After driving the envoy out of the lobby, Jiang Guozhu called a few more guards and asked them to entertain the envoy, keep him for a meal and then leave the city.

The envoy prepared the best rice and a bowl of broth. During the meal, Jiang Guozhu's guards did not forget to explain to the envoy the situation of the prisoners of the Fujian army: "Originally, the Governor of Liangjiang wanted to behead them immediately. Governor Jiang felt that God had a good life and stopped the Governor. Governor Jiang also wrote to the court to plead for them, saying that they were their own masters, and even if they were to be executed, they would have to leave a whole body, so they have been dragged until now. In addition to a few generals, the surviving Fujian people are all left by Admiral Guan, who think they are all rare loyal and righteous people. Although they are enemies of each other now, everyone admires the heroes. Even if you don't exchange them, Admiral Guan also wants to let them go."

After eating and drinking, the messenger was sent out of Nanjing safely. When he went down from the city wall, the guard who saw him off also stuffed him a string of copper coins, saying that it was the errand money given to him by Governor Jiang.

When the envoy returned to the Ming army camp, Deng Ming was holding a discussion meeting. He invited a group of officers from Li Laiheng to teach tactical lessons to Zhejiang army officers. After ambushing the Qing army's navy, Deng Ming began to train the Zhejiang army officers and soldiers. After three consecutive battles, these soldiers' courage and confidence improved greatly, but military skills still made Deng Ming very worried.

In the past two days, Li Laiheng's subordinates have taught Zhejiang Army officers some golden drums and banners. Deng Ming wants to tell you what you have today, so that Zhejiang Army students can put aside their concerns and speak enthusiastically.

The first person to speak was Li Tianyuan. Due to his great achievements in capturing Lang Tingzuo alive, he has now become an officer. He participated in the study class with enthusiasm two days ago, but the content of the study these two days disappointed him. As soon as he heard Deng Ming's encouragement, Li Tianyuan took the lead in speaking: "Admiral, Beizhi thinks that the golden drum is not necessarily easy to use. The biggest problem is that it is too loud and it is easy for the enemy to discover our whereabouts."

"Of course the golden drum will be loud, otherwise how can you hear it?" The instructor sent by Li Laiheng suddenly became dark. Li Tianyuan always didn't listen carefully, but he was a great hero under the city of Nanjing. Although the instructor was a little dissatisfied, he was embarrassed to scold him.

Deng Ming was also a little strange, but he waved his hand and signaled the instructor not to interrupt first and listened to the Zhejiang military officers finish their words.

Li Tianyuan's words aroused a lot of congratulations among the Zhejiang Army officers, and someone immediately echoed: "Although the flag order is important, it is difficult to use well on the battlefield. It is difficult to see clearly when it is dark, and when it is a quarrel, the enemy and us are mixed, and we can't see clearly."

Deng Ming was stunned for a moment, vaguely realizing the problem, and asked: "How do you think you should fight in a war?"

"Search for the enemy's camp, put on makeup and sneak into the vicinity of their camp, and then launch an attack while they are sleeping or eating." Li Tianyuan replied without hesitation.

"Yes, that's exactly that." Zhejiang military officers applauded, as if they had summarized their experience in the three battles.

"There won't be such a chance." Deng Ming was a little amused and crying.

Zhejiang officers come from all walks of life and are not professional soldiers. In the past, due to lack of equipment and training, they spent most of their time in Zhoushan. Their main job was not to counterattack Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but to try to survive. There were much more smuggling activities than military operations. Even if some people had participated in battles, they were all guerrilla harassment, arson and destruction, or assassination of Qing officials.

Li Tianyuan's ideas are very representative. Many Zhejiang officers believe that sneak attacks on enemies who eat and sleep is a very good tactic and should be carried forward.

"If the Tartars built the walls and had strict precautions, it would be difficult to attack them," said the instructor sent by Li Laiheng, who pointed out that the norm of war was to attack guarded enemy fortresses or to confront the front and head-on field battles.

