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

Chapter 180 The Emperor's Headache

The dispute between the governor and governor of Liaodong became more and more intense, and it had reached the point where fire and water could not coexist. Now Tianqi really regretted his decision to agree to the Donglin Party's promotion of Wang Huazhen to the governor of Liaodong. If it were not for this, Liaodong would not be in such a mess now.

Speaking of it, the real conflict between Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen was mainly due to their different views on the Liaodong war, coupled with the struggle for power between the two sides.

After Yuan Yingtai was defeated in Liaodong, the Ming Dynasty lost a large amount of land and cities in Liaodong. The situation in Liaodong changed again. The defense lines that Xiong Tingbi had previously arranged in Liaodong were all gone.

Tianqi restarted Xiong Tingbi. After Xiong Tingbi went to Liaodong, he decided to rearrange the defense line based on the actual situation. He finally decided to set up a new defense line in the Guangning area based on Guangning.

Theoretically, Xiong Tingbi was the governor of Liaodong and the highest commander in the Liaodong battlefield. But in terms of official position, Wang Huazhen was also the governor of Liaodong. The position of governor did not exist in the Ming Dynasty and was established later. The so-called governor was an official sent by the central government to inspect and pacify the local areas on behalf of the emperor. Although Wang Huazhen's position of governor was not as high as that of the governor of Liaodong, the two sides were not directly subordinate to each other, and their powers had many overlapping parts.

In addition, before Wang Huazhen became the governor of Liaodong, Guangning was under Wang Huazhen's control. In other words, Wang Huazhen was the real commander of Guangning. Now that Wang Huazhen has been promoted to the governor of Liaodong, the command of Guangning has not been handed over and is still in Wang Huazhen's hands.

In this way, although Xiong Tingbi was the superior, he did not have the right to directly command Wang Huazhen. Although Wang Huazhen's rank was not as high as Xiong Tingbi's, as the governor, he not only had independence, but also held the military power of Guangning. This situation created an inherent contradiction. As the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi could not command Wang Huazhen at all, and Wang Huazhen ignored Xiong Tingbi. How could there be no contradiction between the two?

It would be fine if the two of them cooperated with each other, but now they had no intention of cooperating at all. Putting aside other things, just the defense line around Guangning, the two had completely different views.

Wang Huazhen advocated deploying defenses on the banks of Sancha River (the lower reaches of the Liaohe River) in order to advance.

Xiong Tingbi explicitly opposed this, believing that the Liao River was narrow and the Later Jin army could cross it on horseback. In winter, the river would freeze, making crossing even easier. Moreover, the fortresses along the river were small and could not accommodate heavy troops, so this line of defense was very fragile.

Xiong Tingbi's suggestion was to deploy a small group of scouts on the river bank, and then set up more beacon towers to keep the early warning system open; the main force would gather near Guangning, build several camps, support each other, and defend around the fortified city of Guangning.

The differences between the two sides can be seen from their respective viewpoints. Not to mention the different ideas of defense, even the strategic intentions of the Liaodong war are completely different.

Wang Huazhen was an offensive faction, and his defense intention was based on advancing and recovering lost territory. Xiong Tingbi was a defensive faction, because he believed that after two disastrous defeats in Liaodong, the current military strength of the Ming Dynasty was not enough to actively launch an offensive, and the most important thing at the moment was to maintain stability.

Guangning is a strong city. The Ming Dynasty needs to build a defense line around Guangning and slowly restore the vitality of the Ming army in Liaodong. After the vitality is restored, it will take every step carefully and rely on the capital strength of the Ming Dynasty, which is stronger than that of the Later Jin Dynasty, to squeeze the opponent's living space. This is the best strategy.

From the perspective of strategic intentions, the two were completely different. Fang Zhenru, the military supervisor, stood on Xiong Tingbi's side and believed that steady and cautious was the best option. However, the cabinet and the Ministry of War agreed with Wang Huazhen's suggestion. As a result, the two sides argued endlessly about this issue, and finally each did his own thing. Wang Huazhen directly ignored Xiong Tingbi and set up a defense line according to his own ideas. Xiong Tingbi had no way to deal with Wang Huazhen and was furious.

Apart from the issue of the defense line, the two also had disagreements on other matters.

These included the arrangement and use of Mao Wenlong, the opinion on attacking Haizhou, the backing of the Mongolian Khan's army, and whether the Ming Dynasty should "pacify Liaodong" or "pacify Dong" in Liaodong.

Putting aside the question of who was right or wrong between the two, the disputes over economics and pacification caused by these contradictions alone made it impossible for the Liaodong Ming army to have a unified command. In addition, as time went by, the two men became increasingly dissatisfied with each other, to the point where they could not reconcile.

Only then did Tianqi realize that it was a mistake to let Wang Huazhen serve as the governor of Liaodong. However, the emperor cannot be wrong, and Wang Huazhen has not served as the governor of Liaodong for a long time. It has only been half a year since his appointment.

If Tianqi were to remove Wang Huazhen from his post as governor of Liaodong now, not only would it be embarrassing for the emperor, but more importantly, the Donglin Party would not agree to do so.

These days, Wei Zhongxian had just brought down the cabinet chief Liu Yirong with his tacit approval, dealing a heavy blow to the Donglin Party. If Wang Huazhen were to be dismissed or transferred back to Beijing, the Donglin Party would definitely not give up and would definitely come out to strongly oppose it.

If this is the case, Tianqi would be putting himself in trouble, which is not the result he wants to see. It is not a good choice to provoke the Donglin Party again because of Wang Huazhen's incident.

