The Truth About the Fall of the Ming Dynasty 2

In the Ming Dynasty, the commanders of the army were basically literati, such as Yuan Chonghuan, who was also a jinshi. It is not easy for literati to produce real handsome talents, the luck of the Ming Dynasty is very good, and there are three famous generals in the late Ming Dynasty against the Qing Dynasty, and their merits are outstanding: Xiong Tingbi was a jinshi in the twenty-sixth year of the Wanli Calendar. Sun Chengzong was the second rank of jinshi (bangyan) in the twelfth year of the Wanli Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan was a jinshi in the forty-seventh year of the Wanli Calendar. Among the literati who were recruits in the Eight Strands of Literature Examination, there were actually three military experts. But the Ming emperor dismissed one of them and killed the other two. The other civilian commanders were basically wiped out. The Ming strategy was basically defensive. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan was able to defend the Manchu Qing army with a few thousand soldiers, but in the field battle, the Superior Strength of the Ming Dynasty was difficult to defeat the Qing army. The Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty is very famous, and the Great Wall is a typical product of defensive strategic thinking. In the late Ming Dynasty, there was a lack of active and enterprising emperors, and it was normal for strategy not to be active and enterprising, and coupled with the constraints of the system and strength, it was impossible to carry out offensive warfare in the later period. The so-called super equipment of the Ming Dynasty became an unfavorable factor under certain conditions. Artillery was transmitted from abroad, and the manufacture of these equipment required a large expense, and in order to avoid wear and tear and outflow, these equipment were generally preserved. However, in the time of war, the soldiers did not use these artillery, and it often happened to hit their own people, and even more ridiculously, the management of the treasury was controlled by eunuchs, and it was necessary to use artillery to resist the enemy, and to pay bribes to the eunuchs. As a result, advances in military technology were completely offset by political corruption. It can be seen that political corruption can completely offset the superiority of military strength and military equipment. At this time, military superiority even became a disadvantage that endangered itself. Strategically, these wars have been won or lost before they are fought. If we do not change the corrupt system of the Ming Dynasty, or do not change the authoritarian system, even if we have accumulated a victory at the tactical level, we will only survive. The decay of the Ming Dynasty doomed him to decline. The collapse of the Ming Dynasty was not saved by a single hero. It was a tragic time, and the hero was doomed to a tragic fate.

