There are rumors in the world that the Tieling Li family has been known as the "Nine Tiger Generals" since Li Chengliang. The Nine Tiger Generals are the fifth and fourth sons of Liang.
If Gao Pragmatic were to evaluate this statement, he would definitely sneer at it, because Li Rugui, who was almost "handled" by him before, was also one of the Nine Tiger Generals. If such a person can be called a "tiger general", then the tiger general would be too disgraced.
Gao pragmatism still agrees with the mainstream saying of later generations, which is what the historical records say: "The sons of Chengliang, Rusong, are the most courageous and have a fatherly style, followed by Rumei."
When the Li family army passed down to the second generation, only Li Rusong could undoubtedly be called a tiger general. If we had to add more, we could only find Li Rumei. As for the others...hehe.
One of Li Rumei's characteristics is that she is good at shooting, and outsiders often call her "Little Li". However, most people don't know that Li Rumei's swordsmanship is also regarded as the best in Liaodong. Li Rusong once privately praised her as "not inferior to Brother Fool".
This statement may have a meaning of self-effacement, but considering that Li Rusong's always straightforward style of dealing with people, it is more likely to be the truth.
E Yidu's arrow proved that Li Rumei was really good at swordsmanship. You must know that using a knife to deflect flying arrows is not as easy as in martial arts. From a mechanical point of view, it not only requires accurate enough timing, but also requires skill, otherwise the arrow body will be cut off. The arrow and the first half of the arrow will still maintain the flight path and hit the target.
Seeing Li Rumei deflecting the heavy Jurchen arrows that were flying towards her with her sword, E Yidu couldn't help but change her face slightly. Then she remembered that the opponent's arrow almost killed her just now. She knew that this person was really a powerful enemy, so she stopped entangled with Li Rumei. Martial arts.
Er Yidu gave an order, and the Hong Baya La tribe was divided into two. One part stepped forward to stop the soldiers led by Li Rumei and Li Ning, and the other part used superior force to attack Li Pinghu.
Although Li Pinghu himself was brave, he had less than a hundred men under his command at this time. How could he be the opponent of Bagala's personal soldiers who had nearly three times the strength? Although he killed seven people in a row, he lost nearly half of his soldiers in an instant and could no longer support them.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Li Chengliang had no choice but to recall Li Rumei. He planned to move his troops in danger, so he simply raised the banner of his Liaodong commander-in-chief to gather the scattered servants. Unexpectedly, at this time, the Baylor Mansion behind him suddenly raised another flag of Bai Bajara, but Anfeyangu had already captured the Baylor Mansion and came from behind to kill him.
Li Rumei and Li Ning were attacked from both sides and could not resist, so they could only protect Li Chengliang and run south.
But this move undoubtedly harmed Li Pinghu. Eyidu gave up the great success of chasing Li Chengliang to Anfeiyanggu, and he combined the power of Hong Bayala's personal soldiers to besiege Li Pinghu. Li Pinghu was hit by seven arrows, but he managed to escape. When he went around to catch up with Li Chengliang, he fainted before he could see him.
Li Chengliang was sad and anxious, and he did not dare to stop. He could only order someone to take Li Pinghu and escape together. At this time, they had just arrived not far from the south city gate, but they heard shouts of killing from all over the city gate. When they looked closely, they saw that the city gate had been opened, Jianzhou soldiers were pouring in, and the Ming army at the city gate had been defeated.
Li Chengliang took a deep breath, and for a moment, all thoughts were lost. He took out the short knife from his waist and planned to kill himself. Li Rumei had sharp eyes and quickly snatched his knife and said: "Dad must not do this. If dad dies, no one in our army will survive."
Li Chengliang said sadly: "If I don't die, you can live?" Li Rumei didn't know how to answer for a moment.
But at this moment, a loud noise suddenly sounded not far away, like the sound of a city wall collapsing. Li Chengliang, his son, and his close relatives were stunned. Li Rubai hurried forward to check, and soon brought a general there, but it was Qin Deyi.
