Since returning to the Yamen, Zhou Peigong has been thinking about the strategy of negotiating with Deng Ming, because he had not considered compromise at all before, Zhou Peigong's mood was very nervous, and the doubts that sprung up again and again interrupted Zhou Zhifu's train of thought. In the previous negotiations and confrontations with Deng Ming, Zhou Peigong suffered a fiasco without exception, although he could comfort himself and was not taken too much advantage by the other party, but Zhou Peigong also knew very well in his heart that it was completely Deng Ming's mercy, and deliberately left some benefits for himself for some reasons that he was not clear to him.

After an afternoon of intense thinking, Zhou Peigong found that his own shape in this negotiation was unprecedentedly unfavorable, Hanyang was almost undefended, and the Ming army showed an unprecedentedly powerful siege ability. And Hanyang and Wuchang have been directly related to Zhou Peigong and his benevolence, Chang Geng's net worth, and the Qing generals have been forced to the edge of the cliff. If the other party pushes hard, it will be fine, and at that time, there will only be fish and the net will be broken, but Deng Ming put on a posture of not pushing, which makes people even more uncomfortable.

Before dark, Wuchang's envoy Pegasus arrived and sent Zhou Peigong an urgent order from the governor of Huguang. Although Zhang Changgeng was very worried before, he also hoped that Zhou Peigong could create a miracle and block the invincible Deng Ming under Hanyang City, at least to buy some time for Wuchang. After the Qing army in Zhongxiang and other places returned, Zhang Changgeng had hope to turn the tide in Wuchang. But things were even worse than Zhang Changgeng expected, and Hanyang City and Zhou Peigong Group, who had high hopes, couldn't hold on for even half a day.

After receiving the urgent reports sent by the guerrillas of the standard camp and Zhou Peigong, Zhang Changgeng almost fainted on the spot, he knew that if Deng Ming defeated Hanyang in one day, then Wuchang's military spirit was likely to collapse. Although the Qing army can retreat to Hunan and eastern Hubei to resist, and Deng Ming may also stop to digest the fruits of victory, that qiē has nothing to do with Zhang Changgeng, and even if he has merit, he will be the next governor of Huguang.

After reading Zhou Peigong's report, Zhang Changgeng breathed a sigh of relief, and at that moment, Zhang Changgeng already had the idea of going into battle to fight the Ming army in person. If the Ming army really entered Wuchang, Zhang Changgeng, who had no way out, would have only one way left, send his family out of the city to escape, and then put on armor to fight, and finally died on the steps in front of the Yamen of the Governor of Huguang - he will do the same, for the sake of his family's survival.

Zhang Changgeng, who was completely desperate about the battle situation, immediately wrote a reply to Zhou Peigong, strictly ordering him to accept any of Deng Ming's conditions in full: as long as Deng Ming did not want the two cities of Wuchang and Hanyang, then all the demands of the Ming army could be agreed. Of course, Zhang Changgeng instructed Zhou Peigong to bluff first and curb Deng Ming's ambitions as much as possible, but the bottom line of the Qing army was the two cities of Wuchang and Hanyang.

In order to ensure that the hawk Zhou Peigong would not spoil a big event, Zhang Changgeng also sent two family members to be deputy envoys, both of whom accompanied Zhou Peigong to the Deng Ming camp last time, Zhang Changgeng felt that they also had good negotiation skills, so they didn't have to wait any longer at this time?

If it weren't for the worry that Zhou Peigong would be stirring up the situation, Zhang Changgeng would even have moved the idea of transferring back this hawkish banner and sending another negotiation envoy for a moment, thinking about it, Zhang Changgeng still didn't stimulate Zhou Peigong too much at this critical moment. After the two family members of the governor of Huguang came to Hanyang, they also gave Zhou Peigong a flatbread that Governor Zhang had just baked: "The governor said that if Deng Ming can be forced to withdraw this time, then it will be written in the future that the Dong thieves have already entered the city, thanks to the prefect who took the lead in blocking the Yu Dong thieves, and the soldiers and civilians built up the gap in the city wall behind the prefect who fought with swords. With this feat, the prefect was almost promoted to the political envoy of Hubei, and he was not far from the governor of Hubei, and now these two positions are vacant. ”

