Yuan Chonghuan
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Yuan Chonghuan (袁崇煥; style name: Yuansu 元素 and Ziru 自如; June 6, 1584 - September 22, 1630) was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. He was known to have exceeded in artillery warfare and successfully incorporated western tactics into the East. Yuan's military career reached its height when he defeated Nurhaci and the Manchurian army in Ningyang. However, Yuan was a tragic figure, and was executed under false charges which Huang Taiji planted against him.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Dongguan, Guangdong. During his adolescence, Yuan spent time travelling from town to town. It is during these journeys that he befriended many Jesuits and foreigners. He had taken imperial examinations a few times with little success, but in his journeys to the capital, he was able to see a lot more than the average examiners could see. Some say that in this time, he befriended westerners and together, they spent time modifying European cannons.
[edit] Early Military Career
He passed the imperial examinations in 1619 and was appointed to the minor post of magistrate. Around this time, the Chinese armies suffered successive defeats and in 1622 they were forced to retreat to Shanhaiguan, abandoning all of Liaoning to the Manchus. After a visit to the front, Yuan was appointed second-class secretary in the Board of War, promoted almost immediately to secretary, and supplied with funds for enlisting troops.
Yuan Chonghuan worked harmoniously with the commander-in-chief Sun Chengzong (孫承宗) and pushed the frontiers steadily northward, fortifying Ningyuan (寧遠) in 1623. Sun was an able commander with a good moral character and refused to bribe the Emperor's eunuch. Consequently, in 1625 Sun was recalled and replaced by Gao Di (高第), who ordered a general retreat to Shanhaiguan, but Yuan flatly refused to leave Ningyuan. Early in the next year, Nurhaci led the Manchus back across the Liao River. Yuan Chonghuan and his Deputies successfully held Ningyuan with the newly-mounted and modified "red-barbarian cannon" (紅衣大炮, 紅夷大炮) and wounded the Manchurian Emperor, Nurhaci. As a result of this victory, the Imperial Court at Beijing appointed Yuan on 27 February 1626 as the Governor of Liaodong, with full authority to handle all forces outside the passes. This battle was an amazing deed since Yuan had only 9000 soldiers (of whom many were simply militia), yet Nurhaci's men consisted of 130,000 strong men (some say 200,000). This battle prevented China from being conquered and boosted the hopes of Ming and its allies that the Manchurians were defeatable. It is noted that Yuan was said to have studied every aspect of the cannon for it to fire correctly at the position he wanted, and this is the reason why Nurhaci, even though well protected by his elite guards in a relatively safe position, was fatally wounded. This battle was remembered as the Battle of Ningyuan. It is said that after the battle, Yuan sent letters to ask the well-being of Nurhaci, as what traditionally Chinese generals would do, but Nurhaci rather returned insult calling him a faker.
During this time, he executed Mao Wenlong (毛文龍), a somewhat talented commander but who had a terrible moral character. Various texts have different perspectives of his actions. Many stated this was a terrible mistake since Mao could still be used to defend against the Manchus. However, Yuan took in account of how Mao committed his battles. Mao's tactics usually involved using civilian settlements as a shield for his troops and during the occupation time, civilians or rural areas had suffered tremendously. It is also Mao's fault for using Korea, Ming's ally, as a base to attack Manchuria, which resulted in Korea being conquered by Manchus as Mao ordered a great retreat when the Manchus entered Korea. This result angered many merchants in the Beijing area since Mao had never dared to drag major cities into war even when there was a strategic advantage. In addition, Mao had paid the eunuchs and corrupted officials with bribes. Thus, Yuan had made enemies amongst the most influential and corrupted people in China.
Taking advantage of Nurhaci's death later in the year, Yuan reoccupied Jinzhou. The Manchus reappeared in June and withdrew after a series of indecisive battles. The campaign gave opportunity for Yuan to be criticised by the partisans of the eunuch official Wei Zhongxian, stating that he took too long to fight off the "Barbarian" Manchurians, in consequence of which he retired.
