Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen Yuan Chonghuan

The feat of these five civilian heroes led directly to two consequences: 1. Wei Zhongxian was afraid. He and his eunuch party were greatly shocked. According to the words in the history books, it laid the mass foundation for smashing the eunuch group. In comparison, the second result is a little bit wrong: Huang Zunsu, the last survivor of the Seven Gentlemen, escaped unharmed. The reason why Huang Zunsu, one of the two major think tanks of the Donglin Party, was spared was not because he was resourceful and settled everything, nor was it because Wei Zhongxian was afraid of getting into trouble and did not dare to arrest him, but because even Yan Peiwei and others did not know that they were arrested that day. Among the people they beat, several brothers were innocent.

In fact, on the day of the civil uprising, when the spies who arrested Zhou Shunchang confronted the masses, a group of people happened to be passing through Suzhou, and this group of people happened to be spies, the spies who arrested Huang Zunsu. Huang Zunsu is from Yuyao, Zhejiang. To get to Yuyao, he must pass through Suzhou, so he caught up. I was really wronged, this group of people neither made money nor blackmailed, they were just passing by, but because the crowd was too excited and too capable of fighting, they would do it when they saw people in Dongchang costumes, so they did it along the way.

If he was still a spy, his reaction was really fast. When he saw a group of people rushing towards him, although he didn't know what was going on, he immediately dodged them, and jumped into the river when he was cornered. He finally escaped a catastrophe. But after coming out of the river, I touched it, and it was broken, and the driving ticket was lost. The so-called driving note is roughly equivalent to an ID card plus an arrest warrant. According to the current situation, if you run without a driving note, it is not normal to come back alive.After much deliberation, I will not go.

So Huang Zunsu was puzzled, he got the news a long time ago, and waited for someone to arrest him at home, but after waiting for more than ten days, there was no one. But Huang Zunsu is a smart person, and a smart person understands a truth-there will be no eggs when the nest is overturned. Hiding is impossible, everyone is dead, how can a person live alone? So he put on the prison uniform and reported to the Yamen. A few months later, he was tortured to death by Xu Xianchun. Before Huang Zunsu left, he called his family and bid farewell to them. Everyone is grieving, with one exception.

His son Huang Zongxi said calmly: "If the father never returns, the son will take revenge in the future!" A year later, he fulfilled his promise in a cruel way. Huang Zunsu died, the Donglin Party was destroyed, the "Six Gentlemen" and "Seven Gentlemen" were all martyred, no one was spared, and no one in the world could compete with Wei Zhongxian. Looking at the failure process of the Donglin Party, its fighting strategy is that there is no strategy, except for anger, it is still anger, and the loss is really complete. The situation is basically one-sided. No chance of victory.

In fact, there is still an opportunity, one. In the Donglin Party, there is a special person who not only has the trust of the emperor, but also has the strength to overthrow Wei Zhongxian - Sun Chengzong. After learning that Yang Lian was arrested, Sun Chengzong was very angry and immediately decided to impeach Wei Zhongxian. But after thinking about it, he changed his mind. Sun Chengzong is very cunning, he understands that submitting a letter is useless, he will not make Yang Lian's mistake again, and decides to use another method. In November of the fourth year of Tianqi (1625), Sun Chengzong began to march to the capital. The purpose of his trip was to go to the emperor to petition and sue.

For ordinary people, this is impossible, because Carpenter Zhu does carpentry work every day and rarely sees people, and housekeeper Wei helps him to thank guests behind closed doors. It is really difficult to see him as an old man. But Sun Chengzong didn’t have this problem. He taught Zhu Carpenter to read when he was young. Don't answer, never pay attention, because he is very clear about Wei Gonggong's purpose. He is not stupid, he will not be fooled by this little trick of borrowing a knife to kill someone. So Wei Zhongxian panicked. He knew very well that Sun Chengzong was not simple. When the soldiers come to Beijing to fight, there is no hope for the gang of trash under his own hands.

