Chapter 1513 Tripartite Talks
Of course, Sha Xi was very aware of the process arrangement of this negotiation. He first asked Mei Shengchuan to interview Hao Wanqing on Zhifu Island, Shandong, and asked Hao Wanqing to confirm that his identity and intention of coming were indeed true. Then he brought Mei Shengchuan to Lushun, Liaodong, for talks with him. At this stage, some intentional things must be finalized, and finally Umegawa will be arranged to meet with Bai Kesi. This step is to directly sign some previously negotiated diplomatic agreements. In principle, there will be no further lengthy consultations and negotiations.
But if Sha Xi fails to deal with Mei Shengchuan at this stage, then until Bai Kesi comes forward, the buffer space left for Haihan will be very small, and this is by no means a situation he wants to see. The drills arranged by Sha Xijian and the army and the navy were over, but the other party still did not make a clear statement, which made him feel a little frustrated. He originally thought that arranging so many activities to show off force would make Umeikawa, who had already benefited indirectly, completely give up his guard, but the actual effect was far from expected.
Why does this happen? Sha Xi believes that this is probably because Mei Shengchuan's position is still more inclined to the Ming Dynasty. This is of course not surprising. After all, Mei Shengchuan was born in the Ming Dynasty, and his current roots are also in the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible for him to choose to be loyal to his new master for the sake of food, clothing and a stable life like those lower-class immigrants.
But based on Sha Xi's past operating experience in the south, he originally expected that the other party would loosen its position after receiving the money sent through Dongjiang Town. Coupled with the show of force arranged here, it should be a natural progression for him to loosen his stance. thing. But judging from the current situation, Mei Shengchuan is not that easy to deal with. At least compared to those bureaucrats in the south, Mei Shengchuan's position is much more stable and he has not been shaken by the threats and inducements in front of him. This is probably the professional ethics of high-ranking officials.
Although Mei Shengchuan's true attitude cannot yet be grasped, one thing is certain for Sha Xi. Since the Ming Dynasty sent the Minister of War to Liaodong for talks, it shows that the other party should also have the idea of promoting peace through talks and living in peace with Haihan. But how Ming Dynasty intends to proceed with this matter, and what kind of requirements they have, so far Umeikawa has not put it forward. Based on his past experience, Sha Xi believes that this is a strategy of the other party. First, he will delay the pace to test his patience, and then slowly release conditions to restore the current negotiation disadvantage bit by bit.
Sha Xi is no stranger to this kind of negotiation strategy. There are many officials from the Ming Dynasty who he has come into contact with who have used similar methods. However, the difference is that the level of officials he has come into contact with in the past is limited to one province at most. The conditions for bargaining are only based on a certain place, and it is difficult to cause real trouble to Haihan. But the Minister of War that he is currently dealing with is a genuine high-ranking official of the imperial court. His attitude represents the attitude of the Ming Dynasty to a certain extent, and the conditions he can offer are likely to be not limited to The southern coastal areas where Haihan influence is relatively strong.
Sha Xi did not dare to underestimate this uncontrollable situation. After all, this was Haihan's first contact with a senior official of the imperial court. It could be said that he had no experience to follow before and could only rely on groping for everything. To be cautious, Sha Xi did not dare to rush for success, otherwise if Mei Shengchuan was disgusted, he might not even be able to solve the problem with money.
Fortunately, until now, Mei Shengchuan has not shown any obvious dissatisfaction with Haihan, and he is also willing to continue the talks. The best way to deal with it at the moment may be to slow down the pace of negotiations and let the other party put forward the conditions.
After Sha Xi sent Mei Shengchuan back to his residence, he immediately used the radio to inform Bai Kesi in the north of the situation here. Bai Kesi is relatively optimistic about this. He believes that the situation is still under his control. Even if the other party proposes certain conditions that will embarrass Haihan, at least Liaodong is unlikely to be affected by the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Navy currently It does not have the ability to fight across the Bohai Sea. On the contrary, after Haihan occupied the two important ports of Zhifu Island and Lushun, it has formed a clampdown on the Bohai Bay. If you advance, you can land in the Gyeonggi area from the sea, and if you retreat, you can block the waterways in and out of the Bohai Sea, and easily attack the coastal states on the Shandong Peninsula. Therefore, from a military perspective, it can be said that Haihan has taken the absolute initiative in the situation in the Bohai Sea, and is not afraid of any tough measures from Ming Dynasty.
