Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 460 Fan Wencheng

"Take a look too." Huang Taiji smiled and handed the letter sent by Yuan Chonghuan to Fan Wencheng. Fan Wencheng took it and looked at it carefully.

After reading the letter, Fan Wencheng burst into laughter. Yuan Chonghuan was famous and had some skills in defending a city, but he was so naive in politics, it was simply ridiculous.

"Congratulations, Great Khan!" Fan Wencheng bowed and congratulated Huang Taiji.

"Haha, what's there to be happy about?" Huang Taiji asked with a smile.

Fan Wencheng said with a smile: "Now that Mao Wenlong, the great threat, has been eliminated, the Ming emperor and his ministers have destroyed the Great Wall themselves. Yuan Chonghuan, a mere scholar, is nothing to be afraid of. With the ability of the Khan, it won't be long before he replaces the Ming. Why don't you congratulate the Khan?"

"Hahaha! Well said!" Huang Taiji laughed and nodded. What Fan Wencheng said was exactly what he was thinking. Huang Taiji had been making changes since he ascended the throne. Wasn't all he did to make the Qing Dynasty stronger and eventually defeat the Ming Dynasty and replace it?

Huang Taiji was completely different from his father Nurhaci. He was a man of both civil and military talents and had strategic plans. He was not satisfied with being a so-called Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty. What he wanted to do was to become the emperor of the Qing Dynasty. Liaodong was just the beginning for him. His ultimate goal was to go south to the Central Plains, take down the Ming Dynasty and replace it.

Under Nurhaci, although the Later Jin regime was established, it still had the nature of a tribe. But after Huang Taiji ascended the throne, he had been adjusting all aspects of the Later Jin regime and developing it towards a true national regime. Everything he did in the past two years was for this purpose, and the Later Jin began to change just as he had imagined. Although he was still the Khan in name, in fact, the Later Jin was now the Qing Dynasty, and as long as the time was right, he, the Khan, could ascend the throne and become an emperor on equal footing with the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

After laughing a few times, Huang Taiji asked Fan Wencheng: "What do you think of Yuan Chonghuan's letter, Mr. Fan?"

Fan Wencheng smiled and said, "Yuan Chonghuan just killed Mao Wenlong. Although he is safe and sound under the protection of the Ming Emperor, this incident will inevitably cause waves in the Ming Dynasty. I think what Yuan Chonghuan is most worried about right now is not other things, but the fear that the Khan will start another war in Liaodong. Once the war starts again, it will be difficult for him, Yuan Chonghuan, to explain to the Ming court. Therefore, Yuan Chonghuan is most nervous about this. No matter what, he must live in peace with the Khan to stabilize the situation. That's why he wrote this letter."

Huang Taiji nodded with satisfaction. What Fan Wencheng said was almost what he had imagined. Mao Wenlong had just died and Dongjiang Town was unstable. Although Yuan Chonghuan had escaped this time thanks to Emperor Chongzhen, what he was most worried about right now was the stability of the situation in Liaodong.

If the situation in Liaodong was stable, it would mean that Yuan Chonghuan was right to kill Mao Wenlong. Even without Mao Wenlong, he could still control Liaodong and stabilize the situation. But if Mao Wenlong was killed and a war broke out in Liaodong, wouldn't Yuan Chonghuan be telling the world that killing Mao Wenlong was wrong?
It is for this reason that what Yuan Chonghuan values ​​most now is to prevent Huang Taiji from officially sending troops and to give him time to stabilize the situation. As long as he can delay for a while and wait for the impact of Mao Wenlong's death to gradually pass, Yuan Chonghuan will have overcome the difficulties.

"So, Mr. Fan, do you have anything to teach our Khan?" Huang Taiji asked with a smile.

Fan Wencheng quickly stood up and saluted towards Huang Taiji: "Your Majesty, if you ask me, I will tell you everything I know. I dare not teach you..."

Before he could finish, Huang Taiji waved his hand and said, "Mr. Fan, there is no need to be polite. Just speak frankly."