Wei Zhongxian was flustered, and Wei Guangwei came to join in the fun again. This man got the gossip from nowhere, saying that Sun Chengzong brought tens of thousands of people and planned to go to Beijing to fix Wei Gonggong. In order to illustrate the seriousness of the situation, he also gave a vivid analogy: Once Mr. Sun is allowed to enter Beijing, Eunuch Wei will immediately become a fan (the public office is a fan). Eunuch Wei went crazy. Without saying a word, he ran to the emperor immediately and begged hard not to let Sun Chengzong enter the capital. Of course, his reason was very reasonable: Sun Chengzong brought troops to Beijing to kill the emperor. As a loyal minister, he must prevent such Immoral behavior.

But to his surprise, the emperor did not panic. He even comforted Eunuch Wei that Mr. Sun was reliable, and even if he led troops, he would not use himself as a knife. This judgment fully shows that the emperor is not only not stupid, but also quite humorous. Eunuch Wei has no temper at all after being scolded. After finishing speaking, the emperor wanted to be a carpenter, so he asked Eunuch Wei to leave, but Eunuch Wei refused. He knew that if he didn't ask for an explanation today, when Teacher Sun came to Beijing, he might really be a powder.So he began to cry, and he cried in a trick-"crying around the bed".

That is to say, Eunuch Wei lay by the emperor's bedside and kept crying.When the emperor was at the head of the bed, he would cry until the end of the bed, and when the emperor was at the end of the bed, he would cry until the end of the bed, working tirelessly and perseveringly. The emperor is also a human being, and he has to sleep, crying and crying. There is nothing he can do, so he has to say: "Then let him go back." With these words, Wei Zhongxian became emboldened, and he immediately ordered someone to send an order outside the pass to let Sun Chengzong go back. However, not long after, someone told him a message, so he issued a second order:

"If Sun Chengzong enters the Nine Gates, he will be arrested immediately!" The content of the news was that Sun Chengzong did not lead troops. Sun Chengzong did not lead troops. He only wanted to petition, not to rebel. So Wei Zhongxian changed his mind. He hoped that Sun Chengzong would disobey orders, boldly resist and come to the capital, and eventually fall into his trap. In fact, this is very possible, since everyone on the earth knows that Eunuch Wei has always been accustomed to passing false imperial edicts, so the angry Sun Chengzong will definitely reject this unreasonable order, enter the Nine Gates, and be honorably arrested. However, he waited for a whole night and did not see this scene. Sun Chengzong was very angry. He hurried to Tongzhou, but received an order to return him.His anger was at its peak, and without hesitation he returned. Sun Chengzong is really very smart, although he knows that Wei Zhongxian has the habit of passing false imperial decrees, but this decree to let him return cannot be false. Because Wei Zhongxian knew his relationship with the emperor, when he saw the emperor, it was like visiting a neighbor's house. He came as soon as he said it, and nonsense was useless. However, now that he has received the decree, it means that the emperor has obeyed Wei Zhongxian's flicker. If he continues to move forward, the consequences will be disastrous, so running away is the best choice. Now before him, there are two choices: One, go back to sleep and just stay there. Two, simply lead troops into Beijing, do his mother's favor, and solve the problem. Sun Chengzong is a person with almost no flaws. He is very capable in politics, and no one can move him. He is steady in military affairs, has a unique vision, and is always cautious and scheming. Therefore, he has been the most feared enemy of Wei Zhongxian and Nurhachi for many years. . But at this moment, he exposed the biggest weakness in his life - hesitation. Sun Chengzong is a typical strategic commander. His habit of handling things is that he will never fight if he is uncertain. Therefore, he has been in Liaodong for a few years and regained countless lost ground, but rarely fought. As for the battle in front of him, he was not sure of winning, so he gave up. Regardless of whether this decision is correct or not, the Donglin Party has no power to recover. Thirty years ago, facing the dark and dirty reality, Gu Xiancheng, a firm-willed member of the bureaucracy, believed that what was right was always right, and what was wrong was always wrong.So he was determined to establish a reasonable order and maintain justice in the world, so that those in high positions could not trample on others at will, and let those ordinary people have the right to live. For this ideal, he worked hard and endured humiliation. Starting from that small academy, he experienced ups and downs for decades, insisted on the orthodoxy, and would not change until his death.Behind him, countless followers killed themselves. However, although killing one's body is benevolent, it cannot be