The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 140 Sun Yuanhua, the First Abstract of the Ming Dynasty

Sun Yuanhua, courtesy name Chuyang, sobriquet Huodong, was a native of Jiangdong, Jiading County, Suzhou Prefecture, Southern Zhili.

At the age of nineteen, he became a student of Xu Guangqi, learning Western mathematics and artillery. He passed the imperial examination in the fortieth year of the Wanli reign, but never made any further progress.

Unlike those great talents who disdained taking the imperial examinations, Sun Yuanhua truly lacked the ability to pass them.

With the imperial examination route blocked, he had no choice but to return home and find another way to make a living. He took up the job of translating Western books, which was a way of putting his professional skills to good use.

Under the influence of his teacher Xu Guangqi, Sun Yuanhua developed a strong sense of identification with Catholicism.

He firmly believed that Catholicism could "supplement the king's rule, influence Confucianism, and rectify Buddhism."

Therefore, in the first year of the Tianqi reign, Sun Yuanhua was formally baptized in Beijing and became a Catholic.

If the story ended here, Sun Yuanhua would at most be a local scholar who was enthusiastic about Western learning but failed the imperial examinations.

But the irony of history is that there are always some seemingly insignificant figures who, at crucial moments, are pushed into positions they are completely incapable of fulfilling, and then accomplish a world-shaking "great undertaking".

In the second year of the Tianqi reign, Guangning fell, and the war situation in Liaodong took a sharp turn for the worse, with the entire capital feeling immense pressure from beyond the Great Wall.

At this critical moment, Sun Yuanhua felt that his opportunity to showcase his talents had arrived.

He immediately submitted two strategies to the court: "Preparing for the Capital" and "Defending the Borders," discussing at length how to use Western firearms to defend the capital and strengthen the border defenses.

Especially in his memorials, he vigorously promoted his meticulously researched "methods of using firearms," ​​and made bold claims, stating:
"By placing guns on tiered platforms, one can kill enemies from ten miles away."

What does "ten li" mean?

That translates to 5,000 meters, while the most powerful cannon at the time, the Hongyi Cannon, had an effective range of only a little over 2,000 meters.

Anyway, we don't know what kind of cannon it is that can kill enemies from ten miles away.

Perhaps intimidated, or perhaps out of consideration for Sun Yuanhua's patriotic heart, the court ultimately transferred him to Liaodong, intending to let him display his talents.

However, the proof is in the pudding.

The military commissioner of Jiliao at that time was Sun Chengzong, the imperial tutor, who was a true master of military affairs.

After reading Sun Yuanhua's memorial, Sun Chengzong immediately saw through the boy's true nature: all talk and no action.

Sun Chengzong would never entrust important military and national affairs to such a person.

But since he was sent by the imperial court, he couldn't just dismiss him directly, so he gave Sun Yuanhua a position as a military supply officer in the military administration.

To put it bluntly, this position is just a sinecure, a staff-like job.

Sun Chengzong asked him to follow the army around to see the actual situation on the Liaodong front and write an investigation report on the firearms equipment and use in Liaodong.

This was originally a very simple task.

All sorts of firearms are on display at the Liaodong front. Ask a few veterans, flip through some relevant military books, and study them carefully; you'll surely be able to write something.

But Sun Yuanhua insisted on showing off in front of his colleagues.

He wrote the following in his memorial:
"The Tiger Crouching Cannon is a bit too big, but its length is not proportionate, so it cannot reach far. Moreover, the barrel is wider on the outside and narrower on the inside, so the bullet is weak."

"Upon examining the bullets, it was found that they were of varying sizes. The larger bullets were so light that they were more than two-tenths of an inch lighter than the gun's diameter, let alone the smaller ones."

In summary, this criticism is that the Tiger Crouching Cannon's design is unreasonable.

The barrel was short, the range was short, and the gap between the shell and the barrel was too large, resulting in extremely poor airtightness and weak firing.

Sun Yuanhua's "profound remarks" are often used by some foreign lackeys as evidence to argue that the artillery technology of the Ming Dynasty was backward.

