Li Xiao looked directly at Wang Chengen's complicated eyes, and he felt a little chuckled in his heart, and he already had a bad premonition.

He frowned slightly, then a smile appeared on his face, and he invited Wang Chengenyan: "Okay, then please invite the prince into the inner hall and talk to this king." ”

As the two entered the inner hall, Li Xiao and Wang Chengen sat down separately, and after ordering someone to watch the tea, they withdrew from the crowd and talked secretly behind closed doors.

"Father-in-law, what is the matter, but please speak directly to this king." Li Xiao said softly.

Wang Chengen took a sip of tea and said in a deep voice: "King Pingliao, there is something in the imperial court now, and our family wants to explain it to King Pingliao." ”

"Oh, but what?" Li Xiao's expression froze.

"Tang Guogong, some time ago, the Qing court secretly sent an envoy over, wanting to negotiate peace with my Ming Dynasty, and now, the court is negotiating peace terms with the Qing envoy." Wang Chengen held the teacup in his hand and said lightly in a calm tone.

Li Xiao's expression froze suddenly.

What worries him the most is still happening.

Li Xiao originally thought that after he swept away Jinzhou and captured Hetuala, he would definitely be able to give Emperor Chongzhen strong support, so that although he lost 130,000 elite Ming troops in Liaoxi, he could still have his own strong pillar to rely on, so as not to lose confidence in the strong and warlike Qing people, so as to be coerced to negotiate peace, but he did not expect that this history would be the same as before, and the Ming court finally began to negotiate peace with the Qing people.

It seems that the 130,000 elites of the Ming Dynasty were wiped out by the Qing people, and the blow to them was too heavy.

Of course, compared with the real peace negotiation in history, the current peace negotiation is much more beneficial to the Ming Dynasty, and it must be the Qing people who sent an envoy to the Ming Dynasty and took the initiative to ask for peace, and this result is very conducive to the bargaining of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the reason why Li Xiao opposes peace like this is actually a little selfish.

That is, Li Xiao hopes that the Ming court can stand on his side, even if the Ming Dynasty is useless and weak, it is also an object that can be wooed, and he can share part of the pressure for himself.

This is the reason why Li Xiao wrote a letter to Emperor Chongzhen immediately after returning to Shandong. Li Xiao hoped that his own encouragement would make the emperor reject the peace negotiations of the Qing people, so that the Qing court could not get out of the Ming and Qing wars, and turned to deal with himself with all his might.

And now, with the formal signing of the agreement between the Ming and Qing dynasties, this wish of his own can only come to naught.

Because, Li Xiao knew that the Ming Dynasty would negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty, and would definitely provide the Qing Dynasty with silver and tribute, and at the same time would also carry out border trade with the Qing people, which was very important for the growth and recovery of the Qing people, which was also the fundamental reason why the Qing people were eager to negotiate peace with the Ming court.

And because of the tribute and trade, the power of the Qing court will definitely recover quickly, plus there is no Ming Dynasty to worry about the future, next, the Qing people can concentrate all their forces, together with the Russian Empire, to deal with Li Xiao.

After the defeat of Songjin, the Ming Dynasty urgently needed a period of time to recuperate and recover, and there was basically no reason to resist the Qing court's initiative to negotiate peace. On the contrary, the Ming court may secretly rejoice and rejoice when it sees that the Qing court wants to negotiate peace with itself, and instead concentrates on dealing with Li Xiao, who will pose a huge threat to him in the future.

Now it seems that in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the one who suffered the most was himself.

After all, both the Ming and Qing sides could benefit from this agreement, the Ming court could get peace, the Qing dynasty could get money, and the only thing that would be damaged and would be targeted by the Manchus was themselves.

Li Xiao sighed in his heart, that Tartar Chieftain Taiji is really sinister and calculated.

I only sighed that I was dedicated to the country, and even personally led the main force to go on an expedition to labor, but I ended up with such a calculation, which is a bit sad.

Thinking of this, Li Xiao already understood everything, he smiled bitterly, and said lightly: "The imperial court is really well-intentioned!" While negotiating peace with the Tartars, he was also worried that Li would be dissatisfied, so he specially gave Li the title of King of Pingliao to calm the damage brought to the king's heart. ”

Listening to Li Xiao's words, Wang Chengen's face suddenly showed embarrassment, and he muttered: "King Pingliao is really keen, what can we say!" It's just that this is also a common decision of many prominent ministers in the court, and the emperor is also helpless......"

