Zhu Yijun's final decision was to let Li Rusong return to Liaodong. This was not too unexpected by Gao Pragmatic, but it was indeed not the most ideal result in his mind.
Generally speaking, Gao Pragmatic has a positive attitude towards Li Rusong. However, this positive aspect is mainly due to the fact that he is simpler than Naifu.
Li Rusong is a typical traditional military commander, and he is the kind of military commander who fights wherever the emperor directs him. His ability in commanding troops is enough to make him the choice of a famous general. As a sword, Li Rusong is definitely qualified and can even be called a precious sword.
However, this does not mean that Gao Pragmatic believes that Li Rusong is the best candidate for Liao coach at this time. Li Rusong's identity has both bonus points and deduction points for him as Liao Shuai.
The bonus points are obvious. He grew up in Liaodong and followed Li Chengliang to fight in Liaodong when he was young. He is completely familiar with all aspects of Liaodong. As the eldest son of Li Chengliang, he has always been regarded as a young marshal by the Li family army. Every general under Li Chengliang is convinced by him, and none of his younger brothers dare to be dishonest in front of his eldest brother.
From these perspectives, letting Li Rusong replace Li Chengliang can almost make Liaodong's coaching change without any disturbance, just as natural as the drizzle in early spring replacing winter snow.
In addition, as Zhu Yijun himself mentioned just now, if Li Rusong replaces Li Chengliang, it is impossible for others to say that he is a mean and ungrateful emperor - even if you, Li Chengliang, were defeated in such a big way, I will still let you return to Jing'an as Ning Yuanbo. keep. I also handed over the post of Commander-in-Chief of Liaodong Army that you resigned from, to your legal heir. I would like to ask, isn’t my favor and trust in your Li family beyond measure?
But these are only from the good side. In fact, Li Rusong's replacement as Li Chengliang's commander-in-chief also has a bad side.
First of all, Li Rusong is Li Chengliang's eldest son no matter what. Even though he himself dares to fight to the death and is not greedy for money, the people under him are still the people brought out by Li Chengliang. Although these people were convinced by him, Li Rusong, it was also impossible for Li Rusong not to save any face for them.
When it's time to make them rich, Li Rusong will definitely not be able to make them feel free; when something goes wrong with them, when it's time to protect them, Li Rusong won't be able to look down and say that I don't have subordinates like you.
The butt will always determine the head. Li Rusong will probably be more reliable as Liao commander than Li Chengliang now, but it would be too embarrassing to expect Li Rusong to get rid of the old shortcomings and completely clean up the Liaodong Army. No one else could face a bunch of uncles and uncles under his command and would not be able to shame themselves into shouting and killing.
Secondly, Li Rusong's own character is too strong. Among the evaluations of later generations, Li Chengliang was called "Courageous and timid". Among them, the Battle of Zuosuo, the Battle of Panshanyi, the Battle of Zhuoshan, the Battle of Pinglubao, the Battle of Hongtu City, the Battle of Yangshanmu, the Battle of Yaergui, the Battle of Diaobeishan, the Battle of Liaohe, and Azhou The Battle of Fushun, the Battle of Shenyang, the Battle of Kaiyuan, the Battle of Coao Langtu, the Battle of Caozi Valley, the Battle of Gule Village... There is no doubt that they are brave every time.
This has also become the tradition of the Li Jiajun. A few years ago, including Li Chengliang himself (he was over sixty at the time), he took the lead in the charge during the battle.
Needless to say, Li Rusong, this brother is more ruthless than his father and always kills him personally. In history, during the battle of Byokjeokwan in North Korea, three of the horses they were riding on were killed on the spot, which shows how ferocious it was.
But Li Rusong did not learn Li Chengliang's "ability to fear".
What is "able to fear"? For example, when Zhu Yijun granted Li Chengliang the title of Ning Yuanbo, Li Chengliang even resigned from his post. This time, after Li Chengliang's defeat, he also immediately went to Shu to ask for punishment. For example, when Gao Jingshi went to Liaodong, Li Chengliang was so angry that he was suppressed, but he still chose to knock out his teeth and swallow blood instead of fighting Gao Jingshi head-on. This is "being able to be fearful."
