Yuan Chonghuan

Yuan Chonghuan

Yuan Chonghuan (simplified Chinese: 袁崇焕; traditional Chinese: 袁崇煥; pinyin: Yuán Chónghuàn; Jyutping: Yun4 Sung4 Wun6; style name: Yuánsù 元素 and Zìrú 自如; 6 June 1584 – 22 September 1630) was a famed patriot and military commander of the Ming Dynasty who battled the Manchus in Liaoning. He was known to have excelled 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 the first Battle of Ningyuan. Nurhaci's son and successor, Huáng Táijí, was defeated by him in the second Battle of Ningyuan. However, Yuan was a tragic figure, and was executed by his emperor under false charges which Huang Taiji deliberately planted against him.

Early life

Yuan Chonghuan was born in Dongguan, Guangdong. During his adolescence, Yuan spent time travelling from town to town, and befriended many Jesuits and foreigners along the way. Although he took the imperial examinations repeatedly with little success, on his journeys to the capital he was able to see far more than the average examiners could see. Some say that he befriended westerners during this time, and together they spent time modifying European cannons.

Early military career

He passed the imperial examinations in 1619 and was appointed to the minor post of magistrate in a remote place. In 1619, the imperial Ming army was very badly defeated by the Manchus in the Battle of Sarhu. Subsequently, 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, then promoted almost immediately to secretary, and supplied with funds for enlisting troops. (Yuan's rapid promotion was quite notable as he did not have any formal military training at all, save for studying the Confucian classics in order to pass the imperial examinations.)

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. The elderly Sun was an able commander but 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 only 9,000 soldiers (mostly militia) against Nurhaci's 130,000 (some estimates say 200,000). This battle was remembered as the Battle of Ningyuan, as it prevented China from being conquered and boosted the hopes of Ming and its allies that the Manchurians might be defeated.

It is noted that Yuan was said to have studied every aspect of the cannon for it to fire accurately at the position he wanted, and this is the reason why the Manchurian Emperor Nurhaci, even though well protected by his elite guards in a relatively safe position, was wounded. 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 returned an insult by calling him a faker.

As a result of this victory, the Imperial Court at Beijing appointed Yuan as the Governor of Liaodong on 27 February 1626, with full authority to handle all forces outside the passes.

During this time, he executed Máo Wénlóng (毛文龍), a quite ruthless and somewhat talented commander. Various texts have different perspectives of his actions. Many stated this was a mistake since Máo could still be used to defend against the Manchus. However, Yuan took into account how Máo ran his battles: Máo's tactics usually involved using civilian settlements as a shield for his troops, and during the occupation civilians suffered tremendously. Máo's also used Korea — Ming's ally — as a base to attack Manchuria, and when the Manchus entered Korea, Máo ordered a general retreat. This angered many merchants in the Beijing area since Máo had never dared to drag major cities into war, even when there was a strategic advantage. In addition, Máo had bribed many eunuchs and corrupt officials. Thus, Yuan made enemies with the most influential and corrupt 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. (Note: This is known as the Battle of Ningyuan-Jinzhou or the Second Battle of Ningyuan.) Yuan was criticised by the partisans of the eunuch official Wèi Zhōngxián, stating that he took too long to fight off the "barbarian" Manchurians, and shortly thereafter Yuan retired.

Later military career and death

Tomb of Yuan Chonghuan

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. A new Chongzhen Emperor had taken the reign in 1627 at the age of 16, and in 1629 (at the age of 18) he appointed Yuan Chonghuan. In 1629 Yuan was granted the title of "Senior Guardian of the Heir Apparent". The Chongzhen Emperor gave him his Imperial Sword and 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. 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. However, the Manchus were not confident enough to attack Jinzhou or Ningyuan again.

The Manchus changed their strategy. They bypassed Jinzhou, Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass. They broke through the Great Hall west of Shanhai Pass and suddenly appeared north of Beijing in the winter of 1629. Yuan rushed back with an elite army from Ningyuan to defend the capital. He reached Beijing just days before the Manchus. Outside the city wall of Beijing, he defeated the Manchurian "Eight Banners" (八旗) which numbered one hundred thousand. (Note: The Manchus failed to destroy the Imperial Ming army at the city wall of Beijing and thus failed to launch a direct assault on the city wall. Thus the Manchus failed in their main objective of launching a surprise attack on Beijing. Yuan's army was not strong enough to destroy the Manchu army. He only managed to make the Manchus fail in their main objective.) But far from being fêted, Yuan was heavily criticized when he arrived in Beijing, and some eunuchs even accused Yuan of collaborating with the enemy. In fact, they were actually tricked by Huang Taiji into thinking that Yuan had betrayed them.

The Chongzhen Emperor ordered his arrest during an interview with the Emperor on 13 January 1630. Without much evidence, he was accused of collusion with the enemy and condemned to the "death by a thousand cuts" at Ganshiqiao (甘石橋) in Beijing. When Yuan was asked for last words before his execution, he produced the poem: "A life's work always ends up in vain; half of my career seems to be in dreams. I do not worry about lacking brave warriors after my death, for my loyal 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！) His family was also executed.

Yuan was mourned throughout most of the country and even in Korea; with his death everyone regarded that Ming and its allies were highly vulnerable.

It is stated that merchants, eunuchs and corrupt officials rushed to buy his body parts so they could eat them. His head, the only recognizable part after the torture, was taken outside the Inner City Wall by a city guard, whose surname 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 recently renovated to become the Yuan Chonghuan Memorial .

Huang Taiji publicly stated that he would never be able to beat Yuan in a fair game, thus, making the Chongzhen Emperor kill him was 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 feared 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.

Popular culture

Although history states that his entire family was executed, it is mentioned in Jin Yong's Wuxia novel Sword Stained with Royal Blood (碧血劍) that Yuan is survived by his son, Yuan Chengzhi. As the protagonist of the novel, Yuan learns amazing martial arts on Mount Hua and vows to avenge his father's death. Jin Yong also put forward a theory by some other historians that it was the Chongzhen Emperor, not Huang Taiji, that had Yuan Chonghuan killed, and that the Chongzhen Emperor knew perfectly well that Yuan was not a traitor. As in the case of Yue Fei, Jin Yong proposed that the cause of Yuan's death was the Chongzhen Emperor's fear of his popularity with the people and of his disrespect of the throne.

Yuan Chonghuan's name was conclusively cleared about 100 years after his death by the Qianlong Emperor, after conclusive evidence was found in old archives of the Imperial Qing court. Qianlong tried to show off his unusual kindness by searching for Yuan's descendants for reward, though none could be found.

Apart from the novel as stated above, there are various other books have been written on him. Various TV dramas or films have been made in his honor.

See also

• Zu Dashou
• Wu Sangui
• Chongzhen Emperor
• Hong Chengchou
• Huang Taiji
• Nurhaci
• Tianqi Emperor
• Man Gui
• Mikhail Tukhachevsky