Chapter 9 Chapter Eight: Yuan Chonghuan Bombards Huang Taiji

In all fairness, Nurhachi was very lucky, because when he challenged the Ming Empire, neither he nor his enemies knew that the difference in weapons and equipment between the two sides was not just a star, but actually a whole era.Nurhachi and his comrades used all the swords, spears, bows and arrows handed down from ancient times, while the Ming Empire already possessed the most advanced guns and cannons in the modern sense in the world at that time.Fortunately for Nurhachi, it was the army of the Ming Empire who mastered these guns.Otherwise, if they encountered a government and army that knew how to use these firearms correctly, for example, just like the Spaniards did with Native Americans, the Nurhachis might have died more than a hundred times.

Judging from the available data, the earliest time when Western guns were introduced to my country was probably in the early days of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, and it was around 1510 AD in AD.At that time, people called it the Frang machine gun, because this kind of firearm was introduced by the Portuguese, and the Chinese called the Portuguese "Flang machine" at that time.Soon, the Dutch brought Hongyi cannons. At that time, a generation of coastal folks in Guangdong and Fujian called the Dutch "Hongmaofan", which was written in classical Chinese as "Hongyi". The cannons they used were naturally called "Hongyi". cannon".Later, China imported a batch of this kind of cannon made by Westerners through the Portuguese in Macao, and was conferred by the emperor as "An Guo Quanjun Ping Liao Jinglu General", wearing red and green to announce it to the people, but was affectionately misunderstood by the northern folks. It is called "Red Cannon".These large and small guns and the bird guns brought by the Japanese pirates generally belong to the genus of Western firearms.

By 1618, when Nurhachi launched the Battle of Fushun and officially launched a war against the Ming Empire, Western guns had been introduced to China for more than a hundred years.Reviewing the history of China for a century, before Yuan Chonghuan, in the vast China, only three or four people seemed to have taken this weapon that would change the whole world very seriously.These people are Qi Jiguang, Xu Guangqi and his student Sun Yuanhua. "Records of Military Training" is Qi Jiguang's famous military work, in which he studies the most important guns and firearms at that time in relative detail.These guns and firearms brought endless humiliation and troubles to the Chinese in later generations.Through Qi Jiguang's research, we can generally get a glimpse of the endless troubles that this ever-victorious general had in the face of these advanced weapons.

For example, due to the special good sense of self of the imperial monarchs and subjects and the indescribable management system, the manufacturing process of these advanced weapons is often in a state of doing whatever they want.There is no uniform standard for the finished products in terms of material use, length of the gun body, caliber size, thickness of the barrel, whether the inner wall is smooth or not, etc., and basically they all do their own thing: ——When selecting materials, there is no uniform quality requirement, and whether the materials from various provinces are good or bad is determined by the acceptance officials.If the official thinks it is good, the people who have transported things from the local area will be able to do business smoothly; To political achievements, official career.Therefore, each other tacitly agreed that the good or bad of things is secondary, as long as the official can be dealt with and the things can be put into the warehouse smoothly, everyone will be good things, and everything will be fine;

——The production process is generally controlled by each craftsman, and it is enough to look at it by yourself; the decisive factor is probably determined by the situation of the craftsman when he is working, such as a good mood or a bad mood, when he is working, he just wants to do something seriously or Just not in the mood to do things, etc., will directly affect the above-mentioned technical quality and other indicators; ——The inspection and warehousing of finished products is the responsibility of a special eunuch organization, and its operating principle is roughly the same as the selection of materials mentioned above.It's just that the people who need to be dealt with here have changed from government officials to eunuchs and eunuchs.

The haphazard production makes the effectiveness of this killing weapon in actual combat doubtful.The most notable consequence of this is that soldiers wielding the weapon have no idea when the thing is going to explode in their hands. There are records that, in order to deal with Nurhachi, when Emperor Tianqi was in power, he solemnly urged the relevant departments to manufacture a batch of guns in imitation of Western styles.After the production is successful, a treasure offering ceremony will be held to announce the good news to the emperor, and its power will be demonstrated in front of the emperor.As a result, the gun that had been carefully selected to ensure the success of a test shot exploded in the hands of the shooting soldier under the enthusiastic gaze of Emperor Tianqi.The soldier's hand holding the gun in front of him was immediately blown into the sky, and his flesh was bloody for a moment.

Xu Guangqi was a famous official in the late Ming Empire, and one of the few great scientists in the history of our country. The famous Western missionary Tang Ruowang was recommended to Emperor Chongzhen by him, and thus entered Chinese history.When Emperor Tianqi was in power, Xu Guangqi was an official minister of the Ministry of Rites. After Emperor Chongzhen succeeded to the throne, he became a minister of the Ministry of Rites and a scholar of Dongge University.Xu Guangqi played a major role in the introduction of Western science and technology. At the same time, he strongly advocated the introduction of Western guns and vigorously absorbed and developed them.To this end, he and his student Sun Yuanhua worked hard to promote the introduction of the latest technology.He once talked sadly: due to being often deceived by the craftsmen, the guns supervised by the relevant departments often exploded. .