"The governor of Hubei who is less than thirty?" Zhou Peigong smiled noncommittally when he heard this, knowing very well in his heart that this was Zhang Changgeng's rhetoric to appease himself. Zhou Peigong knew that being too young was not the most critical problem, the fatal problem was that the foundation was too shallow, and only relying on Zhang Changgeng's favor and trust, a Wuchang prefect would come to an end. If Zhou Peigong wants to become a high-ranking official like a provincial envoy or even a governor, he needs to have a large number of allies, not only in the officialdom, but also the support of the local gentry, and as a man in his twenties, Zhou Peigong obviously cannot have so many powerful alliances, and Zhang Changgeng will not force him to a position that he is not qualified for at all: "Lord Governor, this is afraid that I will make trouble, this is the Lord Governor's overconsideration, even if Deng Ming does not return my family property, just the grace of the Lord Governor, I will not affect him desperately." ”

Seeing that the departure time was approaching, Zhou Peigong briefly introduced his negotiation ideas to the two assistants: "Deng Ming has broken the wall of Hanyang, and any more military issues will make us more passive, so don't mention a word, let alone say that tens of thousands of soldiers in Wuchang are waiting for each other, this unconfident bragging will not bring us any benefits in negotiations." Today's plan is to insist that Deng Ming repents of the contract, and says that we have been strictly fulfilling the previous agreement with Deng Ming, but Deng Ming connived at his subordinates to plunder the Hubei gentry, and came to attack Wuchang again - no matter how rich we are in Wuchang, we can't help Deng Ming to rob it over and over again. And we want to show our distrust of Deng Ming, we can give money this time, but he needs to give us a guarantee that will reassure us, and he will not threaten the Governor with Wuchang again in the short term. ”

Zhang Changgeng's two servants were confused, they originally wanted to say something on the way, telling Deng Ming Wuchang that there was still an army that could not be humiliated, and more than 100,000 troops were coming, but Zhou Peigong vetoed this idea with one mouth. In addition, these two people also felt that Deng Ming could not give Zhou Peigong the guarantee of hope at all, and now he was burning his eyebrows, and had to agree to a request from the Ming army, as long as the current pass was passed, Zhang Changgeng planned to transfer the Qing army in Zhongxiang's area back to defend Dawuchang.

"First of all, Deng Ming won't believe that there are still tens of thousands of soldiers to fight in Wuchang, if you don't come, maybe I can still say a few words, but you are all here - if Wuchang still has the strength to fight, how can the governor send you?" Zhou Peigong shook his head slightly, when negotiating with Deng Ming, although Zhang Changgeng and Zhou Peigong did not have much disagreement, this difference would always put the Qing army in a more disadvantageous position: "As for this kind of guarantee, the official also knows that Deng Ming can't give it, but the official's intention is to use this bargaining to let Deng Ming let us go some blood." ”

The plan was decided, and Zhou Peigong took two Zhang Changgeng's family members and a few henchmen of the standard camp guerrillas out of the city in disguise, and soon came to the front of the Ming army camp.

The soldier guarding the gate of the camp asked people to go in to report, and at the same time invited Zhou Peigong into the camp, and the officer said politely: "The admiral has already explained, as long as the Zhou Governor's Mansion arrives, he will bring it into the camp immediately, don't let the Zhou Governor's Mansion wait for a long time." ”

The two people from the Zhang family behind him nodded and thanked him, but Zhou Peigong had a calm face and walked in with his head held high, with a hint of anger on his face - of course, this was all for the Ming army to see. Now what Zhou Peigong hated the most was the two deputy envoys who followed him, and at this time, all he was thinking about was the words that Deng Ming had said to himself about his teammates.

Deng Ming had already prepared a tent for negotiation, and after Zhou Peigong was ushered into the tent, he saw a slender table in the tent, and its length and width ratio far exceeded what Zhou Peigong had seen before. On either side of this long table, there were two rows of chairs, and the old opponent Deng Ming sat on the chair in the middle of the row on the left, and there were several Ming army officers sitting beside him. One of them, Zhou Peigong, has also seen it, it is a Zhejiang showman, and Zhou Peigong has also made friends with him.

