The Battle of Ningjin is undoubtedly the most fruitful battle against the Later Jin War since 1618. After this war, the total number of casualties of the Jin army exceeded 10,000, and the heads were cut off by the Ming army to seek rewards. Yuan Chonghuan highly praised the importance of the Battle of Ning Jin: For ten years, all the soldiers in the world have not dared to fight with the Eastern Barbarians. At the beginning, they have fought desperately with each sword and fire, and they do not know that there are fierce and fierceness of the barbarians. It should be said that the Battle of Ningjin is of great significance. This battle caused the newly ascended Huang Taiji to be defeated. The elite troops of Eight Banners suffered heavy losses. At the same time, the Jin army failed for the second time under the city of Ningyuan . It is not an exaggeration to describe the situation of the Eight Banners at this time as a series of defeats.
On the other hand, the biggest contributor to the Battle of Ningjin is the governor of Liaodong - Yuan Chonghuan . Yuan Chonghuan insisted on the strategic guiding ideology of , which was based on defense and attack as the auxiliary, and made steady progress, fully demonstrating the strategic determination of a commander. Yuan Chonghuan's performance was very different from any previous Liaodong military and political chief of the Ming court. Zhang Heming , Xiong Tingbi , Wang Huazhen , Gao Di and others do not have any military and political skills like Yuan Chonghuan and strategic courage to deal with complex situations. Yuan Chonghuan insisted on destroying the spirit of the Eight Banners troops with the strong city and powerful artillery. Faced with Yuan Chonghuan's new tactics and tactics, Nurhaci and Huang Taiji have not found an effective way to counterattack so far. Huang Taiji, who experienced the battle of Ningyuan, still adopted the traditional siege of three missing one when commanding the siege. The old routine of ants supporting the siege is naturally unable to effectively deal with the new situation.
It can be said that from a military perspective only, the situation between the Ming and Qing sides after the Battle of Ningjin was gradually sliding towards the favorable direction of Ming dynasty .
However, Ming and Qing War itself compares not only the military capabilities of both sides, but also the political foundations of both sides. In the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the arrogant Wei Zhongxian and his followers saw that the Ning Jin battle won a complete victory, so they tried to completely occupy the results of the Ning Jin battle. As the eunuch of the 公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公公� He had hundreds of gang members under his command, but he had no no-no military achievements, so he was promoted and promoted through the Battle of Ningjin. Within one month, Wei Zhongxian was awarded the title of Prince Taibao, Yinbu Governor Tongzhi, Zuodu Censor, and the commander of the Herald of the Jinyiwei. He was awarded the title of 9,000-year-old , which was almost at the point where he could not be awarded it. However, because Yuan Chonghuan was unable to be accepted by the eunuch party, he made great achievements, but he was awarded very little (only promoted one official title, rewarded 30 taels of silver). People at that time commented: After six years of danger, the old mother and wife were given a despair. They worked hard and made great contributions, but they received very little rewards.
Yuan Chonghuan was not an upright official. Seeing that Wei Zhongxian was powerful and had almost no power, he also tried to please Wei Zhongxian and his followers, and even built a temple for him, trying to win the favor of this factory minister, nine thousand years old. However, the eunuch party did not like the governor of Liaodong. He impeached him, not daring to rescue Jinzhou City , and ignored the soldiers of Hecheng; and secondly, he made peace with the Donglu privately, regardless of the trust of the court and the emperor, and was suspected of colluding with the enemy and selling the country. Under the instruction of Wei Zhongxian, the memorial of impeachment of the Censor was overwhelmed. On July 1, 2018, Yuan Chonghuan was dismissed from his post and was repatriated to his original homeland without using it. In the imperial edict, Emperor Xizong specifically pointed out that if you think of Yuan Qing’s contribution to Ning Jin, the rest of the crimes will not be held accountable.
