In 1630, after Yuan Chonghuan was lingchi, Chongzhen ordered the raid on his home, but the "History of Ming" records that Yuan Chonghuan's family had no surplus wealth, "Chonghuan had no children, and the family had no surplus, and the world was wronged." According to Yuan Chonghuan's "Three Beggars to False Neglect", his father and brother were poor and destitute, and all had to be supported by themselves. The subject's father did not have a rich property, but he was poor all the time. The father is gone. The younger brother of The Younger Brother is reverent, and he is not familiar with things, and all those who are born and raised and who die and are to be buried depend on their subjects. The subject has not tasted a single penny since he made his own order. He did not have any concubines in the main room of his hometown, and he had no money to take concubines, so he had to adopt his nephew Yuan Zhaoji as his heir.
The advantage of the abundance of Chinese historical materials is that it can be confirmed in many ways that regarding the results of Yuan Chonghuan's raid on the family, the Ming Dynasty Hubu Shangshu Bi Ziyan once wrote a book. It is recorded in the "Discussion of Du Zhi" that after Yuan Chonghuan served as the governor of Liaodong Province, he bought land in his hometown, took concubines in Ningyuan, and had two daughters and a widowed son Yuan Wenbi (whose descendants became eight banners), and his hometown was confiscated from the field to produce more than 5,000 taels. During the Ming Dynasty, ministers often concealed the revenue of the national treasury and wereware of the emperor's indiscriminate spending, so Bi Ziyan told the emperor to raid the family for 5,000 taels, generally only possible to say less, unlikely to say more, that is, Bi Ziyan's words were highly credible, Yuan Chonghuan did have a large amount of "unknown origin" property, it is estimated that nine times out of ten is embezzlement or illegal gains. Moreover, the raiders of the family in the past were all "fat differences", and the people who handled them made a lot of money, and it would be good to report half of them to the emperor, so Yuan Chonghuan's corruption may be beyond imagination.
However, the party struggle at the end of the Ming Dynasty was extremely fierce, although the history books said that Bi Ziyan was a righteous person, but he did not belong to the Donglin Party, and Yuan Chonghuan was a Member of the Donglin Party, so theoretically there were also Bi Ziyan people and other characters that framed Yuan Chonghuan to achieve the purpose of attacking the Donglin Party, so they fabricated 5,000 taels of silver.
So, whether Yuan Chonghuan has embezzlement, or whether there is illegal income, and what is the truth? Consider Yuan Chonghuan's perverse act of selling grain to Eastern Mongolia.
In 1629, a great famine broke out in Houjin, and the Qing Shilu recorded: "When there was a great famine in the country, the price of rice was eight or two silver, and people had cannibals. Although there are many silvers in the country, there is no foreign trade, and it is expensive to use silver and all things to become expensive. ”
The Thirty-six Families of the Qaraqin Clan in Eastern Mongolia also broke out into a great famine, but unlike the Later Jin, they applied to Yuan Chonghuan to buy grain. At that time, most of Eastern Mongolia had already fallen to the Qing Dynasty, which was a military community of Later Jin, and Man Gui wrote that "the thirty-six households of the Shu and Bo Ministries belonged to the Great Qing (Hou Jin)", and it is reasonable to say that it is certainly impossible to sell grain, but not selling grain will anger Eastern Mongolia, making Eastern Mongolia even more backward to Houjin, so should it be sold in the end?
Chongzhen and the basic attitude of the imperial court were: "When the city of Western Yi (Eastern Mongolia) buys goods, Ming is to receive Dongyi (Houjin), and to steal through Kou capital, is it not allowed to listen?" Chongzhen believed that selling grain to Eastern Mongolia was actually funding the aftermath, so it was certainly not possible to sell grain.
Yuan Chonghuan's answer was: The Thirty-six Houses of the Qaraqin Department of Eastern Mongolia were originally the domain of Daming, and had never communicated with Houjin, and because they were attacked by the Chahar Department, they had to rely on Houjin, and now that the Guanning defense line has been able to resist the invasion of Houjin, how dare the Mongols make friends with Houjin again? And if you don't sell grain to Eastern Mongolia now, then Eastern Mongolia will completely fall to Houjin, act as a guide for Houjin, and enter the Koujing Division from Jimen, with unimaginable consequences! Therefore, grain should be sold to Eastern Mongolia, but they should be allowed to write a letter of guarantee and not befriend Houjin. Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan repeatedly assured Chongzhen that the Eastern Mongol tribes he had helped "would never dare to lure slaves into attacking Jiliao."
Although Yuan Chonghuan's logic is somewhat problematic, it also makes some sense considering the geographical location of Eastern Mongolia and the perspective of co-opting Eastern Mongolia and destroying the Later Jin military alliance.
Therefore, Chongzhen could only partially compromise and agreed to allocate some grain to Eastern Mongolia, but pointed out that the Mongols colluded with the Jurchens and must be strictly guarded against, and the specific strategy was to "find out the number of tribes and count the amount of rice." That is to say, Chongzhen's plan to "exchange rations for grain" allowed them to only meet their own needs, thus not only helping the Eastern Mongolian ministries, occupying the moral high ground, but also making it impossible to fund Houjin, and requiring all generals to "not sell rice grain and entrained goods with cloth", and once they violated the law, they would be "punished with the crime of Tongyi", and continued to strictly enforce the economic blockade on Houjin.
According to common sense, the Chongzhen plan was relatively feasible, and if it could not completely make the Karaqin tribe fall to Daming, at least it could gain some gratitude, and at the same time allow Houjin to continue to be in the midst of famine.
