On November 9, the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), the Qing army came to a small town with no soldiers and no generals, named Gaoyang. The Qing army first persuaded to surrender, but was sternly refused. The Qing army launched an attack in desperation, but even under extremely inferior circumstances, Gaoyang City still held out for a day.
Because there is a person in the small town named Sun Chengzhong. Two generations of imperial teachers, Bingbu Shangshu and Dongge University scholar, Yuan Chonghuan's teacher.
Sun Chengzhong was born in the forty-second year of Ming Jiajing (1563), and was a native of Gaoyang, Baoding. In his childhood, Sun Chengzong seemed to be bolder than children of the same age, and the others were no different, still taking a path of reading, marrying wives, and taking examinations.
When he was sixteen years old, he took the scientific examination, won the first place, and married a girl surnamed Wang in the same year. Then, Sun Chengzong held the title of a xiucai and quietly spent ten years.
Ten years later, the twenty-eight-year-old Sun Chengzong came to the capital for the first time, but he did not come to take the imperial examination, but to work as a tutor for the child of an official.
A year later, Sun Chengzong came to Yizhou again to work as a tutor for the guards of the military road at that time, and this time his employer's identity directly led to the direction of Sun Chengzong's future life.
In the twenty-seventh year of the Wanli Calendar (1599), the guards of the Bingbei Daofang were transferred to Datong, Shanxi, and became the inspector of Datong, and Sun Chengzong, who was already thirty-seven years old, took his wife and followed his employer.
It was in Datong that Sun Chengzong saw the real battlefield for the first time, and he saw how the general commanded the army and how to go into battle to kill the enemy. The killing in his eyes and the roar in his ears made this reader feel the cold of the bone, and then he was aroused by a cavity of blood.
It may be that the battlefield gave Sun Chengzong a new impetus, and he decided not to linger in this comfortable life anymore, so he re-embarked on the road of imperial examination.
In February of the thirty-second year of the Wanli Calendar (1604), the forty-two-year-old Sun Chengzong went to Beijing to participate in the examination, and the result was 115th. Then, in the palace examination held immediately afterwards, Mr. Sun shined and won the second place in the first division, which is what we often call the list.
Subsequently, Sun Chengzong entered the Hanlin Academy and became a Hanlin editor. It seems to be soaring, but in fact, in the Hanlin Academy, there are many people like him, and it is not so easy to become a high official. Sun Chengzong only had to wait, and this waited for ten years.
In the forty-second year of the Wanli Calendar (1614), Sun Chengzong, who was already fifty-two years old, was finally promoted to an official, and he was appointed as the right middle yun of the right chunfang of Zhan Shifu, and soon moved to the left chunfang left middle yun. Although this official was of low rank, it was a very important position, because this official was giving lectures to the emperor.
However, it was a pity that the emperor he faced was the Mingguang Sect Zhu Changluo, who had only been in office for a month. After Emperor Guangzong's death, Emperor Xizong ascended the throne, and Sun Chengzong was promoted to Zuo Chunfang Zuo Shuzi (左庶子) and an attendant of the Hanlin Academy, in charge of writing articles by The Bureau of Economics and Economics, and was appointed as Emperor Xizong's Japanese lecturer.
According to historical records, Emperor Xizong liked this teacher very much, "Whenever the emperor listened to Emperor Chengzong's lectures, he said 'the heart was open'" (Ming Shi). That is to say, as soon as he listened to Teacher Sun's lecture, the emperor felt that he had an epiphany.
From then on, Sun Chengzong sat firmly in the position of two generations of imperial masters, and in the years to come, Sun Chengzong would fully carry the emperor's trust in him and realize his ambitions.
At that time, Hou Jin had already attacked Liaoyang and Shenyang, and the whole country was panicked, and Yuan Yingtai, who was then the governor, committed suicide. "Yushi Fang Zhenru asked the military department Shangshu Cui Jingrong to inherit the emperor's generation. The courtiers also knew the soldiers by Emperor Chengzong, so they added waiters to the military department and took charge of the eastern affairs. (History of the Ming Dynasty)
The ministers all suggested that the emperor send Sun Chengzong to preside over the liaodong war, because everyone knew that this person knew how to lead troops to fight, and had the ability to make decisions in the face of danger. How can such a talent not be placed in the most important position?
