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

Chapter 561 Promotion
The Leiden incident lasted for more than two months before it was over. With Kong Youde and others being escorted to the capital, the farce also came to an end.

Emperor Chongzhen quickly decided on the punishment for Kong Youde, Li Jiuchen and his son, and others, including their subordinates, a total of seven people, who were sentenced to death as the main culprits of the rebellion and were subsequently executed in Xishi.

Liu Yulie and Wang Daochun deceived the court, stripped of their official positions, and sent to exile. Yu Dacheng, the former governor of Shandong, failed to govern the local area effectively, which led to a rebellion by Kong Youde's troops. He was demoted and sent to Nanjing to sit on the bench for the six ministries. Song Guanglan, the provincial judge of Shandong, and Wang Zheng, the assistant provincial judge of Shandong, were both stripped of their positions.

In addition, the local officials and Shandong generals in Linyi, Lingxian, Shanghe, and Qingcheng who were captured by Kong Youde after his rebellion were also dealt with, either imprisoned, dismissed, or demoted. As for Wang Xiangchun's Wang family, they did not get any good treatment either. Emperor Chongzhen also understood the reason for Kong Youde's rebellion. If Wang Xiangchun's housekeeper and eldest son had not pushed him too far, Kong Youde would not have started a rebellion.

After learning of this, Emperor Chongzhen was extremely angry with Wang Xiangchun. Wang Xiangchun actually forced Kong Youde's Liao army to rebel just for a mere chicken. Thinking of the past mutiny of the Shanxi army to support the emperor, Emperor Chongzhen became even angrier. If a similar situation happened again in the future, wouldn't this force the Ming army to rebel?
In order to kill the chicken to scare the monkey, Emperor Chongzhen planned to punish Wang Xiangchun severely. He originally planned to put the blame on Wang Xiangchun for forcing Kong Youde to rebel. However, Wang Xiangchun was a backbone of the Donglin Party after all, and was a celebrity who was listed in the Donglin Generals Record. Many people in the court interceded for Wang Xiangchun and explained that when Kong Youde rebelled, Wang Xiangchun was not in his hometown of Shandong, but in Nanjing, and he knew nothing about the affairs of Shandong.

What the Wang family did was not Wang Xiangchun's original intention. It was merely the private behavior of Wang Xiangchun's eldest son and family servants. Although Wang Xiangchun had faults, they were only due to his failure to manage his family properly. Kong Youde's rebellion could not be directly linked to him, so there was no reason to kill Wang Xiangchun. I hope Emperor Chongzhen will understand this clearly.

In view of everyone's pleas, which made some sense, Emperor Chongzhen did not execute Wang Xiangchun in the end. He only dismissed him from his official position and sent him back to his hometown to retire.

As for the issue of Sun Yuanhua, Emperor Chongzhen let him go in the end because Xu Xiancheng, including the Prime Minister Zhou Yanru and Xu Guangqi, pleaded for him, and the measures Sun Yuanhua took to quell the rebellion after the rebellion were also correct.

Although Sun Yuanhua was not imprisoned or severely punished, he lost his position as governor. Except for his official title, Sun Yuanhua was almost completely dismissed.

This result was somewhat cruel, but Sun Yuanhua had no complaints at all. Instead, he was secretly relieved. It was rare for Emperor Chongzhen to be so merciful. If it were not for Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin, he, Sun Yuanhua, might have been in danger of life or death this time.

Since there is a punishment, there is a reward. Xu Xiancheng made great contributions in suppressing the rebellion, and Li Xin, as the head of the Ministry of War, also made great contributions by personally going to the battlefield.

Emperor Chongzhen has just dealt with a large number of people, especially now that the Governor of Shandong and the Governor of Leiden are gone, so naturally he needs to send someone else to take charge of Shandong and Leiden.

Taking into account the contributions of Xu Xiancheng and others, Emperor Chongzhen directly ordered Xu Xiancheng to serve as the Governor of Shandong and the Governor of Leiden. This position was equivalent to returning to the practice of separating Leiden from Shandong during the Tianqi period, and re-merging the military and political power of the two places.