At the same time, there are even more sad records: In the strife in the officialdom of the empire, some people turned the production and testing of these firearms into a sharp weapon in political struggle. From time to time, the barrel or the barrel of the gun will explode, thereby effectively transforming the intrigue in the officialdom into a war full of blood and smoke, although the enemy is unknown, but extremely vicious. With the persistent efforts of Xu Guangqi and his student Sun Yuanhua, the empire finally officially introduced the first batch of guns made by Westerners through the Portuguese in Macau. As a result, when the foreign military personnel tried to shoot, the barrel exploded, and the guns exploded on the spot. The foreign military instructors and several assistants hired by the empire were blown up.There was a heated debate among the decision-makers of the empire over whether to introduce these weapons and technologies.Fortunately, this kind of debate did not reach a stupid conclusion, so two batches of this cannon were introduced successively.After the first batch of cannons were imported together and the remaining cannons were shot and exploded, the emperor ordered them to be "An Guo Quanjun Ping Liao Jinglu General", and then they were all transported to Ningyuan by Sun Yuanhua. In the hands of Yuan Chonghuan, the famous In the defense of Ningyuan, it played normally and had great power. ("Two Dynasties Congxinlu" volume 29, March of the sixth year of Tianqi; "Mingxi Zong Shilu" volume 69, Jiazi of the sixth year of Tianqi) Later, some people always believed that the door exploded during the test. The cannon is basically caused by the manipulation of political enemies who hate Catholicism and Xu Guangqi.

In this way, an advanced weapon and technology that has been introduced for more than a hundred years has been operated in this way under the imperial system.In this tragic process, we can also fully understand that under a system that is unreasonable at first, unreasonable later, and finally unreasonable, this is how it becomes a state to turn a happy event into a funeral, and How to turn a funeral into a happy event has naturally become a necessary skill and talent for imperial officials. The above situation was already a common phenomenon in Qi Jiguang's time. By Yuan Chonghuan's time, decades had passed, and nothing seemed to have changed.It is recorded in more than one historical source, including Qi Jiguang's writings, that because no one knows whether and when the guns will explode, the soldiers who use them have to stay as far away from the stuff as possible .For example, it was supposed to hold it in front of the chest with both hands, aim and release it, but in order to reduce the danger, I had to use one hand to grab the part as far as possible from the barrel of the gun, and then twisted my body and pointed the gun far away. Reach out and shoot.As for whether it hits the sky or falls to the ground, it can no longer be taken into account.

These early muskets were only single-shot, and refilling ammunition in battle was a hassle.Therefore, the typical Western combat method is: the gunners line up in a square formation, the first row shoots in a prone position, the second row takes a kneeling position, and the third row stands in a standing position. Load ammunition, and shoot in turn in this way, forming intensive lethal firepower.The Spanish colonists who were almost the same as this era used this method of warfare to enter North and South America.It may be because the empire's civil and military self-esteem is good, it seems that these weapons have never been introduced systematically and systematically, and when these weapons are introduced sporadically, they have not been introduced at the same time as supporting military theories.As a result, these weapons mixed with the Zhuge Bagua Formation, naturally became a mess.As a result, it was originally the best weapon against cavalry, but now it is not as good as a fire stick.Because after a row of guns was fired, when everyone was filling the ammunition messily, the whirlwind cavalry had already swung their sabers over the heads of the gunners.At that time, these guns were really not as easy as burning fire sticks.

The greatness of Qi Jiguang lies in the fact that after painstaking research, he actually designed a tactic that is almost the same as Western tactics, and when combined with a chariot that can be used as a barrier, his power is greatly increased, and he has become the natural enemy and nemesis of the Mongolian cavalry.In fact, Qi Jiguang's research, training and actual combat experience have become the most advanced military and tactical thinking in my country's post-cold weapon era and modern times.In addition to Alda's tribute, this may be an important reason why Qi Jiguang has been in Jimen for 16 years, and the Mongolian cavalry never invaded and transferred to Liaodong.It can be seen from this that if it is not due to institutional factors, the Chinese really do not need to be ashamed of their intelligence in equipment