Since the plan had been properly discussed before, the military meeting went smoothly, and the only objection was the arrangement of the entourage. As the envoy of this peace negotiation, it is understandable for Takatora to travel with his own samurai, but as soon as he heard that Hideho was going to let Fukushima Takayoshi and Nasu Shikichi go with him, the Tokugawa family was a hundred reluctant.

The first to object was Honda Tadasa, his reason was very simple, these two people were still young, and they had a holiday with their own family, so it was not comfortable to let them escort Hidetada back to the camp. Although Okubo Tadashi didn't get to the point, he expressed his inner thoughts with the sentence "This matter should be arranged for the old minister to be contacted", to put it bluntly, he didn't worry about Takayoshi and Shikiyoshi, and he didn't want them to make such a big contribution, so as not to embarrass the Honke family.

There is only one reason why Hidebo sent these two people to accompany him, and that is to take this opportunity to resolve the conflict between the two and the Tokugawa family, after all, the shame brought by the Battle of Nagayoshiguan to the Tokugawa family, especially the Honda father and son, cannot be calmed down in a day or two.

Since the parties did not agree, Hideho had no choice but to give up and send Ogasawara Takakiyo and Aoki Toshiki to go, and with the reputation of the father of Takashiyo and Toshiki, everyone present finally reached an agreement.

Except for a small number of defenders, the Ming army retreated to the north of Jishan and Pyeongtaek, and the Japanese army retreated to the south of Zhushan and Chenghuanli, and the envoys of both sides could only bring 800 soldiers to Ancheng to negotiate peace, and they were not allowed to carry heavy firearms and fire guns (iron cannons).

The peace was arranged on January 28, and the day before, Gao Hu led 800 troops across the tributaries of the Han River and came to the southern suburbs of Anseong to camp and rest. At the same time, the envoys sent by the Ming Dynasty also arrived at Wolsan, five miles north of Ancheng, probably for fear of the suspicion of the Japanese army, so they were stationed on the spot and entered Ancheng with Gao Hu the next day, which shows that the envoys of the Ming army are still very set.

Everything seems to be developing in a good direction, and the Ming army's surprisingly polite behavior did surprise Xiubao a little, but then again, it is reasonable to be able to exchange an experienced and prestigious Marshal of the Eight Roads Soldiers and Horses for an obscure son.

On the 23rd of the first month, the third day after the two sides arrived in Ancheng, Xiubao received a secret letter from Gao Hu, saying that the negotiations were going smoothly and that he could return south with Xiuzhong in two days, and at the same time informed Xiubao that Chenghuanli was a small city after all, and now that peace had been negotiated, he should lead his army to withdraw to Tian'an to prevent a surprise attack by the Ming army.

Hideho then read the secret letter in public, on the one hand, to reassure the Tokugawa retainers, and on the other hand, to remind Hidemoto, hoping that the army could withdraw south as soon as possible to prepare for the next major battle.

In the next two days, the 25,000 troops of the Western Route Army began to retreat south one after another, except for Kuroda Nagamasa stationed in Cheonan, most of the rest retreated to Cheongju with Xiuyuan, preparing to use it as a base camp and wait for the opportunity to go north again. At the same time, Zhonglin also returned to Cheongju and commanded 15,000 men to withdraw from Chungcheong-do, fortify Yuwenqing, and cooperate with the Western Route Army Gongwei Gyeongsang-do.

Hidebo also understood that this peace negotiation was just an episode, and the war was still the main way of communication between the two sides, and in history, after the Battle of Nanyuan, Xingjie recruited 40,000 troops to fight Korea, and took advantage of the morale of the Battle of Jishan to launch a general counterattack, and successively launched the Battle of Ulsan, the Battle of Sacheon and the Battle of Suncheon, although it did not achieve a victory, but still suppressed the Japanese army on the coast of Korea, so that it completely lost the opportunity to counterattack.

