Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Huang Taiji nodded slightly. He agreed. After all, the Ming Dynasty, which had lasted for over two hundred years, couldn't be changed overnight. The Ming emperors must have killed too many people to achieve what they did, which terrified these scholars…

Huang Taiji stood with his hands behind his back, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Let's set aside the internal situation of the Ming court for now. I think it would be appropriate to send a letter to the Ming court to negotiate peace and trade."

The best way for the Qing government to buy time to stockpile grain is to negotiate peace. This would allow them to strengthen their own grain reserves and obtain the necessary supplies from the trade offices.

Huang Taiji's mindset was typically to take advantage of the Ming Dynasty, seize its resources, and then turn around and attack it!

"This servant thinks it's feasible!" Fan Wencheng agreed.

Fan Wencheng had long considered this option, but he couldn't bring it up himself to avoid gossip. Now that the Qing emperor was talking about peace, he would simply agree!

Huang Taiji turned around, his gaze falling on Abatai: "Abatai, you go back to the front lines first, organize the Eight Banners warriors, and hunt down the Ming soldiers who are invading the garrison!"

"yes!"

Abatai didn't linger; he turned and left the hall. He didn't want to get involved in the peace negotiations; it was a thankless and arduous task for him. He'd rather return to the front lines and capture more Ming soldiers as slaves...

After Abatai left, Huang Taiji returned to his desk and slowly sat down: "Minister Fan, are there any suitable candidates for negotiating peace with the Ming court?"

Fan Wencheng pondered for a moment, then stepped forward and said, "This servant recommends Grand Secretary Xifu of the Hongwen Academy to be the chief envoy!"

Hesheli Xifu consistently worked with him on the establishment of the Ministry of Personnel and also served as an envoy to Mongolia and other tribes on numerous occasions. He was proficient in Manchu, Han, and Mongolian languages ​​and scripts, making him a well-rounded diplomatic talent!

"Then let Xifu go. Write a letter and send it to Jinzhou, explaining your intentions, and have them forward it to the Ming Emperor!"

"This servant will go and write a letter immediately!"

Huang Taiji waved his hand: "No rush! What items should the delegation bring?"

He then asked, "What items did the Ming envoys bring when they last visited Shengjing?"

When Huang Taiji mentioned the mission, he suddenly recalled the Ming Dynasty envoys' visit to Shengjing last year, which resulted in them being bound and sent back...

Fan Wencheng thought for a moment, then shook his head: "Last time, the Ming envoy came here secretly, without bringing anything..."

"Enough! I was short-sighted last time, thinking the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, but now it seems even a centipede with a hundred legs doesn't die easily!"

Huang Taiji truly hadn't expected that the Ming Dynasty, thanks to this young emperor, would show signs of revival. He had initially thought that Dorgon's successful invasion would force the Ming court to further increase taxes and incite peasant rebellions, but instead, not only did he gain nothing, he was driven back. The Ming court even went so far as to waive all taxes and corvée labor for three years to quell any peasant uprisings…

The lack of military pay and provisions had to be obtained through murder and confiscation of property—that certainly took some guts… And those merchant princes who were killed were all useless; even with the swords falling, they wouldn't rebel…

Huang Taiji clearly mistook the Ming dynasty's vassal kings for those of the Qing dynasty, assuming that the current Ming vassal kings still possessed the ability to lead troops into battle...

"Select some fine furs and ginseng, and bring ten good horses with you! Take them as a peace gift for the mission!"

A good horse in Liaodong now costs less than thirty taels of silver, while within the Ming Dynasty it would cost seventy or eighty taels. These gifts, added together, amount to less than a thousand taels, making it a valuable peace treaty gift...

In Huang Taiji's eyes, the Ming Dynasty had no reason to refuse. Peace talks were originally the suggestion of Ming court officials, and now that he was extending an olive branch, these officials would certainly urge the emperor to accept. That way, they could not only acquire a large amount of trade goods but also gain valuable time to accumulate grain, eventually forcing the Ming Dynasty to return the money with interest…

"This servant will go and prepare immediately!"

A few days later, Zu Dashou, the general of Jinzhou, who was inspecting the defenses at the front line, received a letter from the Qing army!

"General, this letter was shot to the outpost by Qing soldiers with arrows!" a soldier said, handing the letter to Zu Dashou.

"Burn it! It's nothing more than an attempt to persuade them to surrender!" Zu Dashou replied nonchalantly.

In recent years, he received many letters urging him to surrender. In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, when he was in Dalinghe, he was besieged by Huang Taiji's army. Huang Taiji besieged the city without attacking, wanting to starve Zu Dashou to death. After three months of siege, the city's food supplies were exhausted, and people resorted to cannibalism. Of the original 30,000 soldiers and civilians, only more than 10,000 remained. Zu Dashou then surrendered to the Qing army.

However, one night in November of the same year, Zu Dashou led his troops to flee into Jinzhou. As soon as he entered the city, he immediately organized a defense and continued to resist the Qing army, which angered and annoyed the Qing army, but they had no choice but to continue to persuade him to surrender.

It wasn't until the Battle of Songjin in the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign that Zu Dashou, who had defended Jinzhou for two years, finally surrendered after the city ran out of ammunition and food and Hong Chengchou's army outside the city was routed. This was his true surrender...

Even after his second surrender, Huang Taiji did not kill him, but instead continued to bestow official titles and ranks upon him... until his death during the Shunzhi era... He was buried in Beijing after his death... Of course, he never imagined that three hundred years later, he would be able to travel abroad again... His tomb was moved to Canada in the Americas...

"General, the Qing army is calling out that this letter is for you to forward to the Emperor!"

Zu Dashou was taken aback, then took the letter and read it. After a moment, he slowly folded it: "It's for the Emperor!"

"Send someone to the capital by fast horse!"

Seeing that the letter mainly concerned negotiating peace with the imperial court and had nothing to do with him, he felt relieved and had it sent to the capital. As for how to negotiate peace, that was beyond his control. If the court found out he dared to secretly negotiate peace with the Qing army, he would surely face a barrage of impeachments from civil officials, and he didn't want to risk that...

A few days later, the sun shone brightly in the capital, and the vibrant scene of life and everything flourishing was still vivid in my mind.

Zhu Jian looked at the hundreds of soldiers in the newly built Shenwu Guard camp outside the capital. These were soldiers who had experienced the Shuntian War and the killing of three Jurchen heads. They were soldiers with double pay and a few soldiers with triple pay. These were all elite soldiers.

These soldiers have now been equipped with the latest cloth armor and firearms. Apart from a few dozen who recently arrived from Liaodong, the rest are from the vicinity of the capital. It's just that the camp has only just been built, so they are gathered together.

"Your Majesty! The Divine Martial Guard currently numbers 817 men! They are all currently in the main camp!" Zhou Yuji, the commander of the Divine Martial Guard, said to Zhu Jian.

"Collect warhorses from the army, two horses for each person first! We'll make further plans later!" Zhu Jian said.

"As you command!"

"How many men are left in the former Yongwei Battalion?"

"There are still more than four thousand people!"

"Sending these men to Shanxi is too far. Send them to Sun Yingyuan's command! Tell Sun Yingyuan to select some veterans from Hong Chengchou's troops, according to the standards of the Yongwei Battalion, and expand the Yongwei Battalion to a full strength of seven thousand! Change the name of the Yongwei Battalion to the Divine Valiant Guard!"

Sun Yingyuan was originally the commander-in-chief of the Yongwei Battalion, and now he has regained command of these soldiers...