Now the posts of Shandong Governor and Leiden Governor were combined again, and Xu Xiancheng was appointed as the governor. Li Xin also made great contributions, and was transferred from the head of the Ministry of War to the Shandong Military Preparations, stationed in Leiden. In addition, Zhang Keda, the general of Leiden, was awarded the title of Right Commander of the Five Military Commandery for his meritorious service in suppressing the rebellion.

When the imperial edict was delivered to Dengzhou, everyone was overjoyed.

Xu Xiancheng brought people to welcome the angel and received the imperial edict. After settling the angel, Xu Xiancheng, Sun Yuanhua, Li Xin and Zhang Keda returned to the second hall to congratulate each other.

"So, the matter is completely settled. I, Sun Yuanhua, can have this result thanks to your help. I am grateful from the bottom of my heart." Although Sun Yuanhua lost his official position, he was not depressed at all. He was very happy about the promotion of Xu Xiancheng and others. After all, Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin were both his good friends, and Zhang Keda was also his partner. They all had a good relationship. Moreover, if it hadn't been for their help this time, his life or death would have been in danger.

"I'm sorry, Brother Chuyang." Although Zhang Keda was still a general, he had the title of Right Commander, and had been promoted to the first rank, almost the same as Mao Wenlong. Although promotion was a happy thing, he felt it was a pity to dismiss Sun Yuanhua. In his opinion, although Sun Yuanhua had caused the rebellion because of improper use of people and over-trust in people, and almost lost Leiden, Sun Yuanhua was a rare civil servant who understood military affairs among the Ming officials. He was also proficient in firearms and was not as arrogant to military generals as civil servants. It was really a pity that he ended up like this.

"There's nothing to feel wronged about. This result is pretty good." Sun Yuanhua said with a smile.

"I wonder what plans Brother Chuyang has for the future?" Li Xin asked. Sun Yuanhua thought for a moment and said, "I plan to go to Nanjing to visit some old friends first, and then go back to my hometown in Suzhou Prefecture. Maybe I'll go to the south after some time. I've been in the capital for many years, then went to Liaodong, and then to Leiden. I've been so busy that I haven't been back home for many years. Losing my job now is not a bad thing. I'll have more time to study and research in the future, which is also a good thing."

"Brother Chuyang is wasting his skills!" Li Xin couldn't help but said, "Brother Chuyang is a great talent, we all know that. Now the country is facing internal and external troubles, and we need talents like Brother Chuyang. It's good for Brother Chuyang to retire to his hometown and concentrate on studying, but it's of no benefit to the country. Why don't you continue to stay in Leiden?"

"Stay in Leiden?" Sun Yuanhua was stunned. He had been dismissed from office and now he had no position except his official title. What's more, Xu Xiancheng was already the governor of Shandong and Leiden. Why would he, the former governor, stay in Leiden?
"Yes!" Li Xin nodded and said, "Brother Chuyang just heard the imperial decree. The imperial court intends to merge Shandong and Leiden into one, and has ordered me to be the military governor of Shandong and stationed in Leiden."

"I think I'm not bad, but I'm not as good as Brother Chuyang. Besides, Brother Chuyang didn't do anything wrong except trusting others when he got rid of the Liao general when Leiden was in power. Anyway, Brother Chuyang won't have any big things to do when he returns to Suzhou Prefecture, so why not stay and help me? Besides, Brother Xu and General Zhang are not strangers to Brother Chuyang, so why rush back home?"

"Brother Li is right." Xu Xiancheng took over the conversation and said, "We all know Brother Chuyang's talent. Although the court is investigating this crime, it does not damage Brother Chuyang's reputation. For the sake of the country and the military and civilians of Shandong, please stay in Leiden for a while to help us."

