The Battle of Ningyuan ( Chinese trade. 寧遠 之 戰 ) - a battle that took place in 1626 between the troops of the Chinese Ming Empire, who defended the Ningyuan fortress, and the troops of the Jurchen state of Late Jin .
| Battle of Ningyuan | |||
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| date | February 22-27, 1626 | ||
| A place | Ningyuan , Empire Ming | ||
| Total | victory of the Chinese | ||
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Content
Background
At the end of 1618, the unifier of the Manchu tribes Nurhatsi set out on a campaign against Chinese possessions, and by 1625 conquered Liaodong (“lands east of the Liaohe River”).
Battle Progress
On February 10, 1626, the Manchu army launched a new campaign, this time against Liaosi (“lands west of the Liaohe River”). On February 19, the Manchus went to the Ningyuan Fortress. The Ningyuan defense commander, Yuan Chonghuan , aware of the successes of the Nurhatsi, took care in advance of strengthening his troops. Artillery pieces made with the help of Portuguese Jesuits were installed in the fortress.
Having no idea about artillery, the Manchus prepared for the assault on the fortress their new items - chariot shields. On February 22, at 6 a.m., selected parts of the Manchu infantry in metal armor, horsemen in armor and chariot shields began the assault on the eastern gate of Ningyuan. Having reached the walls in 70 places, the soldiers began to hammer them, but at that moment the Portuguese guns hit the city. According to the testimony of the Korean ambassador Khan Hwan, who was at Nurhatsi, chariot-shields invulnerable to arrows and stones in a few minutes were broken into chips. What could not be destroyed was set on fire by bundles of brushwood filled with tar and sulfur. The soldiers sitting in the chariot shields did not have time to jump out and burned alive. In the afternoon, the Manchus retreated.
On February 25, the assault was repeated, but as a result of a successful sortie of two hundred Chinese suicide bombers and powerful cannon strikes, the chariot shields were destroyed. Angered Nurhatsi, without lifting the siege, raided the island of Juhuadao, where Chinese food supplies were concentrated, and, capturing everything he could, returned.
On February 27, the third assault on Ningyuan was launched, but it also ended in failure.
Summary and Consequences
Some versions of the history of the Manchus claim that during the third assault Ningyuani Nurhatsi was seriously wounded, from which he could not recover, as a result of which he died six months later.
Sources
- V. S. Kuznetsov “From the walls of the New Capital to the Great Wall”, - Novosibirsk: Siberian Branch of the Nauka Publishing House, 1987.
- E. I. Kychanov “Rulers of Asia”, - Moscow: “Oriental literature”, 2004. ISBN 5-02-018328-8
- O. E. Nepomnin “History of China: The Qing Era. XVII - the beginning of the XX century ”- Moscow:“ Oriental literature ”, 2005. ISBN 5-02-018400-4