"Governor Zhou, please take a seat." Deng Ming and his subordinates stood up to welcome him.

Zhou Peigong walked to the chair opposite Deng Ming, pulled out the chair and sat down in a dignified manner, and the two servants of the Zhang family who came with him were also put into this negotiation tent after being searched, and the two of them stood tremblingly on both sides of Zhou Peigong's back.

"These are the two lieutenants of this officer." Zhou Peigong said loudly.

"You know, I had a relationship with these two gentlemen." Deng Ming obviously didn't forget about Zhou Peigong's two teammates, he smiled and said, "The two deputy envoys, please take a seat." ”

"The Admiral tells you to sit, and you sit down." Zhou Peigong heard that the two behind him were still modest, and shouted impatiently.

After the two deputy envoys sat down cautiously, Zhou Peigong took the initiative and opened his mouth to reproach: "Li Hushuai and Liu Wanshuai plundered the Jiangling gentry, and that's it; Hao and He of Jianghan even robbed people's land, how different is this behavior from bandits? When people of insight in Huguang heard about it, they all gritted their teeth and hated it, donated money, and asked the governor to immediately send troops to capture Hao and He! Didn't the Admiral hear that there was much help for the righteous and little help for the unjust? Although the subordinate and the admiral are friends and foes, the admiral is so conniving with his subordinates that he also knows that the admiral is not far from defeat. ”

"Governor Zhou is right." Zhou Peigong thought that Deng Ming would defend a few words, at least use the national disaster as an excuse, but he didn't expect Deng Ming to agree: "The tax collection can still be discussed again, but the two generals Hao and He have really gone too far." ”

Zhou Peigong sneered: "The Admiral, this is really a deception, no one in the world knows that they are all generals under the Admiral, does the Admiral want to clean up the relationship with a single sentence?" ”

Shut down

For a moment, Zhou Peigong felt that the negotiations had begun to enter his scheduled rhythm again. Deng Ming as the leader of the Zhulu Ming Army, the mistakes of his subordinates are his mistakes, Zhou Peigong did not expect Deng Ming to admit his own mistakes so easily, which is very beneficial to Zhou Peigong's next negotiation, you can seize Deng Ming's reason to make some articles, whether it is to compensate or reduce the cost of ransom will be beneficial, it can be said that both public and private are not wrong.

"Where are they?" In the next moment, Deng Ming shook his head and said: "They have no subordinate relationship with me at all, they call me a commander just to give me face, I can't give them orders at all, and they don't need my prior permission to decide any policy." Governor Zhou, this is really exalting me. ”

Deng Ming's words made Zhou Peigong lose his mind for a long time, although the other party's words seemed to make a little sense at first glance, but in essence it was absolutely unreasonable. Because Li Laiheng, Liu Tichun, and Hao Shaoqi are under the banner of the Ming court, Yongli is the monarch's father, they are the courtiers, and this is the righteousness of the monarch and the minister. Wen Anzhi is the minister of the army sent by Yongli, and Deng Ming is the commander of the clan and the commander of Sichuan and Hubei appointed by Wen Anzhi, as long as Li Laiheng does not raise the flag of rebellion for a day, or Yongli does not declare Li Laiheng a traitor for a day, then Wen Anzhi and Deng Ming are Li Laiheng's bosses.

At this time, Deng Ming continued: "I have never paid Hu Shuai and them, and there are no officials appointed by the Wen Governor in their control area, and their army will not obey my orders, so no matter what they do, it has nothing to do with me. ”

"It's so shameless." This thought popped up in Zhou Peigong's heart. He admitted that Deng Ming's trick was very vicious, and he immediately sealed all his accusations. But Zhou Peigong felt unbelievable that Deng Ming would use such a trick in order to resist a few harmless accusations. Whatever the facts, no king would admit that he could not command his warlords, because it was a shame. For example, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty would not publicly admit that Cao Cāo had the right to act, which in addition to being a great shame, would also lead to the loss of the righteousness of the monarch and his ministers - Cao Cāo only showed that he was a thief, and Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty lost the ability to use the right to command his courtiers, but did not lose the ownership of this right.

