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

Chapter 544: Killing the donkey

Zhu Shenzui left Luzhou Wei on the third day after Wang Hai and Qiao'er got married and took his men to the grassland first.

While he was halfway to the grassland, two major events occurred in Liaodong. These two events also affected the overall situation of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, including the situation of the Jiannu in Liaodong.

The first thing is Sun Chengzong's resignation.

Since Huang Taiji suddenly bypassed Shanhaiguan at the end of last year, broke through the Great Wall from Zunhua and Ji-Liao, and attacked the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, posing a huge threat to the capital. Emperor Chongzhen activated Sun Chengzong, the former governor of Ji-Liao, when the war was unfavorable.

Sun Chengzong was ordered to take over the command of the army to defend the emperor. Unfortunately, because of Emperor Chongzhen's attitude of both using and guarding against Sun Chengzong, Sun Chengzong's counterattack plan could not be implemented well, and was eventually forced to be implemented only halfway. Although it forced Huang Taiji to withdraw to Liaodong, it failed to effectively strike the Jiannu, and failed to rescue the hundreds of thousands of Ming people who were looted.

After the siege of the capital was lifted, Sun Chengzong took charge of Shanhaiguan and reorganized the troops to clean up the mess. However, at this time, Emperor Chongzhen appointed Qiu Hejia as the governor of Liaodong in order to divide Sun Chengzong's power. After Qiu Hejia took office, relying on his background and backing, he ignored Sun Chengzong and opposed him in everything. Anyway, he opposed everything Sun Chengzong agreed with, and supported everything Sun Chengzong opposed. Once he encountered a problem, he would directly blame others and had no responsibility at all.

Seeing the disagreement between the governor and the governor, Liaodong was once again caught in the "government dispute" as it was in the past, Sun Chengzong was worried. In addition, Emperor Chongzhen was very dissatisfied with Sun Chengzong's plan to rebuild the Liaodong defense line. He believed that Sun Chengzong's plan was nothing more than a cliché and too expensive, and the imperial finances could not support it at all, so he rejected Sun Chengzong's request.

The construction of the Dalingh River defense line could not continue and had to be suspended. Huang Taiji took this opportunity to lead his troops to attack Dalingh River. Zu Dashou, who was stationed in Dalingh River, responded hastily and defended the city to the death, while urgently asking Sun Chengzong for help.

Upon learning that Zu Dashou was besieged, Sun Chengzong prepared to send troops to rescue him. However, his rescue plan could not be fully implemented due to Qiu Hejia's repeated obstruction. In addition, after Mao Wenlong's death, the new Pi Island general Huang Long was unable to mobilize the various Pi Island troops and could not pose enough threat to the Jiannu's rear. This allowed Huang Taiji to unscrupulously besiege Dalingh and even prepared to besiege the city and attack the reinforcements.

At this time, knowing Huang Taiji's preparations, Sun Chengzong had no other choice. Dalinghe must be rescued, and Zu Dashou must also be rescued. If Dalinghe fell, the Liaodong defense line would collapse directly, and the Ningjin line defense that the Ming army had arranged for many years would be over. At that time, the Ming army would have no place to move in Liaodong and could only retreat to the Shanhaiguan line for passive defense.

Therefore, Sun Chengzong had no choice but to rescue Dalinghe without adequate preparation, but Qiu Hejia did not think so. Because Zu Dashou's attitude during the previous visit to the emperor, including his clear support for Yuan Chonghuan and his direct retreat of the Guanning Army without regard for the safety of the capital, had long made Emperor Chongzhen hate him.

Thinking that they had figured out the Emperor Chongzhen's intentions, Qiu Hejia and the people behind him did not want Zu Dashou to successfully break through, and even thought that Zu Dashou's death in the battle of Daling River might be a good thing. Once Zu Dashou died, it would allow Emperor Chongzhen to vent his anger. As for the loss of Daling River and the life and death of 20,000 Ming troops in Daling River, they thought it was a trivial matter.

