In the cheers of everyone, ten warships set sail to start the war, and the people who were seeing them off at the dock also dispersed and went home.
In a small restaurant in the far corner of the pier, Zhang Huangyan leaned his drink against the railing and sighed as he looked at the sailing sails going away.
This mysterious work) I don’t know why I’m sighing.”
Zhang Huangyan pointed to the disappearing sails and said: "Since ancient times, the army has retreated without any trace. Now the enemy is in the north and not in the east. We should make an all-out effort to launch the northern expedition to regain the lost territory, but only for the sake of a mere Ryukyu island. If we abandon the enemy and ignore it, we are abandoning our own foundation." "Unexpectedly, if the tiger breeding becomes a problem and the Qing Dynasty recovers its strength, Nanjing may not be defendable in the future and it will lose the hope of the world."
Huang Zongxi smiled bitterly. In fact, he was very dissatisfied with Shang Yi's approach. He thought that even if he could not send troops to the Northern Expedition because of his lack of strength, he should rest and rest in peace and gather food. Why did he send troops overseas to waste money and food? Not to mention it was in vain. Is Japan a big enemy overseas? Although Huang Zongxi doesn't take Japan seriously, at this stage, he shouldn't create such an enemy for himself anymore, right?
However, after the loss of Nanjing, Huang Zongxi's sharpness has also softened a lot, and now he is living in Nanjing. To put it bluntly, he is being raised by Shang Yi. Of course, it is inconvenient to say anything, so he said: "I think this is Shang Yi's move, and it is by no means abandoning the original and pursuing the future." But he has other intentions, but his military tactics are so mysterious and unpredictable that we don’t know. We only see that he uses the word "Jingbei" as his king's title, which shows that he has not forgotten the Northern Expedition."
Zhang Huangyan shook his head and said: "What's the purpose? I think it's just a great achievement."
It turned out that after Zhang Huangyan came to Nanjing, he thought he could use the road of loyalty to persuade Shang Yi to give up his independent ambitions and fully support the Nanming court to fight against the Qing army. Shang Yi also asked him for an interview, but the result of the interview was predictably Zhang Huangyan's so-called loyalty. In fact, Du Yinxi said before that it was untenable, so Shang Yi said that he was speechless.
However, after these few years of ups and downs, Zhang Huangyan has matured a lot, and his vision and knowledge are much better than before. Of course, he also understands that what Shang Yi said is not unreasonable. The three Nanming regimes are actually mud that cannot support the wall. The Lord expected them to come forward to lead the fight against the Qing Dynasty and revive the Ming Dynasty. It was basically impossible. Shang Yi was the only one in the south who could accomplish this great cause. But if Shang Yi really succeeded in the Northern Expedition and defeated the Qing court, the world would never return to the Ming Dynasty.
Wu Zong, Shi Kefa, Huang Zongxi and other former Ming ministers who are now living in Nanjing have now vaguely formed a small society. They gather together to communicate academically and discuss the current situation when they have nothing to do. Of course, they avoid Shang Yi and Ming Dynasty. During the free time while waiting for representatives from the other two parties to come to Nanjing, Zhang Huangyan often participated in their exchange talks and also learned more about the current situation in Shang Yi's ruling area through them. of
But the more he learned, the more Zhang Huangyan felt at a loss, because the current situation was already very clear. People in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Nanjing had already forgotten the Ming Dynasty and regarded Shang Yi as their monarch. Therefore, Zhang Huangyan and Du Yinxi was also faced with a difficult choice at the time. When expelling the Qing court, recovering lost territory and reviving the Ming Dynasty were not equal, how should he choose?
The troop dispatching ceremony was held today. Wu Zong, Shi Kefa and others were fine, so they all came to join in the fun, and now they are discussing whether they should dispatch troops this time.
At this time, Wu Zong said: "I think Shang Yi sent troops this time to save overseas businessmen who had to do something."
Zhang Huangyan shook his head and said: "Since ancient times, the Central Plains has been a large overseas country, but it is just a corner of a partial state. I think it is really not worth the gain to lose the important land of the Central Plains just for the sake of mere maritime merchants."
At this moment, someone downstairs said: "Brother Xuanzhu, what you said is wrong."
When everyone saw Wang Fuzhi coming up from downstairs, everyone hurriedly greeted Wang Euzhi. Although Wang Fuzhi was an important minister under Shang Yi, everyone admired his knowledge. Whenever Wang Euzhi was free, he often attended their gatherings and socialized with everyone. Academically, the relationship between everyone is good.
After meeting everyone one by one, Wang Fuzhi said to Zhang Huang: "Brother Xuanzhu, what you just said is now counted in thousands by overseas merchants. Isn't it just a mere number? In the past, the ancestors of the Han Dynasty said not to do evil for small things. No matter how small the kindness is, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of the number of people in the Central Plains and abroad, they are all our Han descendants and compatriots, so how can we distinguish the importance?”
Zhang Huangyan had no discrimination against businessmen. What he said just now was just out of emotion, so he said: "Brother Nong, I am not ignoring overseas businessmen, but I prioritize matters first. The current urgency is in the Qing Dynasty in the north, not in overseas business travel. Now I am doing business." Isn't it true that abandoning the north and heading east means abandoning the foundation and taking the future?"
