Who will control the course of the war?

For the people of the 17th century, they did not think about this problem at all, and it can be said that most commanders or generals did not think about this problem.

In fact, this question was answered thousands of years ago, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Sun Tzu had already given the answer in the Art of War.

“…… Therefore, the Ming monarch is a virtuous general, so he moves and wins, and the success comes from the many, and the prophet is also. The prophet shall not be taken from ghosts and gods, nor from things, nor from the degree, but from men, and from those who know the feelings of the enemy. Therefore, there are five kinds of use: there is a cause, there is an inner room, there is a reverse room, there is a death room, and there is a life room......"

Only the prophet can win, despite the countless examples of the use of spies in warfare for thousands of years. However, the so-called "intermittent details" of later generations are often just a group of amateur players, and in many cases, there is not much outstanding performance at all. It was not until Zhu Mingzhong set up the military department in Jiangbei and drew on the experience of later generations to train spies and organize intelligence networks that the ancient profession of espionage was revitalized again.

However, those spies have always been a group of unsung heroes, no one knows what kind of contribution they have made, and there is no name for them, many of them have made their own contributions in obscurity, and of course more often than not. But their sacrifice was worth it, and they decided the course of the war time and time again, saving millions of lives through the intelligence they sent and the planning they carried out.

However, ordinary people may not know their merits and importance, but the emperor and the military officials, and of course, the cabinet chiefs and assistants are clear, and they clearly know how the military officials of the military department are making contributions related to the rise and fall of the country on the hidden front. The unsung heroes of these hidden fronts. It has always been well known. Even the vast majority of people are not even aware of the existence of this group of people, and this is precisely the characteristic of this profession.

As the first military leader of the Ming Dynasty, Shi Lei is perhaps the idol of all military officials, and almost everyone knows how he founded this institution from scratch and made it play an unimaginable role during the war.

However, as the imperial relative of the Ming Dynasty and the uncle of Yi Yong, he has withdrawn from the military department in the past eighteen years, and the whole person has completely faded out of the Ming Dynasty. But there are still a few people who know that he still controls some of the intelligence agencies of the Ming Dynasty, for example, the "chess players" deployed in the Qing Dynasty before Xingqian, he is the only one who has a list of those "chess players", and similarly, some of the information they send will be sent directly to him through special channels, and then he will send it to His Majesty. Of course, all this is unknown to the outside world. And the act of entering the palace every few days is also a manifestation of Shi Lei's holy family Zhenglong in the eyes of the outside world. Of course, no one knew that he entered the palace to pass information to the emperor.

"208 has another piece of information."

Standing in front of His Majesty, Shi Lei said respectfully.

"Oh? Is it the player's intelligence? 208…… I remember him, twenty-two years ago, I remember seeing him in the Martial Arts Academy, he was indeed very good, if he stayed at home, he would be at least a town commander now...... There, though, his accomplishments are even higher. ”

When mentioning "208", Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but sigh for a while, these people's different "chess pieces", "chess pieces" can be discarded at any time, but the "chess players" are different, they are the leaders of the game, according to the plan formulated that year, these they entered the Manchu Qing Dynasty through various channels, and then did their best to get promoted in their officialdom, from civilian officials to military generals, there are such "chess players", in those years, how many chess players were sent?

There are more than 300 people, and how many are still alive?

However, there were more than 100 people, and many of them died, but not because of the exposure of their identities, but because of various reasons such as disease and war. And the information they send is also priceless, but what is really priceless is that they have been largely influencing the Manchus and their policies.

For so many years. It is through them that some purpose is achieved, and even some experiments are carried out. Thankfully, it was all wet, and it went extremely smoothly, and even more smoothly than he imagined.

Those people have a great credit for the daimyo, but their exploits are never known to the outside world.

"He would be very happy to know that His Majesty still remembers him."

Shaking his head, Zhu Mingzhong sighed.

"We should remember them, be happy, in fact, we should be happy for them, being in the enemy camp for more than 20 years, they have made sacrifices that no one can imagine, and now this is all over. They can come back. You can go back to your family......"

Family. Suddenly, Zhu Mingzhong thought of their family, where was their family? They had already married and had children there. For their families in China, they may have long thought that they had died in a foreign land.

When they returned to Daming, how would they explain to their families? How do you account for it to their wives and children? Who can understand their decades of obscurity?

Come to think of it. Zhu Mingzhong couldn't help but feel indebted to them.

"We ...... There is always something to be owed to them, and in the future, when they come back, we will reward them well, after all, they have given too much over the years. ”

After more than 20 years have passed, Zhu Mingzhong can't even remember why he decided to follow the example of East Germany and send spies to infiltrate the interior of the Manchu Qing and other hostile forces, and then exert influence on them from the inside, so as to achieve his desired goals, but it is certain that over the years, they have done a very good job, whether it is the Manchu Qing side or Wu Sangui's side, they are all in their own position and play an extremely important role, for the Manchu Qing and Wu Zhou, they are the pillars of the country and the important ministers of the imperial court, but who knows, The duties they perform are actually ordered by the Zhongdu and the Ming Dynasty?

I don't know how much, the policies that seem to be extremely beneficial to the Manchus and Wu Sangui are actually issued from them. It seems to be beneficial to them in the short term, but in fact, in the long run, it is more beneficial to Daming, but the people in it don't know the key.

Those chess players are the ones who did all this. Now when it's all over, they can finally go home and return to theirs with their families.

"The court must give them some compensation. Perhaps these compensation are not what they expected. But at least it's a recognition of their efforts. ”

With His Majesty's words, the minister believes that they will die without regrets. Your Majesty, when they chose this industry, they already understood what they had to pay. They are for the Ming Dynasty! ”

Shi Lei let out a sigh. Then he continued.

