Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2370 Negotiation
Under Jahangir's order, the Mughal envoys secretly went to Rajmahal, the command center of the South Xinjiang Army front, with the intention of peace, hoping to stabilize the front line through negotiations and buy time and space for the withdrawal of the main force. Of course, more importantly, it was to avoid the South Xinjiang Army taking advantage of the retreat of the army to pursue the victory and encroach on the territory of the Mughal Empire.

In view of this, even though the Mughal army had sent peace envoys to Rajmahar to negotiate peace, it still strengthened its defenses on the border line in the Bihar region in preparation for a possible attack from the southern Xinjiang army.

A few days later, at the frontline headquarters of the Southern Xinjiang Army in Rajmohar, which was actually a temporary county government, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan received news that the Mughal Empire had requested negotiations. It must be said that this news was quite surprising to them at first.

According to the Ming Dynasty's consistent style, a war should either not be fought or once it is started, it must be fought to a conclusion. After all, if there is no winner, wouldn't the military pay spent be in vain? Wouldn't the soldiers who died in the war have died in vain?
In short, the Ming Dynasty almost never had the habit of negotiating with the enemy when the outcome was uncertain, so when faced with Jahangir's request for peace, not to mention the young man Gao Yuan, even Liu Xin immediately judged that the other party was pretending to surrender.

The moment Liu Xin heard the Mughal envoy say he wanted to negotiate, he almost subconsciously thought: Jahangir wanted to paralyze our army, and he probably wanted to launch a sneak attack from a more concealed direction. He might even imitate our army's style of using Gao Shizhong's troops, relying on his own Mongolian descendants from Central Asia, and concentrate elite cavalry to attack the rear of Rajmahal. If he was a little bolder, he could directly attack Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and completely cut off our army's retreat.

When thinking of this, Liu Xin even subconsciously recalled Man Singh who had successfully set up a counter-ambush that night and had suppressed Gao Siyao for several hours.

Liu Xin frowned deeply and thought secretly, if Jahangir dared to take a big gamble and sent Man Singh to lead the main force of the Mughal Empire cavalry to attack Dhaka via a detour, the Southern Xinjiang Army, which was at a serious disadvantage in terms of total military strength, would be really difficult to deal with...

Under such circumstances, the top leaders of the Southern Xinjiang Western Expedition Army did not immediately meet the Mughal envoys, but only arranged accommodation for them indifferently, saying that "the envoys have come a long way and have worked hard, and we will discuss other matters tomorrow." Then, regardless of the envoys' eagerness and protests, they took them to a relatively clean and tidy mansion - this was not bad during wartime.

However, soon that evening Liu Xin and Gao Yuan received the intelligence analysis report from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and figured out why the Mughal Empire suddenly sought peace.

Although the Mughal Empire had been ruling northern India for nearly a century, some regional regimes had always rebelled and surrendered, which continued to consume the empire's strength and energy. This time, the Mewar Kingdom, which had given the Mughal Empire the most headache, had problems again.

After being conquered by Emperor Akbar decades ago, the Mewar Kingdom sometimes rebelled and sometimes surrendered, but overall, the empire maintained a clear suppression over it, and its military advantage was also very solid. Although the Mewar people made trouble from time to time, Emperor Akbar was always able to pacify them quickly and prevented them from making a big fuss.

However, with the death of Emperor Akbar, the people of Mewar suddenly became more active - this is how the classical empire is, a great leader can bring many things other than strength, which are usually described as "prestige", "reputation", etc. Just like the Ming Dynasty in recent years, the surrounding countries or tribes, if they heard that Gao Youshi was leading the army to them, basically they would be afraid before the battle, this is prestige.

When Akbar the Great died, the Mewar people felt that the mountain that weighed on them had collapsed, and they quickly began to join forces, preparing for a big move. And this time, it was as if heaven had granted their wishes. They also received news that the new Padish of the empire, Shah Jahangir, had just ascended the throne and had gathered his army to march east to Bengal.

So what are you waiting for? Start a rebellion!

As a result, a "rebellion" broke out in the Mewar region. The army quickly expanded from the initial size of over 10,000 to 30,000, and then 60,000... It is said that it is still increasing.

The Mughal Empire had withdrawn too many elite troops for the Eastern Expedition, so although it seemed that there were still 40,000 to 50,000 troops in Mewar and nearby areas, in fact, these troops were poorly trained, and their weapons and equipment were relatively backward. Many soldiers even had no protective gear at all, and had to fight on the front line with simple spears or even pitchforks - they were not hunting demons, and the pitchforks were obviously not very useful.

