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

Chapter 185 Seeking Death
Zhu Shencui was not sure whether the emperor and the officials regretted it, but he was sure that Xiong Tingbi would regret doing so in the future.

As the governor of Liaodong and a senior official of the Ming Dynasty, Xiong Tingbi was so impulsive and had no political acumen. One can imagine what his future would be like.

Now Emperor Tianqi has issued an order to Xiong Tingbi, asking him to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence. If Xiong Tingbi has any brains, he should seize the last opportunity to lead his troops out of the border and recapture the lost territory. Even if he cannot recapture Guangning, as long as he can take back Ningyuan and Qiantun and stabilize the defense line, at least he can give an explanation to the court.

But would Xiong Tingbi do this? Zhu Shenzhui thought he would not, because the reason was simple. Given Xiong Tingbi's character, he would not do it unless the court directly took away Wang Huazhen's post as governor, sent someone to escort the criminal Wang Huazhen back to Beijing, and handed over all the military and political power in Liaodong to him.

In Xiong Tingbi's opinion, he had managed Liaodong several times for the country but had not gained any benefit at all. Instead, he suffered so many grievances. He was also full of complaints about Wang Huazhen before. He could not hold back his anger any longer. As long as Wang Huazhen's guilt was not determined, why should he take Wang Huazhen with him to make meritorious contributions?
If this is the case, after I have done my duty, will Wang Huazhen's crime no longer exist? Then how will the situation in Liaodong be different from the original situation? Wang Huazhen will still shit on my head, and I will still be powerless to do anything about him. How can Xiong Tingbi bear such humiliation?

Opportunities are rare and will never come again. Xiong Tingbi had already made up his mind. If he didn't ask the court to make concessions in this situation, when would he wait? As long as he could withstand the pressure from the court and grit his teeth, and wait until the court completely captured Wang Huazhen, it would be best if he could chop off Wang Huazhen's head as a result of the defeat. Only after Xiong Tingbi had vented his anger would he go out to fight the Later Jin.

Xiong Tingbi really overestimated himself. He thought he was indispensable to the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong. Without him, Xiong Tingbi, no one could solve the problems in Liaodong.

As long as he could get rid of Wang Huazhen this time and teach the Donglin Party and the officials in the court a lesson, he would have no worries in Liaodong in the future, and he could also use his own ideas and means to completely recover the entire Liaodong bit by bit.

It is absolutely correct to say that Xiong Tingbi was politically immature. He did not think about the consequences of his actions. Which emperor would tolerate such a minister? And which emperor would accept such threats from his ministers?
Just like a company, you rely on your outstanding performance and strong ability, thinking that the company can't do without you, and use this to threaten the chairman and general manager, but what impression will this leave on the leaders? There is no saying on this earth that one cannot do without another. Without you, Zhang the butcher, would I still be afraid of eating hairy pigs?
Blackmailing and controlling the boss, what boss would you be willing to do? Now the boss is giving you face by letting you make amends for your crime, this is a chance for you to correct your mistakes, if you know what's good for you, you can still get along with each other. But if you continue to go further and further down the wrong path, then you should not have said it without warning.

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzui felt really sorry for Xiong Tingbi. One could imagine what kind of consequences such a capable and brave general would face in the future.

Zhu Shenzui did not sleep well that night. Many images flashed through his mind repeatedly, and he seemed to hear the sounds of iron horses and killing.

On the second day, Zhu Shenzhui looked very bad, and for the first time he did not practice martial arts as usual. Seeing him like this, Xu Jingqiu was very worried and asked him if he was sick and whether he wanted to ask a doctor to see him. Zhu Shenzhui waved his hands and said that he was fine, but he was a little tired a few days ago, and then he evaded the question.

In the following days, Zhu Shenzhui closely followed the development of the situation in Liaodong. Just as he had judged, Xiong Tingbi was really unreliable. He seemed to be determined not to send troops to Liaodong until the court punished Wang Huazhen. No matter how many times Emperor Tianqi urged Xiong Tingbi to send troops and issued an edict to remind him and Wang Huazhen to cooperate with each other to make up for their crimes and not make the same mistake again.

Even Ye Xianggao, who had just taken over as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, wrote a letter to Xiong Tingbi, warning him not to make mistakes. If he did not send troops and passively avoided fighting, no one could save him.

Who would have thought that it would have been better if Ye Xianggao had not written this letter? After reading this letter, Xiong Tingbi did not know what he was thinking. Instead of changing his previous thoughts, he thought that Ye Xianggao wrote this letter to save his disciple Wang Huazhen. He believed that Wang Huazhen's problems were much bigger than his own, and Wang Huazhen was the culprit for the failure of Liaodong. If there was any responsibility to be investigated, Wang Huazhen would be the first to bear the brunt.

Now Wang Huazhen is still alive and kicking, and you all say that he is Xiong Tingbi? Ye Xianggao has now written a letter to threaten him in order to save Wang Huazhen? He also said that he should not make mistakes? Xiong Tingbi sneered at this and felt that he was right. Wang Huazhen was about to be completely finished. As long as he gritted his teeth and persevered, victory would be in sight.

Half a month passed in a flash, and despite repeated urgings from Emperor Tianqi and the cabinet, Xiong Tingbi seemed to be unaware and still refused to go out to fight. At this point, Xiong Tingbi's attitude directly angered Emperor Tianqi, and neither the Emperor Tianqi nor the cabinet had any patience or tolerance for Xiong Tingbi.