The "ability to be fearful" here does not mean being timid and afraid of getting into trouble, but being able to be a good person and an official.
The emperor granted Li Chengliang the title of Uncle Ning Yuan, which was because his merits were enough, but he repeatedly resigned, which was "taking credit but not conceited"; after this defeat, he was the first to go to court to ask for punishment, which was "daring to take responsibility". , Don't shy away from defeat"; In the past, if we didn't compete head-on with Gao Pragmatism, it was to assess the situation and be patient and perseverant.
No matter what Li Chengliang's starting point was for doing these things, judging from his actions, at least no one could say that he was seeking his own death.
However, Li Rusong didn't learn this, he was too upright. Uprightness is a good word for military officers, but as the saying goes, if you are too strong, you will be easily broken, if you are too wise, you will be hurt, if you are too strong, you will be humiliated, and if you are deeply affectionate, you will not live long - if you are too upright, you will easily get into trouble and suffer heavy setbacks.
In the original history, Li Rusong suffered a heavy setback when he was ambushed and killed in a "nest-busting" operation against the Mongols after his brilliant war in Korea. Historical records: "(Li) Rusong led his light cavalry to go far away to attack the nest, but he was ambushed and died in battle."
Judging from this brief record in "History of the Ming Dynasty", Li Rusong died unexpectedly: he led a small number of elite cavalry deep into the captive territory, but died in an ambush.
Gao Pragmatic originally thought that Li Rusong's death was mainly due to his own underestimation of the enemy. Although it was a pity, there was nothing he could do about it.
However, after Gao Pangshi came to Ming Dynasty for so many years, became deeply involved in politics, and played countless conspiracies, he realized that Li Rusong's death was not that simple in the original history.
Li Rusong's performance in the first stage of the Korean War was dazzling. He entered North Korea with only 40,000 troops and won consecutive battles. He successively captured Pyongyang, recaptured Kaesong, and forced the troubled Japanese army to withdraw from Seoul. In less than a hundred days, the three capitals of Korea were recovered. It also completely allowed Japan at that time to understand the true strength of the Ming Dynasty, and shattered Toyotomi Hideyoshi's illusion of attacking the Ming Dynasty in one fell swoop.
Later, because the Chinese and Japanese armies tended to end the war through peace negotiations, Li Rusong returned to the army in triumph and was named the Crown Prince Taibao and the Left Governor of the Chinese Army Commandery. At this point, the war came to an end.
But the matter is actually not over yet. A few years later, the peace talks collapsed. In the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, the Japanese army once again made a comeback and invaded across the sea. Just like a replica of the previous time, the Japanese army once again pointed directly at the capital of Seoul, and North Korea was once again in danger.
This time, the Ming Dynasty responded quickly and was once again invited to send troops to support, and appointed Ma Gui as the general to take charge of Seoul. Under the unfavorable situation of Namwon and Jeonju falling one after another and the Japanese army closing in on the outskirts of Seoul, the Battle of Jishan was launched to stabilize the situation.
After that, more and more Ming army reinforcements went to Korea, and the Japanese army switched from strategic offensive to strategic defense, returning to defend the solid Japanese castles built along the coast until Toyotomi Hideyoshi died of illness in 1598. The Japanese army gradually crossed the sea and withdrew back to the country in November. The war Completely declared over.
But here comes the question: In the second phase of the War to Aid Korea, this time Ma Gui took command. Since Li Rusong performed well last time, why not let Li Rusong take command again this time and transfer Ma Gui all the way? ?
Of course Ma Gui is also a famous general in the world, but what is Li Rusong doing at this moment? Why didn't he go?
The fact is that Li Rusong filled the vacancy of Liaodong General Soldier in the winter of the 25th year of Wanli and returned to Liaodong where his father Li Chengliang had been in charge for many years and was deeply rooted.
Gao Pragmatic had to carefully examine this time point, which happened to be some time after the second phase of the war to aid Korea broke out. Specifically, after the Battle of Jishan, the Ming army had basically stabilized the front line, forcing the Japanese army to shrink its defense line and switch to strategic defense. The Ming army began to shift to a strategic offensive after reinforcements arrived one after another.
