Chapter 384: The Most Unlucky Martial Arts Champion in the Ming Dynasty

The position of Governor of Gansu is not something that ordinary people can hold because the position is too sensitive.

Especially Hamiwei, which is HM City in later generations, is a city bordering Gansu and XJ.

Hami is located at the junction of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongol Wala and the Turpan Khanate, and is a place that is often fought over by military strategists.

In the 13th year of Hongwu, Governor Pu Ying stationed troops in Xiliang and was ordered to march into Hami. The Yuan descendant Wunashili who occupied the place sent envoys to surrender. Since then, Hami was taken into the possession of the Ming Dynasty.

However, in the eighth year of Zhengtong, Hami was captured by the Oirat, which was a loss.

It was not until the 18th year of Chenghua that Governor Han Shen joined forces with the Chijin and Handong guards and led 10,000 troops to recapture Hami, which was a great achievement.

In the first year of the Hongzhi reign, Ahem of Turpan led his troops eastward and occupied Hami. This was the second loss.

However, the power of the Ming Dynasty was still there at that time, so with the intervention of the Ming court, Ahama was forced to return the Hami royal seal, city and residents in the fourth year of Hongzhi. This was his second gain.

However, only two years later, Ahama of Turpan captured Hami City again, abducted King Zhongshun Shanba, and took away the golden seal. He then ordered Yalan to guard Hami.

The Ming court's reaction to this was quite subtle. Ma Wensheng, the then Minister of War, adhered to the policy of appeasement. He believed that the Western Regions did not pose an urgent threat to the Ming Dynasty and advocated that main attention should be placed on the Wala in the northern border.

During the court discussion, the interpreter Wang Ying proposed to use the power of the tribes in the Western Regions to alienate Ahama and advocated cutting off trade to intensify their internal conflicts.

Afterwards, Ma Wensheng adopted this proposal and closed Jiayuguan, intending to force Western merchants to hate Ahama.

Unexpectedly, this move backfired. Instead of being alienated, the tribes in the Western Regions turned to Ahama because of their common interests, which greatly increased his power. Not only did he consolidate his occupation of Hami, he also proclaimed himself Khan. His iron hoof even trampled into Handong County and other places. The situation took a sharp turn for the worse. This was the third loss.

In the eighth year of Hongzhi, Ahama left to the west, leaving Yalan and Satar with 200 elite soldiers to guard Hami. Upon hearing the news, Ma Wensheng took decisive action this time, summoning the commander of Suzhou, Yang Zhu, and ordered him to lead 3,000 Handong soldiers as the vanguard and 3,000 Ming soldiers to follow up, and to attack Hami day and night, taking Hami back in one fell swoop, and making the Western Regions fear the Ming Dynasty again. This was the third gain.

Next, the various factions fought each other here. Turpan, Oirat, and Ming Dynasty each took their turn to perform, and it was a mess. However, the situation was generally under the control of Ming Dynasty. It was not until the Zhengde period that the situation changed again.

Ou Zanghua thought seriously for a while, then he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should send a talented person who is both civil and military, and has made great military achievements, to guard Suzhou. If Nayibula is stubborn and does not know the power of heaven, we should immediately kill him with the force of thunder and lightning to show the majesty of our great country."

Yang Tinghe and Fei Hong looked at Ou Zanghua at the same time. This young man was different. He wanted to destroy others as soon as he opened his mouth, as if fighting was free.

Emperor Zhengde smiled and then asked, "Who do you think can take on this important task, Mr. Ou?"

After these words were spoken, Qiu Yue also looked over, feeling a little worried, fearing that Ou Zanghua would recommend Zuo Lengchan to go to Suzhou.

Recently, Zuo Lengchan has done a very good job in the Shenji Camp, and Qiu Yue admires him very much.

Ou Zanghua, however, reported a name with a serious look on his face: "An Guo, the deputy commander of Ningxia Wei."

Upon hearing this, Emperor Zhengde asked uncertainly, "Is this An Guo that Mr. Ou mentioned the top military scholar in the third year of Zhengde?"

"It's this person!"

In the third year of Zhengde's reign, the Ministry of War held a joint military examination. After three rounds of competition, An Guo topped the list of military scholars and became the first person to pass the Wuchen year's joint military examination.

According to regulations, he should be promoted two levels to commander.

As a result, he met this weirdo Liu Jin. No one knew what he was thinking, but he sent all the sixty military scholars in the Anguo list to the three borders of Shaanxi. He also ordered that only those with extraordinary bravery and outstanding military achievements could not be promoted or appointed, and they were not allowed to sneak back to their hometowns for any reason.

