Chapter 1180 Intensifies
After the three of them sat down, Qi Jie took a good look at the big man opposite him who was said to command the entire Haihan Navy. The dark and rough skin color shows that he must have stayed at sea for a very long time. The strong but not bloated body shows that he has not lived in a pampered environment for a long time. It seems that only the black fur coat and long leather boots can separate him from the others. They were distinguished from the ordinary Haihan soldiers wearing gray cloth winter clothes.
Of course, this was just Qi Jie's first impression. When he met Wang Tom's eyes, he clearly felt the power of a superior. This is not something ordinary people can pretend. It can only be seen on the battlefield. Only a general who has commanded thousands of troops can have such an aura of calmness and self-power. According to rumors, this King Tom once led an army to fight against many armies without ever being defeated. This time I finally saw him in person, and it seemed to me that he was indeed a powerful figure.
"General Wang, I and Mr. Qi are here to visit today to resolve the misunderstanding between the two countries. I hope the general can withdraw his troops as soon as possible to avoid killings and restore peace to the people of the two countries as soon as possible." Qu Yutong first took the initiative to mention the purpose of his visit. Wang Ji's request to him was to resolve this armed conflict as misunderstood as possible and not to turn it into a head-on conflict between countries, which would be difficult to end.
Wang Tom nodded and said: "I also hope that these situations between us are just misunderstandings. I believe the two adults are very clear about the reason why we came to Hangzhou. But about the Tongsheng Pier fire case, half a year has passed now." After many months, there is still no clue. Let alone the real murderer, the identity of the murderer is still unclear. How can you convince people? Since the government can't investigate, then we have to take action ourselves. "
Qi Jie interjected: "Although the government's investigation of the fire case is not going well, they have been pursuing it. Your country relies on the identity of the victim, so it sends troops to the city to threaten them with force. This approach seems inappropriate, right?"< br>
Wang Tom's eyes returned to Qi Jie, and he said in a deep voice: "What is the reason why the murderer has not been caught despite being traced? I have heard a lot of rumors about officials protecting each other in Zhejiang official circles. The reason why the truth cannot be found , maybe it’s just because the murderer is someone the government can’t touch, so we can do it for him without any threats. We have no other purpose than to seek the truth and a fair result.”< br>
Wang Tom almost made it clear that the Ming Army was the murderer. Although Qi Jie understood what he meant, he couldn't accept it. He knew very well how detrimental the rumors outside were to the Ming Army, and the only way to prove his innocence was Just catch the culprit. However, after many days of investigation by various yamen in Hangzhou City, except for all the known evidence pointing to the Ming army, there was no further progress. The case that seemed to have a lot of evidence turned out to be a headless case. Although the military also had some suspicions that someone among them was deliberately causing trouble to lure Haihan into the situation, they really didn't expect that Haihan was planning this incident from beginning to end, and how could they find out the real culprit.
Tom Wang raised his voice and said: "As for our requirements, Boss Zheng made it very clear when he came last time, but the government did not give a reasonable response to this, and instead tried to use force to expel us... I can only express my regret for your attitude.”
These words made Qi Jie want to slap the table and scold his mother - your Haihan army has sealed off the Qiantang River, and all the troops have advanced outside the city of Hangzhou. I won't use force to expel you, so why should I open the city gate and invite you in as a guest? This is under the rule of Ming Dynasty, not your territory of Haihan Kingdom!
Of course, in the current relatively passive situation, Qi Jie could only endure this tone in order to avoid irritating the other party and making things more out of control. After all, what the Ming Dynasty wants now is that the other side can retreat as soon as possible to avoid making things worse, rather than having to decide the winner on the battlefield.
Comrade Qu Yu said: "General Wang, I have also understood the three conditions you have put forward before, and there are indeed some issues worthy of discussion. For example, the truth of this case is still being investigated, and the real culprit is not yet known, so what? Can the murderer be handed over to you? The amount and whereabouts of the money missing from the fire have not yet been verified. It is too early to discuss the specific amount of compensation. As for trade rights, this is not impossible to discuss, but you are threatening to use force. The agreement that came out would be unfair.”
