This is the ancient city of Ningyuan that Yuan Chonghuan once guarded, located in Xingcheng, Huludao City, Liaoning Province, which is one of the four most complete ming dynasty ancient cities in China, with pingyao, Xi'an and Jingzhou. A square city, the center of the city is the Bell and Drum Tower, connecting the four streets of the east, west, south and north, directly leading to the four city gates, the circumference of the city wall is 3300 meters, and there are forts at the four corners to set up the Hongyi cannon.
Bell and Drum Tower
The ancient city of Xingcheng is backed by the hills of western Liaoning, bordered by the Bohai Sea in the south, and occupies the throat of the middle of the western Liaoning Corridor, which has always been a place where soldiers and families must fight. As a military stronghold, the ancient city of Ningyuan is mainly for garrison and defense, so the city defense is very strong, but the street building is rough, and it is not as strong as the commercial atmosphere of The ancient city of Pingyao is full of Qianzhuang shops. There is the Jiliao Governor's Mansion in the city, the original building was burned down by Wu Sangui when he was evacuated, and it was rebuilt in 2002 as it was, although it is not as original as pingyao's county ya preserved, but it is still worth seeing.
Although the city of Ningyuan was small, it played an important role in the Ming Dynasty's war against the Later Jin. In 1626, Nurhaci learned that Sun Chengzong had been deposed, so he led an army of 130,000 people to cross the Liao River to Ningyuan. Nurhaci had his soldiers carry shields to attack the walls. Yuan Chonghuan, with less than 20,000 troops, shelled the Houjin army, and the Houjin army collapsed under the attack of the giant cannon, attacking the city for two consecutive days, with heavy losses, Nurhaci then ordered the retreat, and the Ming army won the great victory of Ningyuan. In 1627, Yuan Chonghuan again defeated The Emperor Taiji's attack. Nurhaci commented on him: "Since the use of soldiers, there have been no anti-Yan practitioners. Who is Yuan Chonghuan, Nai Neng Erye! Yang Weihe commented: "For more than ten years, the slave atmosphere is blazing, the soldiers are afraid of the enemy, and they are not afraid of the generals." Yuan Chonghuan rose up, and the soldiers began to use their lives, the military and the people began to live in peace, the world was strong, and the real Fang Uncle was also.
However, due to the unauthorized killing of Mao Wenlong, the commander of the Dongjiang River, the Emperor Taiji had no restraint, and the Qing army rushed directly to the city of Beijing, and Yuan Chonghuan rushed to the aid of thousands of miles to repel the Jin soldiers outside the Guangqu Gate. According to Shi Zai, the main reason why Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong was that he suspected that Mao Wenlong had used too much military expenses, and Mao Wenlong was not respectful enough when he went to inspect him. Therefore, the killing of Mao Wenlong caused great controversy. Yuan Chonghuan returned to Beijing and asked to go into the city to rest, but the emperor refused, and could only fight with the Qing army outside the city, which showed that the emperor was already jealous of him at that time. It is suspected that Qing Bing was deliberately put into the Guannei by him.
The Savior was supposed to be credited, but in August 1630, Yuan Chonghuan was framed and executed. After the siege of Jingshi was lifted, Wei Zhongxian's Yu Party impeached Yuan Chonghuan on charges of "killing The Island Marshal (Mao Wenlong)", "negotiating peace with the Qing court", and "enemies of the city", and Emperor Taiji took the opportunity to implement a counter-plan. In August of the third year of Chongzhen (1630), Yuan Chonghuan was executed by Ling Chi because Zhu Youjian believed that he had a secret agreement with Hou Jin, and his family was exiled for three thousand miles and confiscated the family property, but the family had no remaining wealth. Zhang Dai described Yuan Chonghuan's tragic situation of being lingchi in the "Later Collection of Shi Kui's Books": "So he tied his hair to Xishi in Zhenfusi and cut it every inch. Cutting a piece of meat, tens of thousands of people in Beijing fought from the executioners for raw life. The executioners pounced, and the people fought for money for their flesh, and they were finished in an instant. The opening of the cavity out of its stomach, the people snatched it, and those who got a section of it, and the shochu was gnawed, and the blood flowed between the teeth and cheeks, and the spit was cursed. Whoever finds his bones will crush them with a knife and an axe, and the flesh and bones will be exhausted. ”
The kings of the fallen countries often did not defend their loyalty, just like the Southern Song Dynasty unjustly killed Yue Fei, and the wrongful killing of Yuan Chonghuan caused the Chongzhen Emperor to destroy the Great Wall, marking the end of the Ming Dynasty shortly after the fall of the country. Yuan Chonghuan does not understand politics, is not good at power and scheming, is good at speaking out, self-assertive, arbitrary, and irritable, and such a character is easy to attract people's envy. However, at the moment of the great enemy, the Chongzhen Emperor could not use people without doubt, and he also lacked the emperor's mind. Although it is true that it is wrong to kill Mao Wenlong, his great achievements should not be buried, he is a hero, a tragic hero!
The first person in history to rehabilitate Yuan Chonghuan was the Qianlong Emperor, who respected Yuan Chonghuan very much and believed that Yuan Chonghuan was wronged, "Yuan Chonghuan's overseers Ji and Liao, although they were in trouble with our dynasty, they were still loyal to what they did. At that time, the Lord was dim and dark, and could not exhaust his sorrow, so that his body was rebuilt, and he was deeply merciful. "Yuan Chonghuan died tragically, the blindly obedient people played a role in fueling the waves, when the right to speak is in the hands of the imperial power, loyalty and adultery are only determined by the emperor's words, how can ordinary people be clearly distinguished." But under official incitement, eating human flesh raw has really broken through the bottom line of human nature, and people can't help but think of how terrible mass violence can be formed by blindly following the people.
After Yuan Chonghuan's death, his subordinates took their heads back and built a tomb for him, which was guarded for generations. Today, near the Chongwen Gate in Beijing, there is Yuan Chonghuan's tomb, ancestral hall and temple. I once went to the Yuan Chonghuan Temple in Longtan Park to see, the small temple is very dilapidated, the small room with the door open has no light, the light is dim, and a person still does not dare to go in to take a closer look.