Chapter 388: A Battlefield Without Gunpowder Part VIII
On May 22nd, signed and published, the Chinese people officially began to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Empire. The Ming Dynasty established an embassy in Peiping and sent an ambassador and nine deputy envoys to handle diplomatic matters. The most important thing was to send overseas students. problem, as for other aspects of work, it simply cannot be carried out.
Correspondingly, the Republic of China did not send any envoys to the Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty also complained slightly about this. However, Wan Lei said that your country is ruled by people and cannot guarantee the personal safety of our envoys. Our country will not let them On the grounds that the official was in danger, he blocked the other party's mouth.
In short, it's just one sentence: If the constitution is not established and Emperor Jianwen is not ousted, Wan Lei will not lead the Ming Dynasty.
Diplomatic work could not be carried out, and various economic and military assistance could not be received. The ministers of the Ming court were also anxious. Of course, worrying about the country and the people was only one aspect, they also wanted to establish a real constitution, which was easy to get. Real power, so on the morning of May 25th, a "Ten Thousand Words Letter" signed by hundreds of Beijing officials was presented to Emperor Jianwen. The main content was to ask the Emperor to speed up the constitutional process.
Emperor Jianwen originally wanted to delay the establishment of the constitution when he agreed to establish the constitution. Now that hundreds of officials have submitted a letter asking for real action, he immediately became anxious and ordered Huang Zicheng to retreat while asking Huang Zicheng to enter the palace to discuss countermeasures. The Ming court was once again caught in a big storm. , and the secret driving force of this storm is Wan Lei.
Because as early as more than a month ago, Wan Lei sent a group of elite guards to lurk across the river to promote the benefits of constitution among the central and local officials of the Ming Dynasty. The collective petition is just a prelude. There are still many people keeping the queue behind. In short, various petitions will continue to be submitted until Emperor Jianwen is forced to cross.
In addition to petitions, special personnel of the Peking Army have infiltrated into the provinces along the coast and rivers. They not only advocated constitutionalism, but also advocated local autonomy. They even signed secret arms sales contracts with local governments, secretly supporting the provinces in establishing military forces that could compete with the Ming court. , working hard to split the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, all this is done in secret, and Wan Lei will not sell too many weapons to the Jiangnan provinces. The militia organizations in the Jiangnan provinces can barely compete with the Ming Dynasty, but they cannot defeat the Peking Army. Wan Lei will not do it for himself. Create strong enemies.
Just when Emperor Jianwen was struggling with how to continue to deceive the officials, the next morning at court, the court officials headed by various ministers entered into a second wave of petitions, this time asking Emperor Jianwen to promulgate a preliminary constitution. Charter, and requested the imperial court to send people north to Peiping to inspect and study the constitution.
And as if it had been rehearsed in advance, on the third day, in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Huguang, Sichuan, Yunnan and other places, the left and right chief envoys responsible for administration, the chief and deputy inspectors responsible for judicial supervision, and the commander-in-chief in charge of military affairs and other places sealed the border. Officials also submitted a letter demanding the establishment of a constitution.
On the fourth day, the gentry and elders from all over the country also launched a joint petition, demanding that Emperor Jianwen immediately establish a constitution and return the government to the people. Moreover, these gentry and elders spoke very fiercely. They said that there was no evidence of a constitution within a year, so they forced Emperor Jianwen to abdicate and implement the plan. A thoroughly democratic republic.
On the fifth day, gentry from all over Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong successively established the Constitutional Consultation Bureau, and jointly submitted a letter asking the court to recognize the legitimacy of the consultation bureau, and requested the court to assist various regions in establishing relevant constitution-making consultation bureaus to organize meetings to establish the constitution. Prepare.
On the sixth day, six of the six ministers and nine ministers took the lead and led hundreds of officials to write again, requesting Emperor Jianwen's permission to establish a constitution-making committee to take charge of constitution-making matters.
On the seventh day, the constitutional petition group from Zhejiang, Jiangxi and other places came to Jinling City and held a large-scale demonstration and petition. They clashed with the Jin Yiwei sent by Emperor Jianwen to dissuade them. More than ten people were killed and injured.
On the eighth day, delegations from Huguang, Fujian and Guangdong also arrived. The number of petitions expanded. Public opinion inside and outside Jinling City was overwhelmingly one-sided, demanding the establishment of a constitution as soon as possible. Some radicals even shouted slogans to overthrow Emperor Jianwen and overthrow the tyrant's rule.
On the ninth day, Emperor Jianwen, who had become the target of public criticism, couldn't bear it anymore and ordered all the Jinling Guards to dispatch, arrest a group of petitioners, and kill and injure dozens of others. Under this bloody reign of terror, the petition activities were temporarily suspended. Falling into a slump.
On the tenth day, officials from various ministries in central Beijing jointly submitted a letter demanding the release of the petitioners and severe punishment of the Jinyiwei commander. Emperor Jianwen was furious and ordered the Jinyiwei to arrest dozens of officials. Jinling City suddenly fell into panic, and the constitutional activities entered a low ebb. .
Emperor Jianwen's crazy move achieved a temporary victory, but fell into a complete failure, because his actions made the people all over the world see clearly his true face of a fake constitution and a true dictatorship.
Emperor Jianwen went crazy, and Ergen was quiet for five days, and Jinling was also peaceful for five days. On the seventh day of June, a sudden news came from Zhejiang: Zhejiang's chief envoy Wuzhong, and the inspector-general Zhou Xin all commanded the envoy Jinling. The town and others issued a joint statement declaring Zhejiang's autonomy and forming the Zhejiang Autonomous Committee to prepare for local constitutional matters.