However, anyone with even a slight knowledge of Ming Dynasty firearms, or who has personally used the Tiger Crouching Cannon, knows that Sun Yuanhua's statement is utterly wrong.

Why is there such a large gap between the shell and the barrel of the Tiger Crouching Cannon?
Because it fires cluster munitions, which is a large main shell combined with submunitions.

The remaining two-part gap is just the right place to fill these scattered pieces.

As for airtightness, it is provided by the wooden blocks and sand placed behind it.

(The wooden baffle is a piece of wood inside the gunpowder chamber. After the gunpowder is loaded, it is sealed tightly to increase the power of the gunpowder explosion.)
These contents were all written in black and white by Qi Jiguang in the "Xi Fa Pian" chapter of "Ji Xiao Xin Shu".

Why did Sun Yuanhua write it this way?

The only explanation is that this person never actually went to investigate the site.

He had neither seen the soldiers actually operating the Tiger Crouching Cannon nor read Qi Jiguang's military books.

All his knowledge of artillery came from the Western books he translated and his own imagination.

Sun Yuanhua is just a talker who only knows how to talk big.

I wonder how interesting Sun Chengzong's expression must have been when he saw this "inspection report".

In short, from then on, Sun Chengzong basically never used Sun Yuanhua again, only giving him a sinecure as a clerk in the Ministry of War.

Their duty is to "survey the northern mountains and the southern seas, and deploy surprise troops in the deepest and most remote places."

It means:
You shouldn't get involved in the specifics. Just watch and learn from the sidelines. When you've truly figured it out, then you can speak up.

Sun Chengzong entrusted the tasks of repairing the city's defenses and deploying firearms to the experienced general Li Bingcheng.

Furthermore, Sun Chengzong was still not at ease, so he specially transferred Shen Qi, the principal of the Ministry of Works' Bureau of Personnel, and Du Yingfang, the prefectural judge of Shuntian Prefecture.

They were tasked with taking Sun Yuanhua under their wing and overseeing the preparation of firearms, with the intention of allowing him to learn through practical experience.

Logically speaking, both of them are capable people, so Sun Yuanhua should have been able to learn some real skills, right?
But Sun Yuanhua "lived up to expectations" and made a big splash in front of his colleagues.

In the third year of the Tianqi reign, a batch of cannons, personally supervised by Sun Yuanhua, was finally completed and ready to be delivered to the army.

As is customary, a test firing and acceptance test is required.

As a result, in full view of everyone, three doors were tested in succession, and all three doors exploded on the spot.

The loud explosion and flying metal fragments nearly injured the officials who were watching.

This left everyone wondering whether Sun Yuanhua was making cannons or firecrackers.

Having defecated in broad daylight for all his colleagues, Sun Yuanhua was naturally too ashamed to stay in Liaodong any longer.

Therefore, he had no choice but to resign from his post.

Upon learning of this, Sun Chengzong even offered his condolences to Sun Yuanhua:

"You are not a rash person, but you are a late bloomer."

However, this extremely disgraceful experience was cleverly "embellished" by his descendants in Sun Yuanhua's later biography, *Sun Zhongcheng*, and became:
"In the third year of the Tianqi reign, the Grand Secretary (Sun Chengzong) was ordered to lead an expedition and make arrangements for Ningyuan. However, his plans gradually fell into disagreement with the Grand Secretary, and he requested to resign."

What a blatant distortion of the truth! He twisted his own responsibility into a "disagreement on principles" with Sun Chengzong, and then resigned voluntarily.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this statement is utter nonsense.

How dare you, a mere clerk in the Ministry of War, have the audacity to disagree with the Imperial Tutor, the Military Commissioner of Jiliao?
Do you deserve it?
It was thought that Sun Yuanhua's official career had come to a complete end.

Go home and honestly translate Western books. Stop harming the country. That would be a good deed.

But fate always seems to be full of absurdity and irony.

It gave Sun Yuanhua another chance to return to the stage, and then... it made him poop an even bigger poop.

In order to improve firearms, the imperial court decided to hire the Portuguese.