Before Qu Yutong came to Hangzhou, he had already deduced possible situations with Xu Ke and other staff. If Qu Yutong came to negotiate alone, there would be no need to say anything and he would just do what Haihan wanted. But if someone was accompanying him, Qu Yutong would not be able to express his pro-Haihan stance too clearly. So as not to be unable to report to his superiors afterwards. Therefore, in front of Qi Jie, Qu Yutong still has to perform where he should. No matter what the final result of the negotiation is, at least the bargaining process must still take place.
Wang Tom shook his head and said: "Master Qu, you probably don't understand our request. What we want is not a bargain, but an uncompromising implementation. If the government could pay attention to this case and handle the aftermath, things would not be the same at all. It will lead to the current situation. If you really want to negotiate a peace, then you must first meet the conditions we proposed and then talk about withdrawing troops. This will appear more sincere.”
Qu Yutong pretended to be surprised and said: "How can this happen? Isn't it right for everyone to negotiate good terms and take a step back?"
Wang Tom sneered and said: "It's not that the conditions cannot be negotiated, but the time to negotiate the conditions has long passed. If we were defeated by the Ming army led by Lord Qi two days ago, would you still have the leisure to come to me for peace talks?"
Qi Jie's face turned blue and red. While he was feeling unhappy, he was also a little shocked by the accuracy of Haihan's information. When he went out to fight in the city that day, he always held the battle from behind. Although the flag was displayed, the Haihan camp might not be able to see clearly from a distance of more than a mile, let alone the number that matched his identity. It can be seen that Haihan is not completely ignorant of the situation of the Hangzhou defenders, and it is very likely that he has reliable intelligence sources in the city. Qi Jie wanted to refute Wang Tom's statement, but the problem was that he had indeed suffered a defeat, and a defeated general could not be brave enough to speak forcefully.
Qu Yutong saw Qi Jie's expression in his eyes and knew that this was Wang Tom's intention to suppress him and let him control the pace of the negotiations. He immediately took over the conversation and said: "The requirements that General Wang made earlier need to be It will take a lot of time to implement it. Now your army is stationed along the Qiantang River. The war has caused chaos in Hangzhou and the people are in dire straits. It will probably take even longer to realize these requirements. Delaying it will be harmful to both sides. Wang General, why don't you find a compromise that is acceptable to both parties, so that you don't have to worry about it anymore. ”
Wang Tom said: "I understand what Mr. Qu said. I don't want to waste money by stationing the army here, let alone be an enemy of the Ming Dynasty. But the government must come up with an explanation for the matter of Tongsheng Wharf. If we want to We will withdraw immediately. Then we will sign the agreement in black and white and implement the promised conditions as soon as possible to avoid changing our words and denying it in the future. This is the bottom line of my concession. If Master Qu has other demands, please come back. You don’t have to stay with me. What a waste of saliva.”
Qi Jie suddenly said: "It's not enough to arrest the murderer and open up trade. It is also the responsibility of the government. However, you asked the government to compensate ten times the actual losses. This is probably a bit too much. It is the murderer's responsibility to compensate for this money." , How can it be blamed on the government?" Wang Tom retorted: "If the murderer cannot be caught, the responsibility is not on the government, but on the people of Hangzhou. It's fine if you don't want to pay the money. Let me put it another way. , I have been sending troops here for so many days, the government should reimburse the military expenses! I don’t ask for much, just one hundred thousand taels of silver a day.”
Qi Jie gasped when he heard this. Wang Tom's big mouth really frightened him. One hundred thousand a day, if the government didn't come up with millions of snowflakes, they might not be able to satisfy the greed of the Haihan people. However, the entire year's taxes in Hangzhou were not that much. Besides, so much money had to be transferred from the official treasury, it would be difficult to make up the gap in the short term and hide it from the court. Besides, this operation of the Haihan Army has caused direct and indirect economic losses to Zhejiang, which is at least hundreds of thousands of silver taels. Who should I turn to for this money? Are we looking for the invisible and intangible murderer?
It can make Zhejiang officials focus on the huge compensation, which is exactly what Haihan wants to achieve. The main purpose of the military planning such a massive military operation was not to extort a sum of money from the Zhejiang government. The arrest of the murderer and compensation for the losses were actually a cover for the last request to open Haihan's trade rights in Zhejiang.