In all dynasties, the emperor was helpless against the warlords, but despite this, the warlords were also the emperor's courtiers, and the emperor would never put them on an equal footing, and from any point of view, the loss of the righteousness of the monarch and the minister was more terrible than the loss of actual power.

But Deng Ming obviously didn't see it that way, and Zhou Peigong looked at Deng Ming's entourage in surprise, wondering if they could accept Deng Ming's abandonment of righteousness so lightly—even though it was only a secret meeting.

"The Admiral is right." Ren Tang saw Zhou Peigong's gaze swept to him, and hurriedly expressed his approval of Deng Ming: "Including Li Hushuai, the admiral has no right to inquire about his official arrangements, tax expenditures, and military arrangements. Li Hushuai is not so much a subordinate of the Admiral, but an ally of the Admiral. Since it is an alliance, it is clear that the Admiral cannot bear the infamy for what the Alliance has done. ”

Originally, Ren Tang also felt that Deng Ming's actions were too absurd, but he was close to Zhu Zhechi, and young people in their early twenties had a particularly strong ability to accept it, and now they have been deeply affected by Deng Ming's logic. Whether it is in Nanjing or Huguang, from the perspective of the righteousness of the monarch and the minister, Lang Tingzuo and Zhang Changgeng are traitors who do not share the sky, but Deng Ming can do business with them without any psychological burden. Since Deng Ming can give the traitor a chair on an equal footing, it is not difficult to understand that Li Laiheng and the others are allies, at least Ren Tang feels that it is far less difficult to overcome the latter psychological barrier than the former.

"Although I cannot be held responsible for the actions of my allies, because I am full of goodwill towards the gentry of Huguang, I take the initiative to consult with Hu Shuai and them, hoping that they will return the confiscated land for my sake; Although I can't get any of the taxes they collect, I am also willing to give some compensation to the scholars out of goodwill to the gentry of Huguangjin. Deng Ming put on a stern expression and said to Zhou Peigong: "Unfortunately, due to the distance, Wuchang seems to have some misunderstandings about me, so I raised troops this time to let the Governor of Huguang and Wuchang know my kindness." ”

Although he was an expert at reversing black and white in the recital, Zhou Peigong couldn't help but ridicule each other when he heard this: "The admiral attacked Hanyang and blew down a large section of the city wall, is it also goodwill?" ”

"Of course!" Deng Ming said in surprise: "Of course this is kindness. ”

Seeing that Zhou Peigong's face was full of disbelief, Deng Ming smiled slightly and said, "Has Governor Zhou ever heard of a sentence called 'With a sharp blade in his body, his murderous intent rises'?" I have the ability to attack Wuchang and Hanyang lightly, as if I have a sharp blade in my arms, so why don't I use this sharp blade to stab Governor Zhang? This is, of course, because I am full of goodwill towards Governor Zhang. If I hadn't come to blow up the walls of Hanyang, Governor Chang wouldn't have known that I had a sharp blade in my hand, and might have misunderstood that I had malicious intentions toward him but didn't have the ability to do so. Therefore, I must blow up the walls of Hanyang, so that Governor Zhang and Governor Zhou will not misunderstand and realize my kindness. ”

"Robber!" After Deng Ming finished speaking, Zhou Peigong and Ren Tang's eyes met in the air, and they were surprised to find that they actually reached a tacit consensus on Deng Ming in their hearts.

At this point, Zhou Peigong was completely speechless, and he didn't know how to refute Deng Ming.

After completely overwhelming his opponent in momentum, Deng Ming could finally throw out his solution: "For those Wuchang gentry who have land under the control of Hushuai, I am willing to help them bear half of the tax out of goodwill." ”

"How?" Zhou Peigong suddenly came again: "Will the Admiral give it back to us?" ”

"I don't have so much food to pay back to you," Deng Ming shook his head: "So I have to owe it first, and I plan to give you an IOU." Every time you give them two stones of rice, I will give you 100 yuan, and 100 yuan means that I owe you one stone of rice. If it is other grains, it needs to be converted according to the market price......"

