1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3873

For the Ming Dynasty court, the most urgent task at present was to find out the real reason why Haihan suddenly took action against Jiangxi, and whether it would stop at Jiujiang and Ganzhou.

According to past tradition, this task could only be accomplished through the diplomatic embassy stationed in Hangzhou, rather than immediately deploying troops to Jiangxi to wage a full-scale war against Haihan to reclaim the lost territory.

However, at this critical juncture, Yue Shizong, who was in charge of the embassy, ​​suddenly claimed illness and asked to resign. The court was unable to confirm whether this was just a coincidence or whether Yue Shizong did not want to get involved in this big trouble and deliberately made an excuse to stay out of it.

If it is the latter situation, Yue Shizong's choice is not hard to understand. After all, he had dealt with similar troubles for the Ming Dynasty before and knew the difficulties involved.

In negotiations such as ceasefire talks, the Ming Dynasty has always been in a passive position. Every time the two countries sit down to discuss the terms of the ceasefire, the Ming Dynasty is inevitably manipulated by Haihan. For diplomats like Yue Shizong who are on the front line, it is indeed a physically and mentally exhausting task.

Such a difficult situation is something that the important figures in the capital can hardly comprehend. After all, they only need to issue orders for Yue Shizong to resolve the troubles in Hangzhou, without having to take responsibility for the consequences.

Since such negotiations often required the Ming Dynasty to make huge concessions, Yue Shizong would not receive any credit even if he succeeded. After all, the Heavenly Kingdom had to save face and could not publicize these less-than-honorable secret agreements. However, if he failed, Yue Shizong, as the person in charge, would have to bear the corresponding responsibility.

Yue Shizong's ultimate decision to join Haihan was likely due not only to concerns for his own and his family's safety, but also, perhaps, to the immense work pressure he endured in that position.

Sending someone from the capital to Hangzhou to take over the post was certainly a necessary measure, but the Ministry of Rites could not find a suitable successor in time, and the two places were far apart. By the time they had selected someone and sent them to Hangzhou to meet the Executive Committee, it would probably be too late.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's top leadership decided to first contact Chen Yixin in the northern region, while simultaneously sending personnel to Hangzhou to take over diplomatic affairs. This two-pronged approach provided an extra layer of security.

Da Ming believed that since Chen Yixin was a member of the Haihan Executive Committee, his attitude could, to some extent, represent the committee. Furthermore, given the scale of the operation, Chen Yixin was likely one of the insiders, making communication with him relatively convenient.

However, things did not go as smoothly as they had expected. The process of contacting Chen Yixin was quite complicated.

The closest territory of Haihan to the capital was the former Tianjin Sanwei. After the war against the Ming Dynasty in 1657, the area, along with the entire Bohai Bay coastal region, was incorporated into Haihan's territory, and the Ming Dynasty lost all its coastline.

After the war, the Bohai Bay was assigned to the Northern Region, but the capital of the Northern Region is now located in Jinzhou, Liaodong and Dengzhou, Shandong. Chen Yixin spends most of his time in these two places.

If the Ming Dynasty wanted to contact Chen Yixin for negotiations, it would first have to send someone to Tianjin, whereby a telegram would be sent to Chen Yixin for instructions and reporting. As for Chen Yixin's whereabouts, that was naturally a top secret and would not be reported to the Ming Dynasty at all.

Therefore, the negotiation scene that the Ming Dynasty hoped for was simply difficult to achieve, because even if Chen Yixin received the news, it would be difficult for him to find the time to immediately rush to the vicinity of the capital to arrange a high-level meeting.

Moreover, Chen Yixin had limited knowledge of the operations in the south, and his information mainly came from internal reports. Furthermore, this operation against Jiangxi was spearheaded by the Donghai Region, the Liangguang Region, and Fujian; the Northern Region was not involved. Chen Yixin's position was indeed unsuitable for him to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty. Three days later, the Ming envoy, waiting for news in Tianjin, finally received a reply. Chen Yixin stated that he was currently inspecting the border regions and could not spare the time to travel to the capital for a meeting; diplomatic matters should be handled by the Ming Dynasty through Hangzhou.

The Ming court was naturally disappointed by this response, but they had no time to complain, because the follow-up news from Jiangxi was not optimistic.

There are indications that Haihan did not intend to stop after occupying Jiujiang and Ganzhou, but rather continued to stockpile supplies and amass troops. This means that the two prefectures already occupied by Haihan were not their final target, but very likely just the beginning of a new round of encroachment on the Ming Dynasty.

This is not a good omen for the Ming Dynasty. Once Jiangxi is lost, the Ming Dynasty will lose another important source of grain and tax revenue, and its strength will be further weakened.

Even more frightening is that if Haihan intends to occupy more territory, then the probability of reaching a ceasefire through negotiations at this stage is very small.

Even if the Ming Dynasty were willing to make concessions and recognize Haihan's right to govern the occupied territories, Haihan would likely raise the bar and propose even more demanding peace terms, such as requiring the Ming Dynasty to cede the entire Jiangxi province.

Given this possibility, even knowing that its military strength was inferior to that of the Han Dynasty, the Ming court had no choice but to consider war and resistance as its next course of action.

However, organizing large-scale campaigns has become increasingly difficult for the Ming Dynasty. As the nation's strength has gradually weakened, the court's control over local areas has also gradually diminished. It is not something that can be accomplished simply by issuing an imperial edict to mobilize troops from other regions to support Jiangxi.

The imperial court must first provide enough money and grain to ensure that the troops ordered to go on expeditions have basic logistical support. Otherwise, even the local troops in Jiangxi may not be willing to do their best to fulfill their duty of defending the territory. Jiujiang, which surrendered without a fight, is a living example of this.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty has long been thoroughly infiltrated, and a large-scale troop movement would likely go unnoticed by Haihan. If the enemy is prepared, even if the Ming Dynasty can muster hundreds of thousands of troops, it may not gain any advantage.

While the Ming Dynasty was still undecided, the Haihan side had already begun preparing for its next move.

Since the Executive Committee had already expressed its support, Shi Chengwu took the opportunity to cancel his return to Nanjing and instead issued an order to transfer more troops from Nanjing to Jiujiang for assembly.

Whether the two civil officials, Tao Hongfang and Ning Zijing, were willing or not, they could only go with the flow and do their best to organize logistical support for the Haihan Army's operations.

Fortunately, the takeover process in Jiujiang Prefecture went relatively smoothly, with almost no large-scale battles, so social order quickly returned to normal and the number of people fleeing was not large, which made Ning Zijing's work much easier.

By late April, the combined land and naval forces of Haihan stationed in Jiujiang Prefecture had exceeded 5,000 men, and combat supplies were basically in place. Shi Chengwu believed it was time to begin the next phase of operations.