Song Xiance nodded and said, "Lin Quan is saying that Wu Sangui and the others are now betting on both sides, thinking about how to preserve their strength. So so far, Wu Sangui has not fully cooperated with Dorgon to launch an attack. If we attack Tang Tong and the others, we will only force Wu Sangui and the others to turn to the Tartars faster."

Liu Fangliang asked, "Who is on both sides? Although Zhu Ciyang proclaimed himself emperor in Nanjing and continued the Ming court, the Ming power had retreated to the south of the Yangtze River. Do they still expect the young emperor to send people north to support them?"

Li Yan replied: "It was Zhou Xian. Zhou Xian announced that he would be independent and did not belong to either side. Because of this, Wu Sangui and the others had more choices. Surrendering to us, surrendering to the Manchus, or cooperating with Zhou Xian are all choices they can make. Tang Tong and Bai Guangen surrendered to the enemy at the last moment, Wu Sangui did not attack with all his might. Qing army and Wu Sangui's army were completely separated, and the attacks were all because of this reason."

Liu Fangliang's face changed slightly: "You mean Zhou Xian will attack Tianjin and integrate his troops with Wu Sangui and Tang Tong."

Li Yan nodded, "This is possible, but not at present. Wu Sangui will not make a choice easily when the situation is not completely determined. After all, once this is the case, he will suffer a crazy counterattack from the Tartars. Zhou Xian should not take the initiative to attack Tianjin at this time. After all, he has raised the banner of 'shelfing the civil war and resisting the Manchu captives together', and this is not something that can be easily let go if he wants to. Therefore, we don't have to worry too much about Wu Sangui and Tang Tong and others for the time being."

Liu Zongmin scratched his head and said, "Even if this is the case, we can't ignore them completely. Wu Sangui is a hungry wolf. If we show a little sign of defeat, he will bite it hard. But if the Qing army is defeated, they may be biting the Tartars."

Li Yan nodded gently and said, "Mr. Liu Pao said very well. But after reading the recent battle reports, I found that the most threatening thing for the three enemy troops was the main force of the Qing army on the north side. They not only attacked Zunhua head-on, but also used the advantages of cavalry to circumvent our army's food route from outside the Great Wall to the rear of Zunhua. But after all, the Tartars had only more than 80,000 people, and our army took the defensive moment. The Tartars could not get any advantage for the time being. People like Wu Sangui would definitely not be able to throw all their capital into this time. Given the current situation of the enemy and us, no one can win in a short period of time, but we can't wait now."

Liu Zongmin frowned and said nothing.

At this moment, the entire Shaanxi and half of Shanxi fell into the hands of the Qing army, and the rebel army was divided into two regions: Henan and Zhili. Especially in Zhili, hundreds of thousands of troops were only in Shuntian, Baoding, Zhending and other places. Although they obtained a lot of food and grass by torture, they could only barely last for three or four months.

Haoge's troops were approaching Tongguan and Duoduo besieged Taiyuan. Which Qing army in any route was not inferior to the Qing army in front of him?

The rebel army had only tens of thousands of weak soldiers in Henan and were scattered all over the place. There were tens of thousands of elite soldiers around Taiyuan, but after Duoduo surrendered local forces such as Jiang Guan, there were many soldiers and generals. They also received support from local Shanxi merchants and had sufficient food and supplies. In the long run, the gap in strength between the two sides will only become more and more obvious.

It was not Zhili who really decided the outcome, but the two battlefields in Shanxi and Henan. But on those two battlefields, the rebel army had no advantage at all.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu Fangliang thought for a while and stood up and said, "Your Majesty, fight with the Tartars! Concentrate all the troops to Zunhua. Even if the Tartars cannot be completely destroyed, one of his legs will be discounted. Then leave some of the troops in the capital to confront the Tartars, and take the main force westward to recover the entire Shanxi."

Li Zicheng was stunned and looked at Li Yan.

Li Yan nodded gently, bowed and clasped his fists and said, "I will discuss it."

Li Zicheng turned to Liu Zongmin again, who was silent for a while and said, "I agree, I don't believe that hundreds of thousands of troops can't kill more than 80,000 Tartars."

Wu Ruyi, Li You, Luo Hu and others standing behind also said: "I will discuss it."

Song Xiance smiled and said to Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty, the morale of the army is available, and this battle will be won."

Li Zicheng rarely showed a smile on his face, "Okay, let's go all out and fight with the Tartars. In fact, not all the situation is unfavorable to our army. Lin Quan, tell the generals!"

Li Yan nodded, first clasped his fists and bowed to everyone, and then slowly said: "After our army obtained Tianjin, the emperor proposed a plan to attack the Qing army's food route from sea to sea. However, when Zhou Xian evacuated Tianjin, he took all the ships and sailors to Shandong, which made our army unable to implement this strategy. However, Zhou Xian came over and proposed that he was willing to send a fleet to attack the Qing army in Shanhaiguan to restrain him. After discussion with him, Zhou Xian had agreed to send fifteen sea boats on the original basis, which could allow 3,000 elite troops to land. Buzhi had decided to let Li Laiheng be responsible for this matter. They would directly enter the rear of the Qing army and cause chaos. That was the time for our army to fight the Tartars."

It was the first time that Liu Zongmin heard about this, and he frowned slightly, "Is Zhou Xian trustworthy?"

Li Yan shook his head and smiled bitterly, "What's there to be trustworthy or not? Zhou Xian is afraid that our army will fight to the death with the Tartars. But the current situation is that once the Tartars win, the next step will be to march Shandong. If our army wins, we will also eliminate the Tartars in Shanxi, Henan and other places. Therefore, for himself, he will help us temporarily. Mr. Liu Bao can rest assured of this."

Liu Zongmin thought for a while and nodded gently.

Li Yan continued: "There is that there are only tens of thousands of weak soldiers in Henan at present, and it is probably difficult to block Haoge's attack. Our army and Zhou Xian have reached an agreement, and he allows our reinforcements to return to Henan through the territory of Daming Prefecture, but the number is limited to 10,000." As he said that, he looked at Li Zicheng and waited for the latter's decision.

Li Zicheng pondered for a moment, turned to Luo Hu and said, "Zhenshan, you were the first to enter Zhili from Henan that day, and you are very familiar with the route there. I think you will lead Zhenshan Camp back to Henan this time!"

Before Luo Hu could speak, Liu Zongmin said, "King of Chuang, most of the Tartars are cavalry, and our army can deal with them. There are thousands of cavalrymen in Zhenshan camp, and the remaining infantry are also elite, and they can be used to deal with the Tartars. At this time, the war is about to start, so don't transfer him back. Yufeng and Guoxun are there in Henan. There is no big problem before the victory or defeat is decided here, and it is not too late to send reinforcements later."
Chapter completed!