Chapter 1519: Interest comes first
Of course, such an impressive record has come at a high price for Haihan. In addition to the astronomical military expenditures, the Haihan Army stationed in Liaodong has also suffered three-digit casualties. This is a rare number in the past combat operations of the Haihan Army.
The characteristics of the navy are less and fine, rich in experience, strong maneuverability, fierce firepower, suitable for the defense battle of relying on work, or assaulting an unprepared assault. Fighting the resource and personnel's way of fighting is not abundant to the army of Haihan, and the army with extreme relying on logistical supplies is extremely unfavorable. Even if the navy's advantages are stronger, it is difficult to avoid casualties in this long tug -of -war.
However, the number of casualties heard in the ear of Kimosawa Monka, but it is tantamount to thunder. Haihan fought in Liaodong for half a year. The fighting deceased was only a hundred people, but they achieved the results that they could only look up. Looking at Qian Tiandun's description of these numbers, it seems that there is still no satisfaction with such a situation, which makes them unpredictable. If the army of Daming or North Korea can play such a record, it must be celebrated by the whole country. Naturally, all kinds of rewards with generals will be all right.
"For our country, the war that is huge casualties and the return of too small, it has no significance of fighting for a long time." Qian Tiandun said with a calm face to the messenger of the two countries: "If we do not support the motivation of we will continue the war, then we can It will soon issue a stop war order, and will not take the initiative to fight the Golden Army in the future. "
Qian Tiandun's statement can be said to be quite clear, so I did not say that "you will stop the war without alliance here." Naturally, the messenger of the two countries could not continue to be confused. Mei Jin looked at each other and saw a helpless look from the other's face.
At this time, Mei Shengchuan couldn't wait for Jin Shangxian to come out first, otherwise, if the other party directly attached the money and promised, wouldn't he put himself on the fire? At the moment, a dry cough said: "The valuable country sent troops to Liaodong to rescue the Han family and Limin.
Qian Tiandun said: "Since Mr. Mei said it was a righteous act, I will also open the skylight and speak frankly. This part of the friendship should be discussed. In fact, you have already talked about it before you came to the battlefield to inspect. Now it can still be brought out in this place. There is no friendship, only interests. If there is no benefit at all, will our soldiers continue to fight for your country in vain? "
Mei Shengchuan thought to himself, isn't it a benefit for Haihan to use force to occupy my Ming Dynasty's territory? Isn’t it a benefit to take thousands of Liaodong Han people captive? Now that even an entire Ming army like Dongjiang Town has been abducted, what other benefits do you want?
Of course, he could only think about this complaint silently in his heart, but did not dare to blurt it out. The Haihan people were obviously impatient with the slow progress of negotiations and could not do anything to add fuel to the fire at this time.
If Haihan ceased fighting in Liaodong, it would at most be a timely stop of losses and would not really harm its national strength and national security. Even if Hou Jin can mobilize a large army to break through the isthmus defense line operated by Haihan Army in the future and regain control of the Lushun area, Haihan should be able to escape safely from Liaodong. After all, Haihan's strength in maritime transportation is obvious to all. Since he can transport these troops to Liaodong from thousands of miles away, he will naturally have a way to pick them up safely from Liaodong.
But for Ming Dynasty and North Korea, this is by no means good news. If Haihan ceased fighting in Liaodong, it would mean that Houjin would have one less opponent that they would have to concentrate on dealing with. As for Hou Jin who freed up his hands and feet from this battlefield, probably the most likely option was to make up for the losses within the embankment and outside the embankment. He would first attack the Ming Dynasty and North Korea to recover the losses from these two fat sheep. At that time, Hou Jin will probably not have any spare power, and the predators that Ming and North Korea will face will probably be more vicious and ruthless than in previous years.
In view of the deteriorating performance of the Ming Dynasty against Hou Jin in recent years, Mei Shengchuan did not have much confidence in whether his army could resist the predators. If Haihan can sell a large amount of standard weapons to Ming Dynasty, maybe Ming Dynasty can still fight, but Mei Shengchuan also understands that the other party has already made its attitude clear, and will only sell weapons to allies. As for Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that only the two provinces of Fuzhou and Guangzhou are Only the local garrisons that are closely related to it, as well as the troops in Dongjiang Town, which only have an empty shell of the Ming army, can hope to receive military assistance from Haihan.
