Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 261 Ambition
In the lobby of Bozhou Prefecture, all the generals of the Western Army arrived
There were four chairs at the top of the hall, on which Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi sat in order.
On the left below are the Central Army Commander Wang Shangli, the Front Army Commander Bai Wenxuan, the Rear Army Commander Feng Shuangli and several other generals from the Five Army Commander Office.
On the right are He Jiuyi, Jin Tongwu, Gao Chengen and other generals under the command of the four generals.
Sun Kewang sat at the top, with a gloomy look in his eyes. He glanced at the generals gathered below and spoke softly:
"The Ming court sent people to persuade our Western Army to surrender. What do you think?"

Although it was only one day, everyone in the Western Army knew that the Ming court had sent people to surrender.

Five days ago, the Ming court somehow learned that the Western Army had reached Bozhou, and sent people into the camp to persuade the Western Army to surrender by providing them with 2,000 dan of rice every month.

The Ming court wanted to surrender the Western Army. Although the generals were surprised, they did not think it was surprising.

But what really displeased the generals in the army was that General Pingdong Sun Kewang actually secretly detained the Ming court envoy.

If the Ming envoy hadn't used some unknown method to cause this incident, people probably wouldn't have known that the Ming court had sent an envoy.

This made Bai Wenxuan and other generals of the Western Army extremely dissatisfied. Although they elected Sun Kewang as their leader, they were not loyal to you.
No one in the camp knew about the Ming court's surrender. Did Sun Kewang really think he was the emperor and could make all decisions?
Yesterday, Wu Ziqi and his men did not leave the Pingdong Army camp, and not many people saw this. However, if one person knew about this, it would be impossible to conceal it.

Wu Ziqi and his men forced their way out of the camp at noon and were quickly captured and taken away. However, by the afternoon, the news of the Ming court’s arrival had spread throughout the Western Army.

Since yesterday afternoon, the commanders of the various camps in the army have been sending people to Pingdong Army to inquire about the news of the Ming court envoy.

Sun Kewang saw that he could no longer suppress the situation, so he had to notify all the camps to come to discuss the matter.
At this time, everyone in the hall was silent. This was both a cautious move and a way for the generals to express their dissatisfaction with Sun Kewang.
There was silence for a while, but Li Dingguo above suddenly spoke.

"May I ask, big brother, why did you detain the envoy and hide it from us when the Ming court came to offer us pacification?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked up at Sun Kewang.
Sun Kewang saw the dissatisfaction on everyone's faces, and his heart sank, but Sun Kewang remained calm and replied:

"My second brother misunderstood. This Ming envoy suddenly rushed into the camp a few days ago, saying that he was an envoy from the Ming Dynasty and came to persuade us to surrender."

"But we have just arrived in Bozhou. When we entered the city earlier, the Ming court Bozhou garrison wanted to resist stubbornly. Now they have sent someone to ask for surrender. I am afraid that there is a trick, so I temporarily detained this envoy to verify his identity and then inform the brothers in the camp."

Li Dingguo asked a question and then stopped talking. Gao Chengen and other generals below were also silent when they heard what he said. Everyone knew that this was just an excuse by Sun Kewang.
After a while, Bai Wenxuan below suddenly spoke

"Then I wonder if General Pingdong has verified the identity of this envoy. Is he really an envoy from the Ming court?"

"I have found a few former officials from Sichuan Province, and they have verified the official seal and letter of this envoy. This person is indeed an envoy sent by the Ming court."

Seeing the generals below remain silent, Sun Kewang knew that he had offended everyone, so he briefly explained and immediately changed the subject.
"According to what the envoy said, the Ming court wants to confer titles on us and offer us 2,000 dan of rice per month as a condition for us to surrender and to guard Bozhou. What do you think?"

The conditions that the Ming court offered to recruit the Dashi Army this time were that Sun Kewang and his four men would be made marquises, and all the generals under his command would be made barons. After the Dashi Dynasty was established, all the soldiers of the Western Army were now also marquises and barons. The people did not feel much about the empty titles of marquises and barons of the Ming court.
The truly valuable conditions of the Ming court were the latter two. One was to use Bozhou, Luzhou, and Xuzhou as the base for the Dashi Army's military pay, and the other was to supply the Dashi Army with 2,000 shi of grain every month.
The Ming court put forward three conditions, and the requirements were very simple. The Dashi Army would stop in Bozhou from now on and would not go to your province again.

This condition made the generals of the Western Army quite hesitant. At this time, all the camps of the Western Army were short of food. If they could have these two thousand stones of food, it would immediately solve their urgent needs.