manufacturing and warfare in front of Westerners.In fact, what Chinese people need to review and be ashamed of most is precisely the system that will come out to cause trouble at a critical moment.In all fairness, it is difficult for the Chinese to be proud of their wisdom in this respect. Therefore, Qi Jiguang has never been able to solve the quality problem of guns.In fact, this is already a problem at the level of the imperial system, which is far beyond what Qi Jiguang or Zhang Juzheng can solve. What is even more painful and can only sigh is: In the eleventh year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1583 A.D.), Nurhachi raised troops with the so-called thirteen armors. At the same time, because of the liquidation of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang, Zhang Juzheng's close comrade-in-arms and subordinate, was transferred from Jimen, treated coldly, and marginalized to Guangdong; In the fifteenth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1587), Nurhachi became king in Feiala, a remote town at the foot of Changbai Mountain. At the same time, Qi Jiguang died in depression in Lingnan in obscurity. In the next forty years, when Nurhachi first held a bow and sword, and then led the Eight Banners Iron Cavalry to run across the world, these tactical ideas that Qi Jiguang proved to be the most effective against cavalry in Jimen military training were abandoned and forgotten. .The reason is that the emperor didn’t like Zhang Juzheng and Qi Jiguang, and the two major traditions in the political culture at this time were abusing words because of people and abusing people because of words. Apart from the dignity and power of the royal family, this political and cultural system didn’t think there was anything else that was worthwhile. Cherished. In this way, within a few days after Qi Jiguang's death, in the huge Ming Empire, very few people soon knew that after organizing barriers, artillery and blunderbuss guns, after training, they could effectively knock down large cavalry regiments of. Probably because of this reason, since the Battle of Sarhu, the Ming army carried and used guns-firearms in every battle, but it did not seem to cause any trouble to Nurhachi.And Nurhaci had seized a large number of artillery and guns during the Sarhu War, and it seemed that he did not leave any special impression on him.Or, maybe he was still very strange and didn't understand what it meant for the Ming army to carry these cumbersome guys all the way.As a result, both parties naturally did not realize that there was much difference between each other.There is definite evidence that the soldiers of the Ming army obviously did not think that in terms of weapons and equipment, they were an entire era ahead of their opponents who were still in the cold weapon era. This situation continued until Yuan Chonghuan appeared. We don't know whether Yuan Chonghuan directly benefited from the great scientist Xu Guangqi, but he must have been greatly influenced by Xu Guangqi's student Sun Yuanhua. Back then, when Yuan Chonghuan insisted that the defense of the empire should be in Ningyuan instead of Shanhaiguan, he received the full support of Sun Yuanhua. Later, when Sun Chengzong was running Liaodong, Sun Yuanhua and Yuan Chonghuan were both Sun Chengzong's subordinates, and they were almost cadres of the same level.Sun Yuanhua was in charge of the construction of various military fortresses including Ningyuan Fort, and he was closely related to the organization and training of Ningyuan gunmen and gunners.Later, the fate of these two people was very similar: Yuan Chonghuan, governor of Liaodong, died tragically at the hands of Emperor Chongzhen. Two years later, Sun Yuanhua, governor of Denglai, was also killed by Emperor Chongzhen without any special reason.Following Sun Yuanhua's unjust death, his teacher Xu Guangqi also passed away sadly the following year. The two teachers and students' ideal of building a new army of modernization also died with the wind.Otherwise, the history of our country's preparation and training of the new modern army may be pushed forward by at least 270 to 80 years when Yuan Shikai trained at the small station. But no matter what, when they lived in the world, they did give full play to the power of Western guns in the battle of defending Ningyuan, causing Nurhachi to suffer a lot. Yuan Chonghuan's summary of victory is generally only six words: rely on strong cities and use cannons.These six words show that Yuan Chonghuan has a tacit understanding with Qi Jiguang's military thought. As long as he takes one step forward, he will fully grasp the essence of Qi Jiguang's thought.At that time, the situation where the two armies met in the field and the Eight Banners cavalry swept the Ming army like the autumn wind sweeps the fallen leaves will never return.The situation may become the same as it was with the Mongolian cavalry in Qi Jiguang's lifetime: with the protection of the barrier, the Ming army turned the Eight Banners cavalry into moving targets for cannons and gun guns. Unfortunately, fate