In recent days, Wu Sangui's greatest concern for the news in Shenyang is no longer whether the Qing troops will go south, but to know exactly when the Qing troops will go south, how large their strength will be, where they will enter the Great Wall, who will lead the troops south, and so on.

The arrival of the Great Shun Chin Cha made these messages even more important. After sending Tang and Zhang to the inn last night, he also quickly returned to the inner house. I wanted to have a good rest, but I was disturbed by these things, tossing and turning on the bed, and almost stayed awake all night. Fortunately, at dawn, a scout horse galloped back from Ning Yuan and heard all the news clearly.

In order to show special courtesy to the two Qincha who came from Beijing to reward the army, Wu Sangui still invited Tang and Zhang to Pingxibo for breakfast today. Wu Sangui and Yang Shen accompanied them, and their attitudes were more cordial than at the last banquet last night. Before going to bed last night, Tang Tong's stomach was full of doubts and resentment, and he suddenly froze, and secretly blamed himself for not being careful.

But after all, he was a martial artist, and after drinking a glass of hot wine, he took advantage of the wine, looked at Wu Sangui and said: "Brother Sangui, we are friends in trouble on the battlefield of Songshan, no matter whether persuasion is successful or not, the friendship between friends is still there." I didn't know the truth for a while last night, I mistakenly thought that you had put me and Master Zhang under house arrest, and I was wrong to blame Brother Ren. With that, he laughed to himself.

Wu Sangui understood in his heart, and deliberately asked, "Why do you say this?"

"I heard from my entourage last night that since they arrived at the inn, the door has been heavily guarded, and they are not allowed to go out to visit their friends for a day, nor are they allowed to come in to see them. They said they were under house arrest. ”

Wu Sangui pretended to be surprised, and asked Yang Shen, "Do you know about this situation?"

Yang Shen nodded with a smile: "I know." This is the case today, lest anything unexpected happen. ”

"Why?"

"We, the Guanning soldiers, are loyal to the Ming Dynasty and have always been loyal to our country's barriers. When it was mentioned that the thieves broke through Beijing and forced the emperor to death, he was heartbroken. After the arrival of the two Qincha yesterday, the Guanning soldiers and the local loyal and righteous soldiers were in a mood for each other, and secretly discussed their intention to kill the two Qincha. The general was reported, and as a precautionary measure, the general immediately ordered that the inn where Lord Chincha lived be on guard, and that no one inside was allowed to come out, and no one outside was allowed to enter, nor was he allowed to approach the gate. ”

Wu Sangui said: "It's naturally good that you are so cautious and careful, but why don't you ask me for instructions before giving the order, and don't report to me after the order?"

"Uncle is so busy, it's a routine like this, why bother Uncle?"

Wu Sangui nodded, indicating understanding. Ahh But he shouldn't have been careless, and even I didn't know about it, and he didn't tell the two adults, so that they misunderstood. ”

After speaking, he laughed and asked Yang Shen again, "Do you still have to be on guard today?"

"I would like to ask Uncle and the two Qincha lords, we have to be on strict guard today until tomorrow when the two Qincha leave for Beijing. ”

Tang Tong said to Yang Shen: "Yang Shen, I only know now that you mean well, I blamed you last night." Master Zhang, you were a little angry last night, weren't you?"

After all, Zhang Ruoqi was born as a jinshi, and he has been a civilian official in the military department for many years, and his thoughts are more delicate. At dawn today, I woke up from a nightmare, and thought about the house arrest of him, Tang Tong and the accompanying officers and soldiers. He guessed that in recent days, Wu Sangui must have colluded with the Manchurian side, and everyone in Shanhaiguan knew about it. In order not to leak the news, Wu Sangui used the excuse of strengthening the security guards for Qincha Security, so that they mistakenly believed that they were under house arrest.

He often thinks that his family is in a troubled time, and it is the autumn when the fortunes of the country are falling apart, which can be said to be his experience of the world. He believes that the world is full of clues, truth and falsehood, right and wrong, good and evil, friend and foe, and there is often only a layer of thin paper between the two. Not piercing this thin piece of paper is beneficial to both parties, and it can be said that there are many benefits. What's more, it is already clear in his heart that Li Zicheng is not the master of entrepreneurship, and maybe he will use Wu Sangui in the future. This is secretly cost-effective in his heart, so he just listened to the conversation between Tang Tong and Wu Sangui with a smile and did not say a word.

It wasn't until Tang Tong finally asked him that he said, "I was so tired yesterday that I slept until dawn." ”

He turned to Wu Sangui and said, "Today's meeting with the generals of Guanning is very important. I hope that the earl will come up with a proposition, so that we can go back to Beijing and report to King Li. Wu Sangui smiled but did not speak.

