"A two-pronged approach?"
Li Shuheng looked puzzled.
Liu Hengdao: "We can send people to Nanjing to contact the officials of the Ming Dynasty to seek an alliance and break off the cooperation between the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. However, the officials of the Ming Dynasty hate our tiger-character flag for surpassing the Qing Dynasty, so we need to use some means. .”
"What do you plan to do, my lord?" Li Shuheng asked.
Liu Heng stood up and stood up from behind the table and came to the wall with the map.
He pointed at the city of Nanjing on the map and said: "It is always said that those foreigners are afraid of power but not virtue. The same goes for the officials of the Ming Dynasty. If you want the Ming Dynasty to form an alliance with us honestly, you must first fight hard. Take care of them, and then send someone to show mercy."
As he spoke, he slid his fingers along the Qinhuai River to the Yangzi River, and finally landed at the outlet of Songjiang Mansion.
"Lord, do you mean to take the water route?" Li Shuheng looked at the Daming Sea adjacent to Songjiang Mansion on the map.
Liu Heng said: "With the Yangzi River, you don't have to worry about food and grass when taking the waterway. You can attack wherever you want along the coast. You can even attack the city of Nanjing directly along the waterway."
"Then there is no need to form an alliance with them! Let's take Nanjing City first and let the Ming Kingdom lose its capital again." Huang Zhong interjected from the side.
Li Shuheng, who was standing on the side, turned to Huang Zhong and said: "Our navy can attack Nanjing City, and it is not impossible to even capture Nanjing City. But if the Ming Dynasty loses Nanjing City, it can retreat to other places and establish a new capital. , we can’t take down all the places with the navy alone, and there are more places that the navy can’t defeat, and it will eventually fall to the infantry.”
"Brother Shu Heng is right." Liu Heng said, "Once infantry is used, it will be a big war. We can't afford it for the time being, so my idea is to use navy to scare the officials of the Ming Dynasty. Even if they don't fight with If the Tiger Character Banner forms an alliance, it will never cooperate with the Qing Dynasty."
Li Shuheng asked: "What should the Qing Dynasty do?"
"As for the Qing Dynasty, I have to find a way to delay it for another half a year, accumulate reserves for a war of annihilation, and strive to eradicate the Manchu Qing Dynasty in one fell swoop." Liu Heng's eyes fell on the northeast corner of the top of the map.
Li Shuheng also looked at the direction of Liaodong on the map and said: "I look forward to it day and night. I really hope that one day I can return to Liaodong and visit my hometown again."
He sighed.
After leaving Liaodong, many years passed in a flash.
In the past, he was just a precarious deserter who only wanted to live and did not dare to hope for a chance to return to his hometown in Liaodong.
Later, when the Tiger Character Banner gained some strength, he was worried every day, fearing that the Tiger Character Banner would be destroyed by the Ming army one day, so he had no time to think about returning to Liaodong.
Now that the Tiger Character Banner has taken over half of the Ming Dynasty, and even driven the Ming Dynasty's court from Peiping to Nanjing, he can finally have time to think about the hometown where he was born and raised.
"There will be a chance." Liu Heng said with certainty.
In his eyes, the Manchus in Liaodong must be dealt with. Otherwise, there will always be such a foreign race that cares about the Central Plains, and the Tiger Character Banner will not be able to go south to deal with the remaining forces of the Ming Dynasty.
Li Shuheng nodded.
With the strength of the Tiger Character Flag, as long as nothing unexpected happens, it is only a matter of time before they dominate the world.
"My lord, can the Foreign Intelligence Agency handle the peace talks sent to the Ming Dynasty?" Yang Yuan asked Liu Heng.
Hearing this, Liu Heng shook his head and said: "The people sent to Nanjing should preferably be demoted from the Ming Dynasty. People from your Foreign Intelligence Bureau are not suitable."
"There are many people who came to Ming Dynasty and were demoted. Who are you going to send, my lord?" Li Shuheng asked.
After the Tiger Character Banner captured Shanxi, there were local officials from the Ming Dynasty who were demoted or surrendered halfway. With the capture of Shaanxi and Henan, even more officials came to seek refuge.
Not all officials in the Ming Dynasty were just idlers. There were many lower-level officials with lower grades who still had some abilities.
For officials left over from the Ming Dynasty who had never taken the initiative to harm the people and were capable themselves, the Tiger Character Banner did not catch them all, but kept some for their own use.
Although Huzi Banner also has its own official training channels, due to its rapid expansion in recent years, the number of officials has not been able to keep up with the expansion rate.
And grassroots officials are often the cornerstone of a political power.
Sometimes it doesn't matter if there is a problem with the center of the court. As long as there is no chaos in the place, there won't be any big problems. Asking questions can help the court survive smoothly.
Tiger Character Banner rises from the bottom and attaches great importance to grassroots officials.
In order to ensure a sufficient number of grassroots officials, even some scribes in the Ming government were directly assigned to official positions.
After the Tiger-Character Banner captured the capital, another group of officials from the Ming Dynasty were taken over by the Tiger-Character Banner.
Therefore, there is no shortage of demoted officials in the Ming Dynasty.
"Do you have any suitable candidates to recommend?" Liu Heng asked the people in front of him.
Li Shuheng and Yang Yuan looked thoughtful.
Only Huang Zhong always looked relaxed.
As the person in charge of the workshop, he had just arrived from the grassland, so he didn't know much about the matter of demotion, let alone any recommended candidates.
Yang Yuan was the first to speak: "When we go to Nanjing to negotiate an alliance with the Ming Dynasty, people with military backgrounds will definitely not be able to do it. Candidates can only be selected from those with civilian backgrounds."
"I do have a suitable candidate!" Li Shuheng said suddenly.
Liu Heng looked at him and asked, "Who is it?"
"Sun Boya, who was sent by the lord to serve as an official on the grassland, was demoted and once served as a capital official. He must know many officials in Nanjing. It would be more suitable for him to go." Li Shuheng said.
Liu Heng thought for a moment and said, "I remember that Sun Boya is from Daizhou, Shanxi, right?"
"My lord, I remember correctly, he is indeed from Daizhou." Yang Yuan replied.
Liu Heng shook his head and said: "It would be better if the people sent to Nanjing are from Nanguan. It would be better if they can have some connections with the Donglin Party."
He was born in Nanguan and was also involved with the Donglin Party.
With these two conditions, the scope is suddenly reduced a lot.
Many of the officials from the Ming Dynasty who were willing to stay and work here in Huzi Banner were from Beiguan, and their hometowns were under the rule of Huzi Banner. Even if there were officials from Nanguan, most of them had little to do with the Donglin Party, and some even We are still enemies with the Donglin Party.
"I know a candidate who may be suitable."
After Liu Heng said the conditions, a person's name came to Yang Yuan's mind.
"Who?" Liu Heng asked.
Yang Yuan replied: "Hong Hengjiu, the governor of Shandong, is from Quanzhou, Fujian. He was promoted to Shaanxi's Grain Supervisor and participated in politics because of his connections with the Donglin Party."
The Foreign Intelligence Agency is not only an external espionage agency, but also registers the personal information of some personnel.
Hong Chengchou became the governor of Shandong under the Tiger Character Banner. He was in such an important position and was a demoted official from the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, his personal information was recorded in a special book.
As the director of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, Yang Yuan cannot remember everyone's biographical information, but he still keeps the information of important people like Hong Chengchou in mind.
(End of chapter)