After receiving Bai Kesi's advice, Sha Xi felt a little calmer. After all, with the military as the backing for negotiations, this confidence must be much stronger than that of Ming Dynasty, which is in decline today.
The next day, the two sides returned to the negotiating table, and Shahi once again raised the issue of establishing trade and military assistance between the two countries. Sure enough, after a night of buffering, Mei Shengchuan opened his mouth and put forward Ming's request.
The first thing Mei Shengchuan put forward was the territorial claim. The territory occupied by Haihan from the Ming Dynasty must recognize the sovereignty of the Ming Dynasty, and at least the power of jurisdiction and governance must be returned to the hands of the Ming Dynasty. This request includes many southern coastal islands including Hainan Island, and the areas occupied by Haihan in Shandong and Liaodong are also listed. However, because Taiwan Island had not been included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty before, it was not included in it.
The Ming court also knew that it was impossible for Haihan to willingly surrender these occupied areas, so this request was very sensible as long as Haihan recognized the ownership of sovereignty and retained Ming local governance in these areas, at least in form. dominance.
In addition, the second request of the Ming court is that Haihan guarantees that he will no longer take arbitrary military actions in the territory of the Ming Dynasty without notification. This requirement also applies to the Liaodong area that has been occupied by the enemy. In other words, the Ming Dynasty requires that officers such as supervisors be stationed at the Haihan Army’s stations in various places to ensure that Haihan’s military operations will not harm the Ming Dynasty. interests.
As for the construction of transportation and business proposed by Haihan, it can only be realized if Haihan meets these two conditions. In other words, Ming Dynasty wanted to use this method to regain its current disadvantage in the relationship between the two countries.
Sha Xi knew very well that the essence of the communication method of negotiation was to ask for a high price and pay back the money on the spot. Although the conditions offered by the other party sounded like it was impossible to get Haihan's consent, Sha Xi also understood that the conditions were serious. , people are alive, and since it is a negotiation, there is room for bargaining. Whether the two sides can finally reach an agreement depends on how big their common interests are. What Haihan was good at, besides using military means to capture cities and territories, was to provide Ming officials with ways to make money.
Of course, Mei Shengchuan is a relatively special case. Although he accepted Haihan's benefits and even helped Haihan do some work to manage the court's relations, he did not intend to choose the path of treason, but hoped to cooperate with Haihan. While the Han Dynasty maintained peaceful coexistence, it also obtained more favorable conditions for the Ming Dynasty. In this case, if the ways of making money and common interests that Haihan wants to give are limited to Mei Shengchuan personally, I am afraid it will be difficult for him to choose to surrender.
Sha Xi decided to convince people with reason and refuted the other party's requests one by one: "Master Mei, since you have made the request on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, let's open the sky and speak clearly. These disputed territories, even our country If you give it back with both hands, the Ming Dynasty will encounter great resistance if it wants to reclaim these lands, and it may even cause civil strife in the Ming Dynasty. Do you understand why?" Mei Shengchuan had already guessed what he had learned in the past few days. Fen: "It's because there are too many people in the Ming Dynasty who have interests in you. If these lands are to be recovered in the hands of the Ming Dynasty, the interests of these people will inevitably be affected. If the Ming Dynasty wants to recover the territory, these people are natural opponents."
Sha Xi nodded and said: "Once these lands return to the hands of the Ming Dynasty, even if the industries they invested in are not confiscated, they will be taxed heavily as a punishment for cooperating with Haihan in private. The industries owned by Haihan in the area occupied by Haihan will exceed If you do more, you will be more likely to be severely punished by your court in the end. Don’t forget, Mr. Mei, that those who invest the most money in our country are precisely the officials at all levels in your country who will not just watch their property being embezzled. In the treasury.”
Mei Shengchuan sighed and said: "Even so, the imperial court's will must still be carried out."
"I'm just afraid that you won't be able to carry it out at all!" Sha Xi sneered: "Not to mention far away, even if the emperor is far away, even if there is a will, it will be useless. Just talk about nearby places, such as Shandong and Liaodong, what will the Ming Dynasty do? Take it back? Can we send troops to station in Liaodong? It's okay to send supervisors, but the battlefield is risky and we can't guarantee personal safety."
