Chapter 7 Chapter 7 Killing

Was it difficult to kill a person in the Ming Dynasty? The answer is not difficult. Those who shoot black bricks, hit sap sticks, encounter robbery on the road, and those who are nimble in their hands and feet only need a cigarette. But it's hard to legally kill a person. Because Ming Dynasty is a society ruled by law, a society ruled by law through and through. This is by no means a joke, as long as you familiarize yourself with the following strategies, even if you committed a capital crime in the Ming Dynasty, it is still possible to survive. For example, if you violated the law (killing someone) in the Ming Dynasty, you would be convicted. If you were unlucky and convicted of a capital crime, you would be beheaded.

But don't panic for the time being, as long as you don't engage in special activities such as rebellion, you won't be pushed out to kill immediately, and you will usually be executed after autumn. Some people may ask, isn't the execution after autumn the same as execution?It's just an extra two days. It is true that you have lived more, but as long as you use the right method, it is not just an extra two days. In fact, according to records, the highest record is more than 20 years. The reason for this strange phenomenon is that to execute a person, a review must be conducted, and in the Ming Dynasty, the reviewer was not the local government, nor the Supreme Court Dali Temple, nor even the Minister of Criminal Affairs.

The only person who has the right to review is the emperor. This sentence means that no matter where you commit crimes, urban areas, county towns or even remote mountainous areas, no matter what crime you commit, murder, arson or smashing other people's windows, and whether you are Zhang San, Li Si, Wang Er Mazi, you are still a prince and general, as long as you commit a capital crime, except for special circumstances, you have to report to each level for approval. The county town reports to the provincial capital, the provincial capital reports to the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Punishment reports to the emperor, and the emperor approves before you can be killed.

Since ancient times, human life is at stake. The method of approval is to tick. Every year, the officials of the Ministry of Punishment will write a list of those who have been sentenced and convicted, and let the emperor tick off one by one. But the problem is, if your name is on the list, it’s nothing more than making His Majesty suffer, and you’ll be pulled out and chopped up after the fall. How can you live for more than twenty years without dying? The miracle of the death reprieve for more than twenty years originated from a certain unique habit of the emperor. You must know that when the emperor seduces people, he does not tick all of them. On each piece of paper, he only ticks a part, and often keeps a few.

This is the so-called king's presence in the world, with compassion in his heart, the emperor is the reincarnation of the dragon, there is no need to argue with you ordinary people, it doesn't matter if you kill a few less. But it's too dangerous to entrust your life to the emperor's ticking the boxes. If he is in a bad mood that day and ticks all the boxes, you can't do anything. So to ensure survival, we must find another way. Relatively speaking, the survival rate of strategy 2 is much higher.Of course, the cost is also much higher. Raiders 2 also originated from a certain habit of the emperor—to take care of everything every day.

To get through strategy 2, relying on luck is useless.You have to bribe someone, but this person is not a local official (you can buy it long ago), nor is it the Ministry of Punishment (there are too many people, you can't afford it), nor is it the emperor (try it). But the eunuch. His Majesty the Emperor never cleaned his desk or sorted out official documents. Every time the list of death sentences was sent up, he would put it on the table and change it after ticking. After all, our country is vast and there is no shortage of criminals. The list of ten finalists cannot be finished today, and they are placed on the table to be approved tomorrow.

But the emperors would never have imagined that the list that will be ticked off tomorrow is not the one in front of them today. The mystery is here, since the emperor just ticked the boxes, and there are too many names, and he can’t remember them, so he simply moved the list below to the top, so that the brothers and sisters who didn’t pay the money will die first. The list came up again, and then it was put down again, and it went round and round. If the emperor didn't approve, he couldn't be killed, so he lived in prison. Anyway, he was in charge of food and housing. It's fun.

The only ones who could do this were the eunuchs next to the emperor, and there was no risk in this matter, that is, the official document was changed without taking it away, and the emperor had nothing to say when he found out. But it wasn't easy either.Because most of the people who can translate the official documents of the emperor are the supervisors of ceremonies, and those who can get mixed up with the supervisors of ceremonies are not ordinary people. If you go down, you should kill or you have to kill. No matter how much effort it takes, it is worth it to save your life. However, it needs to be explained that the above strategy is not suitable for some special characters, such as Chongzhen, who is very motivated to work, likes to tick off all ticks, and has an excellent memory, and hates eunuchs. Just look no further.

