How to make a famous minister

Chapter 35 The Xiong Tingbi Case

If you want to talk about why Yang Lian impeached Wei Zhongxian, you have to start with Wang Wenyan, and if you want to talk about Wang Wenyan, you have to start with Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong economic strategist.

In order to resist the mighty Jurchen army, the Liaodong economic strategist and Guangning (now Beizhen, Liaoning) governor Wang Huazhen, who was ordered to be in danger, formulated a series of military strategies.Although Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi were at odds, they also took the overall situation into consideration. The two cooperated with each other and quickly took down Zhenjiang, an important border town.

And when Zhenjiang was successfully taken down, Wang Huazhen seemed to feel that he was a military genius, and he could use soldiers like a god even if he had never read military books. He even thought that Li Yongfang, the general of the Jin Dynasty after he surrendered, would be his internal response, and was deceived by the Mongols, thinking that Mongolia would send 40 troops to reinforce the Ming army.

With internal support and external support, Wang Huazhen was triumphant, thinking that she would soon break through the king's account of □Ha Chi and establish an unworldly achievement.

At that time, Wang Huazhen had 14 troops, and Xiong Tingbi, as the Liaodong economic strategist, had only more than [-] troops stationed in Shanhaiguan.It can be said that Xiong Tingbi had nothing to do with him, so he had no choice but to play the imperial court—come and take care of this lunatic.

However, Xiong Tingbi, although he has some military acumen, is not very good at dealing with people.At that time, Zhang Heming, the minister of the Ministry of War, was biased towards Wang Huazhen, and Xiong Tingbi knew this, and he still opposed Zhang Heming everywhere... In fact, Xiong Tingbi was at odds with most of the officials in the court at that time.

Xiong Tingbi looked at him, and Zhang Heming was even more so. As long as it was Wang Huazhen's request, he would agree to it, and as long as it was Xiong Tingbi's request, he would reject it.Xiong Tingbi was helpless.

The victory of Zhenjiang, the whole court was overjoyed, only Xiong Tingbi criticized by name: "The strategic policy is obviously to gather troops from three parties and then attack together. Wenlong's launch was too early, which made the enemy hate the people of Liao and slaughtered the soldiers and civilians of the surrounding four guards." We asked North Korea to send troops, but did not let the troops go back. This made North Korea's monarchs and ministers afraid of Houjin's ferocity, and they dared not cooperate with Ming Dynasty again; it discouraged the Hexi army, disrupted the plan of the three parties to advance together, and delayed contact. North Korea's plan, which it sees as a miraculous achievement, is actually a miraculous disaster."

It's a pity that no one in the court at that time listened to Xiong Tingbi's words, and they all thought it was due to jealousy of Wang Huazhen.

What's more, in this memorial, Xiong Tingbi once again criticized Zhang Heming by name, "I have the name of a strategy, but it is not true. The war in Liaozuo was jointly organized by Zhang Shumi and Wang Fuchen." thing.

After Tianqi Emperor interrogated, he learned that the Liaozuo war was indeed as Xiong Tingbi said, and he was of no use, so he scolded Zhang Heming severely, and Zhang Heming hated Xiong Tingbi even more from then on.

In August, Wang Huazhen planned to attack with the Mongols' 14 troops in one fell swoop, but Xiong Tingbi opposed it.At that time, when Wang Huazhen's memorial came to the court, many ministers in the court were skeptical, but at that time, the arrow was on the string and had to be launched. The major affairs of the country should not be discussed indiscriminately, and seeing Xiong Tingbi's opposition, the anxiety in my heart was dispelled. No one said anything about the plan. good.

Fortunately, the Mongols' 14 troops missed their appointment and did not come.Wang Huazhen was dumbfounded. Only then did she realize that the Mongols were not trustworthy, so she dismissed the idea.

But Wang Huazhen did not give up, and reported to the court, asking for another [-] soldiers and horses to ensure that the enemy would be wiped out in one fell swoop.

At that time, the chief assistant of the cabinet was Ye Xianggao, the leader of the Donglin Party, and Wang Huazhen's examiner. He was half of his teacher, so he agreed to this matter.After Xiong Tingbi heard about it, he wrote a letter and said: "Please follow the Fuchen's agreement. At the same time, please dismiss my official position as soon as possible so as to boost morale." It is up to the court to come up with a decision.

So the court decided to remove Xiong Tingbi.

But before he could do anything, all the court officials were slapped in the face.The 6 troops assigned to Wang Huazhen, plus his original 14 troops, totaled 20 troops, and Hou Jin beat them to pieces.It turned out that Wang Huazhen's confidant had already surrendered to Houjin, and sold all his plans and routes. □□Ha Chi led a surprise attack on Wang Huazhen's barracks and succeeded in one fell swoop.

In a panic, Wang Huazhen ran to Shanhaiguan with only two followers.Xiong Tingbi took people to meet him, and found the downcast Wang Huazhen by the Daling River.

At this time, there should be a show of harmony between generals and prime ministers, which is in line with political correctness and mainstream thinking.However, Xiong Tingbi did not. He polished his armor, helped up Wang Huazhen, who was haggard due to exhaustion, and asked with a smile: "Didn't you say that [-] troops can wipe out the enemy in one fell swoop, what about now?"

It's just underwhelming.

