Speaking of the history of the last years of the Ming Dynasty, we have to mention the Battle of Ningyuan that shocked all four. In 1626, Nurhachi, known as the "Khan of the Mandate of Heaven", led an elite army of 60,000 (although he claimed to be 130,000), and confidently set out from Shengjing, aiming directly at the city of Ningyuan in the Ming Dynasty. In the face of Yuan Chonghuan, who only had 20,000 defenders, it stands to reason that this battle should be an easy victory. However, the truth was unexpected, Nurhachi not only failed to conquer Ningyuan, but lost his troops and finally died of depression due to defeat. Why did Nurhachi fail miserably with such an advantage?
Let's go back to the context of this campaign. On the fourteenth day of the first month of 1626, Nurhachi led a large army to leave Shengjing and arrived at the city of Ningyuan in nine days. Ningyuan City, this isolated city, under the persistence of Yuan Chonghuan, became a strong barrier in the north of the Ming Dynasty. After Nurhachi's victory in Quang Ninh, he was full of confidence and believed that the next battle would be an easy harvest.
The smoke of the battle of Ningyuan quickly dissipated Nurhachi's illusions. On the first day of the siege, the artillery fire of the Ming army was accurate and fierce, and although the Houjin army was outnumbered, it was never able to get close to the city wall. The three-day attack not only failed to break through Ningyuan, but caused casualties among 17,000 soldiers. The battle was more brutal than anyone expected, and Nurhachi himself was seriously wounded in the battle.
Everyone may think, why can't Nurhachi defeat Ningyuan City with so many troops? In fact, the answer to the question begins with a series of decisions made by Nurhachi in the past. In 1622, Nurhachi captured Quang Ninh, a victory that severed the Ming Dynasty's ties with the Mongols while also greatly strengthening the Later Jin's national power. It was this victory that made Nurhachi so proud that he made a fatal mistake of strategy in the days that followed.
For the occupied Han land, Nurhachi initially adopted a tolerant strategy to appease the local Han people, which did stabilize the situation to a certain extent. But as time went on, Nurhachi's policy began to change, and he began to force the Han people to shave their hair and keep braids, which caused great resentment and resistance among the Han Chinese. The shaving order is not only a desecration of the traditional culture of the Han people, but also a denial of their identity. This policy undoubtedly planted the seeds of resistance in the hearts of the Han people.
Nurhachi also forced the Han Chinese to carry out large-scale migrations during his later reign. He ordered all the residents of Jinzhou to be relocated to Quang Ninh, but this "artificial relocation" not only brought great trouble to the lives of the local people, but also greatly consumed the administrative resources of the Later Jin and the efficiency of military mobilization. This kind of decision-making, which ignores public opinion and actual conditions, has caused Nurhachi's regime to be criticized by the people.
Then there were problems with Nurhachi's military strategy. Although the Battle of Quang Ninh was won, Nurhachi did not fully consolidate the gains and instead rushed to expand deeper into the Ming hinterland, an overly greedy expansion strategy that made the Later Jin's military forces overly dispersed without adequate preparation. The drawbacks of this strategy were magnified in the Battle of Ningyuan, where the Ming army gave full play to the combat advantage of a small number of troops through strong city defenses and favorable terrain, while the Later Jin army became increasingly exhausted by long tug-of-war and long supply lines.
In addition, Nurhachi himself appeared overconfident and even reckless in his strategic decisions. He underestimated the geographical location of Ningyuan City and the combat effectiveness of the defenders, which led to underestimating the difficulty of the siege from the beginning. Moreover, he relied too much on charging in siege warfare and lacked effective tactical adjustments, which directly led to the defeat of the battle.
As for Nurhachi's personal health, it was also a factor that could not be ignored in the defeat. In the Battle of Ningyuan, Nurhachi was seriously wounded, which was a great blow to the morale and combat effectiveness of the Houjin army. The health of a leader often directly affects the psychological and combat state of the entire army, and Nurhachi's injuries undoubtedly seriously affected the morale of the Houjin army.
And the most fatal point is that Nurhachi failed to truly understand and use the local bureaucrats and people in the Han region. His rule was too arbitrary and failed to effectively integrate Han resources and people's hearts, which invisibly increased his enemies and reduced his friends. In many battles, this situation gradually became apparent, especially in the Battle of Ningyuan, where he failed to get local support and cooperation, which undoubtedly exacerbated his defeat.
From Nurhachi's defeat, we can see not only the fall of an ambitious ruler, but also the cumulative effect of a series of strategic mistakes and policy shortcomings. The Battle of Ningyuan was not only a military duel, but also a comprehensive contest of strategy, politics, culture and even personal qualities. History has always taught us that the success or failure of any leader is not the result of overnight results, but the result of long-term strategy and on-the-spot decision-making. Nurhachi's example reminds us that no matter how powerful we are, if we ignore the basic ways of governing the country, we will inevitably fail.