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

Chapter 10 What were the affairs of the Six Dynasties, that they amounted to nothing more than private schemes among powerful families?!

Zhu Youjian's head was throbbing from the Minister of War's words. After listening for a long time, he finally managed to glean a single word from between the lines: "Win!"

According to Cui Chengxiu's description, the Later Jin dynasty was on the verge of extinction. "Our Great Ming is invincible! With just a little more effort, we can wipe out the Jurchens!" Zhu Youjian's head was spinning.

One very counterintuitive thing is that the Ming court always believed that the Ming Dynasty could quickly defeat the Later Jin regime, and they thought that the disastrous defeat at Sarhu was just an accident. As a result, they seriously misjudged the strength of both sides.

Moreover, both Lao Nu and Huang Taiji were masters of feigning weakness, frequently coming to negotiate peace to mislead the Ming emperor and his ministers. Therefore, the frequent changes of generals in Liaodong in the early Chongzhen reign were not because they felt they couldn't handle the Jurchens, but because these people were trying to seize credit.

According to the descriptions of the court officials, the Ming Dynasty has won two magnificent victories in the last two years.

First came the Ningyuan victory, claiming that the old slave had been killed with the red-coated cannons; then came the so-called Ningjin victory.

Zhu Youjian was almost laughing in anger at their battle reports. Since when can it be considered a great victory if no city is lost? What are your results? Have you recovered any lost territory? Have you won any spoils?!
After the victory at Ningyuan, Nurhaci, who had been hit by the cannons, still managed to launch a campaign against eastern Mongolia and survived for several months. What, was Nurhaci a superman? Was his health bar that thick? Or was that old ginseng from the Northeast even more powerful than Zhuge Liang's Seven Star Lamp, capable of prolonging his life?!
The victory at Ningyuan resulted in the fall of Juehua Island and the loss of over a thousand piles of military rations. What is a pile? One pile was equivalent to a mountain of grain, containing 300 shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, or 36,000 jin (a unit of weight) of military provisions!
Juehua Island served as the Ming Dynasty's main logistics base and naval base in western Liaoning, holding a position comparable to that of Okinawa in the United States.

Military rations from various regions arrive here by sea, then are transported to Ningyuan City by small boats, and from Ningyuan to the front lines. Juehua Island is far more important than Ningyuan City; even if Ningyuan falls, Juehua Island cannot be allowed to fall.

As a result, Ningyuan was able to hold out thanks to its high city walls, but Juehua Island fell. The Ming court lost all the military supplies it had accumulated in Liaoxi, feeding the Jurchens so well that they were even worried about how to transport these supplies back to their homeland.

The Ningyuan victory resulted in the loss of a crucial strategic stronghold for the Ming Dynasty, along with 300,000 shi of grain, over 2,000 ships of various sizes, and the loss of 8,000 garrison troops and tens of thousands of civilians on Juehua Island. And they still have the audacity to call it a great victory?!

As a native of Guangdong, Yuan Chonghuan's spirit of traveling thousands of miles to Liaodong to fight is indeed admirable, but he also brought great harm to the Ming Dynasty. Even in his hometown, this kind of big-gun guy would have been beaten to a pulp, buried in a dung basket, and not allowed to be included in the ancestral grave or family genealogy.

However, the Ming Dynasty wasn't entirely composed of fools; there were still some sensible individuals. The cabinet questioned Gao Di, the then-military commissioner of Liaodong, about what had happened, and the court began inquiring about the military provisions on Juehua Island. However, Gao Di evaded the issue, claiming that only two thousand shi of grain had been burned by Nurhaci, and that it was nothing serious.

However, Gao Di was a scoundrel, but not a fool. Long before the war began, he ordered Yuan Chonghuan to move the troops and supplies from Juehua Island back to Ningyuan City, but Yuan Chonghuan insisted on disobeying the order and pretended to be dead.

Not only did they refuse to withdraw their troops, but they also made arrogant pronouncements: "Now we will select capable men to guard Dalinghe and Youtun, and send a fierce general to guard Jinzhou. With these three cities standing firm and holding fast, we will advance while defending, and recovery will surely be possible!"

Yuan Chonghuan may not have been a bad person, but as the saying goes: "A fool's quick wit is better than a bad person's racking of brains."

Looking at the entire Ningyuan victory, it was nothing more than a despicable and shameless political scheme by the civil and military officials of western Liaoning to cover up their defeat and win.

