Song Xiance was able to curse in the street outside Daming Gate and attract people to watch because he was really in a hurry.
The capture of Chaoyi means that fighting has begun on the other side of the Yellow River, and this is just the beginning. If it is not stopped in time, it will trigger a full-scale war. This is not their original intention, nor is it the result they want to see and get.
Although Li Zicheng's original intention of proposing cross-strait peace talks was to delay the time, it was also because the hero wanted to see a happy ending in his old age. The sincerity of shaking hands and making peace was still very high. He just had to bargain and sell a good price.
Moreover, several big bosses in the Li Zicheng Group generally have this intention or have been persuaded to accept this intention. Only some young people are not yet convinced. They feel that they have just negotiated peace after they started. They feel that they are quite awesome. Really harmonious. It's hard to say who will lose when the imperial court is involved. Why not turn a casino-sized bicycle into a motorcycle?
But, although these young people are unconvinced, they have no decision-making power. They cannot influence the big bosses' intention to negotiate peace.
But the imperial court's attitude toward peace talks was not so unified.
Some people think that peace talks are a good thing, as they can save the people from suffering and restore their vitality as soon as possible. Otherwise, the war will waste people and money and destroy the imperial court.
But some people feel that they were unable to deal with the Tatars before, but now they can finally withdraw their hands and there is a big eunuch who can win, so why not take the opportunity to kill him severely.
Even if you can't kill him, you can still lower the price, so I think you should fight first if you don't want to negotiate!
Emperor Chongzhen's idea was to kill Li Zicheng whether he was beaten or not, because he hated him too much.
But in the case of peace talks, not only would he not be able to kill Li Zicheng, but he would also have to make him an official, or even a knight. How could he be willing to do this, so he insisted on fighting.
However, a large proportion of people in the court advocated peace talks, while the voices of Emperor Chongzhen and some hardliners seemed too weak.
At this time, Emperor Chongzhen found Chang Yu and asked him, what do you mean?
Chang Yu said without hesitation, "Fight, if you say fight, I will fight, and Li Zicheng must be killed." This made Chongzhen very happy and relieved. As long as Chang Yu said fight, a hundred others who said peace would be useless. !
But what does Chang Yu really think?
It's actually a bit complicated.
Before Li Zicheng proposed peace talks, he and his troops in the Yellow River were waiting for the weather to warm up and when they were ready, they would launch a fierce attack and advance to Xi'an City in one fell swoop. It was indeed a decisive battle with Li Zicheng.
But after Li Zicheng proposed peace talks, his attitude changed a lot. After all, he knew best that peace talks would benefit the country and the people. Peace talks were a solution that was beneficial to both parties, and to be honest, he had launched a decisive battle before. He had to do it, but if he really fought, even if he killed a thousand enemies, he would still lose 800. Besides, even if you defeat the opponent, it does not mean that you have eliminated the opponent. It will be over when he starts playing guerrilla warfare with you.
Now that the other party has proposed peace talks, why bother to be tough?
It's just that no one knows better than him how the bargaining chips on the negotiation table come about. Although the intruder proposes peace talks, his appetite is not small and the conditions are not low. He wants to seal the king and vassalage.
This was unacceptable to the court and Emperor Chongzhen.
So at this time, Chang Yu still supported the war in his heart, but he couldn't start a full-scale war. That would destroy the opportunity for peace talks and return to the previous situation of a decisive battle between the two armies.
This is something Chang Yu doesn't want to see, because even if he defeats Li Zicheng, he will be seriously injured, and may even fall into a stalemate, but there is still a powerful enemy in the south like Zhang Xianzhong to deal with.
Therefore, we can only fight local wars to earn bargaining chips, drive the other party's price as low as possible, and take the opportunity to kill the other party's spirit and consume the other party's strength. Otherwise, you will recruit a vigorous rebellion. Professional households come here, do you sleep well?
Of course, it would be better if Li Zicheng was killed in this local war!
Therefore, Chang Yu's attitude at this time was that we must fight, but we must control the intensity so as not to trigger an all-out war and disrupt the peace talks. And regardless of whether the talks succeed or fail, Li Zicheng must be killed. This is Emperor Chongzhen's only choice. Bottom line.
A few days ago, Li Yan succeeded in raiding the imperial court, and the imperial court gained one point. He originally wanted to use this to force Song Xiance and Xi'an to bow their heads, but unexpectedly, Li Guo counterattacked after changing hands, and it seemed that there was another draw.