accomplished. The Donglin Party, which takes the world as its mission, has no power to recover after all. In fact, I don't like the Donglin Party, because these people are nerds, self-proclaimed, talkative, and lack practical ability. When I was young, when my history teacher talked about the Donglin Party, he said: Donglin Party members are not a symbol of progress, because they are all feudal scholar-bureaucrats. I once asked: What is a feudal scholar-bureaucrat? The teacher replied: Feudal scholar-bureaucrats are limited, backward, and decadent forces in feudal society, and their spirits definitely do not represent the direction of historical development. Years later, I opened history with my own hands and saw another truth. The so-called feudal literati, such as Wang Anshi, such as Zhang Juzheng, such as Yang Lian, such as Lin Zexu. The so-called spirit of the feudal literati is declining, old-fashioned, ignorant of flexibility, ignorant of current affairs, shameless, contemptuous of working people, self-proclaimed noble, even if they are poor, misunderstood, and slandered, they still adhere to principles, adhere to beliefs, and insist on taking the world as their own responsibility people. They firmly believe that their life is different and superior, no matter whether the other party hates it or not. I firmly believe that I am born with responsibilities and obligations to care for people who have nothing to do with me, whether they accept it or not. I firmly believe that when the country is in peril, we must stand up to defend those people who we don't know, maybe never know, and fight for them all our lives, no matter whether the other party knows or understands. I firmly believe that no matter how much darkness and suffering we have experienced, the peaceful and prosperous world that has been rumored countless times and flickered countless times, but has never been seen, will eventually come. Sun Chengzong returned disappointed, he failed to save the Donglin Party, he could only save Liaodong. Wei Zhongxian once wanted to kill Teacher Sun together, but he repeatedly lobbied, but the emperor would not let go, and once said that if something happened to Teacher Sun, you were the only one to ask. Eunuch Wei had no choice but to give up, but let Mr. Sun stay in Liaodong, with hundreds of thousands of people in his hands, and he couldn't sleep well. black shape. Sun Chengzong couldn't hold on anymore. In October of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), he submitted his resignation. But he mentioned it N times, but he didn't get approval. It's not that Wei Zhongxian doesn't want him to leave, it's that he really can't, because no one wants to take over. According to Wei Zhongxian, the person who will succeed Liaodong Economic Strategy should be Gaodi. Gao Di, a Jinshi in the 17th year of Wanli, is a very powerful person. Officials in the Ming Dynasty, if they had no financial problems and were born as Jinshi, they could at least be a fourth rank after more than ten years.The great thing about Mr. Gao is that he has been in the business for 33 years, killed two emperors, and he didn't even have a problem with his style of work. He didn't even become a minister of the Ministry of War until the third year of Tianqi (1623), which is very human. and. What's more, Mr. Gao only served as a deputy minister for one year, and retired in the second year. Wei Zhongxian didn't want to use this person at first, but after all the calculations, he was the only one in the eunuchs who had been in the military department.So without further ado, I found him and said, I want to mention your official to be Liaodong economic strategy. Mr. Gao has always been timid, but this time he was also bold, and immediately replied: no, not even death. In order to demonstrate his determination not to die, he knelt down to Wei Zhongxian in public and kowtowed to death (kowtow is inevitable): I am an old bone, let me take care of myself at home. Wei Zhongxian felt very empty. After spending so much energy and giving money to the officials, they just brought in such a waste.So he was angry: must go! It was impossible to eat and wait for death. Gaodi wiped away his tears, cheered up, and went to Liaodong to take up his post. In Liaodong, Gao Di proved with his actual actions that he was both timid and shameless. After arriving at the place, Mr. Gao immediately published the first memorial: impeachment of Sun Chengzong, charges: empty quota. After Sun Chengzong's rectification, the Liaodong army at that time had reached more than 100,000 people. Gao Di knew about this, but this brother opened his eyes and told lies, saying that he counted only 50,000 people.Sun Chengzong received the salaries of the other tens of thousands of people. Regarding this serious accusation, Sun Chengzong readily stated that he had no objection. At the same time, he proposed that the future military pay should be paid at the rate of 50,000 people. This means that every time when wages are paid, except for 50,000 people, the other tens of thousands of poor