First, you must understand one thing: they actually do not like you. At the very least, between you and Ulysses Grant, they still prefer Ulysses Grant a bit more. You must realize that you have always been the leader of the commoners. Will you continue to allow them to bleed the people dry? Will you allow them to annex land to the point of turning the people into slaves? Will you allow the gentry to continue evading taxes by various means in the future? Right now, you don’t even collect taxes; your army still relies on confiscating the property of the wealthy to sustain itself. You even say you want to redistribute their land. So, do you think they will like you?

But Ulysses Grant is different.

Ulysses Grant will give them everything they want, and then join them in oppressing the people.

Of course, you could do the same.

But you can’t, because your subordinates have all rallied under the banner of land redistribution and tax exemption. The people support you because you have given them hope, because when the Chuang King comes, there are no taxes. If you collude with the gentry, they will not hesitate to abandon you, just as they once rebelled against His Majesty, they will rebel against you.

If you don’t believe it, go back and ask your old brothers.

You cannot be Ulysses Grant.

They will never like you. They will do everything possible to find an excuse to surrender. This is determined by the very nature of both sides. Therefore, if you keep His Majesty here, they will say you are threatening His Majesty and using forged edicts to deceive them. If Ulysses Grant can give them enough promises, they will immediately turn to Ulysses Grant, open the gates under the pretense of borrowing troops to suppress bandits and rescue the emperor, and march on Beijing together with Ulysses Grant.

There is another thing you need to understand.

Their loyalty to His Majesty is based solely on what His Majesty can give them. If His Majesty has no value, or if His Majesty’s interests conflict with theirs, they will abandon His Majesty all the same, as long as they can do so in a way that doesn’t leave them with a bad reputation. This is very important to them.

For example, what can you do if their army is at the gates?

Threaten them with His Majesty?

They will step aside and say they dare not endanger His Majesty, showing how loyal they are. Then they will let Ulysses Grant’s army attack. Ulysses Grant is not under their command, so naturally they can’t control him. They don’t really care about His Majesty’s life. If, in your anger, you kill His Majesty, they will be happy, because then they can avenge His Majesty. If you have His Majesty order them to attack Ulysses Grant, they will say it was a reckless order forced out of His Majesty by your threats, and they have no reason to obey. Even in peacetime, the cabinet often returns imperial edicts, let alone during chaos and war.

Or let me put it even more simply.

Among the Ming, Shun, and Qing factions, their feelings for the Ming are naturally the deepest. But when the Ming is no longer an option, and only Shun and Qing remain, they will absolutely never choose you. When there is no other choice, they would rather surrender to Ulysses Grant.

What we must do is not give them any reason to surrender to Ulysses Grant. If His Majesty dies here, they will say, “I am a minister of Ming, and I will avenge the Ming Emperor, thus he is my lord,” and then they can righteously surrender to Ulysses Grant. If His Majesty does not die and remains here, they will say you are imprisoning His Majesty and humiliating the empress, and as loyal ministers of Ming, they have no choice but to borrow troops to suppress bandits, and still righteously surrender to Ulysses Grant in the name of saving the emperor. There are plenty of precedents for this in history.

Only if His Majesty is respectfully sent out of the country will they have no reason at all to surrender to Ulysses Grant.

If there is an imperial edict, it will be even more secure.

If this is His Majesty’s will, then their surrender becomes betrayal of their lord and country. They lose the justification for surrender. Moreover, if His Majesty truly forbids them from surrendering to Ulysses Grant, then for those families with members in both the court-controlled and emperor-controlled regions, they will have to be careful, because after His Majesty goes to Nanjing, he will confiscate their property, and you will do the same to their properties in the north.”

Brian Carter said.

“Taizu expelled the Tartars and restored China, thus establishing the Ming dynasty’s three hundred years of rule. Though I am unworthy, I cannot allow China to fall into the hands of the Tartars again, or I would have no face to meet Taizu.”

Franklin Roosevelt said slowly from the side.

“You see, His Majesty has made himself very clear.”

Brian Carter said.

“You don’t believe I can defeat the Jurchens?”

Abraham Lincoln said.

“That’s right. Only your elite Old Camp troops can stand against them, but even they are still a bit lacking. How many elite Old Camp troops do you have? Ulysses Grant is leading eighty thousand men south. Even if you add George Washington’s Guan-Ning army, I can only believe that you can rely on the fortresses at Shanhai Pass to hold out. In open battle, you will still lose. If George Washington sides with Ulysses Grant, then you can say there is no hope at all.”

Brian Carter said frankly.

“As for your numerical advantage, that is completely meaningless. Those who flee at the mere sight of you will collapse even faster when facing the Manchus. In fact, if George Washington and others surrender to the Manchus, then when facing the Manchus, I can guarantee that the vast majority of government army commanders will immediately turn their coats and stab you in the back.

After all, you’ve already said you want to redistribute their land.

They don’t care about anything else. Whoever wants to redistribute their land is their enemy.

Whoever can guarantee their interests is their master, no matter if the other party is a foreigner.”

He added.