Chapter 22 Commentary on Yuan Chonghuan
The notes at the end of each section just indicate that all the facts in the article are based on facts and are not fiction.Readers who are not interested in historical research can skip the notes.
In the area less than 150 kilometers away from Hong Kong, there have been two figures who have a significant relationship with Chinese history in the past 300 years.The most important is of course Mr. Sun Yat-sen.The other is Yuan Chonghuan, who was born in Dongguan County, Guangdong. When I read Yuan Chonghuan's memorials, poems, and historical materials related to him, I always felt as if I was reading the tragedies of ancient Greek playwrights Euripides, Shaphocles and others.Yuan Chonghuan is really like a tragic hero in ancient Greece. He has great courage, the courage to fight the enemy, and moral courage.His soaring energy, obstinate brute force, and staunch ruthlessness were doubly prominent in the wretched and sluggish imperial court at the end of Ming Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan, the word element, the name Ziru. "Huan" means fire, bright and brilliant, and brilliance; "Su" means straightforward simplicity, which is the nature of nature.His blazing life, his own way of character, and his free and easy style are indeed worthy of his name.Such a character constituted a strong conflict with the unfortunate era in which he grew up.The ancient Greek heroes struggled desperately, and finally they were no match for the power of fate and collapsed.What hit Yuan Chonghuan was not fate, but the current situation.Although, in a sense, times are destiny.Like the heroes in Greek epics and tragedies, he fought vigorously, but every battle was a step towards the inevitable tragic ending. In the section of the Greek epic "Iliad" that describes the battle between Hector and Achilles around the city, it describes that the gods took the scales to weigh the fate of these two heroes. When I was a child, I read that Hector's end sank , the gods decided that he had to die in defeat, and felt very sad, "That's not fair! That's not fair!" After many years, when I read how Huang Taiji of the Manchu Qing set up countermeasures, how Chongzhen and his ministers Discussing whether to kill Yuan Chonghuan also has a strong sense of sadness. Historians comment on Yuan Chonghuan, focusing on his achievements, his influence on the time and later generations, and his role in the fall and rise of the Ming and Qing dynasties.In the past ten years or so, I have been writing a novel and an editorial for a newspaper almost every day, so I am equally interested in history, politics and novels. His exploits attracted my attention even more. Overall, the Qing Dynasty was much better than the Ming Dynasty.Comparing the total average scores of the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty from the Taizu of the Qing Dynasty to those of the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, I think it is almost incomparable in mathematics, because the former is a very high positive number, and the latter is quite high negative number.Regarding the fact that the Manchus came to rule China, the evaluation in modern times has also changed quite a bit from that of the predecessors.Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan's achievements will inevitably lose their brilliance with the progress of the times.But his heroism will never fade away.Just like the success or failure of the Seven Kingdoms disputes in those days, it has little meaning today, but the lives of Jing Ke, Qu Yuan, Lin Xiangru, Lian Po, Lord Xinling, etc. have transcended history and politics. Yuan Chengzhi in the movie is just an ordinary character in character.He didn't have the courage to resist tough times, and fled overseas after being frustrated, just like most of us overseas. Yuan Chonghuan is a real hero, with great talent and heroism, covering the world, even his shortcomings are heroic and shocking.He is more heroic than the fictional heroes in the novel. His character is like a sharp and unparalleled sword.When the day of peace and prosperity hangs on the wall, it will inevitably scream in the middle of the night and jump out of the sword box.In the dark and chaotic world, after slaying dragons and tigers, every inch is finally broken. In those unfortunate days at the end of Ming Dynasty, everyone was unlucky.Every monarch felt the humiliation of failure deeply when he was dying: Chongzhen, Qing Taizu Nurhachi, Qing Taizong Huang Taiji (if he was not murdered, then it is the only exception), the leader of the Mongols Lin Danhan , King Li You of North Korea; the generals and ministers who are always at the end of the road (the general who resists the enemy bravely and the general who surrenders to the enemy as a traitor, the loyal and upright minister and the shameless minister, the fate is the same, but in a relatively mild In this era, treacherous officials often end well, such as Qin Hui); angry intellectuals, soldiers who did not receive food and pay, "rogues" whose lives were precarious, hungry and displaced people, and heroes with great talent and courage: Yang Lian, Xiong Tingbi, Sun Chengzong, Li Zicheng, Yuan Chonghuan. In that era, everyone suffered hardships that could not be imagined in the peaceful years.During the Great Famine in Shandong, husbands ate the bodies of their wives, and mothers ate the bodies of their sons.That is the tragedy of the little people, and the grief in their hearts is no less than that of the heroes.However, the little people just endured silently, but the heroes fought bravely, leaving traces in history.The dignity and greatness of the hero, after countless days, still stir up waves in the hearts of future generations. These unfortunate times are the culmination of decades of political measures that have reached their peak of corruption. I have a "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by the British historian Gippen on my bookshelf, which is an annotated volume in three volumes①.On the spine are two marble columns of Romanesque architecture, the first book with some broken capitals, the second more broken, and the third completely collapsed.This symbolizes the decline and demise of an empire, how it develops step by step. The same is true of the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty. The collapse of the Ming Dynasty began with Shenzong②. Shenzong's reign name was Wanli, and he was the longest reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He was emperor for a total of forty-eight years.Just because he has been emperor for too long, he has caused great harm to the people of the country.He was fifty-eight years old when he died, which was not considered old. His ancestor Ming Taizu lived to be seventy-one years old, Chengzu was sixty-five years old, and Sejong was sixty years old.But Shenzong declined before he was old, and later he became addicted to opium.Opium did not shorten his life, but poisoned his spirit.His greed was probably innate, but his unbelievable laziness must have been due to the influence of opium. However, the early years of Wanli was one of the most glorious periods in Chinese history.Chinese and Western scholars in modern times study porcelain and other handicrafts, and they have a common opinion: during the period when China's national power was the most prosperous, the porcelain produced was the most splendid.The porcelain and enamel wares produced during the Wanli period are splendid, exquisite and elegant, making them rare masterpieces.Because in the first ten years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was in the country, and he was a shrewd and capable statesman rarely seen in Chinese history. Shenzong was only ten years old when he took over, and he obeyed his mother in everything.The empress dowagers of the two palaces trusted Zhang Juzheng very much, and Feng Bao, the eunuch with great political power, was able to win over Zhang Juzheng very well. Together with these favorable conditions, Zhang Juzheng was able to let go of things.The Ming Dynasty no longer had a prime minister since Ming Taizu's later years. Zhang Juzheng was a great scholar, and his name was the first assistant, which was equivalent to a prime minister. From the first year to the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng's political achievements were remarkable.He reused famous generals Li Chengliang, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu, so that the northern aliens, mainly Mongols, were defeated every time they invaded.The armed riots of the ethnic minorities in the south were also sent to him to quell them one by one.The country is prosperous and strong, and the grain reserves can be used for ten years, and the surplus in stocks exceeds the annual annual expenditure of the whole country.The transportation and postal services are well organized.Clearing the land area of the whole country makes the taxation fair, so that the poor will not be burdened with excessive money and food, but the bureaucrats will not pay taxes as before.He fully supported Pan Jixun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and cured the flooded Yellow River and Huaihe River, distributed the wasteland after the water receded to the victims for reclamation, and exempted them from tax for three years.The bureaucratic promotion system is strictly enforced, and corruption is severely punished. At that time, China was the most advanced, richest and most powerful country in the world.When European literati and scholars mentioned China, they all admired and yearned for it.They admire China's cultural governance and education, China's examination and civil service system, China's roads extend in all directions, and China's common people live much better than European poor people.The tenth year of Wanli was 1582 AD.It would be six years before England defeated the Spanish Armada; thirty-eight years before the British Puritans arrived in America on the "Mayflower"; on the throne of France.Shakespeare was only sixteen years old at that time, and he was still stealing deer in the woods of England.Until eighty-three years later, a terrible plague broke out in London because it was too dirty and unhygienic.In the early years of Wanli, big cities like Beijing, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou, which were as gorgeous as Wanli colored porcelain, really looked like paradise in the eyes of foreigners. China's economy is also developing rapidly, and its handicraft industry and technology are very advanced.In the fifteenth century, China was one of the most important cotton-producing regions in the world.Due to the use of fine rice varieties from Vietnam during the Zhengde period, farmland was expanded and rice production increased greatly, especially in Guangdong.Because of the popularization of rice planting, a large number of fish farming in paddy fields, and a great reduction of malaria mosquitoes, malaria, which has always been called miasma in south of the Five Ridges, is no longer as terrible as it used to be. Therefore, the economy and culture of Guangdong and Guangxi have also begun to develop rapidly. However, the absolute autocratic system of centralized monarchy, coupled with four consecutive fatuous and corrupt emperors, pushed this well-educated, hardworking and intelligent 100 million people, this unparalleled rich and powerful country, into the abyss of pain.
Zhang Juzheng died in the tenth year of Wanli, and the twenty-year-old young emperor came to power by himself.The emperor pursued Zhang Juzheng's official title, confiscated his family property, sent his family to the army, and forced his eldest son to commit suicide. Shenzong is quite smart.Most of the foolish emperors in Chinese history were somewhat clever. Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and Empress Li were all brilliant writers.On top of Ming Shenzong's intelligence, what is added is not literary talent, but incredible laziness and greed.The emperor's laziness is not a serious problem. He only needs to appoint one or two capable ministers and leave everything to them. Most of the politics can only be more on track. Clear in the next" precedent.However, in addition to being lazy, Shenzong wanted to seize power. For decades, he did not do things himself, and he would never let his ministers do things.This is certainly unprecedented in world history, and I believe it will also be unprecedented. As an emperor, he could get whatever he wanted, but what Shenzong wanted was money that was most useless to him.If he is not an emperor, he must be a successful businessman, with an irrepressible greed in his blood.Some of his ancestral emperors were vicious, some were absurd, but none of them were so indescribably greedy.Therefore, a historian in modern times speculated that his character was inherited from the maternal line.His mother was the daughter of a small farmer. The most convenient and effective way for the emperor to be greedy for money is of course to increase taxes.The taxes added by Shenzong are not collected into the national treasury, but into their own private treasury, called "nei treasury".He stepped up the collection of commercial tax, which was originally there. Except for books and agricultural implements, all commodity transactions were taxed at 3%.He also invented a "mine tax". A large number of uneducated eunuchs who were more or less psychologically abnormal due to disabilities, as the emperor's private tax collection representatives, went out in all directions to collect mining taxes.As long as the "mining tax envoy" thinks that a mine can be mined, the owner of the real estate must pay the mine tax.These eunuchs did all sorts of crimes, and they brought a lot of rogues with them to extort money everywhere, pointing at people's ancestral tombs, houses, shops, workshops, and fields, saying that there were mineral deposits underground, and they had to pay mining taxes⑥.As a result, the world was in turmoil and countless civil upheavals were triggered.These imperial eunuchs who collect taxes are powerful, so they are naturally tyrannical and lawless, and they often kill and torture civil and military officials without authorization.There was a eunuch Gao Huai who went to Liaodong to collect mining taxes and commercial taxes. He confiscated hundreds of thousands of taels of property from the people, arrested dozens of scholars who refused to pay taxes, killed the commander, and accused the general officer of breaking the law.Shenzong was very lazy and ignored any memorials, but as long as it was related to mining tax, the imperial tax supervisor reported it, and he immediately approved it. The scale of the search is staggering.In the early years of Wanli, when Zhang Juzheng was in power, his annual income was about 4 million taels⑦, and the annual expenditure for the palace was 1.2 million taels, accounting for almost one-third of the annual income.However, in just five days in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, two million taels of mining tax and business tax were collected.This is still the amount paid into the emperor's treasury, and the money embezzled by the eunuchs and entourage is much larger than this amount.According to the estimation of Li Dai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials at that time, only one-tenth was handed over to the internal treasury, two-tenths were deducted by eunuchs, three-tenths were divided up by followers, and ten-tenths were extorted from good people by gangsters. Four. But Shenzong's greed is his laziness. When he was twenty-eight years old, Wang Jiaping, a university scholar, wrote a memorial saying: In one year, I only saw Tianyan twice, and occasionally made some suggestions, which were the same as other officials' memorials, and the emperor ignored them at all. . This situation is getting worse and worse. In the forty-second year of Wanli, the chief assistant Ye Xianggao said: "There are six Shangshu, only one of which is left. More than half of the governors are missing.His memorial was written very passionately, saying that now that China and foreign countries are at odds, the capital is full of complaints, and a catastrophe is imminent. The emperor still thinks that seeing his courtiers is a magical effect of the gods. I am afraid that the holy emperors and kings since ancient times have not had such a wonderful method⑧.Shenzong was full of opium, and his anger was gone.If such a memorial falls into the hands of the founder Taizu, Chengzu, and the last Sizong, Ye Xianggao must be beheaded.But as long as Shenzong has money to pay, it doesn't matter if he ridicules or even scolds the ministers. It can be said that the ministers in the Wanli period knew everything and said everything.Some people said that if the emperor did this, the people would be exhausted and the world would be in chaos⑨; Silver jewelry, who will guard you⑪?Some accuse the emperor of deceiving the people, which is similar to Jie and Zhou's foolish emperor⑫;It is unprecedented and unimaginable that the courtiers dared to publicly criticize the emperor like this, not by one or two loyal ministers who are not afraid of death, but by everyone.However, the speaker is earnest and the listener is contemptuous. Shenzong completely ignored these criticisms.The records in the official history often say "sparse in, get angry, stay in the middle and don't report it".If you stay in China, you will not be approved.Maybe he was too lazy to punish people and didn't even want to punish them, because punishing people always had to issue an imperial edict.But until his death, his style of searching desperately did not change at all.At the same time, in order to use troops against the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the land tax was increased again and again.The emperor’s collected income was stored in private treasury (inner treasury), but the government’s public treasury (outer treasury) was always insufficient. As a result, the inner treasury was too solid and the outer treasury was too empty⑮. Under such vicious oppression, the lives of the people are of course extremely painful. In addition to concentrating on searching, Shenzong has always been absolutely indifferent to other government affairs.In November of the 43rd year of Wanli, the censor Zhai Fengchong said in his memorial: The emperor has not seen his courtiers for 25 years.
