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

Chapter 370
After the Battle of Ningyuan ended and the news reached the capital, the Ming court, which had originally had no hope of defending Ningyuan, instantly cheered. Even the news of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Juehua Island could not cover up the joy brought by the victory in the Battle of Ningyuan.

After all, this was the first victory of the Ming army and the Later Jin in a direct battle since the Battle of Sarhu. The battle was called the "Ningyuan Victory" by the court, and the Tianqi Emperor even called it "the unprecedented victory in the past seven or eight years, and it is a great honor for the frontier." Yuan Chonghuan, who was stationed in Ningyuan, also became famous because of this battle.

Just when Yuan Chonghuan was feeling complacent in Ningyuan, thinking that his contribution in defending Ningyuan was enough to allow him to succeed the Governor of Liaodong, or even replace Gao Di as the Governor of Liaodong or the Commander-in-Chief of Ji-Liao, the court's reward arrived.

Yuan Chonghuan and his generals set up the incense table to welcome the imperial edict, but when the edict was read out, Yuan Chonghuan's originally excited expression disappeared, and was replaced by anger and unwillingness.

After receiving the imperial edict, Yuan Chonghuan hosted a banquet to entertain the angel. After a while, he forced a smile and accompanied the angel, but left early on the grounds of feeling unwell.

When he returned to the mansion, Yuan Chonghuan sat there with an extremely grim expression for a long time. Suddenly, he raised his hand, grabbed a teacup beside him, and smashed it hard on the ground, cursing, "Damn it!"

The sound of breaking porcelain pieces startled the people outside, and they hurried in to see what was going on. But before they could even step into the door, Yuan Chonghuan's curses were heard again, and his followers were so scared that they quickly shrank back, closed the door, and hid far away.

"Fuck that! I'm so pissed off!"

Yuan Chonghuan kept swearing and did not look like an official of the imperial court at all, let alone a scholar. If you didn't know him, you would think he was a street thug.

After smashing several teacups and cursing for a full quarter of an hour, Yuan Chonghuan sat back down angrily.

He never expected that he had finally managed to defend Ningyuan and achieved such great merit. He originally thought that the position of Governor of Liaodong would be a sure thing, but the court did not give him the position. Instead, it rewarded him with the title of Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate.

The Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate is a fourth-rank official position, not to mention an additional title. I have made such great contributions, but I was only given such an additional title. Isn't this fooling myself?

You have to know that Yuan Chonghuan was now the Military Preparations Commissioner, an official position of the fourth rank. That is to say, he took such a risk, fought a tough battle, and made such a great contribution, but he was not promoted. Instead, he was only given an additional title of the same rank. Isn't this bullying?
The more I think about it, the angrier I get!
Yuan Chonghuan originally thought that this time the position of Governor of Liaodong was a sure thing, not to mention that Wei Zhongxian had promised him before. However, the reality gave him a heavy blow, making Yuan Chonghuan so angry that he almost vomited blood.

Right Censor of the Censorate? Damn it! Isn't this insulting? Who wants this? Are you making a fool of yourself? Is it possible that I have the word "idiot" on my forehead?
Yuan Chonghuan, who was frustrated and angry, wrote to the court the next day, saying that he was in poor health and lacked personal talents, and could no longer hold his current position, let alone the important task of garrisoning Ningyuan. He hoped that the court would allow him to resign and rest for his merits, and then serve the court again after he recovered.

After writing the memorial, Yuan Chonghuan asked someone to send it to the capital urgently. He then handed over all the work at hand to his subordinates. Yuan Chonghuan himself stayed at home on the pretext of recuperating from illness and simply gave up the job.

"This bastard is blaming me." The memorial was sent to the capital and soon reached Wei Zhongxian's hands. When Wei Zhongxian heard someone read Yuan Chonghuan's memorial, he immediately laughed and cursed out loud.

