The Chinese army saw the chaos in the Ming Dynasty government army camp at the top of Wuchang City. Yang Qi and other Chinese army officers looked at each other in a good mood and sat on the mountain in the city head to watch the fight between tigers and tigers. In the end, the chieftain rebels were defeated by the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. , the remaining troops fled south one after another, and the Ming army also broke camp and left Wuchang City, chasing after them. The battle of the Ming army's counterattack on Wuchang was over before it even started.
Since the fall of Wuchang City, the Ming army has basically not been able to launch a decent counterattack along the Yangtze River. Most of the battles with some record of success were just guerrilla warfare and harassment warfare such as sneak attacks on Wuhu and Guazhou.
Of course, this is related to the fact that the Chinese army's troops on the Yangtze River are relatively restrained. Since the capture of Jingzhou, the Chinese army has stopped combat operations. Liu Xiang's raid on Yangzhou with a small number of troops was purely his personal behavior, and because he was counterattacking the Ming army The attack was directly praised by Yin Feng. However, later, Chen Zhongji, the marching commander of Jiangnan Road, and Luo Quanxiu, the deputy commander, jointly issued a clear order to the troops under their jurisdiction: unless provoked by the Ming army, combat operations against the Ming army would be stopped.
In order to create a gentle atmosphere for peace talks with the imperial court, the Chinese army also released several concubines and concubine princes of the King of Chu back to Jinling City.
After learning that the imperial appeasement mission headed by Xu Guangqi had arrived in Yangzhou, Luo Quanxiu, who was in Suzhou, sent a communication ship to notify Chen Zhongji, Mai Dahai, Yang Qi and others who were still in Wuchang City.
Luo Quanxiu was not good at dealing with the civil servants of the imperial court, otherwise he would not have defected to Yin Feng. In the entire Jiangnan War Zone, the only senior Chinese military officer who was good at diplomatic negotiations was Chen Zhongji.
In the last recruitment negotiation five years ago, the Ming court was forced by the Northeastern Jurchen Eight Banners sweeping across Liaodong, and had to acquiesce to many of Yin Feng's excessive demands, such as occupying many counties in the eastern part of the Yangtze River, etc. Now, Yin Feng's The Chinese army has defeated the Jurchen Eight Banners who threatened Liaodong, and the Eight Banners who replaced Nurhaci became a serious problem for the Ming Dynasty.
The tribes of Eastern Mongolia, which were originally suppressed by the Eight Banners of Manchuria, were influenced by the remnants of the Eight Banners of Manchuria after Nurhaci died on the battlefield of Hetuala, and began to frequently invade and harass the tribes. Now, influenced by the Chinese army's Yangtze River strategy, ethnic minority areas in the southwest have appeared again. Various chieftains led by She Chongming rebelled.
Due to the imperial government's introduction of sea and Liao rates, coupled with successive years of floods, droughts and famines, farmers in the northwestern region were becoming refugees and hungry people faster and faster. Soon there was a tragic situation where people were in dire straits and starving people were everywhere. Large-scale civil uprisings had already begun. The first clues are coming.
In July of the first year of Tianqi (1622), the Ming government appointed Xiong Tingbi, released him from prison, and appointed him as the manager of Liaodong, and Wang Huazhen as the governor of Liaodong. Xiong Tingbi had personal experience of the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army and the Eight Banners of Manchuria, so he advocated the establishment of a strategic alliance in the Western Liaoning Corridor. Remaining on the defensive, the bureaucrats in power in the Ming government did not have a clear understanding of the situation in Liaodong. Whether to take advantage of the struggle between the Chinese army and the remaining Eight Banners to attack, or to continue to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight and persist in the defense, they have been hesitant in making relevant strategic decisions.
Xiong Tingbi ignored the censors' repeated attacks on his "cowardice" and advocated active defense with all his strength. He negotiated a tripartite arrangement, increased the number of soldiers in Denggin, Lai, and Jinmen, and stationed heavy troops at Shanhaiguan, with the Daning River as the front line, and focused on food and wages. However, Xiong Tingbi did not only defend but not attack. He planned to wait until the troops and horses in each town were gathered, food and wages were sufficient, and Denglai support was ready, and then the three parties by sea and land would advance in large numbers, with the frontline directed at the Chinese Army's Lushun Fortress and Jinfuhai. Build the four-state defense line.
