤的部下们则完全不是这样。只要具有足够的勇敢和才能，他们就一定会得到应有的回报——财富、女人、权力与荣誉。 史书记载说，女真人“出兵之日，无不欢呼雀跃，士兵们的妻子儿女也都欢天喜地，祝愿她们的父兄丈夫们能够多立战功，多得财物。如果兵士家中有四五个奴仆，便都要争抢着希望和主人同赴前敌，全都是为了可以抢掠财物的缘故”。 这部史书的书名叫《建州闻见录》，作者是朝鲜人李民寏，曾经当过女真人的俘虏。 他继续写道：努尔哈赤的部下聚会时，面部或脖子上带伤疤的很多。因为，敢于冲锋者有功，退缩者为罪，而脸面或脖子上的负伤者，是兵士最高的战功，可以受上赏。这种军功通常所受的奖励，包括女人、奴婢、牛马、财物等，有罪者则或者杀头，或者没收他们的妻妾、奴婢、家财，或者受到肉体刑罚。 另外一位朝鲜派到后金国的使节这样记录自己目击到的情形： 战斗行将开始时，每支后金部队都会派有一位押队——大约相当于后来的督战队——该人携带着前端涂有红色颜料的箭矢，遇有违犯统一指挥、战场纪律或临阵退缩者，便以该箭射之。战斗结束后，一一查验，凡身上带有朱痕者，不问轻重一律斩首。所有战利品，全部分给所有部队，立战功多的人可以分到加倍的一份财物。（《光海君日记》第一六九卷，十三年九月戊申） 有人曾经注意到了一个刺眼的对比，在兴高采烈分享胜利成果的同时，也有人抱着战利品挥泪如雨，乃至号啕大哭。原因是，他们父子兄弟常常在一个牛录中并肩作战，此时领到的财物中，可能便有他们战死的父子兄弟那一份。 史书中，谈到后金国作战失利、伤亡惨重时，常常会记载他们大哭而去。这种记载不是幸灾乐祸，也不是故意矫情，很有可能是实际情况。这种由血亲、宗族纽带连接起来的军队，具有一种血腥的宿命，每当遇到这种情形，便会遭遇双重的打击，亲人战死在战场，而自己和家人又得不到战利品的慰藉。 这种情形，可能是努尔哈赤特别喜欢采用混进敌人城堡、里应外合、奇袭、偷袭、夜袭、长途奔袭等战术，较少采用攻坚战的原因之一。 事实上，从熊廷弼和孙承宗接任辽东经略，锐意进取，渐次恢复辽西走廊以来，努尔哈赤便两次按兵不动，在先后长达四年多的时间里，始终相持相望，从不相逼相侵，可能也有这样的考虑在其中。 由于上述缘故，后金军人在战斗中有进而无退。 有进无退的军队，当然应该所向无敌。 然而这一次，身经百战的老将努尔哈赤真的错了，他忘了兵家最简单的一条真理：骄兵必败。轻敌和不能知彼知己互为因果，形成双重的兵家大忌，导致他攻无不克、战无不胜的一世盛名，折在了小小的宁远城下。 造成这种局面的原因之一是，努尔哈赤的特别部队此次没有能够发挥作用。非但没有发挥作用，他们这一次发挥的根本就是反作用。 在以往的战争岁月里，努尔哈赤最为得心应手的战法是，每次开战之前，先将一批被俘的敌方军民放回城里去，里面掺杂着他的特工，他们的任务是和先期潜伏的人员会合，开战后，或策反，或里应外合，一举拿下城池。 努尔哈赤没有想到，这一次，他的先期潜伏人员和后来混在难民中进城的特工已经被袁崇焕全数拿下。袁崇焕利用他们提供的信息传递方式，给努尔哈赤发出了错误信息，使努尔哈赤误以为内应已经成功，大功即将告成，遂指挥部队轻身接近宁远内城，整个进入了袁崇焕预先设计好的、遍布地雷和红衣大炮有效覆盖范围内的诱敌之地，结果遭到地下埋置的地雷和城头设置的大炮的猛烈轰炸，后金汗国部队伤亡惨重。 造成这种局面的第二个原因是，此时的努尔哈赤可能不是特别了解红衣大炮的威力，也完全不知道开战之前，袁崇焕就曾经对这些红衣大炮“视之如生命者也”。 事实上，宁远保卫战，很有可能是中国历史上大规模使用西方进口的红衣大炮所进行的第一场后冷兵器时代的大规模攻防战。这种大炮，射程约两公里，是当时世界上最先进的重型武器。战争史家形容说：这种大炮，“一炮发出，即开出一条血渠”，其威力远远超出了冷兵器时代英雄努尔哈赤的想象。 有战争史学者描述当时的情景：在猛烈的爆炸声中，土石飞扬，火光冲天，无数努尔哈赤的战士与战马被炸上了天空。后金军大挫而退。 努尔哈赤率部从宁远城下撤退时，状极仓促：皇太极率其所部为中军，护送努尔哈赤所乘之辇车先退，大贝勒代善、二贝勒阿敏和三贝勒莽古尔泰各率其所部，分别为左、右、后部护军，就连派往觉华岛的部队，都来不及通知，便连夜朝沈阳方向撤退。派往觉华岛的蒙古吴纳格部和满洲八旗一部，听说主力部队已经撤退，在已有斩获的情况下，来不及扩大战果便也急速北去。这种情形显示，必是后金汗国军队内部发生了不同寻常的变故，方才会在出动倾巢之兵、对山海关志在必得的时刻，如此草草收兵。以此推断，努尔哈赤受伤不轻的说法应该不是无中生有。 退兵途中，袁崇焕派遣使者携带礼物和信札前去为努尔哈赤送行。信中说：“老将军纵横天下已久，如今败在一个后生小子这儿，大约是气数使然吧。” 努尔哈赤表现得也很有风度。他回赠给了袁崇焕一份礼物和一匹名马，相约再战。 名将风采令人悠然神往。 回到沈阳后，身经百战、从未如此惨败过的努尔哈赤，十分愤懑。 史书记载说，已经六十八岁的老汗王忧思重重，他时常问自己：“难道我的心已经倦怠，不再留意治国之道了吗？难道国家安危百姓疾苦，我已经不能明察了吗？难道正直有功劳之人没有受到正当对待吗？我的孩子中间真有人能够效仿我，一心一意为了国家吗？大臣们真的能够勤奋稳健地对待政事吗？” 这是许多手握重权的人行将就木时都会发出的怀疑。没有人能够回答这些问题。事实上，这种问题的提出本身已经表明：提问者所从事的事业一定是个问题多多的事业。 此役中，努尔哈赤本人身受炮伤的可能性很大。一般说来，一方最高统帅受伤，对交战双方的士气影响巨大。届时，一个措置不当，弹指间就可能引发兵败如山倒的后果。假如不是身受重伤，努尔哈赤应该不会在倾兵而来的情况下，两天攻城不下便仓促退兵。很有可能因为他矫情镇物方面的超人功夫和保密工作的出色，方才没有造成不可收拾的局面。就凭这一点，努尔哈赤也称得上是一位了不起的军人了。 努尔哈赤，这位冷兵器时代的英雄，在这个时刻走进历史深处，应该算是恰到好处。