To sum up, in the Ming Dynasty, it was very difficult to legally kill a person. The reason why I said so much and came to this conclusion is just to tell you how serious Yuan Chonghuan's behavior is. Killing a commoner requires the emperor to review. Mao Wenlong, a first-rank military officer with a heavy army and a concern for the country's safety, was killed by Yuan Chonghuan without even a report. This alone can put Yuan Chonghuan to death. More importantly, there were rumors at this time that Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong in cooperation with Huang Taiji to join the enemy, because he did what Huang Taiji wanted to do but could not.

This kind of argument is quite ridiculous. The whole Liaodong is in the hands of Yuan Chonghuan. If he wants to surrender to the enemy, he just needs to open the Guanning defense line. Mao Wenlong can only watch from the island. Things have come to this point, it can only be said that he has too much personality. In the imperial court, people with too much personality are destined not to get along well. But Yuan Chonghuan never dreamed that what he waited for was a reward. On June 18th, the second year of Chongzhen (1629), Chongzhen issued an order to denounce Mao Wenlong as domineering and domineering, without military law, and praised Yuan Chonghuan for his timely handling and not being too defensive, and rewarded him.

This decree shows Chongzhen's complete admiration and trust in Yuan Chonghuan, and complete rejection of Mao Wenlong. That's what he said, not what he thought. According to historical data, Chongzhen was "terrified" after hearing about this incident. Panic is certain, I finally found someone to clean up the mess, but as soon as this person came up, he didn't fix anything, he just killed Zongbing Mao who had helped him for eight years, his head was flooded? But Comrade Chongzhen is worthy of being a statesman. At the critical moment, he pretended to be his grandson without hesitation: If you kill him, even if you scold him, he will not live. You can simply scold him a few times, saying that he deserves to spit a few more times when he dies, no problem . Yuan Chonghuan was very happy, and the murder was done. He was very happy for a few days, but he didn't know that he could exceed his authority and act recklessly, but he had to meet one condition. The name of this condition is called doing things. If you want to be a supervisor, yes, if you want to cancel the governor, yes, you have the final say in Liaodong, yes, you can kill Mao Wenlong, but the prerequisite is that you have to do things, and the Liao Dynasty is flat for five years. As long as it is flat, everything will be easy. , If you can't get it done, I'll do it for you. Yuan Chonghuan is very aware of this, but after all, there are still five years, who knows what will happen in five years, so take your time. But two months later, a single move by a person completely changed his fate. By the way, this person didn't do it on purpose. In October of the second year of Chongzhen (1629), Huang Taiji prepared to attack. Although he was beaten up by Yuan Chonghuan before and returned in embarrassment, the reality is grim. The things he snatched back last time are almost used up, and he has no reproduction capacity. But the problem is that Guan Ning's line of defense is too tough. Even counting his father, he went there twice, and he couldn't even knock a brick back. Yuan Chonghuan had heard the news of Huang Taiji's attack, so he didn't panic at all. Beijing, backed by the Taihang Mountains and the Yanshan Mountains, the only road leading to Liaodong is the Shanhaiguan Pass. If this opening is blocked, no ghosts can get in, so Yuan Chonghuan feels at ease. Levels are dead, people are alive. Huang Taiji, who was thinking hard, finally figured out the only way to pass through the Guanning line of defense—not to pass through the Guanning line of defense. China is so big, you don't have to go from Liaodong, you can't fly, but you can take a detour. Liaodong can't go, so let's go around, go around to Mongolia, and enter from there, there is no way. In this way, Huang Taiji led 100,000 troops (including Mongolian tribes) to launch this attack that determined Yuan Chonghuan's fate. This was a raid recorded in military history. Huang Taiji fully demonstrated his military talent, and led the army to run for more than half a month, from Liaodong to Liaoxi, and then to Mongolia. There were no strong cities or cannons on the Mongolian border. Huang Taiji crossed the Great Wall very easily, and after drawing a semicircle on the map, he arrived at Zunhua, an important town in the Ming Dynasty, at the end of October. Zunhua is located in the northwest of Beijing, only more than 200 kilometers away. Once it falls, Beijing will have no danger to defend. Yuan Chonghuan finally regained