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

Chapter 181 Harmony with Mud

In a blink of an eye, the first year of Tianqi passed and the second year of Tianqi arrived.

On the twelfth day of the first lunar month, after the New Year, Emperor Tianqi agreed to Liu Yirong's resignation. This cabinet chief and Donglin Party leader had only been in the position for half a year before he left the office in disgrace.

After Liu Yirong left the cabinet, Ye Xianggao took over the position of Prime Minister. Wei Zhongxian won this battle.

On this day, Emperor Tianqi convened a court meeting and raised the issue of Liaodong, asking everyone to discuss how to resolve the dispute over the economic and pacification of Liaodong. In addition to the cabinet members, the nine ministers, the ministries and the provincial officials also participated in the discussion.

Everyone in the court knew about the discord between Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen in Liaodong and the intensifying dispute over the governor. When Tianqi asked everyone to talk about the matter and debate who was right and who was wrong, everyone, led by the Donglin Party, immediately began to express their support for Wang Huazhen.

In the case of Liu Yirong, the Donglin Party was one step behind. If Wang Huazhen lost his post as the governor of Liaodong, the Donglin Party could not bear such a blow. So no matter from which perspective, the Donglin Party did not want to see Wang Huazhen lose his post as the governor of Liaodong. Once Wang Huazhen left Liaodong, it would mean that the Donglin Party's influence on Liaodong was gone.

From a political perspective, Wang Huazhen must be protected, not to mention that the relationship between the Donglin Party and Xiong Tingbi was not very good. After the death of Emperor Wanli, the impeachment of Xiong Tingbi by the censors was already a shadow of the Donglin Party. If it were not for Yuan Yingtai, how could the Donglin Party allow Xiong Tingbi to be reinstated?

As the Donglin Party clearly supported Wang Huazhen, the other officials remained silent.

After all, the Donglin Party had too much influence in the court, and other parties could not compete with it. In addition, the new Prime Minister Ye Xianggao was Wang Huazhen's teacher. If they took a clear stand against Wang Huazhen, it would be equivalent to targeting Ye Xianggao. Ye Xianggao was not an ordinary person. He was not only a leader of the Donglin Party, but also served as Prime Minister twice. He had a high prestige in the court. Once Ye Xianggao was offended, he would have no good results in the future.

It was for this reason that 27 people in the court clearly expressed their support for Wang Huazhen, 52 people abstained and remained neutral, and only Li Jingbai and Xu Yangxian clearly expressed their support for Xiong Tingbi.

Li Jingbai was the Right Assistant Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, and his rank was not high. As for Xu Yangxian, it was even more so, as he was only the Censor who inspected the imperial city. The two of them were far inferior to the Donglin Party in terms of official positions and influence. Although they argued in the court that the Liaodong war had to be led by Xiong Tingbi, and Xiong Tingbi was the Liaodong governor appointed by the court, Wang Huazhen was only the Liaodong governor, no matter from which perspective, Wang Huazhen should accept Xiong Tingbi's command, instead of going against Xiong Tingbi.

The Donglin Party sneered at the opinions of Li Jingbai and Xu Yangxian, saying that Xiong Tingbi was arrogant and fearful of the enemy, and did nothing after his reinstatement in Liaodong, disregarding the trust of the court. On the contrary, Wang Huazhen was proactive and capable, and his proposals to win over the Mongolian Khan Ligdan as reinforcements, adjust the defense line, let Mao Wenlong take the initiative to attack the flank of the Later Jin to contain the Later Jin, and at the same time contact Li Yongfang as an internal response were all practical.

Once successful, the situation in Liaodong will change greatly, the Jiannu will suffer heavy losses, and the previously lost territories can be recovered in one fell swoop. This is also what everyone in the court expects.

Instead of encouraging and supporting such a minister, they tend to support Xiong Tingbi, who is afraid of the enemy and conservative. I don't know what this is thinking. Could it be that you two are willing to watch the situation in Liaodong stalemate and watch the Jiannu grow bigger? What is your intention?
When these words were spoken, Li Jingbai became furious and immediately asked the Donglin Party members what they meant by these words.

