Generally speaking, it is easy for civilian officials to cause trouble for military generals, but it is difficult for military generals to cause trouble for civilian officials. However, that is a general situation. Now that there are hints of high pragmatism, the situation is naturally different.
The unusualness is reflected in two points: First, Liu Wei's quarrel with Xu Sanwei is only superficial, in essence, Gao Pragmatic is quarrelsome with Xu Sanwei. Then this is no longer the quarrel between the generals and the civil servants, but the quarrel between the civil servants and the ordinary ministers. The gap between the two cannot be calculated.
Second, the current situation is unusual. What is the current situation? There was a war in Gansu, and Xu Sanwei had the responsibility to defend the territory, and Liu Wei was ordered to help Gansu. So in this case, there is no doubt that Xu Sanwei is facing huge internal political pressure and external military pressure. As for Liu Wei, as the chief general of the Western Expedition that has been basically confirmed, in addition to the current task of aiding Gansu, he also shoulders It is the task of making military preparations for the upcoming Western Expedition.
In the former, after Liu Wei arrived in Gansu, he could find an excuse to go to the court and accuse Gansu of not making any defense preparations before the war, so that the Chahar army led by Burihatu easily captured western Gansu.
Under this situation, as the governor of Gansu, Xu Sanwei either neglected his duties or was incompetent. In a word: You, Xu Fujun, must bear full responsibility for the fall of western Gansu.
In the latter, after Liu Wei arrived in Gansu, in addition to finding ways to repel Chahar and regain western Gansu, he also had to check Gansu's war preparations. That means he must order troops, clear weapons, check accounts, and patrol borders. There are too many places where problems can be found.
Although Gansu belongs to Jiubian, the pressure it has faced in the past many years has been much lighter than that of Xuanda and Jiliao. On the one hand, this resulted in Gansu's war preparedness being less intense than in the surrounding towns of Gyeonggi Province. On the other hand, it also resulted in the court's lack of attention and resource allocation to it.
Gansu was already barren, and the imperial court paid little attention to its resources. In addition, it was as far as three thousand miles away from the capital. Therefore, the shortcomings of the nine-border towns will only become more serious in Gansu, and the difficulties faced by the frontier troops in the nine-border towns will only become more difficult in Gansu.
In this case, as long as the court really wants to investigate, there will definitely be a lot of problems to investigate, and there will be no reason to find out. Under normal circumstances, of course, the court would not conduct a real investigation. After all, under the rule of the two-hundred-year dynasty, no matter how beautiful it was on the outside, it would definitely be ruined on the inside. Who would be so unwilling to conduct a thorough investigation? If you find out, it will make everyone look bad. The key is that you can't solve it, so why did you bother to find out? Just to offend people?
Of course, the imperial court did not absolutely not investigate. In other words, the imperial court always said it wanted to investigate, and would shout at the top of its lungs every now and then. However, there are often only a few who actually "respond to the court's call" to investigate. Most of these few investigations are not really to relieve the court of worries, but because some officials have such a need.
For example, when a censor takes up his new post, one of his responsibilities is to eliminate fraud. No matter what the place, he has to check a few frauds to prove that he has no job. This is a hard KPI and must be completed.
As I said a long time ago, although there is a big difference in rank between governors and governors, they are all officials on "special mission from the central government", so many of their functions actually overlap, but with different emphasis. Therefore, the governor also has the responsibility to eliminate fraud. It stands to reason that a border town governor like Xu Sanwei would find something and report it to the cabinet and ask the court to deal with it after he takes office.
But here's the problem. Gao Pragmatic asked the Guanzheng Jinshi around him to investigate specifically. Xu Sanwei had been governor of Gansu for three years and had never made a single comment on various local ills in Gansu. It seemed that the situation in Gansu was very good, so what? There seems to be no problem.
Under Liu Xin's questioning, Gao pragmatically informed her of the situation. This was no longer a hint, but simply an explicit indication of Liu Wei's work direction in the future.
After hearing this, Liu Xin naturally felt confident, but she immediately felt a little hindered and hesitated: "Although you will support my brother's impeachment in the court, in the final analysis, in the eyes of outsiders, this matter is still about military generals impeaching civilian officials. .According to past practice, even if someone in the center insists on severely punishing this civil servant, the general will still not be able to escape being hit..."
Gao Jingshi knew her worries and comforted her: "You can rest assured about this. I am not the kind of person who abandons his car to save his commander. Shogo is mainly responsible for finding out the problems in this matter, but he does not have to be responsible for the final impeachment." Open your mouth, I have other plans."
