Through the brief introduction of Ningyuan's victory, we can understand the history of the Ming army and the late Jin War, and we can also have a general understanding of Yuan Chonghuan, a general in the late Ming Dynasty.

The battle of Ningyuan took place in the sixth year of the last two emperors of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the post-Jin (later called Manchu) forces rose in Liaodong, unified the Jurchen nationality and began to attack the Ming Dynasty. They successively won the battles of Fushun, Qingshuibao, Liaoshen and Guangning, and sang a triumphant song all the way. The Ming Dynasty sent Sun Chengzong, the teacher of the Apocalypse Emperor, to supervise Ji Liao, which was also quite effective, so that the latter Jin did not dare to do it again. However, Sun Chengzong was attacked by court eunuchs and was dismissed. Sun Chengzong was replaced by Wei Zhongxian's confidant Gaudi.

Later, Jin heard that the Ming Dynasty changed its commander-in-chief, and launched 60,000 troops to invade Liaodong again. The cowardly and incompetent Emperor Gao ordered the whole army to retreat to Shanhaiguan and prepare for battle. Yuan Chonghuan, a general trained by Sun Chengzong, refused to listen to Emperor Gaudi's orders and vowed to share life and death with Ningyuan City he was guarding.

Later, 8 jin j arrived at the gates of Ningyuan, designed to surrender to Yuan Chonghuan, but was rejected by Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan knew that the latter was good at using spies, so he adopted the strategy of clearing the field, and also mobilized civilian workers in the city to guard the city. Seeing that he could not surrender, the late Jin Emperor Nurhachi ordered a siege on the 23rd day of the first month of the sixth year of the Apocalypse. Nurhachi has never been defeated since he joined the army, and every battle is more with less. This time, he holds 60,000 elites, thinking that pulling out Ningyuan City is a piece of cake. Unexpectedly, Yuan Chonghuan and others met with desperate resistance. Yuan Chonghuan hit the Houjin cavalry with red artillery, killing many enemies.

Four days after the siege, Houjin was still blocked by the Ming army outside the city. Nuerhachi became angry from embarrassment and went into battle to direct himself, only to find himself wounded by Yuan Chonghuan's red cannon. The late Jin army desperately rescued Nurhachi. Nurhachi saw that Ningyuan City could not be captured for a long time, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties, so he had to order a retreat. The battle of Ningyuan ended in the victory of the Ming army.

The Historical Background of Ningyuan's Great Victory

The history of the Ming dynasty is very complicated, especially in the late Ming dynasty, when the party struggle in the imperial court was fierce, and the border war seemed to be inextricably linked with national politics. Under the command of Yuan Chonghuan, the historical background of the Ming army's first victory over the latter Jin army in Ningyuan was exactly the same.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a fierce party struggle in the imperial court, which was mainly divided into Lindong Party and Yan Party. When the Emperor Apocalypse came, eunuchs headed by Wei Zhongxian gained power and persecuted Lindong party member. On the other hand, with the rise of the Nuzhen ethnic group in the northeast border, the Nuzhen ethnic group in Jianzhou, headed by Nurhachi, unified the northeast region and began the anti-Ming struggle. Originally, the Jurchen nationality was a buffer region of the Ming Dynasty. How can they fight their sovereign state? In history, the Ming Dynasty killed Nurhachi's grandfather and father by mistake in a battle, so Nurhachi held a grudge. When his power became more and more powerful, he told the sky with the "seven great hates" and began to attack the Ming Dynasty, and captured many cities in the Ming Dynasty, winning the battle of Salhu.

The Ming Dynasty sent Sun Chengzong as the overseer of Jiliao to resist the invasion of the late Jin Dynasty. During the period of Sun Chengzong supervising Liao, there was no major battle. However, because Sun Chengzong belonged to Lindong Party, he was quickly pushed out by Yen Party and replaced by Gaudi, a henchman of Wei Zhongxian.

Nurhachi took advantage of the change of the border of the Ming Dynasty to launch 60,000 troops to invade the Liaodong area of the Ming Dynasty in an attempt to seize Shanhaiguan. However, although Sun Chengzong left, he trained a large number of military talents during his tenure, especially Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lvjiao, Zu Dashou, Man Gui and others, who still held important positions in the "Ning Guan Fighter" established by Sun Chengzong and were able to compete with the Eight Banners of Manchu Dynasty. And command NingYuan triumph, it is Yuan Chonghuan.

However, in the face of the attack of the late Jin Dynasty, the newly appointed Emperor Gao ordered all the troops outside Shanhaiguan to retreat and stick to it. Only Yuan Chonghuan, who was guarding Ningyuan, would rather die than withdraw, so Ningyuan City was actually an isolated city when the army of the late Jin Dynasty was in Enemy at the Gates. However, Yuan Chonghuan, with his outstanding military ability, repelled the attack of Houjin.

