Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 526: Negotiations Begin

"The more immoral a person's behavior is, the more he or she will talk about morality. This shows that promoting morality is a social consensus and one of the cornerstones of the existence of this society. Once the moral deficiencies in personal behavior are exposed, the national law may not be able to deal with them, but they will definitely be unacceptable to society. In reality, nowadays it is generally a society of acquaintances, and the social circle of individuals is limited. Moral condemnation has a strong constraint on individuals. Of course, some people rely on their power and don't care about moral condemnation at all, which is another matter."

Li Yuan understood the above words. So he asked again in a serious tone: "So, sir, which is more important, the law or power?"

Jia Lian did not give an answer to this question, but asked in return: "Your Highness should have the answer in your heart, why ask me?"

Li Yuan was speechless, Jia Lian said: "Go back!"

The answer to the question is very simple. It has nothing to do with the social system. It depends on the individual's social status and personal understanding of the matter.

Specifically speaking of the Zhou Empire, it was a family empire, and the imperial power was legally unlimited, so what else could you say?

On the way back, Li Yuan asked again: "Sir, what is the essential difference between the West and our dynasty?"

Jia Lian stopped, raised his hand and pointed at the prisoners who were being forced to work in the distance and said, "See those prisoners? If someone asks him why he survived, he will first tell the questioner that he thanked God and that this was God's will. If he were a Chinese, he would probably answer that this was due to his benevolence and righteousness."

The decline of a society's moral standards is not formed overnight, but is bound to be caused by subtle influences. In a sense, social atomization is also one of the causes of moral decline.

The priest holding the white flag walked out of the fortress area in front, followed by the bishop and the interpreter. It was a normal operation for religious people to serve as negotiating representatives.

"Hello, we are here to negotiate. This is our negotiating representative, Bishop Diego." When the group of three were brought before Cui Lu, the interpreter conveyed the bishop's words.

"Oh, it's a Western monk, right? Please wait here for a moment!" Cui Lu didn't say much. He arranged for the three to wait in a room and hurried to report the news.

The news was reported up the chain and soon reached Jia Lian. As usual, Jia Lian was in the war room and Li Yuan followed him like a dog-skin plaster.

"Negotiation, Bishop?" Jia Lian dropped the pencil in his hand, very surprised. He shouldn't have given up so soon. Well, maybe it was a tentative contact.

Li Yuan stepped forward excitedly: "Sir, are the Spaniards going to surrender?"

Jia Lian shook his head: "I don't know, let's talk about it first, maybe they will ask us to withdraw our troops first."

"They are so beautiful that they can't die! Humph!" Li Yuan let out a proud breath from his nostrils.

After experiencing a lot during this period, Li Yuan felt that he had grown up very quickly, and his understanding of Jia Lian had also improved a lot. For example, it was rumored that Jia Lian was a pervert. Can you imagine that the leader of the overseas Chinese, Chen Lao Da, proposed to send a few maids to serve him, but was rejected? Of course, Chen Lao Da did not ignore Li Yuan, and was also rejected. The reason was very simple. Jia Lian refused.

While waiting for the bishop to be sent over, Li Yuan said with emotion: "The battle plan takes the typhoon into consideration, and it is expected that the battle will not be over until the end of the year at the earliest. Speaking of which, I miss home a little bit."

"Don't be happy too soon, maybe it's just a delaying tactic." Jia Lian said casually, and added in his heart: I also hope it will end as soon as possible, preferably before the typhoon comes.

Diego appeared on horseback, thinking he would be ignored, but unexpectedly he saw Jia Lian and Li Yuan first.

"Everyone is busy, and hypocritical etiquette is meaningless. Since you are here, don't talk nonsense and state your conditions." Jia Lian went straight to the point without any intention of testing.

Diego's reaction paused for a moment. This person was really not polite at all. Subconsciously, Diego had the impression that the person opposite him didn't seem to care about the outcome of the negotiation.

"Sir, the Spaniards have been here for two hundred years. During this period, your country has not made any claims. Britain and France recognize your sphere of influence, but bypass Spain, the party involved. Isn't that unreasonable?" Diego actually said such words. Jia Lian showed a sarcastic look and shook his head slightly.