Yuan Yingtai was proactive in Liaodong and did a lot of things, but what was the final result? The situation in Liaodong is complicated and far from as simple as you imagine. If the Jiannu were so easy to deal with, then from the Battle of Sarhu in the Wanli Dynasty to the present, the Jiannu would have been dealt with by the Ming Dynasty long ago, and would not have been defeated again and again until today.

Li Jingbai believed that Wang Huazhen's ability was inferior to that of Xiong Tingbi and even Yuan Yingtai, and that these measures were just empty talk and were not practical at all. Take the measures proposed by the Donglin Party for example. They seemed feasible at first glance, but in fact they were just wild ideas.

Wang Huazhen's proposal to let Mao Wenlong contain the Later Jin from the side seems feasible, but Mao Wenlong currently has few soldiers and generals, and his foothold in Liaodong is already unstable. Although the idea of ​​a surprise attack on Zhenjiang is good, even if it succeeds, it will not be able to defend Zhenjiang. Once Mao Wenlong's military action fails, the Ming Dynasty will lose a valuable force on the side and rear of the Later Jin. Moreover, Xiong Tingbi is not completely opposed to this idea, but he thinks that the time is not ripe. He hopes that Mao Wenlong will accumulate more strength, and when the situation in Liaodong is stable, both sides will act at the same time, and Mao Wenlong will send troops with a small division to cooperate with the main force, which can achieve the effect of surprise.

As for the alliance with the Mongolian Khan Lindan, it was even more unrealistic. In order to solve the problem of the Later Jin, the Ming Dynasty shook hands with the Mongols during the Wanli period, and the two sides privately reached an agreement to join forces with the other side of the Later Jin. But after so much time, what did the Mongolian Khan Lindan do?
Although Lin Dan Khan was the leader of Mongolia, he was short-sighted and had no idea of ​​the overall situation. Not to mention that Lin Dan Khan was repelled by the joint efforts of Khorchin and Houjin when he attacked Chaohua, this battle was enough to show that Lin Dan Khan was strong on the outside but weak on the inside. When Yuan Yingtai was fighting against Houjin in Liaodong, Lin Dan Khan, as an ally of the Ming Dynasty, not only did not support the Ming Dynasty, but instead wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight.

If Lin Dan Khan had decisively sent troops to support the Ming army at that time, Yuan Yingtai would not have been defeated so badly, and the Qi Family Army and the White Spear Soldiers would not have been annihilated in Liaodong. It was like this at the beginning, and it will not change now. Li Jingbai believes that Lin Dan Khan is a dog that can't change its eating shit. Let's not talk about whether Lin Dan Khan has 400,000 troops. Even if he has, he will never use it to help the Ming Dynasty. The most likely possibility is that Lin Dan Khan's so-called 400,000 troops are bragging, and the promise of joining forces with Wang Huazhen is just a trick. The biggest possibility is that Lin Dan Khan used this method to instigate Wang Huazhen to fight with the Later Jin, so that he could watch the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin fight to the death, and he would benefit from it.

Wang Huazhen's suggestion to use Li Yongfang as an insider was even more of a joke. Who was Li Yongfang? He was the grandson-in-law of the old slave. How could one trust someone like Li Yongfang? It was a very dangerous move to entrust such an important matter to a general who had once betrayed the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Huazhen really took it for granted. His so-called strategy was full of holes. Now even the whole Ming Dynasty knew that Wang Huazhen wanted to use Li Yongfang as an insider. Was I a fool or deaf? Could it be that I was not prepared at all? It was not known whether this would succeed or not. Even if it was to be done, it was done secretly and never let others know. Now that the operation was carried out in a big way and everyone knew about it, any normal person would understand what Li Yongfang would choose. Unless he was crazy, he would cooperate with Wang Huazhen.

