Please ask me to be the emperor

It is said that Datong Governor Ye Tinggui, Datong Commander-in-Chief Wang Shiren and Xuanfu Commander-in-Chief Li Guoliang heard Song Xiance's words and couldn't help but wonder: "Why did you say this, sir?"

"Datong is six to seven hundred miles away from Taiyuan, and Xuanfu is only three hundred and fifty miles away from the capital." Song Xiance couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Although the two towns of Xuanda and Dazhou sent Wang Qingzhi and Wu Weihua to the two places to lobby for higher prices."

"However, the road to the capital is short and the road to Taiyuan is long. I am afraid that Zhang Weishi has surrendered before you can reach Xuanfu!"

It turned out that when the two towns of Xuanda and Daxi saw the Jin Azige tribe gaining the upper hand after being besieged by the rebels, they were unable to win. Therefore, some generals had different intentions and asked Wang Qingzhi to help them.

However, after Wang Qingzhi left for a few days, some "businessmen traveling in Mongolia" got the news, and they contacted each other and roped in a group of generals who supported joining the "Qing Dynasty", so these two sides of the bet were made.

Among these two tendencies, on the side that leans toward the rebels, military generals have the upper hand, while on the side that leans toward the Hou Jin, it is the merchants and nobles who have the upper hand.

On the surface, the strength of the two sides seems to be evenly divided, but since the generals are the controllers of the army, they naturally have a greater say.

Therefore, Wang Qingzhi was able to strike first and contact Zhang Shun first.

However, due to the special circumstances of the two towns of Xuanda, Zhang Shun had to recruit and surrender Zhu Xieyuan's troops first, and then seek to capture Xuanda.

This back and forth wasted a lot of time, but it allowed Wu Weihua to arrive first and gain the upper hand.

"What should we do?" Datong Governor Ye Tinggui, Datong Commander-in-Chief Wang Shiren, and Xuanfu Commander-in-Chief Li Guoliang were stunned when they heard this, and couldn't help asking quickly.

"Since the three of them have surrendered to the rebel army, do they have to come to the Xuan Mansion in person to recruit the two towns of Xuanda and Da?" Song Xiance couldn't help but laugh when he saw that the three of them had fallen into the trap.

"How do you say this?" The three of them couldn't help but look at each other after hearing this, with a look of surprise and uncertainty on their faces.

The two towns of Datong in Xuanfu were important towns to the west of the capital of the Ming Dynasty. In addition to the governor and general soldiers, there were also a number of officials such as guard eunuchs, deputy general soldiers, deputy envoys for military preparations, generals, and guards.

If they couldn't get rid of the guarding eunuchs and win over the following deputy general soldiers, deputy military envoys, staff generals, and garrison, how could they control Xuanfu Datong to defect to King Shun?

"Tell me, what will happen if we directly declare that the two towns of Xuanfu and Datong surrender to King Shun?" Song Xiance couldn't help stroking his beard and chuckled.

"Isn't this the world in chaos?" Ye Tinggui was stunned when he heard this and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Although Xuanfu Datong is two important military towns, the governor and the general have certain control over it.

However, due to the system problems of the Ming Dynasty, the garrison eunuchs, deputy commander-in-chief, deputy envoys for military equipment, various branch garrison generals, and garrison guards at each fort also performed their own duties and had great authority.

In the past, these governors and general soldiers performed their duties within their authority, so these people naturally had nothing to say.

However, once these governors and general soldiers exceed their authority, only God knows whether they will obey orders.

Therefore, Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang rushed back to Datong, Xuanfu, preparing to control the main generals before announcing the "surrender".

Song Xiance couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said to Ye Tinggui: "Fujun only knows one, but not the other."

"According to common sense, we should act this way. But now that things have happened for a reason, we should do the opposite, so that we can achieve full success."

"May I ask how to act?" Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren, and Li Guoliang looked at each other. They couldn't help but ask for advice because they had no better way.

"First, Zhu Xieyuan of the Zuozhu Kingdom, Zhang Fengyi, the commander-in-chief of Xuanda, and you, Zhang Weishi, the governor of the Xuanfu, and the other two commander-in-chiefs issued a notice to inform the two towns about the surrender to the rebel army."

"Second, they made a big show of exaggerating King Shun's benevolence and righteousness, and awarded rewards to publicize the affairs of the two towns."

"Third, send a separate messenger to order the deputy commander-in-chief of the army, deputy envoys for military equipment, various generals, and garrison troops to change flags and banners, and respect King Shun from afar."

