1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2444
"General Qian, it's gratifying to be a double-faced man. He doesn't care about righteousness. He betrayed the country and surrendered to the enemy for his own self-interest. He slaughtered countless Han people during his service for the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Only in exchange for this title of King Zhishun is shameless. General Don't believe what he says!"

Shen Shikui spoke fiercely and directly described Shang Kexi as an unfaithful and unrighteous person. Naturally, the purpose was to use this to persuade Qian Tiandun to give up meeting with him.

Qian Tiandun was very calm. Shen Shikui had such a reaction, which he expected.He asked Shen Shikui back, "Brother Shen is objecting to contact with Shang Kexi, or to start peace talks with the Manchus?"

Shen Shikui was slightly taken aback, and immediately responded: "Of course, what I object to is the contact with Shang Kexi. Now the peace talks with the Manchu Qing is a state matter, and it is the executive committee's will to talk or not. I am just a commoner under the Haihan rule. , How dare you discuss government affairs indiscriminately?"

Shen Shikui sees his current situation and position very clearly. He is no longer the general of the Ming army commanding Dongjiang Town. He has no military power in his hands, and naturally he is not qualified to make irresponsible remarks on state affairs.What's more, Qian Tiandun was the most famous general of Haihan Kingdom, and he had killed more Tartars than Shen Shikui had seen on the battlefield. He also knew that he couldn't teach the opponent how to deal with the Manchus.

Qian Tiandun said: "Brother Shen hates Shang Kexi. I think one is because he betrayed Daming, and the other is because he has old grievances with you. I can understand these reasons. But to Hai Han, Shang Kexi is just a full-fledged General Qing, what he has done in the past and his personal morality will not have a direct impact on this negotiation, and I don't have any good feelings for him, let alone trust. It’s just a different battlefield, the enemy is still the enemy, and it’s still a life-and-death battle.”

Qian Tiandun spoke so bluntly that Shen Shikui couldn't blame him.He really didn't understand Haihan's real intention of starting a truce and peace talks with Man Qing, but he didn't want Shang Kexi to profit from it anyway.It's just that if he continues to struggle with Shang Kexi's role as the negotiator of the Manchu Qing, it will inevitably make Qian Tiandun think that he is making use of the problem to oppose Haihan's negotiation with the Manchu Qing.Shen Shikui's current property is dependent on Haihan's care, so he naturally did not dare to offend Qian Tiandun, so he had to stop attacking Shang Kexi first.

After sending Shen Shikui away, a subordinate came in to report that there were hundreds of people gathered outside the camp to watch. It seemed that they were dissatisfied with the visit of the Manchu and Qing missions, and the number of people was still increasing. , just scolded the Manchu mission outside.

It is not surprising that such a situation will happen. Except for the Haihan garrison and military family members, most of the local permanent population are from the Han people who belonged to the former Dongjiang Town and were rescued from the Liaodong area by Haihan over the years. Whether a family member died at the hands of the Tartars, or they themselves were enslaved by the Tartars, or their family property was seized by the Tartars, most of them have unresolvable hatred with the Manchus, so naturally they don’t want to see Haihan and the Manchus reach a settlement .The Manchu and Qing missions who came to Jinzhou for peace talks naturally became a thorn in their side. If the missions hadn't lived in the barracks, they might not just be watching outside now.

"Be careful, don't let the people rush into the camp." Qian Tiandun ordered calmly.

The officer who came to ask for instructions was slightly surprised, and asked softly, "Don't you need to disperse the onlookers outside the camp?"

"No, let them make trouble if they want to make trouble, just don't rush to the camp. Just let Shang Kexi see what the people of Haihan want." Qian Tiandun raised his head and glanced at his subordinates: "Be careful, understand? ?”

"Understood, let's do it for the humble position." The subordinate officer understood now and took the order to go.

Qian Tiandun didn't care about the people's public display of anti-Qing sentiments. As long as they were used properly, this atmosphere could be turned into pressure on the Manchu missions.If Shang Kexi can lose his composure because of this, then Hai Han has found an effective way to deal with him.

But so far, Qian Tiandun has not started formal contact with Shang Kexi.According to the arrangement of the executive committee, Tao Donglai will be in charge of this meeting in person. Qian Tiandun didn't want to do it for him, so he decided to wait until Tao Dong came to Jinzhou.Anyway, I have been waiting for so many months, and I am not in a hurry to get in touch with the other party for a day or two.