In the morning, Wu Sangui held a secret military meeting, which was attended only by generals above the rank of adjutant general and a small number of staff members among civilian officials. Everyone knew that the Qing troops would soon go south, and they were even more emboldened to oppose Li Zicheng. So there were many people at the meeting who were impassioned and waved their fists.

At noon, a banquet was still held in the middle of the line to entertain the Qincha. Before the banquet, Wu Sangui invited the two Qincha to the small study in the second gate for a secret talk, explaining that he had secretly discussed the results with the military officers under his command, and swore loyalty to the Ming Dynasty and would never surrender. If the thieves came to attack, he was determined to lead Guan Ning to fight to the death in Shanhaiguan, and would rather be broken than broken. He begged the two envoys not to mention the matter of persuasion at the banquet, so as not to cause displeasure. Although Tang Tong and Zhang Ruoqi also prepared for the worst, such a result still made them feel disappointed and surprised.

Tang Tong asked, "Ping Xibo, have you received the exact news that the Manchurian soldiers are about to go south?"

"On the Manchurian side, I don't have any news. Since I withdrew my troops from Ningyuan and entered the customs, I only sent Xizuo to spy on the news from Beijing, and no longer cared about the news from Shenyang, so I didn't know anything about the movements in Manchuria. ”

"Did you write a letter of reply to King Li?"

"If you do not submit to him as a vassal, nor do you crusade against him, I will not write this book." ”

"How about writing a book to Prime Minister Niu Cheng?"

"He is the prime minister of your Shun Dynasty, I am Ping Xibo of the Ming Dynasty, the evil and the righteous are not in the same stream, the officials and thieves have no personal relationship, and this book is not easy to write. ”

Zhang Ruoqi felt helpless and demanded: "The two of us are ordered by King Li and Prime Minister Niu to bring a lot of gold and a lot of silk and satin to the army, you have to let us bring back a receipt, right?"

"Well, I have ordered my men to be ready, and I will hand them over to you when you are about to leave. ”

Tang Tong said: "Since you refuse to surrender, we will set off this afternoon, rush back to Beijing in the starry night, and report to King Li. ”

Wu Sangui said: "The two adults have the king's order, and the younger brother does not dare to force him to stay. Fearing that someone on the road would say that you were the messengers of the thieves and would hurt you, I have instructed Adjutant General Yang to send a proper young general, leading a hundred cavalry, with my command banner, to escort you to the west of Yongping. Fearing that the people on the road would be hungry and lacking food, they prepared for you enough wine, meat, food, and forage. ”

Tang Tong said: "You think so thoughtfully, it can be seen that although persuasion fails, our old friendship is still there." ”

Wu Sangui also said: "Originally, a feast should be set up for you today, but in order to avoid spreading to Beijing City to your detriment, in order to still have some private things to discuss, I will set up a banquet in this study to see you off, even if it is a family banquet." ”

At this time, Yang Shen came in and sat down on a chair. Wu Sangui asked, "Yang Shen, have you arranged everything?"

"Are you all ready, start drinking?"

"Let's serve, they're going to leave in the afternoon. ”

Yang Shen gave an order to the servants standing outside the door, and immediately two servants came in and set up the table and chairs of the Eight Immortals outside. After a few more moments, dishes and mulled wine were served. The main purpose of today's small-scale family banquet at noon is to say goodbye quietly and not to drink. There are not many dishes, but they are exquisite.

After Tang Tong drank a large glass of hot wine, he asked bluntly: "Ping Xibo, no matter what the result of our persuasion is, it is a public matter; As the saying goes, people will see people for a long time. I'm a rough guy and I like to speak outspokenly. You claim to have elite soldiers, but according to my estimate, you don't have more than 30,000 elite soldiers, right?"

Wu Sangui smiled but did not answer. Tang Tong asked again: "Since you only have 30,000 horses, you dare to rely on the Shanhaiguan projectile lonely city, lack of grain and grass inside, and no reinforcements outside, you must know that the Manchurians are about to go south, so you dare to confront King Li, do you think I guessed correctly?"

Wu Sangui was shocked in his heart, and secretly said: "Tang Tong is not simple!"

Wu Sangui was silent for a moment, looking at Yang Shen. Yang Shen understood from the conversation yesterday that the two Qincha from Beijing and Li Zicheng were not of the same mind, and he had quietly suggested to Wu Sangui that he should use the two Qincha and use them for my own use. He saw that Wu Yugui wanted to use Tang Tong and Zhang Ruoqi at the moment, but he still didn't dare to speak deeply, so he had to encourage Wu Sangui to be bold with his eyes.

