The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 65: Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou, Nurgan Prefecture, Ming Dynasty
When Zhu Jianxuan heard his father's instructions, he subconsciously wanted to continue directly. However, the moment he opened his mouth, he suddenly realized that something was wrong:

"Father... the British are here, so why are there people from the Qing Dynasty?"

Emperor Zhu Zhonglin smiled and handed two documents to Zhu Jianxuan:
"The British went to contact the Qing Dynasty, invited the Qing Dynasty to form an alliance with them, and persuaded the Qing Dynasty to attack our rear and rescue the British.

"But the Qing emperors and ministers probably felt that it was not worth it for them to offend the whole world for the British.

“Plus, the Qing Dynasty was also exploring North America, and actually had conflicts with the British.

"So they turned around and declared war on Britain and asked us to include them in the peace talks with Britain."

Zhu Jianxuan flipped through the official letter sent by the Qing Dynasty with astonishment on his face, and soon understood the Qing Dynasty's intentions:
“This is to take advantage of our peace talks and confirm their territory in North America through contracts with relevant countries.

“There might even be an attempt to dig a piece of land down from the northwest of the British North American colonies.

"The Qing Dynasty's declaration of war should have been the last straw that broke the camel's back for the British. The British will end the war at all costs."

Emperor Zhu Zhonglin nodded slightly:
"good……"

Zhu Jianxuan frowned and continued:
"The joining of the Qing Dynasty will indeed make our negotiations with Britain easier, but we cannot sit down and negotiate with the Qing Dynasty.

"Unless the old villain Hongli uses the title of Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou and ranks below the representatives of the Ming court, the Ming King Wu, and the Ming King Shun."

The Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin pondered for a few seconds and understood what Zhu Jianxuan wanted to remind him.

Let the Qing Dynasty negotiate with Europeans as an independent country on par with the Ming Dynasty, especially to sign a formal treaty.

That to some extent recognized the independent identity of the Qing Dynasty.

They even went so far as to admit that the Ming Dynasty's mandate was flawed and it was no longer the only orthodox dynasty in China.

If it were a hundred years ago, the Ming Dynasty might be willing to sign an alliance with the Qing Dynasty and recognize that both sides are equal brother countries.

However, this kind of thing gradually lost its meaning after the Chongzhen period.

After the flintlock rifle became popular and the "line infantry" of "shooting in a row" was formed, the Qing Dynasty could no longer defeat the Ming Dynasty in terms of military force.

The Qing emperor himself should know better than ordinary Ming people why the Ming Dynasty never had the opportunity to destroy the Qing Dynasty.

Both the Qing Kingdom and the Shun Kingdom were desperately trying to escape, with the intention of finding a way out for themselves.

However, the Qing Dynasty was still moving too slowly, or it was reluctant to give up the prosperity of the Central Plains.

Qianlong did not make the decisive move to North America decades ago, and as a result, eastern and central North America is now about to become Zhu Jianxuan's territory.

Although the Ming Dynasty is now constrained by internal feudal lords and is unable to concentrate its forces to march north to recover its homeland and old capital.

But if the Qing Dynasty wanted to launch a large-scale attack to the south, they would not only face the Ming central court, but also the joint resistance of all the northern vassal states.

In that case, the Qing Dynasty would not gain any real benefits in the end except wasting its national strength.

Therefore, it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to give the Qing Dynasty equal status.

Now that the Qing Dynasty wants to deal with the Ming Dynasty, Hongli must either be the commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou of the Ming Dynasty, or directly be the leader of the rebels of the Qing Dynasty.

After thinking about it, Emperor Zhu Zhonglin of the Ming Dynasty said with a smile:
"Then you can talk to the Qing people with this attitude. If they can't accept it, let them go.

"They can go back and form an alliance with the British. I wonder if they dare to attack southwards."

Zhu Jianxuan accepted it seriously:

"My son, I obey."

Zhu Jianxuan asked his father for an imperial edict and received the delegation from the Qing Dynasty two days later.

In the center of the main hall of the Wuying Palace, in front of the emperor's desk, there was a long table and an armchair.

Zhu Jianxuan sat on a chair with several civil and military officials standing on both sides behind him, posing as if he was accepting an audience.

This was not a very formal meeting. Qianlong's intention was to say hello to the Ming Dynasty first and also to find out the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, the official positions and titles of the members of this delegation were not particularly high.

The leader is Ji Yun, who is Ji Xiaolan in Zhu Jianxuan’s previous life’s TV series.

Ji Yun's current official position is Cabinet Scholar and Minister of Rites of the Qing Dynasty. He is neither a Grand Secretary nor a Shangshu.

Han officials in the Qing Dynasty had to take the imperial examination. If they could only pass the imperial examination at the age of 30, they might not be able to become a minister even if they reached the age of 60.

Manchu officials did not need to go through the imperial examination system. In addition, Emperor Qianlong favored young officials in his later years, so there were many Manchu officials who held high positions in their twenties and thirties.