Worse things were to come. In the fifth year of Zhengde, when Conglan, the Left Clerk of the Ministry of Revenue and Right Censor-in-Chief, was supervising the grain storage in the three towns of Ningxia, Yansui, and Gansu, he found that these military scholars were really miserable, so he made a suggestion:
Those who passed the military examination were assigned to various towns in Shaanxi to train with the troops. Now I have been in the border area for more than two years, and I have no food or clothing. Many commanders and other officers have become discouraged and died of illness when they were with the army. Please recommend them according to their original middle grades.

Unfortunately, his righteous words were impeached by Zhang Zan, the Left Imperial Censor, and Zhang Yu, the Supervisory Censor:

The sixty people including An Guo who passed the military examination are all mediocre. They should be retested in front of the emperor and their salaries should be revoked. Liu Yu, the Minister of War, should also be impeached for making laws arbitrarily and creating inappropriate ones, which is a big mistake and he should be punished.

Emperor Zhengde was unaware of the situation, so he replied: "How can we get so many talented generals? How many are there in one go? They have been assigned to various frontiers for three years, but nothing has worked out."

This is a bit easy to say. I've thrown a martial arts fanatic like you to the border for two years without giving you anything, so you won't be much better off.

Zhang Zan is fine, he just likes to speculate.

Zhang Yu was a well-known honest official, and history records him as "tall and pure, incorruptible and upright, and intelligent."

Even when Liu Jin was at his most rampant, he still had the guts to write a letter to hang him.

Later, when he was working in Yunnan, Yang Yiqing's son broke the law by taking advantage of his power in the local area and was punished by him according to the law.

So in the seventh year of Zhengde, someone recommended Zhang Yu to be the Supervisor of Education in Guangdong, but Yang Yiqing firmly opposed it and transferred Zhang Yu to be the prefect of Baoding.

This is not because Yang Yiqing is kind-hearted. You have to know that Baoding is close to the capital and there are many wealthy and noble families. Yang Yiqing wants to use this opportunity to hurt Zhang Yu.

But Zhang Yu rode alone into Baoding and within three months of governing, the wealthy and noble families all restrained their arrogance and dared not act recklessly.

This shows that this person is not just a troll, but a capable person.

However, Zhang Yu was just a minor setback in the unfortunate life of this group of military scholars.

In the same year, Zhu Zhì (zhì) Fán (fán), the Prince of Anhua, whose fiefdom was in Ningxia, launched a rebellion. There were twenty military scholars in Ningxia, but none of them had achieved any merit.

So Emperor Zhengde issued an edict: "The country will abolish their promotions and increase their salaries, and order them to return to their original places of defense to practice. In the future, military examinations must select two or three people with strong physique, strategy, and good archery for appointment, and no one is allowed to select them indiscriminately."

An Guo was stripped of his official rank.
To be honest, it is rare in history to find a martial arts champion who is so unlucky.

Later, Zhang Yong and Yang Yiqing joined forces to overthrow Liu Jin.

After Liu Jin was executed, An Guo and others were able to restore their original official ranks and were ordered to guard the Ningxia West Road. Soon he was promoted to deputy commander of the capital and served as the right lieutenant general.

Can it be considered as a happy ending after all the hardship?
So when Ou Zanghua mentioned An Guo at this moment, Emperor Zhengde was a little hesitant, because he really had no good feelings towards the military scholars of that session, they were all a bunch of mediocre people!
But he was surprised that Ou Qing, whom he trusted the most, would recommend An Guo. Logically, the two should have no intersection.

Thinking of this, Emperor Zhengde asked directly: "Where did Ou Qing hear about this person?"

Ou Zanghua said calmly: "Your Majesty, my groom came from outside the Great Wall. I once asked him about the intelligence outside the Great Wall. He mentioned An Guo and said that this man was very skilled in martial arts. He personally witnessed this man leading his men out of the Great Wall, raiding many horse bandits, and repelling the provocative Mongols."

"He is a man who dares to fight."

Emperor Zhengde nodded, looked at Yang Tinghe, Fei Hong, Qiu Yue and others and asked, "What do you think, my dear ministers?"

Qiu Yue felt that he and Ou Zanghua were in the same group, and that he should stand up and support them at this time. In addition, he had met An Guo and knew that he was indeed a brave and resourceful man, so he bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I think it is feasible. As the saying goes, a general is like a warrior, and his soldiers are like sharp blades. A general who dares to fight and is good at fighting will naturally follow him."

Fei Hong smiled and said, "I second the motion."

Minister of War Lu Wan looked at Yang Tinghe and waited until he agreed before expressing his agreement.

Emperor Zhengde thought about it again and again, and decided to trust Ou Zanghua, so he said: "In this case, promote An Guo, the deputy commander of Ningxia Guard, to the post of commander of Suzhou Guard, to consolidate the border, be on high alert, guard against the threat of Yebu La, and ensure the peace of the territory."

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

(End of this chapter)