Liu Xin asked in surprise: "What arrangement?"
"Xiong Tingbi, do you still remember this person?" Gao pragmatically said: "He is one of the Guanzheng Jinshi around me. I have told you about his original... experience in the past."
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"Oh, it's him. I remember this person, but what does this matter have to do with him? He is the Guanzheng Jinshi next to you. It seems that it is not his turn to speak about this matter, right?" Liu Xin asked.
Gao pragmatic shook his head and said: "Guanzheng Jinshi is naturally not qualified to talk about such a specific matter, but what if I immediately release him to Gansu for inspection?"
Liu Xin was slightly surprised, then couldn't help but laugh and said: "You are the eldest man who is about to be the chief assistant, and the Guanzheng Jinshi next to you can actually be sent out to inspect Gansu?"
"Well, I have to abide by the rules, but it's really easier for me to do such formalities during my tenure." Gao Pragmatic shrugged and said: "Let him go to the Metropolitan Procuratorate to make a name first, and after a month he will be directly released to Gansu Province for patrolling. That is, I actually took the same route when I went to Guangxi. By the time he arrived in Gansu, your brother had only been there for about ten days and a half, so the two of them could work together easily. "
"Since you have arranged everything, I will naturally write to my brother immediately to ask him to cooperate." After a pause, Liu Xin hesitated and said: "By the way, in this matter... who is the leader between them? "
Gao pragmatically said: "I asked Xiong Tingbi to go to Gansu not just for this matter. Do you still remember? I said that Xiong Tingbi is quite insightful on border affairs and even military issues. Moreover, specifically, I also gave him some tips during this Western Expedition, and he should have understood my general idea."
Liu Xin suddenly said: "So you are saying that apart from the transfer of Xu Sanwei, my brother and Xiong Tingbi are still a pair of partners you arranged in advance during the Western Expedition?"
"Of course!" Gao Pragmatic nodded and admitted, "Xu Sanwei's transfer was made by Shengwu, who was responsible for verifying it. Xiong Tingbi, as the censor, was responsible for impeaching the imperial court. During the Western Expedition, Shengwu was the chief military officer and was specifically responsible for combat affairs. And Xiong Tingbi will become the supervisor...
But don't worry, although Xiong Tingbi is knowledgeable, he is still a fledgling after all. I will not let him restrict Xingwu's frontline command. His most important job in the position of supervising the army is actually responsible for supervising the stability of the supply line between Li Wen and Shogo, that is, stabilizing logistics for Shogo's operations. "
Liu Xin nodded, then smiled and said, "Looking at how much you attach importance to Xiong Tingbi, I think if his qualifications weren't so low, you'd really like him to be the governor of Gansu and the governor of Anxi, right?"
Gao pragmatic did not hesitate at all, spread his hands and said: "So what, if he is not a Jinshi in the 26th year of Wanli, he has no qualifications at all... As long as he has a few subjects earlier, do you think I dare not let him go?" ?”
Liu Xin was a little surprised and said: "I remember you told me before that he was one of the few capable ministers in the late Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, he had a bad fate and was innocently involved in party struggles. In the end, he ended up as the first person in the history of the Ming Dynasty. What happened to Bian...but you never told me how capable he is."
"Xiong Tingbi... it's really a pity and pitiful." Gao Pingshi sighed: "You know, before Nurhachi raised his troops, the Ming Dynasty had always used offense as defense against the Jurchens in the Liaodong region, setting up military bases in border areas. The defense system had a great deterrent effect on the entire Jurchen tribe. However, after the Battle of Saarhu, the situation in Liaodong was completely reversed. Coupled with the fall of Kaiyuan and Tieling, the Ming Dynasty completely lost its dominant position in the Liaodong battlefield. .
Therefore, the situation Xiong Tingbi faced in Liaodong at that time was very severe. He not only had to collect scattered soldiers to stabilize the morale of the army, but also concentrated troops to ensure that the two towns of Liaoshen and Shenyang were safe. In addition, Xiong Tingbi also encountered a very difficult situation - insufficient military pay.
On the one hand, the imperial court pushed Xiong Tingbi into danger, but at the same time it did not give Xiong enough financial support, which made Xiong very passive during the confrontation with Nurhaci's forces. This was also an important factor in the final fall of Liaoshen.
Of course, from another perspective, Xiong Tingbi was very lucky to take office at that time. Because after Nurha annexed the Yehe tribe, there was no chance to immediately launch a large-scale attack on Liaoshen, which also gave Xiong Tingbi a great opportunity to consolidate Liaoshen..."
