Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing lowered their heads quietly and avoided Li Zicheng's gaze.
Whoever speaks at this time will be in trouble!
The other generals didn't know what to say. After all, their performance on the battlefield was not satisfactory.
Seeing that the others were silent, Li Yan stood up and advised: "Your Majesty, calm down. In a war, casualties are inevitable. Although our army suffered casualties in this battle, we successfully captured Daming Prefecture, which boosted the morale of the army."
"Your Majesty should be happy."
"What's there to be happy about in an empty city? It's a pity that Fang Liang is gone!" Li Zicheng continued to complain.
Although Li Zicheng was somewhat dissatisfied with Liu Fangliang, he never doubted his loyalty.
If possible, he would rather give up Daming Prefecture and save Liu Fangliang.
Li Yan thought for a moment, took out an account book from his bosom, opened it and read: "The various departments looted nearly 200,000 taels of silver in the city, as well as farm tools, pots and pans, and countless beddings."
“These things may seem worthless, but they are very practical.”
"As for General Fang Liang," Li Yan blinked, "I do have a way to rescue him. Whether it will come true depends on God's will."
"Oh?" Li Zicheng's eyes lit up and he said eagerly, "Mr. Li, please speak!"
Facing everyone's inquiring gazes, Li Yan smiled slightly.
"Send someone to negotiate with the Ming court. As long as they hand over General Fang Liang, our army will withdraw from Daming Prefecture. In short, we will use Daming Prefecture to exchange for General Fang Liang!"
"Will this... work?" Li Zicheng was a little skeptical.
It’s not that he was reluctant to leave Daming Prefecture, but he suspected that the Ming court would not agree.
After all, Daming Prefecture is already an empty city and has no value at all.
Niu Jinxing also understood this truth, but in order to disgust Li Yan, he looked at Song Xiance and took a step forward: "In order to capture Daming Prefecture, our army suffered more than 10,000 casualties. How can we give up so easily?"
"Yes! War is no joke. How can you exchange a city for a person? What's more, the emperor has already established his capital in Xi'an and can no longer travel around like before. He needs to capture cities and territories and erode the Ming court!" Song Xiance added.
"What's the value of an empty city without people?" Li Yan asked, "If you can't collect taxes or recruit soldiers, what's the point of keeping it?"
Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance's faces turned extremely ugly.
The conflict between the two of them and Li Yan was known to everyone in Dashun. If Li Zicheng had not intervened to mediate, the situation would have become tense long ago.
"Mr. Li is right!" Li Zicheng nodded in approval. "It's settled. Mr. Li will be fully responsible for this matter. Send two Ming prisoners out of the city tomorrow and have them consult with the Ming court. As for success or failure, it all depends on God's will!"
After discussing Liu Fangliang's matter, Li Zicheng picked up the teacup on the table and drank the tea in it.
"Now let's get down to business. Where should we march to?"
Niu Jinxing was afraid that others would take the credit, so he was the first to stand up and make a suggestion: "Your Majesty, I think we should station troops in Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. To the east, we can attack Guide Prefecture and Xuzhou; to the south, we can advance to Nanyang and Runing; to the southeast, we can threaten Fengyang, Huai'an, Yangzhou and even Nanjing!"
"The specific location of the attack will depend on the deployment of the Ming court's troops."
Li Zicheng didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.
On the surface, there seemed to be nothing wrong with this strategy, but he always felt it was too ordinary.
The Shun army had many soldiers and generals before attacking Beijing, so there would be no problem in using the troops according to this strategy.
After the defeat in the Battle of Beijing, the number of available troops dropped sharply.
Facing the same number of Ming troops, even with the participation of the old camp's troops, the Shun army did not have an advantage in winning.
It’s difficult to gain a foothold in Zhengzhou or Kaifeng!
Song Xian Ce observed the emperor's words and said, "Your Majesty, I think the most urgent task is not to gain a firm foothold in Henan, but to create chaos in Henan."
"Chaos?" Li Zicheng looked up at Song Xiance, full of hope for the remarks that this military advisor of the Dashun military would soon make.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Song Xiance straightened his back quietly.
"I think our army should divide its forces to attack various counties in Henan. After conquering them, we should only rob them of money and food but not occupy the cities. If the Ming army comes, we should leave. If the Ming army does not come, we should continue to fight to support the war. In short, we should not confront the main force of the Ming army, so that they have all their strength but nowhere to use it."
"When the Ming army becomes exhausted or runs short of food and grass, our army will immediately send its main force to fight them, and we will surely win!"
After listening to Song's plan, Li Zicheng smiled from the bottom of his heart: "Military Advisor Song is indeed a talented young man of our time. This plan is very much to my liking."
Why did Li Zicheng praise this plan so much?
Because he used this method to defeat Sun Chuanting's Qin army.
In the 16th year of Chongzhen, Sun Chuanting led an army of 100,000 out of Tongguan to attack Li Zicheng.
After learning about this, Li Zicheng personally led the main force north to Henan to meet the enemy.
There are thousands of miles of barren land in Henan and food is scarce.
In order to stretch the Ming army's supply line, Li Zicheng adopted the strategy of luring the enemy deep into his territory and deployed his main forces in the area around Jiaxian County, Henan Province.
Since the government troops could not rob the people of their food like bandits did, the food and fodder they needed could only be transported from Tongguan in Shaanxi to Henan.
The supply line is thousands of miles long!
The longer the supply line, the easier it is to be attacked by surprise.
Although Li Zicheng was defeated by Sun Chuanting on the front battlefield, the 10,000 cavalry led by Liu Zongmin took a small road to the rear of the Ming army and cut off the Ming army's food supply.
With the food supply route cut off, Sun Chuanting had no choice but to lead his troops back to provide reinforcements.
On the Ming army side, the officers and soldiers under Henan General Chen Yongfu thought that the Qin army that came back to support were deserters, so they retreated behind the Qin army.
Chen Yongfu's failure to discipline his troops resulted in chaos during the retreat.
Seeing this, Li Zicheng took advantage of the situation and killed Sun Chuanting, who was defeated!
Li Zicheng planned to use the same trick again, dragging Huang Degong, Gao Jie and others into the Henan battlefield and making trouble for the grain route.
Li Yan stepped forward and bowed, "Your Majesty, I have a different idea."
"Tell me about it." Li Zicheng said casually.
In his mind, Song Xiance's plan was the best one.
Letting Li Yan speak was just out of politeness, and he didn't take what he was about to say to heart.
"I think we should give up Damingfu, Zhengzhou, and Luoyang."
"Gather all the troops together and then divide them into three groups."
"We must go up the Yellow River to support Datong. Datong is the northern gateway of Shanxi and we must not lose it!"
"We have to guard Tongguan all the way. Tongguan is the eastern gate of Guanzhong and has always been a battleground for military strategists. Only by guarding Tongguan can Guanzhong be worry-free."
"The last route is to go south to Huguang to contain Zuo Liangyu's main force. Zhang Xianzhong is attacking Sichuan, and Zuo Liangyu is behind him. We must help Zhang Xianzhong this time."
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