<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > preface:</h1>
In the Battle of The Mingjin Daling River, when Zhang Chun and the entire army of 40,000 were destroyed, Zu Dashou and He Kegang in the city of Daling River were also in a desperate situation.
In the end, Zu Dashou killed He Kegang and surrendered to Houjin, but soon after, he returned to Daming again, where there were many doubts, and in the Battle of Changshan, was the Houjin army really unusually brave?
Looking at the historical data, the author found that the Later Jin army could hide their artillery troops, and the Battle of The Great Ling River Daming was ultimately defeated, in fact, the political reasons were greater than the military reasons.
This article is the next in a series of articles, will be a brief overview of the above issues, to present you with a real battle of the Daling River, the full text of a total of 5,000 words, reading takes ten minutes, welcome new and old friends to like, pay attention, support comments.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (i) the Daling River in a desperate situation</h1>
Zhang Chun was gone, the reinforcements were gone, but Zu Dashou and He Kegang were still holding on to their troops, and by October, the grain of the Daling River was completely eaten, and the medicine was also exhausted.
The wounded soldier could not be healed, groaned bitterly, and only a little wound festered, and the serious injury died, and Zu Dashou and He Kegang were helpless against this.
Little by little time passed, the soldiers were starving, and finally they set their sights on the horses and dead bodies.
At that time, in the city of Dalinghe, there were more than 30,000 merchants and merchants, plus 14,000 squad troops, 4,000 Zu Dashou and He Kegang's troops.
Although the continuous fighting, the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, but there are still thousands of people left, such a large population size, war horses and dead bodies, how can it be enough to eat?
So soon after, their goal was aimed at the wounded soldiers, their comrades-in-arms, their comrades-in-arms, but in order to survive, people gave up all humanity and dignity at that moment.
Becoming indistinguishable from the beasts, they only wanted to feed themselves and then live, and Zu Dashou acquiesced to all this.
However, so many people, the wounded soldiers are not enough to eat, so the soldiers who are still alive will look at it and surrender to the people and merchants again.
After all, fighting a war requires soldiers, you can only eat these people first, at that moment, the Daling River has become a hell on earth, and the scene of people eating people is being staged every day, maybe at that moment, all the people in the Daling River can no longer be called people.
In addition to the soldiers eating the people, the same is done among the common people, and the bones of the people are used as firewood, and the terror of the capital seems to be nothing more than that, and in this way, the number of personnel in Daling Hanoi is rapidly decreasing.
At this time, knowing that Zu Dashou could not persist and there was no hope of breaking through, he moved his heart to surrender, just like he had taught Zhao Li in the past.
Emperor Taiji repeatedly wrote letters to summon Zu Dashou, and used the old generals of the Liao army who had already surrendered to him to lobby Zu Dashou.
At this point, Zu Dashou was moved, and he had no way not to be moved, because the original Daling River, which had a crowd of nearly 50,000 people, at this moment, the military and the people were counted together, and there were only more than 10,000 people left.
Or died in battle, or eaten by their own people, such a tragedy, indeed can not be staged.
Moreover, the remaining thousands of soldiers now have no combat effectiveness at all, and it is naturally impossible to escape, and in this case, there is only one way to live.
However, in the face of Zu Dashou's thoughts, He Kegang resolutely disagreed, the matter had reached this point, only one death, and what was to be afraid of death!
The reason why Yuan Chonghuan chose him and Zu Dashou, Zhao Lijiao and others as the backbone of the Liao army at that time was not precisely because of this?
Now that Yuan Chonghuan and Zhao Lijiao were gone, the backbone of the Liao army was the only one left, and at this moment, wasn't it a good moment for the two of them to be martyred?
Looking at this partner and friend who has been with him for nearly ten years, Zu Dashou fell into contemplation, he remembered Yuan Chonghuan, remembered Zhao Lijiao, and also understood what the meaning of his life was and where to pursue.
However, in his opinion, he had been holding out in Dalinghe for nearly four months, the reinforcements had no news, and they were left to fend for themselves, even if he died, he would only add a human life to the country, and what good would it be for himself!
He had tried his best, so Zu Dashou wanted to surrender and be relieved.
However, in his heart, he may also hold a trace of luck, he is afraid that after surrendering, he will bear the insult, and he will be sorry for the cultivation of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan.
