Chapter 2366
Historically, when it comes to armistice peace talks between two countries, the party who initiates the initiative is often the passive party in the war. If you want to persuade your opponent to stop the war, you will have to suffer some losses on the terms of the peace talks before you can reach an agreement. The Manchus and the Qing Dynasty obviously also had this awareness, so the conditions they provided to Chen Yixin were not weak, and they hoped to promote subsequent peace talks by persuading Chen Yixin.
There is no obvious problem with this approach in theory, but there is one thing that the Manchus do not understand, and that is that high-level Haihan officials like Chen Yixin are almost unlikely to be directly bribed with money.
One of the reasons for this is that people like Chen Yixin are shareholders and rulers of Haihan State, and the national interests are closely bound to his personal interests. In addition, during his time in power in the north, he has successively established businesses in Shandong and Liaodong. He owns many properties, and his wealth of personal wealth is unimaginable to outsiders, so the money promised by the Manchu Qing has very limited appeal to him.
The second reason is to establish a bridgehead in Liaodong to deal with the Manchus and check their southward attack on the Ming Dynasty. This is not Chen Yixin's personal decision, but a long-term strategy decided by the Executive Committee. His personal will is peace or war. It is not important, and it is difficult to have a direct impact on the resolutions of the Executive Committee. If the Manchus really want to find influential people to negotiate peace, they might as well go to North Korea and ask to see Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun. Only those two people's words can really influence the judgment of the Executive Committee.
As for Shang Qing's final condition of using the Jinzhou Isthmus as the boundary, Chen Yixin thought it was even more nonsense. Haihan had actually controlled Jinzhou for three years. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties used recognition of this fact as a condition for armistice, which obviously lacked the sincerity of peace talks.
Chen Yixin smiled and said: "So it seems that we need your country's recognition before our country can really get the Golden State? If I remember correctly, this Golden State was the territory of the Ming Dynasty a few years ago and has nothing to do with your country. Even if it needs to be recognized, That’s also a matter of Ming Dynasty.”
Shang Qing said disapprovingly: "The Ming Dynasty is now declining. It can't even protect Liaodong, so how can it protect Jinzhou? The ownership of this place is a matter between you and me. Why involve the Ming Dynasty, a bystander? Besides, your country After occupying this Jinzhou land, will it be returned to the Ming Dynasty in the future? ”
Shang Qing obviously has a clear understanding of Haihan's ambitions. He knows that Haihan's seizure of Jinzhou is not just for doing good things. Even if this situation objectively helps the Ming Dynasty, its real purpose is probably to annex Liaodong. land. In Shang Qing's opinion, the issue of Jinzhou's future ownership is no longer a problem.
Of course, there is another reason that Shang Qing will not say clearly, that is, the Manchu Qing Dynasty does not want Daming to participate in this negotiation. The covenant between Haihan and Ming Dynasty was no secret. The Manchus also knew very well that this so-called covenant was not very binding on Haihan, who took the initiative. Haihan had never returned anything from the areas occupied by Ming Dynasty in the past. Due to the actions of the original owner, the ownership of Jinzhou actually has no direct relationship with the Ming Dynasty. If Haihan is allowed to involve the Ming Dynasty again, it will only increase the variables in the situation, which will definitely be harmful to the Qing Dynasty.
And if the Ming Dynasty is not allowed to participate, there will be more issues to communicate between the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Haihan - compared to the territory ruled by the Ming Dynasty, a small Jinzhou is nothing.
Chen Yixin did not accept his words and said coldly: "You are wrong. The ownership of Jinzhou should be a matter between our country and the Ming Dynasty. The real irrelevant spectator is your country. ”
Chen Yixin had no good impression of the Manchus at all, and he was even more disgusted with the Han people who served the Manchus. Shang Qing's words sounded very harsh to him, so he couldn't help but give a tough response.
Shang Qing did not expect that he would start to run into difficulties at this stage. He did not realize where the problem lay. Instead, he believed that it was due to the fact that the conditions prepared by his side were not ideal enough.
However, Chen Yixin's words obviously did not agree with the Qing Dynasty's consideration of the ownership of Jinzhou as a condition for peace negotiations, which made Shang Qing unable to discuss the following topics. Now he must first understand Chen Yixin's requirements for the terms of the peace talks before he can consider the next response.
"Then what are General Chen's thoughts and requirements for the peace talks between the two countries?" Shang Qing could only ignore Chen Yixin's statement and forcefully changed the subject.