consciousness, but a big mistake has already been made, the most urgent task is to send people to block Huang Taiji. Probably because he was addicted to bullying Huang Taiji, Yuan Chonghuan didn't go into battle himself, he entrusted Zhao Ledjiao with this glorious task. Comrade Huang Taiji brought 100,000 people, all their belongings, and took an extremely serious attitude to rob things, but he sent only one subordinate with such a small number of people (estimated to be less than 10,000) to block it, it is too contemptuous of people. Zhao led the teaching to be worthy of the name of a famous general, and he led the army to rush for three days and three nights, and arrived in Zunhua on November 3, which was not easy. On November 4th, went out to fight and died. Regarding the death of Zhao Ratejiao, many historical materials say that he was shot to death by a cold arrow, and his subordinates collapsed due to the loss of command, and the entire army was wiped out. But I think that Zhao Shujiao's death is not a matter of probability, but a matter of time. With so few people, if you want to fight against an army of 100,000, even if all your subordinates become Zhao Shujiao, they probably won't be able to stop them. Zhao Ledjiao was killed in battle, and Zunhua fell on November 5. After occupying Zunhua, the Hou Jin army massacred the city according to the usual practice. The flames were soaring into the sky, ghosts were crying and wolves were howling. Let me talk about it again. The cemeteries of many people, including the so-called "one emperor through the ages" Kangxi and Qianlong, and the Empress Dowager Cixi who are "famous in history", are all buried here. A few famous corpses lie on countless unknown corpses, the so-called hegemony, that's all. Finally, in the period of the Republic of China, Sun Dianying, who was born as a bandit, went to Zunhua and dug up the ancestral graves of the Qing Dynasty. It is said that he stomped on the corpses of Qianlong, Cixi and other great figures.Of course, since this matter was not honest, except for a few people (Feng Yuxiang) who said he was a revolutionary act, everyone scolded him. The pillow (it is said that Song Meiling took it) should be collected. After hundreds of years of tossing and tossing, that's all. But what happened to Zunhua was no longer important to Yuan Chonghuan at that time. On November 5th, Governor Yuan, who heard the news, knew that he had to go out.Immediately, he personally led the army to fight against Huang Taiji. On November 10th, when he arrived in the outskirts of the capital and just breathed a sigh of relief, he got an unexpected news. Wang Qia, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of War, was arrested, and his successor was Sun Chengzong. Wang Qia stepped down shortly after he took office. It was really bad luck. Suddenly, he couldn't fight or defend. Niu, after he was dismissed, he was chopped off. At a critical moment, Chongzhen decided to invite Sun Chengzong to act as a cabinet scholar and Minister of the Ministry of War. In this war known as the "Change of Jisi" in history, this was the most wise and only wise decision made by Chongzhen. At this time, Yuan Chonghuan had arrived in Jizhou near Zunhua, waiting for the arrival of Huang Taiji, because according to the previous movements of the Hou Jin army, this would be his next goal. This is a wrong judgment. Huang Taiji bypassed Jizhou and continued to advance towards the capital. The situation is extremely urgent, because from all indications, his ultimate goal is the capital. But Yuan Chonghuan didn't see it that way, he always believed that Huang Taiji was a robber, whether he went around in circles or detours, just grab it and leave, the capital is not in danger. In fact, Sun Chengzong also thought so, but after all, it was a robbery gang of 100,000 people, so he immediately ordered that Yuan Chonghuan should immediately lead his troops to the Changping and Sanhe suburbs of Beijing to set up defenses to stop Huang Taiji. So far, things have been normal. Everything that happened next was very abnormal. Yuan Chonghuan knew of Sun Chengzong's deployment, but did not implement it. The students of those days, today's Dushi Yuan, no longer need to obey the teacher's opinion. He summoned the army and started a very strange way of action. On November 11, Yuan Chonghuan led his army to pursue Huang Taiji. Wrong, it is only chasing but not attacking. Huang Taiji bypassed Jizhou and began to travel in the suburbs of Beijing. He passed through Sanhe, Xianghe and Shunyi all the way, looting wherever he went.Yuan Chonghuan has been following him, wherever he grabs. In this way, Yuan Chonghuan's tens of thousands of people, Huang Taiji's 100,000 people, and a total of more than 100,000 people wandered around Beijing. From the 11th to the 15th, there was no