In fact, Wang Fuzhi did not fully agree with Shang Yi's dispatch of troops. However, the dispatch of troops this time was completely justified in the interests of justice. It was to rescue the maritime merchants trapped overseas. Wang Fuzhi believed that soldiers, farmers, industry and commerce were all the foundation of the country, and there was no distinction between them. And this dispatch of troops was The scale was not large. In addition, Wang Fuzhi still had full confidence in the combat effectiveness of the merchant army, so he did not raise any objections.
At the same time, Wang Fuzhi was still firmly on the side of Shang Yi when it came to foreign affairs. Therefore, when Zhang Huangyan questioned this dispatch of troops, of course he had to retort: "Brother Xuanzhu just said that the King of Jingbei's dispatch of troops this time is to sacrifice the capital to gain something. So please, brother Xuanzhu" The world is based on direction"
Before Zhang Huangyan could answer, Wang Euzhi gave his own answer: "Still putting the people first, knowing that losing the world means abandoning the foundation of the world. Therefore, this time the King of Jingbei did not hesitate to send out a large army to save the trapped merchants overseas, which is still an act of great benevolence and righteousness." Brother, how can you value the earth and despise people?"
Of course, Zhang Huangyan couldn't say he was wrong under the label of putting people first, but he still refused to accept it: "There are so many millions of people in the Central Plains. Who doesn't hope that Master Wang will go north to relieve the suffering of the people? Why does Supervisor Shang turn a blind eye?"
Wang Huzhi said: "The Central Plains is so vast, how can recovering the Central Plains be achieved overnight? Since the Qing Dynasty invaded the south, the officials and soldiers of the imperial family have fled. Only King Jinghai refused to defend Zhejiang with his own power. He resisted the Qing Dynasty, recovered Nanjing, and recovered Jingxiang, Huainan." How could we abandon the people of the Central Plains without caring about the people of the Central Plains if we did not continue the Northern Expedition and were unwilling to do so? Now that we are unable to succeed, we have to withdraw our troops, garrison, recuperate, recuperate, and then try to recover."
Zhang Huangyan smiled bitterly, knowing that what Wang Fuzhi said was true, and he hadn't said anything about the fact that the three Southern Ming courts were making trouble behind Shang Yi's back some time ago. This saved some face for himself. If he didn't know what to do, he would still have to talk to Wang Fuzhi. It would be bad to continue arguing, so I had to say: "Sir, that's what you said."
At this time, Shi Kefa was also afraid that the two of them would become more and more quarrelsome, so he hurriedly came to smooth things over and said, "Renong, what's the matter with you coming here now?"
When Wang Fuzhi saw that Zhang Huangyan had surrendered, he refused to comply and said: "The envoy from the Yongli court has arrived in Jingbei, Nanjing. Wang asked me to inform brother Xuanzhu that he would receive representatives from the three parties tomorrow morning to start talks."
After a pause, Wang Fuzhi continued: "Moreover, Prince Jing also invited Mr. Wu, Mr. Shi and Mr. Huang to attend."
Wu Yan, Shi Kefa, and Huang Zongxi all felt a little surprised when they heard this. Although generally speaking, Shang Yi was relatively tolerant of their small group and put more restrictions on the content of his discussions, as long as it did not target his own ruling foundation or make noises. After the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, there would be basically no interference. Even if sometimes the community commented that their own governance methods were wrong, Shang Yi would accept it. At the same time, he would also invite them to discuss some issues of governance gains and losses. Of course, everyone would be very wise to take this kind of criticism. Control it within a certain range and try to discuss the matter as much as possible without involving others. However, the three of them did not expect that Yi Conference would invite them to attend the four-party talks.
At this time, Wang Fuzhi said again: "The key to expelling the Tartars and regaining the lost territory is not to rely on the power of King Jinghai or our Nanjing, but to rely on the power of the entire south to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, King Jinghai will always be successful." The three dynasties of Li, Yong'an, and Shaowu have invited us to come to the south to discuss the establishment of a unified alliance and unite to fight against the Qing Dynasty. These adults are all important ministers of the former dynasty and have a reputation. They should do their best to fight against the Qing Dynasty. Please do not shirk it."
He turned around and said to Zhang Huang: "Brother Xuanzhu, on behalf of the Yong'an court, please do your part to resist the Qing Dynasty. Do not ignore the overall situation for your own interests."
Of course Zhang Huangyan knew what Wang Fuzhi was referring to, so he had no choice but to smile bitterly and said: "I will do my best for the great cause of resisting the Qing Dynasty."
In fact, Wang Fuzhi also knew that the three Nanshu courts were actually just soybeans. They could not be counted on to resist the Qing Dynasty. It would be enough to rely on the Nanjing regime's own strength. But if he resisted the Qing in the front and the three Nanshu courts made trouble in the back, Luàn delaying tui is also a troublesome thing, so he also fully supports the method Shang Yi came up with. He negotiated with the three Southern Ming Dynasties to reach an agreement and then signed an alliance. Although this could not completely solve these worries. But it can also play a lot of roles
Of course, the covenant does not have much restraint effect on the strong party, but it is still very useful for the weak party. At least it makes them less likely to make small moves behind their backs.