With Zhejiang as the leader, Fujian, Guangxi and Guangdong responded one after another. Only Jiangxi, Huguang, Yunnan and other places did not become independent because these three places had nobles loyal to the imperial court serving as capital commanders, especially the Mu family who guarded Yunnan. The constitutionalists were suppressed. Several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River were more than half independent, and the Ming Dynasty was full of chaos.
At the same time, Wan Lei closed the Ming Dynasty's embassy in Peking on the fifth day of July on the grounds of civil strife in the Ming Dynasty, expelled the Ming Dynasty envoys, and announced a temporary suspension of all diplomatic activities with the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he issued a statement urging the Ming Dynasty to While supporting war reparations, we also urged the Ming Dynasty to fulfill its promises, promulgate the constitution as soon as possible, and truly implement constitutionalism.
In less than a month, there were first petitions for the constitution, and then self-government was launched directly. Emperor Jianwen was frightened by these successive "bombings". He never expected that The delaying strategy given by Teacher Huang not only failed to alleviate the conflict, but instead triggered a wave of rebellion that was higher than the previous one.
The public opinion of anti-imperialist faction in the world was fierce. Emperor Jianwen could not imagine what those crazy people would do next, but he knew one thing. If he did not compromise and give in, once rebellions started in various places, not only would his throne be difficult to protect, but his life would also be difficult to protect. .
On the seventh day of July, the exhausted Emperor Jianwen finally couldn't bear it anymore and ordered the removal of Huang Zicheng, who had failed to achieve anything but failed. At the same time, he issued an edict to approve all petitions, establish a constitutional committee, allow local governments to establish consultative bureaus, and send people north to inspect the constitutional government. And set the time for the Constituent Assembly to convene in July next year.
In this way, after a month of intense action, the constitutionalists achieved a staged victory. Although this was not the most dramatic victory, it also made the gentry of the Ming Dynasty understand that the emperor was actually very fragile. As long as they were united, they could succeed. You can knock it down!
The political situation in the Ming Dynasty continued to be turbulent, but the Republic of China was full of joy. First, good news came from the northwest region. The commander of the Northwest Military Region, Zhou Tianshou, successfully repelled Timur Khan's hundreds of thousands of troops and took advantage of the victory to regain the Kunlun Mountains. area, the army advanced to the Tianshan area; secondly, His Majesty the President gave birth to a son, and named him Wan Sheng to commemorate the victory of this self-defense counterattack.
In fact, this self-defense counterattack against the Timur Khanate cannot be regarded as a glorious victory. It can only be regarded as a strategic victory. The Peiping Army has been holding on to Jiayuguan. The Timur Khan army was unable to attack for a long time and suffered heavy losses. Erhan was so impatient that he eventually fell ill and died in the army.
After Tamerlane's death, the morale of the hundreds of thousands of enemy soldiers who were struggling to fight became even lower. Some generals also led their troops back to the capital to fight for power. Naturally, the Eastern Expedition ended in failure.
As the Timurid army retreated, the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, which controlled the Tianshan area, lost its asylum. Naturally, it no longer dared to fight against the Peking Army. Before the Peiping Army arrived, they began to flee north, so Zhou Tianshou led his troops to easily occupy the Tianshan area.
After occupying the Tianshan region, the territory of the Republic of China expanded by nearly one-third. Although these places are mostly Gobi deserts, there are still oases. These oases are also treasure lands for growing cotton. There are also many oil fields in the Gobi Desert. , which is even more eye-catching, the proposal on developing the Western Region was also submitted to the Senate for review by Wan Lei, and it was finally decided to establish the Anxi Special Zone in the Tianshan area to implement military control and military garrison systems.
In addition to establishing the special zone, Wan Lei proposed the establishment of the Western Region Railway Research Institute to study and overcome problems such as severe cold and scorching heat in the mountains, and strive to open a railway connecting the Loess Plateau and the desert of the Western Region within fifty years to strengthen control of border areas. and development.
The Peiping Army gradually conquered the Western Regions and entrenched themselves on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The monks and lay leaders of the Usi Tibetan tribes who had submitted themselves to the Ming Dynasty also turned to the Republic of China. Many Tibetan Buddhist leaders sent envoys to Peking to request Pay tribute.
Originally, Wan Lei did not want to pay tribute, but the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is a cold land with few resources. It is really useless to the emerging Republic of China. For the time being, Wan Lei has no intention of sending troops there. Therefore, Wan Lei asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to According to the practice of the Ming Dynasty, these religious leaders were canonized, and mutual markets were allowed to be established in border areas, allowing various ethnic groups to conduct mutual trade.
With the pacification of the Western Regions and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Peiping Army no longer had any external troubles. In addition to the First Army stationed in the Northwest Military Region to suppress the rebellion, the main forces of the Second to Fourth Army were transferred south to the Jiangbei area, especially the newly established Fourth Army. The group army and nearly 100,000 new troops marched directly into the northern Sichuan area and began to exterminate the invading Duzhang barbarian rebels, hoping to pacify Bashu as soon as possible and prepare for the eastward march.
The Peking Army was pressing heavily on the border, but the Ming Dynasty seemed unaware of it and was still arguing over how to implement a constitutional monarchy. The Ming Dynasty had lost all initiative in this smokeless diplomatic war, and its defeat was certain. The Peking Army soon It will then be possible to chase the poor bandits with the remaining brave men.