Information from the capital about the imperial attack began to flow continuously to the Foreign Intelligence Bureau through the business and foreign affairs lines. Soon, most of the elders also knew about the situation through the security affairs liaison meeting.
Regarding the Ming Dynasty's suppression campaign, most of the elders, except for the military ones, laughed it off and didn't even think it had much to do with them. First of all, no one thought that the Fubo Army would be defeated militarily; secondly, the current front line had already advanced.
When we arrived in Wuling, not to mention the elders in Hainan, even in Guangzhou, we could not feel much of the threat of the Ming Dynasty. Not only was Guangzhou more prosperous than before, but its luxury and enjoyment had also improved due to the new gadgets of Australians and the influx of a large number of government agencies and enterprises.
The first floor is quite a bit of a waste of money.
But for the military and intelligence agencies, their responsibilities cannot be ignored. They must immediately enter into "preparing for war".
The army's preparations for war are complicated, but the preparations for the intelligence and control units are much simpler. They just know "what" the emperor plans to do and "how to do it."
Judging from the intelligence sent, Ming Dynasty is indeed preparing for an attack. Its offensive intentions can even be said to be undisguised. In this time and space, the concept of strategic deception is still very vague, and it is difficult to maintain tight confidentiality in actual operations. So Jiangshan
I think this matter is a sure thing and there is no debate.
The next "how to do it" is the key point. Strictly speaking, how to suppress the Ming Dynasty is not the key target of the intelligence agencies. There were only a few routes south to attack Guangdong and Guangxi in the 17th century, and the Ming army did not have any amphibious landings or airborne operations.
Ability. The General Staff can analyze the Ming army's possible advance routes and combat plans without spending much effort. The intelligence agencies have limited things to do.
What really interests the intelligence agencies is that the information coming from various channels is mixed with some special information, that is, does the Ming Dynasty really want to "go south", or rather, what is the real purpose of the Ming Dynasty going south?
As long as Ming officials are not telling lies, they all know that the winning rate of going south to fight against Kun is not higher than regaining Shenyang and annihilating the Manchu Qing Dynasty. It can even be said that wiping out the Manchu Qing Dynasty can still be done with some effort. After all, Huang Taiji and his calamity
The looting group is also having a hard time. Spending all its energy and engaging in delaying tactics is beneficial to Ming Dynasty. But it is impossible to drive away the Australians.
Rushing to launch a crusade with almost no chance of winning was very detrimental to the Ming Dynasty from a strategic perspective.
The elders can see it, but the wise people of Ming Dynasty can't see it? Do they have some secret weapon?
"Of course there is no secret weapon, but in general, the drunkard's intention is not to drink," Xu Xu said.
He was not in the conference room of the Foreign Intelligence Agency at the moment, but in a conference room of the Internal Security Conference Bureau. The weekly Internal Security Conference was being held here.
Since the establishment of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, at Jiang Shan's suggestion, all intelligence agencies under the Senate have held such a meeting every week to exchange information and communicate with each other. In order to effectively analyze and use intelligence, they can also borrow information from other departments at any time.
resource.
Because this system worked effectively, it has been continued ever since.
At this moment, the conference room was full of people. The "four great kings" of the Foreign Intelligence Bureau, the General Reconnaissance Bureau, the Political Security Bureau and the National Police were all there, as well as the newly established General Security Bureau. According to management, people from the commerce and trade department also attended the meeting.
"What's that about?"
"It depends on the court's face." Wang Ding said with a smile. "The conquest of Kun was Chongzhen's act of protecting face. We have already analyzed this issue at the beginning. It is impossible for the court to turn a blind eye to our actions to conquer Guangdong and Guangxi.
We have easily taken away two of the chief secretaries, and the court has been disgraced. If no action is taken, will anyone in the court take it seriously? Even if it fails, this battle must be fought - this is a matter of attitude."
"Wouldn't it be even more embarrassing if we failed?"
"You can win the battle, but you can't admit defeat." Li Yan said, "Everyone understands this truth."
Jiang Shan smiled and said, "Things are not that simple." He cleared his throat, "Based on all information, we believe that the Ming court is preparing for peace talks."
There was a slight commotion in the conference room. There were all staff from the intelligence and control units present, engaging in intrigues, making secrets, and making false claims. These routines were all too familiar. However, the word "peace negotiation" still aroused great interest in them.
Is it good to negotiate peace? Both the Ming court and the Senate have the intention to negotiate peace. One wants to take advantage of it to gain a breathing space and concentrate on dealing with Hou Jin and the peasant army; the other is of course to implement the strategy of "building walls high and accumulating grain widely".
Ease the external environment to gain room for development and penetrate through trade. The goal of both sides is to gain more time to prepare for war.
However, the international relations in East Asia in the 17th century were based on the tributary system of suzerainty and vassalage. China's Central Plains regime became the center of a unitary system, and each tributary country recognized this central position and constituted the external vassals of the central government. Suzerainty-vassal relations also contained not only international relations, but also
The basis of this relationship is the Hua-Yi order. China is regarded as "Hua" and neighboring countries are "Yi".
The nominal problem became an insurmountable obstacle.