If Chen Yixin cannot be persuaded to accept the conditions and start peace talks at the moment, then he must at least find out the other party's true attitude so that Shang Qing can report to his boss after he returns.
Chen Yixin had never seriously considered negotiating peace with the Manchus. When he was suddenly asked, he couldn't immediately list the conditions. However, in front of the other party's envoy, he will definitely not relax his tone and let the other party feel that there is an opportunity to take advantage of him.
"Peace talks? When your country can come up with sufficient conditions, we will discuss the peace talks." Chen Yixin continued to respond with a tough attitude.
Shang Qing still refused to give up and continued to ask: "If General Chen can put forward the conditions for peace talks, I can reply to my superiors after I go back. Even if it is not easy to implement, there is still room for negotiation."
Chen Yixin said: "You want to hear the conditions so much? Okay, let me tell you one thing first!"
Shang Qing quickly raised his ears and responded: "Please tell me, general!"
Chen Yixin said: "My conditions are also very simple. All the areas south of the line from the mouth of the Liao River to the mouth of the Yalu River will be assigned to our country. If your country can agree to this condition, then we can sit down and talk slowly about the future. "
Shang Qing obviously had a relatively clear understanding of the geographical environment of Liaodong. He immediately took a breath after hearing the conditions mentioned by Chen Yixin.
The mouth of the Liao River is in the Bohai Bay near Yingkou, and the mouth of the Yalu River is in Dandong in the east. To the south of the line between these two points is the entire Liaodong Peninsula. In terms of geographical area, this area is slightly smaller than Hainan Island, about the size of thirty golden states.
It is obviously impossible to ask the Manchus to cede such a large area to Haihan in one sentence. After hearing Chen Yixin's conditions clearly, Shang Qing understood that the other party had no peace of mind for peace talks, so he simply proposed such an outrageous condition.
Although Shang Qing tried hard to control it, his expression could not help but look very stiff at this time, and he stammered: "General...this...is this a joke?"
Chen Yixin said: "If you want peace talks, you have to show enough sincerity. I am proposing conditions that I think are sincere. If your country finds it unacceptable, then there is no need to talk. You can paraphrase what I said and stop the war and treat our country It’s not a big deal. If you feel dissatisfied, we can just decide on the battlefield.”
Of course, Chen Yixin would not expect the Manchus to accept the conditions he proposed. For the Manchus, rather than losing such a large territory in vain, it would be better to continue to maintain the current confrontation.
As for whether this would anger the Manchus and trigger a new round of war, Chen Yixin was not worried at all. He even hoped that the Manchus would take the initiative to launch an offensive against Jinzhou, so that the tens of thousands of local soldiers and civilians would not become lax because no large-scale war broke out for too long. Shang Qing's face was very gloomy when he left, obviously resentful of Chen Yixin's tough attitude. It can be said that he did not get any useful information from Chen Yixin during this trip. Although the request for peace talks was not flatly rejected, this reply, which was like a humiliation, actually fully demonstrated the attitude of the Haihan people.
Chen Yixin didn't care what the Manchu envoys would think of him. He had no intention of armistice and peace talks. At the same time, he also believed that the attitude of the Executive Committee should be the same as his own and would not agree to armistice and peace talks with the Manchus.
After Shang Qing left, several officers from the General Staff and the Military Intelligence Bureau came out of the back room of the office. It turned out that Chen Yixin had arranged for these subordinates to observe in the room when he was having a meeting with Shang Qing. Of course, this is not only done to share intelligence with the officers under his command in real time, but also to avoid suspicion.
For departments like the Military Intelligence Bureau, the object of allegiance is not to Chen Yixin, a local official, but to the Ministry of National Defense and the higher-level executive committee. If Chen Yixin had a closed-door meeting with the Manchu envoys, the report sent back to Sanya would inevitably record the details of the negotiation process to show that no third party in the process knew the content of the conversation.
Although Chen Yixin had a clear conscience, he did not want to arouse suspicion because of such details, so he arranged for several of his officers to observe so that there would be no suspicion.
"What do you think of the conversation with the Qing envoy just now?" Chen Yixin asked proactively.
Wei Lin was the first to respond: "The general's attitude is firm and impeccable. It's a pity that I can't see the man's expression in the back room. I think it must be very exciting."
Chen Yixin waved his hand and said: "I'm talking about your views on this matter, not for you to flatter me."