Wu Sangui raised his glass to the two guests again, and then said: "As the saying goes, don't tell lies to real people. As far as I can see, although you two have surrendered to King Li, you have not yet become King Li's true confidants, and King Li will not take you as his own. King Li is not the founder of the country like Han Gaozu and Tang Taizong, he only trusts his fellow villagers in Shaanxi, and only believes in the old people of the old Eighth Team. ”

The characters who followed him later were only two or three people when he entered Henan and worked hard to start a business. I understand this truth, so you came to the mountains and seas to sacrifice the army on the order of King Li, and I don't see the two of you as King Li's people in my heart, but only as my old friends, who were friends in the battle of Songshan, and were once in the same boat through thick and thin. ”

He looked at Yang Shen and asked, "Yang Shen, did I say this to you before the two of them came to Shanhaiwei?"

Yang Shen raised a toast to the VIPs and hurriedly said, "What my uncle said is all heartfelt. ”

Tang Tong said suddenly: "Brother Sanguiren, as soon as we return to Beijing, King Li will see that you are unwilling to surrender, and he will definitely regard you as his confidant and send troops to come, your troops are not his opponents." Do you know when the Manchurian soldiers went south?"

"The foolish brother really doesn't know anything. Since the fall of Beijing, I have only cared about news from Beijing, not about Shenyang. ”

Tang Tong and Zhang Ruoqi scolded in their hearts at the same time: "Nonsense!"

Wu Sangui continued: "As for my strength being invincible to the thieves, I am not afraid of this. The people of Ningyuan who came to the pass, among them are many strong men, as long as I call for a call, there will be twenty or thirty thousand soldiers immediately. ”

Tang Tong asked, "I believe this, but what about the grain?"

"I have food, which can support it for at least half a year. Before I withdrew my troops from Ningyuan, no matter how difficult it was for the Ming Dynasty, in order to support the barrier outside the Guan, grain was continuously transported by sea to Juehua Island on the coast of Ningyuan. ”

Tang Tong asked again: "Do you think that if King Li leads a large army to attack, how long can you hold on to the isolated city of Shanhaiguan?"

Wu Sangui said: "I have tens of thousands of elite soldiers in Guanning, loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and all of them are united; I have food shipped from Juehua Island, which can be supported for several months. Therefore, I hope that King Li will not come to attack, and that he will be safe with me. If you come to me to fight......"

Tang Tong suddenly asked, "Do you plan to borrow troops from Manchuria?"

"I'm not going to do that. I am the frontier general of the Ming Dynasty, and Manchuria has always been an enemy, although the country is lost at this time, but I still have to defend this lonely city of mountains and seas for the Ming Dynasty, waiting for the righteous teachers of the king of Qin in the south to restore the country. ”

Zhang Ruoqi knew in his heart that the more Wu Sangui avoided talking about the news of the Qing army's southward movement, the more it could prove that the matter of the Qing army's southward movement was like an arrow on the bow, and it would not last long. But he is willing to maintain a friendship relationship with Wu Sangui, maybe it will be very useful to him in the future.

He said: "Ping Xibo, we were in the same boat through thick and thin on the battlefield of Songshan two years ago, and we still treat each other as old people today. May I ask you, is there anything you can help us with?"

Wu Sangui hurriedly said, "Yes, yes." I would like to ask you for an explanation. ”

Tang Tong asked, "What's the matter?"

Wu Sangui said: "From yesterday to today, I have repeatedly told the two of you that I will never surrender, because you are my friend in distress, and I will not tell lies to real people. But don't be so straightforward when you return to Beijing to report to King Li, you might as well be tactful. ”

Tang Tong: "What do we say?"

Wu Sangui: "Don't say that I have no intention of surrendering, just that I am still hesitating." ”

Zhang Ruoqi was shocked in his heart and thought: "Ah, he just hopes to delay the army for two days, and the day when the Qing army will go south is near!"

But he did not break the piece of paper, and replied, "It's easy, let's do what you ask." I just said that you promised to continue to discuss carefully with the generals again, whether to surrender or not, and to send someone to send a book to explain it two days later, without delay. ”

Wu Sangui hurriedly said: "I will make it clear that I would rather smear my liver and brains, shatter my bones and bones, swear to be a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, and never surrender to the thieves, leaving behind infamy through the ages." ”

The two persuaded Qincha to surrender, their hearts moved, their faces turned cold, and they stopped talking for a long time. They have already understood that Li Zicheng may not be the real founder of the country, and if the Qing army goes south, I am afraid it will inevitably fail. In order for the two Qincha to hurry in the afternoon, the send-off banquet ended.