In March of this year (the 46th year of Wanli), the Eight Banners soldiers first raided Fushun.
Fushun City is a Qianhu House belonging to the Zhongwei of Chenyang. It was established in the 17th year of Hongwu (1384), and it was only three miles away. However, it was an important border defense center east of Liaodong City (Liaoyang) at that time, and the main reason for the court's exchanges with the three guards of Jianzhou. , Mashi, twenty miles east of the city, is a place for trade between the Han people under the direct rule of the Jianzhou Jurchens and the Ming Dynasty. Fushun City is 80 miles west of Chenyang, Liaoyang in the southwest, and Kaiyuan in the northwest, both of which are about 200 miles. Defence and offense can form a special force with these places. The east is the Jurchen land, especially along the Suzi River, which can reach the old camp of Nurhaci, Hetuala, the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchen descendants. None of Jin's side could abandon this place if they wanted to defend.
Before Nurhaci sent troops, he sacrificed the world and declared the seven major hatreds without creativity - Yin Feng set a precedent, and now someone imitated it.
The situation inside the pass was in chaos, and the elite Liaodong army was transferred to the pass to fight. This was a great opportunity for this 60-year-old treacherous hero. Therefore, he joined forces with the Mongolian tribal cavalry, with the Eight Banners soldiers as the vanguard, and the Mongolian horse sellers were the Insider attacked Fushun in one fell swoop, and Fushun guerrilla Li Yongfang surrendered.
Then, Kaiyuan, which had empty defense forces, Chenyang was successively captured by the Eight Banners soldiers. Zhang Chengyin, the general of Liaodong who suffered a defeat in the east of the capital, led his troops to urgently go out of Shanhaiguan to rescue Chenyang. There were 10,000 Ming troops, but they had to pursue them in three ways. As a result, when the Ming soldiers lined up to meet the enemy, they made an old problem. The enemy started to set firearms outside the range, and could not hurt the enemy, but their own soldiers were in a hurry. The Eight Banners of the Later Jin Dynasty fought bravely to shoot and fully utilize their cavalry. The shooting skills broke through the three square formations of the Ming army in one fell swoop.
Fighting with the Chinese army, since the Chinese army is also the main infantry, the Ming army will be able to escape if they are defeated. However, outside the Fushun wall, since the main force of the Eight Banners was the cavalry, the Ming army was not even able to run away after the defeat. As a result, General Zhang Chengyin and Deputy General Pu Shifang were all killed in battle, and tens of thousands of soldiers died, and there were only one or two survivors.
The Eight Banners soldiers won consecutive battles and took advantage of the empty troops of the Liaodong border, and kept plundering Liaoyang before returning.
Jianzhou women really pulled the flag and rebelled. The rebel forces that were close to each other were already directly threatening the jurisdiction of Liaodong Dusi. The capital was behind Liaodong. This time, the Ming Dynasty court completely felt a sense of crisis. In contrast, the Chinese army The base is far away from the southeastern sea. Although it can reach the two capitals, it seems that the one who has been asking for peace talks is no longer a big concern.
After the six ministries and nine ministers met urgently, the chief assistant Fang Congzhe submitted a memorial to Emperor Wanli, demanding that the conditions of the pirates be appropriately agreed to, quickly gather troops to go out of the customs, and quell the Jurchen rebellion.
Emperor Wanli approved the approval and sent eunuchs to issue an order to go to Nanjing as quickly as possible to notify Xu Guangqi and his party. Earlier, as soon as Xu Guangqi arrived in Nanjing, he sent a memorial to Beijing, reporting that the conditions for negotiations of pirates were too outrageous and the negotiations might be The court has long been around for a long time. Now, the court urged him to complete the peace talks as soon as possible. As long as the Chinese army can be evacuated from the two capitals, the corresponding conditions can be agreed; there are three exceptions: the king is absolutely not allowed, the sea ban can be opened, but the merchants and the people are absolutely not allowed to have the right to discuss politics and cede. Jiangnan absolutely does not.
