Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 880 Sun Chengzong Returns to Beijing

A side hall of the Qianqing Palace in the capital of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Shenzhui, the Yongming Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was meeting a man. This was an old man with white hair and beard, wearing the clothes of a first-rank civil official. Although he was old, he sat with his back straight. He was Sun Chengzong, the Grand Doctor of Guanglu, the Left Pillar of the State, the Junior Tutor and the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, the Grand Secretary of the Zhongji Palace, the Supervisor of Military Affairs, the Minister of War, and the Former Governor of Ji and Liao.

Sun Chengzong is seventy-seven years old this year. Originally, in history, he only lived to be seventy-five years old. This was because Huang Taiji once again entered the pass and attacked the capital of the Ming Dynasty a few years after the Ji Yi Rebellion, which was also called the Wuyin Rebellion.

During the Wuyin Rebellion, the Eight Banners Army not only attacked the capital once again, but also continued to move south and directly attacked Gaoyang City, Sun Chengzong's hometown. Gaoyang County Magistrate Lei Jueming was terrified and fled overnight. Sun Chengzong, who lived outside Gaoyang City at the time, not only did not go south to avoid disaster, but also took the initiative to enter the city with his family and personally led the Gaoyang military and civilians to resist.

After a day of fierce fighting, the small city of Gaoyang was ultimately unable to stop the Qing army due to insufficient military strength and the exhaustion of artillery shells. After the Qing army climbed the city walls, Sun Chengzong continued to fight fiercely in the north city, shouting "Fire! Kill the enemy!" He continued to fight with his servants holding knives, and after killing several people, he was unfortunately captured.

After being captured, Sun Chengzong cursed the Qing army's courtesy and repeated attempts to surrender, calling them "stinky dog ​​slaves" and seeking death. He was eventually killed by the Qing army in Gaoyang at the age of 75.

But now history has changed. The Wuyin Incident did not happen. Huang Taiji's troops were stopped by Wang Jinwu at Xifengkou. The two sides fought fiercely at the Great Wall. In the end, Huang Taiji returned empty-handed. Not only did he fail to enter the Great Wall, but he also suffered heavy casualties. So the Wuyin Incident became the Battle of the Great Wall. In this battle, the Ming Dynasty directly repelled the Qing army. It was a rare victory in the past decade. It not only boosted the morale of the Ming Dynasty, but also allowed Zhu Shenzhu, who had just served as regent, to sit firmly in the ruling position.

Everyone knows what happened later, so I won't go into detail. Since the Wuyin Incident hadn't happened, Sun Chengzong naturally couldn't have died in Gaoyang, so he lived a good life. Moreover, this old minister was in very good health. Although he was nearly eighty years old, he was more energetic than a sixty-year-old.

Zhu Shenzhu certainly knew Sun Chengzong's abilities. When Emperor Tianqi was in power, Sun Chengzong was ordered to replace Xiong Tingbi and others to guard Liaodong. It was because of his presence that the Ningjin Defense Line in Liaodong was built, and a comprehensive military and economic blockade was implemented on the Jiannu in Liaodong.

Sun Chengzong was not reckless in employing troops. In Zhu Shenzui's opinion, in terms of military strategy, Sun Chengzong was not even as good as many Ming generals. However, he was better than anyone else in one respect, and that was Sun Chengzong's overall view and prudence, which many people could not match.

Sun Chengzong was not good at leading an army alone, but he was an excellent candidate to command the entire army and plan the overall situation. From this point of view, Sun Chengzong was not a general but a commander who made comprehensive decisions, which reminded Zhu Shenzhui of another famous figure in later generations, Zeng Guofan.

Zeng Guofan's way of employing troops was very similar to Sun Chengzong's. They were both civil servants and also commanded large armies. In terms of their personal military qualities, they were not good at fighting alone, but they were good at overall planning and how to employ personnel. They also had one thing in common when fighting, which was to build strong camps and fight stupid battles.

