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

Chapter 315 Everyone Gets What They Need
Emperor Tianqi was relieved, and Wei Zhongxian was secretly happy.

Ever since Sun Yunhe recommended Yuan Chonghuan and Cui Chengxiu pointed out the real reason why Emperor Tianqi did not move against Sun Chengzong, Wei Zhongxian became concerned.

Some time ago, Wei Zhongxian sent someone to contact Yuan Chonghuan, intending to win him over. The feedback also showed that Sun Yunhe's judgment was correct. Although Yuan Chonghuan was a civil servant and was valued by Sun Chengzong, he was definitely not a member of the Donglin Party. On the contrary, facing the olive branch extended by Wei Zhongxian, Yuan Chonghuan did not resist, but showed a close attitude.

As the eunuch party gradually grew in power, the Ming court was divided into two factions. One faction was the Donglin Party, which had strong control over the court. The Donglin Party had many followers in the court, and there were Donglin party members in all key departments. Even most of the cabinet members were Donglin party members.

The other faction was the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian. Of course, the name of the eunuch party was a name given to Wei Zhongxian and others by the Donglin Party. Wei Zhongxian and others never thought of themselves as the eunuch party. In their opinion, their faction was an undoubted imperial party.

The Donglin Party united with others to attack dissidents, and relied on public opinion to stand on the moral high ground to attack other factions. In addition, the Donglin Party controlled the government, and most of the censors were also controlled by the Donglin Party. Under the attack of the Donglin Party, the other parties were unable to fight back, and were defeated one after another and suffered terribly.

In order to protect themselves, each party can only band together for warmth, but the problem is that even if they band together for warmth, they are no match for the Donglin Party. The Donglin Party has always believed in "those who obey will prosper and those who rebel will perish" in the court. If this continues, they will probably have no place to stand.

At this time, Wei Zhongxian suddenly appeared. Relying on the emperor's favor, Wei Zhongxian's power began to rise in the court. Although he was defeated in several confrontations with the Donglin Party, he was able to barely hold them off. In addition, with the support of Emperor Tianqi, the Donglin Party could do nothing to him as long as Emperor Tianqi did not nod.

The officials in the court were the smartest people in the world. Who could not have become an official and reached this position without going through many trials and tribulations? After many years of official career, one would not have achieved his current position without some foresight and ability. Facing the suppression of the powerful Donglin Party, other parties suddenly found that Wei Zhongxian was not afraid of the Donglin Party. Not only was he not afraid, he could also fight against the Donglin Party. Even if he could not defeat them for the time being, at least he could protect his own people.

Everyone knew who Wei Zhongxian represented, so naturally, all parties moved closer to Wei Zhongxian, intending to use his power to fight against the Donglin Party and protect themselves. Wei Zhongxian was also happy to see this change. In his view, anyone who was an enemy of the Donglin Party was his friend. Only by winning over people in the court and local areas who could be used by him could he strengthen his own power and fight against the Donglin Party.

As time went by, more and more people from various parties in the court defected to Wei Zhongxian. As the emperor's spokesperson, Wei Zhongxian treated these officials very well. Not only did he protect them from the persecution of the Donglin Party, but he also provided them with a political stage to display their ambitions. Even though Wei Zhongxian was a little greedy for money and liked to be flattered, to be honest, following Wei Zhongxian was much more promising than fighting alone in the court.

In this way, the court is now basically in a situation of struggle between the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party. It is absolutely impossible to stay out of such a situation. To put it in one sentence, either the east wind prevails over the west wind or the west wind prevails over the east wind. It is impossible for the centrists to keep themselves out of trouble or to please both sides.

This was true not only in the court, but also in the local areas. Although Yuan Chonghuan was in Liaodong, he was also aware of this. In Yuan Chonghuan's view, Wei Zhongxian had already shown his purpose by sending people to win him over. He had only two choices: one was to refuse, and the other was to accept.