In addition, Tianqi did not want to do too much to the Donglin Party now. Wei Zhongxian did a good job, but Wei Zhongxian's power had been growing in recent days. Although Tianqi had heard some news in the harem, he knew clearly that although Wei Zhongxian was useful, this knife must not get out of control, and some restrictions must be made when using this knife.

Tianqi knew exactly how strong the Donglin Party was and how powerful it was. So in the face of the current dispute over the governor of Liaodong, although Tianqi was very angry and realized his previous mistakes, he could not touch Wang Huazhen for the time being for various reasons. "Convey my order, the Imperial Household Department drafted an order to give the two of them, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, the governor of Liaodong. Both the governor and the governor are important officials of the state. Liaodong affairs are state affairs. The two of them should not be taken lightly. They should put aside their past grudges, cooperate sincerely, and put state affairs first..." Tianqi said this, and Wei Zhongxian listened carefully. Tianqi meant nothing more than to advise Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen to stop making trouble. You are all working for the Ming Dynasty, and as the emperor, you understand your contradictions.

The key now is the battle situation in Liaodong. Why are you making so much trouble? Work together and don't be petty. Once Liaodong is pacified, he will reward you handsomely as the emperor. If you continue to make trouble and affect the overall situation in Liaodong, he will not be polite as the emperor. You will both suffer a lot.

Wei Zhongxian listened carefully and kept Emperor Tianqi's words in mind. After Tianqi finished speaking, he looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.

"Wei Banban, do you have anything to say to me?" Tianqi noticed this keenly and asked.

"Your Majesty, I think if these two continue to make trouble, it may not be settled with just your decree. It would be better to transfer one of them. If there is only one person in Liaodong, this matter will be solved naturally."

Tianqi asked: "In your opinion, who should be transferred? Who is more suitable to stay?"

Wei Zhongxian thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think it would be more appropriate to transfer Wang Huazhen away from Liaodong."

"Oh, why not Xiong Tingbi?"

"Your Majesty, Xiong Tingbi's talent is well known to the whole court, and his return to manage Liaodong is also recognized by the whole court. The late emperor appointed Xiong Tingbi before, and he did a good job in Liaodong. If it weren't for later..."

Having said this, Wei Zhongxian suddenly felt that he had gone too far and quickly stopped talking.

Tianqi smiled bitterly. Wei Zhongxian did not say the rest of the words, but he had no idea what Wei Zhongxian was going to say next. It was nothing more than the issue of him replacing Xiong Tingbi with Yuan Yingtai.

Xiong Tingbi resigned and Yuan Yingtai was appointed as governor of Liaodong. This was the decree issued by Emperor Tianqi after he ascended the throne. Originally, it was thought that replacing Xiong Tingbi with Yuan Yingtai was nothing more than a replacement of Liaodong. Moreover, Yuan Yingtai had a high reputation in the court and had military experience. Although he was a civil servant, he was not completely ignorant of military affairs. Even if he was not as good as Xiong Tingbi, after he went to Liaodong, he would have no problem maintaining the situation in Liaodong with the foundation laid by Xiong Tingbi.

But Tianqi never expected that the situation would develop like this. Yuan Yingtai was indeed famous, but he was not a good candidate for the governor of Liaodong. Not long after arriving in Liaodong, he messed up the situation and lost most of the territory of Liaodong. Even the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong suffered heavy losses.

Tianqi was wrong in this matter, and he himself admitted it. Otherwise, he would not have reinstated Xiong Tingbi to manage Liaodong again.

Wei Zhongxian did not say the rest of the words because he wanted to save his reputation as the emperor, and Tianqi knew it very well.

Signaling Wei Zhongxian to continue, Wei Zhongxian did not mention Yuan Yingtai's previous incident, but talked about the current situation in Liaodong. He said that he did not understand the war, and did not know which of the two people's views was correct. However, since Xiong Tingbi's ability had been proven before, from this point of view, Xiong Tingbi was still reliable.

Wang Huazhen was a civil servant who had only been stationed in Guangning before, and his experience in dealing with the Later Jin was far less than that of Xiong Tingbi. From this point of view, Wei Zhongxian suggested that he should trust Xiong Tingbi, so if one of them had to leave, Wei Zhongxian thought that transferring Wang Huazhen away from Liaodong was the best choice.

In addition, Wei Zhongxian did not say one thing, that is, Wang Huazhen was a member of the Donglin Party and a disciple of the Donglin Party leader Ye Xianggao. Now that Liu Yirong was about to resign, once Liu Yirong left, the next prime minister should be Ye Xianggao who returned to the court.

By getting Wang Huazhen away from Liaodong, the Donglin Party's arm in Liaodong could be cut off, thus eliminating the Donglin Party's influence in Liaodong. This would be the best thing for Wei Zhongxian.

Tianqi thought about it silently and felt that Wei Zhongxian's words made sense, and he had already agreed with Wei Zhongxian's suggestion. But as mentioned before, because of the Donglin Party, Tianqi could not arbitrarily remove Wang Huazhen's post as Liaodong governor, even if he was the emperor.

"Let's talk about this matter after the New Year. We will hold a court meeting after the New Year and discuss this matter. After all, it is a national affair." Tianqi said this meaningfully. Although he failed to instigate Tianqi to dismiss Wang Huazhen immediately, when Wei Zhongxian heard that Tianqi had this idea, he said nothing more and bowed his head, praising the emperor for his wisdom.

(End of this chapter)