Chapter 962 Negotiations with the Cumans!

Just when Esidogan was full of doubts, the charge of the Cuman soldiers on Wugang Mountain was finally repelled and defeated by the Fengwu Army again. The Fengwu Army on the mountaintop cheered excitedly, which interrupted Esidogan's thoughts...
The excitement of the Fengwu Army on Wugang Mountain also made the other Cuman soldiers lose face. Ahejiang, a fierce general in the Cuman Army, immediately asked Esidogan for orders:

"Great Khan, please allow me to lead the army to fight again! I will definitely take down Wugang Mountain for you!"

Feeling Ahejiang's determination, Aisiduoan was still very satisfied. Although Ahejiang was greedy for money and lustful, which made people very angry, he was really a fierce general in fighting. He was not afraid of death, dared to fight hard and was good at taking on tough tasks!
Although he was very satisfied with Ahejiang's attitude, Esidogan was not prepared to let Ahejiang lead his troops to attack Wugang Mountain. Although the Cuman Tiger Division had behaved very fearlessly in the attacks in the past few days, the firearms of the Fengwu Army and their tenacious resistance had caused the Cuman Tiger Division to suffer nearly two thousand casualties.

You must know that the Golden Horde's Tiger Division is the best-equipped and most powerful army of the Golden Horde. Every member of them is skilled in archery and horse riding, brave and fearless, and is the bravest among the Golden Horde warriors!
The two tiger divisions that Asdogan brought this time had a total of no more than 35,000 people. Taking into account the losses in the previous attack on Dagu County and those counties, the Cuman Tiger Division has suffered nearly 7,000 casualties...
The casualties of these 7,000 people can be said to be very painful for Esidogan. Last year, when they fought a decisive battle with the Robe people and captured the Western Elunqin steppe, the Cuman Tiger Division, as the main attacking force, only lost more than 5,000 people!

This time, the Great Zhou had not achieved any good results in its southward expedition, but had already lost seven thousand people. This was simply unacceptable to Esidean!

And most importantly, it is still impossible to confirm whether Ye Mingsheng is really in Wugang Mountain!

If Ye Mingsheng was really in Wugang Mountain, then even if there were 17,000 casualties, let alone 7,000 casualties, it would be very worthwhile to capture Ye Mingsheng alive. But if Ye Mingsheng was not in Wugang Mountain, then Wugang Mountain would not be of such high value that it would make them pay such a high price to attack him!
Thinking of this, Astoan made up his mind and immediately gave the order:

"Stop attacking Wugang Mountain! Encircle Wugang Mountain tightly and don't allow a single Fengwu Army soldier to escape!"

"Yes!"

On the evening of the day when Asdogan stopped attacking Wugang Mountain, Ye Mingsheng in Dagu County received the news.

Looking at the news sent by the Coordination Office, Ye Mingsheng knew that Aisiduoan had doubted whether he was in Dagu County. In the past few days, Ye Mingsheng also cooperated with Ye Fu's actions, staying at home in Dagu County, and hardly making any public appearances...
From the current perspective, Ye Fu's strategy is quite effective. It has attracted Esidogan and the Cuman Tiger Division to Wugang Mountain, so that they can no longer harm the people of Yunbing.

However, as Esidoan suspended his attack on Wugang Mountain, it meant that the plan had entered the second stage. Now Esidoan had doubts about whether he was in Wugang Mountain. If he wanted to make him continue to be convinced, he had to continue to release some information to him!
Thinking of this, Ye Mingsheng ordered someone to call Peng Le, a captain from the General Coordination Office, over. Soon, Peng Le appeared in front of Ye Mingsheng after receiving the order.

"I, Peng Le, pay my respects to the Marshal!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded and motioned Peng Le to stand up, then handed a letter to Peng Le and said;
"Find some way to get this into Estóan's hands!"

Peng Le was very surprised when he received the envelope. After hesitating for a moment, he asked Ye Mingsheng tentatively:

"May I ask what is written in this letter, Marshal?"

Ye Mingsheng smiled and said:

"The deployment of the Wugangshan Fengwu Army's forces, food reserves, and other information!"

