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Qing Shi Series-19
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In February of the fourth year of Jin Tiancong (1630), Emperor Taiji ended his first journey into the Ming Dynasty and returned to Shengjing (Shenyang) with a large amount of looted wealth and materials. The first attempt to attack the Ming Dynasty through the Mongols was a great success, and it hit the city of Beijing, and Huang Taiji was very excited.
What made him even happier was that there was another windfall in this expedition. His old rival, Yuan Chonghuan, the overseer of Jiliao, lost Chongzhen's trust in this battle, and before the war was over, Yuan Chonghuan was arrested and imprisoned as a scapegoat.
In December 1629, Yuan Chonghuan, who had just repelled the Emperor Taiji outside the Guangqu Gate, was summoned into the palace by the Chongzhen Emperor under the name of "Hui Hui". After the unsuspecting Yuan Chonghuan saw Chongzhen, he did not mention anything about "negotiating wages" and was arrested and imprisoned on the charge of collaborating with the enemy. Eight months later, Yuan Chonghuan was convicted of nine major crimes, including felonies such as collaborating with the enemy and treason, and was sentenced to death, that is, Ling Chi's execution, commonly known as a thousand knives.
Yuan Chonghuan stills
Yuan Chonghuan's killing was unexpected by many people at the time. He was an excellent general in the late Ming Dynasty, especially on the battlefield of Liaodong, and had won victories such as the Ningyuan Victory and the Ningjin Victory, and the two generations of The Great Khans of the Later Jin Dynasty did not have temper. After he took office in Liaodong, he not only stabilized the Guanning defense line, but also recovered a lot of lost land, which can be said to be the pillar of Daming's border pass.
Chongzhen killing Yuan Chonghuan was tantamount to self-destructing the Great Wall, so why did he do it? According to the Qing history manuscript, Chongzhen was the anti-plot of Emperor Taiji, believing that Yuan Chonghuan and Hou Jin were secretly colluding and collaborating with the enemy to commit treason, so Emperor Taiji was able to fight under the city of Beijing.
So how does huang taiji's counter-plan specifically operate? It is said that the Later Jin army captured two Ming dynasty eunuchs as prisoners in the battle against Beijing. Emperor Taiji sent people to spread rumors in the army, to the effect that the detour to Mongolia to attack Beijing was discussed with Inspector Yuan and was the way that Inspector Yuan gave him directions, so he hit the city of Beijing unimpeded.
Huang Taiji Entry Route
These rumors were overheard by the two eunuchs, and then Emperor Taiji deliberately let them escape, and the two men ran back and reported these "top secret information" to Chongzhen. In fact, this counter-plot similar to Jiang Gan's theft of books in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms could not fool Chongzhen at all, because it was too naïve and too pediatric.
Chongzhen is not a fool, and this kind of anti-trick played by the old ancestors is simply an insult to IQ. One of the charges he convicted yuan Chonghuan of was indeed "conspiring with the enemy to make money," but it was not a counter-plot, but a mistake in order to kill Yuan Chonghuan.
Jiang Gan stole books
In Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan's work was generally good, but there were also mistakes and mistakes. For example, he killed Mao Wenlong, such as selling grain to the Mongolian Qaraqin tribe without permission, which can be judged as a crime but not to death.
Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan's starting point was for Liaodong and the country, and he did not have any selfish intentions. Mao Wenlong was killed to unify the leadership of Liaodong, and to sell grain to Qaraqin in order to win over the Mongols and prevent them from defecting to Emperor Taiji.
Emperor Tai Chi
Huang Taiji made a long-distance raid on the capital, burning and looting around Beijing for several months. The shock caused by this incident was great, the people's resentment was great, chongzhen needed a person to be the back of the pot, to be the scapegoat, which was the main reason why he killed Yuan Chonghuan.
By killing Yuan Chonghuan, you can give an account to the imperial court, an explanation to the people of the capital who are unknown, and even an explanation to the ancestors. Therefore, in this matter, what really worked was not the anti-plot of the Emperor Taiji, but Chongzhen's selfishness and face.