Jing Xiang was targeted by Zuo Liangyu, and the imperial court deployed a large army on the other side of the Yellow River to kill him at any time. It could be said that he was surrounded by enemies from both sides. The current situation was very unfavorable for Li Zicheng, but this was only external pressure.
There are many hills within the bandit army. To put it bluntly, many gangs have formed groups to conquer the world. Even though Li Zicheng has secured the top spot at the top of the hill, it is still a mess below. No one obeys anyone. Everyone feels that they have a lot of credit and the distribution is uneven. Every day
All kinds of conflicts and wonderful things are not under the court of Emperor Chongzhen, which is quite disunity.
Li Zicheng was in trouble every day. He made three small fires every day and one big fire every three days, but it was still difficult to quell the thieves.
As the saying goes, everything must be reversed when it reaches its extreme. When his anxiety reached the extreme, Li Zicheng suddenly calmed down and stayed behind closed doors for several days, facing the wall and meditating.
He began to recall everything he had experienced during most of his life since he was a child. Finally, he let out a long sigh and became short of breath.
When I was young, I was barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes. I was poor and had nothing to lose, so I was full of lofty ideals. Even if I was frustrated, I would not be discouraged and would keep trying. At that time, I was really full of fighting spirit and pride. But in the blink of an eye, when I reach middle age,
We have everything we should have, and we have made a huge fortune, but people become worried about gains and losses, especially afraid of losing, afraid of having nothing, afraid of going back to the past, and the pride of youth will never return.
At this time, what he was thinking about was no longer how to break through and fight again, but how to keep the results.
In other words, just stop when you are ready.
Otherwise, what if the fight continues? Is it really possible to overthrow the imperial court?
It's impossible. At the beginning of the year when the military was at its peak, the dying imperial court was beaten back, which shows that the opponent has a very deep background.
Furthermore, it would be Zhang Xianzhong who would benefit if he continued to waste money with the court like this.
When Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan, there was a natural barrier, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack. It would have been peaceful. If he fought to the death with the imperial court here, both sides would suffer, and he would be advantaged. He might even be the final winner.
So he saw Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing summoned and expressed his thoughts.
The two aides thought deeply about it.
Instead of consuming it, which is really harmful and useless, and may even return to before liberation, it is better to take advantage of the current strength to compete with the imperial court and negotiate with them.
King Caotou was promoted to official position and granted the title of Xi'an.
Become the righteous vassal king of the Ming Dynasty!
After thinking about it, the three of them thought that the possibility was huge. After all, the imperial court was still on its last legs. As long as it was changed to a new position, it would be able to get a strong ally to help him defeat Zhang Xianzhong and the Tatars. Why not do it.
Otherwise, with the current strength of the imperial court, it would be hard enough to hit itself, but there would be no room left to deal with others.
The imperial court also understood in its heart that even if there were 100,000 people who didn't want to do it, they still had to nod. They naturally knew which one had the greatest benefits.
Later, Li Zicheng anxiously discussed the matter with Liu Zongmin and other generals, and everyone discussed it endlessly. Although they felt that once they were recruited, they would be constrained and unable to move freely, but in the long run, this was a relatively good outcome.
The most direct reason is that since the Eastern Expedition, although it has achieved strategic victory, the Dashun regime has passed its peak. In the next few years, it will not have the strength to continue the Eastern Expedition. However, within these few years, the imperial court will definitely spare no effort to send troops to attack.
, as for the rear area in Xiangyang and Jingzhou, if Zuo Liangyu uses his strength, it will be a matter of time before he is defeated. At that time, he will be attacked from both sides, and it will be dangerous!
In the end, most of them agreed. After all, most of the people who had the right to speak were middle-aged like Li Zicheng, and their thoughts were very different from those of the young generals like Luo Hu and Ma Bao. Of course, they also considered what would happen to the court after they surrendered.
strict precautions, how to separate them, etc., and even bargaining and other details. For this reason, everyone discussed a set of countermeasures and the bottom line.
Once the bottom line is touched, they will refuse to recruit.
Even if they cannot reach an agreement in the end, they will not suffer a loss and can use the negotiation period to repair their troops and deploy their defenses.
Li Zicheng then compiled a letter and sent it to Li Yan on the other side of the Yellow River for delivery to the imperial court.
This is the reason why Li Zicheng suddenly proposed peace talks and accepted the recruitment.
It is not difficult to guess the cause and effect. Many officials in the court can analyze it, but there are many things that you can see through but find it difficult to refuse. Accepting Li Zicheng's surrender does have more advantages than disadvantages!
Even Emperor Chongzhen, who was unhappy in his heart, knew this, and even Chang Yu, who cursed and cursed, admitted it.
After all, the price to pay for beating Li Zicheng is huge, huge, huge.
First of all, nearly 100,000 troops have food and pay, and no one knows how long it will take to break through the Yellow River defense line. Breaking through the defense line does not mean that the troops are approaching Xi'an City. There is no telling how many constant fights it took to reach the city walls, and how many times it took to attack the city.
how long.
Besides, after conquering Xi'an, Li Zicheng can still turn to his previous guerrilla warfare and drag you to death.
How long will this period take, how many people will die, how many troops, horses and food will be needed...
But today's imperial court is riddled with internal and external troubles, and the people have nothing to eat and no food or salary.
Even if you work hard to defeat Li Zicheng, defeating does not mean that he is razed. Even if Li Zicheng is razed, where is the remaining Zhang Xianzhong?
Therefore, when the big news came that Li Zicheng wanted to negotiate peace, most of the officials in the court agreed.
But there were two people who were staunch fighters, Emperor Chongzhen and Chang Yu.
Because first of all, they could not agree to let Li Zicheng put down his butcher knife and become a Buddha and a king immediately. Secondly, they did not believe that Li Zicheng would really surrender honestly. Of course, there were other personal hatreds and grievances.
Emperor Chongzhen had deep resentment towards Li Zicheng. Even though he knew that peace talks would benefit the most, he emotionally could not accept shaking hands and making peace with a rebel who had harmed his country for more than ten years and burned his ancestral graves. It was absolutely impossible.
But seeing that nine out of ten civil and military officials in the court were in favor of the peace talks, he was angry, hateful, and worried at the same time.
If everyone agrees to the peace talks, then he insists on fighting, and the feud between the monarch and his ministers will be endless. If even Chang Yu agrees to the peace talks, then it will be even more...
fine!
Chang Yu sent a message, prepare for war with all your strength!
With Chang Yu's support behind him, even though it's just one person, it's enough!
Emperor Chongzhen took reassurance, but he also made it known to the outside world. He still did not express his position in the court and continued to watch the courtiers argue.
But we can't always tear it up like this and summon all the cabinet ministers. Most of you agree with the peace talks, but you don't know whether the intruder is sincere. How to test it?
The cabinet ministers expressed their opinions, but most of them were unrealistic. For example, some suggested that Li Zicheng should show his sincerity and withdraw his troops from Tongguan first.
Tongguan is the gate. Without any substantial progress, Li Zicheng would go crazy and agree.
Within three days, the ministers came up with a substantive and feasible suggestion, and then recommended a person to go to Puzhou to interview the bandits. Emperor Chongzhen finally made these words.
The cabinet suddenly felt the pressure doubled and discussed countermeasures all night. Soon the news spread and the courtiers thought that the emperor was inclined to negotiate peace, otherwise there would be no need to send people to contact the intruders. This was obviously on the agenda at this time.
This caused quite a commotion, and the leader and the leader began to fight again.