battle for five days. Yuan Chonghuan's performance in these five days is controversial. The controversy has lasted for hundreds of years, and it has not subsided to this day. The core of the controversy is only one: what does he want to do? The enemy is currently neither fully attacking nor deploying defenses. Why? At that time, the people's opinions were more consistent: Yuan Chonghuan was a traitor. Do not attack or defend, follow others in circles, what is it if you are not a traitor? More importantly, Huang Taiji hadn't been idle during these five days, robbing everywhere, and no one was in charge of the robbery. Residents in the suburbs were extremely angry and scolded Yuan Chonghuan. Many senior officials in the imperial court were also very angry and scolded Yuan Chonghuan because they were also robbed (the land in Beijing is tight, and garden villas are all in the suburbs). People don't have a living, and officials don't have a living. The traitor's name can be regarded as memorized. So whenever I read this historical material, I always look for one thing-motivation. It is wrong to be a traitor. You don't have to wait until today to rebel. The Guanning Army under him is the most powerful force, and all the generals are his people. As long as you learn from Comrade Wu Sangui and pass the checks, the matter will be settled. Mistakes are not right. With his IQ and level, he still can't do stupid things like following the enemy in circles. So I was very puzzled, puzzled why his behavior was so strange, until I remembered the four words he said to Xiong Tingbi three years ago, and finally realized it. "Main defense, post-war." Yuan Chonghuan knew very well that in terms of combat effectiveness, even the most elite Guanning iron cavalry would only have a slight upper hand in a field battle with the Hou Jin army. If he wanted to completely defeat Huang Taiji, he had to use the old method: relying on the fortification of the city and using cannons . And here, the only strong city is Beijing. In order to realize this strategic vision, it is necessary to deliberately show weakness, lure Huang Taiji to go to Beijing, and then launch a counterattack based on the capital. Given that Comrade Yuan Chonghuan is dead, there is no time to tell me his thoughts, but the development of the matter confirms all this. On November 16, when Huang Taiji finally turned around and rushed to Beijing, Yuan Chonghuan immediately ordered to march to Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan firmly believed that when he arrived in the capital, the day of victory would come. But in fact, on the day the order was issued, his death was already doomed. Because in the plan, he ignored a very inconspicuous but crucial loophole. For a long time, Yuan Chonghuan's fixed tactics have been to stick to the city, kill and injure the enemy, and wait for the enemy to be exhausted before attacking bravely. From Ningyuan to Jinzhou, it has been tried and tested. So it's the same this time, lead the enemy army to the city, lure them to attack, and after they are frustrated, attack with all their strength, and you can win a complete victory. It is perfect, brilliant, such a perfect and clever plan, the greatest strategist of Ming Dynasty, Mr. Sun Chengzong in the city, did not expect it. Sun Chengzong thought of it. He insisted on meeting the enemy on the outskirts of Beijing, not wanting to lure the enemy deep, not wanting to win a big victory, not because he was stupid, but because he not only knew Yuan Chonghuan's plan, but also knew the fatal loophole of this plan. This loophole can be summed up in five words: This is Beijing. Regardless of theory or actual combat, this plan is impeccable. The previous victory of Ningyuan has proved that it is feasible. But this time, it is doomed to fail because this is Beijing. Whether it is Ningyuan or Jinzhou, they are all small cities. There are more soldiers than ordinary people in them, and they are on the front line. Governor Yuan has the final say. If you are asked to defend, you will defend, and if you are asked to withdraw, you will withdraw. There is no need to discuss or evaluate. . But in the capital, there is only one person who keeps his word, and it will definitely not be Yuan Chonghuan. Governor Yuan has understood everything in his life, except politics.The emperor was sitting in the capital, watching the enemy soldiers running around, wandering around under his nose, and couldn't sleep well, so he called you to escort him, but you also ran around, but didn't do anything, treating the emperor like a monkey What the hell do you want to do now that you suddenly rushed to the city of Beijing without even saying hello? ! The only person who understands all this is Sun Chengzong. So the humble teacher set up the extremely conservative, but also the only feasible plan. The