But Chang Yu and Song Xiance were both worried, so they escalated the situation.
So Song Xiance was eager to meet Shi Kefa and Wu Xuan to restart negotiations.
It can be said that the core people are all worried at this time. Only those who are watching the excitement outside are not afraid of big things. For example, a group of courtiers and common people are very optimistic. In their view, Li Zicheng has been arrested, and both the other party and the veteran generals are very optimistic. After being eaten, he still made this move.
As everyone knows, the two parties are now basically evenly matched, and both are walking a tightrope.
At this time, it not only tests the wisdom of the people at the negotiating table, but also tests the talents of the frontline commanders.
Li Yan was shocked but not panicked after receiving the news of the attack on Hejin, and he did not immediately send troops to Hejin for support. For an experienced veteran like him, he must be cautious in every move he makes.
After all, Puzhou is the base camp of officers and soldiers, and they have to face the main force of Dali's rebel army on the other side. The troops cannot be transferred at will, because the soldiers are not tired of deceit and can't keep the front foot. As soon as the soldiers and horses are transferred, the rebel army will immediately launch a counterattack against Chaoyi or even take the initiative. In attacking Puzhou, no one knows whether Li Guo attacked Hejin in order to attack the east and attack the west and divert the tiger away from the mountain.
But we can't just watch Hejin being trapped in a tight siege and do nothing to save him.
How to decide?
Li Yan immediately summoned Gu Junen, Wu Weiying and his subordinates to discuss, and everyone expressed their opinions in the discussion. Wu Weiying believed that Li Guo did not counterattack the imperial court but went hundreds of miles away to attack Hejin because he knew that the officers and soldiers had just arrived at the new city. With a tight defense, Chaoyi will be difficult to fight, but this tone must be spoken. A counterattack against Chaoyi may trigger an all-out war, especially if it is too close to the important town of Tongguan, for fear of spreading the flames of war to that side.
Gu Junen, on the other hand, believed that Li Guo's unexpected move to attack Hejin was actually an attack in the east and in the west. He wanted to mobilize Puzhou soldiers and horses to support him, and he took the opportunity to send troops to attack Chaoyi. Therefore, attacking Hejin was just a pretense, but in fact he was still counterattacking against Chaoyi.
Therefore, Puzhou soldiers and horses must not be transferred to Hejin for reinforcements.
But all this is speculation, and there is no actual evidence to support what Li Guo was thinking. Is it simply a matter of finding a place, or is there an ambush behind it?
"If we don't call for reinforcements, how long can Qin Songwang survive?" Li Yan sighed and stood up, walked to the door of the hall and looked at the sky outside with his hands behind his back.
"Hejin's defense is not weak. Lieutenant General Qin is brave and resourceful. It is still possible to wait for three to five days." Gu Junen said thoughtfully, while Wu Weiying shook his head: "Qin Songwang has less than three thousand soldiers and horses, and he divided his troops to defend the river bank defense line outside the city. At this time Since the city has been besieged, it means that the river bank defense line has been lost, and the troops must have been damaged and not small. It is estimated that the number of fighting troops in the city at this time is less than 2,000, but the intelligence said that the thieves have more than 5,000 troops or even more. It would be okay if Li Guo feints to attack. , If you are determined to fight, it is estimated that it will be difficult to hold it for a day or even half a day."
Wu Weiying's words immediately made Li Yan look at him with admiration. This rich and bad old man rarely published anything insightful, and mostly just hummed and haha. At this time, he was able to analyze clearly and logically, which was indeed a bit surprising.
"What the Marquis said is true. According to what you and Mr. Gu said, we can't dispatch troops to rescue Hejin, and even if we go, it may not be in time."
Wu Weiying nodded: "If you go too little, it won't be of any use. If you go too much, this place will be empty. You might get Li Guo's fault."
"So, abandon Hejin?" Li Yan raised his eyebrows.
Wu Weiying frowned and said nothing, while Gu Junen waved his hands repeatedly: "How can we ignore it? If we lose Hejin, it will be like letting Li Guo pierce a thorn in our flesh. To say the worst, it will be like they built a bridge on the Yellow River, and we can come and go at any time." .
"Save, you may be fooled or it may be too late. If you don't save, if we lose the city, it will be very detrimental to our situation. What should we do?" Li Yan slowly turned around with a smile on his face. Wu Weiying was a little confused. At this moment, He could still laugh, and when he looked at Gu Junen again, he saw a smile on his face.
But I heard the two of them saying in unison: "Surround Wei and save Zhao!"
