Although Wu Sangui's statement was extremely pessimistic, the Manchu relatives present all felt that Wu Sangui's words made sense: "It must be more than 30,000 to 50,000 people retreated across the Yellow River. It is absolutely time for us to withdraw now. As long as the Eight Banners Armored Soldiers and the elite Han army retreated across the Yellow River, the situation will be completely different!"

Although Ajige's troops claimed to have a population of 100,000, there were only 50,000 people outside the pass among the so-called 100,000 troops. This was the result of calculating all the troops of Wu Sangui. Although the remaining Green Camp soldiers and the new affiliated troops were not vulnerable, they were particularly brave when they were bandits and local bandits, they could not even play a role in shaking flags and shouting when they met the Ming army of Yue.

Therefore, the opinions of the Manchu nobles and Wu Sangui were actually completely consistent. They all suggested that the Eight Banner Armored Soldiers, the Mongolian and Han Army elites should be retreated across the Yellow River as soon as possible. As long as these elite troops are preserved intact, Ajige's troops will still be the strongest field corps in the Qing Dynasty. As for ordinary green camp soldiers, the new affiliated army would recruit as much as they want.

And Azig also felt that their statement made sense.

Although the whole province of Henan belongs to Ajige, and Ajige can be said to be a real local emperor on the ground in Henan, Ajige is very clear that the reason why he can dominate Henan is because of his strong soldiers and horses. If he fights all the troops and horses, someone will replace them even if he defends Henan. Therefore, he immediately gave up his intention to retreat: "Since everyone thinks that we should retreat across the Yellow River, I can't go against everyone, but there are two things we have to do immediately before evacuating across the Yellow River!"

The Manchu nobles present were relieved to hear that Ajige was willing to withdraw their troops. In fact, the repeated defeats of the Qing Dynasty in the past two years have affected their confidence in sticking to Henan. Everyone felt that sticking to Henan would inevitably be a dead end. Now Ajige is willing to withdraw his troops, so everyone can say that there is an extra way to survive.

Wu Sangui was even more active in this matter: "Prince Ying, as long as you retreat across the Yellow River, not to mention two, even twenty or two hundred, we will help Ying to do it!"

Ajige was not polite to everyone and immediately raised the most important thing in his eyes: "First of all, we have to inform King Yu about our withdrawal of troops!"

Now that King Duoduo of Henan has just entered Shaanxi, he is busy dealing with Yang Zhan's army and He Jin army who launched a counterattack from Hanzhong. At this time, Ajige withdraws troops from Henan to Duoduo, which has to adopt strategic ports even if Duoduo has the ability to dominate.

Tong Yanghe was the first to agree with Ajige's opinion: "No matter whether we withdraw our troops or not, we should notify King Henan of Henan as soon as possible, and there is definitely no problem!"

Wu Sangui sneered: "Prince Ying, you don't have to worry about King Yu. He runs the fastest every time he withdraws his troops. If he hadn't been the first to escape, the Qing Dynasty would not have reached this point today!"

If it was last year or at this time of the year before yesterday, Wu Sangui would definitely not dare to mock a prince of the Qing Dynasty in front of the Manchu nobles, but the situation this year is completely different. Wu Sangui did not think Duoduo was so great. Moreover, when he finished speaking, all the Manchu nobles thought that his words were very reasonable, and even laughed out loud together.

But Ajige said expressionlessly: "The second thing is to contact Caozhou before withdrawing troops and let them let us go!"

Wu Sangui felt that Ajige was a perfect solution: "That's right, the reason why the Caozhou thieves are important now is because we fight with the Jinhua thieves to the death. If we are in harmony with the Jinhua thieves, the Caozhou thieves will probably be more honest than the kitten!"

Tong Yanghe also felt that Ajige's strategy of contacting Caozhou was flawless: "We can make it clear to Caozhou that as long as they are willing to let us go, we can give up the entire Henan to Caozhou!"

The Manchu relatives present were very excited when they heard this plan. Some people even said: "The last time the thieves in Caozhou made us uneasy. Now it is the turn of Jinhua thieves to enjoy this kind of life. It is best if Jinhua thieves and Caozhou thieves can fight one big battle, so that they can fight to the death!"

What they are most looking forward to now is that the Ming army and Caozhou army will fight now.

But for Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo and Zuo Menggeng of Caozhou, Ajige's decision to withdraw his troops could be said to have hit them. Liu Liangzuo's face turned pale: "Isn't Jianlu claiming to be invincible in the world, can he fight ten hundred, can attack a hundred, and can break a thousand? Why did he run away before he even fought? Henan is his fiefdom of Ajige. Isn't he the only three prefectures in northern Henan who have retreated across the Yellow River?"

Liu Liangzuo even felt that since Ajige had decided to retreat across the Yellow River, he would definitely not stick to the three prefectures in northern Henan, just like King Su Haoge might withdraw from Shandong at any time. After all, even famous cities like Jinan, Kaifeng, Luoyang, and Zhengzhou were not ready to stick to them, so how could he stick to the three prefectures in northern Henan?

