Chapter 19: The Li Family of Liaodong

"Let him in!" Zhu Youxiao said casually. Wei Zhongxian's arrival was just in time—he must be bringing good news, though Zhu Youxiao wondered whether Wei Zhongxian had managed to pry deeper into Yao Zongwen's mouth.

With that thought, Zhu Youxiao grew somewhat curious, and the pace of his rice porridge scooping slowed considerably.

Before long, Wei Zhongxian walked in from outside.

"Your Majesty!" After entering, Wei Zhongxian respectfully performed the ritual greeting and stood to one side. He dared not disturb the Emperor while he was dining.

Zhu Youxiao said nothing, continuing to eat his meal. After a while he finished the rice porridge, found it quite good, took the towel Wang An handed over to wipe his hands, picked up the tea for rinsing his mouth and gargled, and only then rose to his feet.

Glancing at Wei Zhongxian, Zhu Youxiao finally spoke: "Alright, stop standing there all hunched up. Tell me what you've got."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Wei Zhongxian quickly acknowledged, stepped forward a bit, and said in a fawning whisper: "Your Majesty, Yao Zongwen has confessed. He colluded with Liu Guojin to undermine Xiong Tingbi..."

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand dismissively, cutting off Wei Zhongxian. "Bring the confession up for me to see."

Wei Zhongxian was taken aback, not daring to show the slightest negligence. He quickly stepped forward and presented the confession to Zhu Youxiao with both hands.

Taking the confession, Zhu Youxiao glanced at it and saw Liu Guojin's name.

Liu Guojin was a man of Liaodong. Rumor had it he was Li Chengliang's adopted son. He had once served as a Censor. Back when Li Chengliang abandoned territory and came under public attack, Liu Guojin had stepped forward to defend him vigorously, and was later dismissed from office for some reason.

After Yang Hao's defeat, the court began employing men of Liaodong. Liu Guojin seized this opportunity to become a Bureau Secretary in the Ministry of War, advising on military affairs.

Liu Guojin went to great lengths to defend Yang Hao and Li Rubai, arguing that the true cause of the defeat was Du Song's reckless advance. He then strongly supported Li Ruzhen's appointment as Regional Commander of the Liaodong garrison.

After the military defeat, Liaodong's forces were severely depleted. Liu Guojin advocated recruiting soldiers locally in the Liaodong garrison to replenish the ranks—"defending Liaodong with Liaodong men." He believed that the countless Liaodong people were born on this land and raised on this land; this soil was their very lifeline, and they knew everything about it. In the old days when Li Chengliang and Li Rusong dominated Liaodong, the fierce warriors under their command were mainly Liaodong men. Later, Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui also had countless Liaodong men and Mongols under them—extremely combat-effective and quite loyal.

Xiong Tingbi disagreed, because he had never trusted the Liaodong people. He opposed the strategy of "defending Liaodong with Liaodong men" and advocated transferring troops from the interior to the Liaodong garrison.

Xiong Tingbi's complete rejection of the Liaodong people was one-sided and obstinate—simple and arbitrary—and it was also mixed in with his personal grudges against Liu Guojin.

Liu Guojin stuck to his position, spent a great deal of money, and recruited nearly twenty thousand Liaodong men—but more than half of them ran off before long.

Xiong Tingbi believed that Liu Guojin's recruitment of local soldiers "advocated the theory of defending Liaodong with Liaodong men, holding that recruiting nearby was better than marching from afar, that survival need not be sought at a distance, and that quality mattered more than quantity."

Practice proved that Liu Guojin's "theory failed every time it was tried"—the method of defending Liaodong with Liaodong men was not feasible.

Xiong Tingbi reported Liu Guojin's blunder to the court, which naturally earned him Liu Guojin's lasting resentment.

"These civil officials—instead of thinking about serving the state all day, all they think about is pulling this kind of stunt." Zhu Youxiao's fingers tapped on the table as he spoke in a calm tone, revealing nothing unusual—he seemed angry, and yet not angry.

