Chief Armaments Master of the Ming Dynasty

Thousands of miles away, in Beijing.

The same January, the same long night.

In a cell deep within the Ministry of Justice prison, a thin, middle-aged man sat cross-legged on a pile of moldy straw, his eyes closed and silent.

He was wearing prison clothes, his hands and feet were shackled, his beard and hair were disheveled, and his face was haggard, but his back was still straight.

He was Yuan Chonghuan.

Ten days ago, he held the titles of Grand Commander of Jiliao, Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, and Minister of War, making him the supreme commander of the northern border defense of the Ming Empire.

Ten days ago, he was still fighting a bloody battle with Huang Taiji outside Guangqumen, and was hit by several arrows, but he still kept fighting and refused to retreat.

But after Huang Taiji withdrew his troops, he became a prisoner.

The charge was "colluding with the enemy".

Yuan Chonghuan opened his eyes and stared at the small, iron-barred air vent on the wall of the cell.

The moonlight filtered in from there, cold and frosty.

He did not protest his innocence.

From the day the platform launched its call for responses, he knew this day would come.

He just didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

Last October, the Jurchens broke through Xifengkou and advanced rapidly, reaching the outskirts of Beijing.

The entire court was shaken, and the whole country was in turmoil.

Someone has to step up and take responsibility for all of this.

He was the military governor of Jiliao, and it was his duty to stop the Jurchens, but he failed to do so, and that is his crime.

As for whose responsibility it was for the neglect of the defense of Jizhou, and as for his repeated memorials requesting the strengthening of the defense of Jizhou but being repeatedly rejected by the court—none of these matters anymore.

Importantly, the Jurchens reached the outskirts of Beijing.

The important thing is that those he had offended in the court, those who hated him for killing Mao Wenlong, and those who were jealous of his high achievements that threatened the emperor, were all waiting for this day.

The prison door suddenly rang.

Yuan Chonghuan raised his head. A man wearing a black cloak walked in.

The jailers in the cell all left, and even the footsteps in the corridor faded away.

The man lifted his hood, revealing a young and pale face.

Emperor Chongzhen.

Yuan Chonghuan paused for a moment, then slowly stood up, the shackles rattling.

He knelt down. "This sinful subject... pays his respects to Your Majesty."

Emperor Chongzhen stared at him for a long time.

Then he asked in a low voice, "Minister Yuan, tell me the truth. Did you... colluded with the enemy?"

Yuan Chonghuan raised his head and looked at the young emperor.

The cell was dimly lit, but he could still see the bloodshot in the emperor's eyes and the deep-seated weariness of not knowing how to trust anyone.

He suddenly felt that the emperor was pitiful.

They are even more pitiful than him, a prisoner.

"Your Majesty," he began, his voice hoarse yet calm, "I have no such subject."

Chongzhen stared into his eyes, as if trying to discern the truth from falsehood.

After a long silence, he nodded. Without asking any further questions, he turned and left the cell.

The prison door closed again.

Yuan Chonghuan knelt on the spot, motionless.

He knew that the emperor believed him.

But that doesn't change anything.

Almost at the same time that Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Wang Qia, the Minister of War, also reached the end of his life in prison.

His crime was the same as Yuan Chonghuan's—"the Jizhou garrison was lost, leading to the invasion of the Jurchens."

Wang Qia did not live to see the trial.

He used a belt to hang himself from the iron bars of the prison cell.

Before his death, he bit his finger and wrote eight characters on the wall: "Your crimes deserve to be punished, and Heaven and Earth bear witness."

When the news reached the Ministry of Justice, no one was surprised.

In the Ming Dynasty's imperial prisons, it was easy to get in but difficult to get out.

Wang Qia was not the first Minister of War to die in prison, nor would he be the last.

---

Shanhaiguan.

Zu Dashou stood on the city wall, gazing towards the interior of the pass.

He was clutching a letter that had just been delivered.

The letter was sent by Sun Chengzong via express horse.

It is a handwritten letter that Yuan Chonghuan wrote to him while he was in prison.

The letter was very short, only a few sentences—

"My dear brother Dashou: I have failed the country's grace and deserve to die. The soldiers of Guan Ning are innocent and the pillars of the nation should not be harmed. Brother, lead the army back to Guan Ning to repay the Emperor's grace. Even if I die, I will have no regrets."

Zu Dashou read the letter aloud once, and then read it again.

Then, he pressed the letter to his chest and slowly squatted down.

This ruthless commander of the Guan Ning Army, who killed without blinking an eye on the Liaodong battlefield and was known as "Zu Er the Madman" by the Jin army, wept like a child in the cold wind of January.

Thousands of Guan Ning soldiers knelt down beside him. Their cries shook the heavens.

Ten days ago, news of Yuan Chonghuan's arrest reached the army. Zu Dashou was filled with fear and panic, and led the main force of the Guan-Ning Army eastward out of the pass overnight.

He wasn't trying to defect to the enemy; he was just afraid.

He feared that after the court executed Yuan Chonghuan, he would be next.

He was a close associate of Yuan Chonghuan, and was promoted by Yuan Chonghuan himself.

Yuan Chonghuan colluded with the enemy; how could he escape responsibility?

But Sun Chengzong's messenger caught up with him.

The messenger intercepted his army outside the gate and delivered a personal letter from Yuan Chonghuan.

After reading the letter and crying, Zu Dashou remained silent for a long time.

