1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2366
Historically, when it comes to truces and peace talks between the two countries, the party who proposes is often the passive party in the battle. If you want to persuade the opponent to stop the war, you will have to suffer some losses in the terms of the peace talks to reach an agreement.The Qing side obviously also had such awareness, so the conditions they provided to Chen Yixin were not weak, and they hoped that they could facilitate the follow-up peace talks by persuading Chen Yixin.

There is no obvious problem with such an approach in theory, but there is one thing that the Qing Dynasty does not understand, that is, it is almost impossible for high-ranking Haihan officials like Chen Yixin to be directly bought by money.

One of the reasons for this is that people like Chen Yixin are shareholders and rulers of Haihan Kingdom, and the national interests are firmly bound to his personal interests. Owning many properties, his wealth of personal property is unimaginable to outsiders, so the money promised by Manqing is very limited to him.

The second reason is that the establishment of a bridgehead in eastern Liaodong to deal with the Manchus and the Manchus would hinder the momentum of his southward attack on Ming. This was not Chen Yixin's personal decision, but a long-term strategy decided by the Executive Committee. His personal wish was peace or war. It is not important, and it is difficult to have a direct impact on the resolution of the Executive Committee.Manchuria really wanted to find influential people to negotiate a peace, so it was better to go to North Korea to ask Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, the words of those two could really influence the judgment of the executive committee.

As for Shang Qing's final condition that Jinzhou Isthmus be the boundary, in Chen Yixin's view, it was even more nonsense.It has been three years since Haihan actually controlled Jinzhou, and the Manchu Qing used the recognition of this fact as a condition for an armistice, which obviously lacked the sincerity of the peace talks.

Chen Yixin smiled and said, "It seems that only after your country's approval can our country truly obtain the Golden State? If I remember correctly, this Golden State was the territory of Ming Dynasty a few years ago, and it has nothing to do with your country. Even if it needs to be recognized, That's also Daming's business."

Shang Qing said disapprovingly: "Daming is now in the decline of the western mountains, and even Liaodong can't keep it, so how can it keep Jinzhou? The ownership of this place is a matter between you and me. Why involve Daming, a spectator. Besides, your country Occupying the land of the Golden State, will it be possible to return it to Daming in the future?"

Shang Qing also clearly sees Haihan's ambitions clearly. He knows that Haihan's capture of Jinzhou is not purely for doing good deeds. Even if this situation objectively helps Daming, its real purpose is probably to annex Liaodong soil of.In Shang Qing's view, the issue of Jinzhou's future ownership has nothing to do with it.

Of course, there is another reason why Shang Qing will not say it clearly, that is, Man Qing does not want Daming to participate in this negotiation.The covenant between Haihan and Ming was not a secret, and the Qing Dynasty knew very well that this so-called covenant was not very binding on Haihan who took the initiative. Haihan had never returned anything from the areas occupied by Ming in the past. The original owner's approach, so the ownership of Jinzhou has nothing to do with Daming. If Haihan is allowed to involve Daming again, it will only add more variables to the situation, and it will definitely be harmful to the Qing Dynasty.

And if Daming is not allowed to get involved, Man Qing and Haihan will have more issues to communicate with—compared to the territory ruled by Daming, a small Golden State is nothing.

Chen Yixin didn't agree with him, and said coldly: "You are wrong, the ownership of Jinzhou should be a matter between our country and Daming, and the real irrelevant spectator is your country. "

Chen Yixin didn't have any good feelings for the Manchus, and he even hated the Han people who served in the Manchus. Shang Qing's words were very harsh to his ears, so he couldn't help giving a strong response.

Shang Qing didn't expect to run into trouble at this stage, and he didn't realize where the problem was, but thought it was because the conditions he had prepared for him were not ideal enough.

However, Chen Yixin's words obviously did not agree with the Manchu Qing's claiming of the Golden State as a condition for peace negotiation, which made it impossible for Shang Qing to expand on the following topics.Now he must understand Chen Yixin's requirements for the terms of the peace talks before he can consider the next response.

"Then I wonder what General Chen's thoughts and requirements are for the peace talks between the two countries?" Shang Qing could only ignore Chen Yixin's statement just now and forcibly change the topic.

