On August 26, 1630, the third year of Chongzhen (1630), Yuan Chonghuan, who had been imprisoned for nearly nine months, was sentenced to the punishment of Ling Chi, which is what we usually call Ling Chi - 3543 knives, and his flesh was sold up by the gentry for one or two pieces. As for this matter, the "Biography of Ming Shi Yuan Chonghuan" revised by the Manchu Qing Dynasty said: "Since Chonghuan died, there was no one to benefit from the side affairs, and the Ming Dynasty was decided!" Then hundreds of years later, the Qianlong Emperor praised and overturned the case. Therefore, a theory became very popular, ming died in chongzhen emperor to kill Yuan Chonghuan, Yuan Chonghuan was wrongfully killed.
So is this really the case?
Yuan Chonghuan is a scholar. In 1619, yuan chonghuan, who was thirty-five years old, finally passed the entrance examination, and after many years of exhaustion, he was finally able to exert his ambitions. During his tenure as Shao Wuzhi County, he worked diligently and personally, thinking that some people were destined to be extraordinary. So, after his three-year term expired, he returned to Beijing to report for duty. The tragic situation of the Battle of Quang Ninh not only caused the Emperor of the Apocalypse Zhu Youxiao to kill Xiong Tingbi, but also made the atmosphere within the Ming Dynasty strange. No one dared to take over the erosion of Liaodong, but Yuan Chonghuan, after going to the survey alone, wrote a song that set the tone for his fate, giving me money and grain, and I could guard Shanhaiguan.
So this small Zhi County, after it, all the way up the road, soaring. He had the temperament of a Chinese scholar, and was able to write down "after death, there is no fear of brave generals, and loyal souls still guard Liaodong", and he was able to get the support of Sun Chengzong to reorganize the border defenses, stick to the city, successively win the great victories of Ningyuan and Ningjin, and wound Nurhaci; but he also had the cunning and jealousy peculiar to the literati, and he would write a letter of praise in order not to offend Wei Zhongxian, and to meet Wei Zhongxian with merit than Yao Shun, and he would stop at nothing to kill Mao Wenlong's twelve crimes in order to achieve his goal.
After the Chongzhen Emperor came to power, he ruled Liaodong at a cost of millions, but to no avail. As a result, Emperor Taiji bypassed the Guanning Defense Line, which he thought was impregnable, with an army of 100,000.
He is a loyal subject, but he is also a mediocre minister, and he cannot get rid of vulgarity, let alone Mr. Yan Chongnian's "protracted tragedy comparable to Yue Fei and Yu Qian".
When the Chongzhen Emperor convicted Yuan Chonghuan, he committed the following crimes: Yuan Chonghuan was ineffective in his entrustment, he was arrogant and deceitful, he stole money with the city rice, he beheaded the marshal with the money, he drove the enemy for a long time, he did not fight, he sent reinforcements for four episodes, he was dismissed as much as possible, and he sent his soldiers to the city, and he sneaked in with lamas and insisted on entering the city, all kinds of crimes.
The entrustment is ineffective, and the arrogance is deceitful. When the Jiliao Governor added his body, Yuan Chonghuan shouted out the slogan of "Five Years of Pingliao", the Chongzhen Emperor supported one of the nine towns in Liaodong with the financial resources of the whole country, and when there were only 130,000 people in Liaodong Town, Yuan Chonghuan asked for 680,000 pairs of armor, and the Chongzhen Emperor chose to give! At this time, the interior of the Ming Dynasty was already in turmoil, li zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and the suan rebellion that took nine years to quell. The Guanning defense line was like the Macedonian defense line, the Emperor Taiji's 100,000 troops drove straight in, and Yuan Chonghuan's so-called "key places have been defended, and their Jizhou code is not worrying... Don't worry", but in exchange for the soldiers of the Emperor Taiji's army, they came to the city.
Municipal rice thieves. In 1629, Houjin suffered a major drought and was hungry, and it was really difficult to maintain the supply of the Eight Banner Soldiers. And what can be done to relieve the urgent need? For the Ming Dynasty, this was a protracted battle with a good situation, but one person let all these efforts disappear. Lord Yuan agreed to sell grain, not to the Jurchens, of course, but to the Mongol Qaraqin tribe, which had fallen to the Jurchens. We do not wonder whether he has the heart of private discussion and peace, and history is only a matter of opinion. After seeing that there were Jurchens in the Mongolian Qaraqin Ministry, and that the grain was far more than the use of food, he also hoped that he could use this to make the Mongolian Ministry surrender. Wishful thinking? We only know that Yue Fei and Yu Qian would definitely not do such stupid acts, and in the end it was the Chongzhen Emperor, who was considered stupid, who ordered to stop them, but it was useless. Half a year later, Emperor Taiji joined the Qaraqin Clan and entered the Koujing Division.
Plot to cut the handsome. The rise of Mao Wenlong was definitely unexpected by Nurhaci. The Battle of Zhenjiang also became a thorn in hou jin's flesh. A general who even Kangxi's grandfather was captured, and the so-called emissaries could be escorted to Beijing by Mao Wenlong, also let the Houjin side be like a bone in the throat, unable to go far, but the perfect strategic containment was killed in the twelve major sins of "rigid self-use and friendship with close attendants" in his unwarranted twelve major crimes.
Some people say that Mao Wenlong collaborated with the enemy and was arrogant. In fact, the soldiers are devious, and the war is never a chess game, but a one-man dictatorship based on its results rather than on the lips. Only a good cat can catch a mouse. After Mao Wenlong was killed, Emperor Taiji dared to drive thousands of miles straight to Gyeonggi; Kong Youde and Geng Zhongming, Mao Wenlong's subordinates, were uncontrolled, and incidentally even the Hongyi cannon was sent to Emperor Taiji. As for "the enemy is long-term, the troops are not fighting, the reinforcements are four sets, the dispatch is exhausted, and the soldiers are thin in the city, and the lamas are sneaked in, and they insist on entering the city" are mostly appendages, and it is inevitable that there will be slanderous gaps.
If it is said that killing him is unjust, it is more like a strong word; if it is said that he is a pillar of great light, and the death of the Ming dynasty is caused by killing him, it is even more a joke. A strategy that can encircle Yue Fei and Yu Qian, who originally surrounded themselves on three sides, and who had their arms cut off, is this not an insult to Yue Fei and Yu Qian? The author believes that he is a loyal subject, but he is also a mediocre minister. History, especially at the end of the dynasty, does not need philistine subjects, it wants capable subjects, and does not distinguish between loyalty and adultery.
References: "Biography of Ming Shi Yuan Chonghuan", "Chongzhen Long Edition", "Ming Ji Beiluo", etc