As a result, about half a month ago, the Mewar people defeated the Mughal army in Gangapur, and moved westward to surround Chittor Fort, the capital of the former Mewar Kingdom.

Originally, Chittor Fort was a very solid fortress-type city. Back then, Emperor Akbar mobilized a large army and it took a full four months of assault to capture this vital place. It stands to reason that although the Mughal army has lost the field battle, if they hold on to this fortress, although the situation is ugly, it will not collapse.

However, the problem was that Akbar the Great's conquest of this place was not very smooth. Although the Mewar people were defeated and the city was captured, they were too resolute - all the soldiers died heroically and the women committed suicide.

Therefore, in order to break the morale of the Mewar people, the angry Emperor Akbar not only dismantled the city gates and transported the Mother Goddess candlesticks and bronze drums to Agra, but also almost demolished the entire fortress. Although it was slightly repaired later because the Mughal army also needed a place to station, it was no longer as strong as before.

Things have changed, and this time it was the turn of the Mughal army defending Chittor Fort to be worried. Considering the various disadvantages such as poor training, low morale, and insufficient manpower, the Mughal garrison commander in Mewar sent several letters of help to Patna every day, asking the supreme Padishah to rescue him quickly. As a result, Jahangir was forced to stop the eastern expedition and prepare to return to Mewar to quell the rebellion.

Now that the truth was out, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan suddenly realized and finally dispelled the speculation that "Jahangir was bluffing and launching a surprise attack." However, since they knew that the other side had to withdraw its troops now, how could they easily let it do what it wanted? At this time, shouldn't they take the opportunity to counterattack?
However, the situation was not that simple. Although reinforcements were about to arrive, the war was also extremely costly and costly. Especially on the night of the battle with Man Singh, although the Mughal army suffered greater losses overall, the Gao Siyao army, one of the main forces of the Southern Xinjiang Army in this battle, suffered more than 3,000 wounded and even more than 1,000 dead, which was already an extremely serious loss for the Southern Xinjiang Army in recent years.

In this situation, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan both believed that even though it was a critical moment for the Southern Xinjiang Army to expand its victory and consolidate its rule in the Bengal region, it would be better to rest for a while, firstly to wait for the wounded to recover, and secondly to wait for the reinforcements to arrive. It would not be too late to launch an offensive after the combat effectiveness was restored and the reinforcements arrived. "We can talk, but not really, just to delay time." Liu Xin said in a deep voice, "Also, although our reinforcements are coming soon, we cannot ignore the Mughal army's defense in the Bihar region - although they are going to withdraw, they will obviously not give up this area easily."

"Yes, Bihar is the 'dragon's rise' for Jahangir, how can we give it up so easily?" Gao Yuan nodded in agreement: "However, we can still fight for it and see if we can get the greatest benefits in the negotiations. If we can get enough compensation and other benefits without going to war, then we can reconcile with them.

Of course, we must also be prepared to put more pressure on the Mughal army on the battlefield, otherwise Jahangir will not easily surrender. In short, no matter what the outcome of the negotiations is, we must remain proactive. "

Liu Xin was quite surprised by what Gao Yuan said. She felt that although Gao Yuan's performance was not very good when he was commanding on the city wall last time, as he even "failed" due to unexpected changes on the battlefield, when he was not commanding in battle, Gao Yuan was "very much like his father" and had a good grasp of the overall situation.

After thinking about it, Liu Xin felt that this was not bad. After all, Gao Yuan was the son of the Duke of Jingguo. He would not have many opportunities to personally command battles in the future, so he was not required to be able to make decisions before the battle. On the contrary, his ability to grasp the overall situation was a more critical and more "appropriate" ability. Therefore, Liu Xin immediately expressed her support for his words.

The next day, the negotiations officially began. At the negotiation table, the Southern Xinjiang Army unceremoniously put forward a series of harsh conditions, mainly including the following requirements:

The Mughal Empire officially recognized the ruling status of the Southern Xinjiang Army in Bengal. Of course, the official statement was: "The Mughal Empire recognized the independence of the Kingdom of Bengal and recognized all bilateral treaties signed between the Kingdom and the Jinghua Group." The second half of the sentence meant that the Mughal Empire recognized the legality of the Southern Xinjiang Army stationed in the Kingdom of Bengal and had no objection. It also recognized the Jinghua Group's dispatch of a national policy advisory group to actually control the Kingdom of Bengal.
The Mughal Empire had to compensate the Southern Xinjiang Army for its losses in the war. To this end, the Southern Xinjiang Army gave a lengthy list, and the final amount of compensation was extremely exaggerated. When converted into silver, it was as high as 21.64 million taels - it was really hard for them to calculate such an outrageous number;
The Mughal army had to withdraw not only from the Bengal region, but also from the Bihar region, making the Bihar region a demilitarized buffer zone between the Mughal Empire and the Kingdom of Bengal, and guaranteeing that no further invasion of Bengal would be carried out in any form.