As for North Korea, whose military strength is far less than that of the Ming Dynasty, its situation will only become more passive. Hou Jin had already planned to completely conquer Korea. If Haihan hadn't intervened in Liaodong last year, one hundred thousand Hou Jin's cavalry would have gone south to Seoul this year, forcing the Koreans to sever ties with the Ming Dynasty. Although this situation did not occur in this time and space, and North Koreans may never know that they may have faced such a disaster, their perception of danger is actually not bad, otherwise they would not just look to the north After the fleet's armed exercises on the Han River, Kim Sang-heon was sent to Liaodong.
Kim Sang-hyun may be more sensitive to the changes in the situation than Mei Shengchuan. He believes that if Haihan chooses to suspend the war indefinitely, the first person to be unlucky will be North Korea and not the Ming Dynasty. There is no other reason. As long as Hou Jin had a little bit of brains, he would have known to avoid the two hard bones of Haihan and Ming Dynasty and pinch the soft persimmon of North Korea first. Although Kim Sang-hyun did not think that Hou Jin could conquer his country in just more than ten days, no matter how big his heart, he knew that if Hou Jin really took action, it would be difficult for North Korea to survive until the Ming Dynasty sent reinforcements across the sea. one day.
For Mei Shengchuan and Kim Sang-heon, an important issue to be solved now is to understand what the actual benefits that the Haihan people are seeking are. The de facto occupation of Liaodong is obviously not the fundamental goal of the Haihan people, but a means to achieve their ultimate goal. Haihan repeatedly emphasized that the alliance that requires the consent of the two countries will bring Haihan what benefits. The two believe that this may be the key to resolving the differences in the current negotiations.
It's a pity that their contact time with Haihan was too short, and they were unable to understand Haihan's methods like the bureaucrats in the southern coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty. It was difficult to draw correct conclusions just by guessing.
Seeing that the envoys of the two countries had expressions of embarrassment, Bai Kesi spoke at this moment: "Actually, I would like to ask you both not to narrowly interpret it as the unilateral benefit of our country, Haihan." , there are also common interests. For example, if our three countries form an alliance and jointly attack Houjin, it will be a common interest for us.”
Mei Shengchuan asked: "Is it true that what your country wants is just an alliance?"
"Of course there will be corresponding conditions for alliance. I believe Lord Mei has heard what my colleagues have said before. Trade, immigration, and recognition of our country's rights and interests in the actual control area. Our country's requirements are that simple. For Ming and North Korea It's all the same." Bai Kesi repeated Haihan's request. As for the military command authority of the coalition, logistical support, etc., he did not repeat it again. As long as the two countries can relax on the alliance issue, then these detailed issues can be postponed and negotiated slowly. "Our country has no objection to this framework, but the specific details still need to be discussed." Kim Sang-heon noticed that Mei Shengchuan's face was not very good during the middle of the sentence, and quickly added: "Of course, the alliance between you and us must also be Only with Daming’s consent.”
Seeing that Jin Sangxian was well-informed and knowledgeable, Mei Shengchuan said with a bright face: "Some of the conditions proposed by your country are too sensitive. I'm afraid it will be difficult to get approval after reporting them to the court."
Bai Kesi said: "There is no need to pick out the words in the agreement so carefully. Just write down the main conditions. As for how to implement it, it can be changed flexibly when the time comes. Rules are dead, but people are alive!"
Mei Shengchuan felt that Bai Kesi's statement was somewhat inappropriate, but for the moment he didn't know how to refute it. The Haihan people undoubtedly took the initiative in this tug-of-war negotiation. Although Mei Shengchuan wanted to safeguard Ming's interests, Haihan pressed hard step by step, leaving him with only a narrow choice of yes or no at every step. It is very difficult to practice Tai Chi due to lack of space. Faced with such a strong negotiating opponent, Mei Shengchuan was really distressed that he had no conditions at all that he could use to bargain with the Haihan people.