Wei Zhongxian and his followers carnival on the credit book of Ningjin Victory, which caused the soldiers on the front line to be disheartened and had a serious negative impact on the military construction in Liaodong. Yuan Chonghuan had just left office, and the imperial court began to discuss the significance and value of Jinzhou City. Because Jinzhou City was not completed at that time, Jinzhou City had to continue to be built until it was completed after the war. As the Ministry of Revenue allocated a lot of money, officials at all levels raised doubts. Ji Liao Governor Yan Mingtai, as the top leader of Liaodong military and political affairs, reported to the court that the court should not continue to build Jinzhou City, saying that the city has little strategic significance, and building the city costs labor, time and money, and there is no need. As a second-rank senior official, Yan Mingtai has lacked basic military knowledge to the level of almost idiots.
Jinzhou City guards the east side of Liaoxi Corridor , and the exit of the Liaoxi Corridor is watched tightly by Jinzhou . As long as you defend Jinzhou City, the cavalry of the Eight Banners will be destined to be unable to pass through the western Liaoning Corridor smoothly. Jinzhou and Ningyuan are mutually supportive and rely on each other. In this way, the strategic situation of the Ming army will be extremely stable. If the development continues in time, it may be possible to counterattack Guangning and even Shenyang. Of course, Yan Mingtai is confused, which does not mean that everyone is confused. The Minister of War, Huo Weihua, opposed the proposal of abandoning Jinzhou, and emphasized that Jinzhou City must not be given up. Half of the construction of , Jinzhou City can resist the tens of thousands of tiger and wolf troops from the Eastern Barbarians, let alone after the construction is completed, ? Emperor Xizong finally approved Huo Weihua's proposal, ordering not only to continue to build Jinzhou City, but also to strengthen Tashan Fort. Tashan is located between Jinzhou and Ningyuan, and the Ming court tried to continue to strengthen the connection between Ningjin.
However, the political situation suddenly changed. In August of the seventh year of the Tianqi period, Emperor Xizong, Zhu Youxiao, suddenly fell ill, and the situation worsened sharply. On August 22, 1627, Emperor Xizong of Ming Dynasty died in the Qianqing Palace at the age of 23. Because he had no son yet, his fifth brother, , Wang Xin, , , , Zhu Youjian, ascended the throne and became emperor, and was Emperor Chongzhen. As soon as Emperor Chongzhen ascended the throne, he began to deal with the domineering and arrogant Wei Zhongxian. In October of the same year, Wei Zhongxian was removed from all positions and was exiled to guard the tomb of Fengyang Prefecture, Zhongdu. Finally, he committed suicide on the road, and the eunuch party was immediately liquidated by Emperor Chongzhen, and severe political turmoil occurred in the top leaders of the Ming court.
Wei Zhongxian's followers are complex and numerous. He was in Tianqi and conquered the world with his own hands. The former chief minister of the cabinet, Gu Bingqian, 2, Minister of War Cui Chengxiu, Governor of Ji Liao, Yan Mingtai, Minister of Personnel Wei Guangwei, Minister of Justice Pan Ruzhen, Minister of War Huo Weihua, Minister of Works Xu Dahua, Minister of Revenue Guo Yunhou, Governor of Hedao Liu Zhixuan, Commander of Jinyiwei Hou, Governor of Jinyiwei, Governor of the Governor of Shandong, Li Jingbai, Left Censor of the Left Censor of the Left Censor of the Governor's Office, Tian Ergeng, Marquis of Fengcheng, etc. Almost all of his gang members were high-ranking officials, and half of the court was promoted by Wei Zhongxian, which shows Wei Zhongxian's power. Zhu Guozhen, the then chief minister of the cabinet, was completely emptied by the eunuch party and was completely a puppet. Emperor Chongzhen was afraid of the power of the eunuch party and demanded that all eunuch party be removed and resolved.
