Chapter 71: Two Deceivers
Chapter 71: Two Deceivers
Shenyang.
Li Ruzhen looked at the secret letter in his hand with a changeable expression.
It was written to him by Xu Xianchun.
Li Ruzhen had stayed in the Capital City for nearly forty years, and he had once held the highest position of Right Commander-in-Chief in charge of the Imperial Guard’s Northern Judicial Bureau. Naturally, he had connections with noble-born officials like Xu Xianchun, so it was normal for the latter to write to him. However, the content of this letter…
“Commander-in-Chief Li, there are no outsiders here. Myself, Brother Chen, and Assistant Commissioner Xu are close friends. I will speak frankly. The Minister of War, Huang Jiashan, is determined to put you to death this time. I must say, Commander-in-Chief, you were too impulsive. Why insist on fighting for that bit of pride? In the Great Ming, civil officials have long been valued over military officers. Those civil officials are not afraid of Jiannu rebellions, nor do they care about victories or defeats on the front lines. What they care about is that military officers must not rise above their station; they must obey the civil officials. This time, it’s not just you. Previously, the central army officer Xu Yingzhao of the Ji Garrison was dismissed by the Ministry of War simply for speaking improperly in front of Wang Keshou. He merely expressed some dissatisfaction, while you openly challenged them.
Huang Jiashan originally recommended you.
But now, because of your actions, he must do something to avoid criticism from the civil officials.
Assistant Commissioner Xu overheard Huang Jiashan secretly memorializing to His Majesty during his duty shift. He blamed the rebellion of Wild Boar Skin on the Li Family raising the enemy to show their own importance, saying that without your father and the Earl of Ningyuan’s indulgence, how could Wild Boar Skin have grown so powerful? It was the Li Family playing with the enemy, intentionally supporting Wild Boar Skin to demonstrate the Li Family’s importance in Liaodong, which ultimately led to this disaster. He even claimed that the defeat at Sarhu was because Xiao Cheng colluded with the Jiannu and deliberately lost. He wanted His Majesty to take this opportunity to eradicate the Li Family completely.
His Majesty naturally would not listen to him.
His Majesty still remembers the contributions of the Earl of Ningyuan.
But your elder brother’s defeat at Sarhu and your abandoning of Tieling have deeply disappointed His Majesty. Even the Imperial Eldest Grandson expressed dissatisfaction with your elder brother during casual conversation. At such a time, if those civil officials seize the chance to influence His Majesty, who knows what might happen? You have served as a guard for forty years; you surely know His Majesty has always been unable to effectively control these civil officials.”
Yang Xin said.
This letter was, of course, forged.
But the envelope was real, even stamped with Xu Xianchun’s personal seal. However, the letter inside was forged by Chen Yujie, imitating Xu Xianchun’s handwriting, telling Li Ruzhen that the Minister of War, Huang Jiashan, was planning to make an example of him due to the previous dispute over etiquette with Wang Keshou, aiming to quash any attempts by military officers to rise up and make them abandon such hopes. Additionally, it was to find a scapegoat for the defeat at Sarhu. After all, of the four generals who participated in the battle, three were now dead, and only his elder brother Li Rubai survived, so naturally, all the blame would be placed on him. Moreover, the Li Family had dominated Liaodong for decades. His elder brother Li Rusong had several times led the entire army as a military officer, so the civil officials had long wanted to eliminate the Li Family. Now, with Li Rubai’s defeat at Sarhu and his own open challenge to the unspoken rule of civil officials controlling the military, the civil officials were certain to act.
If he could achieve a brilliant victory upon coming to Liaodong, it might be different. But he lost Tieling as soon as he arrived. How could Wanli continue to protect him?
