When Wu Sangui opened the Shanhaiguan Pass to welcome the Qing soldiers into the customs, he had more than 40,000 Guanning troops under his command, which was a pivotal force at that time, and if it surrendered to Li Zicheng, it would be Dolgon with 100,000 troops to invade, and it was very difficult to conquer Beijing.

However, Li Zicheng lacked eloquence and strategy, and could not see the situation in the world clearly, and a series of victories made the Shun army extremely inflated, not only did not take Wu Sangui in his eyes, but even looked down on the Eight Banners of the Qing Army outside the pass.

After Wu Sangui surrendered to the Manchu Dynasty, although he was named the king of Pingxi, he seemed to be reused by the Manchu court, but in fact, he was not happy. Under the orders of the Manchu court, his army was ordered to reduce the old and weak, from more than 40,000 to more than 10,000. The family members of his army were ordered by the Manchu court to move from the Yongping Mansion in Guannei to their hometown in Ningyuan, and then the Manchu court appointed Manchu nobles to lead the Eight Banners to defend Shanhaiguan.

Shanhaiguan is in the hands of the Manchu court, and outside Ningyuan is Liaodong, the old nest of the Manchu Dynasty, and Ningyuan is equivalent to being sandwiched in the hinterland of the Qing army, like a hostage.

Therefore, Wu Sangui and his subordinates did not dare to move at all, even if they were almost in a desperate situation during the Southern Expedition, Wu Sangui still led his men back to the north, and had no intention of returning to the Ming Dynasty.

However, now the situation has changed abruptly, when Fan Tianyu arrived in Wu Sangui's army and saw Wu Sangui sending the letter in his hand, Wu Sangui's face changed greatly.

The letter was written by Chen Yue, the king of Qi in the Ming Dynasty, asking Wu Sangui to take his subordinates to abandon the darkness and turn to the light, so that he could forgive his past sins.

Wu Sangui just glanced at Chen Yue's letters, then put them aside, staring at the other letters.

Two of them were written by Wu Sangui's wife and concubine, and their handwriting was very familiar to Wu Sangui, and the other was written by Meng Yong, a guerrilla from Ningyuan. The three letters almost all have the same meaning, that is, to tell Wu Sangui that Ning Yuan has been captured by the Ming army, and his family and the families of his army have fallen into the hands of the Ming army.

"Fan Gongzi, your Fan family has always had a good relationship with the Qing Dynasty, as the imperial merchant of the Great Qing Dynasty, when did you turn to the Ming Dynasty again?"

Wu Sangui's heart moved dramatically, but the expression on his face did not change at all, and he casually handed the letter to Li Yousong, a staff member beside him.

"King Pingxi, my Fan family is just a businessman, and I can't help myself at all in troubled times," Fan Tianyu said with a wry smile, "In order to protect the family, many times I have to make some unavoidable choices."

The Manchu Qing Dynasty is not thin on my Fan family, but my Fan family has also helped the Manchu Qing a lot over the years, and the cooperation between the two sides is just a business. ”

Wu Sangui waved his hand, and Fan Tianyu was brought down.

"Mr. Li, Mr. Liu, is this true or false?" Fan Tianyu went down, and Wu Sangui finally showed a panicked look.

"Lord, is the handwriting of the letters of the two ladies?" Li Yousong asked.

Wu Sangui nodded: "It's theirs." Could it be that Ning Yuan really lost it? How is this possible! ”

Li Yousong said: "Judging from Meng Yong's letter, the Ming army attacked Ningyuan from Dengzhou by sea ship, and we all know that the Ming army's naval division was strong, and during the Southern Expedition, the two armies of Duoduo and Azig were defeated under the Ming army's naval division, and it was not too difficult to realize the strategy of attacking Ningyuan from Dengzhou." ”

Wu Sangui: "But why haven't we received any information?" ”

Liu Tailin, a staff member in charge of intelligence work, spoke: "Obviously, the news is blocked. The Ming army attacked Ningyuan in the sea at the beginning of March, and now it is April, and the time has been a month, we don't even know anything, except that the news is blocked, there is no second situation!

"What does Mr. Liu mean?"

"Obviously, the Lord Regent doesn't want us to let us know. Otherwise, how could we know nothing, and we would have to send someone to tell us to know. Liu Tailin sighed.

"What can I do now?" Wu Sangui sat down in despair and muttered.

"Lord Wang, the stakes are very high, we must confirm the truth of the news, but only a few letters will not work." Li Yousong said calmly. The value of the lives of nearly 10,000 troops can not be easily decided with just a few letters, this matter must be clarified.

"Alas!" Wu Sangui sighed, "Sir, go." ”

Li Yousong saluted Wu Sangui and turned around and walked out of the big tent.

In a small tent, Fan Tianyu was drinking tea comfortably, thinking about the promise of Chen Yue, the king of Qi before coming, his heart was extremely hot.

