Li Chengliang's official career suddenly became dangerous. There were so many and strong attacks from the court that even Shen Shixing was a little timid to come to the rescue. However, at Wang Xijue's insistence, Shen Shixing had to cheer up and mobilize. Officials from the Xinxue School at all levels began to discuss Li Chengliang's merits and 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 Li Chengliang is lost, I'm afraid there will be no place for us to gain a foothold on the nine sides."
When the Xin School began to defend Li Chengliang, the Practical School's calls for severe punishment of Li Chengliang were rising. Many neutral officials, for various reasons such as public and private, also joined in the call to suppress Li Chengliang. Of course, there are also those who stand on the side of the mind school. In short, the court was surrounded by two completely opposite voices.
At this moment, Gao Pragmatic, the pillar of Shixue and the Minister of Household Affairs who was always considered to have tried his best to suppress Li Chengliang, has never spoken out, as if he had stayed out of this incident, which aroused the suspicion of many people.
In fact, Gao Pragmatic is not intending to stay out of the matter, but is carefully thinking about how Li Chengliang should judge his merits and demerits at the "height of history".
Li Chengliang's contribution has been talked about a lot before, and Gao Pragmatic's understanding is detailed enough, so there is no need to go into details. What about Li Chengliang’s past? In addition to the fact that those who participated in the impeachment can basically be regarded as the truth, there is another most critical point that the officials are not likely to know, and that is what later generations often said, "Li Chengliang indulged Nurhaci and raised tigers and left consequences." Gao Pragmatic It is this question that I am thinking about carefully now.
Did Li Chengliang condone Nurhachi? If so, was this indulgence intentional or unintentional? If so, how much impact did these connivances have on the rise of Nurhachi? Without this kind of connivance, is it certain that Nurhaci would not have been able to rise? Wait, wait, these issues have become something Gao Pragmatic suddenly needs to think clearly about now.
Gao Pragmatic 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 help with the rise of Nurhachi, which was specifically reflected 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 twenty edicts and twenty horses obtained in the village to Nurhaci. Nurhachi assumed the post of commander of Jianzhou Left Guard.
When Nurhachi raised his army, he was just a helpless "orphan" with only "Thirteen pieces 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 marked the court's recognition of his status.
Second, in the fourteenth year of Wanli, Nurhachi asked the Ming border officials for his enemy Nikanwailan, and the Ming border officials immediately handed him over. And because of the accidental killing of Jue Chang'an and Tak Shi in the past, he said to Nurhaci, "Since then, I have given him 800 taels of silver and 15 pieces of python satin every year to settle the matter."
This event has not happened now, but existed in the original history, and is actually a continuation of the previous event. When Nurhachi first started, he certainly did not dare to show any dissatisfaction with the court or the Ming border officials. He only wanted to retaliate against Nikan Wailan for instigating the army to kill his father and ancestors, and Nikan Wailan was protected by the army. , Nurhaci asked the officers and soldiers for Nikan Wailan, but the officers and soldiers actually agreed to hand it over and let him kill Nikan Wailan. This gave him enough face among the Jurchens.
As for the annual compensation given to Yin and Satin as compensation for the manslaughter of his father and ancestors, it was not only comfort and face, but also financial support. Although the handing over of Nikanwailan was done by the frontier generals and not necessarily Li Chengliang's direct intervention, it must have something to do with his attitude towards giving the edict and horses three years ago. Especially the gifts of silver and satin are not unrelated to him.
Third, in the seventeenth year of Wanli, the imperial court awarded Nurhaci the title of Governor-General. In the early days of Nurhachi's army, he went all out to unify the Jurchen tribes and showed "loyalty" to the court in order to gain official support.
He carefully sent people to pay tribute to the Ming court as required, conducted mutual trade at the four passes of Fushun, Qinghe, Kuandian, and Kuoyang, 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 reward 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 "improved the title of Governor" and finally achieved his goal after hard work.
