Li Qichen lowered his head, the corner of his eye peeked left and right, and did not stand up to object.

They were now standing halfway up Qingtou Mountain, leaving their own people, with Sun Kewang's guards behind them, and the king of Anxi had obviously premeditated them, so he led them out of the camp early in the morning to climb the mountain.

Sun Kewang joined the Jin State at the latest, and all the foundations were not as solid as Wu Sangui's, and his people included the old Western army he brought over, the men and horses who annexed Liu Jinzhong, and the army allocated to him by the Jin court, and the composition was more complicated.

Before the invasion of Zhunger, Haoge had been monitoring him, but it was only because the Jin court was more concerned about Guanzhong, and after the Battle of Guazhou, he annexed Liu Jinzhong, which had become big and difficult to govern, so that he could slowly develop his own power in the Hexi Corridor and the Western Regions.

In the process of growth, he also used the name of the Jin State, with the resources of the Jin State, to slowly grow, all he is not like Wu Sangui, has a strong independence, his team because of the Silk Road, and the Jin court has a relatively large connection.

Now that he wants to change his course, the soldiers inevitably feel that it is more sudden, and they can't react a little.

He knew that something might be wrong, so he brought people out and forced them to take a stand.

Sun Kewang made such a determination, but it was actually a decision made after careful consideration.

In this Guanzhong War, if the Jin State won and the Dongjin faction continued to hold power, he could only give them a hand in the Western Regions, not only could not get resources, but also gave them blood transfusions to supply them to continue to fight against the Ming Dynasty.

This harmed his interests, and also harmed the interests of the Anxi Imperial Palace, and if he wanted to confront the imperial court, reduce the looting of him by the Jin Imperial Court, and increase his bargaining chips, then he must be like Wu Sangui, increase the independence of the Anxi Imperial Palace, so that the Jin Imperial Court would not dare to damage his interests excessively.

If the Jin Kingdom fails, then the Jin Kingdom is a wrecked ship. If the Ming army brought Haoge, Wu Sangui, and Meng Qiaofang into his territory, what should he do? He can't give up power, so he also wants to strengthen the independence of the Anxi Protectorate, and even break with the Jin State to ensure that his rights are not taken away.

In both cases, he had to do a clean-up of his ranks to determine his subordinates, who would first be loyal to him, and then it would be up to him to decide whether or not to remain loyal to the Kingdom of Jin.

To tell the truth, Li Qichen and others have followed Sun Kewang in the Western Regions in recent years, and they have a pride in the Han and Tang dynasties, they all admire Sun Kewang very much, and they are willing to follow this prince, but they have been acting under the banner of the Jin Kingdom all these years, so they also have a sense of belonging to the Jin Kingdom.

Now Sun Kewang let them choose one of the two, but Li Qichen and the others had a hard time choosing, his forehead was sweating, and he couldn't help but step forward and arch his hand: "Lord Wang, the strength of the Ming army is strong, we do not support the imperial court, preserve the strength, there will be no doubt about this." But if you rob the population at this time, will it make the imperial court suffer from the enemy and let the imperial court collapse quickly? The last general thought that if the court was gone, would the Ming army march west? ”

In the current situation, the generals of Anxi are also panicked and feel uncertain about the future.

The Jin State was already in a weak position, and if the Jin State was finished, they should face the Ming Dynasty alone, which was terrifying.

Sun Kewang was slightly silent, under normal circumstances, he should support the Jin State at this time, but now he is preparing to break with the Jin State, then he must explain that according to his come, it will be better than the current situation, and the Anxi Protectorate will have more hope to convince the generals.

A person who can lead troops to fight, a general who can command thousands of men and horses, few people are stupid. Ordinary people can't lead ten people, but they can stand out and command a battalion of people, naturally they are all elites with brains, who can think and watch, and weigh the pros and cons.

It's useless for these people to just force them, they have to make them genuinely willing to be loyal to him, to approve of his ideas, and to think that he can bring them a future.

Sun Kewang looked at Li Qichen and said, "It's true that the lips are dead and the teeth are cold, but it also has to be discussed on a case-by-case basis." If the imperial court is defeated, then even if we go all out, we will not be able to change the status quo, and then we can only be regarded as moths to the fire. ”

The current Ming Dynasty is terrifying enough, and after occupying Guanzhong, it can be said that the world is invincible. Historically, except for the Song Dynasty, which is not a unified Central Plains dynasty, as long as it is unified, it will not be long before anyone wants to fight whomever it wants.

