Li Yan indeed went too far. In a short period of time, he suddenly attacked Chaoyi, besieged Dali, and regained the three cities on the northern line. Basically, he defeated two-thirds of the rebel army's defense line along the Yellow River.
The control is very good. A large army is gathered at the gate of Tongguan City. The sword is hanging but not falling. When negotiating with you at this time, I will ask you whether you agree to the conditions. If you don't agree, I will kill you immediately!
If Tongguan is captured again, the rebel army's defense line on the Yellow River will be completely defeated, Xi'an will have no barrier, and the officers and soldiers can march straight in!
The so-called Dashun Kingdom is in danger and could fall apart at any time, provided that the court fights to the death.
In the blink of an eye, the Yellow River defense line almost collapsed. Even Song Xiance, who was as clever as Song Xiance, did not expect it. He was shocked when he saw the secret report written by Li Yan to Chang Yu.
The letter couldn't be fake, it was Li Yan's handwriting, and it could be seen from Shi Kefa's expression that it didn't seem like he was lying and deliberately trying to fool himself, unless the little eunuch also deceived him.
After all, he was a counselor. Song Xiance was very cautious. Although he was shocked, he still did not dare to believe it. He furrowed his eyebrows and said to Shi Kefa: "Sir, can you give me five days?"
Shi Kefa shook his head: "The court has given you too much time, I'm afraid you won't be able to do it this time."
Song Xiance said quickly: "I need to confirm that the situation is indeed as stated in this secret letter. If it is true, we will comply with the court's conditions and there will be no further delay!"
Shi Kefa smiled and stood up, cupping his hands.
While it's still dark and the military advisor can still leave the city, I'll try my best to delay it for you for five days until there's good news from the military advisor. I'll take my leave!"
Shi Kefa left, and Song Xiance hurried out of the city. Although Liu Xiyao's troops outside the city were closely monitored and even put under house arrest, they were allowed to send people to the west bank of the Yellow River to deliver news.
Song Xiance now urgently needs to confirm whether the situation there is as stated in Li Yan's letter. If it is true, it is really depressing news, because it means that they can only sell it at a bad price.
Just when Song Xiance was leaving the city, Chang Yu from Dongchang Yamen also entered the palace. When Emperor Chongzhen had just finished his work and was preparing to have dinner, he heard that Chang Yu asked to see him and knew that there must be something important. After all, this guy didn't even enter the palace if he didn't have anything important to do.
stroll.
"But captured the intruder?" Emperor Chongzhen was obsessed with this. Chang Yu was slapped in the face before he entered the Qianqing Palace: "You are so proud, there is no case that Dongchang cannot handle, and there is no case that Dongchang cannot catch.
He is a human being, but he couldn’t catch the leader of a thief. Could it be that he is no longer a human being?”
Chang Yu's face turned red and he quickly kowtowed: "I am incompetent, I..."
Upon seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen knew that he was not here to announce the good news, and waved his hand impatiently: "You have been in the palace for the first time, and I hope it is the last time to hear you say that you are incompetent. If you are incompetent, the civil and military officials of this dynasty...
That’s all, what are you talking about today?”
"I have brought good news and bad news to the emperor. Which one should the emperor listen to first?" Chang Yu asked cautiously. It seemed that Emperor Chongzhen was not in a good mood today.
Emperor Chongzhen raised his eyebrows as if he was going to get angry, but he held it back, and then sighed: "I have enough worries today. I'm not afraid of one more. Let's tell the bad news first."
"The intruder has escaped." Chang Yu sighed. Emperor Chongzhen was startled, and then he slammed the table. Chang Yu was so frightened that he quickly stood up, "I am incompetent, please ask the emperor to punish me."
Emperor Chongzhen didn't say anything. He walked to the gate of Qianqing Palace and looked at the dusk outside for a long time without saying anything.
"How did he escape? Why did he let him escape..." Emperor Chongzhen was obviously very unwilling. He wanted to get angry at Chang Yu, but he held it back after all. It was a mistake, not to mention that Chang Yu reacted very quickly. The only blame is that the guy's death should not have happened.
