Text/A more popular science
Do you know? In the history of the late Ming Dynasty, there was a controversial figure, some people thought that he was a hero of the nation, but some people felt that he was a traitor who collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, this person was Yuan Chonghuan, so what kind of person was he?
Do you know Yuan Chonghuan?
Friends who know history know that Yuan Chonghuan was an important historical figure in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, but the controversy of this person was very large.
In August 1630, a generation of famous generals Yuan Chonghuan was killed by the Chongzhen Emperor Ling Chi with more than 3,000 knives, and even the people hated Yuan Chonghuan to the bone, and did not hesitate to spend silver money to buy the scraped flesh on his body.
Because the reason why the Chongzhen Emperor executed Yuan Chonghuan was that he collaborated with the enemy and betrayed the country, believing that Yuan Chonghuan had led the way for the Qing army and wanted to bring them into the capital to destroy the Ming Dynasty, many people hated him.
However, we look at Yuan Chonghuan's life, he has fought countless battles without defeat, and has also saved the Ming Dynasty from the iron hooves of Hou Jin several times, which is why some people think that Yuan Chonghuan's death was unjustly wronged. The following is just my personal opinion.
Yuan Chonghuan's "record"
The crime of "collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country" is not small, and it is a stink on the body for thousands of years. The reason why some people think that Yuan Chonghuan's death was mostly because of his great achievements.
However, in Yuan Chonghuan's life, the most famous achievements are nothing more than two, one is the great victory of Ning Yuan, and the other is the great victory of Ning Jin. In 1626, 60,000 elite soldiers of Nurhaci crossed the Liao River and prepared to attack Shanhaiguan.
However, what Nurhaci did not expect was that before he reached Shanhaiguan, he encountered resistance, that is, The City of Ningyuan guarded by Yuan Chonghuan.
It was just that at that time, Yuan Chonghuan only had 10,000 troops in his hands, and facing Nurhaci's 60,000 troops, it seemed that some of them hit the stone with pebbles, but Yuan Chonghuan did not panic, because he had already expected Nurhaci's arrival.
Yuan Chonghuan fights Against Jin Bing
Therefore, as early as two years ago, Yuan Chonghuan had already begun to build city defenses and hoard grain and grass, because he knew that the golden soldiers led by Nurhaci were not good at attacking strong points, and the truth was just as he expected, and in the end Nurhaci could only retreat.
After Nurhaci's death, Emperor Taiji led the Eight Banner Army and part of the Mongol army to attack the city of Ningyuan again, but failed to return.
However, in this battle, Yuan Chonghuan, instead of receiving a reward, was impeached by the castration party led by Wei Zhongxian, and Yuan Chonghuan, who had a violent personality, could not bear such grievances and resigned in anger in protest.
But history is often such a coincidence, in 1627 AD, the Emperor Tianqi died, and his testament was succeeded by the Fifth Emperor, Zhu Youjian the Prince of Xin, and after the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, Yuan Chonghuan was reappointed as the Shangshu of bingbu. Giving him full authority over the military affairs of Liaodong, without even sending an overseer, shows Chongzhen's trust in Yuan Chonghuan.
Why did things turn into a situation where they didn't die in the end?
This is actually related to Yuan Chonghuan's personality, early his teacher Sun Chengzong found this shortcoming and warned it, but Yuan Chonghuan did not pay attention to it, and the Chongzhen Emperor was really "pampered" to Yuan Chonghuan, which further magnified Yuan Chonghuan's personality.
According to the history books, when the Chongzhen Emperor beheaded Yuan Chonghuan, Luo listed 9 major crimes, namely: ineffective entrustment; arrogance and deception; theft with city rice; beheading marshals with money; long-term driving of the enemy; no fighting; reinforcements were gathered in four sets and dismissed; soldiers were sent down to the city; sneaking lamas and insisting on entering the city.
It seems that Yuan Chonghuan under these nine major crimes is really the most heinous crime, but is this really the case? In fact, these 9 major crimes are nothing more than three things:
One is that when the Chongzhen Emperor reappointed Yuan Chonghuan, Yuan Chonghuan promised to pacify Houjin within 5 years, but according to the Chongzhen Long Compilation, Yuan Chonghuan's words were just big words to make the Chongzhen Emperor happy.
The second is the fact that Yuan Chonghuan took it upon himself to kill Mao Wenlong, who was also a famous general in the late Ming Dynasty, who created an important military town in what is now North Korea, Dongjiang Town.
The importance of Mao Wenlong
The reason why it is said that this is a military town is because the geographical location here is very good, the location is just behind the Manchu Qing, it can be said that this is a nail inserted behind the Manchu Qing, which has a great effect on the elimination of the Ming Dynasty.
However, I think Mao Wenlong's death was not unjust, because he was indeed too stubborn, but Yuan Chonghuan did not report to the imperial court before executing Mao Wenlong, which also bought the foreshadowing for his ending.
The third is to say that Yuan Chonghuan sold grain to the enemy, because the Manchu Qing had been a nomadic people before entering the customs, which meant that the Manchu Qing was very short of grain and grass, and they had always been allied with the Mongols at that time.
In order to break up the relationship between the Manchu Qing and Mongolia, Yuan Chonghuan began to sell grain to Mongolia to win over Mongolia, and as a result, he underestimated the relationship between the two, and Mongolia gave all the grain and grass it bought to the Manchu Qing, and in this way, Yuan Chonghuan was charged with a crime of "selling grain to the enemy".
Bear the charge of collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country
With sufficient grain and grass, Mao Wenlong was also executed by Yuan Chonghuan, the Qing Dynasty had no worries, the Emperor Taiji crossed the mountains and the sea to the capital, fortunately Yuan Chonghuan returned to the division to rescue, was able to keep the capital without loss, but not long after this incident, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by the Chongzhen Emperor.
In fact, combined with these deeds of Yuan Chonghuan in the past, it is not established to say that he is a traitor and traitor to the country, after all, he resisted the Qing Dynasty for the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, and it was also he who returned to the capital to save the car.
But he was not a big hero, after all, he bought grain and grass to the Mongols, and it was he who killed Mao Wenlong on his own initiative, which made the people of the army panic and gave the emperor Taiji an opportunity to take advantage of it. What do you think about that?