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

Chapter 211: Commander Sun, who loves talents
Wei Zhongxian was very impressed by the Emperor Tianqi's strategy of repairing the plank road in the open while marching secretly through Chencang. He quickly handed over the matter. With the emperor's tacit approval and Eunuch Wei's intention, the eunuchs below were all smart people, so how could they not know what to do?
A few days later, the Ministry of Revenue formally made a proposal to the Cabinet, which was approved by the Emperor and the Imperial Household Department. The Cabinet also agreed to this matter considering the current financial situation. Wei Zhongxian then secretly pushed it forward, and the mining supervisors and tax supervisors from various places who were originally preparing to return to the capital stayed on this grounds, and continued to use the method of Emperor Wanli to help Emperor Tianqi get silver from the local areas.

Yuan Chonghuan was naturally unaware of the important events in the court. He was preparing to set off for Shanhaiguan with great confidence.

Before leaving Beijing, Yuan Chonghuan specially submitted a memorial to the emperor, in which he expounded his views and opinions on the Liaodong war, intending to attract the emperor's attention. But to his surprise, after submitting the memorial until the day he left Beijing, there was no response at all. Yuan Chonghuan, who had been expecting the Emperor Tianqi to encourage him or even order him to be summoned, could not help but feel a little disappointed.

However, this thought of loss was soon thrown behind his mind. After all, Yuan Chonghuan's current position was not high. Although he had been promoted, his rank was only promoted from the sixth rank to the fifth rank. In addition, he had not made any contribution, so it was normal for the emperor not to believe what was written in the memorial.

In Yuan Chonghuan's mind, he planned to do something big after going to Liaodong. When he had made contributions and his status in the emperor's heart would be higher, he would continue to submit letters to the emperor. Maybe the emperor's attitude towards him would be different by then.

With this idea in mind, Yuan Chonghuan embarked on a journey to Shanhaiguan. After several days of travel, he finally arrived at Shanhaiguan, where he met his superior, Grand Secretary Sun Chengzong.

Sun Chengzong did not notice Yuan Chonghuan's arrival at first. As the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, Sun Chengzong was in a high position and had great power. He was very different from Xiong Tingbi, Yuan Yingtai, Wang Huazhen and others. You should know that Sun Chengzong was the teacher of Emperor Tianqi, and he was of noble status and trusted by the emperor. In addition, although Sun Chengzong himself was not a member of the Donglin Party, he had a good personal relationship with several bigwigs of the Donglin Party. Moreover, he had not only entered the cabinet and become a cabinet elder, but also had the status of Minister of War and Grand Secretary. From this point of view, there were few people in the Ming Dynasty who could compare with him.

It is of great significance to have such a big man as the commander of Ji and Liao. This is also the reason why Sun Chengzong went to Liaodong not as the governor of Liaodong but as the commander of Ji and Liao.

The post of Superintendent of Ji and Liao had never existed before. Before Sun Chengzong, the highest post in Liaodong was the Liaodong Jinglüe, which was held twice by Xiong Tingbi. The so-called Liaodong Jinglüe was nominally the highest-ranking military commander in Liaodong, and also took care of some civil affairs. His status was equivalent to the previous local governor, but he had more freedom than the governor.

But although the Liaodong Governor was nominally the top leader, he was actually still subject to restrictions. Just like Xiong Tingbi, he was the Liaodong Governor, but he had no way to deal with Wang Huazhen, the Liaodong Governor. The two had constant conflicts, which eventually led to the previous dispute over the Liaodong Governor.

In order to avoid another dispute between the governor and the governor-general, Emperor Tianqi decided not to set up the post of governor in Liaodong anymore, but to replace it with the newly created post of governor of Ji-Liao. The so-called governor of Ji-Liao was a civil servant directly dispatched by the central government to supervise the military affairs of Ji, Liao, Tianjin, Deng, and Lai in the name of the emperor, and was fully responsible for the military and political affairs of these places.

In other words, the governor of Ji and Liao had great power, which was equivalent to the Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has always been a place where civil officials are valued and military officials are despised. When Wang Huazhen confronted Xiong Tingbi, in addition to the fact that Wang Huazhen had someone behind him, there was another key reason. Although Xiong Tingbi was a Jinshi, his position as the governor of Liaodong was actually a military position. It was not surprising that the governor of Liaodong, a civil servant, did not care about the governor.

