Xia Chengde's last words made everyone present in the hall look sideways for a moment, each with their own thoughts.

After a while, everyone focused their attention on Yang Zhen again, waiting for Yang Zhen's reaction.

"Lao Xia, Lao Xia, you said you really can't stand jokes. Why are you kneeling down? Get up quickly."

After listening to Xia Chengde's answer, Yang Zhen only thought about it for a moment before he understood what he meant.

What he means is that it is up to you, Yang Zhen, to decide whether to fight or to surrender. If you want to fight, I will fight with you to the end. If you want to surrender, I will not object and I will surrender with you.

All in all, no matter what is right or wrong, or what is right or wrong, I just listen to you, look at you, and follow you.

Faced with Xia Chengde's attitude, what else could Yang Zhen say? For this, he could not ask for more or be more satisfied.

At that moment, Yang Zhen stood up with a smile and stepped forward. While talking, he pulled Xia Cheng up and let him sit back in his seat.

Yang Zhen's expression changed so quickly that those people were stunned.

But when they saw that what Xia Chengde said was actually recognized by Yang Zhen, those few people who had seen through Yang Zhen's thoughts were no longer calm.

Yang Zhen was very determined to resist the invaders, which they had long seen through.

But Yang Zhen's intention to swear allegiance to the Ming Dynasty is now very questionable. Allegiance is allegiance, but it is not the kind of foolish loyalty that leads to darkness.

In fact, the process of Yang Zhen testing everyone is not the process of everyone testing Yang Zhen?

After this mutual testing, Fang Guangchen, Zhang Chen, and Lu Pinqi looked at Yang Zhen again, but their eyes were different.

The conversation between Yang Zhen and Xia Chengde made them understand more about Yang Zhen's inner position. And this position was in line with the unspeakable feelings of several of them.

After all, in their hearts, they don't have much foolishness and loyalty to say that a king tells his ministers to die and they have to die.

With their grudges removed and no longer wary of each other, everyone quickly formed an interest group with Yang Zhen as the center.

At this point, Fang Guangchen, Lu Pinqi, and Xia Chengde were truly accepted by Yang Zhen as one of his own.

Next, where Songshan City will go will soon be determined.

Later that night, Yang Chaojin, Zhang Degui, and Li Lu were invited to the General Military Mansion. Yang Zhen disclosed to the three of them that Huang Taiji had sent people to surrender, and told them the identity of the envoy.

When the three people heard this, they were all stunned and shocked.

Zhang Degui and Li Lu were better off. They were mainly surprised by the identity of the envoys who came to persuade them to surrender.

They had no different opinions regarding Yang Zhen's decision to detain Shen Yongzhong and release Zu Zerun at the same time.

Both of them are Yang Zhen's most trusted basic team members. The reason why he didn't invite them here before is precisely because Yang Zhen has complete confidence in them.

But Yang Chaojin was different. As an internal minister overseeing the army, he was naturally the most sensitive to this kind of thing.

As early as the evening, what Li Shouzhong said to Yang Zhen at the top of Ximen City had already aroused Yang Chaojin's doubts.

When he was invited to the General Military Mansion in the evening and listened to what Yang Zhen told him, he became even more vigilant about whether Yang Zhen would surrender.

Although Yang Zhen repeatedly promised him that he would never surrender, Yang Chaojin still firmly opposed the return of Zu Zerun.

In his opinion, with the living evidence of Zu Zerun in hand, it would be just around the corner to write a letter to the emperor and overthrow Zu Dashou.

At the same time, once Zu Zerun is released, not only will he miss the opportunity to overthrow Zu Dashou, but he may also let Zu Zerun pass on some news.

For example, it is entirely possible that Yang Zhen communicated and bargained with the Manchu Tatar puppet emperor Huang Taiji without telling him.

To cut off this communication channel, the least expensive way Yang Chaojin could find was to detain Zu Zerun in Songshan City.

Yang Chaojin also insisted on going to the dungeon in the west courtyard of the front yard of Songshan General Military Mansion to personally verify Zu Zerun's identity.

After returning, he said to everyone: "You are worried about offending Zu Dashou's ancestral army and completely cutting off Songshan City's only reinforcements, so you oppose the execution of Zu Zerun. Our family can understand this.

"You are opposed to the disclosure of Zu Zerun's identity, to sending them to the imperial court for official punishment, and to the disclosure of the fact that the Manchu Tatar puppet emperor sent him to persuade them to surrender. You are worried about the unrest in the military morale in Songshan City, and our family can understand it.

"However, to detain Zu Zerun just like Shen Yongzhong, we did not kill him, but spared his life. We just did not allow him to leave Songshan City and did not allow him to return to the Manchu Tat camp. You actually opposed it.

We cannot let him go. But our family cannot understand this."

At this point, Yang Chaojin paused briefly, and then said to Yang Zhen with a dark face: "Captain Yang, dear brother of Han Qing, our family has been impressed by your wisdom and courage since the day we met your dear brother, and we have been with you

We have made a three-part agreement not to interfere with the command of Songshan's defense. But today, our family must find out whether Songshan is fighting or surrendering. If you want to surrender, you must kill me, Yang Chaojin, first!"