However, it seems that Mr. Sun's lecture was really too good, and the emperor was reluctant to let Sun Chengzong leave him, and even disregarded state affairs and insisted on leaving Sun Chengzong in the imperial court. The ministers repeatedly asked for instructions, but they were rejected.
But it wasn't long before the emperor found that the situation had developed to the point where he couldn't come by his own nature.
At that time, Hou Jin's army approached Quang Ninh, Wang Huazhen abandoned the city and fled, and Xiong Tingbi also abandoned a large area of land outside Guanxi and returned to Guannei. Then, no one wanted to go out to preside over the war. Bingbu Shangshu Zhang Heming actually resigned and went home because he was afraid.
There was no way, the emperor could only appoint Sun Chengzong as a soldier and a scholar of Dongge University, presiding over political affairs. Sun Chengzong had only been in office for three months, and the wind was blowing.
Sun Chengzong finally reached the highest position and entered the real center of power. Sun Chengzong felt that it was almost over, he was going to the front line, to the place where he was really needed.
Before leaving, Emperor Xizong personally sent him off and gave Shangfang a sword and the right to act cheaply. But Sun Chengzong understood that at this time, he was old, even if he had a keen sense of smell and accurate judgment, but the years were not spared, and he could not do everything himself.
Therefore, he decided to find someone to pass on to him all his life's learning and experience, and let this person complete the mission of recovering the land in his place. And this person was the person who had a humble official position, but had the courage to criticize the wrong line of King Shangshu of the Bingbu In Jin Dynasty, Yuan Chonghuan.
Yuan Chonghuan proposed at that time that the focus of the guard should be on Ningyuan City. It turned out to be a very wise suggestion, because Sun Chengzong found after the field investigation that Ningyuan was behind the enemy and it was difficult to defend, but the geographical location was special, it was surrounded by mountains on three sides, and the remaining side was the sea.
As long as the soldiers guarded the city gates, when all kinds of resources could be transported directly from the sea to the city, Nurhaci was very powerful, but he could not afford to consume, and most importantly, he had no water army.
Therefore, Sun Chengzong affirmed Yuan Chonghuan's suggestion, and he found that this young man was really brave and strategic. Therefore, Sun Chengzong entrusted the task of building the city wall to this young man, and also gave him his ardent hope.
Since then, yuan Chonghuan has almost become Sun Chengzong's follower in addition to repairing the city, no matter what he does, Sun Chengzong always has to take Yuan Chonghuan with him and let him learn everything he has in practice. In just a few years, Yuan Chonghuan has grown into a mature military general who can stand alone.
At this time, Sun Chengzong was not only busy teaching Yuan Chonghuan all he had learned in his life, but also busy drawing up battle plans and training the army.
At that time, there were 70,000 troops on the guan, but these 70,000 people had no organizational discipline to speak of, and they really had no combat effectiveness, and there were not a few people who reported short heads and air salaries. Sun Chengzong acted vigorously, first eliminating hundreds of fleeing generals and repatriating more than 10,000 people who were old, weak, sick and disabled.
Sun Chengzong chose seven thousand people from the retaken refugees as his vanguard, these people, whose homes were destroyed by the enemy and whose relatives were killed, and who and Hou Jin could be regarded as deep as the sea, such people, with a little training, were bound to have amazing combat effectiveness and a firm will to fight, which was unmatched by those mercenaries.
At the same time, Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan found a very serious problem, that is, hou jin was proud of their invincible cavalry, and the Ming dynasty army was mainly infantry, and when the time came, they were chased around on horseback, how could this battle be fought? Therefore, the only way is to train a cavalry force that can compete with Houjin and compete with the enemy on horseback.
At the behest of Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan selected a group of strong and courageous people from among the refugees to train them in riding and fighting on horseback every day. And this group of people progressed rapidly, only waiting for the day when they went to the battlefield.
Sun Chengzong sent five more people to Yuan Chonghuan: Zu Dashou, Wu Xiang, Mao Wenlong, Man Gui, and Zhao Lijiao. These names will eventually establish immortal merits in the land of Liaodong.