But Sun Chengzong was different. He already held the top position, and now he was the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao. The power he possessed was incomparable to that of Xiong Tingbi and others. From this point of view, it was enough to show that Emperor Tianqi trusted and valued his teacher.

Although Sun Chengzong was a civil servant, he was quite talented in military affairs and was a rare outstanding talent in both military and political affairs in the Ming Dynasty. After taking office, Sun Chengzong inspected the military situation, understood the local situation, and sent people to collect information about the Later Jin Jiannu.

In terms of military situation, due to the continuous defeats in Liaodong and the fact that Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were escorted to the capital and sentenced to death, the morale of the Liaodong troops was low and pessimism was prevalent.

When Sun Chengzong took office, he did not blame the Liaodong generals too much. Instead, he called them to meet and comforted them with kind words. He told them that the problems of Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were their own problems and would not implicate anyone else. He asked the generals to lead the troops well and that he would make the decision on everything and they should not have any concerns.

With such comfort, the military officers soon dispelled their concerns. In addition, when Sun Chengzong came to Liaodong, he also brought silver specially allocated to him by his student Emperor Tianqi. With the silver, many things became much easier. Most of the arrears of military pay were paid, and food and other supplies were replenished. As a result, Sun Chengzong quickly won the recognition of the military officers and took control of the Liaodong army.

In addition, Sun Chengzong had another habit, that is, he did not like to stay in the yamen most of the time, but was used to going out for inspection wearing cloth clothes.

Whether in the local area or in the army, Sun Chengzong always dressed in ordinary clothes. He would often chat with ordinary soldiers and learn a lot of unknown information from them. In addition, Sun Chengzong was approachable, kind and polite. Many soldiers did not even know his identity during the chat. After Sun Chengzong left, they learned from other people that the old man they had just chatted with was actually Lord Sun, the governor of Ji and Liao. They could not help but feel deeply moved and felt closer to him.

Solving the Liaodong issue involves both politics and military efforts.

Sun Chengzong had already planned what to do when he arrived in Liaodong, so after arriving in Liaodong, in addition to dealing with civil affairs, he paid extra attention to military affairs.

There are precedents for him to do this in many famous generals in history, such as Wu Qi and Li Guang. Among the founding generals of the Ming Dynasty, Xu Da was very strict in military discipline and loved his soldiers like his own sons. Zhu Di, who launched the Jingnan Campaign, was also like this. He shared the joys and sorrows with his soldiers in the army and is still praised today. Sun Chengzong was well-read and had studied military affairs for many years. How could he not understand this principle? When Sun Chengzong used various means to gradually integrate the Liaodong army and began to make arrangements, he accidentally met Yuan Chonghuan during an inspection.

He never expected that Yuan Chonghuan would be just like himself, wearing ordinary cloth clothes, laughing and chatting among a group of soldiers, without any of the arrogance of other civil servants.

This discovery made Sun Chengzong pay attention to Yuan Chonghuan. At first, Sun Chengzong thought Yuan Chonghuan was trying to please him and was imitating him. But after careful investigation, he found out that Yuan Chonghuan had started to do this since he arrived at Shanhaiguan, and he spent more time interacting with the soldiers than he did, which aroused Sun Chengzong's curiosity.

Sun Chengzong specially asked Yuan Chonghuan to come over, and asked him with great interest why he did this. Yuan Chonghuan answered the question neither arrogantly nor humbly, and told Sun Chengzong that he did this to further understand the situation of the army and to inspire the morale of the soldiers, so as to prepare for the subsequent war.

Moreover, these soldiers may not look impressive, but many of them have fought in many battles and have rich combat experience. They also have a good understanding of the situation of the Later Jin Jiannu. As the military supervisor of Shanhaiguan, since I am in charge of military affairs, I naturally cannot relax in military affairs. It is of great benefit to know more about the situation, communicate more with my subordinates, and make more preparations.