If he can promote the surrender of Wu Sangui's army, no matter what happens to the Fan family, his future is bright.

"Brother Tianyu, I want to know the details of what happened." Li Yousong walked into the tent and said directly to Fan Tianyu.

"Details, didn't those letters be written clearly?" Fan Tianyu wondered.

Li Yousong shook his head: "A few letters don't mean anything, letters can be forged!" ”

Fan Tianyu nodded: "I understand, you want to see the witness, no problem, there is a person in the army of King Qi, and the wife of King Pingxi, Chen, is in the army of King Qi." ”

Li Yousong was shocked: "What are you talking about?" ”

"It's Chen Yuanyuan, didn't King Pingxi be angry at the beginning? King Qi asked me to ask King Pingxi, is the blood of the past still there? Will he be angry with his wife and concubine again?

Mr. Li, the big war is about to start, we all know that there is not so much time to ink, if you don't believe it, just send someone to Linqing with me.

However, King Qi asked me to tell you that there is only one chance, and he has no time to play with you. Because even without you, he has absolute certainty of defeating the Qing army! But if you are willing to surrender, the King of Qi will forgive you for your past sins. If you are obsessed and settle the new and old accounts together, all of you will not be able to live without saying anything, and the families of your generals will also be implicated! ”

Fan Tianyu held his head high and relayed Chen Yue's words, his heart was extremely excited. In the past, people like Li Yousong had ever looked at themselves squarely, but now they can reprimand them with the power of the king of Qi, which is really cool.

Li Yousong glanced at Fan Tianyu and turned around and walked out of the small tent.

"How's it going, sir?" Wu Sangui looked eagerly at Li Yousong, who had entered the account, how much he hoped that this news was false and a trick by the Ming army.

"Lord Wang, Fan Tianyu said that the little lady is now in Linqing City, and said that we can send someone to Linqing with him at any time." Li Yousong hung his head and said.

Yuanyuan in Linqing? Wu Sangui was taken aback.

Liu Tailin said: "Lord Wang, Brother Yousong, things can't be faked. Let's discuss what to do. The subordinates thought that we should send someone to Linqing with Fan Tianyu as soon as possible, meet the little lady, and then discuss the surrender with Chen Yue. ”

Li Yousong: "Chen Yue's hand is too poisonous, and he has taken our weakness." We have no way but to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.

Ningyuan was captured, and the families of the soldiers fell into the hands of the Ming army, once the news came out, it would inevitably cause a great drop in morale, and no one was willing to go against the Ming army. ”

Liu Tailin: "Yes, and we will not be trusted by the Manchu court in the future, as evidenced by the blockade of the news." Even if we are loyal to the Manchus, Dolgon and they will definitely not trust us anymore, because our families are in the hands of the Ming army, and he doesn't know when we will be right. ”

The two staff members analyzed sentence by sentence, Wu Sangui gritted his teeth and looked hideous.

Returning to the Ming Dynasty, for a military general like Wu Sangui, where did he have the slightest loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, otherwise he would not have surrendered to Dashun first and then to the Qing Dynasty.

Whoever gives more benefits will follow whoever does, not only Wu Sangui, but most of the generals of the Ming Dynasty are like this.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, Wu Sangui actually preferred the Qing Dynasty, because the Manchu court was far more generous than the Ming Dynasty. The emperor of the Ming Dynasty was very stingy, even if he was about to die and urgently needed the rescue of the Guanning army, Emperor Chongzhen was willing to give him the title of Pingxi Earl. However, the Manchu court conferred on him the Prince of Pingxi, and promised to give him a province after he ruled the world.

Wu Sangui did not doubt that the Qing court would break its promise, because he knew that Manchuria was too small in number, and that it would have to rely on Han people like himself to rule the hundreds of billions of Ming people with a total population of hundreds of thousands. Therefore, Wu Sangui has always worked hard for the Manchu court, and sincerely hopes that the Manchu Qing can dominate the world, and he can be a veritable vassal king with a different surname.

However, the Ming Dynasty, which had exhausted its qi, actually appeared a Chen Yue, who almost single-handedly saved the Ming on the edge of the cliff, and then sent troops to the Northern Expedition to force the Qing Dynasty to a dead end.

Now the large area of land occupied by the Manchu Qing Dynasty was recovered by the Ming army, and the 80,000 Eight Banner soldiers were forced to retreat by Chen Yue. Even so, Wu Sangui didn't want to return to the Ming Dynasty, but he got the news that Ningyuan was captured by the Ming army.

Wu Sangui has his own ambitions, but he can't do it, he knows that if he doesn't listen to Chen Yue, what awaits his wife and children will be an extremely miserable fate.

And even if he insists on going his own way, how many of Li Yousong, Liu Tailin, and even the soldiers in the battalion will continue to listen to him? So, I have no choice.

"Send someone to Linqing to negotiate with Chen Yue, the king of Qi, we can return to the Ming Dynasty, but we must also ensure that our interests ......."

