How the Ming Dynasty's Last Firewall Collapsed

On August 16, the third year of Chongzhen, West Market, Beijing. It's still dark and the chill is already biting. The execution ground was crowded with people - not farewells, not spectators, but people waiting to eat meat. Yuan Chonghuan was stripped of his official uniform, leaving only his blood-stained middle coat, and was tied up and dragged to the execution platform. The executioner identified himself, and before the sword was fired, someone in the crowd shouted: "National thief! Eat a piece of his flesh to relieve the hatred in my heart!" Death by a Thousand Cuts begins. Every time a knife was cut, people paid for the meat; some took it home to pay homage to their relatives who were burned to death by Hou Jin. His family was exiled for three thousand miles and would never be pardoned. Just a year ago, this man was the most dazzling star of the Ming Dynasty - under the city of Ningyuan, the Hongyi artillery drove back Nurhaci; outside the city of Beijing, he led nine thousand Guanning cavalry to rush to the rescue in the snow to save the emperor from the dangerous city.