Then, he mounted his horse and drew his sword.

"All troops, listen up! Rear guard, become vanguard, and return to base!"

Thousands of Guan Ning cavalry turned their horses around in the wind and snow and set off again toward the interior of the pass.

Zu Dashou walked at the front of the group.

His tears had already dried.

But his hand remained pressed against his chest—there, close to his body, was Yuan Chonghuan's letter.

He knew that the governor was innocent.

He also knew that the commander-in-chief might not survive.

But he knew even more that the governor-general wrote this letter in prison not to save himself, but to save the Guan Ning Army and to save his ancestor Zu Dashou.

The commander-in-chief used his last strength to leave a way out for the Guan Ning Army.

He cannot let this path to survival go to waste.

---

Yongping Prefecture.

Huang Taiji stood on the city wall, gazing at the hazy sky in the distance.

Behind him were four cities that had just been captured: Yongping, Qian'an, Luanzhou, and Zunhua.

Before him lay the frozen landscape of the capital region.

But he did not go any further.

"Great Khan, the army is ready. Shall we march into the capital again?" Beile Abatai approached, his eyes filled with fighting spirit.

Huang Taiji shook his head. "We will not enter the capital. We will return."

"Return to the capital?" Abatai was stunned. "We finally conquered four cities and established ourselves in the capital region. Are we just going back like this?"

"Leave troops to garrison the four cities. The main force will return to Shenyang with me." Huang Taiji's voice was not loud, but it brooked no argument. "Although the Ming Dynasty has been defeated, it is not dead. Beijing is well-fortified and heavily fortified. Although Yuan Chonghuan is imprisoned, Sun Chengzong is still alive. If we attack head-on, even if we capture it, we will lose a lot of our teeth. It's not worth it."

Abatai opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a rebuttal.

Huang Taiji gazed into the distance, his eyes deep and thoughtful.

He knew better than anyone that what the Great Jin Kingdom needed most right now was not one or two cities, but a period of recuperation and rebuilding.

Although this long-distance raid yielded brilliant results, it also resulted in considerable losses.

The two bloody battles at Guangqumen and Yongdingmen resulted in the loss of thousands of elite troops.

Although the number of people, livestock, and property plundered was large, it would take time to transform them into national strength.

Moreover, what he was most worried about was not the Ming Dynasty, but the Mongols.

Ligdan Khan of the Chahar tribe has always been eyeing the region covetously, and could stab it in the back at any moment.

He cannot stay inside the pass for too long.

"Issue the order," Huang Taiji said. "Amin and Jirgalang will lead their troops to garrison the four cities of Yongping. Remember, the four cities are mutually supportive; they must be defended at all costs. This is a wedge we have driven into the heart of the Ming Dynasty, and we must not lose it. The rest of the generals, follow me to the capital."

"Yes, sir!"

On the seventeenth day of the first month of the third year of Chongzhen's reign, Huang Taiji left Amin and Jirhalang with more than 10,000 troops to garrison the four cities of Yongping, while he led the main force back north to Shenyang.

Before leaving, he did something that surprised everyone.

He held a grand ceremony outside Yongping City to bid farewell to the Ming Dynasty generals who had surrendered.

Those Ming generals who surrendered to the Jin Dynasty in the Battle of the Pass last year—some were border generals, some were garrison commanders, and some were prefectural and county officials—were summoned by Huang Taiji to a field outside Yongping City.

Huang Taiji, dressed in golden armor, personally bid farewell.

"Your submission to the Great Jin is not an act of disloyalty, but rather an act of the Ming Dynasty abandoning its people." He raised his cup, his voice booming so that everyone could hear. "Our Great Jin treats those who surrender as its own children. From now on, you will be subjects of the Great Jin, one and the same as the Manchu princes. Today, I am leading my troops back north, leaving Prince Amin to guard the four cities. You will all diligently assist Prince Amin and defend the cities; that would be a great achievement."

The surrendered generals knelt down, tears of gratitude streaming down their faces, and shouted "Long live the Emperor!"

After finishing his wine, Huang Taiji mounted his horse.

After walking quite a distance, he suddenly reined in his horse and looked back at the surrendered generals who were still kneeling in place.

A slight upturn at the corners of his mouth revealed a barely perceptible smile.

"Fan Wencheng," he called out.

"Your subject is here." A middle-aged scholar dressed in Han Chinese attire rode up to him. He was Fan Wencheng, a scholar from Shenyang who surrendered to the Jin Dynasty in the 46th year of the Wanli reign and was now Huang Taiji's most trusted Han official.

"Do you think Amin can hold out for the four cities?"

Fan Wencheng pondered for a moment before cautiously replying, "Prince Amin is indeed brave, but he is stubborn and incapable of managing the people. Leaving him to guard the four cities is probably not his forte."

Huang Taiji nodded and said nothing more.

He spurred his horse forward, his gaze fixed on the north—the direction of Shenyang, the heart of the Great Jin, the place he truly intended to govern.

His true purpose for heading south this time has been achieved.

He marched to the gates of Beijing, showing the Ming emperor and his subjects what fear truly meant.

He plundered hundreds of thousands of people and countless livestock and valuables, which will greatly increase the power of the Jin Dynasty.

He has driven a wedge into the interior, ready to return at any time.

The Ming Dynasty, however, destroyed its own Great Wall.

When Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, the Guan Ning Army nearly collapsed.

Is the Ming Dynasty, with such a history, still something to fear?