Three Consecutive Kills in the Late Ming Dynasty

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chongzhen liquidated Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party. Wei Zhongxian's niece and son-in-law, Gong Zhenglu, who served as a "special envoy" in the Kingdom of Jin in Liaodong and was actually an undercover agent of the Ming Dynasty, wrote to Emperor Chongzhen: Wei Zhongxian is considered a villain, but he can stabilize the situation and handle Liaodong affairs properly. Emperor Chongzhen was advised to stop. Emperor Chongzhen was dissatisfied, but felt that Gong Zhenglu's words were reasonable, so he issued an imperial edict: he would continue to be appointed as the special envoy to the Qing Dynasty. The emperor's imperial edict was delivered through the waterway controlled by Mao Wenlong. Mao Wenlong took the opportunity to meet with Gong Zhenglu and asked him, Yuan Chonghuan, to intercede and allocate his military salary. At this time, Huang Taiji was setting up a divorce plan to get Yuan Chonghuan to get rid of Mao Wenlong. He sent the traitor Fan Wencheng to Yuan Chonghuan to carry out separatist activities. Yuan Chonghuan was not familiar with Gong Zhenglu. When he saw him interceding for Mao Wenlong, he refused to give him face and ordered Gong Zhenglu to go to the front line to fight the Qing's Blue Banners. In order not to reveal his identity as an undercover agent, Gong Zhenglu did not dare to go to the front line to face the enemy directly, so he had to use Hongyi artillery missiles to kill the enemy and French-fired artillery to beat the Blue Flag soldiers. Yuan Chonghuan told Fan Wencheng his undercover identity, and Fan Wencheng told Huang Taiji the secret. Gong Zhenglu was killed by Huang Taiji; subsequently, Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, Mao Wenlong's son and Gong Zhenglu's son wrote letters to Emperor Chongzhen respectively, accusing Yuan Chonghuan of indiscriminate killing of innocent people. Finally, Yuan Chonghuan was also attacked by Ling Chi.