Accompanying Ji Yun this time was a young Manchu official, Fucha Fengshen Jilun.

Fengshen Jilun was only seventeen years old this year, but he was already the deputy commander of the Han army of the Bordered Blue Banner, a second-rank official, which was equivalent to the rank of deputy commander of a modern group army. This was because he was the grandson of Emperor Qianlong, the eldest son of Fucha Fulongan, the first-class loyal and brave duke of the Qing Dynasty, and Princess Heshuo Hejia, the fourth daughter of Emperor Qianlong.

Fu Longan is the prototype of Fu Erkang in My Fair Princess, and his wife can almost be regarded as Ziwei.

Fengshen Jilun is naturally an invaluable figure in the Qing Dynasty and has a promising future. I am naturally very proud of him.

When Fengshen Jilun followed Ji Yun into the Forbidden City in Nanjing, he couldn't help but point around curiously:

"This Southern Ming imperial palace is basically the same as our Forbidden City, but it seems to have been repaired more frequently and looks a lot newer..."

Ji Yun sighed in his heart, hoping nothing would happen. At the same time, he carefully explained to Fengshen Jilun:

“Your Excellency, the Forbidden City in Shuntian Prefecture was originally built by Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty based on the Forbidden City in Nanjing, and the layout is indeed the same.

"Nanming's industry and foreign trade are well developed, and the imperial court's tax revenue is more sufficient, so it is natural that it can frequently repair the palace..."

After hearing this explanation, Fengshen Jilun seemed to suddenly lose interest in the Forbidden City in Nanjing:

"We are going to Wuying Palace, should we meet the emperor of Southern Ming?

"The officials of the Honglu Temple of the Southern Ming Dynasty didn't say how to perform the ceremony?
"You can't kneel three times and kowtow nine times like you would when meeting His Majesty, right?"

Ji Yun also found it strange that the officials of the Honglu Temple of the Ming Dynasty did not accompany him to the audience, but instead arranged for several guards to lead him into the palace:

“I thought officials from the Southern Dynasty were better at etiquette, but I didn’t expect the arrangement to be so crude, without even explaining the most crucial etiquette.

"According to historical records, before the Chongzhen reign of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the most important etiquette for meeting the emperor was five bows and three kowtows.

“But Emperor Chongzhen was crude and uncultured, and he did not require grand ceremonies unless they were grand.

"When meeting the king on a daily basis, just bow and salute."

Fengshen Jilun immediately laughed:

"This saves me a lot of trouble. I didn't want to kowtow to the emperor of the Southern Ming anyway."

The group walked to the outside of Wuying Hall, and the guard leading the way instructed them to wait outside the door while letting the eunuch go in to report.

Ji Yun lowered his head and looked at the scene in front of him obediently.

Fengshen Jilun stood there arrogantly and began to look around impatiently, examining the uniforms and weapons of the guards around him.

Soon after, the guards at the palace gate shouted:
"Ji Yun and Fengshen Jilun, officers of the Jianzhou Left Guard Commander of the Nurgan Commandery of the Ming Dynasty, are here to see His Majesty the King of Wu."

Upon hearing this announcement, Ji Yun and Fengshen Jilun were obviously stunned.

Ji Yun knew what was going on with the Jianzhou Zuowei, so he immediately argued with the guards and eunuchs around him:
"Sir, this statement is inappropriate, isn't it? This happened more than a hundred years ago?"

Fengshen Jilun even asked directly:

"What is Nurgandusi? What is Jianzhou Zuowei? Where are they? Aren't there only people from the Qing Dynasty here?"

The military officer waved his right hand, and the guards around him immediately gathered around, with dozens of muskets pointed at this side.

The military attaché asked back with a stern face:
"Aren't you an officer of the Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou? Who are you? How dare you barge into the Forbidden City? Are you planning a rebellion?"

Fengshen Jilun was shocked:

"What are you going to do? Of course we are envoys from the Qing Empire!"

The military officer immediately shouted:
"So he is a traitor to the Qing dynasty. Capture him!"

Fengshen Jilun was completely confused. Aren’t we here to negotiate? Why are you arresting people directly?
Isn't it true that even when two countries are at war, they don't kill envoys?

Ji Yun, on the other hand, was quick to react and flexible enough, so he immediately opened his arms and shouted:

"Don't do it! Don't do it, we are the officers under the command of the Jianzhou Left Guard, the officers under the Jianzhou Left Guard..."

Then Ji Yun lowered his voice to remind Fengshen Jilun:

"My Lord, don't worry about what they call you, just leave here alive."

Fengshen Jilun finally realized that this was a warning from the emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Although the boy was very ambitious, he finally decided not to suffer a loss and said the same thing through gnashing teeth:
"We are officials of the Jianzhou Left Guard."

The military officer was originally trying to scare them as requested by the King of Wu. At this time, he waved his hand and asked the guards to return to their original positions:
"It turned out to be a misunderstanding. Please go in quickly and don't keep His Royal Highness the King of Wu waiting for too long."

(End of this chapter)