Yuan Chonghuan: Meritorious to the point of being a crime - to commemorate the 410th anniversary of the birth of the national hero Yuan Chonghuan

One

When I wrote the words "national hero", I couldn't help but feel a little heavy. At such a time and in such a place, does it seem a little out of place to mention any national heroes? I don't see anyone suddenly making a strange argument that "a good bird chooses a tree to perch on, and a good minister chooses a master and is suitable" is a truth that conforms to the principles of modern democracy; therefore, in the national war, Yue Fei, Yuan Chonghuan and their ilk, who refused to "abandon the darkness and turn to the light" and stubbornly resisted to the end, became sinners who did not understand current affairs, resisted the trend of history, and brought disaster to the country and the people. As soon as this theory came out, there were still many people who agreed that the so-called national heroes, in the eyes of some people today, are just synonymous with madmen and corrupt Confucianism.

The principle of democracy, which was originally a way of handling the internal affairs of a nation, is now being applied to the life-and-death decisive battle between the two nations in order to deprive the invaded nation of its right to resist. The future aggressor has one more grandiose signboard, and the cowardly who has been invaded has one more ** excuse. But no matter how magnificent the signboard is and how beautiful the excuse is, there will always be hot-blooded men who are unwilling to be slaves of different races to stand up and make a final struggle for the survival of their nation. Although this struggle may be futile due to the current situation, and it is inevitable that they will be ridiculed by intelligent descendants as resisting the tide of history, their human dignity and heroic spirit have emitted a shocking light in the tragic last struggle, and they are still shining in the long river of history thousands of years later, inspiring every latecomer whose blood has not yet been cold.

What's more, what Yue Fei, Yuan Chonghuan and others resisted was the predatory aggression of backward and barbaric aliens (who were still aliens at the time), and this resistance was undoubtedly righteous at all times. Taking the end of the Ming Dynasty as an example, at that time, all the men of the Later Jin (Qing) were only 200,000, all of whom fought in the army, and their production and labor relied on captive Han and Korean slaves. The purpose of their wars was to plunder their goods and captives, and to burn, kill, plunder, and do all kinds of evil in every place they passed. Should we welcome such an invading enemy? Even if the rulers of our nation are mediocre and cruel, what are the crimes of our people? In the war to defend our families and clans, heroes and heroes can only sacrifice their lives and forget their deaths, knowing that they cannot do what they can't do, and have no choice but to do this.

This kind of heroism is not something that some of today's self-proclaimed fighters for democracy can understand. Even at the time, these national heroes, who put their personal safety at risk, were seen as anachronistic fools. Buyi Cheng Benzhi, who asked to die with Yuan Chonghuan, commented on Yuan Chonghuan's personality like this: "The whole world is a clever person, and Yuan Gong is also an idiot." Only his foolishness, so the world's favorite money, Yuan Gong does not know love; only his idiot, so the world's most cherished person dies, Yuan Gong does not know how to regret it. Therefore, the whole world did not dare to let the grievances go, and Yuan Gong directly let him resign; so the whole world had to avoid the suspicion, Yuan Gongzhi did not avoid it and walked alone. Moreover, the world could not bear the hunger and cold, Yuan Gong endured it and thought that the soldiers were the first; and the world refused to break the appearance, Yuan Gong tried his best to break it and put his heart with the generals. Such an idiot, at that time, was already "overturning the two Zhili, stepping all over the thirteen provinces" and could not be obtained, in today's materialistic world is even more fantastical, no wonder some people want to take the great hero of their own nation as their target for scolding the street.

Two

The Wanli decade was an important turning point in Chinese history. In this year, the great statesman Zhang Juzheng died of exhaustion in office, and the 20-year-old Wanli Emperor began his 25-year-old pro-government without going to the court, and China suddenly fell from the apex of glory into the abyss of darkness and misfortune. In the forty-fifth year of Wanli, Nurhachi sued the sky with seven hatreds, raised troops to attack the Ming, and the last straw that crushed the camel of the Ming Empire finally came. And the decaying Ming Empire is so vulnerable, a fiasco, the second year of the Apocalypse Guangning battle, Wang Huazhen's 130,000 army annihilated, more than 40 cities fell into the hands of the Houjin, the morale of the Ming army was extremely low, it was in this year, Yuan Chonghuan stepped forward, put pen to paper, began to appear on the tragic historical stage. Four years later, Nurhachi led 130,000 troops to attack the isolated Ningyuan, but was defeated by Yuan Chonghuan's 10,000 defenders. Nurhachi roamed the world for decades, tasted a crushing defeat for the first time, was wounded in battle, and died soon after. This was the first victory of the Ming army in the long battle between the Ming and Qing dynasties. After another year, Huang Taiji wanted to avenge his father, "extinguish this dynasty food", personally led two yellow flags and two white flag elite soldiers, besieged Ningyuan and Jinzhou, attacked the city, did not overcome the field battle, lost the army, and fled overnight. Since then, Yuan Chonghuan has shocked Liaodong and made the Qing soldiers famous.