Sun Chengzong was very impressed by Yuan Chonghuan's words. In his opinion, such civil servants were very rare. Although civil officials were valued over military officials in the Ming Dynasty, wars had to rely on military personnel after all. Civil servants who did not understand military affairs would suffer great losses on the battlefield. Yuan Yingtai and Wang Huazhen were precedents, not to mention Yang Hao.

As a civil servant, Yuan Chonghuan was able to achieve this, which was already better than many others. Sun Chengzong was very pleased to have such a subordinate.

During the conversation, Sun Chengzong also asked Yuan Chonghuan about his views on the situation in Liaodong. Originally, he just asked casually and did not think that Yuan Chonghuan could give a detailed answer. Even if Yuan Chonghuan could only give a general idea, Sun Chengzong would be very satisfied.

But Sun Chengzong was surprised by Yuan Chonghuan's answer to this question. He never expected that Yuan Chonghuan's judgment on the situation in Liaodong was so profound. He not only explained in detail the current strength comparison and advantages and disadvantages of the two sides in Liaodong, but also elaborated on the direction and implementation possibilities of the future Liaodong strategy.

Many of Yuan Chonghuan's suggestions and ideas coincided with those of Sun Chengzong, which surprised Sun Chengzong. He never expected that a military supervisor who had only been the head of the Ministry of War for a few months and had just taken office as the Shanhaiguan Military Supervisor would have such insights into Liaodong's military affairs. It was truly a pleasant surprise.

Sun Chengzong immediately asked Yuan Chonghuan how he thought of these things and how he judged the situation of the Later Jin Jiannu. Yuan Chonghuan did not hide it. He told Sun Chengzong that these issues were not only because he was interested in military affairs since he was young and studied them by himself, but also because he had collected and summarized the information from chatting with the soldiers these days.

In addition, Yuan Chonghuan also told Sun Chengzong that before he went to Liaodong to take up his post, he went to the prison to meet Xiong Tingbi and asked Xiong Tingbi many questions about Liaodong. Some of the information was also told to him by Xiong Tingbi, and during the consultation process, he also had a discussion with Xiong Tingbi about it, and combined with his own insights, he had these ideas now.

Upon learning of this, Sun Chengzong looked at Yuan Chonghuan with even more appreciation. Although Sun Chengzong was one of the people behind Xiong Tingbi's imprisonment and death sentence by the Three Law Courts, the reason why Sun Chengzong agreed to hold Xiong Tingbi accountable was that he was extremely dissatisfied with Xiong Tingbi for disregarding the overall situation and arbitrarily abandoning a large tract of Liaodong territory east of Shanhaiguan, and for later disobeying the order for personal grudges.

In Sun Chengzong's view, it was not excessive for Xiong Tingbi to be arrested and sentenced to death for these two issues. The same was true for Wang Huazhen. The situation in Liaodong had become what it was, and they could not escape responsibility. This was a public matter, and there was absolutely no personal conflict. Sun Chengzong did this to be completely worthy of the emperor and the court, and even more so to the people of the world and his own conscience.

But even so, Sun Chengzong still recognized Xiong Tingbi's military talent. If Xiong Tingbi had no problem with his character, he would not have fallen to this point. Although it was his own fault, Xiong Tingbi was the governor of Liaodong for two terms, and his judgment of the situation and strategic deployment in Liaodong were not bad, which Sun Chengzong always acknowledged.

Yuan Chonghuan was able to go to the prison to visit Xiong Tingbi at such a time, especially when Xiong Tingbi had become a rat crossing the street and everyone was avoiding him, and even asked him for advice on the situation in Liaodong. This alone made Sun Chengzong look up to Yuan Chonghuan.

After all, no one else in the entire Ming Dynasty did this, only Yuan Chonghuan did it, which was really not simple. In addition, Yuan Chonghuan had a similar experience to Sun Chengzong. They were both literati who liked military affairs and loved reading military books. They also had many common views on Liaodong.

During this meeting, Sun Chengzong had a particularly good impression of Yuan Chonghuan. After that, he began to keep Yuan Chonghuan by his side, often asking him for his opinions on military matters, and also entrusted many things to Yuan Chonghuan to implement.

(End of this chapter)