Kong had a background as a great power, but had no leverage in this kind of negotiation. For the first time after serving as an official for many years, Mei Shengchuan truly felt powerless. Facing the tyrannical Haihan, Mei Shengchuan felt that none of the conditions he could come up with to threaten Haihan seemed to be worth the muskets and cannons of the Haihan people.
At this time, he couldn't help but think of a Hai-Han proverb that Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, once mentioned in a secret report - the truth only exists within the range of the cannon. The arrogance and absolute confidence in force revealed in this sentence were something that Mei Shengchuan before coming to Liaodong could not understand. Even though the intelligence given by Dongjiang Town at that time showed that Haihan was a powerful country beyond the Ming Dynasty's imagination, Mei Shengchuan, like most of the officials in the court, believed that this was just a small southern country that focused on maritime trade. It was only good at deceiving people and tempting people with benefits, so it created a big situation in the south.
But after seeing the Haihan army with his own eyes, Mei Shengchuan knew that the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty, including himself, were very wrong. This small country was more powerful than the rumors said, and it even made it difficult for the Ming Dynasty to come up with any effective countermeasures. Let both parties negotiate as equals.
At this time, at Qian Tiandun's instruction, some soldiers brought several telescopes and distributed them to the envoys and attendants of the two countries respectively, and then taught them how to use these observation tools.
"About five or six miles further north from here is Hou Jin's control area. You can see from the telescope the fortress group Hou Jin is building in the north. We have done calculations. If they maintain the current situation, If this construction speed is maintained, the fortress will be built to the edge of the firepower range of the isthmus defense line by the end of the year." Qian Tiandun introduced the current battlefield situation to the visitors in a steady voice: "Once such a fortress group is formed. Due to the climate, it is unlikely that our army will advance northward in the future, and what the enemy probably wants is to stop our army here, and then free up its hands to deal with Ming Dynasty and North Korea."
The envoys of the two countries quickly learned to use this tool. In fact, Mei Shengchuan was not completely unfamiliar with telescopes. The Ministry of War already had telescopes donated by Western missionaries, but the workmanship and field of view were indeed not as good as those of the Haihan people.
They quickly confirmed from their field of view that there were indeed scattered small fortress buildings in the northern wilderness. The distance between the fortresses was only about a hundred feet, and they were indeed very dense from a distance. If we want to destroy them one by one through war, it will indeed take a lot of effort. Obviously, the Haihan people probably came up with the idea of a truce after the opponent used this seemingly stupid but actually clever method of challenge.
As Mei Shengchuan watched, he was also thinking about how the Ming army would respond to such a method to be effective. After much deliberation, apart from using a large number of troops to push forward, there seems to be no other way to achieve immediate results. And the Haihan Army had already begun to complain with three-digit casualties, so how could they be willing to take human lives to fill this fortress formation. However, he still believed that Haihan must have some countermeasures, otherwise he would not sit back and watch the enemy troops continue to build fortresses southward. It was only in order to use a truce to intimidate Ming and North Korea into submission that the Haihan people deliberately changed the current situation. It was described as if there was nothing he could do.
The patrol operation on this day was uneventful. Houjin may have adapted to the kind of scenes that Haihan deliberately created from time to time, and there was no attempt to organize a field offensive at all. It seems that Geng Zhongming has also settled down to build a fortress iron barrel formation, and will not try to compete with Haihan in a field duel. For the Haihan Army, which uses fire suppression as its main attack method, this is indeed not a battlefield environment conducive to exerting its combat effectiveness.
For the envoys of the two countries, it was more or less a little regretful that they could not see the fierce battle between the two armies on the firing line. Of course, according to the Haihan people, the confrontations with the Hou Jin Army often did not involve fierce battles. The Haihan Army almost always suppressed the opponent one-sidedly. Just imagining such a scene made the envoys of the two countries feel a lot of pressure. After all, their armies had been overwhelmingly suppressed by the Jin Army on the battlefields of their respective countries. How could they have ever imagined that such a powerful opponent would also There are times when someone ravages you to the point where you can’t help it.
On June 9, representatives of the three countries finally sat at the negotiating table again and began the final stage of consultations on the issue of an alliance to resist gold.
(End of chapter)