On February 11, Xu Weixin and Zhu Yigui, the right assistant ministers of the Ministry of Public Administration, together with Feng Congwu, the left junior minister of the Dali Temple, Dong Yingju, the junior minister of the Taichang Temple, and He Qiaoyuan, the junior minister of the Taipu Temple, jointly petitioned for the arrest of Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen.

Two days later, the Imperial Censor Jia Yuxiang requested the arrest of Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, and the Prime Minister Ye Xianggao also proposed to arrest Wang Huazhen, and ordered Xiong Tingbi to return home for investigation. The Emperor Tianqi agreed and ordered the cabinet to write a letter. When writing the letter, Ye Xianggao wanted to try his best and specifically suggested whether Xiong Tingbi should be retained. Although Ye Xianggao was a member of the Donglin Party, he was also a mature politician. He knew that the Liaodong war situation could not do without a stabilizer like Xiong Tingbi. Moreover, if Xiong Tingbi was in trouble, his own foundation, Wang Huazhen, would not be much better. To save Wang Huazhen, Xiong Tingbi must be saved first. Even if he was unwilling in his heart, he had to show this attitude.

But when the letter reached Tianqi, he was furious and asked Ye Xianggao what he meant. Ye Xianggao explained to the emperor that Xiong Tingbi was a talented person and was better than his disciple Wang Huazhen. Now was the time to recruit him, so the emperor should consider it.

Who would have thought that as soon as these words were spoken, Tianqi sneered and immediately said that Xiong Tingbi was talented, and his talent was running fast. He led his men into Shanhaiguan before even seeing the cavalry of the Later Jin Dynasty. He deserved the nickname "Xiong Paopao".

As soon as Tianqi said this, Ye Xianggao immediately shut up and never mentioned Xiong Tingbi again. When the emperor's sarcasm and comments about Xiong Tingbi spread, no one in the court spoke up for Xiong Tingbi anymore, and Xiong Tingbi completely killed himself.

Emperor Tianqi made up his mind that no matter how capable Xiong Tingbi was, he must not be used. Moreover, as the governor of Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi bore great responsibility for the complete loss of Liaoxi.

But after taking down Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen, who should be appointed to take over Liaodong? Tianqi looked for a week but couldn't find a suitable person. He didn't even consider the Donglin Party. Whether it was Yuan Yingtai before or Wang Huazhen now, the Donglin Party had praised them as reliable, but in fact, they were all good-for-nothings who suffered repeated defeats, making the situation in Liaodong out of control.

Apart from the Donglin Party, the other parties were not very reliable. Looking back, Emperor Tianqi had no one to use, which was a bit sad. For a while, Tianqi even thought about whether to let Xiong Tingbi go, but this idea was rejected by Tianqi himself.

Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen could not escape the blame. Tianqi was very clear-headed. He knew that this was a matter of principle. If he gave in on the matter of principle, his ministers would follow suit. Then where would the dignity of the Ming court and himself as the emperor be?
Since Xiong Tingbi could no longer be used and the Donglin Party and others were unreliable, Emperor Tianqi had to find another way.

At this time, Tianqi's teacher Sun Chengzong took the initiative to propose to go to Liaodong, which allowed Tianqi to find the most suitable candidate.

He knew his teacher Tianqi very well, and since Sun Chengzong became Tianqi's teacher, the teacher and student got along very well. Tianqi also discovered Sun Chengzong's expertise in military affairs. Many times, Tianqi would discuss matters about Liaodong with Sun Chengzong in private.

Many times, Sun Chengzong's judgment on Liaodong was proven afterward, which made Tianqi believe that his teacher was "military-savvy". At the end of last year, Tianqi gave his teacher the title of assistant minister of the Ministry of War. Now that such a big thing happened in Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were both unusable, and Sun Chengzong took the initiative to stand up and go to Liaodong, which made Tianqi overjoyed.

In order to pave the way for his teacher, Emperor Tianqi issued an edict to promote Sun Chengzong to the cabinet, adding the title of Minister of War and Grand Secretary of Dongge. Although Sun Chengzong did not belong to the Donglin Party, he had always had a good relationship with the Donglin Party, especially he was a good friend of Liu Yirong. The Donglin Party agreed that Sun Chengzong would join the cabinet and replace Xiong Tingbi as the governor of Liaodong. In addition, most officials inside and outside the court had heard that Sun Chengzong was good at military affairs, so the appointment of Emperor Tianqi was quickly unanimously approved.

The first thing Sun Chengzong did after entering the cabinet was to deal with the Liaodong issue. He wrote to Tianqi for several days in a row, explaining in detail the current Liaodong problem and proposing a series of solutions and opinions to solve the problem.

Sun Chengzong's attitude made Tianqi very satisfied, and the questions and opinions he raised were exactly what Tianqi wanted. Tianqi gave Sun Chengzong his full support and let him go ahead and do it. In this way, Sun Chengzong did a lot of things in a few days after he took office in the cabinet.

After Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were escorted back to Beijing, the morale of the Ming troops in Shanhaiguan was unstable. However, with a series of measures taken by Sun Chengzong, the situation soon improved significantly.

(End of this chapter)