did not leave enough space and time for Yuan Chonghuan. In this year, while the Later Jin Khanate was full of sorrows and joys, its mortal enemy, the Ming Empire, also had many shocking, joyful and worrying stories, which made history unforgettable. While the cannons at the head of Ningyuan city made the Houjin Khanate miserable, it also brought joy to the Ming Empire that had not been seen in many years.Since the war against Jin started eight years ago, this is the first time that the Ming Empire won victory on the battlefield instead of in the emperor's edict or document report.Originally, when Nurhachi poured all his troops into Ningyuan City, almost no one inside and outside the empire, except Yuan Chonghuan and a group of people in Ningyuan City, believed that Ningyuan City could be defended.For this reason, the Minister of the Ministry of War convened an emergency military meeting before the imperial court to discuss the situation of Ningyuan's battle and defense.Gaodi and the general soldiers of the Liaodong Economic Bureau watched from a distance above Shanhaiguan, not daring to step out of the closed door to rush to help.Just when the whole country was panicked and didn't know what to do, a good news came from the front line of Ningyuan, and the whole country was overjoyed for a while. Instantly became the mainstay of the national attention.Gao Di and the chief soldier who supported the soldiers were dismissed and investigated. At this point, things seem to be going well, but they aren't so good, or even bad.The reason is that at this time Wei Zhongxian has completely controlled the power center of the empire.In the previous year, Wei Zhongxian's assistants had killed several particularly famous Donglin ministers such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou, leading to a famous political murder known as the "Six Gentlemen Case" in history.Now, before the smoke of Yuan Chonghuan's fierce battle at the head of Ningyuan City has not completely cleared, the equally famous "Seven Gentlemen Case" has kicked off and sparked large-scale civil uprisings in Suzhou and Changzhou. It is reported that Wei Zhongxian even once Prepare to kill in the above two places. After entering March, rewards began to be given to those who made contributions to the defense of Ningyuan: Yuan Chonghuan was promoted to a higher level, and governors of Liaodong and Shanhai were appointed.It is said that the victory of this battle was due to Wei Zhongxian's well-planned and well-planned arrangements, and because he was a eunuch, there was no big official position or title to reward in the imperial system, so one of his nephews was named Suning Bo.From then on, rewards were awarded all the way, until August and September when Nurhachi died and Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, Wei Zhongxian's nephew had been promoted from earl to marquis, and then to Duke of Ningguo, with a total of nine ranks; Wei Zhongxian himself was promoted to Duke of Shang . In August of that year, at the same time that Nurhachi died, the Zhejiang governor of the Ming Empire requested the central government to allow the local people to contribute money and efforts to build a shrine for Wei Zhongxian in Hangzhou, since Wei Zhongxian could not repay the kindness he had shown to the people of Zhejiang.It means that when this castrated thing is still alive, build a living memorial hall for him to express gratitude and pray for his kindness.This request was immediately approved, and the emperor personally named the Wei Zhongxian Memorial Hall: Pude Temple. The ancestral hall is located on the bank of West Lake, between Guandi Temple and Yuefei Temple.It is said that this is a magnificent memorial hall.Living next to such a eunuch who has been eunuched, and let him be in the middle and upper position, I don't know how the heroes Guan Gong and Yue Wumu will feel in the sky. Since then, it has become common practice to build ancestral halls and archways for Wei Zhongxian, and the spring breeze blows across the north and south of the river, inside and outside the Great Wall, and there are scenes of raging fire everywhere. People are scrambling to express their respect and love to Wei Zhongxian.Even the staunch Yuan Chonghuan, under the persuasion of everyone, squeezed out the military expenditures that were not abundant, and built a memorial hall for the castrated eunuch who was still alive in the heroic Ningyuan City and Jinzhou City. Finally, the imperial intellectuals came forward.They earnestly believe that Wei Zhongxian's merits and virtues are similar to those of Confucius, even if they are slightly lower than Confucius, they must be slightly higher than Mencius.Therefore, an ancestral hall for Wei Zhongxian should be built on the west side of Guozijian in Beijing, the capital of the empire, and sacrifices should be made in spring and autumn in accordance with the sacrificial ceremonies of Dacheng's most holy master.Zhu Youxiao, Emperor Tianqi of the Empire, immediately approved this solemn request.And before and after that, starting