However, Zuo Menggeng felt that Liu Liangzuo had thought too much: "The most important question now is whether to let Ajige go. If we are willing to let Ajige go, Ajige should be able to retreat across the Yellow River safely, but if we entangle Ajige, the situation will be completely different!"

It was the main reason why Ajige decided to contact Caozhou, and Liu Zeqing said angrily: "In the letter, as long as we are willing to let him go, we will give up the entire Henan territory to us. The problem is that he will not withdraw sooner or later, but at this time!"

Although Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo and Zuo Menggeng were the final winners of the Caozhou uprising, their victory can only be described as a miserable victory. After all, the Qing army used by Shandong to suppress the Caozhou Incident include thirty Niulu Eight Banners Armored Soldiers and 60 camps of Green Camp soldiers, and Ajige used to suppress the Caozhou Incident.

Although Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo, and Zuo Menggeng pieced together tens of thousands of backbone troops and tens of thousands of new troops, they were far inferior to the real regular army of the Qing army in terms of combat effectiveness and other aspects. As a result, although there were some achievements in the early stage of the revolt, they soon suffered huge losses. If the Ming army of Yue did not send troops to the north, they would definitely die without a place to die. But even so, it would be a tragic victory, and only half of the backbone troops were saved.

Originally, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo placed their hopes on making a big profit after defeating the Qing army, but since the Ming army of Yue and Ming invested 500 battalions at the same time, it was naturally impossible to give the fruits of victory to Caozhou. As a result, Caozhou only received some leftovers after winning the miserable victory.

Caozhou used to expect to make a big profit from Ajige, but now that Ajige withdraws, their original wishful thinking will be completely bankrupt again, so Liu Zeqing has such complaints.

Although Zuo Menggeng is a general, he is a typical tiger general and dog son. When he heard Liu Zeqing complaining, he quickly retreated: "Marquis Dongping, since Ajige can't afford to provoke the Ming Dynasty of Yue, let's not be half-hearted. Our Emperor Chengtian is not simple!"

Zuo Menggeng's words made Liu Zeqing feel that it was an opportunity to take advantage of: "If we want to make a fortune in this troubled era, we have to try our best to do so. Huang Degong is the lesson of the past. Ajige is willing to give up the entire Henan, which is the entire Henan!"

Liu Liangzuo reminded him: "Not including the three prefectures in northern Henan, and no matter how Ajige cooperates, we cannot defeat the three prefectures in northern Henan. The imperial court not only sent Empress Fengtiangao to lead the army in person on the west road, but also Gao Yigong, Li Guo and Liu Tichun are all elite soldiers in a hundred battles, not to mention that Xing Shengping still has dozens of camps!"

Zuo Menggeng also agreed with Liu Liangzuo: "Not to mention how many elite troops there are in the south, dozens of camps can be dispatched at any time in the east!"

Moreover, Zuo Menggeng had a worry that he had not expressed it. One of the key factors that the Caozhou army was going smoothly at the beginning of the uprising was that they had been under the banner of Chengtian Dynasty. Whether it was the Yuyuan Army or the rebels near Caozhou cooperated with them because of the Chengtian Dynasty. Now Emperor Chengtian personally led the army to the northern expedition. Whether it was the Yuyuan Army or various powerful men, the rebels wanted to contact Emperor Chengtian Liu Yongxi. If they dared to play any tricks with Ajige, they would probably hand the knife to the court as soon as possible.

But Liu Liangzuo and Zuo Menggeng's words made Liu Zeqing determined: "Since Emperor Chengtian Liu Yongxi is not a good person, we must keep Ajige against him, otherwise we will die without a burial after this kid takes power!"

Liu Liangzuo also wanted to persuade Liu Zeqing, but Liu Zeqing said frankly: "My idea is settled. If anyone of you dares to give up, don't blame my subordinates for being ruthless. This must be done!"

Liu Zeqing has always been ruthless, and since Caozhou is Liu Zeqing's hometown, he naturally has become an iron bucket country. Therefore, when he said this, Liu Liangzuo and Zuo Menggeng dared not speak. After a while, Zuo Menggeng said: "Since the Marquis of Dongping has made up his mind, let's continue to do it!"

For Empress Gao, she originally thought that this northern expedition would be extremely hard. After all, Azige's troops were the last truly field corps in the Qing Dynasty. The joint efforts of the Zhongzhen Camp and the Daxi Camp may not be Azige's opponent, but no one expected that since the beginning of the Northern Expedition, she received good news.

At first, Gao Yigong was reported by Li Dingguo, Liu Tichun and Li Guo, but soon he received the good news from Anhui Governor Xing Shengping. He also knew that Xing Shengping personally led the army to attack Henan. The chances of winning this Northern Expedition were at least 50%. However, the most unexpected good news was that the Ming army on the east route had already won the Jinan city directly.
Chapter completed!