The deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, to a certain extent, is the most special deputy commander-in-chief among the border towns of the Ming Dynasty. In most cases, he is responsible for the large defense area east of the Liaohe River alone. In terms of area, its defense area is even larger than the western Liaoning area that the Liaodong General Soldier is usually responsible for.
Moreover, the deputy general soldier lived in the same city as the governor and the guarding eunuch. In a sense, he was also responsible for protecting the governor and the guarding eunuch. On the contrary, the Liaodong General Army was stationed alone in Guangning, with neither a governor, a governor, nor a guarding eunuch. His responsibility in most cases was to deal with the Mongols.
Of course, if there is a big war east of the Liao River, the general soldier will still have to take charge of it, but he is usually not the first person responsible.
Therefore, as the new governor Gao Jingshi wanted to be stable, and even said he wanted to sleep peacefully, it was best for the deputy commander-in-chief to ensure that he obeyed his orders.
Making sure you obey orders is the first prerequisite, but that alone is not enough. You must also have the ability to be the deputy commander-in-chief.
It is not easy to generalize about abilities, but in today's era, there is one thing that must be paid attention to, and that is the number of armed servants.
In roughly the same era, the two major military strategists in the world recognized by Gao Pangshi were Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty and Maurice of the Netherlands. The military ideas of these two military masters had the same or very similar ideas. The point is to emphasize the army itself, rather than overemphasizing the role of strategy as in classical military thought.
Of course, in the original history, since Maurice was the core figure in the rule of the Netherlands, he could reform the Dutch military system without looking at other people's eyes. After achieving results, he could put his military ideas into the military academy for others to use. Study further.
But Qi Jiguang was different. Under the political system of the Ming Dynasty, once Qi Jiguang lost the support and protection of the civil servants, he could not even control his own destiny, let alone whether his military ideas could be spread.
Although Qi Jiguang's military books "Ji Xiao Xin Shu" and "Military Training Records" were repeatedly reprinted in the future and were highly praised by a large number of generals in the late Ming Dynasty, his ideal army never really appeared.
This is the biggest regret.
What is the most distinguishing part of Qi Jiguang's military thought from classical military thought?
In Qi Jiguang's own words: "In the past few years, I have been in charge of eastern Zhejiang, and I have learned Sun Wu's method. The outlines are not as detailed as those of his subordinates."
In fact, not only "Sun Tzu", it should be said that from "Seven Books of Military Classics" to "Wu Jing Zong Yao" have not completely solved this big problem - most military thoughts in the past focused on strategy, rather than forming a comprehensive and systematic "Wu Jing Zong Yao" Combat force composition", to put it simply, is lame.
Qi Jiguang believes that the combat effectiveness of the army is composed of soldiers, generals, armaments, logistics and other aspects, which must be developed in an all-round way and are indispensable.
The reason why the armed servants have become the real core force in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty in this era is because the armed servants are almost born with advantages in the three aspects of soldiers, armament, and logistics. The only thing they lack is almost general officers. .
In fact, due to the characteristics of the servant troops, the commander of the army has far better control over the troops than other troops. In other words, the commander can control his servant troops as well as he can, as long as he does not make too stupid mistakes. , the combat effectiveness of such a unit is completely guaranteed.
Therefore, the new deputy commander-in-chief needs to have a strong team of servants. This is something Gao pragmatism must consider now.
At the moment, Gao Pragmatic does not have such a candidate, such as Ma Dong. The servants he has brought are about Qianqi. They have good fighting ability, but the number is too small. Besides, Ma Dong's reward has not been received yet. Even if it is, he will be " "Outlanders" suddenly overpowered a large number of local Liaodong generals and directly became deputy commander-in-chief, which in itself could easily arouse antagonism.
In addition, Gao Wuzhen's current relationship with Li Chengliang, a core figure of the local general, is obviously not right. Once he forcibly recommends Ma Dong, I am afraid that factional struggles will be staged from top to bottom in the Liaodong Army.
Factional struggles are unavoidable, but they must be controlled at a certain level and within a certain range. If there are some struggles at the top, it is not a big problem, but if the entire local army in Liaodong leads General Xuan and even General Xuan If the incoming servant troops are regarded as rivals for food, then the trouble will be big.
Since Ma Dong can't do it, Ma Chengen and Zhang Wanbang can't even think about it. Just because the level difference is too big, there's nothing they can do. They are not highly pragmatic and do not have that many political resources to back them up. Even if Gao Pragmatic wants to promote them, they have to do it step by step.
If General Xuanda is not suitable, then we have to consider the Liaodong local faction, and when considering the Liaodong local faction, we must try to avoid the influence of Li Chengliang.
This is obviously difficult.
Gao Pangshi thought about it and found that the only person who "might" meet the conditions was probably Cao Yun, the former deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong who was dismissed and interrogated last year.
