Chapter 3 Chapter Two: Li Chengliang: Nurhachi’s Father-killing Enemy and Protector

Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, was once a true hero of the Ming Empire. The grievances and entanglements between Nurhachi and Li Chengliang are intricate and extremely strange, so far no one has been able to verify clearly. As we know, the early Nurhachi was far from being as powerful and legendary as people would like to believe later; while the early Li Chengliang was a truly legendary hero, a general who started in poverty but was victorious in all battles . It's a pity that when Nurhachi became stronger day by day, this hero irretrievably came to an end like a beautiful woman in the complicated and confusing political situation ten years after Wanli in the Ming Dynasty.The entire process of Nurhachi's rise runs through almost the entire process of Li Chengliang's decline.What is the reason for this ups and downs between the two sides is exactly what we need to expand here.And the result of this ups and downs is that the situation in Liaodong of the Ming Empire is becoming more and more corrupt.

It's a poignant experience to watch a true hero come to an end. When Li Chengliang was forty years old, Li Chengliang was discovered by a discerning censor of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, Li Chengliang, who was of Korean descent and was born in a family of mid-level military generals, was desperate and spending time in Tielingwei, Liaodong.Here is Tieling City, Liaoning Province, which is well-known to people all over the country because of the birth of Zhao Benshan today. Li Chengliang, styled Ruqi, also known as Ruqi, was named Yincheng.His ancestor Li Ying was a Korean. In the early Ming Dynasty, he crossed the river from North Korea and came to China. He settled in Tielingwei, Liaodong, and became a middle and senior officer of the Ming Empire with his military achievements.According to the imperial system, military positions can be hereditary from descendants. However, due to the downfall of his family, Li Chengliang's generation was so poor that he didn't even have to go to Beijing to go through the formalities of taking up the post.Forty-year-old Li Chengliang, full of ability and ambition, can only sigh in embarrassment.

Just at this time, his lucky star came - by chance, Li Chengliang met Li Fu, the inspector censor from Beijing's central authority.Li Chengliang's extraordinary appearance left a deep impression on the censor.He generously donated a not-so-small amount of money to this hero who had spent his forties in poverty, funded him to come to Beijing, and won the post of general in the Liaodong military fortress of Xianshanbao.This year was the forty-fifth year of Jiajing in Ming Dynasty (1566 A.D.).This year, Nurhachi was eight years old. The location of Xianshan Fortress is about twelve kilometers southwest of Dandong City, Liaoning Province today.The post of general is the leading officer guarding the frontier in the Ming Dynasty. The position is below the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief. It is roughly equivalent to the regiment-level officer of today's border defense forces, responsible for the defense and support of a place or a road.In this regard, Li Chengliang got the opportunity to display his talents.This middle-aged man, who was downcast but still described in the records of "History of the Ming Dynasty" as "heroic, strong, and talented", soared into the sky and became a very dazzling general star shining over the northeast of the empire. ("History of Ming Dynasty" biography 126th, Li Chengliang)

In the second year, the first year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty, the 41-year-old Li Chengliang made his debut in the battle against the Mongolian cavalry for the first time.He became famous in the first battle because of his "meritorious service in aiding", and with the victory, he entered the field of vision of the highest level of the empire.After the war, although he continued to garrison the dangerous mountain fortress, he was promoted to deputy commander.According to the military system of the empire, the post of commander-in-chief is roughly equivalent to the commander of a provincial military region or military division today. He is responsible for commanding the town army, that is, the entire military region or military division. Slightly lower than the deputy commander-in-chief, he led 3,000 soldiers to come and go for defense, and they were called rangers;At this time, Li Chengliang had become a senior general at least equivalent to the deputy commander of the military division.

In this year, the 43-year-old Zhang Juzheng was promoted and reused by his teacher Xu Jie, and moved from the Ministry of Rites to the Zuo Minister of the Ministry of Officials and the Bachelor of Dongge University. , Start "pre-engineering", that is, participate in the decision-making and formulation of major national policies. In the following sixteen years, famous ministers gathered in the first six years, and Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng jointly created the famous Longqing New Deal in history; in the next ten years, it was the even more famous Zhang Juzheng New Deal.These sixteen years have been the sixteen years for Li Chengliang to go to glory and become famous.In the tragic political and military battles, Zhang Juzheng, who is equivalent to today's deputy prime minister and prime minister, gave Li Chengliang great support.This kind of support, in addition to the appreciation, trust, and reuse among people, the guarantee of the imperial system, such as the most important "examination method" in Zhang Juzheng's Wanli New Deal, may have played an extremely important role.