4. Yuan Chonghuan strategy

At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was not sure of defeating Yuan Shao. The difference in military strength was too much, his own food and grass were not enough, and Yuan Shao was not a person who was extremely faint, and there were a large number of strategists and fierce generals under his command. Cao Cao wanted to fight, but he had no choice. If there is an opportunity to seek peace before the war, Cao Cao will not let it go, and it is the real strategy to accumulate his own strength and weaken the strength of the enemy, so as to achieve victory without a fight, or to win at the lowest cost. However, whether to fight or not to fight was something that Cao Cao could control and choose, but in fact, Cao Cao had no way to retreat, and the retreating troops would be defeated. Since the general environment was not something that Cao Cao could decide, cao cao's complaints would not help, and he could only use his own advantages and Yuan Shao's disadvantages to seize the best opportunity to attack, and so on. Although Cao Cao's victory was a result, it was not certain before the war. Even if there is a chance of victory, it still requires the use, conversion and grasp of the fighters of the two sides. Cao Cao was still very aware of this problem, and after the war, he burned the list of generals in his army who were in contact with Yuan Shao, which was certainly a way to buy people's hearts, but it also proved that Cao Cao clearly saw the situation at that time. Similarly, Yuan Chonghuan's inability to change was the corruption of Ming politics, and the anti-Qing resistance was fundamentally a palliative rather than a cure. But Yuan Chonghuan could not do nothing, he was still able to train soldiers within his ability, control the Manchu Qing in the north, and even if the emperor trusted, in time, it would be impossible to destroy the Manchu Qing. To look at the emperor's strategy, we need to see the height of politics, and we need to look at the governance of officials, policies, management, and employment of people. As far as a general is concerned, it depends on what he does within his own ability and power. Especially in extremely adverse situations. Much like playing chess, you have one less horse than your opponent, complaining and not being calm will not help you in any way, only to confirm this situation, play this inferior situation the best against it, take advantage of the opponent's weakness and soft hand, and strive for victory or harmony. is the right strategy. The so-called strategy is the process of judging decision-making, although it can have a direct and greater impact on the outcome, but the final result is not a unilateral strategy can determine. It is not advisable to characterize a person by the result. When Yuan Chonghuan first arrived in Liaodong, the situation was very difficult. The Ming Dynasty had already suffered several disastrous military defeats, and Xiong Tingbi, who had considerable military talent, was also arrested for no reason, and his morale was low. Behind them were the dimwitted emperor, the traitors who killed Zhongliang, and the officials who were jealous of their abilities; under their command were a group of hungry and weak soldiers and horses, with incomplete generals, mutilated weapons, no food, no pay. At that time, all the ming army's defensive facilities were concentrated in Shanhaiguan. Shanhaiguan is the "first pass under the heavens", the first major fortress to defend the Beijing Division, but it has no peripheral positions. If the Qing soldiers came to attack, they immediately rushed to close the door. Yuan Chonghuan proposed a strategy to move the defensive line north, and soon he reached Ningyuan, which was more than two hundred miles outside Shanhaiguan. After Yuan Chonghuan arrived, he immediately built the city, which was completed the following year, and the city had thick walls and became an important town outside Guanwai. This city wall kept the Manchu heavy troops out of Shanhaiguan for twenty-one years. Yuan Chonghuan commanded the Ming army to win two major victories in Ning Yuan, both of which were bloody victories. However, these two victories are of a defensive nature, when to start a war and when to withdraw, depends on the Manchu Qing, the Qing soldiers have such mobility and flexibility, can master the fighter, retreat when unfavorable, so it did not cause a fatal blow in strength to the Qing army, and the Ming army's field combat ability is extremely weak, and the defense is already very reluctant, let alone pursued. These two great victories were actually the strategic retreat of the Qing army, not the rout. At the same time, Yuan Chonghuan made a concert and put forward the basic strategy of defending Liao. Among them, it advocates: First, use the Liao people to defend the Liao soil; second, Tun Tian, use the Liao soil to raise the army; third, take the defense as the mainstay, and wait for the opportunity to attack again. He put forward the basic principle of tactics: "Soldiers are not conducive to field battles, and only by fortifying the city and using artillery is the strategy." Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan also proposed to negotiate peace with The Emperor Taiji. (Nurhaci was dead at this time, and the Manchu Qing dynasty was in power by Emperor Taiji) At that time, peace was a matter of mutual benefit. On the Manchu side, Nurhaci died, and the people in Manchuria were in turmoil. The position of Emperor Taiji was not yet consolidated. Economically, because of the war with the Ming Dynasty, specialties such as ginseng and mink skins lost their market. Manchuria was slavery at that time, and the captives of the Han Chinese were farming and low productivity. However, the army was greatly expanded, and at this time it had reached 150,000 people, and there was a great problem with military supplies, but it also encountered serious natural disasters, and famine occurred in Liaodong. Invading Guannei could not break Yuan Chonghuan's pass. At this time, Huang Taiji set the right strategy: to invade Korea. Korea was rich in products and weak in strength, and during the Ming and Qing wars, The DPRK sent troops to help the Ming and supplied the Ming army with grain, which became a diversion in the Manchu Qing rear. Emperor Taiji's attack on Korea could solve both economic and strategic difficulties, while at the same time building prestige and consolidating power through military victory. (Soon after the Manchu Qing attacked Korea and won, the Korea surrendered, and a peace treaty was concluded in the interest of the Manchu Qing) On the Ming side, what the Ming side needed was to train troops, build cities, and tun tian. The Ming Dynasty needed elite field armies, needed to build extremely defensive cities, and more importantly, the imperial court had always defaulted on military salaries, and had to use tuntian to ensure the supply of supplies. The Ming side's peace talks were offensive, and the final goal was to destroy the Manchu Qing and recover all the lost territory in Liaodong. The purpose of the Qing side's peace talks was mainly to consolidate the land that had been acquired, to recognize the existing boundaries between the two sides, and to coexist peacefully and trade between the two sides. The Manchu Qing demands were economical, and Emperor Taiji knew that the population and troops were limited, could not withstand a long war of attrition, and had great sincerity for concluding peace. However, the Ming court despised the Jin Dynasty and did not answer any letters from the other side, only the local officials corresponded with the other side, and ignored all the peace negotiations. And some ministers repeatedly impeached Yuan Chonghuan for this. Although the peace talks were not successful, Yuan Chonghuan still took advantage of the Manchu invasion of Korea to greatly consolidate Ningyuan's defenses. Soon Yuan Chonghuan was forced to resign under pressure from Wei Zhongxian. It was not until Chongzhen killed Wei Zhongxian that he returned to Ningyuan to take on the responsibility. Yuan Chonghuan adhered to the strategy of "guarding the Liao soil with the Liao people and raising the Liao people with the Liao soil", and taking the shou as the mainstay. His second supervision of Ning Yuan, the main strategy is to solve two problems.

