Liaodong deputy commander-in-chief, this position to a certain extent, is the most special deputy commander-in-chief in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, in the vast majority of cases, he has to be responsible for a large area east of the Liaohe River, if the area alone, its defense area is even larger than the Liaodong general army is usually responsible for the western Liaoxi region.

Moreover, this deputy chief soldier is in the same city as the governor and the eunuch guarding the town, and in a sense, he also bears the responsibility of protecting the governor and the eunuch. On the other hand, the Liaodong army was stationed alone in Quang Ninh, with no governor, no governor, and no eunuchs, and his duty was to deal with the Mongols in most cases.

Of course, if there is a major war east of the Liao River, the general army still has to take care of it, but it is usually not the first person responsible.

Therefore, Gao Shishi, the new governor, wants to be stable, and even says that if he wants to sleep peacefully, the deputy commander-in-chief had better ensure that he obeys his orders.

Ensuring obedience is the first premise, but this is not enough, you must also have the ability to be the deputy commander-in-chief.

It's not easy to generalize about ability, but in this era, there is one thing that must be paid attention to, and that is the number of armed soldiers.

In roughly the same era, the two major military strategists in the world recognized by Gao Pragmatic are Qi Jiguang of the Ming Dynasty and Morris of the Netherlands, and the military thinking of these two military masters has the same or very similar point, that is, the emphasis on the army itself, rather than the role of strategy as in classical military thought.

Of course, in the original history, because Morris was the core figure of the Dutch rule, he could reform the military system of the Netherlands without looking at other people's eyes, and after achieving results, he could even put his military ideas into military academies for people to study.

Qi Jiguang is different, under the political system of the Ming Dynasty, once Qi Jiguang loses the support and protection of civilian officials, he can't even control his own destiny, let alone whether his military ideas can be spread.

Although Qi Jiguang's military books "The New Book of Discipline and Effectiveness" and "Records of Military Training" were reprinted again and again in the future and were respected by a large number of generals in the late Ming Dynasty, his ideal army never really appeared.

This is the biggest regret.

What is the part of Qi Jiguang's military thought that is most different from classical military thought?

In Qi Jiguang's own words: "In the past few years, Yu Cheng has lacked Zhedong, but he knows Sun Wu's law, the program is subtle, and the detailed programs under his subordinates are not as good as any." ”

In fact, not only "Sun Tzu", it should be said that the "Seven Books of the Martial Classics" and the "General Essentials of the Martial Classics" have not completely solved this big problem -- most of the military thinking in the past focused on strategy and did not form a comprehensive and systematic "composition of combat effectiveness", which was simply lame.

Qi Jiguang, on the other hand, believes that what constitutes the army's combat strength is the soldiers, generals, armaments, logistics, and other aspects, and that they must develop in an all-round way and are indispensable.

The reason why the armed family soldiers have become the real core force of the border towns of the Ming Dynasty in this era is because the armed family members are almost born to occupy the advantage in the three aspects of soldiers, armaments, and logistics, and there is almost only one general who is missing.

In fact, due to the characteristics of the Jiading troops, the control of the troops by the commander of the unit is far better than that of other troops, that is to say, the commander can do his own troops like a command, as long as he does not make too stupid mistakes, the combat effectiveness of such a unit is completely guaranteed.

Therefore, the new deputy commander-in-chief needs to have a family army that is not weak, and this is now also a matter that must be considered by Gao Pragmatism.

At present, Gao Pragmatic has no such candidate in his hands, such as Ma Dong, he brought about a thousand horses, and the combat effectiveness is good, but the number is too small, and Ma Dong's reward has not come down, not to mention, even if it comes down, he is a "foreigner" who suddenly overwhelms a large number of local generals in Liaodong and directly becomes the deputy commander-in-chief, which itself is easy to cause antagonism.

In addition, Gao Pragmatic now has an obviously wrong relationship with Li Chengliang, the core figure of the local generals, and once he forcibly recommends Ma Dong, I am afraid that a factional struggle will be staged from top to bottom in the Liaodong Army.

In fact, factional struggles are inevitable, but they must be controlled at a certain level and within a certain range, and there are some struggles at the top alone, and the problem is not big, but if the local troops in the entire Liaodong regard the Xuanda generals and even the Jiading troops brought by the Xuanda generals as opponents to grab food, then it will be a big trouble.

Since Ma Dong can't do it, Ma Chengen and Zhang Wanbang don't even think about it, just because the level is too different. They are not highly pragmatic, and they don't have so many political resources to support them, even if they want to promote them, they have to come step by step.

The Xuanda generals are not suitable, so they have to consider the local faction in Liaodong, and the local faction in Liaodong should try to avoid the influence of Li Chengliang.

It's obviously hard.