Now that the front line has been stabilized, there is no need to send Li Rusong to rescue. However, not long after in April of the following year, according to Ming historical records, when fighting against the Mongolian invaders in Liaodong, Li Rusong led his light cavalry to attack the nest and died in ambush.
Damn it! Such a famous general in the world died so inexplicably in such a small battle? And he died in battle because of such a low-level command error?
Are you kidding me? Is this the level of Li Rusong?
It would be difficult for normal people to believe this, because just a few years ago in North Korea, Li Rusong fought a battle very similar to this battle, the famous Battle of Bijinguan.
In the Battle of Biti Pavilion, Li Rusong was experienced enough to divide his cavalry into three groups. There was a vanguard team, one of our own teams, and a team behind them led by the direct general Yang Yuan as a support team. The three teams advanced one after another.
In this battle, the vanguard was first besieged by heavy Japanese troops. Li Rusong immediately led his own team to respond. After entering the siege, they fought hard for a long time. Li Rusong was almost in danger, but he still did not retreat and kept fighting. Just when both sides were getting tired, Yang Yuan's rear team arrived in time, and Li Rusong was able to take the opportunity to break through and counterattack, finally repelling the Japanese army.
It is not difficult to see from the battle of Biti Pavilion that Li Rusong is actually very good at commanding operations. He strikes boldly, but he also has some backup plans. What's more, Li Rusong, who was in danger and was surrounded during the battle of Bi Tiguan, how could he not be more cautious afterwards, but easily fall into danger again? This is too weird.
In the Book of Artifacts written by Zhao Shizhen, a contemporary of Li Rusong, there is such a record: "When I saw that Li Ping and Hu were captured by Liaozuo, I used the generous salary of high-ranking officials in the imperial court and the kindness of Ningyuan to raise him. After all, Yin leaked the commander out of the fortress. During this period, Li Rusong was made to paste his body in the grass field, and his bones were exposed outside the barrier."
According to Zhao Shizhen's records, the root cause of Li Rusong's death was that Li Pinghu leaked the date of Li Rusong's departure!
Is this a solitary piece of evidence? No, the chief minister of the imperial cabinet at that time was Zhao Zhigao, and there are more detailed records in the epitaph he wrote for Li Rusong. [Wufeng’s note: Since the inscription is unclear, the unidentifiable parts will be replaced with “□”. ]
"The Duke (referring to Li Rusong) likes to overwhelm the masses with a small number. My best skill is cultivating good deeds. I already know that there are dangers. I have carried five thousand people to fight for hundreds of miles. I vow not to retreat even one step, and I will kill countless people." Hundreds of people came and went, attacking as if there was no one among them. Li Ping, Hu and Zhang Yu had an army to respond, and the captives did not know how many they had. If they attacked from the front and back, wouldn't it be an even greater victory? No lives needed. , appointing commanders to fight against the enemy, using all the arrows and arrows, generously killing the horses on them, gaining fame for thousands of miles, leaving the body damaged in hundreds of battles, sitting in a state of disarray. It’s so sad, how sad it is!”
At this point, the direct cause of Li Rusong's death was revealed! It seems that in this battle, Li Rusong arranged for Li Pinghu and Zhang Yu to support him just like in the previous battle of Biti Pavilion.
If these two people come to assist according to the plan, there is a high probability that they can turn defeat into victory. At worst, they can rescue Li Rusong from the siege like the battle of Biti Pavilion.
However, for some unknown reason, Li Ping and Hu did not arrive in time to respond like Yang Yuan did during the Battle of Biti Pavilion!
It stands to reason that things should be pretty clear at this point. However, a very strange thing happened, which made the whole incident even more confusing.
That is, what happened to Li Pinghu?
It stands to reason that the chief minister of the imperial court has spoken out. It was you, Li Pinghu, who killed the Liaodong general of the imperial court, and Li Rusong himself was the captain of Zhu Yijun's fire-fighting brigade. How could he not behead the traitor in public? At the very least, he should be dismissed and investigated, right?