Later, another guard came in to report, and Yue Yongshou, the special envoy of the Ming Dynasty in Jinzhou, asked to see him.Qian Tiandun wasn't sure what the other party was coming for, so after a little thought, he asked the guards to pass him in.During the period when Yue Yongshou was stationed in Jinzhou, it was Chen Yixin who was in charge here, so it was Chen Yixin who dealt with him in the past, and Qian Tiandun also met Yue Yongshou when he returned to Jinzhou as the interim chief officer. Twice, there is no friendship.However, Qian Tiandun can roughly imagine that the reason why Yue Yongshou came to visit him is mostly related to this multinational meeting.

Qian Tiandun's premonition was correct, Yue Yongshou's intention to come was indeed related to this meeting, and he brought a piece of news that Hai Han had been waiting for for a long time - Daming would send officials to participate in this meeting, Arrive in the Golden State.

"Master Yue, if I understand correctly, you mean that your country will directly participate in this meeting, rather than just watching from the sidelines, right?" Qian Tiandun reconfirmed his understanding after hearing Daoming's intentions .

Yue Yongshou nodded repeatedly and said: "Exactly. This meeting is about the interests of the country. How can the imperial court just sit on the sidelines? It should send people to participate. Moreover, the slaves are cunning, and the imperial court is worried that they will play tricks on your country again." , so I specially sent personnel to participate in order to expose his conspiracy face to face!"

What Yue Yongshou said was convincing, but before that, the official attitude of Ming Dynasty was very vague, and Yue Yongshou never made any clear statement on the multinational talks.After all, sitting down and talking with the Manchu Qing, this matter is called negotiation and consultation if it sounds good, but it is seeking peace talks if it is not good. This is naturally unacceptable to Ming Dynasty who has always regarded "no peace negotiation" as its diplomatic program.

Fortunately, it was Manqing who proposed the meeting this time, and it was Haihan who arranged the specific matters. Daming was just a third party invited by Haihan.Since this was not a meeting led by Ming Dynasty, the imperial court would not have to bear the infamy of "negotiating peace".

Of course, Daming can still refuse to participate in such talks, but the problem is that the truce between Manchu and Haihan will inevitably involve the interests of Daming, if he puts on airs and does not participate, he will only end up in a passive situation in the end.Even if Haihan would not join forces with the Manchus and send troops to attack Daming together, as long as the flags and drums are silenced in Jinzhou and the Manchus can concentrate their forces to invade the south, it will be enough for Daming to drink a pot.

In fact, Yue Yongshou had already thought about the doorway and interests in this process from the time he received the news of the talks, but in his capacity, no matter whether he supported or opposed the talks, he might capsize afterwards, so he simply kept silent. He stated that he would only pass the matter back to the capital according to the request of the Haihan people, and leave it to the court to make a decision.Now that the imperial court is determined to send people to participate in the talks, it means that the concerns of the above should be consistent with Yue Yongshou's. If he comes out to express his position at this time, he no longer has to worry about choosing the wrong side.

How could Qian Tiandun not see through Yue Yongshou's little calculation, he was also secretly amused in his heart, but on the surface he still had to agree: "Master Yue is right, in terms of experience in dealing with the Manchus, it is indeed your country's It’s richer. I would like to ask again, which adult will your country send to Jinzhou to host the talks this time?”

Yue Yongshou responded: "The person who came to Jinzhou on behalf of the imperial court this time is the Minister of the Ministry of War and a Bachelor of Dongge University, Yang Sichang, Lord Yang."

Qian Tiandun nodded and replied: "So that's the case, then I will wait for Master Yang in Jinzhou. Master Yue, I will transfer some carriages to you later, so that you can arrange to welcome the mission."

Yue Yongshou quickly thanked Qian Tiandun, took his leave happily and left.Haihan was in Jinzhou peace talks with the Manchus, and of course he, the special envoy of the Ming Dynasty, was in the most uncomfortable situation. He could neither participate in the talks nor intervene, and could only worry on the sidelines.But once the Ming Mission arrived, the Imperial Envoy was in charge of all matters, so he no longer had to be roasted on the fire, and he was finally out of the predicament temporarily.

Qian Tiandun shared the good news with Tao Donglai as soon as he arrived at the Nanguanling camp, and Tao Donglai's reaction was quite happy. Only when Daming officially participated, Haihan could make full use of the situation Daming puts pressure on him to claim more benefits.The only suspense at the moment is how capable Master Yang is, and whether he can achieve an ideal result for Daming in such a delicate international situation.

