Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong both groaned for a moment, and had to admit that Qin Shuhuai's words were reasonable.

If you want to fight in Sichuan, you can't transfer those ordinary guards. It is nonsense to rely on those soldiers to overcome the natural dangers in Sichuan, which will not only cost their lives in vain, but also boost the morale of the Sichuan army.

If you want to enter Sichuan, you must bring the elite, such as Qin Shuhuai's martial arts alliance army or Yuan Chonghuan's Guanning army, and at the most must be the Datong army of Mangui.

But there are not many of these elites left in Daming.

Qin Shuhuai's martial arts coalition army only had 40,000 left, and the Guanning army and the Tartars fought for two consecutive years, and now there are about 50,000. And because the Datong army participated in the whole process of fighting the demon sect, suppressing bandits, and fighting against the Tartars, the losses were also heavy, and only about 20,000 remained.

Even if you barely add the Changping Army, the Xuanfu Army, and the thirty or forty thousand troops in Hong Chengchou's hands (the combat power is about the same as the Changping Army), the total number of elites of the Ming Dynasty is about 1780,000, which can be said to be pitifully small for a huge empire.

How many of these elites can be mobile? Throwing away the soldiers and horses guarding Jizhen, Liaodong, the three sides, and the Beijing division, it seems that only Qin Shuhuai's 40,000 troops can still move.

Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong naturally wanted Qin Shuhuai to go, but what Qin Shuhuai said just now made them a little speechless.

In the final analysis, Qin Shuhuai's martial arts alliance is still too special, and in the final analysis, it is not a soldier of the imperial court, so when Qin Shuhuai is unwilling, Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong are not easy to propose to let him fight in Sichuan.

Otherwise, even if Qin Shuhuai doesn't think about it much, people in the martial arts will think about it too.

The feudal officials of the imperial court have rebelled, you don't need to let the elite of the imperial court go, and let our martial arts coalition help you quell the rebellion? Do you want to weaken the coalition army by the hands of the rebels?

Chongzhen couldn't speak at the moment, so he gave Sun Chengzong a look and asked him to say.

Sun Chengzong thought for a while and said, "Grandpa Guo, then in your opinion, how should we act?"

Qin Shuhuai said, "As Sun Ge Lao said, many generals in the Sichuan army were coerced to follow Cao Guozhang and Zhou Yanru to stand on their own, or at least they were wavering in their hearts and did not want to rebel. So, if Zhou Yanru and Cao Guozhang died, wouldn't things be much simpler?"

Sun Chengzong's eyelids suddenly raised, and he hurriedly asked, "What does Grandpa Guo mean?"

"Emulate the trilateral approach. Qin Shuhuai said decisively, "I will bring some good hands to secretly enter Sichuan, assassinate Cao Guozhang and Zhou Yanru, if the assassination is successful, we will be overwhelmed by the army, and the emperor will edict that all the generals in Sichuan will be exempted from crime, presumably there should be no much resistance." ”

Sun Chengzong bowed slightly, thinking it was feasible.

But Chongzhen immediately objected.

"Brother Qin can't," he said, "The Donglin Party has learned the lessons of the three sides, and at this time it will inevitably protect the two thieves of Zhou and Cao." I heard that the masters of the Dark Cloud Sect are like clouds, and the Donglin Party will invite a group of masters to come with a lot of money, if Brother Qin makes a mistake, I will ...... In short, I would rather send a large army to suppress the thieves than let Brother Qin take such a big risk. ”

Chongzhen's words were indeed out of consideration for Qin Shuhuai's deep brotherhood.

But he also has a deeper concern, that is, now the martial arts alliance army is stationed in the Beijing Division, which is an unrivaled tiger and wolf army in the Ming Dynasty. If Qin Shuhuai encounters an accident, who can suppress this army?

Qin Shuhuai is the leader of the martial arts alliance and the commander of the coalition army, and Chongzhen is absolutely assured.

