In addition, Zu Dashou's former colleague Mao Wenlong was also attached,

On February 10, 1576 (the 11th day of the first month of the fourth year of Wanli), Mao Wenlong was born in Zhongxiao Lane, Qiantang County, Hangzhou, Zhejiang. His grandfather, Mao Yushan, originally operated official salt in Shanxi, and later moved his family to Hangzhou due to business needs. His father, Mao Wei, abandoned business and followed Confucianism, paid donations as a prisoner, and married his wife Shen. The Shen family is a prominent family in Hangzhou, and is known as "Hangzhou A family, with Shen as the most". Mao Wei and Shen had four sons, the third son died young, and the rest were the eldest son Mao Wenlong, the second son Mao Zhonglong, and the fourth son Mao Yunlong.

When Mao Wenlong was nine years old, Mao Wei died of illness, and his mother was twenty-six years old at the time, and lived with her son and brother Shen Guangzuo. Shen Guangzuo is a famous eunuch in Hangzhou, a scholar at the end of Wanli Yi, a magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture, a political envoy of Shandong, and Yin of Shuntian Mansion [1].

When Mao Wenlong was young, under the influence of his mother's family, he also received the traditional Confucian orthodox education of "learning from a young age, learning the scriptures and making a living", but he was never interested in the Four Books and Five Classics, and liked to read the art of war book "Shame to learn the sub-industry, good Sun Wu Art of War", so in the late Ming Dynasty, which emphasized literature and light martial arts, it was difficult to achieve decent fame, so he never married. It wasn't until he became an officer in his thirties that he returned home and got married, marrying a Shanxi scholar woman, Zhang. The Zhang family could not have children, and later accepted a concubine Wen in Liaoyang and gave birth to a son, Mao Chengdou. After Liaoyang was captured by the Later Jin, Wen died in the war, Mao Chengdou was rescued and sent to Hangzhou, and Zhang took care of him as his own.

(In the spring of the 33rd year of Wanli), Mao Wenlong succeeded to Mao Dechun, his uncle in Anshan, Liaodong, as his heir, and then went north alone, first went to Beijing to visit his maternal uncle Shen Guangzuo, and was recommended by him to be under the tent of Li Chengliang, the uncle of Ningyuan, and began his military career in Liaodong. At that time, Nurhachi continued to annex the Jurchen tribes, and the situation in eastern Liaodong became increasingly tense, Mao Wenlong was interested in investigating the situation of mountains and rivers and the enemy's situation, and in September of the same year, he participated in the martial arts of Liaodong kǎo shì, "ranked sixth", and was appointed as one hundred households in Anshan, and soon promoted to the general of Qian, and in 1608 (the thirty-sixth year of Wanli), he was promoted to the garrison of Sanyang.

Later, as the capital secretary led the troops to aid Korea, stayed in the Liaodong area, after the fall of Liaodong, fled back by sea, took advantage of the emptiness of the garrison to kill the defenders of Houjin Zhenjiang, and made a report to the governor Wang Huazhen, without telling the Jinglu Xiong Tingbi, so the two began to have resentment. At that time, the people in power in the imperial court were appreciating Huazhen, so they appointed Mao Wenlong as the chief military officer, and gradually promoted to the governor of Zuodu, hung up the general's seal, gave Shang Fang the sword, and set up a military town on Phi Island like the mainland.

Phi Dao is also called Dongjiang, in the sea along the coast of Deng and Lai, the total length is 80 li, no vegetation grows, away from the coast, close to the north shore, the north shore and the Houjin World are only 80 miles away from the sea, and his northeast sea belongs to Korea.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty governor festival town Denglai, Yuan Keli was the only governor of Denglai who effectively supported Mao Wenlong for a long time from the overall situation. Less than ten months after Yuan Keli took office, Mao Wenlong was directly given Shang Fangjian by adding rank. [2] He had a lot of efforts to contain Wenlong, and Mao Wenlong's major achievements and honors were achieved during this period. Mao Wenlong was constantly promoted to the rank with the support of Yuan Keli, and began to be proud of his achievements, and at that time, the court officials questioned Mao Wenlong day by day.

