1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2367
Although the preparations for war are complicated and require coordination among the military, local government and the people, fortunately, the various departments of Jinzhou and the tens of thousands of residents under them have long been accustomed to such sudden wars, so after Chen Yixin's order was issued, all departments Then they began to organize and prepare for the war in an orderly manner.

Chen Yixin seized the time to draft telegrams and sent them to Datongjiang Base and Sanya Shenglibao respectively, explaining the current situation facing Jinzhou.

If the Qing army really failed to seek peace and turned their backs, then military support from the Datongjiang base would be necessary.Although the troops currently stationed in Jinzhou are sufficient to hold the isthmus line of defense, if the elite troops of the Special Operations Regiment can be transferred to Jinzhou to participate in the defense, the Qing army will definitely be killed during the war. Disrupt the opponent's offensive.

More importantly, under the current situation, it is also Chen Yixin's responsibility to inform the Datongjiang base.Although Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun have been stationed in North Korea for a long time now, in principle, the formulation of the strategy and the deployment of troops on the entire northern battlefield are still based on their opinions.

However, when Chen Yixin was writing the telegram, he was basically sure that the two brothers at the Datongjiang base would definitely not agree to start peace talks with the Manchus.

When Haihan decided to send troops to Liaodong, the opinions of these two people played a key role in it.Then they formed an alliance with North Korea, and they were also operating from it.To say that among the high-ranking Haihan leaders who were fighting against the Manchus, these two were undoubtedly representatives of the military.

In almost all the military operations against the Manchus in recent years, these two men have been on the front line to command. It can be said that using military means to attack the Manchus is one of the main reasons why they have been stationed in the north all year round.For people like them, on the battlefield of Liaodong, where they clearly have the initiative, negotiating peace will definitely not be an option that needs to be seriously considered at present.

A day later, the Datongjiang base sent a call back. Sure enough, as Chen Yixin expected, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun's attitudes were very tough, and they made it clear that they did not need to consider negotiating peace with them under the current conditions set by the Qing Dynasty.They also instructed Chen Yixin in the telegram that they could consider disclosing the relevant information to Daming's envoy in Jinzhou, and use this situation to put pressure on Daming and seek more benefits for Haihan.

"Jiang is still old and hot!" After reading the telegram, Chen Yixin couldn't help feeling that the schemes of these two people were indeed more clever than his own.

Man Qing didn't want Ming to intervene in the peace talks, that's because they didn't want Ming to obstruct the peace talks, but what Man Qing feared could be exploited by Hai Han.

Chen Yixin put away the telegram, called his secretary Zeng Xiaowen over and said, "Prepare a banquet tonight, and invite Mr. Yue to visit the house."

The "Lord Yue" that Chen Yixin wanted to entertain was Yue Yongshou, the envoy of Ming Dynasty stationed in Liaodong.

Although the winter that just passed was very cold, it was a good time for Yue Yongshou.The Haihan people launched a military campaign against the Manchus in winter, and Chen Yixin also invited him to go to the isthmus defense line to observe the Haihan army's offensive in the area north of the defense line.

The scene where the Haihan army ambushed and killed the cavalry of the Qing army with artillery positions left a very deep impression on Yue Yongshou, and he also included it in the memorial sent back to the capital.Although the offensive launched from the direction of Jinzhou did not last for many days, Yue Yongshou witnessed the arrival of ship after ship of Liaodong Han people from the sea in the later period. The loot was snatched back from the coast of Liaodong.

Not all the trophies transported to Jinzhou were Han Chinese. Yue Yongshou also saw many Manchus when he went to watch the excitement, and these Manchu captives were not taken into custody locally, but were re-identified soon. Shipped to another place.According to insiders, these Manchus will be transported to the area controlled by Haihan in Dengzhou, Shandong, where they will work as slave labor miners.

Based on these circumstances, Yue Yongshou judged that the scale of Haihan's actions this winter was much larger than he had expected before, which meant that the tacit truce between Haihan and the Manchu Qing that Ming worried about had not actually happened. It still lists the Manchu and Qing Dynasties as the main military strike target, and will seize the opponent's lax defenses to strike hard.

Of course, Yue Yongshou did not forget to show his merits in the memorial, emphasizing that the actions of the Haihan army were facilitated by his personal friendship with the generals of Haihan, and he persisted in repeated consultations with him. A heavy blow will effectively curb its military actions against Ming Dynasty.