Peng Le was even more surprised when he heard this. Just when he was thinking about the purpose of Ye Mingsheng's action, Ye Mingsheng said directly:
“The strength of our army’s previous rescue operations in Wugang Mountain was too weak, so now Aisiduoan has begun to doubt. If we want him to continue to attack Wugang Mountain, we must make him believe that I am still on Wugang Mountain. The reason why Dagu County’s rescue is not strong enough is because someone in the Fengwu Army wants to kill someone with a borrowed knife and doesn’t want to see me go back alive…”

"So in order to kill me at the hands of the Cumans, some people in the Fengwu Army disclosed the firearms, food supplies and other information of Wugang Mountain to the Cumans!"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng saying these with a smile on his face, Peng Le couldn't help but swallow his saliva. He didn't expect things to turn out this way!
Seeing that Peng Le was somewhat confused, Ye Mingsheng continued to instruct:

"This is just a plan. As for how to do it specifically, it's up to you, Peng Le, to complete it!"

Peng Le nodded and said:

"I understand, Marshal! I will make sure everything is clear and transparent!"

Ye Mingsheng was very satisfied with this answer and said:

"Very good! If the plan succeeds, you, Peng Le, will be credited with the achievement!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Peng Le's eyes suddenly lit up. There have been rumors recently that because Huo San has resumed his position as director, there is only one deputy director, Ji Xian, in the Coordination Office. Therefore, the Marshal wants to promote a deputy director from among the several thousand households in the Coordination Office.

Although this news has not been confirmed, it has not been refuted either!

If I can accomplish this feat this time, wouldn't I be able to gain an advantage in the upcoming competition for the deputy director position?

When Peng Le thought about his colleagues respectfully calling him Director Peng in the future, he was full of motivation. He immediately bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:
“Thank you for your cultivation, Marshal. I will arrange it right away!” Peng Le bowed and left as soon as he finished speaking. Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly as he watched Peng Le leave. People like Asdogan, who are suspicious by nature, like to believe in conspiracy theories the most. Therefore, he will definitely take the bait this time and fall deeper and deeper into the trap of Wugang Mountain...

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Yongliang, Jincheng

In a luxuriously decorated mansion, a group of Cuman generals were sitting next to each other. Although they were gathered together, no one spoke. Everyone had a gloomy face, as if a relative of theirs was missing!
This is indeed the case. Compared with the feudal system of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the Golden Horde was still in a relatively primitive tribal system. Therefore, every Golden Horde general was almost the head of a tribe or a great noble, and their soldiers were the people of their tribe.

In the past seven or eight days, Jincheng suffered a fierce attack from the Fengwu Army. Under the fierce bombardment of the Fengwu Army's artillery, although Jincheng was still under the control of the Cumans, the Cumans also suffered considerable casualties.

There were originally more than 50,000 Cuman troops in Jincheng, but now there are more than 20,000 casualties. In some cases, the casualties have even exceeded 50%. Many of these casualties are relatives, friends and clansmen of these Cuman generals.

Bahat, who called everyone over to discuss the matter, had not officially started the agenda yet, but when he saw everyone like this, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly!

Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly depressing, a young Kipchak general, Gacha, stood up and said:
“Master Bahat, I am the youngest here today. If the uncles have anything to say that is difficult to say, then let me say it…”

As soon as these words came out, everyone's eyes were attracted by Gacha, and under everyone's gaze, Gacha said in a deep voice:

"There were 5,000 of my men when we went to war, but now, less than two months later, only 3,000 are still able to stand and fight!"

"I don't know if you uncles and aunts can continue to fight, but my Gacha can't fight anymore. I have done my duty to the Khanate and the Great Khan!"

"The Fengwu Army's cannons are like fireballs from the sky. Every time a round hits the city wall, it trembles. This golden city cannot be defended at all!"

"My people and I don't want to die here, Lord Bahat, we want to leave!"

Gacha's words hit everyone's heart like a hammer, and seeing that someone was the first to stand up, others also stood up one after another.

