Why did Li Rubai resign from the Ningxia Army Corps "due to illness" four months before Li Rusong's death? Why was Yang Yuan about to be executed? Why did the imperial court recommend three people as the new Liaodong Army Corps, but Li Rusong ultimately resigned?
Taking office in Liaodong?
The original text of the history book is "Three people were recommended by the court, and the special purpose was like a pine tree." It can be seen that Zhu Yijun still valued Li Rusong at this time, and allowed him to return to Liaodong after he made achievements in Korea.
But the matter was not that simple, because Li Rusong's title was later passed to his eldest son Li Shizhong, but Li Shizhong died soon after and had no sons. The second son Li Xianzhong, who was supposed to succeed him, miraculously did not get the title for a long time.
Jue. The history of the Ming Dynasty records that "Shi Zhong died not long ago and had no children. His younger brother Xian Zhong was Yin Li, the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, who became the heir apparent. The courtiers hated the Li family and had nothing to say."
A piece of information is revealed here: Li Xianzhong failed to inherit the title because "the courtiers were hostile to the Li family".
Why do the courtiers "hate the Li family"? The most likely reason is that the Li family's military group is too powerful. Many courtiers regard it as a serious threat to their rule. "The Li family's military power is too strong...especially domineering. It is not a plan early."
, for fear that he will change."
The word "bossy" in this memorial clearly refers to Li Rubai, but it may not be referring to him. Because among the five tigers of the Li family, the one who can truly be called domineering is precisely the eldest son of Li Chengliang, a famous general in the world.
—Li Rusong!
Later generations called him Li Rusong, and most of them praised his outstanding demeanor during the two wars in Ningxia and Korea, but rarely talked about his personality and style of life. But in fact, his ultimate tragedy may have been due to his personality.
In Gao Jingshi's previous life, his understanding of Li Rusong came from paying attention to Li Chengliang, and his interest in Li Chengliang came from the "Declaration" published by Zhang Taiyan in Japan in 1902, one of which read: "I hope that we, the people of Yunnan, will never Don't forget Li Dingguo; May we, the people of Fujian, never Don't forget Zheng Chenggong; may we, the people of Yue, never Don't forget Zhang Huangyan; may we, the people of Gui, never Don't forget Qu Shichun; may we, the people of Chu, never Don't forget He Tengjiao; may we, the people of Liao, never Don't forget Li Chengliang."
After reading history, Gao pragmatically started looking for information about Li Chengliang, and then noticed Li Rusong, and even read through "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Li Rusong". It has now been more than 20 years since he traveled to the Ming Dynasty, and based on his current understanding of the Ming Dynasty, he recalled
Only through "The Biography of Li Rusong" did we know that the reason for Li Rusong's death had actually been written in the history of the Ming Dynasty.
Let's see how "History of the Ming Dynasty: Biography of Li Rusong" writes about him:
"Rusong, courtesy name Zimao, was the eldest son of Liang Dynasty. With his father's influence, he served as the commander of the capital and served as the honor guard of Ningyuan Bo. He was brave and courageous in fighting, and he was familiar with military maneuvers. He was later transferred to the governor Qianshi and became the Shenji camp.
Right Lieutenant General."
This section is nothing special. It probably records the history of the promotion of Yin Guan, the son of a famous general. Although he is said to be "brave and courageous in fighting" and "well versed in military maneuvers", most of them are probably based on hindsight.
Because during this period of time, Li Rusong was Li Chengliang's "honored guard" at first. Whether he was "brave in fighting" and "proficient in military maneuvers", I'm afraid the court couldn't figure it out. After that, he was promoted to the Shenji Camp and served as the right deputy general.
, Shenji Camp is one of the three major battalions in the Beijing camp. There are no battles at all. It is impossible for Li Rusong to gain any military exploits. The only use of his going to Shenji Camp is to gain seniority.
However, after this paragraph, the record begins to become more detailed: "In the eleventh year of Wanli, he was appointed as the chief military officer of Shanxi. During the incident, Huang Daozhan and others said that Rusong and his son were improperly living together in a strong town. University scholar Shen Shixing asked for preservation
So, I summoned Qian to write to the right government. I asked the admiral to patrol the capital. I want Shaosu to impeach Rusong and his younger brother, deputy general soldier Rubai, for their illegal conduct. Please hold back for a moment and keep the whole thing in mind. I won't accept it."
The situation described in this paragraph starts to get a bit interesting. First, Li Rusong was promoted from the right deputy general of the Shenji Battalion to the Shanxi Commander-in-Chief! You know, Li Rusong was only thirty-four years old this year, and had no outstanding military exploits before that.