Three

Chongzhen ascended the throne and recalled Yuan Chonghuan, who was dismissed by Wei Zhongxian because of the great victory of Ning Jin, worshiped the Shangshu of the Ministry of War, supervised Ji Liao, and gave Shang Fang Sword. The military department Shangshu was the highest military administrator, and the superintendent was the supreme military commander, and Yuan Chonghuan reached the pinnacle of his military career. Yuan Chonghuan took office and sat in western Liaoning, and the Manchu soldiers no longer dared to enter Shanhaiguan through Ningjin, but they might take Mongolia and enter the Kou from Jimen. Although Yuan Chonghuan was the official supervisor of Jiliao, Jizhou was actually beyond his control, so Shangshu asked the imperial court to strengthen the defense of Zunhua and increase the regimental training army. After three slackening, the imperial court was impeached and ignored because of his recommendation for the general soldier. The court officials were still there to blame each other, and Huang Taiji had accepted the suggestion of the traitor Gao Hongzhong, and as Yuan Chonghuan expected, on October 27, the second year of Chongzhen, he led more than 100,000 soldiers, with Mongolian soldiers as the lead, from Xifengkou into the Great Wall, and captured Zunhua. These places are under the jurisdiction of Liu Ce, the governor of Jiliao (the governor is one level lower than the governor), and has nothing to do with Yuan Chonghuan, but Yuan "is too hot", and on the 28th, when he heard the alarm, that is, he and Zu Dashou and He Kegang led troops to help, and Funing, Yongping (all in the northeast of Hebei) and other places that passed along the road were defended road by road, and fortified city by city, planning to cut off the return route of the Manchu army. On the tenth day of November, Yuan's army arrived in Jizhou, and the Manchu soldiers clashed, the Manchu soldiers did not expect to encounter Yuan's army here, and were shocked, and crossed Jizhou in the middle of the night to withdraw troops to Tongzhou, crossed the North Canal, and approached Beijing. Yuan Chonghuan led 5,000 cavalry to chase after him quickly, but the soldiers did not pass the meal, the horses were no longer stable, and he marched more than 300 miles in two days and two nights, and arrived in Beijing three days earlier than the Manchu army. Chongzhen was overjoyed when he saw Yuan Jun arrive, summoned Yuan Chonghuan, and gave him imperial food and mink fur, but Yuan Chonghuan asked for soldiers to enter the city to recuperate, but he was not approved, so he had to be stationed outside the Guangqu Gate. The Manchu soldiers attacked all the way, and when they arrived at Gaomidian, they found that Yuan Jun was already in Beijing, and they were all shocked, thinking that Yuan Jun had fallen from the sky. On the 20th, the two armies met at Guangqumen. Yuan's army later came to 4,000 cavalry, and the total was only 9,000 people, with these 9,000 people to fight 100,000 full soldiers, with one block ten, from morning to night, the full army finally did not retreat, and retreated for more than ten miles to stabilize the position. Yuan Chonghuan, who did not know martial arts himself, because of the importance of this battle, put on armor and personally went into battle to supervise the battle, and chased the full army all the way north to the canal, and Yuan is said to have been wounded by an arrow in the battle ("Joseon Injo Record").