Gao pragmatically thought about it, and the only person who "maybe" met the requirements was probably only Cao Yan, the former deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, who was dismissed from his post and interrogated last year.

The reason why there is a "possibility" added here is that Cao Yan's promotion in his early years was also very synchronous with Li Chengliang, and he himself was also a member of the Cao family of Wuqingtang in northern Liaoning.

In other words, he and Li Chengliang were not only fellow villagers in northern Liaobei, but also should have been close comrades-in-arms in the early years.

By the way, a digression: Wuqingtang Cao is the heir of Cao Xueqin's family, and later in the third year of the Later Jin Mandate (1618), Nurhachi Xing attacked the Ming, and the fate of Li Cao's two families changed.

In April of that year, Nurhachi conquered Fushun, and Li Chengliang's cousin Li Sizhong surrendered. In May of that year, in the battle of the Eleventh Fort in the southeast of Tieling City, Cao Xueqin's great-grandfather Cao Zhenyan was captured and "returned to the flag" and became a coat. In the second year, Nurhachi led the army to attack Tieling, Li Ruzhen (chān, Li Chengliang's nephew), Li Ruzi (Li Ruzhen's brother), Li Cunzhong (Li Sizhong's second brother) and others rose up to resist, 20 martyrs, the Li family's private residence was destroyed, and the Li family and the Cao family were dispersed.

After setting the capital of Liaoyang, Nurhachi ordered Li Sizhong to recruit the Li clan to serve Houjin. At this time, Cao Zhenyan, who was incorporated into the Zhengbai Banner, came to settle in Liaoyang.

In addition, the Li and Cao clans had other clansmen who descended to the Qing Dynasty one after another, and the two families mixed well during the Tatar Qing period. For example, Cao Zhenyan has made many military exploits, and Tiancong was promoted to Niu Lu Zhangjing in the early years, and he was the fourth official residence.

In the early years of Tiancong, there were only more than 40 Jiala, more than 200 Niulu, plus Baylor, the Minister of Parliament, the six ministries and the officials of the three inner courts, a total of more than 500 people. Cao Zhenyan, who became Niu Lu Zhangjing, has belonged to one of the more than 500 backbones, marking the Cao family's entry into the circle of the upper class of post-Jin society.

Li Sizhong is even more soaring, he made outstanding military achievements in the later battles, successively served as Niu Lu Ezhen, second-class staff general, deputy commander of the Xi'an garrison, chief military officer of Shaanxi Admiral and officer and soldier of the Four Banners Han Ang Bang Zhangjing (general) and other positions, his descendants in Shunzhi to Kangxi Dynasty a total of nearly 30 people held important positions in the imperial court.

But there is a very miraculous thing, that is, the record of Cao Yan on the Cao side of Wuqingtang seems to have been lost.

What is unusual about this incident is that Cao Yan was second only to Li Chengliang among the generals in Liaodong in the early years of Wanli, why is such an important figure not recorded?

He himself will definitely not survive the anti-Qing period, so the biggest possibility is that his descendants participated in the war of resistance against the Qing Dynasty, and even played a big role in it, so that the Tatar Qing hated him to the core, so according to the tradition of the Tatar Qing, he simply erased the traces of his branch from history.

Of course, whether or not to participate in the resistance to the Qing Dynasty cannot be regarded as the key to judging whether a military general is available in a high degree of pragmatism, because it is a bit naïve to expect that the generals of this era all pay attention to the righteousness of the family and the country.

Moreover, before the rise of nationalism and nationalism, there were very few people who had the mentality of sacrificing their lives for the country, and even some generals who died in battle, most of them were "loyal to the emperor" - this kind of loyalty comes from the brainwashing of feudal foolishness, not from the identification with the country and the nation.

Those who refuse to "be loyal to the emperor" are nothing more than brainwashing that is not thorough enough. I am afraid that there are very few people who can sublimate their thoughts to fight for the country and the nation.

To get back to the point, since Cao Yan is a native of northern Liaobei (Kaiyuan 30,000 Wei, next door to Tieling), and his promotion in the early years was quite synchronous with Li Chengliang, why does Gao Pragmatic still think that this person can be considered?

The key lies in Li Chengliang's attitude towards Cao Yan after the Battle of Chang'an Fort.

In the first battle of Chang'anbao, the Ming army lost a thousand generals, a general, 317 officers and soldiers, 464 horses, 298 men and women were taken captive, and hundreds of livestock and grain were killed.

Is this defeat serious? It depends on how it compares.

Individually, this defeat is quite serious, especially the death of a thousand and nearly 500 war horses, which is not only a big loss at the level of dead generals, but also the loss of important strategic materials (war horses) makes the imperial court angry.