"Lord Bahat, Gacha may be young, but what he said makes sense. We can't defend this golden city!"

"We shouldn't continue to hold out in Jincheng. Lord Bahat, you should take us home!"

"The Western Erlengqin grassland is being attacked by the Luobi people. We should not fight a bloody battle with the Fengwu Army here. We must go back to defend our grassland!"

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Everyone was talking at once. Although their words were different, the meaning behind them was the same, which was that they didn't want to fight with the Fengwu Army anymore. They wanted to go home and return to the grassland!
Feeling everyone's thoughts, Bahat felt very sad. He knew that these generals all had this idea, and there was no doubt that the ordinary soldiers below also held this idea!

Although Bahat had decided early on that he would not defend Jincheng to the death, he was very clear that this would be a waste of the best opportunity for the Golden Horde to conquer the Astai region. The Khanate would not be able to get involved in the Astai region for at least the next 30 years!

Therefore, due to the siege of the Fengwu Army, Bahat had no idea of ​​the movements of Asdogan, but for the overall interests of the Khanate, Bahat originally wanted to hold on for a while. He originally planned to hold this meeting today to encourage some of his subordinates to hold on for a while.

But seeing this situation, Bahat also understood how strong people's opinions were, and public opinion cannot be violated!

Thinking of this, Bahat broke the silence and said in a deep voice under the eyes of everyone:

"Since you don't want to fight anymore, I will take you home!"

Before Bahat's words fell completely, the expressions of the people in the room were much more relaxed. They were all afraid that Bahat would fight to the death in Jincheng...

Now that the tone of retreat has been set, the next step is for everyone to discuss the specific retreat plan!
Because some people were greedy, they not only wanted their own people to leave, but also wanted to take away the looted property, so they proposed the first retreat plan, which was to negotiate with the Fengwu Army!
The content of the negotiation was that the Cumans would hand over Jincheng to the Fengwu Army, and the Fengwu Army would allow them to leave with their property.

Because they knew that the Fengwu Army valued the lives of the people, the Qipchaks also made a threat. That is, since the start of the negotiations, for every day the Fengwu Army delayed, they would kill 100 Da Zhou civilians in the city. If the Fengwu Army continued to attack Jincheng, they would kill 500 Da Zhou civilians in the city every day.
The most important thing is that if the Fengwu Army refuses to negotiate, they will kill tens of thousands of Da Zhou people in the city!

As soon as this proposal came out, it immediately won the approval of the Cuman generals present. The Cuman tribes suffered heavy losses during this march south. If they could bring back some wealth from the Great Zhou, it would be able to make up for some of the losses and avoid serious damage to their vitality!
If we break out directly, we will definitely not be able to take away much wealth and goods, so it is undoubtedly best to be able to take away more wealth and goods through negotiation and leave peacefully!
However, some Qipchaq generals felt that if this policy was implemented, it would lead to riots among the people of the Great Zhou in the city. At that time, under attack from both inside and outside, it would be even more difficult for Jincheng to continue to hold on...

In addition, the Fengwu Army has always been very strong, and this kind of negotiation can easily anger the Fengwu Army. Once the Fengwu Army intensifies its offensive, they will not have the time or enough people to carry out a massacre!
Bahat also agreed with this rational voice, so he also developed an alternative plan!

This alternative plan means that everyone should make preparations for both situations. On the one hand, prepare for negotiations, and on the other hand, prepare to break out. If you can leave Jincheng through negotiations, that would undoubtedly be the best. If not, then just break out directly. In short, you cannot stay in Jincheng any longer!

Jincheng is now a place where there is no hope of survival. Staying here will only lead to death!
The people of the Qipchaqs all approved of Bahat's two-handed preparation. Now that the plan has been finalized, the last step left is to confirm who will go to the Fengwu Army to negotiate with the Fengwu Army!
This kind of negotiation certainly cannot be carried out by sending just any soldier; it requires a person of status and position. When the Cuman generals present heard this issue, they all fell silent. Apparently, everyone knew that this was a very dangerous mission...
(End of this chapter)