[edit] Later Military Career and Death
In 1628, under a new government, Yuan Chonghuan was reinstated as field marshal of all the forces of the northeast. He embarked on an ambitious five year plan for the complete recovery of Liaodong. In 1629 he was granted the title of Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. The Chongzhen Emperor, the new emperor, stated that he would fully support Yuan's decisions. This time Yuan had to face again a larger Manchurian force (slightly above 200,000) under Huang Taiji with only ten thousand men. This time the Manchurians had incorporated many more men including the newly surrendered Mongols, rebel Ming army and the conquered Korea and various small states of the North. Yuan was at odds and decided to hold on to the Gate at Shanhai Pass. At this time, he inflicted tremendous losses on Manchurian army under the cunning strategist Dorgon. All seemed well for Yuan.
Yet, The Manchus, repulsed in the east, appeared suddenly north of Beijing in the winter of 1629. Yuan rushed back with some elites from Ningyuan to defend the capital, but in order to stop the plundering of the Manchu villages, he halted the shortest route. He arrived back to Beijing and defeated the Manchurian "Eight Flags" (八旗) which numbered ten thousand and eradicated all the Manchurians in the Beijing area. As he arrived into Beijing, instead of being welcome, he was heavily criticized, not one general daring to put villages' fortune in front of the capital city. Some eunuchs even accused Yuan of collaborating with the enemies. In fact, they were actually tricked by Haung Taiji into thinking that Yuan had backstabbed them.
Without much evidence, the Chongzhen Emperor ordered his arrest during an interview with the Emperor on January 13, 1630. He was accused of collusion with the enemy and condemned to death by "death by a thousand cuts" at Ganshiqiao (甘石橋) in Beijing. It is stated the merchants, eunuchs and corrupt officials rushed to buy his body parts so they could eat it. When Yuan was asked for last words before his execution, he produced the poem: "A life's work always comes up empty, half of my work is still just in dreams. I do not worry about lacking brave warriors after my death, my spirit will continue to guard Liaodong." (一生事業總成空，半世功名在夢中。死後不愁無將勇，忠魂依舊保遼東！)
Mourning was given to the general's honor throughout most part of the country and even Korea; everyone regarded the fate of Ming and its allies was in boiling water with the death of Yuan. His head, the only recognizable part after the torture, was taken outside the Inner City Wall by a city guard, whose surename is She, and buried near Guanqu Men. The guard's family have guarded it from one generation to the next ever since. His tomb was renovated to Yuanchonghuan Memorial recently.
Huang Taiji publicly stated that he would never able to beat Yuan in a fair game, thus, making the Chongzhen Emperor kill him the only method to get rid of him. Just as the message of Yuan's death reach Huang Taiji's ears, he changed his state name from Jin to Qing and proclaimed himself Emperor Qing Taizong. Some historical information states that Huang Taiji fear Yuan's last word stating his soul will always guard Liaodong Peninsula: As the name Chonghuan, means Undying Flames, contains the element "Fire", he put the word Qing, meaning cleanse, which contains the element "Water", to overcome it; however, even if this is the case, the main reason is probably because the "Ming" of the Ming Dynasty contains the element "Fire" itself.
[edit] Modern judgment of Yuan Chonghuan
For many years of the Manchurian regime, Yuan was characterized as a villain by the Qing government, but locals still revered him as a great patriot, especially in Taiwan and South China, where Chinese diehards spent a much longer time resisting the Manchurian invaders. During the regime of Qianlong, under pressure from the civilian population, Yuan was reverted back to a "patriot."
Many historians have stated that Yuan's death marked the end of the Ming dynasty because Yuan was the only general capable of turning back such odds in the late years of the Ming.
Twentieth century intellectual Liang Qichao characterised Yuan Chonghuan as China's greatest soldier. Some Japanese scholars were exceptionally fond of Yuan, and they revered him as the Master of Artillery Warfare (砲戦の神).
[edit] Popular Culture
Although history stated that his entire family was executed, in Jinyong wuxia novel Sword Stained with Royal Blood (碧血劍), Yuan had left a son. He was the protagonist of the novel who learned amazing martial arts on Mount Hua and tried to avenge his father's death. Jinyong also put forward a theory by some other historians that it was the Chongzhen Emperor, not Huangtaiji, that in fact killed Yuan Chonghuan, and that the Chongzhen Emperor knew perfectly well that Yuan was not a traitor. As in the case of Yue Fei, Jinyong proposed that the the cause of Yuan's death was the Chongzhen Emperor's fear of his popularity with the people and of his disrespect of the Emperor.
Various films were made in his honor.
