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When Li Zicheng hurriedly evacuated Guanzhong, the strategy he formulated was to go south to seize Huguang and use it as a foundation to plan bigger plans.
In the past two years, the Dashun Army has been focusing on the north, sweeping across the three borders and marching into Yanjing. Although it is said that Qin Mu rose in Huguang, it is considered a figure like Zhang Xianzhong;
Even though Yuan Zongde and Liu Tichun repeatedly emphasized that the Qin army was well-trained, Li Zicheng and others believed that they were trying to shirk responsibility for the defeat in Jingmen and deliberately exaggerating the combat effectiveness of the Qin army.
Li Zicheng, Song Xiance and others did not think highly of Qin Mu, so they formulated a strategy of going south to seize Huguang and rebuild their foundation.
Li Guo and Gao Yigong knew this strategy, which meant that they actually lacked the basis for joining forces with the Qin army.
They joined forces with the Qin army, but Li Zicheng went south to attack Wuchang. What was going on
But now their detachment was in a difficult situation with a fortified city in front, pursuers behind, a shortage of food and fodder, and low morale.
If they had not joined forces with the Qin army, it would have been good if only 10,000 of the 60,000 troops could escape.
Although Wu Zhiyuan could see that Li Guo and Gao Yigong were worried, he didn't know the specific reason, so he still said: "The two generals can take the overall situation into consideration and jointly resist foreign aggression, which is a great thing. Our Governor Qin intends to completely wipe out Shang Kexi's Qing army this time, and the plan has been drawn up. Please lead the two generals to continue southward and fight with our Jingmen garrison to make a 'double loss', attracting Shang Kexi to chase and reap the benefits. Then our army will concentrate 15,000 elite infantry and cavalry, penetrate the enemy's rear from Chengtianfu, and attack Shang Kexi from both sides, so as to completely drive out Shang Kexi's army in one battle."
"Mr. Wu, if you want to cooperate, you have to show some sincerity. I wonder how you can make me trust you?" Li Guo asked calmly.
"I can stay in your army as a hostage. If General Li finds out that I am a fake, you can kill me with a single blow."
Li Guo and Gao Yigong were very tempted by Wu Zhiyuan's plan. If they could cooperate closely, it would not be impossible to lure Shang Kexi into a trap by making it look like both sides would suffer losses and completely wipe out Shang Kexi's troops.
The problem is that Li Zicheng's strategy was to seize Huguang. Now that we can't contact Li Zicheng, we can't truly turn enemies into friends with the Qin army.
More importantly, his group had an important mission that could not be revealed. If they rashly joined forces with the Qin army, the secret would most likely be leaked.
By then, they would be trapped in the Qin army, and Li Zicheng would be attacking Wuchang, which would lead to real hostility between the two sides. They would be swallowed up by the Qin army like meat buns.
Li Guo and Gao Yigong could not make a decision on the pros and cons, gains and losses, life and death. Li Guo thought for a while and said, "Mr. Wu, this matter is of great importance. Please wait for a moment. I will gather some generals in the army to discuss it and then give you a reply. How about that?"
Wu Zhiyuan nodded and said, "This opportunity cannot be missed. Once Shang Kexi finds out, this plan will be unworkable. I hope General Li and General Gao can make a decision soon."
After letting the guards take Wu Zhiyuan away, Gao Guiying showed up. She was not just a queen, she had been leading the army to fight for many years. At this critical moment, Li Guo and Gao Yigong had to respect her opinion.
"Make up for it. Yigong, do you think this move is credible?"
Li Guo replied, "In reply to the Queen, it was indeed Qin Mu who deliberately withdrew his troops last year. Only Yuan Zongdi's Right Battalion was able to go north to reinforce the Emperor. During the Right Battalion's march north, Qin Mu also kept his promise and did not take the opportunity to attack Xiangyang. This shows that it is possible that Qin Mu intended to unite with us to resist the Qing army."
Gao Yigong frowned and said, "Empress, the Emperor is leading his army south now, and it is inconvenient for us to communicate. If the Emperor goes south to attack Wuchang directly, we will be controlled by the Qin army if we go to Jingmen."
Li Guo said solemnly: "If Qin Mu really wanted to join forces with Dashun to deal with the Qing army, he would send someone to talk to the emperor at the same time, but..."
But Li Zicheng’s goal of going south this time is to seize Huguang. Can the negotiations be successful
A flash of inspiration suddenly occurred to Li Guo, and he quickly said, "If Qin Mu really sends someone to talk to the emperor about joining forces to resist the Qing army, do you think the emperor will agree..."
Even Gao Guiying realized that Li Zicheng might play along with Qin Mu and agree to take the opportunity to enter Huguang before attacking Qin Mu. If this were true, things would be easy to handle. Once Wuchang was lost, the Qin army in Jingmen would be in chaos...
