Sima De laughed lightly: "The Guanning Army is the strongest army in the border town, and it is very important, so it is naturally not an insignificant pawn, which we naturally saved." However, although the emperor died, he was not without a successor. To tell the truth, we sent people to join forces with important people in the palace to protect the prince in the chaos of the army, and now he is hiding in a safe place. ”

"The prince is not dead?" Wu Sangui is a rin, this chip is very heavy, enough to change the direction of this upheaval. As a justifiable prince, the political significance of his representation can be weighed by a fool.

"Exactly." Sima De said, "Maybe Pingxi Boshang didn't know the situation in the capital: now the Dashun army is perverse, sending Liu Zongmin to 'torture', and using torture to force the military generals and imperial relatives to pay silver as the army's food and salary, which has bankrupted many people, and even dozens of officials above the sixth rank died tragically under torture, and the common people are not spared, and the salary rice of the family is also used as military funds, and the family has no rice to cook." From the officials to the common people, they are all dissatisfied with the Dashun army, but they are just afraid of obscenity, dare to be angry and dare not speak, as long as the army enters the city, plays the banner of the prince, and ascends to the heights, it will inevitably be responded by the mountains, and it is only a matter of time before the Dashun army is expelled or even exterminated. ”

When Wu Sangui first arrived in Tongzhou, he really didn't know what the Dashun army was doing in the capital, and when he heard that Li Zicheng and his subordinates were so "tortured", he suddenly felt sad about the death of a rabbit and a fox. The Guanning army occupied the rich land of Liaodong, sat on 10,000 acres of fertile land, and had a steady stream of grain and salary from the imperial court, and had formed a vested interest group that supported the army and respected itself, and naturally resisted this means of depriving wealth. Since Li Zicheng can deal with the magnates in the capital, as long as he frees his hands, it is difficult to guarantee that he will not deal with the wealthy Guan Ning army.

When he heard this, he was furious and took the case: "How can such perverse actions win the hearts of the people?" Wu Mou, as a military general of the Ming Dynasty, since the prince is still alive, he naturally wants to support the prince to succeed to the throne, and it is incumbent on him! ”

Sima De said with a smile: "It is worthy of being a courtier entrusted by the first emperor, Ping Xibo's words can be described as loud, if the first emperor knows under the spring, he must be very pleased." ”

After Wu Sangui made his position clear, he changed his words: "But the ugly words are ahead, Wu, as a Ming courtier, can be broken to repay the king's kindness, but the future of these soldiers under his hands also has to be considered." They are all old and low-level people, and they can't rely on loyalty and righteousness to eat, and after the defeat of the rebellion, I don't know how Pingnanhou will settle these brothers of Wu? ”

Sima De naturally knew that Wu Sangui was testing the details of his own side, and the righteousness of his words was awe-inspiring, and it seemed that he cared about his subordinates, but it was just a pretext, but in fact, he wanted to know what price Qiong Haijun could offer.

"Before leaving, the general had an explanation: as long as Ping Xibo cooperates with our army to put things in order and restore the Ming Dynasty, after the situation is stable, he will suggest to the new emperor that he posthumously seal the title of Pingxi Earl, appoint you to take over as the chief military officer of Liaodong Forward, hang the seal of the general of Liaodong, and guard Liaodong for generations."

Wu Sangui was overjoyed when he heard this, compared with the conditions proposed by the envoy of the Dashun army, it was obvious that this price was more in line with his appetite, and his personal benefits were much greater. He pretended to hesitate: "The current Liaodong chief military officer is Wu's uncle, and he is not at fault, so it seems inappropriate to rashly replace him." ”

Sima De replied "with righteous words": "Although the ancestor general soldier has made outstanding contributions, after all, he is getting older, and it is natural to make way for young people. The imperial court will not treat him badly, and will transfer him to Beijing at that time, serve as the governor of the capital, add the crown prince and Taibao, and enjoy the glory of life, I don't think there will be any opinions, right? ”

Wu Sangui put his heart at ease, "Pingnanhou is thoughtful, Wu has nothing to say, only to do his best to serve the new emperor's accession to the throne." Although the other party had already made a decision "instead" of the imperial court, Wu Sangui did not feel disobedient at all. With a strong army in hand and the bargaining chip of the prince, it is a matter of course to control the government and control the right to speak.

The price was negotiated, the two looked at each other, laughed, and everything was silent.

The next thing is to discuss the details, Sima De whispered to Wu Sangui: "Ping Xibo doesn't need to really use knives and guns, just ...... like this"

Wu Sangui listened and nodded again and again: "Pingnanhou has no last resort, Wu will do everything." ”

And Li Zicheng in the Forbidden City didn't know all this, and after he received the messenger's report, he waited for the news from Wu Sangui's side with peace of mind. In his opinion, as long as Wu Sangui's Guanning Iron Cavalry is stabilized, the Qiong Navy, which is also an enemy and a friend, will be much easier to deal with. So he ordered to step up the process of preparing for the enthronement ceremony, as long as the raw rice is cooked and the rice is matured, resulting in the established facts, presumably Xia Nan will not go to great lengths to fight for this throne, and most of them will obediently withdraw to the south of the Yangtze River, and the two sides will enter the mode of "dividing the river and ruling the river" as previously agreed.

It's just that the world is not fulfilling people's wishes, only one day later, the Guangqu Gate guard made an urgent report: after receiving a report from the north outside the city, the Guanning army originally stationed in Tongzhou began to move to the capital, and sent a large number of rangers to cover the battlefield.

"What's going on?" Li Zicheng was furious, dropped a few precious porcelains in the Qianqing Palace, and said loudly, "Didn't you say that you would reply to the message in ten days, why did you start it?" ”

The generals who received the news and urgently entered the palace looked at each other, and they couldn't answer this question.

Song Xiance in the crowd thought for a while, and came out of the crowd, "Your Majesty, there is something strange about this matter. If Wu Sangui had made up his mind to be the enemy of Dashun, he would not have agreed on a ten-day period; Even if Jinzhou's ancestor Dashou made Wu Sangui change his mind, this time is not right, within two days, unless he can fly with wings, it is impossible to run back and forth from Tongzhou to Jinzhou......"

"What do you mean, Mr. Song?"

"It may be that the Qiong Navy is doing something wrong, and I don't know what ecstasy soup was poured into Wu Sangui, which made Wu Sangui turn back."

Li Zicheng was silent. If this is the case, then it will be very unfavorable to the Dashun army, and at the same time, the pressure will be too great in the face of the Guanning Iron Cavalry who is famous at the border pass and the Qiong Navy who have never been defeated.

Liu Zongmin, who hadn't appeared in the palace for a while, stood up and said loudly: "I'm afraid of begging!" Your Majesty, our 200,000 army is not an ornament, the soldiers will block the water and cover the earth, even if these two groups really join forces, we will fight it. From Henan to the capital, who is the Dashun army afraid of? ”

Gao Yigong said coldly: "Since General Liu doesn't take them seriously, it is better to shoulder the heavy burden bravely, lead the troops out of the city to defeat these two armies, and share the emperor's worries." ”