Uncle Zhang was afraid that the British public would misunderstand, so he hurriedly explained: "My nephew's trip to Yuquan Mountain was based on His Majesty's order. He was definitely not a tiger thief general that my nephew went to meet in private."
"I know that I am the one who suggested to Your Majesty that you go to Yuquan Mountain with Eunuch Cao." British Duke Zhang Weixian said.
Uncle Zhang's face turned green when he heard this.
Originally, he was curious as to why Cao Huachun, who was just a little An Xiangbo, would be taken to meet the people of Tiger Flag, but he did not expect that the root of his problem was with the British Duke.
"My good nephew won't blame me, an old guy, right?" British Duke Zhang Weixian asked with a smile.
Upon hearing this, Uncle Zhang hurriedly stood up and explained: "No, my nephew dare not blame you, the Duke."
"You don't dare to blame me. You're still blaming me. That's right. After all, it's because of me that you went to Yuquan Mountain to meet the tiger thieves." British Duke Zhang Weixian said with a smile, "But it doesn't matter. Just blame me. I'm the same." As we age, we won’t live long, and we are already old enough to have more debts than we need to worry about.”
"Don't dare, don't dare." Uncle Zhang shook his head quickly, indicating that he had no intention of blaming him.
The British Duke Zhang Weixian waved his hand towards him and said, "Okay, I don't care whether you blame me or not. Just sit down first."
Uncle Zhang slowly sat down.
"You went to Yuquan Mountain and met the tiger bandits. What do you think of the tiger bandit army and the tiger bandit generals you met?" British Duke Zhang Weixian asked.
Uncle Zhang thought for a while and said, "It's not easy to deal with."
"So, is it possible for the imperial court to bribe these people?" British Duke Zhang Weixian continued to ask.
Uncle Zhang shook his head and said: "When my nephew and Eunuch Cao went there, they brought His Majesty's imperial edict. As long as the Tiger Bandits surrender to the Ming Dynasty, they can be crowned kings. However, the Tiger Bandits refused."
"It seems we can't win over him." British Duke Zhang Weixian looked thoughtful.
At this time, Chengguo Gong Zhu Chunchen said: "If you fail to win over, you will have to fight. Uncle Anxiang, do you think the capital can be defended in the current situation?"
"This!" Uncle Zhang hesitated and did not say the next words for a long time.
Seeing this, the British Duke Zhang Weixian said: "There are no outsiders here. Just tell the truth. There is no need to hide it or exaggerate the truth."
"Yes." Uncle Zhang bowed and said, "It is difficult to defend the capital by relying on the capital camp. My nephew has seen the tiger bandits' soldiers. They are stronger than the frontier troops when he saw them. I am afraid they are only the most elite in Liaodong." The cavalry of the Guan Ning Army can compare with them."
hiss!
Others in the room gasped.
"Isn't it a bit exaggerated?" Dingguo Gong Xu Yunzhen said.
Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenming nodded beside him and agreed: "The Ming Dynasty spent a lot of money and food in Liaodong to raise the Guanning Army in Liaodong. The tiger thieves are just mud-legged people. How can they be compared with the Ming Dynasty? Even if they have Some of the elites cannot be more numerous than the Ming Dynasty’s elites in Liaodong.”
The British Duke Zhang Weixian looked at Uncle Zhang again and asked: "Uncle Anxiang, tell the truth, are all the tiger bandits and soldiers you have seen comparable to the Ming Dynasty's border troops, or are only some of them comparable to the border troops. "
"My nephew dare not say that the soldiers of the Tiger Thieves are all elites, but what I saw when I went to the Tiger Thieves camp is definitely elite. I am afraid that ordinary border troops cannot compare with them, especially the soldiers and armor are well-organized. Incomparable." Uncle Zhang said.
Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, said with a worried look on his face: "If what Uncle An Xiang said is true, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defend the capital. This time it will be even more dangerous than the last time the slave thieves invaded."
"What do you think?" British Duke Zhang Weixian looked at several other people, especially the other two Dukes.
Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, was the first to speak: "What else can we do? We can only defend and wait for the arrival of King Qin's troops from all over."
"I'm afraid that King Qin's army will not be able to count on it for a while." Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, said, "Have you heard any news about King Qin's army after so long? Whether it is Liaodong or Jizhen, if King Qin's army will come, it will be so It should have appeared a long time ago, but now there is no news at all, either there was an accident, or King Qin’s army didn’t come at all.”
News from the capital has been cut off for a long time, and no one here in the capital knows yet that the Shanhaiguan Pass has been lost, and that the Guan Ning Army outside the pass has defected to the slave thieves.
British Duke Zhang Weixian said: "Don't count on the troops and horses in Liaodong. His Majesty issued an order a few months ago asking the troops and horses in Liaodong to enter Beijing, but the troops in Liaodong have never moved. Now the only troops we can count on are Sichuan and Guizhou." And the King Qin’s army from Nanzhili.”
"Both Sichuan and Guizhou and Nanzhili are too far away. Shandong and Henan are separated in between. It is difficult to come to the capital of Qinwang in a short time." Dingguo Gong Xu Yunzhen shook his head and was not optimistic about Qinwang's army in other places. .
Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenming said: "If that doesn't work, we will fight with the tiger bandits. There are still hundreds of thousands of troops in the capital camp. I don't believe it. Hundreds of thousands of troops can't defend the capital."
"Hundreds of thousands of troops are just numbers on the books." Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, said, "Even Your Majesty doesn't believe this number. Your Marquis of Dingyuan also has errands in the capital, so you don't even know about this!"
Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenming opened his mouth and finally sighed.
He naturally knows everything about the Beijing camp. The nobles control the Beijing camp and benefit from the profits from the Beijing camp every year. Moreover, the soldiers in the Beijing camp have almost become the domestic slaves of these nobles. The capital is for everyone. Jia Xungui works as an errand.
"The Beijing camp can still have some combat effectiveness. As long as the money and food are in place, it can temporarily recruit troops to supplement the number of soldiers in the Beijing camp." British Duke Zhang Weixian said.
Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, said: "How to solve the problem of money and food? Do you expect the court? I heard that the rats in the Ministry of Revenue have lost all their hair. It is impossible for those big turbans to come up with money."
"You can contact your Majesty. Your Majesty is absolutely unwilling to see the capital fall into the hands of tiger thieves." Zhu Chunchen, Duke of Chengguo, said.
Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, said: "I heard that Your Majesty has no money left. All the money was defrauded by those in turbans using various excuses. The last silver sent to Liaodong was the last sum of money that His Majesty could use from his own funds. It’s a pity that they were all taken away by those big turbans.”
"Didn't you say that the money was stolen by bandits?" Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenming frowned.
Xu Yunzhen, Duke of Dingguo, snorted coldly and said: "That batch of silver was all changed into stones before it left the capital. Those bandits robbed them of stones. Only Your Majesty thinks that the bandits took away all the silver."
"Tsk, tsk, how pitiful." Dingyuan Marquis Deng Wenming pursed his lips.
I just don’t know if he’s talking about pity for the bandits who stole the money, or pity for His Majesty in the palace.
The conversation between several people made Uncle An Xiang lower his head even lower, wishing he could block his ears and not hear these secrets.
