Campaigners › Frontier Generals
Yuan Chonghuan
Late Ming commander from Dongguan who held Ningyuan and Jinzhou against the Later Jin, then was executed by the Chongzhen emperor on charges of collusion with the enemy
On a desert ridge, a rammed-earth watchtower and a long wall run across sand and rock toward the distance; a sentry stands on the tower with his back turned, smoke rises from a far beacon tower, and a small camel caravan crosses the sand at the right.
Also known as Zi Yuansu · Hao Ziru
Yuan Chonghuan, courtesy name Yuansu, came from Dongguan in Guangdong and gained his jinshi in 1619, then served as magistrate of Shaowu. Promoted to the Ministry of War in 1622, he volunteered for the Liaodong front and directed the building of Ningyuan's walls. In the first month of 1626 Nurhaci laid siege to Ningyuan, and Yuan and Man Gui held the city with Western cannon until the Later Jin withdrew; the next year he repulsed Hong Taiji around Ningyuan and Jinzhou, but pressure from Wei Zhongxian's faction forced him out. Recalled in 1628 as minister of war in command of Jizhou and Liaodong, he executed the Pi Island commander Mao Wenlong in 1629, and when Hong Taiji outflanked the passes that autumn and threatened Beijing, Yuan hurried back to defend it, only to be arrested in the twelfth month. He was put to death by slicing in 1630 on charges including collusion with the enemy, and a Southern Ming court later gave him the posthumous name Xiangmin.
Life and times
Dates 1584 CE–1630 CE