Li Yousong and Liu Tailin were still chattering about the next move, and Wu Sangui had already made up his mind.

"Mr. Li, I will write a letter, please take the letter with Fan Tianyu to Linqing City to meet the King of Qi, ask the King of Qi for guilt, and express my determination to return to the Ming Dynasty!" Wu Sangui interrupted the conversation between the two and said categorically.

"Shouldn't you bargain?" Liu Tailin was stunned.

Wu Sangui shook his head: "What kind of bargain, since there is only one way to surrender, you can only show sincerity, so that you can find a way out for the soldiers in the battalion." Bargaining will only increase our evil feelings in King Qi's heart. ”

Liu Tailin was still stunned, and Li Yousong had already understood what Wu Sangui meant.

"The prince is wise, as long as we make meritorious achievements in the battle to exterminate the Dolgon Eight Banner soldiers, some of the previous mistakes can be eliminated, and the king of Qi should continue to rely on the prince and our Guan Ning army, and the bargaining has indeed fallen."

Wu Sangui shook his head and said gloomily: "Don't call any more princes in the future, there will be no more Pingxi kings in the future!" ”

Wu Sangui was very decisive, and after deciding to return to the Ming Dynasty, he immediately sent Li Yousong to make up and accompany Fan Tianyu to Linqing.

Although there are 50,000 troops in the Qing camp now, there are more than 3,000 cavalry, among which Dolgon's cavalry battalion cannot move around, and such things as sentry agents can only be handed over to Wu Sangui's cavalry to do.

Li Yousong and Fan Tianyu disguised themselves as cavalrymen who went to the sentry and left the team when they approached Linqing, and galloped straight into the Ming army's sphere of influence.

Chen Yue met Li Yousong in Linqing City, and looked at Wu Sangui's letter with a smile on his face. Wu Sangui was very humble in his letters, calling himself in the name of the criminal minister Ping Xibo, and kept saying that in the past, in order to repay the thieves for the capture of Beijing Chongzhen, he was martyred, and he borrowed troops to suppress the bandits for the hatred of the country and the family. However, the ambition of the Manchu wolf sons, after entering the customs, occupied Beijing and controlled the families of the officers and soldiers of the Guanning army, Wu Sangui had no choice but to continue to make peace with them. Now God bless, King Qi, you sent an army to recover Ningyuan and rescue the families of the officers and soldiers of the Guanning Army, Wu Sangui expressed his deep gratitude for this, and vowed to obey the dispatch of the King of Qi and continue to serve the Ming Dynasty, Yunyun.

Regarding Wu Sangui's choice, Chen Yue was not surprised at all. The Manchu Qing Dynasty was poor, Ning Yuan was recovered by himself, and the families of Wu Sangui's men were in their own hands, and Wu Sangui had no way out except to surrender.

"His Royal Highness King Qi, I heard that the little lady of Ping Xibo is in your army, and I want to see the lady, I don't know if it's okay?" Li Yousong made a request to Chen Yue.

Chen Yue nodded: "Of course, come and ask Mr. Li to meet Mrs. Chen." ”

His subordinates took Li Yousong away, looking at his back, Chen Yue smiled and shook his head. After Wu Ping occupied Ningyuan, he sent a ship to transport Wu Sangui's family to Dengzhou, but for some reason, he actually asked Chen Yuanyuan to be sent to Jinan alone with the messenger who reported the news. Chen Yue thought about it carefully, as if before Wu Ping left Liaocheng, he mentioned Chen Yuanyuan to him, and this guy sent her over.

For the sake of curiosity, Chen Yue naturally went to see Chen Yuanyuan, wanting to see how beautiful and fragrant it was. So he was shocked, Chen Yuanyuan was really beautiful, and he was even better than Kou Baimen in terms of appearance, Chen Yue almost sank, and he restrained himself with strong perseverance.

Obediently, no wonder Liu Zongmin and Li Zicheng knew that Wu Sangui's tens of thousands of troops were extremely important to Dashun, but they still wanted to forcibly occupy Chen Yuanyuan. No wonder Wu Sangui will be angry at the crown, it's not unreasonable! The first beauty in the world really lives up to her name!

However, after appreciating it, Chen Yue had no intention of possession. Everyone has a love for beauty, but Chen Yue loves these thousands of miles of rivers and mountains even more.

However, with Chen Yuanyuan, Wu Sangui should be able to surrender. With nearly 10,000 Guanning troops surrendered, the certainty of defeating Dorgon will be greater.

Therefore, Chen Yue took Chen Yuanyuan to Linqing, as a trump card against Wu Sangui.

Letters can be forged, but people can't, I have seen Chen Yuanyuan, and Li Yousong has no doubts about the fall of Ningyuan.

Chen Yue explained in detail the next plan and the order to Wu Sangui, and then sent someone to send Li Yousong out of Linqing.

ps: Four thousand words will not be separated.