Since Sun Chengzong arrived in Liaodong, Nurhaci's offensive pace was cut off by this old man, not only that, most of Liaodong had already fallen into the hands of Hou Jin, but unexpectedly, Sun Chengzong used the method of encroachment to take back most of the land little by little.
In the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), Sun Chengzong guarded the outside of the guanwai for four years, and the border defense cause was fruitful. "Repair the ninth and forty-five forts of the great city before and after, train 110,000 troops, build twelve car battalions, five water battalions, two fire battalions, eight forward rear strength battalions, build armor, equipment, bows, cannon stones, canal answers, halogen tools totaling millions, expanding the land for four hundred miles, opening up five thousand acres, and earning 150,000 yuan." (History of the Ming Dynasty)
All this is the credit of Sun Chengzong. If this old man could continue to stay in this land, then perhaps the real showdown between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty would not have come so early. Unfortunately, even if there is great talent, it cannot stop the shameless attack of the young people.
Sun Chengzong was a member of the Donglin Party, and although he was far outside the Guan, the persecution of the Donglin Party by the Eunuch Party still affected him. Although Sun Chengzong was an imperial master and deeply trusted by the emperor, after all, he had not been with the emperor for a long time, which was exploited by Wei Zhongxian.
Although the emperor had not yet made any reaction, Sun Chengzong knew that the Donglin Party had collapsed, and he no longer had any support, and if he could retreat at this time, it would already be the greatest blessing.
Therefore, Sun Chengzong took the initiative to resign, and after being approved, he returned to his hometown and left Liaodong, for which he was struggling.
Sun Chengzong left, and the court sent Gao Di to take over. Gao Di is basically a useless student, not only that, but his courage is also very small.
In November of the fifth year of the Apocalypse (1625), Gaudí issued an order that the army withdraw to Kannai. Yuan Chonghuan gave Gao Di Shangshu, saying that at this time, it was absolutely impossible to retreat, but unfortunately Gao Di did not listen and still insisted on retreating.
In anger, Yuan Chonghuan swore: "I would rather go before the Dao, and the official should die this." Will not go. ("History of Ming") Therefore, when the army withdrew to Shanhaiguan in a mighty way, and the people left their hometowns and cried loudly along the way, only one city was still guarded by soldiers, that is, Ningyuan.
Soon, Nurhaci led his troops to attack, and on the twenty-third day of the first month of the sixth year of the Apocalypse (1626 AD), the army arrived in Ningyuan.
At this time, Yuan Chonghuan gathered all the generals who stayed behind to accompany him, pierced his fingers, and wrote down a blood book, and when everyone's fighting spirit and enthusiasm were aroused, Yuan Chonghuan immediately began a tense deployment.
First of all, he had all the houses outside the city burned down, all the defensive facilities that could be moved back, and those that could not be moved were destroyed on the spot, and nothing was left to Houjin as a barrier. Then, he ordered people to check the population in the city and find out Hou Jin's traitors.
Subsequently, Yuan Chonghuan formulated a detailed operational policy, ordering the general Man Gui to defend the east of the city, the deputy general Zuo Fu to defend the west of the city, the general Zu Dashou to guard the south of the city, the deputy general Zhu Mei to defend the north of the city, and Man Gui as a reinforcement to help everywhere. Yuan Chonghuan, on the other hand, sat in the city and ruled the overall situation.
In order to reassure people's hearts, Yuan Chonghuan sent news to Zhao Lijiao, who was stationed in Qiantun, and Yang Qi at Shanhaiguan, that once he saw anyone who had fled back from Ningyuan, all the soldiers would be killed. As soon as this move came out, everyone knew the determination of Lord Yuan, and people's hearts were suddenly stable.
On the twenty-fourth day, Houjin launched a large-scale attack, and under the power of the Western Hongyi cannon, Nurhaci did not gain any benefits, but suffered countless casualties, and at this time, morale was obviously a problem. In desperation, Nurhaci had to order the attack to be stopped for the time being and come back tomorrow.
On the twenty-fifth day, Houjin attacked again, but soon retreated. The Ming history says that Nurchachi was hit by a cannonball, but the Qing history does not admit it. The battle ended in this way, and the fiasco of Jin and the victory of the Ming army ended.