"Fourth, vigorously criticize the bad government of the Ming Dynasty, the lack of food and wages, and the lack of livelihood for the people; vigorously promote the distinction between Hua and Yi, criticize the evil behavior of the Eastern and Northern captives, burning, killing, and looting, and everyone will punish them!"

"Publish this matter to everyone as soon as possible, and then take advantage of the two guarding eunuchs, Xuanfu governor Zhang Weishi and Donglu to be surprised and uncertain, and raid the Datong Xuanfu to completely control these two places."

"This" Ye Tinggui couldn't help but look at Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang in shock when he heard this.

Why?

It turns out that in this era, although there were some propaganda slogans such as "No food will be paid when the King of Chuang comes", due to limitations in information transmission, the concept of public opinion war had not yet appeared.

Originally, the old Taoist priest Song Xiance was confused about this, but he seemed to understand.

It wasn't until a few days ago that when Zhang Shun led the army to attack Shanxi, he launched a wave of "cognitive operations" in order to cooperate with the "big and deep operations", which completely subverted his previous concepts.

So today, he followed suit and played the same trick to the two towns of Xuanda and Dazhou.

Since Zuozhuguo Zhu Xieyuan and Xuanda Governor Zhang Fengyi died, and Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang never returned, the two towns of Xuanda were leaderless at this time, and it was a time of panic.

If at this time, public opinion is everywhere, and orders from superiors arrive at the right time, then most people will definitely accept this "reality" quickly due to herd mentality. This is the power of "cognitive warfare".

Of course, this "cognitive warfare" is not omnipotent.

If Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang cannot capture the two towns of Xuanfu and Datong before people wake up, public opinion will backfire.

Under the humiliation of being deceived, most people will soon turn against the rebels.

"Okay, this matter is fine for the three of us!" Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang thought for a moment and then nodded.

"It's just that the matter is serious. If anything goes wrong, I'm afraid the three of us can't afford it."

Song Xiance is such a person. Hearing this, these three people are already moved.

He couldn't help but strike while the iron was hot: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. The relationship between the old Taoist priest and His Highness King Shun is of great importance. If there is any disharmony in this matter, someone will be responsible for it!"

The three people heard this and felt relieved. Then they nodded and said, "In this case, we have nothing to say."

The four of them agreed on their strategy and then hurried to Xinzhou City. They found some pens, inks, paper, inkstones and some pieces of cloth, and began to splash ink.

In the first one, more than ten articles were written, and envoys were sent to all directions, in the names of Zhu Xieyuan of Zuozhu State, Zhang Fengyi, governor of Xuanda, two governors, and two general soldiers, to inform everyone in Xuanda to submit to King Shun.

In the second post, he also wrote a letter and military order, instructing the soldiers to go to various places such as the deputy commander-in-chief, deputy envoy for military equipment, general staff, garrison, etc., and ordered them to change their flags.

Since Zhang Shun raised his army, he had not set up any special flags.

Song Xiance then chose an apricot-yellow flag with a large Chinese character "Shun" written on it as the symbol of the rebel army. He ordered dozens of flags to be made overnight and sent to various places together with jointly signed military orders.

The third one was to send soldiers to various places, with loud gongs and drums along the way, and promote the rewards of the rebel army: "two kings, three princes and five marquises, the generals and above are all earls, and the soldiers will be paid one stone per month."

After these three things were completed, Ye Tinggui thought to himself: If there are too many lice, there is no need to itch, and if there are too many debts, there is no need to worry. Since we have already ordered the two towns of Xuanfu and Datong to surrender, why don't I take the opportunity to send a letter to each of the three passes and three places in Shanxi to surrender together, so that I can live up to King Shun's favor of granting me the title of King of Shuo.

Thinking of this, Ye Tinggui took another letter and cloth, and wrote a letter to the three generals in Pianguan, Ningwu and Yanmen to prepare their troops, and ordered them to surrender together.

Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang were calculating clearly in their minds. They never thought that Song Xiance would burst out laughing.

Why?

It turned out that Song Xiance and Zhang Shun, two foxes one big and one small, had planned a lot of things against them.

First, Zhang Shun "eat two things with one fish". After gaining the trust of the three people, he temporarily deprived the two towns of Xuanda and Dazhou to surrender their subordinate camps to avoid recurrence.

But what Song Xiance did here was even more extreme: I don't care whether you are sincere or false. I will first take the matter of "submitting to King Shun" and make it a preemptive move for you, so that you will not regret it, and then I will make other calculations.

Poor Ye Tinggui, Wang Shiren and Li Guoliang, three heroes who were once so powerful that they were so stupid that they stepped into the trap and were manipulated.