"Lord Wei, Yuan Chonghuan made a great contribution to the Ningyuan victory. It is indeed a bit too much to give him only the title of Right Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate for this military achievement. It is normal for young people to be arrogant and have some emotions." Gu Bingqian said with a smile.

Gu Bingqian is now the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. During the Wanli Dynasty, Gu Bingqian was the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. After Emperor Tianqi ascended the throne, Gu Bingqian first served as the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, and was later promoted to Minister of Rites.

Gu Bingqian was also considered a veteran in the court. He was about ten years older than Wei Zhongxian. After Tianqi ascended the throne, Gu Bingqian quickly saw Wei Zhongxian's rising power and took the initiative to move closer to Wei Zhongxian.

Because of his age and high official position, he did not worship Wei Zhongxian as his godfather like Tian Ergeng and others. However, Gu Bingqian was thick-skinned enough. He went directly to Wei Zhongxian and said that although he could not follow the example of Tian Ergeng and others, he could let his son worship Wei Zhongxian as his godfather. In this way, starting from Gu Bingqian's son, Wei Zhongxian became Gu Bingqian's elder, which could be regarded as a roundabout way to save the country.

With this relationship, Gu Bingqian quickly became the backbone of Wei Zhongxian's eunuch party. Later, Gu Bingqian played a key role in dealing with Yang Lian and others, which made Wei Zhongxian value him even more.

After Ye Xianggao resigned, the Prime Minister was replaced by the Second Prime Minister Han Yu, but Han Yu was replaced by Zhu Guozhen not long after taking office. Then Wei Zhongxian quickly got rid of Zhu Guozhen and directly let Gu Bingqian, who was originally ranked fourth in the cabinet, take the position of Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty was second only to the emperor and above all others. Although he was not the prime minister, he was almost the same as the prime minister. Zhang Juzheng was even more powerful in those days. He could beat or scold the emperor at will. He was a regent but not a prime minister, which was enough to prove the status and power of the Prime Minister. But now the cabinet has fallen into the hands of Wei Zhongxian. The Prime Minister Gu Bingqian is actually Wei Zhongxian's godson. The Prime Minister of the Cabinet actually obeyed the orders of a eunuch. This is also a strange thing that has never happened since the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

This memorial from Yuan Chonghuan was sent to Wei Zhongxian by Gu Bingqian. It can be said that the evaluation of Yuan Chonghuan's merits was entirely Wei Zhongxian's idea.

In fact, Gu Bingqian himself felt that Wei Zhongxian's arrangement was inappropriate. After all, Yuan Chonghuan had just made a great contribution. The Ningyuan Victory was the first time that the Ming army defeated the Later Jin army on the frontal battlefield since the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty. Moreover, this great victory not only made the whole court happy and encouraged, but also made the Emperor Tianqi very happy. He even said, "This has never happened in the past seven or eight years. It is enough to make the frontier proud."

With such an evaluation, it was logical to promote Yuan Chonghuan and let him take over as the governor of Liaodong. Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan was also one of them, and had long since surrendered to Wei Zhongxian. In addition, with Wei Zhongxian's previous promise, wasn't it time to fulfill it?

But no one expected that Wei Zhongxian not only failed to fulfill his promise, but also deliberately suppressed Yuan Chonghuan's contribution, and only gave him a fourth-rank rank for such a great achievement. In this way, it was normal for Yuan Chonghuan to be upset. If this happened to other people, they would probably be dissatisfied and resentful.

"What? Do you think this is too much?" Wei Zhongxian asked back after listening to Gu Bingqian's words.

"Lord Wei has his reasons for making such arrangements, but I am stupid and may not have understood Lord Wei's deeper meaning." Gu Bingqian quickly changed his words and said with an apologetic smile.