After explaining the conversion of the IOUs and the grain, Deng Ming told Zhou Peigong: "Except that I don't have so much grain to return to you for the time being, the transportation of grain is very costly, and it is very heavy and occupies a large number of ships, so I plan to redeem these IOUs with salt." ”

"Salt?" Zhou Peigong's eyes lit up when he heard this. He pondered for a moment and remembered a policy that the Ming Dynasty had implemented, that is, to use salt to encourage merchants to transport grain to the border army, so as to solve the problem of military rations for the border army. Now in Zhou Peigong's opinion, Deng Ming seems to want to use this method to solve the problem of military rations for the Huguang Ming Army: "Is this kind of IOU equivalent to salt introduction?" ”

"No, you don't need to pay extra for gold and silver by exchanging the IOU for salt." Deng Ming shook his head and said. Most of the land-owning gentry are still in their hometowns, and those who have fled to Wuchang are still a small number of people - those who remain in their hometowns, Deng Ming will not give any compensation, and as always, he will not directly interfere in the internal affairs of his allies even if he disagrees.

Deng Ming had carefully calculated that the number of IOUs that needed to be paid to the gentry was limited, far from enough to digest Sichuan salt, and this was just an introduction to open up Huguang's trade barriers and improve the image of the Ming army among the Huguang gentry: "I will build a salt bank to ensure that all IOUs can be cashed into Sichuan salt." If all the IOUs have been cashed and there is any salt left, I will also allow you to exchange the gold and silver for the remaining salt, which will be regarded as my additional compensation for your taxes. ”

"And at what price does the Admiral intend to exchange the huàn salt?" As soon as Zhou Peigong opened his mouth, he shook his head and said: "Admiral, I can't agree to you immediately about this matter, the implication is too wide, I must go back to the city first, can I change it and then talk about it." ”

In addition to the Governor of Huguang, Zhou Peigong knew that there were many others who had to be visited and asked for their opinions.

"Okay, but before that, I need you to retreat the defenders of the upstream stronghold and stop the movement of Zhongxiang's troops, for which I will not move my troops in return." Deng Ming said.

"That's fine." Zhou Peigong agreed. He knew that Deng Ming was cautious, he had expected Deng Ming's request, and he also knew that the other party would never back down on this issue. When dealing with Deng Ming for the first time, Zhou Peigong found that Deng Ming attached great importance to security issues, and later there was a lesson from Zheng Chenggong in Nanjing, and Deng Ming would not give the Qing army the opportunity to threaten him with negotiations.

Now that the Hanyang dynasty is in danger, Deng Ming's request for the Qing army to retreat from the upstream strongholds is actually not harmful to Zhou Peigong, if Hanyang is lost, these strongholds are meaningless, and now it can be slightly strengthened to defend the ability; And the stop of mobilizing Zhongxiang's defenders, under this kind of military situation in which the Ming army can capture Hanyang at any time, is also more symbolic than practical.

"There is also the issue of ransom fees, can the Admiral give an approximate figure, and the Commander may as well go back and discuss with the Governor first?" Zhou Peicheng was about to leave, but remembered another important thing.

"Ransom?" Deng Ming laughed out loud and waved his hand: "Governor Zhou misunderstood, as I said just now, I am full of goodwill to the Governor of Huguang and the gentry, this time I came purely to compensate you, and there is no ransom fee at all." ”

Zhou Peigong, who was surprised and delighted, couldn't help but ask again before leaving: "The Admiral is here this time, is there really no other requirement?" ”

Zhou Peigong asked himself, if he and Deng Ming changed places, he would definitely open his mouth and knock on the bamboo pole fiercely, the preferential conditions that Deng Ming gave to Zhang Changgeng last time may also be explained by dividing Zhou Peigong and Zhang Changgeng, so what is Deng Ming's restraint this time?

"My philosophy is different from ordinary people, I have always believed that one person is not good, everyone is good." Deng Ming clenched his hands into fists and waved his fists as he spoke to strengthen his tone: "I am more opposed to the winner-take-all model and the loser loses. Win-win! I believe that win-win is the people's desire and the cooperation model for the next thousand years. ”