After Yuan Chonghuan was killed, he shouldered the heavy responsibility of defending the border against the invasion of the Qing army. Unfortunately, Hong Chengchou's Jin Song War ended in failure, and he was captured after being breached by the Qing army in Songshan City, and then surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. Let's learn more about the cause and effect of Hong Chengchou's surrender to the Qing army.
Although Hong Chengchou was sent to the front of Jin Song as the commander-in-chief of the front line to direct operations, in the face of Jinzhou being besieged by Huang Taiji, should he rescue Jinzhou immediately or wait for a favorable opportunity to rescue it again? Hong Chengchou is at odds with Chongzhen in Beijing. Hong Chengchou believes that Jinzhou City has a thick wall, has the advantages of the Red Yi cannon, is easy to defend but difficult to attack, and has sufficient food and grass, which can completely resist the frontal attack of Huang Taiji. If we rush to rescue Jinzhou, the armies of both sides will inevitably have a frontal field battle, and the Ming army will inevitably be at a disadvantage in front of the late Jin cavalry with super field strength.
In fact, Yuan Chonghuan won two victories in Ningyuan and Ningjin during the period of fighting against the Qing army, both of which avoided the battle with the Qing army, took advantage of the thick city wall and had the advantage of the Red Yi cannon to fight against the invasion of the Qing army, and then waited for the favorable opportunity to make a final counterattack and win. Yuan Chonghuan's combat experience, Hong Chengchou, of course, can fully understand. But Beijing asked Hong Chengchou to rescue Jinzhou City as soon as possible, and sent troops to supervise it. In the end, Hong Chengchou was forced by Beijing, and led the army to battle, which led to the rout of tens of thousands of troops of the Qing army, while Hong Chengchou was so worried that he had no time to break through and was trapped in Songshan City. After running out of ammunition and food, he was captured by the Qing army who broke the city.
At first, Hong Chengchou, who was captured, insisted on the principle of surrender rather than death and refused to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Later, under the powerful offensive of Huang Taiji, he had to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. Of course, Hong Chengchou's surrender was somewhat suspected of death. Because Hong Chengchou knew that even if Huang Taiji spared himself, the suspicious Emperor Chongzhen would not spare himself, and only a dead end awaited him. So surrendering to the Qing army can at least drag out an ignoble existence. Hong Chengchou's surrender to the Qing Dynasty helped the Qing Dynasty quickly unify the vast areas in the south and wiped out the Nanming regime assisted by Li Dingguo.
In addition, Hong Chengchou put forward many valuable opinions on the construction of the early Qing Dynasty, and suggested that the Qing government adopted various national political systems and related policies during the Ming Dynasty, which played a key role in the development of the Qing Dynasty.
Although Hong Chengchou made great contributions to the Qing Dynasty, he was never reused during the period of Huang Taiji. Although the emperor shunzhi reused Hong Chengchou, he never entered the top of the Qing Dynasty. Later, Emperor Kangxi did not reuse it. Near retirement, I only got three official positions. By the Qianlong period, the historical position of traitors was basically planned. Hong Chengchou's surrender was a tragedy of life from beginning to end.