Late Ming Dynasty: So what if Emperor Chongzhen was inactive?!

Chapter 201 Could Yuan Chonghuan really be a spy sent by the Jurchens?!
But Zheng Hongkui still died. Zheng Zhilong dared not take responsibility. When questioned by Yuan Chonghuan, he insisted that the pirates had nothing to do with him. He, Zheng Zhilong, was a loyal subject of the Ming Dynasty, law-abiding, and would never attack friendly forces.

Yuan Chonghuan was not a good-tempered man. Seeing Zheng Zhilong acting like a rogue, he didn't waste any more words and directly pushed Zheng Hongkui to the West Market and beheaded him! This caused a huge mess. The Fujian governor, Xiong Wencan, went to argue with Yuan Chonghuan and the two almost came to blows.

Yuan Chonghuan said, "You, a mere governor, dare to defy your superior?"

Xiong Wencan retorted, "You, Yuan Chonghuan, are merely the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi. What right do you have to interfere in our Fujian affairs!"

After the argument, both sides submitted memorials impeaching each other! They were really arguing so fiercely that they even wanted to kill each other.

In fact, the seeds of trouble had already been sown: Yuan Chonghuan offended many people. Besides his arrogant personality, there was also his unreliable seniority. He went to the border alone and rose rapidly from county magistrate to a second-rank official before he was even in his forties. How could other officials who had worked hard to gain seniority think about this?
Moreover, he acts so recklessly, showing no regard for others' feelings. If things always go smoothly for him, others may be helpless against him, but as soon as he makes a mistake, countless people will come to kick him while he's down; everyone wants him dead!
Chen Jisheng, as the militant of the trio, naturally became the target of the other two's attempts to win him over. The consequence of their mutual accusations was that the court didn't believe either of them; at this point, the third person's account became the key to determining the outcome.

Chen Jisheng's relationship with Yuan Chonghuan was not good. When Yuan Chonghuan was in charge of Liaodong, he had good relations with most of the Liaodong generals, except for Mao Wenlong's troops. Although there was no direct conflict between the two sides at that time, Mao Wenlong was always excluded from Yuan Chonghuan's clique.

During Sun Chengzong's time, Mao Wenlong's troops were highly valued and received a lot of supplies from the imperial court. However, during Yuan Chonghuan's time, their Dongjiang Town was neglected and nearly starved to death on the island. They had no choice but to go ashore to ask Korea for some land to farm. As a result, they were not able to retreat in time and were slaughtered by Amin and his men!

He should have sided with Xiong Wencan and kicked Yuan Chonghuan when he was down, but in the end he chose to remain neutral, or rather, to kick both of them while they were down.

He first submitted a report of a great victory. In the report, he wrote extensively about his victory, saying that he remained calm in the face of a surprise attack, led his army into the enemy's formation, captured the enemy's flagship from the siege of hundreds of ships, and then personally took up arms to defeat and capture the enemy general.

Upon seeing this, the remaining enemy cried out, "General, you are incredibly brave! How could we possibly be a match for such a man?!" and surrendered without a second thought!

In short, he wrote a battle report of over ten thousand words, so long that it could be performed on stage. No wonder he was a soldier trained by Mao Wenlong, having truly inherited his skills!
But he seemed to have forgotten something: among Zhu Youjian's harem was the gentle and frail Consort Shen. Several of Consort Shen's sons, including her own father, were in the army. How could his little tricks possibly fool the emperor?

In fact, Zhu Youjian never actually assigned Shen Shouyue and others to monitor Chen Jisheng. Their titles as Imperial Guards were bestowed upon them by Shen Yourong, and their true target of surveillance was Yuan Chonghuan. Zhu Youjian did not trust Yuan Chonghuan at all, as evidenced by both his "abstract" position as Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and the two partners he assigned to him.

Unexpectedly, instead of finding Yuan Chonghuan guilty of violating laws and regulations, they confirmed that Chen Jisheng had lied about military intelligence! In Shen Shouyue's memorial, they claimed that their more than 300 ships attacked Zheng's 200 ships, and that 50 ships were sunk, while the enemy lost less than 30 ships; and the claim of "breaking into the enemy's formation" was completely fabricated. It was indeed a battle between the flagships of both sides, but unfortunately, it was the government troops who were broken into!
The Shen family members also had ulterior motives. They had a family tradition and looked down on Chen Jisheng, who was a "wildcat".

In their view, Chen Jisheng was completely ignorant of naval warfare. He had only managed to sit in this position by deceiving the emperor. If they were in command, they wouldn't have been ambushed by a group of pirates, let alone have their formation broken through! They wanted to revive their fathers' glory, and stepping on Chen Jisheng to rise to power was a good choice.

When Zhu Youjian saw the reports from the southeast, he was truly troubled. This trio had completely fallen apart, perfectly embodying the word "hindrance." He couldn't afford to compromise or assign blame to both sides. The problems were only just beginning to surface; if these three remained together, trouble was inevitable!
Yuan Chonghuan did not commit any crimes or break the law, but he executed the pirate leader. No one could say anything against him. He was so "righteous" that even the emperor's mother would have to reward him with a cloak. But this was more "difficult" than committing a crime. He didn't care about politics at all. Why did you provoke Zheng Zhilong?

Zheng Zhilong was a bastard. He bullied Yu Zigao and almost killed him. If the emperor hadn't "changed his body and soul" and Yu Zigao had actually been beheaded by the court in the original history, there would be no Lord Yu now.

Now he wants to use the same old trick again, to kill Yuan Chonghuan and the others, or at least take them away! A thief is a thief, this "bastard son of a Japanese father" has no shame at all, and can never be tamed!
Alas, things have come to this point; anger won't change anything. We still need to find a solution. Zheng Zhilong didn't immediately defect, which means there's still room for negotiation, but how to negotiate is extremely difficult to gauge. If Yuan Chonghuan were arrested and executed by slow slicing simply because he beheaded a pirate leader, the entire southeast would be infested with pirates, and the morale of the other soldiers would be completely shattered!
Xiong Wencan is a bastard. He was originally sent to offer amnesty to Zheng Zhilong, but as a "public relations talent," he had no shame and actually brought this matter, which should have been resolved quietly behind closed doors, to the imperial court. The matter suddenly escalated and its nature completely changed! He put the imperial court and Zheng Zhilong in the fire for his own selfish reasons!
Listen to this! The General of Dongfan sent troops to attack the General of Fujian, and the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi beheaded Zheng Hongkui, the General of Dongfan's younger brother and a commander of a thousand households in the Ming Dynasty, in front of the entire city of Fuzhou? What an international joke! If Huang Taiji knew about this, wouldn't he laugh himself to death?!
Zhu Youjian truly hated Yuan Chonghuan. If he remembered correctly, Zheng Hongkui and Zheng Zhilong were not on the same side at all! Zheng Zhilong was extremely weak-willed, while Zheng Hongkui was inflexible. After Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing, Zheng Hongkui immediately turned against him and chose to flee with his nephew Zheng Chenggong to join forces against the Qing.

Zhu Youjian's standard for distinguishing good from bad was simple: whether you were a loyal subject of the Ming Dynasty was unimportant; as long as you fought the Manchus, everyone was a good friend, and you were a hero! And yet, this man was beheaded by Yuan Chonghuan?! Could Yuan Chonghuan really be a spy sent by the Jurchens?!
(End of this chapter)