Yuan Chonghuan, at the age of 35, was admitted to the jinshi, became a zhixian and entered the official field. At that time, in the battle between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty, they were repeatedly defeated and were ready to abandon Shanhaiguan. Yuan Chonghuan was a young man with lofty ideals, so he "threw his pen from Rong" and went to Guanwai alone to check the terrain and think about good strategies against the enemy. After returning to the dynasty, he boasted to the emperor about Haikou: "Give our army Ma Qiangu, I alone will guard this." ”
The imperial court saw that Yuan Chonghuan dared to act boldly, so it broke through the rules and promoted him as a military armament, allocated 200,000 yuan of money, recruited troops and bought horses, and guarded Shanhaiguan. He also lived up to expectations, and successively won the Ningyuan Victory and the Ningjin Victory, and Halhaci also died of serious injuries. Yuan Chonghuan was ostracized by Wei Zhongxian and resigned his post and returned to his hometown.
Later, after the Chongzhen Emperor ascended the throne, he designed to get rid of Wei Zhongxian and reinstate Yuan Chonghuan. He confronted the Chongzhen Emperor and confidently assured the Emperor: "If the Emperor can meet my requirements, it will only take five years to pacify Liaodong." The Chongzhen Emperor was overjoyed, believing that Yuan Chonghuan was a capable minister who saved Daming, so he asked for money to give money, asked people to give people, and let him act cheaply.
In the second year of Chongzhen (1629), more than a year after Yuan Chonghuan was used by Chongzhen, Emperor Taiji led an army of more than 100,000 people across the Great Wall and invaded Beijing. After Yuan Chonghuan heard this, he led Zu Dashou and He Kegang into the pass to surround and intercept the Houjin army. Unfortunately, this Houjin army still hit the city of Beijing. Although emperor Taiji was eventually repulsed by Yuan Chonghuan and the qinwang troops everywhere, Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned. In August 1630, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Ling Chi and his family was exiled for 3,000 miles.
Fa Si sat on Chonghuan to plot rebellion, and Long Xi also died. In August of the third year, Sui Chonghuan was in the city, and his brother's wife flowed three thousand miles to his home. Chonghuan has no children, and his family has no spare money, and the world has been wronged. (Biography of Ming Shi Yuan Chonghuan)
Some people say that Yuan Chonghuan is a loyal subject and a hero of the anti-Jin Dynasty, while others say that Yuan Chonghuan is a sinner of eternity, and Daming (China) pits very badly, which is a great "destruction" to China. In short, the controversy over Yuan Chonghuan in history is very large, and there is no conclusive conclusion.
Yuan Chonghuan's "sabotage" of China, the so-called two major crimes, were to negotiate peace with the Houjin army without authorization and to kill Mao Wenlong without authorization.
The first was to negotiate peace with Hou Jinjun without authorization
Strictly speaking, this point really did not wrongfully accuse Yuan Chonghuan. At the beginning of Chongzhen's second year, it was explicitly forbidden to sell Mongolian materials and rice noodles (it was reported that Xiyi City bought goods, ming was receiving Dongyi, through Kou zi theft), but Yuan Chonghuan took it as a sidewind and still insisted on going his own way. He considered it all, in order to seek Mongolian neutrality and support, private and mongol tribal trade. The Mongol tribes traded with the Later Jin State, and the rice noodles flowed into the hands of the Later Jin Army.
From this point of view, Yuan Chonghuan only traded with the Mongols, and did not directly trade with the enemy Houjin, so there was no unauthorized peace negotiation and taste in it. Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan and Mongolian traded rice noodles, not enough to support. He has his own strategic purpose and wants to isolate Hou Jin.
The second is to kill Mao Wenlong
Mao Wenlong was indeed beheaded by Yuan Chonghuan privately (without asking the Chongzhen Emperor for instructions), which did not wrongfully accuse him. Mao Wenlong was a general at the end of the Ming Dynasty or a general of the Pingliao, and he also held the sword of Shangfang. He was the commander of Phi Dao, established his own "small imperial court" on Phi Dao, and harassed him in the rear of Houjin, preventing him from attacking Shanhaiguan with all his might. Yuan Chonghuan, the newly appointed governor of Jiliao, felt that Mao Wenlong was arrogant and arrogant, and did not obey discipline, so he took an opportunity to list Mao Wenlong's twelve major sins, took out shangfang's sword, and beheaded him.
Although Mao Wenlong was not very obedient and had a tendency to establish himself as king, he had been fighting against Houjin and fighting guerrillas behind enemy lines. After Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, he did not deal with the army of Phi Dao, and finally there were many problems. For example, the three generals under Mao Wenlong, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi, successively returned to Emperor Taiji and were known as the "Three Shun Kings". Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan's killing of Mao Wenlong was too hasty, resulting in the demise of Phi Dao in name only, and the three generals rebelled.
From the above, it can be seen that these two crimes did not "wrongly" Yuan Chonghuan, and he did have some problems. However, the flaws did not hide Yu, Yuan Chonghuan's starting point was good, he really fought for Daming and worked hard to recover Liaodong. He did not hesitate to boast about Haikou in front of the Chongzhen Emperor, saying that he would be able to destroy the Liao within five years. Yuan Chonghuan is just a person, not a god, he will also make mistakes, and there will be times when he is not well considered, as long as his starting point is good, then he should not be blamed, he should not be said to be a "traitor", nor should he be said to have caused "damage" to Daming.
In fact, the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty told the truth in one sentence, indicating that although Yuan Chonghuan was at fault, he was a true loyal subject and did not cause "damage" to the Ming Dynasty, no less than Yue Fei, the hero of the Southern Song Dynasty. The Qianlong Emperor's evaluation of Yuan Chonghuan was as follows:
"Yuan Chonghuan's overseer Ji Liao, although he was in trouble with my dynasty, was still able to be loyal to what he did, and at that time the Lord was secretly in charge and could not exhaust his pity, so that he was rebuilt, and he was deeply compassionate."
Yes, Qianlong, as the emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, looked at Yuan Chonghuan very objectively and fairly, believing that he could be loyal to wang shi, do his best, fight with his ancestors, and work hard to recover Liaodong. He believed that the Ming Emperor was faint at that time and could not support the Ji jiangshan of kuangfu, rather than Yuan Chonghuan's incompetence. In the end, Yuan Chonghuan was killed, which is very worthy of sympathy. The Manchu Emperor Qianlong, the enemy of Daming, could all comment on Yuan Chonghuan in this way, and we should not complain about Yuan Chonghuan, at least we should treat the loyal minister Yuan Chonghuan objectively.