Therefore, Sun Yuanhua, who was well-versed in Western learning and could also speak a few words of foreign languages, was remembered again.

Thus, Sun Yuanhua was recalled to the Ministry of War.

Furthermore, in the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, he transformed himself into the head of the Department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of War. From a retired scholar who had been living in seclusion, he rose to become a high-ranking official of the Ministry of War, holding the rank of sixth grade, in charge of the nation's military, finances, maps, and passes!
After the Battle of Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan rose to fame, while Sun Chengzong retired to his home.

Sun Yuanhua, using some unknown method, shamelessly approached Yuan Chonghuan again and returned to Ningyuan.

This time, he finally got his wish and took charge of the construction of the "gun platform" and "musket" that he had been longing for!

This "gun emplacement" was naturally the Western-style bastion fortress that Sun Yuanhua had learned about from Western books and had vigorously promoted to the court.

The problem is that Sun Yuanhua's so-called "mastery of both Chinese and Western learning" meant that he was at best a mediocre translator.

He knows absolutely nothing about bastion design and artillery manufacturing.

As a result, the so-called "Western-style firearms" he supervised the manufacture cost hundreds or thousands of taels of silver per unit.

(This instrument is worth a thousand in one use, and its cost is also worth ten in one use. Each door costs hundreds or thousands of gold coins.)

The Western-style forts he oversaw the construction of even included blind spots in their firepower.

When the Later Jin troops attacked, they discovered blind spots in the city walls and immediately began breaching them.

Finally, it was only after the prefectural judge Jin Qizong released Wanrendi that the Later Jin's offensive was halted.

(Cannons fired repeatedly from the city walls, but only small cannons, unable to reach the area between the two corner towers of the old gate. The enemy then breached the city walls.)
This is the first half of the life of Sun Yuanhua, the famous "Ming Dynasty military technology expert" and "authority on Western artillery".

However, his lackluster early life pales in comparison to his remarkable achievements in the second half.

Sun Yuanhua spent the latter half of his life almost single-handedly orchestrating the Dengzhou (Wuqiao) Mutiny.

Not only did it destroy an elite artillery unit, but it also gave away the casting technology and skilled craftsmen of the Hongyi cannons to the Later Jin.

In July of the fourth year of the Chongzhen reign, the Battle of Dalinghe broke out, and Zu Dashou was heavily besieged by the Later Jin.

At this time, Sun Yuanhua had been promoted to Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou.

He commanded a large army and was responsible for deploying troops from the sea to support Dalinghe.

As a result, after the Battle of Dalinghe was over, the city ran out of ammunition and food, and Zu Dashou had no choice but to surrender to the Qing.

The support troops sent out by Sun Yuanhua have not yet landed; they are still adrift at sea.

The matter was rather complicated, but in short, Sun Yuanhua acted unilaterally and abolished Dongjiang Town.

He received a large number of Liao people, but he did not trust these Liao generals and only relied on his own trusted confidants.

As a result, conflicts arose between the Liaodong and Shandong troops, leading to infighting and constant internal strife, which ultimately triggered the Wuqiao Mutiny.

The trigger for the Dengzhou mutiny appears to have been that one of Kong Youde's men stole a chicken.

But the real reason behind this was entirely created by Sun Yuanhua himself.

At that time, the Liao soldiers he had taken over were extremely undisciplined. They burned, killed, looted, and committed all sorts of atrocities in the Dengzhou and Laizhou areas, especially liking to abduct women and plunder people's property.

Local officials in Shandong repeatedly petitioned to impeach and accuse Sun Yuanhua, but he continued to protect and indulge these Liaodong soldiers.

This led to the local people hating the Liao soldiers to the core. They would close their doors and windows and stop selling their goods whenever they saw them, for fear of getting into trouble.

Kong Youde's soldiers, unable to buy food, resorted to stealing chickens from Wang Xiangchun's house, only to be caught red-handed.

When the victim came to his door, Kong Youde had no choice but to follow military law and have the soldier who stole the chicken paraded through the camp with arrows through his body.

As a result, these already unruly Liao soldiers not only failed to wake up, but instead harbored resentment.