The Donglin Party expressed opposition to the views put forward by Li Jingbai. They believed that these views were quite reasonable and that what you, Li Jingbai, said was just a hypothesis. Since there are risks in doing things, should we not do things just because there are risks?

Although the suggestions and plans proposed by Wang Huazhen may fail, they may also succeed! Apart from other things, as long as one or two of his plans can succeed, it will be enough to change the situation in Liaodong. Isn't this a good thing?

You, Li Jingbai, are just nitpicking by focusing on this and that problem. According to what you said, there is nothing to do in Liaodong. The more you do, the more mistakes you make. The less you do, the fewer mistakes you make. If you do nothing, you make no mistakes. Isn't that what Xiong Tingbi did? Could it be that doing my best for the Ming Dynasty is wrong?
For a while, there was endless debate in the court. Li Jingbai and Xu Yangxian argued with reason. Although they were far less numerous than the Donglin Party and held inferior official positions, they still refused to give in.

Seeing the fierceness of the quarrel, it seemed that if it continued like this, the two sides would not just quarrel, but would directly roll up their sleeves and fight. Emperor Tianqi had a gloomy face and ordered the eunuchs and censors who were maintaining order to stop. He himself did not expect that the discussion of the issues raised today would turn out like this. Although he expected that the Donglin Party would not give up Wang Huazhen so easily, he did not expect that the Donglin Party was so determined to protect Wang Huazhen.

"What do you think about this matter, sir?" Tianqi decided that he could not let them continue arguing, as this way of arguing would not produce any results. He immediately turned his gaze to Ye Xianggao, who was standing closest to him. From the beginning of the discussion until now, Ye Xianggao, as the Prime Minister, had never expressed any opinion.

Ye Xianggao did not expect the emperor to ask him directly, so he stood up and bowed to the emperor first, then said: "Your Majesty, I have a teacher-student relationship with Wang Huazhen, so it is not convenient for me to participate in this matter. Please allow me to recuse myself."

"Sir, you are wrong. You are the Prime Minister of the Cabinet and an important official of the country. What we are discussing in court now is a matter of national importance. I have always admired your character and I know what kind of person you are. I am not worried about these things, so why do you have to take the initiative to avoid it?"

Ye Xianggao smiled bitterly in his heart. He had originally decided not to speak. Just as he had just said, the relationship between him and Wang Huazhen was known to everyone in the court. As Wang Huazhen's teacher, it would be inappropriate for him to speak under such circumstances.

But now that Emperor Tianqi forced him to speak, he had to express his opinion. After all, Emperor Tianqi had made it clear that this was a national affair, and it would be unacceptable for him, as the chief minister of the cabinet, not to express his opinion on such a matter. In comparison, his relationship with Wang Huazhen was just a private relationship, and when national affairs were of primary concern, private relationships were nothing at all.

After thinking for a while, Ye Xianggao spoke. He did not say that he supported Wang Huazhen, nor did he say that he supported Xiong Tingbi, because no matter his status and relationship with Wang Huazhen, it would be inappropriate to support either side.

Ye Xianggao simply played a trick and said that this matter was too complicated. They were in the capital and had only heard about the situation in Liaodong. They didn't know much about some specific information and it was difficult for them to make a proper judgment.

However, the dispute over the economic and trade relations in Liaodong does exist, and it is a problem that must be resolved. Ye Xianggao suggested that the problem be put on hold temporarily and handled impartially.

As for the impartiality, it is also very simple. Just use the official positions of the two people to decide. Wang Huazhen is the governor of Liaodong, and Guangning is his original territory. So just directly determine the division of power in Liaodong and let Wang Huazhen be responsible for the affairs of Guangning.

Except for Guangning, Xiong Tingbi will be fully responsible for other affairs in Liaodong. This will perfectly avoid the conflicts between the two and solve the current dispute between the economic governor and the governor.

(End of this chapter)