What Haihan has always wanted is Zhejiang, a market with strong consumption power. Taking this opportunity to legalize Haihan's trading system and operate it openly can truly maximize profits. As for the three sailing ships and goods of limited value burned in the fire, as well as the expenses for subsequent military operations, compared to the considerable benefits after gaining trade rights, they are really only a small amount that can be sacrificed. Although the price paid for the bitter meat scheme is not small, it is very cost-effective compared with the rewards that can be obtained.
In order to achieve this goal, Haihan also painstakingly made up two conditions that the Zhejiang government could not achieve. Whether it was a murderer who did not exist in the first place or a huge amount of compensation, it was obvious that Haihan could not be satisfied from the government's standpoint. demands, and Haihan only made three demands in total. If agreement cannot be reached on any of them, then there will definitely be no hope for peace talks. In this way, even officials like Qi Jie who have always been hostile to Haihan will subconsciously believe that the third requirement is relatively easy to achieve, and thus focus on the other two more difficult requirements for bargaining. .
Colleague Qu Yu had had close communication with Haihan before, so he naturally understood Haihan’s real purpose, and immediately spoke out to smooth things over: “In my opinion, the amount of compensation can be negotiated slowly, but the top priority is to reach an agreement as soon as possible. , quelled the war and restored order in the various states. ”
Wang Tom nodded and said: "I can accept Mr. Qu's proposal, but who will sign this agreement? Please forgive me for saying something rude, but I still hope that a higher-ranking official can sign this agreement. agreement, otherwise its legality will be questionable.”
Qi Jie secretly cursed in his heart, thinking that I am a dignified fourth-grade imperial official, and now I have condescended to negotiate with you, an enemy chief. How dare you think that your rank is too low? If he hadn't been in the Haihan camp right now, Qi Jie would have really wanted to call on his men to tie up this arrogant and domineering Haihan officer and teach him a lesson.
Tom Wang didn't care what he was thinking. After talking about business for a few words, he served tea to see the guests off and asked them to go back to the city to ask their superiors for their opinions. Anyway, the most anxious thing now is not Haihan. If the officials in Hangzhou want to delay, then Tom Wang won't mind staying here for a few more days. The army has temporarily requisitioned a house near the camp, and he does not have to live in the narrow captain's cabin of the flagship. He has good food and good accommodation every day, which is much more leisurely than staying on Zhoushan Island. On the surface, he is performing a mission, but Judging from the intensity of the current battle, it is not an exaggeration to say that he is on vacation.
Qu Yutong and Qi Jie were only the envoys responsible for the negotiations, and did not have the authority to make decisions on the spot. For the sake of communication, Haihan was already refusing to give in, and they could only return with the existing results. As for whether the big guys in Hangzhou are willing to put down their dignity and accept the existing conditions, that is not something they can be sure of now.
After seeing off the two Ming officials, Wang Tom called Pan Yan out from behind. Pan Yan was born in the north and had become a rebel general of the Ming Dynasty. Wang Tom did not have to worry about him causing harm, so he specially asked Pan Yan to listen in the back during this negotiation and wanted to ask his opinion.
Pan Yan bowed and said: "My lord, I humbly believe that none of the civil and military officials in the city have seen through your lord's clever plan. Otherwise, the focus of today's negotiations would be on the last item and not on the murderer and compensation. But I heard what your lord said before, Zhejiang Du Si is quite hostile to Haihan, and I am afraid that he will use stumbling blocks to obstruct the peace talks.”
Wang Tom shook his head slightly and said: "This won't hinder the problem. They can't defeat us with their existing troops, and they are worried that the matter will get bigger, so they can't dispatch more troops from surrounding areas to fight in Hangzhou. If they don't agree to our conditions, then Just continue to waste it. Our supply ship is just making a few more trips. It just so happens that the fleet is also familiar with the terrain of the Qiantang River Basin. Maybe it will come in handy in the future, don’t you think? "
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Pan Yan felt quite complicated after hearing this. As a former military general of the Ming Dynasty, it was impossible for him to have no feelings for the Ming Dynasty, but maybe it was because he was in the camp of the strong, or maybe he realized that he had really Breaking away from his role as a military attache of the Ming Dynasty, he felt a sense of pleasure seeing Haihan "bullying" the local garrison in Zhejiang so forcefully.
(End of chapter)