Chapter 484 Harsh Conditions
At this time, Chen Lin could only complain secretly in his heart, regretting that he should not have stepped forward to take this job. If General Liu Shen had not said that he would be exempted from docking fees at the northern port for three months, he would not have bothered to take on such a thankless task. He was not originally from the Ming Dynasty's military. He was just acting as a go-between to pass messages on his behalf. General Liu Shen could not give him much autonomy. How could he dare to speak too much on something like this that required expressing his position on behalf of the Ming's military? For fear of saying the wrong thing. If this Haihan man named You takes advantage of his words, and when trouble breaks out, the Ming army will not come forward to support him.
But if there is no reply, will the Haihan people think that their proposal has been rejected by the Ming Navy, so they will take more tough measures? Chen Lin did not dare to speculate on the possible consequences in this direction, because any deterioration of the situation would be a disaster for him. Although he couldn't afford to offend the Haihan people, if he went back with unsatisfactory results, I'm afraid General Liu Shen in Shuizhai wouldn't look kindly on him.
In a dilemma, Chen Lin could only stammer and reply: "Boss You, I am not the one who can make the decision on this matter. If Boss You has any regulations, I would like to convey them to the Navy Commander on my behalf."< br>
Charter? You Yihan does not have any charter. He has not even figured out which sea areas are controlled by the militia navy temporarily stationed here. He is also not sure whether the military's attitude towards this matter is more conservative and low-key, or whether it plans to take some measures. A tough attitude, first establish the Ming army's prestige and then talk about it. Giving conditions to the Ming army sounds very impressive, but You Yihan also knows that this is not just trolling people on the Internet, and you are not responsible for what you say. One wrong word may trigger further military confrontation or even conflict. When the executive committee inquires and finds that the fuse lies with them, they will have no choice but to shoulder the blame.
Chen Lin kicked the ball to You Yihan now, which really embarrassed him. Both of them are amateurs in this aspect, and they don't have a clear bottom line for negotiation. At this point, they have inexplicably fallen into a stalemate. The two of them stared at each other, not knowing how to proceed with the negotiation.
At this moment, the savior finally came. A guard came in outside the door and whispered a few words in You Yihan's ear. You Yihan nodded repeatedly and said: "Invite him over quickly!"
A moment later, Chen Lin saw a young Haihan officer enter the room and saluted You Yihan with a Haihan-style military salute. You Yihan quickly and warmly asked him to sit down and asked for hot tea.
"Major Chen, this boss Chen is here to negotiate with us on behalf of the Ming army on the island." You Yihan introduced the two of them. The person You Yihan called "Major Chen" was Major Chen Yixin of the militia who had just returned from patrolling the sea.
Since there are currently no senior naval officers stationed in the local area, the navy currently stationed here is temporarily commanded by Chen Yixin. Although Chen Yixin's military establishment belongs to the army, in fact, during the year he was stationed at Wanshan Port, Chen Yixin was responsible for both the navy and the army under the command of Wanshan Port. Patrolling at sea was not easy for him. It can be said that he is familiar with the job. When the Military Commission appointed him to temporarily command the Hong Kong Island garrison, it also gave him the command of the navy.
Among the militia garrison on the mainland, only Xiao Liang and Yu Yao still have command authority over Chen Yixin. However, they spend most of their time in Guangzhou. Chen Yixin is still basically in charge of the troops stationed outside the Pearl River Estuary. In the area of Panyu, Wanshan Port, and Hong Kong Island, Chen Yixin can be regarded as the actual military commander.
As for Chen Yixin's status and functions in the army, You Yihan had already figured it out when he came. As for handling the negotiations with the Ming army, it was obviously more suitable for Chen Yixin to come forward in this matter-if it hadn't been because he had not returned from the sea, You Yihan didn't need to come forward to deal with Chen Lin.
Chen Yixin probably heard about the reason for Chen Lin's visit after getting off the ship, and he immediately took the initiative and said: "Boss Chen, there is no hostile relationship between us and the Ming Dynasty Navy. In fact, what we do is the same as the Navy. , it’s just to protect the environment and the people. If the navy feels that it can do this well, then we can leave this task to the navy. If they don’t have the ability and don’t want others to do it. thing, then I think their attitude is very problematic, what do you think, Boss Chen?”
