When the army marched to Menggen's mansion, the scouts came to report to Jiang Guotai for an audience.

Li An was a little puzzled, why did Jiang Guotai come, shouldn't he be in Siam. Although he was puzzled, he immediately summoned Jiang Guotai.

Originally, Li Dingguo, in history, wanted to find allies after two failed attacks on Burma, so he sent Jiang Guotai and Gao Ruzhen to Siam.

After Jiang Guotai arrived in Siam, he found the Siamese king Nalai to explain his intentions, and after listening to it, Nalai attached great importance to Li Dingguo's invitation.

Because of the feud between Siam and Burma, the capital Ayutthaya was sacked by the Burmese army in 1659. And Nanming sacrificed Emperor Yongli because of the King of Burma, and the two families became mortal enemies

Taking advantage of the civil strife in Burma and the entry of the Ming army, the king of Siam, who had recovered a certain strength, was ready to counterattack, since Burma and the Ming Dynasty had become mortal enemies, Siam was naturally friendly with the Southern Ming, and the two formed an anti-Burmese alliance.

After King Nalai explained his intention to Jiang Guotai, he immediately sent officials to see Li Dingguo with an edict sent by Emperor Wanli.

Aided Li Dingguo's elephants and horses, and let Li Dingguo recuperate in Jinglin, and also gave great treatment to the Ming Dynasty refugees who fled to Siam, giving two liters of rice and three coins of silver per day.

Nalai was quite able to bend and stretch, although at this time Li Dingguo's army was rootless and had to rely on Siam's help to get supplies.

But Nalai knew that the army was not strong, and he had to rely on these experienced veterans of the Ming army, so he was very polite to Li Dingguo, and he also called himself a "partial vassal", because according to the etiquette of the Ming Dynasty, Li Dingguo, the king of Jin, was a prince, and the king of Siam was the king of the county.

At the same time as Jiang Guotai went to Siam, Ma Jiu Gong also achieved success in Wa State, he helped the local princes train their troops, organized a team of more than 4,000 people, and formed a tripartite anti-Burmese alliance between Jin, Tai, and Wa.

But at this time, Li Dingguo died of illness, the morale of the army collapsed, and his son Li Sixing surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, and those who did not want to surrender to the Qing Dynasty scattered.

As a result, the last chance is gone.

In less than a moment, Jiang Guotai, a waiter of the Ministry of Rites dressed in a red Ming Dynasty uniform, saw Li An, and after the salute, Jiang Guotai opened his mouth and asked, "King, you are going to Jingli now."

Li An nodded and said, "This king plans to go to the Jinglian to integrate the soldiers and horses first, and recuperate. ”

Jiang Guotai hurriedly said: "No, no, Ma Jiugong has led 4,000 men and horses back from Gula, and the aid of Siam has been transported to the officials, and now they must not go to the Jinglin, and they should occupy Menggong Mansion on the spot." ”

Jiang Guotai slowed down for a moment and continued: "Your Majesty, do you think that if we leave the homeland of the Ming Dynasty, can we fight back?" People's hearts are the most volatile, and when we fight back, who else will be able to support us? Now the anti-Qing sentiment in the entire southwest is rising, and there are not a few people who are interested in the Ming Dynasty, and staying here may not be impossible to achieve. ”

The words woke up Li An in an instant, and he suddenly came to his senses, yes, although it is best to go to the scenery militarily, integrate the army to recuperate. But politically it fails, and if you leave the land, it will be difficult to come back. Moreover, Li Dingguo had died of illness at this time in history, but now that Li Dingguo is still alive, his life is the greatest hope, so as Jiang Guotai said, it may not be impossible to succeed.

If Li An goes to Jingxian, there will definitely be no problem in ruling Jinglin, and it will not be more difficult than managing Tusi in Yunnan.

But the power of the scenery line cannot be defeated by a county in the Central Plains, even with the strong support of Siam, I am afraid that there is no hope for the restoration of the great cause, at most in the chaos of Southeast Asia.

Li An was silent for a moment and then said slowly: "It's this king who thinks about it, just thinking about the army to recuperate, but ignoring the hearts of the people, what Cathay said is extremely true, if we leave, then we may never come back." ”

Li An did not delay any longer, and immediately made a decision, and ordered Jin Tongwu to stop the whole army from advancing, and asked Ma Siliang to find a place to camp.

Soon the camp was set up under Ma Siliang's arrangement, and Li An immediately convened the generals to discuss the big tent.

A quarter of an hour later, a total of 15 people, including Jin Tongwu, Wu Sanxing, Hu Shundu, Jiang Guotai, Wang Daoheng, Ma Siliang, Lei Chaosheng, Li Sixing, Li Runxing, Wang Gongfu, Qi Lei, Wu Guoan, Jin Tai, Liu Zhen, Wei Yong, and Qi Sansheng, all came to the big tent.