soldiers in Liaodong will hold knives and rush to the high-level economic bureau to ask for money. Gao Di finally understood why the Donglin Party had collapsed, but Sun Chengzong hadn't yet. In terms of cunning, he had just started. But Mr. Gao's bad habits were deeply rooted, and he failed to punish people, so he started to punish the place again. He has always believed that it is unwise to extend the line of defense to Jinzhou and Ningyuan. It has exposed Mr. Jinglue to such a dangerous place in Liaodong, and he can't go back home. How can he bear it? It's better to abandon the whole Liaodong and retreat to Shanhaiguan. Even if you lose your deep position, even if the enemy breaks through the checkpoint, at least you have time to escape. Not only did he think so, but he also did so. In November of the fifth year of Apocalypse (1625), Gaudi ordered to retreat. The places to retreat include Jinzhou, Songshan, Xingshan, Ningyuan, Youtun, Tashan, Xiaolinghe, in short, all strongholds outside the pass, all evacuated. The evacuated materials include: troops, civilians, firearms, food, and all objects that can be moved. He wanted to go home, and he didn't want to come back. But the people don't want to leave, their home is here, they have lost a lot, this is their only hope. But they had no choice, because Mr. Gao said that they had to leave, "the family was destroyed and the fields were destroyed, and the sky was shaken by howling", so they had to leave too. When Gaodi fled, he did not pursue the soldiers, but his escaping movements were too realistic, and he ran very fast. When he saw the commander running away, the soldiers naturally ran too. Sun Chengzong immediately threw away all the military supplies and rations he had accumulated for several years. After several years of hard work, more than 400 miles of mountains and rivers, more than 100,000 troops, and hundreds of strongholds were recovered, all of which were destroyed in one fell swoop. Hope has been cut off, the Donglin Party has collapsed, Sun Chengzong is gone, the so-called Guanning line of defense has existed in name only, and the current situation is hopeless. Soon, Nurhachi's iron hoof will step on this land effortlessly. No one wants to resist, and no one can resist. Running away is the only choice. One person didn't run away. He looked at the crowd running around, the uncontrollable chaos, and said something like this: "I am Ning Qiandao, and I will live and die with Ning Qian! I will never enter the customs, even if I am alone, I will stay here (alone in the lonely city) and face the enemy!" Ning Qiandao, civil servant Yuan Chonghuan. There are disputes about Yuan Chonghuan's native place.His grandfather was from Dongguan, Guangdong, and later went to Teng County, Guangxi. This was a bit troublesome. Celebrities are resources, so they had to be snapped up. Dongguan said he was from Dongguan, and Teng County said he was from Teng County. stop. But neither Dongguan nor Teng County were good places back then. There were many Jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, but very few in Guangdong and Guangxi. According to statistics, more than 70% were from Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang.Especially in Guangxi, for more than 200 years in the Ming Dynasty, there has not been a single champion. Yuan Chonghuan was studying in Guangxi, and he studied since he was a child, because his family was in business, and those who did business in those days had no status, and the only way to get ahead was to study. As far as IQ is concerned, Yuan Chonghuan is not low. At the age of 23, he took the Guangxi Provincial Unified Examination and won the Juren. He didn't realize until a year later that he was still far behind. Yuan Chonghuan went to Beijing to take the Jinshi examination, and he came back soon after. Three years later, he went again, and not long after, he came back. Three years later, he went again, and not long after, he came back. Repeat the above sentence pattern four times, which is Yuan Chonghuan's test result. From the age of twenty-three to the age of thirty-five, I took the exam four times and failed four times. In the forty-seventh year of Wanli (1619), Yuan Chonghuan was finally admitted to Jinshi, and his luck was very good. His luck is indeed very good, because his ranking is the 40th in the top three. In the Ming Dynasty, the number of Jinshi admissions was roughly more than one hundred people, and they were admitted according to their grades. He was ranked 40th in the top three, which shows that he almost failed the exam. Regarding this point, I once went to the Guozijian’s Jinshi inscription tablet to see it. On Yuan Chonghuan’s Nake stele, I searched for a long time before I found his at a relatively low position (ranking from top to bottom). name. At that time, if he passed the exam like this, his future would be considered a confession, because before him, anyone who made contributions and helped the country, such as Xu Jie, Zhang Juzheng, Sun Chengzong, etc., was either the second best in the top list, or