From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 995

This negotiation was just a formality. The other party wanted to see Huang Taiji's attitude, to test whether he could be bribed, or whether he could conquer in a simpler way.

Huang Taiji and Zhou Yuan mainly wanted to see the other party's specific ideas, to give the other party an illusion that it was easy to take this place.

This would help the other party to despise the enemy and create certain strategic opportunities.

But the conversation after leaving the tent made Zhou Yuan feel weird.

He has always admired Huang Taiji. He believes that this person has a considerable strategic vision and a vision that transcends the times.

But he was hesitant about the war.

"The Tsarist Empire rose very quickly. In just three or four hundred years, it has grown into a behemoth."

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "But in recent decades, especially in the past thirty years, their wars in the west have not been going well."

"Due to the development of firearms, their plate armor can't withstand the impact of flintlock guns, and the old wooden ships are suppressed by sailing warships. The Baltic Sea docks are closely watched by Sweden and Poland, and the Black Sea is closely watched by the Ottoman Empire. The warships can't enter the Mediterranean Sea at all, and they can't leave the Caspian Sea..."

"There are almost no ice-free ports in the north, and it is far away from the center of interest..."

"What I want to express is that their strategic intention to find a good ice-free port is firm and almost unchangeable."

"Peter the Great's original words are very clear. A tsar with an army has only one hand. He must have both an army and a navy to be a monarch with both hands."

"This means that our war with them is inevitable and will definitely be fought."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yuan looked at Huang Taiji and said solemnly: "But I feel your hesitation about the war. You have never been a hesitant person. What are you thinking about?"

Huang Taiji frowned and did not answer.

He just glanced around, walked slowly forward, and joined the cavalry.

After getting on the horse, he suddenly turned back to look at Zhou Yuan and said, "Are you going to the north?"

Zhou Yuan said, "Isn't this the north?"

Huang Taiji said, "I mean the Jurchen tribe in the East Sea, the Hen Gu River Basin, the Wudi River Basin, and the Nimi River Basin."

Zhou Yuan asked in confusion, "Why are you taking me there?"

Huang Taiji said, "If you are willing to go with me, we will take dozens of elite cavalry and ride over quickly."

There was no expression on his face, and his eyes were as sharp as an eagle.

Zhou Yuan didn't know what he was thinking or what he was going to do.

But he was silent for a moment, and still said in a deep voice, "If you want to go, go now and come back early."

Huang Taiji immediately said loudly, "Prepare dry food and clean water, and transfer 80 cavalry to follow me north. We will set off in half an hour."

He and Zhou Yuan had no more communication.

Zhou Yuan didn't ask the reason, and he didn't mention it on his own initiative.

This was an action that could be taken at any time, not a tour or an inspection, and no reason was known.

He invited, and Zhou Yuan agreed, that's all.

So they set off, regardless of everything.

The two led eighty riders and quickly headed north, bypassing the area where the Tsarist expedition team was located. Everywhere they saw was heavy snow, and the sky and the earth were white.

Along the way, the two had almost no communication. They set up tents at night and set off at dawn.

It was not until the sixth day of March, which was the eighth day of the journey, that Zhou Yuan finally saw the first group of people.

It was a long team, with hundreds of people.

All women, with their hands tied with reins, escorted by more than twenty Tsarist soldiers, heading towards the stronghold.

Zhou Yuan and others watched all this from a distance, not daring to make any moves.

Their eighty riders were enough to save these people, but the consequence was that they were hunted by countless expedition teams around them, and it was almost a dead end.

Huang Taiji said expressionlessly: "They are members of the wild Jurchen tribe, my people."

Zhou Yuan was silent and said nothing.

After the team of hundreds of people left, they continued to head north. After only half a day, they saw the village in the snow.

The mud houses built along the north bank of the Heilongjiang River have almost become ruins. The snow is full of broken corpses, frozen at low temperatures and not decaying for a long time.

The whole village was dead, with no living people, except for the women of the right age who were escorted away.

Huang Taiji said: "These broken corpses are also my people."

He did not have any feelings, but asked everyone to continue heading north.

