Chapter 61 242 Yuan Chonghuan vs. Ningyuan

When Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party made the Ming Dynasty government into a mess, Nurhachi, the Great Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, was constantly attacking the Ming army in Liaodong.After the Sarhu War, the Ming Dynasty sent a veteran Xiong Tingbi to go out to command the Liaodong military.Xiong Tingbi was a very talented general, but Wang Huabi, the governor of Guangning (now Beizhen, Liaoning), thought that Xiong Tingbi's departure would affect his status, and tried every means to obstruct Xiong Tingzhen's command.In 1622 AD, Nurhachi attacked Guangning, and Wang Huazhen took the lead in fleeing into the pass.Xiong Tingbi couldn't resist, so he had to protect some people and retreat to Shanhaiguan.

Guangning fell, and the Ming Dynasty indiscriminately put Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen into prison together.Wei Zhongxian took the opportunity to blackmail Xiong Tingbi, and asked Xiong Tingbi to pay 40,000 taels of silver in order to spare him the death penalty.Xiong Tingbi is a decent person, where did the money come from, of course he refused.The eunuch party framed Xiong Tingbi for embezzling military pay and executed him. The Ming Dynasty killed Xiong Tingbi, who would they send to resist the Houjin army?The Yamen of the Ministry of War, which is in charge of the military, is in a hurry.Just at this time, the principal (official name) Yuan Chonghuan suddenly disappeared.The people in the yamen found his home, but the family didn't know his whereabouts.A few days later, Yuan Chonghuan came back. It turned out that he saw that the state was in danger, so he rode alone to Shanhaiguan for inspection.

Yuan Chonghuan studied the situation inside and outside the pass in detail, and reported to Sun Chengzong, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, and said: "As long as you give me the soldiers and horses, I will be responsible for guarding Liaodong." Some court ministers were frightened by Houjin's offensive. After hearing Yuan Chonghuan's volunteering, they all agreed to let Yuan Chonghuan try.Ming Xizong approved to pay him 200,000 yuan and asked him to supervise and lead the Ming army outside the pass. After several years of wars outside the customs, there is a desolation, the bones of dead soldiers are everywhere, coupled with the ice and snow, wild animals are rampant, the environment is very difficult.After Yuan Chonghuan left the customs, he rode horses and galloped across the wilderness overnight with a few soldiers, and arrived at Qiantun in Ningyuan (now Xingcheng, Liaoning) before dawn.There he received refugees and built fortifications.All the soldiers there admired Yuan Chonghuan's courage and perseverance.

Yuan Chonghuan was outside the pass. After some on-the-spot inspections, he decided to send troops to Ningyuan to build defensive fortifications there. After he reported his proposition to the court, he immediately received the support of Sun Chengzong. Yuan Chonghuan built a three-foot-two-foot-high and two-foot-wide city wall in Ningyuan, equipped with various firearms and artillery.Sun Chengzong also sent several troops to station in Jinzhou, Songshan and other places near Ningyuan to support Ningyuan. Yuan Chonghuan has strict orders and is loved by the army and the people.Merchants from all over the country flocked to Ningyuan from all directions when they heard that Ningyuan was defending well.The critical situation in Liaodong was quickly reversed.

Just as Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan made progress in guarding Liaodong, they were suspicious of Wei Zhongxian.Wei Zhongxian instigated the eunuch party to say a lot of bad things about Sun Chengzong, and Sun Chengzong was forced to resign. Wei Zhongxian pushed Sun Chengzong aside and sent his fellow party member Gaodi to command the Liaodong military.Gao Di was a mediocre and incompetent guy. As soon as he arrived at Shanhaiguan, he called a meeting with his generals, saying that the Hou Jin army was too powerful to defend outside the pass, and he asked all Ming troops to withdraw into Shanhaiguan.

Yuan Chonghuan resolutely opposed the withdrawal of troops. He said: "It is so easy for us to gain a firm foothold outside the customs. How can we give up so easily!" Gaodi insisted that Yuan Chonghuan give up Ningyuan.Yuan Chonghuan said angrily: "My duty is to defend Ningyuan. If I die, I will die there, and I will never retreat." Gaodi refused to accept Yuan Chonghuan, so he had to agree to Yuan Chonghuan to lead part of the Ming army to stay in Ningyuan, but ordered the Ming army in other areas outside the pass to retreat to the pass within a time limit.This order was issued very suddenly, and the defenders everywhere were unprepared, retreated in a hurry, and threw away all the hundreds of thousands of tans of military rations stored outside the pass.

Seeing the embarrassment of the Ming army retreating, Nurhachi believed that the Ming Dynasty was easy to deal with. In 1626 AD, he personally led an army of 130,000 to cross the Liao River and attack Ningyuan. At that time, the Ming army guarding several strongholds around Ningyuan had already withdrawn, and there were only more than 10,000 soldiers left in Ningyuan City, and they were in a very isolated situation.But Yuan Chonghuan was not discouraged.He bit his finger, wrote a blood book vowing to fight against the gold, showed it to the soldiers, and said some words of encouragement to everyone.When the soldiers heard this, they were all moved with enthusiasm, and they all expressed that they would stick to Ningyuan with General Yuan.

Then, Yuan Chonghuan ordered all the people outside the city to bring food and utensils to withdraw into the city, burn down the houses outside the city, and told the Houjin army to come without food and bunkers.He assigned tasks to the officials in the city, some in charge of the army's food supply, and some in the investigation of traitors.He also sent a letter to the guards of the Ming army in Shanhaiguan, ordering them to be executed immediately if they found Ningyuan's officers and soldiers who fled back to the pass.After these few orders, Ning Yuan's hearts were settled down, and everyone had no other thoughts except to defend the city and kill the enemy wholeheartedly.

Twenty days later, Nurhachi led the Houjin Army to the city of Ningyuan aggressively.A large number of Houjin soldiers with shields on their heads braved the arrows, stones and artillery fire of the Ming army, and violently attacked the city.Although the Ming army resisted bravely, one group of Hou Jin soldiers fell, and another group came.At this critical juncture, Yuan Chonghuan ordered to use the cannons that had been prepared long ago to fire at the Jin army.At the sound of the cannon, there was only a ball of flames, and the Houjin soldiers were bombarded with blood and flesh, and those who remained were also forced to retreat.

The next day, Nurhachi personally supervised the battle and concentrated a large force to attack the city.Yuan Chonghuan boarded the watchtower of the tower and calmly monitored the actions of the Jin army.He didn't order the gunners to aim at the place where the enemy was densely populated until the Jin army rushed to the place approaching the city wall.This artillery caused greater casualties to the Hou Jin army.Nurhachi, who was supervising the battle behind, was also seriously injured and had to order a retreat. When Yuan Chonghuan heard that the enemy was retreating, he took advantage of the victory and went out of the city. After chasing for thirty miles, he returned to the city victoriously.

Nurhachi was seriously injured, returned to Shenyang, and said to his subordinates: "Since I was twenty-five years old, I have been invincible and invincible. I never thought that the small Ningyuan City could not be captured." He was angry and sad, Coupled with the fact that the injury was getting worse and worse, it dragged on for a few days before dying.His eighth son, Huang Taiji, succeeded him as Houjin Dahan.