proud student rejected the plan, thinking he had outdone them all. On the day Yuan Chonghuan led his army to Beijing, Sun Chengzong sent an envoy. The envoy went to Yuan Chonghuan's barracks, and only said a few words: The emperor appreciates you very much, and I also believe in your loyalty, but you killed Mao Wenlong, and now you have stationed the army outside the city. Many people doubt you, hope you Do your best to serve the country, if you make a mistake, the consequences will be disastrous. Although according to historical materials, this passage was said by an envoy, it is obvious that this is a teacher's last warning to his students. Sun Chengzong's judgment was as accurate as ever. The day Yuan Chonghuan arrived in Beijing was November 17th. Coincidentally, not long after he arrived, another person arrived——Huang Taiji. Jumping into the Yellow River can't wash it off. I have checked the location of the formation at that time. Huang Taiji's army was in the north city, while Yuan Chonghuan was in Guangqumen in the south city. Although it is far away, they will arrive as soon as you come. You, it is really difficult. More importantly, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that the border guards could not be stationed under the city of Beijing without the permission of the emperor.But Comrade Yuan Chonghuan was very thoughtful, and he went to Nancheng without asking for instructions. Up to this point, if you don't doubt Yuan Chonghuan, it's not normal. Most people in the capital are normal, so everyone from the imperial court to the vegetable sellers believes that there is something wrong with Yuan Chonghuan. The only abnormal thing is Chongzhen. He didn't scold Yuan Chonghuan, but ordered Yuan Chonghuan to enter the city, and he had to summon him in person. The place where they were summoned was the platform. A year ago, Yuan Chonghuan got everything here.Now, here he will be, losing everything. In fact, Yuan Chonghuan himself was mentally prepared. After a year passed, not even an inch of land was recovered, and he let Huang Taiji hit the city. It was a bit unreasonable. If he was a traitor, he would not go, but he is not a traitor, so he went. There were three other people who went in with him, namely Chief Soldier Man Gui, Hei Yunlong, and Zu Dashou. Zu Dashou is Yuan Chonghuan's confidant, while Man Gui has conflicts with Yuan Chonghuan, and Hei Yunlong is his subordinate. Before that, I wondered for a while, when I saw Yuan Chonghuan, why did I drag these three people in, and I realized later that there was a lot of mystery in it. Yuan Chonghuan's political sense is quite good, and he had a premonition that he would be punished today, so he took off his official uniform when he went in, and wore civilian clothes and a black hat to show his low profile. But what happened next was something he never dreamed of. Chongzhen didn't get angry, didn't reprimand, but just made an action: He took off his coat and put it on Yuan Chonghuan. Governor Yuan was dumbfounded. I haven't done anything for more than a year, and the enemy has hit the city. It's really interesting to be so polite. Among the many historical materials in the past, there is a unified evaluation of Comrade Chongzhen: impatience. However, this incident fully proves that Chongzhen is a mature and outstanding politician. We held a meeting a year ago, asked for money for money, asked for food for food, we could mention whoever was pleasing to the eye (such as Zu Dashou), and change whoever was not pleasing to the eye (such as Mangui), it didn’t matter, as long as the work was done well. It's been a year, and the ground has not been recovered. Mao Wenlong, who was holding back Houjin, was killed. Huang Taiji came, and he didn't fight hard. He went around the city with him, seriously violating the law and order regulations, and led troops into the city without authorization. That's the same sentence, you What exactly do you want to do? In this case, as long as it is an individual, Yuan Chonghuan must be resolved. Chongzhen is not a human being, he is an emperor, an emperor with extraordinary endurance and political judgment. With his temper, in the past, Yuan Chonghuan would have been chopped up long ago, but now the situation is urgent, and he must pretend to be a grandson. So since Yuan Chonghuan came in, he has always been very polite, except for taking off his clothes, he just said good things, how hard you are, how loyal you are, how happy I am, etc. In fact, a thousand words can only be said in one sentence: I am very unhappy about your work, but I cannot deal with you now. For this sake, it is really rare to be able to be so restrained. If you want to rate Comrade Chongzhen's performance, it should be ten. Comrade Yuan Chonghuan's subsequent performance should be negative. He didn't do what he said, he