"Okay, father-in-law doesn't have to say any more." Li Xiao sneered and interrupted him: "Since the court has made a decision, Li, as a Ming courtier, should follow the decision of the court, and if you talk more, what's the use." “

"Pingliao King ......"

"Okay, if you advise, you really don't need to say more, this duke obeys the decision of the imperial court. The father-in-law came to Shandong from afar, and he worked hard all the way, and the king had another Cheng Yi to send him, and he hoped that the father-in-law would not want to resign. ”

Wang Chengen's face was very complicated, and the smile on his face was also very embarrassed, he coughed lightly, and replied: "Alas, the King of Pingliao has a heart, and his affection is sincere, if our family does not accept it, it is disrespectful." ”

Li Xiao smiled slightly, and then ordered someone to send 3oo taels of snowflake pattern silver for Wang Chengen to accept, and then the two chatted for a while before Wang Chengen retreated.

Li Xiao was also very generous to the rest of Wang Chengen's entourage, and also rewarded them according to their ranks, so everyone was happy.

After Wang Chengen and the others left, Li Xiao immediately asked his two closest staffmen, Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang, to enter the inner hall to discuss matters together.

After the two entered the inner hall and sat down separately, Li Xiao immediately told the two about the peace that the court was negotiating with the Tartars.

For a while, the atmosphere in the inner hall was solemn.

Chen Zilong's face showed indignation, and he took the lead in speaking: "King Pingliao, I want to come to our army to expedition to the interior of the Qing Dynasty and make great achievements, which can be described as a great promotion of national prestige and a great setback to the enemy's spirit. From the student's point of view, the imperial court today crowned the lord as the king of Pingliao, just to calm the dissatisfaction and anger of the lord through this seemingly very rare way of sealing the king with a different surname. It's a pity that the adults are fighting endlessly for the country, but the court is dragging its feet behind, making stumbling blocks, and it is always difficult to avoid the suspicion of the villains in the court. “

Jiang Yueguang also added beside him: "King Pingliao, I also think so. Now that the Ming and Qing dynasties are making peace, then Huang Taiji can go all out to deal with us, and there are tributes and border trade for the Qing captives to transfuse blood. “

Chen Zilong lowered his voice again and said, "Lord Li, judging from the students, why don't you immediately express your attitude to the court when the court and the Qing court have not yet reached a deal." If the imperial court does not change its mind about the Qing court's peace negotiations, then our army will ......"

Speaking of this, Chen Zilong lowered his voice and didn't continue.

Li Xiao's face was calm, as if he had no expression.

Jiang Yueguang saw that Li Xiao did not express his position, so he also lowered his voice and said: "Master Li, if you are worried that the army will force the capital to clear the monarch's side, and the influence in the country will be too bad, the students think that there is still a plan to do. That is, after the Qing envoy team returned from Beijing to the north, they sent our soldiers to pretend to be bandits to intercept and kill the entire Qing army delegation and the Ming court's return visit team. As a result, the hope of peace between the Ming and Qing dynasties was completely destroyed, and Huang Taiji was never able to get out of the war against the Ming Dynasty. “

Li Xiao still didn't speak.

It's just that his eyes are becoming more and more gloomy and terrifying.

In Li Xiao's view, the opinions of these two people are tantamount to adding fuel to the fire and greatly intensifying the contradictions, and they are absolutely unacceptable. Because no matter which of the two of them is adopted, if Li Xiao does this, it can be said that he has completely torn his face with the Ming Court, and perhaps for himself, there is only one way left to raise troops and stand on his own.

Li Xiao didn't want to do that yet.

At present, Li Xiao, because of the reorganization of the army, the equipment of new weapons, the development of the wasteland of Nanyang, and other matters, has basically spent the tens of millions of taels of silver in his hands.

Now Li Xiao is still quite financially tight, after all, a lot of money has been spent, and it may take two or three years to see results.

In the past two or three years, Li Xiao must carefully control finances and expenditures, prevent financial collapse, and start to vigorously expand outward after the transformation of the army is completed and the initial land development is completed.

Therefore, Li Xiao believes that if he really wants to be impulsive now, and at the same time be the enemy of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, not to mention that the strength will be dwarfed, and the financial resources will be difficult to support, unless the army under his command is turned into Li Zicheng's rogue model, to feed the war, and to use the middle stop to plunder and coerce, to develop and strengthen himself, and this is absolutely unacceptable to Li Xiao. Because if he does this, not to mention the destruction of the reputation he has accumulated before, it will be tantamount to putting himself in opposition to all the bureaucrats and generals in the country.