Two months after the Eight Banners soldiers occupied Fushun, Xu Guangqi and his party learned about this through the Tangbao of the Huaiyang Ming Army. At the same time, the special envoy sent by Emperor Wanli to Yangzhou with a fast horse of 800 miles and passed the Chinese army. Later, the defense line came to Nanjing City. In this way, Xu Guangqi and others received the order from Emperor Wanli on handling the negotiations. He was greatly disappointed: These three prohibitions, in addition to agreeing to open the maritime ban, basically denied the main negotiations of the Chinese company. The conditions, what did he use to negotiate? He has been in Nanjing for more than a month, and the negotiations have not made substantial progress.
The Chinese army's control over Jiangnan was more stable, and even began to open textile factories and silk workshops in Nanjing, openly set up schools, and publicly teach Western learning and miscellaneous learning. Although in Xu Guangqi's view, he taught the Chinese people's geometric mathematics and astronomy that came from the West. Technology and other things are good things, but this should be something that the court did. What is the matter with a rebellious business group doing these things?
Although the formal armistice order has not been issued, the Chinese army and the government army are now safe and peaceful in various places. This peaceful situation seems very strange, because the Chinese army has the strength to further expand the control area, while the government army is They are also capable of harassing the Chinese Military-ruled areas, but the two sides basically ceased wars on the whole line, and even small-scale conflicts were rare.
The fundamental reason is that the war front now has become a place of trade, with rice, wood, coal from Huguang, etc. transported to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As the war route has been interrupted, these goods have now become The trading venue, along the Taihu Lake, north of Huzhou City, just under the eyes of the government army, countless people and merchants spontaneously formed several trading markets, and countless people traveled from south to north every day to trade in this temporary fence wall. Silk, silk cocoons, tea, grain, rice, wheat, pig, duck, fish, and iron, bronze, gold and other handicrafts. The China Company Silver Bank also opened a temporary semicolon here, and the China Company’s silver bills and engraved seals The silver is a universal currency.
The Ming army officers and soldiers participated in the transaction. They took off their military uniforms and became vendors. Often, officers and officers used military rations and iron tools to trade with Chinese companies and traded them for white silver. The north end of the market fence wall was made by the Chinese army. The soldiers guarded the southern exit, and the Ming army officers and soldiers were often guarded by them, and the two sides did not interfere with each other.
Chinese Army soldiers cannot do business, but they have the responsibility to protect their own businessmen from doing business. This is one of the purposes of the founding of the Chinese Army.
At the junction of the two armies, those people who were originally controlled by the government army had heard of the three-year tax exemption policy of the Chinese army, and they moved their families to the Chinese army controlled by the Chinese army. At the beginning, the Ming army also wanted to control this tendency. As a result, deserters soon appeared in the barracks, and the soldiers also wanted to take the risk of escaping to the Chinese military controlled area, and then moved their families there. More than a thousand miles of the border between the two armies were vacant everywhere, and the officials were unable to block the entire blockade. Finally, those leaders The soldiers turned a blind eye to guard against the Chinese army's attack, so let them go with him.
The Chinese company mainly uses business as its main income, and mainly supports and manages agriculture; while the Ming government's tax collection targets were mainly farmers. For commercial trade controlled by officials and businessmen, they did not want to collect taxes. They compared them in two cases, although the farmers under the Chinese company's rule He is also a poor person, but at least he does not have to worry about food and clothing, and has obviously gained more support from the middle and lower classes of Ming people.
Xu Guangqi could not leave Nanjing City, but from the old friends who came to visit him one after another, he knew about these situations and the peace talks could not be reached for a long time. The Chinese company's deeply rooted in people's hearts is gaining favor from the people, which is extremely for the Ming Dynasty. In Xu Guangqi's view, he did not think that the rebellion on the border of Liaodong was more important than the rebellion of the Chinese army.
When Xu Guangqi was in trouble, the official edict issued by the imperial court was issued by the cabinet, and the servant Yao Zongwen, the eunuch Ma Yuan, who was brought to Nanjing through the Yangzhou Chinese Army occupied area.