It is relatively rare to become a commander at the age of thirty-four, but there are still some, such as Qi Jiguang, Ma Gui, etc. However, their promotion to the commander-in-chief depends on their clear military merits, not just kindness. Li Rusong before that
There is no merit worth mentioning, but he became the commander-in-chief in one step, and he was also the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Town, one of the nine sides. This is of course amazing.
So impeachments came to the door, and some were relatively mild, persuading the emperor that at least "Rusong and his son should not live together in important towns." In other words, Li Chengliang could not control Liaodong and Li Rusong controlled Shanxi - one to the left and one to the right, one to the east and one to the west.
The father and son hold powerful troops and sandwich the capital in the middle. If something happens, what should we do?
But Shen Shixing came out to protect the situation, so the emperor first appointed Li Rusong, the governor of the right army governor's office, and then the admiral of the capital patrol - then he should not stay in Shanxi, but recall him to the capital.
However, some people were still worried and impeached Li Rusong. Li Rubai was illegal and asked the emperor to "hold back a little and start with the end in mind." However, this time the emperor's attitude was very clear: he would not accept it, which meant he would not listen.
You think his father and son have too much military power. Now that I have taken away Li Rusong's military power and transferred him back to the capital, why are you still holding on to him?
After a period of time like this, things started to happen: "In the fifteenth year, the general military officer was restored to control the Xuan Mansion. Governor Xu Shouqian reviewed the exercises and sat down like a pine tree to join him. The participating kings learned to write but said nothing, and they exchanged arms for a few times.
According to the censor Wang Zhidong, because he was impeached by Rusong for being arrogant and arrogant, and for slandering scholars, the emperor took away his salary for two reasons."
As we all know, the Ming Dynasty valued literature over military affairs. As the commander-in-chief, Li Rusong sat in rows with the governor. This was actually very impolite and unruly. But strangely, the effect of Wang Yushi's impeachment was very poor this time, and he was even criticized.
Salary deduction.
But the matter was obviously not over yet. How could the civilian officials be ignored? So "it was discussed again, and I asked Ye Chuchun to change his position, and ordered Li Ying'en of Shanxi to change the town. Afterwards, I collected the military and political relics and gave them to Shi Zhong for review.
After being impeached several times, the emperor finally showed his favor and did not move, so he summoned Qian to the palace."
Look, as expected, Li Rusong began to be impeached in various ways, so much so that the emperor had to let him swap places with Li Yingen, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi Province. Li Rusong was even mentioned several times in the Military and Political Supplements (i.e., the inspection of civil and military officials by science and technology)
Consider it a typical criticism.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Unfortunately, the emperor wanted to protect him, but no one could move him. The civil servants worked hard for a long time, and Zhu Yijun summoned Li Rusong back to the capital to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army.
Governor Qianshi——This is once again protected.
The favor was not over yet. In the next twenty years (Wanli), Kuai worshiped and rebelled against Ningxia. Mei Guozhen, the imperial censor, recommended Rusong as a general. His younger brothers were Rumei and Ruzhang, and he was a young hero. It was appropriate to order him to fight against the thieves. He ordered Rusong to be the general.
The admiral is the chief military officer of Shaanxi's rebellion against rebellion, and he is supervised by the state. The military ministers have admirals, and they are like Songshi. We have ordered all reinforcements from Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi."
This is amazing. Li Rusong became the first military general in the history of the Ming Dynasty to be given the title of admiral! [Note: This does not appear in this book.]
However, an accident happened, "... arrived in Ningxia in June. Rusong felt that he had great power and responsibilities, and did not want to be controlled by the governor, so he always acted in his own way. Military officer Xu Honggang and others thought it was not controlled, and Shangshu Shi Xing also said that Rusong accepted the governor's edict.
When it comes to discipline, you can't do it yourself, so the emperor issued an edict to give instructions."
What this paragraph talks about is that Li Rusong's domineering temper was still not contained in Ningxia. He actually "did not want to be controlled by the governor and always acted in his own way" - he did not listen to the governor's orders and did whatever he wanted.
Is this a military general of the Ming Dynasty? Not to mention being immediately impeached and pointed out by the Ministry of War. Even the emperor who had been protecting him could not help but issue an edict to accuse him. There is no need to go into details about the follow-up of this battle. In short, he won the battle. Everyone
Let's get promoted together.
Then came the battle to aid Korea. "We met the Japanese Japanese invaders in Korea, and ordered Rusong to admiral Ji, Liao, Baoding, and Shandong armies to march eastward. My younger brothers Rubai and Rumei led their troops to help and suppress them. Rusongxin made meritorious deeds."
, Qi is getting more and more arrogant, and he is as good as Song Yingchang in his economics. The story goes that when the commander first met the supervisor, he went to the court with armor and armor, and after changing his hat and belt, he began to be more polite. Rusong used the supervisor to pay a visit to the supervisor, and he just sat sideways in plain clothes. "
Look, in the early years, I had to sit in rows with the governor, but now I even have to compete with the governor (supervisor).
