Updated: 2013-11-21

Jieshu's camp was camped outside the city of Xuzhou, which already belonged to Jiangnan Province. If it is determined that you want to enter the south of the Yangtze River to fight, then there is almost no question of choosing a route, that is, it is better to follow the canal to Huai'an, and then pass Guò Gaoyou to Yangzhou, and look for opportunities to cross the river in the Guazhou area. Now the main force of the Ming army is said to be stationed in Jiangbei, this situation is a bit strange, but if the other party really intends to fight with the Qing army in Jiangbei, it will definitely choose a point on the canal, and the other party must also know the marching route of the Qing army.

There are pros and cons to this well-known route, and while it is impossible to hide the enemy's movements, it is unlikely to be ambushed, as there are too many guides who know the terrain and every position along the way is carefully studied. In particular, the sad Gaoyou of Kupilon, the auxiliary minister hoped that the Ming army would choose to fight here, and then use a victory to pay tribute to the first emperor who did not have time to rush to reinforcements.

The Qing army that has now entered Jiangnan is separated along the canal, and in the territory of Jiangnan Province, this section of the canal and the post road base coincide, this route is not only convenient for the army to travel, grain and grass transportation, but also has the advantage of intelligence transmission. To the north of Xuzhou is the boundary of Shandong, and the Green Battalion troops are entering Jiangnan in a steady stream, and they will first meet Jieshu and Kupilon, accept their reassurance and encouragement, and then join the army preparing for war.

The post road in the north of Xuzhou leads to Guò Lincheng Post to connect Teng County, and continues to fork in Yanzhou to the north, and one leads to Jinan, relying on this post road Prince Kang can understand the situation in Shandong, but Yu Qi and other Shandong heroes are in a state of lingering, and there has been no urgent report in Shandong for many days; The other post road is parallel to the canal, connecting Beijing with the shortest distance through Dongping, Tongcheng and Gaotang, this post road ensures the connection between Beijing and Xuzhou, and the guò it Jieshu can grasp the transportation and transfer of the canal at any time.

As for why the Ming army gathered in Jiangbei, Kubilong's view is that the Ming army's ambitions are inflated, and they plan to look for opportunities to fight a decisive battle with the Qing army like Zheng Chenggong, and if the main force of the Qing army is defeated, Jiangnan may once again have a large-scale defection - Deng Ming was worried that such a treatment would cause himself a hidden danger of Yan zhòng, but for the Qing court, the concern was not the hidden danger of the Ming army, but the consequences of losing Yan zhòng in Jiangnan. Once Jiangnan is in the south anyway, it will be a stab in the throat for the Qing court, and if it loses the taxes in the southeast, it will not be able to feed the soldiers in the northwest. If there is an avalanche phenomenon that leads to Zhejiang, Fujian, and Huguang all being out of control and cannot be recaptured, then the Qing court will be back to 20 years ago overnight.

Under the repeated explanations of Kubilong and Li Guoying, Jie Shu also realized the sinister intentions of the Ming army, this was a war that the Qing army could not afford to lose, and it did not even need to be defeated, as long as a small setback that allowed Deng Ming to use the propaganda, it could bring disastrous consequences. In Li Guoying's words, this is a gamble that makes more money and loses less for Deng Ming, and if he loses the bet, he will at most be a dead person, and if the Qing court loses the gamble, he may lose half of the country -- if the south of the Yangtze River is gained and lost, even Li Guoying will have doubts about whether the Qing court can unify the world.

Since he absolutely cannot afford to lose, and he cannot even fight a small defeat, Prince Kang's military operations must be extremely careful, the number of troops is never too large, and as long as he is not 100% sure of winning, he should not start the idea of fighting a war at all. The only good news was that the confident Ming army did not take advantage of their naval superiority to fight guerrilla warfare on the Yangtze River, and it looked like they would fight a field battle with the Qing army in Yangzhou Prefecture, so that their naval superiority could not be fully exploited.

