The autumn wind is cold and the night is dark.

On this day, a guest came to the residence of Liu Zeqing in Cao County. Liu Zeqing stepped back from all his subordinates and asked his nephew Liu Zhigan to take charge of guarding the house himself. He met the guest alone.

The reason why he is so cautious is that the identity of the visitor is really special is that Gu Junen, a military advisor under Li Zicheng.

The two of them stayed in the house for a long time, so long that even Liu Zhigan, the guard outside, yawned.

Gu Junen saw Liu Zeqing silent for a long time and smiled faintly: "General Liu has been dominating the battlefield for many years and is brave and decisive. Why is he so hesitant at this time? If you disagree, we don't have to talk about it. In the future, we will meet each other and who will win and lose depends on our ability. If you agree, our two armies will take Cao County and Julu as the line. You will continue to be your Shandong general, and we only occupy Jining, and we will not interfere from then on."

Liu Zeqing smiled and said, "Mr. Gu, don't be anxious. I am the general of Shandong in the Ming Dynasty. If you allow your troops to occupy Jining without bloodshed, how can I explain to the court? And now I am deploying defenses along the river, at least there is a danger to defend. Once I ask you to cross the river and enter Yanzhou, how can you ensure that you will not betray me and attack me? If you don't figure out these things, how dare I make this decision easily."

Gu Junen smiled and said, "General Liu, do you mind if I analyze the current situation for you?"

"Mr. Gu, please say."

"You returned to Shandong from Kaifeng, and most of your original troops lost. At present, some of the tens of thousands of troops you have are the soldiers recruited from Dongchang Prefecture and Jinan Prefecture. You are definitely not as capable as the soldiers you command as your arms. The other part is the new soldiers you have recently recruited, and their combat effectiveness is more than just mentioned. Can you expect such a group of people to stick to you? In addition, although the defense along the river is considered to be a dangerous person, there are so many ferries along the river. Our army only needs to break through one place, and you are facing a global collapse."

Liu Zeqing was told about the pain by Gu Junen. He was more familiar with the situation of his own army than anyone else. It was not impossible to rely on them to defend the river mouth, but it was indeed difficult. And the most important thing was that he didn't know how determined Li Zicheng had to take over Yanzhou.

On that day, Yuan Shizhong betrayed Li Zicheng, occupied Shangqiu, and resisted the Shun Army with Xu Dingguocheng, who was in Suizhou. However, just one month later, Yuan Shizhong was defeated and killed, and the entire army of 30,000 Yuan camp was destroyed. Xu Dingguo surrendered, and Guide's mansion was completely obtained by Li Zicheng.

If Li Zicheng only sent a side army, Liu Zeqing felt that he could still resist it. But if Li Zicheng was holding the idea that he had to seize Jining, then Liu Zeqing first thought about how he could escape faster.

Gu Junen continued, "If you give up the guards along the river and retreat the army to the north of Yanzhou, the situation will change completely differently. Caozhou's city is solid and Julu is easy to defend, which are all difficult places to capture. As long as you defend these two points at that time, our army will become much more difficult to advance north."

Hearing this, Liu Zeqing felt a little curious. "Mr. Gu, I have a little doubt in my heart, and I hope you can help me solve my doubts."

"Please tell me, General Liu."

"If I were the King of Breaking,..."

"Now it's King Xinshun." Gu Junen reminded.

"Yes, yes, it's King Xinshun. You know our situation, why don't you directly cross the river to attack Yanzhou? If you really send troops, it's really hard for me to resist."

Gu Junen smiled and said, "There are two main reasons here. One is that our army has no intention of seizing Yanzhou now, and the other is that we want to give General Liu a chance to choose."

Seeing Liu Zeqing's face full of confusion, Gu Junen patiently explained: "General Liu thought about it carefully. If our army wants to take Yanzhou, it must cross the river and attack. This is equivalent to the attacking force separating from our main force. A small number of people is not enough to take down the entire Yanzhou, while a large number of people will lead to insufficient troops in Yuzhou. This is not the situation that King Xinshun wanted to see, because the enemy of our army is not a hero who knows the current affairs like the general, but Sun Chuanting, who is training troops in Xi'an."

"You are going to send troops to Shaanxi?" Liu Zeqing looked shocked.

Gu Junen smiled and said, "No! He wants him to leave Shaanxi and fight our army in Henan. The reason why our army wants to occupy Jining is to block the possibility of southern grain entering the northern land and force him to leave Shaanxi. General, don't worry, our army will only deploy a small number of troops in Jining. And once Sun Chuanting leaves Sichuan, this troops will also retreat to Henan, and the entire Shandong will still be yours."

Liu Zeqing smiled disbelief and said, "How could you spit out what you swallowed into your mouth?"

Gu Junen replied: "This is what I just mentioned about the choice that King Xinshun gave to General Liu. King Xinshun was ordered to conquer Kaifeng of Bianjing, and the total force was nearly 400,000. At present, the only one who could compete with the Ming Dynasty was the only one led by Sun Chuanting. If our army defeated Sun Chuanting again, wouldn't it be easy to get the world? Is General Liu really want to be buried for the Ming Dynasty? No matter how you look at you, you are not that kind of person!"

Liu Zeqing laughed dryly and didn't say anything.

Gu Junen continued: "Good birds choose trees to live in. Everyone has their own choices. King Xinshun hopes that when our army fights against Sun Chuanting's troops, General Liu will be able to hold his troops without moving. If our army is defeated by Sun Chuanting, we cannot interfere with whatever you want. If our army defeats Sun Chuanting, I believe you will definitely make a correct choice. At that time, General Liu will never lose his wealth and honor for a lifetime. But the premise for such conditions is that you will keep holding your troops without moving, otherwise King Xinshun will not give you another chance to choose."

Liu Zeqing's face changed slightly, and hesitated for a while and said, "Give me fifteen days. At that time, I will transfer most of the troops along the river bank of Dan County, and you will land from there."

Gu Junen wondered, "Why does it take so long?"

"I don't want to bear the blame for losing the vassal king in Jining. And you will continue to attack on small scale during this period, so that even if I give up Jining in the end, I will give in to the court. If you can do this, our cooperation will be much smoother in the future."

Gu Junen smiled and said, "It's better for General Liu to think carefully. OK, I will agree to the general on behalf of King Xinshun. But I also have one thing here on my side that I hope the general can help."

“What’s the busy thing?”

"I hope the general can sell us a batch of grain. The larger the quantity, the better. As for the price? We are willing to appear twice the market price."
Chapter completed!