But what if Qin Shuhuai is not there? Who will be the next successor? What kind of ambition does he have? Can he suppress the martial arts alliance without letting this terrifying army become a beast out of control?

Chongzhen didn't dare to imagine the consequences.

In his opinion, except for Qin Shuhuai, no one can still hold such a large army and still defend the way, and no one can completely suppress this tiger and wolf army.

When Sun Chengzong heard Chongzhen say this, he also began to worry.

said, "Grandpa Guo, what the emperor said is very true. Grandpa Guo is now a noble person, and he can no longer get involved in danger. Now I have few Ming soldiers, but there are still places to attack a few rivers. ”

"Teacher Sun is right, Zhou and Cao are unpopular, and the Sichuan army is unstable, as long as our army is united in launching a thunderous offensive, the Sichuan army is bound to surrender. I can send Guan Ningjun and Hong Chengchou to suppress it, and Brother Qin only needs to plan a new deal for me in the capital. Chongzhen said with great ambition, "Brother Qin, now that Donglin has been removed, it is time for us to show our ambitions!"

"Your Majesty, Sun Ge Lao, if the imperial court raises troops to attack Sichuan, the minister believes that it will definitely be able to level Sichuan. However, the minister was worried that the morale of the Sichuan army would become more and more stable, and we would pay a heavy price. ”

Qin Shuhuai said slowly, "Imagine a general, once he fights with the soldiers of the imperial court, he will really confirm the name of rebellion. When the time comes, when the court goes to Zhao'an again, he will think that even if he surrenders, his fate will not be good, so he will make a desperate bet and carry it to the end. Kawauchi has many days of insurance, which will increase their courage to take a desperate bet. The emperor once ambushed the Tartar army at a dangerous place in Hengling, and did the emperor know what the minister thought when he arrived at that path? The minister thought at that time that if he could give the minister 20,000 troops, the minister would be able to wipe out all the Tartars. Natural dangers will give people blind self-confidence, and the reason why Cao Guozhang is confident that he can be self-reliant is also due to these natural risks. ”

Therefore, the minister thought that there were two possibilities for raising troops to attack Sichuan. One is that, as the emperor and the cabinet elder said, after a few battles of prestige, the armies in Sichuan immediately collapsed. But the other is that the armies of the Sichuan and the imperial court are getting harder and harder. If the second possibility happens, the battle for the attack on the river may last for a long time. And the emperor must not forget that the Demon Sect in Gansu still has tens of thousands of troops, if they make a comeback and echo Sichuan, they will be out of control!"

Chongzhen and Sun Chengzong, who said this, were speechless. The two had to admit that Qin Shuhuai's analysis was reasonable and irrefutable.

Qin Shuhuai said again, "Your Majesty, the minister should go to Sichuan." As long as Zhou and Cao died, and the generals of the Sichuan army did not raise troops to fight against the imperial court, the emperor would be able to ensure that they would return to the imperial court. ”

Chongzhen still hesitated and said, "But...... I really can't rest assured of you. It's too dangerous, it's too dangerous. ”

"Your Majesty, don't worry, there are masters in the Donglin Party, and there is no shortage of masters in my martial arts. The minister will bring a large number of martial arts masters to go, and there are White Lotus Sects and martial arts factions in Sichuan as internal responses, so it must be able to succeed. ”

There was silence in the room.

After a while, Chongzhen said, "Brother Qin, if the assassination fails, are you sure that you will retreat?"

Qin Shuhuai smiled and said, "The emperor can rest assured, the minister still wants to live well, and see the day when the Ming Dynasty is prosperous and the prosperous era starts again!"

Chongzhen couldn't laugh, and said with a solemn expression, "Brother Qin, then I, I'll send you some inner masters to go with you! You remember, no matter what, it's the first priority to retreat with your whole body." Whether it succeeds or not, I won't blame you, as long as you come back safely!"