There is no need to elaborate on the description of the battle in the next few paragraphs, only after the war, "At the beginning, the officers and soldiers defeated Pyongyang, and they were so sharp that they no longer asked about the tribute. When the blue hoof defeated the nose, like a loose air and a big rope, Yingchang, like
The pine trees were anxious to rest, but the Japanese were also eating cud and running out of food. They wanted to punish Pyongyang for their defeat and wanted to return, so they paid tribute and agreed to resume their journey."
This paragraph is a bit interesting. It says that the Battle of Biti Pavilion was regarded as a defeat by the Ming Dynasty, or at least the tactical goal was not achieved, so Li Rusong became "angry" - greatly discouraged. So Song Ying, the manager of the strategy,
Both Chang and him were eager to rest. Fortunately, the situation in Japan was also very bad, so the two sides hit it off and started preparing for peace talks.
Next, "On April 18th, the Japanese abandoned Wang Jing and fled. Rusong and Yingchang entered the city, sent troops to cross the Han River to chase the Japanese, and then attacked them and returned home. The Japanese camped step by step, divided into groups, and the officers and soldiers did not dare to attack.
Wa Nai set up camp in Busan in order to stay for a long time. At that time, Shi Xing, the minister of the Ministry of War, advocated for the tribute and proposed to withdraw the troops, leaving Liu Wei alone to refuse to defend. Ru Song Nai led the army in December. After discussing his merits, he added the crown prince and Taibao, which increased his annual salary by a hundred stones.
The speaker slandered his family, insulted the country, and repeatedly attacked him. The emperor did not ask."
The situation on the Japanese side was worse than expected. Wang Jing, Song Yingchang, and Li Rusong withdrew from Korea and led their troops to station and pursue them. However, Japan retreated in an orderly manner and the Ming army did not dare to attack deeply. Therefore, Shi Xing, Minister of War, left Liu Wei's troops to defend alone.
North Korea, and Li Rusong's class teacher won the award.
However, the Ming Dynasty was what later generations called the "strong Ming", so such a "victory" was seriously controversial within the court. So many people began to impeach Li Rusong, believing that it was because he did not fight well that he "humiliated the country"
”——I want to emphasize again that the internal thinking of the Ming Dynasty has always been “except Mongolia, everyone should win”.
So, why did a mere Japanese slave want to negotiate for peace until the end? What happened to you, Li Rusong? Aren't you so awesome that you want to compete with the manager, but that's all you have?
However, "the emperor does not ask", the emperor pretended not to hear these words.
Not only that, "In the winter of the twenty-fifth year, Dong Yiyuan, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, was dismissed. There were three people recommended by the imperial court, and Ru Song was specially used for the central purpose. He worked hard to restore the relationship, but the emperor refused to repay it. Ru Song felt that the emperor knew it, and his energy became stronger.
"
At that time, the Liaodong Commander-in-Chief was withdrawn, and three candidates were selected. Zhu Yijun made it clear that Li Rusong would be selected. This obviously angered the civil servant group, so they "struggled to restore the relationship", that is, the group fiercely opposed this decision. However, "the emperor set up
"I won't retaliate" and continued to ignore him. As a result, Li Rusong was moved and conceited, and remained the same.
But what happened next was not good. "In April next year, barbarian bandits invaded Liaodong. Rusong led his light cavalry out to destroy the nest, and died in the battle. The emperor mourned and ordered the clothes to be buried, and presented them to Shaobao and Uncle Ning Yuan.
A temple was erected, and he was given the posthumous title Zhonglie."
Looking back now, was Li Rusong's death so "accidental"? What he offended was not a certain governor or a certain manager. What he did was actually provoking the entire civil service group and the civil service.
The tradition and reality of the noble and the humble!
During this period, Zhu Yijun's performance is also worth pondering.
At first glance, Zhu Yijun was protecting Li Rusong from the beginning to the end, and the protection was so strong that it made later people doubt who was Li Rusong's biological father, between him and Li Chengliang.
If Gao Pragmatic thought that Zhu Yijun was just an average emperor, then his performance would not be a big problem. However, was Zhu Yijun's "average level"? Obviously not average.
An emperor who has not seen his ministers for thirty years but can firmly control the government and win three major conquests is called ordinary?
So, doesn't Zhu Yijun know that the Li family's army is too strong and has become the last to be defeated in Liaodong? He obviously also knows, because if he doesn't know, how can he explain Li Chengliang's first dismissal from the field?
Li Rusong was so arrogant and domineering that he didn't deal with it, and Li Chengliang, who at least appeared to be honest on the surface, only suffered a few small defeats after Wanli's 17th year, was beaten to the end, and was recalled to the capital to be promoted. Is this reasonable?