The reason why a "possible" is added here is that Cao Yan's promotion in his early years was very much in sync with Li Chengliang's, and he himself was a member of the Cao family of Wuqingtang in northern Liaoning.
In other words, he and Li Chengliang were not only fellow soldiers in northern Liaoning, but also should have been close comrades-in-arms in their early years.
By the way, a digression: The Cao family of Wuqingtang was the heir of the Cao Xueqin family. Later, in the third year of Jin Tianming (1618), Nurhaci launched an army to attack the Ming Dynasty, and the fate of the Li and Cao families changed accordingly.
In April of that year, Nurhaci captured Fushun, and Li Chengliang's cousin Li Sizhong surrendered. In May of that year, during the battle of the Eleventh Fort southeast of Tieling City, Cao Xueqin's great-great-grandfather Cao Zhenyan was captured and "returned to the flag" and became a Bao Yi. The next year, Nurhaci led his army to attack Tieling. Li Ruzhen (chān, Li Chengliang's cousin), Li Ruzi (Li Ruzhen's younger brother), Li Cunzhong (Li Sizhong's second brother) and others rose up to resist. Twenty people were martyred, and the Li family's private residence, the flower-viewing building, was destroyed. , the Li family and the Cao family collapsed.
After establishing the capital in Liaoyang, Nurhaci ordered Li Sizhong to recruit people from the Li clan to serve the Hou Jin. At this time, Cao Zhenyan, who was incorporated into Zhengbai Banner, came to settle in Liaoyang.
In addition, other clansmen of the Li and Cao clans successively surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and both families got along well during the Tatar Qing period. For example, Cao Zhenyan made many military exploits, and Tian Cong was promoted to Niulu Zhangjing in his early years, with an official rank of fourth rank.
In the early years of Tiancong's reign, the Eight Banners had only more than 40 Jiala and more than 200 Niulu. Including Beile, ministers of political affairs, officials from the Sixth Ministry and the Third House of Internal Affairs, there were more than 500 people in total. Cao Zhenyan, who became Niulu Zhangjing, was already one of the more than 500 backbones, marking the Cao family's entry into the circle of the upper class of the Later Jin Dynasty.
Li Sizhong became more prosperous. He had outstanding military exploits in subsequent battles and served successively as Niulu Ezhen, second-class staff general, deputy commander of the Xi'an garrison, commander-in-chief of Shaanxi admiral and officer-in-chief of the Four Banners Han Dynasty, Ang Bang Zhangjing (general). , nearly 30 of his descendants held important positions in the imperial court from Shunzhi to Kangxi.
But there is a very miraculous thing, that is, the records of Cao Yun from the Wuqingtang Cao family seem to have been lost.
What is unusual about this incident is that Cao Yun was second only to Li Chengliang among Liaodong generals in the early years of Wanli. Why is there no record of such an important figure?
He himself would definitely not survive the anti-Qing period, so the most likely possibility is that his descendants participated in the anti-Qing war and even played a big role in it, making the Tatars hate him deeply, so according to the Tatar tradition , simply erased the traces of his branch from history.
Of course, whether to participate in the fight against the Qing Dynasty is not the key to pragmatically judging whether a military general is available, because it is a bit naive to expect that all military generals in this era will pay attention to the righteousness of the family and the country. Instead of asking those generals, it is better to ask the civil servants - Military generals who don't understand justice can be said to have little education. Do you, the civil servants, also have little education?
Moreover, before the rise of nationalism and statism, there were very few people with the mentality of sacrificing their lives for the country. Even some generals who died in battle were mostly "loyal to the emperor" - this kind of loyalty comes from the brainwashing of feudal foolish loyalty. , rather than from identification with the country and nation.
Those who refuse to "be loyal to the emperor" are simply brainwashed not thoroughly enough. There are probably very few people who can sublimate their thoughts to the point of fighting for their country and nation.
Closer to home, since Cao Yu is from northern Liaoning (Kaiyuan 30,000 Guards, next door to Tieling), and his early promotions were quite similar to those of Li Chengliang, why does Gao Pragmatic still think this person can be considered?
The key lies in Li Chengliang's attitude towards Cao Yu after the battle of Chang'an Fort.
In the battle of Chang'an Fort, the Ming army lost one thousand generals and one general, 317 officers and soldiers were killed, 464 horses were killed, and 298 men and women were taken captive. There are hundreds of grains for livestock.
Is this failure serious? It depends on how to compare.
Taken in isolation, this defeat was quite serious, especially the death of a thousand soldiers and nearly 500 war horses. This was not only a considerable loss in terms of the generals who died in battle, but also the loss of important strategic materials (war horses) that caused great distress to the court. Feel angry.