Wei Zhongxian snapped back to attention. His Majesty was planning something big! His Majesty was talking about these literati—who were they? Naturally it couldn't just be Yao Zongwen and Liu Guojin. At that thought, Wei Zhongxian grew excited at once.

He stepped forward, smiled ingratiatingly, and said respectfully: "To report to Your Majesty, this servant has also learned that both Yao Zongwen and Liu Guojin are disciples of Li Ruzhen. Yao Zongwen couldn't withstand this servant's interrogation and confessed everything. He said that Li Ruzhen first guarded Tieling, then garrisoned Shenyang, and colluded with the Jianzhou barbarians. Back then, when the Jianzhou barbarians attacked Tieling, he held his troops and did not come to its aid, causing Tieling to fall. These three men are all traitors who colluded with the enemy and betrayed the state."

"Come back when you have the evidence." Zhu Youxiao rubbed his forehead, suddenly feeling a tickle in his throat and coughing several times.

"Your Majesty!" Wei Zhongxian had been about to withdraw, but seeing the Tianqi Emperor cough, his heart leapt into his throat. He hurried forward and gently pounded a few times on Zhu Youxiao's back.

Wang An, waiting outside the door, was alarmed by the Tianqi Emperor's coughing. He hurried in, raised a cup of clear tea to offer him, and snapped at Wei Zhongxian: "Why aren't you leaving? Can't you see His Majesty is tired?"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand and said, "It's nothing."

"Your Majesty must take care of your health!" Wei Zhongxian said, looking at Zhu Youxiao with concern. Evidence? That was easy—he'd go back and have Yao Zongwen keep implicating people. This time he had to dig up something real. If one Li Ruzhen wasn't enough, weren't there others? He needed to find a way to burn this matter right onto those people in the court.

"The Li family of Liaodong." Zhu Youxiao smiled softly. This Li family of Liaodong really had grown too big. Li Ruzhen, a Liaodong man—these days hardly anyone kept the court in their sights anymore.

Over the years, the Li clan had expanded its power in Liaodong. If Liaodong weren't at war, they might well have spawned a Liaodong faction. And since it was a military garrison, they might even have carved out a feudal fiefdom. Many Liaodong men supported the Li clan, and quite a few Liaodong men in the court said the Li clan had guarded Liaodong for generations, that the border people feared and submitted to them, and that pacifying Liaodong absolutely required using Liaodong men.

Li Ruzhen wanted to imitate his old man Li Chengliang, playing the game of nurturing bandits to inflate his own importance, squeezing out Yang Hao and trying to grow bigger—and the result was that Tieling fell.

Xiong Tingbi's objection to Liaodong men defending Liaodong soil was actually very simple: Liaodong soil was the Ming's Liaodong soil, not the Liaodong men's Liaodong soil. "Liaodong men defend Liaodong soil"—it sounded spirited and resolute, but that wasn't how it really was. Using that slogan to keep others from meddling in Liaodong affairs, turning the whole of Liaodong into something belonging to the Liaodong faction—the court's money and grain all went into their pockets.

Zhu Youxiao naturally understood these matters clearly. The Li clan of Liaodong absolutely had to be dismantled—that was also why the Wanli Emperor had kept Li Chengliang pinned down in the capital.

But the Li clan had raised a tiger that became a disaster in Liaodong. Li Chengliang was in the capital, yet Liaodong still wasn't under control. In the end, the Jianzhou barbarians grew strong, and the court had no choice but to call Li Chengliang out once more. Only Li Chengliang botched it too—Nurhaci, who had always licked his boots, directly flipped the table. And after the table was flipped, Li Chengliang had no way to clean up Nurhaci either.

Zhu Youxiao felt that Nurhaci must have wanted to say one thing to Li Chengliang, and that was: "Sir, it's time to eat the big shit."

"Everyone wants to form factions. This world really is something." Zhu Youxiao smiled, then turned to look at Wei Zhongxian: "Go investigate! I find this matter quite interesting. Oh, and send someone to spread the news to Liaodong—let all the officials there hear it."

There were two reasons for this: one was to intimidate Liaodong and back Xiong Tingbi up; the second was to put Xiong Tingbi's mind at ease.