Notes: ①Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Heritage Press, New York. ② This is the common opinion of posthumous scholars. "History of the Ming Dynasty Shenzong Benji": "So the theory says: the death of the Ming Dynasty was actually caused by Shenzong." Zhao Yi's "Notes on the Twenty-two History The Harm of the Mining Tax in Wanli": "The commentator said that the death of the Ming Dynasty did not come from Chongzhen but from Chongzhen. It died in Wanli Yun." Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty inscribed the stele of divine merit and virtue in Changling of the Ming Dynasty: "The death of the Ming Dynasty was not caused by bandits, but by the absurdity of Shenzong and the arbitrariness of eunuchs during the Apocalypse. Digging for flattery. When Sizong ascended the throne, even though rebellious eunuchs were punished, the power of the world is like a river that can never be blocked again, and fish that rot cannot be recovered. And the scrutiny is too harsh, and people have the heart of self-exemption. The poor people suffer There is no report, so the gathering is a robber, and the thief takes advantage of it, and the Ming Society is closed. Woohoo! Those who have the world, don’t know what to guard against?” ③Europeans who traveled to China in the late sixteenth century, such as G. Pereira, G. da Gruz, M. de Rade, etc., wrote books praising China.They compare China's roads, cities, land, sanitation, poor life, etc. with Europe, and think China is much better.See AP Newton, ed., Travel and Travelers of the Middle Ages; CR Boxer, South China in the 16th Gentury and other books.Until 1798, Malthus said that China was the richest country in the world in his "On Population Part I".The Catholic priest Matteo Ricci and others who came to China during the Wanli period even praised China's cultural system and believed that it was unparalleled in the world.See LJ Gallagher, SJ tr., China in the Six-teenth Century. ④Wolfram Eberhard: A History of China, p.249. ⑤Zhu Dongrun's "The Great Biography of Zhang Juzheng": "From Ming Taizu to Shenzong, the blood is full of paranoia and arrogance... When it comes to Shenzong, new elements are added to this proud blood. His mother was a small farmer in Shanxi Daughter. The small farmer has the aura of being greedy for profit. After a liter of wheat is planted in the soil, he spends long days there calculating that it will grow into a dendrobium, a stone, hard and good wheat. The spirit of the day , focusing on this point.... Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only Shenzong was greedy for profit, and out of nature, perhaps it can only be explained in this way.” (p. 317) However, it seems inappropriate to say that small farmers are greedy for profit.The small farmer grows wheat and expects a harvest, which is not only a natural and reasonable expectation, but also the only means of life, which cannot be said to be profit-seeking. ⑥ The tax rate of the mining tax is randomly specified. In L. Carrington Goodrich, A Short History of the Chinese People, it is said that the mining tax in Wanli was 40% of the value of the minerals. Even if the mines have been shut down, the mine owners Taxes still have to be paid annually at the old rates. p.199. ⑦According to Zhang Juzheng's "Looking at the Household Department's Advance Report and Unveiled Posts": In the fifth year of Wanli, the annual income was more than 4,359,400 taels, and the annual expenditure was more than 3,494,200 taels. ⑧Ye Xianggao played: "China and foreign countries are centrifugal, there are complaints and indignation between the hubs, elbows and armpits of the chariot, and disasters are unpredictable, and the affairs of your majesty are separated from your ministers. You can't close your loyalty, and the six cao can't hold their positions. There is no one in the world who can be trusted, but I think it's a wonderful use of the gods. I fear that since ancient times, the holy emperors and kings, there is no way to do this." 9 In the twenty-seventh year, Feng Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, played: "Since the mine tax was sent out, the suffering of the people has become even worse. With the addition of floods, droughts and locust disasters, they have drifted away from the road, Jifu is close to the ground, and thieves are on the road. This is not a small reason. The middle envoy was ordered , followed by thousands of traitors...then today's cunning gangsters are using the handle of life and death...within five days, two million public and private silver have been searched. The traitors are born with traitors, making exceptions and setting a precedent. There will be endless chaos. Fuwang is eager to repair it, so that the young will not be resentful, and the history will be ridiculed." ⑩Engineering gave Wang Dewan a play on the matter: "Let the tigers out of the box to devour the people, and the wolves in the Yi circle to devour the people. There is nowhere to express resentment, and there is no time to solve the depression." ⑪Fengyang Governor Li Sancai played: "Your Majesty loves pearls and jade, and the people also love food and clothing. Your Majesty loves children and grandchildren, and the people also love their wives and children. But why do you want to gather money and bribes, so that the common people have no peace?" He also said: "The recent memorials , everything and mining tax are ignored. The survival of this sect is a matter of life and death. Once the rebels collapse and the common people become the enemy, your majesty will be filled with gold and pearls to fill the house. Who will guard it?" ⑫Give the matter Nakata Dayi: "The internal affairs are plundered to meet the needs of the superiors. There is no need for mines and taxes do not need to be negotiated. The folks are all mines, and the officials, farmers, and workers are all taxed. Public and private are turbulent, and the grease is exhausted. , to the so-called military country, it is used rightly, but it causes defects....People from all over the world are gnashing their lips and teeth, hoping to cover the eyes and ears of the world with wise and sweet words, can they be obtained? Bian is the confidant, and money, pearls and jade are the lifeline... Even if Feng Qian cuts his heart and Gao Kui enters to remonstrate, can he solve his confusion?" He also said: "Your Majesty drives away wolves and tigers, flies and eats people... Gold, jade, and jewels are expensive, but gold, jade, and jewels are cheap. If you accumulate gold, jade, and jewels like Mount Tai, you can’t sell the world’s size, and lose the world, so what’s the use of gold, jade, and jewels?” ⑬ Li Daizuo, Minister of the Ministry of Officials: "Today, the three assistants are wailing, and the people have no means of living; the vegetation is exhausted, and the bark is stripped; And waiting to die, how can you bear it? How can you bear it if you make the people refuse to sit and wait to die?... At this time, the burden of taxation is twice as much as it was twenty years ago... Pointing at his house and saying "here" If there is a mine, the family will be ruined; if the tax is evaded, the house will be ruined. With the number that cannot be checked, people who have nothing to worry about are used to do things that are unreasonable and kingly." ⑭Shangshu Zhao Shiqing said: "Emperor's order is as reliable as the four seasons. Three years ago, he said: 'My heart is benevolent, and there is a time to stop.' Year after year, when will it be? The emperor has a joke , The king's order is reckless." ⑮In the forty-fourth year of Wanli, Xiong Ming met Shu in the matter: "The inner treasury is too solid, and the outer treasury is too empty." (The texts in the memorials from ⑧ to ⑮ above can be found in "History of Ming Dynasty" or "Tongjian of Ming Dynasty".) At this time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty began to rise.In the forty-fifth year of Wanli, Nurhachi complained to the sky with the seven major hatreds, sent troops to attack Ming Dynasty, and captured Fushun, an important town in Liaodong the following year.The Ming army was defeated, Zhang Chengyin, the commander-in-chief, died in battle, and more than ten thousand soldiers annihilated the whole army, and the whole court was shocked. In the forty-seventh year, Yang Gao, the Liaodong economic strategist, led the Ming army with 180,000 troops, Ye He (the enemy of the Qing Dynasty) with 20,000 troops, and North Korea (the vassal state of China) with 20,000 troops. The troops were divided into four groups and aggressively attacked the Qing Dynasty.There were about 60,000 soldiers from the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. They concentrated their forces and focused on the West Road.The commander-in-chief of the West Route Army, Du Song, is a brave general of the Ming army. His favorite thing to do is to take off his clothes and show off the scars of swords and guns all over his body.When he dispatched troops, he took off his upper body clothes and paraded through the city, and the people applauded and cheered. The battle on the West Road was called the "Battle of Salhu". The Ming army had firearms and steel cannons, which were much sharper.But Juniper was brave and foolhardy. He was the commander of a corps with 60,000 troops, but he was shirtless, showing scars all over his body, and charged in the lead.Probably he is the reader of the book, very envious of the bravery of the "tiger idiot" Xu Chu.In the book "Xu Chu Naked Fighting Ma Chao", it is described that Xu Chu "takes off his armor, his body is bulging, he lifts his knife naked, gets on his horse, and comes to a decisive battle with Ma Chao."But I don't know if he remembers Xu Chu's fierce fight, and the result was "a chaos in the army, and Xu Chu got two arrows in his back"?Interestingly, the commentator of the novel commented: "Who told you to be shirtless?" When the Ming and Qing armies lined up to confront each other, suddenly the sky became dark, and nothing could be seen a few feet away.Juniper made another big mistake and ordered the army to light the torches.In this way, the Ming army was in the light and the Qing army was in the dark. The Ming army illuminated itself and became the target of the Qing army.Nurhachi commanded the Six Banners as the main force to attack, while his son Daishan and Huang Taiji each unified the banners to attack on the right flank.As a result, Juniper's experience was much worse than Xu Chu's. He died of eighteen arrows in his body. It was really "Who told you to be naked?" Nurhachi adopted the correct strategy of "concentrating the main force and breaking through each", and fought one battle and one battle separately.Ma Lin, the commander-in-chief of the North Route of the Ming Army, and Liu Jie, the commander-in-chief of the East Route, were defeated and killed. Liu Jie was the most powerful general in the Ming Dynasty at that time. He fought against Burmese and Japanese pirates. He once led troops to assist North Korea against the Japanese invasion.The iron knife he used weighed one hundred and twenty catties, and it was called "Liu Dadao" all over the world.His broadsword was thirty-nine catties heavier than Guan Yu's eighty-one catties Qinglong Yanyue Saber.It is said that he can lift a cypress Eight Immortals table full of wine, vegetables and chopsticks with one hand, and walk around the hall three times.Even valiant generals like Juniper and Liu Jie were beaten to death by the Qing soldiers, and the Ming soldiers were naturally hit hard psychologically. When they mentioned the "braided soldiers" of the Manchu Qing, they would inevitably turn pale. This battle was the key to the rise and fall of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the key to victory or defeat lies in: First, the coach of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Gao, was a civil servant and did not understand military affairs at all.Second, the political corruption of the Ming Dynasty has reached the extreme, and the associated military administration is also slack. The army has not been trained for a long time, and there is no necessary military preparation at all. Yang Gao's entire army was wiped out, and the imperial court sent Xiong Tingbi to defend Liaodong. In July of the forty-sixth year of Wanli, Xiong Tingbi had just left Shanhaiguan, Tieling had fallen, and the soldiers and civilians in Shenyang and nearby castles fled one after another.Xiong Tingbi entered Liaoyang concurrently.After decades of Shenzong's ignorance of everything, the discipline of the army was shattered, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit. The cavalry deliberately killed their horses to avoid going out to fight.The situation Xiong Tingbi faced was extremely difficult②.The military salary was already very meager, but the emperor still desperately defaulted on it and refused to pay the salary③. Shenzong saw that the pursuit of wages at the border was getting more and more urgent, and he knew he couldn't bear it anymore, but he still refused to pay out of his own pocket, so he came up with a countermeasure: add 2% to the land tax.Together with the previous two times, a total of 9% has been added. However, the extra land tax collected from the people may not be used to pay the army. The emperor's basic interest is to hide the silver in the inner treasury. The alarms on the border kept coming, and the ministers asked the emperor to come to the court every day to discuss the strategy of war and defense.The emperor always sent eunuchs out to announce: "The emperor is sick." Zhao Huan, the official minister, couldn't bear it anymore, and wrote a memorial: "In the future, when the enemy's cavalry come outside Beijing, your majesty can also say that there is something wrong in the deep palace. Are you sick, and just make the enemy retreat?" ④ Shenzong read this sarcastic memorial, which was almost abusive, but he held a grudge in his heart, but refused to convene a national defense conference. The silver ingots collected by Shenzong have been piled up in the inner warehouse for a long time, and they have been greatly oxidized. Some are as black as lacquer, and some are as brittle and rotten as mud⑤, but they just refuse to take them out for use.But when he finally died, he couldn't take even one tael of the tens of millions of taels with him. Shenzong, Shenzong, is really "spiritual", very nervous!
