Seeing Ma Qi like this, Zhang Tingyu sighed in his heart. The other party's attitude, coupled with his deep understanding of Ma Qi's character, and knew that Ma Qi would not mess with him because of this kind of thing. After thinking about it, Zhang Tingyu said softly: "Ma Xiang, how bad is the case in Shanxi!"

"Ah!" Ma Qi was stunned. He asked Zhang Tingyu for help because he wanted Zhang Tingyu to help him judge the situation and see if he could do something to protect the Qing Dynasty, but he did not expect that Zhang Tingyu would say such words as soon as he spoke.

"Not to it..." Ma Qi came back to his senses and said anxiously: "Ortai has a lot of troops and its troops are also elite. Let's not talk about whether the Rakshasa Kingdom can count on it for the time being, but Mongolia can still mobilize some people. Even if it can't defeat the Ming army, it should be possible to maintain the situation..."

"Ma Xiang!" Before Ma Qi finished speaking, Zhang Tingyu interrupted him: "If Ma Xiang wants to hear those words, I will stop talking."

"No, no, no, please be honest." Ma Qi opened his mouth and swallowed back what he hadn't said.

"Ma Xiang knows that I am not good at military affairs, but I have also known a little about it in Shangshu's helping with military affairs in the past few years. Now the Ming army has become the main general with Ma Gong and mobilized tens of thousands of troops to attack Shanxi. What does Ma Xiang think of it?"

"Isn't this... not Shanxi?" Ma Qi couldn't understand the reason why Zhang Tingyu asked, and hesitated and asked back.

Zhang Tingyu shook his head: "It's not that simple. Now the Ming army is fighting everywhere. Yue Zhongqi attacked Sichuan. Another unit attacked Guanzhong and there were changes in the three southwestern provinces. This layout is very meaningful in my opinion. If Zhu Yicheng's goal was to recover his hometown, why didn't he pacify the southwest first? As long as the southwest is leveled, Guanzhong and Shanxi will become lonely. Furthermore, Ma Gongcheng's troops are east and west, so why didn't they attack Guanzhong directly but turn north? If he adopts the strategy of moving south, it is even more unstable to take Xi'an directly?"

"This...this..." Zhang Tingyu said this for a moment, Ma Qi could not answer. He had never thought about it carefully, but now Zhang Tingyu asked directly. Ma Qi was not a fool, and it was indeed a bit strange to think about it carefully.

But in the end, Ma Qi couldn't think of what was strange, so he could only turn his attention to Zhang Tingyu for help.

"Xiang Zhuang's sword dance is about Pei Gong!" Zhang Tingyu sighed lightly and shook his head and said, "Zhu Yicheng played a big game this time. He deliberately kept Guanzhong and did not fight, but planned to attack with the edge first, and then force me to go west."

Hearing this, Ma Qi had already reacted, his expression suddenly changed, and he understood the meaning of Zhang Tingyu's words.

"This is not...that's not..." For a moment, Ma Qi didn't know what to do, and murmured. After a while, he hurriedly grabbed Zhang Tingyu's hand and asked expectantly: "Hengchen, since you can see it, then is there a way to crack it?"

Zhang Tingyu looked grim and shook his head slowly: "This is an open plan rather than a secret plan. Besides, the Ming army is several times stronger than our Qing Dynasty. It comes with the momentum of Mount Tai. Even if we guess what the other party wants to do, we are powerless!"

"But this..." The tears in Ma Qi's eyes were about to fall. Could it be that he was just watching the Qing Dynasty gradually destruction?

"Ma Xiang, there is only one way now, that is, to follow the trend and make plans early. Since the Ming Dynasty wants the world, we must be prepared to make the world pass by Yu Daming. Moreover, since Prince Guo's expedition to the west, our dynasty has occupied a thousand miles of the Western Regions, or continuing to hunt west is also a way out. The greatness of the world is no longer the same. As long as my Qing energy is left behind, it is possible to revive the west at that time."

"What do you mean is to concentrate your efforts to retreat westward and give up the world?" Ma Qi asked, his mouth full of bitterness.

Seeing Zhang Tingyu nodding heavily, Ma Qi stopped talking for a moment. He admitted that Zhang Tingyu's words made sense, but could the Qing Dynasty do this?

After all, the Qing Dynasty still has several provinces and hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Even if it cannot compete with the Ming Dynasty, it can barely be able to do it. But once it takes the initiative to retreat westward, it will be equivalent to losing all the land of China and giving it to the Ming Dynasty for nothing. When Ma Qi thought of abandoning his ancestors' foundation, he felt like a knife was disturbed in his heart.

Also, there are many forces expelled by the Central Plains in history. The earliest ones were the Huns. During the prosperous period of the Han Dynasty, the Huns defeated the Huns. Later, for a hundred years, the Huns had no choice but to move westward to survive, and eventually they did not know whereabouts.

Apart from the Huns, weren’t the subsequent Five Barbarians and Khitans all like this? They each became stronger for a while and eventually drifted in the dust with history. If the Qing Dynasty moved westward, it would be very likely that the same would end. If the land of China is lost, how could it be possible to turn around?

However, apart from this method, Ma Qi could not think of any other better method. Just as Zhang Tingyu said, the Ming Dynasty made a clear plan this time, and it was not a problem that could be solved with any strategy.

Another important reason is, if Emperor Jianxing did this, did Emperor Jianxing agree? With Ma Qi's understanding of Emperor Jianxing, he decided that it would be impossible to do this. But if he didn't do it, if Shanxi fell into the hands of the Ming Dynasty, Guanzhong would completely lose the barrier and face the surging Ming army.

At that time, the Qing Dynasty had only two results, one was to stick to Guanzhong and eventually died vigorously, the other was to flee west, running from Guanzhong to Gansu, and then continued to run towards the Western Regions under the pursuit of the Ming army. At that time, the result was the same as what was mentioned before, and the situation was even worse.

After all, the former took the initiative to retreat westward, and at least he could preserve his strength and gain the initiative. However, the latter was driven out. By then, I don’t know how much military power and vitality the Qing Dynasty still had, but it is certain that it was almost the same as the bereaved dog at that time.

This choice made Ma Qi stand on the spot, and he couldn't come back to his senses for a long time. His mind was in a mess and he didn't know what to do.

As a loyal minister of the Qing Dynasty and a slave of the emperor, Ma Qi and the Qing Dynasty were all prosperous. What would happen without the Qing Dynasty and the people like him? But even if he understood, what ability could he have to change all this? A feeling of powerlessness arose in Ma Qi's heart, and his chest was like a big stone pressing on him, making him breathless.

I don’t know how long it has passed, but when Ma Qi finally came to his senses, he realized that Zhang Tingyu had left quietly at some point. Now he is the only one standing alone, dazed like a fool.

Looking up at the dark and depressing thick clouds in the sky, Ma Qi smiled helplessly, and then let out a few more crying laughs.

After a while, dragging his tired body, Ma Qi turned around and walked in dismay, step by step, with heavy steps, as if a heavy hammer hit his heart.
Chapter completed!