There are two important points in this, one is that Yue Yongshou's promotion of this matter is of great significance to Daming, and the other is that Yue Yongshou has a personal relationship with the Haihan general.The purpose of emphasizing these two points is to firmly take the credit, and at the same time to consolidate his own special envoy status, lest someone in the court see that the credit is easy to get, and arrange another person to replace him.

Yue Yongshou knew very well that just for promoting Haihan to launch the winter offensive, he would most likely be rewarded for promotion by the imperial court. He estimated that this kind of door-to-door benefit would appear every year in the future, so at the end of the memorial, he He also expressed his determination to defend the border for the country, take root in Jinzhou, and urge the Haihan people to continue to use troops against the Manchus, so as to reduce the external military pressure facing Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the environment in Jinzhou is actually not as difficult and dangerous as Yue Yongshou described in the memorial. Even from a certain point of view, his living standard in Jinzhou may be better than that in Beijing.

Yue Yongshou's residence in Jinzhou was a three-entry courtyard twenty miles away from the isthmus defense line. Living with him were two old servants who had followed him for many years, a young school boy, and two schoolboys who also served as guards and guards of honor.Judging by the status of special envoys, the staffing is indeed a bit shabby, but Jinzhou is a battlefield, and Haihan will not allow Daming special envoys to bring a large number of troops to station, so when Yue Yongshou finally came, he brought these few people by his side .

After coming here, the grooms, cooks, and servants were all arranged by Haihan, and the expenses of these extra personnel were all covered by Haihan, without Yue Yongshou paying for it.In addition, Haihan officials will also distribute a so-called "office fund" to Yue Yongshou on a monthly basis. This money is much more than the salary issued to him by the imperial court, and it has now become the largest part of his income. .

Although his residence is very close to the front line, in fact, most of the time of the year, he basically does not feel the atmosphere of war.Although every time there is a war on the front line, the entire Jinzhou area has to enter a state of military control, but it is usually as short as two or three days, and it is only ten days and a half months long, and there has never been a shortage of supplies or front-line wars tight situation.Therefore, the local social order has been maintained very well. In Yue Yongshou's view, it is no different from most areas in Ming Dynasty, and it is far better than the nine border towns that are also border areas.

Yue Yongshou also quietly went to visit the people of the original Dongjiang Town who were resettled in Jinzhou. Most of these people who have gradually left their Ming nationality are now Haihan. Farmers will also have other livelihoods arranged by the government. Although they are not yet well-fed, they can at least guarantee their basic necessities, which is far better than their hard life in Phi Island.It's only been a short period of one or two years, and few people here no longer miss their identity as a citizen of the Ming Dynasty. The people will always say "I am Haihan Country", as if they have already regarded themselves as a member of Haihan.

As for the social foundations of culture and education, laws, coins, and even household registration, they are all being implemented according to Haihan's standards.Yue Yongshou has no doubt that in just one or two more generations, the people of Jinzhou will definitely be very sure of their identity, and there will be nothing wrong with Daming at that time.

Of course, regarding these unfavorable situations, Yue Yongshou will not express them in detail in the report submitted to the court. After all, the Haihan people have already made it clear to him when they provided office funds that they hope that the situation that may damage the diplomatic relations between the two countries will He can "report as appropriate."As for how to act according to the discretion, Yue Yongshou also knows well that the Haihan people want to take advantage of Daming, but they don't want the relationship between the two countries to become tense, so they can only hide the truth from the Ming court as much as possible.

The methods Haihan used in Golden State are gradually separating Golden State from Daming.Although Yue Yongshou was dissatisfied, but with his personal ability, there was really no way to change this trend. Even if he wanted to do something for Daming, he still had more energy than he wanted.What's more, the Haihan people gave too much. They cannibalize their mouths and have short hands. He can only turn a blind eye to the status quo of Jinzhou, comforting himself that this is what he has to do to maintain the status quo of the two countries. compromise.

As long as you can get promoted and make a fortune, it’s no big deal to act with the Haihan people for a few years now, not to mention that the Haihan people are also very good-natured, and they will specifically inform him before starting a fight with the Qing army, and give them the credit for the free money , how can such a good job be found elsewhere.