Since Chongzhen refuted Yuan Chonghuan's suggestion and put forward a decision that was not wrong, Yuan Chonghuan should implement it accordingly, at least in general, to implement Chongzhen's decision, and the local details could be fine-tuned. However, historical records show that Yuan Chonghuan did not strictly control the border market, beware of grain and grass flowing into Houjin, but instead continued to implement his plan, claiming that "now Zhuyi swore to the heavens that he would not forget China", and even believed that "the Mongols bought one or two pieces of cloth for the Jurchens".
Zhang Daojun's "First Collection of Zhang Si Ban" records: "Only to see the situation of Guan Ning, it is getting newer and newer, such as gaotai fort hoarding rice beans, as well as silver, duan and other things, through the bundle chieftain (bundle of no land). For example, when Jinzhou opened a market, Ming was a western prisoner, but in fact, it was half mixed with slaves. "In the second year of Chongzhen, Shu Budi was already a hardcore ally of Houjin, and the Ming court already had a relatively accurate record, and Yuan Chonghuan could not have been unaware. When the Qing army entered the pass that year, Shu Budi also followed the Qing army to attack the city of Beijing, and successively fought with Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui.
The "Letter of Conduct of Sun Chengzong" records: "Xi Yu Suo He'er's troops came to beg for rewards, and (Liaodong Inspector Fuqiu) Hejia closed outside the wall, so he boasted into the song: 'After the beak of the beak, the reward is to Yi to Yi, that is, to attack Yi, and the hand of this dragon feeding the tiger is also.'" Gong (Sun Chengzong) refuted it: "(Yuan Chonghuan) went to mourn the foolish slave and become a slave and a fool; to buy rice to be foolish, but to be a bundle of foolishness. The fool of today, the fool of the past, the slave of the past? Sun Chengzong pointed out that Shu Budi had successfully deceived Yuan Chonghuan.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Kai's "Chongzhen Long Compilation" records: "When Yuan Chonghuanguan city bought rice, the subjects were in the mountains and seas, and saw that his behavior was obedient, and he knew that he would be bad for state affairs, and he wrote a suicide note to the Cardinal, so that he had done it early, and then Wang Qia began to have forbidden rice to barge money. Even if Yuan Chonghuan did not know at first that grain would flow into the hands of "anti-slaves", after the report of his colleagues, Yuan Chonghuan should always check it.
The "Records of Hearing and Seeing in the Mountains" records: "The Thirty-six Families of Duoyan, the strongest in the shudi, because of the marriage of the shu chieftain, sent zero to ride across the Sancha River, and hooked the chief to buy salary cloth and grain for the purpose of committing an offense." Chonghuan did not know it, and instead relied on the chieftain to investigate the establishment of the state, thinking that the money was completed in the twilight, and he could sit back in the east of my river. ”
What is puzzling is that when Yuan Chonghuan sold grain, did he know that grain would flow into the hands of "anti-slaves"? There was no doubt that Yuan Chonghuan could not be unaware, he was a leader in Liaodong. Since you know, does Yuan Chonghuan have the ability to strictly control it? There is no doubt that there is also the ability to control! In dealing with Mao Wenlong, Yuan Chonghuan cut off grain and forbidden the sea to change the tribute road, and finally caused a "great famine" in the Dongjiang River, so Yuan Chonghuan had the ability to control and investigate the direction of materials.
Emperor Chongzhen's orders, Yuan did not listen; selling grain would lead to grain flowing into Houjin, Yuan knew; there was the ability to control, Yuan did not care! What is the reason behind it? The truth may be even harsher than we think.
The Manchu Old Archives record: "When there was a great famine in the country, the price of grain was eight and two, and there were cannibals among the people. At that time, although there were many silver and silver in the country, there was nowhere to trade, and it was expensive to use silver and silver. Good horse one, worth three hundred and two silver. One strong bull is worth one hundred taels of silver. Python satin one, worth one hundred and fifty taels of silver. Mao Qingbu one, starting from silver nine two. Thieves swarmed, stole cattle and horses, and killed people, causing great chaos in the country. ”
A bucket of grain is usually less than one or two, but at this time it sells eight or two, do you think anyone will be moved? With the temperance of the Ming Dynasty officials and merchants and the so-called generals (equivalent to local chaebols) in Liaodong, will they bear not to make this money? There is no doubt that it is impossible, the Jin Shang Eight have already vividly expressed the discipline of the merchants at the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Yuan Chonghuan repeatedly wrote to suggest that Chongzhen sell grain to Eastern Mongolia, and in the end not only violated the emperor's will, but even blatantly sold grain, which may be the reason behind this. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan should not be as innocent as the "History of Ming", and there may not be many corrupt and illegal incomes, so that he can quickly have a lot of family property.
Of course, if Yuan Chonghuan really participated in the interests of selling grain, the early stage or the promotion of the commercial force behind the Donglin and the commercial force behind the Liaodong Shogun, must have taken the initiative to participate in the later stage, otherwise he would not have repeatedly taken the initiative to write to suggest that Chongzhen sell grain to Eastern Mongolia. At the same time, from the perspective of Profit, Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong most likely to help the forces behind monopolize the commercial interests of Liaodong.
Selling grain to Eastern Mongolia, Yuan Chonghuan said, "Now Zhuyi swears to the heavens that he will not forget China", but it was not long before the Eastern Mongolian tribes joined forces with Houjin to enter the customs and plunder. In this case, why was Yuan Chonghuan killed?