In October of the third year of the Apocalypse, the emperor commended: "The governor of the capital Yuan Keli ruled the hard work, and gave you Zhu Tiwen Python." Ru Jia and Mao Shuai were arrogant and disagreeing, Gu Yu soldiers, and Manpu and Changcheng attacked and dared to make contributions. ”

"It is the victory of Manpu and Changcheng, it is said that the soldiers are less than a thousand, they have not fought a battle, they have not left a single arrow, and they have trampled on each other, and they have been killed by more than 20,000 people, more than 30,000 people have died when they have gone away, and there are more than 20,000 Zhenyi. The public (Yuan Keli) was quite suspicious, and he was cautious when he said that he would report it later. ”

So he moved the Dongjiang River and verified its fiction and reality. And Mao Shuai was jealous of the public, and he slandered the official to find it. [5] Yuan Keli was ordered to check his battle report and military salary, which made Mao Shuai jealous. At this time, there was suddenly an interest group composed of Song Zhenhan, a member of the eunuch party, and several Donglin people in the same year, Song Shixiang, Fang Youdu, Pang Shanglian, etc., who took advantage of the contradiction between Mao Wenlong and Yuan Keli, and took turns to maliciously attack Yuan Keli. So much so that the Emperor of the Apocalypse couldn't look at it, and openly blamed him for his grievances: "The minister will stay and listen to the referee, and the officials should talk about the general situation, and there is no need to criticize them in a row." ”

At that time, the eunuch party was rampant in the middle of the dynasty, and there were no party attackers, and the eunuch party also wanted to get rid of Yuan Keli to cut the wings of Inspector Sun. Yuan Keli did not act rashly, but "softened his (Mao Wenlong) bones" [4], persuading Mao "courtiers not to bully", "Gong (Yuan Keli) is so strange that his (Mao Wenlong) is brave and wise." He believes that Mao Wenlong's existence is related to the overall situation of the Mingjin War, and it is not something that can be replaced by just someone, and in the end he chose to "retire after success".

At the time of the earthquake, he also asked the court to "pre-prepare Mao Shuai's help". On the second day of the fifth month of the second year of the Apocalypse, Yang Sichang asked the emperor for salary on behalf of Yuan Keli as soon as he took office: "Fu minister Yuan Keli was ordered by Fang Xin, please send 200,000 gold to disperse the soldiers, it seems that it is a last resort." But in the Holy Judgment, a certain number shall be given. ”

There are also some radical court officials who value mountains and seas and ignore coastal areas accuse Yuan Keli of protecting Mao Wenlong: "Mao Wenlong lives overseas, and often visits China and North Korea with false words, and Yuan Keli, the governor of Denglai, invites each generation. Yuan Keli was angry at both ends, and the situation was very embarrassing.

Yuan Keli went, and Mao Wenlong was uncontrollable, which led to a series of tragic events later, which may have been unexpected by Mao Wenlong and the Ming court at that time.

However, although the situation of the Dongjiang River, where Mao Wenlong lived, was enough to contain Houjin, his own strategy was limited, and the annual wasted military salary could not be calculated, and he only cared about recruiting merchants and selling forbidden goods, nominally aiding North Korea, but in fact he went out of the border fortress in vain, and when there was no military, he took the sale of ginseng and cloth as his ministry, and when there was a war, he rarely got his function.

In the matter of engineering, Pan Shiwen impeached Mao Wenlong for wasting military pay and killing prisoners indiscriminately, and Shang Baoqing and Dong Maozhong requested that Mao Wenlong's troops be withdrawn and the troops in Shanhaiguan and Ningyuan should be rectified. The military department discussed and decided that it would not work. Yuan Chonghuan was unhappy with Mao Wenlong in his heart, and once wrote a letter requesting that his ministers be sent to Mao Wenlong to clean up the grain. Mao Wenlong hated having Wenchen by his side, and wrote a refutation, Yuan Chonghuan was very unhappy. When Mao Wenlong came to visit, Yuan Chonghuan greeted him as a guest, and Mao Wenlong was not humble, and Yuan Chonghuan's idea of getting rid of Mao Wenlong became more resolute.