With so many old generals from the Li family in Liaodong, how could they easily let go of the guy who killed Li Rusong? In particular, Li Pinghu himself was also a servant of the Li family army. Now he killed the young commander. Isn't this punishment?
However, the fact is that in the sixty-eighth volume of Mingxi Zong's Records, Li Pinghu's name appears many times again. At this time, almost twenty years have passed, and the grass on Li Rusong's grave is probably old, but Li Pinghu still appears in historical records, and is even still leading troops to fight.
In other words, after Li Rusong's death, Li Pinghu was not severely punished, and he still holds actual military power more than 20 years later.
This is strange. It stands to reason that Li Pinghu has been favored by two generations of the Li family, and the Li family is really not unkind to him. What's more, after betraying Li Rusong, Li Pinghu himself did not defect to Mongolia or other forces, but continued to stay in the Ming Dynasty and was still serving as a general twenty years later.
In this case, why did he betray Li Rusong? What good would it do him to betray his young commander? He had such a big responsibility for betraying Li Rusong, so why didn't he do anything?
Gao Pragmatic felt that there must be something wrong here. But at present, it seems to have reached a dead end, so we have to jump to a higher perspective and examine it. Examine what? Take a look at how the people around Li Rusong are doing.
The first is his second brother Li Rubai. Although Li Rubai's ability is only average among the Li family members, because he is the second oldest brother, he served as Li Rusong's deputy in the first stage of the war to aid Korea. Zhong also made a great contribution.
After becoming the commander, he successively served as the Commander-in-Chief of Guizhou and the Commander-in-Chief of Ningxia. The year before Li Rusong died in battle, Li Rubai resigned due to illness. This term was no joke. He stayed at home for more than 20 years until During the Battle of Salhu, he was almost seventy years old before he was used again. This is a story for another time.
One year before Li Rusong died, Li Rubai, who was in his prime, "resigned due to illness" and stayed at home for more than 20 years. Isn't this just a coincidence?
Okay, let's just treat this as an unrelated accidental coincidence. Gao pragmatic took another look at one person, Yang Yuan, a direct member of the Li family army who had served as backup in the Battle of Biti Pavilion and rescued Li Rusong from the Japanese encirclement.
In the second stage of the war to aid Korea, Yang Yuan led his three thousand Liaodong cavalry and was sent to Nanyuan City on the front line by his new boss Ma Gui. Then they were besieged by more than ten times the Japanese army. After holding on for a period of time, they were outnumbered and reinforcements were delayed. After holding on alone for several days, they were forced to break out and withdraw. Most of the defenders were killed.
At this stage, compared to another general Chen Yuzhong who not only held back his troops in Quanzhou but also abandoned the city without fighting afterwards, Yang Yuan's performance could be described as conscientious. Even after returning to Seoul, Ma Gui told him that "Nanyuan's defeat was not a crime of war."
But please note that Ma Gui later ordered Yang Yuan to be beheaded in public.
According to "Those Things in the Ming Dynasty", the reason why Ma Gui killed him was to kill Yang Yuan to warn the others: If you don't win this battle, you will die!
Okay, it makes sense to kill the chicken and show it to the monkey. But Gao Pragmatic still has questions: Why can't he find any record of dealing with Chen Yuzhong, who fled without a fight?
Okay, okay, just think that there is someone in Chen Yuzhong's court, but there is a bigger problem: since Yang Yuan was killed to warn the entire army on the front line, naturally the best effect would be to kill him at the front line in Seoul. However, according to records, Yang Yuan was escorted back to the Ming Dynasty and executed in Liaoyang, which was within eight poles of the front line of Seoul.
This is very amazing. Now the chicken is killed, but which monkey is it for?
If we really want to inspire all the soldiers on the Korean front line, why bother to drag them hundreds of miles away to the country to kill them? Wouldn't it be better to kill them on the spot? And in terms of time, Yang Yuan's death should have been around the beginning of the 26th year of Wanli, which was not far from Li Rusong's death.
Well, Li Rubai's resignation is a coincidence, and Yang Yuan's death is a solitary proof. So Gao Pragmatic will continue to look at it, and let's see if the end of Li Rusong's general Li Ning is better.