Let's talk about refusal first. Yuan Chonghuan was not a member of the Donglin Party. In fact, he was not even a member of that party. You should know that he was just a county magistrate before coming to Liaodong. Although he passed the official assessment and attracted the attention of Hou Xun, Jiang Ricai and others from the Donglin Party and was recommended to the Ministry of War, Yuan Chonghuan did not join the Donglin Party. Moreover, he did not stay in the capital for long. After only a few months, he was sent to Liaodong as the head of the Ministry of War, where he remains today.

After arriving in Liaodong, Yuan Chonghuan had been working under Sun Chengzong. Sun Chengzong valued Yuan Chonghuan very much and took good care of and promoted him. If it were not for Sun Chengzong's cultivation, Yuan Chonghuan would not have gone to Ningyuan to preside over the war.

From this point of view, Sun Chengzong should be Yuan Chonghuan's benefactor and his benefactor. Sun Chengzong was a member of the Donglin Party, so Yuan Chonghuan should also be a member of the Donglin Party.

But in fact, this is not the case. Sun Chengzong is indeed a member of the Donglin Party, but his Donglin Party is different from other Donglin Party members. Sun Chengzong joined the Donglin Party only for the sake of political standing. He was somewhat different from others in the Donglin Party. To put it bluntly, Sun Chengzong's Donglin Party was just a Donglin Party member in name only. He was somewhat incompatible with the Donglin Party in terms of political views and other aspects.

For this reason, Sun Chengzong never planned to persuade Yuan Chonghuan to join the Donglin Party. As for Yuan Chonghuan, he was also happy to see this result. After all, there was fierce party struggle in the court. Yuan Chonghuan was a very smart man. He knew that once he joined the Donglin Party, he would inevitably be involved in the vortex of party struggle, which was not a good thing for him.

All along, Yuan Chonghuan just tried his best not to get involved in these things, intending to take advantage of the special situation in Liaodong and walk outside the two parties under the protection of Sun Chengzong. But now Wei Zhongxian suddenly asked someone to contact Yuan Chonghuan, which was equivalent to a problem for Yuan Chonghuan. Once he refused Wei Zhongxian's solicitation, Yuan Chonghuan would have no choice but to join the Donglin Party. Faced with such a choice, Yuan Chonghuan considered it carefully, and he finally chose to accept Wei Zhongxian's solicitation. The reason why Yuan Chonghuan made this choice was that, on the one hand, Liaodong was not the court, let alone the capital. The struggle between the two parties in Liaodong was not fierce. Although Sun Chengzong was a member of the Donglin Party, he didn't care who was a member of the Donglin Party and who was a member of the Eunuch Party. As long as Sun Chengzong was capable, he would use him. Sun Chengzong's magnanimity of selecting talents made the political contradictions in Liaodong relatively peaceful, and he concentrated on leading the war.

From this point of view, even if Yuan Chonghuan chose Wei Zhongxian, Sun Chengzong would not blame him too much, let alone use power to target and suppress him. On the contrary, once he chose the Donglin Party, Wei Zhongxian would not have the same tolerance as Sun Chengzong, and his days would definitely be difficult.

As for the second reason, it is the special nature of Liaodong. Because the Liaodong battlefield is the top priority of the Ming Dynasty at the moment, Emperor Tianqi attaches great importance to Liaodong. He sent his teacher Sun Chengzong as the commander-in-chief of Ji-Liao to preside over the Liaodong war situation, and handed over other affairs of Liaodong to Wei Zhongxian to supervise.

In other words, Sun Chengzong was in charge of strategy and fighting in Liaodong, while Wei Zhongxian controlled Liaodong's military supplies and military pay. One was the military supervisor, and the other was in charge of logistics. Both of them were very important in Liaodong. If Wei Zhongxian controlled the logistics supply, especially military supplies and military pay, Sun Chengzong would be useless in Liaodong.

Yuan Chonghuan, who was in charge of Ningyuan, was very clear about this. Yuan Chonghuan was an ambitious man and was unwilling to be just a commander on the front line, not to mention that he was just a "temporary" commander appointed by Sun Chengzong.

