Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 142 Afterglow
Capital, Qianqing Palace.

The side hall of the Qianqing Palace where Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youxiao worked as a carpenter on weekdays.

In the center of the side hall, there is an unfinished wooden work. It is a small pavilion. Although it is only half completed, its exquisiteness can be seen.

But now Tianqi did not focus on the carpentry work. Some tools were scattered aside. Tianqi sat there with a sullen face. The eunuch Liu Ruoyu from the inner palace was serving him.

Liu Ruoyu was a eunuch of the Neizhifang. Although the Neizhifang was a subordinate agency of the Silijian, it could be regarded as a division of the 24 yamen of the eunuch agency in the Ming Dynasty. The Neizhifang was quite special. In other words, the Neizhifang was responsible for the document sorting and record-keeping work around the emperor. To some extent, its functions overlapped slightly with those of the Silijian.

In modern terms, the Silijian was equivalent to the secretariat, the eunuch holding the seal of the Silijian was the secretary general, and the eunuch holding the pen of the Silijian was the deputy secretary general. The eunuchs in the Neizhifang were equivalent to personal secretaries, and although their status was not as high as that of the Silijian, they were actually people trusted by the emperor.

Liu Ruoyu was born in a noble family. His family inherited the title of Commander of Yanqing Guard, and his father Liu Yingqi was the Deputy General of Liaoyang Auxiliary Town. Liu Ruoyu studied since childhood. In the 29th year of Wanli, he was selected into the imperial palace because of his self-castration, and then worked under the eunuch Chen Ju who was in charge of the seal at that time.

Since Liu Ruoyu was good at calligraphy and was well-educated, he was trusted by Chen Ju. After Tianqi ascended the throne, he also heard of Liu Ruoyu's reputation in the palace and specially invited him to meet. After chatting, he was deeply impressed. Not long after, because Wei Zhongxian went to the Silijian, Tianqi was short of people around him, so he thought of Liu Ruoyu and appointed him as the eunuch of the Neizhifang.

"Yuan Yingtai misled me!"

Tianqi was holding a piece of paper in his hand. Due to excessive force, his knuckles turned white, and the paper was squeezed into a ball by Tianqi.

"Yuan Yingtai misled me!"

He shouted again suddenly. Tianqi couldn't bear it any longer. He stood up and threw the paper in his hand to the ground, then kicked the unfinished woodworking work.

With a loud crash, the exquisite work was kicked to pieces by Tianqi. Then he used all his strength to sweep the tools on the table directly to the ground. After doing this, Tianqi panted, supported the edge of the table with both hands, his eyes were red, and his face was full of anger.

Liu Ruoyu didn't dare to breathe. He had been serving Tianqi for some time. This young emperor had always looked gentle and kind, and seemed more peaceful and generous than his peers.

But today Tianqi was so furious as never before, and the fundamental reason for Tianqi's fury was related to the military report he had just received and the angry scolding of Yuan Yingtai.

The Ming army in Liaodong was defeated, Liaoshen fell, and Yuan Yingtai was defeated and killed.

The Ming army suffered extremely heavy losses in this battle. More than 70 cities in Liaodong, including Liaoyang, Shenyang, Jinzhou, Haizhou, Fuzhou, and Gaizhou, were lost, and all the land east of the Liaohe River was lost.

The losses in this battle were even greater than those in the previous Battle of Sarhu. After the Battle of Sarhu, the situation that the Ming army had managed to stabilize in Liaodong was completely destroyed in this battle. In addition to losing cities and territories, the Ming army not only lost 70,000 elite troops in Liaodong, but what made Tianqi even more angry was that the two most powerful troops of the Ming Dynasty were completely wiped out in this battle because of Yuan Yingtai.

In the Battle of Hunhe, Sichuan's White-Ground Army and Qi's Army were all wiped out. Although Tianqi was angry about the destruction of the other troops, he did not lose his composure to such an extent. However, the destruction of these two troops made Tianqi almost faint after hearing the news. The anger in his heart had reached the point where he could no longer suppress it.