from the emperor, no one used the three characters Wei Zhongxian to call people with this name anymore.At this time, people called him: "Factory Minister", "Yuanchen", "Shanggong", "Dianye", "Grandfather", "Old Grandfather", "Thousand Years", "Nine Thousand Years", "Nine Thousand Years", "Nine Thousand Years", Nine hundred years old" and so on. From the above situation, people can generally know what kind of political freaks the imperial system can breed, how shameless the imperial officials and intellectuals can be, and generally should know that when the elites of this country generally present such a In the face of the vigorous post-Jin country, should this country have a better destiny? In May of that year, a shocking incident occurred in the capital of the Ming Empire.This event was not a big one in history, but it was absolutely significant at the time—the explosion of the Wang Gong factory. The explosion occurred at Sitime on the sixth day of May in the sixth year of Mingqi (1626 AD), between 9:00 am and 11:00 noon.It's midsummer in Beijing City, and the weather should be a little hot.Suddenly, a large cloud of gray and black air surged from the northeast to the southwest corner of the capital, and there was a loud bang.Afterwards, the entire city of Beijing was dark, and the day was like night.More than 10,000 houses collapsed in the area around Wang Gongchang, and more than 3,000 men and women died. The rags and rags from the explosion floated all the way to the top of the West Mountain.That night, earthquakes also occurred in Beijing and nearby counties. It was an explosion that has so far been unexplained.At that time, it was regarded as a celestial warning before the disaster came.For a time, the hearts of the people in the ruling and opposition parties, as well as inside and outside the capital, were fluctuating. Shortly thereafter, in August, a peasant uprising broke out in Shaanxi.It was a small riot, and no one took it seriously at the time.No one knows that it is less than two years before the huge waves that engulfed the empire; it is less than three years before Li Zicheng becomes a general; and it is less than four years before Zhang Xianzhong calls himself the "Eight Great Kings". time. However, people who are a little more sensitive should feel the ominous atmosphere that always filled the air before the subjugation of the country because the emperor was too enthusiastic about carpentry, the eunuchs had too much political power, and the scholar-bureaucrats lost their sense of shame too much.At this time, if there is anyone who can travel through the years without any sense of anxiety, there are probably only two possibilities: either the situation in front of him is too beautiful, or his nature is really dull. The world is in chaos right before our eyes. Even an idiot and mentally retarded should feel that something is wrong, and the problem is not small. At this time, the situation of Hou Jin inherited by Huang Taiji was equally bad.The increasingly severe racial discrimination policy that Nurhachi has been pursuing for many years is also showing increasingly serious consequences at this time: The lives and properties of the Han gentry in Liaodong were not protected. More and more Han people were reduced to slaves of Manchurian soldiers.In the past, it mainly depended on the grain obtained from farming by the Han people. Now, with the increasing number of "fleeing people", a large amount of land has been left uncultivated, and there has been an obvious shortage of grain, cotton cloth, etc.The traditional products of the Jurchen nomadic fishing and hunting, such as mink fur, ginseng, and the genus of Dongzhu, have also faced crises in two aspects: First, most young and middle-aged people have gone to the army to fight. The harvest of fishing and hunting is still abundant, so that people have gradually lost interest in the fishing and hunting career in the deep mountains and old forests; secondly, because of the war, there are no merchants from the Ming Dynasty to buy those precious native products. As for silver, cloth, and food, those things are precious, but they can neither be eaten nor clothed. At this time, the total number of troops of the Later Golden Khanate may have reached about 150,000, and the food and salaries needed to fill these 150,000 mouths are not a small amount.This army, like the armies of all nomadic, fishing and hunting tribal countries in history, must rely on continuous victories in order to obtain higher returns than nomadic fishing and hunting through war and plunder, in order to maintain its own high morale and maintain those who surrendered Loyalty of the Mongolian tribes.We must know that in any era and any place, the morale and loyalty of this nomadic fishing and hunting tribe lacking ideological support all require regular, quantitative and continuously increasing rewards in order to be able to last for a long time.This is the main reason why the Houjin Khanate was in the hands of two generations of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, father and