In September of the 26th year of Wanli, that is, within half a year of Li Rusong's death, during the Battle of Sichuan on the Korean battlefield, Li Ning entered the enemy's formation alone and defeated the Japanese army. Later, he was outnumbered and died in the battle.
What's going on? Why is it that the lone army is outnumbered after entering? How is this so similar to Li Rusong's death?
In the Battle of Sichuan, the Ming army had an absolute superiority in strength, and it actually happened that important generals were outnumbered and died fighting after defeating the enemy. Gao Pingshi didn't need to recall carefully this time to guess that it was most likely that after Li Ning took the lead in breaking through, the follow-up troops that were supposed to come to take over had not yet arrived, and he watched helplessly as Li Rusong's former general died on the battlefield.
Why didn't the follow-up troops come? Another accident? There were quite a lot of surprises in the Ming Dynasty!
Gao pragmatic felt that he should look at the last one again: Li Rusong's younger brother Li Rumei.
As Li Rusong's fifth brother, Li Rumei's role during the first phase of the war to aid Korea was not as important as that of his second brother Li Rubai, but he still made a strong presence on the battlefield.
Historical records: "Thirty miles away from Wangjing, we suddenly encountered Japanese invaders and were heavily surrounded. For example, Song Du's subordinates fought fiercely. A golden-armored Japanese invader fought like Song Ji, and commanded Li Yousheng to rescue him desperately, but was killed. For example, Bai, Ning and others stepped forward to attack, such as The Japanese Japanese in Mei She's golden armor fell off their horses, and Yang Yuan's soldiers also arrived and surrounded them, but the Japanese retreated."
This record says that the situation in the rebel army was critical at that time. Seeing that Li Rusong was almost killed at the hands of a golden-armored Japanese general of the Japanese army, Li Rumei opened her bow and fired an arrow, shot him off his horse, and saved Li Rusong. Li Rumei is known as Little Li Guang among the five sons of the Li family. It is natural that this arrow came from his hand, and he is handsome enough.
In the second stage of the war to aid Korea, although Li Rusong and Li Rubai did not come to participate, Li Rumei still came. Ming history also recorded that in the first battle of Ulsan: "Rumei and General Yang Shanshan's cavalry advanced and set up an ambush on the seaside. , and ordered the guerrillas to stage a competition with light cavalry to lure the thieves, beheading four hundred of them, and the remaining thieves fled back to Daoshan." It can be seen that at this time, Li Rumei was already brave and strategic, and had made military exploits.
After Li Rusong's death, the emperor immediately asked his younger brother Li Rumei to take over the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Liaodong Army as a sign of compensation. From this point of view, Li Rumei seems to be a lucky counterexample among Li Rusong's brothers and veterans.
Is it really? otherwise. Li Rumei, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, only served for less than a year and was dismissed at the beginning of the second year. The reason for his dismissal was also shocking: a minister in the court accused him of being afraid of the enemy, so he was dismissed from office.
Afraid of the enemy? After reading Li Rumei's combat records above, with the two time points so close to each other, is this person who is afraid of the enemy... really Li Rumei?
It's definitely true, but why did Li Rumei, who was still fighting tooth and nail, make a 180-degree turn in a short period of time and become a person who is afraid of the enemy?
For a long time, Gao Pragmatic originally thought that it might be because the direct lineage of the Li family army had suffered too much, and Li Rumei no longer dared to fight hard at this time, but after he examined the people and things in front of him, he realized that the reason must not be that simple.
Li Rumei was indeed afraid of the enemy, but what he feared was not the enemy in front, but the enemy in the rear.
However, his high pragmatism appeared in this life, so there was an opposition to the Heart School, the Practical School, and Li Chengliang defected to the Heart School, so the Li Jiajun had enemies in the court. The original real school in history has long since disappeared. Why are there still people in the court targeting the Li Jiajun?
What's even more strange is that before Li Chengliang left power, the Li family's reputation in the court was not bad. The positions of the successive chief ministers were surprisingly consistent, and almost all of them tried to protect Li Chengliang.
Why?
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