After Fan Wencheng sat down, he casually took the "Daming Forum" newspaper handed to him by Li Yongfang. After just two glances, he looked surprised and frowned.
After a long while, Fan Wencheng put the newspaper down and said in a deep voice, "This is a conspiracy against you, my Lord."
Li Yongfang gave a bitter smile and said, "I know that, but so what? In the past, such tricks wouldn't have hurt me at all, but now—"
Fan Wencheng naturally knew that the situation had changed drastically. Nurhaci was furious, and this confession was like adding fuel to the fire. Li Yongfang's prospects were not good.
"Let's put this aside for now." Li Yongfang was also helpless. He waved his hand and said, "You understand the current situation even without me telling you. We have suffered a series of setbacks and our military strength has been greatly damaged. We can no longer disperse our troops."
Fan Wencheng agreed and said slowly, "Shrinking to Liaoshen is a good strategy, but as for Jianzhou, I'm afraid neither Khan nor the King will give it up."
Li Yongfang pondered and said, "Jianzhou has two banners of troops, so it should be safe. Liaochen has assembled six banners, so the Ming army may not dare to attack easily. If we can hold out for a year or two, perhaps the situation will change."
It turned out that he was planning to wait and see, which coincided with my own idea.
Fan Wencheng nodded slightly and said, "Your Excellency, this is a very good plan. In terms of strength, the Great Jin is indeed far inferior to the Great Ming. To be pessimistic, if the Great Ming had not been plagued by deep-seated problems, with a corrupt ruler and corrupt officials, endless court infighting, and exhausted generals and soldiers, its earlier victories would not have been possible."
After a pause, Fan Wencheng added, "Temporarily retreating and waiting for changes is the perfect strategy for dealing with the Ming Dynasty. How can the accumulated ills be corrected in a short period of time? How can the selfishness of the emperor, officials, and generals be changed overnight? Whenever the situation in Liaodong stabilizes, or there's a chance of victory, there will inevitably be factional strife in the Ming court. This is an unchanging law."
Li Yongfang smiled and nodded, saying, "Would Wencheng be willing to join me in making a proposal to the Khan?"
Fan Wencheng shook his head unexpectedly and said, "I do not agree with the suggestion from the Prince Consort."
"Why is this?" Li Yongfang looked at Fan Wencheng in surprise and displeasure.
Fan Wencheng remained calm and said slowly, "If the Prince Consort and I were to offer advice at this time, it would probably backfire. Only if someone else were to speak can the Khan listen."
Li Yongfang stroked his beard and pondered, finally understanding Fan Wencheng's intention. Nurhaci was extremely suspicious of Han Chinese and Han officials, and would not listen to correct opinions, which would only arouse rebellious psychology.
"As for the most suitable person now, I think it must be the Fourth Prince." Fan Wencheng did not hide anything and directly stated the candidate in his mind.
Li Yongfang thought about it and agreed.
This is not difficult to guess. Among the four great beiles of the Later Jin Dynasty, Daishan was seriously injured and had not recovered yet, Manggurtai became half a disabled person, and Amin was probably dead. Only Huang Taiji was left.
Li Yongfang and Fan Wencheng did not know that Huang Taiji had suffered a setback at Zhenjiang Fort, and Huang Taiji really did not want to publicize the matter, but Nurhaci still knew about it.
A traitor? I guess so! Even though the four great beiles seem to get along well on the surface, who doesn't covet the Khan's throne secretly?
Take Daishan for example. Although he was deposed as the crown prince, he had the strongest power, the highest prestige, and was the oldest. He was the only prince born to Nurhaci's first wife (his elder brother Chu Ying had died). He was the most likely to inherit his father's throne and become Khan.
There was no need for Manggurtai to think about it. He no longer had any soldiers under his command and was like a useless man.
Amin was dead. Although his body was not found, he was as good as dead.
In this way, it was a competition between Daishan and Huang Taiji. There must be people in the Zhengbai Banner who favored Daishan. The secret leak of Huang Taiji's affairs might have been sent by Daishan, or perhaps it was to curry favor with Daishan.
No matter what the inside story was, Nurhaci learned about it through Daishan.
"This is a trick of the Ming court. They want to alienate my father and me with just a trick?" Nurhaci thought about it and responded with a sneer.
But when Nurhaci was the only one left in the room, his face turned gloomy and he fell into long thought.
………………
Guangning, Tuanshan Fort.
A long row of mat tents had been erected in the open space five or six miles outside the fort. These tents were separated by chevaux de frise, leaving only a narrow path for pedestrians. To the north were the Mongols, and to the south were the Han merchants.
The goods from the Han merchants have been displayed in the tent, including silk, cotton cloth, iron pots, tea, spices, etc., with quite a wide variety.
As the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, which monopolized northern border trade, the more horse markets the imperial court opened, the more they earned. Merchants flocked to the market, even if the distance was much longer, let alone shipping goods over a thousand miles.
The goods from the Mongols were relatively simple. Apart from cattle, horses and sheep, they also had some rough blankets and felts.
Following the Mongols were naturally the Han people who were sent back, as well as people like Hai Lanzhu who pretended to be Han people.
After the Mongols handed over these Han people, whether real or fake, to the Ming army here, they hurriedly occupied the tents in the north, waiting for the horse market transaction.
Across from the tent, there were several large signs listing the trading rules and prices. Bartering was permitted, and you could also exchange the items for cash first and then buy them.
Both sides have people who are fluent in Mongolian and Chinese, so if they come to trade, they cannot do it without a translator.
Dalhan had done this job before, and looking at the bustling market, he suddenly felt a lot of emotion.
"General, can we go to the market to buy things?" Dalhan looked at his leather jacket and asked the Ming army soldier next to him with a bow.
The Ming soldier was quite friendly and said, "You can go to the market after your number plates are issued. Then you will gather at the fort gate to register."
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