Qin Deyi was overjoyed to see Li Chengliang and hurriedly stepped forward to explain the situation. It turned out that he was guarding the city wall between the southeast gate tonight, and in the middle of the night, he suddenly noticed some changes in the soldiers outside Nurhachi City.
At that time, he did not expect that the other party would dare to resist. He just thought that the Nurhachi people were in the city and could not suppress the opposition outside the city. He suspected that these people wanted to attack the city. Since the enemy's situation was unknown and it was not very certain, we only mobilized some cannons from the artillery battalion and a batch of gunpowder just in case.
Needless to say what happened later, he saw that Nurhaci had rebelled, and saw that Jianzhou soldiers were attacking the southeast gate. His own side was retreating steadily, and it was estimated that it was very likely that he would not be able to protect his army. Since the two gates in the southeast could not be defended, it was doomed for the enemy to enter the city. At this time, it was impossible to hold on to the city. The only way to quickly find enough horses and withdraw was to "keep the green hills and have no worries about running out of firewood."
To this end, he ordered people to collect the escaped horses and arranged gunpowder to blow up the city. What Li Chengliang and the others heard just now was the sound of the city wall being blown down by him.
Qin Deyi blew up the city wall, but he did not dare to leave for a while, because Li Chengliang had not arrived, and he would probably die if he escaped. But it happened that Li Chengliang came, so Qin Deyi was overjoyed.
Li Chengliang himself hesitated. Four thousand of the eight thousand elites in the city were himself or his direct servants of the Li family, and the rest were from the "direct generals of the Li family army" such as Li Pinghu, Li Ning, Qin Deyi, Sun Shoulian, etc., who were outside. In everyone's eyes, he is one of the 40,000 "Li Family Army".
Could such an elite force of direct line give up so easily now?
However, Li Chengliang could not hesitate for long, because An Feiyanggu and Eyi had already rushed over, and this time they not only brought two red and white bulls, but also about two thousand soldiers who had just entered the city. Under their command, state soldiers also came to outflank Li Chengliang and others.
Li Chengliang sighed and ordered to evacuate from the collapsed wall according to Qin Deyi's wishes - it was said to be evacuating, but in fact it was to escape. Fortunately, Qin Deyi had collected more than 500 war horses at this time. Although the red and white Bayala were strong in combat, they could not outrun the galloping horses. Li Chengliang, his son and his cronies narrowly escaped.
After leaving the city, Li Chengliang looked back and burst into tears. Of the eight thousand cavalry, only more than 400 people escaped. Li Pinghu, who he had always relied on as a guard for the Chinese army, was seriously injured. Although it did not appear to be fatal, it would definitely be difficult to fully recover in less than a year and a half.
The news of Li Chengliang's defeat spread very quickly for some reason, and Cao Yu found out about it the next day. While he was discussing with Qi Jin how to proceed with the next step, an urgent military order from the Ministry of War suddenly arrived: Cao Yu was ordered to succeed Li Chengliang and act on behalf of Li Chengliang. In charge of the military affairs of this expedition to establish a state.
Cao Yu didn't know whether this was good news or bad news. He was a prudent person. When Li Chengliang was defeated inexplicably but without accurate inside information, he could only ask Ma Chengxun to keep in touch with him. It was decided to meet up at Mardun Village first. This actually changed Li Chengliang's so-called operational intention of four armies to encircle Hetuala. However... Li Chengliang himself was defeated. Now the military affairs are taken over by Cao Yu, so there will be changes.
Cao Yun was still struggling to figure out the cause of the incident and how to proceed. The movements in the capital were actually faster than those in Liaodong. Gao Pragmatic did not take action, but someone impeached Li Chengliang first.