None of this could be considered false. Li Ruzhen’s dispute over etiquette with Wang Keshou at Shanhai Pass had already angered the civil officials. The more such incidents occurred, the more vigilant the civil officials became about military officers trying to seize power. What the Li Family had done in Liaodong was well known to them, and it was a fact that the civil officials wanted to entirely blame the rise of Wild Boar Skin on the Li Family. Wanli indeed wanted to protect them, but Wanli could not withstand the censors. Li Ruzhen knew this better than Yang Xin. One could say all these were facts, and Li Ruzhen himself was aware of them. The secret letter from Xu Xianchun just made it more concrete.
Forging handwriting was nothing remarkable.
Even if Li Ruzhen had connections with Xu Xianchun, he was not familiar enough with his handwriting to distinguish authenticity.
What mattered was that it was all true.
“Elder Brother!”
Li Ruzhen silently handed the letter to his brother.
Li Rubai had already been dismissed from his post and would soon be summoned to the Capital City for investigation. However, according to history, he could not bear the pressure from the civil officials and committed suicide.
“They really want to destroy our Li Family!”
Li Rubai sighed.
“There might be a way. Ultimately, His Majesty still favors the Li Family. It’s just that the Li Family’s performance in these two battles has disappointed him greatly. His Majesty sent you to deal with Wild Boar Skin because he believes in the Li Family. But considering your performance… regardless of who is responsible, Sarhu was ultimately a crushing defeat, and Tieling was ultimately lost. That is the fact. Even if His Majesty still wants to protect the Li Family, how can he face the censors?
The only way is for the two of you to give His Majesty a victory.
To let His Majesty know the Li Family is still useful.
The Li Family can still defeat enemies for His Majesty.
As long as His Majesty still believes in the Li Family and can use this victory to silence the Censors, then the Li Family can at least avoid life-threatening danger. After all, the Li Family fights on the battlefield for His Majesty. As long as the Li Family can still fight, His Majesty will not abandon you.
I believe both of you understand this reasoning.”
Chen Yujie said.
He spoke very directly. Wanli trusted and protected the Li Family because they were useful. But one of you was defeated at Sarhu, and the other lost Tieling. It could be said you are no longer useful. If you are no longer useful, why would Wanli protect you? If you want Wanli to protect you and contend with the civil officials on your behalf, first you must prove you are still useful, that you still have value worth protecting.
“For example.”
Yang Xin looked at the Li brothers and said, “Counterattack Tieling!”
Later rumors that Li Rubai deliberately lost Sarhu were certainly wrong, because afterwards the Li Family gained no benefits. Li Rubai committed suicide, Li Rubai was imprisoned for over a decade, only released in the fourth year of Chongzhen. The Li Family had declined completely.
Their failure was likely purely due to incompetence.
“That would be like committing suicide!”
Li Rubai shook his head and said.
“If it were only us, it would indeed be impossible to recapture Tieling. But with Chahua, it might not be.”
Yang Xin said.
“Chahua has a grudge against our Li Family.”
Li Rubai said.
“But he won’t turn down silver. When Wild Boar Skin captured Tieling, most of the supplies stored in the city remained. If we promise that after recapturing Tieling, everything in the city—except for our people—all money, grain, and goods are his to take, plus the ten thousand taels promised by Military Commissioner Xiong, Chahua will certainly be tempted. Even if Wild Boar Skin can give him some, could it be as generous as letting him take everything?”
Yang Xin said.
“But Wild Boar Skin captured Zaisai. Chahua cannot ignore Zaisai!”
Li Ruzhen said.
“Where is Zaisai now?”
Yang Xin asked.
“To my knowledge, he should be temporarily imprisoned in Tieling’s bell tower by Wild Boar Skin.”
Li Ruzhen said.
“Then it’s easy. When Tieling is opened, I, Yang Xin, will go rescue him!”
Yang Xin said.
The Li brothers were stunned.
“Is it difficult? Perhaps you don’t know yet, but I recently saved Dergele in Yehe City!”
Yang Xin said.
“How did you save Dergele?”
Li Rubai asked in astonishment.