Notes: ①Xu Guangqi, who was a scholar at the time of Chongzhen, said in "Pao Yan": Beimen, the old capital of the Manchurians, was mostly blacksmiths, and it stretched for several miles.At that time, it was a large-scale arsenal combination.Therefore, the armor of the Manchurian soldiers is excellent. The helmets, masks, arm guards, and hand guards are all made of fine iron, and the horses also have fine iron protective gear at the vital points.But the armor of the Ming soldiers is very simple, except for the armor on the chest and back, the rest is completely unprotected.The Manchu soldiers rushed to the vicinity and shot Ming soldiers in the face and threat, and the arrows would kill them.According to Cheng Lingming, a man of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the capital Nurhachi lived in was "outside the north gate, blacksmiths lived there, specializing in armor; outside the south gate, bowmen and arrowmen lived there, specializing in making arrows." ②Xiong Tingbi wrote to the imperial court on August 29, stating the situation of the Ming army in Liaodong: "Remnant soldiers... have no armor, no weapons, follow the battalion, pretend to be dead and pretend to be alive, and refuse to go to battle... the name of the list , and dispatched laborers, half of them suddenly went away; they were famous for their salary, and half of them went when they heard the warning... The generals have survived many battles, and those who have been defeated for a long time. When they hear the alarm, they are all frightened ...Seeing that there are more than 10,000 horses, most of which are thin and worn out, the sergeants will deliberately cut off the fodder, try to kill them, prepare infantry, so as not to go out to fight, and even stab the dead with knives for no reason....Strong armor and sharp blades, spears and firearms, all lost Exhausted. All the bows held by the sergeants today have broken backs and broken strings, all the arrows they hold have no feathers or arrowheads, all the knives are blunt, and the spears are all stubborn and bald. There are even those who have nothing and borrow others to respond. Covered by armor...fleeing the wind, fleeing the formation, and fleeing in fear of the battle. After hearing the news from Beiguan, there are thousands of people fleeing from each camp. If there are only one or two battalions or dozens of people fleeing, the ministers will still The law can be used to bring them to justice. Today there are 50,000 to 60,000 people, and everyone wants to flee. Even if there is an order from the Sun Wu army, it is difficult to stop it." ③ In March of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Xiong Tingbi made a statement: "In the forty-seventh year, I went to the Ministry of Households in twelve months (suspected to be "one"), and received 200,000 taels of salary, in December I received 100,000 taels of salary, and in the first month of forty-eight years I received The salary is 150,000 taels, and none of them has been paid... How come the army is not hungry until today, the horses are not thin or dead, and the side affairs are still in a hurry? The soldiers have no food, why don't they sell coats, trousers and sundries? How not to seize folk grain cellars? How not to seize horse feed to feed oneself, how not to lose weight and not die horses? And the Ministry of Households is still indifferent.” He said that the Ministry of Households was still indifferent, which is a polite way of saying, indifferent The one who thought about it was, of course, the emperor himself. ④ "In the future, Jimen will be ravaged, and iron cavalry will be in the suburbs. Will your majesty be able to dig deep into the palace and call it sick?" ⑤ Huke Giving Affairs Zhongguan Ying Zhen said: "There are 100,000 taels and 59,000 taels in the inner treasury, some are as black as lacquer, or as brittle as soil, and they are built as an image that will not rot." ⑥ Archaeologists in the mainland excavated the tombs of emperors, but they chose Shenzong's "Dingling Mausoleum" and converted it into a museum, called "Underground Palace". After Shenzong's death, his son Guangzong had only been the emperor for one month before he died of taking medicine by mistake.Zhu Youxiao, Guangzong's son, took over the throne. He was called Xizong in history, and his reign name was Tianqi. Guangzong's time as emperor was very short, but the troubles he left behind were enormous. The three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty, namely the attack on the bridge, Hongwan, and moving the palace, were all related to his throne and life and death.The ministers were divided into two factions, and there were endless disputes.The dispute involves everything else, as long as it is something done by the other party, no matter it is right or wrong, it will always be used to attack fiercely. Xi Zong was sixteen years old when he took over the throne. In fact, he was not yet fifteen years old. He was still a child. He was very attached to his wet nurse, Keshi.This Hakka family likes to exercise power very much, and has a weird sexual relationship with the eunuch Wei Zhongxian in the palace.There are many eunuchs and maids in the palace. They comfort each other for loneliness, and they fall in love in private. However, eunuchs are hermaphrodites who have castrated their sexual functions, so this is neither heterosexual love nor homosexuality. Sharing the same bed is nothing more than eating together and comforting each other in loneliness.Wei Zhongxian became the counterpart of the Hakka family and gradually gained power. Xi Zong is a natural carpenter. His favorite things are sawing, planing and painting wood, and he is very skilled in carpentry.Wei Zhongxian always took important memorials to ask him to review when he was concentrating on carpentry.How could Xi Zong let go of his beloved carpenter?With a wave of his hand, he said, "Don't bother me, just wait and see." So Wei Zhongxian went and watched, becoming more and more lawless. There were a group of shameless flatterers in the court to flatter him. Later, Wei Zhongxian became the actual emperor.Xi Zong is "long live", and some officials met Wei Zhongxian and called him "nine thousand years old", saying that he was only a little worse than the emperor.Later, the cult of personality was even more fanfare, and it was in full swing, and temples were built for Wei Zhongxian all over the country.Originally, people entered the ancestral hall only after they died, but when the "nine thousand-year-old" old man was alive, he built the ancestral hall. A true cult of personality. Wei Zhongxian was originally a rascal. When he was young, he gambled with others and lost a lot. He couldn't pay his gambling debts, and was insulted and pursued.He could not read, but had a good memory, and was a completely uneducated gambler.The military and political power of the world's largest country falls into the hands of such people. Xiong Tingbi trained troops to defend the city in Liaodong, recruited refugees, cleaned up military discipline, repaired equipment, and stabilized the situation.The mess he took over has been sorted out a little bit by him.Seeing that the opponent was prepared, Man Qing did not dare to attack rashly.But the ministers of the opposing faction in the court came to make trouble with him, and kept attacking him in memorials, saying that he was too timid to fight;So the imperial court changed Xiong Tingbi's post, awaiting investigation, and replaced him with Yuan Yingtai as commander-in-chief. Yuan Yingtai is a top-notch talent in water conservancy engineering. He has made great contributions to building embankments, controlling floods and relieving victims all his life.He has a benevolent personality and is diligent in his work, but he is completely incapable of fighting.Nurhachi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was overjoyed when he learned that Xiong Tingbi had resigned, so he led his troops to attack.Yuan Yingtai led his army to fight, and 70,000 soldiers were defeated.The Qing soldiers occupied Shenyang, broke through two reinforcements from the Ming army, and then attacked Liaoyang.The Ming army was defeated again, and the full army took Liaoyang, a military fortress. The military situation was so bad that the imperial court was helpless, so they had to ask Xiong Tingbi to come out again, and punished a group of officials who attacked him last time, which was regarded as calming him down.However, Zhang Heming, Minister of the Ministry of War, disagreed with Xiong Tingbi. He only liked Wang Huazhen, the king of flattery and governor, and asked Wang Huazhen not to obey Xiong Tingbi's command. Wang Huazhen bragged to the imperial court that only 60,000 soldiers were needed to wipe out the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop.The court actually believed him.Xiong Tingbi strongly believed that he was not prepared enough to attack.However, the Minister of the Ministry of War blindly protected Wang Huazhen.So Wang Huazhen led 140,000 troops to the battle, and the whole army was defeated in a confrontation.Qing soldiers captured the strong city of Guangning.Finally, after Xiong Tingbi led five thousand soldiers, hundreds of thousands of refugees and defeated soldiers retreated into Shanhaiguan.The court indiscriminately arrested Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi together.Zhang Heming was dismissed. So far, there have been three major battles between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Every battle of the Ming army was a big defeat. Although the combat effectiveness of the Ming soldiers was not as good as that of the Qing soldiers, it was not impossible or unwilling to fight.In every major battle, the commander-in-chief was killed, and most of the lieutenants and generals were also killed.The number of Ming soldiers was several times that of the Qing soldiers, and their weapons were much more advanced, including firearms.The failure of the three major battles was mainly due to the lack of preparation and training of the army, as well as improper strategy and wrong command of the commander.The slack in military affairs and low morale are of course also due to the failure of the commander in chief. Given China's size, why is there often a shortage of talented commanders?根本症结是在明朝一个绝对荒谬的制度：由文官指挥战役。 这个制度的根源，在于皇帝不信任武官。明朝皇帝不信任武将，怕他们手里有了武力，就会抢夺皇帝的宝座，先是派文官去军中监视，后来索性叫文官做总指挥，到后来连文官也不信任了，于是再加派太监作监军。太监既是皇帝的心腹亲信，另有一样好处，太监没有儿子，篡位的可能性就很小。做了皇帝而不能传于子孙，做皇帝的兴趣就大打折扣了。 明朝御史的权力很大，有权监察各行政部门。大学士代皇帝拟的圣旨、六部尚书所下的决定，御史都可放言批评，而且批评经常发生效力。皇帝派去监察武将的“总督”、“巡抚”，后来就变成了总司令、总指挥。 但要做到御史，通常非中进士不可。要中进士，必须读熟四书五经，书法漂亮，会做起承转合的八股文。明朝读书人如何废寝忘食的学八股文、考进士，读一下就很清楚了。明朝派去带兵、指挥大军，和清军猛将锐卒对抗的，却都是这批熟读诗云子曰、八股文做得很好的进士。 明末抗清有三个名将，功勋卓著：熊廷弼是万历二十五年的解元（唐伯虎一类身分），万历二十六年的进士。孙承宗是万历三十二年的进士第二名（榜眼）。袁崇焕是万历四十七年进士。他们三个是文官，幸亏碰巧有用兵的才能。本来明末皇帝的运气不坏，做八股文考中进士的文人之中居然出现了三个军事专家。然而文官会带兵，那就是危险人物。明朝皇帝罢斥了其中一个，杀死了另外两个。 别的奉命统兵抗清的八股文专家们可就没有军事才能了。杨镐，万历八年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。袁应泰，万历二十三年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。王化贞，万历四十一年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。