Fortunately, Wang Huazhen had already lost his temper after being beaten by Hou Jin at that time. At this time, he wholeheartedly worshiped Xiong Tingbi, who had always opposed his strategy, and did not dare to disobey him.That's why no bigger accident happened.

After Guangning fell, Wang Huazhen proposed to retreat to Ningyuan, but was rejected by Xiong Tingbi.

Xiong Tingbi believes that after the fall of Guangning, Jinzhou and Ningyuan are already isolated cities besieged by the enemy and are no longer of use.They should immediately abandon these two cities, fortify the wall, and retreat to Shanhaiguan.

At this time, Wang Huazhen felt that as long as Xiong Tingbi opposed it, it was wrong, and as long as Xiong Tingbi decided it, it was correct.The two acted immediately, Wang Huazhen led the remaining troops back to Shanhaiguan, Xiong Tingbi commanded the army to evacuate the people and set fire to the city.

The two of them had no intention of reporting to the imperial court, the cabinet, or Emperor Tianqi, so they directly and completely gave up the Liaoxi Corridor.

Then the two were impeached, and then they were arrested and sent to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice.

The whole country was in an uproar, and the atmosphere in the court was tense.

There is no doubt that Wang Huazhen belonged to the Donglin Party. His teacher was Ye Xianggao, the chief assistant of the cabinet at that time, and he was also the leader of Donglin.At that time, the entire Donglin Party was running around defending him, trying to save Wang Huazhen from the eunuchs headed by Wei Zhongxian.

But this matter must be supported by someone. The Donglin Party chose Xiong Tingbi. After all, these two people are directly involved in this matter.

But at that time, the Donglin Party still had a gentleman like Yang Lian.They stood up and objected, saying that although Wang Huazhen was a member of our Donglin party, it was indeed his responsibility that Guangning fell, and it had nothing to do with Xiong Tingbi, and he couldn't be dragged out just because Xiong Tingbi was not a member of our Donglin party. cylinder.

In the end, they came to a unanimous verdict: Xiong Tingbi, your strategy looks good, at least so far there have been no problems.But if you directly abandon the territory of the Ming Dynasty without the court's consultation, you deserve death.

This is not a resolution of the imperial court, but a self-compromise within the Donglin Party - fulfilling Xiong Tingbi's reputation, but trading your life for Wang Huazhen's.

When Wang Huazhen saw that the Donglin Party had taken Xiong Tingbi without hesitation, he couldn't sit still.In his opinion, Xiong Tingbi had nothing to do with this matter. The fall of Guangning was due to his own strategic mistakes and improper employment from the beginning to the end.But even Xiong Tingbi was sentenced to death, so didn't he want to punish the nine clans?

In fear, Wang Huazhen did a stupid thing—he turned to Wei Zhongxian for his life.

The Donglin Party is completely dumbfounded!Especially Ye Xianggao, probably at that time the whole person was "live broadcast □□face" - I supported you so wholeheartedly, and now you have an accident, I will still run for you, to restore your reputation in the party , argued with other people in the party because of you, and because you were sorry for Xiong Tingbi, but you turned around and defected to the eunuch party?

Come on, Wang Huazhen, do you think that you will be fine if you join the eunuch party?This matter involved Wei Zhongxian, involved the eunuch party, and directly turned into a serious party dispute.

After Xiong Tingbi knew his sentence, he immediately found Wang Wenyan, the "commoner minister", and gave him 4 taels to let him go, saving his life.

Wang Wenyan was very righteous, he only took 2 taels, and used the remaining 2 taels to make connections.The relationship he left was also unusual, it was Wei Zhongxian's relationship.

However, the relationship didn't work out.It's not because Wei Zhongxian doesn't like the 2 taels—he does.It's not because Wang Wenyan is related to the Donglin Party, because Wang Wenyan didn't directly come forward.

It's because he recently accepted Wang Huazhen as his younger brother.

Lu Wanling and Zhu Jie said before at the Jiansheng Temple that Wei Zhongxian is very precious to his younger brother, and he would not do such a thing as abandoning the car to save the commander if it was not an emergency.

The fall of Guangning and abandonment of Liaodong is such a big matter, no matter how clever Wei Zhongxian is, he must give an explanation.The only people directly involved in this matter are Wang Xiong and Xiong Tingbi who want to save Wang Huazhen.In this case, how could he collect money to do things?

In the end, the money went into the pockets of the Donglin Party—that is, the Donglin Party that pushed Xiong Tingbi to a dead end—anyway, if they wanted to pull Wang Huazhen down, they had to protect Xiong Tingbi. Money still has to be done, so why not use money to do it?

Since then, a fierce and long tug-of-war has been launched around "Wang Huazhen or Xiong Tingbi, the sinner in the fall of Liaodong".And Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen were locked up for a whole year following this tug-of-war.

It was not until the end of the Beijing inspection the following year that things began to change.Wei Zhongxian learned that Xiong Tingbi did not directly ask him to protect himself, but entrusted him to Wang Wenyan from the Donglin Party. Wang Wenyan received 4 taels at the time, but only took out 2 taels to save people. I don't know where the 2 taels under it went, and after that, the Donglin Party began to actively rescue Xiong Tingbi, and his death has been suspended until now.

Wei Zhongxian immediately said to others: "It must be that the Donglin Party took money to protect Xiong Tingbi. They sincerely want to fight against our family! Go, arrest Wang Wenyan, and try him hard. From his mouth, knock out the Donglin Party. Here comes the evidence!"