At this time, he can't face up to the power of the Ming Dynasty, and he still wants to go against the Ming, which is undoubtedly immeasurable.

Li Qichen lowered his head and frowned, but did not speak, Sun Kewang looked at the people who bowed their heads, and continued: "If we can gain insight into the general trend in the future, now is the critical moment for us to change our relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and it is also the last moment. General Li feared that the king's actions would lead to the rapid defeat of the imperial court, so there was no need to worry about that. If the court dies, the Ming Dynasty will not easily accept the conditions of the king, so although the king robs the population, he will not attack the court, you can rest assured. ”

These words were a bit confusing, Li Qichen and the others didn't quite understand, Sun Kewang continued: "Right now is a crisis for the imperial court, and for us, it is also a crisis. This crisis comes from the rise of the Ming Dynasty, if we want to survive in the Western Regions, we must end the state of confrontation with the Ming Dynasty and repair the relationship with the Ming Dynasty, but Wang Yan is so happy, if this king directly submits to the soft, he will inevitably not be able to talk about good conditions, and even lead to the attack of the Ming army. ”

"Then how does the prince want to change his relationship with the Ming Dynasty?" Li Qichen couldn't help asking.

If the Jin State loses Guanzhong, then the Ming Dynasty is indeed invincible in the world, and they will continue to oppose the Ming Dynasty and will be destroyed by the Ming Dynasty sooner or later, which everyone recognizes. Historically, Western Xia was able to be divided because of the Liao State, but now there is no big country that can contain the Ming Dynasty.

Changing the relationship with the Ming Dynasty is indeed a good way for the Anxi Protectorate, but how to change it is a difficult problem. Now the Ming Dynasty is very strong, and it will definitely not be able to give good conditions, and it is not realistic for the Anxi Protectorate to surrender power.

Sun Kewang smiled slightly, "Wang Yan is a bully who is afraid of the soft and afraid of the hard, if this king wags his tail and begs for mercy, he will inevitably kick his nose in the face, so talking to him, it is not enough to be soft." I have to let him know that this king is not easy to fight, and he knows the strength of our Anxi Protectorate. This king brought so many people over to show his strength. This king has received news that there is a Ming army, which is attacking Liangzhou again, and this king is ready to defeat this Ming army first, first, let the Ming Dynasty know the strength of our Anxi army, and second, help the imperial court solve the threat of this Ming army. After this battle, the king moved the population of Suzhou, Liangzhou and other places to increase his strength, and negotiated with the Ming Dynasty. ”

Sun Kewang smiled proudly, "At this time, I helped the imperial court solve the threat of the back road, I believe that the imperial court can hold out for a while, and the Ming Dynasty has seen the strength of this king, and is anxious to destroy the imperial court, and will inevitably agree to this king's proposal to negotiate peace." If the conditions are negotiated, this king is a vassal of the Ming Dynasty, and he can also purchase goods from the Ming Dynasty to maintain the Silk Road, wouldn't it be beautiful? ”

At this time, everyone understood that although Sun Kewang robbed the population, he was actually not stabbing the Jin State knife, and even helped the Jin State court. And he took advantage of this time to not only enter Jiayuguan, move some of the population, and replenish the Western Regions, but also let the Ming Dynasty know that he was not easy to fight, so that the Ming army would retreat in the face of difficulties and accept the defection of the Anxi Protectorate.

If his plan succeeds, then the generals of Anxi will change from the generals of the Jin State to the vassals of the Ming Dynasty, which is equivalent to going from the leaky ship of the Jin State to the big ship of the Ming Dynasty, which can be described as a successful landing.

When Li Qichen and the others heard this, they couldn't help but glance at each other, and then clasped their fists together, "The ministers are willing to listen to the king's arrangement!" ”

Seeing this, Sun Kewang nodded with satisfaction, "The key to the success of this matter is that we are strong ourselves, and let the Ming Dynasty know that we are not easy to mess with." Therefore, I hope that the people will be able to work together with the Lonely! ”

As he was talking, outside Jiayu Pass, a yellow dust rolled up, and a group of more than ten cavalry galloped out and went straight to the Jin army camp.

(End of chapter)