Since Xiong Tingbi resigned and Yuan Yingtai took over the post of Liaodong Governor, it seemed that the Ming army in Liaodong was thriving. Yuan Yingtai reorganized the troops in Liaodong, expanded the defense line, and made an effort to attack the Later Jin to avenge his previous humiliation.

The court also showed extreme optimism about this. People from all walks of life, especially the Donglin Party, praised Yuan Yingtai's arrangements in Liaodong. In everyone's view, based on the previous situation in Liaodong and the comparison of the military strength of both sides, the time was ripe to destroy the Jiannu.

But no one expected that the situation would deteriorate to such an extent in less than a month after the war in Liaodong began. Yuan Yingtai not only failed to wash away the shame of the Battle of Sarhu, but suffered such a disastrous defeat. It would have been fine if he had died as the commander-in-chief, but the destruction of the White Rod Army and the Qi Family Army made Tianqi heartbroken. These two troops were the strongest armies of the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the 4,000 White Rod Army was specially transferred from Sichuan to Liaodong by Tianqi to support the Liaodong war. The leaders were the brothers Qin Bangping and Qin Minping. Not many people knew about them in later generations, but when it comes to their sister Qin Liangyu, there are countless people who know about them.

In fact, Qin Liangyu really came to the fore and shined in the late Ming Dynasty after the death of the brothers Qin Bangping and Qin Minping. The bravery of the White Spear Army was one of the best in the Ming Dynasty. With so many armies in the Ming Dynasty, including the elite troops in the nine frontiers, the only one that could compare with the White Spear Army was the Qi Family Army.

The Qi Family Army was the strongest army in the Ming Dynasty, and its founder was the famous Qi Jiguang.

Since the Qi Family Army was established in the 38th year of the Jiajing reign, it has killed nearly 200,000 people, successively wiped out Japanese pirates, defeated the Mongolian cavalry, went to Korea to fight against Japanese pirates, fought against Jian Nu, and traveled across East Asia, invincible in hundreds of battles. But such a strong army was completely wiped out in the Battle of Hunhe. How can it not make people feel sad?
Four thousand White Rod Army and three thousand Qi Family Army fought fiercely with the main force of Jiannu in the Battle of Hunhe.

The Battle of Hunhe took place outside the city of Shenyang. The battlefield was located on a plain, and the Later Jin cavalry had a great advantage in the battle. Moreover, the Later Jin's military strength was much greater than the White Rod Army and the Qi Army combined. Compared with the two armies with only 7,000 people in total, the Later Jin dispatched more than 20,000 Eight Banners cavalry.

The Later Jin Dynasty has always had a saying that if the Jurchens are less than 10,000, they are invincible. However, even so, facing the Eight Banners Cavalry with several times their number, the White Spear Army and the Qi Family Army were not afraid at all. They fought to the death on the battlefield and killed countless enemies.

In this battle, the Later Jin suffered more than 10,000 casualties, far greater than that of the Ming army. This was the biggest loss the Later Jin had ever suffered since its rise, which was enough to prove the strength of the two armies.

If it weren't for the appearance of the artillery units of the Ming army that surrendered to the Later Jin on the battlefield, which led to the two armies suffering heavy artillery bombardment when they confronted the Later Jin cavalry head-on, causing the defensive line to eventually collapse, it would be hard to say who would have won or lost this battle.

What made Tianqi even more angry was that when the Battle of Hunhe started, the 30,000 Liaodong cavalry led by Li Bingcheng and Zhu Wanliang had already reached Baitapu, which was less than 20 miles away from the Hunhe battlefield. For cavalry, such a short distance was no problem at all. If they could successfully reach the battlefield and join forces with the Baigan Army and the Qi Family Army, the outcome of this battle would probably be completely changed.