袁崇焕是在这样的政治、经济、军事背景之下，去应付辽东艰巨的局面。当然，更艰巨的，是应付北京朝廷中的局面。 背后是昏愦胡涂的皇帝、屈杀忠良的权奸、嫉功妒能的言官；手下是一批饥饿羸弱的兵卒和马匹，将官不全，兵器残缺，领不到粮，领不到饷，所面对的敌人，却是自成吉思汗以来，四百多年中全世界从未出现过的军事天才努尔哈赤。这个用兵如神的统帅，传下了严密的军事制度和纪律，使得他手下那批战士，此后两百年间在全世界所向无敌。铁骑奔驰于北埵大漠、南疆高原、扩土万里，的的确确是威行绝域，震慑四邻。 努尔哈赤以祖宗遗下的十三副甲胄起家，带领了数百名族人东征西讨，建立了中国历史上疆域最大的大帝国（元朝的蒙古帝国横跨欧亚，不能说中华帝国的领土竟有这么大。蒙古大帝国的中国部分，远比清朝的疆域为小）。清朝的疆域比汉朝、唐朝全盛时代都大得多，宋明两朝更不能与之相比。当时外蒙古、朝鲜、越南、琉球、今日苏联东部的大片土地都是中国的领土或属地。清朝全盛时期的领土，比现在的中国大得多了。 满洲战士后来打败了俄罗斯帝国的骑兵，打败了尼泊尔的啹喀兵，打败了蒙古兵，打败了朝鲜兵，打败了越南兵，间接打败荷兰兵（郑成功先打败荷兰兵，攻占台湾，满洲兵再打败郑成功的孙子），在十七世纪、十八世纪的两百年中，无敌于天下。 至于当时和明帝国交战，已接连三次杀得明军全军覆没，每一个战役都是以少胜多。努尔哈赤兴兵以来，迄此时为止，百战百胜，从未吃过一个败仗。 努尔哈赤幼时在明朝大将李成梁家中为奴，识得汉语汉文，喜读与。他的智略一部分是天生，一部分当是从这两部小说中得来的。 努尔哈赤自己固然智勇双全，他还有一大批精明骁勇的子侄①，剽悍凶猛的将领，部勒严整的战士。 当时有一句谚语说：“女真不满万，满万不可敌。”因为女真人熟习弓马，强悍善战，汉人向来不是他们的敌手。这时女真精兵八旗，每旗七千五百人，已有六万之众了。 袁崇焕所面对的是这样了不起的大敌，而他却是个书生。他会做诗，字写得很好，文章有气势②，既然中了进士，八股文当然也做得不错，诗云子曰背得很熟。相信他不会射箭，宁远第二次大战时，他自称只是在城头大声呐喊③。 努尔哈赤与袁崇焕正面交锋之时，满清的兵势正处于巅峰状态，而明朝的政治与军事也正处于腐败绝顶的状态。 以这样一个文弱书生，在这样不利的局面之下，而去和一个纵横无敌的大英雄对抗，居然把努尔哈赤打死了，打三场大战，胜了三场，袁崇焕的英雄气概，在整个人类历史中都是十分罕有的。
Notes: ①努尔哈赤有十六个儿子，个个是有名的勇将。两个侄儿阿敏与济尔哈朗也十分厉害。 ②康有为《袁督师遗集序》盛称其文字雄奇：“夫袁督师之雄才大略，忠烈武棱，古今寡比。其遗文虽寥落，而奋扬蹈厉，鹤立虹布，犹想见鲁阳挥戈、崆峒倚剑之神采焉。” ③《明史》说熊廷弼左右手都会射箭，但没有提到袁崇焕会武。 袁崇焕，广东东莞人，祖上原籍广西梧州藤县。生于哪一年无法查考。 他为人慷慨，富于胆略，喜欢和人谈论军事，遇到年老退伍的军官士卒，总是向他们请问边疆上的军事情况，在年轻时候就有志于去办理边疆事务①。 他少年时便以“豪士”自许②，喜欢旅行。他中了举人后再考进士，多次落第，每次上北京应试，总是乘机游历，几乎踏遍了半个中国③。最喜欢和好朋友通宵不睡的谈天说地，谈话的内容往往涉及兵戈战阵之事④。 明朝制度，每三年考一次进士，会试在二月初九开始，十五结束。三月初一廷试。袁崇焕于万历四十七年在北京参加廷试而中进士。杨镐于该年二月誓师辽阳，三月间四路丧师。新中进士和大战溃败这两件事在同一个时候发生，袁崇焕这个向来关心边防的新进士一喜一忧，心情一定很复杂。他那时在京城，当然听到不少辽东战事的消息。 他中进士后，被分派到福建邵武去做知县。 天启二年，他到北京来报告职务。他平日是很喜欢高谈阔论的，大概在北京和友人谈话时，发表了一些对辽东军事的见解，很是中肯，引起了御史侯恂（才子侯方域的父亲）的注意，便向朝廷保荐他有军事才能，于是获升为兵部职方司主事（自正七品的知县升为正六品的主事）。不做地方官了，被派到中央政府的国防部去办事。 明朝官制，兵部（国防部）尚书（部长）一人，左右侍郎（副部长）各一人，下面分设四个司：武选（武官人事）、职方（军政、军令）、车驾（警备、通讯、马匹）、武库（后勤、训练）。职方司等于现代的总参谋部，职方司有郎中一人、员外郎一人、主事二人。主事大概相当于总参谋部中的文职中校副处长。 袁崇焕任兵部主事不久，王化贞大军在广宁覆没，满朝惊惶失措。 清兵势如破竹，锐不可当，自万历四十六年到那时，四年多的时间内，覆没了明军数十万，攻占抚顺、开原、铁岭、沈阳、辽阳，直逼山海关。明军打一仗，败一仗，山海关是不是守得住，谁都不敢说。山海关一失，清兵就长驱而到北京了。 于是北京宣布戒严，进入紧急状态。 可是关外的局势到底怎样，传到北京的说法多得很，局势越是不利，谣言越多，这是人类社会的通例。谣言满天飞，谁也无法辨别真假。就在这京师中人心惶惶的时候，袁崇焕骑了一匹马，孤身一人出关去考察。兵部中忽然不见了袁主事，大家十分惊讶，家人也不知他到了哪里。不久他回到北京，向上司详细报告关上形势，宣称：“只要给我兵马粮饷，我一人足可守得住山海关。” 这件事充分表现了他行事任性，很有胆识，敢作敢为而脚踏实地，但狂气也是十足。若在平时，他上司多半要斥责他擅离职守，罢他的官，但这时朝廷正在忧急彷徨之际，听他说得头头是道，便升他为兵备佥事，那是都察院的官，大概相当于现代文职的上校政治主任之类，派他去助守山海关。袁崇焕终于得到了他梦想已久的机会，雄心勃勃的到国防前线去效力。 他的豪语一定使朝中大官们印象十分深刻，所以得到朝廷的支持，从他家乡招募了一批兵员去⑤。当时守山海关的主要是新到的浙江兵。另有三千名广东水兵，在袁崇焕之后到达。袁崇焕认为广东步兵勇捷善战，推荐他叔父袁玉佩负责招募三千名，其中包括袁崇焕平生所结纳的死士谢尚政、洪安澜等人。他又认为广西狼兵雄于天下，冲锋陷阵，恬不畏死，申请于田州、泗城州、龙英州各调二千名，由他至戚慷慨知名、且善武艺的林翔凤带领。朝廷一一批准⑥。 他到山海关后，作为辽东经略（东北军区总司令）王在晋的下属，初时在关内办事。王在晋见他任事干练，很是倚重，派他出关到前屯卫去收抚流离失所的难民。袁崇焕奉命之后，当夜出发，在荆棘虎豹之中夜行，四更天时到达。前屯城中将士无不佩服。袁崇焕本是书生，这一来，兵将都服了他了。 王在晋奏请正式任他为宁前兵备佥事。袁崇焕本来是没有专责的散官，现在有了驻地，相当于宁远、前屯卫二城的城防司令部政治委员，身当山海关外抗御清兵的第一道防线。宁远在最前线，前屯卫稍后。不过他虽负责防守宁远、前屯卫，第一线的宁远却没有城墙，没有防御工事，根本无城可守。他只得驻守在前屯卫。 至于明军一切守御设施，都集中在山海关。山海关是“天下第一关”，防守京师的第一大要塞，然而它没有外围阵地。清兵若是来攻，立刻就冲到关门之前。 稍有军事常识的人都立刻会看出来，单是守御山海关，未免太过危险，没有丝毫退步的余地。只要一仗打败，这个大要塞就失守，敌军便攻到北京。所以在战略形势上，必须将防线向北移，越是推向北方，山海关越安全，北京也越安全。 袁崇焕一再向上司提出这个关键问题。王在晋是万历二十年进士，江苏太仓人的文弱书生，根本不懂军事，眼光短浅，胆子又小，听袁崇焕说要在关外守关，想想道理倒也是对的，便主张在山海关外八里的八里铺筑城守御。他一定想，离山海关太远，逃不回来，那怎么得了？袁崇焕认为只守八里的土地没有用，外围阵地太窄，起不了屏障山海关的作用，和王在晋争论，王不采纳他的意见。于是袁崇焕去向首辅叶向高申请，叶也不理。 袁崇焕的主张虽然正确，然而和顶头上司争论了一场之后，意见不蒙采纳，竟径自去向最高行政首长投诉。越级呈报是官场大忌，他做官的方式却大大不对了。这又是他蛮劲的表现之一。 这时宁远之北的十三山有败卒难民十余万人，给清兵困住了不能出来。朝廷叫大学士孙承宗设法解救。袁崇焕申请由自己带兵五千进驻宁远作声援。另派骁将到十三山去救回溃散了的部队和难民。王在晋觉得这个军事行动太冒险，不加采纳。结果十余万败卒难民都被清兵俘虏，只有六千人逃回。 满清这时在经济上实行奴隶制度，女真人当兵打仗，以抢劫财物为主要工作，认为男子汉耕田种地是耻辱，所以俘虏了汉人和朝鲜人来耕种。汉人、朝鲜人的奴隶是可以买卖的，当时价格是每个精壮汉人约为十八两银子，或换耕牛一头⑦。十三山的十多万汉人被俘虏了去，都成为奴隶，固然受苦不堪，同时更大大增加了满清的经济力量。 那时袁崇焕仍是极力主张筑城宁远。朝廷中的大臣都反对，认为宁远太远，守不住。大学士孙承宗是个有见识之人，亲自出关巡视，了解具体情况，接受了袁崇焕的看法。 不久孙承宗代王在晋作辽东主帅。天启二年九月，孙承宗派袁崇焕与副将满桂带兵驻守宁远，这是袁崇焕领军的开始。 满桂是蒙古人，骁勇善战。从那时起，他和袁崇焕的命运就永远结合在一起，再也分不开了。一个蒙古武将，一个广东统帅，都是十分刚硬、十分倔强的脾气。两人一起经历了多次生死患难，也有过不知多少次激烈的争吵。一直到死，两人仍是在争吵。但在两人的内心，却又一定是互相钦佩。那既是英雄重英雄的心情，又知道在抗拒清兵大敌之时，非仰仗对方的力量不可。高明的组织才能和正确的战略决策是必要的，亲临前敌、殊死决战的刚勇也是必要的。
宁远在山海关外二百余里，只守八里和守到二百多里以外，战略形势当然大有区别。 宁远现在叫作兴城，有铁路经过，是锦州与山海关之间的中间站。地滨连山湾，与葫芦岛相距甚近。我真盼望将来总有一日能到兴城去住几天，好好的看看这个地方。 天启三年九月，袁崇焕到达宁远。 本来，孙承宗已派游击祖大寿在宁远筑城，但祖大寿料想明军一定守不住的，只筑了十分之一，敷衍了事。 袁崇焕到后，当即大张旗鼓、雷厉风行的进行筑城，立了规格：城墙高三丈二尺，城雉再高六尺，城墙墙址广三丈，派祖大寿等督工。袁崇焕与将士同甘共苦，善待百姓，当他们是家人父兄一般，所以筑城时人人尽力。次年完工，城高墙厚，成为关外的重镇。这座城墙是袁崇焕一生功业的基础。这座城墙把满清重兵挡在山海关外达二十一年之久，如果不是吴三桂把清兵引进关来，不知道还要阻挡多少年。 关外终于有了一个安全的地方。这些年来，辽东辽西的汉人流离失所，若是给满洲人掳去，便成了奴隶，于是关外的汉人纷纷涌到，远近视为乐土，人口大增。宁远城一筑成，明朝的国防前线向北推移了二百余里。 袁崇焕同时开始整饬军纪，他发现一名校官虚报兵额，吞没粮饷，蛮子脾气发作，当即将他杀了。但按照规定，他是无权擅自处斩军官的。孙承宗大怒，骂他越权。袁崇焕叩头谢罪。孙承宗也就算了。他后来擅杀毛文龙，在这时可说已伏下了因子。 孙承宗也是个积极进取型的人物，这时向朝廷请饷二十四万两，准备对清军发动进攻。孙承宗是教天启皇帝读书的老师，天启对老师很不错，立刻就批准了。但兵部尚书与工部尚书互相商议说：“军饷一足，此人就要妄动了。”所以决定不让他“饷足”，采取公文旅行的拖延办法，使孙承宗的战略无法进行。孙承宗于是进行屯田政策，由军士自耕自食，却也得到很大的成效。 天启四年，袁崇焕与大将马世龙、王世钦等率领一万二千名骑兵步兵东巡广宁。广宁即今北镇县，在锦州之北，离满清重镇沈阳已不远了。袁崇焕还没有和清兵交过手，这次已含有主动挑战的意味。但清兵没有应战。袁崇焕一军经大凌河的出口十三山，从海道还宁远。这时清兵已退出十三山。 袁崇焕这次陆海出巡，写了一首诗，题目是《偕诸将游海岛》，不说“率诸将”而说“偕诸将”，不说“巡海岛”而说“游海岛”，颇有儒将的雅量高致。诗中很清楚的抒写了他的心情：是战是守的方略苦受朝廷牵制，不能自由，见到大好河山，更加深了忧愁。对荣华富贵我早已看得极淡，满腔忠愤，却只怕别人要说是杞人忧天。外敌的侵犯最后总是能平定的，但朝廷中争权夺利的斗争却实是大患，不知几时方能停止？看到天上浮云，冷清清的月亮，又想到我父亲逝世，伤心得肠也要断了⑧。 短短三四年之间，从京师戒严到东巡广宁，军事从守势转为攻势，这主要是孙承宗主持之功，而袁崇焕也贡献了很多方略。 孙承宗很赏识他，尽力加以提拔。袁崇焕因功升为兵备副使，再升右参政。孙承宗对他言听计从，委任甚专。 天启五年夏，一切准备就绪，孙承宗根据袁崇焕的策划，派遣诸将分屯锦州、松山、杏山、右屯、大凌河、小凌河诸要塞，又向北推进了二百里，几乎完全收复了辽河以西的旧地，这时宁远又变成内地了。 清兵见敌人稳扎稳打，步步为营的推进，四年之中也不敢来犯。然而进攻的准备工作却做得十分积极，努尔哈赤将京城从太子河右岸的东京城移到了沈阳，以便于南下攻明、西取蒙古，保持充分的出击姿态。 孙承宗有才识，有担当，有气魄，袁崇焕对他既钦佩，又有知遇的感激，这样的上司是极难遇到的。眼见他和孙承宗的共同计划正在一步步的实现，按部就班的收复失地，这几年袁崇焕一定过得十分快乐。他和手下将领满桂、左辅、朱梅、祖大寿、何可纲、赵率教、孙祖寿等人的战斗友谊，也在这些日子中不断加深。
可是好景不常，时局渐渐变坏。天启皇帝熹宗越来越喜欢做木工。魏忠贤的权力越来越大，尽量发挥他地痞流氓性格中的无赖、无知、无耻、以及无法无天。 天启五年，魏忠贤大举屠戮朝廷里的正人君子，将弹劾他二十四条大罪的杨涟下狱。同时下狱的有左光斗、魏大中、袁化中等大臣，所诬陷的罪名是贪污。百姓大愤，数万士民在北京街道上呼叫大哭。魏忠贤不敢正式审讯，命狱卒在监狱中打死了这些大臣。杨涟死得最惨，土囊压身，铁钉贯耳。 不久，魏忠贤又杀熊廷弼。 熊廷弼在辽东立有大功，蒙冤入狱，百姓都很同情他。民间流
In the area less than 150 kilometers away from Hong Kong, there have been two figures who have a significant relationship with Chinese history in the past 300 years.The most important is of course Mr. Sun Yat-sen.The other is Yuan Chonghuan, who was born in Dongguan County, Guangdong. When I read Yuan Chonghuan's memorials, poems, and historical materials related to him, I always felt as if I was reading the tragedies of ancient Greek playwrights Euripides, Shaphocles and others.Yuan Chonghuan is really like a tragic hero in ancient Greece. He has great courage, the courage to fight the enemy, and moral courage.His soaring energy, obstinate brute force, and staunch ruthlessness were doubly prominent in the wretched and sluggish imperial court at the end of Ming Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan, the word element, the name Ziru. "Huan" means fire, bright and brilliant, and brilliance; "Su" means straightforward simplicity, which is the nature of nature.His blazing life, his own way of character, and his free and easy style are indeed worthy of his name.Such a character constituted a strong conflict with the unfortunate era in which he grew up.The ancient Greek heroes struggled desperately, and finally they were no match for the power of fate and collapsed.What hit Yuan Chonghuan was not fate, but the current situation.Although, in a sense, times are destiny.Like the heroes in Greek epics and tragedies, he fought vigorously, but every battle was a step towards the inevitable tragic ending. In the section of the Greek epic "Iliad" that describes the battle between Hector and Achilles around the city, it describes that the gods took the scales to weigh the fate of these two heroes. When I was a child, I read that Hector's end sank , the gods decided that he had to die in defeat, and felt very sad, "That's not fair! That's not fair!" After many years, when I read how Huang Taiji of the Manchu Qing set up countermeasures, how Chongzhen and his ministers Discussing whether to kill Yuan Chonghuan also has a strong sense of sadness. Historians comment on Yuan Chonghuan, focusing on his achievements, his influence on the time and later generations, and his role in the fall and rise of the Ming and Qing dynasties.In the past ten years or so, I have been writing a novel and an editorial for a newspaper almost every day, so I am equally interested in history, politics and novels. His exploits attracted my attention even more. Overall, the Qing Dynasty was much better than the Ming Dynasty.Comparing the total average scores of the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty from the Taizu of the Qing Dynasty to those of the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty, I think it is almost incomparable in mathematics, because the former is a very high positive number, and the latter is quite high negative number.Regarding the fact that the Manchus came to rule China, the evaluation in modern times has also changed quite a bit from that of the predecessors.Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan's achievements will inevitably lose their brilliance with the progress of the times.But his heroism will never fade away.Just like the success or failure of the Seven Kingdoms disputes in those days, it has little meaning today, but the lives of Jing Ke, Qu Yuan, Lin Xiangru, Lian Po, Lord Xinling, etc. have transcended history and politics. Yuan Chengzhi in the movie is just an ordinary character in character.He didn't have the courage to resist tough times, and fled overseas after being frustrated, just like most of us overseas. Yuan Chonghuan is a real hero, with great talent and heroism, covering the world, even his shortcomings are heroic and shocking.He is more heroic than the fictional heroes in the novel. His character is like a sharp and unparalleled sword.When the day of peace and prosperity hangs on the wall, it will inevitably scream in the middle of the night and jump out of the sword box.In the dark and chaotic world, after slaying dragons and tigers, every inch is finally broken. In those unfortunate days at the end of Ming Dynasty, everyone was unlucky.Every monarch felt the humiliation of failure deeply when he was dying: Chongzhen, Qing Taizu Nurhachi, Qing Taizong Huang Taiji (if he was not murdered, then it is the only exception), the leader of the Mongols Lin Danhan , King Li You of North Korea; the generals and ministers who are always at the end of the road (the general who resists the enemy bravely and the general who surrenders to the enemy as a traitor, the loyal and upright minister and the shameless minister, the fate is the same, but in a relatively mild In this era, treacherous officials often end well, such as Qin Hui); angry intellectuals, soldiers who did not receive food and pay, "rogues" whose lives were precarious, hungry and displaced people, and heroes with great talent and courage: Yang Lian, Xiong Tingbi, Sun Chengzong, Li Zicheng, Yuan Chonghuan. In that era, everyone suffered hardships that could not be imagined in the peaceful years.During the Great Famine in Shandong, husbands ate the bodies of their wives, and mothers ate the bodies of their sons.That is the tragedy of the little people, and the grief in their hearts is no less than that of the heroes.However, the little people just endured silently, but the heroes fought bravely, leaving traces in history.The dignity and greatness of the hero, after countless days, still stir up waves in the hearts of future generations. These unfortunate times are the culmination of decades of political measures that have reached their peak of corruption. I have a "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by the British historian Gippen on my bookshelf, which is an annotated volume in three volumes①.On the spine are two marble columns of Romanesque architecture, the first book with some broken capitals, the second more broken, and the third completely collapsed.This symbolizes the decline and demise of an empire, how it develops step by step. The same is true of the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty. The collapse of the Ming Dynasty began with Shenzong②. Shenzong's reign name was Wanli, and he was the longest reigning emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He was emperor for a total of forty-eight years.Just because he has been emperor for too long, he has caused great harm to the people of the country.He was fifty-eight years old when he died, which was not considered old. His ancestor Ming Taizu lived to