In response to the demands made by the Southern Xinjiang Army, the Mughal envoy stated that although His Majesty the Padishah had full sincerity in conducting peace negotiations with the Southern Xinjiang Army, he could not make a decision on "such shocking terms" and needed to consult His Majesty the Padishah before he could give a reply.

Of the three main conditions proposed by the Southern Xinjiang Army, except for the first one, the last two were obviously exorbitant prices, so the negotiation process naturally could not be smooth. Not only did the two sides fail to reach an agreement on the last two, but they also had differences on many details.

In general, the Southern Xinjiang Army insisted on its position, while the Mughal envoy kept emphasizing the difficulties of His Majesty the Padishah, trying to lower the requirements of the Southern Xinjiang Army. At the same time, he also kept emphasizing that although the Mughal Empire was unable to spare any effort at the moment, it did not mean that it lacked strength. If the Southern Xinjiang Army could not stop now, once the empire had dealt with its internal conflicts, the two sides would inevitably start a war again, which would not be good for both sides.

6◇9◇Book◇Bar

This is true, and Liu Xin and Gao Yuan both agree with this statement. Finally, after several rounds of negotiations, the two sides reached a temporary agreement:
The Mughal Empire recognized a series of treaties signed between the Jinghua Group and the Kingdom of Bengal, but reserved the right to punish the Kingdom of Bengal for betraying the empire;
The Mughal Empire will compensate the Southern Xinjiang Army for part of its losses. The specific amount will be confirmed through further negotiations between the two sides, but the total amount should not exceed 4 million taels of silver or equivalent gold (there is a lot of gold in India);

The Mughal Empire's army withdrew from the territory of the Kingdom of Bengal and did not station any troops within a hundred miles of the eastern border of Bihar and the western border of the Kingdom of Bengal. However, it retained its original sovereignty over the neighboring princely states and tribes in eastern India, and the Southern Xinjiang Army could not invade these princely states and tribes.

Although this temporary agreement was not what the Southern Xinjiang Army had originally envisioned, it was a relatively satisfactory result, especially considering that the Mughal Empire actually agreed to pay compensation - and the amount of compensation was quite large, reaching four million taels of silver. Therefore, Liu Xin and Gao Yuan did not dare to take this agreement lightly, and decided to report it to Gao Youshi to see whether he intended to accept this peace treaty, or still regarded this peace treaty as just a kind of delay and continue to wage war.

Of course, everyone knows that even if the Mughal Empire fulfills the compensation agreement, it will only be a temporary compromise, and they will definitely make a comeback in the future.

In order to deal with the potential threat of the Mughal Empire, the Southern Xinjiang Army decided to take the following measures: speed up the training of the Dhaka Garrison, complete the establishment of the three towns as soon as possible, and improve its combat effectiveness; strengthen economic construction in the Bengal region, develop agriculture and commerce, improve the living standards of local people, and consolidate the people's hearts - but forget about industry for now; strengthen cooperation with surrounding princely states and tribes, and strive to dig into the corners of the Mughal Empire - in the treaty, Jinghua only agreed not to invade these princely states and tribes, but did not say not to win them over to rebel against the Mughal Empire. This kind of loophole can be exploited, after all, politics has never been too shameless.

While the Southern Xinjiang Army was negotiating with the Mughal Empire, Gao Youshi's reinforcements also arrived in Bengal. The Southern Xinjiang Army finally reversed its disadvantage in terms of manpower in Bengal. On the contrary, as the Mughal Empire's army gradually withdrew westward, Southern Xinjiang gained a manpower advantage and gradually expanded it, making full preparations for possible future wars.

Although Jahangir temporarily withdrew from the war in Bengal, his hatred for the Southern Xinjiang Army did not dissipate. He believed that

Once he has put down the Mewar rebellion, he will one day return to Bengal again and take back the land that belonged to the Mughal Empire.

In this way, the Bengal War, which broke out suddenly and ended even more suddenly, came to a temporary end, but the struggle between the Southern Xinjiang Army and the Mughal Empire had obviously just begun...
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