After being reminded by Bai Kesi, Sha Xi had a clear idea of Ming's weaknesses and was not worried about what tough military measures Ming could take. If the officials of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty were not dizzy, they would realize that negotiation is the only way they can solve the problem peacefully. Any attempt at military means may cause the outbreak of war between the two countries, which may very well lead to difficulties. The result of cleaning up.
Of course, Mei Shengchuan was aware of the risks involved, so his toughness was only verbal, and he did not dare to speak too harshly to avoid ending the situation. But this inadvertent display of weakness naturally could not escape Sha Xi's observation, and he immediately retorted.
Mei Shengchuan didn't know that the difficulty of executing these things was no less than a national war. If he had a choice, he might choose to settle the matter and continue to maintain the current state of peace with Haihan. As for the islands that have been occupied by Haihan, what will happen even if they are taken back? If Ming Dynasty could manage these islands as well as Haihan, how could he easily lose control of these places.
As for the assignment of supervisory troops to the Haihan Army garrison, Mei Shengchuan could only secretly scold Zhang Fengyi, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, for thinking that this method was too stupid. Just think about it and you will know that if the Ming Dynasty sent supervisors to the camp of the Haihan army, these supervisors would either eventually collude with the Haihan people and become the same species, or they would die unexpectedly or disappear mysteriously because they were ignorant of current affairs. It would be better to learn from the Ming army in the south and select some officers to join the Haihan army as observers and act with them in the name of military cooperation.
The Mei Sheng River conditions were opened, but Sha Xi quickly rejected all these unrealistic conditions. Both parties were dissatisfied with the conditions offered by each other, and the negotiations inevitably fell into a deadlock again.
However, a telegram brought about a change at this time. The Northern Fleet led by Wang Tom had made progress in North Korea, had a face-to-face meeting with North Korean King Li Zhu, and persuaded the other party to send envoys to Liaodong again. Participated in the tripartite talks between Ming Dynasty, Haihan and North Korea.
Of course, this tripartite talk actually had some impromptu elements. If Wang Tom had not known that Ming Dynasty had sent senior officials to Liaodong to negotiate quietly, he probably would not have bothered to organize such a talk. In this way, it also gave Shaxi an opportunity to adjust the deadlock in negotiations.
"Mr. Mei, the North Korean envoy will arrive in Liaodong in a few days to discuss military cooperation with us. I suggest holding a three-party meeting so that our three countries can have the opportunity to join forces to deal with the enemies in the north." Sha looked pleased. After finishing, he showed the contents of the telegram directly to Mei Shengchuan, and at the same time persuaded him to participate in talks in Liaodong attended by North Korean envoys.
Mei Shengchuan did not know that on the Korean side, Wang Tom also persuaded the Korean king to send envoys to Liaodong to participate in the so-called tripartite talks on the pretext that the Ming Dynasty court would send high-ranking officials to visit Liaodong. As for what international issues the content of the talks will involve, they basically rely on Ning Qi, Schneider and others to compile the content in Sanya, and then send a telegram to Wang Tom, who will take action.
Mei Shengchuan didn't quite understand how the Haihan people persuaded the Koreans to do such an outrageous thing, so he secretly got in touch with Haihan without telling Ming Dynasty. It's just that he never dreamed that the North Koreans had never taken any initiative at all. Haihan was basically manipulating this matter and forced North Korea to get on board.
In the next two days, Sha Xi arranged for Mei Shengchuan to visit the local construction status and the resettlement area of Dongjiang Town, which is thirty miles away from Lushun Fort. After confirming the living conditions of local immigrants, Mei Shengchuan once again lamented Haihan's handiwork. To resettle thousands of immigrants across the sea, in addition to enough food and drinking water to ensure that they can survive until they disembark, the most important thing is to provide these immigrants with a livelihood that can support themselves. Haihan is undoubtedly very good at this aspect. When Mei Shengchuan visited here, the central town and several villages had basically taken shape, and the roads leading to Lushun Fort and the nearby coastal docks were also under construction. In time, It will be a prosperous small town in Liaodong.
(End of chapter)