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic concluded that Zhu Yijun not only knew about it, but also adopted a method. This method was to praise Li Rusong, make him think that he was favored by the emperor, let him fight everywhere, and let him consume the strength of the Li family army without limit!
At the same time, Zhu Yijun also asked Li Rusong to ignore the civil service group because of such favor, making the Li Jiajun and the civil service group go further and further apart and regard each other as enemies!
How could the Li Jiajun, who was being stared at by the civil service group, become more powerful? How could Li Rusong, who was regarded as an enemy by the civil service group, not die!
Don’t believe it? If you don’t believe it, let’s wait and see later. After Li Rusong died, the Liaodong commander-in-chief couldn’t handle the Liao affairs even though he changed his troops, so Zhu Yijun decided to let Li Chengliang control Liao for the second time.
Doesn’t this approach seem completely wrong? Li Chengliang is almost eighty years old, and you still doubt him, Li Jiajun, so what the hell are you doing?
In fact, it was not the case. Before Li Rusong's death, the elite members of the Li family's army had been exhausted. At this time, the strength of the Li family's army had dropped to the lowest point since Li Chengliang's rise. Moreover, Zhu Yijun knew that Li Chengliang was "cowardly and brave", and he knew very well that Li Chengliang had already
Understand his thoughts.
Sure enough, this time Li Chengliang "lost all his energy" after taking office again. Not only did he have no intention of rebuilding the Li family's army, but he decisively abandoned Kuandian Six Forts soon after, almost making it clear that "I have no strength anymore."
At the same time, he did not even dare to offend Gao Huai, the eunuch who guarded Liaodong. Instead, he colluded with Gao Huai and helped Gao Huai raid Liaodong.
Isn't this a ghost? No matter how old Li Chengliang is, he has money and power. Is it difficult to recruit new troops and form a Li family army? It's impossible for him to forget his housekeeping skills when he gets older, right?
Of course not, he is just well aware of his situation. He knows that after Li Rusong's actions, the entire court has regarded the Li family as people who deserve to die, so at this time Li Chengliang neither dares to strengthen his strength nor can he go back and embrace the lap of the civil service group.
, you can only follow the emperor obediently - if the emperor is not around, then listen to the guarding eunuch, this is the so-called leader, the people around you should be the leader.
Facts have proved that Li Chengliang's guess was correct. Even though his second campaign to suppress Liao was almost a complete mess and he was impeached countless times, he was always safe and sound and finally died.
Is Li Chengliang at fault? Of course he is, but he cannot be blamed for everything.
Is Li Rusong at fault? Of course he is, but he cannot be blamed for everything.
Is Zhu Yijun at fault? Of course he is, but he cannot be blamed for everything.
Are the civil servants at fault? Of course they are, but they cannot all be blamed for everything...
Everyone has made mistakes, but from their respective standpoints, no one can say that they should bear full responsibility.
Li Chengliang cannot bear full responsibility, because he may not have thought about separatism or chaos in the first place. He just wanted to be rich and powerful and live with the country.
Li Rusong cannot bear full responsibility. He was loyal and brave from beginning to end. However, as a typical second-generation official, his character is too domineering and he even ignores "honor and inferiority".
It is impossible for Zhu Yijun to take full responsibility. From his point of view, he not only protected the Li family and his son, but also eliminated the threat to the rule of the Zhu Ming Dynasty caused by the failure of the Li family's army. It was almost the best of both worlds.
Even the civil servant group should not be fully responsible, because warlords and chaos occurred not once or twice in Chinese history, and even in the late Ming Dynasty, warlords also caused chaos. It cannot be said that the civil service group was responsible for the strength of the Li Jiajun and Li Rusong.
If you are very domineering and vigilant, it must be wrong.
It can only be said that when all the mistakes are concentrated together, this mistake is unavoidable. At the same time, the consequences are so serious that they are irreversible.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty at that time did not expect that the Jurchens, who had been suppressed and beaten for more than two hundred years, would actually become their own gravediggers. If they were highly pragmatic, they must have had ways to avoid these situations.
But they are not, so only high pragmatism can avoid it.
Li Rusong is now the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. After being transferred to Liao Commander, he has to return to Beijing to see the emperor. Gao Pragmatic has decided that he must see him.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!
PS: Although these two chapters are not directly plots, they are things I wanted to write very much before I started the book. After writing them, I felt completely refreshed. I always feel that when reading history, you cannot just read the surface, so I wrote about time travel.
The article cannot just be written based on superficial history.
Every historical figure has his own thoughts, and everything he does has his own purpose. Without understanding their thoughts clearly, it is impossible to deduce a reasonable plot.