Li Chengliang's official career suddenly became dangerous. There were so many and strong attacks from the court that even Shen Shixing was timid to come to the rescue. However, at Wang Xijue's insistence, Shen Shixing still had to cheer up and mobilize.
Officials from the Xinxue School at all levels began to discuss Li Chengliang's merits and provide explanations, hoping that His Majesty the Emperor would not forget his dozens of great and small achievements in the past just because of such a "mere defeat".
Wang Xijue's words of advice to Shen Shixing were quite simple: "If we lose Li Chengliang, I'm afraid there will no longer be a place for us to stand on all sides."
When the Heart School began to defend Li Chengliang, the voices from the Practical School calling for severe punishment of Li Chengliang were rising. Many neutral officials, for various reasons such as public and private, joined in the call to suppress Li Chengliang. Of course, there were also those who stood in the Heart School
One side of the school of thought. In short, the court was flanked by two completely opposite voices.
At this moment, the Secretary of the Ministry of Revenue, Gao Pragmatic, who has always been considered to be the pillar of practical learning who tried his best to suppress Li Chengliang, has never spoken out, as if he has stayed out of this incident, which has aroused the suspicion of many people.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic did not intend to stay out of the matter, but carefully thought about how Li Chengliang should judge his merits and demerits at the "height of history."
Li Chengliang's merits have been mentioned in detail before, and Gao's pragmatic understanding is also detailed enough, so there is no need to go into details. What about Li Chengliang's mistakes? In addition to the fact that those who were impeached this time can basically be regarded as the truth, there is one more crucial point
But what the officials are unlikely to know is that later generations often said that "Li Chengliang indulged Nurhachi and raised tigers, causing trouble." Gao Wuchen is now thinking carefully about this issue.
Did Li Chengliang condone Nurhaci? If so, was this connivance intentional or unintentional? If so, how much influence did these connivances have on Nurhachi's rise? Without this connivance, is it certain that Nurhaci would not have been able to rise? And so on.
Wait, these issues have become issues that Gao Pragmatic suddenly needs to think clearly about right now.
Gao pragmatism felt that due to the close relationship, Li Chengliang, as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, must have had a profound impact on the growing Nurhaci. Not only that, from an original historical perspective, Li Chengliang did have some influence on the rise of Nurhaci.
Help is embodied in four things.
First, after Nurhaci eliminated Atai in the eleventh year of Wanli, Li Chengliang found the body of Takshi who was accidentally killed and returned it to Nurhaci. He also gave all the 20 edicts and 20 horses obtained in the village to Nurhaci. Nurhachi assumed the position of
The commander of Jianzhou Zuoweidu.
When Nurhachi raised his army, he was just a helpless "orphan" with only "Thirteen Coats of Armor". He had neither influence nor strength. Even his relatives in his own family were enemies of him, and he was in an extremely difficult and dangerous situation.
At this time, Li Chengliang gave him an edict, horses, returned Tucker's body, and recognized him as the capital commander. This was not only a comfort to him, but also a great support for him.
The imperial edict is of great significance to the Jurchens. Only with the edict can they have the right to access the tribute city, and the tribute city is an important economic source for the Jurchens to obtain necessary living materials and survive. At the same time, this also marks the imperial court's
recognition of his status.
Second, in the fourteenth year of Wanli, Nurhachi asked the Ming border officials for his enemy Nikan Wailan, and the Ming border officials immediately handed him over. Because of the accidental killings of Jue Changan and Takshi in the past, Nurhaci "from now on, with eight hundred silver every year"
Two and fifteen pieces of python satin were enough to accomplish the task."
This incident has not happened now, but it existed in the original history, and is actually a continuation of the previous incident. When Nurhaci first started, of course he did not dare to show any dissatisfaction with the court or the Ming border officials, and only wanted to retaliate.
Nikan Wailan instigated the officers and soldiers to kill his father and his ancestors. However, Nikan Wailan was protected by the officers and soldiers. Nurhachi asked the officers and soldiers for Nikan Wailan, but the officers and soldiers actually agreed to hand it over and allowed him to take Nikan Wailan.
Lan killed him, which gave him enough face among the Jurchens.
As for the annual payment of silver and satin as compensation for the manslaughter of his father and ancestors, it is not only comfort and face, but also financial support. Although the handing over of Nikanwailan was done by the frontier generals, it was not necessarily Li Chengliang's direct intervention.
, but it must have something to do with his attitude towards the horses when he gave the edict three years ago. Especially the gift of silver and satin will not have nothing to do with him.
Third, in the 17th year of Wanli, the imperial court awarded Nurhaci the title of Governor-General. In the early days of his army, Nurhachi went all out to unify the Jurchen tribes and showed "loyalty" to the imperial court in order to gain official support.