In the first month of the sixth year of Wanli, a Mongolian tribal chief named Subahai led an army to invade. After Li Chengliang heard the report, he traveled day and night, flying troops out of the fortress, and rushed for two hundred miles. The opponent's five leader-level figures cut and wounded tens of thousands of enemies, and Li Chengliang won a complete victory. At the end of the year, Subahai joined other tribes, assembled more than 30,000 troops, and came to avenge Spring in a big way.Li Chengliang actually understood the other party's psychology, and without any change, he made another day and night trip, and ran for two hundred miles long distance.The Mongolian chief had prepared quite well in advance, but he never expected that Li Chengliang would re-enact the exact same story.As a result, the camp was trampled by Li Chengliang's surprise attack, and the damage was even more serious than the previous one.Within one year, the flying troops traveled two hundred miles twice and won a complete victory. This was a great achievement at the time, and it was the crown of all generals in the history of the empire.For this reason, the emperor specially went to the Huangji Hall to hold a grand ceremony and accept congratulations from civil and military officials.

Under the auspices of Zhang Juzheng, according to the "examination method", Li Chengliang was promoted to rank, first as Taibao, commander of Shiyin Benwei, and then as Earl of Ningyuan, with a salary of 800 shi.Li Chengliang was overjoyed to be commended with such great fanfare by the empire, and in order to express his gratitude to Zhang Juzheng for his appreciation and promotion, Li Chengliang sent Zhang Juzheng a large amount of gift money, but in the end, he was politely declined.Zhang Juzheng's reason is: According to the imperial system, Li Chengliang's honor and status were all obtained by his own life and death, and there is no need to thank me.If I take his money, I insult him.I can't face Emperor Gao's spirit in heaven either.This story is amazing, at least let us know part of the reason why Li Chengliang can become a generation of famous generals and Zhang Juzheng can become a generation of famous faces.

It can be seen from historical records that long-distance raids are the general's best tactics.In the era of cold weapons without motorized troops, this general led his subordinates, who were mainly infantry, to march more than 200 miles in starry nights many times. Flat out.Clearly, for this to happen, it takes more than good fighting skills; good intelligence work is also necessary.At the same time, this method of warfare requires extremely high judgment, organization, execution, and affinity for the leader; it also requires extremely high requirements for the will, perseverance, training, and team spirit of the commander and troops.

Li Chengliang did all of this.In dozens of battles, Li Chengliang "has won all the battles, and the Megatron" in the early days of his career, almost victoriously defended the frontiers of the empire, made extremely outstanding military exploits, and became—if not more prestigious, If the military exploits are more prominent - at least a generation of famous generals who are on par with the contemporary Qi Jiguang.Therefore, at that time, among the army and the national population, there was a saying of "Southern relatives and northern Li".They became the highest representatives of military achievements in the second half of the Ming Empire, and were generally respected and loved by the people.

Four years later, Sobahai made a comeback again.At that time, the chief was the fiercest and fiercest among the Mongolian tribes, and he was known as the bravest among all the Mongolian tribes.On the battlefield, he personally beheaded Li Chengliang's Liaodong General Soldier of the Ming Empire before his horse, and severely damaged the Ming army led by several other general soldiers several times.Roaring into the border of Daming with his loyal knights, burning, killing and looting as if entering no one's land, he left calmly, which became the happiest holiday for the chief.As a result, Subahai has plagued the frontier for more than 20 years, and it has become a catastrophe that made the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Empire turn pale.