Don’t underestimate these six words. Many people often fail to fully understand them even after fighting for their entire lives. However, Sun Chengzong and Zeng Guofan applied the essence of these six words to the extreme. This is also the main reason why they were able to leave their names in history.

Sun Chengzong clearly saw the advantages and disadvantages of the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty at that time, and he also understood the many problems within the Ming Dynasty. When he was the governor of Ji and Liao, although he had a lot of troops under his command, these troops had low morale, were poorly trained, and were even worse at field battles. It can be said that they were good at defense but not aggressive enough. If they were to go to the battlefield and fight the Jiannu to the death, let alone win, they might even be wiped out in one battle.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty had been defeated repeatedly in the Liaodong battlefield at that time, and the previous dispute over the economic and military affairs had led to almost all the areas east of Shanhaiguan falling into the hands of Nurhaci. Given the situation of the Ming Dynasty at that time, Sun Chengzong clearly knew that it was impossible to counterattack. If he was defeated, he would not only fail to take back Liaodong, but he might even lose Shanhaiguan. If Shanhaiguan fell into the hands of the Jiannu, then the Ming Dynasty would no longer have a barrier to stop the Jiannu, and the Jiannu could completely leave Shanhaiguan and march straight into the heartland of the Ming Dynasty.

The situation was very critical at that time. Sun Chengzong was ordered to adopt a defensive-offensive tactic after judging the strength comparison and actual situation of the two sides. Relying on the strong strength of the Ming Dynasty, he advanced forward step by step while defending. At the same time, after taking a place, he built fortresses and cities on the spot, using them as strongholds to gradually recover the lost territory and suppress and blockade the Jiannu.

This tactic may seem stupid, but in fact it fits the essence of the three words "build a strong camp". Moreover, while building the defense line, Sun Chengzong never took the initiative to attack, but looked for opportunities to nibble away at the enemy bit by bit, and huddled his troops together like a turtle shell that no one could bite. This was the so-called fighting a stupid battle, which made it impossible for Nurhaci to do anything to him.

With this method, Sun Chengzong gradually reversed the situation in Liaodong in just a few years, and even forced Nurhaci to suffer. At that time, the Ming army did not fight Nurhaci head-on. When you came to attack the Ming army, they would hide in fortresses or cities to defend. Without artillery and sharp siege equipment, no matter how good the Eight Banners were at fighting, the war horses could not fly over the city walls. The Ming army was not good at field battles, but they had no problem defending the city. Relying on firearms and artillery, they could not only defend tightly, but also cause certain damage to the Eight Banners.

Unable to capture the Ming army's fortress and unable to fight for long, Nurhaci had to retreat. However, as soon as he retreated, the Ming army was dispatched. Taking advantage of Nurhaci's retreat, the Ming army pushed the front line forward. Each time the advance distance was not too long, usually only a few dozen miles or even a dozen miles. Moreover, when the advance reached a certain extent, Sun Chengzong would send people to continue to set up fortresses on the advancing front, and even build new cities as strongholds. In this way, not only some of the lost land was taken back, but the entire defense line could also be improved, thereby compressing the living space of the Jiannu.

This tactic was simply unsolvable for the Jiannu, and it was also used in later generations. This was the famous "cage policy" on the Chinese battlefield during World War II.

Sun Chengzong achieved great results with this seemingly "clumsy" tactic. Not only did he recover the territory lost by Xiong Tingbi and his men in a few years, he also built a solid Ningjin defense line. This defense line is still the Ming Dynasty's strongest defense line in Liaodong. It curbs the Liaoxi Corridor and makes the Jiannu helpless. This shows Sun Chengzong's ability.

If it weren't for the later conflict between Wei Zhongxian and Sun Chengzong, and the fact that Emperor Tianqi died so early, the Jiannu might have been destroyed long ago with the Ningjin Defense Line built by Sun Chengzong and a series of tactical means.

