| dc.description.abstract | The Sungchin Battle, also called the Sungshan Victory by the Ching, was the final battle between the two forces of Ching and Ming at Liaochi Tsoulang. At the end, Ching had mustered all the troops it could mobilize while Ming’s reinforcements consisted of the fiercest border security armies, such as the Liao troops and the Chi troops. The enlisting of the Chi troops and national financial collapse made the civil rebellion caused by the stray bandits become more and more serious. This was the last time the Ming Dynasty could assemble an elite army on a grand scale.
The Ming Dynasty finally lost the battle together with its elite army and the four towns outside Sanhaiguan. As a result, it can only retreat back to Ningyuan and stay at Sanhaiguan to avoid being crushed. When reviewing this history, both the contemporary and later historians tend to believe the defeat was caused by Chungchen Emperor, the then Defense Minister Chen, Hsin-Chia and Superintendent Chang, Ruo-Chi, who changed the strategy to rely upon Chiliao Governor Hong Cheng-Chou. According to historic writing, the main force led by Hong Cheng-Chou made several lethal mistakes at the end when entering Sungshan girding for the battle. To the normally careful Hong, this seemed unusual. Why the Ming Dynasty suffered defeat at the Sungchin Battle? In many respects, the historians didn’t give us answers in terms of military strategies. So, it would be hard to understand the complete picture of the time if all we know was from history books and writings at the time. As far as large-scale military action was concerned, people will have difficulty to comprehend the complete picture if it is not examined from military perspective.
From “Conquering Strategies from Past to Present”, the military book written by Hong Cheng-Chou, we can see Hong’s ideas as to how to train troops and how to fight outside Sanhaiguan. The study aims to examine “Conquering Strategies from Past to Present” and other now-existing files and historic writings left from the Ming Dynasty and Ching Dynasty for understanding of the preparation made by Hong Cheng-Chou prior to The Sungchin Battle and the cause of the defeat he suffered. | en_US |