Maybe he was wondering if he could surrender, and then find an opportunity to return to Daming and continue to fight with Hou Jin, so that he could keep his life and continue to serve the country.
However, as long as he surrendered, whether it was a false surrender or a real surrender, in the eyes of the world, his ancestor Dashou was still reduced to a laughingstock and an unfaithful endorsement.
Therefore, Zu Dashou at that time may have such entanglements and considerations.
Finally, on October 27, the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631 AD), Zu Dashou killed He Kegang in public, and He Kegang looked at Zu Dashou with a smile and did not say a word.
Later, after the armies rushed to eat He Kegang, Zu Dashou led Zu Dabi, Zhang Cunren, Zu Kefa and other thirty-seven deputy generals and more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians to surrender to Houjin.
At this point, another capable person in the Liao Army, He Kegang, also left. For Zu Dashou, there has always been a debate about whether he really surrendered or fake surrendered.
Because he returned to Daming shortly after, he continued to defend Liaodong and fight against Houjin, but it did not matter whether it was true or false, what was important was that he chose the way of surrender, and he was doomed to be unclear.
And such a life choice, in his life, appeared more than once, such a debate and evaluation, and finally it was nailed on the floor of the category, which is a historical explanation.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > (2) Is Zu Dashou actually reduced? </h1>
The Battle of Daling River lasted nearly four months from the entry of Zu Dashou's army in July of the fourth year of Chongzhen to the surrender of Kaesong on October 27.
The Ming army was unfavorably dispatched, lost ground before and after, and even more wu xiang and Song Wei's disciples were greedy and afraid of death, resulting in the eventual death of Zhang Chun, He Kegang and others, and the total number of casualties among the soldiers and civilians was conservatively estimated to be more than 40,000.
Among them, there were war losses, and even more were eaten by their own people, and in addition, Zhang Cunren, Zu Kefa and others "actively performed" after the surrender.
For the Later Jin's battles in Liaodong and even the whole country, he made great contributions, and I am afraid that it was also a major impact of the battles of The Great Ling River and Changshan.
Shortly after this, Zu Dashou and Emperor Taiji advised that they could return to Jinzhou, where they were his subordinates, and then Zu Dashou called for the old ministry.
Together with Emperor Taiji, he took Jinzhou, and the action was based on the sound of cannons, and Emperor Taiji believed it, and then sent Zu Dashou to sneak back to Jinzhou.
At this point, Zu Dashou escaped from Houjin and returned to Jinzhou City, never to come out again. Very few people returned with or successively, including his adopted son Zu Kefa, deputy general Zhang Cunren and thousands of other people who stayed in Houjin.
After this, Qiu Hejia found out that Zu Dashou had surrendered, that is, he reported it to the imperial court, and Zu Dashou also defended himself, although Chongzhen had a good idea of this.
However, in order to win over the Liao army, instead of punishing Zu Dashou, he continued to order him to guard the jinzhou front, and at this point, Zu Dashou's surrender, whether true or false, was also a temporary and perfect end.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (iii) covered up post-gold artillery units</h1>
The battles of Changshan and Dalinghe always seem to be ignored, but their impact on the strategic situation between the Ming and Qing dynasties is, to some extent, no less than the Battle of Salhu.
Often later scholars believe that for a long time, the Later Jin Emperor Taiji faced the ming army's firearm superiority and had no way to restrain it.
Then the Jin army could only resist the Ming army's artillery with bows and arrows and shield vehicles, highlighting the heroism of the Later Jin army, but this recognition was wrong.
The battles of Changshan and Dalinghe from July 27 to October 27 of the fourth year of Chongzhen (1631 AD) were actually a typical battle force of Houjin's first large-scale application of firearms against Daming.
When the Houjin army besieged the Daling River and the Changshan Blockade, Houjin had already taken out his own heavy weapons and various types of artillery that were no less powerful than Daming's.
These include eight of the latest Hongyi cannons, eighty cannons of the Great General, and eighty cannons of the Minor Generals, which were uniformly deployed and commanded by the Han general Tong Yangsheng.
What is the standard for such artillery equipment? After the Battle of Changshan, the Houjin army captured a large number of Firearms equipment of the Ming Army.
Specifically, there are three Hongyi cannons, seven great general cannons, six hundred third-class general cannons, and 10,000 nameless firearms.