But if they accepted the Ming court's conditions, they would have to stay in Bozhou to stop the Qing army, which made everyone a little undecided.
Seeing that everyone below was silent, Ai Nengqi suddenly snorted and said

"A true man is a king, why should he be crowned?"

"We still have 50,000 elite soldiers in Daxi, so we can go anywhere. With 2,000 shi of grain per month, the Ming court is just sending beggars away."

When Bai Wenxuan and the others below heard this, a trace of displeasure flashed across their faces. This Ai Nengqi really had no problem talking without any pain in his waist.

Ai Nengqi had a close relationship with Sun Kewang, so his camp had a steady supply of food and money, but theirs had already run out of food and money.
Since you, Ai Nengqi, look down on the 2,000 dan of grain so much, why don't you take out the grain and money in the camp and share it with everyone?
In the hall, except for He Jiuyi, Yang Wu and other generals in Sun Kewang's camp, who echoed loudly and cursed the Ming court for being insincere
Others such as Bai Wenxuan were silent. Jin Tongwu and others on General Anxi's side were silent. Gao Chengen, Lu Mingchen and others under Liu Wenxiu were also silent.
Seeing this, Sun Kewang's heart sank. He knew that leaking the secrets of the Ming envoy would definitely not bring good things.

Sun Kewang thought for a moment and was about to point out the insidiousness of the Ming court, but at this time Li Dingguo suddenly spoke

"The Ming court has shown its sincerity by conferring titles of nobility and baronial titles, providing them with salaries and land. Although two thousand dan of rice is little, this matter can be discussed later."

"Now the key for us Western Army is not to see how much rice the Ming court gives us, but to figure out what we are going to do in the future."

"We have been on the run for two months since the defeat in Xichong. We were trying to survive before and we didn't have time to think about it, but now we can't delay any longer."

"The late emperor is gone, what should we do from now on?"

Bai Wenxuan and the others below all nodded slightly when they heard this, and their faces became solemn. Compared with the Ming court's appeasement, their future whereabouts were the most important issue.

If the Ming court had not come, they could have ignored all this and just grabbed enough food and money first, but now that the Ming court envoy had appeared, the matter could no longer be delayed.

Li Dingguo glanced at Sun Kewang, who was standing beside him with a gloomy expression, and said directly

"It has been several years since the Tartars entered the country. Although we have been in Sichuan and Shu for the past few years, we also know what these Tartars have done. They shave their heads and keep pigtails, and they enslave us Han people. Why do we Han people in the Central Plains keep their pigtails?"

"These Tartars outside the Great Wall are really ambitious. The old emperor wanted us to leave Sichuan at the beginning of the year because he saw clearly that these Tartars were not good people. He wanted to enter Qin to fight against them."

"The old emperor has been very kind to us all. The Tartar killed him, and we must take revenge. In this case, why not surrender to the Ming court, take the Ming court's food and money, and then we will fight the Tartar in Sichuan Province and let the Tartar see how powerful our Western Army is."

When everyone in the field heard that Li Dingguo actually wanted to fight the Tartars, their expressions changed slightly, but Li Dingguo ignored their expressions and continued

"The old emperor is dead, and he left no heir. We all know that the Great West is gone. We have been running rampant in the Central Plains for more than ten years. Although it is a happy life, to put it bluntly, we are still thieves in the eyes of outsiders."

"We have been bandits for half of our lives. Do we have to be bandits for the rest of our lives? If we surrender to the Ming court now, at least we will have a place to go."

Bai Wenxuan and other generals of the Western Army were all sympathetic when they heard what Li Dingguo said.

These people are no longer the people who rose up just to have a full meal and survive.

These people followed Zhang Xianzhong to roam the country, and eventually established their own dynasty. Their vision had changed, and conquering cities and robbing some gold, silver and jewelry were no longer enough for them.

As Li Dingguo said, these people now need a place to go. In the past, their place of return was Zhang Xianzhong, but now the Daxi Dynasty is gone, so now the only two parties that can provide them with a place to go are the Ming and Qing dynasties.

If they were to choose, Bai Wenxuan and others would obviously prefer to choose Ming Ting.

Sun Kewang saw the hesitation on everyone's faces, and his expression changed slightly. He immediately said

"Why are you so discouraged, my second brother? We are still here with our elite Western troops. How can you say that our Great Western Empire is gone?"

"Although the old man has suffered a disaster, we still have tens of thousands of elite soldiers. As long as we are here, Daxi will be here."