Since Li Chengliang's appearance, the chieftain has been repeatedly defeated by Li Chengliang's surprise attacks, which made him feel very uncomfortable. Therefore, the more he lost, the more courageous he was, and he vowed to fight Li Chengliang.This time, it is said that he mobilized all the soldiers and elite disciples, and prepared to take down Li Chengliang in one fell swoop.Li Chengliang changed his tactics and led Subahai's soldiers into the ambush circle set up in Yizhou (now Yixian County, Liaoning Province).As a result, not long after the war started, this person was shot dead by an arrow under the command of Li Chengliang.The chief's younger brother hugged his elder brother's body and cried bitterly, and his power has declined since then. In this way, Li Chengliang made great achievements repeatedly, and was named an earl, ranking among the ranks of imperial nobles.At that time, his status, fame, etc., were probably already above Qi Jiguang.There is a view, including the authors of "History of the Ming Dynasty", that it is precisely because of Qi Jiguang's prestige that he sat in Jimen for 16 years, so that the enemy never dared to invade Liaodong, which gave Li Chengliang the opportunity to make repeated military exploits .Even so, it is still difficult to conceal the dazzling brilliance of Li Chengliang's military achievements.In history, even at the same time as Li Chengliang, facing the same enemy as Li Chengliang, there were not a few soldiers and officials who lost their troops and lost the empire's face. At that time, under the auspices of Zhang Juzheng, the empire implemented the "examination method" with strict rewards and punishments.In order to commend Li Chengliang, in the eighth year of Wanli, a large memorial archway was built in Guangning, where the Liaodong General Military Mansion is located, and engraved with "Guardian Liaodong General Military Officer Taibao and Prince Taibao Ning Yuanbo", gave General Li Chengliang a very high honor.In the historical materials preserved in North Korea, we can read such a record: "The people of Liaoguang know that there is Uncle Li, but they don't know that there are others." July Bingxu) The author of "History of Ming Dynasty" commented on Li Chengliang's military achievements as a frontier commander: "It has not been seen in the Ming Empire for two hundred years." ("History of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 238, Biographies 126, Li Chengliang) That is to say, as a senior general of the Imperial Frontier Army, Li Chengliang has been the leader for two hundred years. The tenth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1582) was a particularly significant year in the history of the late Ming Empire.Because this year, Zhang Juzheng, who was fifty-eight years old at the time, and with his own efforts and ten years of persistence, almost achieved the glorious rejuvenation of the Ming Empire, died of a serious illness. In the next few years, the politics of the empire was turned upside down. The policies, regulations, and systems formulated in the Zhang Juzheng era were abolished one by one, and the political circles of the empire became dark and dark amidst the turmoil.Qi Jiguang, who was supported and reused by Zhang Juzheng, was quickly marginalized and died depressed.Li Chengliang, who was conferred the title of Earl of Ningyuan for his military exploits five years ago and entered the ranks of the imperial nobility, is now fifty-six years old and has reached the pinnacle of his career.He also received the support and reliance of Zhang Juzheng. However, it may be due to the following three reasons that Li Chengliang avoided the catastrophe: first, he was far away from the capital and did not have too many personal contacts with Zhang Juzheng; The emperor was deeply impressed; third, the turbulent situation in Liaodong cannot be separated from this brave general. In the second year, that is, the eleventh year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty, the work of liquidating Zhang Juzheng kicked off.Afterwards, Zhang Juzheng's family property was confiscated, and more than a dozen people starved to death in the sealed home that no one dared to activate. Zhang Juzheng's crimes, true or false, were announced to the world. Li Chengliang, who was fifty-seven years old at the time, heard and witnessed the whole process of Zhang Juzheng's life and death - from the glory of being under one man and above ten thousand people to his ruin and family ruin; he also heard and witnessed another real hero - Qi Jiguang , the whole process from Megatron and fame to death in obscurity. We have no way of knowing how Li Chengliang feels about this, whether he has hurt others, or whether he has a grievance?But there is certainly evidence that Li Chengliang has gradually begun to change since then.This change started with a small lie about military information and military achievements, and then gradually accelerated and expanded to almost all-round corruption.At this time, if Zhang Juzheng returned to the human world, he might not be able to understand at all, how could the old subordinates whom he had deeply trusted and supported turn into such a completely different appearance now? It seems that there is God's will in the dark.At about the same time, between the white mountains and the black waters far away from the imperial capital, Nurhachi's grandfather and father were accidentally killed by Li Chengliang's men in the chaotic army. The two events that were thousands of miles apart seemed equally surly and ominous.Their influence is so profound that in a sense, we can even regard these two events as the starting point of the death of the Ming Dynasty and the rebirth of the Qing Dynasty.From now on, when talking about