Compared with You Yihan's attitude, Chen Yixin's tone was more aggressive. This change in attitude and rhythm made Chen Lin very uncomfortable. Of course, he did not dare to openly agree with Chen Yixin's remarks, and could only respond in a roundabout way: "But the Ming Navy represents the imperial court after all..."
"Of course we recognize the authority of the imperial court. Otherwise, if we ask the imperial court to issue an edict stating that civilian armed forces cannot participate in the defense of this sea area, then we will withdraw from here honestly." The conditions offered by Chen Yixin , the difficulty coefficient is also quite astonishing.
Nowadays, the imperial court is worried about the war in northern Xinjiang and the civil unrest in the Central Plains every day. Do the big shots in the court have time to consider such a big deal as whether civilian armed forces should be banned on the islands in southern Xinjiang? Even if Chen Lin didn't understand government affairs, he felt that the emperor who was thousands of miles away probably wouldn't care that a certain militia in Xin'an County under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou Prefecture had more force than the garrison. He issued an imperial edict for such a thing, This probability may be even lower than General Liu Shen sending troops to annihilate the Haihan militia.
Chen Lin did not dare to answer the question and could only try to go around it: "The navy's meaning also represents the court's meaning..."
"Then the imperial court means to let pirates run rampant and ignore it?" Chen Yixin snorted coldly: "If that is the imperial court's intention, there is no guarantee that pirates will come to the door one day!"
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When Chen Lin heard this, he felt a chill in his back. No matter how rampant the pirates were, they had not yet sent troops to attack the water stronghold of the Ming army. However, it was hard to say whether the Haihan people would do such a thing if they were forced to do so. What they had The force is sufficient to support large-scale military operations in this sea area. The meaning of Chen Yixin's words seemed to be a warning. In order to achieve their own goals, the Haihan Militia could transform into an unknown pirate group at any time.
Chen Lin was so bitter that he couldn't vomit it out. He hesitated for a long time before saying: "If you feel that the plan proposed by the navy is inappropriate, then I wonder if the military master has any feasible solutions?"
Chen Yixin said in a deep voice: "It is not difficult for the navy to coexist peacefully with us. As long as we agree to a few conditions, the navy will eat meat and drink wine on this island from now on, and we will give them corresponding benefits. ”
Chen Yixin did not intend to wait for Chen Lin to respond, so he raised three fingers and continued: "First, Haihan's cargo ships, civilian ships, fishing boats or militia warships have the right to freely navigate in the waters near the island, and the navy is not allowed to use it. Any excuse to interfere with or intercept our ships. "Second, Navy ships are not allowed to sail within ten miles of this harbor without our permission."
"Third, the navy must not interfere with any trade, construction and immigration affairs of Haihan on the island." Chen Yixin paused and then said: "Agree to these three conditions, and the Haihan militia and the Daming Navy can live in peace locally in the future. , we can also promise not to take any initiative to attack the Ming Navy.”
Chen Lin heard Chen Yixin say the three conditions before he suddenly came to his senses - this rhythm was not right. He came to propose conditions to the Haihan people. How come it was the Haihan people who proposed three conditions at the end? Such harsh conditions.
Chen Yixin didn't care what Chen Lin's mood was now, and said directly: "We are happy to maintain a peaceful or even cooperative relationship with the Daming Navy. We have already had successful experience in Yazhou, and the Yazhou Navy The relationship between the navy and us is very good. If the naval officers on the island are so willing, we can arrange for them to go to Yazhou to see how the local navy gets along with us. Of course, there will be expenses incurred. It’s all our responsibility.”
Chen Lin now has nothing more to say besides nodding in agreement. Chen Yixin's words clearly meant that Yazhou Water Village had been surrendered. If the Daming Navy on the island felt dissatisfied, they could go to Yazhou to see their colleagues - if those people were really alive as he said.