"As a negotiating representative sent by the Spanish Governor, if you are here to discuss this issue, please go back and don't waste everyone's time." Before Jia Lian could speak, Li Yuan spoke first.

After the interpreter relayed the message, Diego's face changed several times. He was angry at first, then ashamed, and then slowly calmed down. "We can withdraw from Manila, but only if you withdraw your troops first. To ensure that you keep your word, we need representatives from Britain and the Netherlands to supervise the implementation."

"You are not here to negotiate. You are using the negotiation to pass on information. You are so insincere. You should go back." Li Yuan continued to speak and lead the negotiations.

Jia Lian was happy to see this happen. He sat aside, smoking, drinking tea and watching the show.

"We have put forward our conditions. What are yours?" Diego did not give up and made a final struggle.

"Let me make it clear first, you are not qualified to make any conditions. You come here to beg us to show mercy and give you a way out. If you don't have this understanding, you shouldn't come." Li Yuan was unexpectedly sharp.

Jia Lian found it interesting, but he was secretly re-evaluating Li Yuan. It seemed that Emperor Chenghui's preference for Li Yuan was not just a personal preference. From his conversation with Diego, it can be seen that he is indeed excellent.

Li Yuan's shortcoming is that he always looks up. Of course, there is also a problem with his personality, he is too tolerant of those around him.

"Conditions!" Diego wanted to argue, but finally gave up. His slightly raised chin drooped unconsciously.

It seems that after the failure of the night attack, there were big problems inside the fortress area. Not only the morale of the troops, but also the upper echelons had lost confidence.

Well, this is not surprising. This was a battle with little hope of winning, especially the emergence of the Z-shaped trench cracking tactic, which had an impact on the interior of the fortress. It is also possible that the Dutch did not take action, and even considered their national strength. In short, there are many factors, not just the impact of a single event.

From the perspective of national strength, Britain and France were more sensible, because they had no vested interests and consciously gave up their interests in Southeast Asia. The Spanish and the Dutch came earlier and had huge interests, so it was normal for them not to want to give up. It would be strange for them to give up voluntarily.

"Surrender unconditionally and leave it to us." Li Yuan said the answer in his mind. Jia Lian was not unhappy about this because there was no communication in advance.

"Impossible! We can't accept it!" Diego jumped up immediately after hearing this. Li Yuan sneered at him and said, "You don't have to accept it! I don't care!"

Diego was speechless. He really didn't want to go back like this. But it was obvious that today's negotiations would be meaningless if he stayed.

"In that case, goodbye." Diego stood up, turned around, and left in a very rude manner.

"No need to see you off!" Li Yuan's voice came afterwards. After Diego got the translator's voice, he stopped slightly and continued forward.

Although he kept cursing "The pagans go to hell" in his heart, Diego didn't say a word.

The situation was stronger than the people. The Spaniards, who were used to using force to deal with the indigenous people, became less adept at it when the situation was reversed.

"Sir, do you think they will surrender unconditionally?" Li Yuan asked in a low voice after watching Diego walk away. In fact, he hoped to get Jia Lian's approval.

"Your Highness's performance just now was very good. If the full score is 100, I will give you 99 points. I deducted one point because I am afraid that Your Highness will be proud." Jia Lian knew Li Yuan's mentality very well. Therefore, he gave enough emotional value. Li Yuan couldn't close his mouth after hearing it: "Really? Hahaha, sir, you are too kind!"

"The Spanish had a large number of silver mines in their colonies in South America. Through this route, the Spanish transported silver to China and purchased goods to ship back to Europe. my country's two major sources of silver are Japan and South America. Zhang Juzheng of the Ming Dynasty used silver as the official currency, which extended the life of the Ming Dynasty for 50 years. At the same time, because there was actually a large amount of silver in the private sector, it was equivalent to handing over monetary sovereignty, which had serious consequences. Your Majesty issued official silver coins and prohibited the direct circulation of silver, which is to correct this mistake. From this perspective, the silver coins minted by the Spanish cannot be circulated directly even if they flow into the country, and must be exchanged. The official has the final say on how to exchange them."

"Sir, what you mean is that if Zhang Juzheng were to carry out reforms, he shouldn't have used silver directly as currency, but should have minted coins instead."