son, and needed to wage wars continuously, and it was particularly difficult to bear the consequences of defeat.It is precisely for this reason that Ningyuan's defeat in the battle has become particularly unacceptable for Nurhachi. Now, it has become quite a difficult job to raise food and pay for these people to eat horses.The riots of the Han people in Liaodong, the constant harassment of the Mao Wenlong troops of the Ming army stationed in North Korea, and the large-scale natural disasters made the Houjin Khanate worse. Misfortunes never come singly.Some researchers in later generations even believe that the Houjin Khanate at this time is far more dangerous than the Ming Empire, and if it is not handled properly, it will fall apart. On September 7th, the sixth year of the Ming Dynasty and the eleventh year of the Destiny of the Houjin Khanate (1626 AD), the seventh day after Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne, a delegation sent by Yuan Chonghuan arrived in Shenyang. In the past, the Ming Empire regarded the Houjin Kingdom as a rebellion. Apart from conquests, they even forgot the common sense that knowing the enemy and yourself can win every battle, making any communication with the Houjin Kingdom difficult. Predicted dire consequences.The two ends of the first mouse are not just ridiculous.Now, Yuan Chonghuan actually sent a huge delegation of 34 people. It is said that they came to mourn the death of the old Khan and congratulate the new Khan on his succession. Of course Huang Taiji knew that Yuan Chonghuan did not come to offer incense, but to anger the old monk.So, tit for tat.Don't you want to come to collect my military and political intelligence and get my bottom line?Well, I am warm and generous with hospitality, good food, good drinks, and entertaining, so that each of them will have their mouths bare and their bellies round.It took more than a month to eat and play for more than a month. Let them participate in the triumphant ceremony of their own army, visit the grandeur of their military appearance, and reward the leader of the delegation with a camel, five horses, and twenty-eight horses. sheep.Before leaving, he sent someone to visit Yuan Chonghuan with generous gifts. As a result, both sides are already very clear that the situation is very different from the past, and neither side is so easy to mess with.Since then, the two sides have started peace talks.They both knew that the other was making fun of themselves, but they all played the game as if it was real. The reason is exactly the same for both of them: they both really need time. Huang Taiji needed to stabilize Yuan Chonghuan so that he could free up his hands to deal with North Korea who had been standing coldly behind him.There is a strong enemy in front, and he dare not relax for a moment; behind, he is always stared at the back of his head with ill intentions.This feeling was really bad, and Huang Taiji couldn't bear it anymore. Yuan Chonghuan needed to quickly turn the fortresses of Dalinghe, Xiaolinghe, Jinzhou, Xingshan, and Lianshan returned by the Mongols into castles and a deep and layered defense system outside the thin city of Ningyuan.As long as they are the horns of each other and form a network system that echoes each other, Yuan Chonghuan is really not afraid of this Huang Taiji. Although the two of them couldn't fully know what the other wanted to do, they each won the time they wanted and finished what they had to do. It was under such circumstances that Huang Taiji and Yuan Chonghuan hit it off and started peace negotiations full of intrigue. Since the two sides had their own ghosts, Huang Taiji was particularly enthusiastic when receiving Yuan Chonghuan's mission.According to historical records: When the Ming Mission expressed condolences, the Houjin Khanate "all the Baylors kowtowed their heads to express their condolences" and warmly entertained them.Similarly, when the Later Jin Khanate thanked the mission for coming to Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan also acted in a serious manner.According to historical records, the envoys of the Later Jin Khanate were extremely obedient in front of Yuan Chonghuan, just like when they received tribute and rewards in the past, they performed three steps and one kowtow.The whole situation can easily be mistaken for a genus who has been defeated and came to bow his head to admit his mistake.What Huang Taiji needed was time, and what Yuan Chonghuan needed was also time.Therefore, the envoy was sent away in the name of the unruly writing of the book.When the envoy visited for the second time, Yuan Chonghuan used language to call him unruly, and sent the envoy back again in the future.During this period, Huang Taiji had completed all the preparations for marching into North Korea, and began a large-scale offensive; while Yuan Chonghuan quickly dispatched troops to restore control of the four cities of Jinzhou, Dalinghe, Xiaolinghe, and Youtun, and stepped up construction. Repair the destroyed fortifications and facilities of the above four cities. Soon, the