Moreover, Li Xiao is still taking advantage of the generally peaceful relationship with the Ming Dynasty to constantly transfer the population from the Ming Dynasty, and keep filling these endless Han populations into the new provinces of Nanyang and Northeast Asia like seeds, so as to further strengthen his own strength and strengthen his own strength, until the future, so that a new Han empire shaped by his own heart, full of infinite vitality and vitality, and with a preliminary modern model, will rise in front of the world.

In other words, the current Li Xiao's strength has not yet reached the point where he can completely tear his face with the Ming Dynasty and be completely opposed, since this is the case, then Li Xiao actually has only one choice, that is, to admit the status quo, accept the title of King of Pingliao given by the Ming Dynasty, and acquiesce in the signing of a peace agreement between the Ming court and the Qing Dynasty. Then, in the past two years, Li Xiao will continue to develop and expand his own strength, smoothly realize the transformation of the army, and develop and control the various territories under his control, which is Li Xiao's most urgent task.

Li Xiao believes that even if the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty reach a peace agreement, it is impossible for the Qing Dynasty to develop to a state where it can completely suppress itself in the past two years.

Li Xiao waved his hand and motioned to the two of them that there was no need to say any more.

Then, he said lightly: "Two, this king believes that now our army's financial resources are limited, and the army has not yet been completely transformed, and it has not yet reached the point where it can completely tear its face with the imperial court, so it is the only feasible strategy for us to continue to maintain a superficial respectful and obedient attitude towards the imperial court." The fundamental plan of our army at present is to continue to complete the transformation and training of the army, continue to emigrate from China, and develop the South Seas and Northeast Asia well. This king believes that as long as the strength of our army is further strengthened, are you afraid that there will be no chance to change the status quo in the future? “

Hearing Li Xiao say this, Chen Zilong and Jiang Yueguang were silent.

However, Chen Zilong soon answered: "It is also a good thing that Master Li can think about the long term and be lurking for the time being. We can use these two years to develop and strengthen our own strength, and when everything in Nanyang and Northeast Asia is steadily developing, and there is a fixed output, and the finances are no longer tight, it is more appropriate to start the world. “

Jiang Yueguang also nodded and said: "What Wozi said is very true, now our army is on the defensive, and then slowly expanding, it is indeed a more appropriate move, in the eyes of students, our army's most important task now is to ensure that Vladivostok Fort is repaired quickly, it is estimated that after the Ming and Qing Dynasties negotiated peace, the primary target of Huang Taiji's attack is Vladivostok Fort." “

Li Xiao agreed with the two of them, he nodded, "The two of you are very right. Now Vladivostok Fort has just been repaired the inner city, and the outer city is only half repaired, and it is still necessary to step up the construction, and strive to successfully complete it after the peace talks between the Ming and Qing dynasties. Then, after the completion of Vladivostok Fort, the king had to send soldiers and horses from the Bing Battalion of Pingnan Town to Vladivostok Fort to strengthen the local defenses and ensure that Vladivostok Fort was impregnable. “

After Li Xiao said this, Jiang Yueguang suddenly smiled at Li Xiao as if he remembered something: "Lord Li, it has been two months since I returned from Liaodong, and the Qing court clan Babuhai who was captured by our army, and Suohai, the Qing court household who surrendered to us at the Tukula Mountain Cliff, are now doing nothing in Dengzhou, but I don't know what your lord plans to do with them?" “

Li Xiao sighed, and then remembered that there was still this matter.

After returning to Shandong, Li Xiao had a lot of things to deal with, and he had to care about the Songjin War and the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

These two people have completely betrayed the Qing court, and now that Li Xiao let them flee back, they don't have the courage to go back. It's just that these two people are mediocre people, and Na Suohai has become disabled because of falling from a horse, and he can no longer be absorbed into the army after being brainwashed and reformed by Li Xiao like the surrendered army under them, so how to place them has to be carefully considered.

Li Xiao thought for a while, and then said: "In this way, let these two people be resettled as retired personnel of our army, and all of them will be sent to Australia, where they can live as ordinary people, anyway, for them, this king did not take their lives and gave them a way to live, which is merciful enough." In the future, they will marry a Han woman in the local area and support their families. “

Subsequently, just when Li Xiao arranged for Babuhai and Suohai to go to Australia for resettlement, the return envoy sent by the Ming court also followed the Qing Dynasty delegation to the city of Shenyang.

Looking at the west gate of Shenyang, when the word "Shengjing" was written in Manchu and Chinese, the main envoy Ma Shaoyu and the deputy envoy Li Yulan were full of emotion.