"Your Majesty, now that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has fallen into the Gu, they think they have gained a glimmer of life, but they don't know that they have actually fallen into the end of the world, if everything goes well, wait until autumn, everything will be over."

Shi Lei, who seemed to be calm, thought of Jiashen again, thought of the capital that year, he thought of the first emperor, and thought of those colleagues who were martyred, at that time, he thought that it was the end of the Ming Dynasty, who would have thought that a few decades later, he would experience the end of a dynasty.

It's just that he has been looking forward to this day for a long time. It can be said that the daimyo have been waiting for this day for too long. He believed that when the day came. The entire Ming Dynasty will cheer for this day, and the Ming Dynasty will be like the New Year, where the fall of the Manchu Qing will be celebrated.

"yes, it's over!"

Zhu Mingzhong nodded and said.

"I've been waiting for this day for more than twenty years!"

Twenty years, how many twenty years are there in life?

For Zhu Mingzhong, who is forty-seven years old, he has waited too long, and Daming has waited too long. Over the years, how much he has experienced is only clear to him. From the nervousness, even fear, and even thinking at the time when he first came to this era, but just fleeing to the present step by step to put the Manchu Qing on that noose, I have waited too long for this day. Now that day is finally coming. But surprisingly, he didn't feel the slightest excitement because of this, but felt calm, because he had been prepared for this day for a long time, and everything was expected.

"However, it was worth waiting for such a long time, after all, with the help of the Manchu Qing chess piece, we did many things that we wanted to do but were inconvenient to do, and they helped us solve a lot of troubles, isn't it ......"

Zhu Mingzhong said with a smile.

"Those troubles, it certainly doesn't seem like a trouble now, but in the future...... Who knows? In the past few thousand years, we have faced the threat from the Mobei grassland, the Huns, the Turks, and finally the Mongols, they killed in the Central Plains, hundreds of millions of Li people died tragically, and then the Chinese land sank, and then the northeast, from the Khitans to the Jurchens, and then to the Manchu Qing, the cost of each Chinese land sinking was extremely heavy, civilization regressed, and the Li people died, perhaps, The next threat will come from the Northwest, who knows? ”

After a moment of silence, Zhu Mingzhong looked into the distance and said.

"I, whether I am a Ming monarch or not, history has its own public opinion, but in this matter, I dare not leave hidden dangers for future generations, so these things always have to be done, if we don't do it, we may be in trouble, this crime, we can't afford it......"

Looking at His Majesty's solemn expression, Shi Lei said with a smile on the side.

"Your Majesty, they did those things, not for my Ming, but for themselves, they killed all the men among the local natives, plundered their women as slaves, and the surplus were sold to foreign lands as slaves, such tyrannical acts, it is really the anger of people and gods, outrageous, I think that after I restore the Western Regions, I should set up a stele to let future generations know about the atrocities of the Qing Dynasty, and think that future generations will be warned......"

Who to warn?

Shi Lei didn't say, and Zhu Mingzhong didn't ask, he just looked out the window silently. Looking at the pigeons on the lawn that look like stones, they are clustered on the grass and jumping, unhurried to forage among the lawns, like the park in the city, the palace seems to be a paradise for many birds, Zhu Mingzhong is not averse to this, he likes to see these birds in the palace.

Standing there like this, staring at it for a long time, and turning around again, Zhu Mingzhong looked at Shi Lei, the former intelligence director who had long since stepped down from the army, nodded, and then said.

"Anything else?"

"Well, there's one more thing."

Seeing that His Majesty asked, Shi Lei said.

That is, the minister thinks that it is possible to hand over the information of the "chess player" to King Jin now, after all, it has reached the last moment, and he is on the front line, and it is easier to deal with things. ”

Long before the Western Expedition, the Jun Zheng Division had already handed over the information of the "chess pieces", those "chess pieces" were the "chess pieces" of the Jun Zheng Division's rebellion within the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the past many years, and their identities were scattered throughout the Manchu Qing Dynasty, not only the Han Chinese, but even the so-called Manchus and Mongols, who provided a lot of information to the front line, and those intelligence played a great role in the Jin King's Western Expedition.

But "chess players" are different from "chess pieces", because some of the "chess players" are too important, and they are all their own people, so all along, as the person in charge, Shi Lei has always done everything possible to protect their safety, even after he stepped down from the position of Jun Zhengcheng, he did not hand over the list of "chess players", one is because of His Majesty's advice, those "chess players" are too important. The second is to protect their safety, after all, they are in the enemy camp, once their identities are known by outsiders, they are likely to be unable to save their lives, and Shi Lei does not dare to risk them.

But now, he offered to hand it over to the "chess player", because in his opinion the time was ripe.

"Your Majesty, if you don't let King Jin prepare now, the minister is worried that when the time comes, there will be many misunderstandings on the front line, so the minister thinks that they should be allowed to get in direct contact, so that they can not only speed up the sharing of intelligence, but also reduce many misunderstandings, so as to end the affairs in the northwest as soon as possible."

Shi Lei's suggestion made Zhu Mingzhong nod slightly,

"Alright, let's do as you say."

Nodding in agreement, Zhu Mingzhong deliberately emphasized.

However, you must also know that those "chess players" have sacrificed decades for the country, and the country cannot treat them badly, and must find ways to ensure their safety, even if some actions are not carried out, we must also protect their safety, after all, we owe them too much, this point, we must tell King Jin, let him know that those "chess players" are different "chess pieces", "chess pieces" can be sacrificed, can be given up, but they ...... But no! ”