Judging from the historical background of Ningyuan's victory, the victory of the Ming army in this battle seems accidental, but in fact it is inevitable. Because under the training of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan, the quality of soldiers in Shanhaiguan area was obviously improved at that time, and the fortifications were also repaired and increased. ?

The process of Ningyuan's victory

From the process of Ningyuan's triumph, we can see the determination of Yuan Chonghuan, a general of the Ming Dynasty, and his unique application of the new hot weapon cannon.

On the 14th day of the first month in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Nuerhachi led 60,000 troops at the end of the Jin Dynasty, set out from Shenyang and crossed the Liaohe River in an attempt to occupy the land in Liaodong of the Ming Dynasty and reach the gates of Shanhaiguan. Gao Di, the newly appointed governor of Hebei and Liao in the Ming Dynasty, ordered all troops to withdraw from Liaodong, so he could not hold on in Shanhaiguan. Because Yuan Chonghuan refused to obey Gaudi's orders, he didn't retreat, but stuck to Ningyuan. Therefore, at that time, there was only an isolated city in Ningyuan.

Before the war, the late king surrendered to Yuan Chonghuan and was rejected by Yuan Chonghuan. At the same time, Yuan Chonghuan mobilized people to defend the city together and adopted the strategy of strengthening the wall and clearing the wild. Because the weather was extremely cold at that time, Yuan Chonghuan made people splash water on the city walls, making it difficult for the soldiers of the late Jin Dynasty to enter the city.

Nurhachi failed to surrender. On the 23rd of the first month, he began to surround Ningyuan, cut off the connection between Ningyuan City and Shanhaiguan, and set up camp in the north of the city. Yuan Chonghuan used red artillery to attack Houjin camp, so Nurhachi had to move the camp back a few miles.

The next day, the late Jin army officially attacked the city. Yuan Chonghuan put the red cannon on the city head, bombarded the enemy violently, and killed countless soldiers in the late Jin Dynasty with bows and arrows and strong crossbows. Later, Jin soldier risked his life to dig a big hole under the city gate. As a result, Yuan Chonghuan himself went into battle and blocked it with stones.

On the third day, Nurhachi personally went into battle to command the siege, and was also heavily bombarded by Ming artillery fire, causing numerous casualties. Later, Jin soldiers began to be afraid of the artillery fire of the Ming army and dared not approach.

On the 26th, the Houjin cavalry finally advanced to the city gate, but before entering the city gate, it was blocked by a deep ditch and could not cross the ditch. So they can only watch themselves become living targets of Ming artillery. In this battle, Nurhachi himself was also wounded by gunfire and had to order the withdrawal.

In the process of Ningyuan's victory, taking the city wall as a fortress was a new tactic initiated by Yuan Chonghuan, which became the first battle example for the Ming army to defeat Houjin.

The result of Ningyuan's victory

The battle of Ningyuan was an important battle between Ming and Qing Dynasties, which was called "Great Victory in Ningyuan" by Ming Dynasty. Ningyuan's victory ended in the victory of Ming army and the failure of Houjin. This is the first time that the Ming army defeated Houjin, which greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army and hit the arrogance of Houjin.

Later, Jin took advantage of the replacement of the overseers of the Ming army in Liaodong and took the opportunity to launch 60 thousand troops to invade Liaodong. I really met a hard nail in Ningyuan. Back in those days, Nurhachi 13 armored cavalry won every battle, and most battles were won by fewer. Especially in the battle of Salhu, hundreds of thousands of Ming troops were wiped out. He didn't take Ningyuan, a small town with less than twenty thousand defenders, seriously, but Yuan Chonghuan gave him a blow. Later, Jin besieged the city for four days in a row, not only failed to set foot in the city, but also suffered numerous deaths and injuries.

The success of Ningyuan in the Ming Dynasty also led to the indirect death of Nurhachi, the commander-in-chief of the late Jin Dynasty. In the battle of Ningyuan, Nurhachi became angry when he saw that Ningyuan City could not be captured for a long time. He personally commanded and was wounded by the red cannon of the Ming army. He had to order a retreat, which was his first failure since joining the army and the only failure in his life. History shows that Nurhachi "returned with great resentment" after the war. He felt that the battle of Ningyuan was really wronged and wanted to find a place to vent. So he turned his attention to Juehua Island. Juehua Island is located on the sea, because there is no water army in Houjin, so the Ming army has no defense on the island. It was freezing, and the sea was frozen. Later, Jin got up and walked on the ice, killing 14000 Ming people on the island.

Although the victory was achieved in Juehua Island, the battle of Ningyuan is still a pain that Nurhachi will never erase. He fell ill because of anxiety, and the injury he suffered in the battle of Ningyuan recurred. On August 11th of the same year, he died in Zanziburg.