This battle is very different from the battle of Ningyuan and the victory of Ningjin, not to hold the city, but to fight hard in the field, even the Hongyi artillery that the Ming army relied on the most failed to come in handy, and there is no advantage in the military situation, and to be able to defeat the enemy army ten times as much as himself, relying on the high morale of the sworn defense of the Beijing division, won very lucky. Morale cannot be relied on for a long time, as a clever military commander, Yuan Chonghuan knows this deeply. Even in this battle, he didn't want to fight, but had to fight, and he was lucky to win more with less, and he did not get carried away by the victory, but stood still, waiting for the large number of infantry and soldiers from all over the country who would arrive later. Chongzhen repeatedly urged him to fight, but he postponed it on the grounds that he was short of soldiers and waiting for reinforcements. In fact, even if the reinforcements arrived, he might not be willing to fight a decisive battle with the Manchurian soldiers immediately, because to fight Yezhan, the Ming army was not an opponent of the Manchurian soldiers who could ride and shoot well. Yuan Chonghuan's strategy toward the Manchurian army has always been that "although the war is insufficient, there is more than the rules; the defense is more than enough, and the war is not insufficient." "This time, Huang Taiji went deep into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty with the division of the country, which was extremely risky, and the longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for them. Yuan Chonghuan's plan was to cut off the retreat of the Manchu soldiers, besiege the Manchu soldiers, and wait until the soldiers of all walks of life gathered and the time was ripe, and then they would be surrounded on all sides and carry out a decisive battle, so as to complete the battle. Even if you can't wipe out all the soldiers in this battle, you should be able to deal a heavy blow, and the Haikou that he boasted to Chongzhen earlier about "five years can be restored" has a faint hope. At this time, two Qinwang soldiers arrived, Yuan Chonghuan did not leave them to guard Beijing, but sent them all the way to Changping to defend the imperial tomb, and the other way retreated to Sanhe to cut off the back road of the Manchu soldiers. His own main force was expected to arrive on the third and fourth days of the first month of December, and he could begin to implement the siege plan, but he was arrested and imprisoned on the first day of the new month, so that history was rewritten!

The more suspicious Chongzhen thought about Yuan Chonghuan's arrangement, the more wrong he became: Why was he able to anticipate the enemy like a god and say that the full army was coming? Why did he not take advantage of the victory to pursue after defeating the enemy army, but did not move? Why did King Qin's soldiers disperse them when he arrived? At this time, public opinion in the court and in the city was also very unfavorable to Yuan Chonghuan. This is the first time that the Manchu soldiers have fought outside the city of Beijing, and the officials and people of Beijing have never seen this kind of formation, and they wish they could drive the Manchu soldiers away as soon as possible; most of the high-ranking officials and nobles have their own property outside the city, and now they have been tragically attacked by the full army, so they are naturally distressed, and when they see that Yuan Chonghuan is going to fight a protracted war without moving, the officials and the people vent their grievances on Yuan Chonghuan and scold him for "indulging in the enemy." Our people have always liked to criticize current affairs with a smooth mouth, and the rulers of successive dynasties also attached great importance to this kind of ballad, treating them as prophecies, and at this time there was also such a ballad: "Vote for Yuan Chonghuan, and the Tartar runs halfway." At this time, the people thought that in order to drive away the Manchu soldiers, they must first arrest ("vote") Yuan Chonghuan. These public opinions naturally reached Chongzhen's ears through various channels, which deepened his doubts. Finally, two eunuchs who had been captured by the Manchu soldiers escaped and reported to Chongzhen the major secret they had overheard in the enemy camp: it turned out that Yuan Chonghuan had collaborated with the enemy and had a secret agreement with the Manchu soldiers, and on the 20th the Manchu soldiers were not defeated, but deliberately withdrew, so that Yuan Chonghuan could carry out his plan of forcing peace. Chongzhen suddenly realized that all the mysteries had been solved one by one, and immediately summoned Yuan Chonghuan, and ordered the Jinyi guard to arrest Yuan Chonghuan and put him in prison.

At that time, the bachelor Cheng Ji was a relatively sober person, and he kowtowed to ask Chongzhen to be cautious, not to believe the rumors, the current enemy army is approaching the city, the situation is critical, and it is not comparable to ordinary times (that is, you should not arrest whoever you want as usual). Chongzhen thinks that he has the evidence in hand, and prudence is to follow it and ignore it ("Ming Ji"). Arresting and imprisoning one's top military commander when the soldiers were approaching the city was an unprecedented feat not only in the history of China, but probably in the history of the world.

Zu Dashou was summoned together, and when he saw the boss arrested, he trembled and didn't know what to do. Chongzhen sent a eunuch to read the holy decree to Yuan Jun outside the city, announcing Yuan Chonghuan's guilt, and the three armies cried loudly. On the third day of the first lunar month, Zu Dashou and He Kegang were sad and angry, and decided not to work for the emperor Lao'er anymore, and led the Yuan army to the east to Jinzhou. The main force of the Yuan army, which was heading south to help, heard that the commander had been captured on the way, so he naturally turned around and left.