"In fact, silver was already circulating in the private trade market. Without this premise, Zhang Juzheng would not have directly used silver as currency. He did see the benefits of the Single Whip Law, and the reform did produce results." Jia Lian could only say this to Li Yuan. Due to private smuggling trade in the Ming Dynasty, a large amount of stock of silver was not taxed. Jia Lian did not think that Zhang Juzheng did not see it, but it was probably because the resistance was too great that he directly used silver as the official currency.

Of course, silver was collected as a tax, and it had to be recast after being collected, which also caused fire consumption. However, the benefits brought by this fire consumption were obtained by officials rather than the central government. Yongzheng's fire consumption was attributed to the silver for maintaining integrity, which was built on this basis. The original intention of establishing the silver for maintaining integrity was to reduce corruption, but from the results, it did not have any effect. It can be seen that high salaries to maintain integrity are just bullshit. Going back to the Song Dynasty, the court treated officials better, especially civil officials. What was the result?

(Personally, I prefer to believe that the money was used to bribe civil officials, and I do not rule out the possibility that it was Yongzheng's wishful thinking.)
"What do you mean, sir?" Li Yuan felt that he understood half of it, so he asked.

"What I mean is that this trade route should be retained. The West has already shown signs of adopting a gold standard currency because of its huge silver production. What I mean is that in future trade with the West, we should adopt effective policies to encourage Western merchants to trade in gold instead of silver, a metal that is destined to depreciate."

Li Yuan was still a little confused, but he didn't ask any more questions. This was a good thing. He would rather figure it out on his own.

(PS: Everyone is familiar with the idea of ​​keeping wealth among the people. In a sense, the late Ming Dynasty did keep wealth among the people, but it was useless for the country. The country still had no money. It can only be said that the country's tax agency did not play the role it should have.)
Diego returned to the fortress area, and the governor who was waiting there asked him anxiously about the result. After learning the other party's attitude, he became angry and started cursing.

Diego listened to him cursing expressionlessly. When his mouth was dry and he was tired, the Governor stopped and shrank in his chair with a depressed look on his face, like a piece of rotten meat.

"God will punish them and save us." The bishop said this, and the governor and the fleet commander did not change their expressions at all.

The weather was extremely hot and humid. Even sitting still would make one sweat. The fleet commander stood up and looked out the window. The treetops were motionless. The fleet commander said to himself: "The typhoon is coming."

That being said, everyone knows that the typhoon is not as powerful as imagined. If it is, it is OK to deceive the people below, but it is a joke to deceive the people above.

The three of them actually have their own answers in their hearts as to whether God is omnipresent, but the enemy will definitely not give up the victory that is about to be achieved just because of a typhoon.

Jia Lian also felt the change in the weather. There was not a trace of wind in this weather, which was abnormal for an island.

"Give orders to prepare for the wind. I feel the typhoon is coming soon."

As soon as the military order was given, all departments began to prepare and carried out various preparatory work under the guidance of experienced overseas Chinese.

Jia Lian’s headquarters is currently located in a manor. The main building is made of stone and is very solid. Only the roof and doors and windows need to be reinforced.

Li Yuan, who had no idea about typhoons, felt for the first time the power of heaven and earth.

Li Yuan insisted on going out to take a look, and soon came back soaking wet. But he was very excited and kept describing everything he saw.

"The wind is so strong that the coconut trees are bent and look like they will break at any moment, but they don't break."

The door was closed and an oil lamp was lit in the house. The whistling sound of the wind outside was like the howling of an evil spirit.

Jia Lian listened to him with a smile on his face, without any intention of interrupting him.

"The ginger soup is here, Your Highness, drink it quickly." The eunuch brought the ginger soup, Li Yuan took it and drank it while it was hot.

"We've been tired for a while. Arrange the shifts, and those who are not on duty should take a rest." Jia Lian gave the instructions. Although typhoons have a great impact, they also allow people to have time to rest.

The fierce typhoon blew for half a day and a night. After the wind gradually died down, it was another morning.

When he opened the door, the wind blew in. It was not as strong anymore, but the rain was still falling. The raindrops falling on his face cheered Jia Lian up.

"Send someone to notify the troops below to report their current situations as soon as possible." Jia Lian was still very worried, especially about the fleet at sea.

(End of this chapter)