the Ming Empire, it seems that just saying "this regime is dying" will suffice.At this time, the Great Qing Dynasty showed its own extremely faint glimmer of dawn. As the years go by, people will continue to see that the entire empire presents an almost entirely morbid picture.Facing the vigorous Nurhachi, what happened in the Ming Dynasty can typically tell us how hopeless this sickness is. This year, Nurhachi was twenty-five years old.Soon, he began the story of blood relative revenge.This story was later praised as "Thirteen Armors Revolting". In fact, Nurhachi at this time was too young and too insignificant.If it wasn't because his grandfather and father were accidentally killed by the army, and if it wasn't the chief of Jianzhou recognized by the court, no one would take this sad, wronged and resentful young man seriously. Therefore, the records about him during this period are generally not made at that time.These things that have been handed down later are full of passions of race, country, heroes, thieves, loyalty, rebellion, coquettish, humble, and so on.Some of them are like the story of "Trying Courage", with a bit of sad and bleak life wisdom; some, like "Crystal Slipper", are full of exciting innocence, romance, innocence and loveliness... As we know, the degree of unreliability of the official and folk historical records of the Qing Dynasty can be ranked first in all dynasties of our country, including the magnificent twenty-five histories.The reason comes from the most severe and longest-lasting literary inquisition in Chinese history up to that time.This kind of literary inquisition, which is destined to leave a notoriety and be forever cursed by history, first appeared after Emperor Shunzhi entered Shanhaiguan. The era of Emperor Qianlong reached its pinnacle.Therefore, concealing evil and promoting good has become the main task and method of mainstream intellectuals and historians in this period and later.Therefore, many parts of these records have been deliberately distorted and modified to appear cloudy or grotesque. This situation proves a fact that is unwilling to admit in the official historical materials of the Qing Dynasty, that is, the Aixinjueluo Jurchen, where Nurhaci is located, has received long-term favorable treatment from the Ming Empire and long-term help from the Han people.These historical facts and figures are often deliberately distorted and suppressed by the dignitaries of the Qing Dynasty.Fortunately, over the long years, enough information has been accumulated.As long as you have enough patience, and don't need a lot of common sense, it seems that you can restore the general appearance of the time. Nurhachi is a descendant of the Liaodong Jianzhou Zuowei commanding family in the Ming Dynasty. "Wei" and "Suo" are the military systems established by Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. In theory, a "Guard" should have 5,600 soldiers, which is roughly equivalent to the establishment of a brigade today.As the years passed, the situation continued to change, and people kept fleeing and dispersing. In the era of Nurhachi, the guard system was dilapidated and no longer what it used to be.The Nurhachi family belongs to the frontier tribes.The six generations of ancestors that he can clearly trace back are all local chieftains who have received awards from the Ming court. In the early years of Yongle, his sixth ancestor led the Jurchen tribe in the lower reaches of the Wumu River, which is today's Tumen River (located on the southeastern border of Jilin), to submit to the imperial court. nature, may not really have a military establishment of a guard.He also followed the emperor on an expedition to Mobei, which is today's Outer Mongolia. In the seventh year of Ming Zhengtong (AD 1442), three guards of Jianzhou were set up - Jianzhou Guard, Jianzhou Left Guard, and Jianzhou Right Guard. Several generations of Nurhachi's ancestors became hereditary commanders of Jianzhou Left Guard.By the time of his grandfather, the whole family moved to Hetuala, which is under the administration of Xinbin County, Liaoning Province today.At that time, there were six of his grandfather and brothers, known as "Ningutabelle".Ningguta means "six" in Manchu, and Baylor means "adult" and "lord" in Manchu. The word "Baile" later became a royal noble title in the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the "six lords" lived in six cities, with the nearest five li and the farthest twenty li.They live in mud houses surrounded by wooden fences, which are much more luxurious than the burrows where low-status people live.The situation is roughly similar to those villages that we can see in the rural areas of Northeast China today.The difference from today is that due to the frequent fighting with each other, these villages are often located in dangerous places and surround the Tucheng Tuzhai for defense.This situation shows that although the Jianzhou Zuowei commanding family has a great reputation, its actual sphere of influence is not much larger