King of Korea and the Mao Wenlong Department of the Ming Army stationed in the Dynasty both called for help urgently, and the court ordered Yuan Chonghuan to send troops to rescue.Yuan Chonghuan sent a navy to assist Mao Wenlong, and sent Zhu Mei and other nine generals to lead an army of 9,000 troops to Sancha River, which is today's southwest border of Panshan County, Liaoning Province.Subsequently, North Korea surrendered, and the force withdrew to its original location.In this regard, the courtiers of the empire slammed Yuan Chonghuan for ignoring the truth that his lips were dead and his teeth were cold, and he sat by and watched North Korea and Mao Wenlong be attacked.Yuan Chonghuan wrote a letter of defense, clearly expressing his strategic plan to take advantage of the peace talks to rush to repair the four cities of Jinzhou, Dalinghe, Youtun, and Xiaolinghe.He said: The construction of these cities is necessary, and we can only complete this work when the Houjin Khanate attacked North Korea. In this way, even if they find out our intentions, as long as the three cities are built, the defense at that time will be complete. It is four hundred miles away from Shanhaiguan, so the golden soup of Shanhaiguan is solid. In all fairness, it is difficult for us to comment on the pros and cons of Yuan Chonghuan's move today, nearly four hundred years later.For example, it is said that Yuan Chonghuan lacked a strategic mind and a sense of the overall situation, which caused the Ming Empire to lose North Korea, an extremely important restraining force and the strongest ally, on the rear flank of the Later Jin Khanate.There is nothing wrong with that, and it may indeed be true.However, from another angle, if you look at the past from Yuan Chonghuan's perspective, your thinking may be different.At this time, there were about 60,000 troops outside Shanhaiguan that Yuan Chonghuan could directly command.Huang Taiji sent about 30,000 troops to attack North Korea, about 15,000 troops were successively reinforced, and about 100,000 troops stayed around Shenyang.Even if Yuan Chonghuan wanted to fight a war to resist gold and aid Korea, it is really doubtful whether he has the strength.There are too many places where he needs to be careful - for example, how much support can the central government under the control of Wei Zhongxian give?Can he take over the 60,000 troops in less than a year against Huang Taiji's 100,000 cavalry?With Jiancheng defeated Nurhachi with cannons, if he stayed away from Jiancheng, would it be possible to fight against the Eight Banners cavalry in the field?etc.At this moment, the Ming Empire has lost its demeanor of calm dispatch and command from top to bottom. It won't be long before we will see that even if Yuan Chonghuan intends to kill thieves, he will be powerless. During March and April in the seventh year of the Ming Dynasty and the first year of Tiancong in the Houjin Khanate (AD 1627), after the triumphant return of the army from North Korea, at the grand celebration banquet held in Shenyang, Huang Taiji just got the information and knew that he was dealing with North Korea. During this period, Yuan Chonghuan's plans to build cities and forts, cultivate self-sufficiency, and select generals to train troops were carried out very effectively, and it was obvious that he had no small ambitions.In fact, everything Yuan Chonghuan has done has already posed a great threat to Hou Jin.Therefore, Huang Taiji quickly decided that, taking advantage of the Ming army's unstable foothold in the Lingjin area, he immediately prepared to send troops to sweep up the newly repaired Da Linghe Youtun and Jinzhou by the Ming army to eliminate this threat.Then he went to Ningyuan to avenge old Nurhachi. In this way, from September last year to the present, Yuan Chonghuan has used the peace talks to win a total of about half a year for himself.And in this hard-won six months, the imperial court situation has changed again—— Today's Wei Zhongxian has progressed from a thousand years old to nine thousand years old, and then to nine thousand nine hundred years old; among the imperial provincial officials, he already has more than one godson; He bowed three times and kowtowed five times in front of him, which was second only to the grand ceremony when meeting the emperor. At this time, Yuan Chonghuan may feel too good about himself. After all, a few months ago, he was regarded as the pillar of the northeastern part of the empire, and he was admired by the imperial court and the people of the whole country.He didn't know that today, a few months later, under the leadership of the imperial court, the people of the whole country no longer admire him, but admire Wei Zhongxian even more enthusiastically; at the same time, he is probably too busy to care about getting to know Wei Zhongxian The rush to repair the living temple has expanded from provincial cities to prefecture-level and county-level towns, and he didn't carefully figure out the meaning of it.In the end, the military expenditure in his hands may indeed be limited, so that