"After Liu Zongmin and Li Guo defeated Gong Yonggu's troops, their army has been wandering around Yulin and Yan'an. They neither attacked east to attack Datong nor south to recover Xi'an. What on earth do they want to do?"
"Does it mean that Gong Yonggu is not dead, or do they have other plans?"
As Zuo Liangyu spoke, he once again deduced the retreat route of Gong Yonggu's remnant soldiers, and muttered: "There are my spies in these armies, and there are people monitoring them all the way. There is no way Gong Yonggu can get involved."
"If Gong Yonggu did not return to Datong, he would undoubtedly die if he stayed in Shaanxi. Yu Yin, Xu Wenpu and others were loyal to him and would never abandon him and return eastward, so Gong Yonggu should be dead."
"Then Liu Zongmin and others have delayed marching, probably because they want to plot against Shanxi."
...
"But if Gong Yongu was not in charge of Datong, why could Jierhalang and Daishan's tens of thousands of soldiers and horses not be able to attack the city? Could it be that the new Chen Mingyu is really that powerful?"
"Or is it true that Ming Dynasty is not exhausted?"
Zuo Liangyu just finished speaking, and his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
He was silent for a while, then walked slowly to the case and picked up a secret letter.
The letter came from Zuo Xianmei from Wuchang.
In the letter, Zuo Xianmei first described the events in Liaocheng, Linyi and other places in detail, and then compared Chongzhen's past operations with recent actions in Liaocheng and other places, and focused on analyzing Chongzhen's character and talents.
After analysis, Zuo Xianmei believed that Zhu Yuanzhang's advice in Chongzhen's dream was not a fiction, and thus concluded that the Ming Dynasty might not be exhausted.
On the basis of this argument, Zuo Xianmei suggested that Zuo Liangyu should not act rashly, let alone associate with exposed rebels, but should properly show his goodwill to Chongzhen on the basis of preserving his strength.
Of course, she did not recommend Zuo Liangyu to help Chongzhen at this stage.
First of all, Chongzhen was dissatisfied with Zuo Liangyu, and the rebels were weak. If Zuo Liangyu vigorously helped at this moment, Chongzhen would most likely defeat the rebels, and he would definitely take action against Zuo Liangyu.
Furthermore, the strength of the people behind the scenes in the south cannot be underestimated, and the Jurchen threat is still there. Even if Chongzhen kills Li Zicheng, he may not be able to unify the world.
If Zuo Liangyu joins the team too early, it will easily cause trouble.
Therefore, Zuo Xianmei suggested that he should try his best to maintain a balance and gradually change Chongzhen's attitude towards the Zuo family in this environment.
Wait until the situation becomes clear and then try your best.
When Zuo Liangyu first received Zuo Xianmei's letter, he didn't take it seriously at first.
However, when he learned that Chongzhen had made Zhu Yujian the King of Jin and imprisoned all other vassal kings in the Fengyang Imperial Tomb to stabilize the situation in Jiangnan, he felt that Zuo Xianmei's words were somewhat reasonable.
Later, when he heard that Zhang Huangyan, Du Yinxi, and Qin Liangyu defeated the coalition forces of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong and trapped Gao Yigong in the Chengtian area, he recognized Zuo Xianmei's judgment even more.
Because of this consideration, he did not put the Ming soldiers who entered Shaanxi to death before. Instead, after learning that Gong Yonggu died in battle, he selectively asked the Ming soldiers to withdraw eastward and return to Datong.
Zuo Liangyu originally thought that after Liu Zongmin defeated Gong Yonggu, he would take advantage of the situation to conquer Xi'an, so he specially transferred Prime Minister Hui Deng back to Shanxi.
He also secretly ordered Zuo Menggeng, Wang Yuncheng and others to immediately withdraw to Shanxi once the rebels counterattack, allowing Gao Jie and Li Zicheng to fight hard so that they could reap the benefits.
Unexpectedly, Liu Zongmin and others remained stationary, which puzzled him.
While Zuo Liangyu was deep in thought, a personal guard came in to report that Lu Jiude was outside asking for a meeting.
After Zuo Liangyu heard the report, he was silent for a while and then had someone bring him in.
Lu Jiude saw Zuo Liangyu, bowed and saluted, and said with a smile: "Uncle Ning Nan, you have been thinking for several days, have you made a decision?"
It turned out that after Lu Jiude learned that most of the soldiers recruited by Zhu Yousong were wolf soldiers, he knew that the people behind the scenes in the south wanted to use Zhu Yousong as a scapegoat.