He carefully sent people to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty as required, conducted mutual trade at the four passes of Fushun, Qinghe, Kuandian and Kuiyang, and received rewards as usual: he sent back the Han people and livestock robbed by his subordinates several times; this year, he also killed
He killed a Jurchen chief who had entered the border and robbed him, and presented his head to the Ming border officials as a reward for his merits. Therefore, upon the request of Governor Zhang Guoyan and others, the imperial court agreed to commend him and grant him the title of Commander-in-Chief.
At that time, for the Jurchens, being rewarded by the court meant that they had a higher status than others and could command other tribes. It was a great honor. The so-called "stealing the name and boasting about Dongyi". Therefore, Nurhachi "impressed the governor"
"Hao Yiqie", after hard work, finally achieved the goal.
In the 19th year of Wanli, when Nalinbulu of Yehe tribe sent people to threaten to send troops for conquest, he proudly rebuked: "In the past, my father was mistakenly killed by the Ming Dynasty. He gave me thirty edicts and thirty horses.
Return the body, sit down and receive the imperial edict from the Governor of the Left, renew the imperial edict of General Longhu, and be given eight hundred taels of silver and fifteen days of python satin every year. Your father was also killed by the Ming Dynasty. Can you collect his body?"
This passage can clearly illustrate how powerful Li Chengliang's support was for him, which gave him such a superior position and impressive capital among the various Jurchen tribes.
However, there is a problem that needs to be clarified in the above paragraph, and that is the matter of "renewing the title of General Longhu". In the 23rd year of Wanli, the Ming Dynasty appointed Nurhachi as General Longhu, and the "Records of Emperor Taizu Wu of the Qing Dynasty" was compiled in Tian
In the ninth year of Cong (1635), the subsequent events are mentioned in advance for the sake of bragging. This is a problem for the book editor.
It should also be noted that when Nurhaci was conferred the title of General Longhu, Li Chengliang had been impeached and removed from office three years ago, so this matter cannot be said to be his responsibility. Of course, it cannot but be said that this matter is in line with the previous conferment of Nurhachi.
The foundation has a lot to do with it.
Fourth, in the thirty-fourth year of Wanli, the land that had been cultivated for many years by Kuandian and other six fortresses was abandoned, providing space for the developing Nurhachi to expand his power.
In the first year of Wanli, Li Chengliang proposed that the defense line of the army be pushed 800 miles to the Yalu River, and the original Gushan Fort was moved to Zhangqiha Laten, Xianshan Fort was moved to Kuandian, and the four forts of Xin'an along the river were moved to
Changdian, Changling and other places. This is the famous Kuandian Liubao.
Liubao is located to the west of the Yalu River, adjacent to the Jianzhou Jurchens. It is an outpost for the defense of the Jurchens. It has a very important strategic position. Moreover, after more than 30 years of development, "the number of residents has increased day by day, reaching more than 64,000 households."
When Li Chengliang defended the Liao Dynasty for the second time, his military strength was not as good as before and the defense was difficult. So he suggested with Governor Jianda and Governor Zhao Ji to abandon this area and withdraw the defense line. As a result, this cultivated land fell
It fell into the hands of Nurhachi. At this time, Nurhachi had unified the Jianzhou Jurchen and Haixi Jurchen tribes, and his power was booming. The expansion of the territory was more beneficial to development.
As the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Li Chengliang was also a "grand master" who was extremely influential both in the court and in the local area. The above four things undoubtedly played a very beneficial role in the smooth development of Nurhaci in the early stages of his rise.
It is said that Li Chengliang was helpful to the rise of Nurhaci.
So to sum up, Gao Pragmatic believes that we can draw the conclusion that Li Chengliang and Nurhachi have a close relationship, which played a beneficial role in Nurhachi's rise. Because of this, when Nurhachi rebelled against the Ming Dynasty later, both the government and the public said that Li Chengliang "raised tigers for himself"
"Causing trouble", even to later generations there were still people who called Li Chengliang a traitor.
But Gao Pragmatic believes that even though he and Li Chengliang are not on the same side now and are even political enemies, the evaluation of them as "traitors" is still a bit excessive.
Objectively speaking, what Li Chengliang did during his thirty years of guarding the Liao Dynasty, whether indirectly or directly, was beneficial to the rise of Nurhaci, but in essence, he was still faithfully implementing the Ming court's "divide and rule" policy for the small people in the border areas.
"The policy is to "separate from the party and protect the group while preserving it."
Wang Gao, his son Atai, the two generations of Yehe tribe, Xibeile, etc. were severely punished and given sufficient blows for disobeying the constraints of the imperial court. However, they were tolerant to Nurhachi who showed "loyalty and obedience". Later,
It is highly hoped that he would be as loyal to the court and loyal to the border as Wangtai and his son of the Hada tribe. As for his subsequent rebellion, Gao Pragmatic believed that Li Chengliang should have been unexpected.
However, in the later period of Li Chengliang's suppression of the Liao Dynasty, his ambition to make contributions had long faded, and the strength of the Liao soldiers was no longer what it used to be. He was no longer able to control the situation in Liaodong, so he gave up the defense of the six fortresses in the 34th year of Wanli.