"Humph!" Wei Zhongxian snorted coldly, "Although Yuan Chonghuan made contributions in the Battle of Ningyuan, he also made great mistakes. Since Yuan Chonghuan was able to set up defenses in Ningyuan in advance, why didn't he consider the defense of Juehua Island in advance? You should know that Juehua Island is only thirty miles away from Ningyuan, and it only takes an hour for a fast horse to travel between the two places. If Yuan Chonghuan had considered the safety of Juehua Island earlier and made preparations in advance, how could the later incidents have happened?"

"In the battle of Juehua Island, the Ming Dynasty suffered heavy losses. More than 10,000 soldiers and civilians on the island were massacred by the Later Jin Jiannu, and all the food and supplies were lost. Although Yuan Chonghuan was not the commander of Juehua Island in this battle, he was closely related to him, and he must have some responsibility."

"Compared with the disastrous defeat at Juehua Island, the Ningyuan victory was just a balance of merits and demerits, or the merits slightly outweighed the demerits. The court did not hold Yuan Chonghuan responsible, but instead gave him the title of Right Censor-in-Chief. But Yuan Chonghuan not only did not reflect on his mistakes, but felt that the credit was too little, and even wrote such a rubbish to the court? What did he want to do?"

Reaching out his hand and tapping Yuan Chonghuan's memorial, Wei Zhongxian said unhappily, "You are so proud of your achievements that you are using them to threaten the court? Could it be that the Ming Dynasty would perish without Yuan Chonghuan alone?"

"The Ming Dynasty has been established for more than 200 years, and there are many talented people and capable ministers and generals. One more Yuan Chonghuan would not make much difference, and one less Yuan Chonghuan would not make much difference. If Yuan Chonghuan was really loyal to the court, regardless of personal gains and losses, and put the overall situation first, he would naturally not do such a thing. Now that he has made such a move, it is really disappointing to our family. This person is not worth using."

Gu Bingqian nodded repeatedly and said to Wei Zhongxian, "Yuan Chonghuan is too narrow-minded. He is indeed a bit unbearable. Now he is threatening the court with resignation. This is not the behavior of a gentleman. In my opinion, should I write a letter in the name of the cabinet to reprimand Yuan Chonghuan?"

"No need!" Wei Zhongxian waved his hand and said, "A small military governor is so arrogant. It is really inappropriate for the cabinet to intervene."

"Then let the Ministry of War..." Gu Bingqian continued to ask.

Wei Zhongxian still shook his head: "Don't worry about this matter, just leave it aside for now. After all, Yuan Chonghuan still has some talent. If he can wake up in time, he can still be used. If he insists on going down this path, then you can't blame others. When the time comes, just let him go back home."

"I understand." Gu Bingqian immediately showed an expression of sudden enlightenment and nodded repeatedly.

After Wei Zhongxian and Gu Bingqian finished explaining the matter of Yuan Chonghuan, they never mentioned Yuan Chonghuan again. Instead, they discussed other matters with him. After the discussion, Gu Bingqian got up to say goodbye and returned to the cabinet. After Gu Bingqian left, Wei Zhongxian's eyes once again fell on Yuan Chonghuan's memorial placed aside, and he sneered in his heart.

It was not until today that Wei Zhongxian finally understood why Emperor Tianqi looked down on Yuan Chonghuan. As a minister, although Yuan Chonghuan had some talents, his shortcomings were too obvious. He was impulsive, ambitious, and more importantly, too keen on power. He also often could not figure out his position. These were Yuan Chonghuan's problems.

In fact, Wei Zhongxian did not directly promote Yuan Chonghuan this time because of deliberate intention. His purpose was to see Yuan Chonghuan's reaction. But now Yuan Chonghuan's reaction made him very disappointed, and he was more convinced of Emperor Tianqi's evaluation of Yuan Chonghuan. However, Wei Zhongxian still gave Yuan Chonghuan a chance to make amends in his heart. It depended on what Yuan Chonghuan would do next. If he still didn't know what was good for him and admitted his mistakes and corrected them, then Wei Zhongxian would have to give up the candidate he had chosen with great difficulty.

(End of this chapter)