"Let's talk business!" Lin Qingye put away his smile and said to Li Shifang, "I came here for the war."

Li Shifang frowned and asked, "Master Lin wants me to withdraw my troops?"

"We can't retreat!" Lin Qingye shook his head. "Not only can we not retreat, we must also launch an attack according to the Jiannu's military orders."

"How can that be possible?" This time it was Li Shifang's turn to shake his head. He shook his head like a rattle: "My Lord ordered me to lead the elite troops here just to deal with the Jian Nu, not to really fight the Ming Dynasty. If we meet on the battlefield, I will follow my Lord's instructions and retreat after firing a few shots."

Lord is the respectful title given to the King of Korea by the Korean subjects.

Since Korea was a vassal state, Korean subjects could not address the Korean king with words such as "Emperor" or "Your Majesty", but had to use "Lord" instead.

In addition to Lord, there are also a series of titles such as King, Your Highness, and Grand Palace.

"Not only are there Jiannu's military supervisors in the army, but there are also many generals who are loyal to Jiannu. How do you deal with them?" Lin Qingye asked.

"Hehe," Li Shifang laughed sinisterly, "Every time I line up the army, I will place my trusted men in front of it. When the time is right, they will be defeated according to my orders. The military supervisors or the generals who are loyal to Jian Nu will not find any problems! Even if they investigate the reasons for the failure, they can only punish some soldiers and generals, but they can't trace it back to me."

"Aren't you afraid of being dismissed from your official position?" Lin Qingye asked.

"That's great!" Li Shifang almost jumped up with joy. "As soon as the news that Jiannu was going to recruit troops from Korea came out, the generals in the court were either sick or injured. I was playing chess with my master at the time and had no time to pretend to be sick. It would be great if I could be relieved of my post!"

"This..." Lin Qingye was speechless for a moment.

"What should I do next?" Li Shifang asked, "Whatever you say is what I will do."

Lin Qingye took out Wang Yongji's letter and handed it to him while saying, "If nothing unexpected happens, Jian Nu will order you to launch an attack on the Ming's eastern front troops at the right time. You must cross the river in a big way, attack, and then retreat!"

"The Ming army on the other side of the river will pretend to defend and fake a counterattack."

Li Shifang lowered his head and pondered for a while, then raised his head and asked, "Master Lin, do you mean to put on a show for the Jiannu on the eastern front?"

"Yes, let's put on a great offensive and defensive show for the Jiannu!"

"What's the purpose of doing this?" Li Shifang was puzzled. "No matter how well we perform, there will be unexpected situations and even casualties. Isn't it better to just withdraw the troops?"

"Just do it, and I will fulfill my promise after it's done."

"Well... okay then!" Li Shifang agreed readily.

After the two sides agreed on the method and location of sending the message, Lin Qingye left behind several personal soldiers as insiders, and the rest followed him back to Liu Zhaoji's camp.

Liu Zhaoji was not in the camp, but went to the central army camp twenty miles away to meet with Wang Yongji to discuss important matters.

Outside Songshan City.

Wang Yongji was listening to Li Laiheng's report: "Your Excellency the Governor, the operation to catch spies in the city is underway. With the mutual denunciation of the people, more than a hundred spies have been caught."

"Okay," Wang Yongji nodded, "We'll still use the public trial method in the future. Even if there is a mistaken killing, it won't cause public resentment!"

"Yes." Li Laiheng took the order and left.

Only generals and commanders above the rank of commander-in-chief were left in the central army camp.

"Everyone," Wang Yongji said, "Songshan has been captured, and the next step is Jinzhou. Do you have confidence?"

"Yes!" the generals responded in unison.

How could I not have confidence?

Although the Ming army has suffered heavy casualties since entering Liao, each unit is still in high spirits!

Why?

Because I have money!

Every time a city was recaptured, there was not only the merit of being the first to reach it, but also a lot of first merit.

Who doesn’t love the bright white round treasures of Ming Dynasty?

This is not over yet!

Injured soldiers can receive silver during their recovery period, and the families of soldiers who died in battle also receive pensions.

With the huge amount of money, the Ming army was as excited as if they had been injected with chicken blood!

"However," Wang Yongji lowered his tone, "Before attacking Jinzhou, this governor has two questions."

"Governor, please ask, we will answer truthfully!" Wu Sangui took the lead.

"Okay," Wang Yongji nodded, "The first question is, since entering Liao, Your Majesty and the court have never set a task or deadline for the Liao-pacifying army, right?"

Everyone thought about it and nodded at the same time: "Yes."

The generals knew it very well.

After entering Liao, Chongzhen and the court were only responsible for providing supplies. As for other matters, they only briefly inquired about them but did not interfere.

Even when Chongzhen's son, Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong, came to Liaodong in person, he only experienced life in the central military tent and did not give any orders.

"Okay," Wang Yongji nodded again, "The second question is, since entering Liao, I have never given you an order to capture a certain place within a certain time limit without knowing the situation, right?"

This sentence was a bit long. After pondering for a while, everyone nodded again: "What the Governor said is true."

"But we'll make an exception this time!" Wang Yongji's expression was solemn. "It's late August now. We must take Jinzhou within 20 days at the longest and half a month at the shortest!"

Wu Sangui, Li Xingzhong, Liu Zhaoji, Huang Degong and other generals from Liaodong nodded in agreement.

Generals who were not from Liaodong, such as Gao Yigong, showed puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Please explain this to me, Governor!" Gao Yigong asked shamelessly.

"I just said that it is already late August! Winter comes early in Liaodong. If the water in the bucket is left outside overnight, the upper layer of water will freeze. In another half month or twenty days, the freezing will be even more serious."

"The defenders of Nanshan and Jinzhou will sprinkle water on the road that our army must take to attack. The ice surface will be slippery and difficult to advance! It will cause great trouble to our army!"