But the problem is that this battle is not a separate battle, it has a premise, first of all, the Mongol left wing of the Black Carboniferous Department invaded Liaoyang, Cao Yan led the army to stubbornly resist, and the Black Army was defeated and retreated. Then Cao Yan took advantage of the victory to pursue, entered Chang'an Fort (now Liaoyangxi, Liaoning) and encountered an ambush, as a result, the Ming army was attacked on all sides, and after hard fighting, only part of the personnel were able to break through, resulting in a "big defeat".

In other words, there are two possibilities for this battle: one is that the Black Carboniferous Department failed to attack Liaoyang and was pursued by Cao Yan, and the Black Carboniferous Department counterattacked and defeated Cao Yan; The second is that the Black Carboniferous Department had already predicted that it was designing Cao Yan from the beginning, so it was defeated and left, leading Cao Yan to pursue, and then defeating Cao Yan.

Which is likely to be the truth? The first is because after the Black Carboniferous Department defeated Cao Yan, they did not turn around and continue to plunder in the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but turned back to Mongolia.

Just imagine, Cao Yan's department is the core of the Ming army's field battle in Liaodong, since he has been hit hard, if the Black Carboniferous Department still has spare strength, how can it not seize the opportunity to grab a wave near Liaoyang, but only capture more than 300 people, hundreds of livestock and rice grain?

Therefore, the whole battle is linked, Cao Yan can only be regarded as winning first and then losing, and although the losses are not small, the losses of the other party are not necessarily not serious - at least the other party does not dare to continue to stay in the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

In this case, even if Cao Yan should be punished in this battle, it doesn't seem that he will directly lose his official position so seriously, not to mention that he has an elite family army second only to Li Chengliang under his hands.

said that Li Chengliang may have quietly moved to frame Cao Yan, that can't be nonsense, after all, there is no evidence, but Li Chengliang obviously didn't come to the rescue.

If the two of them are really old comrades-in-arms and iron buddies, as long as Li Chengliang casually goes up and says a few good words for him, Cao Yan will at least not end up with "dismissal, and the next patrol will ask questions according to the imperial history".

In addition, after Cao Yan was imprisoned, his younger brother Cao Jian worked hard to maintain the family team left by Cao Yan, and he was so poor that he was so poor, but Li Chengliang did not have the slightest intention of reaching out to help, and "pulling a brother" did not exist at all.

Gao Pragmatic had to think that Li Chengliang took the initiative to dismiss after Cao Jian couldn't afford to support these people, and then took over this group of family members to strengthen himself.

In the face of self-interest, what is comradeship? If you are still talking about comradeship, it is nothing more than that the benefits are not big enough.

Gao Pragmatic is not very clear about what Cao Yan, who is imprisoned in Shandong, thinks about this matter, but Cao Jian, the commander of Jinzhouwei, was Gao Pragmatic's subordinate when he was in southern Liaoning, and his impression of Li Chengliang is not very good, which Gao Pragmatic knows very well.

Presumably, if Cao Yan knew that Li Chengliang was beating his family's idea, he would definitely not have a good face - the family Ding itself is the basis for his "guilty meritorious service", as long as the family is still there, Cao Yan or the Cao family still have hope, if the family is dispersed, then he Cao Yan will really be finished.

Therefore, Gao Pragmatic felt that re-enforcing Cao Yan as the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong was the best choice under the current circumstances. is not only a useful armed man, but also a local general in Liaodong, who has been a deputy general for many years, and his prestige is enough, plus it is difficult for him not to resent Li Chengliang now, it can be said that all aspects meet the current employment standards of Gao Shipra.

However, now that Cao Yan is in prison in Shandong, the specific situation still needs to be understood, after Gao Pragmatic sent Han Guang away, he personally wrote a letter to An Zhizhi in Shandong, asking him about Cao Yan's current situation, and at the same time slightly revealed his intention to use Cao Yan again.

Gao pragmatic letter can take the sea route, waterway, it took less than ten days to arrive in Jinan, An Zhizhi's reply is also very fast, the letter said that he has talked to Cao Yan alone, Cao Yan has an understanding of the current situation in Liaodong, and swears to the sky, as long as he can recover, everything must be in the meaning of Futai, Futai said to catch chickens, he will never drive dogs.

An Zhizhi also said that Cao Yan learned that Li Chengliang not only had no idea to save him at all, but even indifferently waited for the Cao family to be dismissed by himself when he couldn't afford to support his family, he was stunned for a while, and then scolded, and even said, "I regard him as a brother, and he regards me as a mustard!" Then he tore his sleeves and stomped on them.

Do you cut off your robe? Hehe......

Gao Shishi, who received An Zhizhi's reply, no longer hesitated, and immediately began to write a note, requesting that Cao Yan be reinstated, and that he should be guilty of meritorious service.

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