Jiao Zhao was killed

At this time, Yuan Chonghuan arrived at Shuangdao by boat in the name of a military parade, and Mao Wenlong came to meet. Yuan Chonghuan held a banquet with him, drank and had fun, and it was only in the middle of the night that Mao Wenlong did not realize Yuan Chonghuan's meaning. Yuan Chonghuan discussed with him to change the camp system and set up a supervision department, but Mao Wenlong was very unhappy. Yuan Chonghuan persuaded him by leaving his post and returning to his hometown, and Mao Wenlong replied: "I used to have this meaning, but now only I know about the war in the east, and when the war in the east is over, North Korea will be weakened and can be taken possession in one fell swoop." ”

Yuan Chonghuan was even more unhappy, so on June 5, he invited Mao Wenlong to watch the soldiers shoot arrows, first set up a tent on the mountain, and ordered the general Xie Shangzheng and others to arrange for soldiers wearing armor to lie in ambush outside the tent. After Mao Wenlong came, his soldiers could not enter the tent. Yuan Chonghuan said: "I will leave tomorrow, and all the overseas affairs are pinned on you, please accept my worship." ”

After greeting each other, they climbed the mountain together. Yuan Chonghuan asked about the names of the officers in his entourage, most of whom were surnamed Mao. Mao Wenlong said: "These people are my grandsons. Yuan Chonghuan smiled and said: "You have worked hard overseas for many days, and there is only one piece of rice per month, which is sad to say, please also accept my worship, everyone will do their best for the country." They all bowed their heads and thanked them.

Mao Wenlong was questioned about several violations of the order, and Mao Wenlong made a confrontational defense. Yuan Chonghuan shouted at him, asked people to take off his hat and robe, and tied him up, but Mao Wenlong was still very stubborn. Yuan Chonghuan said: "You have twelve major sins that should be beheaded, do you know? According to the system laid down by our ancestors, the generals must be under the supervision of civilian officials when they lead their troops outside.

You are alone here, and the money and food of the military horses are not subject to verification, and they should be killed. There is no greater sin of the minister than deceiving the monarch, you have been deceived by all the pieces you have sent, you have killed the soldiers and refugees who surrendered, and you should have been killed for the sake of pretending to be a war merit. The minister does not have his own generals, and if he does, he will be killed. You said in the book that it was easy to garrison troops in Dengzhou to take Nanjing, and it was a big rebellion, and the three should be killed. Hundreds of thousands of silver are paid every year, and they are not distributed to soldiers, but only three and a half buckets of rice are distributed every month, and military rations are embezzled, and four should be killed. Opened a horse market on Phi Dao without authorization, and interacted with foreigners without permission, and five should be killed.

Thousands of generals pretended to be your surname, and the deputy generals and below were all randomly distributed thousands of cloth horses, and the pawns and sedan chairmen were all wearing official uniforms and robes, and six should be killed. On the way back from Ningyuan, he plundered merchant ships and became a thief himself, and he should be killed. Forcibly marrying a folk woman, ignorant of the law and discipline, and his subordinates followed suit, making the people uneasy at home, and they should be killed. Drive the refugees to help you steal ginseng, and those who don't obey will starve to death, and the island is full of bones, and nine should be killed.

He sent the gold to the capital by car, worshiped Wei Zhongxian as his father, and carved a portrait of his coronation crown on the island, ten of which should be killed. Tieshan was defeated in a battle, and countless teachers were lost, but he covered up the defeat and made it a success, and he should be killed. After eight years of setting up a town, he could not recover an inch of land, sat on the ground and watched, appeased and raised the enemy, and twelve should be killed. After the announcement, Mao Wenlong lost his soul and couldn't speak, but just kowtowed and asked him to be spared death.