First, Han Xianyou, the censor of Shandong Province in the Metropolitan Procuratorate, impeached Li Chengliang for killing a good man and taking advantage of his merits. The impeachment chapter said:
"I have been stationed in Liaoyang for a long time, and asked about Li Chengliang's past. The rumors I heard in the past, such as saying that the first meritorious service was many and false, are not false. What's even worse: He is a native of Liao, and he knows everything about the growth and decline of his house, and his money and money. If a wealthy family has sons, they will often recruit them through the selection of officials, and the bribes will be paid in exchange for property, and the rate will be half lost. Strong men and horses, who have joined the shogunate, will not be able to retain the generals.
Approximately tens of thousands of households can be gathered into one family, and the elites from hundreds of cities can be gathered under one surname, so they can fight. When launching an army, some members of the family will go out with a song, which the Liao people call Huaixie. When I return home, I have so many captives and I don’t know where I got them from, so I cry bitterly!
When the former Renshen (the sixth year of Longqing, 1572) was inspecting, Li Chengliang had an inner master, and the flames were very blazing. The envoys ate several times, and occasionally muttered to themselves: "This is the peak of autumn, and I have won a victory to enhance my beauty!" Tomorrow, the police were suddenly called, and a letter from Russia arrived, dozens of levels of prisoners were captured. The messenger was alert and happy, and reported the number.
He was a native of Shaanxi Province, and a local leader asked him privately, and he replied: "Everything is common here, why ask?" There is really no prisoner. Since he has made many achievements in the first place, his marriage and his slaves all become nobles, and all his generous salary goes into his private family. I report endless victories, and the invaders continue to invade. I have lost dozens of forts, and they have all been plowed into fields. According to the old records and inquiries, there is no trace of them for a long time. All bribes were paid in advance, and the local goods were produced in Liao Dynasty. If he has no military exploits, he cannot be held responsible for his crimes..."
According to what this chapter says, Li Chengliang did not kill good people and take credit for his crimes in one or two days, nor in one or two years. It actually started during the Longqing period, but it has become more and more frequent in recent years.
As this bullet appeared, more bullets began to pour in. At first, everyone was still talking about the crime of killing good people and taking merit, but gradually began to talk about greed. Although Gao Pragmatic did not deliberately call for it, officials from the Practical School could not help but go down personally.
Hou Xianchun, an official who inspected Liaodong last year, also wrote a letter to impeach Li Chengliang during the incident. The impeachment chapter said:
"Chengliang... the day-to-day business plan. In the market, thousands of good horses are selected every year, and the official price is deducted from 40,000 to 50,000 taels. The big horses pay the horse price to enter the border, and Chengliang only fills the creeks and ravines.
In the salt class, you will have thousands of salt eyes every year. He also received a donation of 30,000 to 40,000 yuan. Da Sinong opened up the salt industry in southern Liaoning and used it for payment, and became a member of the Liang Dynasty for his own monopoly. In Kuandian, Qinghe and other places, the annual military salary is 30,000 taels, and the annual salary is more than 5,000 jin.
He also sent the villagers to give each family ten catties, or five or seven catties, at a price of 20,000 to 30,000 taels of silver. The scientific scholars include Xia Shoumao, Miao Wei and others. The recipient is Li Dingye, a family member. The family is fat and the people are barren.
At Kaiyuan Wudian and other places, 1,500 mink skins were presented every year. Each general's family presented more than twenty taels of sand and gold. The residents were also given three thousand taels of gold. The merchant had 3,000 mink skins, worth no less than 20,000 taels. The scattered sect includes close friends Zhang Wenxue and Xiao Xie. The recipient is also a member of the family, Li Ding. The gathering of wealth is the house of resentment.
If there is an accident in the local area, the generals from all walks of life will give out five hundred silver each time, which is called "Thank you for the gift." If you count it once, you will collect ten thousand gold and put it all into your own pocket. And the expenses such as Xiebu and other expenses, which may be several thousand gold or ten thousand gold, come from the generals of the camp. If Li Ning loses, he can push out four cattail bags of silver.
If the imperial court rewards you with gifts, you will give half of it to each army in the form of clothing, skins, etc., saying: "The answer is correct." It is estimated that every time he receives ten thousand gold, half of it goes into his own pocket. And when you are promoted to an official, you will be granted a job of one thousand taels, or five hundred taels, each with a quota. For example, if Dai Liangdong was promoted to general recently, he would receive one thousand taels of silver as pledge..."