"If the Tartars were on guard, how should we quickly eliminate sentries, break through the walls, and enter the camp before most of the Tartars woke up?" asked a Zhejiang army officer. After hearing this question, almost everyone immediately opened their eyes wide and waited for the instructor's answer - this was their most concerned question, and everyone was eager to know the answer.

Li Laiheng's instructors shook their heads helplessly: "There is no good way."

"The Battle of Dasheng Pass and these two battles under Nanjing City are rare exceptions," Deng Ming saw many Zhejiang military officers showing disappointment on their faces, so he came out to rescue Li Laiheng's subordinates: "So you must carefully learn the use of golden drums and banners, master the methods of defeating the enemy in a dignified manner, and don't always think about being able to beat the enemy while they are eating and sleeping."

At this time, a guard came to Deng Ming and said that the envoy had returned from Nanjing. Deng Ming asked the instructor to continue teaching. In addition to teaching Zhejiang military officers, the soldiers of the Zhejiang military were also pulled out for training these days. Li Laiheng's officers were also responsible for teaching them how to identify the banner and advance and retreat according to the command.

After the envoy told the negotiations, Deng Ming and Li Laiheng looked at each other, and Deng Ming asked, "What do you think?"

"It seems that they are not willing to let Lang Tingzuo go back." At first, they did not understand what Jiang Guozhu meant, but after listening to the guards reposted by the envoy, Li Laiheng could also see that Nanjing wanted the Ming army to kill Lang Tingzuo.

"I think it's the same, things are getting more and more interesting." Deng Ming nodded and asked the messenger to go to Nanjing again.

Deng Ming and Li Laiheng were not planning to attack Nanjing. There is no doubt that conquering Nanjing could bring huge political influence, but even if it was not considered the huge difficulty of siege, with the strength of the Ming army outside Nanjing, it was only possible to defeat it, and how to defend it was a problem.

If you want to defend Nanjing, then you cannot be limited to this city. It is best to march towards Jiangbei and control the land between Jianghuai. In this way, when Beijing counterattacks, the Ming army will have early warning time and space for attack and defense. If you cannot cross the Yangtze River, at least you must consolidate the defense of the Yangtze River and control the Yangtze River from Anqing to Suzhou, so that the Qing army will not easily cross the Yangtze River.

Deng Ming must not be able to do the above two points. With his and Li Laiheng's existing forces, it is difficult to strictly control the lonely city of Nanjing: the city has a population of one million, and a large number of gentry have many slaves, and more than 10,000 Ming troops may not be able to monitor it. If the Qing army attacked, it is difficult to guarantee that no one would betray the defenders. Now these unstable factors are the problems that make Guan Qizhong and Jiang Guozhu troubled, but if Deng Ming took Nanjing, it would be his turn to have a headache.

If you can't defend it and have to give up, then the political benefits are actually limited. Deng Ming feels that the risk of attacking Nanjing is too high and the income is limited. If you can take advantage of the victory to exchange prisoners and help Zheng Chenggong recover some strength, Deng Ming thinks that you can already be satisfied.

When the envoy saw Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu for the second time, he asked them to retreat, and then asked directly: "Admiral Deng asked Beizhi to ask Governor Jiang, Admiral Guan, did you want us to kill Lang Tingzuo? Do you want us to use Lang Tingzuo's head to exchange for the generals and soldiers of Yanping's vassal?"

After sending the envoy away, Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu also discussed urgently. Now the two have reached an agreement, and Jiang Guozhu did not hide it and nodded: "As long as Admiral Deng sends Lang Tingzuo's head back, we can talk about how to exchange prisoners."

"Do you just want Lang Tingzuo's head?" the envoy asked. Before he came, Deng Ming and Li Laiheng studied it carefully and taught the envoy the negotiation skills: "Admiral Deng wants to get an accurate reply. After Lang Tingzuo's head is delivered, you will immediately return it to our prisoners. Will there be other things? Admiral Deng said that if you have other requests, it is best to make them together, so that we can prepare as soon as possible."

Guan Xiaozhong showed hesitation. When he discussed with Jiang Guozhu just now, he really wanted Deng Ming to do more things, but now he raised it. I don’t know if it is the most appropriate time.