But the problem is that this battle is not a separate battle. It has prerequisites. First, the Mongolian left-wing Black Carboniferous tribe invades Liaoyang. Cao Yu led his army to resist tenaciously, and the Black army was defeated and retreated. Then Cao Yu took advantage of the victory and pursued it, and entered Chang'an Fort (today's west of Liaoyang, Liaoning Province) where he was ambushed. As a result, the Ming army was surrounded by enemies on all sides. After a hard battle, only some personnel were able to break through, resulting in a "big defeat".
In other words, there are two possibilities for this battle: one is that the Black Carboniferous Tribe fails to attack Liaoyang and is pursued by Cao Yun, and the Black Carboniferous Tribe fights back and defeats Cao Yun; the other is that the Black Carboniferous Tribe had already predicted it and was planning it from the beginning Cao Yu, so he pretended to be defeated and left, leading Cao Yu to pursue him, and then defeated Cao Yu.
Which possibility is the truth? The first is because after the Black Carbon Tribe defeated Cao Yun, they did not turn back and continue to plunder the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but turned back to Mongolia.
Just imagine, Cao Yu's troops were the core of the Ming army's field operations in Liaodong. Since he was severely damaged, if the Black Carboniferous Division still had some strength, how could they not seize the opportunity to carry out a large-scale robbery near Liaoyang, but just capture the people? Three hundred people, hundreds of livestock and rice grains?
Therefore, looking at the entire battle together, Cao Yu can only be regarded as winning first and then losing. Although the losses were not small, the losses suffered by the opponent were not necessarily serious - at least the opponent did not dare to stay in the Ming Dynasty.
In this case, even if Cao Yu should be punished for this battle, it does not seem to be so serious as directly losing his official position, not to mention that he has an elite army of servants under his command second only to Li Chengliang.
It is not nonsense to say that Li Chengliang may have secretly done something to frame Cao Yun. After all, there is no evidence, but Li Chengliang obviously did not rescue him.
If the two of them were really old comrades in arms, and Li Chengliang had only to say a few nice words to him casually, Cao Yun would not have ended up like "retired from his post, and then asked questions by the censor when he went down to patrol".
In addition, after Cao Yun was imprisoned, his younger brother Cao Jian worked hard to maintain the team of servants left by Cao Yun. They were extremely poor, but Li Chengliang had no intention of helping him at all. There was no such thing as "helping his brother".
Gao Pragmatic had to think that Li Chengliang was waiting for Cao Jian to take the initiative to dismiss these people after he could no longer support them, and then he would take over these servants to strengthen himself.
What does comradeship mean in the face of self-interest? If you are still talking about the friendship of comrades-in-arms, it is simply because the benefits are not big enough.
Gao Jingshi is not sure how Cao Yan, who is imprisoned in Shandong, views this matter, but Cao Jian, the commander of the Jinzhou Guard, was Gao Jian's subordinate when he was in southern Liaoning. He did not have a good impression of Li Chengliang. This is something Gao Jingshi very clearly.
Presumably, if Cao Yu knew that Li Chengliang was plotting against his servant, he would not have a good look on his face - the servant itself is the basis for his "criminal meritorious service". As long as the servant is still there, there is still hope for Cao Yu or the Cao family. , if the servants are separated, then Cao Yun will really be doomed.
Therefore, Gao Jingshi felt that re-enabling Cao Yun as the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong was the best choice under the current circumstances. He has both a useful armed servant and a local general in Liaodong. He has been the deputy commander-in-chief for many years and has enough prestige. In addition, it is difficult for him not to resent Li Chengliang now. It can be said that all aspects are in line with Gao Pragmatism's current situation. Employment standards.
However, Cao Yun is currently in prison in Shandong, and the specific situation needs to be understood. After Gao Pragmatic sent Han Guang away, he personally wrote a handwritten letter to An Zhizhi in Shandong, asking him to learn about Cao Yun's current situation, and at the same time, he revealed a little bit about his intention to return again. The meaning of enabling Cao Yu.
Gao Pragmatic's letter could be sent by sea or water, and it took less than ten days to arrive in Jinan. An Zhizhi's reply was also very fast. The letter stated that he had spoken to Cao Yu alone and that Cao Yu had already understood the current situation in Liaodong. He understood and swore to heaven that as long as he could recover, he would do everything according to Futai's will. If Futai said to chase away the chicken, he would never drive away the dog.
An Zhizhi also said that when Cao Yan learned that Li Chengliang not only had no idea of rescuing him, but even waited indifferently for the Cao family to be able to send him away when he could no longer support his servants, he was stunned for a while, then cursed, and even said, "I regard him as a Brother, you treat me like a fool!" He then tore his sleeves and threw them under his feet.
Does cutting off one's robes sever one's righteousness? hehe……
Gao Pragmatic, who received An Zhizhi's reply, no longer hesitated, and immediately began to write a memorial, requesting that Cao Yu be reinstated and that he would be punished and meritorious.
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