Fifteen days, they continued to walk north for fifteen days.

Together with the previous eight days, this may be the twenty-three days that Zhou Yuan will never forget.

They walked in the ice and snow and saw all kinds of settlements, some of which were mud houses, some were broken felt houses, and some were even underground caves.

There is no doubt that there are no living people, only corpses.

Broken, miserable, hideous, all kinds of.

There are men and women, old and young.

Tsarist RussiaThe expedition team of the country used all cruel means on them.

"They are also my people."

Huang Taiji still said the same thing, and his face was still expressionless.

He was like a passerby, and he was reluctant to express even the most basic pity.

He just said to Zhou Yuan: "The people of the Tsarist country did not treat them as human beings, but as animals."

"I didn't treat them as human beings either, because I had already transferred the elite warriors from their tribes to Yehe tribe, Jianzhou and Shenzhou."

"Those elites still don't know that their tribesmen are gone."

"They thought they were promoted."

Zhou Yuan didn't comment on anything, just looked at the corpses around him, some of which were only skeletons, perhaps they were eaten by wild beasts shortly after death.

Huang Taiji said: "If I don't transfer their elite troops, they will still not escape the massacre of the expedition team, but if I transfer their elite troops, I can accumulate more strength and set up a solid defense line in Liaodong."

"This is destined to be wrong, because I am an accomplice in their death, but this is what a leader should do, because I have to consider more people."

At this point, he looked at Zhou Yuan and said in a deep voice: "You ask me why I hesitate?"

"There is only one reason, I am afraid of losing."

"If I lose, Jianzhou and Shenzhou will be like this."

He turned and looked to the south, his tone became more severe: "Politics is a compromise, I I thought this large piece of land could satisfy the other side's appetite, and I thought the cruel war could be avoided by chance. "

"Faced with a stronger enemy, an enemy that is almost impossible to resist, I chose to abandon some people and chose to cut meat to feed the bear."

Zhou Yuan said in a deep voice: "You are not such a cowardly character!"

Huang Taiji said: "Leaders have no character! Leaders are leaders! There is no right or wrong, only rationality based on interests."

"Of course I am not a coward, but I can't take more people out to die."

"It's just that now I understand that it is unavoidable, otherwise I would choose to endure it."

Zhou Yuan was silent.

He was silent too.

After a long time, Huang Taiji said, "It's time to go back. If you can't avoid the disaster, you can only find a way to survive in the disaster."

Zhou Yuan said, "The entire Donghai Jurchen and the Wild Jurchen, are all dead?"

Huang Taiji shook his head and said, "This place is too big, they always have a place to hide, but it's cold and the end is definitely not good."

"There will be people alive, there must be many survivors, but there are more deaths, right in front of us."

Zhou Yuan frowned and said, "When did the massacre start?"

Huang Taiji said, "Last September, it has continued until now."

Zhou Yuan said, "You have always known?"

"My intelligence system is doing well."

He said, and was silent for a long time, and then said, "It's time to go back."

There was still no expression on his face.

Is he angry? Is he sad? Is he afraid, and does he want revenge?

Maybe all of them, maybe he has been furious for a long time.

But he is the leader.

A leader must lock all emotions deep in his heart and make judgments and decisions with the most rational, sharp and calm wisdom.

Every step he takes is the result of careful consideration.

He is like a machine without emotions. On the contrary, the closer you are to such a person, the more qualified you are as a leader.

There must be people in the Donghai Jurchens who want him to die. Those elites who have been transferred and don't know that their hometown has been massacred must want to kill him.

But Huang Taiji doesn't care.

He knows very well what he is doing, and taking the blame is also part of his responsibility.

As a leader, he knows what his responsibility is.

And Zhou Yuan also has endless emotions in his heart.

Along the way, the tragic scenes he saw were outrageous. He was shocked and angry, sad and hateful.

Huang Taiji knew everything, but he didn't show it at all.

How much pressure does it take?

How did he lock up thousands of emotions and continue to stay rational?

Zhou Yuan admired his tenacity.

"It's time to go back."

Huang Taiji said softly: "Try to come back when you have the chance."