"According to historical records, this Yang Sichang is a cunning old man who is very good at catering to his superiors, dumping his subordinates, and crowding out his peers and competitors. Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi, was thrown out of office because of his small report in front of Chongzhen. Yes. There is also Lu Xiangsheng, the servant of the Ministry of War, who is about to fill his position as Minister of the Ministry of War. This time, he deliberately pushed him into the frontal battlefield to fight to the death with the Qing army. Such a sophisticated character is not so easy to deal with."

The Haihan intelligence department previously analyzed that Yang Sichang was the most likely candidate to represent Daming to attend the talks, so Tao Donglai also did a lot of homework on this, and he talked about Yang Sichang's deeds clearly and logically.

Wang Tom said: "Although this person is good at officialdom struggles, according to the information we have, what he is good at is internally. He is very keen on increasing taxes and encircling and suppressing the peasant army. He has no effective strategy for the outside world. .”

Tao Donglai nodded and said, "Yang Sichang can be regarded as a peacemaker to the outside world. What he advocates is to first negotiate peace with the Manchu Qing to stabilize the situation in the north, and then concentrate his forces to wipe out the peasant army that caused chaos in the country. Last year, Yang Sichang and the eunuch Gao Qiqian It has been secretly working on peace negotiations with the Qing Dynasty, but because the opposition from the court was too fierce, Chongzhen finally did not dare to adopt his suggestion. It is said that the Qing army suddenly sent troops into the fortress at the end of last year, partly because of Yang Sichang's operation This peace negotiation failed to achieve the final result, which annoyed Huang Taiji."

Qian Tiandun said: "If Yang Sichang is a peace advocate, it can be regarded as a favorable factor for this meeting. If the parties involved in the meeting can aim at peace, the possibility of reaching an agreement is very high. "

Tao Donglai said: "It depends on what kind of conditions Manqing will put forward. After all, they didn't count Daming as the target of this peace talk at the beginning. I think Huang Taiji may have given up on negotiating peace with Daming. Last year, Daming had already released Huang Taiji once, and if he wants to negotiate a peace this time, I am afraid that the Manchu Qing will not let go so easily."

Compared with the other three parties participating in this meeting, Haihan's intelligence work is undoubtedly the most solid and in-depth. He has mastered a large amount of personal information of Yang Sichang, Shang Kexi, and Jin Shangxian, and even the memorial and proposition submitted by Yang Sichang last year. Tao Donglai has also done corresponding research on the content of the debates between war faction officials in front of the imperial court through historical records.Therefore, Haihan already knows the situation of the other three negotiators quite well, but the information they can gather about Haihan is extremely limited. They even thought that Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom would host the meeting, but they didn't know. The real candidate for Haihan's negotiation this time has just arrived in Golden State.

Such a situation is naturally extremely beneficial to Haihan. As long as he can grasp the behavioral style and interest demands of the other three parties, he can always take the initiative in the negotiation process and guide the development of this meeting in a direction that is beneficial to Haihan. .

"President Tao, do you think it is necessary to have a private meeting with these three parties before the formal meeting?" Qian Tiandun was careful and asked Tao Donglai about the next arrangement.

Tao Donglai thought for a while, then shook his head slightly and vetoed the proposal: "Although the meeting in advance can test the attitudes of all parties, it also gives them a chance to understand me. It's better for me to appear directly at that time and not give them any reaction. time."

Tao Donglai does not want to turn this meeting into a diplomatic marathon, and strives for a balance of interests through repeated mediation among all parties.He prefers to make a quick decision and force all parties to reach a peace agreement in the fastest way.Therefore, the negotiation strategies he prepared are basically open and close moves, and he has no intention of doing ideological work one by one in private.

"I hope this meeting can be controlled to end before the end of May. If the negotiation process is too long, there will be more conditions to be compromised. That will be too uneconomical for our country." Tao Donglai said in a deep voice: "You have been staring at the north for several years, it's time for a long vacation!"

Wang Tom laughed and said: "Actually, there are always combat missions, which are quite fulfilling. If there is a truce, I really don't know what to do when I am free."

Qian Tiandun replied: "That's not easy. Change to another place and continue to fight the world. The world is so big, are you afraid that there will be no battles to fight?"

(End of this chapter)