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. It is obvious for the Manchus and Qing Dynasties

They 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 it is almost impossible for high-level Haihan officials like Chen Yixin 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 firmly bound to his personal interests. In addition, during his rule in the north, he has successively established projects 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 Manchu Qing Dynasty and to restrain its 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 to meet with Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun. Those two can really influence the Executive Committee with their words.

Judgment of the Committee.

As for the condition that Shang Qing finally proposed to use the Jinzhou Isthmus as the boundary, Chen Yixin thought it was even more nonsense. Haihan had actually controlled Jinzhou for three years, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties used the recognition of this fact as a truce condition. This

It is obvious that there is a great lack of sincerity in 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 is 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 also saw Haihan's ambitions clearly, and knew that Haihan's seizure of Jinzhou was not just to do good things. Even if this situation objectively helped the Ming Dynasty, its real purpose was probably to annex Liaodong.

In Shang Qing's opinion, the question of the future ownership of Jinzhou has nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty.

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 signed by Haihan and the Ming Dynasty is not a secret, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty also knows very well that this so-called covenant actually has

Haihan, who takes the initiative, does not have too strong a binding force. Haihan has never returned the areas he occupied from the Ming Dynasty to the original owners, so the ownership of Jinzhou has no direct relationship with the Ming Dynasty. If Haihan is allowed to

Involving the Ming Dynasty again will only increase the variability of the situation, which will definitely be harmful to the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, if the Ming Dynasty is not allowed to participate, there will be more issues to communicate between the Manchu Qing Dynasty and Haihan - compared with 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 in what you said. 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 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 clearly did not agree with the Qing Dynasty's consideration of the ownership of Jinzhou as a condition for peace talks, which made Shang Qing unable to discuss the following topics. Now he must first understand Chen Yixin's requirements for 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 superiors after he returns.

Chen Yixin had never seriously considered negotiating peace with the Manchus. When he was suddenly asked about it, he really couldn't list the conditions immediately. However, in front of the other party's envoy, he would definitely not relax his tone and let the other party feel that he could take advantage of it.

machine.

"Peace talks? When will your country come up with sufficient conditions, we will discuss the peace talks again." 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, then I will tell you one thing first!"

Shang Qing quickly raised his ears and responded: "General, please give me instructions!"

Chen Yixin said: "My conditions are also very simple. The area 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.

things."

Shang Qing obviously had a relatively clear understanding of the geographical environment of Liaodong. He immediately took a breath of cold air 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 larger than Hainan

The island is slightly smaller, about the size of thirty golden states.

It was obviously impossible for the Manchu and Qing dynasties to cede such a large area to Haihan in one sentence. After hearing Chen Yixin's conditions, Shang Qing understood that the other party did not want peace talks at all, so he simply proposed a

Such outrageous conditions.

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 or not, 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. He even wished 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 have to wait for too long.

A large-scale war broke out and became lax.

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. 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 when Chen Yixin had a meeting with Shang Qing just now, he had arranged for these subordinates to listen in the room. Of course, this was not just for the purpose of communicating with his officers.

Sharing information immediately is also to avoid suspicion.

For departments like the Military Intelligence Bureau, the object of allegiance is not Chen Yixin, a local official, but the Ministry of National Defense and the higher-level executive committee. If Chen Yixin had closed-door talks with the Manchu envoys, then in the report sent back to Sanya afterwards,

This detail of the negotiation process will inevitably be recorded to prove that no third party in the process knows 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 has taken 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 think it's hard 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 believe that 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 Dynasty 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 divided, the Tatars naturally want to divide it from other parts of the Ming Dynasty."

"As long as they open this hole, they will definitely use Jinzhou's handling methods to drive a wedge between our country and 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. 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 has never publicly asked our country to take this place back. But this

This approach may have misunderstood the Manchus, so they used the name of peace talks to test our country's attitude."

"The general just used the estuaries of the Liao 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 thrown out this condition, maybe they have already prepared to make concessions in demarcating the territory. To be honest, I don't think so.

I don’t dare to guess what their bottom line is, whether to give up thirty miles or fifty miles, so I simply put forward a condition that exceeds their bottom line. If they feel that such a condition can still be negotiated, then it can probably confirm their ambitions.

.”

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 Manchu and Qing Dynasties are willing to make certain concessions in the division of territory of the Liaodong Peninsula for the sake of peace talks, they will 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 take it 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. However, the aggressiveness of the Manchu Qing Dynasty cannot be measured by ordinary people. The Ming Dynasty's national power is only stronger than it, but it is not infallible.

Moreover, when the Manchu envoys came to see Chen Yixin, they did not even mention 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. Only a few areas like Jinzhou, which 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.
Chapter completed!