Seeing Yang Chaojin like this, Yang Zhen couldn't laugh or cry for a moment. He stepped forward and bowed to him, and said with a wry smile: "Brother, why are you so suspicious? If I had surrendered my heart, how could we have this meeting tonight? Let me return my ancestor Zerun, without him,

I just have to give it back!"

After Yang Zhen said these words, he saw that Yang Chaojin was still sullen and refused to let go. For a moment, he didn't know where to start.

At this time, Fang Guangchen suddenly stood up and came to Yang Zhen's side. He bowed to Yang Chaojin and said, "Eunuch Yang is too worried. What kind of person is the governor? How could Eunuch Yang not know how he could surrender to the Manchu Tatars?"

?Furthermore, if the governor has this intention, how can Guangchen sit here peacefully?"

As soon as Fang Guangchen said this, Yang Chaojin's face looked a little better.

Yang Chaojin knew very well what role Fang Guangchen played in Songshan City.

If Yang Chaojin was the emperor's spy, or Wang Dehua's spy, then Fang Guangchen was the Liaodong governor Fang Yizao's spy, or even the Minister of War Chen Xinjia's spy.

Although the two of them are on different lines, their purpose in coming to Songshan City is the same, which is to monitor Yang Zhen.

Therefore, when Yang Chaojin came to Songshan City to serve as the supervisor of the army, his relationship with Fang Guangchen has always been good.

From Yang Chaojin's point of view, in this Songshan City, apart from himself, Fang Guangchen was probably the only one who least wanted Yang Zhen to surrender to the Tatars.

Therefore, at this moment, he could still listen to Fang Guangchen's words.

"Last resort? What's the last resort?"

Although Yang Chaojin's expression was no longer so angry, his doubts were still not eliminated. His eyes turned on Fang Guangchen and Yang Zhen for a long time, and finally he couldn't help but ask.

At this time, Fang Guangchen straightened up, walked a few steps with square steps, then turned around and said to Yang Chaojin: "This Zu Zerun is really a hot potato. Of course, you can't kill him, but you can't keep him.

"Killing Zu Zerun, Zu Dashou and even the entire Ningyuan clan will definitely hate us. If Songshan is in trouble, they will not come to rescue us. This will cut off Songshan City's only foreign aid.

"But what about keeping him? If we keep him, it would be better to kill him with one knife. If we kill him, the Zu family will at most hate the governor and us. But if we keep him, we will neither kill nor release him, but it will probably force the Zu family to

——Yizhi surrenders!"

"Ah?! This, this -"

Fang Guangchen's words were low-pitched, even a little light, but when they fell in Yang Chaojin's ears, they were like thunder, leaving him dumbfounded and speechless.

But at this time, Fang Guangchen didn't care whether he believed it or not. He continued to follow his own ideas and said more and more confidently: "If Guangchen expected it to be true, Huang Taiji, the puppet emperor of the Manchu Tatars, specially sent Zu Zerun to say this.

Surrendering, I’m afraid surrendering to the Commander-in-Chief is secondary, but forcing Songshan’s officers and soldiers to turn against Commander-in-Chief Zu, so as to drive a wedge between Commander-in-Chief Zu and the imperial court, and forced surrender of Commander-in-Chief Zu, is his real intention!”

The words that Fang Guangchen said so confidently not only made Yang Chaojin stunned and stunned for a moment, but also shocked Yang Zhen.

After being stunned for a moment, Yang Zhen came to his senses, quickly took over Fang Guangchen's words, and said to Yang Chaojin: "What Fang Shenyi said is exactly what we are worried about! If the Manchu Tatar puppet emperor has his intentions here, we will detain him.

Zu Zeyuan fell into his scheme.

"Commander Zu is responsible for the safety and prosperity of several cities in western Liaoning. If he misunderstands our intentions and creates a rift with the imperial court, then the fisherman will get the benefit of the snipe and the clam, but it will be an advantage for the Tatars! My brother is ordered to supervise the army.

Songshan, how can we not worry about this matter?"

After Yang Zhen finished speaking, Zhang Degui, who was usually close to Yang Chaojin, quickly stepped forward to make peace and assured Yang Chaojin that Yang Zhen would never surrender to the Tatars or do anything detrimental to the imperial court.

.

Afterwards, Xia Chengde, Lu Pinqi and others also stepped forward and swore an oath to the sky, vowing to live and die with the city.

The second hall of the General Military Mansion was noisy for a long time, and finally became quiet.

After this incident, Yang Chaojin knew that not only Yang Zhen had made up his mind, but also that all the generals in Songshan only followed Yang Zhen, and he had no choice but to release Zu Zerun.

Besides, what Fang Guangchen said really made him feel uneasy. If Fang Guangchen really said it right, it would be really dangerous.

After thinking deeply for a while, Yang Chaojin suddenly stood up from his seat, bowed to Yang Zhen, gave a salute, and then said:

"Our family couldn't think about this and thought wildly. We almost missed important events and almost made a big mistake. As a brother, I can trust my virtuous brother, and my virtuous brother has been favored by the country for three hundred years. How can he let down the imperial court? From now on, Songshan City will fight as planned.

It’s better to follow your wise brother’s arrangements in everything.”

Having said this, Yang Chaojin sighed, paused for a moment, and then said: "It's just -, it's just a pity that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was available. The secret behind the Battle of Daling River could have been revealed in one fell swoop, but now,

But we can only watch and let it continue to be covered up.”
Chapter completed!