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

Chapter 204 Capital Crime
This time returning to the capital as a criminal, Xiong Tingbi didn't know what would be the outcome for him. Perhaps it was the worst possible outcome... Thinking of this, he felt a surge of regret in his heart. If he had not been so stubborn in the beginning, and had made some fuss and then followed the emperor's wishes to send troops to fight at Shanhaiguan, even if he could not take back the lost territory, he would not have ended up like this.

Unfortunately, there is no regret medicine in this world. If he had known what would happen now, why did he do it in the first place? When he looked back and saw Wang Huazhen, who was also sitting in the prison car in the same state of humiliation as himself, Xiong Tingbi was so angry that he gnashed his teeth again.

"Wang Huazhen, Wang Huazhen, you old man, have you come to this day?" Xiong Tingbi wanted to strangle Wang Huazhen with both hands at this time. If Wang Huazhen had not relied on the Donglin Party as his backer and a teacher who was the prime minister, how could he be so arrogant in Liaodong? It was also a joke. He was the governor of Liaodong, and he should have been the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. However, the military and political power of Liaodong was basically controlled by Wang Huazhen.

Wang Huazhen, a mere governor, commanded an army of 140,000 and occupied the important city of Guangning. Not only did he have the support of Donglin Party members such as Ye Xianggao in the court, but even the Minister of War Zhang Heming was a supporter of Wang Huazhen.

In this case, how could Xiong Tingbi compete with Wang Huazhen with only the title of Liaodong General? Moreover, he could only mobilize 5000 troops, which were allocated to him from the Beijing Camp when Emperor Tianqi re-employed Xiong Tingbi. With these 5000 troops, Xiong Tingbi could not do anything in Liaodong.

Xiong Tingbi knew that he had gone too far this time and had miscalculated, but wasn't the fundamental reason because of Wang Huazhen? If it weren't for this old guy, how could he have ended up like this? How could the situation in Liaodong collapse to such an extent?
Now that he was a prisoner, he was afraid that his return to Beijing would be dangerous. Xiong Tingbi had already thought of the most dangerous possibility. But he still had a little persistence in his heart. Even if he was really executed, he wanted to see Wang Huazhen die before him. If Wang Huazhen didn't die first, Xiong Tingbi couldn't get rid of the anger in his heart.

After arriving in the capital, the two were directly thrown into the Ministry of Justice prison.

Emperor Tianqi had already made arrangements for the treatment of the two men, so a few days after they were thrown into prison, the three judicial departments initiated the joint trial procedure. The newly appointed Minister of Justice Wang Ji, Left Censor-in-Chief Zou Yuanbiao, and Dali Temple Minister Zhou Yingqiu jointly tried Xiong and Wang.

During the trial, Xiong Tingbi shouted that he was injustice, saying that he was nominally the commander-in-chief in Liaodong, but in fact he was only responsible for the defense of Shanhaiguan. The area east of Shanhaiguan, especially Guangning, was under the jurisdiction of Wang Huazhen, and the court tacitly agreed that the two of them divided Liaodong because of their disagreements. From this point of view, Shanhaiguan is still in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and all the important towns east of Shanhaiguan, including Guangning, have been lost. This responsibility should be borne by Wang Huazhen. How can he be blamed?
When Wang Huazhen was defeated, Xiong Tingbi took the initiative to lead troops to rescue him. Not only did he bring Wang Huazhen back, he also withdrew most of the Liaodong military and civilians back to Shanhaiguan. From this point of view, Xiong Tingbi did not do anything wrong. How can he be said to be guilty?
However, what Wang Huazhen said was completely different from what Xiong Tingbi said. Wang Huazhen insisted that the reason why Guangning fell was that Xiong Tingbi did not come to rescue. Xiong Tingbi did lead his troops out of Shanhaiguan, but at that time Wang Huazhen begged Xiong Tingbi to continue to the north to Guangning to save Guangning from the siege, but Xiong Tingbi directly refused.

It was precisely because of Xiong Tingbi's inaction that Guangning was completely lost. Afterwards, instead of arranging a line of defense to resist the Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty and guard the line east of Shanhaiguan, he issued an order for a full retreat, resulting in the fall of all areas east of Shanhaiguan. If this is not Xiong Tingbi's problem, then what is?
The two men each said their own thing, and both pushed the main responsibility onto the other, asking the other to bear the blame for the defeat.

Although the facts were indeed in favor of Xiong Tingbi, Guangning had already been surrounded when he learned the news and sent troops. Moreover, the fundamental reason for the subsequent fall of Guangning was that Wang Huazhen's subordinate Sun Degong secretly defected to Nurhaci and voluntarily surrendered the city. From this point of view, even if Xiong Tingbi rushed to rescue Guangning, it would be of no avail. With only 5000 troops in his hands, he could not save Guangning at all, and he might even lose his entire army.

But sometimes it is not enough to just talk about the facts. This is the mode of ignoring the facts. The Liaodong issue is not only a military issue but also a political issue. The court cannot turn a blind eye to it, and Emperor Tianqi cannot let Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen go.

Besides, facts and attitudes are attitudes. Failure to win is one problem, and not fighting is another problem. They cannot be confused. As the governor of Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi is the nominal commander of Liaodong. When Guangning is in danger, even if you are not sure, you should still take the attitude of fighting against the Later Jin, right? Even if you lose, this is your responsibility and obligation.

This was the case with Yuan Yingtai, the previous governor of Liaodong. Although Yuan Yingtai suffered a great defeat in Liaodong due to personal reasons, the problem is that Yuan Yingtai did not run away. Not only did he not run away, but he also died for his country when the city fell. This is enough to prove his persistence and loyalty to the Ming Dynasty.