"Yes, Lord Sun, I think so too. Wouldn't it be a pity if you went back? You might as well stay. We are all family here anyway, and this will be a help to everyone." Zhang Keda also advised.

After everyone's persuasion, Sun Yuanhua was somewhat moved. Although Sun Yuanhua had no objection to the court's handling, it was impossible to say that he had no disappointment in his heart. A dignified governor was demoted to the lowest position, and only retained his official position. Decades of hard work were destroyed in an instant. How could Sun Yuanhua not have any thoughts?
In addition, Xu Xiancheng and his colleagues were his good friends and colleagues, and it was because of them that they defeated the rebels and defended Leiden. If it were not for this reason, according to Sun Yuanhua's previous preparations, Leiden might have fallen into the hands of Liao generals such as Kong Youde, and he would have become a prisoner or even died in defeat.

From this point of view, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a life-saving grace. Now they persuaded him to stay and help, and Sun Yuanhua was embarrassed to refuse no matter how emotionally or rationally. In addition, he had another idea in his mind, that is, he would get up from where he fell. If he really returned to his hometown in Suzhou, his life would probably be like this. But if he stayed to assist Xu Xiancheng and Li Xin, he might have the possibility of revival one day.

Thinking of this, Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but be tempted. Xu Xiancheng saw the change in his expression and immediately understood Sun Yuanhua's plan. He struck while the iron was hot and finalized the matter.

Finally, Sun Yuanhua did not reject Xu Xiancheng's kindness and agreed to stay in Leiden. Although he had lost his official position, Xu Xiancheng could not find another one for Sun Yuanhua. After all, court positions could not be granted privately. However, it was no problem for Sun Yuanhua to act as a counselor in the name of the governor of Shandong and the governor of Leiden. In this way, Sun Yuanhua became Xu Xiancheng's counselor and continued to stay in Leiden. Except for military affairs, which were managed by Li Xin, civil affairs were still managed by Sun Yuanhua.

After solving these problems, the next thing Xu Xiancheng had to deal with was the Liao generals such as Geng Zhongming and Zhang Tao. At present, the rebel generals such as Kong Youde had been executed, but the problem of Geng Zhongming and others had not been solved. Although Xu Xiancheng suspected that Geng Zhongming and others would collude with Kong Youde, especially in the previous battle to suppress the rebellion, Kong Youde also wrote a letter to Zhang Tao privately, asking Zhang Tao to cooperate with Kong Youde to attack Zhang Keda, and threatened to contact Geng Zhongming after reaching Dengzhou City to open the city gate and take Dengzhou.

But even if this is the case, a letter from Kong Youde alone cannot prove that Geng Zhongming and Zhang Tao had the intention of rebellion, not to mention that they did not even see the letter at the time, let alone know that this incident had happened.

Under such circumstances, it was simply untenable to implicate Geng Zhongming and others in the rebellion. Even if Xu Xiancheng was worried about them, he had no actual evidence to deal with them.

What's more, Xu Xiancheng had submitted a memorial to the court expressing his thoughts on this matter, but Emperor Chongzhen did not give a clear answer, but just let Xu Xiancheng handle it on his own.

What else could he do? He couldn't just kill Geng Zhongming and the others, could he? Not to mention that they were either lieutenant generals or guerrilla generals, and the lowest rank was a thousand households. Killing people without any evidence would have a very bad impact. Moreover, there were many Liao soldiers and Liao people in Leiden. Once Geng Zhongming and the others were killed, it would provoke military turmoil and civil unrest. The rebellion that had just been quelled might start again. Xu Xiancheng didn't want to see this happen.

Now these people are still imprisoned in Dengzhou City. He has no good idea how to deal with Xu Xiancheng for the time being. He can only continue to write to Emperor Chongzhen, suggesting that Geng Zhongming and other Liao generals be disbanded and arranged to other places. In addition, he also suggested that the hundreds of thousands of Liao people in Leiden be settled in various places in the capital to make up for the population loss caused by the previous Ji Si Rebellion.

(End of this chapter)