he dared not transfer the funds from the city defense facilities to the eunuch's memorial hall under Huang Taiji's nose.As a result, Wei Zhongxian and the officials in the court began to impatiently pretend to him one after another.In their view, what is the country under heaven?Except for the power in their own hands, no other birds are.What kind of pillars of the country, what kind of national scholars who are talented and take the world as their own responsibility, as long as they don't obey them, they are all nonsense. Before everything could happen, Huang Taiji's soldiers and horses approached Yuan Chonghuan again.No one could have imagined that the Battle of Ning Jin would become the most useless military operation conducted by Huang Taiji in his military career. On May 6th in the seventh year of Mingqi and the first year of Tiancong in the Houjin Khanate (AD 1627), Huang Taiji took the victorious troops in the Korean War and set off in Shenyang to march across the Liaohe River to the west of Liaoxi. On May 11, Huang Taiji sent his troops to complete the encirclement of Jinzhou.In order to encircle and fight for aid, Huang Taiji sent a force to cross Jinzhou and approach Ningyuan westward.Then, as in the previous Nurhachi battles, Huang Taiji drove a large number of captured civilians and officers and soldiers to the foot of Jinzhou City, mixed with troops who were about to sneak into the city to join forces inside and outside, totaling about 2,000 people.Unexpectedly, the soldiers guarding the city of Jinzhou refused to open the city gate, which made Huang Taiji's plan come to nothing.Huang Taiji had no choice but to send someone to lure Zhao Liaojiao, the defender of the city, to surrender, but to no avail.Therefore, they launched a fierce attack on Jinzhou from the west and north. According to historical records, under the artillery fire of the Ming army, the soldiers of the Eight Banners suffered many casualties, but they fought desperately without retreating, and once almost broke through the northwest corner of the city.The battle started at Chen time, which is seven or eight o'clock in the morning, and continued until Xu time, which was seven or eight o'clock in the evening.After the battle, there were many dead Jin soldiers piled up under the city of Jinzhou, and the losses were quite serious.That night, these corpses were dragged by their comrades to the brick kiln where the Ming army built the city and incinerated.Huang Taiji withdrew his troops five miles back to set up camp, and sent people back to Shenyang overnight to call for reinforcements. 第二天，八旗兵显然是被大炮炸怕了，远远地环城而行，却不敢靠近城池。皇太极连续三次派遣使者，试图劝说守城将领放弃抵抗。明军守将赵率教站在城头，回答说：“城可以攻，但不可以游说。”根本不让皇太极的使者进城。皇太极希望制造战机，引诱明军出城野战，明军不为所动，按照袁崇焕“凭坚城，用大炮”一策，坚守不出。搞得皇太极极度郁闷，又毫无办法。 就这样，连续半个月，皇太极在锦州城下无计可施。 五月二十七日，皇太极留下部分疑兵继续围攻锦州，自己率军转攻宁远。当时，袁崇焕已经派出水师和陆军准备驰援锦州，在背后夹击后金军。见到后金军后，援兵退回宁远城下，收缩在城外护城壕堑的保护圈内，布置战车炮火。皇太极见此情形，知道不利于骑兵冲击，遂下令后撤，再一次企图引诱明军追赶，以便在旷野施展骑兵的威力。结果，锦州城里的明军不上当，宁远城下的明军也不上当。他们只是在城下静静地严阵以待。 最后，焦虑中的皇太极终于失去了镇定，下令发起攻击。当此时，代善、阿敏、莽古尔泰等人全都认为明军离城太近，不适合硬攻。皇太极喊道：“去年皇考攻不下宁远，今天我又打不下锦州。现在要是连野战都不能打，我们八旗还有什么军威？”随后，怒吼着命身边的近卫军冲锋。史书记载说，各大小贝勒见此情形，“感到羞惭”，连铠甲都来不及披挂，便跟在后面，向宁远城下疾驰冲击。 这回，皇太极错尽错绝。 袁崇焕的大炮射程在两千米开外，明军则是在护城壕里面列阵，距离都在一千米之内，大体在炮火射程的有效保护下。皇太极督率大军一冲，恰好全部冲进了那些红夷大炮的覆盖范围之内，结果宁远城上城下的大炮一起轰鸣，八旗军又一次遭遇了猛烈轰击。以至于八大贝勒之一的济尔哈朗以及代善的儿子、曾经和岳托一道发起推举皇太极继承汗位的议政贝勒萨哈廉等高级将领身受重伤，其他高级将领战死或者受伤亦见诸史册。就连皇太极的龙旗和御用帷幄都被大炮炸碎。八旗军队再一次在宁远城下遭遇重挫。后来，能征善战文武双全的萨哈廉年纪很轻就死去，令皇太极痛惜不止，可能就和此次受伤有关。 值此之际，宁远城下的明军趁势杀出，两军战成一团。这是辽东战事开打十年以来，明军第一次堂堂正正地主动与后金军展开野战。双方激烈厮杀到傍晚方才收兵。据说，除在大炮下伤亡者之外，是次野战，双方互有死伤，约略相当。对于大明帝国军队来说，此举意义重大，因为八旗铁骑在野战中不可战胜的神话，就此破灭了。 当天夜里，皇太极接到锦州方向军报，锦州城里的明军突然出城袭击后金军营。皇太极遂撤军，重新围困锦州。每天以万名骑兵环城巡行，断绝出入，夜晚则举火擂鼓，彻夜呐喊，以期动摇城中军民之意志。 六月四日，皇太极亲自督战，对锦州再次发起攻坚。经过一日激战，实在看不出任何斩获的可能。就此皇太极悻悻然退兵，返回沈阳。 宁锦之战从五月六日开始，到六月五日结束，前后正好一个月时间。其间，大战四次，小仗无数。明军坚持“凭坚城，用大炮”一策，导致后金汗国军队遭受严重伤亡。 堂皇二十四史之一的《明史》，是在乾隆年间最终完成的。当时，在乾隆皇帝主导下，正是文字狱最为严酷、社会最为黑暗的时代。文字工作者稍有不慎，就有可能全家惨遭杀害。有一种说法，在撰写努尔哈赤一败于宁远、皇太极再败于宁锦这两段历史时，当时史学工作者所遵循的原则是：完全避免“不良、不敬、不恭、不谀”的字句。于是，真实的资料大多遭到淹没或阉割，而在袁崇焕传里，却保留下了“大捷”的字眼，总算给后世的阅读者留下了不小的想象空间。 在战场上，袁崇焕肯定取得了毋庸置疑的胜利。不过，在官场上，他可就举步维艰了。捷报频传之后，帝国朝野的反响似乎大不同于宁远保卫战之后，不但没有那时热烈，反而不断传来冷言冷语。 一些帝国监察官员坚持认为，假如不是因为袁崇焕部下的几员大将死战不退，英勇顽强，很有可能根本就谈不上什么胜利了，作为辽西战场的最高统帅，袁崇焕不但无功，而且不无微罪，比如敌人败退而不知乘胜进击，再比如皇太极攻锦州、宁远不克，返回去再攻锦州时，袁崇焕不肯率兵前去救援，表明他已经暮气深重，没有了气壮山河临敌必胜的豪情壮志，等等。 这些指责，概念微妙，应用常识不太容易理解其中的逻辑。比如为什么一场战争打胜了，胜利一方的前敌最高统帅却是有罪的，等等。必须使用官场特殊的解读技巧并对事件整体背景全面把握，方能明白其中之奥妙。后来的许多研究者倾向于认为，这些官员是在代表九千九百岁魏忠贤和万岁天启皇帝向袁崇焕发出不满和警告。譬如，天启皇帝起初对于袁崇焕总是要和皇太极和谈，并没有表现出特别的反感，到后来开始频频指责，“袁崇焕轻率遣使议和，动出非常，茫无实效”云云。（《明熹宗实录》卷八十六）至于说“袁崇焕暮气难鼓，物议兹至”，表明已有不少人开始非议袁崇焕。“暮气深重”一词，是帝国官场批评与自我批评时的一句术语，一般用来指责别人或自己已经不堪造就。用今天的概念理解，就是居功自傲，意志衰退，不思进取，该退居二线、颐养天年、回家玩儿去的意思。 随后，七八月间，京师举行了盛大的庆功活动。京城内外由于宁锦战功受到升迁、赏赐的人，多达数百人。许多和这场大战毫无关系的人受到官升数级的奖励，其中，以魏忠贤的那位侄子累计连升九级的军功为最高。袁崇焕及其战友们仅仅加衔一级。以至于魏忠贤的一个名叫霍维华的同僚都有些看不过去，提出把自己受到的奖励转给袁崇焕。天启皇帝斥责道：“袁崇焕议和这件事，所误不小。我不惩处他已经不错了，你少在这儿卖好。”（《明熹宗实录》卷八十七） 史书记载说，经同僚们点拨和苦劝，刚烈如袁崇焕幡然悔悟，上书中央政府，挤出本来就不很宽裕的军费，在英雄的宁远城和锦州城里，为那个去了势的太监建纪念祠堂。 即便如此，袁崇焕受到的指责也并不比以前更少，由是，袁崇焕知道自己已经不能见容于那位九千岁了，于是再上书请求辞职，回乡养病。几天后，请求被批准。当年七月初二日，这位“给我军马钱粮，我一人就能守住国门”、独卧孤悬山海关外二百里之孤城的慷慨男儿，心情黯淡地离开了那座英雄的城市，那座由于有了他而富有了传奇色彩的城市。 可以想见，此番回乡，乡亲邻里、退伍老兵们大约要听他慷慨激昂地畅谈塞上故事，纵论边关风云了。