Chongzhen panicked at this moment, so he accepted Yu Dacheng's suggestion and sent the entire cabinet and Jiuqing to the prison to beg Yuan Chonghuan to write a letter to persuade Zu Dashou to come back. By the time the messenger caught up with Yuan Jun, he was already outside the Shanhai Pass. After Zu Dashou finished reading, he dismounted and cried bitterly, and the whole army also cried bitterly, alarming Zu Dashou's mother in the army, and after asking what was going on, he persuaded everyone to go back and fight bravely to kill the enemy: "So at this point, I have lost the ears of the master." If you are not dead now, why not make meritorious service as a redemption, and then beg the master from the Lord to give orders?" So the Yuan army scrambled one by one, and returned to the customs on the same day, recovering Yongping and Zunhua. This matter, even the hard-hearted Chongzhen couldn't help but be moved slightly, so the idea of letting Yuan Chonghuan come back flashed, but it was just a flash.

The crime added to Yuan Chonghuan's head was to make peace and negotiate without permission, and to kill the marshal. The master of peace refers to his peace with Huang Taiji. Every time Huang Taiji and the Ming army finished a battle, they had to take the initiative to negotiate peace, which was not a sincere peace negotiation as Jin Yong believed in "Yuan Chonghuan's Commentary", but was mostly a deceptive delaying tactic. Yuan Chonghuan was not unaware of this, but the Ming army, which was militarily disadvantaged, needed a period of peace to recuperate and consolidate the city, so he responded positively to every meeting of Huang Taiji, and the two kept writing back and forth. All this was not done behind the Ming Court's back, and although the Ming Court did not think so, it did not blame it. In Yuan Chonghuan's recital to Chongzhen, he also pointed out that his strategy of governing Liao is "to keep the right, the war is strange, and the peace is to the side", Chongzhen was also very appreciative of this, when Yuan Chonghuan "was good at discussing peace", Chongzhen even added his official and gave him the title of prince Shaobao, but at this time he turned over the old historical account. In view of the lessons of the Southern Song Dynasty, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty were all ashamed of the peace talks with the Manchus, and they were ashamed of the Southern Song Dynasty's peace with the Jin Dynasty, and Yuan Chonghuan and Huang Taiji were not humiliating or even a higher level. (Regarding the last peace talks with Yuan Chonghuan, Huang Taiji once complained in his edict: "When I am caught, I really want to stop the army and enjoy peace, so I have repeatedly sent people to talk about it.") Helplessly, the two emperors of Tianqi and Chongzhen were very beneficial, forced them to retreat, and taught them to cut off the emperor's name and ban national treasures. I thought that the sky and the earth, how dare I take it lightly! The national treasure of its emperor was obeyed one by one, and Yi Khan asked for the seal, and he still refused to allow it to be compromised so far. I couldn't bear it, so I called on the heavens to complain and raised troops to go deeper. The nature of this peace talk could not be clearer. For this peace, the Qing people later thought that they were ashamed and humiliated, and they were drowned, but fortunately, this woodcut edict was still preserved in the archives of the Qing court. Killing the marshal refers to Yuan Chonghuan half a year ago in the name of a military parade, took a boat to Shuangdao, sacrificed Shang Fang's sword, and beheaded Mao Wenlong, the governor of the left capital who guarded Phi Island, in front of the tent. Jin Yong complained about this, thinking that Mao Wenlong should not be killed, and the way of killing was not right. Yuan Chonghuan counted Mao Wenlong's 12 crimes, and he was indeed suspected of making up the numbers, but he did not accept moderation, falsely reported the number of soldiers, filled the bank, and opened the horse market to fornicate with foreign fans, which were indeed capital crimes at that time. Later generations consulted the archives of the Qing Dynasty and found that Mao Wenlong had indeed fornicated with the Qing people at that time ("The Secret History of Modern China"), which shows that he was innocent of his death. As for Yuan Chonghuan's use of such dramatic means to kill him, it was also a last resort. Phi Dao is lonely overseas, and if he relies on the edict to capture it, he can only force Mao Wenlong to rebel. It's not that the ministers of the DPRK and China don't want to get rid of Mao Wenlong, but they can't get rid of it, and they don't dare to get rid of it, but he can't: "The doctors on the left and right can be killed, and the people of the country say they can be killed."

