Chapter 62 243 Huang Taiji's Countermeasures

After Nurhachi died of serious injuries, Yuan Chonghuan sent envoys to Shenyang to mourn the funeral in order to find out about Houjin.Huang Taiji was full of resentment towards Yuan Chonghuan, but because Hou Jingang was defeated and needed to rest, besides, he also wanted to test the attitude of the Ming Dynasty; therefore, he not only received Yuan Chonghuan's envoy, but also sent an envoy to Ningyuan to express his gratitude.Both sides have calmed down on the surface, but secretly are stepping up preparations for the next battle. In the second year, Huang Taiji personally led the army to attack the Ming army.Later, the Jin army divided its troops and went southward in three ways, first encircling Jinzhou City.Yuan Chonghuan guessed that Huang Taiji's goal was Ningyuan, so he decided to stay in Ningyuan and send a general to lead 4,000 cavalry to rescue Jinzhou.Sure enough, before the reinforcements started, Huang Taiji had already divided his troops to attack Ningyuan.Yuan Chonghuan personally went to the top of the city to supervise and lead the soldiers to defend the city, and bombarded the Houjin army with cannons; the Ming army reinforcements outside the city also flanked the inside and outside of the city, driving the Houjin army away.

Huang Taiji withdrew his troops to Jinzhou again, but the Ming army in Jinzhou was guarded tightly, and the weather became warmer, and the morale of the Jin army was low.Huang Taiji had no choice but to retreat. Yuan Chonghuan won another big victory.However, Wei Zhongxian's eunuch took the credit for his own name, and instead blamed Yuan Chonghuan for not rescuing Jinzhou himself for dereliction of duty.Yuan Chonghuan knew that Wei Zhongxian wanted to embarrass him, so he had to resign. In 1627 AD, the mediocre Ming Xizong died, and his younger brother Zhu Youjian came to the throne. He was Ming Sizong, also known as Emperor Chongzhen (Chongzhen is the year name).

Emperor Chongzhen had known for a long time that Wei Zhongxian had done a lot of evil, and the people were too angry.As soon as he came to the throne, he announced Wei Zhongxian's crimes and sent Wei Zhongxian to Fengyang.Wei Zhongxian himself knew that he would not survive, so he committed suicide on the way. Emperor Chongzhen punished the eunuchs, and rehabilitated Yang Lian, Zuo Guangdou and others. He wanted to cheer up.Many ministers asked Yuan Chonghuan to be recalled to the court.Emperor Chongzhen accepted this opinion and promoted Yuan Chonghuan to Minister of the Ministry of War, responsible for commanding the entire military in Hebei and Liaodong.Emperor Chongzhen also summoned Yuan Chonghuan in person and asked him what plan he had.Yuan Chonghuan said: "As long as I am given the command and all ministries of the imperial court cooperate unanimously, Liaodong can be restored within five years."

Emperor Chongzhen was very excited when he heard this, and gave Yuan Chonghuan a Shangfang sword and allowed him to act with full power. Yuan Chonghuan returned to Ningyuan, selected generals, reorganized the team, strict military discipline and high morale.Dongjiang general Mao Wenlong was ineffective in fighting, falsely reported his military achievements, and disobeyed Yuan Chonghuan's command.Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong with Shangfang Sword. Huang Taiji was defeated, and of course he refused to give up. He knew that Ningyuan and Jinzhou were tightly defended, so he decided to change the route of attacking troops.He made all preparations. In October 1629, he led hundreds of thousands of post-Jin troops from Longjingguan and Da'ankou (now north of Zunhua, Hebei) to Hebei, and went straight to Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

This move was beyond Yuan Chonghuan's surprise.Yuan Chonghuan hurriedly dispatched troops, trying to stop the Houjin army on the way, but it was too late.Later, the Jin army took advantage of the situation and entered the outskirts of Beijing.After Yuan Chonghuan got the information, he led the Ming army anxiously for two days and two nights. When they arrived in Beijing, they fought fiercely with the Houjin army without taking a break.The Bielu Ming army also arrived one after another and went into battle. The Hou Jin army suddenly attacked Beijing, which caused a shock in the whole city.Emperor Chongzhen was even more anxious and flustered, not knowing what to do. Later, when he heard that Yuan Chonghuan had arrived with troops, he was more at ease.He personally summoned Yuan Chonghuan and expressed his condolences.However, some members of Wei Zhongxian's remnant party spread rumors, saying that this time the Hou Jinbing detoured to Beijing, which was completely introduced by Yuan Chonghuan, and there might be some conspiracy in it.

Emperor Chongzhen was a very suspicious person, and after hearing these rumors, he became a little suspicious.At this time, an eunuch who had been captured by the Jin soldiers escaped from the Jin camp and informed Emperor Chongzhen that Yuan Chonghuan and Huang Taiji had made a secret agreement to betray Beijing.The news was like a bolt from the blue, which stunned Emperor Chongzhen. It turned out that there were two eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who were captured by the Hou Jin army and were locked up in the Jin camp.One night, an eunuch surnamed Yang woke up in the middle of the night and heard two Jin soldiers guarding them talking softly outside.

A golden soldier said: "It is the emperor's (referring to Huang Taiji)'s intention that we retreat before the battle today, do you know?" Another said: "How do you know that?" One said: "Just now I saw the emperor riding a horse towards the Ming camp, and two people from the Ming camp rode over and talked with the emperor for a long time before going back. I heard that the two were sent by General Yuan. He came, he has already made a secret agreement with the emperor, and the big event is about to succeed..." The eunuch surnamed Yang eavesdropped on this conversation, and while the Jin soldiers guarding him were not paying attention, he escaped secretly, and hurried back to the palace to report to Emperor Chongzhen.Emperor Chongzhen believed it when he heard it.How did he know that this information was completely false.The conversation between the two golden soldiers was arranged by Huang Taiji in advance.

Emperor Chongzhen ordered Yuan Chonghuan to enter the palace immediately.After receiving the order, Yuan Chonghuan hurried into the palace without knowing what happened. Emperor Chongzhen raised his face and asked, "Yuan Chonghuan, why did you kill the general Mao Wenlong without authorization? Why did your reinforcements not come when the Jin soldiers arrived in Beijing?" Yuan Chonghuan couldn't help being startled, where did these words come from?Just as he was about to reply, Emperor Chongzhen had ordered Jin Yiwei to tie up Yuan Chonghuan and put him in prison. A minister knew that Yuan Chonghuan was loyal to the country on weekdays, and felt that the matter was strange, so he advised Emperor Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, please consider it carefully!"

Emperor Chongzhen said: "What is prudence? Prudence will only delay things." Emperor Chongzhen refused the minister's advice, and some Wei Zhongxian remnants took the opportunity to frame him.In the second year, Emperor Chongzhen finally ordered Yuan Chonghuan to be killed. Huang Taiji used countermeasures to get rid of his opponent Yuan Chonghuan, and retreated back to Shengjing.Since then, Hou Jin has become stronger and stronger.In 1635 A.D., Huang Taiji changed the name of Jurchen to Manchuria: another year later, Huang Taiji proclaimed himself emperor in Shengjing, and changed the name of the country to Qing.This is Qing Taizong.