Cheng Xiaolian was not surprised to hear the news of Kong Yuyu's failure in the capital, after all, it was the Yansheng Mansion that had been inherited for thousands of years, and even if Xu Yiyi was in a high position, it was impossible for him to stand up and openly support a court with an uncertain future.

After all, the Zhou Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty's anti-Ming texts have been spread all over the world, and they are afraid that they also know the predicament faced by the Ming Dynasty, so they will never openly express their position.

At this time, Gu Yanwu happened to go to Beijing to discuss the branch of the academy with Cheng Xiaolian, and when he heard about it, he wrote a letter to the Confucian Mansion in his private name.

The general meaning of the letter is that in order to preserve the inheritance of the ancestors, the scholars who had to be thieves in the world can agree, and now that the world is about to recover, they still refuse to come forward to set an example for the world's readers.

It's just that after the letter was delivered, it sank into the sea, and there was no trace of Confucius replying to the letter at all, and Gu Yanwu could only laugh at himself for being an idiot.

If you want to say how much respect there is for Confucius, Cheng Xiaolian has no impression, at most, later generations have heard that in that chaotic era, those crazy people smashed the Confucian Temple to pieces, and many ancient books and statues were all destroyed, at that time I just felt a little regretful, after all, what has been passed down for thousands of years was destroyed in one fell swoop, but now such things have happened one after another, and even the last trace of sympathy has been erased.

Others don't understand Cheng Xiaolian but understand that the world should indeed promote the excellent virtues of courtesy, righteousness, benevolence, wisdom and faith, but it is really not necessary to use Confucius as a benchmark, after all, the Confucian people are not emulators, there is no intention of leading at all, but it is suitable to maintain the rule of the feudal court, but Cheng Xiaolian has no intention of insisting on going down this road at all, after all, everyone has embarked on the road of developing capital, and Cheng Xiaolian does not dare to guarantee that he has always been so dedicated, in case one day he feels that he should enjoy life, Da Ming will return to the path of the Qing Dynasty.

He is slowly changing the thinking of the people around him, hoping to take on the flame of the budding capitalism in the last years of the Ming Dynasty, and when the time comes, he or his descendants will retire and be a hereditary like the British royal family.

The position that he thought was indispensable in Kong Yuqi's heart had already deviated in Cheng Xiaolian's heart, and I am afraid that Kong Yuqi never expected it.

Because of Kong Yuyu's defeat, Yuan Zonghao also took advantage of the situation to launch an offensive and started a fierce battle with the army of the Zhou Dynasty in Shandong.

At this time, the Manchus were not in a hurry to march, they were people who had suffered a big loss, and naturally they refused to make wedding clothes for others, if they marched to attract all the troops of the Ming Dynasty to their side, wouldn't it be a bargain for the Zhou Dynasty to pick up a bargain behind them?

In the eyes of most people in the Manchu Dynasty, they were even more disgusted with Wu Sangui, in the end, they snatched back this country under the banner of revenge for the Ming Dynasty, and finally killed the descendants of the Ming Dynasty cleanly, and there was no hatred for the Ming Dynasty at all, and the war between the two countries was at most a grudge between countries, but it was different from the Zhou Dynasty, Wu Sangui was their slave of the Manchu Dynasty.

Their character determined that they were even more disgusted with the Zhou Dynasty established by Wu Sangui, and this character was not so strange that later generations developed into a friendly state rather than a house slave.

But the relationship between countries has never been love and hate, only interests, and now they want to unite with the Zhou Dynasty for the sake of interests, but it can't stop the disgust of the generals among them for the Zhou Dynasty.

If the Zhou Dynasty can fight with the Ming Dynasty, it will be the best, and when the time comes, they will recover the world in one fell swoop, and it will save trouble. In this state of mind, Tuhai's army marched slowly, and when the Ming Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty clashed, they had just reached Yongping Mansion, which was later known as Qinhuangdao, and even marched only twenty miles a day due to heavy snow and other reasons.

Of course, they will never sit idly by and watch the Ming Dynasty annex the Zhou Dynasty, once the Ming Dynasty won the war in Shandong, they will immediately speed up the pace, and when the Ming Dynasty soldiers are under the capital of the Zhou Dynasty, the Zhou Dynasty will definitely devote its strength to the Ming Dynasty, and they can pick up a bargain.

There is really nothing wrong with this strategy, the Zhou Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty are not the same country, and it would be strange if the two armies could be of the same mind.

At this time, the more severe situation was placed in front of the army of the Zhou Dynasty, Hu Guozhu took away his army because of his return to the dynasty, and now the army of Shandong is Hu Guozhu's reserve army, that is, in order to prevent Hu Guozhu from suffering heavy losses and he is ready to replenish the army at any time, and the army is led by the general Gao Dajie of the Zhou Dynasty.

At the beginning, Gao Dajie had fought against Meng Ke in central Hubei, and this person fought fiercely, but he was also helpless in the face of this situation.

said that the two families would do it together, but now the Manchu Qing Dynasty has no intention of doing it at all, this is not counted, Hu Guozhu returned to Beijing to report on his work and took away his elite army, not to mention, there is no news of coming back until now, for Gao Dajie, this situation is not only outsiders want to pit you, but even their own people want to pit you.

In the two days when the Ming Dynasty marched, he sent three 800 miles of expedited music to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to send people to support quickly, but now the imperial court is also in chaos, and there is no time to take care of him.

The focus of the controversy is whether to defend Shandong, and the ministers who insisted on withdrawing the army believed that the Manchus still had the idea of sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, so it was better to withdraw the army to Shandong, and the Manchus would definitely not be able to sit still and march into Shandong, so that their forces would not be lost, and once the army of the Ming Dynasty pressed the main force to the Manchu side, it would be much easier for their side, and it would even be possible to recover Shandong.

And insist on sticking to the belief that Shandong finally took possession of the hands, and Shandong can also be regarded as a major grain-producing province in the Central Plains, as long as it survives this half a year, it is a big supplement to the treasury of the Zhou Dynasty, plus the Shandong military and civilians are now under the influence of the pseudo-Ming Dynasty The perception of the Ming Dynasty is not particularly good, if the people's hearts are still on their own side, if they give up Shandong, the people's hearts will be lost, and it will not be so easy to regain the hearts of the people when the time comes.

The two factions have their own reasons, where can Wu Shifan make a decision, and finally set his eyes on Xia Guoxiang: "Lord Xia, what do you say about this matter?" ”

Xia Guoxiang bowed and saluted, and slowly opened his mouth: "The minister thinks that this is a good opportunity to train the troops, General Gao has a lot of recruits, let them hone their skills, and grow up quickly, in this case, it will not be our fault that we lose Shandong again, if we take the initiative to withdraw the army, in the eyes of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, we are still preserving our strength, I am afraid that they will not continue to send troops at that time, and the alliance of our two families will exist in name only." ”

(End of chapter)