It is impossible for the Senate to recognize the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain.
The Ming Dynasty could not accept the Senate and its equal status.
The Portuguese in Macau are in a special situation. Strictly speaking, they came to Macau just to stay as guests, and the Ming Dynasty government always existed.
In the eyes of the emperor and ministers, they could accept the theory that the Kun thieves were descendants of Chinese Miao people, but at the same time, in their eyes, the Kun thieves had lived overseas for a long time and did not know the etiquette of the Celestial Dynasty. They were no different from overseas barbarians. Let the Ming Dynasty and this political entity
Equality and equality seriously violate the political correctness of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, it is not completely hopeless. After all, the Senate and the Manchu and Qing Dynasties are still different. Since 1618, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have been at war for nearly two decades. Hundreds of thousands of Ming troops were killed and injured, and millions of Liao people were massacred. Several times.
The looting and looting caused great damage, and numerous soldiers and civilians near the capital were killed and injured.
As for the Kun thieves, they only occupied Guangdong and Guangxi, and only tens of thousands of Ming troops were wiped out on the battlefield. They did not cause a sensational massacre, nor did they loot or raid near the capital.
Besides, after they called themselves the Song Dynasty, it became easier to accept them emotionally.
But how to operate it specifically and what excuse to use to negotiate peace is a big problem.
Especially the Ming Dynasty, which has always "never ceded territory, paid indemnities, or made peace with each other," would continue to fight against the emperor even if he was captured. What's more, the court's survival has not yet reached a critical stage.
So once Jiang Shan's conclusion came out, everyone was somewhat skeptical.
"Let me first talk about why we judged this way," Jiang Shan picked up a report in his hand, "This is our study and judgment report on the capital and court affairs in the past six months. There is a lot of content, I will not list them one by one. You can take your time when you go back.
Look slowly. Just talk about a few important points."
"The first is Yang Sichang's memorials and summons records. The original text summary and related translations are appended to the report. Generally speaking, his idea of 'quelling chaos' is the same as in history. Both of them focused on the peasant army as the main attack
The object, that is, "fighting foreigners must be safe within" is the guiding ideology of the future Minister of the Ministry of War. His ideas are fully recognized by Chongzhen, both historically and now. If you look carefully, there are records in the summons
Yang Sichang said a lot of good things about us. And the emperor seemed to agree with it.
"Secondly, there is the collection of Cantonese rates." Jiang Shan said, "This fully illustrates the current mentality of the imperial court. The Cantonese rates, like the Liao rates, are levied in response to foreign enemies. In theory, the funds are earmarked for special use - at least that is the case with the Liao rates. But
You can see the relevant memorial from the Ministry of Household Affairs: the quota for Guangdong pay is 2.1 million, and 1 million has not yet been confiscated and is ready to be used to "pacify thieves." Fu Zonglong will most likely not get one-third of the remaining 1.1 million taels.
One—but the imperial court wanted him to 'train troops and make weapons.'"
"Third, Fu Zonglong came back, and his official position is governor of Southern Jiangxi. Although he is also a local military and political official, compared with the corresponding officials in Liaodong and the mainland, he has more titles such as prime minister, governor, manager, and district governor. It is difficult to imagine what he should do.
Coordinate the armies to launch a large-scale southward expedition."
"You mean Zheng Kun is just a cover?" Ran Yao questioned, "But this doesn't prove that Ming Dynasty will negotiate peace with us."
"Maybe it's more to give an excuse for peace talks..."
"Negotiating a peace after losing the battle? That's not the case in the Ming Dynasty. Even Emperor Tumubao was arrested and did not negotiate a peace."
"I'm afraid this is very possible." Xu Xu said, "Based on what I gained from this trip to the capital, there is already an undercurrent of peace talks between the DPRK and China. This is actually very attractive to the emperor. Peace talks can bring benefits to the emperor.
The benefits brought by Ming Dynasty are obvious..."
"Since there are benefits, why not negotiate for peace? The initiative is in their hands!"
"This is the court's face mentioned earlier." Xu continued, "Perhaps it should be said that Chongzhen's face. Everyone has listened to Teacher Yu's lectures and probably has a certain understanding of Chongzhen's character and behavior. He is very
I hope that I can become a wise king and a saint, and I don’t want to have any flaws. So if I ask him to come to discuss this issue, it will most likely not work.”
Everyone present at the meeting nodded together. They had all heard Yu E Shui talk about the "Chen Xinjia Incident."
"So he hoped that someone in the DPRK would take the lead in making this suggestion. He had actually hinted at Wen Tiren for several months, but Wen Tiren did not accept his hint."
"That's right, just because Chen Xinjia can't carry it clearly doesn't mean that Wen Tiren can't carry it." Someone laughed.
"We have no way of knowing whether he is clear about it. But our view is that Wen Tiren did not take this matter to heart. All his thoughts are now focused on bringing down Qian Qianyi and bringing down Fushe.
Already."
Wen Tiren's "unclear understanding" does not mean that others cannot understand clearly. After all, the "Chen Xinjia Incident" has not yet occurred, and the officials have not lost trust in the emperor. Therefore, those who want to take the opportunity to cater to the holy will are already eager to try.