After saluting Li An, Jiang Guotai took the lead in the ranks, analyzed the pros and cons of going to the scenery line to everyone, and suggested attacking Menggen's mansion on the spot.

After listening to the discussion, the crowd was roughly divided into three factions.

Jin Tongwu, Wu Sanxing and other generals supported the attack on Menggenfu. Li Sixing and Liu Zhen insisted on continuing to go to Jinglin, thinking that it was too dangerous to stay here. Wang Gongfu, Qi Lei and others suggested that the heirs of the Ming Dynasty should be established first and the Ming dynasty should be continued.

After listening to everyone's discussions, Li An coughed and signaled everyone to be quiet, and said, "This king has decided to attack Menggen's mansion. ”

Wang Gongfu came out and said: "King, our top priority is to find an heir of the emperor and continue the Ming dynasty. ”

Li An asked, "Is there an heir of the emperor now?" ”

Wang Gongfu replied: "Yes, the lower officials have found out that Zhu Jingchun, the general of Fengguo, is now in Lancang. In the thirteenth year of Yongli, when the first emperor entered Burma, Zhu Jingchun did not keep up with the team because of the slow movement of dragging his family and mouth, so he was still in Yunnan. Zhu Jingchun is a descendant of King Han, the nineteenth son of Taizu, and the first line of King Han was sealed in Liaodong, and it was changed to Pingliang, Shaanxi during the Yongle period. Wang, Zhu Jingchun is the most suitable candidate. ”

Menggong Mansion is indeed a good base area, located on the border, and the Qing court has been in financial difficulties under the continuous war, and it is difficult to use troops against Menggong Mansion again. Moreover, Mongunfu borders Siam and can help each other.

Li An nodded and said: "Gongfu is reasonable, Hu Shundu received the order, you immediately lead 1,000 men and horses to Lancang to pick up the Fengguo general Zhu Jingchun." ”

Hu Shundu came out and arched his hand: "The last general will take the order." ”

Immediately, Hu Shundu went out of the tent and ordered a thousand men and horses, and galloped towards Lancang.

After Li An ordered Hu Shundu, he let Jin Tongwu, Wu Sanxing, Ma Siliang, and Jiang Guotai stay, and the rest dispersed.

A picture was taken out by Li An and spread on the big case, and Jin Tongwu and the other four people also surrounded him.

Li An pointed to the Menggong Mansion on the map and said to Wu Sanxing: "Tongwu, let you fight the capital Mengjiao, how long will it take to defeat it?" ”

Jin Tongwu said: "It's just a small Tusi city, and the last general can take it in an instant."

Li Anfu was a little speechless, this Jin Tongwu is still this straight man, he despises Meng Cai's soldiers and horses, and the lion fights the rabbit with all his strength, not to mention that this is the first battle he has come to this world, and he must fight this battle well.

In the end, Li An decided to let Wu Sanxing go to fight Meng Luo, and Jin Tongwu to sweep the rest of the places.

Li An said to Jiang Guotai again: "How much is the grain and grass that Cathay Siam has aided?" ”

Jiang Guotai replied: "Siam provided a total of 3,000 stone of grain, 50 war elephants, 200 horses, 2,000 soldiers, and a number of guns and knives. ”

Li An sighed: "A small vassal country also has great righteousness. ”

Then Li An asked Ma Siliang to report on the number of grain, grass and soldiers and horses.

Ma Siliang said: "Count the soldiers and horses in the car and the soldiers and horses in Siam. There were a total of 14,263 soldiers, 5,260 stones of grain, forage, 1,068 war horses, 2,796 horses, 67 war elephants, 7,830 spears, 1,367 long-handled knives, 629 waist knives, 246 bows, 4,368 arrows, 2,137 firearms, 7 tiger squat cannons, 4 big Buddha cannons, and 800 pounds of gunpowder. ”

"In addition, less than one-third of the total army is clothed in armor, and there is a serious shortage of armor." Ma Siliang finally added

Li An nodded, very satisfied with Ma Siliang's report, Ma Siliang is a careful and rigorous person, although he has a small amount of energy and a heavy desire for power, but he is still useful.

Li An said: "Wu Sansheng, this king will give you 5,000 soldiers and horses to capture Mengye, including 3,500 infantry and 500 cavalry." ”

Wu San said: "The last general will take the order." ”

He said to Jin Tongwu: "Tongwu, you take 5,000 people to pacify the rest of the place." ”

Jin Tongwu immediately came out to receive the order.

Now the Qing court has been fighting for many years, financial difficulties, and there is no spare strength to continue the war, at this time Li An only needs to beware of Wu Sangui in Kunming, in order to guard against Wu Sangui, Li An decided to personally lead 5000 troops to garrison the north, in case of accidents.