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

Chapter 780 Shocking News

"What do you say?"

When Li Youdang, who was resting in Kashima, heard the content of the message, he was completely shocked and could not believe his ears.

"General, this is a letter sent by the other party." The scout handed over a letter. Looking at the letter, Li You reached out to take it, opened it and looked at it carefully.

The content of the letter was very simple and the words used were crude, but the meaning was clearly written. When Li You finished reading the letter, he was a little dazed and stunned for a moment.

Coming back to his senses, Li You asked the scout how he got the letter. The scout did not hide anything and told him what happened directly. After listening to the scout's story, Li You frowned and waved his hand to let the scout go first.

After the scout left, Li You concentrated and thought for a moment, then got up and went to look for Zheng Hongkui. When he arrived at Zheng Hongkui's place, Zheng Hongkui was bragging to his old brothers about his great achievements of personally joining the enemy's gang with a big knife and chopping off the enemy's heads.

"Zheng Shuai!"

"Hey, Brother Li, why are you here? Come, come, sit down quickly." Zheng Hongkui hurriedly stood up to greet Li You when he saw him coming, and several subordinates of the Zheng family present also hurriedly stood up to salute Li You.

When Zheng Hongkui saw Li You coming to find him, he waved his hand and asked people to bow and leave. After the people left, he personally poured a cup of tea for Li You.

"Brother Li, you are here to discuss sending troops, right? Haha, you can't bear it after just a few days? Don't worry, my navy just finished a battle, I have to let the brothers rest, and let the injured brothers recuperate for a few days. But don't worry, everything will be fine in a few days. By the way, where do you plan to attack this time? East or west? In my opinion, we should take advantage of the destruction of Jiannu's navy and directly capture the former Dongjiang Pi Island."

"General Zheng, you misunderstood. This is not the reason why I came to see you, brother." Li You thanked Zheng Hongkui for the tea, but did not drink it and put it aside. Then he took out the letter and said to Zheng Hongkui, "A scout just brought me this letter. General Zheng, please take a look."

"Letter? Where did it come from?" Zheng Hongkui took it and asked casually.

"It was sent by Jingjing Wuer, the Niulu Zhang of the Zhenglan Banner of the Eight Banners."

"Jing Wuer? Hey, why does this name sound familiar?" Zheng Hongkui was stunned.

"General Zheng, this Jing Wuer was the Eight Banners general who was stationed in Jinzhou back then." Li You reminded.

Zheng Hongkui slapped his forehead and suddenly realized: "Yes, yes! Look at how I forgot it. The name of the Jiannu is also difficult to pronounce, and I can't remember it for a while. Strange, didn't this Jingwuer run away directly after we landed? We didn't even meet each other, so why did he suddenly send a letter to me? What does this mean?"

"General Zheng, please read the letter first. You will understand after reading it." Li You said with a wry smile, pointing at the letter.

Zheng Hongkui didn't think much after hearing what he said. He took out the letter and started reading. But before he could read a few lines, a look of surprise appeared on Zheng Hongkui's face. He subconsciously looked up at Li You. Li You also smiled bitterly and shook his head, asking him to continue reading.

Jing Wuer's letter was written in a simple and clear manner, and the words used were very vulgar, but the meaning was clearly expressed. After reading the letter, Zheng Hongkui was a little dumbfounded. He looked at Li You, as if he wanted to ask Li You what was going on, but Li You also looked back at Zheng Hongkui with the same eyes. The two of them stared at each other, and they couldn't believe whether the content of the letter was true.

"Brother Li, is this a joke? Or is this Jingwuer up to some conspiracy?" Zheng Hongkui thought for a moment and then asked.

"Zheng Shuai, you ask me? I don't know either!" Li You smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Zheng Shuai has also read the contents of this letter. What it says is really unbelievable. If Jing Wuer is joking with us about this matter, think about it carefully and there is no need for it. What's the point of such a joke? Not only will it not benefit him if it gets out, but it will only make him laugh and even harm him."

"As for the conspiracy, I think it doesn't seem like it. How could there be such a scheme? Besides, Jing Wuer is just a Niulu Zhangjing, and the troops he leads are only a Niulu. Even if he has won over some people, it would be just a few at best."

"If the letter was from someone in a high position of power, there might be some possibility of conspiracy, but with Jing Wuer..." Li You shook his head, indicating that the probability was too low: "By the way, what kind of conspiracy do you think a rough man like Jing Wuer can come up with? And he even did something like this on purpose? Is it necessary?" "This..." Zheng Hongkui reached out and touched the broken beard on his chin. He kept thinking in his mind and felt that there was some truth in what Li You said.

The two sides were at war and were rivals. It was unreasonable to joke with a letter at this time. As for conspiracy, it didn't seem like it. If it was a trick, it wouldn't be used in this way. Moreover, although Jing Wuer had some status in the Eight Banners, he was just a Niulu Zhangjing. Was it necessary to do this? In addition, it can be seen from the letter that Jing Wuer was just a rough man, and his words were blunt and vulgar, so the probability of this was even smaller.

"Could it be that what is written in the letter is true?" Zheng Hongkui couldn't help but ask Li You.

"To be honest, I don't know whether it's true or not." Li You spread his hands and shook his head.

Zheng Hongkui thought for a moment and said, "How about just pretending that I didn't receive the letter? How about ignoring it and pretending that this incident never happened?"