Judging from the current development of the war situation, although the victory was achieved at sea, the land war still did not change much, and there was still a fiasco such as Jishan, in view of the fact that the Ming army was about to arrive in Seoul, the only thing that can be done now is to build a defensive line as soon as possible, contain the counterattack of the Ming army, and even if there are losses, it is necessary to keep the two roads of Jeolla and Gyeongsang, so as to win enough strategic hinterland for their side.

However, things seem to be moving in a direction that deviates from history, and just as the Western Route Army withdrew to Cheongju and the loyal neighbors set off for Munqing, Xiubao again received a letter from Gao Hu, saying that Xiuzhong was worried about the defeat and humiliation of the army, and decided to go directly to Chungju to join the loyal neighbors, so he did not take the road to Chenghuanli to go south to meet with Xiubao.

For this news, Xiubao didn't care too much, Xiuzhong was young and vigorous, and he must be uncomfortable when he was frustrated, if he went south to meet Xiuyuan and Xiubao, even if others didn't say anything, he himself would never feel good, rather than this, it was better to meet with his loyal neighbors first, and then meet when his mood calmed down.

However, considering that Zhonglin may have withdrawn from Chungju and Zhushan at this time, Xiubao wrote back to tell Gao Hu to let him go straight to Wenqing through the Bird Ridge Pass, so as to avoid making a mistake in Chungju and to prevent unnecessary trouble on the way.

But not long after the secret letter was sent, Jiuju hurried to Hideho's study, and with him came a samurai with a bloody face and scattered armor.

"Foreign Minister Nakamura Jiro Beibei meets His Highness Shichu!" The young samurai wanted to bow down, but when Hideho saw that his injuries were serious, he motioned for him to be excused and summoned his attendants to bring him a chair for him to sit down.

Aoki Hisashi walked to Hidebo's side, pointed to Nakamura and whispered: "This His Royal Highness Nakamura Criminal Department is a retainer of Prime Minister Bizen, he was seriously injured and fainted on the side of the road, but fortunately he was found by patrol Ashigaru in time, which saved his life, and the minister wanted to take him to the hospital for treatment, but he said that he didn't want to say anything, he had to see you, there was no way, so he had to bring him over." ”

"In this case, it must be a hundred thousand urgent military affairs." Hideho nodded at Nakamura and expressed his appreciation for his approach, and then asked with concern, "His Royal Highness the Ministry of Punishment is so embarrassed, he must have experienced a big battle, and please tell me the truth." ”

Nakamura still didn't seem to have recovered from his previous experience, and after looking around uncertainly, he cried out breathlessly: "Kaiyu Shizhong, under the entrustment of my lord, I have broken through the siege at the risk of death, and reported to you the battle situation of the embankment, I hope you can lead the army to support, if it is one step later, the lord and Settsu Mamoru will be unable to save their lives!" ”

What do you mean by that? Could it be that the Eastern Route Army was defeated? That's nearly 40,000 troops! "Xiubao can't believe that due to the containment of the Central Route Army and the Western Route Army, the main force of the Ming Army will not appear in the Gangwon Province area at all, even so, the Xiujia and the governor will be in danger, could it be that the Korean rebels did it?

Nakamura saw that Hideho's face was solemn, and he didn't dare to disturb, but he took into account the safety of the Xiu family, and continued to speak: "What's more, the Ming army dug the embankment of the Pyeongchang River, and the flood flooded the entire city, 20,000 people, at least 20,000 people drowned in the embankment, the lord and the Settsu Shou led us to desperately break through to Chungju, and the dead and wounded along the way, they couldn't walk after walking less than half the way, and finally they were surrounded by 20,000 Ming troops in Fengyang, and now, there are less than 5,000 people left in the entire Eastern Route Army!" ”

"Twenty thousand Ming troops!" Xiubao Huo Ran stood up, his whole body trembled unconsciously, clenched his fists and said fiercely: "It's over, it seems that Xing Jie has arrived." ”

(Well, I'm going to speed things up next, and I'd love to go straight to the third volume!) ）