Liu Xin stretched out her hand and made a pause gesture and said: "Wait a minute, why didn't Nurhaci take advantage of the trend and attack westward to capture Liaoshen after capturing Kaitie and annexing Yehe? Wouldn't this move give the Ming Dynasty the opportunity to deploy defenses in Liaoshen? The perfect time?"
"The reason is actually very simple." Gao Pragmatic explained: "As a hunting nomadic people who are still in a semi-savage state, the war between Jianzhou and Ming Dynasty is just another form of hunting in their eyes. As a hunt, there will definitely be dividends, not to mention that the Battle of Kaiyuan and Tie is a huge hunting. Therefore, after capturing Kaiyuan, Tieling and Yehe, the various materials captured by Nurhaci must be distributed in time into the hands of individuals.
Resource allocation seems simple, but in fact if it is handled slightly carelessly, it may lead to the danger of internal division. Therefore, before the resources have been successfully allocated, even though Nurhachi was already very prestigious at the time, he still had no conditions. To start the next war.
Secondly, it is actually a difficult problem to completely digest the Yehe tribe. Although Nurhachi had already captured Yehe at that time, it would take some time to truly win over the Yehe clan. However, the Yehe tribe is quite powerful among the Jurchen tribes, and Nurhaci must convince them as soon as possible. Otherwise, conquering Yehe will not only not be an expansion of power, but may become a time bomb within the Jurchens.
In addition, at that time, both Lin Danhan and Li of the Chahar tribe did not express their submission to Hou Jin. On the contrary, they both stood in the same camp as the Ming Dynasty and jointly opposed Nurhaci. Therefore, Nurhachi also had to strive to resolve, stabilize or at least Only after confirming their attitude can they launch another attack on Ming Dynasty. "
"I see." Liu Xin nodded and said in a deep voice: "It was indeed a good opportunity, but judging from what happened later, Ming Dynasty did not make good use of this breathing opportunity... Speaking of which, Xiong Tingbi couldn't do it either. What kind of performance should he have? Why do you look at him so highly?"
"Then you are wrong. Xiong Tingbi did a lot of things at that time." Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "While Nurhaci did not launch a war, Xiong Tingbi immediately set about calming the people's hearts and rectifying military discipline, even though he was in the adversity of insufficient military pay. , but Liaoshen Second Town has gradually become completely new under Xiong Tingbi’s painstaking management.
Strategically, Xiong Tingbi led the soldiers of Jiliao to camp step by step, and gradually began to reach out to Kaiyuan and Tieling areas. According to documentary records, this move made Nurhaci restless at the time.
Therefore, in the middle of June of the lunar calendar in the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Houjin launched its first attack on Liaoshen. Nurhaci personally led 68,000 bannermen and divided the troops into two groups in an attempt to destroy Xiong Tingbi's strategic layout in one fell swoop. Xiong Tingbi took advantage of Houjin's mentality of recklessly underestimating the enemy and successfully repelled Nurhaci's attack.
This battle was the first victory for the Ming Dynasty since Nurhachi raised his troops. It greatly boosted the morale of the Ming army, broke the myth of Hou Jin's invincibility, and also greatly facilitated Xiong Tingbi's further work in Liaodong. .
At the same time, this battle also fully proved that Xiong Tingbi's strategy was completely correct. I have always felt that if he is given a certain amount of time and financial support, the recovery of Liaodong will be just around the corner...at least better than Yuan Chonghuan's later so-called "Five Years to Restore Liao" Ten times more reliable. "
Liu Xin sighed and said: "Every time I hear you talk about these histories, I always feel that the Ming Dynasty had many opportunities to save the defeat, but it always failed at critical moments... Do you think this is some kind of A historical necessity?”
"History is inevitable composed of countless accidents." Gao Pragmatic shook his head and said: "In a country that is going downhill as a whole, the probability of one or two heroes successfully turning the tide is definitely much smaller than the chance of countless people stepping on the downhill road. Throttle probability.”
Liu Xin was silent for a moment, and suddenly her eyes were a little confused, and she said: "Then...you must be able to turn the tide now, right? After all, you are different from any hero!"
Gao Pingshi didn't expect that she would be confused about such a thing. He looked at her in surprise, smiled and said, "Of course I am different from those heroes."
When Liu Xin heard this, she breathed a sigh of relief, but Gao pragmatically continued: "I am much more cunning and shameless than those heroes."
"You..." Liu Xin looked at him, dumbfounded.
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