than the northern towns we see today. However, that's where the weirdness of things lies. In fact, at that time, whether it was the title of Jianzhou Zuowei Commander, Jianzhou Governor Tongzhi or even the title of Governor, although the rank was not low, it sounded scary. Power is pitifully limited.In addition to the small financial subsidies from the imperial court every year, their biggest benefit is the imperial edict issued by the imperial court.The functions of these edicts are roughly similar to those of later commissions, special passes, special ID cards, special passports, etc., and also have the comprehensive functions of trade charters or today's import and export licenses.Only within the scope stipulated in these edicts-permits, can the Nurhachis replace the treasures such as ginseng, mink fur, and Dongzhu produced in the Northeast with various production and living materials that they desperately need.They can also rely on the privilege of obtaining the imperial edict to control their own tribe.The Ming Empire's control over the frontiers, including hundreds of thousands of Jurchen and other ethnic minority city owners, tribal leaders, and indigenous chiefs, relied on imperial edicts—political, economic restrictions, and military deterrence. Nurhachi, that is, the Aixinjueluo family in Jianzhou, is one of these dozens or hundreds of tribal chiefs.Judging from the situation in Liaodong-Northeast at that time, there is really no reason why they should be looked up to more than other local tyrant chiefs.This situation can also be seen in the distribution of imperial edicts: At that time, the central government may have issued a total of 1,500 imperial edicts to the Jurchen tribes in the Northeast, and the three guards of Jianzhou can be divided into 500 in total, while Nurhachi’s grandfather and father A total of thirty can be obtained. The problem is that there is evidence that Nurhachi’s grandfather and father, who moved to Hetuala, today’s Xinbin County, Liaoning Province, formed a very friendly relationship with Li Chengliang, the Liaodong General of the Ming Dynasty.Mr. Meng Sen, an authority on the history of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, once asserted: Nurhachi "has a deep bond with Li Chengliang". (Meng Sen's "Ming and Qing History Lecture Notes") This makes things completely different. The time when Nurhachi entered the Liaodong General Army Mansion must have been much earlier than the official historical materials of the Qing Dynasty were willing to admit, and he stayed there for a much longer time. It is very likely that he separated and became independent Life started shortly after.In some historical records, it is said that Nurhachi once served as Li Chengliang's book boy, bodyguard, and chief bodyguard, and was even adopted by Li Chengliang as his adopted son.Obviously, these records should not be regarded as fabrications. In many records, the story of Nurhachi escaping from the General Military Mansion and defecting to Yehebeile has been talked about.In fact, the real situation of this story may not have much to do with politics, but because the young Nurhachi made the most common mistake for young people-derailment in the relationship between men and women, and he has a life style problem. From the mottled historical materials and legends, we can generally get the following impression: Nurhachi had been treated well by Li Chengliang for a long time.They get along like family members, and the relationship between them has even reached such a level that even when their grandfather and father were killed by mistake, it did not hinder the friendship and intimacy between Nurhachi and Li Chengliang. In this day-to-day relationship, he may have been favored by a beautiful and affectionate young Han woman, and Nurhachi is not indifferent to this woman.It is said that this woman is not only young, beautiful as a fairy, literate, familiar with classics and history, but also has a good eye for heroes.In short, she has all the dreams that Chinese men have for women.Unfortunately, this woman happened to be the sixth most beloved wife (ru wife, concubine) of General Li Chengliang, the Liaodong general of the Ming Empire and Earl.So, the stories that happened later are very similar to those unpopular TV series—— This woman not only gave the young Nurhachi the love between men and women, but also nurtured his love for love. She may have had an insight into the ambition and ambition of this Jurchen boy before Nurhachi himself realized it. Talent, so at the critical moment of life and death, he used his life to help his sweetheart out of danger.In the end, the hero rebelled and finally realized the glory and dream of a Chinese hero. This is the story about "Mrs. Ziwei" that has been widely circulated in Northeast China. According to this story, due to the revelation from heaven, Li Chengliang once murdered Nurhachi, and this "Ms. Ziwei" helped Nurhachi escape with her own life.Later, there was a saying that after Nurhachi became the Mandate of Heaven