If you can't convince Chen Yixin to accept the conditions to start peace talks now, then at least you have to find out the other party's true attitude, so that Shang Qing can report to the boss after returning.

Chen Yixin hadn't seriously considered the matter of negotiating peace with Man Qing, and when he was suddenly asked, he really couldn't list the conditions immediately.But in front of the other party's envoy, he will definitely not relax his tone and let the other party feel that there is an opportunity to take advantage of it.

"Peace talks? When your country can come up with sufficient conditions, we will discuss peace talks." Chen Yixin continued to respond with a tough attitude.

Shang Qing still refused to give up, and continued to ask: "If General Chen can put forward the terms of the peace talks, the villain will be able to reply to the superior after returning. Even if it is not so easy to realize, there is still room for negotiation."

Chen Yixin said: "I want to hear the conditions so much? Okay, then I will say one thing first!"

Shang Qing quickly pricked up his ears and responded, "Please show me, General!"

Chen Yixin said: "My condition is also very simple. From the line connecting the mouth of the Liaohe River to the mouth of the Yalu River, all the areas south of it belong to our country. If your country can agree to this condition, then we will sit down and talk about it later. things."

This Shang Qing obviously had a relatively clear understanding of the geographical environment of Liaodong, and immediately took a deep breath after hearing what Chen Yixin said about the condition.

The estuary of the Liaohe River is in Bohai Bay near Yingkou, while the estuary of the Yalu River is in Dandong in the east. The south of the line connecting these two points is exactly the entire Liaodong Peninsula.In terms of geographical area, this area is slightly smaller than Hainan Island, about the size of thirty Golden States.

It is obviously impossible for the Manchu Qing to cede such a large area to Haihan with a single sentence.After Shang Qing heard Chen Yixin's conditions, he knew that the other party had no peace of mind at all, so he simply proposed such an outrageous condition.

Even though Shang Qing tried his best to control it, his expression became very stiff at this time, and he stammered: "General... this... isn't this a joke?"

Chen Yixin said: "If you want peace talks, you have to show enough sincerity. I mentioned the conditions that I think are sincere. If your country finds it unacceptable, then there is no need to talk about it. You can paraphrase my words, stop the war, and treat our country It’s not an important thing to say. If you feel dissatisfied, we will compete on the battlefield.”

Of course, Chen Yixin would not expect the Manchus to accept the conditions he proposed. For the Manchus, rather than losing such a large territory in vain, it would be better to continue the current confrontation.

As for whether this would anger the Qing Dynasty and trigger a new round of war, Chen Yixin was not worried at all.He even hoped that the Manchu Qing would take the initiative to launch an offensive against Jinzhou, so that the tens of thousands of local soldiers and civilians would not relax because there had been no large-scale war for too long.

When Shang Qing left, his face was very gloomy, obviously resentful towards Chen Yixin's tough attitude.It can be said that he did not get any useful information from Chen Yixin during this trip. Although the request for peace talks was not flatly rejected, this humiliating answer actually fully demonstrated the attitude of the Haihan people.

Chen Yixin didn't care what the Manchu Qing envoys thought of him. He had no plans for a truce and peace talks. At the same time, he also believed that the executive committee's attitude should be the same as his own, and would not agree to a truce and peace talks with the Manchu Qing.

After Shang Qing left, several officers from the General Staff Department and the Military Intelligence Bureau came out from the inner room of the office. It turned out that when Chen Yixin had a meeting with Shang Qing just now, he had arranged for these men to listen in the room.Of course, this is not only for instant sharing of information with the subordinate officers, but also for avoiding suspicion.

For departments like the Military Intelligence Bureau, the object of allegiance is not Chen Yixin, a local official, but the Ministry of National Defense and the higher-level Executive Committee.If Chen Yixin had closed-door talks with the envoys of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, the details of the negotiation process would inevitably be recorded in the report sent back to Sanya afterwards, to show that no third party knew the content of the conversation during the process.

Although Chen Yixin had a clear conscience, he didn't want to arouse suspicion because of such details, so he arranged for several officers under his command to sit in, so that there would be no suspicion.

"What do you think of the conversation with the envoy of the Qing army just now?" Chen Yixin asked proactively.

Wei Lin was the first to respond: "The general's attitude is firm and impeccable. It's a pity that I can't see the expression of that person in the back room. It must be very exciting."

