Chapter 3323
Haihan's trade surplus has lasted for many years, and coupled with the silver mining within its jurisdiction, its silver reserves are growing every year. Moreover, the country has long promoted the use of banknotes to replace precious metal coins such as gold, silver, and copper for circulation, so the demand for silver in the financial sector is not great.
Even if tens of millions of taels of silver can be successfully collected from the Ming Dynasty, it will only expand the gold and silver reserves of the national treasury, and the role it can play in Haihan's own development is actually extremely limited.
But if the payment method of war reparations is changed to raw materials, assets, and labor force, it will obviously mean far more to Haihan than silver, and this is the true purpose of Haihan's request for war reparations.
The most important point is that Haihan had long expected that the Ming Dynasty would not be too resistant to such conditions, especially if the population was used to compensate for the war compensation, the possibility of reaching an agreement was definitely far greater than asking for gold and silver.
Although the Ming Dynasty has been working hard to quell civil strife in recent years, the peasant armies in the Huguang, Shanshan and Shaanxi areas under its jurisdiction have repeatedly suppressed rebellions, and big waves will occur every once in a while.
The reason is actually not complicated. In order to strengthen its armaments to fight Haihan, the Ming Dynasty could only increase tax collection domestically to raise the required military expenditures. Not only were the previous three major rates of Liao, Ji, and Lian not abolished, but more and more land taxes were imposed on the people.
The people have long been unbearable to live in a wartime state all year round. Once there is a famine year and the harvest is poor, and a large number of refugees flee to survive, they will easily be coerced into rebel armies, traveling across the state and government, and plundering everywhere.
The Ming Dynasty is also very troubled by the large number of captured peasant soldiers. These people are hidden dangers. If they are all released, they may be released. They should be locked up. The Ming Dynasty does not have so many prisons, and they have to continue to feed them with food.
If you must be ruthless and kill them all, it will inevitably violate the harmony of nature. At the same time, this approach of leaving no escape route may arouse stronger resistance among the people.
If these hidden dangers can be exiled to a certain place without the need to send people to guard them, and no longer need to spend money and food to imprison them, maybe they can be turned into a thorn in the opponent's body. This is definitely an ideal for Ming Dynasty. result.
And once this kind of population movement is directly linked to money, even if it is only used to compensate for war compensation, some people will inevitably regard it as a way to make money, and they will find various ways to gain benefits from it.
Once this gap is opened, the population that will be transported to Haihan through this channel will probably be more than just prisoners and prisoners of war.
As for what kind of impact this would have on domestic land annexation and production labor, Ming Dynasty no longer cared so much. He just wanted to reach an armistice agreement as soon as possible and send away all these plague gods.
Even if he knew that doing so was drinking poison to quench his thirst and would allow Haihan to use this method to strengthen his country, but with tens of millions of taels of silver war compensation weighing on his head, he could only close his eyes and let Haihan take advantage.
As for Haihan's proposal to lead the exploration and mining of mineral deposits in the Ming Dynasty's ruling areas and use the proceeds to offset war reparations, the Ming court was also very entangled.
On the one hand, mining is of course a big business with huge profits, and Haihan is responsible for prospecting, and the mining profits are split half way. These treasures buried in the ground are worthless if not dug out, but it seems pretty good if Daming can get half of them through joint development.
On the other hand, the level of metal smelting and processing in the Ming Dynasty is far inferior to that of Haihan. If a large amount of copper and iron ore flows into the hands of Haihan, I am afraid that it will turn into a weapon of the Haihan army in a circle, which is equivalent to subsidizing the enemy in disguise. .
But in the end, it was the advice of the Minister of Industry that made Chongzhen make up his mind.
The Minister of Industry believes that while cooperating with Haihan, we can also take the opportunity to learn from Haihan's advanced technology. The areas where the two parties cooperate in mining are limited to a few state capitals, and the trouble they can cause to Daming will not be too great.
Whether it is exploration, mining, or later smelting and processing, as long as Ming Dynasty uses it for its own purposes, the long-term benefits are quite promising, and the overall benefits still outweigh the disadvantages. After the general direction is finalized, subsequent implementation plans can be slowly discussed. The top priority is to sign an armistice agreement as soon as possible to end this war.
But even at the final signing ceremony, the two sides still have many details that need to be negotiated. For example, Haihan requested that Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty must come forward to sign the agreement before it could take effect.
The content of this agreement could pass the review of the Ming court. Of course Chongzhen made the decision, and it was understandable that he should sign it. However, the two sides inevitably had disagreements over where to sign it.
Ming Dynasty hoped to let Chen Yixin enter the palace and complete the signing process in the Forbidden City, but Chen Yixin insisted on letting Chongzhen go out of the city to sign the contract.
This is not a question of safety or not. Chen Yixin's idea is very clear. If he enters the palace to see Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty will call it an "audience", which will give the other party prestige in vain.
But when Chongzhen was asked to go out of the city to sign an agreement, the nature was different. As the commander-in-chief of the Haihan Army, he met with the defeated enemy emperor. This was a standard alliance under the city, and it was a historical event that was to be recorded in the annals of history and spread to future generations.
Under Chen Yixin's insistence, Ming Dynasty finally had no choice but to compromise and complete the signing of the armistice treaty in a less than honorable way.
On July 3, the Chaoyang Gate in the east of Beijing opened wide, and Emperor Chongzhen's car slowly left the city, surrounded by an honor guard and a group of civil and military officials.
The meeting place agreed upon by both parties was the Sun Temple not far from Chaoyang Gate.
The Sun Altar is a sacrificial place built under the leadership of Emperor Jiajing. The entire altar is paved with a layer of red colored glaze to symbolize the sun. There is also a low wall around the altar, and a square platform made of white stone in the center. This is where the emperor used to offer sacrifices. The place where I stood while reciting the sacrificial rites.
At this time, there were already layers of troops from both countries outside the Temple of Sun, and they were closely guarding it. After Chongzhen got off the bus at Lingxing Gate on the west side of the Temple of Sun, he was supported by Wang Chengen and slowly walked inside.
A table has been placed on the square platform in the center, with a chair at each end.
Chen Yixin had already arrived first, but he did not take a seat. Instead, he stood at the table with his hands behind his back, welcoming Emperor Chongzhen's arrival with a playful look.
Emperor Chongzhen should be only in his forties or less than fifty, but Chen Yixin looks like an old man in his sixties. Not only is his beard and hair gray, but he even walks a little unsteadily.
Chen Yixin is several years older than Chongzhen, but his physical and mental condition is much better than that of him.
Chen Yixin waited patiently for Chongzhen to walk slowly to the square platform, and then introduced himself: "This is the first time we meet, I am Chen Yixin!"
Chongzhen nodded slightly and responded: "I am the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youjian."
(End of chapter)