the third best, and the last was a second-class concubine. scholar. The so-called being a general and a prime minister and leaving a name in the annals of history is a dream for Comrade Yuan Chonghuan, who is in the middle and lower classes of the top three. Of course, like many successful people (see Zhu Chongba, Zhang Juzheng), Yuan Chonghuan also had many signs when he was young, indicating that he would have a great future.For example, when he came home from school and passed by the Temple of the Earth, he immediately became energetic and began to educate the Lord of the Land: Lord of the Land, why don't you guard Liaodong? ! Although I seldom get serious with unofficial history, the level of nonsense in this unofficial history is quite acceptable. Yuan Chonghuan was born in the twelfth year of Wanli (1584). It is said that this incident happened in his youth. If he went to the sea, he said this when he was 28 years old, and it was only 40 years in Wanli. It took only six years to fight against the Ming Dynasty. According to this calculation, Yuan Chonghuan not only has foresight, but may also predict the future. Having said that, there are always people who believe this kind of thing, and there are always people who say it, and it is not a problem to fool around for thousands of years. For example, the famous prophet Chano Damas said hundreds of years ago that all human beings would be doomed by the end of the century. It has been passed down for hundreds of years. There are a lot of related books and predictions, and countless people believe them. The government even publicly refuted the rumors. I have studied European history, and I know this old liar quite well. After hundreds of years, I don’t care about it. At that time, he told the fortune of King Charles II of France, and said: Your health is really good, king, and you can live to ninety years old. ten years old. Charles II was very happy, and later died at the age of twenty-four. In short, at that time, Yuan Chonghuan was definitely a talent (the top 100 in the country is naturally a talent), but in comparison, it is not a particularly conspicuous talent. What happened next fully demonstrated this point. Because it was too inconspicuous, when the official department assigned the work, it actually missed this man, saying that there was no vacant position, and asked him to wait for another year. So Yuan Chonghuan stayed at home for a year, and in the forty-eighth year of Wanli (1620), he finally got his first job in life: magistrate of Shaowu County, Fujian Province. Shaowu, still called Shaowu today, is located in the northwest of Fujian, next to Wuyi Mountain, in other words, it is a mountainous area. In this mountainous county town, Yuan Chonghuan worked very hard and actively, not to mention his great achievements, but he once climbed on the beams of houses and helped the people put out fires. As a county magistrate, no matter what, this was not easy. As for other brilliant achievements, I don't know. After all, it is a county town, so it is very difficult to do something earth-shattering. In the second year of Tianqi (1622), Yuan Chonghuan received an order to go to Beijing to report on his work after the three-year term of office expired. It's time to change your destiny. The official evaluation system in the Ming Dynasty was very strict, not to mention those in the capital, the Beijing inspection was held every six years, and every time the skin was lost.Even if you are a magistrate of a county where the sky is high and the emperor is far away, whether it is a remote mountainous area or a vast desert, as long as you are still alive, when it is your turn, you will report to the chief envoy of the province, and then the chief envoy will form a group, and everyone will go on the road together. Beijing accepts the assessment. The assessment results are divided into five grades, good promotion, general retention, almost transfer, useless retirement, and reckless get out. Yuan Chonghuan's grades are roughly in the top two grades. According to common sense, his best ending should be to return to Fujian, get promoted to a higher level, and continue to work in a prefecture-level city. But Yuan Chonghuan's luck was so good that he was not only promoted, but also a Beijing official. Because a person took a fancy to him. This person's name is Hou Xun, he was the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate at that time, and a member of the Donglin Party. Hou Xun is an unknown person with a low rank, but he is very good at reading people, whether it is a mule or a horse, he doesn't need to pull it out, he can tell at a glance. When he saw Yuan Chonghuan for the first time, he believed that this person was extraordinary and would be of great use, which Yuan Chonghuan himself might not even know. More importantly, although his position is not high, he is a censor and can write directly to the emperor.So he immediately wrote Feng Zoushu, saying that I found a talent, named Yuan Chonghuan, and hoped to keep him. At that time, the Donglin Party was