Chapter 3584
Facing Haihan's blatant military threat, although Ming Dynasty had no power to resist, it did not intend to wait for death. While asking for help from the rear, Jiangpu and Liuhe counties also sent people to Hangzhou and begged the Ming Dynasty's diplomats stationed in Haihan to come forward on their behalf and make representations to the Haihan Executive Committee.
Some time ago, after attending the Zhoushan Forum on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, Yue Shizong, a doctor in the Ministry of Rites, was also invited to Japan to watch the war and stayed there for two months. Not long after returning to Hangzhou, we encountered such a difficult problem.
The experiences of the past few months have brought great shock to Yue Shizong. After returning to Hangzhou, he stayed at home and wrote a secret letter, which contained his experiences and thoughts at the Zhoushan Forum and his visit to Japan.
In Yue Shizong's view, Haihan demonstrated force to countries around the world through the Zhoushan Forum and began to formulate international rules led by him. This is an extremely negative signal for Ming Dynasty.
Except for the Ming Dynasty, almost all participating countries showed a follow-up attitude. Yue Shizong believed that if this trend continues, when Haihan launches the next round of offensive against the Ming Dynasty, the accomplices accompanying the Haihan army may not only be North Korea and Annan.
In the subsequent wars seen in Japan, although the scale of the war was not large, both warring parties installed a large number of weapons and equipment provided by Haihan, and the tactics used were also in the same vein as the Haihan Army. The entire combat process was simply a demonstration of the actual combat performance of these equipment to the guests watching the battle.
Although Yue Shizong was not an expert in international relations, he also saw some clues. The civil war that broke out in Japan must have been fueled by Haihan. The most frightening thing is that both warring parties know Haihan's position, but will still be exploited by him and throw themselves into this war at all costs.
Fortunately, Haihan did not apply this plan to the Ming Dynasty. Otherwise, given the current situation of the Ming Dynasty, it is difficult to say whether any local officials would be provoked by Haihan to rebel against the imperial court.
Yue Shizong emphasized in his secret memorial that he reminded the court to pay attention to local trends. If there are local officials or high-ranking generals who have close ties with Haihan and can even purchase large quantities of arms produced by Haihan, then you have to be extra careful, because they are most likely to be the moles supported by Haihan.
However, before Yue Shizong finished writing his secret memorial, trouble had already come to his door. Ying Tianfu and other counties reported urgent military information and asked him to come forward to negotiate with Haihan.
Yue Shizong was also surprised by this. Before this, he had not heard any news that could indicate that Haihan would launch a new round of attack on Ming Dynasty. But Haihan suddenly assembled an armed fleet in Nanjing and assumed a posture of crossing the river. This was certainly not a joke.
War could break out at any time, Yue Shizong did not dare to neglect and immediately requested an emergency meeting with the Executive Committee.
However, he probably could not have imagined that the Executive Committee had actually received a request for war from Nanjing not long ago, requesting that the current military deterrence mission be transformed into an actual offensive on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
Regarding this sudden application, the executive committee has not yet reached a unified view.
Shi Diwen transferred part of the main force of the East China Sea Fleet to Nanjing. Although it was a bit radical, it was also in line with the strategy of suppressing the Ming Dynasty and maintaining military deterrence. But taking this opportunity to start a war with Ming Dynasty is another matter.
In last year's war against the Ming Dynasty, Haihan captured many state capitals such as Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Yingtian, and Guangde in Jianghuai, and then agreed to a truce with the Ming Dynasty in order to recuperate and digest these newly occupied areas.
In just one year, the situation in these areas has been stabilized, but it seems to be lacking in using them as front lines for the next round of offensive. After all, the foundation is still shallow, and the dominance among the people is still not strong enough. . Therefore, the mainstream view of the Executive Committee is still cautious, believing that starting a war may affect the stability of the Yingtianfu area.
Of course, the main combatant was Shi Diwen, who personally handled the matter. However, he was already in Japan at this time and could only express his views through telegrams, and was unable to participate in the discussions of the Executive Committee in person.
At this juncture, Yue Shizong made a request to meet with the Executive Committee. This was undoubtedly due to the tense situation in Nanjing.
Although the executive committee did not discuss and come up with a specific result, Tao Donglai decided to meet with Yue Shizong to understand Ming's attitude towards this.
"If Ming Dynasty does not have a strong desire for war and just wants to avoid the outbreak of war, then we can also try to apply more pressure to see if we can force the other party to submit."
Before meeting with Yue Shizong, Tao Donglai first explained his ideas to his colleagues. Although I had the mentality of giving it a try, I didn’t expect that this method would actually work.
After the meeting between the two sides, before Yue Shizong could question Haihan's military operations in Nanjing, Tao Donglai took the initiative.
"Recently, there has been chaos in Jiangpu and Liuhe counties, and people have fled with their families to Yangzhou, Nanjing and other places in my country to seek asylum. According to our investigation, this is all due to the excessive taxation and forcible recruitment of young men into the service by the county government in these two counties. Mr. Yue requested to meet with us, presumably to give a reasonable explanation for this, right?”
Yue Shizong was almost so angry that he couldn't speak. It was obviously Haihan's military pressure that caused panic in the local area. People fled in droves to avoid the war. How come from Tao Donglai's mouth, the nature of this completely changed. , but it became Daming’s fault.
Yue Shizong laughed angrily and said: "Master Tao, what you said is wrong. Recently, your country's armed fleet has been conducting offensive drills in the area, posing as if it is going to attack Jiangbei. This caused panic among the people, which led to a wave of refugees! Your country has If you are serious about maintaining peace, you should withdraw the fleet immediately and allow the fleeing people to return home as soon as possible.”
Tao Donglai said: "According to the armistice agreement signed by our two countries last year, Yingtianfu is under the jurisdiction of our country, but Jiangpu and Liuhe counties in the north of the Yangtze River have always been under the control of your country. I have every reason to ask your country to transfer these counties to our country." The two counties were delivered to our country.”
"Also, our businessmen have invested in several quartz sand mines in these two counties. Due to the impact of the refugee flow, normal production is no longer possible. Is your country ready to pay compensation for the huge losses caused by this?"
Yue Shizong said angrily: "The armistice agreement clearly stated that the Yangtze River will be the boundary. Now that you are asking for the two counties in the north of the Yangtze River, you are simply going back on your word! Also, those quartz sand mines are the property of our country, and the interruption of production was also caused by your country's military operations. What kind of compensation is this? ”
Although Yue Shizong tried his best to refute, these words were obviously not heard by Tao Donglai opposite.
Then I heard Tao Donglai say unhurriedly: "If your country is unable to manage these two counties well, it is better to hand them over to our country as soon as possible. Firstly, unnecessary armed conflicts can be avoided, and secondly, normal local production and life can be restored. , this is also in the interests of both of us.”