Yuan Chonghuan summoned his subordinates and said: "Mao Wenlong should be killed for such a crime?" "Everyone is afraid of everything, who dares to object? There was a man in the middle who praised Mao Wenlong for several years of hard work, Yuan Chonghuan reprimanded: "Mao Wenlong was just a common man, the official is the highest, and the whole family has been sealed, which is enough to repay his hard work, why is he so disobedient and disobedient!" ”

Then he kowtowed to ask for the emperor's decree and said: "I will kill Mao Wenlong today to rectify military discipline." Among the generals, there are the same as Mao Wenlong, and they will all be killed. If I can't succeed, please ask the emperor to kill me like Mao Wenlong. So he took off Shang Fang's sword and cut off Mao Wenlong's head in front of the tent. The soldiers who came out to tell him said: "Only kill Mao Wenlong, no one else is guilty." ”

At this time, there were tens of thousands of fierce and powerful officers and soldiers under Mao Wenlong, all of whom were afraid of Yuan Chonghuan's majesty, and none of them dared to move. Yuan Chonghuan ordered someone to bury Mao Wenlong in a coffin. The next day, he was honored with sacrifices such as meat and wine, saying, "It is the law of the court to kill you yesterday; Today, I pay tribute to you out of the feelings of my colleagues and friends. And shed tears for him. Then he allocated 28,000 of Mao Wenlong's soldiers as the four associations, and appointed Mao Wenlong's son Chengzuo, deputy general Chen Jisheng, staff general Xu Fuzuo, and guerrilla Liu Guangzuo as leaders. Take back Mao Wenlong's seal and Shang Fang's sword, and let Jisheng take charge of it on his behalf.

He also rewarded the sergeants, passed on the message to appease the people of the islands, and abolished Mao Wenlong's harsh government. After returning to the town, he reported Mao Wenlong's incident to the emperor, and said at the end: "Mao Wenlong, as a general, is not something I can kill without permission, so I will be punished." It was May of the second year of Chongzhen (1624). Emperor Zhuang Lie was taken aback when he suddenly heard the news, but he thought that Mao Wenlong was dead and relied on Yuan Chonghuan at that time, so he issued an edict to praise him with a praising attitude. Soon after, a decree was issued to publicize Mao Wenlong's crimes to stabilize Yuan Chonghuan's heart;

Mao Wenlong's minions who were ambushed in the capital also ordered the law department to search for them. Yuan Chonghuan wrote again: "Mao Wenlong is a husband, and he does not abide by the law to this extent, because it is convenient to cause chaos overseas. His troops, including the old and the young, numbered 47,000 people, pretending to be 100,000, and there were many civilians among them, and the soldiers were less than 20,000, and he set up 1,000 generals without authorization. Now it is not convenient to set up another commander-in-chief, so it is convenient to do things on behalf of Jisheng. Chongzhen replied yes.

Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong, fearing that his subordinates would mutiny, so he increased his salary to 180,000 taels of silver. However, after the soldiers on the island lost their commander, they gradually distracted and became more and more unrequisitionable. and until there is a betrayal and defection to the enemy. Yuan Chonghuan wrote: "A town on the Dongjiang River, if you want to contain the enemy, you must also use it. Now it is set as two associations, ten battalions of the horse army and five battalions of the infantry army, and the annual salary is 420,000 taels of silver and 136,000 stones. Chongzhen was a little emotional because of the reduction in soldiers and the increase in food and salary, and because of Yuan Chonghuan, he did what he requested.

Yuan Chonghuan and Zhao Shujiao, Zu Dashou, He Kegang, and others determined the military system in Liaodong, and gradually implemented it in Deng, Lai, and Tianjin, and after the Dongjiang military system was determined, there were more than 153,000 soldiers in the four towns, more than 81,000 horses, and more than 480,000 taels of silver were spent every year, which was 1.2 million less than in the past.

After Yuan Chonghuan beheaded Mao Wenlong, it can be said that he relieved his worries for the Later Jin Dynasty to drive southward, and three months later, there was a "change of self" under the Later Jin soldiers in Beijing - about 100,000 elite soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty detoured to Inner Mongolia, captured Zunhua from Xifengkou, and forced the Ming capital Beijing.

It is rumored that Mao Wenlong had seven so-called "letters of collaboration with the enemy", one of which was also sent after Mao Wenlong's death, but it was insisted that it was written by Mao Wenlong. Among the remaining letters, one was translated from Chinese into Manchu, and Manchu was translated back into Chinese, which should be very different. The other two seals are stamped with the seal of "the seal of the general of Pingliao", but Mao Wenlong's seal is actually "the former general of the conquest", and Zhao Shujiao, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan, hangs the seal of the general of Pingliao, so some people speculate that it may be a private seal, but no evidence can be produced.

(End of chapter)