be seventy-one years old, Chengzu was sixty-five years old, and Sejong was sixty years old.But Shenzong declined before he was old, and later he became addicted to opium.Opium did not shorten his life, but poisoned his spirit.His greed was probably innate, but his unbelievable laziness must have been due to the influence of opium. However, the early years of Wanli was one of the most glorious periods in Chinese history.Chinese and Western scholars in modern times study porcelain and other handicrafts, and they have a common opinion: during the period when China's national power was the most prosperous, the porcelain produced was the most splendid.The porcelain and enamel wares produced during the Wanli period are splendid, exquisite and elegant, making them rare masterpieces.Because in the first ten years of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng was in the country, and he was a shrewd and capable statesman rarely seen in Chinese history. Shenzong was only ten years old when he took over, and he obeyed his mother in everything.The empress dowagers of the two palaces trusted Zhang Juzheng very much, and Feng Bao, the eunuch with great political power, was able to win over Zhang Juzheng very well. Together with these favorable conditions, Zhang Juzheng was able to let go of things.The Ming Dynasty no longer had a prime minister since Ming Taizu's later years. Zhang Juzheng was a great scholar, and his name was the first assistant, which was equivalent to a prime minister. From the first year to the tenth year of Wanli, Zhang Juzheng's political achievements were remarkable.He reused famous generals Li Chengliang, Qi Jiguang, and Wang Chonggu, so that the northern aliens, mainly Mongols, were defeated every time they invaded.The armed riots of the ethnic minorities in the south were also sent to him to quell them one by one.The country is prosperous and strong, and the grain reserves can be used for ten years, and the surplus in stocks exceeds the annual annual expenditure of the whole country.The transportation and postal services are well organized.Clearing the land area of the whole country makes the taxation fair, so that the poor will not be burdened with excessive money and food, but the bureaucrats will not pay taxes as before.He fully supported Pan Jixun, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, and cured the flooded Yellow River and Huaihe River, distributed the wasteland after the water receded to the victims for reclamation, and exempted them from tax for three years.The bureaucratic promotion system is strictly enforced, and corruption is severely punished. At that time, China was the most advanced, richest and most powerful country in the world.When European literati and scholars mentioned China, they all admired and yearned for it.They admire China's cultural governance and education, China's examination and civil service system, China's roads extend in all directions, and China's common people live much better than European poor people.The tenth year of Wanli was 1582 AD.It would be six years before England defeated the Spanish Armada; thirty-eight years before the British Puritans arrived in America on the "Mayflower"; on the throne of France.Shakespeare was only sixteen years old at that time, and he was still stealing deer in the woods of England.Until eighty-three years later, a terrible plague broke out in London because it was too dirty and unhygienic.In the early years of Wanli, big cities like Beijing, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Hangzhou, which were as gorgeous as Wanli colored porcelain, really looked like paradise in the eyes of foreigners. China's economy is also developing rapidly, and its handicraft industry and technology are very advanced.In the fifteenth century, China was one of the most important cotton-producing regions in the world.Due to the use of fine rice varieties from Vietnam during the Zhengde period, farmland was expanded and rice production increased greatly, especially in Guangdong.Because of the popularization of rice planting, a large number of fish farming in paddy fields, and a great reduction of malaria mosquitoes, malaria, which has always been called miasma in south of the Five Ridges, is no longer as terrible as it used to be. Therefore, the economy and culture of Guangdong and Guangxi have also begun to develop rapidly. However, the absolute autocratic system of centralized monarchy, coupled with four consecutive fatuous and corrupt emperors, pushed this well-educated, hardworking and intelligent 100 million people, this unparalleled rich and powerful country, into the abyss of pain.
Zhang Juzheng died in the tenth year of Wanli, and the twenty-year-old young emperor came to power by himself.The emperor pursued Zhang Juzheng's official title, confiscated his family property, sent his family to the army, and forced his eldest son to commit suicide. Shenzong is quite smart.Most of the foolish emperors in Chinese history were somewhat clever. Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, and Empress Li were all brilliant writers.On top of Ming Shenzong's intelligence, what is added is not literary talent, but incredible laziness and greed.The emperor's laziness is not a serious problem. He only needs to appoint one or two capable ministers and leave everything to them. Most of the politics can only be more on track. Clear in the next" precedent.However, in addition to being lazy, Shenzong wanted to seize power. For decades, he did not do things himself, and he would never let his ministers do things.This is certainly unprecedented in world history, and I believe it will also be unprecedented. As an emperor, he could get whatever he wanted, but what Shenzong wanted was money that was most useless to him.If he is not an emperor, he must be a successful businessman, with an irrepressible greed in his blood.Some of his ancestral emperors were vicious, some were absurd, but none of them were so indescribably greedy.Therefore, a historian in modern times speculated that his character was inherited from the maternal line.His mother was the daughter of a small farmer. The most convenient and effective way for the emperor to be greedy for money is of course to increase taxes.The taxes added by Shenzong are not collected into the national treasury, but into their own private treasury, called "nei treasury".He stepped up the collection of commercial tax, which was originally there. Except for books and agricultural implements, all commodity transactions were taxed at 3%.He also invented a "mine tax". A large number of uneducated eunuchs who were more or less psychologically abnormal due to disabilities, as the emperor's private tax collection representatives, went out in all directions to collect mining taxes.As long as the "mining tax envoy" thinks that a mine can be mined, the owner of the real estate must pay the mine tax.These eunuchs did all sorts of crimes, and they brought a lot of rogues with them to extort money everywhere, pointing at people's ancestral tombs, houses, shops, workshops, and fields, saying that there were mineral deposits underground, and they had to pay mining taxes⑥.As a result, the world was in turmoil and countless civil upheavals were triggered.These imperial eunuchs who collect taxes are powerful, so they are naturally tyrannical and lawless, and they often kill and torture civil and military officials without authorization.There was a eunuch Gao Huai who went to Liaodong to collect mining taxes and commercial taxes. He confiscated hundreds of thousands of taels of property from the people, arrested dozens of scholars who refused to pay taxes, killed the commander, and accused the general officer of breaking the law.Shenzong was very lazy and ignored any memorials, but as long as it was related to mining tax, the imperial tax supervisor reported it, and he immediately approved it. The scale of the search is staggering.In the early years of Wanli, when Zhang Juzheng was in power, his annual income was about 4 million taels⑦, and the annual expenditure for the palace was 1.2 million taels, accounting for almost one-third of the annual income.However, in just five days in the twenty-seventh year of Wanli, two million taels of mining tax and business tax were collected.This is still the amount paid into the emperor's treasury, and the money embezzled by the eunuchs and entourage is much larger than this amount.According to the estimation of Li Dai, Shangshu of the Ministry of Officials at that time, only one-tenth was handed over to the internal treasury, two-tenths were deducted by eunuchs, three-tenths were divided up by followers, and ten-tenths were extorted from good people by gangsters. Four. But Shenzong's greed is his laziness. When he was twenty-eight years old, Wang Jiaping, a university scholar, wrote a memorial saying: In one year, I only saw Tianyan twice, and occasionally made some suggestions, which were the same as other officials' memorials, and the emperor ignored them at all. . This situation is getting worse and worse. In the forty-second year of Wanli, the chief assistant Ye Xianggao said: "There are six Shangshu, only one of which is left. More than half of the governors are missing.His memorial was written very passionately, saying that now that China and foreign countries are at odds, the capital is full of complaints, and a catastrophe is imminent. The emperor still thinks that seeing his courtiers is a magical effect of the gods. I am afraid that the holy emperors and kings since ancient times have not had such a wonderful method⑧.Shenzong was full of opium, and his anger was gone.If such a memorial falls into the hands of the founder Taizu, Chengzu, and the last Sizong, Ye Xianggao must be beheaded.But as long as Shenzong has money to pay, it doesn't matter if he ridicules or even scolds the ministers. It can be said that the ministers in the Wanli period knew everything and said everything.Some people said that if the emperor did this, the people would be exhausted and the world would be in chaos⑨; Silver jewelry, who will guard you⑪?Some accuse the emperor of deceiving the people, which is similar to Jie and Zhou's foolish emperor⑫;It is unprecedented and unimaginable that the courtiers dared to publicly criticize the emperor like this, not by one or two loyal ministers who are not afraid of death, but by everyone.However, the speaker is earnest and the listener is contemptuous. Shenzong completely ignored these criticisms.The records in the official history often say "sparse in, get angry, stay in the middle and don't report it".If you stay in China, you will not be approved.Maybe he was too lazy to punish people and didn't even want to punish them, because punishing people always had to issue an imperial edict.But until his death, his style of searching desperately did not change at all.At the same time, in order to use troops against the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the land tax was increased again and again.The emperor’s collected income was stored in private treasury (inner treasury), but the government’s public treasury (outer treasury) was always insufficient. As a result, the inner treasury was too solid and the outer treasury was too empty⑮. Under such vicious oppression, the lives of the people are of course extremely painful. In addition to concentrating on searching, Shenzong has always been absolutely indifferent to other government affairs.In November of the 43rd year of Wanli, the censor Zhai Fengchong said in his memorial: The emperor has not seen his courtiers for 25 years.