Because of Qiu Hejia's hindrance and other reasons, Sun Chengzong's rescue was ultimately unsuccessful. Not only did he fail to rescue Zu Dashou, but the rescue troops were also surrounded and attacked by Huang Taiji, suffering heavy losses. Seeing that the rescue was fruitless, Sun Chengzong had no choice but to give up Dalingh River. When the news reached Dalingh River, Zu Dashou was filled with grief and indignation. He had held on to the lonely city for two and a half months. The food in the city had long been eaten up, and the soldiers were so hungry that they were gnawing on tree bark and grass roots. Moreover, the Jiannu outside the city surrounded him tightly, and Zu Dashou failed to break through the siege several times. In desperation, Zu Dashou could only open the city and surrender.

After Zu Dashou surrendered, Dalinghhe fell into the hands of Huang Taiji. However, Huang Taiji never expected that this old guy Zu Dashou was actually pretending to surrender.

Zu Dashou, who had surrendered just now, saw that the Jiannu had let down their guard, so he found an opportunity to lead his men to set fire to the Jiannu camp. Then, taking advantage of the chaos in the Jiannu camp, he escaped with his brothers and dozens of subordinates, and ran all the way back to Shanhaiguan, finally escaping from danger.

Zu Dashou managed to escape, but his 20,000 troops were lost in Daling River. Qiu Hejia and others were not willing to let Zu Dashou escape like this. Of course, they would not miss the opportunity to impeach Zu Dashou for the crime of losing his troops and losing Daling River. In addition, they also wanted to use this incident to bring down Sun Chengzong. For a time, the desk of Emperor Chongzhen was piled with impeachment memorials like snowflakes. Looking at these memorials, Emperor Chongzhen looked unhappy. He immediately issued an order to deprive Zu Dashou of his hereditary position and demoted him to remain in office to see the effect.

It was not that Emperor Chongzhen did not want to kill Zu Dashou, but he was worried that killing Zu Dashou would provoke a mutiny. It had only been a short time since Zu Dashou led the Guanning Army to retreat without authorization. As a general of Liaodong, Zu Dashou was deeply rooted in Liaodong. If he was killed at this time, it would not be a small matter to provoke a mutiny in Liaodong.

After dealing with Zu Dashou, Emperor Chongzhen also punished Sun Chengzong and severely reprimanded him. Seeing this, Sun Chengzong was even more disheartened. He had long wanted to retire. With such an emperor in power, coupled with the constraints of the court and Liaodong, Sun Chengzong was powerless even if he was capable. In this regard, Sun Chengzong submitted a memorial to Emperor Chongzhen, once again explaining that he was old and frail, and was no longer suitable to be the governor of Ji and Liao. He begged Emperor Chongzhen to let him return to his hometown to retire for his many years of service to the country. Not long after this memorial was submitted, Emperor Chongzhen agreed to Sun Chengzong's request, and Sun Chengzong resigned from the post of governor of Ji and Liao.

Soon after Sun Chengzong returned to his hometown, Emperor Chongzhen did not let this old minister go and directly got rid of him. A few days later, the imperial edict was delivered, giving Sun Chengzong a formal punishment. He was ordered to live in idleness and deprived of his hereditary position in the Jinyiwei that he had won for his meritorious service in the Battle of Ningyuan. This move made those who sympathized with Sun Chengzong very indignant, but Sun Chengzong behaved in a nonchalant manner and was not angry at all. He even told his family privately that he was lucky to get away with it this time, and now these punishments were the best outcome for the Sun family.

The second thing was the Dongjiang Town mutiny.

After Mao Wenlong's death, Yuan Chonghuan divided Dongjiang Town into four divisions in order to control it, with Mao Chenglu, Xu Fuzou, Liu Xingzuo and Chen Jisheng in charge, and deputy general Chen Jisheng temporarily in charge of Dongjiang Town. Soon after, Yuan Chonghuan changed the four divisions into two divisions, with Chen Jisheng in charge of the East Division and Liu Xingzhi in charge of the West Division, and transferred Mao Chenglu to Guanglu Island.

Then Yuan Chonghuan transferred Huang Long to Dongjiang Town and appointed Huang Long as the general of Dongjiang Town, thus completely breaking up the Dongjiang Town structure during Mao Wenlong's period in order to better control Dongjiang Town.