First, the issue of military pay.

At that time, there had been many military coups over the issue of military pay. Ningyuan, the most important place for national defense, has been in arrears for four months. Yuan Chonghuan killed several of the leading officers, temporarily calming the situation. However, the pay was delayed, and the soldiers mutinied. The imperial court was in arrears again and again, and Yuan Chonghuan proposed to issue "internal money", which was the money of the emperor's private treasury. Chongzhen was very unhappy about this and did not want to take out his own money, and finally had to take out the money. (Looking at the list of the government treasury after Li Zicheng attacked Beijing, the government's inventory was 37 million taels of silver and tens of millions of taels of gold, while the household department only had 400,000 taels of silver and donated 200,000 taels of silver.) It can be seen that the national treasury is empty, and the emperor's private treasury is still very sufficient, and Chongzhen is very reluctant to take his own money out).

Second, the issue of peace.

When Yuan Chonghuan deposed his official, Emperor Taiji began to proclaim himself emperor.

After Yuan Chonghuan returned to office, he began peace talks with Emperor Taiji to delay time. Huang Taiji was extremely interested in the peace talks and immediately reacted favourably. Yuan Chonghuan put forward a precondition, asking Emperor Taiji to remove the imperial title first and restore the title of "Khan". Emperor Taiji actually agreed. But he asked the Ming emperor to give him a seal to officially recognize his status as a "khan". (Emperor Taiji had been trying his best to make peace, not only writing to the Ming border officials himself, but also entrusting the Korean intermediary mediation to ask the Mongol princes to write to the Ming Dynasty for advice.) The goal of every campaign is to "seek peace through war." He clearly realized that the Manchu Qing Dynasty was not an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, and as long as the politics of the Ming Dynasty were on track a little, the Manchu Qing dynasty would have to destroy the country and exterminate the species. The Manchus' economic strength was very weak, they could not weave, and their main income was on robbery. Let's take another historical record.