The subsequent victory at Ningjin was essentially a replica of the victory at Ningyuan. However, the Ming Dynasty no longer had as many valuable resources for Yuan Chonghuan to give to the Jurchens.

When the Jurchen troops arrived, the Ming army retreated into the main city. The original garrison and the reinforcements huddled together, managing to hold the city despite being overstretched. However, the Jurchens weren't foolish enough to attack the city; instead, they plundered the entire Liaoxi region before galloping back. Then Yuan Chonghuan shamelessly wrote a victory report. The court gained only lost fortifications, a massive loss of population, and Liaoxi reduced to ruins.

People like Yuan Chonghuan were merely a microcosm of the Ming Dynasty's officialdom; such individuals were ubiquitous. Together, they wove a colossal lie, eventually convincing even themselves of it.

Although even Zhu Youjian could not fully see through the intricacies and deceptions involved, he always remembered one thing: battle reports can lie, but the front lines will never lie.

Zhu Youjian looked at Cui Chengxiu and Wei Zhongxian with a strange expression. Although Cui Chengxiu didn't mention Yuan Chonghuan, he was touting these two great victories, which was clearly a ploy to revive Yuan Chonghuan's power. Well, they fooled my brother, and now they're trying to fool me because I'm young?!

"Wei Zhongxian, Wei Zhongxian, is this really one of your men? He's probably a double agent!"

Then Zhu Youjian turned his attention to the Grand Secretariat. His elder brother had left him only four Grand Secretaries: Huang Liji, Shi Laifeng, Zhang Ruitu, and Li Guozhu. These men were labeled as part of the eunuch faction, but their actual backgrounds were quite complex. Where did all these eunuch factions come from? Anyone unaware of the situation would think the entire Ming Dynasty was loyal to Wei Zhongxian.

If that were really the case, how could he have died so tragically? He would have strangled Zhu Youjian long ago and put some other child with the surname Zhu on the throne.

However, Zhu Youjian was unsure which party they belonged to, but it was highly likely they weren't from the Donglin Party. Of the four, three were from the north, and only Shi Laifeng was from Zhejiang.

People's hearts are unfathomable. Zhu Youjian didn't have superpowers to distinguish between these ministers as human or treacherous, so he simply resorted to generalizations. At least the ministers could lie to him, but they couldn't change their ancestral home.

Cui Chengxiu has already become the Minister of War. If he wants to advance further, he just wants to join the cabinet, right? Or rather, it's not just him who wants to join the cabinet, it's a group of people who want to join the cabinet. Seeing that Wei Zhongxian can't get him into the cabinet, he wants to switch allegiances. Doesn't he realize that the civilized people of Jiangnan would look down on a little rascal from Shanxi like him?

Cui Chengxiu wanted to trick Emperor Chongzhen into fighting a war to establish the nation, so that he, as the Minister of War, could enter the cabinet or even become the Grand Secretary based on his merits. He dreamed of becoming the Grand Secretary.

Zhu Youjian grew increasingly disgusted with this guy. Wanting to advance was fine, having selfish motives was also acceptable—it was all human nature. But couldn't these people at least have some self-awareness? Zhu Youjian's aversion to stupidity was acting up.

Wei Zhongxian also realized what was happening, but he was already used to it. His faction had been dwindling recently, so one more Cui Chengxiu wouldn't make a difference. Heaven have mercy! Zhu Youjian swore he absolutely hadn't done it; he didn't have the ability, it was just the way things were.

A person's fortune rises with the wind, soaring to great heights, only to decline at some point, a decline that cannot be reversed no matter how hard one tries. This is like the Ming Dynasty today, its accumulated problems intractable, its decline irreversible. Why? Simply because people's hearts have fallen apart.

After the high-ranking officials finished their reports, it was the turn of the lower-ranking officials. The central government argued, then it was the local officials' turn. All the bickering and arguing made it impossible to resolve important matters, while trivial issues were quickly passed under Zhu Youjian's orders. However, he only dared to deal with these minor, unimportant matters. He had no interest in getting involved in matters of vital interest, such as the reorganization of the Beijing garrison and whether to prioritize offensive or defensive operations.

In the end, these ministers will always come up with a compromise. However, this outcome will certainly not be the optimal solution, but merely the one that best reflects the result of the power struggle. Tsk tsk, "What did the Six Dynasties accomplish, only to become entangled in their own selfish schemes?"
The day's heated argument finally came to an abrupt end as evening approached. Zhu Youjian no longer wanted to keep them for dinner; he was exhausted. What good is the dragon throne if you sit on it too long?

(End of this chapter)