Chapter 2468
The word "weak" and "weak" are perfect to describe the Ming Dynasty in this period. Although the Ming Dynasty tried its best to defeat its old enemy the Manchu Qing this time, and even captured Shenyang, the capital of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it was finally achieved at the cost of losing many coastal state capitals and in exchange for the military assistance provided by Haihan. The result can only be regarded as a tragic victory at best, and the overall national strength has suffered great damage.
If the Ming Dynasty wants to go to war with its big creditor at this time, it is indeed a very irrational behavior. The main war faction sees the possibility of driving the Haihan army back to Jinzhou, while the main peace faction thinks that this is the possibility of driving the Haihan army back to Jinzhou. Provide Haihan with a sufficient reason to use force against Ming Dynasty.
An all-out war with Haihan would be tantamount to seeking death for the Ming Dynasty at this stage. Although the Ming Dynasty still dominates in terms of territory and population, its comprehensive national strength is actually no longer comparable to that of Haihan, which is rapidly advancing industrialization. The gap in military strength has formed an insurmountable gap, and there is almost no chance of victory.
In fact, Chen Yixin did not want to break up with the Ming Dynasty at this time. The area under his rule now has very close trade relations with the north of the Ming Dynasty. Once the two countries go to war, it will not only be the Ming Dynasty that will suffer losses, but also the stagnation of trade activities. It will cause Haihan economic losses that cannot be ignored.
The various import and export trades operated by the Ma family in the Dengzhou area of Shandong Province alone have an annual transaction volume of up to one million taels of silver. The livelihood of at least more than half of the population in the Dengzhou area is directly or indirectly related to trade between the two countries. Chen Yixin must not Regardless of the negative impact the war will have.
Originally, the two countries were at war with each other near Liaodong Bay, but after considering their respective situations, both sides finally unanimously chose to resolve the current situation peacefully.
In the winter of 1647, representatives from the two countries signed an agreement on the banks of the Daliao River. The estuary of the Daliao River was used as the boundary. The area south of the estuary was the Haihan actual control area, and the north was the Daming actual control area. The armies of both sides were not allowed to cross the border without authorization.
Of course, the binding force of this kind of paper agreement is very limited. The two sides are willing to resolve territorial disputes in this way, and it is only an expedient measure taking into account their respective situations. Once the situation is relieved, this agreement will only be like the one in 1639. The signed Golden State Peace Treaty was also directly ignored.
The only person dissatisfied with this agreement was the Qing court. It is said that the regent Dorgon was furious when he learned the news, scolding the Ming Dynasty for lacking blood and not daring to use force against Haihan.
But despite the criticism, the trade between the Manchus and the Haihan could not stop here. Since the signing of the Jinzhou Peace Treaty in 1639, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have launched formal bilateral trade with Haihan. Relying on the large amount of agricultural and forestry products exported every year, the Manchus also obtained various cheap industrial products and deeply processed agricultural products provided by Haihan.
Over the past few years, under Haihan's deliberate arrangements, many Manchu dignitaries have become accustomed to enjoying the various commodities produced by Haihan, and at the same time, they have also obtained huge economic benefits from these trading activities. Even though they had lost the battle and lost their capital, the Manchu and Qing dignitaries were still concerned that trade activities could not be stopped. They specially opened a secret freight channel south to the Liaodong Peninsula in the mountainous area east of Shenyang to maintain communication with Haihan. merchandise transactions.
While Haihan maintained trade relations with the Manchus, they also provided military assistance to the Ming Dynasty, allowing the Ming Dynasty to suppress the Qing army on the battlefield. From the standpoint of the Manchus, of course they wished that a war would break out between Ming and Haihan due to conflicts of interest, but this seemed to be an unattainable luxury. Fortunately, Haihan kept his promise. After the Ming Dynasty captured Shenyang, Haihan immediately stopped military assistance to the Ming Dynasty, which finally gave the Manchu Qing a precious breathing space.
However, the Manchu Qing Dynasty has now lost all access to the sea in the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea areas. Therefore, even salt now has to be obtained through trade with Haihan, and its reliance on this trade relationship is higher than in previous years. Correspondingly, the prices of various commodities in Haihan have risen sharply, and the Manchus and Qing Dynasties can only come up with more things in exchange for the goods they need in barter trade. The prices of commodities such as salt, tea, cigarettes, wine, and sugar have at least doubled from a year ago. This means that the value of Manqing's assets, whose main assets and export commodities are horses, cattle, sheep and other livestock, has depreciated significantly in a very short period of time.
For a country like the Manchu and Qing Dynasties, which had just entered the period of feudal society, it had almost never experienced such an economic crisis, and lacked effective response methods. Without cutting off trade, it could only be forced to be forced into the Han Dynasty. Harvest wealth with scissors.
If the Manchu and Qing Dynasties could add a few more trading partners at this time, it might be able to alleviate this situation. But the problem is that there are only a few neighboring countries, and except for Haihan, almost all of them are unrelenting enemies. At this time, it is impossible to open other trade channels and there are no other trade partners to choose from.
Of course, even if the Ming Dynasty and North Korea were willing to trade with them, those unique products of Haihan would be difficult to buy through other countries' channels. In the end, they would still have to go to Haihan and trade honestly according to Haihan's conditions.
Chen Yixin bought and sold in Liaodong and harvested the wealth of the Qing Dynasty. The proportion of profits he made in this process even far exceeded the trade with the Ming Dynasty.
At the same time, the decline of the Qing Dynasty's national power also caused a large number of Han people to spontaneously flee south through the mountainous areas. Chen Yixin no longer needed to launch military operations. Every year, thousands of Han people poured into the Liaodong Peninsula on their own and chose to seek refuge in Haihan for asylum.
At the same time, Haihan's operations in northern North Korea have also begun to enter the harvest period. The industrial zone centered on the Haehan Military Base in the lower reaches of the Datong River is beginning to take shape. Its annual output accounts for one-third of North Korea's salt production, 50% of its iron ore production, and one-fifth of its coal production.
The shipbuilding, smelting, ordnance industry and other industries that subsequently developed in this area have become the industrial center of the Korean Peninsula by virtue of the introduction of Haihan's advanced production technology. Although the technological level here is far from being comparable to that of places like Jeondok, for 17th-century North Korea, it was already ahead of its time.
However, North Korea has not fully enjoyed the benefits brought by these advanced technologies. Under Haihan's strict control, North Korea can only give priority to the output of these places, but cannot control its production process on its own. The impact of Li Zhi's decision to launch troops to attack the Qing Dynasty has not dissipated. Even though he later used various methods to show his surrender to Haihan, the Executive Committee has determined that this country cannot give 100% trust, so in In fields such as navigation, military, finance, and culture, highly targeted control measures have been formulated against North Korea to ensure that this vassal country will not behave beyond the rules again.
(End of chapter)