One by one, one by one, reading is like seeing it in person.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic knew about Li Chengliang's killing of Liang Liang in his previous life, but he did not deliberately investigate it carefully. In fact, as far as he knew, at least as early as the sixth year of Wanli, Li Chengliang connived at his subordinates to kill and seize merit.
In the "Yixian Chronicle", it was recorded that Li Chengliang's subordinates bought the heads of Han people to serve as military merits. But the history of the previous life is different from the present. In the previous life ten years before Wanli, Li Chengliang was protected by Zhang Juzheng, so most of his criminal evidence was not exposed. However, as Zhang Juzheng, Shen Shixing and others lost power, the government officials began to gradually impeach Li Chengliang. various crimes.
Li Chengliang's faults were constantly reported, and most of them accused him of committing fraud, covering up defeats and taking credit, and even killed good people and pretended to be enemies, committing the crime of deceiving the emperor.
For example, in March of the 16th year of Wanli, Li Chengliang was rewarded for his meritorious service in killing the enemy when he attacked the Yehe tribe in Haixi. However, according to the "Wanli Dichao" record: "In the spring of the 16th year, we suppressed Nalin Buluo (Nalin Bulu), and the siege could not be defeated. Half of the soldiers died. It was also freezing and thousands of soldiers were pushing carts to death. Because there were no prisoners. After the attack, more than 550 of the soldiers were killed in order to report it. Xu Shouen, the imperial censor, wanted to impeach him. However, the governor used his power to stop him, but actually repaid him with merit. Now that Shouen is in Shu, he can be summoned and asked."
It can be seen that not all of its merits are real. In addition, "Records of Shenzong" also records that "Cheng Liang knew that his attack on the barbarians had gained popularity, so he secretly taught Guo Mengzheng to seduce the barbarians. He used the wealth of Shimen Huagu to guide the way and ordered them to rob and take captives to prove the crime of being barbarians. Also taboo Lieutenant General Sun Chaoliang was afraid of his success, so he ordered Li Ping and Hu to bribe the barbarians and rob Liaoyang two or three times a day. He also secretly ordered Zhang Dong and other officials to hesitate, so that Chaoliang could not join the formation with the thieves. So (Bing Ke Zhang) responded He published a title to refer to the Shimen incident, so as to realize Cheng Liang's contribution to covering up the murder. Every time he sang and harmonized, he was like a response." There are many other things such as the impeachment of Li Chengliang for taking advantage of the throne and risking death, so I won't list them all.
However, even so, the palace never responded.
There are two possibilities for this situation. One is that the emperor did not reveal anything, thinking that the evidence was insufficient or unwilling to pursue the case for other reasons. The other is that the emperor was angry, but believed that the actual situation might be worse than the existing evidence, and hinted that the minister would continue to expose it. .
So the next day, Ren Yang, the imperial censor of Zhili, became distracted and impeached Li Chengliang, the father and son of the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, to declare Liao Jibao, fearing that there would be serious dangers.
Ren Yangxin Tan Zhang said: "Shi Heng and Qiu Luan took control of the army first before they rebelled. Fortunately, they all attacked early, and their traitors were eliminated, so they were easy to change. Now Cheng Liang is stationed in the left part of Liao Dynasty, like pine trees in Xuanfu, and like camphor in Miyun. , mature talents are stationed in Huanghua, and Li Ping, Hu, Li Xing, Li Ning, Wang Weifan, etc. are all married to old companions and raised as towns, and there are countless tours. Around the Shenjing, the left and right are entrenched, and the arrogance cannot be shaken, but as greedy as the cypress He is still very domineering. If he is expelled, he may change..."
This time, the crime accused of Li Chengliang was no longer limited to actual crimes, but began to rise to include too many military officials and soldiers. When the court, civil and military officials saw this bullet, they all held their breath and waited for the emperor to make an end.