The problem is that this is just one possibility. The more likely possibility is that Qin Mu is guarding against Li Zicheng. Once he finds out that Li Zicheng has bad intentions, the two sides will become enemies.
And this possibility is even greater. After all, even though they are talking about joining forces, Qin Mu will never be unguarded.
"We don't have time to hesitate. We should send someone to contact the emperor immediately and ask him to postpone his action. We should first unite with Qin Mu and eliminate Shang Kexi's people. This way, it will be easier to gain Qin Mu's trust and create favorable conditions for seizing Huguang in the future. I hope it's not too late." Gao Guiying finally sighed.
In fact, they had no choice except to watch the 60,000-strong army being annihilated. You must know that although Li Zicheng's main force had 200,000, in fact many of them were family members and the elderly and the weak, and the real combat soldiers were only about 100,000. They had been fighting with the Qing army all the way south, and it is not known how many losses they had suffered.
If these 60,000 troops were lost again, it would be even more difficult for the Dashun Dynasty to make a comeback.
Li Guo raised his eyebrows and said, "Why don't we do this? The Queen and Yi Gong lead the troops of the old camp to retreat into Jingshan, and tell the Qin army that they are leaving this group of troops to cut off Shang Kexi's retreat. I will lead the remaining 50,000 troops southward and put on a big show with the Qin army for Shang Kexi to see."
"No, let me go south." Gao Yigong said quickly.
Li Guo shook his head and said, "I am the commander of the army. If I don't go south, the Qin army will definitely be suspicious. Yigong, the safety of the queen is entrusted to you."
"What do you want me to do? You all should go south together. Be careful not to fall into the path of the Qin army. I will lead the troops of the old camp to retreat into Jingshan."
"Her Majesty the Queen..."
"No need to say more, go and see Wu Zhiyuan."
"Yes, Queen."
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Wuchang.
It was already three o'clock in the night, but the lights were still on in the side hall of the General Staff, and military messengers and intelligence personnel who worked day and night were still coming and going.
Qin Mu's eyes were red and swollen. He hadn't slept for two days and two nights. It was unknown where Li Zicheng would go and whether his army could stop Li Zicheng and the fierce Qing army. This put Qin Mu under heavy pressure.
Li Xiangjun was worried about his health, so she personally made a bowl of ginseng soup and asked Qiao'er to bring it out. It was already cold, and Qin Mu didn't have time to drink it. Seeing the tense atmosphere in the side hall, even Qiao'er didn't dare to say anything.
"What about Yangzhou? Has any news come back from Yangzhou?"
"Sir, no further news has been received."
"How is Meng Ke doing? Can you send troops to reinforce Yangzhou?"
"Your Excellency, General Meng has returned to defend Chizhou. Zuo Menggeng's army of nearly 200,000 is heading straight for Anqing. General Meng is under great pressure and has reported that it is difficult to withdraw troops to Yangzhou. Your Excellency, even if we force the troops to be transferred, we can't withdraw many. Duoduo already has hundreds of thousands of people under his command. If we send tens of thousands of troops to reinforce Yangzhou, it will be useless."
Qin Mu calculated in his mind that Li Guo had 60,000 troops, Shang Kexi had 40,000, Li Zicheng had 200,000, Ajige had 60,000, and Zuo Menggeng had 200,000. He had to face nearly 600,000 enemies at once. How could he withdraw troops to reinforce Yangzhou? How could he withdraw troops? This was life-threatening.
"Li Zicheng, this son of a bitch, if he doesn't reply, I'll order Liu Meng to teach him a lesson. If this drags on, we..." Suddenly, a small hand pressed on Qin Mu's shoulder and kneaded it gently. At the same time, Qiao'er whispered in his ear: "Sir, my mother said that when two dogs fight, the one that barks the loudest usually runs away. The one that doesn't bark..."
Qiao'er stopped talking immediately at this point because Qin Mu almost choked to death.
However, after hearing what Qiao'er said, Qin Mu quickly calmed down. He suddenly realized that he had been in an abnormally excited state for the past two days.
The Jurchens are invincible even if they are less than 10,000. Subconsciously, he has been anxious about this. The powerful fighting capacity of the Jurchen cavalry has put him under tremendous pressure.
Although Qin Mu had been training his troops desperately, it was only a short time after all, and most of the soldiers lacked experience in major battles. Qin Mu had no idea whether they could hold out against the fierce Qing cavalry.
Qin Mu patted Qiao'er's hand gently, picked up the bowl of ginseng soup on the table, drank it in one breath, then secretly breathed a sigh of relief and calmed himself down completely.
"Qiao'er, go back and ask your sister Xiangjun to prepare some food. I will be back to eat later."
"Oh." Qiao'er responded happily and ran back to the back garden.
Seeing Qin Mu suddenly regain his calm state, Sima An could not help but stroke his long beard and straighten up, his brows quietly relaxed.
At this time, Yan Gaofei rushed in, approached Qin Mu and whispered: "Sir, there is something very unusual..."
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