"The old man spent his entire life in the military and established the foundation of the Western Dynasty. Now that he has passed away, we are going to inherit his legacy and re-establish the Western Dynasty. Only in this way can we live up to the great kindness that the old man has shown us."

Sun Kewang saw that Li Dingguo wanted to speak again, but did not give him a chance. Sun Kewang's eyes turned, and he looked at the generals below, and said loudly:

"Besides, how can we trust the so-called appeasement from the Ming court? We, the Great Western Empire, have been rebelling against the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years. I'm afraid those high-ranking officials in the Ming court are eager to peel off our skins and drink our blood."

"The Ming court has no good intentions in coming to us to surrender. They somehow found out where we are and knew that we would definitely enter your province next. The Ming court is powerless to resist, so they had no choice but to come and ask for surrender."

"When the Ming court recovers, do you really think we can become its own people?"

"If we accept their name, we will be killed or cut into pieces in the future with just a word from others. We must not fall into the Ming court's evil scheme at this moment." The generals in the hall heard this and their expressions changed slightly. This matter was just as Sun Kewang said. In the eyes of the Ming court, they were real rebels. The Ming court came to recruit them at this time, probably only because it had no choice.

This made Bai Wenxuan and the others even more entangled. They were unwilling to continue robbing and looting as bandits, but they also felt uneasy about surrendering to the Ming court.

Everyone in the hall frowned in thought, and the atmosphere suddenly became dull. Liu Wenxiu, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.

"Brother, since you are unwilling to surrender, then may I ask where should we go next?"

"Our army is short of food, so we should immediately head south to get the food and wages from your province."

Liu Wenxiu heard this, but there was no change on his face. He asked again

"What will happen after I take the food and money from your province?"

Sun Kewang looked at Liu Wenxiu, and a gleam of brilliance flashed in his eyes. He spoke immediately without any hesitation.

"Your province is narrow and poor, and cannot support a large army, so we cannot stay here for long. We will take your money and food and go straight to Guangxi. Guangxi is also a remote and poor place, and we cannot stay here for long either. But we can go to Guangdong through Guangxi."

"Guangdong Province is adjacent to the ocean, enjoying the benefits of fishing and salt production. The people in the province are prosperous. Chaozhou and Huizhou have large plains for farming, and the military can also be fed and paid. We can use this to build our foundation for the revival of the Western Region."

Li Dingguo's face darkened at this time, and he said

"Guangxi and Guangdong are now the heartland of the Ming court, and there must be a large army guarding them. If we invade these three provinces, the Ming army will resist to the death."

"We only have so few troops left in the Western Army. Even if we conquer Guangdong Province, how many of us will be left?"

"Our greatest enemy is the Tartars. If we fight the Ming court now, both sides will suffer losses."

"Then the Tartars might benefit. If the Tartars take advantage of our quarrel with the Ming court and invade, what can we do to stop them? Wouldn't we be helping the Tartars to do evil?"

Sun Kewang did not give in at all when he heard this, and said directly

"Second brother, you are wrong. Although we only have 30,000 or 40,000 people left, as long as we have food and money, we can recruit as many people as we want."

"Besides, the Ming army has always been weak. The Ming court's capable troops have been killed by the Tartars in the north. When we were in Huguang in the past, we also saw the quality of these southern soldiers. How can such weak soldiers stop our Daxi elite?"

"Of course we have to kill the Tartars, but it is precisely because we have to kill the Tartars that we have to conquer the southern provinces!"

"We should start with the easy tasks and then move on to the difficult ones. The Ming court is old and incompetent and can no longer be used. We should march our troops to Lingnan. This will not only restore our military strength but also weaken the power of the Ming court. Once our military strength is restored, we can find an opportunity to destroy the Ming court and then re-establish the Great Western Kingdom in Guangdong Province."

"Once the Ming Dynasty is destroyed, we will be the only legitimate rulers in the Central Plains. At that time, we can collect manpower from the south, take the food from the southern provinces, and then fight against the Qing invaders."

"Even if we are defeated in the end, we can take advantage of the situation to enter the sea from Guangdong and keep the army safe. This way, we can attack when advancing and defend when retreating."

Sun Kewang's face was full of energy, and when he was excited, his body couldn't help but tremble slightly.
Li Dingguo was also stunned when he saw Sun Kewang's excited expression. Then, his expression suddenly turned cold. He turned his head away and stopped looking at Sun Kewang in front of him, who looked excited but still unaware.