If he doesn't kill, he doesn't kill it, he can't kill it, he doesn't dare to kill it, and he doesn't dare to kill it. (Cheng Benzhi, "The Vortex Voice"). North Korea was deeply poisoned by Mao Wenlong, and its king was overjoyed when he heard the news of Wenlong's execution: "Get rid of this great harm for the world." ("Records of Joseon Renzu"), which can be evidence that Mao Wenlong should be killed. However, Mao Wenlong was incompetent in killing the enemy, and he was able to shoot the horse in a good way, and most of the money he received was not transported out of the capital, but was used for bribes. Privately opened the horse market, and used strategic materials to exchange ginseng and mink skins from the Qing people, and also used them to pay tribute to the court officials, so there were many court officials who liked Mao Wenlong. Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, these court dignitaries cut off a lot of money, and they all hated Yuan Chonghuan deeply, and the most hated was Mao Wenlong's fellow countryman, the university scholar Wen Tiren. It was this Wen Tiren, when Chongzhen flashed the idea of reusing Yuan Chonghuan, he hurriedly connected the five sparse and asked to kill Yuan Chonghuan quickly. Killing Mao Wenlong was used as evidence of Yuan Chonghuan's collaboration with the enemy, because it is said that the Qing soldiers were most afraid of not Yuan Chonghuan, but Mao Wenlong, so Yuan Chonghuan was asked to kill him as a condition for peace. Since Yuan Chonghuan was regarded as Qin Hui, Mao Wenlong was also praised as Yue Fei, and Mao Wenlong's sins were recorded in the "Apocalypse Record", but the literature at this time praised Mao Wenlong.

Four

From the arrest of Yuan Chonghuan to his murder, more than eight months passed. Since the evidence of Yuan Chonghuan's collaboration with the enemy is conclusive, why did it drag on for so long? Jin Yong said that it was because the Manchu troops did not withdraw from the Great Wall until June, during which Chongzhen did not dare to kill Yuan Chonghuan and offend the Liaodong troops. Since Chongzhen dared to arrest him, after he was arrested, everyone already knew that Yuan would definitely die, so why did he not dare to kill him? Liang Tingdong, the secretary of the military department at that time, even asked Chongzhen to behead Yuan Chonghuan, "then the plot against the slaves is not only wrong, but the hearts of the Liao people are also peaceful" ("Liang Tingdong, a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, please behead Yuan Chonghuan Shu"), it can be seen that in the eyes of these people, killing Yuan will help stabilize the morale of the army. The reason why Yuan's case dragged on for so long was caused by party disputes. It turned out that Qian Longxi, the first assistant at that time, had a very good relationship with Yuan Chonghuan, and he was also implicated at this time. Qian was the person in charge of the original punishment of Wei Zhongxian's case (known as the reverse case), so the eunuchs held a grudge. At this time, the eunuch rebel gradually gained momentum in the imperial court, so he wanted to expand the Yuan case into a new rebel case and wipe out Qian Longxi's opponents. Qian Longxi naturally has some influence in the DPRK and China, and the two factions started a tug-of-war over the Yuan case, and the matter has been dragged on like this. This incident finally made Chongzhen realize it, lost his temper, and ordered the Yuan case to be closed within five days ("Ming Ji"). The new reversal case failed to succeed, but Qian Longxi was also arrested and sentenced to death after Yuan Chonghuan's death, and the sentence was later changed to confiscation.

The person who presided over the trial of Yuan's case was the aforementioned Liang Tingdong. This person had worked with Yuan Chonghuan in Liaodong, but he couldn't get along, and finally seized the opportunity to announce his personal vendetta. The punishment he initially sentenced was the Yi San. At that time, Yu Dacheng was the most powerful one to cry out for Yuan Chonghuan, and at this time he scared his boss and said: I have been a Lang in the military department, and I have changed six Shangshu, and none of them have a good end; Liang Tingdong was really frightened, so he discussed with Wen Tiren, reduced the punishment of Yuan Chonghuan, sentenced Ling Chi, and exiled his brother's wife for 3,000 miles (Yuan Chonghuan has no children, Yuan Chengzhi in "Blue Blood Sword" is naturally fictional), and confiscated property (found that the Yuan family has no property, which shows that Yuan Chonghuan is honest as an official).

