Sun Chuanting (; 1 January 1593 – 3 November 1643),
courtesy name Boya (百雅),
art name Baigu (白谷), was born in
Shanxi
Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...
; he was the late
Ming dynasty's
Minister of War (Bingbu Shangshu), and
Field Marshal
Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, ordinarily senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army and as such few persons are appointed to it. It is considered as ...
(Dushi). He led 10,000 Ming troops against
Li Zicheng's 70,000 troops. He was defeated and killed by Li in the Battle of Tongguan (1643).
Sun Chuanting was described by history records as a tall and muscular man who was physically strong and excelled in horseback archery in his early days. Graduating as ''
jinshi'' in 1619, he rose in 1635 to be Governor of
Shaanxi, and by active measures stamped out the existing rebel movement. After an unsatisfactory campaign in
Henan against the rebels there, he became Viceroy of
Shandong
Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region.
Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
and a part of
Zhili. The fall of
Jinan
Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...
in 1639 was made a pretext for imprisoning him; however, in 1642 he was appointed Vice President of the Board of War and hastened with the garrison of Beijing to relieve
Kaifeng, long besieged by
Li Zicheng.
After Sun scored some initial victories, Li retreated his forces while leaving behind mass amounts of valuables. The Ming troops were undisciplined and broke rank to loot the valuables. Li then countered attacked and scattered the Ming troops. Sun had no choice but to retreat to Shaanxi as Viceroy. He planned to hold off Li's forces until Ming reinforcements could arrive. But in spite of Sun's objections that all the trained soldiers were dead and the new recruits not yet serviceable,
Chongzhen Emperor wanted a quick victory against the rebels and Sun was obliged to advance against Li. Li soon scattered his raw levies.
With great difficulty he raised fresh forces and again advanced. At first successful, he reached the
Jia District only to find that heavy rains had made it impossible for supplies to come forward. He therefore fell back with two divisions, pursued by the rebels. The inexperienced artillerymen deserted their guns and a rout ensued, 40,000 men being lost. Li followed up his advantage, and in November the
Tongguan
Tongguan may refer to:
*Tong Pass, an important mountain pass separating the North China plain from Wei River valley (Guanzhong), located in modern Tongguan County
*Tongguan County, a county in Shaanxi, China, named after the pass
*Tongguan Distri ...
Pass was forced and Sun was killed, fighting to the last.
In popular culture
Sun Chuanting is a primary character in the 2013 Chinese historical film ''
Fall of Ming'' (), played by actor
Leon Dai.
See also
*
Li Zicheng
*
History of Ming
*
Hong Chengchou
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sun Chuanting
1593 births
1643 deaths
Ming dynasty generals
People from Xinzhou
Chinese military personnel killed in action
Generals from Shanxi