The citizens of Tanggu are going through a severe test. This test is not only a test of their vision, their faith, but also a test of their endurance and confidence in the new regime of the Han Ting.

Yanjing did not send a battle report about the victory or defeat of the war for a long time, did not win, and did not ask for help, but just informed the center of the dynamics of the Yunzhong army detected by the Han army as a routine, and it seemed that the stalemate between Yang Kaiyuan and Zong Han continued. And the southern battlefield has changed a lot.

Although the Yellow River is used as a barrier in the Hebei Plain, the restriction effect of this large river on Huma is obviously not as obvious as that of the Yangtze River. Cao Guangbi's main camp is located in the Daimyo Mansion is even more indispensable, Cao Guangbi chose this place as the command center, mainly because of the Han army's main attack at that time, the Daimyo's Mansion has convenient transportation, and the economy is relatively developed, which is more beneficial to raising the army. But now that the initiative of the attack has shifted to Zong Bi, the Daimyo's Mansion has become untrustworthy. Towards the end of the first month, a cavalry of about 500 men unexpectedly burst into Nanpi. The results achieved by this cavalry were not only unexpected by Cao Guangbi, but also by Zong Bi. Although this cavalry soon retreated due to the lack of support, Nanpi belonged to Cangzhou, and it can be said that the morning and evening between Nanpi and Tangnan can be said to be the morning and evening! After the fire reached Nanpi, the citizens of Tanggu began to have strong doubts about the safety of the Yellow River defense line.

As a matter of fact, it is rare to achieve the current level of defense along the Yellow River, but after all, this defense line is too long, and the direction of the Hebei Plain to the south is not a good defense geography. This time, the Jin Army's sudden arrival in Nanpi was really a secret and a mistake, but Cao Guangbi still blamed himself for this, and therefore pleaded guilty.

After receiving Cao Guangbi's letter of apology, Zhi Yunwu hurriedly replied, expressing the center's absolute trust in Cao Guangbi and appeasing the army.

However, some representatives of the Yuan people stationed in Beijing shouted: "We must quickly increase our troops!" "Because they feel that the Jin Army has threatened their safety. The representatives of the Yuan Nationals who would make such a shout were people other than the military representatives, and these people did not know the military situation, but this kind of proposal was supported by many people.

"Reinforcements? Where can we find troops to 'increase'? "Knowing that the Han court is now a pit with more radishes and fewer turnips, Yang Yingqi can only smile bitterly after hearing these shouts, but this statement obviously cannot be exported, if it is publicly stated that the Han court has no extra troops to send, it will only make those who do not know what is going on lose confidence in the Han government more and more, so Yang Yingqi can only die, and always respond to the doubts of these Yuan national representatives with military secrets.

Fortunately, not all of the Yuan nationalist deputies were people who did not understand military affairs, and among the 15 military representatives of the "Dasima Branch" in Beijing, all of them climbed back from the battlefield, and as military representatives, they were also more aware of the military situation of the Han Dynasty, and they did not take it seriously with those clamors about increasing troops. The supervision and interference of the Yuan National Assembly in the military was mainly carried out through the Da Sima Branch, so this group of people was not moved by public opinion, and the clamor of those who did not know the military situation could not directly affect the military's decision-making.

However, the mood of the people of Tanggu was not controlled by the representatives of the Da Sima Branch, and most of the small citizens trusted the representatives who were close to the people, such as the representatives of the merchants and the representatives of the literati, who were obviously more closely connected with the small citizens than the representatives of the military.

Most of the merchant representatives were afraid of death, and they were even more afraid that the war would affect their business, and they hoped that the Han government would provide them with an absolutely safe environment and an absolutely safe trade route; The literati representatives were all verbally brave, and some literati who had never been on the battlefield were the most fond of talking about military affairs, and some of them felt that they were also Zhuge Liang-style figures after reading a little "The Art of War", and constantly asked the government and the Privy Council to give them more detailed explanations of military affairs.

In fact, the proportion of these two types of people in the Yuan National Representatives in Beijing is not very large, but in this extraordinary period, their activities are very eye-catching, and most of the people are drawn by them, and even their emotions are mobilized by them.