"This beast is very cunning. He had a premonition that something bad was going to happen and ran away. Our pursuers were always one step behind him. He has been in trouble for more than ten years. He is very alert and has rich experience in tracking and escaping. Moreover, he has been in Gyeonggi and Hebei. There are also hidden chess pieces in the area, and this time I broke out these hidden chess pieces to cover up in order to escape... And there happened to be a war on the other side of the Yellow River, so maybe someone took advantage of it and escaped..." Chang Yu explained carefully.
"Maybe? In other words, you are not sure that he has escaped, so how can you be sure that he has escaped?" Emperor Chongzhen turned around and raised his eyebrows. Chang Yu then told Song Xiance's reaction when Song Xiance saw him. After chatting for a while, he was sure that he had not caught Li Zicheng, and Chang Yu also had the same ability. From some of Song Xiance's reactions, he concluded that Li Zicheng had escaped.
Cough... Emperor Chongzhen sighed and clenched his fists: "If this beast escapes, the common people will suffer again. If this battle continues, I don't know when. If we don't fight, this guy has a big mouth on his nose and a lion on his face..."
"Your Majesty, this is the good news I have brought you." Chang Yu chuckled. When Emperor Chongzhen heard this, he knew it was definitely a good thing. This was Chang Yu's inherent habit: "What good news? Could it be Li Yan?" Did you capture Tongguan?"
"It's not that big of a difference." Chang Yu smiled a little obscenely, but Emperor Chongzhen perked up and said, "Tell me now, are you going to defeat me?"
"Wu Sangui has assembled tens of thousands of troops and has arrived at Tongguan City. The war is about to break out." Before Chang Yu could finish his words, Emperor Chongzhen frowned: "We haven't fought yet..."
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, Tongguan is ready to be fired at any time, but Chaoyi on the central line, Chengcheng, Heyang, and Hancheng on the northern line have been recovered, and even Dali has almost been captured..."
Ah! Li Yan actually conquered four cities in a short period of time! Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed and rubbed his hands in excitement: "Why didn't Dali be defeated... If it was so easy, why bother to negotiate with the intruders and defeat them in one go? Go to Xi'an..."
Obviously Emperor Chongzhen was a little carried away by this good news for a moment, but he soon calmed down. He didn't need Chang Yu to explain to him, he already knew why Dali was not captured, because that was the gate of the middle road, just like Tongguan, the gate of the south road. It's not that easy to break, and he also knows that it won't be easy to continue the fight. Although he has been preparing for more than half a year, he has prepared almost nothing. In addition to resting his strength, food, grass, military pay, supplies, and military equipment are all stretched thin. At the moment, The strength is still not enough to attack Xi'an with overwhelming force. Every step forward across the Yellow River will cost the lives of countless soldiers to fill the hole!
Therefore, no matter how much Emperor Chongzhen wanted to kill Li Zicheng in his heart, and how unwilling he was to shake hands with Li Zicheng and make peace, he also knew that only peace talks were in the best interest and would benefit both the country and the people.
After all, not only is Li Zicheng a powerful force now, but it is also difficult for the court to compete with this force alone, not to mention that Zhang Xianzhong and the Manchu Tatars are even stronger than him.
But let's talk about peace. Emperor Chongzhen was extremely angry when faced with Li Zicheng's lion's open mouth, but he also had a trump card. Chen Bing's tens of thousands of troops were on the other side of the Yellow River. This was his trump card!
If you want to lower the price, you need bargaining chips in addition to negotiation skills.
Now there is!
Emperor Chongzhen turned around and sat down on the dragon chair. He signaled Wang Chengen to make tea again. He held his chin in his hands and meditated for a while and looked up at Chang Yu, who was standing next to him with his eyebrows lowered. "With the chips we have at the moment, what price can we get?"
”.
"What price does the emperor want?" Chang Yu asked.
"Of course, the lower the better, it is best to buy without capital." Emperor Chongzhen narrowed his eyes, and Chang Yu thought for a while: "The emperor's bottom price cannot be reached for the time being, but the court's bottom price is negotiable, but
Let the intruders surrender first and then send out troops, collect Jinzhou in the north and assist the thieves in the south, and then allow them to seal the vassal, and then slowly plan for it."
