Chapter 51 Dudu is a big liar

"Speaking of which, our herbal medicine business is now prosperous thanks to his care."

"Oh, no wonder." Wang An suddenly realized.

In any era, if you want to expand your business, you can't get away from the path of red-top businessmen.

What's more, when doing medicinal material business at the border, the people who need medicine the most are probably the border troops.

It is normal to provide medicinal materials to the border troops and have some dealings with Yuan Chonghuan.

It has to be said that Chongzhen's lie was indeed reasonable and logical.

"Come to think of it, this guy quit his job in July, but was summoned back by the court before he even reached his hometown. Calculating the time, he should be in the capital now." Wang An said after thinking for a moment.

"That's right!" Chongzhen continued to lie, "Since Yuan Chonghuan left office, the former governor Wang Zhichen has been very difficult to deal with. Brother, do you think Yuan Chonghuan still has a chance to return to Liaodong?"

When Chongzhen asked this question, he actually wanted to know when he would transfer Yuan Chonghuan back to Liaodong.

After all, now we have Bi Zisu as the governor of Liaodong and Wang Zhichen as the commander-in-chief. They are doing a good job and there is no reason for us to remove them at will. Then we can replace Yuan Chonghuan, who has a grudge against Wang Zhichen, which would be a bit unpopular.

When Wang An heard this question, he just regarded it as a cousin caring about his business and hoping that Yuan Chonghuan, who was easier to deal with, would be reinstated.

Having just taken over two coal mines, Wang An naturally answered all the questions.

After searching his memory, Wang An replied, "It is inevitable that Yuan Chonghuan will return to serve as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and it will be very soon, probably in about four or five months."

Chongzhen was overjoyed when he heard this. It turned out that he could find an opportunity so quickly to release Yuan Chonghuan back to Liaodong!

For Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan's return to Liaodong as soon as possible meant that Yuan Chonghuan's plan of "pacifying Liaodong in five years" could be implemented as soon as possible.

"Oh, but I don't know why?" Chongzhen asked. If he knew the reason in advance, perhaps he could find a way to bring the result forward.

Wang An chuckled and said, "In the officialdom, there is always one person for one job. Yuan Dudu was able to return to Liaodong because the current Governor of Ji and Liao had problems."

"Yuandudu" was Wang An's nickname for Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan is a very controversial figure in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

To be honest, Wang An wasn't really that interested.

Chongzhen naturally didn't care about this.

"That difficult minister of the king is going to be in trouble. This is a good opportunity for my uncle to vent his anger."

Chongzhen frowned and said, "Wang Zhichen is an important official after all, how could he suffer such misfortune?"

Although Wang Zhichen could be considered a eunuch in the past, Chongzhen never thought of dealing with him. Moreover, Wei Zhongxian was now his right-hand man, so there was no reason to liquidate anyone.

In this case, there must be a reason for the king's ministers to suffer.

Wang An showed a trace of contempt and said, "Your subjects are short-sighted and cowardly. In order to avoid a direct confrontation with the Jiannu, they actually gave up a large number of frontline city fortifications and reduced their forces for various reasons." "They gave up Jinzhou, Xingshan, and Gaoqiao one after another, leaving only a small number of defenders and civilians in the city. These three cities are the front line, which have been holding back the Jiannu army. If Huang Taiji heard this great news, would you fight?"

"What? Your ministers gave up so many cities?" Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this.

The Ming Dynasty's requirement for local officials has always been that they must not lose cities or territories.

There was a law at the time that stipulated that if a city was lost, the local county magistrate or prefect would have only two options: either be killed by the enemy or beheaded by the imperial court.

Moreover, although Wang Zhichen had previously submitted a memorial to transfer General You Shilu from Jinzhou to Xingshan, he only said that the city wall of Jinzhou had collapsed and needed to be repaired before the army could be transferred back. The transfer of You Shilu was only temporary, and he did not dare to directly say that he wanted to abandon Jinzhou.

Moreover, Wang Zhichen had not yet given up Xingshan and Gaoqiao, so Chongzhen could not have imagined that Wang Zhichen would not redeploy defenses in Jinzhou until four or five months later.

Once Jinzhou and Xingshan are lost, the Guanningjin defense line will be half destroyed. The entire area north of Liaodong will become a paradise for the Jiannu, and the army can reach the city of Ningyuan directly!

Wang An waved his hand and said, "Yes, you just reminded me. I'll write a letter to my uncle and tell him not to go to Jinzhou when the time comes!"

"And Wang Zhichen was dismissed because of this incident, so Yuan Dudu took office with the empty promise of pacifying Liao in five years!"

"What is a blank check?" Chongzhen asked puzzledly. Although he felt a little angry that Wang Zhichen had lost cities and territories, he was not too excited when he thought that it would happen in a few months.

At worst, we could order Wang Zhichen not to give up the cities of Jinzhou, or simply withdraw the enemy.

Wang An thought for a while and explained: "It's just a trick. I tricked the emperor. Do you understand?"

Chongzhen's eyes widened as he retorted, "No way! Yuan Chonghuan has quite a few military achievements, and the strategy he proposed of using Liao people to defend Liao territory is very insightful. How could he be fooling around?"

Wang An chuckled and said mischievously, "My little cousin knows a lot. It's true that Yuan Chonghuan has been promoting this plan for several years. It's normal that you have heard of it. Then you should also know that Yuan Dudu claimed that he could pacify Liao in five years, right?"

Chongzhen nodded.

Wang An laughed and said, "What can I say about Yuan Dudu? He is definitely talented and a pillar of the society, but he is a bit complicated. He was born in a merchant family and has been in the border for a long time, which makes him a bit good and evil, and he does things as he pleases."

"When Yuan Dudu proposed to the emperor that the Liao Dynasty would be pacified in five years, word of this spread. Xu Yuqing, the military official, once questioned Yuan Dudu, asking him how he could say such a big thing as pacifying the Liao Dynasty in five years. Guess what Dudu said?"

"How did you answer?" Chongzhen unconsciously became a little nervous.

Wang An laughed and said, "He said: I am just trying to appease the emperor! Haha, he is just following the emperor's mood and making big talk to please the emperor!"

Chongzhen's face flushed, and he still said in disbelief: "This...can't be true, how dare Yuan Chonghuan lie to the emperor!"

Wang An sneered, "Why not? Yuan Chonghuan has talent, but his moral bottom line is not high. He often puts his own interests first. In his opinion, it is enough to please the emperor."

"Then Xu Yuqing questioned him, saying that if he made big promises but failed to fulfill them, he would be held accountable by the emperor. Yuan Dudu then realized that he had boasted too much, and quickly added restrictions to the emperor, asking for a lot of food, military pay, troops, and so on!"

"He even asked the emperor to stop the court from discussing and criticizing his Liaodong strategy. This was just to find an excuse for not being able to do it five years later!"

"Think about it, if the Jiannu were so easy to deal with, why would they have started to suppress the Yuejiang since the Wanli period, and even come up with the Eight Great Hates to establish the Later Jin regime and openly challenge our Ming Dynasty? Although we can look down on them strategically, Yuandudu is looking down on the opponent tactically!"

(End of this chapter)