Li Dingguo had a cold expression on his face. Sun Kewang must have gone crazy.
He originally thought that Sun Kewang wanted to unify the various camps in Daxi and occupy a piece of land to become a local lord, but he never thought that Sun Kewang actually wanted to be the emperor.

Emperor, Sun Kewang couldn't even deal with the generals of the Western Army, and he still wanted to be the emperor. I really don't know how dare Sun Kewang have such a delusion.

Li Dingguo felt that there was nothing good to say about this kind of person.

Bai Wenxuan, Feng Shuangli and others below were also shocked when they heard this. For a moment, no one knew how to respond to this amazing plan proposed by Sun Kewang.
There was silence for a long time, but suddenly a voice came from the generals below.

"If the Ming Dynasty is destroyed, who will be the emperor in the future?"

When the generals heard this, their expressions changed slightly, and then everyone looked at the four people above.

A trace of greed flashed in Sun Kewang's eyes, while Li Dingguo remained indifferent.

Liu Wenxiu glanced at Sun Kewang in front of him, shook his head and turned his gaze back, sitting on the chair with a calm expression, while Ai Nengqi's eyes were blank, not understanding why he suddenly talked about the emperor.

After the emperor asked this question, the hall fell silent. No one spoke for a long time.

There was silence in the hall for a long time. Liu Wenxiu saw that the place had become quiet, so he coughed lightly and said

"The matter of attacking Guangxi and Guangdong is too far away for us. For now, we should first discuss the matter of the Ming court recruiting and pacifying them."

Li Dingguo did not hesitate at this time and said directly

"The Tartars are the great enemy of our Western Army. Li believes that our Western Army should unite with the Ming to fight against the Tartars."

"Our army is short of food, so we might as well agree to the Ming court's offer of amnesty. If the Ming court is willing to transport food to us, we will fight the Tartars in Bozhou to avenge the late emperor."

"If the Ming court is lying, then we will march south and take your province's food and money ourselves."

The generals below all nodded slightly when they heard this, but Sun Kewang's expression darkened and he immediately said
"This is absolutely not feasible. The Ming court's attempt to appease us at this time is not only to stop us from entering your province, but also to force us to fight against the Qing invaders."

"Second brother, are you going to let my Western Army fight for the Ming court and sacrifice the lives of my Western Army brothers just for a mere 2,000 dan of grain?"

When the generals below heard this, they hesitated again. They had just been defeated by the Qing army and had finally escaped. Who would be willing to fight the Qing army at this time?

Li Dingguo was furious when he saw that Sun Kewang was pointing the finger at him. His expression turned cold and he said directly:

"Fighting with the Tartars means destruction. Then, according to your so-called plan to destroy the Ming court, how many brothers of our Western Army will be destroyed?"

"Your Highness has been a soldier all his life, yet he has only been able to take over Sichuan and Shu. You, the King of Rebellion, were such heroes back then. Now both kings are dead, but the Ming court is still in the southeast. And you are now talking about destroying the Ming court. Don't you think you are dreaming?"

Li Dingguo's words were almost like scolding Sun Kewang. Sun Kewang's face turned pale, but Li Dingguo didn't care about Sun Kewang's expression at all and continued.
"Haven't we killed enough people in Sichuan Province? Let me be frank today. Instead of turning around and killing Han people, I would rather kill the Tartars."

"Others are afraid of the Tartars, but I, Li Dingguo, am not!"

Sun Kewang was furious and was about to speak out to refute. At this time, Liu Wenxiu saw that the two leaders of the Western Army were really angry, so he quickly stood up to smooth things over.
"Big Brother and Second Brother are both pillars of our Western Army. How can we let this matter ruin our relationship?"

"There are pros and cons to the Ming court's pacification. Whether to accept the Ming court's pacification is a matter for the entire army. It is not for the four of us to decide. Brothers, please discuss it together."

Liu Wenxiu separated Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, and then asked the generals below to speak. However, the generals in the hall were also discussing

Some thought that since the old emperor was dead, they might as well take advantage of the situation to recruit the Ming court and get the Ming court's food and money. Others thought that the Ming court was untrustworthy and that the current Zhaoan must be trying to use them as a shield, so they should quickly go south and not stay here to die.
The two generals argued endlessly, but the situation became more chaotic. Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo, who were standing above them, sat there with gloomy faces and said nothing after their argument.

Liu Wenxiu saw that the debate had lasted for a long time but no conclusion could be reached. He looked helpless and had to ask everyone to leave and discuss the matter again tomorrow.
(End of this chapter)