shouldn't do what he did, and he made His Majesty suffer so much, but he received such a commendation, Yuan Chonghuan was flattered. The so-called being flattered means that he is surprised after being flattered, but his next behavior surprises others. After thanking the emperor for his grace, Yuan Chonghuan started a speech that has left countless people unbelievable for many years: He first described the enemy's situation. According to him, the enemy army is extremely strong and is going all out to take Beijing and drive His Majesty the Emperor out. Even the date of succession has been set, so it is difficult to resist. This passage is complete nonsense, and it is intentional nonsense. The emperor doesn't understand business, and he may still think wildly. Yuan Chonghuan is a professional. He knew that Huang Taiji was poor and had no choice but to grab it. Even after going back, he still has to be led by the leader, which is really outrageous. But the crux of the matter is, why? Yuan Chonghuan's performance was recognized by many people at that time and later as a traitor who colluded with Huang Taiji. From an economic point of view, this is unlikely.The so-called collusion must have a reason, in other words, there must be a price, but the problem is that Comrade Huang Taiji was very poor back then. You know, the reason why Huang Taiji came to rob him was because his family had no money, how could he collude with others? Although people like Li Yongfang and Fan Wencheng went to join him before, in fact, they were not big figures.For example, Li Yongfang is just a regional general, and just such a small person, Comrade Nurhachi gave him a granddaughter, the title of a son-in-law (forehead son-in-law), and countless gold and silver treasures to trap him. Needless to say, Fan Wencheng, Daming couldn't survive, and in Houjin's life, it was just a juren. Huang Taiji gave a bachelor to be the main staff. When Li Yongfang surrendered, he was the deputy general of the region and a fourth-rank military officer. Nurhachi took in a granddaughter. According to this standard, if you want to buy the largest local official in the Ming Dynasty, you will be in charge of the five governors of Liaodong, Tianjin, Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Jizhou. Yuan Chonghuan, even if he packed up his daughter and granddaughter, it would be useless. As for dividing up the land, let alone, the place in Huang Taiji's hands is only so big, if you want to divide it, you can't even take it out, who will do it for you? Of course, if you insist on being serious and say that the two of them hit it off right away, and I don’t need money or land, I’ll go all out with you, and I can’t help it. So from an economic point of view, as long as Yuan Chonghuan has a normal IQ, he will not be a traitor. The only reason why he fooled the emperor was two words - a guilty conscience. I couldn't help but feel guilty, bragging to the emperor, saying that the Liao Dynasty was pacified in five years, and in less than a year, they brought troops to pacify you.He killed Zongbing Mao before, went around in circles under the city of Beijing, and rushed to the city without permission. This was really rough. If you don't describe the enemy harshly and describe the task as difficult, how can you get past it? But he never expected that this fooling would be fooled. The emperor was dumbfounded on the spot and didn't say anything. The ministers were all terrified. Bi Ziyan, Minister of the Ministry of household affairs, stuck out his tongue and didn't take it back for a long time. Objectively speaking, Governor Yuan did a very wicked thing, but the wonderful performance was not over yet. After everyone was surprised, he said this sentence again. I always think that this sentence got him killed in the end. "My soldiers have been fighting for days, hoping to enter the city to recuperate." The child is hopeless. In the Ming Dynasty, the frontier guards stationed in the city without permission, which was basically regarded as a rebellion, and it was too arrogant to have soldiers and horses enter the city to rest. Of course, this request has a criminal record.Not long ago, Man Gui fought against the Hou Jin army outside the city, and entered the Deshengmen Urn City to rest halfway. According to Yuan Chonghuan's thinking, his status was higher than Man Gui's. If Man Gui could enter the Urn City, so could he. You acted so suspiciously, everyone was already suspicious of you, and they wanted to bring troops into the city. Liaodong ginseng was eaten too much. So Chongzhen immediately replied: no. Governor Yuan was not reluctant: Then I will go to the city by myself. Answer: No. This concludes the meeting. This day was November 23rd in the second year of Chongzhen (1629). According to various signs, Chongzhen judged that Yuan Chonghuan could no