However, this will cause huge problems. Since almost all these officials are senior officials of the court, a considerable number of them have the real power of the six ministries and the daily work operations. Emperor Chongzhen asked all these officials to be imprisoned and considered for crimes, which would greatly affect the operation of the Ming court for a long time. At the same time, a more serious problem is: during the party struggle three years ago, Wei Zhongxian had cleaned up the court officials headed by Donglin Party , and now Emperor Chongzhen cleaned up the eunuch party again. But how many other severe political turmoils could the Ming Dynasty experience? All knowledgeable people and experienced and strong officials in the court were swept away by two political crises. Then can the ministers who left for the Emperor Chongzhen , assist the emperor in governing this country well?
At the end of the seventh year of Tianqi, the Donglin Party recommended Yuan Chonghuan to Emperor Chongzhen. Emperor Chongzhen was also very interested in this legendary general. He repeatedly sent imperial envoys to Yuan Chonghuan's hometown to announce that the court abolished all the guilt he had previously identified, and hoped that Yuan Chonghuan could go to Liaodong again to continue to serve Ming . Yuan Chonghuan, who was in his hometown in Guangdong, heard that the new emperor wanted to appoint him again, so he bid farewell to his wife, children, and rushed to Beijing. In July of the first year of Chongzhen, Emperor Chongzhen summoned Yuan Chonghuan on the platform of the Forbidden City .
This new successor emperor was very concerned about the situation in Liaodong. He first asked Yuan Chonghuan: The Jurchen tribe had invaded the border of our Ming Dynasty for decades, and the country had fallen and the people were living in poverty. My dear minister went to the summons thousands of miles away, and his loyalty and courage were commendable. All strategies for pacifying Liao can be reported according to the truth. Yuan Chonghuan has his own set of ideas and strategies for Ping Liao, and he has been planning at home when he is unemployed.In the face of Emperor Chongzhen's inquiry, he confidently expressed his strategy of steady progress and progressing step by step to the emperor, advancing layer by layer, compressing the living space of the Jurchen tribe step by step, gradually regaining lost territory, and liberating Liaodong.
Emperor Chongzhen was attracted by Yuan Chonghuan's description. The 18-year-old emperor believed that the person in front of him was a genius who could solve the dilemma of Liaodong for the Ming Dynasty. So the anxious emperor asked Yuan Chonghuan how long it would take to pacify Liaodong. Yuan Chonghuan replied that it would take only five years to pacify Liaodong. Emperor Chongzhen was very happy and passed the assessment of Yuan Chonghuan on the spot and allowed to take office. The court then appointed Yuan Chonghuan as the governor of Ji Liao, the governor of Denglai, and the title of Minister of War and the right deputy censor. From then on, Yuan Chonghuan finally became the highest military and political chief in Liaodong, Ming Dynasty. All local armed forces in the Liaodong region, including Dengzhou Prefecture , Laizhou Prefecture , Tianjin Wei and the Dongjiang Army, are under the jurisdiction of Yuan Chonghuan.
Military Department Success Xu Yuqing was sent by the emperor and came to continue inquire about Yuan Chonghuan's specific strategies for regaining Liaodong. Lord Xu asked Yuan Chonghuan why he had the courage to pacify Liao in five years? Yuan Chonghuan told Lord Xu that he was just excited and hard to see the emperor, and wanted to make the emperor happy and relieved. Xu Yuqing was shocked and warned Yuan Chonghuan that this was a crime of deceiving the emperor. Yuan Chonghuan realized that the problem was serious, so he planned to pacify Liao in the last fifth year. ——"History of Ming Dynasty·Biography of Yuan Chonghuan"
After arriving in Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan proposed to use the Liao people to defend the Liao territory and recruit refugees from Liaodong and ordinary people who escaped from the occupied areas. Yuan Chonghuan believed that these people had a deep hatred for the Eight Banners, and using these people to defend Liaodong would be loyal. Secondly, establish a defense system: first, merge the two towns of Ningyuan and Jinzhou to sort out the command hierarchy and command relationships; secondly, lay off old and weak soldiers to check the actual number of troops; again, train troops separately, establish a system of organization, and start training troops on a large scale; finally, build a large number of fortresses and strengthen the Ningjin defense line. At the same time, Yuan Chonghuan believed that the imperial treasury was empty and Liaodong must be self-sufficient as much as possible. He built a defense line and concentrated all the old and weak soldiers and refugees to farm to ensure the supply of food and grass in Liaodong.