Notes: ①Edward Gibbon: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Heritage Press, New York. ② This is the common opinion of posthumous scholars. "History of the Ming Dynasty Shenzong Benji": "So the theory says: the death of the Ming Dynasty was actually caused by Shenzong." Zhao Yi's "Notes on the Twenty-two History The Harm of the Mining Tax in Wanli": "The commentator said that the death of the Ming Dynasty did not come from Chongzhen but from Chongzhen. It died in Wanli Yun." Emperor Gaozong of the Qing Dynasty inscribed the stele of divine merit and virtue in Changling of the Ming Dynasty: "The death of the Ming Dynasty was not caused by bandits, but by the absurdity of Shenzong and the arbitrariness of eunuchs during the Apocalypse. Digging for flattery. When Sizong ascended the throne, even though rebellious eunuchs were punished, the power of the world is like a river that can never be blocked again, and fish that rot cannot be recovered. And the scrutiny is too harsh, and people have the heart of self-exemption. The poor people suffer There is no report, so the gathering is a robber, and the thief takes advantage of it, and the Ming Society is closed. Woohoo! Those who have the world, don’t know what to guard against?” ③Europeans who traveled to China in the late sixteenth century, such as G. Pereira, G. da Gruz, M. de Rade, etc., wrote books praising China.They compare China's roads, cities, land, sanitation, poor life, etc. with Europe, and think China is much better.See AP Newton, ed., Travel and Travelers of the Middle Ages; CR Boxer, South China in the 16th Gentury and other books.Until 1798, Malthus said that China was the richest country in the world in his "On Population Part I".The Catholic priest Matteo Ricci and others who came to China during the Wanli period even praised China's cultural system and believed that it was unparalleled in the world.See LJ Gallagher, SJ tr., China in the Six-teenth Century. ④Wolfram Eberhard: A History of China, p.249. ⑤Zhu Dongrun's "The Great Biography of Zhang Juzheng": "From Ming Taizu to Shenzong, the blood is full of paranoia and arrogance... When it comes to Shenzong, new elements are added to this proud blood. His mother was a small farmer in Shanxi Daughter. The small farmer has the aura of being greedy for profit. After a liter of wheat is planted in the soil, he spends long days there calculating that it will grow into a dendrobium, a stone, hard and good wheat. The spirit of the day , focusing on this point.... Among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, only Shenzong was greedy for profit, and out of nature, perhaps it can only be explained in this way.” (p. 317) However, it seems inappropriate to say that small farmers are greedy for profit.The small farmer grows wheat and expects a harvest, which is not only a natural and reasonable expectation, but also the only means of life, which cannot be said to be profit-seeking. ⑥ The tax rate of the mining tax is randomly specified. In L. Carrington Goodrich, A Short History of the Chinese People, it is said that the mining tax in Wanli was 40% of the value of the minerals. Even if the mines have been shut down, the mine owners Taxes still have to be paid annually at the old rates. p.199. ⑦According to Zhang Juzheng's "Looking at the Household Department's Advance Report and Unveiled Posts": In the fifth year of Wanli, the annual income was more than 4,359,400 taels, and the annual expenditure was more than 3,494,200 taels. ⑧Ye Xianggao played: "China and foreign countries are centrifugal, there are complaints and indignation between the hubs, elbows and armpits of the chariot, and disasters are unpredictable, and the affairs of your majesty are separated from your ministers. You can't close your loyalty, and the six cao can't hold their positions. There is no one in the world who can be trusted, but I think it's a wonderful use of the gods. I fear that since ancient times, the holy emperors and kings, there is no way to do this." 9 In the twenty-seventh year, Feng Qi, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, played: "Since the mine tax was sent out, the suffering of the people has become even worse. With the addition of floods, droughts and locust disasters, they have drifted away from the road, Jifu is close to the ground, and thieves are on the road. This is not a small reason. The middle envoy was ordered , followed by thousands of traitors...then today's cunning gangsters are using the handle of life and death...within five days, two million public and private silver have been searched. The traitors are born with traitors, making exceptions and setting a precedent. There will be endless chaos. Fuwang is eager to repair it, so that the young will not be resentful, and the history will be ridiculed." ⑩Engineering gave Wang Dewan a play on the matter: "Let the tigers out of the box to devour the people, and the wolves in the Yi circle to devour the people. There is nowhere to express resentment, and there is no time to solve the depression." ⑪Fengyang Governor Li Sancai played: "Your Majesty loves pearls and jade, and the people also love food and clothing. Your Majesty loves children and grandchildren, and the people also love their wives and children. But why do you want to gather money and bribes, so that the common people have no peace?" He also said: "The recent memorials , everything and mining tax are ignored. The survival of this sect is a matter of life and death. Once the rebels collapse and the common people become the enemy, your majesty will be filled with gold and pearls to fill the house. Who will guard it?" ⑫Give the matter Nakata Dayi: "The internal affairs are plundered to meet the needs of the superiors. There is no need for mines and taxes do not need to be negotiated. The folks are all mines, and the officials, farmers, and workers are all taxed. Public and private are turbulent, and the grease is exhausted. , to the so-called military country, it is used rightly, but it causes defects....People from all over the world are gnashing their lips and teeth, hoping to cover the eyes and ears of the world with wise and sweet words, can they be obtained? Bian is the confidant, and money, pearls and jade are the lifeline... Even if Feng Qian cuts his heart and Gao Kui enters to remonstrate, can he solve his confusion?" He also said: "Your Majesty drives away wolves and tigers, flies and eats people... Gold, jade, and jewels are expensive, but gold, jade, and jewels are cheap. If you accumulate gold, jade, and jewels like Mount Tai, you can’t sell the world’s size, and lose the world, so what’s the use of gold, jade, and jewels?” ⑬ Li Daizuo, Minister of the Ministry of Officials: "Today, the three assistants are wailing, and the people have no means of living; the vegetation is exhausted, and the bark is stripped; And waiting to die, how can you bear it? How can you bear it if you make the people refuse to sit and wait to die?... At this time, the burden of taxation is twice as much as it was twenty years ago... Pointing at his house and saying "here" If there is a mine, the family will be ruined; if the tax is evaded, the house will be ruined. With the number that cannot be checked, people who have nothing to worry about are used to do things that are unreasonable and kingly." ⑭Shangshu Zhao Shiqing said: "Emperor's order is as reliable as the four seasons. Three years ago, he said: 'My heart is benevolent, and there is a time to stop.' Year after year, when will it be? The emperor has a joke , The king's order is reckless." ⑮In the forty-fourth year of Wanli, Xiong Ming met Shu in the matter: "The inner treasury is too solid, and the outer treasury is too empty." (The texts in the memorials from ⑧ to ⑮ above can be found in "History of Ming Dynasty" or "Tongjian of Ming Dynasty".) At this time, the Manchu Qing Dynasty began to rise.In the forty-fifth year of Wanli, Nurhachi complained to the sky with the seven major hatreds, sent troops to attack Ming Dynasty, and captured Fushun, an important town in Liaodong the following year.The Ming army was defeated, Zhang Chengyin, the commander-in-chief, died in battle, and more than ten thousand soldiers annihilated the whole army, and the whole court was shocked. In the forty-seventh year, Yang Gao, the Liaodong economic strategist, led the Ming army with 180,000 troops, Ye He (the enemy of the Qing Dynasty) with 20,000 troops, and North Korea (the vassal state of China) with 20,000 troops. The troops were divided into four groups and aggressively attacked the Qing Dynasty.There were about 60,000 soldiers from the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty. They concentrated their forces and focused on the West Road.The commander-in-chief of the West Route Army, Du Song, is a brave general of the Ming army. His favorite thing to do is to take off his clothes and show off the scars of swords and guns all over his body.When he dispatched troops, he took off his upper body clothes and paraded through the city, and the people applauded and cheered. The battle on the West Road was called the "Battle of Salhu". The Ming army had firearms and steel cannons, which were much sharper.But Juniper was brave and foolhardy. He was the commander of a corps with 60,000 troops, but he was shirtless, showing scars all over his body, and charged in the lead.Probably he is the reader of the book, very envious of the bravery of the "tiger idiot" Xu Chu.In the book "Xu Chu Naked Fighting Ma Chao", it is described that Xu Chu "takes off his armor, his body is bulging, he lifts his knife naked, gets on his horse, and comes to a decisive battle with Ma Chao."But I don't know if he remembers Xu Chu's fierce fight, and the result was "a chaos in the army, and Xu Chu got two arrows in his back"?Interestingly, the commentator of the novel commented: "Who told you to be shirtless?" When the Ming and Qing armies lined up to confront each other, suddenly the sky became dark, and nothing could be seen a few feet away.Juniper made another big mistake and ordered the army to light the torches.In this way, the Ming army was in the light and the Qing army was in the dark. The Ming army illuminated itself and became the target of the Qing army.Nurhachi commanded the Six Banners as the main force to attack, while his son Daishan and Huang Taiji each unified the banners to attack on the right flank.As a result, Juniper's experience was much worse than Xu Chu's. He died of eighteen arrows in his body. It was really "Who told you to be naked?" Nurhachi adopted the correct strategy of "concentrating the main force and breaking through each", and fought one battle and one battle separately.Ma Lin, the commander-in-chief of the North Route of the Ming Army, and Liu Jie, the commander-in-chief of the East Route, were defeated and killed. Liu Jie was the most powerful general in the Ming Dynasty at that time. He fought against Burmese and Japanese pirates. He once led troops to assist North Korea against the Japanese invasion.The iron knife he used weighed one hundred and twenty catties, and it was called "Liu Dadao" all over the world.His broadsword was thirty-nine catties heavier than Guan Yu's eighty-one catties Qinglong Yanyue Saber.It is said that he can lift a cypress Eight Immortals table full of wine, vegetables and chopsticks with one hand, and walk around the hall three times.Even valiant generals like Juniper and Liu Jie were beaten to death by the Qing soldiers, and the Ming soldiers were naturally hit hard psychologically. When they mentioned the "braided soldiers" of the Manchu Qing, they would inevitably turn pale. This battle was the key to the rise and fall of the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the key to victory or defeat lies in: First, the coach of the Ming Dynasty, Yang Gao, was a civil servant and did not understand military affairs at all.Second, the political corruption of the Ming Dynasty has reached the extreme, and the associated military administration is also slack. The army has not been trained for a long time, and there is no necessary military preparation at all. Yang Gao's entire army was wiped out, and the imperial court sent Xiong Tingbi to defend Liaodong. In July of the forty-sixth year of Wanli, Xiong Tingbi had just left Shanhaiguan, Tieling had fallen, and the soldiers and civilians in Shenyang and nearby castles fled one after another.Xiong Tingbi entered Liaoyang concurrently.After decades of Shenzong's ignorance of everything, the discipline of the army was shattered, and the soldiers had no fighting spirit. The cavalry deliberately killed their horses to avoid going out to fight.The situation Xiong Tingbi faced was extremely difficult②.The military salary was already very meager, but the emperor still desperately defaulted on it and refused to pay the salary③. Shenzong saw that the pursuit of wages at the border was getting more and more urgent, and he knew he couldn't bear it anymore, but he still refused to pay out of his own pocket, so he came up with a countermeasure: add 2% to the land tax.Together with the previous two times, a total of 9% has been added. However, the extra land tax collected from the people may not be used to pay the army. The emperor's basic interest is to hide the silver in the inner treasury. The alarms on the border kept coming, and the ministers asked the emperor to come to the court every day to discuss the strategy of war and defense.The emperor always sent eunuchs out to announce: "The emperor is sick." Zhao Huan, the official minister, couldn't bear it anymore, and wrote a memorial: "In the future, when the enemy's cavalry come outside Beijing, your majesty can also say that there is something wrong in the deep palace. Are you sick, and just make the enemy retreat?" ④ Shenzong read this sarcastic memorial, which was almost abusive, but he held a grudge in his heart, but refused to convene a national defense conference. The silver ingots collected by Shenzong have been piled up in the inner warehouse for a long time, and they have been greatly oxidized. Some are as black as lacquer, and some are as brittle and rotten as mud⑤, but they just refuse to take them out for use.But when he finally died, he couldn't take even one tael of the tens of millions of taels with him. Shenzong, Shenzong, is really "spiritual", very nervous!
