"Peace is the best policy." Etoshi Wende finally spoke, "Fight and draw at the same time, both pronged, and do your best to strive for the best result." ”

"What's the best outcome?" Gao Yuan's expression was not good, and he asked sharply, "Is it to surrender the city, or to cede the land and sue for peace?" ”

The outcome of the peace negotiation is nothing more than two, one is the worst outcome, surrender the city, and preserve the race, but Gao Yuan and his followers will definitely be wiped out; One is the best outcome, ceding land for peace, and preserving the kingdom with compensation for cession of land, so that Gao Yuan and his followers are still very likely to remain in power. However, under the current situation, Gao Yuan is trapped internally and externally, and the enemy is on his back, even if he creates another miracle on the battlefield and once again repels the Middle-earth army, the internal crisis is difficult to solve. At this moment, Pyongyang is under the pressure of the death of the country, and the split is inevitable, and Gao Yuan's political enemies will never miss the opportunity to overthrow him, and will even openly collaborate with the enemy and betray the country in the name of preserving the race, surrender to Middle-earth, and use the power of Middle-earth to attack Gao Yuan inside and outside, so Gao Yuan has no choice but to fight to the death, and negotiating peace is a dead end for him, regardless of the outcome.

"Don't be too pessimistic, the king." Ulzhi Wende said quietly, "Judging from the known military situation, so far, Middle-earth has not increased its troops, and the best time for Middle-earth to invade us is in late spring and early summer, once delayed, they will not have enough time to attack Pyongyang, so if nothing else, this year's invasion of Middle-earth should be basically the same as last year." If this were the case, Middle-earth would have no superiority in numbers, and we would be able to follow the established strategy, fortify at every level, intercept the enemy at any cost, and hinder and delay the enemy's attack. As long as we drag the enemy into the winter, the tide of war will be in our favor, and the situation will inevitably be reversed, so that we will have a very good chance of winning the peace negotiations at the lowest cost. ”

As soon as these words came out, Gao Yuan's spirit was greatly lifted, and he immediately asked, "What is the minimum price?" ”

"Great King, we have Hu Sizheng in our hands and tens of thousands of prisoners of war, and these are the goals of Middle-earth." "At the beginning of the war, we were at a disadvantage, and negotiations were certainly not good for us, so it was better not to talk about it than to be passively humiliated, and to concentrate on the battlefield and fight bloodily. When we have gained an advantage on the battlefield and Middle-earth is in a dilemma, then we take the initiative to negotiate peace, and then put forward the only condition for the return of Hu Sizheng and tens of thousands of prisoners of war as the only condition for peace, then we will be able to succeed. ”

Compared with surrendering the city and ceding land for peace, just returning the fleeing Hu Sizheng and tens of thousands of prisoners of war to Middle-earth can end the three-year-long war on the battlefield, which is indeed the smallest price for Goguryeo, a shocking joy, and an unprecedented victory.

This was exactly what Gao Yuan meant, so he nodded again and again, turned his eyes to Gao Jianwu, and asked, "How about this strategy?" ”

Gao Jianwu complained bitterly. What kind of countermeasure is this? Isn't it a battle against the water? You said that Middle-earth will not increase its troops this year, but on what basis? What is the intention of making such irresponsible judgments without accurate information? It's not that you have to fight to the death and refuse to surrender.

Gao Jianwu was willing to oppose it, but seeing that Gao Yuan, Yizhi Wende and Jiang Yiwei were resolute and determined to fight to the end, and did not make the slightest compromise at all, he was helpless and had nothing to do.

"If this policy is to be realized, the premise is that we must firmly hold the enemy at the Yalu River line at least after the end of the rainy season, that is, by the end of July." Gao Jianwu hesitated for a long time, looked at Yizhi Wende and Jiang Yiwei, and asked solemnly, "Can the two generals make a guarantee?" If we cannot make a guarantee, we must immediately send a peace envoy to Huaiyuan to negotiate first, first find out the details of the Middle-earth people, and use the negotiation to find ways to delay and hinder the enemy's attack, and at the same time, this move will also have a certain effect on alleviating the internal contradictions in Pyongyang, can give a glimmer of hope to those who are in despair and are on the verge of collapse, and to a certain extent, help all parties in the royal court to work together to unite with the outside world. ”

Gao Jianwu also insisted on his own views and resolutely demanded peace talks.

Gao Yuan made a decisive decision at the moment, and negotiated while fighting.

Gao Jianwu was in charge of the negotiation and negotiation, and immediately sent an envoy to Huaiyuan. Eulji Bundeok was in charge of the defense of Pyongyang and east of the Yalu River. Jiang Yiwei immediately rushed to the Black Bone City and commanded the towns west of the Yalu Water to defend it to the death.

"The king, the big war is coming, do you want to ask for help from Su Mo?"

Gao Jianwu's question was not answered, and whether it was Gao Yuan, Yizhi Wende and Jiang Yiwei, they were all hesitant.

The year before last, the battle was unprecedentedly fierce, and Goguryeo fell into an unprecedented crisis, but the Sumo Jin Ya did not flinch at the critical moment, and kept his promises.

