Li Dingguo's official position was the commander-in-chief of the Huguang militia.
Li Xianzhong's official position was deputy general of the Beijing Camp, and logically he was below Li Dingguo.
but...
The rank of local officials cannot be directly compared with that of Beijing officials.
This is also the reason why Li Xianzhong dared to confront Li Dingguo.
Li Dingguo had already guessed that Li Xianzhong would cause trouble for him, so when he heard this, he immediately said, "It was not my intention that General Li Xingzhong was injured!"
"The situation at that time was that the Jiannu had several times more troops than ours! If we rashly provided support, not only would we fail to break the siege of Dalinghe, but we would also fall into their trap of surrounding the point and attacking the reinforcements!"
"You can go around to the north of Daling River and join my elder brother to defeat the enemy together!" Li Xianzhong continued to question.
Li Dingguo shook his head and sighed: "General Li Xingzhong's troops are all elite soldiers who can fight ten to one. They can fight against the Eight Banners Army head-on without losing the upper hand! But my troops are not like that. After joining forces, they will only become a burden. That's why I came up with the method of besieging Wei to save Zhao."
This sentence is quite profound.
It not only praised Li Xingzhong, but also explained the reasons.
Li Xianzhong couldn't find any fault with it.
He met Chongzhen before leaving Beijing.
Chongzhen asked him to maintain a good relationship with Li Dingguo.
Recalling Chongzhen's words, Li Xianzhong raised his glass and toasted Li Dingguo.
Li Dingguo let out a long sigh and drank the wine in the glass.
When the banquet was about to end, a messenger suddenly came to report: "Your Excellency the Governor, the Jiannu sent someone to deliver a handwritten letter from Dorgon, the General of Dingyuan."
"Dorgon? General Dingyuan?" Wang Yongji was stunned. "Isn't Dorgon the commander-in-chief of the Jiannu navy? When did he become the General Dingyuan?"
"I don't know."
"Send in new Jiannu. I want to interrogate them personally."
After asking, Wang Yongji learned that the power within the Jiannu had already changed.
The specific process of the change is unknown.
The Jiannu who delivered the letter was a low-level soldier and knew limited information.
Even if we kill him, we won't be able to get any other information.
"Where is the letter?" Wang Yongji asked.
The Jiannu messenger took out the letter from his arms and handed it to the soldier next to him.
After checking that it was non-toxic, the letter was handed to Wang Yongji.
After reading the contents of the letter, Wang Yongji did not rush to speak, but asked the Jiannu messenger to leave temporarily.
"Governor, what does the letter say?" Wu Sangui asked impatiently.
"Hmm..." Wang Yongji pondered, not knowing how to answer.
"What exactly was written? Please tell us, Governor!" Huang Degong couldn't help asking.
The other generals also looked at Wang Yongji with questioning eyes.
"Hmm..." Wang Yongji said after organizing his words briefly: "The Jiannu wanted to use the entire family of Prince Lu and Zu Dashou himself in exchange for the remains of Ajige, Ebilun and others."
"Ah?" Wu Sangui was shocked. "My...my uncle is coming back?"
"Yes, if the court agrees, Zu Dashou can come back!" Wang Yongji replied.
"This...this is a great thing!" After being shocked, Wu Sangui forced himself to smile with joy.
He didn't know whether Zu Dashou's return was a good thing or a bad thing for him, and could only hide his true thoughts with a smile.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple!" Li Dingguo suddenly said.
"What is your opinion, General Li?" Wang Yongji asked.
Li Dingguo began to analyze: "If the Jiannu messenger did not lie, Dorgon has regained power."
"The previous ruler was Jirgalang! He and Dorgon had always been at odds and would never voluntarily hand over power. In other words, Dorgon's return to power was not smooth."
"After regaining power, Dorgon urgently needed time to stabilize the internal situation."
"That's why he wrote the letter to resubmit the exchange to delay time!"
"If nothing unexpected happens, Dorgon will go back on his word in the end!" Li Dingguo said firmly.
"General Li is likely to be wrong," Wang Yongji pushed Dorgon's handwritten letter forward and placed it in the middle of the table, "Prince Lu's family and Zu Dashou himself have already left Shenyang and will arrive at the east bank of the Liao River the day after tomorrow at the latest."
"We can always send someone to the other side of the river to verify the authenticity! If he had no sincerity, he wouldn't have gone to such great lengths."
"What does the Governor think?" Li Dingguo asked.
"None of us can make the decision on this matter. We need to consult the court and His Majesty!" Wu Sangui rushed to say.
"That's right," Wang Yongji nodded, "I do need to ask His Majesty for instructions!"
"It would take at least three days for a letter to go back and forth. According to the plan, we should send troops tomorrow. Now that this incident has happened, should we send troops tomorrow or not?" Huang Degong said while burping.
Although he had drunk quite a bit of alcohol, he was still conscious and did not interfere with the discussion.
"More than three days!" Wang Yongji pointed at the letter and said, "It takes time to find, dig up and transport the remains. After transporting them to Liaodong, the two sides will have to negotiate on how to exchange them. This process could take as short as one or two days, or as long as several days or even more than ten days."
"Can't we just talk and fight at the same time? War is a matter of great importance to a country. Now that the plan to send troops has been made, it cannot be delayed no matter what happens." said Li Xianzhong, who had just entered Liaodong.
He was a general of the Beijing Camp and was in urgent need of merit to prove himself.
And merit can only be gained on the battlefield.
"We can't send troops rashly," Liu Zhaoji said cautiously, "Prince Lu is a member of the royal family. If we send troops to attack Jian Nu at this time, Jian Nu will be angry and very likely to do something to harm Prince Lu."
"If this is investigated later, all of you present here will be held responsible."
Everyone present thought it made sense, and they all nodded and looked towards Prince Ding Zhu Cijiong in the corner.
If something really happened to Prince Lu, perhaps Zhu Cijiong would be the only one who would not be implicated.
"We can't just sit here like this. An army of one hundred thousand consumes thousands of stones of food and fodder every day. If we don't send troops, we will be accused of wasting food and fodder and being afraid of the enemy." Wu Sangui reminded loudly.
"You guys discuss it. I will write a letter to the court right now and let the court make the decision." Wang Yongji asked someone to bring the pen, ink, paper and inkstone and began to write.
The others discussed countermeasures in the central military tent.
There are only two views.
Send troops to attack immediately, or wait and see.
"Everyone, I think there is a way to have the best of both worlds." Li Dingguo stood up and said.
"Oh?" Hearing him say that, Wang Yongji couldn't help but stop writing.
He looked at Li Dingguo and asked in a deep voice, "What do you think, General Li?"
"It's not a brilliant opinion, I just have an immature idea." Li Dingguo said modestly.
"Tell me about it."
"The war must be fought, otherwise I will be sorry for His Majesty and the court, and I will be sorry for the soldiers and the people." Li Dingguo said with a smile on his face.
"If we attack the Jiannu at this time, wouldn't that harm His Royal Highness Prince Lu?" Wu Sangui said unhappily.
"Don't fight the Jiannu."
"Who to hit then?"
"Fight the Mongols in Liaodong!"
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