longer be used. But getting rid of this person will take time, at least seven days. Yuan Chonghuan's fate is doomed. But his tragedy is not that he was killed in the end, but that he didn't know why until he was killed. In fact, one of the crimes that got him killed was comical. This funny accusation originated from an accidental incident three days ago. Three days ago, it was November 20th. On this day, Huang Taiji led his army to attack. This was the largest battle in the capital since the Battle of Yuqian. Huang Taiji used the north-south strategy to attack Deshengmen in the north city and Guangqumen in the south city. In order to ensure that the attack was not in vain, Huang Taiji spent a lot of money. He personally led more than 50,000 soldiers from the Northern Route Army, accompanied by Dabeile Daishan, Jierhalang, etc., and guarding the northern city was Mangui. The South Route Army did not give in vain, a total of 40,000 people, led by Sanbeile Mang Gurtai, also included Dorgon and Duoduo, the main characters in the later braided play, and Yuan Chonghuan was guarding here. The battle begins at the same time. Yuan Chonghuan led more than 9,000 troops to meet the enemy outside the city. Although Mang Gurtai is stupid, he still knows how to do arithmetic, forty thousand is against nine thousand, just go forward. But the tactics still need to be talked about. He led the army to charge Yuan Chonghuan's left wing first, but he couldn't move and retreated. After a while, he led his army to attack the right wing of the Ming army, but he still couldn't move, and retreated again. Probably his pride was hurt. For the third time, he led all the main force to attack Yuan Chonghuan. Very serious consequences. What Yuan Chonghuan brought was the most elite unit of the Ming army-Guan Ning Cavalry. Moreover, according to some historical materials, a group of fierce men, including Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang, were all in this army. Almost at the same time as Mang Gurtai charged, Yuan Chonghuan launched a counter charge. There is no need to introduce tactics in this battle, because there are basically no tactics. The cavalry of the two sides confront each other, and whoever can cut better will win. The fighting process was extremely tragic. Azig, one of the four young Baylors, was shot to death on his mount. He was hit by several arrows and almost died on the spot. Mang Gurtai himself was wounded. Yuan Chonghuan was also very anxious. In order to encourage the soldiers, he personally went into battle to participate in the charge.According to historical records, he rushed left and right as if he had entered an uninhabited territory, and was shot by several arrows, but he was unscathed, as if by the help of a god. Similarly, with arrows in his body, Azig was shot to death, but Governor Yuan was able to continue to fight, the secret lies in four words - "heavy armor is difficult to penetrate". These four words mean that the armor on Yuan Dushi's body is thick, and the arrow hit him, nothing happened. Under the attack of Guanning cavalry, the Hou Jin army began to retreat. However, the fighting power of the Eight Banners Army was quite strong. In addition, Mang Gurtai's brain was not working well, and he still had some strength, so he assembled his troops again and launched a second charge. The force of the dead knock was very great, Governor Yuan's central army was dispersed, and he was besieged among the chaotic army and was almost chopped up.Fortunately, his subordinates reacted quickly and gave him a few stabs (the strike was spared), before he crawled out of the gate of hell. After stabilizing the ground, the Guan Ning army began to fight back, and then you and I fought over again. It lasted for eight hours until six o'clock in the evening. Mangurtai finally couldn't hold on, retreated, and didn't have time to run. They were all driven into the moat. The Battle of Guangqumen was over, and the Houjin had a total of more than 1,000 casualties, and the Ming army won a big victory. When Nancheng was victorious, Man Gui in Beicheng was struggling to support him. The army attacking Deshengmen, including the main force of Huang Taiji's pro-army, was very powerful. Man Gui first sent his generals to fight, but was beaten back after a while.At the critical moment, Comrade Man Gui showed high revolutionary fighting spirit, went into battle in person, and commanded the artillery at the head of the city to fire support. Under his shining example, the Ming army under the city fought bravely, and the Ming army above the city fired bravely, causing heavy casualties to the latter Jin army.But I don't know which man on the top of the city was too brave when he fired the cannon. He shuddered and missed his head, and the cannon went straight to Comrade Man Gui. He was knocked down on the