in power, and the emperor was still in charge of the affairs. When he saw the memorial, he approved it. A few days later, Yuan Chonghuan was notified that he no longer had to return to Dangzhi County, Fujian Province. From today on, his position was the head of the Department of Military Affairs, the sixth grade. By the way, the nameless Hou Xun who promoted Yuan Chonghuan has a famous son named Hou Fangyu. If you don't know this person, you can check it out. What happened next is very famous, and it is recorded in various historical materials: Yuan Chonghuan, the head of the Ministry of War, suddenly disappeared. Part of this is true, Yuan Chonghuan did go to Shanhaiguan.But the tricky thing is that Master Yuan's disappearance is by no means a big deal, and not many people are looking for him.At that time, Guangning had just fallen, and the emperor pulled Ye Xianggao's clothes, crying in anxiety, and there was no chaos. Director Yuan was nothing more than a department-level cadre, and the devil didn't care where he went. Yuan Chonghuan came back and summed up his fate for the next ten years in one sentence: "Give me money and food for soldiers and horses, and I will guard this alone!" To say this at the time, one had to be very brave, because at that time everyone believed that Liaodong was bound to be lost, Shanhaiguan would fall sooner or later, and the evil court was looking for someone to take the scapegoat there. Break into the execution ground.Letting go at this time is a typical case of seeking death for nothing. This is indeed the case. Yuan Chonghuan was promoted as soon as he let go.Because the imperial court heard Yuan Chonghuan's words, he was very happy, and he was promoted as a fifth-rank Shandong inspector, and Shanhaiguan army supervisor, in recognition of his brave spirit of daring to take the blame. When everyone heard the news, whether they knew it or not, they all came to see Yuan Chonghuan off one after another, and some even brought their own children to achieve profound educational significance: You see, this man is about to go to the execution ground , See if you dare to talk nonsense! In the midst of laments, Yuan Chonghuan left happily. A few months later, he met his boss Wang Zaijin and sued him for his crimes. A few months later, he met Sun Chengzong. Wait a minute, wait a minute, before meeting these two, he also met another person, and this meeting must not be ignored. Because during the meeting, Yuan Chonghuan determined a secret, and four years later, Nurhachi was defeated by this secret. Before leaving the capital, Yuan Chonghuan went to meet Xiong Tingbi. Xiong Tingbi had just returned and hadn't entered the hall yet. When Yuan Chonghuan came to the door, he didn't care.In his opinion, Director Yuan is just another rookie who went to Liaodong to get kicked. So he asked: "You go to Liaodong, is there any way (what to do in the past)?" Yuan Chonghuan thought for a moment and replied: "Main defense, post-war." Xiong Tingbi jumped up, he was very excited because he knew that the person in front of him had found a way to win. The so-called battle after the main defense means to defend first and then attack. This is a very simple sentence. Truth is often very simple. Just like Comrade Mao Zedong's famous military motto: fight if you win, and leave if you can't win.It's simple and it works. For a long time, the generals of the Ming Dynasty racked their brains, digging holes, building guns, training troops, and building bunkers, just to stop the advance of the Jin army. In fact, it only takes these four words to defeat the unparalleled Nurhachi and his terrifying cavalry. It's not that they don't know these four words, they just don't want to know. As a general of the Great Ming Dynasty, to deal with the little Houjin in the Liaodong area, even if you lose Tieling, Shenyang, and Liaoyang, even if Liaodong is completely lost, you still have to fight. Therefore, even if 100,000 people died in Saerhu and 60,000 people died in Shenyang, they still have to attack. This is not an intellectual problem, but an attitude problem. The Houjin army is just robbers who rob things, and Nurhachi is the leader of the robbers. How can he be a turtle when dealing with such things? However, Yuan Chonghuan understood that according to Nurhachi's strength and level, even a robber is a great thief. He also understands that it is not necessarily a tortoise that retracts its head, and a poisonous snake also retracts its neck before attacking. The post-golden cavalry was very powerful, so powerful that the cavalry of the Ming Dynasty could no longer compete with it. Nurhachi was very smart, so smart that few people in the world could compete with it. With this idea in mind, Yuan Chonghuan came to Liaodong and accepted the teachings of Sun Chengzong.There, he masters the means of victory, finds helpers for victory, and strengthens his belief in victory.At the same time, the situation is improving step by step. Yuan Chonghuan believes that under the command of Sun Chengzong, he will eventually see the recovery of