But no one expected that when the White Rod Army and the Qi Family Army were fighting against the fierce attack of the Later Jin cavalry that was several times larger than theirs, the 30,000 Liaodong cavalry led by Li Bingcheng and Zhu Wanliang were actually defeated by the thousands of cavalry led by Huang Taiji. They lost more than 3,000 people and fled in embarrassment, leaving the Hunhe battlefield completely without reinforcements.

Without reinforcements, the Baigan Army and the Qi Family Army fought alone until they were completely wiped out.

The destruction of these two armies made Tianqi extremely heartbroken, especially the demise of Qi's army. This invincible and undefeated army met its end in a tragic way at Hunhe River. After this battle, there was no more Qi's army in the world. Tianqi's anger towards Yuan Yingtai reached its peak.

In addition to Yuan Yingtai, Tianqi was also extremely angry at the Donglin Party. If the Donglin Party had not insisted on impeaching Xiong Tingbi and forced him to resign and replace him with Yuan Yingtai, how could such consequences have occurred?
At the same time, Tianqi also thought of the previous conversation with his teacher Sun Chengzong. Sun Chengzong told Tianqi that although Yuan Yingtai was capable and understood some military affairs, he was too bookish. He did things based on assumptions, did not listen to other people's advice, and was too optimistic about the situation in Liaodong.

Although Tianqi had some understanding at the time, he did not think much about it. After all, judging from Yuan Yingtai's arrangements and the news coming back from Liaodong at that time, the situation in Liaodong did show obvious signs of improvement. Moreover, compared to when Xiong Tingbi was the governor, Yuan Yingtai showed a stronger offensive awareness, which made the whole court excited.

Tianqi felt that even if Yuan Yingtai was not as good as Xiong Tingbi, he should be able to maintain the advantage in Liaodong. Moreover, the young emperor also had the idea of ​​​​repaying the previous shame in his heart. If Yuan Yingtai could really fight with the Later Jin and win one or two battles, it would not be a bad thing. Even if he could not do this, with the strong military power of the Ming Dynasty, it would be good to weaken the strength of the Later Jin through war.

But now it seems that Sun Chengzong's judgment was correct. Yuan Yingtai simply did not have the ability of Xiong Tingbi. Although he was not a mediocre official, Yuan Yingtai might be a capable minister in civil affairs and he also had quite a few insights into military affairs. However, Yuan Yingtai overestimated himself and underestimated the cruelty of war. The main responsibility for this disastrous defeat lies with the commander-in-chief Yuan Yingtai himself.

In particular, Yuan Yingtai's action of not listening to advice and recruiting fugitives, including Mongolians and Han people from Liaodong, in Liaodong further buried the hidden danger of defeat. It was precisely because of this action that not long after the Liaodong war began, these troops that Yuan Yingtai had placed high hopes on turned against the Later Jin.

The reason is simple, because a large part of the people recruited by Yuan Yingtai were actually spies and spies sent by Nurhaci, and every move of the Ming army was under Nurhaci's control. When the war started, these people turned against him in an instant, making Yuan Yingtai's careful arrangements become a shattered display. Even the fall of Liaoyang, Shenyang and other cities, including the tragic destruction of the White Rod Army and the Qi Family Army by artillery bombardment in the Battle of Hunhe, was due to this reason.

Yuan Yingtai was already dead, and it was said that his death was very tragic. When the city was broken, he hanged himself with his sword and seal, and his brother-in-law Yao Juxiu also committed suicide. The servant Tang Shiming cried while caressing Yuan Yingtai's body, and then set fire to the building and died.

Such a death could be called "loyalty", but in Tianqi's view, Yuan Yingtai's death was not a pity! His death was fine, but how would this disastrous defeat in Liaodong end? How could the destruction of the White Rod Army and the Qi Family Army be reversed? And the lost territories and cities, and the countless soldiers who died in battle, weren't all these Yuan Yingtai's fault?
(End of this chapter)