When the two armies of the Ming and Qing dynasties continued to gather, and the war clouds were gathering in the Huaiyang area, a secret envoy from Beijing came to the camp of Prince Kang, located on the border of Shandong. In Beijing's words, the mission of this envoy was to carry out the plan of delaying the army, so that Deng Ming would not frantically destroy the countryside in Jiangbei -- since it had decided to use the central army to march south, the Qing court knew that the countryside along the way would definitely be in trouble, as long as the cities were not destroyed and could not be restored for several years. However, if Deng Ming's pace can be slowed down and the countryside can be preserved intact until the Qing army crosses, wouldn't it be able to save some military rations for the Qing court.

Now the governors in the north feel that Deng Ming is a dead brain in some aspects, such as this plan to delay the army, he will be in the middle school again and again, and he will not change his teachings repeatedly, causing the northern governor to look at Deng Ming quite a bit of the feeling that Deng Ming looked at Li Shixun at the beginning. After hearing that it was another strategy to delay the army, Prince Kang glanced at Li Guoying, a senior counselor: "Why did Deng Ming always fall for this plan?" He's not stupid. ”

Li Guoying's heart thumped twice. After Wanxian broke through, in order to give a reasonable explanation for the safe return of Wang Mingde and others, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi had no choice but to use the term "delaying the army". It is said that Wang Mingde was vain, and when his strength was insufficient, he dragged Deng Ming with a delaying tactic, and then found an opportunity to break through in one fell swoop. Chongqing's garrison Eight Banners also escaped with Wang Mingde, and they can prove that Li Guoying did not lie.

"The fraud scheme generally doesn't work, but it works for Deng Ming, well, the lower official's analysis of his psychology is: he was deceived by fraud for the first time, and he wants to succeed once in the future to prove that his initial judgment is correct." It's a pity that Li Guoying doesn't know the term obsessive-compulsive disorder, otherwise it would be easier to explain. Li Guoying told Jieshu and Kupilon that Deng Ming was not good at attacking cities, so for cities that he was not sure of capturing, he always hoped that the other party would not surrender but really surrender: "And Deng Ming is a person who is particularly trustworthy, so no matter how many times he has been deceived, when someone deceives him for the first time, he often chooses to believe rather than doubt." ”

"Well, the main reason is not the main reason, the main reason is that he is particularly bad at attacking cities. However, re-trusting is also a reason, especially honest people, will always think that others are as honest as themselves. "Ji Bilong has not been in contact with Deng Ming, but from the music of the governors of various provinces, it seems that Deng Ming is indeed not smart, he has a brute force, but he lacks heart and eyes, and is naturally kind, so he can be played by the governors from all over the country.

Curb Bilong's summary made Li Guoying secretly smile bitterly, although Deng Ming is not very old, he is the most eccentric tricks among the people Li Guoying has seen, but Li Guoying's description basically means this. Since all kinds of schemes are useful to Deng Ming, in order to explain its rationality, Li Guoying can only describe Deng Ming as a simple guy. Thinking of the recitals he had written in the past, Li Guoying was also suspicious of the propaganda of the governor of the southeast, but Li Guoying believed that the resistance forces in the southeast were more successful than the green battalion in Sichuan, Shaanxi, because after all, the southeast had not even lost the city, and Li Guoying had lost a large area of territory, including Zhongxian, to Deng Ming, who thought that perhaps the southeast had to make a deal with Deng Ming in order to save the army, but their resistance was more stubborn,

Of course, the reason for Beijing's plan to delay the army this time is not to surrender by fraud, those isolated cities surrounded by Deng Ming can use this reason, but the Qing Dynasty, which has eight of the world's most powerful forces, cannot use it, unless Deng Ming's intelligence is really like an ant, he will never believe it. This time, Beijing's reason was to negotiate peace, and Beijing said that it was sincere in seeking an armistice, and the Qing court could also cede and give up the land now occupied by the Ming army.

Although Beijing called this a delaying tactic to Prince Kang, Jieshu did not see it that way, and before he left Beijing, he knew that Yihe already had a certain market in Beijing. Many years ago, after Li Dingguo became a famous queen, Shunzhi seriously considered ceding the seven provinces to Yongli to end the war, but was persuaded by Hong Chengchou, who insisted on the main battle.

Deng Ming's several expeditions to the east were like no one's land, and together with Zheng Chenggong, he successively eliminated a large number of Qing court troops, resulting in Beijing's ability to control the whole country to decline. Therefore, a year ago, Beijing began to circulate the argument that "since ancient times, there has been a south and there is a north", if it were not for Deng Ming's killing of Shunzhi and the Qing court at Gaoyou Lake and forming a mutual enmity, perhaps someone would have publicly put forward a proposal for peace in the court.

After Zheng Chenggong's death, Beijing was excited for a while, thinking that the pressure had greatly reduced and that it could concentrate on cleaning up Deng Ming. But within a few days of rejoicing, Deng Ming launched another crusade, and this time cut off the Cao Yun for the first time in an unprecedented way, which gave Beijing officials a blow to the head, making them realize that Sichuan was still strong and could still cut off the main artery of the canal.

Looking at the copy of the document sent by the imperial court, Curb Bilong's mood was very complicated. In the draft contract, Beijing not only expressed its willingness to give up Sichuan and Yunnan, the only remaining bases of the Ming army, but also to withdraw troops from Guizhou, and even to give up Guangxi and Hunan in exchange for the Hanshui Valley, Chongming Island, and Zhoushan.