Before launching a counter-offensive, Xiong Tingbi believed that many things needed to be done: purchasing new firearms and training troops were the two most important things. In his memorial to the court, he believed that it would take at least five years to complete the preparations for the counter-offensive, and three months per year. Expenses of one million taels of silver
As soon as this memorial was published, there was a lot of opposition from all over the court. The biggest question of the imperial censor was: where did the money come from? One-third of the Ming Dynasty's annual fiscal revenue needed to feed hundreds of thousands of Zhu Jialong's growing number. Zi Longsun, and the rest have to deal with the salaries of hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, the huge palace expenses, and the food and salaries of millions of soldiers across the country... In the past few years, the Ming court has been in deficit everywhere, unable to make ends meet. Where can there be money every year? Three million taels of silver are available.
At this time, the imperial court had been cut off from most of the territory in the south, and was unable to continue to support Xiong Tingbi in running Liaoxi. During the court meeting to appease the pirates, Xiong Tingbi submitted several memorials in succession, becoming the party supporting the appeasement of the pirates. As an important weight, he directly stated in the memorial the fact that Liaodong was short of food and asked the court to temporarily suspend the war with the Chinese army. This would not only allow the entire Ming Dynasty to breathe a sigh of relief, but also allow the Ming army in western Liaoning to obtain some food supplies from the sea as soon as possible - otherwise , the wave of mutinies that occurred last year is likely to happen again.
Due to the emergence of the China Company, the course of history has been "tampered with" by Yin Feng. The scale of She Chou Ming's rebellion far exceeded the original time and space. The direct cause of the mutiny that once swept across the Ming Dynasty was The rebellion of the New Army was actually the result of the instigation of the Chinese Army's Military Intelligence Department and others.
The Chinese Army has become the main trouble for the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong and the southeastern coast, and even nationwide. No matter where it is, the Ming government is in a strategic passive state.
Now, in the negotiations that are about to begin in Suzhou, the Ming government is in a very passive situation.
The Taiwan fleet's flagship "Feilong" was once Yin Feng's ship. Now it has undergone many modifications, and its speed and operational reliability have been greatly improved. The people who came to Guazhou to welcome the Ming Dynasty's imperial envoys who crossed the river to Suzhou were the ones who had just arrived in Guazhou. The Feilong came down the river from Wuchang City.
Taiwan Fleet Commander Mai Dahai was originally going to return to the Chongming Island base on the Feilong. When he was passing by Zhenjiang, he was grabbed by Chen Zhongji and asked to be responsible for picking up the imperial envoys of the Ming Dynasty.
Chen Zhongji's meaning is very simple: to show off naked force in front of the imperial envoys.
Originally, it would have been more appropriate to use Galen-type battleships such as "Longxiang" and "Longteng" carrying nearly a hundred cannons to show off their strength. However, the draft of these two ships was too deep and their navigation was slow on the Yangtze River. A floating fort was built on the river outside Wuchang City.
Zeng Yue, who secretly promoted the imperial court's recruitment, had also rushed to Jiangnan from the capital at this time. As Yin Feng's personal representative, he would participate in the negotiations with the imperial court's recruitment of imperial envoys together with Chen Zhongji.
Zeng Yue had been active in the capital for several months, and found that among the scholars who were awarded Jinshi in the same year, only a very few people still remembered him as a little person who was an official in the far corners of the world. Among the group of Jinshi that his father was awarded in the same year, There were only a few dozen people who became officials in the capital, and there were quite a few who were hanging around in the six ministries, nine ministers' departments, the Yushitai, etc., but none of them had real power.
After decades of chaos, the Zeng family has been completely forgotten by the relevant people. Only the names of Zeng family children are still on the court's wanted list. During Zeng Yue's several months' trip to the capital, in addition to helping the Ministry of Military Intelligence, the Intelligence Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was in the capital. Apart from setting up new hidden stakes and establishing several underground communication stations, there was no obvious effect. When the acquaintances of the capital officials saw him, they were either frightened to see him off immediately, or they simply did not dare to accept what Zeng Yue offered. Gift.