He was afraid that after the other party learned that the matter was exposed, he would speed up his actions and harm Zhu Yousong's life.
So he pretended not to know anything publicly, but secretly mobilized Fengyang's confidants to rush to Huai'an.
Then he went there at night, secretly subdued the leaders of the wolf soldiers, and forced them to disband the wolf soldiers.
After the threat was lifted, Lu Jiude originally wanted to wait for an opportunity in Huai'an, but he never thought that Jiangnan would be in chaos and Chongzhen would come to Linyi again.
He had seen Chongzhen's methods and knew that the other party would not spare him and Zhu Yousong lightly, so he asked people to pretend to be Zhu Yousong and stay in the mansion. He led his army to protect Zhu Yousong and escaped from Huai'an and sneaked to Shanxi.
When he arrived in Shanxi, he learned that Zuo Menggeng and others had conquered Xi'an, and Zuo Liangyu was in high spirits.
Therefore, he and Zhu Yousong lurked again. It was not until Gong Yonggu was defeated that they found Zuo Liangyu and asked Zuo Xianmei to marry Zhu Yousong.
Zuo Liangyu had an appointment before and the situation was unclear, so he delayed it vaguely.
When asked at this moment, he pretended to be hesitant and said: "Lu Jianjun, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that my little girl has a very bad temper, and I can't be her master."
"Since you proposed this proposal, I have sent people to inquire, but no news has been received yet. Please wait a few more days, okay?"
Lu Jiude smiled and said: "Uncle Ning Nan, our family knows that you feel sorry for your daughter, but marriage has been the order of the parents since ancient times. How can we let our children do what they want according to the words of a matchmaker?"
"Besides, the current situation is changing rapidly. If you miss this opportunity, you may have lifelong regrets. Please be careful, Ning Nanbo."
Seeing Lu Jiude's threatening words, Zuo Liangyu immediately showed a look of dissatisfaction on his face.
Just as he was about to have a seizure, he saw a personal guard hurriedly walked in, his face getting more and more ugly.
Seeing Zuo Liangyu's unkind expression, the guard did not dare to say anything more, but tremblingly handed over a secret letter respectfully.
When Zuo Liangyu saw the secret letter, he remembered that he had told his personal guards that if any news came from the capital, it must be delivered to him as soon as possible.
Thinking of this, his expression calmed down a little. He took the secret message, signaled the other party to leave, and then said to Lu Jiude: "Lu Jianjun, I don't know what you mean by this?"
Lu Jiude smiled and said, "Uncle Ning Nan, don't you read the secret letter first?"
Seeing Lu Jiude's confident look, Zuo Liangyu was stunned and slowly unfolded the letter.
He just took a look, and his expression immediately changed. He looked at Lu Jiude with a surprised look on his face and said, "Lu Jianjun, do you know about this?"
Lu Jiude nodded and said: "Our family just got the news not long ago, but we didn't expect Zhu Cixiang to be so cowardly..."
Zuo Liangyu was slightly shocked when she saw that what he said was consistent with the secret letter, and then she paid more attention to Lu Jiude.
Because according to what was stated in the letter, this incident happened less than a day ago, and Lu Jiude actually knew about it earlier than he did, which shows that his strength is not as simple as it appears.
After Zuo Liangyu took advantage of the silence to digest the information, he said, "Lu Jianjun, do you really think Zhu Cihong will negotiate peace with the Jurchens?"
When Lu Jiude heard this, he glanced at Zuo Liangyu again and said with a smile, "Does Uncle Ning Nan think this is false?"
Zuo Liangyu sneered and said: "Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, there has never been any marriage or peace negotiation. And I heard that Zhu Cixiang has a cowardly character. How can he dare to risk the world's disapproval and negotiate for peace?"
"If he really has the courage, he will lead the army..."
As he spoke, he suddenly stopped, looked at Lu Jiude and said, "Did you know that Zhu Cihong was going to lead an army to conquer in person?"
Lu Jiude nodded and said: "If our family hadn't known that he was going to conquer it personally, how could we have come to see Uncle Ning Nan in such a hurry!"
"You must know that the Jurchens are now unstoppable, and Liu Fangliang is singing loudly all the way. If Zhu Cihong leads his army on an expedition, there will be no return."
"Once Zhu Cihong is defeated, the capital will definitely fall, and the situation in the world will change drastically. Don't Ning Nanbo not want to take the opportunity to do something!"
Zuo Liangyu couldn't help but frowned when he heard this.
Some people died, but not completely...