On August 16, the third year of Chongzhen, 46-year-old Yuan Chonghuan was Ling Chi at Xishikou in Beijing. The so-called Ling Chi is a thousand knives, and it is the capital punishment of capital punishment; and the citizens of Beijing first thought that Yuan Chonghuan had indulged in the enemy, but now they all believe that Yuan Chonghuan collaborated with the enemy, and that the Qing soldiers were brought in by him, and they all tried to eat Yuan Ye's flesh and blood to vent their hatred, making this Ling Chi even more unprecedentedly tragic. Zhang Dai, a historian in the late Ming Dynasty who mistook Yuan Chonghuan for a traitor, recorded this bloody scene with relish: "So he was tied up in the West Market by the Zhenfu Division, and cut it inch by inch." Cut a piece of meat, and the people of Beijing fought for it from the executioner. The executioners swooped down, and the people vied for money to buy their flesh, and they were all over in an instant. opened his stomach and intestines, and the people rushed to grab it, and those who got a section of it gnawed on the soju, and the blood flowed between the teeth and cheeks, and they scolded endlessly. Those who find their bones are broken with knives and axes, and the flesh and bones are exhausted, and there is only one song left, and the nine sides are transmitted. The price of hero meat is the size of a finger, a penny of silver. And our hero, throughout the execution, has been sighing, even if the skin and bones are exhausted, and "between the heart and lungs, the screams are incessant, and they stop for half a day." What Yuan Ye lamented was not the ignorance of the people, it was no surprise to him, what he lamented was the regret of dying before he left the school, even if he was subjected to capital punishment, what lingered in his mind was still the survival of the nation and the safety of the country: after death, he did not worry about the brave generals, and the loyal soul still protected Liaodong!

Five

Yuan Chonghuan is not ignorant of his fate. Ever since he joined the army, his fear has not been about dying on the battlefield, but about dying of slander. In the recital, this is also the kind of worry that is repeated over and over again. He said to the Emperor of the Apocalypse: "Gu Yong will take revenge on the enemy, he will be jealous if he makes meritorious service quickly, he will call for resentment if he works hard, and he can only be meritorious if he suffers from sin; if he does not have deep resentment, he will not work hard, and if he does not sin much, he will not succeed." Slander books, slander the day, has been since ancient times, only the saints and courtiers have always begun. He also said to Emperor Chongzhen: "There is more than enough to control the whole Liao with the power of the ministers, and the public is insufficient, and once you go abroad, it will become thousands of miles." If you are jealous of your work, there will be no one for your husband. That is, he does not use power to restrain his subordinates, but also can use his opinions to disrupt his subordinates. "Employing people should be the same, believe and do not doubt." But when it comes to the overall situation of success or failure, there is no need to pick up the slightest flaw in every word and deed. The task is heavy, and there are many grievances. The situation is in the urgency of the enemy, and the enemy is also in between, because he thinks that it is very difficult for the border ministers. Your Majesty loves the ministers and knows the ministers, why should the ministers be suspicious, but there is a danger in the middle, and they dare not tell it. When we read these words today, we only feel that the words are blood, and every sentence is tears, and Yuan Chonghuan has already foreseen his death from the enemy's rebellion and the suspicion of the imperial court. In this case, why didn't he "choose the lord and be suitable" and retreat to the mountains and forests without knowing how to protect himself, but instead sacrificed himself to serve the country, knowing that it was a dead end, but he went to the soup to fight the fire? Because the people are suffering, the nation is falling, and the hot-blooded man has the unshirkable responsibility to steal his life and cherish death!

"The staff will be ashamed of the snow, and Heng Ge will not be a feudal marquis. ("Farewell in the Border") his pen from Rong, not to seal the marquis of ten thousand households, but to recover the lost land and relieve the people of Liaodong from hanging upside down as his own responsibility. In the famous platform countermeasures between Chongzhen and Yuan Chonghuan, Chongzhen once called Yuan Chonghuan to him and said to him: "May Qing calm the foreign invaders as soon as possible, so as to relieve the difficulties of the people in all directions." This is just a cliché, Yuan Chonghuan was greatly moved, and raised his hand to increase his forehead: "The emperor thinks of the people of the four seas, this word, the emperor and the queen of the earth, the real form is coming." What the ministers have learned, what officials have done, dare not look up to the emperor, and end this situation as soon as possible. ("The Later Collection of Shikui Books") for Chongzhen to think of the people, the joy is overflowing. He negotiated peace with Huang Taiji, and also regarded the return of the occupied territories and the return of captured officials and men and women as the primary conditions for negotiation, and made no concessions: "If it is repaired today, then how can the city and the city be withdrawn?

Since he put the interests of the nation in the first place, he had no choice but to disregard his personal safety and abandon his family happiness: "For whom, in the past ten years, parents have not been allowed to be sons, wives and children have not been husbands, siblings have not been regarded as brothers, and friends have not been regarded as friends. To whom, it is said directly: an outlaw in the Ming Kingdom. (Yu Dacheng's "Liver Section") is willing to be an outlaw who takes the country as his home, which is the reason why Yuan Chonghuan is a national hero, and the reason why Yuan Inspector is "a model for soldiers through the ages" (Liang Qichao). However, such an outlaw died tragically at the hands of his own people, a nation that slaughtered its own national heroes, and it was really a hopeless slave state!

