After Deputy Envoy Li inquired with the people along the route of the Xiaowu Army, he was surprised to find that there were only a few thousand people in the Xiaowu Army that went to Jiaozhi to quell the rebellion, so he subconsciously thought that this was the vanguard of the Xiaowu Army.

Later, however, Deputy Envoy Li gradually learned two shocking news, one was that Li Yuntian held a auction in Yangzhou Mansion and sold the commercial management rights and mining rights of Jiaozhi to those big businessmen in the south of the Yangtze River, and then made a huge profit from them.

Another thing is that Li Yuntian, the commander of the Ming counterinsurgency army, has already taken more than a dozen sea ships from the seaport of Ningbo Prefecture to Jiaozhi, which really surprised him.

Moreover, Deputy Envoy Li also knew why Li Yuntian wanted to rush to Jiaozhi in two ways, and he heard that because most of the people in the Xiaowu army were taking a boat for the first time, they could not adapt to the wind and waves of the waterway, so they could only take the land route.

In addition to being shocked, Deputy Envoy Li did not expect that he had "inadvertently" learned important information about the counterinsurgency army, and when he slept in the open air, he went ashore at the harbor wharf of Fenghua Mansion after a lot of hardships and heard that the 100,000 Xiaowu troops under the command of General Dingnan were rushing to Jiaozhi, and he was immediately taken aback.

Obviously, the 100,000 Xiaowu troops preached by General Dingnan were just bluffing, but in fact, the Xiaowu troops who rushed to Jiaozhi were only a few thousand.

At this time, Deputy Envoy Li finally realized that he had obtained a top-secret information, and hurriedly informed Huang Sheng, the guard general of Fenghua Prefecture, who knew that Li Li was confronting General Dingnan in Anliang County, Sanjiang Prefecture, so he did not dare to slack off, and sent someone to escort Deputy Envoy Li to Anliang County overnight to report to Li Li.

"The damn fellow, he actually pretended to be a god and deceived this king, no wonder he wants to sue for peace with this king!" After figuring out the ins and outs of the matter from Deputy Envoy Li, Li Li couldn't help but slam his fist on the table and said viciously.

Hearing Li Li say that General Dingnan was looking for him to sue for peace, Deputy Envoy Li's eyes flashed with a look of consternation, and then he hurriedly lowered his head, some things are not known to people of his status, otherwise the end will usually be miserable.

"Someone, go and invite Mr. Ruan!" Li Li didn't notice the change in Deputy Envoy Li's expression, his mind was on General Dingnan at this time, and after a deep groan, he shouted at the soldiers guarding the door, when he encountered this kind of serious incident, the first thing he thought of was Ruan Yan, the chief strategist beside him, and wanted to discuss the next countermeasures with Ruan Yan.

Ruan Yan quickly rushed over, and when he learned that there were only a few thousand of the 100,000 Xiaowu troops in Li Yuntian's mouth, he was stunned there, and then his eyes flashed with joy, and he forcibly suppressed the excitement in his heart, and quietly and carefully interrogated Vice Envoy Li about some details, including how Vice Envoy Li escaped, how he returned to Jiaozhi, and what he saw and heard along the way.

Deputy Envoy Li told him what he had experienced again, and in fact, how he escaped from the guards was the focus of Ruan Yan's questioning.

Speaking of which, the reason why Deputy Envoy Li was able to escape this time was due to the fact that he had studied in the Nanjing Guozi Prison and could speak fluent Jiangnan dialect, so after escaping from the prison, he disguised himself as a citizen near Nanjing City, and no one could tell that he was a Jiaozhi man along the way.

"Lord Wang, no wonder General Dingnan is so anxious to sue for peace, it turns out that the Ming army only came with a few thousand people this time!" After interrogating Deputy Envoy Li, Ruan Yan already knew in his heart, and when Deputy Envoy Li left the room, he bowed to Li Li and said in a deep voice, "In this way, it can explain why he is in such a hurry to come to Jiaozhi." ”

"In the eyes of the lower officials, the Ming court was extremely shaken after the death of the Ming general Liu Sheng, and now the battle situation in Jiaozhi is extremely unfavorable to the Ming army, and it is contrary to the holy will of Emperor Xuande to recuperate, and the Ming court seems to have the intention of giving up Jiaozhi, otherwise General Dingnan would not have just led thousands of Xiaowu troops to Jiaozhi."

As he spoke, a smile appeared at the corner of Ruan Yan's mouth, "It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven, even if General Dingnan is talented, he would never have imagined that Wang Tong would give Jiaozhou City away, which made him fall into a passive situation as soon as he came." ”

"You mean, the Ming court intends to withdraw troops from Jiaozhi?" Listening to Ruan Yan's words, Li Li's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he asked in surprise.

"This is the speculation of the lower officials, the Ming court has been using troops since Taizong, coupled with natural disasters and man-made disasters, I am afraid that the financial resources are limited now, otherwise General Dingnan would not have done business with those merchants in Yangzhou City, and the scholars of the Ming Dynasty have always looked down on businessmen."

Ruan Yan nodded affirmatively when he heard this, and then explained to Li Li, "Xiaguan previously learned that Emperor Xuande sent 100,000 elite Xiaowu troops to Jiaozhi, and originally thought that Emperor Xuande was young and vigorous and couldn't swallow the breath of losing Jiaozhi, but now it seems that Xiaguan was wrong, and General Dingnan took the initiative to invite Ying to come this time." ”

"Lord Wang, the lower officials feel that although the Dingnan general of the Ming court is full of poetry and books, he does not have the pedantry and arrogance of those literati in the Ming court, and he will even think of raising military funds from merchants."

