Chapter 2855
Seeing that the Haihan Army's offensive did not weaken due to the prolongation of the battle, but became more and more fierce, the Qing court decided to fight Shenyang, and its confidence in annihilating the enemy under the city became weaker and weaker. Many people began to secretly think about what would happen if they lost this battle.
The man who reigned in the Manchu Qing Dynasty at this time was Fulin, the ninth son of Huang Taiji, the Shunzhi Emperor. He succeeded to the throne when he was six years old and is now only eighteen years old. Although he had been on the throne for more than ten years at the time of the Shenyang War, after Huang Taiji's death, the regent Dorgon had been in control of the government, and the young emperor was only a nominal ruler.
Haihan launched the Northern Expedition precisely because Dorgon had just passed away, Prince Heshuo Azig had attempted rebellion, civil strife broke out in the Qing court, and Shunzhi had not yet fully grasped power.
At that time, Shunzhi was still young and his authority had not yet been established. His influence within the Manchu Qing Dynasty was far less than that of Huang Taiji and Dorgon. Naturally, the banner leaders who actually control the military power will not be 100% convinced of this little emperor.
The city defense of Shenyang became increasingly tight, and the Qing army suffered heavy losses, so some people began to advise Shunzhi that they should conserve their strength, abandon Shenyang, and not use up the Qing's luck for one city.
Shunzhi himself wanted to fight to the end. After all, this was the capital of the Qing Dynasty. In his opinion, giving up Shenyang was not much different from the destruction of the country. However, the number of troops and horses he directly controls is actually limited. Most combat operations can still only rely on the armed forces of the Eight Banners. If each banner is unwilling to fight again, then he cannot go to the battlefield by himself to fight against the Haihan people. Fight hard.
So at this stage, various strange phenomena began to appear in the Qing army camp. During the battle, there were frequent attempts to pass the blame to each other, avoid fighting with excuses, and even add insult to injury. This made the Qing army's combat efficiency even lower and its will to fight also greatly affected.
Some Han civilian officials who took the compromise route also began to suggest to Shunzhi that since the war situation was critical, they should immediately start armistice peace talks with Haihan in exchange for buffer time.
The peace negotiation faction was slightly better than the city abandonment faction. They did not mention giving up Shenyang, but hoped to maintain the Manchu control of Shenyang through negotiations. As for the price to be paid for this, the peace talks are vague and unwilling to take the initiative to mention it.
After all, throughout the ages, those who want to obtain peace through negotiation have only passive options such as surrender, ceding territory, and paying compensation. To put it very clearly, the little emperor may not be willing to accept negotiation to resolve the current crisis because of his face.
Shunzhi weighed it again and again and felt that peace talks might be the most feasible solution at this time. However, regarding the negotiation, he could not trust those Han civil officials who could only talk rhetorically. In the end, he authorized his uncle Jierhalang to lead Pingnan Wang Shang Kexi and Jingnan Wang Geng Jimao, who were familiar with Haihan situation, to negotiate with them. The Haihan army outside the city started peace talks.
Haihan, who had the battlefield advantage, saw that the other party came to his door, so naturally the lion opened his mouth and made a series of conditions.
The first condition is that the Qing government must unconditionally surrender to Haihan, immediately disband the Eight Banners armed forces, and cease all hostile actions against Haihan. Secondly, the Manchu and Qing dynasties needed to cede to Haihan all the areas under the jurisdiction of the former Liaodong Capital Division of the Ming Dynasty, including the Liaohe Plain. Of course, this area also includes Shenyang City.
Finally, there are the contents involving war reparations and post-war bilateral relations, which also include the repatriation of Han people whose origins are in the Liaodong metropolitan area and the opening of the trade market to Haihan.
It would be difficult for the Qing court to accept any one of these armistice conditions, let alone superimpose them on top of each other. However, Haihan did not expect the other party to agree immediately. He just wanted to create more bargaining chips for negotiations. As long as the opening for negotiation is opened, the other party's willingness to continue fighting to the death will naturally be weakened. This time the two sides talked for seven days but failed to reach an agreement, so they went to war again.
It went on and on, on and off, with several more negotiations interspersed, but the progress was still not ideal. Until the Haihan Army achieved several great victories on the battlefield and severely damaged the few Qing troops that still had the will to fight, the Manchus and Qing Dynasties realized that time was running out and continued fighting would only lead to the destruction of the city and the destruction of the country. So we returned to the negotiating table again.
"Jilharang was much more honest this time. Except for some details, he accepted most of the conditions we proposed. On the day when the armistice agreement was signed with the Qing Dynasty, I was lucky enough to be there to watch. Those Tatars were all like I still clearly remember the expression of eating shit!" Sun Zhen was still very excited when talking about the situation at that time.
Chen Yixin also added: "Although the Battle of Shenyang was very difficult, it finally achieved a relatively satisfactory result, and the war in Liaodong that lasted for more than 20 years has temporarily come to an end."
Bai Kesi said: "I have seen the original armistice agreement sent back to Sanya. Although it was stamped with Shunzhi's seal, the actual person who signed it was Jierhalang. This armistice agreement is a humiliation for the Manchus and the Qing Dynasty. Whoever signs it will bear it. Pot, I’m sure things won’t be easy for Jilharang in the future.”
Chen Yixin nodded and said: "Actually, ever since Shunzhi gave Jierhalang full responsibility for the negotiations, he has become a scapegoat. But there is nothing we can do about it. To end the war, someone has to take the responsibility, but this A person must not be the emperor himself. Shunzhi understood this, and Jierhalang also understood it, so after the negotiation, Jierhalang voluntarily resigned from all official positions and announced his retirement. There was little news about him later, and he died of illness last year. He was not yet sixty years old. Shunzhi even ordered a seven-day hiatus for this purpose and set up a monument to commemorate his merits, which shows that he is still grateful for the sacrifice he made. "
In accordance with the armistice agreement reached by the two sides, the Qing army took the initiative to evacuate Shenyang City where the southern defense line had been broken, but the Haihan army did not pursue it during this period. The Qing army abided by the agreement and did not destroy the housing facilities in Shenyang City, so the buildings in the imperial city basically maintained their original style. However, all kinds of gold and silver were still taken away by the Qing army.
Chen Yixin and Sun Zhen talked about the battle situation at that time, and it seemed that the Haihan Army had always had the advantage. However, the Battle of Shenyang lasted for a hundred days. This was a unique long siege battle in the history of Hai-Han military warfare. It also shows that the battle situation at that time was stalemate.
Although the Haihan Army gained the upper hand and won the final victory, the participating troops also paid the price of thousands of deaths. By the standards of the Haihan Army, it could only be regarded as a tragic victory. It was just that the domestic propaganda at that time focused on the significance of conquering Shenyang and forcing the Manchus to surrender, but most of them avoided mentioning the investment and losses in this battle.
(End of chapter)