Chen Yixin waved his hand and said, "I'm talking about your views on this matter, not asking you to flatter me."

Chen Yixin's secretary, Zeng Xiaowen, responded: "General, since the Qing army took the initiative to send people over to discuss peace, does that mean that they are no longer willing to engage in military confrontation with our country?"

Chen Yixin shook his head slightly and said, "I don't think it's easy to say why the other party wants to negotiate a peace. The expenditure and logistical pressure of the heavy troops stationed here may be one aspect, but there should be a deeper reason."

Wei Lin was not sure about his flattery just now, so he immediately responded: "I think that the Qing army should want to temporarily relieve the military pressure on the Liaodong Peninsula so that they can concentrate their forces on other directions."

Chen Yixin pondered: "North Korea has our military bases and garrisons. The Manchu Qing suffered a great loss in North Korea the year before last. I don't think they will think about North Korea again for the time being. So the only direction they can attack is actually Daming. That's all."

Wei Lin went on to say: "So just now the emissary repeatedly tried to exclude Daming from the peace talks, perhaps because the Qing Dynasty did not want Daming to know the news of the peace talks between the two countries."

Chen Yixin said: "His purpose may be more than that. Think about it, if according to their arrangement, the two countries kicked off Daming to negotiate a truce, and the condition is to carve up the Jinzhou area that originally belonged to Daming, then what will happen next?"

"It's not enough to divide the Golden State. The Tartars naturally want to divide the rest of Daming."

"As long as this opening is made, they will definitely use Jinzhou's handling method to drive a wedge between our country and Daming!"

Chen Yixin made some suggestions, and everyone immediately started a discussion about it.

Chen Yixin said: "Golden State is not really involved. Daming also knew that even if he took this place back, he would not be able to keep it. It would be better to hand it over to our country to contain the Qing Dynasty, so he never openly asked our country to ask for it back. But This approach may have misunderstood the Manchu Qing, so they will test our country's attitude in the name of peace talks."

"The general just took the estuary of the Liaohe River and the Yalu River as the line, and he should be testing the opponent's bottom line in the opposite direction." Wei Lin said with admiration.

Chen Yixin said: "The Manchu Qing should not be so stupid as to think that there is still room for bargaining over the ownership of the Golden State. They have thrown out this condition, and they may have already made plans to make concessions in the area of ​​​​districting and governance. To be honest, I also I don't dare to guess what their bottom line is, whether it is [-] miles or [-] miles, so I simply put forward a condition that exceeds their bottom line. If they think such a condition can still be negotiated, then their ambition can probably be confirmed .”

The distance from Jinzhou to the mouth of the Liaohe River is about [-] miles, and the distance to the mouth of the Yalu River is more than [-] miles. Even if the Qing Dynasty is willing to make some concessions in the division of the Liaodong Peninsula for the sake of peace talks, it will definitely not give in. to such an extent.

Of course, if the territory of Ming Dynasty is compared with the area of ​​Liaodong Peninsula, ceding these territories seems to be nothing.If it was really possible for Haihan to watch the war between Ming and Qing from the sidelines in the future, then maybe Huang Taiji would seriously consider Chen Yixin's proposal.

After some discussions, everyone decided to strengthen their combat readiness on the isthmus line of defense in the near future, in case the Manchu and Qing peace talks failed and another large-scale offensive was launched against the line of defense.

Judging from the situation in the past two or three years, the possibility of a large-scale war breaking out is actually very small, but the aggressiveness of the Manchu Qing cannot be compared with ordinary people.Moreover, when the envoys from the Qing Dynasty came to Chen Yixin, they didn't even mention half a word about admitting defeat to Hai Han.

Later that day, Chen Yixin issued an order requiring all the isthmus defense lines to enter the third-level combat readiness state, maintain daily patrols in the area north of the isthmus, and ensure the completeness of various fortifications and weapons on the defense line. All must be prepared to go to war. Once the Qing army begins to gather in the north, the combat troops must rush to the front line within half a day, and the organization of civilian recruitment and logistics supplies must also be completed within a day.

This level of combat readiness is not something that can be achieved by any Haihan colony, and only a few areas like Jinzhou that are in a state of readiness all the year round can complete the assembly and deployment of armed forces in such a short period of time, and Put the whole region into a state of war.

(End of this chapter)