As he spoke, Ruan Yan's expression became a little solemn, "Judging from the previous two battles, General Dingnan has quite attainments in military affairs, and it will be difficult for our army to take advantage of the first two Ming armies led by him." ”

"You mean, it's his delaying tactic?" Li Li's brows furrowed when he heard this, and he could see that Ruan Yan had a high opinion of General Dingnan, which also meant that General Dingnan was a very dangerous figure.

"Lord Wang, the lower officials think that the reason why General Dingnan is also the chief soldier and governor of Jiaozhi and Guangxi is to mobilize the troops of the Guangxi Capital Division of the Ming Court and the troops of the Mu Wangfu of Yunnan to relieve the siege of the Ming army trapped in Jiaozhou City, and then rely on Jiaozhou City to fight a decisive battle with our army."

Ruan Yan did not answer Li Li's question, and after pondering for a while, he said, "Although the troops of the Guangxi Metropolitan Division are insufficient, General Dingnan is good at buying people's hearts, and now the Tusi of Xuanhua Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion have gained a lot of benefits from him, and they are vying to help him do things. It's a pity that Wang Tong gave Jiaozhou City to our army. ”

Compared with those military households in the Guangxi Guards of the Ming Army, the local soldiers under the jurisdiction of each Tusi were more powerful in combat, their combat was more courageous, and they were adapted to mountain and forest operations, which was a serious threat to the rebels.

It's a pity that neither Chen Zhi, Wang Tong nor Liu Sheng realized this, so they all used the soldiers of the Ming army as the main force to attack the rebels.

According to historical records, the Guangxi local government used Tusi native soldiers to "suppress thieves" in the second year of orthodoxy, and it became a common practice to requisition Tusi native soldiers in the first year of Jingtai, and they were transferred from Guangxi by the government to fight.

As soon as he came to Jiaozhi, he launched a powerful "Jinyuan offensive" against the Tusi of Xuanhua Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion, using money to buy the Tusi of the two places, so that the Tusi of Xuanhua Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion sent troops to exterminate the mob and small rebels in the two places, and then quickly stabilized the situation in Xuanhua Mansion and Taiyuan Prefecture.

This hand really made Ruan Yan admire, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Li Yuntian was the first official to attach so much importance to the Tusi native soldiers, he only spent some silver taels to stabilize the situation in Xuanhua Mansion and Taiyuan Mansion, it can be said that the result is twice the result with half the effort, which really impresses him.

"Mr. Ruan, do you mean that General Dingnan's peace talks this time are true?" Li Li couldn't help but nod when he heard this, feeling that Ruan Yan's analysis was very reasonable, if he remembered correctly, Li Yuntian recruited two thousand local soldiers as soon as he came to Xuanhua Mansion.

"Now that the city of Jiaozhou is lost, the Ming army has no danger to defend in Jiaozhi, and the current strength of General Dingnan alone cannot match our army, once our army drives the Ming army out of Jiaozhi, he is bound to bear the responsibility for the defeat, this is definitely not a scene he wants to see."

Ruan Yan bowed slightly, and continued to explain to Li Li, "Therefore, in order to reverse the current disadvantage of the Ming army, General Dingnan adopted a strategy of attacking and defending, risking to attack Anliang County and ambush our army on the slope of the fallen leaves, wanting to put pressure on our army. ”

"Attack is defense!" Li Li's eyes showed a thoughtful look, no wonder Li Yuntian made two dangerous moves, it turned out to be to cover up his disadvantages.

I have to say that Li Yuntian's move was very clever and completely deceived him, if it wasn't for Deputy Envoy Li's escape and bringing such important information, then he would have been kept in the dark so far.

"Now that the county seat of Anliang is surrounded by our regiments, and the date of the arrival of the Ming army's reinforcements in Jiaozhi is getting closer and closer, General Dingnan in order not to expose his lies, but also to keep the state capital occupied by the Ming army in Jiaozhi."

The corners of Ruan Yan's mouth suddenly showed a hint of a smile, Li Yuntian's game was seamless, even if he didn't see through it, he was very relieved that he could meet such a powerful opponent, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for Li Yuntian.

"It's a pity that the sky is going to kill him, he would never have thought that his carefully planned layout has been exposed by Deputy Envoy Li." Li Li couldn't help but laugh when he saw this, and his laughter was full of pride, so that he could have the upper hand in the contest with General Dingnan.

"Lord Wang, now is the perfect time for our army to take Jiaozhi, as long as the county seat of Anliang is taken, then the Ming army will be forced to leave Jiaozhi by our army, and then the Ming court will definitely be shaken, and the prince can become the king of Annan."

After Li Li finished laughing, Ruan Yan arched his hand at him, bowed down and said.

Originally, he was afraid of the 100,000 Xiaowu army that Li Yuntian had hyped in his mouth, but now that it has been confirmed that this is a false thing, then the Ming army in Jiaozhi has no morale and confidence to fight against the rebels, and the rebels' attacks in Sanjiang Mansion, Taiyuan Mansion and Xuanhua Mansion are bound to be overwhelming, and once these three mansions are taken, the rest of the Ming army in Jiaozhi will also retreat without a fight, and the rebels will win a complete victory in Jiaozhi.