Among them, the third-class general artillery and nameless firearms, although the firepower is strong, cannot be used to attack the city, the loading is slower, and the real battlefield decisive role is the Hongyi cannon and the great general cannon.
Although there were damaged in the war, it was not difficult to find that the heavy artillery carried by the Houjin Army this time was enough to be comparable to the Daming reinforcements, and the power and performance were quite good.
The Hongyi cannon of the Later Jin Army weighed between 1,800 and 3,000 kilograms, and the shells weighed eight to sixteen kilograms, while the great general cannon was a smoothbore cannon weighing 1,000 kilograms, and the shells were about six kilograms.
Such a casting level was already similar to that of Daming, and all of them reached the world's first-class level at that time.
At the same time, the number of artillery and the size of the artillery shells in Europe were only this level, and even Gustav II, who was famous in the West, used only twenty-six Hongyi cannons in the Battle of Wallenstein.
The weight of its shells is only about eight pounds, so when some so-called scholars vigorously advocate the riding and shooting ability of the Houjin Army, they often either deliberately cover up or do not examine the real firepower of the Houjin Army.
So, where did the artillery of the Later Jin Army come from? Where did gunpowder come from?
The reason is very simple, a year ago in the Self-driving Tour of Daming Gyeonggi, Huang Taiji focused on capturing a large number of firearms bureau craftsmen, and collected a lot of artillery and firearms construction design drawings.
Moreover, during the attack on Korea, Hou Jin also focused on collecting all the existence of firearms, coupled with the capture of the previous battle with Daming.
By the time of the Battle of Changshan and Dalinghe in the fourth year of Chongzhen, although the number of firearms in the Later Jin Army was generally small, in the local war, it was already able to divide the autumn with Daming and the autumn.
Coupled with the battle weapon of the Battle of Changshan, after that, the strength of the later Jin army's firearms increased exponentially, which was unexpected by the Daming side, because the military superiority they relied on was gradually being caught up.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > (4) No progress has been made in Liaoning</h1>
The battles of Changshan and Dalinghe, in addition to marking the strength of the Houjin firearms force and the gradual disappearance of Daming's firearms superiority, also had a more profound impact.
One was the change in the appointment of military and political personnel in Liaodong again, in fact, long before the war on the Daling River, at the suggestion of Sun Chengzong, the imperial court had already sent Sun Gu to replace Qiu Hejia as the inspector of Ningyuan.
However, Sun Gu had not yet arrived, the Battle of The Great Ling River began, Qiu Hejia operated the front line, and could not be easily removed, and Sun Gu's appointment was also terminated.
After the battles of Dalinghe and Changshan were basically over, the public opinion of the imperial court once again pointed to Qiu Hejia, so Xie Lian was sent to serve as an inspector instead.
However, Xie Lian was the same as Zhang Fengyi at that time, and he was afraid to go there, so he could only leave Qiu Hejia to continue to stay on the front line and deal with related matters.
After Zu Dashou surrendered, Yan Guan impeached Qiu Hejia again, and Chongzhen believed that Qiu Hejia had a credit for appeasing Songshan and Xingshan.
Because after Zu Dashou surrendered on October 27, Emperor Taiji sent troops to attack Songshan and Xingshan again on November 6, and it was Qiu Hejia who personally supervised the army, repelled Houjin with artillery, and plotted to move again, which Chongzhen knew very well in his heart, so he did not blame Qiu Hejia.
However, at this time, the new inspector Xie Lian had arrived, but Qiu Hejia was still in Jinzhou to take care of the aftermath, so seeing Qiu Hejia's performance and Xie Lian's timidity and fear, the court once again changed the candidate for the inspector.
Fang Yizao inspected Ningyuan and transferred Qiu Hejia to Shanhaiguan and Yongping to continue to serve as an inspector with the right governor Yushi, but in fact, Qiu Hejia had already been transferred back to the interior.
During this period, Qiu Hejia continued to be impeached, and in addition, he always disagreed with Sun Chengzong, and Sun Chengzong also disliked Qiu Hejia, although Chongzhen did not blame Qiu Hejia excessively, but the main tone of the court theory was basically to impeach and slander Qiu Hejia.
In desperation, Qiu Hejia, who was already sick and angry, had to resign due to illness, and finally died in Beijing in April of the fifth year of Chongzhen (1632 AD).