From the perspective of the strategic situation, the conditions of the Qing court were undoubtedly very favorable, and it was even hinted that the Qing court did not care about whether the Ming court would protect Yongli and return to Kunming to continue to sit on the dragon chair, or choose another virtuous person to inherit the great unification of the emperor. In other words, the Qing court's negotiators were Deng Ming, not Yongli or Li Dingguo or Zheng Jing, as long as Chengdu agreed to divide its sphere of influence with Beijing.

Like Jieshu's view, Suppilon believes that if Deng Mingming is willing to negotiate peace, Beijing may not be willing to turn the fake into a real one, and turn the delaying strategy into a formal contract. At least Kupilon would not resolutely oppose such a contract, the Manchus had already conquered large tracts of land, and the rich provinces were enough to ensure that the Eight Banners lived a comfortable life, as long as they could keep the fruits of these victories, it would not be a big deal to give a few provinces to the Han Chinese.

The grain output of Sichuan and Hunan provinces is very large, and it should be enough to ensure that the high-level people of the Southern Ming Dynasty live a good life -- if the Southern Ming Dynasty cannot support itself, then the call for the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains and the recovery of the lost land will not be able to be silenced, and if the high-ranking civil and military officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty can live a carefree and wealthy life, then their fighting spirit may be smoothed out, just like the Southern Song Dynasty; And those staunch main battle factions will become a thorn in Deng Ming's side, and there is no need for the Qing court to do it, Deng Ming will wipe out all the main battle factions of the Southern Ming Dynasty if he has his own power.

"It would be better if Deng Mingken usurped the throne." Kupilon pondered in his heart that if the king of Nanming was not properly seated, then his main energy would be used to suppress dissidents, and when this generation grew old, Deng Ming's heir would not have to worry. The inheritor does not necessarily have the military talent of his ancestors, and he will not risk his wealth and wealth for the sake of illusory achievements.

"The minions think that this delaying tactic is feasible," said to Jieshu, "but we still have to continue to deploy troops, and if Deng Mingzhen is paralyzed by this delaying tactic, we will be able to buy more time to mobilize troops." ”

Jieshu was still groaning. Since entering the customs, although the Qing army has continued to win victories and conquered large areas of land, the war has to kill people, just marching people have to die, and the death rate is significantly higher than that of living at home in Beijing. During the Dolgon period, the Qing court relied on constantly raising flags for the Han people to make up for their losses, but even so, by the tenth year of the Shunzhi period, there were less than 40,000 adult males among the Manchus, and it seemed that the victors were about to exterminate themselves because of the continuous victories.

Therefore, Shunzhi further reformed the military system and set up a purely Han military unit such as the Green Battalion, and after using them to undertake the work of local garrisons, the loss of the Manchurians was further reduced. However, the good times did not last long, Zheng Chenggong killed thousands of Manchurians in the Battle of Zhenjiang alone, and if it were not for Deng Ming's strange restraint in the Battle of Gaoyouhu, thousands of Manchurians would have died.

How many Manchurians can afford such attrition? In Deng Ming's previous life, this period was the lowest point of the Manchurians, and in the future, the green camp represented by Zhao Liangdong fully assumed the responsibility of defending the Qing Dynasty; But at this moment, Jieshu can't see a little light, although Shunzhi was killed by Deng Ming, but in other words, in order to achieve the goal of completely occupying China described by Hong Chengchou, the Qing Dynasty compensated an emperor to enter, isn't this price enough?

"I think I can give it a try." Jieshu nodded and motioned for the envoy to go to Yangzhou. Isn't there a rumor that Deng Ming may also be Manchurian? Although this guy has isolated himself from his compatriots, it is still a little relieved to think that there are Manchu leaders on both sides of the peace negotiation.

Before the envoy left, Jie Shu reminded him that the Ming army must have gathered in Jiangbei now, because the scouts sent by Jie Shu to Yangzhou and Guazhou to inquire about the news never came back alive, and Jie Shu's contact with Yangzhou and Guazhou was also intermittent: "The news is so tightly blocked, there must be a lot of Ming troops there, and when you find out about the Ming army, you must immediately identify yourself to see Deng Ming, so as not to be killed by mistake."

……

On 2 September, the draft of Beijing's peace proposal was placed on Deng Ming's desk, and on the same day Deng Ming summoned his allies and subordinates to study the peace plan.

Jieshu didn't have much combat experience, so he was quite cautious, and the Qing army never ventured forward, deep trenches, distant scouts, and assembled in an orderly manner. In the past, the Eight Banners of Manchuria, known for their arrogance, had never been so careful when facing the Han Chinese army, but this also made it difficult for Deng Ming to find suitable fighters.

The Huaiyang area is completely different from the surrounding areas of Wanxian and Zhongxian, and is full of densely populated towns and villages, and there are many roads for the Qing army to choose from, and there is no need to worry about supply problems. As long as the Qing army is hardened and fights in a daze, Deng Ming will have to weigh how many good young men from Sichuan can sacrifice on this battlefield.

"Beijing wants to negotiate peace with us," Deng Ming asked Zhang Huangyan, Kui Dongzhong, and his subordinates to carefully read the terms of peace with the Qing court, and then take a moment to weigh the pros and cons: "You have been with me for a long time, and you know that I have always considered negotiations to be part of the war, what information can we get through this move by Beijing?" How can we fight back and gain the upper hand over Beijing in the negotiations? ”