With the joint implementation of Duoxiang measures, at the end of the first year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan trained 110,000 troops and established an elite Liaodong Iron Cavalry unit - Guanning Iron Cavalry . The fighting will and combat capabilities of the Ming army have significantly increased to a height.
At the same time, Yuan Chonghuan tried to win over all Mongolian tribes to join the Ming Dynasty, hoping to increase pressure on Later Jin through the flanking threat of Mongolian tribes. However, in the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming and Mongolian relations broke down because the court ordered the cessation of rewards to Mongolian tribes. Huang Taiji used his political means to win over the Korqin tribe and defected to him. The Mongolian headquarters led by Lin Danhan was also very nervous about the Ming Dynasty. Yuan Chonghuan tried many times to ease the relationship between Ming and Meng, but the results were not good. Emperor Chongzhen seemed too arbitrary and taken it for granted in handling relations with Mongolia, which led to the rapid deterioration of relations between the two sides, causing the Mongolian army to invade Datong , making the already severe security environment in the north of the Ming Dynasty even worse. Yuan Chonghuan then won over the Mongolian tribes by selling grain, and at the same time gave some gold, silver, iron and fabrics to ease the conflict between the two sides. However, this measure became a key factor in Yuan Chonghuan's conviction.
At the same time, Yuan Chonghuan believed that Dongjiang Town was isolated overseas and listened to the tune but not the publicity.
Dongjiang Town is a military town established by the generals under the command of Liaodong Governor Wang Huazhen. In the second year of Tianqi, Mao Wenlong was driven out of Zhenjiang City by the Later Jin army (now Dandong, Liaoning), and then occupied pi Island (now 风天国, North Ping'an, Korea) as the base. Then all the surrounding islands were occupied and a military town with tens of thousands of military and civilians was established. " Ming Shi " was very despised by Dongjiang Town, believing that this town consumed countless food and fodder in the Ming court, but had no practical effect. But to be honest, the force formed by Mao Wenlong poses a serious threat to the rear security of the Jin Khanate in , and Huang Taiji repeatedly wanted to annihilate Mao Wenlong.In 1628, Mangguertai and Yue Tuo were ordered to lead 20,000 troops to attack Dongjiang Town, but they suffered a great defeat. Then Sarhu City was also sneak attacked by the Ming army, which made Huang Taiji very troubled.
However, Yuan Chonghuan seemed to think that Dongjiang Town was a useless place, and believed that Mao Wenlong and the Later Jin Dynasty secretly communicated with each other and were not very loyal. So he tried to cut Dongjiang Town, forcing Mao Wenlong to abandon Dongjiang Town and Pidao and withdraw to Ningjin Defense Line. However, Mao Wenlong did not agree and repeatedly asked the General Secretary Yuan to provide food, grass and military supplies. In addition, he wrote a letter to the court and even impeached someone from Ji Liao to embezzle the military pay of the officers and soldiers of Dongjiang Town (this matter was normal in the late Ming Dynasty). This incident made Yuan Chonghuan quite angry, but he had no choice.
From many aspects, the morale of the officers and soldiers of the Liaodong army led by Yuan Chonghuan gradually rose, and the troops began to have the courage to fight face to face with the elites of the Eight Banners. The troops gradually believed that the Eight Banners were not invincible from top to bottom. This is very important. If an army can recover spiritually, victory will inevitably come. However, the war between the Ming and Qing dynasties was not only about military construction, but also about the political environment. . .