"Whoo!"

Fan Wencheng responded and immediately spoke. Fan Wencheng told Huang Taiji that Yuan Chonghuan's current mentality was exactly what they could take advantage of. They were about to launch a large-scale attack on the Liaodong Ming army. They were not well prepared and lacked supplies. This was the main reason why Huang Taiji did not intend to launch a direct war even though he mobilized troops.

According to Huang Taiji's idea, he would first open up a channel to conquer Korea, suppress Dongjiang Town without Mao Wenlong, and then send troops to harass and put pressure on Yuan Chonghuan so that he would not be able to spare the time to support Dongjiang Town.

But Fan Wencheng thought that there was no need to go through so much trouble. Doesn't Yuan Chonghuan want peace now? Doesn't he want to fight with them? Since this is his mentality, it couldn't be better. Fan Wencheng suggested that Huang Taiji temporarily suspend the military operations against Dongjiang Town and North Korea, and at the same time adjust the military plan towards the Ningjin Defense Line of the Daming Dynasty, using this as a threat to force Yuan Chonghuan to surrender.

The reason is very simple. Don't you, Yuan Chonghuan, want peace? Don't you want to negotiate? If you want to continue the talks, then show some sincerity. It is winter now, and Huang Taiji is short of food and clothing. If you, Yuan Chonghuan, can show the materials needed by the Qing Dynasty as sincerity, then peace is not impossible, and the talks can continue.

Of course, as the Khan, Huang Taiji could never say these words, but he could send someone to meet Yuan Chonghuan, and the two sides could have a talk. Then, during the talk, he could spread the news appropriately, and at the same time promise that as long as Yuan Chonghuan made compensation, he could negotiate with Huang Taiji. Yuan Chonghuan would not refuse, and there was a high possibility that he would take the bait. Huang Taiji's eyes lit up when he heard Fan Wencheng's words. Fan Wencheng was right. Huang Taiji was indeed worried about the problem of supplies these days. If he could get a lot of supplies from Yuan Chonghuan, the pressure on his side would be much lighter.

"Who do you think is more suitable to go there?"

"Of course I will take the responsibility!" Fan Wencheng replied with a smile, "I'm afraid that others will not be able to convince Yuan Chonghuan, and I also want to take this opportunity to meet the famous Governor Yuan and see Ning Jin's situation."

"This..." Huang Taiji was a little hesitant when he heard that Fan Wencheng was going to take action himself. Fan Wencheng was a Han Chinese he had promoted, and he was also a rare counselor under him. Since he ascended the throne as Khan, Fan Wencheng had helped him a lot. Without Fan Wencheng's plan, Huang Taiji would not have been able to solve the internal hidden dangers so easily and defeat Lin Dan Khan at the same time.

Although he had absolute trust in Fan Wencheng's judgment, he did not want Fan Wencheng to take risks. If Yuan Chonghuan saw Fan Wencheng and killed him in a fit of rage, his loss would be too great.

"Don't worry, Khan. Yuan Chonghuan dared to kill Mao Wenlong, but he definitely wouldn't dare to kill me. I have the Khan behind me. No matter how brave he is, he wouldn't dare to touch me." Fan Wencheng smiled confidently. In his opinion, Yuan Chonghuan was a bully. How could he dare to do anything to him? He was not Mao Wenlong. He was Huang Taiji's man. If Yuan Chonghuan had the courage, he would not write such a letter to Huang Taiji. There would be no safety problems when he went to see Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan would even treat him as a guest of honor. Safety was absolutely guaranteed.

Huang Taiji pondered for a moment and felt that Fan Wencheng was right. Yuan Chonghuan would never harm Fan Wencheng. Moreover, just as Fan Wencheng said, it would not be appropriate to replace him with anyone else. There were countless people in the Eight Banners who were good at using knives, but few who were good at using their brains. Fan Wencheng was the most suitable person among his subordinates.