Jiang Guozhu also hesitated for a moment, but finally shook his head: "There is nothing else. Please send Lang Tingzuo's head back first."

But the hesitation at this moment made the messenger realize it, and he immediately made a counter-suggestion: "Since that's the case, Admiral Deng suggested that you release Gan Hui, Yu Xin and other generals first. After we see the person, we will kill Lang Tingzuo immediately and send his head back to Nanjing. After your verification is correct, we will release the remaining Fujian soldiers. How about it?"

"No!" Jiang Guozhu immediately shook his head.

"Is there anything else in Governor Chiang?" The envoy asked again, and without waiting for the other party to deny it again, he took the initiative to say: "How about discussing the Governor with Governor Guan and thinking about what my admiral wants to do, so you can go out and wait for a while."

After staring at the messenger for a few glances, Jiang Guozhu nodded and asked him to go outside to have tea first.

After the messenger went out, Jiang Guozhu said coldly: "Deng Ming is young and has a lot of thoughts."

The reason why I invited Deng Ming's envoy to dinner last time was because Jiang Guozhu was worried that the other party was too young and could not understand the implicit meaning of himself and Guan Qizhen. Now it seems that the meal was completely redundant.

"Yes, I'm full of ghostly scruples." Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu had just discussed that they would first let Deng Ming kill Lang Tingzuo, and then help them ambush Liang Huafeng. As long as they both resolved, the Qing court would have to rely on Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu to guard Jiangnan: "If we hesitate, maybe Deng Ming would be suspicious. In the end, even Lang Tingzuo refused to kill, otherwise we would better tell him clearly."

Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu studied the current situation and anyone could see that Jiangnan was in danger. After Ma Fengzhi rebelled, if even Liang Huafeng was defeated and died, the situation would become even more serious. At this time, as long as the two of them defended Nanjing again, the court might pardon them. After all, Shunzhi should also pay attention to the influence. The two dismissed people continued to serve the court with great difficulty. If they were held accountable, I am afraid that other local officials would be disappointed, and no one would believe that they would make meritorious contributions in the future.

"Well, anyway, sooner or later, tell Deng Ming that after he kills Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng, we will release people. But before that, Gan Hui and Yu Xin will definitely not be able to let go, and even a Fujianese cannot let go."

If it is just a simple exchange of prisoners, you can also consider releasing Zheng Chenggong's subordinates; but now it is involved in Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng. If Deng Ming really does what they ask, he will never release prisoners of war. Because Jiang Guozhu is worried that the transaction content may be leaked, he will buy the enemy and kill the chief and colleagues. If this kind of news spreads, then the two of them will not only be a problem of house search. At that time, Shunzhi will have every reason to kill them.

As long as the prisoners of war from the Fujian army were not released, no matter what Deng Ming said, he would not win the trust. Therefore, Jiang Guozhu and Guan Qizhong planned to take advantage of Deng Ming's eagerness to get back the prisoners, first let him help him kill Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng, and then kill all the prisoners of the Fujian army, claiming to avenge the Governor of Liangjiang.

"Just tell Deng Ming like that." Guan Qizhong completely agreed with Jiang Guozhu's judgment. As for Deng Ming's reaction, there was nothing scary. Anyway, they hid in the safe city of Nanjing, and Zhu Yuanzhang's capital would never be captured by the more than 10,000 Ming troops outside the city. Even if the worst happens, Deng Ming really broke Nanjing and cut Guan Qizhong and Jiang Guozhu into pieces. In that way, they would be loyal ministers who sacrificed their lives for the country, and Shunzhi would never attack their families again.

Guan Qizhong is not completely convinced of this, after all, there is a precedent for Hong Chengchou. But Jiang Guozhu told him not to worry, saying that it was just to appease Wu Sangui and Zhao Liangdong. As long as Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng were both dead, the court would not need to appease anyone anymore, but would commend their wiseness.

