Zhang Jiayu nodded slightly. What Zhou Xian said made some sense, and he also partially agreed. But he always felt something was wrong here. After a moment, he suddenly figured it out and hurriedly said: "General, Liaodong is the place where the Manchus are rising. Although Dorgon currently leads a large army into the pass, once Liaodong is threatened, he will lead his troops to return to the rescue. In the eyes of his subordinates, it is impossible for Liaodong to be recovered quickly and easily."

Zhou Xian nodded, not denying it. "You keep talking."

Zhang Jiayu said: "The land in Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. Victory cannot bring too much gain to our army. If you lose, you will lose troops and generals, and the land in Shandong may be difficult to preserve. Moreover, even if you can win, the losses will probably not be small. Moreover, no one of the Qing army, the Brexit army, the Nanming army, and the Longwu army are easy to enter. Once one of them takes advantage of the situation, what capital can you have for independence in the future?"

Seeing that Zhou Xian did not say anything to stop him, Zhang Jiayu bowed slightly and said with fists: "The commander, the former emperor has been ascending the throne for nearly twenty years. He is extremely intelligent and has the ambition to revive the Ming Dynasty. However, he is suspicious by nature, has little mercy and meanness, and is moody. In the end, not only did he not realize the revival, but the whole world was in infinite chaos. In the end, the capital fell and the Ming Dynasty was destroyed. If Li Zicheng and others had not done the torture of the salary, the hearts of the people in the world would have long been to the rebel army."

Speaking of this, Zhang Jiayu looked up and glanced at Zhou Xian. The latter's face was calm, and he seemed not to be moved by him. He hesitated for a while and said again: "General, when the rebel army entered the capital, his subordinates had thought of surrendering to Li Zicheng, and had already written a letter to him to express his surrender. If the General had not led his troops to the capital, I would have surrendered to Li Zicheng at this moment. At that time, what his subordinates thought was that the world had been in chaos for a long time, and the corpses were everywhere and hungry were everywhere. Only the King of Rebellion Li Zicheng could achieve the unification of the world. In this way, the people would have suffered less difficulties."

Zhou Xian looked at Zhang Jiayu calmly, still without saying anything.

Zhang Jiayu continued: "The subordinates claim to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but they still had that thought at that time. This is the general trend. Most people in the world are ordinary people, and their lives are for a meal and a dress. Good birds choose trees to live in. The standard for most people to choose to surrender is not whether one person does something beneficial to the world, but whether one force is strong enough and whether it can bring them wealth and prosperity. Not to mention the King of Chuang and Longwu Army, even if the Manchu Captains completely occupy the northern land, a large number of people will still surrender. One rises and the other falls. If the general shows his disadvantages, many officials in Shandong will probably abandon you."

Zhou Xian suddenly curled the corner of his mouth and smiled faintly: "It's really hard for you. In order to convince me, he actually told such a big truth. Yuanzi, I ask you, will you betray me in the future?"

Zhang Jiayu's face changed slightly, and he knelt down in a hurry and said, "My subordinates are wrong, and they are punished. Messenger is just a little worried and has no other thoughts."

Zhou Xian smiled and leaned over to help him up. It was not that he believed his words, but that he had lived in this era for so many years, and had seen all kinds of people and knew the changes and sinisterness of people's hearts. Loyalty was no longer his main standard for promoting his subordinates, but talent and common interests were.

Zhang Jiayu, an unknown man from Lingnan, was talented and learned, but he would not get such a reward in other places as Zhou Xian gave him now. Even if he had other thoughts and wanted to defect to others, that would be a future matter. At least for now, Zhou Xian felt that he would not betray him easily.

"Since that's the case, you should believe me. I am not a pedantic person. I have considered all the things you said and have the ability to deal with them."

Then, Zhou Xian sighed, as if he was talking to himself: "In fact, Hou Chaozong's establishment has the second half, so that the trespassing army will withdraw as much as possible to Henan. Henan is broken and cannot support so many troops. The army has strong enemies to the east, west, and north. Only facing south is their best way out. The Jianghuai region is narrow, and unless the situation changes greatly, the Longwu army will never do great things. The trespassing army and the Nanming fight each other, and no one can win in a short period of time. Our enemy is only Manhu, and only Manhu. Do I understand enough if I say this?"

Zhang Jiayu's face suddenly changed. He had no close relationship with Hou Fangyu. The latter always gave him the impression that he was a handsome young man, but he did not expect that he would propose such a plan.

The new establishment of the Southern Ming Dynasty, with complex factions in the court, and it is impossible to integrate various forces in a short period of time.

At present, Xiangyang and Jingzhou are still in the hands of the rebel army. If Li Zicheng led his troops south, not to mention hundreds of thousands of rebel army, even 100,000 will probably be difficult to stop the south.

At that time, whether Li Zicheng goes south to plunder Hunan, attacks west to attack Bashu, or attacks east to Wuchang, it will cause a bloody storm in the south.

Hou Fangyu proposed the strategy to lead the army south, so that the Southern Ming Dynasty had no chance to integrate and expand its troops. It prevented them from staying in the south and watching the tiger's fight safely, so as to accumulate strength to go north.

Although he didn't know Hou Fangyu's specific plan, he would certainly provoke a fight between the trespassing army and the Ming army without allowing any of them to annex the other party.

But the result is that the south may fall into long-term turmoil like the north, and I don’t know how many people will die here at that time.

Zhang Jiayu was smart and quickly figured out these things. "There are many gentry in the south and the people are rich. They have never suffered too much disasters and chaos. Most of them are still interested in the Ming Dynasty. The rebel army will rush south and may be unstoppable in a short period of time. But once it is delayed for a long time, it will fall into a protracted war with the Southern Ming Dynasty, which will have many benefits for our army. But there is a problem. Once the rebel army leaves the northern land, the manchus will definitely deal with our army with all their hearts. I wonder if the superiors and cons of this have been carefully considered?"

Zhou Xian shook his head, "Even if Li Zicheng goes south, he will not give up Henan easily. That is his foundation. As long as he keeps some of the troops in Henan, he can restrain Haoge, who lives in Shaanxi, and the pressure our army faces will be reduced. Moreover, I have no intention of launching an attack on the Qing army in the north for a short time. The current force, coupled with the many forts built on the front line of Dezhou, and the dangerous terrain near Daming Prefecture, is enough to defend."

Seeing Zhou Xian so confident, Zhang Jiayu pondered for a moment: "I understand."

Zhou Xian looked into the distance and remembered Hou Fangyu's plan again. He was hesitant before, but now he made up his mind.
Chapter completed!