Chen Yixin's secretary Zeng Xiaowen responded: "General, since the Qing army took the initiative to send people over to negotiate peace, does that mean that they are no longer willing to engage in military confrontation with our country?"
Chen Yixin shook his head slightly and said: "I don't think it's easy to say for what reason the other party asked for peace. The expense and logistical pressure of stationing heavy troops here may be one aspect, but there should be a deeper reason."
Wei Lin had failed to flatter him just now, so he responded immediately: "I think the Qing army hopes to temporarily relieve the military pressure on the Liaodong Peninsula so that they can concentrate on using troops in other directions."
Chen Yixin mused: "North Korea has our military base and garrison. The Manchu and Qing Dynasties have suffered heavy losses in North Korea the year before last. I don't think they will have any more ideas about North Korea for the time being. So the only direction they can take action is actually the Ming Dynasty. That’s all.”
Wei Lin continued: "So the envoy just tried repeatedly to exclude Ming from the peace talks, maybe because the Manchu Qing did not want Ming to know the news of the peace talks between the two countries."
Chen Yixin said: "His purpose may be more than that. Think about it, if according to their arrangement, the two countries kick out the Ming Dynasty to negotiate a truce, and the condition is to carve up the Jinzhou area that originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, what will happen next?"
"If the Jinzhou is not enough, the Tatars naturally want to divide other parts of the Ming Dynasty as well."
"As long as this hole is opened, they will definitely use Jinzhou's handling methods to drive a wedge between our country and the Ming Dynasty!"
Chen Yixin gave a little guidance, and everyone immediately started a discussion about it.
Chen Yixin said: "The Jinzhou area is actually not very involved. The Ming Dynasty also knew that even if it took this place back, it would not be able to hold it. It would be better to hand it over to our country to contain the Manchu Qing Dynasty, so it never publicly wanted to take this place back to our country. But this This approach may have caused the Manchus to misunderstand, so they will use the name of peace talks to test our country's attitude.”
"The general just used the estuaries of the Liaohe River and the Yalu River as the line. He must have been testing the opponent's bottom line in the opposite direction." Wei Lin said with admiration.
Chen Yixin said: "The Manchu Qing Dynasty should not be stupid enough to think that there is still room for bargaining over the ownership of Jinzhou. They have put forward this condition, and they may have prepared to make concessions in demarcating the territory. To be honest, I don't think so. I dare not guess what their bottom line is, whether it is to give up thirty miles or fifty miles, so I will simply put forward a condition that exceeds their bottom line. If they feel that such a condition can still be negotiated, then it will probably confirm their ambition. .”
The distance from Jinzhou to the mouth of the Liaohe River is about four hundred miles, and the distance to the mouth of the Yalu River is more than five hundred miles. Even if the Manchus were willing to make certain concessions in the division of territory on the Liaodong Peninsula for the sake of peace talks, they would certainly not give in. To such an extent.
Of course, if the area of the Liaodong Peninsula is compared with the territory of the Ming Dynasty, then ceding these territories seems to be nothing. If Haihan can really be exchanged for watching the war between the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the future, then maybe Huang Taiji will seriously consider Chen Yixin's proposal.
After some discussion, everyone decided to strengthen combat readiness for the Isthmus defense line in the near future, in case the Manchu and Qing peace talks failed and another large-scale offensive was launched against the defense line.
Judging from the situation in the past two or three years, the possibility of a large-scale war is actually low, but the Manchu Qing's aggressiveness cannot be measured by ordinary people. The Ming Dynasty's national power is only stronger than it, but it is not impossible to attack it. Moreover, when the Manchu envoy came to find Chen Yixin, he did not even mention half a word about admitting defeat to Haihan.
Later that day, Chen Yixin issued an order requiring the entire isthmus defense line to enter a level three combat readiness state, maintain daily patrols of the area north of the isthmus, and ensure that various fortifications and weapons on the defense line are complete. Nanguanling Camp and related agencies Everyone must be prepared for war. Once the Qing army begins to gather in the north, the combat troops must rush to the front line within half a day, and the organization of civilian recruitment and logistics supplies must also be completed within one day.
This level of combat readiness is not something that any Haihan colony can achieve, and only a few areas like Jinzhou that are in a state of war preparation all year round can complete the deployment and deployment of armed forces in such a short period of time. Put the entire region into a state of war.
(End of chapter)