This morning, the Beijing envoys who had gone to Guazhou returned to Xuzhou, having already met Deng Ming and received a reply from the other party.

This envoy group went to Yangzhou along the post road under a clear banner, so the road was safe and sound, and as soon as they stepped into Huai'an Mansion, they were closely protected by the heavy soldiers of the Liangjiang and Caoyun Governor Yamen, escorting them all the way to Yangzhou, and then escorted by Yangzhou's green battalion to the front of the Ming army camp.

For Deng Ming's reply, Jie Shu and Kubilong are very concerned, Shunzhi has been dead for almost three years, and most of the initial anger and humiliation have dissipated, even if Kubilong is still looking forward to the opportunity to pay tribute to the emperor, he can realize that this desire is not enough to compare with the safety of the imperial court.

When Duoduo attacked Nanjing, he brought almost all the troops of the Eight Banners, and this time Prince Kang's army of 100,000 was almost all Han Chinese, and there were only 3,000 poor Baba as the overseers of the Eight Banners. There are only more than 40,000 men left in the Manchurian era, and the elite soldiers and strong generals of the Huang Taiji era, even if they have not died in the past 20 years, have all held their grandchildren at home in Beijing to tell stories.

"What did Deng Ming say, did the conditions of the imperial court make him seem excited?" After seeing the envoy, Prince Kang immediately asked.

"Deng Ming is very impressed, and he seems to be quite anxious for negotiations." The envoy replied that Deng Ming, after reading the terms of Beijing, immediately said that he would do his best to let the envoy return to Beijing with his anti-construction yì.

After hearing about Deng Ming's expression, Jie Shu and Ji Bilong glanced at each other, and the other party's eagerness to make peace made them suddenly have the idea of stopping the negotiation of peace, because this kind of expression is likely to indicate that Deng Ming has encountered some insurmountable internal problems, maybe the Qing court gritted its teeth and persisted for a short time, and the Deng Ming group would fall apart like Sun Kewang back then.

However, the envoy learned that Deng Ming was unanimously opposed by his allies, and that no troops and horses except the Sichuan army supported the peace, at least not openly echoing Deng Ming's claims.

After learning that Deng Ming was openly discussing this issue among his allies, he felt that the imperial court's plan had encountered a little trouble, because he came to the imperial court to think that if Deng Ming showed war-weariness, he could spread the news to drive a wedge between Deng Ming and his allies - Beijing thought that Deng Ming would not care about his image as a main war faction at all, so he would refuse to recognize the existence of the peace talks, while the Manchu side did not need to have too many concerns, and could completely publicize that it was Zhao'an - of course, Zhao'an, a thief who killed the first emperor, is also shameful enough.

"In the end, because everyone objected, Deng Ming said that he could not immediately agree to the court's request for recruitment, but he still gave it back."

The envoy handed Deng Ming's reply, in fact, this is Deng Ming's anti-construction, which said that in order for the people along the Yangtze River to live and work in peace and contentment, Deng Ming is willing to suspend the offensive for four years, so that the people can recuperate, in return, the Qing court must first stop attacking the territory of the Ming army for four years, not only Sichuan, but also other troops under the banner of the Ming army, and the deadline for certification is the effective time of the ceasefire agreement; Second, the Qing court allowed Ming ships to enter the Yangtze River freely, and they were not allowed to block or collect taxes under any pretext; In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the above agreement, Deng Ming asked the four governors of Sichuan-Shaanxi, Huguang, Liangjiang, and Caoyun, as well as the governors along the Yangtze River, to send a son to Chengdu to ensure that they would not make small moves in private to break the cease-fire agreement.