Just then, a key figure appeared—Li Jiucheng.

This guy was also a Liao general, responsible for purchasing warhorses for Sun Yuanhua.

Sun Yuanhua probably really "trusted" him, handing over a large sum of money for buying horses, and didn't even send a supervisor or accountant!

As a result, Li Jiucheng took this huge sum of money but instead of using it to bet on horses, he lost it all.

With no money left and no horse to buy, how could he dare to go to Ningyuan?
Seeing that the Liao soldiers were becoming uneasy because of the chicken theft incident, Li Jiucheng made a desperate decision, tied up Kong Youde, and announced a rebellion.

The rebels burned, killed, looted, and plundered throughout Shandong, causing immense destruction as they attacked cities and seized territory.

Sun Yuanhua, with his large army at his disposal, remained calm and dispatched his generals to easily defeat the rebels.

Li Jiucheng feigned surrender, hoping to be pacified, and Sun Yuanhua agreed.

He even proudly opened half of the champagne ahead of time!

Sun Yuanhua wrote a letter to Yu Dacheng, the governor of Shandong:
"The peace agreement has been reached, and our troops must not advance an inch eastward, lest things go wrong."

Sun Yuanhua only realized the truth of his dream after Li Jiucheng led his rebel army to the city and began the siege!
He organized another counterattack and, relying on the city's defenses and artillery advantage, easily repelled the rebels.

The rebels resorted to their old tricks again, sending people to feign surrender once more.

With tears streaming down his face, he swore an oath, declaring that this time his surrender was absolutely genuine.

Sun Yuanhua was forgetful and once again trusted the rebels.

Therefore, the gates of Dengzhou were opened wide, allowing the rebels to enter the city and "surrender".

The result can be imagined.

After the rebels entered the city, they immediately launched an attack, coordinating with those inside and outside the city.

Thus, Dengzhou City, a fortified stronghold built up over many years, was captured by the rebels in an instant.

When the city fell, there were still:
"Six thousand old soldiers, one thousand reinforcements, three thousand horses, one hundred thousand taels of silver, more than twenty cannons, and three hundred Western cannons!"
All of this fell into the hands of the rebels intact.

Most of these rebels later surrendered to the Later Jin, and these technologies and equipment were essentially given directly to Huang Taiji.

After entering the city, the long-suppressed Liao soldiers began a frenzied revenge and massacre, plunging the entire Dengzhou city into a sea of ​​fire and bloodshed.

Ironically, Liao generals Huang Long and Shen Shikui, who had previously been distrusted and ostracized by Sun Yuanhua, were among those targeted.

After the city fell, he refused to follow the rebels and fought bravely. Later, in the battle against the Later Jin, he fought bravely and died a heroic death!

Our Lord Sun attempted suicide to die for his country after the city fell.

He failed even in his suicide attempt and was captured by the rebels.

When the news reached the capital, it caused an uproar in the court and among the people.

Everyone was stunned by Sun Yuanhua's abstract operations.

No one could believe that the dignified governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, who commanded a large army and a fortified city, was captured and taken prisoner within two days.

Describing Sun Yuanhua as a "stupid pig" seems almost insulting to pigs.

Later, the rebels probably realized that keeping Sun Yuanhua around was useless, so they released him.

Sun Yuanhua was later found and escorted back to the capital for questioning.

Even at this point, Sun Yuanhua's son was still running around, crying out for justice everywhere.

Amidst shouts of killing, Sun Yuanhua was escorted to the execution ground and executed, ending his "abstract" life.

Looking at Sun Yuanhua's life as a whole, he certainly had a passion for learning Western knowledge and a desire to serve his country, but he was ambitious but lacked practical skills and talent.

Because of Sun Yuanhua's series of suffocating actions, the entire Shandong was ravaged by the rebels, and the key artillery technology also fell into the hands of the Later Jin.

An incompetent person who suddenly rises to a high position not only harms himself, but also the people and the court.

　8K today
　　Sun Yuanhua was truly outrageous; he and Emperor Chongzhen were practically inseparable.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)