There were tens of thousands of bureaucrats in the capital of the entire Ming Dynasty. Those influential figures who were active in the political arena, those at the top of the pyramid, most of them had spent ten years in poverty and then passed the imperial examination to become officials. An opportunity to be promoted to an official position or be promoted to a local official, an opportunity to make a fortune.
Zeng Yue's activities among the middle and lower-level Beijing officials in the Ming Empire were basically ineffective. He only developed one or two small Beijing officials from Fujian and Hainan who were willing to serve as insiders for the Chinese army.
When Zeng Yue returned to Taiwan in despair, he passed by the Naval Chongming Base at the mouth of the Yangtze River and received a new order from Yin Feng.
Yin Feng felt that Zeng Yue had been living in Ming Dynasty official circles and it would be appropriate to receive the imperial envoys, so he sent a clipper communication ship to deliver him a new appointment.
Zeng Yue was working in the capital, but everything was not going well. At this time, he felt extremely resentful towards the entire Ming court.
Therefore, when he negotiated with Chen Zhongji about the plan to entertain imperial envoys, he appeared to be even more radical than Chen Zhongji. They discussed for a long time and felt that in a political negotiation situation, no one in the Chinese army could combine literary grace, intrigue, and officialdom. Compared with senior officials of the Ming Dynasty in various aspects such as response, and in this peace negotiation, the Chinese Army was the proactive party. Although the Yangtze River Strategy almost split the Ming Empire into two, the Chinese Army also consumed a lot of money in all aspects. The silk cocooning season has also arrived in various places in the south of the Yangtze River, and the bulk silk fabric business is about to begin. The annual Japanese trade fleet heading north needs to purchase goods in the south of the Yangtze River. The cargo fleets from Malacca and Banten are also about to head north to the southeastern coast for bulk overseas trade. As the battle progressed smoothly, the Chinese army's Jiangnan campaign also came to a halt.
More importantly, Yin Feng will not directly appear in this negotiation. Therefore, this negotiation cannot completely rely on the good "foreseeing" ability of the ship owner King Yin Feng to gain advantages and benefits like the last Jinling negotiation.
Therefore, the two decided that the initiative in this negotiation must be in the hands of the Chinese Army from the beginning, and the negotiation process must be led by the Chinese Army. The negotiation process will be naked and straightforward, starting with force. The showing off begins.
"Boom, boom, boom..." The Feilong was on the Yangtze River a hundred steps away from Guazhou Pier, with its gun doors fully opened, and the entire ship's cannons fired in turn. Of course, they were just firing cannons.
Amidst the smoke and fire, almost half of the court's appeasement delegation standing on the dock were frightened to the point where their legs weakened due to the sound of the cannon that was no more than a hundred steps away and almost above their heads. Some were even more frightened. Then he wet his pants.
It was early in the morning, the light rain was beginning to clear up, a rare sunny day in the rainy season in the south of the Yangtze River.
Xu Guangqi swayed tremblingly. The bookboy and guard beside him quickly helped him, but he pushed him away. He stood on the muddy dock, his ears filled with the roar of cannons, and his nose filled with the smell of black gunpowder. The smell of gunpowder smoke made Xu Guangqi's eyes full of envy and he murmured: "New Western cannons, there are so many cannons."
Xu Guangqi was not intimidated by the sound of artillery. During the time when he presided over the formation of the "New Army", he often participated in the test firing of Western cannons purchased from the area controlled by the Chinese Company. He just had so much knowledge of the Chinese Army. I am envious of the new cannon.
The five thousand-jin bronze cannons at the head of Guazhou City and several gunboats of the 10th Fleet parked on the pier began to fire. The loud rumbling sound echoed between the heaven and earth and the rivers. The Marine soldiers on the pier stood at attention. At the same time, he raised his gun and shouted: "The Chinese army will be victorious, victorious,"
The sound of artillery gradually subsided, and a young Chinese Army officer wearing a silver-white helmet, black iron breastplate, and a Japanese sword hanging on his waist came forward to Xu Guangqi, saluted with his right hand across his chest, and said loudly: "I am the first officer of the Taiwan Fleet of the Chinese Army. Admiral of the Tenth Fleet, Lieutenant Colonel Liu Xiang, please now ask Mr. Xu to come on board,"