Yuan Chonghuan's greatest hope in life was to leave his name in history, to be exiled for ten thousand years, and to be a minister like Yu Qian who could turn the tide. The Liaodong battlefield was the stage for him to show his ambitions. To achieve this goal, Yuan Chonghuan not only had to climb up step by step and reach a high enough position, but also needed the support of a strong political background behind him.

At present, there is only one person who can help him do this, and that person is Emperor Tianqi. As the spokesperson of Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian can represent the will of Emperor Tianqi. Under the consideration of power and advantages and disadvantages, Yuan Chonghuan will naturally make the most appropriate choice, and thus expressed his willingness to accept Wei Zhongxian's solicitation.

After receiving Yuan Chonghuan's reply, Wei Zhongxian was naturally very happy, and he showed a kind attitude towards Yuan Chonghuan's understanding.

As early as half a month ago, Wei Zhongxian instructed his subordinates to give more support to Yuan Chonghuan, and sent a lot of supplies to Ningyuan through various departments, including heavy weapons such as red cannons, to help Yuan Chonghuan consolidate the Ningyuan defense line.

Apart from these, today Wei Zhongxian specifically mentioned Yuan Chonghuan's name in front of Emperor Tianqi, and then the victory report of the Fujian war indicated that Yuan Chonghuan was a rare talent. Emperor Tianqi also happened to have some impression of Yuan Chonghuan, and Sun Chengzong had recommended Yuan Chonghuan in the previous memorials. The two corresponded, and Emperor Tianqi vaguely understood Wei Zhongxian's thoughts.

The Emperor Tianqi understood Wei Zhongxian's plan, but he had no intention of exposing it. On the contrary, he promoted Yuan Chonghuan. Because the Emperor Tianqi was also considering the same issue, which was the Donglin Party. As a political opponent, he would not be worthy of the title of emperor until the Donglin Party collapsed. Only by completely destroying the Donglin Party and suppressing the civil service group could his imperial power be truly stable.

In order to bring down the Donglin Party, Teacher Sun was an obstacle. Although the Tianqi Emperor knew Sun Chengzong's loyalty to him and was more aware of the differences between Sun Chengzong and other Donglin Party members, in political struggles one must be lenient in many cases. As long as Sun Chengzong was in the position of the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao, it would not be easy for Wei Zhongxian to bring down the Donglin Party.

Emperor Tianqi knew clearly what was more important, but he also considered the issue of the Liaodong war in order to take down Sun Chengzong. Once Sun Chengzong was driven out of the position of the governor of Ji and Liao, who would replace him? How could he continue to implement Sun Chengzong's strategic deployment in Liaodong? If the wrong person was used, the consequences would be extremely serious.

This is also the reason why Emperor Tianqi has been hesitant, but now the appearance of Yuan Chonghuan has made Emperor Tianqi see a possibility. First, Yuan Chonghuan is a civil servant, and he is a civil servant who is both civil and military, which is the same as Sun Chengzong. Second, Yuan Chonghuan is deeply trusted and valued by Sun Chengzong, who highly respects him and even has the intention of making him his successor. Third, Yuan Chonghuan has nothing to do with the Donglin Party. From Wei Zhongxian's attitude, it can be seen that Yuan Chonghuan has surrendered to Wei Zhongxian, which is equivalent to surrendering to himself. Using this person will not bring any problems to the later resolution of the Donglin Party.

It was because of this that Emperor Tianqi saw the possibility of replacing Sun Chengzong with Yuan Chonghuan. He understood that Wei Zhongxian also thought so and that was why he recommended Yuan Chonghuan to him. Wei Zhongxian's plan was exactly what he wanted, which made him very happy. He decided to promote Yuan Chonghuan first to see if he could stand on his own in a higher position. If there was no problem, he would replace Sun Chengzong with Yuan Chonghuan when the time was right, thus completing the layout.

(End of this chapter)