Of course, he knew Yang Xin killed E Yi Dou. Xiong Tingbi had already sent E Yi Dou’s head on display to Shenyang, and it would continue to be displayed all the way to the Capital City. This man was one of Wild Boar Skin’s Five Senior Ministers, and his status was currently second only to the Four Beile. He was Wild Boar Skin’s Left-wing Regional Military Commander, equivalent to a front army commander. In fact, he was the commander of the forces attacking Yehe’s eastern city, on the same level as Daišan who attacked the western city, though his route also had Wild Boar Skin personally directing. Wild Boar Skin stationed at Shanyan City, while he, as the forward commander, camped outside to besiege Yehe City. He was then somehow found by Yang Xin who entered his tent and directly cut off his head.
Such a person’s head certainly needed to be displayed in the Capital City.
But what Yang Xin did in Yehe City, people like Li Rubai did not know.
Yang Xin described it again.
The key point was the heavy losses suffered by Wild Boar Skin. He needed to bolster the courage of the Li brothers. Fortunately, he had E Yi Dou’s head as proof, so he had authority on this matter.
“Gentlemen, you still don’t understand your current situation. Military Commissioner Xiong has already memorialized, requesting His Majesty to dismiss Commander-in-Chief Li from his post as Commander of Liaodong Reinforcements and replace him with Li Huaixin, who is on his way. That means not only will General Xiao Cheng have to go to the Capital City to await punishment, but Commander-in-Chief Li, you will probably soon join your elder brother. If you two don’t think of a way to save yourselves, once you reach the Capital City, you might only end up in the Imperial Prison.”
Chen Yujie continued to scare them.
But this was also fact. Xiong Tingbi had absolutely no goodwill towards Li Rubai, and he did memorialize to dismiss Li Rubai and replace him with Li Huaixin.
The latter had a force of seven hundred elite household servants.
“Brother Yang, if you can really persuade Chahua, then our Li Family will gamble on this!”
Li Rubai gritted his teeth and said.
“Whether Chahua agrees or not, you two must try. But we must not let Xiong Tingbi know!”
Yang Xin said.
This really could not be known by Xiong Tingbi. Xiong Tingbi’s strategy was to contract the defense, using Jin Taiji as a scapegoat to hold off Wild Boar Skin while he used the remaining defeated troops to maintain the defensive line as much as possible. As for counterattacking Tieling, it required all reinforcements to arrive. According to his plan, at least 180,000 troops and 90,000 horses were needed for a counterattack.
Launching a counterattack now was purely a strategic risk.
As for afterwards…
If Tieling was recaptured, then Xiong Tingbi would naturally be silent.
If it failed…
Failure had nothing to do with Yang Xin. The Commander of Liaodong Reinforcements in Shenyang was Li Ruzhen; he was just a commoner with no authority to mobilize troops. So, the responsible person would still be Li Ruzhen.
Anyway, Li Ruzhen was going to be dismissed, so let him bear one more blame.
“Naturally. I am still the Regional Military Commander. Whether the Shenyang troops counterattack Tieling is still within my authority to decide. However, we must first coordinate with He Shixian. If there is any movement from Chahua, we will still rely on He Shixian in Shenyang.”
Li Ruzhen said.
He Shixian was at Hupi Post, located between Shenyang and Liaoyang.
“Isn’t that just a matter of a Silver Note?”
Yang Xin said with a smile.
The Li brothers looked at each other with bitter smiles. Clearly, this time they would have to spend heavily. Not just He Shixian; they would also have to use their own money to reward the subordinates. To launch a counterattack, they first had to boost morale with silver…
“Commander-in-Chief Li, Assistant Commissioner Xu does not wish to be involved in this matter. This letter…”
Chen Yujie pointed at the letter, hesitating to speak.
“It was my oversight!”
Li Ruzhen said with a smile.
After saying this, he placed the letter over the flame of a candle…