Liaodong. However, all this is bound to be fantasy. In October of the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Sun Chengzong, whom he trusted and relied on, left. When leaving, Yuan Chonghuan went to see him off, crying bitterly, but Sun Chengzong could only say: This is the end of the matter, and there is nothing I can do. However, Gao Di came, and soon, he saw that Lord Gao abandoned everything he had fought for in the past few years, the land, the defense line, the army, and the civilians. He did not hesitate, just to save his own life. Yuan Chonghuan did not retreat. Although he was just a nobody and insignificant, he had the ambition to protect the country, the method of winning, and his firm determination. In the past few years, I have been here, studying silently and improving silently, until one day, I saw the hope of victory. So I will not retreat, even if you all run away, I will never retreat. "I'm here alone!" "Lonely lying in a lonely city, you can be a prisoner!" Now is the time to fulfill that promise. But this promise was destined to be difficult to fulfill, because two months later, he learned a terrible news. On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month in the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Nurhachi came with all his belongings. According to the analysis of historical data, the total strength of Hou Jin at that time, if you add old men, children, and disabled people, was roughly around 100,000, while the real elite troops numbered about 60,000 to 70,000. Nurhaci's army has a total of 60,000 people, and it is said to be 200,000. According to some military experts, this was the most powerful cavalry force in the world at that time. I think this statement is more correct. The reason is simple: for them, war is a pleasure. Because I am in a semi-civilized state, I don’t care about poetry etiquette, traditional morality, work unit, riding a horse since I was a child, brave and fearless, and it is absolutely unambiguous. What’s more, my family members also strongly support: According to historical records, before the Houjin cavalry went out to fight for their lives, the family members never cried bitterly, sent off in sorrow, and never complained to the government. All the people, old and young, were very happy. It was like a festival. return! Frankly speaking, I can understand this feeling very well. I don’t have any industrial structure, I’m not good at farming, and I’m not good at doing business. What should I do if I don’t grab it? So they came, with intent to plunder, sharp sabers, and sureness of victory. Nurhachi is very sure. Before that, he had waited for four years, since Sun Chengzong took office. An excellent strategist would never take risks easily. Nurhachi met this requirement. He knew that Sun Chengzong was terrible, so he never dared to provoke this person, but now Sun Chengzong is gone. When Qin Hui killed Yue Fei, he negotiated a peace and signed a contract. Now Wei Zhongxian has Sun Chengzong gone, but there is no added value. He also gave many gifts. The gift list includes Jinzhou, Songshan, Xingshan, Youtun, Tashan, Xiaolinghe and all strongholds outside the pass. This year, Nurhachi was sixty-seven years old. According to the current historical data, there is no sign of dementia. He still has dreams, dreams of looting more people, livestock, and land, and growing his people. To be fair, from his point of view, all of this is understandable. Sun Chengzong left, the Ming army retreated, and there was no one in front of them. Obviously, they had lost the courage to resist. March, march to places that have never been reached before, and achieve unprecedented victories, unstoppable! Everything went smoothly, and the Houjin Army occupied large and small strongholds effortlessly, without paying any price, until the 23rd day of the first lunar month. On the twenty-third day of the first lunar month in the sixth year of Tianqi (1626), Nurhachi arrived in the suburbs of Ningyuan, and was surprised to find that there were soldiers stationed in the city, so he sent an envoy. He made no secret of his pride, and wrote the following: "I will bring 200,000 people to attack the city, and I will destroy the city! If you surrender, I will do it for you." In this letter, he did not mention the name of the guard Yuan Chonghuan, either he did not know this person, or he knew it but felt that this person was not worth mentioning. In short, in his opinion, it doesn't matter whether Yuan Chonghuan or Fang Chonghuan is. The city will soon surrender and become another tourist attraction that the Nurhachi tour group passes by. Three days later, he will always remember the name Yuan Chonghuan. He thought he would have to wait a day, but in the afternoon, Yuan Chonghuan, an unknown soldier in the city, sent a reply: "This is the place you don't want. Since I have recovered, I should stick to it. How can I surrender?" Then there's the sense of humor: "You said there were 200,000 people, but I know it's false. It's only 130,000, but I don't think it's too little!"