Emperor of the Dajin Kingdom, he inexplicably conferred the name of an unknown Han woman as "Crooked Pear Empress" because the woman hanged herself in order to protect and save Nurhachi. Died on a crooked pear tree.Today, in Beizhen City, Liaoning Province, there is a widely worshiped deity called "Crooked Neck Old Mother".Someone firmly proved that this "crooked neck mother" is so effective that someone has made a call to worship her into a huge signboard, which stands beside the most important highway connecting the inside and outside of the pass.We know that in Li Chengliang’s era and in Nurhaci’s early days, the Liaodong Commander’s Office of the Ming Dynasty was not located in Liaoyang, let alone in Shenyang and Fushun, but was located in Guangning, which is today’s Beizhen City, Liaoning Province.There seems to be some mysterious connection between these few things. This story should be very familiar to Chinese men, because it tells the main content of almost all of their daydreams. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the writings of intellectuals and folks in our country, so it is not worth making a fuss about, but after all, it is easy to remind people of some not-so-sacred and lofty words.Li Chengliang will not feel happy, and Nurhachi will also feel ashamed of the old chief.Therefore, these deeds full of human nature were often deliberately covered up and distorted by the dignitaries and historians of the Qing Dynasty, and turned into fairy tales to prove the inviolability of God's will and the legitimacy of rebellion and rebellion. In the legend of King Khan, the story has become very unromantic, full of disgusting doctrines of destiny and gods and ghosts.There, Nurhachi "steps on the red seven stars", which is indescribable, which makes Li Chengliang, who has his feet on the black seven stars, jealous and murderous; The foreign youth who shouldered the mission of heaven died, and died well, without any suspense, willingly, and inexplicably.As a result, the daydreams of the Chinese literati, who originally lacked humanistic sentiments, turned into the obsession of the supreme ruler and his servants who were basically inhumane, and then turned into a political indoctrination wishing that the people of the whole country would die for them , It became an effort by the ideological workers of the Qing Dynasty to deify their leaders and express their love for them.We should be familiar with this. This deed can be seen in the "Drafts of Qing History". It may be that the legend about the "Mrs. Ziwei" is too extensive, or explaining this point helps to increase the brilliance of Nurhachi's image, so in the "Drafts of Qing History", we can see a little shadow of the above story—— Opening the first chapter of the forty-eight "Drafts of Qing History", there is an overall introduction to Qing Taizu Nurhachi: the man "majestic in appearance, broad in will, deep in inner essence, uttering like a bell, never forgetting when he sees and remembers, and attracting generosity ".The general idea is that this person has a dignified appearance, great ambition, deep strategy without showing it, and his voice is like a bell, he has a photographic memory, and he is very generous when interacting with others.Next, when his grandfather and father were killed by mistake, Nurhachi and his younger brother Shuerhaqi were arrested in the general military mansion in the rebellion, and then when Nurhachi escaped from Li Chengliang's general military mansion, the book records that : "Chengliang's wife has a strange appearance, and she returns from the shadows." ("Drafts of Qing History", Volume 1, Benji 1, Taizu Benji) That is to say, the wife of Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, was surprised by Nurhachi's appearance. Quietly let this guy go. This kind of incoherent record obviously gives people reason to make more logical and common-sense conjectures. In comparison, the above-mentioned legends of heroes seem to be more believable. After the fifteenth year of Wanli in Ming Dynasty (AD 1587), Emperor Wanli never went to court, and gradually began his passive sabotage for more than 30 years. The emperor with all four poisons.At this time, Li Chengliang was also over sixty years old and had reached the pinnacle of his career. However, from then on, starting from lying about the military situation, like his own emperor, he entered an almost irreversible end-of-life career that ruined the Liaodong cause of the empire. This incident is not big, it happened in the eighteenth year of Wanli (AD 1590).At that time, a group of enemy bandits invaded Liaoyang, Shenyang, Haicheng, and Gaixian to loot.Li Chengliang secretly sent a surprise army out of the fortress to attack it, but was ambushed and killed more than a thousand people.It stands to reason that victory or defeat is a common matter in military affairs.It is not a big deal that General Changsheng lost a battle, not to mention that this is the first time we can see Li Chengliang miss in historical records.However, when Li