"What do you mean, do you want to wait until the invaders recover Jinzhou before sealing the vassal state?" Chongzhen raised his eyebrows.
Chang Yu hummed.
"Will he agree?" Emperor Chongzhen was surprised. Because of Li Zicheng's stubbornness, he insisted on making him king first before surrendering. But Chang Yu was fine. Not only did he surrender first, but he also had to regain Jinzhou before making him king. How could he?
Will agree.
"He will agree!" Chang Yu smiled: "First of all, the chips we have on hand are enough for him to agree to half, and the other half is psychological tactics, and he will convince himself."
"I understand the first half, but I don't quite understand the psychological tactics of the second half." Emperor Chongzhen was used to Chang Yu often coming up with new words, and he was also used to asking for advice.
"If we give him what he wants, it will make him think that we are not sincere in negotiating peace at all and are just delaying to fool them. On the contrary, if we are too preoccupied and will not let go, it will appear that we are serious about negotiating peace and are really committed to it."
Consider granting him a vassalship. Besides, if you grant him a vassalship in the first place, he will not be able to work hard for the court. Only by drawing a pie for him will he move forward bravely!"
"What you say makes sense, and I really like it. Chongzhen slapped his thigh. If he regains Jinzhou, his vitality will be severely damaged. It will be much easier to deal with him then... Let Wu Xuan, Shi Kefa and the others go in this direction.
Talk...well, I will discuss it with them in detail tomorrow...what do you mean, how sure are you that this will happen?"
Chang Yu thought for a while and said: "It's almost nine times out of ten that the intruder will also put forward some additional conditions..."
"For example, let us withdraw from the Yellow River defense line?" Emperor Chongzhen frowned: "Are we really going to withdraw? Will that guy go back on his word?"
"It's not unusual for him to go back on his word." Chang Yu smiled: "Just like we can retreat and return to defense, we can do it if the conditions on the stage are met, and we can just keep a guard up in the audience. It's not us.
Insidiously, he will do the same thing."
Only then did Emperor Chongzhen show his joy: "The happiest thing today is this. If you don't want to take the initiative in negotiating, let Wu Xuan and others do it. They are good at this. I will tell them tomorrow."
The rest depends on their performance. With the current bargaining chips, they may be able to lower the price."
"I hope so, but my opinion is to accept it as soon as it suits you, and we will take care of it in the future." Chang Yuren said and then asked: "Your Majesty, is there something unhappy today? Is there anyone who can share it?"
thing?"
Chongzhen sighed: "I'm not happy today. It's a troubled autumn in the court. When I have free time, I'm full of irritating things and worry about money and food."
Chang Yu also sighed after hearing this: "Maybe it will be better if we survive the autumn harvest. I have done my best to deal with money and food. I am single and weak. The remaining ministers have to work together to overcome the difficulties."
"It is up to the courtiers to do the things in the court. I am not raising them just to take advantage of the situation. In the past, they were just a vegetarian. Now, whoever wants to live like this should just go back to their hometown and wait for death." Emperor Chongzhen
He snorted and said, "You should recharge your batteries during this period. I will still be counting on you when the time comes to use the troops."
"I am always ready. I will attack wherever the emperor directs me," Chang Yu said quickly. Emperor Chongzhen sighed: "At this time, the traitors are entrenched in Sichuan to recuperate, and the Manchu Tatars are also recovering their strength. The intruders have made a truce with us and negotiated peace.
It seems that the world is peaceful, but in fact it is the calm before the storm. There will be many days of fierce fighting in the future. The Ming Dynasty in the wind and rain will still rely on your calming needle, so you can take this opportunity to take a breather and rest."
Chang Yu smiled: "I'm not tired, but no matter how tired I am, as long as I hear about the suppression of bandits and the beating of Tatars, I will immediately be full of energy." Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but laugh after hearing this: "Don't talk nonsense, use this free time to talk about private matters."
Let’s deal with it, aren’t we going to get married?”