spot and injured all over his body. He was escorted back to recuperate. Although the commander withdrew, under the cover of cannons, the Ming army continued to fight. After suffering heavy casualties, Huang Taiji was forced to retreat, and the battle of Deshengmen ended. This day was very glorious for Yuan Chonghuan. With his elite soldiers and good generals, he defeated the mighty Eight Banners Army in the capital. What's more, Man Gui, who fought on the same day, was his sworn enemy. In front of the emperor, he fought one out and carried the other back, which was really a great honor. But he never imagined that Comrade Man Gui's account would eventually fall on him, because at the end of the battle that day, a rumor began to circulate in the capital: It was Yuan Chonghuan who fired and injured Man Gui. This statement is not credible, because Man Gui was fighting at Deshengmen, while Yuan Chonghuan was at Guangqumen. Today in Beijing, it would probably take an hour to run back and forth. In any case, Yuan Chonghuan would not be able to make it through. But it is not entirely unreasonable for Yuan Dushi to take the scapegoat. He and Man Gui have been fighting since Ningyuan, and then forced Man Zongbing back into the pass. He has never waited to see this man. Now Man Gui is injured. No surprises on the head either. Starting from Mao Wenlong, to Mangui, and then to Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan pushed himself into a desperate situation step by step, although he didn't know it. Yuan Chonghuan, a native of Teng County, Guangxi, started from the "land of barbarians" and worked hard to study. However, his qualifications were mediocre, and he failed four times. The isolated city, still standing still, defeated Nurhachi, Huang Taiji and his son successively, and defended Liaodong. After being forced to resign by the Eunuch Party, Meng Chongzhen revived his position again. However, he had a domineering personality. He was transferred from Mangui and installed cronies. , At the expense of his life, he fought hard with Huang Taiji, defeated the enemy army, and took the lead in disregarding life and death. I think, almost. Before the final fate was revealed, Yuan Chonghuan's performance was roughly the same. He is not a person with extraordinary talents. After hard work and struggle, as well as rare opportunities (such as Sun Chengzong), he finally stood on the stage of history. He is not perfect, he doesn't follow the rules, he doesn't talk about principles, he can do whatever he wants, he is very selfish, he will mention those who are obedient, and punish (or kill) those who are disobedient. The so-called "turning the tide" by some so-called "experts" is basically nonsense.Regarding this issue, I have discussed it many times with Ming history experts at the regular meeting of the Ming History Society of the Academy of Social Sciences.Objectively speaking, based on his strategic vision (following Huang Taiji around the capital) and actual performance (killing Mao Wenlong arbitrarily), defending the city and playing battles is indeed superior. The so-called saving the crisis, just say a few words. Yuan Chonghuan is by no means a traitor, nor is he a key figure. Whether he exists or not does not determine the success or failure of the Ming Dynasty.In other words, with his talent, no matter how hard he tried, he could do whatever he wanted. Regarding this tragic conclusion, I don’t know if Yuan Chonghuan knew that his life was rich and colorful. . But no matter when and where, whether he is proud or frustrated, he has been working hard, and he firmly believes that his efforts will eventually change everything. On November 27th, the second year of Chongzhen (1629), the nine gates of the capital were changed, and everything was ready. The final outcome is already doomed, there is no need to change it, and it cannot be changed. On this day, the steadfast Yuan Chonghuan started the last battle in his life - the battle of Zuo'anmen. Yuan Chonghuan lined up outside the city. Because they can't enter the city, they can only set up their formations behind the city.With his back to the cold brick wall, he faced Huang Taiji in the bitter cold wind of the capital, and unfolded the last scene of his magnificent life. The post-Jin army's tide-like attack proved that they still wanted to go to Beijing to grab a good vision, but Guan Ning's cavalry proved with the countless corpses that fell in front of them that you can't do it. The two sides continued to fight fiercely outside Zuo'anmen. After more than five hours of see-saw, Huang Taiji finally couldn't hold on and retreated again.The Battle of Zuoanmen ended with the victory of the Ming army. It's over, it's all over. I originally thought that the person who said this sentence should be full and insane, but now I understand that he is right.