Yuan Chonghuan made a good calculation, and the people he appointed were also very particular. First of all, after Mao Wenlong's death, the most prestigious person in Dongjiang Town should be Mao Chenglu. As Mao Wenlong's adopted son and a general under him, he was fully qualified to control Dongjiang Town.

However, Yuan Chonghuan only let Mao Chenglu lead one brigade at the beginning, in order to eliminate Mao Wenlong's influence in Dongjiang Town and weaken Mao Chenglu's strength in Dongjiang Town. Then, Mao Chenglu was transferred to Guanglu Island, away from the center of Dongjiang Town, to further prevent Mao Wenlong's old subordinates from gathering under Mao Chenglu, thus affecting his control over Dongjiang Town.

Yuan Chonghuan then promoted Chen Jisheng and Liu Xingzhi to lead the East and West Associations respectively. The two did not get along well and had deep personal conflicts. The purpose of using these two people was obvious. Finally, Huang Long was appointed as the general of Dongjiang Town. In this way, Mao Wenlong's original layout in Dongjiang Town could be completely disrupted and Dongjiang Town could be brought under his command.

Yuan Chonghuan's method was actually not wrong. As a civil servant, he was very familiar with this set of personnel methods. If he was given more time, with Yuan Chonghuan's ability, perhaps in a few years, Dongjiang Town would be like the Guanning Army in the past and follow Yuan Chonghuan's orders.

Unfortunately, Yuan Chonghuan simply did not have so much time. Just as he had made all these arrangements, Huang Taiji entered the Great Wall and reached the capital. As the capital's defense began, Yuan Chonghuan was convicted and imprisoned. Eventually, after he was executed, Dongjiang Town became a place without foundation. Although Sun Chengzong intended to reorganize Dongjiang Town after he once again served as the commander-in-chief of Ji and Liao, the problem was that Sun Chengzong had no money, and Dongjiang Town did not have another independent figure like Mao Wenlong. The entire Dongjiang Town had been torn into pieces by Yuan Chonghuan, and there were many problems. Its combat effectiveness had plummeted, and there were many internal contradictions. Huang Long, the general of Dongjiang Town, was incompetent and could not suppress the arrogant soldiers under Mao Wenlong.

Huang Long was not incompetent, and he did a good job under Yuan Chonghuan. However, Huang Long was not a great general, let alone a commander-in-chief. He was not a problem as a deputy general, but as a commander-in-chief, he was not as capable as Mao Wenlong.

After arriving at Dongjiang Town, Huang Long made some efforts, but to no avail. Moreover, Huang Long had no ability to make money. You should know that when Mao Wenlong was in power, the military pay from the court could not support the entire Dongjiang Town. The reason why Dongjiang Town could survive until now and had such a strong fighting power, which made the Jiannu hate it, was because Mao Wenlong took advantage of the good geographical location of Dongjiang Town to earn money through trade to support the army while fighting.

But after Mao Wenlong's death, Huang Long was simply not the right material. The problem of lack of pay and food in Dongjiang Town had not been solved. Not only could Huang Long not get any money, he also embezzled military pay in private. When the news leaked, it caused strong dissatisfaction among the soldiers of Dongjiang Town. In addition, the generals of Dongjiang Town regarded Huang Long as an outsider and had never obeyed this general brought by Yuan Chonghuan. When the contradiction intensified to a certain extent, the mutiny naturally broke out.

The various tribes in Dongjiang Town could not even get enough food to eat, and their lives were no different from beggars. Especially after Mao Wenlong's death, Dongjiang Town became a place that was not loved by anyone, which was a world of difference from when Mao Wenlong was alive.

Now they heard that General Huang Long not only failed to solve the military pay and food problem of Dongjiang Town, but also engaged in rampant corruption. How could they tolerate this? Under the instigation of the generals of Dongjiang Town, Dongjiang Town finally provoked a mutiny. The angry soldiers rushed directly into General Huang Long's mansion, dragged Huang Long out of the mansion like a dead dog, broke his legs, and cut off his nose.

It was the first time in the history of the Ming Dynasty that the general of Dongjiang Town ended up like this. Although Huang Long survived in the end, he lost his nose and his prestige and status in Dongjiang Town plummeted, and he became a laughing stock of the world.

(End of this chapter)