Six

Jin Yong believes that among the courtiers at that time, about seventy percent sympathized with Yuan Chonghuan, and the remaining thirty percent advocated killing him, according to Yu Dacheng's statement at that time. In fact, Yu Dacheng has another sentence in the back: Seven out of ten who sympathize with Yuan Chonghuan "sat very big, and was afraid of Tiren (Wen Tiren) and Dong (Liang Tingdong), and did not dare to save it." "Probably just Yu Da became a bluff to save Yuan Chonghuan, which is not enough to rely on. At that time, there were very few courtiers who dared to publicly avenge Yuan Chonghuan, Zhou Yanru, Cheng Jiming, and Wang Yongguang, the secretary of the ministry, who had been rescued by Shangshu, Zu Dashou was given an official rank to ask for ransom, and the military department asked Qian Jiaxiu to be a substitute for him, and the imperial envoy Luo Wantao defended Yuan and was cut to prison. In addition, Yu Dacheng, who wrote a "Liver Section" for this purpose. Yuan Chonghuan was in prison for more than eight months, and every day the foreign generals and soldiers went to the mansion of the superintendent Sun Chengzong to cry and complain, and they were willing to take his place, but Sun Chengzong did not dare to report to Chongzhen. The aforementioned cloth Yi Cheng is straight, and his courage is really different from that of the courtiers, not only wrote a "Vortex Voice" to defend Yuan's grievances, but also resisted the sparseness four times, but it was ineffective, and he angrily asked Yuan to die: "Yu Fei died for personal love, but died for justice." I wish to die, there are good deeds on the side of the Yuan cemetery, and the inscription says: "A pair of infatuated people, two brave men", then the eyes of the nine springs. Chongzhen fulfilled him and killed him.

More people think that Yuan Chonghuan deserves to die, even if they think that Yuan should not die, they only think that Yuan Ye has made great contributions, and they don't know that there are other grievances in it. fled to the eunuchs, and the words of Yuan Chonghuan's enemies were unbelievable.

Although Chongzhen may not have spoken out about this matter, it was known that there were two eunuchs who played a key role in unearthing the great traitor Yuan Chonghuan (Later Collection of Shikui Books). In this situation, how much pressure and courage do those who dare to injustice Yuan need to bear. Thanks to the first-hand historical materials left behind by these warriors' grievances, we can today have a clear understanding of the ins and outs of this unjust prison. These faint voices of injustice were quickly drowned out. When they arrived in Nanming, the scholars and doctors, whether they were gentlemen or villains, erudite and shameless people, actually scolded Yuan Chonghuan in unison as a big traitor who brought disaster to the country and the people, and made up the story of how Yuan Chonghuan secretly colluded with the Qing soldiers. Even if a few scholars with extraordinary insight feel that there is a hidden secret, they do not dare to defend Yuan Chonghuan, Jin Yong's ancestor Zha Jizuo compiled the "Crime Record", a masterpiece of Ming history, mentioning this major case related to the fate of the Ming Dynasty, there are only four words: "go to prison, and obey the law". It is no wonder that Meng Sen, an expert in modern Ming history, said indignantly: "This is the day of unification of the Ming Dynasty, and the crime of Chonghuangong is not clear for a day!" And today, according to these "records" of the late Ming Dynasty, some scholars believe that the statement that the Yuan clan collaborated with the enemy and threatened peace is not nonsense, and those who read history can be careless!

Since the emperor is so mediocre, the courtiers are so jealous, and the people are so ignorant, Yuan Chonghuan, who has always been known to future generations with "bitter heart", can only look forward to the fair and selfless trial of history ("Imprisonment"): The law enforcer is unforgivable, and I know it.

But if you leave your innocence, you can't say anything.

However, this day came too late, and it was not until the Qianlong period that the Qing people compiled the "Biography of Yuan Chonghuan" of the "History of the Ming Dynasty" according to the "Records of Taizong of the Qing Dynasty", and the world knew that the two eunuchs were deliberately released by the Qing soldiers, and the secrets they overheard were also intentionally let by the Qing soldiers, and all of this was a "Jiang Gan stolen book" personally directed by Huang Taiji, who was familiar with the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Yuan Chonghuan's injustice has been revealed to the world, but at this time, the Ming Dynasty has been wiped out for a hundred years, and the old men of the Ming Dynasty have all died cleanly.

