In the sixteenth year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting, the governor of the Ming Dynasty, led his troops to hold on to Tongguan and waited for the arrival of reinforcements, but he waited not for Chongzhen's reinforcements, but for Chongzhen's edict urging him to go to war. After receiving the edict, Sun Chuanting sighed and said, "What!!" I stubbornly go back and forth. Sun Chuanting knew that there was no chance of victory, but he did not disobey, but chose to go out of the customs and fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng.
The enemy was outnumbered, and Sun Chuanting was quickly defeated by Li Zicheng. After he retreated to Tongguan with his remnants, Li Zicheng's army immediately pursued and broke through Tongguan. At this moment, Sun Chuanting had the opportunity to escape, but he did not run away, but chose to wield a sword and fight to the death with the thief.
Sun Chuanting eventually died heroically. After his death, Daming was only half a year away from his demise, so that the History of Ming said: "When the court dies, Daming dies." ”
Sun Chuanting is the twenty-first jinshi of the Wanli Calendar, and he ranks 41st, which is not too good, but the 40th rank is another famous general of Daming, Yuan Chonghuan. In the same year, along with Sun Chuanting, there were also Hong Chengzu, Liang Tingdong, Jiang Yueguang, Wu Aheng, Ding Qirui, Liu Yuliang, Yang Wenyue, Yu Yinggui and other famous ministers. In the darkness, the heavens gave Chongzhen a number of famous generals, but Chongzhen did not use them well.
After Sun Chuanting was elected to the jinshi, he served as a local zhi county, and because of his outstanding political achievements, he was transferred to the post of official. At that time, the Ming Dynasty was in the midst of internal and external troubles, and it was in need of talents to turn the tide and save Daming from water and fire, but during the Apocalypse, Wei Zhongxian and other eunuchs were in charge, and the court was dark, and Sun Chuanting was dissatisfied with Wei Zhongxian's dictatorship and did not want to join the castration party, so he resigned and returned to his hometown.
Sun Chuanting retired for ten years, living a comfortable and comfortable life of serving his mother and teaching students. During this period, emperor Tianqi died and Chongzhen came to power, and he immediately killed Wei Zhongxian and other traitors. Although the tumor within the imperial court was removed, Daming's troubles followed.
There was a peasant uprising inside Daming and an invasion by the Qing army outside. Sun Chuanting's hometown of Daizhou was also attacked by the Jin army and ravaged. In order to help Daming resist external troubles, Sun Chuanting wrote "Enemy Situation Must Have Weakness and Timidity", proposing to use infantry to guard the dangerous pass and resist the Houjin cavalry. Soon after, Sun Chuanting was activated by the imperial court. In the ninth year of Chongzhen, the imperial court entrusted Sun Chuanting with a heavy responsibility and made him the governor of Shaanxi.
Before Sun Chuanting left, he hoped that Chongzhen would provide him with soldiers, horses, and grain to suppress bandits. Sun Chuanting's request made Chongzhen's eyebrows lock, the Treasury of Daming was empty, and Chongzhen could not give Sun Chuanting how many soldiers and horses, nor how much grain and food he could give Sun Chuanting. In the end, Chongzhen only gave Sun Chuanting 60,000 taels of military pay.
Although Sun Chuanting lacked soldiers and food, the rebels wanted to suppress them, and the difficulties could only be overcome by themselves. Sun Chuanting recruited 3,000 soldiers with 60,000 taels of military pay. Subsequently, Sun Chuanting solved part of the problem of military salaries by attacking the rich and powerful and forcing the powerful and powerful to hand over the over-occupied Tuntian. At the same time, Chongzhen also transferred famous generals such as Hong Chengzu and Lu Xiangsheng to Shaanxi and Henan, and together with Sun Chuanting, he was responsible for suppressing the rebels. They dealt a heavy blow to the peasant rebel army, and Sun Chuanting also defeated the rebel army in the Battle of Heishuiyu and captured Gao Yingxiang alive. Zhang Xianzhong and other rebels were also forced to surrender to Daming under the conquest of the imperial court.
After the rebel armies in Henan, Shaanxi, and other places were suppressed by Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng, Hong Chengzu, and others, Chongzhen relaxed his vigilance, and his strategy changed from "Annei" to "Outside", transferring Hong Chengzu, Sun Chuanting, Lu Xiangsheng and other generals to Liaodong to resist Houjin.
Sun Chuanting made great achievements for Daming, but the struggle of the court implicated him, and he was framed by the chancellor and eventually imprisoned by Chongzhen.
After Sun Chuanting was imprisoned, there were serious disasters in Shaanxi, Henan and other places, and after Li Zicheng put forward the slogan of "the king came and did not pay grain", he won the support of more people and his strength grew rapidly. Zhang Xianzhong and others also took the opportunity to rebel, and they once again became Chongzhen's confidants. After the peasant rebel army returned, Chongzhen released Sun Chuanting from prison and asked him to lead his troops to suppress the thieves.
Sun Chuanting was in prison for three years, not understanding the situation in the outside world, Chongzhen asked him how many soldiers and horses he needed to suppress the peasant rebel army, Sun Chuanting said that only 5,000 soldiers and horses were enough. Chongzhen gave Sun Chuanting 5,000 soldiers and horses, but the reality is that this soldier and horse is far from enough.
After Sun Chuanting arrived in Guanzhong, he found that he had made a big mistake. Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, and others who had been dying and had not become a climate had changed from dogs of bereaved families to fierce tigers, and they had hundreds of thousands of people under their command, and there were millions of them. Don't say that there are only 5,000 soldiers and horses, that is, to give him hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, at this time, it may not be possible to destroy Li Zicheng and other anti-thieves.
On the one hand, Sun Chuanting reorganized the army, prepared gunpowder, and so on, confronted the enemy, on the other hand, he wrote to Chongzhen, hoping that Chongzhen would give him more time and give him more troops and money, but the Treasury of Daming was already empty, and Chongzhen could not give Sun Chuanting too much money, food, and soldiers. At the same time, Chongzhen was anxious to suppress the traitors, and he disregarded the fact that the enemy was outnumbered and ordered Sun Chuanting to go to war, which eventually led to Sun Chuanting's death in battle.
After Sun Chuanting's death, Chongzhen had no generals under him who could stop Li Zicheng. Half a year later, Li Zicheng attacked the Jingshi, Chongzhen committed suicide, and Daming perished.