Notes: ①Xu Guangqi, who was a scholar at the time of Chongzhen, said in "Pao Yan": Beimen, the old capital of the Manchurians, was mostly blacksmiths, and it stretched for several miles.At that time, it was a large-scale arsenal combination.Therefore, the armor of the Manchurian soldiers is excellent. The helmets, masks, arm guards, and hand guards are all made of fine iron, and the horses also have fine iron protective gear at the vital points.But the armor of the Ming soldiers is very simple, except for the armor on the chest and back, the rest is completely unprotected.The Manchu soldiers rushed to the vicinity and shot Ming soldiers in the face and threat, and the arrows would kill them.According to Cheng Lingming, a man of the Ming Dynasty at that time, the capital Nurhachi lived in was "outside the north gate, blacksmiths lived there, specializing in armor; outside the south gate, bowmen and arrowmen lived there, specializing in making arrows." ②Xiong Tingbi wrote to the imperial court on August 29, stating the situation of the Ming army in Liaodong: "Remnant soldiers... have no armor, no weapons, follow the battalion, pretend to be dead and pretend to be alive, and refuse to go to battle... the name of the list , and dispatched laborers, half of them suddenly went away; they were famous for their salary, and half of them went when they heard the warning... The generals have survived many battles, and those who have been defeated for a long time. When they hear the alarm, they are all frightened ...Seeing that there are more than 10,000 horses, most of which are thin and worn out, the sergeants will deliberately cut off the fodder, try to kill them, prepare infantry, so as not to go out to fight, and even stab the dead with knives for no reason....Strong armor and sharp blades, spears and firearms, all lost Exhausted. All the bows held by the sergeants today have broken backs and broken strings, all the arrows they hold have no feathers or arrowheads, all the knives are blunt, and the spears are all stubborn and bald. There are even those who have nothing and borrow others to respond. Covered by armor...fleeing the wind, fleeing the formation, and fleeing in fear of the battle. After hearing the news from Beiguan, there are thousands of people fleeing from each camp. If there are only one or two battalions or dozens of people fleeing, the ministers will still The law can be used to bring them to justice. Today there are 50,000 to 60,000 people, and everyone wants to flee. Even if there is an order from the Sun Wu army, it is difficult to stop it." ③ In March of the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Xiong Tingbi made a statement: "In the forty-seventh year, I went to the Ministry of Households in twelve months (suspected to be "one"), and received 200,000 taels of salary, in December I received 100,000 taels of salary, and in the first month of forty-eight years I received The salary is 150,000 taels, and none of them has been paid... How come the army is not hungry until today, the horses are not thin or dead, and the side affairs are still in a hurry? The soldiers have no food, why don't they sell coats, trousers and sundries? How not to seize folk grain cellars? How not to seize horse feed to feed oneself, how not to lose weight and not die horses? And the Ministry of Households is still indifferent.” He said that the Ministry of Households was still indifferent, which is a polite way of saying, indifferent The one who thought about it was, of course, the emperor himself. ④ "In the future, Jimen will be ravaged, and iron cavalry will be in the suburbs. Will your majesty be able to dig deep into the palace and call it sick?" ⑤ Huke Giving Affairs Zhongguan Ying Zhen said: "There are 100,000 taels and 59,000 taels in the inner treasury, some are as black as lacquer, or as brittle as soil, and they are built as an image that will not rot." ⑥ Archaeologists in the mainland excavated the tombs of emperors, but they chose Shenzong's "Dingling Mausoleum" and converted it into a museum, called "Underground Palace". After Shenzong's death, his son Guangzong had only been the emperor for one month before he died of taking medicine by mistake.Zhu Youxiao, Guangzong's son, took over the throne. He was called Xizong in history, and his reign name was Tianqi. Guangzong's time as emperor was very short, but the troubles he left behind were enormous. The three major cases in the late Ming Dynasty, namely the attack on the bridge, Hongwan, and moving the palace, were all related to his throne and life and death.The ministers were divided into two factions, and there were endless disputes.The dispute involves everything else, as long as it is something done by the other party, no matter it is right or wrong, it will always be used to attack fiercely. Xi Zong was sixteen years old when he took over the throne. In fact, he was not yet fifteen years old. He was still a child. He was very attached to his wet nurse, Keshi.This Hakka family likes to exercise power very much, and has a weird sexual relationship with the eunuch Wei Zhongxian in the palace.There are many eunuchs and maids in the palace. They comfort each other for loneliness, and they fall in love in private. However, eunuchs are hermaphrodites who have castrated their sexual functions, so this is neither heterosexual love nor homosexuality. Sharing the same bed is nothing more than eating together and comforting each other in loneliness.Wei Zhongxian became the counterpart of the Hakka family and gradually gained power. Xi Zong is a natural carpenter. His favorite things are sawing, planing and painting wood, and he is very skilled in carpentry.Wei Zhongxian always took important memorials to ask him to review when he was concentrating on carpentry.How could Xi Zong let go of his beloved carpenter?With a wave of his hand, he said, "Don't bother me, just wait and see." So Wei Zhongxian went and watched, becoming more and more lawless. There were a group of shameless flatterers in the court to flatter him. Later, Wei Zhongxian became the actual emperor.Xi Zong is "long live", and some officials met Wei Zhongxian and called him "nine thousand years old", saying that he was only a little worse than the emperor.Later, the cult of personality was even more fanfare, and it was in full swing, and temples were built for Wei Zhongxian all over the country.Originally, people entered the ancestral hall only after they died, but when the "nine thousand-year-old" old man was alive, he built the ancestral hall. A true cult of personality. Wei Zhongxian was originally a rascal. When he was young, he gambled with others and lost a lot. He couldn't pay his gambling debts, and was insulted and pursued.He could not read, but had a good memory, and was a completely uneducated gambler.The military and political power of the world's largest country falls into the hands of such people. Xiong Tingbi trained troops to defend the city in Liaodong, recruited refugees, cleaned up military discipline, repaired equipment, and stabilized the situation.The mess he took over has been sorted out a little bit by him.Seeing that the opponent was prepared, Man Qing did not dare to attack rashly.But the ministers of the opposing faction in the court came to make trouble with him, and kept attacking him in memorials, saying that he was too timid to fight;So the imperial court changed Xiong Tingbi's post, awaiting investigation, and replaced him with Yuan Yingtai as commander-in-chief. Yuan Yingtai is a top-notch talent in water conservancy engineering. He has made great contributions to building embankments, controlling floods and relieving victims all his life.He has a benevolent personality and is diligent in his work, but he is completely incapable of fighting.Nurhachi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was overjoyed when he learned that Xiong Tingbi had resigned, so he led his troops to attack.Yuan Yingtai led his army to fight, and 70,000 soldiers were defeated.The Qing soldiers occupied Shenyang, broke through two reinforcements from the Ming army, and then attacked Liaoyang.The Ming army was defeated again, and the full army took Liaoyang, a military fortress. The military situation was so bad that the imperial court was helpless, so they had to