The messenger was called in again, and Jiang Guozhu spread his trump card: "In addition to Lang Tingzuo, we also want Admiral Deng to fight Liang Huafeng. He is rushing back to Nanjing, and we will tell Admiral Deng about his route and troops before he arrives. We can also help Admiral Deng replace our people with ours, and ensure that he can catch him off guard. After seeing the heads of Lang Tingzuo and Liang Huafeng, please ask the Admiral to evacuate thirty miles from Nanjing to show sincerity, and then we will release people. After seeing the people from Yanping, the Admiral can also release our people."

The envoy kept Jiang Guozhu's request in mind, repeated it and confirmed it correctly, and said goodbye and left.

After returning to the Ming army camp, Deng Ming smiled at Li Laiheng after hearing this, "I still remember Zhang Changgeng from Wuchang."

"Remember," Li Laiheng sneered. Deng Ming's metaphor that Li Laiheng had always kept in mind: "These two thieves also regard us as donkeys and want to hang us with a carrot."

"Well, as long as we kill Lang Tingzuo, we will fall into their plan. At that time, we will have to remove Liang Huafeng for them. They said it nicely, and they will adjust all the sentry in advance, so that our people will be desperate. When we fight to kill Liang Huafeng, we fantasize that we can rescue our people after retreating thirty miles. At that time, they will probably have some new tricks." Deng Ming shook his head disdainfully and said, "These two people are too good at doing business."

"Why did the admiral say this?" Li Laiheng felt that the other party was very smart and refused to suffer any loss.

"Because they are unwilling to lose at all, and they are unwilling to make a fortune. Doing a business is not a war, and wishful thinking cannot be done. Both parties must agree." Deng Ming had already made plans in his mind, but he did not say it immediately, but asked Li Laiheng: "How do you think you should repay the color?"

"Um..." Li Laiheng frowned and pondered. His thirty years in the past were training troops seriously and studying martial arts diligently. He followed his adoptive father Li Guo to fight. He had never been involved in business except for fighting and operating the territory. After spending a period of time with Deng Ming in Wuchang, Li Laiheng felt that Deng Ming opened a door in front of him, allowing him to see a brand new world.

During the negotiations between Wuchang and Zhou Peigong, Deng Ming would tell Li Laiheng unreservedly about his reasons, and then he had to deal with Zhou Peigong several times. After these practices, Li Laiheng's negotiation skills have been greatly improved. He was secretly proud before, but today Li Laiheng was stumped again.

"If we say that as long as they do not agree to our request, we will attack Nanjing..." Li Laiheng shook his head and rejected it. This move can be used against Wuchang, because the Ming army seemed to be crowded at that time, and Wuchang was already a frightened bird; but now he is facing the strong city of Nanjing. Guan Xiaozhong and Jiang Guozhu are fearless and are not afraid of the Ming army's strong attack. If the Ming army does not agree to the conditions of the Ming army and the Ming army will attack Nanjing, not only Guan Xiaozhong, but Jiang Guozhu does not believe it, Li Laiheng himself will not believe it.

"It's really useless to say that. They will definitely say please and be with you at any time. We can't fight at that time, or we don't dare to fight at all. This will only make us more passive in the negotiations. It would be great if General Liu was here, and maybe we could scare them." Deng Ming sighed from the side.

In the past, the Ming army successfully blasted the walls of those small cities, but they were absolutely unable to compare with the majestic Nanjing city walls. And now Deng Ming does not have much gunpowder in his hands, and most of them cannot blow up the walls of Nanjing. If Liu Tichun brought his blasting team and there were a large number of gunpowder here, he could have let Liu Tichun explode it. If he could create a gap, it would definitely help the Ming army gain a favorable position at the negotiating table.

Li Laiheng thought for a while, and finally shook his head helplessly and said, "There is no good idea, I can only hope that they will not break the contract."

"This is the disadvantage of monopoly, there is no room for bargaining."

"What is monopoly?" Li Laiheng asked.

Deng Ming told Li Laiheng some definitions of monopoly and its harms, and finally said: "In order to break the monopoly, we need to introduce a competitive mechanism."

Without waiting for Li Laiheng to continue asking, Deng Ming used practical actions to tell the other party what the competition mechanism was.

"Come on, go and invite Governor Lang."
Chapter completed!