The Guanning Defense Line was strong, and numerous combat experience proved that it was a barrier that could not be broken head-on. Therefore, Huang Taiji took a roundabout way, taking the Mongolian route and directly pushing into Beijing, which is known in history as the "change of self".
The consequences of the "change of self" were very cruel, Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Man Gui died in battle, and there were only a few major generals left.
At this time, Sun Chengzong returned, when he was already sixty-seven years old. The capital was in danger, and Zu Dashou, seeing Yuan Chonghuan's fate, led his army to abandon the capital.
Sun Chengzong immediately wrote a letter and ordered someone to hand it over to Zu Dashou, and when Zu Dashou saw the letter from the old leader, he naturally complied with it all, immediately explained his bitterness in retiring from the army, and then said that he would make meritorious atonement for his sins, plus Sun Chengzong said good things on the side, and the emperor did not pursue Zu Dashou's guilt.
When the matter was told, Sun Chengzong immediately summoned Zu Dashou and Ma Shilong, both of whom had troops under their command the Liaodong Army.
At this time, Emperor Taiji had already led his army back to Guanwai, but left a large number of troops stationed in the four important towns of Luanzhou, Qian'an, Zunhua, and Yongping, which was still a huge threat to the capital. Sun Chengzong led two powerful Liaodong armies to march towards these four towns.
Emperor Taiji sent his general Amin to lead the troops to deal with it, but without any suspense, they were beaten back by Sun Chengzong's cannon, and within a few days, all four towns were taken back by Sun Chengzong, and the news came back, and the inside and outside of the imperial court was full of jubilation.
After Sun Chengzong left the pass, he vowed to rebuild the city defenses of The Daling River and the Two Cities of Youtun, which were destroyed by Gao Di, and consolidate the Guanning defense line. He sent Zu Dashou to build the wall of the Daling River, but just as Zu Dashou was struggling to repair the wall, Emperor Taiji came.
Later Jin forces surrounded the Daling River and crushed all the reinforcements sent by Sun Chengzong. In the end, Zu Dashou really couldn't stand it in the city, and had reached the point where people ate people, and in desperation, he had to open the door and surrender.
The defeat of Dalinghe stopped the good situation that had always been there, and Sun Chengzong once again became the target of everyone. Sun Chengzong again went to the throne, and the emperor granted his request to appease the situation.
After returning to his hometown, Sun Chengzong tried his best to live a stable and comfortable life, "seven years at home, Repeatedly asked for help at home and abroad, and did not report" ("History of Ming"). Unfortunately, at this time, the Ming Dynasty will run out of gas, and the day of peace of mind will soon pass.
On November 9, the eleventh year of Chongzhen (1638), the Qing army arrived at a small town called Gaoyang, which was originally a small and inconspicuous place, but when they learned of the people living in the city, the Qing army was shocked. Because this place is sun chengzong's hometown, he lives here when he retires at home.
In fact, in Gaoyang at that time, there were neither defenders nor generals in the city, and some were just unarmed people in a city.
The Qing army did not launch an attack, but sent emissaries around the city wall to shout loudly, and the content was basically to persuade surrender. Unexpectedly, in exchange for Sun Chengzong's stern refusal above the city wall.
The Qing army launched an attack in desperation, Sun Chengzong did not panic, he gathered the whole family of more than forty people, and then found all the tools that could be used as weapons, took his family, and went up to the city wall.
When the Qing army saw the people appearing on the city wall, they were still a little panicked for a while, but when they looked closely, they found that the crowd was mixed with old and weak women and children, and the city seemed to be out of the nest. But even under the extremely inferior situation, Sun Chengzong still insisted on a day.
The next day, the city of Gaoyang was destroyed, Sun Chengzong was captured, and the Sun family of more than forty people was martyred.
For this old man who was crippled in the wind and candles, the Qing army expressed great respect. So, after another round of persuasion, when Sun Chengzong refused as expected, the Qing army expressed understanding, and gave him a treatment that they regarded as extremely high, and committed suicide.
Sun Chengzong straightened out his clothes and died calmly. He was seventy-six years old.