Seven

The main idea of Jin Yong's "Yuan Chonghuan's Commentary" is that the fundamental reason why Chongzhen killed Yuan Chonghuan was not the enemy's counter-plot, but the conflict of the personalities of the two people. His reason is that Cao Cao fell for Zhou Yu's counter-plot and immediately woke up, and Yuan Chonghuan went from prison to being killed, which lasted for more than eight months, and it was impossible for Chongzhen not to know that this was the enemy's "Jiang Gan stealing books", and the reason why he still wanted to kill Yuan Chonghuan was to cover up his original stupidity and refuse to admit his mistake. Cao Cao's rebellion is just a novelist's words, not enough evidence, even if there is such a thing, then the cunning and resourceful Cao Cao can wake up, and Chongzhen, a hairy young man under twenty, may not have such a ability.

But I also think that the enemy's rebellion is not the root cause of Yuan Chonghuan's killing, it is just the last link in the chain of capturing Yuan Chonghuan, and this chain has long been forged by the faint monarch and traitorous ministers, corrupt and foolish people.

Yuan's case is one of the most important cases in Chinese history. When it comes to the big injustice case, everyone will immediately think of Yue Fei and Yu Qian. But at the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many famous generals, in addition to Yue Fei, there were Han Shizhong, Zhang Jun and others, so that the Southern Song Dynasty could survive for more than 100 years. After Yu Qian's death in success, it had no direct impact on the national fortunes of the Ming Dynasty. However, the death of Yuan Chonghuan can be said to have directly led to the final demise of the Ming Dynasty. After his death, the Ming court could no longer find a decent overseer, and there was no one to do anything, which was the first consequence. The second consequence was that the soldiers of the Ming army were so cold to the imperial court. In the past, the Ming army fought with the Manchu soldiers, although they were defeated repeatedly, but the soldiers were either killed in battle, or fled, and few surrendered to the Manchu soldiers. After Yuan's death, the whole army began to surrender to the Manchurian soldiers: "With the loyalty of the superintendent, I can't avoid myself, what is my generation doing here?" The year after his death, the surrendered Ming soldiers sent Hongyi cannons to the Manchu soldiers, and the Ming army did not have an advantage in weapons from then on. Third, as soon as Yuan Chonghuan died, the soldiers of the Qin Wang were in turmoil, and the armies of Shanxi and Shaanxi were reduced to liukou after returning to their hometowns, and the liukou became another major threat to the Ming Dynasty, and finally buried it.

Fifteen years after Yuan Chonghuan's death, Chongzhen hanged himself on the coal mountain. Ming died, and he died unjustly at all. Before his death, Chongzhen also claimed that "the king is not the king of the dead country, the minister is the minister of the dead country", and he was right until he died, with a granite head, and reported to Zhu Yuanzhang, who was as cruel as him but more knowledgeable.

In the second year of the Apocalypse, another national hero and a famous general of the Anti-Japanese War, Xiong Tingbi, was unjustly killed by the imperial court. Yuan Chonghuan, who had not yet become famous at that time, was sad about the death of the rabbit and wrote poems to mourn. These two poems are also quite appropriate to mourn Yuan Chonghuan himself. The poem says: Remember to meet with a smile and greet each other, and personally advise the night to talk about soldiers.

There is no surplus of talent and civil and military affairs, and the merit is a crime.

Generosity must be moved, and the bloody face is like life.

The pain of the back is extremely private, and he cries and cries late at night.

Taixi bows and hides dogs and cooks, and the death of the fox and rabbit is the most important.

The family is poor and unable to redeem themselves, and the bribery and public killing are famous.

Get rid of the anger and deep Tan Daoji, and write the injustice and Wei Yuancheng.

What happened to the tragedy, I want to make good use of the soldiers for the debut.

After Jin Yong wrote "Blue Blood Sword", he was still unsatisfied, and wrote a sixty or seventy thousand words "Yuan Chonghuan Commentary" attached to it. The "Blue Blood Sword" I read back then was a pirated version of the mainland, and the deletion of this commentary is not attached because although I have always paid attention to Yuan Chonghuan's research, I missed Jin Daxia's high theory. Until recently, some netizens learned that I was writing an article to commemorate Yuan Chonghuan, and they sent Jin Chuan all the way for me to refer to it. Jin Yong's self-humble biography does not have much academic value, only readability, then my text is not even readable, or a little popular, if people who do not pay attention to the history of the Ming Dynasty can understand the beginning and end of this great injustice, and know that we once had such a great hero who was unjustly killed, it is enough. Drafted this article to report the friendship of netizens. All historical materials that appear in the "History of the Ming Dynasty" and are duplicated with the Jin Biography are not indicated in the text.

1 September 1994