Chengliang reported the results of the battle, he concealed the number of people killed in the battle, and only reported the military exploits of killing 280 enemies.At this moment, the entire empire was probably used to the general's bravery, so no one looked into it, and the general was naturally commended.We know that once the bad things in Chinese official circles start, they will be like boulders flying down the mountain, and it will be extremely difficult to stop until the energy is exhausted.After this first time, from now on, we can only see in the historical records with a gloomy mood that Li Chengliang was out of control and lied about his military achievements repeatedly. During this period, some things that were incompatible with a generation of famous generals also began to appear on Li Chengliang, and they became more and more serious. "History of the Ming Dynasty" records that Li Chengliang guarded Liaodong for 20 years, and his divisions were all victorious.Not only his children, but even the servants in his family have become high-ranking officials.Among his nine sons, Li Rusong, Li Rubai, Li Ruzhen, Li Ruzhang, and Li Rumei became general officers, and Li Ruzi, Li Ruwu, Li Rugui, and Li Runan became generals.His four brothers and two nephews also served as generals or deputy commanders.Some of his subordinates are very promising and have become the only generals; there are quite a few servants in his family who are both rich and noble. Very expensive and proud.Tielingwei, where Li Chengliang and his son lived, was once just an acropolis equivalent to a small county town, but now there are large expanses of tall and luxurious pavilions and pavilions built there, and the victory of the song stage and dance pavilion was once known as the best.All of a sudden, string pipes lined the road, feasting and feasting.It is said that there are more than 2,000 prostitutes in this small city, singing and dancing, it is really beautiful. At this time, Li Chengliang not only lied about the military situation, but also began to kill good people and take meritorious service, corrupted the law, bribed and accepted bribes, and in the end, the profits and taxes of the merchants and people in Liaodong were embezzled by him alone.Then use the money to bribe government officials at all levels, win over the cadres of the central government that are useful to him, and make the powerful and confidential figures in the palace work hard for him after being fed by him.The original text recorded in the history books is: "All the interests of the merchants and people of the Liao Dynasty have been brought into their own hands. Therefore, to indoctrinate the powerful families and accept court scholars, all Chinese and foreign dignitaries are full of their wealth and swayed by them." ("History of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 200 Thirty-eight, Li Chengliang) At that time, the rewards for frontier military exploits were very generous, not only for those who made meritorious deeds, but also for his superiors, colleagues, and subordinates.In the event of a big victory, the reward may be a promotion, or a conferment of a wife and son, most likely both at the same time; in a small victory, the usual reward is an increase in salary, and at the worst, a bonus can also be encouraged. According to the biography of Li Chengliang in "History of the Ming Dynasty", the situation developed to this point later: every time Li Chengliang won a battle, when the news came, the cabinet, five governments, and six ministries of the central government, as well as local officials at all levels could receive it together. Award.And once there is a situation of covering up the defeat for victory, or killing the good and pretending to be meritorious, Li Chengliang usually does not need to do anything, down to the local governor, up to the five governments, six ministries and even the cabinet, everyone will help Li Chengliang cover it up in unison.If someone doesn't know what's going on, the bosses, the three old and the four young will work together to push that guy out of the game with a high degree of tacit understanding. There were several supervisory officials who planned to impeach Li Chengliang, but they were all suppressed by relevant government officials.After some other supervisory officials seized the witnesses and material evidence, they handed over their chapters and criticized the result: Li Chengliang was safe and sound, but these supervisory officials were reprimanded and punished by their superiors.The most serious one happened in the thirty-sixth year of Wanli.At that time, several supervisory officials successively, including the later famous Xiong Tingbi, impeached Li Chengliang together, and the memorial was handed over to the emperor.Many people thought that this time, Li Chengliang might not be able to escape the blame.Unexpectedly, Emperor Wanli highly appreciated Li Chengliang's military exploits, and ignored those reports with solid evidence.Those reports were silently "flooded". ("History of Ming Dynasty" biography 126th, Li Chengliang) Li Chengliang is no longer that respected and loved generation of famous generals.In essence, everything he did at this time was no different from the enemies he was fighting against.If there is any difference, it is that for the Ming Empire, his deeds have greater lethality and damage than those enemies who fought openly. During this period, Nurhachi, who was just in his thirties, was full of heroism.He married the daughter of his younger brother Shuerhaqi to Li Chengliang's family, and became the second son of Li Chengliang, the wife of Li Rubai, the Liaodong general of the Ming Dynasty.There are various indications that he may also satisfy Li Chengliang's material needs. For example, he transports cattle, sheep, horses, ginseng, mink, oriental pearls, silver taels, and slaves to Daming on a regular and irregular basis. Liaodong General Army Mansion.Mr. Meng Sen commented: "Taizu (Nurhachi) sought to flatter Chengliang, and he did everything he could." This effectively made General Li Chengliang give up his duties at least on the issue of dealing with Nurhachi. In this way, during almost all the time guarding Liaodong, Li Chengliang condoned or acquiesced in the development of Nurhachi's strength, so that he could only start with thirteen sets of armor and a dozen guns at first, with limited military, financial and human power. The local chieftain has been expanded for more than 30 years, so that his strength has spread almost all over the Northeast, and finally included a large area of ​​land in the Outer Xing'an Mountains and Siberia. At that time, the land was sparsely populated, far from being overcrowded like it is today.It took Nurhaci thirty years to unify the Jurchen ministries, which at least shows that: first, his strength and even ability are far from what his descendants would have people believe; Extremely intricate relationships, such as various tribes of Mongolia, tribes of Jurchen, other chief tribes, Korea and the Ming Empire, etc. At this time, if Li Chengliang wanted to destroy Nurhachi, it should be said that it was not a particularly difficult task, and it was very likely that he could do it easily, especially in the first few years.Li Chengliang didn't seem to have this kind of thought.On the contrary, he may take the initiative to help and take care of Nurhachi in many ways. 在努尔哈赤起兵前后，李成梁曾经多次出兵征剿当地蒙古部落和其他女真部族，那些势力强大、有能力和努尔哈赤相抗衡的女真部落，或多或少地遭受过李成梁的军事打击。这种打击在史书中经常被形容成是“犁庭扫穴”，表明了该种军事行动的摧毁性力量。对于李成梁来说，我们无法知道他是否有这种主观故意，但在客观上，却完全可以将此理解成：李成梁运用大明帝国国家机器的力量，帮助努尔哈赤发展起来了个人势力，或者至少是为他的发展扫清了道路。 以今天的眼光回望过去，我们不难发现，假如帝国有能力制止其官员们丧失责任感，并使他们不敢突破道德底线的话，那些胡作非为的豪强是没有可能发展起来的。令人扼腕叹息的是，数千年帝国史中所缺少的恰恰正是这种机制。从那些官商勾结攫取社会财富的事例中，我们完全可以感受到的是，李成梁所给予努尔哈赤的支持，对于努尔哈赤来说实在是太珍贵了。 李成梁前后两次镇守辽东，时间几近三十年。 大明隆庆元年（公元1567年），李成梁以军功晋升副总兵，三年后，晋级为辽东总兵，到大明万历十九年，镇守辽东二十二年。在此期间，努尔哈赤对其他女真部族进行了频繁的征讨攻伐，所有这些军事行动，都没有得到帝国的重视。在李成梁的庇护和默许下，努尔哈赤渐成气候。 随后，六十六岁的李成梁，离开辽东总兵位，以帝国伯爵的勋位来到北京享受富贵荣华。此后十年间，辽东总兵八易其人，辽东局势糜烂。李成梁以七十六岁高龄，被帝国重新任命为辽东总兵，再次主持辽东军事。其时，他和他的亲族部下全部功成名就，富贵已极。在他们中间，贪赃枉法已经成为常事，史称“暮气深重”。从一般情形判断，这样一批人，能够不给帝国帮倒忙已属万幸。后来发生的一切显示，帝国的确没有这样的幸运。 从大明万历二十九年到大明万历三十六年（公元1601～1608年），李成梁再任辽东总兵的七年间，努尔哈赤的羽翼基本丰满。就是在这一年，因为放弃辽东六堡这一重大举措，李成梁受到熊廷弼等人的弹劾。年逾八十的李成梁申请退休，得到皇帝批准。至此时，他本人算是安全着陆了。而他做的这件事情，却对大明帝国和努尔哈赤双方都产生了极其重大而深远的影响，以至于不论当时还是后世，都有人将此举看成是李成梁和万历皇帝二人的“亡明之举”。 这件事情，发生在大明万历三十四年底（公元1606年）。当时，年逾八十即将退休的李成梁，突然上书皇帝，请求万历皇帝批准，准备主动放弃宽甸六堡及其周边的八百里国土，将其事实上让给努尔哈赤。 这六座堡垒分别是：孤山堡、宽甸、长奠、双堆儿、长岭、于散，位于今天的辽宁省宽甸、凤城、本溪境内。这些堡垒，向南为辽东卫所的前沿要塞，向西则可屏蔽辽沈腹心地带，向东与朝鲜遥遥相望，向北成为抗御蒙古骑兵的第一线。 这六座城堡，地势险要，具有极高的战略价值。本来，这六座堡垒早已存在，后来由于维护不善，在很大程度上失去了堡垒要塞的作用。三十多年前，刚刚在辽东崭露头角的李成梁极力主张修复整治这些堡垒，得到张居正的支持。于是在做了一些规划和调整后，重新整治好了这些国防线上的要塞，环卫土地八百多里。随后，设粮仓、建学校、开关市，致使各地无地农民纷纷前来定居，最后竟多达六万多户，在捍卫祖国边疆上发挥了巨大作用。这也是李成梁当年的诸多功绩之一。 如今，正值努尔哈赤渐成气候，对大明帝国构成巨大威胁之际，李成梁却以和当年主张修复时同样坚决的态度，主张放弃这些军事要塞。理由是这些要塞孤悬难守，得不偿失。此议一出，立即受到一些有识之士的反对。边疆土地，尺寸是宝，哪里可以说不要就不要了？偏偏万历皇帝几乎是无条件地欣赏和信任李成梁，竟然问也不问就稀里糊涂地批准了这个计划。致使努尔哈赤不费一兵一卒便得到了八百里土地，并自动消除了前进道路上的巨大障碍与威胁。 当时，在这些堡垒的环卫下，六万多户人家——差不多有二十多万人口安居乐业于此。迁徙令一发，这些人民立即变成了流离失所的无家可归者。如果说，在此之前，李成梁曾经多次对敌人“犁庭扫穴”，从而捍卫了国家尊严的话，那这一次，他是在对自己的祖国人民实行“犁庭扫穴”了，而这些人民本来应该是由他来保卫的。 史书记载，李成梁出动大军，强迫这些居民撤退到辽东腹心地区。时值冬季，被捣毁了房屋的百姓于东北的冰天雪地中被强制迁离。许多青壮年人口不堪忍受，愤而投奔努尔哈赤，为他增加了许多宝贵的人力资源。 令人无法理解的是，做了这件事情的李成梁，竟然以招徕民众的理由，向中央政府报功。而令人加倍无法理解的是，皇帝居然就此下令，对李成梁及其他一干有功人员予以高级别的嘉奖。 遥想当年，努尔哈赤得到李成梁这些动用军队都不一定能够得到的、无比珍贵的礼物时，想必是欣喜若狂，必定在内心深处对李成梁充满感激之情。从中我们可以知道：那些帝国高级官员，在缺少制度性约束的情况下，为了一己私利，可以丧心病狂地把国家利益转化为私人交易。 很快，辽东弃地的真相传到了北京。监察官员开始上疏弹劾李成梁欺君误国，行同通敌，并正确指出：这些要塞的放弃，必将成为未来之大患。万历皇帝看到这些弹劾奏章后吓了一跳，连忙下令调查核实。都察院派遣熊廷弼前去调查。 四个月后，熊廷弼的报告出来了，和监察官员的弹劾奏章得出了一致的结论。谁知，报告递上去后，便泥牛入海再无消息。其他人为此继续上疏，仍然是没有下文，后来，竟就此无声无息了。没有任何人能够知道，到底是什么原因。 就这样，李成梁的心里算是彻底踏实了。即便当初努尔哈赤的祖父与父亲被他误杀，如今他也真的算是对得起努尔哈赤了。或者李成梁也许会在心中这样说：够了，我为这个国家做得已经足够多了！既然皇帝除了搜刮财物，根本就不愿上朝理事，不拿天下当回事儿，何必皇帝不急急煞太监呢？现在，该轮到我了…… 当一个权力高度集中的国家政权腐烂程度过深时，一定是因为其最高决策者出了问题。舍此，任何其他理由都可以被视为扯淡。 就这样，在李成梁前后两次镇守辽东的三十年岁月里，努尔哈赤从一个无足轻重的小人物，成长为一代枭雄。如今，巨祸已经酿成，大明帝国一步一步走到了风雨飘摇的前夜。 李成梁是在八十三岁时离任的。此后，老将军一口气活到了九十岁，直到大明万历四十三年（公元1615年）死去。在此期间——从大明万历十一年（公元1583年）起兵，至今三十三年，努尔哈赤不受打扰地几乎做完了他想做的一切。李成梁死后仅仅一年，即大明万历四十四年，努尔哈赤就正式建立后金国，自称天命汗。三年后，从容拿下抚顺，正式拉开挑战大明帝国的大幕。 他用事实证明，并不是所有人都不拿天下当回事儿。譬如，眼前就有一位，他——努尔哈赤。