"Yang Xiang, it should be suppressed by them, and they can't be allowed to make trouble like this anymore!" Guo Hao, who has the temperament of a general among the ministers, said: "What time is it!" They are still there to disturb people's hearts! ”

Several vice prime ministers stared at Yang Yingqi to see how he decided. Yang Yingqi was also embarrassed at this time, if he activated the wartime mechanism, he could legally silence these representatives, but he didn't want to do it yet, because he felt that it was not that time. So he shook his head and decided to let Chen Xian and Han Fang send people to contact these representatives separately, hoping that they could take the overall situation into account.

Yang Yingqi's decision was obviously not a tough one, and even appeared to be a little weak, and some of the active delegates turned to calm down after receiving the hint, but most of them continued to circulate their remarks, and even intensified by Yang Yingqi's compromise.

"Are these people Zong Han and Zong Bi's spies!" Guo Hao said indignantly: "Don't they know that they will only cheapen the enemy by doing this!" ”

From the standpoint of the person in charge of the government, Yang Yingqi also felt that these people were very annoying, but he still said: "Their suspicion of us represents the suspicion of some people in Tanggu - even most of them about this war." In fact, we are not even sure of the outcome of this war, right? We're all gambling with our lives, and while being united will give us a better chance of victory, ...... But it's understandable that some people have some emotions because of worry. ”

Guo Hao said: "Having said that, since we already know that they will only do bad things by doing this, we can't indulge them!" ”

Yang Yingqi said: "What do you want?" Forcibly shut them up? Or lock these people up? That will only make Tanggu silent, and it will not dispel the doubts in the hearts of the people. ”

Guo Hao said: "But at least that way can prevent their doubts from spreading." Some of those who believed in us were shaken by their words, and this sentiment even affected the soldiers. They don't care what they think of us, but they have to believe in us, even if they lie to themselves, so that we can win this battle! ”

Yang Yingqi sighed and said, "We don't know if we can win or not, but we want everyone to believe it, is that so?" Well, too, although self-deception doesn't last long, it can be very effective in a short period of time. But...... I still don't think it's that time. Wait a minute, let's mobilize more Baume & Mercier merchants who believe in us, mobilize some reasonable representatives, let them do their work, please try to believe us. ”

Seeing that Yang Yingqi still insisted on his decision, Guo Hao had no choice. At this time, he suddenly remembered Zhi Yanchong, and he felt that if Zhi Yanchong was in Tanggu, he would definitely shut up those people!

In fact, not only the military representatives led by Guo Hao are missing Zhi Yanchong, but even the representatives of businessmen and literati who he hates at the moment are also missing Zhi Yanchong. This is really a very ironic relationship: although Yang Yingqi can put himself in their shoes, they don't appreciate it; Orihiko may have decisively or even brutally told them to shut up, but they adore such leaders.

It is conceivable that Yang Yingqi's compromise obviously did not play a real role in this situation, although some people in this camp chose to remain silent under the persuasion of the government, but more people who did not express their position joined this camp under the infection of this emotion. Some people couldn't find a reply from Yang Yingqi, so they ran to Ouyang Shi, and Ouyang Shi's attitude was obviously much more positive, although he didn't make decisive actions, but everyone at least saw his positiveness, not like Yang Yingqi, hiding in the prime minister's mansion all day long and not knowing what he was doing!

At the political level, sometimes the people below can be guided by the people at the top, but sometimes the people below will also influence the top in turn. Zhi Yunwu was obviously affected by this sentiment, the walls of the palace were not high enough, not thick enough, and there were still many connections between the prince and the commoners. Zhi Yunwu, who had planted many ears outside the palace, felt the thoughts of the people very deeply, and gradually changed from thinking that these people were "ignorant" and "foolish" at the beginning to thinking that some of these people's remarks were very reasonable.

"Could it be that Uncle Seven was wrong this time?"

A person may have done it right 9,999 times, but that doesn't mean that his 10,000th decision was necessarily right - this was Yang Yingqi's teaching to Zhi Yunwu, and at this moment, Zhi Yunwu also used the concept that Yang Yingqi taught him to doubt Yang Yingqi's approach.

At this moment of suspicion, the alarm from Shaanxi reached Tanggu.