"Since Boss Chen has no other objections, let's see the guests off!" Chen Yixin sat down for only a moment before completing the meeting with Chen Lin, and soon served tea to see the guests off.
Chen Lin had no other choice but to say goodbye and leave. As for whether Liu Shen would be furious or choose to remain silent after taking these three conditions back, this was not something Chen Lin could predict. He only hoped that Liu Shen would be disappointed and not take all his anger out on him.
"Oh, by the way, there is an additional condition I forgot to mention." When Chen Lin was distracted, he heard Chen Yixin call out to him again: "I heard that you are the businessman who is passing the message on behalf of the navy? Then you give the Navy Liu Shen will send a message, saying that from now on, we will only recognize you as the messenger, and there is no need to send anyone else to avoid trouble. "
"Ah?" Chen Lin responded, but did not come back to his senses. It was not until he left the house that he suddenly realized - the Haihan people were leaving a way for themselves to survive! If General Liu Shen really planned to seek bad luck on himself, Chen Yixin's words would have saved his life. Chen Lin couldn't help but secretly start to wonder whether the timber business he was currently engaged in should also learn from others to establish relationships with the Haihan people. He heard that the Haihan people were going to build a large port here and many commercial warehouses and warehouses. , the amount of wood needed should not be a small amount...
Chen Lin left with his heart full of thoughts. Only then did Chen Yixin have time to pick up the tea cup and take a big sip. Finally, he wiped his mouth and said, "Brother You, is it not easy to deal with Daming?"
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"It's really not easy!" Although You Yihan was completely relaxed at this time, he still felt a little scared when he remembered the uneasiness he had when dealing with Chen Lin: "Fortunately, you came back in time. If it had been delayed for a while and a half longer, I really don’t know how to deal with this guy! I don’t dare to talk too much, and I don’t dare to stand up for you about your military affairs.”,
Chen Yixin waved his hand and said: "Brother You, it doesn't matter if you speak harshly, as long as you grasp the general direction. In the long run, what the Executive Committee wants is the entire Hong Kong Island, not the corner we currently occupy. Sooner or later, the water village issue will be solved. If these Ming troops refuse to admit defeat and must choose to go against us, they will definitely have to use force to solve it. Of course, I personally don’t think they can have this determination, so I just said. Just don’t leave any room for them when making conditions.”
"Will this push them too hard and have the opposite effect?" You Yihan still felt a little uneasy about this.
"The chance is very small." Chen Yixin seemed very confident about this: "If they choose to take a tough stance, then in the end it will just give us an excuse to clean them up. I think they themselves know this very well. The most important thing is They have chosen to escape in the past few years, and now they probably no longer have the courage to stand up and fight. Although the conditions I proposed may sound a bit excessive, they will not have any impact on their current situation. It’s still the same as before we came, and maybe they will get another benefit from us. What reason do you think they have to refuse?”
"It sounds reasonable. You are a professional and I believe you." Although You Yihan was a little undecided, seeing Chen Yixin's firm attitude, he chose to believe in the decision he made.
Although Chen Yixin is nearly ten years younger than You Yihan, Chen Yixin is the expert in military-related fields. Although You Yihan is the local administrative official, he still has to follow the opinions of professionals on such matters involving diplomacy.
"By the way, when you set out you didn't say you would be back in a day or two, why did you come back so quickly?" You Yihan remembered that Chen Yixin's return was indeed a coincidence, so he asked casually.
"Not too far out to sea, I noticed that the weather was not right. It looked like a strong wind was coming, so I quickly turned the boat around and came back. I asked a few old boatmen. Judging from the weather, it was estimated that a strong wind would hit within two or three days. I have sent telegrams to Wanshan Port, Panyu and Guangzhou to remind them to pay attention to the weather," Chen Yixin explained.
"Strong wind?" You Yihan's mind immediately recalled the situation when the typhoon passed through Sanya two years ago. At that time, various living facilities were still under construction, and the typhoon caused a lot of damage. The current local situation is very similar to that of Victory Port two years ago. If the wind blows here, it will really be a big trouble.
(End of chapter)