Although he agreed to Fan Wencheng, Huang Taiji still made preparations for the best of both worlds. He decided to send someone to protect Fan Wencheng when he traveled. As for the person to protect Fan Wencheng, Huang Taiji thought about it and decided to let Oboi do it.

Oboi was a young general of the Eight Banners, and was a member of Huang Taiji's personal guard. In the previous expedition against Ligdan Khan of Chahar, the young Oboi accompanied Huang Taiji on his first expedition, and fought very bravely and made great contributions. At present, Oboi was the captain of the personal guard, which was equivalent to the captain of Huang Taiji's guard. In addition, Oboi and Fan Wencheng were familiar with each other, and he accompanied Fan Wencheng to meet Yuan Chonghuan, which was enough to ensure Fan Wencheng's safety.

In this way, it was decided that Fan Wencheng and Oboi would represent him to meet Yuan Chonghuan. Fan Wencheng acted quickly. The next day, he met up with Oboi and set off with more than 30 Eight Banner soldiers, heading straight for Ningyuan.

To get from Shenyang to Ningyuan, one must first pass through Jinzhou. After arriving in Jinzhou, Fan Wencheng explained his purpose. The garrison of Jinzhou did not dare to neglect it and quickly sent someone to report the news to Ningyuan. Upon learning that Huang Taiji had sent someone to negotiate, Yuan Chonghuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Just as Fan Wencheng thought, what Yuan Chonghuan was most worried about at this time was the re-emergence of war in Liaodong. He didn't want to fight Huang Taiji at all.

Yuan Chonghuan didn't think too much when he killed Mao Wenlong, but after Mao Wenlong's death, he had to face a series of consequences. Moreover, this incident has caused a stir in the court, and there have been constant accusations against Yuan Chonghuan. Even the military commanders of Liaodong are somewhat unstable. Yuan Chonghuan has been a little overwhelmed recently and is busy putting out fires and appeasing the various tribes.

If Huang Taiji suddenly started another war at this time, the pressure on Yuan Chonghuan would be even greater. He definitely did not want to go to war with Huang Taiji at this time. Even if he wanted to start a war, he would have to wait until the impact of Mao Wenlong's death was over.

Moreover, Yuan Chonghuan had always had illusions about Huang Taiji. To be honest, even he himself did not believe in the so-called five-year pacification of Liaodong. His real purpose in Liaodong was, on the one hand, because of his position as the governor of Ji-Liao, and on the other hand, to make Huang Taiji submit to the Ming Dynasty through negotiations. As long as Huang Taiji was willing to bow his head and nominally become a subject of the Ming Dynasty, then the so-called pacification of Liaodong could be considered accomplished with this result.

This was also the reason why Yuan Chonghuan became anxious after noticing that Huang Taiji had made unusual moves, and that was why he sent such a letter to Shenyang.

After waiting for half a month, Yuan Chonghuan was very happy when he learned that Huang Taiji had sent an envoy to see him. In his opinion, the letter had worked and Huang Taiji had given him face. Since he had sent someone to talk, there was a chance for peace. As long as he could find a way to suppress this matter and there was no fighting in Liaodong in a short time, everything else would be easy to deal with.

Yuan Chonghuan asked someone to notify Jinzhou to send Fan Wencheng and others over. Soon after the order was conveyed, Jinzhou quickly released them. After staying in Jinzhou for a few days and taking a clear look at Jinzhou's defense, Fan Wencheng continued to move south with Oboi and others and soon arrived in Ningyuan.

When they arrived in Ningyuan, Yuan Chonghuan personally hosted a banquet for Huang Taiji's envoys and was very enthusiastic. As a scholar, Fan Wencheng naturally responded appropriately and gave Yuan Chonghuan enough respect. After the banquet, both sides talked about business. Yuan Chonghuan did not beat around the bush and directly asked the other party about his purpose. He pointed out that everyone had a good discussion before and the Liaodong war had stopped. Why did Huang Taiji suddenly make unusual moves and even had a small-scale conflict with the Ming army? This violated the original agreement between the two sides.

(End of this chapter)