ask Xiong Tingbi to come out again, and punished a group of officials who attacked him last time, which was regarded as calming him down.However, Zhang Heming, Minister of the Ministry of War, disagreed with Xiong Tingbi. He only liked Wang Huazhen, the king of flattery and governor, and asked Wang Huazhen not to obey Xiong Tingbi's command. Wang Huazhen bragged to the imperial court that only 60,000 soldiers were needed to wipe out the Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop.The court actually believed him.Xiong Tingbi strongly believed that he was not prepared enough to attack.However, the Minister of the Ministry of War blindly protected Wang Huazhen.So Wang Huazhen led 140,000 troops to the battle, and the whole army was defeated in a confrontation.Qing soldiers captured the strong city of Guangning.Finally, after Xiong Tingbi led five thousand soldiers, hundreds of thousands of refugees and defeated soldiers retreated into Shanhaiguan.The court indiscriminately arrested Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi together.Zhang Heming was dismissed. So far, there have been three major battles between the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Every battle of the Ming army was a big defeat. Although the combat effectiveness of the Ming soldiers was not as good as that of the Qing soldiers, it was not impossible or unwilling to fight.In every major battle, the commander-in-chief was killed, and most of the lieutenants and generals were also killed.The number of Ming soldiers was several times that of the Qing soldiers, and their weapons were much more advanced, including firearms.The failure of the three major battles was mainly due to the lack of preparation and training of the army, as well as improper strategy and wrong command of the commander.The slack in military affairs and low morale are of course also due to the failure of the commander in chief. Given China's size, why is there often a shortage of talented commanders?根本症结是在明朝一个绝对荒谬的制度：由文官指挥战役。 这个制度的根源，在于皇帝不信任武官。明朝皇帝不信任武将，怕他们手里有了武力，就会抢夺皇帝的宝座，先是派文官去军中监视，后来索性叫文官做总指挥，到后来连文官也不信任了，于是再加派太监作监军。太监既是皇帝的心腹亲信，另有一样好处，太监没有儿子，篡位的可能性就很小。做了皇帝而不能传于子孙，做皇帝的兴趣就大打折扣了。 明朝御史的权力很大，有权监察各行政部门。大学士代皇帝拟的圣旨、六部尚书所下的决定，御史都可放言批评，而且批评经常发生效力。皇帝派去监察武将的“总督”、“巡抚”，后来就变成了总司令、总指挥。 但要做到御史，通常非中进士不可。要中进士，必须读熟四书五经，书法漂亮，会做起承转合的八股文。明朝读书人如何废寝忘食的学八股文、考进士，读一下就很清楚了。明朝派去带兵、指挥大军，和清军猛将锐卒对抗的，却都是这批熟读诗云子曰、八股文做得很好的进士。 明末抗清有三个名将，功勋卓著：熊廷弼是万历二十五年的解元（唐伯虎一类身分），万历二十六年的进士。孙承宗是万历三十二年的进士第二名（榜眼）。袁崇焕是万历四十七年进士。他们三个是文官，幸亏碰巧有用兵的才能。本来明末皇帝的运气不坏，做八股文考中进士的文人之中居然出现了三个军事专家。然而文官会带兵，那就是危险人物。明朝皇帝罢斥了其中一个，杀死了另外两个。 别的奉命统兵抗清的八股文专家们可就没有军事才能了。杨镐，万历八年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。袁应泰，万历二十三年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。王化贞，万历四十一年进士，指挥大军，全军覆没。
袁崇焕是在这样的政治、经济、军事背景之下，去应付辽东艰巨的局面。当然，更艰巨的，是应付北京朝廷中的局面。 背后是昏愦胡涂的皇帝、屈杀忠良的权奸、嫉功妒能的言官；手下是一批饥饿羸弱的兵卒和马匹，将官不全，兵器残缺，领不到粮，领不到饷，所面对的敌人，却是自成吉思汗以来，四百多年中全世界从未出现过的军事天才努尔哈赤。这个用兵如神的统帅，传下了严密的军事制度和纪律，使得他手下那批战士，此后两百年间在全世界所向无敌。铁骑奔驰于北埵大漠、南疆高原、扩土万里，的的确确是威行绝域，震慑四邻。 努尔哈赤以祖宗遗下的十三副甲胄起家，带领了数百名族人东征西讨，建立了中国历史上疆域最大的大帝国（元朝的蒙古帝国横跨欧亚，不能说中华帝国的领土竟有这么大。蒙古大帝国的中国部分，远比清朝的疆域为小）。清朝的疆域比汉朝、唐朝全盛时代都大得多，宋明两朝更不能与之相比。当时外蒙古、朝鲜、越南、琉球、今日苏联东部的大片土地都是中国的领土或属地。清朝全盛时期的领土，比现在的中国大得多了。 满洲战士后来打败了俄罗斯帝国的骑兵，打败了尼泊尔的啹喀兵，打败了蒙古兵，打败了朝鲜兵，打败了越南兵，间接打败荷兰兵（郑成功先打败荷兰兵，攻占台湾，满洲兵再打败郑成功的孙子），在十七世纪、十八世纪的两百年中，无敌于天下。 至于当时和明帝国交战，已接连三次杀得明军全军覆没，每一个战役都是以少胜多。努尔哈赤兴兵以来，迄此时为止，百战百胜，从未吃过一个败仗。 努尔哈赤幼时在明朝大将李成梁家中为奴，识得汉语汉文，喜读与。他的智略一部分是天生，一部分当是从这两部小说中得来的。 努尔哈赤自己固然智勇双全，他还有一大批精明骁勇的子侄①，剽悍凶猛的将领，部勒严整的战士。 当时有一句谚语说：“女真不满万，满万不可敌。”因为女真人熟习弓马，强悍善战，汉人向来不是他们的敌手。这时女真精兵八旗，每旗七千五百人，已有六万之众了。 袁崇焕所面对的是这样了不起的大敌，而他却是个书生。他会做诗，字写得很好，文章有气势②，既然中了进士，八股文当然也做得不错，诗云子曰背得很熟。相信他不会射箭，宁远第二次大战时，他自称只是在城头大声呐喊③。 努尔哈赤与袁崇焕正面交锋之时，满清的兵势正处于巅峰状态，而明朝的政治与军事也正处于腐败绝顶的状态。 以这样一个文弱书生，在这样不利的局面之下，而去和一个纵横无敌的大英雄对抗，居然把努尔哈赤打死了，打三场大战，胜了三场，袁崇焕的英雄气概，在整个人类历史中都是十分罕有的。
Notes: ①努尔哈赤有十六个儿子，个个是有名的勇将。两个侄儿阿敏与济尔哈朗也十分厉害。 ②康有为《袁督师遗集序》盛称其文字雄奇：“夫袁督师之雄才大略，忠烈武棱，古今寡比。其遗文虽寥落，而奋扬蹈厉，鹤立虹布，犹想见鲁阳挥戈、崆峒倚剑之神采焉。” ③《明史》说熊廷弼左右手都会射箭，但没有提到袁崇焕会武。 袁崇焕，广东东莞人，祖上原籍广西梧州藤县。生于哪一年无法查考。 他为人慷慨，富于胆略，喜欢和人谈论军事，遇到年老退伍的军官士卒，总是向他们请问边疆上的军事情况，在年轻时候就有志于去办理边疆事务①。 他少年时便以“豪士”自许②，喜欢旅行。他中了举人后再考进士，多次落第，每次上北京应试，总是乘机游历，几乎踏遍了半个中国③。最喜欢和好朋友通宵不睡的谈天说地，谈话的内容往往涉及兵戈战阵之事④。 明朝制度，每三年考一次进士，会试在二月初九开始，十五结束。三月初一廷试。袁崇焕于万历四十七年在北京参加廷试而中进士。杨镐于该年二月誓师辽阳，三月间四路丧师。新中进士和大战溃败这两件事在同一个时候发生，袁崇焕这个向来关心边防的新进士一喜一忧，心情一定很复杂。他那时在京城，当然听到不少辽东战事的消息。 他中进士后，被分派到福建邵武去做知县。 天启二年，他到北京来报告职务。他平日是很喜欢高谈阔论的，大概在北京和友人谈话时，发表了一些对辽东军事的见解，很是中肯，引起了御史侯恂（才子侯方域的父亲）的注意，便向朝廷保荐他有军事才能，于是获升为兵部职方司主事（自正七品的知县升为正六品的主事）。不做地方官了，被派到中央政府的国防部去办事。 明朝官制，兵部（国防部）尚书（部长）一人，左右侍郎（副部长）各一人，下面分设四个司：武选（武官人事）、职方（军政、军令）、车驾（警备、通讯、马匹）、武库（后勤、训练）。职方司等于现代的总参谋部，职方司有郎中一人、员外郎一人、主事二人。主事大概相当于总参谋部中的文职中校副处长。 袁崇焕任兵部主事不久，王化贞大军在广宁覆没，满朝惊惶失措。 清兵势如破竹，锐不可当，自万历四十六年到那时，四年多的时间内，覆没了明军数十万，攻占抚顺、开原、铁岭、沈阳、辽阳，直逼山海关。明军打一仗，败一仗，山海关是不是守得住，谁都不敢说。山海关一失，清兵就长驱而到北京了。 于是北京宣布戒严，进入紧急状态。 可是关外的局势到底怎样，传到北京的说法多得很，局势越是不利，谣言越多，这是人类社会的通例。谣言满天飞，谁也无法辨别真假。就在这京师中人心惶惶的时候，袁崇焕骑了一匹马，孤身一人出关去考察。兵部中忽然不见了袁主事，大家十分惊讶，家人也不知他到了哪里。不久他回到北京，向上司详细报告关上形势，宣称：“只要给我兵马粮饷，我一人足可守得住山海关。” 这件事充分表现了他行事任性，很有胆识，敢作敢为而脚踏实地，但狂气也是十足。若在平时，他上司多半要斥责他擅离职守，罢他的官，但这时朝廷正在忧急彷徨之际，听他说得头头是道，便升他为兵备佥事，那是都察院的官，大概相当于现代文职的上校政治主任之类，派他去助守山海关。袁崇焕终于得到了他梦想已久的机会，雄心勃勃的到国防前线去效力。 他的豪语一定使朝中大官们印象十分深刻，所以得到朝廷的支持，从他家乡招募了一批兵员去⑤。当时守山海关的主要是新到的浙江兵。另有三千名广东水兵，在袁崇焕之后到达。袁崇焕认为广东步兵勇捷善战，推荐他叔父袁玉佩负责招募三千名，其中包括袁崇焕平生所结纳的死士谢尚政、洪安澜等人。他又认为广西狼兵雄于天下，冲锋陷阵，恬不畏死，申请于田州、泗城州、龙英州各调二千名，由他至戚慷慨知名、且善武艺的林翔凤带领。朝廷一一批准⑥。 他到山海关后，作为辽东经略（东北军区总司令）王在晋的下属，初时在关内办事。王在晋见他任事干练，很是倚重，派他出关到前屯卫去收抚流离失所的难民。袁崇焕奉命之后，当夜出发，在荆棘虎豹之中夜行，四更天时到达。前屯城中将士无不佩服。袁崇焕本是书生，这一来，兵将都服了他了。 王在晋奏请正式任他为宁前兵备佥事。袁崇焕本来是没有专责的散官，现在有了驻地，相当于宁远、前屯卫二城的城防司令部政治委员，身当山海关外抗御清兵的第一道防线。宁远在最前线，前屯卫稍后。不过他虽负责防守宁远、前屯卫，第一线的宁远却没有城墙，没有防御工事，根本无城可守。他只得驻守在前屯卫。 至于明军一切守御设施，都集中在山海关。山海关是“天下第一关”，防守京师的第一大要塞，然而它没有外围阵地。清兵若是来攻，立刻就冲到关门之前。 稍有军事常识的人都立刻会看出来，单是守御山海关，未免太过危险，没有丝毫退步的余地。只要一仗打败，这个大要塞就失守，敌军便攻到北京。所以在战略形势上，必须将防线向北移，越是推向北方，山海关越安全，北京也越安全。 袁崇焕一再向上司提出这个关键问题。王在晋是万历二十年进士，江苏太仓人的文弱书生，根本不懂军事，眼光短浅，胆子又小，听袁崇焕说要在关外守关，想想道理倒也是对的，便主张在山海关外八里的八里铺筑城守御。他一定想，离山海关太远，逃不回来，那怎么得了？袁崇焕认为只守八里的土地没有用，外围阵地太窄，起不了屏障山海关的作用，和王在晋争论，王不采纳他的意见。于是袁崇焕去向首辅叶向高申请，叶也不理。 袁崇焕的主张虽然正确，然而和顶头上司争论了一场之后，意见不蒙采纳，竟径自去向最高行政首长投诉。越级呈报是官场大忌，他做官的方式却大大不对了。这又是他蛮劲的表现之一。 这时宁远之北的十三山有败卒难民十余万人，给清兵困住了不能出来。朝廷叫大学士孙承宗设法解救。袁崇焕申请由自己带兵五千进驻宁远作声援。另派骁将到十三山去救回溃散了的部队和难民。王在晋觉得这个军事行动太冒险，不加采纳。结果十余万败卒难民都被清兵俘虏，只有六千人逃回。 满清这时在经济上实行奴隶制度，女真人当兵打仗，以抢劫财物为主要工作，认为男子汉耕田种地是耻辱，所以俘虏了汉人和朝鲜人来耕种。汉人、朝鲜人的奴隶是可以买卖的，当时价格是每个精壮汉人约为十八两银子，或换耕牛一头⑦。十三山的十多万汉人被俘虏了去，都成为奴隶，固然受苦不堪，同时更大大增加了满清的经济力量。 那时袁崇焕仍是极力主张筑城宁远。朝廷中的大臣都反对，认为宁远太远，守不住。大学士孙承宗是个有见识之人，亲自出关巡视，了解具体情况，接受了袁崇焕的看法。 不久孙承宗代王在晋作辽东主帅。天启二年九月，孙承宗派袁崇焕与副将满桂带兵驻守宁远，这是袁崇焕领军的开始。 满桂是蒙古人，骁勇善战。从那时起，他和袁崇焕的命运就永远结合在一起，再也分不开了。一个蒙古武将，一个广东统帅，都是十分刚硬、十分倔强的脾气。两人一起经历了多次生死患难，也有过不知多少次激烈的争吵。一直到死，两人仍是在争吵。但在两人的内心，却又一定是互相钦佩。那既是英雄重英雄的心情，又知道在抗拒清兵大敌之时，非仰仗对方的力量不可。高明的组织才能和正确的战略决策是必要的，亲临前敌、殊死决战的刚勇也是必要的。
宁远在山海关外二百余里，只守八里和守到二百多里以外，战略形势当然大有区别。 宁远现在叫作兴城，有铁路经过，是锦州与山海关之间的中间站。地滨连山湾，与葫芦岛相距甚近。我真盼望将来总有一日能到兴城去住几天，好好的看看这个地方。 天启三年九月，袁崇焕到达宁远。 本来，孙承宗已派游击祖大寿在宁远筑城，但祖大寿料想明军一定守不住的，只筑了十分之一，敷衍了事。 袁崇焕到后，当即大张旗鼓、雷厉风行的进行筑城，立了规格：城墙高三丈二尺，城雉再高六尺，城墙墙址广三丈，派祖大寿等督工。袁崇焕与将士同甘共苦，善待百姓，当他们是家人父兄一般，所以筑城时人人尽力。次年完工，城高墙厚，成为关外的重镇。这座城墙是袁崇焕一生功业的基础。这座城墙把满清重兵挡在山海关外达二十一年之久，如果不是吴三桂把清兵引进关来，不知道还要阻挡多少年。 关外终于有了一个安全的地方。这些年来，辽东辽西的汉人流离失所，若是给满洲人掳去，便成了奴隶，于是关外的汉人纷纷涌到，远近视为乐土，人口大增。宁远城一筑成，明朝的国防前线向北推移了二百余里。 袁崇焕同时开始整饬军纪，他发现一名校官虚报兵额，吞没粮饷，蛮子脾气发作，当即将他杀了。但按照规定，他是无权擅自处斩军官的。孙承宗大怒，骂他越权。袁崇焕叩头谢罪。孙承宗也就算了。他后来擅杀毛文龙，在这时可说已伏下了因子。 孙承宗也是个积极进取型的人物，这时向朝廷请饷二十四万两，准备对清军发动进攻。孙承宗是教天启皇帝读书的老师，天启对老师很不错，立刻就批准了。但兵部尚书与工部尚书互相商议说：“军饷一足，此人就要妄动了。”所以决定不让他“饷足”，采取公文旅行的拖延办法，使孙承宗的战略无法进行。孙承宗于是进行屯田政策，由军士自耕自食，却也得到很大的成效。 天启四年，袁崇焕与大将马世龙、王世钦等率领一万二千名骑兵步兵东巡广宁。广宁即今北镇县，在锦州之北，离满清重镇沈阳已不远了。袁崇焕还没有和清兵交过手，这次已含有主动挑战的意味。但清兵没有应战。袁崇焕一军经大凌河的出口十三山，从海道还宁远。这时清兵已退出十三山。 袁崇焕这次陆海出巡，写了一首诗，题目是《偕诸将游海岛》，不说“率诸将”而说“偕诸将”，不说“巡海岛”而说“游海岛”，颇有儒将的雅量高致。诗中很清楚的抒写了他的心情：是战是守的方略苦受朝廷牵制，不能自由，见到大好河山，更加深了忧愁。对荣华富贵我早已看得极淡，满腔忠愤，却只怕别人要说是杞人忧天。外敌的侵犯最后总是能平定的，但朝廷中争权夺利的斗争却实是大患，不知几时方能停止？看到天上浮云，冷清清的月亮，又想到我父亲逝世，伤心得肠也要断了⑧。 短短三四年之间，从京师戒严到东巡广宁，军事从守势转为攻势，这主要是孙承宗主持之功，而袁崇焕也贡献了很多方略。 孙承宗很赏识他，尽力加以提拔。袁崇焕因功升为兵备副使，再升右参政。孙承宗对他言听计从，委任甚专。 天启五年夏，一切准备就绪，孙承宗根据袁崇焕的策划，派遣诸将分屯锦州、松山、杏山、右屯、大凌河、小凌河诸要塞，又向北推进了二百里，几乎完全收复了辽河以西的旧地，这时宁远又变成内地了。 清兵见敌人稳扎稳打，步步为营的推进，四年之中也不敢来犯。然而进攻的准备工作却做得十分积极，努尔哈赤将京城从太子河右岸的东京城移到了沈阳，以便于南下攻明、西取蒙古，保持充分的出击姿态。 孙承宗有才识，有担当，有气魄，袁崇焕对他既钦佩，又有知遇的感激，这样的上司是极难遇到的。眼见他和孙承宗的共同计划正在一步步的实现，按部就班的收复失地，这几年袁崇焕一定过得十分快乐。他和手下将领满桂、左辅、朱梅、祖大寿、何可纲、赵率教、孙祖寿等人的战斗友谊，也在这些日子中不断加深。
可是好景不常，时局渐渐变坏。天启皇帝熹宗越来越喜欢做木工。魏忠贤的权力越来越大，尽量发挥他地痞流氓性格中的无赖、无知、无耻、以及无法无天。 天启五年，魏忠贤大举屠戮朝廷里的正人君子，将弹劾他二十四条大罪的杨涟下狱。同时下狱的有左光斗、魏大中、袁化中等大臣，所诬陷的罪名是贪污。百姓大愤，数万士民在北京街道上呼叫大哭。魏忠贤不敢正式审讯，命狱卒在监狱中打死了这些大臣。杨涟死得最惨，土囊压身，铁钉贯耳。 不久，魏忠贤又杀熊廷弼。 熊廷弼在辽东立有大功，蒙冤入狱，百姓都很同情他。民间流