After the start of the Anti-Ming War, the three countries of Anxi declared their absolute neutrality to the outside world in accordance with the previous practice.

Refused to join the Anti-Ming League, and also refused to allow Lucia and Ottoman Anti-Ming Alliance Army to cross the border.

In this way, if Lucia wants to attack the Ming mainland, she can only detour to the northwest of the Mongolian Plateau and even the Xianbei Wasteland, where the Ming native garrison is waiting for you.

The anti-Ming alliance did not interfere with them immediately, first of all, let Lucia take the lead, in the northwest of the Mongolian plateau and near the North Sea, tried to launch several attacks on the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, it was never possible to achieve any real results, but instead lost a large number of soldiers and supplies.

The Anti-Ming Alliance had to change its plan, shifted its attention to the Anxi Three Kingdoms, and began to use various means to coerce and lure the Anxi Three Kingdoms.

When the Ming Dynasty fell into a superficial disadvantage, under the threat of Lucia to declare war directly if it was not allowed to pass, and under the persuasion and temptation of other countries of the Anti-Ming Alliance, the Three Kingdoms of Anxi finally temporarily allowed the troops of the Anti-Ming Alliance to cross the border.

Then, the border troops of the Western Regions under the command of the Governor's Office of the Right Army of the Ming Dynasty immediately began to act, and without hesitation, they crossed the border between the two sides that should exist theoretically, and entered the hinterland of their territory along the railway built by the Ming Dynasty for the Three Kingdoms of Anxi.

The Governor's Office of the Right Army took direct control of all the railways and railway stations in their territory and quickly began strategic deployment at the end of the railway network.

The anti-Ming coalition forces also immediately stopped their advance, deployed defenses in the western part of the Anxi Three Kingdoms, and recruited the recently famous Napoleonic generals.

The large-scale battle between the Ming Dynasty and the anti-Ming alliance was about to break out in the hinterland of the Anxi Three Kingdoms, which made the high-ranking and people of the Anxi Four Khanates fall into an unprecedented panic.

They hadn't fought in seventy years.

The decision to allow the anti-Ming coalition forces to enter the mainland was soon criticized as an unprecedentedly stupid decision.

His long-term peace was given by the Ming Dynasty, and he even fantasized about allowing the armies that were at war with the Ming to cross the border peacefully and fight on the borders of the Ming Dynasty, but the Ming was indifferent to this matter.

But there is no regret medicine in the world, and now that the all-out war is about to start, they can only hope that the anti-Ming alliance can win, and it can win as soon as possible.

But at this juncture, the exact news of the Ming Dynasty's withdrawal came, and they suddenly had a feeling that the Ming Dynasty was going to move seriously this time.

In the second half of this war, many politicians in the world vaguely felt that the Ming Dynasty was likely not to use all his strength.

There was no special effort to squeeze the war potential, not only did it not collect the hearts and minds of the vassal states and the welfare of the lower classes, but it did not even issue bonds to raise war funds.

So now after this strange feeling appeared, the high-level leaders of the three Anxi countries fell into a panic and chagrin.

After yelling at each other on the phone for a while, the top leaders of the three countries made a decision that was very stupid in theory, but unexpectedly just right in the current situation......

At the same time, they sent telegrams to both sides of the war, urging them to remain calm and exercise restraint and not to misfire in their own territory.

In their own words, they expressed their willingness to mediate between the two sides to stop the war that had lasted for many years, and demanded that the troops of both sides withdraw from their borders.

If the Ming and anti-Ming alliances really want to continue fighting, then the appeal of the Anxi Three Kingdoms will be meaningless and will only be taken as a deaf ear.

But now both sides happen to not want to fight, but neither of them wants to take the initiative to show weakness and propose peace.

The self-proclaimed armistice proposal of the three Anxi countries actually meets the actual needs of both sides.

The three kingdoms of Anxi are theoretically neutral and independent states, not vassals of either of the warring states.

The territory of the country is located right in the middle of the territory of the two sides, and it is about to become a battlefield of exchange of fire between the two sides, and it happens to be qualified for mediation in theory.

