July 11th.

Wu Sangui and Li Chengdong, who were stationed in Haizhou, received the imperial edict from Dorgon.

After the person who delivered the imperial edict left, the two men stood up and looked at each other.

Li Chengdong asked first: "Brother Wu, the emperor wants me to go to Haizhou now. Do you think it is a good or bad thing?"

Wu Sangui shook his head slightly: "I, Wu, can only lead troops to fight, not tell fortunes."

Li Chengdong clasped his hands together and said, "In that case, I'll take my leave."

Wu Sangui stopped him and said, "Wait, Brother Li, wait a minute."

"Oh?" Li Chengdong turned around and looked at Wu Sangui again.

Wu Sangui picked up a map of Korea and placed it on the table.

Li Chengdong didn't know what Wu Sangui was going to do, so he could only stand by and watch quietly.

Wu Sangui pointed to Haizhou, where Li Chengdong was about to go, and said, "This is a map of Korea. Haizhou is located in the west of Korea. To the north is Huangzhou, to the west and south is the sea, and to the southeast is Kaesong."

Li Chengdong was even more confused, so he spoke up to stop her, "Brother Wu, what do you want to say?"

Wu Sangui said seriously: "I want to tell you that the emperor is leaving Korea by boat."

"Ah?" Li Chengdong was shocked. "How is it possible? How come I don't know?"

Wu Sangui explained: "It's right that you don't know. This is the secret of the Eight Banners. Ordinary people will not know it. By the time ordinary people know it, the emperor has already left by boat."

Li Chengdong frowned and asked, "Brother Wu, how did you know that?"

"I have my own way of getting the news, but it's not convenient to tell you right now."

"Words are nothing, do you have any evidence?"

"Of course there is evidence!" Wu Sangui hesitated for a long time, took out Shang Kexi's handwritten letter from his arms and said, "More than a month ago, the emperor transferred Shang Kexi away in the name of supporting the front line. In fact, he did not go to the front line, but went to the seaside to buy warships."

"The purpose is not to fight against the Ming navy, but to sail to Dongfan to rebuild the country!"

Li Chengdong didn't believe it, so he took the letter from Wu Sangui and looked at it carefully.

Judging from the handwriting, this is indeed a handwritten letter from Shang Kexi.

Look at the content again.

This is also consistent with what Wu Sangui said just now.

At first he didn't quite understand why Dorgon wanted to leave Korea.

However, after considering the current situation and the attitudes of all parties in North Korea, Li Chengdong felt that leaving North Korea and going to Dongfan was the best option.

Thinking of this, Li Chengdong suddenly became happy.

Transferring him to Haizhou at this time meant that he could go to Dongfan with Dorgon.

For others, there might be a way out: surrendering to the Ming army.

But for him, this road has been blocked.

Even if the court and Chongzhen could forgive him, Gao Jie would not forgive him.

After all, he killed Gao Jie's nephew.

On the other hand, Wu Sangui was destined to be abandoned by the Qing Dynasty.

At this moment, a sense of superiority suddenly emerged in his heart.

Wu Sangui saw what Li Chengdong was thinking, and he asked in a deep voice: "Brother Li, do you think it is a good thing to transfer you to Haizhou at this time?"

"Uh...cough cough!" Li Chengdong used coughing to hide his thoughts and the embarrassment on his face.

"Haha!" Wu Sangui sneered, "Brother Li, Brother Li, you are wrong, and you are very wrong."

Li Chengdong was confused: "Wrong? What's wrong?"

Wu Sangui asked: "Why do you think the emperor wants to transfer you to Haizhou?"

Li Chengdong said nothing and started to play dumb.

Wu Sangui asked himself and answered: "Because there is space on the ship to Dongfan, I will let you go to Haizhou. Then we will set off to Dongfan together, right?"

Li Chengdong blinked, neither admitting nor denying.

Wu Sangui changed the subject and continued, "But... the emperor only needs the soldiers in your hands, not you. So there is only one outcome for you to go to Haizhou, and that is to lose your military power and your life or death will be unknown!"

Hearing this, Li Chengdong became angry.

He stared at me and asked, "What do you mean by that? What do you mean you only need my soldiers but not me?"

Wu Sangui stared and asked, "How many troops does the emperor have?"

Li Chengdong thought for a moment and said, "Not counting Shang Kexi's navy, there are about two thousand soldiers and horses."

"How many Han Chinese are there? How many Manchus and Mongolians are there?"

Li Chengdong calculated based on the known information: "The more than 2,000 people are all bannermen, half of them are Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners, and half of them are Han Eight Banners."

"Brother Li, do you have any Manchus or Mongolians under your command?"

Li Chengdong shook his head: "No."

Wu Sangui smiled slightly: "Then when you go, you will break the existing balance, causing the Han people to be more numerous than the Manchus and Mongols combined. In the eyes of the emperor, the Ming army is the enemy. When he is on guard against the Ming army, he is also on guard against the Han people within the Eight Banners."

"In order to prevent the Han people from becoming too powerful, the emperor will definitely take away your military power after you arrive in Haizhou, disrupt the organization and then assign it to different camps. As for you, you will either be framed and executed, or be left in Haizhou to die."

......

After hearing Wu Sangui's analysis, Li Chengdong didn't believe it at first.

Then I began to believe it a little, and finally I believed it completely.

Wu Sangui's analysis made so much sense that he had to believe it.

With a bang.

Li Chengdong slammed his fist on the table: "I am loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but the Qing Dynasty treats me like this."

After saying this, he felt that it was inappropriate and immediately changed his words: "I am loyal to the Jiannu, but the Jiannu treats me like this, it is really abominable!"

Wu Sangui immediately encouraged him, "Brother Li, why don't you join me in the rebellion?"

Li Chengdong was somewhat helpless: "How can we resist? We can't just surrender, right?"

Wu Sangui shook his head: "Like Brother Li, my path to surrender is blocked."

Li Chengdong asked: "What should we do? The Ming army is right in front of us. Should we declare war on Dorgon at this time? This would be like a fight between two parties, and the Ming army would benefit!"

Wu Sangui smiled mysteriously: "I won't declare war, but I can occupy the magpie's nest!"

Under Li Chengdong's expectant eyes, Wu Sangui began to talk about his plan.

In order to prevent Li Chengdong from pretending to obey but actually disobeying, Wu Sangui only told him the general plan but did not mention the specific contents.

July 12th.

Li Chengdong led his troops and set off for Haizhou.

At the same time, Li Dingguo and Li Xianzhong also led their troops to attack Haizhou and Kaesong respectively.

Haizhou is 140 miles away from Kaesong.

On the evening of July 12, Li Chengdong stopped 70 miles away from Haizhou.

He sent someone to deliver a message to Dorgon, saying that he would arrive in Haizhou on the early morning of July 14.

As soon as the messenger left, he ordered someone to invite the Jiannu military supervisor to his side.

The Jiannu military supervisor came to Li Chengdong with a haughty attitude and asked loudly, "General Li, is there anything wrong?"

Li Chengdong smiled and said, "I do have an unwelcome request."

The Jiannu military supervisor reminded with a stern face: "Except for the military pay and food wages, everything else is easy to discuss."

"It has nothing to do with military pay and food."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"It's about your life!" Li Chengdong drew out his sword as he spoke.

The Jiannu military supervisor panicked: "What...what are you going to do?"

"Kill the Jiannu and go to Dongfan!"