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 edict from the Governor of the Left, renew the title of General Longhu, and pay eight hundred taels of silver and fifteen taels of python satin every year. Your father was also killed by the Ming Dynasty. Can you collect his body?"
This passage illustrates how powerful Li Chengliang's support was for him, which gave him a superior position and impressive capital among the various Jurchen tribes.
However, there is an issue that needs to be clarified in the above paragraph, and that is the matter of "renewing the title of General Longhu". The Ming Dynasty granted Nurhachi the title of General of Dragon and Tiger in the 23rd year of Wanli. The "Records of Emperor Taizu Wu of the Qing Dynasty" was compiled in the ninth year of Tiancong (1635). The subsequent events are mentioned in advance for the sake of bragging. This is the problem of the compiler. .
It should also be noted that when Nurhaci was conferred the title of General Longhu, Li Chengliang had been impeached and dismissed from office three years ago, so this matter cannot be said to be his responsibility. Of course, it cannot 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 abandonment of Kuandian and other six forts that had been cultivated for many years provided space for the developing Nurhachi to expand his power.
In the first year of Wanli, Li Chengliang proposed that the army's defense line 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 Xin'an forts 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 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 his 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 Nurhachi.
So to sum up, Gao Pragmatic believes that we can draw the conclusion that Li Chengliang and Nurhaci have a close relationship and played a beneficial role in Nurhachi's rise. Because of this, when Nurhachi rebelled against the Ming Dynasty, both the government and the public said that Li Chengliang "raised tigers and brought troubles". Even in later generations, some people still accused Li Chengliang of being 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 "traitor" is still a bit excessive.
Objectively speaking, what Li Chengliang did during his thirty years of guarding the Liao Dynasty was beneficial to the rise of Nurhaci, whether indirectly or directly. But in essence, he was still faithfully carrying out the Ming court's "divide and rule" policy for the borderland people. "The policy is to "separate from the party and survive while protecting the group."
Wang Gao, his son Atai, the two generations of Yehe tribe, Dong, Xibeile, etc. who disobeyed the imperial court were severely punished and given a sufficient blow. However, Nurhaci, who showed "loyalty and obedience", was tolerant. Later, It is highly hoped that he can 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 believes 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, he proposed that the reason for abandoning the Six Forts was that "the land is isolated and difficult to defend." In fact, this is a truth and a true fact. At this time, all he wanted was to maintain temporary peace and quiet in Liaodong. Therefore, it cannot be said that he intentionally supported a rebel and gravedigger of the dynasty he served.
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 death.
Conflicts among the people are not yet complete conflicts between ourselves and the enemy. They are conflicts that can be put to rest once 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 can't lose his tail.
Li Rusong had just taken up his new post not long ago and went to Xuanda University to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Xuanfu. Ma Chengen was transferred to the three sides of Shaanxi to clean up the work after the war to quell the rebellion in the northwest. Therefore, Ren Yangxin's rhetoric for impeaching Li Chengliang included the phrase "the left and right sides of Shenjing are entrenched, 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 5,000 Liaodong cavalry, he could be considered a powerful force anywhere, but when it came to Xuanfu specifically, these 5,000 cavalry could only guarantee that someone would listen to what he said, and it was absolutely nothing. "Do not be shaken."
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 Jiajun, and the positions they hold 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 Xuanda "direct lineage" 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" currently controlled 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 defeat him.
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 remaining less than 30,000 Li army really rebel? What's more, the direct descendants of Cao Yun and the pragmatic Xuanda together totaled nearly 30,000 people. How could Li Chengliang really be able to keep his head above water?
To be honest, if you want to say that Li Chengliang can't lose his tail, it is 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 letters of surrender from military generals who claimed to be their lackeys? This is a tradition that any civil servant will not break, regardless of his heart and practice, and he 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 that he did not 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. It is not known whether he is angry or not, or to what extent he is angry. If you don't understand these things, you'll be pragmatic and it's hard to take the initiative to express your opinion.
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 him and ordered Gao Jingshi to come to the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace to have an audience.