In the words of later generations, this is considered political correctness. No matter how capable you are, if you do the right thing, even if you fail, people will not find fault with you. But you were afraid of the enemy and did not move forward, and then shirked responsibility. As a commander, you can't justify it. Is it possible that you have no responsibility?

After two joint trials, the three judicial departments quickly gave their opinions, all of which believed that Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were both responsible for the Liaodong issue.

Among them, Xiong Tingbi bears more responsibility than Wang Huazhen. After all, he is the governor of Liaodong and the chief commander, while Wang Huazhen is only the governor of Liaodong and Xiong Tingbi's nominal subordinate. As the chief commander, you are the main responsible for such a disastrous defeat.

A few days later, the Three Judicial Departments submitted a memorial requesting that both Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen be sentenced to death, and specifically mentioned that the death sentence for Xiong Tingbi was the result of a comparison with the previous governors Yang Hao and Yuan Yingtai. The memorial of the Three Judicial Departments wrote that Xiong Tingbi escaped more than Yang Hao, and owed one death more than Yuan Yingtai. Afterwards, he did not obey the court's order to counterattack, and his crime of delaying the war and passively fighting was increased by one level. If Huazhen was severely punished, but Tingbi was less lenient, not only would it not be able to convince the world for all eternity, it would also be impossible to convince Yang Hao and Yuan Yingtai...

However, although the three judicial departments had already reached a conclusion, the memorial submitted to Emperor Tianqi only expressed his agreement with the conclusion of the three judicial departments, but did not immediately announce the execution.

There are several main reasons for this.

The first is that although Emperor Tianqi hated Xiong Tingbi, he had high hopes for him when he reinstated Xiong Tingbi. Not only did he summon Xiong Tingbi in person and talk with him alone, he also held a farewell banquet for him when he left Beijing, and allocated 5000 troops from the Beijing camp to Xiong Tingbi for him to command.

From this point of view, one can imagine Emperor Tianqi's kindness and expectations for Xiong Tingbi. In this case, as a subject, you should repay the emperor's grace, even if it means dying on the battlefield.

But what did you, Xiong Tingbi, do? Just because you had a conflict with Wang Huazhen, you were angry like a child and ignored the national affairs. Not only did you easily hand over the territory east of Shanhaiguan to the Later Jin Jiannu, but later Emperor Tianqi repeatedly urged Xiong Tingbi to give him a chance to make up for his mistakes and let him send troops to retake the lost territory as soon as possible. However, you found various reasons to refuse and refused to do it. Faced with such a situation, how could Emperor Tianqi not be annoyed?
How much they valued and trusted him in the past, how angry and furious they are now, not to mention Emperor Tianqi, even ordinary people would have the same reaction. But even so, Emperor Tianqi had no intention of directly executing Xiong Tingbi. It was easy to issue an order to chop off Xiong Tingbi's head, but it was impossible to put the head back after it had been chopped off.

Emperor Tianqi knew that although Xiong Tingbi had various problems and character flaws, he was still a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty. Especially in the military affairs of Liaodong, there was currently no one in the Ming Dynasty who could compare with Xiong Tingbi. In addition, with his outstanding military talent and vision, it would be a pity to kill him directly.

Since the three judicial departments had reached a conclusion and decided to sentence Xiong Tingbi to death, Emperor Tianqi felt relieved. There was no need to kill him immediately, so he could be locked up first, maybe he could be useful in the future.

Not only did Tianqi not kill Xiong Tingbi immediately, he also did not kill Yang Hao, the culprit of the previous Battle of Sarhu. This criminal, who had been imprisoned for several years, was also sentenced to death this time taking advantage of the Liaodong war. Like Xiong Tingbi, his sentence has not been executed for the time being and he is still being kept in prison.

As for the second point, it was due to factional strife. Emperor Tianqi knew very well who his opponent was in the court. The Donglin Party was powerful and he had to guard against it.

Xiong Tingbi was not a member of the Donglin Party. In terms of faction, he could barely be considered a member of the Chu Party, but in fact he was not a core member of the Chu Party. This time, the Chu Party did not directly argue with the Donglin Party over the issue of Xiong Tingbi. Instead, it showed an attitude of giving up.

In addition, although the three judicial departments had reached a conclusion, there were also objections within them. According to the Emperor Tianqi, Gu Dazhang, the head of the Ministry of Justice who participated in the trial, believed that Xiong Tingbi's crime did not deserve the death penalty. Speaking of Gu Dazhang, he was also a member of the Donglin Party. However, compared with other Donglin Party members, Gu Dazhang was a capable member and had always been a straightforward person.

Gu Dazhang's objection also represents the views of other people in the court. Emperor Tianqi cannot but consider it. He also thinks about the problem of party disputes and the possible changes in the situation in Liaodong in the future. There is no harm in not killing Xiong Tingbi for the time being. Anyway, he is now in prison. If he really wants to kill him, when can he not be killed?

The last point is because of the Donglin Party. Don't forget who Wang Huazhen was a disciple of? His teacher Ye Xianggao was not only the leader of the Donglin Party, but also the chief minister of the cabinet today.

There were many people in the Donglin Party who wanted to protect Wang Huazhen. If he killed one and let the other go, would Emperor Tianqi still have any face? Would he tell the world that he, the emperor, was afraid of the Donglin Party? It would be better not to kill either of them. Anyway, the conclusion of the three judicial officials did not mention when they would be executed. Tianqi simply pretended to be deaf and dumb. On the one hand, he agreed with the opinions of the three judicial officials on the disposal of the two, but on the other hand, he delayed saying when to kill them. This matter was delayed like this.

(End of this chapter)