In June of the sixth year of the Tiancong Transcript, Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty sent a letter to the Chongzhen Emperor: "The Khan of Manchukuo respectfully plays the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty: The small country raised an army, the original was not self-satisfied, and the big seat of the Emperor also came up with this thought. Only because the border officials have abused too much, the small country is annoyed, and it is not allowed to reach... Now I want to know the anger and hatred of the above, and I am afraid that the small country will not understand the old grievances, so I am suspicious, so I dare not elaborate on it. If the emperor wants to listen, send a good person to come, and the small country will do everything for him. If it is said that peace has already been made, why should we mention hatred again, but only the emperor's order. When the husband of a small country is reconciled, he will get some treasures, hunt and release eagles, and he will be happy. Sincerely. It can be seen that Huang Taiji has considerable self-knowledge and is very humble in his words. Chongzhen, on the other hand, paid no attention to it, and always adhered to the "policy of not recognizing" the Manchu Qing, not acknowledging that he had the qualifications to be independent and autonomous, and never dealing with him in any way. He did not understand the situation, but he was arrogant and arrogant, and he also angered Huang Taiji. In the second year of Chongzhen, Emperor Taiji personally led the troops, gathered more than 100,000 troops, avoided the eastern road defended by Yuan Chonghuan, and was led by Mongol soldiers to detour to the west road to attack. (It can be seen that the invasion of the Manchu Qing Dynasty is not a Shanhaiguan can be defended) The Qing army crossed the three rivers, slightly Shunyi, to Tongzhou, crossed the river, marched into the Wrangling Horse Factory, and the army was like the wind, attacking Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan marched more than three hundred miles in two days and two nights, and was more than the garrison outside the Guangqu Gate in Beijing. The two armies fought a fierce battle outside the Guangqu Gate for eight hours, and the Qing soldiers finally retreated without defeat and retreated for more than ten miles. Yuan Chonghuan knew that it was not militarily advisable to win this battle by chance, especially if he fought outside the capital, let alone covet luck. He said to his subordinates: "According to the art of war, it is worse to win by chance than to lose the battle." Yuan Chonghuan was in a hurry to rescue him, and there were few troops coming, and he wanted to wait until a large number of troops were assembled before launching a thorough counterattack against the Qing troops, so he dispatched some troops to go deep behind enemy lines to harass the Qing troops, and did not send all reinforcements to defend Beijing. Originally, this strategy was very correct, Huang Taiji had already violated the taboo of the art of war this time, and according to Yuan Chonghuan's idea, it was entirely possible to crush the Manchu Qing troops at one time. You know, the Manchu Qing simply could not withstand such a devastating blow. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan was waiting for the best fighter plane, waiting for the assembly of Qin Wang's large army. At this time, after the defeat of the Qing army, his heart was not angry, and he burned and killed on the outskirts of Beijing. Residents of Beijing, concerned about their lives, said that Yuan Chonghuan was unwilling to go to war and had ulterior motives. Many people said that he had brought in the Qing soldiers in order to "coerce peace" and force the emperor to accept the peace he had always advocated. Some people threw stones at the head of the city to the Yuan cavalry under the city, calling them "traitorous soldiers." The stone killed several soldiers. Chongzhen saw that Yuan Chonghuan was slow to fight the Qing army, and he heard rumors in the city of Beijing, and he was worried. Plus Huang Taiji is just right for a "divisive meter". Chongzhen finally put Yuan Chonghuan in prison. Upon receiving the news that Yuan Chonghuan had been imprisoned, Emperor Taiji was overjoyed and immediately returned from Liangxiang to Lugou Bridge, breaking through the car camp of Shen Fu, the deputy commander of the Ming Dynasty, and forcing him to approach the Yongding Gate in Beijing. Chongzhen urged Man Gui (a general under Yuan Chonghuan) to take the risk of fighting, but Man Gui was not allowed to send troops, and the entire army was destroyed. Zu Dashou (a general under Yuan Chonghuan) originally led the army to rescue the capital, saw Yuan Chonghuan in prison, turned around and rushed out of Shanhaiguan north, only to be returned by Yuan Chonghuan xiushu, intending to win the battle and make meritorious efforts to rescue Yuan Chonghuan. Engaged the Qing army and recaptured the area around Yongping and Zunhua. Cut off the qing soldiers' rear road and force the Qing soldiers to return to Liaodong. (After Yuan Chonghuan's death, the old ministry Zu Dashou and He Kegang led an army to garrison the fortresses of Jinzhou, Ningyuan, and Dalinghe, and the Qing army could never cross the Thunder Pond.) At that time, there were many troops from all over the world who came to Beijing to serve the king. Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, which led to great confusion among the soldiers and horses of all walks of life, coupled with the lack of pay and the confusion of command, the two reinforcements in Shanxi and Shaanxi scattered back to their hometowns and became the backbone of the "Liukou".

Since then, the defeated soldiers have joined the Liukou, so that the hungry people who can only grab grain and cannot fight have military leadership, and the "Liukou" has grown into a threat to the Ming Dynasty at this time. Later, Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Ling Chi. During the escort execution, he was "bitten through the stomach and abdomen by the people, straight to the internal organs." Yuan Chonghuan was not guilty of being killed, which was a very heavy blow to the morale of the entire Ming Army. From then on, the Ming Dynasty had an entire army surrender to the Manchus. Yuan Chonghuan was loyal and capable, but unfortunately he was not born at the right time, and finally ended up with a Lingchi. Having experienced Yuan Chonghuan's Ling Chi, it is understandable to think that no matter who surrenders to the Manchu Qing, think of Yuan Chonghuan who is so loyal and loyal, and still ends up like this, not to mention others. Wu Sangui is Zu Dashou's nephew. Wu Sangui's father, Wu Xiang, was the commander-in-chief of Ningyuan and was a subordinate of Yuan Chonghuan. At the time of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the han generals were seven out of ten troops of the Guan Liao clan. Wu Sangui, Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, Zuo Liangyu, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Changjiao, Huang Degong, Liu Zeqing and so on are all. Some of these people surrendered to the Manchu Qing, some died in battle for the Ming Dynasty, and they were all extremely talented generals, and all of them were fierce soldiers. These are all elite generals cultivated under Yuan Chonghuan's strategy.