Yao Zongwen was a 39th Jinshi in the Dingwei Certificate in the 35th year of Wanli (1607). He was awarded the Hujian Certificate by Shuji Shi. This person was from Cixi and was sleek and cunning. He was a close confidant of Fang Congzhe and attacked the Chinese army. When he arrived in the capital, he was sent by Fang Congzhe to Baoding to inspect the king's troops. He did not know military affairs, but only knew how to ask for bribes. He was extremely poor in character because he almost caused a mutiny because he withheld military rations. Thanks to Fang Congzhe's efforts to ensure that he was fine. He belonged to the Zhejiang Party faction. Now he is ordered to go on a mission to Nanjing, and it is Fang Congzhe who takes care of him and asks him to leave Beijing to avoid the impeachment of censors.
Among the ministers in the court, Xu Guangqi looked down on this person, but now he has no choice but to cheer up and welcome Yao Zongwen.
After hearing Xu Guangqi's complaint, Yao Zongwen just sneered: "Mr. Xu, have you forgotten what the Chief Auxiliary Fang said before leaving Beijing?"
"What are you talking about?" Xu Guangqi asked solemnly, lowered his face.
"Please do it cheaply,"
"If there are three of the Lords, how can you do it cheaply?"
"Mr. Xu is a straightforward person. I admire you. Everything is urgent and you can discuss it with authority." Yao Zongwen came with Fang Congzhe's secret order, so he seemed very confident: "Fang Prime Minister told Mr. Xu that the imperial court had already opened the ban on sea. It is inevitable that other terms can be vague. First, the matter of truce and return to the two capitals will be decided. Lord Xu will have a great contribution,"
Xu Guangqi frowned and shook his head. He was a typical pragmatic man. He was not actually adapted to the traditional bureaucratic style and was not very good at political strategy. He shook his head repeatedly and said, "China Company and Yin Feng, these people, Tian Yiyi insisted on cedeing the land and becoming king, and he would be on par with the laws of the court with their six oaths. If he ignored these conditions, he would probably not be able to continue negotiations..."
Yao Zongwen moved his chair to Xu Guangqi and said patiently: "The matter of Xu Feng and the cede of land is actually not an important matter. In my opinion, it was just a trick of Yin Feng asking for a lot of prices. Now the land of Jiangnan is in their control, and the land is not allowed to be cedeed. What can it be? Now that the official army wants to deal with the Jurchen rebellion in Liaodong, they are no longer able to fight against the Chinese army. The same is true for being king. If the court does not allow him to be king, can they obey?”
Xu Guangqi's heart moved: "Can you be this Yin Feng..."
Yao Zongwen said: "Didn't Lord Xu have a plan to train a new army for ten years? Now Fang Xiangguo promises you five years of training, using the Southeast financial resources as the training cost. As long as you can negotiate with the Chinese army to return the two capitals, Appoint you as the governor of Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi to train new troops to fight against pirates. Besides, as long as the public peace talks only state that the Chinese army will return the two capitals and withdraw from Tianjin Wei, Shandong, Liaodong, and the censors in the court will not Come out to find trouble, and as for the Jiangnan area, you can promise them to postpone the evacuation,"
“Delayed evacuation,”
"Don't you know that the Chinese army promised the people to exempt food for three years, and there were still two years left. If the court recovered Jiangnan at this time, it would have to re-levy taxes. Isn't this a fight for profit with the people and giving these gangs of sea pirates for no reason? Will buying people's hearts create conditions? Besides, the imperial court will have to recover Jiangnan for at least a few years to stabilize the situation, and in fact, there will be no taxes. Isn't it just for the Chinese army to struggle for two years? If the larger Jiangnan, there will be a population of millions , see how they can keep them alive,"
Fundamentally speaking, these officials of the Ming Dynasty regarded the Chinese company's governance in Jiangnan as a temporary favorable policy. Judging from their own experience, no one can maintain the regime by just industry and commerce. They hope to look at China The company carried the big burden of Jiangnan and then destroyed itself.