As a result, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the eighth day of the first month of the 34th year of Taiping in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Jianyan, who continued to preside over the official affairs of Honglu Temple, received a telegram from the officials of the three kingdoms of Anxi.

Zhu Jianyan thought about it for five minutes in a complicated mood, and then went directly to meet the emperor alone.

After reading the telegram, the old emperor subconsciously asked Zhu Jianyan:

"Did you prompt them to do that?"

Zhu Jianyan very decisively and directly denied:

"It is impossible for Erchen to do this, the Ming Dynasty is now strategically disadvantaged, and there must be no show of weakness, including when facing a nominally neutral country.

"If the Ming took the initiative to prompt them to mediate, then these neutral countries might think that the Ming could not hold on.

"They are likely to pass the news of our request for mediation and this judgment directly into Xiyi's hands, which will make Xiyi more assertive in negotiations."

Xiyi hinted that the possibility of them doing so should exist...... But the probability is not large, and the reason is the same as ours.

"So Erchen thinks that they should have received the exact news of our withdrawal from the domain, so they began to panic, and then the blind cat ran into a dead mouse."

The old emperor nodded lightly, and then looked at Zhu Jianyan with a scrutinizing gaze:

"That's all I can think of, so what do you think we should do now?"

If it was Zhu Jianyan in the past, he might instinctively say that now he should take care of the plan and start formal peace negotiations directly through the Anxi Three Kingdoms.

But in the past two days, under the subtle influence of his son and father, Zhu Jianyan's heart has become higher and higher, and his way of thinking has also changed somewhat, so he said tentatively:

Erchen believed that the withdrawal and reform of the Ming Dynasty had already begun, and it was time to decisively refuse to mediate, and at the same time gather the vassal servant army with great fanfare.

"This makes the enemy feel a ...... Our Daming is really annoyed and angry, and is ready to fight to the end at all costs.

"It is just right to cooperate with the plan to withdraw the feudal domains, gather the men of the various feudal lands, and send them to more remote places in a centralized manner, and they will not be sent back without fighting.

"Xiyi's willpower has also reached the verge of collapse, and it should be officially sued for peace soon.

"As long as the reform of the Ming Dynasty continues, the strength will continue to recover, just like what Jingyuan obtained, and the Ming Dynasty can even not stop fighting."

The old emperor nodded lightly with satisfaction:

"Yes, then we will prepare like this, but the truce still has to stop, and our goal is still to force peace, not to continue the fierce war."

While Zhu Jianyan nodded, he couldn't help but ask a question:

"But why? The war potential of the Ming Dynasty has not been fully tapped, and now that it has a direction to win, why do you still want to negotiate peace? ”

A slight smile appeared on the old emperor's face:

"You...... It's good to understand that I'm not just asking for peace for the sake of abdication, but it's still not long-term enough.

"Now we do have a chance to win, but the result will definitely be a miserable victory, and we may have to use all our strength.

"After a crushing victory, in order to control the chaotic defeated country, we have to continue to exert more strength at the limit, which is likely to make us really tired.

"For our family, what is the most dangerous situation, that is, when our royal potential is really exerted to the limit.

"The huge empire, with a population of 60,000, and countless elites, all know that the princes and princes have a kind of Xiangning.

"It's just that our strength is endless, so they can't see any opportunities at all, so they all honestly obey the dispatch.

"However, as long as we are really tired of coping, then they can see where our limits are, and they have a way to judge the success or failure of things.

"As long as there are methods and goals, then the careerists who pull the flag and rebel may no longer be able to hold back, and chaos may occur at any time.

"At what point, the Ming Empire may still exist, but it should no longer be our Zhu family.

"So, when Jingyuan's reforms are completed, and when he prepares those weapons and equipment to take shape, let's fight again when the time comes.

"At that time, we won't end up in person, and the civil forces that Jingyuan has cultivated with all his strength this time should fight to protect their vested interests."

There were only two royal fathers and sons at the scene, so the old emperor said it very bluntly.

For the royal family, the Ming Empire is of course very important, but the Ming Dynasty that belongs to its own family is equally important.

After listening to this, Zhu Jianyan also nodded slowly:

"Erchen finally understood, or the father was foresighted......"