Compared with Qiu Hejia, Sun Chengzong, who performed poorly outside the Guan, was naturally impeached for this big defeat.
In desperation, Sun Chengzong wrote one letter after another to resign, and finally Chongzhen approved it, and Sun Chengzong returned to his hometown of Gaoyang.
In the following years, although Sun Chengzong was tried many times inside and outside the imperial court, it was not concretely formed, until the war seven years later, Sun Chengzong also dedicated the last drop of blood for Daming.
It seems that this time it was nothing more than party strife and other reasons, which led to Sun Chengzong, Qiu Hejia and others being forced to quit, but in fact, it was not.
It can be said that after the Battles of Dalinghe and Changshan, almost no one in the Ming Court advocated the reconquest of Liaodong, and for the defense of Liaodong, it has gradually become satisfied with the status quo, and there is no longer any argument and possibility of pursuing strategic initiative.
This is a clear signal for the Ming and Later Jin (Qing) battles in the Liaodong battlefield, or a turning point, linking the major events of the state with the party and the government at all times.
As a reason and crime to suppress and exclude or even frame political opponents, it is even more prominent in the court of Daming at this moment.
In the defeat of Changshan and Dalinghe this time, although Wu Xiang and Song Wei led their troops to escape, they behaved quite badly, but the defeat of Daming was by no means simply a military defeat.
Whether it was Zhang Chun or Zu Dashou He Kegang, this battle was fought more brilliantly and with great dedication, giving Hou Jin a lot of damage.
However, in the end, it ushered in a fiasco, the non-soldiers were unfavorable, and the battle was not good, which was really caused by the improper command and dispatch of Daming from top to bottom, and the structure was squeezed out.
For Yu Chongzhen, he had a considerable responsibility, and he followed the advice of Liang Tingdong, Sun Chengzong, and Qiu Hejia, and on a whim, he regained Liaodong and restored the Daling River.
However, when Liang Tingdong was deposed, the party struggle resumed, and the remarks pointed directly at the Daling River, Chongzhen wavered again, agreed to order the 10,000 garrison of the Daling River to retreat, and changed his mind of fully supporting the Daling River.
Later, during the war between Changshan and Dalinghe, Chongzhen suppressed the unfavorable remarks of the dprk and turned to support Sun Chengzong and Qiu Hejia, waiting until after the defeat of Dalinghe.
Chongzhen once again compromised with the public opinion that abandoned the Great Ling River, as the controller of the empire, four or five months ago, it can almost be said that the order changed at the end of the day, the position was not strong, how could Daming not be defeated?
For Sun Chengzong, this person was the elder of the four dynasties, in the Liaodong wenwu, extraordinary prestige, and for many years in Liaodong, the policy was more permanent, and he was also deeply jealous of the emperor Taiji.
However, this time out of the customs, whether it is the personnel arrangements in Liaodong or the military dispatch, they do not have the courage to go out of the customs for the first time, and between Qiu Hejia and Zu Dashou, the mediation is improper, and at the same time, they are caught in the attack with Qiu Hejia.
Although Qiu Hejia was arbitrary, Sun Chengzong's method of handling it was indeed improper, so this time the Fiasco of the Great Linghe, as a supervisor, Sun Chengzong really had the responsibility of dereliction of duty.
As far as Qiu Hejia was concerned, this person devoted himself to state affairs, was loyal to his duties, bravely took responsibility, did not avoid life and death, and eventually accumulated into illness and died suddenly, which can be described as a good official and a capable minister who took responsibility for the country.
However, although he was good at civil administration, appeasing refugees, and had unique views on the military, he was unladylike in employing people and was too arbitrary, and the defeat of Changshan and Dalinghe was lost.
Although Sun Chengzong was guilty, Qiu Hejia's guilt could only be greater, and when he got Liang Tingdong as his patron, he insisted on going his own way and repeatedly changed military orders, and after Liang Tingdong fell, in order to protect himself, he gave up his ancestors' great life in disregard, naturally accelerating the arrival of the defeat of Changshan and Dalinghe.
The foreign enemy has not yet arrived and the internal strife has started first, the foreign enemy has arrived and the internal strife is still there, Daming, can An be undefeated? Therefore, the battles of Changshan and Dalinghe, for Yu Daming, were indeed defeated and exhausted, and the offensive and defensive momentum was completely alien at this point, and there was no possibility of progress.