That day, Yue Yongshou was sitting idle at home, and his servants came to report that someone from the local government had come to visit. Yue Yongshou saw the name card handed over by the visitor, and quickly asked his servants to invite the visitor into the study to receive him.

The person who came was Chen Yixin's secretary Zeng Xiaowen. He first presented a gift list, which was not an expensive gift, but tea, rice, vegetables and fruits, etc., but these materials were all good things shipped from the south. It is simply not available in the market.

Although it was a secretary who came, Yue Yongshou did not dare to neglect him in the slightest. He knew that this was Chen Yixin's confidant, and he also had the status of an aide. His influence on Chen Yixin's side cannot be ignored, and he treated him as a distinguished guest at the moment. After accepting the gift list, I quickly expressed my thanks.

After knowing Zeng Xiaowen's intentions, Yue Yongshou was still a little surprised. Although he boasted in the memorial that he had a good personal relationship with Chen Yixin, in fact, the relationship between the two was basically maintained at the level of official exchanges, and there was no personal friendship. , Private banquets like this are even rarer.Chen Yixin took the initiative to send out the invitation. In his opinion, it was definitely not that the other party had nothing to do, but that he wanted to take this opportunity to discuss something with him.

Yue Yongshou decided to ask Zeng Xiaowen first to see if he could get some useful information: "Mr. Zeng, I don't know what other guests the general invited today?"

Zeng Xiaowen said: "I don't know if the general entertained other guests, but the order I received was to come here specially to invite Mr. Yue."

Yue Yongshou thought that as long as he didn't invite people from Dongjiang Town, everything would be fine.After he arrived in Jinzhou, he met Shen Shikui and others from Dongjiang Town, and both of them would feel a little embarrassed.Strictly speaking, Dongjiang Town's defection to Haihan is treason, but now Daming needs Haihan to contain the Manchus in Liaodong, and the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town are still fighting against the Manchus after they defected to Haihan, so Daming did not openly pursue Dongjiang Township. guilt.

As for the reason for entertaining Yue Yongshou, although he tried several times, Zeng Xiaowen did not provide any more information.When Yue Yongshou saw this, he stopped, so as not to make the other party worry.

After sending Zeng Xiaowen away, Yue Yongshou called his servants and asked them to prepare hot water, take a bath and change clothes, and change into clean clothes to go to the appointment.

In the evening, when Yue Yongshou came to Chen Yixin's mansion, he realized that he was the only one for the banquet today, and Zeng Xiaowen was the only one at the banquet, so he immediately expected that today's meeting might not be easy.However, Chen Yixin did not take the initiative to mention it, and he was also very interested in not asking rashly. The two sides exchanged glasses and drank three rounds before talking.

After drinking for three rounds, Chen Yixin put down his chopsticks and said, "Master Yue, to tell you the truth, I have invited Mr. Yue to the banquet today because we have something important to discuss."

Seeing this, Yue Yongshou quickly put down his chopsticks, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and replied, "General, but it's okay."

Chen Yixin said: "Regarding the military strike action taken by our army against the Manchus this winter, Mr. Yue also witnessed part of it. I believe Mr. Yue will have no doubts about the effect and significance of this strike, right?"

Yue Yongshou said: "It's natural. Your country's army has spared no effort to fight against the Qing army. I have seen it with my own eyes, and I have also reported this to the court. I believe that after the beginning of spring, the court will have something to say about your country's actions. .”

Chen Yixin said: "Master Yue has a heart. But now there is a new situation, I must inform you."

Seeing that Chen Yixin's tone and expression suddenly became serious, Yue Yongshou couldn't help feeling a bad premonition in his heart.

"Our operation this time can be said to have carried out a relatively thorough cleanup of the hundreds of miles of coastline from Jinzhou to the mouth of the Yalu River. The villages and towns that are [-] to [-] miles away from the coastline or even closer to the inland are basically covered by us. After cleaning up the net-like operation, these hundreds of miles of land have almost become no man's land. The thousands of captives sent to Jinzhou before, all came from this operation."

"Although this operation has achieved fruitful results, the Manchus seem to be unable to afford to lose. So they sent envoys to negotiate a truce with our country." Chen Yixin said while paying attention to Yue Yongshou's reaction.

(End of this chapter)