Deng Ming believed that this cease-fire agreement was a solid step towards the peace talks between the Ming and Qing dynasties, because he was above board, so he would not ask the Qing court to take the initiative to cede provincial territory before peace came, so the cease-fire agreement was subject to the actual control of the zhì line, and did not require additional compensation from the Qing court, unless Deng Ming could persuade his allies and the Son of Yongli to accept the final peace treaty. In turn, Deng Ming will not stop military operations until a ceasefire agreement is reached.

"This thief can't even strike the army temporarily, how can he make the court believe that he really wants to be appeased?" Jie Shu said coldly that when he negotiated with Zheng Chenggong, at least the Min army would have made a gesture of suspending the offensive, although it turned out later that Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Huangyan were secretly accumulating strength to make a big one.

"Deng Ming said that since both sides have freedom of movement before this 'ceasefire agreement' is reached, no one should worry that this is the other side's ...... of delaying the army."

Hearing this, Jie Shu couldn't help but smile, this Deng Mingzhong's strategy to delay the army was too many times, and it seemed that he was finally going to learn a lesson.

"Only in this way can we talk boldly and confidently, and if anyone thinks that the negotiations are at a loss, they can continue to fight until they reach a satisfactory one."

After listening to the envoy's report, Kubilon felt that this plan was a little different from the imperial court's expectations, although Deng Ming did not ask for a ceasefire to be ceded without asking for a cession of provinces, and maybe in the future he could give less land because of this, but this was very troublesome for the governor to send his son into the hostage. Deng Ming's reply insisted that the hostages were very important to avoid the governor from provoking the border because he wanted to make meritorious contributions, but if such conditions were announced, everyone would know that this was not a recruitment but indeed an equal negotiation.

Of course, Deng Ming's real purpose is to find a better reason for the governor of Tong Deng to send his son to Chengdu, although Lin Qilong can send it secretly, but if there is a reasonable and legal excuse, it is of course better for the governors.

"Deng Ming said that he is willing to continue negotiations, and will try to persuade the Kuidong thieves and Zhoushan thieves to advance and retreat with him, but he will not stop fighting until they reach a deal." Jie Shu knew that this meant that Deng Ming still had the freedom to block, ambush, and attack the Qing army - even if an agreement was reached, whether it was to swear to the Emperor Tianhou Tu or the ancestral gods, Jie Shu believed that he still had complete freedom to attack the Ming army, and the only question was whether it was worth it or not.

So seeing Deng Ming actually tell the truth on this issue, Jie Shu was a little moved.

"I heard that Deng Ming has a good reputation?" He had also heard a lot of rumors about Deng Ming, and he asked Li Guoying for confirmation.

Although Li Guoying could not testify against the release coupons, coupons, and the exchange of cattle for people, he felt the need to let Prince Kang and the auxiliary ministers understand what kind of people their enemies were, and perhaps this was also Deng Ming's Achilles' heel: "Deng Ming is a person...... Well......" Li Guoying wanted to say that he was very cunning, but suddenly remembered that in order to explain why Deng Ming would delay the army again and again, he had already described Deng Ming as naturally kind: "Deng Ming has a quirk, that is, talking counts, and the slave thinks that he will definitely die on it in the future." ”

Kupilon pondered for a moment: "It's a pity that this is actually a peace talk rather than a Zhao'an, we have to believe that he is a promise, otherwise it would be good to find out if Deng Ming is sincere." ”

"What do you mean by letting Deng Ming shave his head?" Li Guoying asked rhetorically, he knew that Sony used this trick back then to find out that Zheng Chenggong was not sincere.

Suppilon nodded.

"This trick is useful to Zheng Chenggong and useless to Deng Ming, although it is not to recruit an but to negotiate peace, but the slave dares to say that Deng Ming doesn't mind shaving his head at all, and he doesn't need to threaten, as long as he gives him 10,000 taels of silver, he can shave his head in front of the messenger, and it's a big deal that he will shave his head again when the messenger leaves." Li Guoying said with confidence: "When Deng Ming was in Sichuan and Yunnan, he didn't shave his head once or twice. ”