You should know that before the so-called Ningyuan victory, Nurhaci's Eight Banners were almost pushed to the brink of collapse. They couldn't fight, they had no food, no weapons, and their men couldn't even eat. What else could they talk about? Unfortunately, Sun Chengzong suddenly resigned at this time. Soon after he resigned, Emperor Tianqi had an inexplicable accident. After Emperor Tianqi died and Wei Zhongxian was executed by Emperor Chongzhen, the Liaodong battlefield was completely out of control. Coupled with Yuan Chonghuan's rise to power, everything changed.

A good warrior may not have great achievements, and a good doctor may not have a great reputation. Sun Chengzong was such a person. It was a pity that Emperor Chongzhen did not know how to use people. He had so many capable ministers and generals but made the country a mess. Moreover, although he was forced to use Sun Chengzong after the Ji Yi Incident, he sent Sun Chengzong back to his hometown not long after, which made Sun Chengzong completely disheartened.

When Zhu Shenzhui entered the capital, Sun Chengzong was living in Gaoyang. He was shocked to hear the news from the capital, but he did not go north to support the king like other officials. Instead, he watched coldly and did not react at all.

From this we can see that Sun Chengzong actually had great dissatisfaction with Emperor Chongzhen, or he even hoped that the Ming Dynasty could have an wise ruler who could replace Emperor Chongzhen and change the current poor situation in the Ming Dynasty.

Later, Zhu Shenzhui became regent and quickly stabilized the political situation. Sun Chengzong also did not make any public statement, as if nothing had happened, and continued to stay in Gaoyang to live out his retirement days.

Soon after Zhu Shenzhui became the regent, he also remembered Sun Chengzong and sent someone to Gaoyang to meet Sun Chengzong, expressing his hope that Sun Chengzong could be reinstated to serve in Beijing. However, Sun Chengzong refused this request and told the person that he was old and that it was common saying that people rarely live to be seventy. He was already an old man in his seventies and had been retired for several years. It was unnecessary for him to return to Beijing because he was not energetic enough. He only hoped that the regent could govern the Ming Dynasty well and not let the country continue to be in such chaos. He hoped that the internal troubles and external enemies could be quelled as soon as possible so that the world could finally be at peace.

Sun Chengzong refused Zhu Shencui's recruitment, which made Zhu Shencui feel a little regretful. After all, he always had a good impression of Sun Chengzong and knew Sun Chengzong's abilities. If Sun Chengzong could come to Beijing to take up the post, Zhu Shencui would definitely use him. Such a capable boss would be of great help to the country whether he served as a minister or directly joined the cabinet.

It was a pity that Sun Chengzong did not come to Beijing. In this case, Zhu Shenzui could only respect his decision. Zhu Shenzui also showed considerable respect and treatment to this old minister. Every year, he would send people to Gaoyang to visit Sun Chengzong and give him some rewards. As for other things, he would not say much. It was just the attitude of the country towards a meritorious minister.

When Zhu Shenzhu ascended to the throne as King of Wu, and soon after Emperor Chongzhen issued an edict of abdication, Zhu Shenzhu ascended the throne, and Sun Chengzong also learned about it at the first time. It is said that he said nothing, but just looked in the direction of the capital and sighed, and then closed the door and did not see anyone. It is unknown what this old minister was thinking.

In a blink of an eye, it has been nearly a year since Zhu Shenzhui ascended the throne. As he gradually consolidated his position, the bandits in the Central Plains and northwestern provinces were wiped out one by one by Zhu Shenzhui. In Liaodong, Huang Taiji had no time to go to war with the Ming Dynasty because of the rebellion of the Zhenglan Banner. The Ming Dynasty finally had a rare peaceful day in the past year or so. Local production gradually recovered, and the natural disasters that had lasted for several consecutive years were also eased a lot. Coupled with a series of policies implemented by Zhu Shenzhui, the Ming Dynasty had a faint aura of revival.

(End of this chapter)