"But what if it's true?" Li You asked back, "If it's true as the letter says, this is no small matter. Marshal Zheng, my Ming Dynasty has been at war with the Jiannu for decades. The Jiannu have been a major threat to my Ming Dynasty since the last emperor. The Wanli Emperor has been in power for four generations. My Ming Dynasty has always wanted to destroy the Jiannu and pacify the Liao Dynasty, but it has never been able to do so."

"If Jing Wuer really wants to surrender to the Ming Dynasty and start a rebellion, it will not only be a great thing for the Ming Dynasty, but also a great loss to the slave Huang Taiji. Don't forget that Jing Wuer is a real slave and a Niulu Zhangjing. What does it mean if such a person surrenders to the Ming Dynasty? If this is true and it is successfully implemented in your hands, it will be a great achievement!"

When Zheng Hongkui heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up. Li You was right. Since the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Jiannu, the Ming Dynasty has always been at a disadvantage. Not only did it suffer heavy casualties, but also many of them were captured or surrendered to the enemy.

Although some people from the Jiannu side had defected to the Ming Dynasty before, they were at most Han people from the Jiannu side, such as Liu Xingzuo, who was the most famous figure among them.

Liu Xingzuo not only served as a general under Nurhaci very early on, but was also the son-in-law of an old slave. However, since Nurhaci started his army and established the Later Jin Dynasty, Liu Xingzuo, because he was a Ming person, was very dissatisfied with Nurhaci's actions and suppression methods of massacring Ming people in Liaodong.

In the second year of the Tianqi reign, Liu Xingzuo secretly contacted the imperial court and privately defected to the Ming Dynasty. He passed military intelligence to the Ming Dynasty many times, and then led his troops to directly rebel against Nurhaci and returned to the Ming Dynasty with his family.

Liu Xingzuo's rebellion made Nurhaci extremely angry and caused a great shock within the Jiannu. After all, although Liu Xingzuo was a Ming person, his status in the Jiannu was not low. Moreover, the old slave married his daughter to Liu Xingzuo and entrusted him with important tasks. From this point of view, he was not treated unfairly.

But Liu Xingzuo rebelled against me, which not only made me lose face, but also slapped me hard. How could I bear this? I even ordered to kill Liu Xingzuo, but it never worked. After I died, Huang Taiji succeeded to the throne. In the third year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji led his troops to attack Yongping City and failed. When he returned, he received news and decided to lure Liu Xingzuo. He set up an ambush and set a trap with heavy troops.

In order to kill Liu Xingzuo, Huang Taiji directly used three beile to lead the army, and added more than two thousand elite soldiers of the Eight Banners to encircle and intercept him. It has to be said that Huang Taiji was determined to kill Liu Xingzuo. In the end, Liu Xingzuo was outnumbered and died on the battlefield. After his death, his body was displayed to the public and not allowed to be buried. It can be imagined how deep the hatred of the Jiannu for Liu Xingzuo's rebellion was.

But this time, it was the real Eight Banners nobles who wanted to defect to the Ming Dynasty, and they directly raised the so-called "anti-Qing and pro-Ming" slogan. Once Jingwuer really wanted to defect to the Ming Dynasty, this matter would be even worse than Liu Xingzuo's back then, in terms of influence and other aspects.

Don't forget that Jing Wuer is a legitimate Manchu nobleman, and he is also a Niulu Zhangjing of the Zhenglan Banner. After Nurhaci established the Eight Banners system, the Eight Banners were the foundation of the Later Jin Dynasty. Although the current Qing Dynasty has changed its name, its essence has not changed. It is still based on the Eight Banners.

Although Jing Wuer's position as a Niulu Zhangjing was not high, his influence was great. Moreover, his letter said that not only he wanted to defect to the Ming Dynasty, but he also persuaded another Niulu from the Zhenglan Banner to defect as well. In other words, two Niulu from the Zhenglan Banner and a Niulu Zhangjing defected to the Ming Dynasty together.

Not only that, Jingwuer also promised that as long as the Ming Dynasty could accept him, he would find a way to persuade the other Niulu of the Zhenglan Banner to defect to the Ming Dynasty. If this was the case, the Qing Dynasty, which was based on the Eight Banners, would be shaken from its foundation. Moreover, once Jingwuer really defected to the Ming Dynasty, the impact and consequences would be extremely serious for the enemy, but it would be the best thing for the Ming Dynasty.

Li You thought about it carefully. Although he couldn't be sure whether Jing Wuer really wanted to surrender to the Ming Dynasty and whether what was said in the letter was true, he felt that he could still give it a try. As long as he was careful and prepared in advance, Jing Wuer would be unable to do anything to them even if he had any conspiracy.

Moreover, in his opinion, there is a great possibility that Jingwuer will surrender to the Ming Dynasty. Although he doesn't know why Jingwuer would do this, he can do it as long as there is a 50% chance. If it is successful, it will be a great achievement, which is much better than directly destroying an Eight Banners Niulu or even more Eight Banners soldiers.

Zheng Hongkui also thought of this after being reminded by Li You, and he instantly became energetic. The two discussed the matter immediately and felt that they could give it a try. If the other party really surrendered, it would be a great credit. Even if it was fake, it would be okay. With their current strength, they were not afraid of Jingwuer's mischief. If they felt that something was wrong, they just had to withdraw to the sea directly, and the Jiannu would be unable to capture them even if they could attack them on the shore.

(End of this chapter)