.
At that time, the reason why he gave up the Six Forts was that "the ground is so lonely and difficult to defend." In fact, this was a truth and the truth. At this time, all he wanted was to maintain the temporary peace and tranquility in Liaodong. Therefore, it cannot be said that he was
A rebel and gravedigger who intends to support a dynasty he serves.
Now that the label of "traitor" has been taken off, Gao Pragmatic believes that Li Chengliang is at least not worthy of death due to his past merits - Gao Pragmatic himself has always disliked killing people in politics, just as he did back then.
It's not like killing Zhang Juzheng.
Even if you are my political enemy, as long as your basic starting point is to consider this country and nation, then I will not insist on fighting you to the death.
Conflicts among the people are not yet complete conflicts between ourselves and the enemy. They are conflicts that can be stopped if we gain the upper hand and gain real power.
And to be honest, the criticism of Li Chengliang by the officials of the Real School has begun to "exaggerate", especially the fact that Li Chengliang cannot lose his power.
Li Rusong had just taken up his post not long ago and went to Xuanda University to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu government. Ma Chengen was transferred to the three sides of Shaanxi Province to carry out the finishing work after the war to quell the rebellion in the northwest. Therefore, Ren Yangxin's rhetoric about impeaching Li Chengliang included "circumstances".
Shenjing is firmly entrenched on both sides, and the arrogance cannot be shaken."
This statement is obviously a bit exaggerated, because Li Rusong has just been transferred to Xuanfu, and Xuanfu is actually one of the basic bases of the pragmatic school - or simply Gao pragmatism. Although Li Rusong brought five thousand Liaodong cavalry, where were they placed?
They can all be called a powerful force, but when it comes to Xuanfu specifically, these five thousand cavalry can only ensure that someone listens to his words, and they definitely cannot be called "unshakable".
The total military strength of Xuanfu has exceeded 130,000, and as a "direct line" military town with high pragmatic influence and great influence, its armament and training are exemplary. Although it cannot be said that it can ignore Li Rusong's five thousand cavalry, it can at least not be ignored at all.
Not afraid.
What about Li Rusong? Although there are many generals from the Li family army and their positions cannot be said to be unimportant, no matter where they are - even in Liaodong, they are not enough to form a "big tail that cannot be lost".
Originally, this possibility was very likely to arise in Liaodong, but after Gao Pragmatic's operations during the Fu Liao period, his "direct lineage" of Xuanda had penetrated into Liaodong, and Cao Yu, the local general in Liaodong who was second only to Li Chengliang,
He has long been a general under his command, and the "power of his direct lineage" he currently controls is not weaker than that of Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang usually appears to be extremely powerful in Liaodong, which has more to do with the fact that he is the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. Without this tiger skin, the Li family army alone would not be able to do so.
Moreover, Li Rusong took away 5,000 Li Jiajun, and lost another 8,000 this time (in fact, it was not completely lost, but the court, including Gao Wushi, now counts the entire army as annihilated). The Li Jiajun, who was originally known as 40,000 servants, now only has 4,000 soldiers.
There are about 27,000 left in Liao.
There are about 180,000 troops in Liaodong. Can the less than 30,000 people left by Li's army really rebel? What's more, Cao Yu and the highly pragmatic Xuanda's direct descendants together have nearly 30,000. How can Li Chengliang really succeed?
Can the tail be too big to fall off?
To be honest, if you want to say that Li Chengliang can't lose his tail, it's better to say that he is pragmatic and can't lose his tail. However, according to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, the court does not believe that civil servants can "not lose their tail". Even the Xin School does not have this awareness - they only think that Gao is pragmatic.
He has too much influence in the military.
However, the princes of the imperial court would not say much about the influence of civil servants on military generals. Who among the civil servants who had been in power before had not received a letter of surrender from military generals who claimed to be their lackeys? This is something that ordinary civil servants would not know.
Breaking the tradition, regardless of learning from heart and practice, will not break the tacit understanding on this issue.
Thinking of this, Gao Pragmatic felt that it was best to have a limit on this matter: impeach Li Chengliang just to impeach Li Chengliang, and don't involve other people in the matter.
For example, if you say that Li Rusong is a straightforward person, he may accept it if you say he didn't fight well enough. But if you say that he has ulterior motives and wants to rebel, maybe he has never thought about it at all, but after you say something like this, he will really react with anger. Not sure.
The problem now is that the emperor did not reveal his words. We don’t know whether he is angry or not, or to what extent he is angry. If we don’t understand this, it is difficult for us to be pragmatic and take the initiative to express our opinions.
Someone gave him a pillow when he fell asleep. Gao Jingshi was planning to remain silent and wait for the emperor's reaction when Chen Ju suddenly came in person and said that the emperor had summoned Gao Jingshi to the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace to have an audience.