However, by the last year, the situation had changed, and Middle-earth was attacked again, and Goguryeo could not create another miracle and defeat the strong with the weak again, and it had already fallen sharply under the devastation of the war, so Su Mo Jian's mind changed, not only hesitating and hesitating in support, but also inflating his ambition and greed, intending to take advantage of the fire and rob Goguryeo when it was defeated. However, with the favor of God, the Middle-earth army was hastily withdrawn due to the sudden rebellion in the country, Goguryeo picked up a life, and Su Mo Jin also failed to do so, so the relationship between the two sides regressed and they were on high alert to each other.

This year's situation is even worse for Goguryeo, and in this unfavorable situation, will Su Mo Jin still fulfill his promise to send troops to support? Taking a step back, even if Su Mo Ya agreed to send troops to support, Pyongyang would not be able to give full trust, and once Su Mo Ya surrendered and had a black hand behind his back, Goguryeo would be completely finished.

Seeing that Gao Yuan, Yizhi Wende and Jiang Yiwei were silent, Gao Jianwu knew it, so he cautiously admonished, "For the Su Mo Ya, even if we can't pull them over, we can't let them fall to Middle-earth, so we would rather pay some price to let the Su Mo Yan watch the fire from the other side, rather than turn against them and push them into the arms of Middle-earth and become accomplices of Middle-earth." ”

This sentence reminded Gao Yuan, Yizhi Wende and Jiang Yiwei.

"Under the current situation, it is unlikely that the Su Mo will quickly fall to Middle-earth, after all, they have enmity with Middle-earth, and the people of Middle-earth will not trust them, let alone cooperate with them." Jiang Yi sneered slightly, "Of course, it is impossible to expect Su Mo Yan to send troops to support us, if nothing else, this time Su Mo Yan Yan is still Chen Bing Xuchuan, sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, as long as the time is right, he will take advantage of the fire to rob." ”

Eulzhi Wende stroked his long hair with his hand and slowly lowered his chin, "Now we are suffering from the enemy on our backs, there is an invasion of Middle-earth in the west, and Silla and Baekje Kobian in the east, if we turn our faces and become enemies again, and go down the Yalu water, we will be attacked on three sides, so if we meet the battle on three sides, the forces are too scattered, and we may lose on all three sides, so what the prime minister said is still quite reasonable, even if we can't pull the Su Mo Jie Yan over, but we can't let it become our enemy, for this, even if we pay some price, it is worth it." ”

Gao Yuan pondered for a long time, unwilling and indignant, "What price can feed those vicious wolves and let them watch the fire from the other side?" ”

Ezhi Wende hesitated for a moment and said, "The key is not the size of the price, but the battle situation. If we can stop the invasion of Middle-earth on the front line of the Yalu water, then after entering the rainy season, the situation will gradually be favorable to us, and the millet will not dare to enter, so we can only watch the fire from the other side, and we can only continue to maintain the covenant with us, and the price we pay to maintain the covenant is very small, at most it is to give some food, grass and weapons. Otherwise, the situation will be bad, and we will need the Su Mo Yan to send troops to support, and we need them to go south to Liaodong City and Wugu City to attack the grain routes of the Middle Earth, for which we will have to pay a considerable price. ”

Gao Yuan was furious when he heard this.

Etozhi Wende's meaning is very straightforward, you must be prepared for the worst, and in times of crisis, the ally of Su Mo Jing can still be used.

In order to survive, they would rather be surrounded by the dying wolf of Goguryeo than have the invincible tiger of Middle-earth by their side, so as long as Goguryeo comes up with huge benefits that are enough to impress the Millet Tiger, they are still willing to support Goguryeo and help Goguryeo attack or even cut off the grain route of the Middle-earth people.

"If the situation gets to that point, what price do we need to pay to get the Su Mo Yan to send troops to support?" Gao Yuan asked coldly.

"Buyeo's hometown." Ulzhi Wende said without thinking.

The hometown of Buyeo is a large area of land from Buyeo City to the Hachuan River. Since the fall of Buyeo, Goguryeo and Sumo Jin have launched a fierce battle for this land, and a dozen is more than 100 years, although there are mutual victories and defeats, but Goguryeo still has the last laugh.

"Nope." Gao Yuan vetoed it.

"King, the land mowing depends on the object, the object is different, the effect of the land mowing is different, and the future consequences are also different." Ezhi Wende smiled slightly, and said slowly, "If the object of the land cession is the powerful Middle Earth, not only the ceded land is vast, even if we recover our vitality in the future, or even if we become stronger, we may not have a chance to regain it, on the contrary, if the object of the land cession is the weak Su Mo Ya, then the Buyeo homeland will be enough to meet their needs, and more importantly, as long as we recover our vitality in the future, it will be enough to take it back from the hands of Su Mo Yan." ”

Gao Yuan hesitated for a moment, hesitated, and turned his eyes to look at Gao Jianwu.

Eulzhi Wende's suggestion was exactly what Gao Jianwu wanted, so he said without hesitation, "King, as long as Pyongyang is safe and Goguryeo is worry-free, there is no need to worry about the Su Mo Ya, and the Tuji Wagouer." ”

Gao Yuan weighed it for a long time, and said helplessly, "Since this is the case, let's talk to the envoy of the Su Mo people first, find out the details, and then send the envoy to Haochuan, first make some promises, and find ways to stabilize the Su Mo Yan Yan first, and then give greater benefits according to the battle situation, so as to win the strong support of the Su Mo Yan Yan." ”

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