On the issue of Wu Sangui, Chongzhen always maintained a cautious attitude.

No matter what Wu Sangui thought in his heart, as long as he obeyed the orders of the court, Chongzhen could not do anything to him.

Even if he made a mistake and was sentenced to death by Chongzhen, the Guanning Army would not listen to the court!

Because Wu Sangui was not only a general of the Guanning Army, he was also a representative of the Liaodong generals group.

The Liaodong military group had existed for a long time, but it was during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty that it became truly big and powerful.

In the early years of the Wanli reign, military preparations were in disrepair and the Ming army was weak.

However there was an exception: Li Chengliang of Liaodong.

Li Chengliang spent a large amount of money to build the Liaodong Iron Cavalry.

This army was good at fighting and defeated the Mongols and Jurchens so badly that they could not even raise their heads.

As a result, Li Chengliang became the emperor's favorite.

The imperial court also spent a lot of money on Li Chengliang.

Li Chengliang did not disappoint the court's trust and made many military achievements, becoming famous far and wide.

With the accumulation of military merits, Li Chengliang's servants were quickly promoted and became rich, forming a military group in Liaodong.

They occupied Liaodong, used their power to bully the market, occupy people's land, exploit the people and ordinary soldiers, and became local tyrants.

Aren’t they afraid of being discovered and punished by the court?

Afraid!

But they have a way.

As long as there are wars, the court will have to use them and will not be able to punish them.

But as time went on, the Mongols became frightened and stopped invading the south.

Li Chengliang was the representative of the Liaodong generals. He knew very well that the war could not stop. Once it stopped, he and the Liaodong generals would be weakened and abandoned by the court.

So he turned his attention to the Jianzhou Jurchens.

That is to say, to keep the enemy at bay for your own benefit.

The reasons why Li Chengliang did this are very complicated. Many historians believe that Hu Zongxian's death was the catalyst for Li Chengliang to support the enemy.

In the 41st year of the Jiajing reign, Hu Zongxian quelled the Japanese invasion in Zhejiang and led his troops south to wipe out the Japanese pirates in Fujian.

In May of the 41st year of Jiajing's reign, the Yan Party was destroyed.

Hu Zongxian, a disciple of Yan Song, was implicated, dismissed from office and arrested and taken to Beijing.

Later, because of his contributions in fighting against the Japanese pirates, he was only dismissed from office but not punished.

In the 44th year of the Jiajing reign, Hu Zongxian was involved in a case of forging an imperial edict and was arrested and brought to Beijing again.

In November of the same year, Hu Zongxian committed suicide in prison.

In the sixth year of Longqing, the imperial court rehabilitated Hu Zongxian.

When Hu Zongxian died, Li Chengliang was serving as a lieutenant general in Liaodong.

When Hu Zongxian was rehabilitated, Li Chengliang served as the deputy governor in Liaodong.

This incident caused a big stir at the time.

Li Chengliang was a smart man and soon got the inspiration from it: the enemy cannot disappear, otherwise he will disappear along with the enemy!

As the saying goes, like father, like son.

Li Chengliang kept the enemy as a protector to protect himself, and Li Chengliang's sons and servants also learned to keep the enemy as a protector to protect themselves.

In the 19th year of Wanli, Li Chengliang was impeached and dismissed from office.

His successor was Yang Shaoxun, who came from a military family in Liaodong.

Unfortunately, the Japanese invaded Korea.

The Liaodong Army commanded by Yang Shaoxun was defeated.

Yang Shaoxun was dismissed from his post, and Shaanxi general You Jixian was appointed as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong.

(At that time, Li Rusong's official position was not the general of Liaodong, but the prime minister of Ji, Liao, Baoding, and Shandong, and the general commander of the coastal defense against the Japanese.)

Due to the exclusion of the Liaodong generals, You Jixian soon resigned and was replaced by Xuanfu general Dong Yiyuan.

Dong Yiyuan was a good fighter, and he was fighting against the Mongols who had invaded the border.

Being able to fight means having military merit and being able to make money.

In addition, since he did not fight Nurhaci, whom they supported, Dong Yiyuan almost got the support of the Liaodong generals group.

However, Dong Yiyuan was unable to serve in Liaodong for long and soon resigned due to illness.

He was succeeded by Wang Bao, a general from Yulin, Shaanxi.

The following year, Japan invaded Korea again. In order to give full play to the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Army, the imperial court had no choice but to appoint Li Rusong as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong.

After Li Rusong died in battle, Li Rumei, Sun Shoulian and other people from Liaodong military families successively served as generals of Liaodong.

Although they are members of the Jiangmen Group, they cannot get any money.

Liaodong was a business at that time.

The Liaodong Generals Group are ostensibly generals leading troops, but in reality they are all businessmen.

All they have eyes for is money!

If you have money you can fight, if you don’t have money you can just act like a coward.

Li Rumei and Sun Shoulian could not raise money, so they could not get the support of the Liaodong generals.

The Xuanfu general Ma Lin who replaced them faced the same situation, so these people were dismissed one after another.

But they couldn't stop making money, so the Liaodong generals' group began to flirt with Nurhaci and allowed him to grow bigger.

The situation in the entire Liaodong became increasingly chaotic.

In order to stabilize Liaodong, the imperial court had to re-employ Li Chengliang.

Li Chengliang was old and could only suppress the situation in Liaodong but was unable to change the status quo.

After Li Chengliang's death, the Liaodong generals became independent and began to lose control.

Why did General Yang Hao divide his troops during the Battle of Sarhu?

In addition to the dispersion of troops and logistical reasons, there are also conflicts between generals.

They are all members of the military group, and no one is willing to submit to anyone else.

What’s more, the person they beat was Nurhaci, whom they supported.

If Nurhaci was defeated, there would be no war in Liaodong for a long time.

Not only will the generals be left with no money, they will also be held accountable for oppressing the people.

So, they formed a kind of tacit understanding.

In front, there is the military group that is not putting in enough effort, and behind, there is the Donglin Party that is hindering them.

Therefore, the Ming army was destined to fail in the Battle of Sarhu.

After the defeat at Sarhu, the governor Yang Hao was executed.

His successor Xiong Tingbi was also defeated and his head was sent to the nine frontiers.

After Sun Chengzong took command of Ji and Liao, he quickly realized this problem.

So the old Liaodong Iron Cavalry was disbanded and reorganized, and new forces were added to form the Guanning Army.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!