At Dingfengpo Station, five miles east of Nanjing, a heavily armed army appeared and surrounded the entire station. Some tables and chairs were temporarily placed in the station. Although the layout was simple, it was necessary to be here.
Hold a peace negotiation meeting that will affect the future and destiny of Nanzhou.
This meeting was led by Xu Qin. In addition to the rebels, he also sent a special envoy to inform the Southern Ming court. Although Zhu Yunwen was reluctant in every possible way, he also sent his brother. King Heng Zhu Yunjian was the chief envoy, and his important minister Huang Zicheng was the envoy.
Minister Plenipotentiary.
In fact, Zhu Yunwen also knew that if he wanted to achieve peace talks this time, he would have to hand over a lot of imperial power, which was what he least wanted to see, so he ordered Huang Zicheng to take advantage of the peace talks to negotiate with Xu Qin, hoping to obtain Xu Qin's power.
support, no matter how high the price is.
At eight o'clock in the morning, the peace envoy from the rebel army arrived. Fang Zhongzhe did not come in person, but sent his most trusted general Chai Che as the envoy. Chai Che, like Fang Zhongzhe, was once an overseas student, and later was involved in his family.
Exiled to the desert, when Fang Zhongzhe started the uprising, he was the earliest follower.
It is said that Chai Che was resentful towards the Nanming court because his father was unjustly killed not long ago. Like many generals, he harbored a deep hatred for the court. Chai Che originally did not agree with the peace talks. After Fang Zhongzhe's hard persuasion, he agreed.
He just turned around and decided to temporarily put aside the hatred in his heart in order to reduce civilian casualties.
At half past eight, Xu Qin came on horseback, and the envoys from both sides sat at the negotiation table. Since the two sides had been fighting for a long time, the atmosphere in the meeting place would definitely not be warm. If Xu Qin had not been present, they would definitely have quarreled, and maybe even
There will be a big fight.
"Everyone is here to talk about peace. There is no need to say more polite words. Let the peace talks begin now. Both sides can express their opinions and try to strive for a peaceful solution to the civil war." Xu Qin started in a calm tone.
In fact, Xu Qin advocated that both sides take a step back. The rebels would retain the royal family's legal authority, while the royal family would hand over the power and implement a constitutional monarchy. The emperor would rule but not govern, and the democratically elected prime minister would exercise military and political power.
Of course, Xu Qin's opinion was not only because he was related to the Zhu family and could not bear to sit back and watch the Zhu family's demise, but also out of justice. Although the Southern Ming Dynasty had many improper governance, there were still many old and young people, such as the Fang family.
, Although Fang Xiaoru was suppressed, he still had the idea of loyalty to the emperor in his heart. If the rebel army led by Fang Zhongzhe directly destroyed the Zhu Ming royal family, his uncle and nephew would definitely turn against each other in the future.
The so-called retribution of injustice has to be repaid, and mercy must be spared. Fang Zhongzhe did not want to be too ruthless. As his spokesperson, Chai Che took a deep breath to calm down the resentment in his heart, and then said: "For the sake of the peace of the people, we have negotiated peace.
As long as the imperial court returns power to the people, we promise not to embarrass the royal family and provide corresponding preferential treatment."
"Returning power to the people? Isn't this about forcing the palace? People are slaves and I am fish and meat. How can we guarantee that we will not break our promise in the future?" Huang Zicheng immediately objected. The purpose of his coming was to delay time and to persuade Xu Qin to help the Southern Ming court.
A handful, but Xu Qin never gave him a chance to chat privately.
"Lord Huang, you think everyone is as dishonest as the imperial court?" Chai Che rolled his eyes at Huang Zicheng and said: "The emperor will hand over power and implement a constitutional monarchy as soon as possible. The emperor's role as the head of state will be clearly recorded in the constitution, as long as he does not interfere.
With political power, the royal family can enjoy eternal honor."
"How can such verbal promises be trusted?" Huang Zicheng said with a solemn face.
"Of course verbal promises cannot be trusted, but the peace treaty written in black and white is. As mediators and notaries, we will intervene if anyone blatantly violates the provisions of the peace treaty in the future." Xu Qin said calmly, but his attitude was different.
It was very obvious that they were leaning towards the rebels.
"Even if the peace treaty is credible, your demands are too stringent and we cannot accept them." Huang Zicheng frowned when he saw that Xu Qin was obviously leaning towards the rebels, and said: "We are also sincere in the peace talks, as long as your price
If Fang is willing to withdraw his troops, we can carve out territory and rule."
Dividing the land and conquering it is also a strategy to delay the war. Huang Zicheng's abacus was accurate, but Chai Che was not stupid. He smiled lightly and said: "Although Nanzhou is vast and sparsely populated, there are not many suitable places to live. What does Mr. Huang mean?"
Are you trying to trick us back into the desert?"
Huang Zicheng couldn't help but blush, and argued forcefully: "You will retreat first, and we can discuss in detail how to draw the land."
"Government by dividing territory is tantamount to division, which is not what everyone wants to see." Xu Qin shook his head and objected.
"Yes, it is not feasible to divide the land to govern, and no matter how the land is divided, it is fair. After the land is divided, the people will live in one place, and they will have to suffer the pain of having their wives and children separated." Chai Che also objected.
"After the land is demarcated, the people can choose to stay or go of their own free will. That's okay." Huang Zicheng still insisted on his opinion. In fact, the court really didn't have many choices. It could either demarcate the land for peace or the emperor stepped down. But from the current situation
From the looks of it, Xu Qin obviously does not support the plan of demarcating land to ensure peace, which makes him very lacking in confidence.
"The residents of Nanzhou have the same ancestors and roots. They must unite and not be divided. It is never advisable to divide territories and govern by one law. For the future and destiny of the country, if you insist on refusing to hand over power, then we will have no choice but to continue to use violent methods." Chai Che
Zhensheng said.
"Unification is what the people want, division is unpopular." Xu Qin once again sided with the rebels and asked Huang Zicheng, "Do you have any other better plans?"
"This..." Huang Zicheng's face suddenly darkened. He knew that the current situation in the peace talks was not good, and he looked at Zhu Yunjian, who also looked unhappy.
As the emperor's younger brother, Zhu Yunjian naturally cared about the interests of the royal family. He closed his eyes and pondered for a long time before saying: "Brother the emperor has said that it is okay to hand over the power, but the royal family can retain the imperial army. Nanjing City is under the jurisdiction of the royal family. Nanjing
The east and south of the city, all the way to the seaside, are reserved for the royal family."
"This is no different from a country within a country. It is absolutely unacceptable." Chai Che objected flatly.
"As a special envoy stationed in your country, I have no intention of interfering in your internal affairs. I just hope that your country will soon enter the right track of constitutional governance, so that the two sides can strengthen economic ties and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. As a country with complete sovereignty,
The military should all be under the leadership of the state, and there should be no private armies, because private armies can easily turn into warlords and even become separatist, which is not good for everyone."
The reason why Xu Qin was eager to establish a constitution in Nanzhou was not only to achieve the long-term goal of peacefully unifying Nanzhou, but also to make legal preparations for the Republic of China to invest and develop Nanzhou. Because Nanzhou is rich in resources, it is
As an ideal investment location, the big business groups of the Republic of China have long wanted to get involved, but they were worried that there would be no legal protection for investment under the autocratic imperial power.