Xiang Xiaoqiang stood on the roof of the car, waved his hands, and asked everyone to quiet down. Soon, the cheers around him calmed down. Xiang Xiaoqiang took the microphone and still said loudly in his hometown dialect:
"Everyone! Everyone!! Do you know why the Qinglu Emperor made such a request for prisoner exchange? Use the 70,000 Qing prisoners in our hands, plus 80,000 new citizens, to exchange for the 6,000 Ming soldiers in the hands of the Qinglu
, Emperor Qinglu made such a crazy request because he could
Did he get any benefits? He didn't get any benefits! He didn't care about the life and death of his hundreds of thousands of prisoners. Even if he wanted to go back, he wouldn't add more to the army. He would just throw them into the labor camp and let them fend for themselves.
Self-destruction! So why did the Qinglu Emperor still make such a request?
"It's very simple. I think everyone understands: He just wants us to fight against each other like this! It's best to fight!... There is no doubt that the six thousand soldiers of the Ming Dynasty who are now in the hands of the Qing captives are all us
The flesh and blood of Ming Dynasty is inseparable from our flesh and blood of Ming Dynasty
It goes without saying that we will never give up on them! However, the 80,000 brothers who have newly joined our Ming Dynasty, regardless of their previous status, have now become legal citizens of our Ming Dynasty, that is, our Ming Dynasty
An integral part of flesh and blood!
"The reason why Emperor Qinglu did this is to put us in a situation like this: either chop off the left hand or cut off the right hand! ... Of course, if it was Qinglu who chopped it off, there would be nothing we said except the heartbreaking pain.
In addition, they will share the same hatred with the enemy. But
Qinglu lets us choose for ourselves whether we want the left hand or the right hand! This is no different from cutting off our own hands! In this case, we will still be heartbroken, but we will no longer share the same hatred! Because we ourselves will be suspicious of each other.
, mutual hostility!
"Today, we are all gathered here, and we are arguing about who to abandon and who to keep? I think that when we are sitting here, we should not be arguing with each other! We should urge the government to bring back our relatives at all costs! This is what we are doing
We should fight for it! This is what the government should do! Now Beiqing is like a kidnapping
They held our relatives in their hands and blackmailed us. Well, if the kidnappers just want ransom, that’s fine. As long as he offers a price, we can negotiate any price for the sake of our relatives’ safe return! But he wants
Let’s exchange for other relatives! Let’s exchange for tens of thousands of Ming citizens! What is the concept of this?
"Some people say that these tens of thousands of Ming citizens have just joined the Ming Dynasty and cannot be considered relatives. Well, then I have also joined the Ming Dynasty not long ago, which is just a few months longer than them! Thinking of this, I am very scared. Qinglu hates me and Xiang Xiaoqiang hates me.
It makes my teeth itch. If this can be exchanged, then if Qinglu kidnaps someone from Daming again and asks Daming to exchange me for Xiang Xiaoqiang, will I also be 'exchanged' like this?
?Then wouldn’t it be miserable for me to face Xiaoqiang?”
When Xiang Xiaoqiang said this, the surrounding citizens were already laughing. The people in the "New Citizen's Square" laughed even harder. They were very happy because they felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang was a fellow countryman and was speaking for them after all.
.
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:
"Let's do the math on our fingers. If the Qing captives kidnapped several thousand officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, they could make the Ming Dynasty hand over tens of thousands of its citizens. With such a high ratio, then I only have one person, Xiang Xiaoqiang. Wouldn't the Qing captives just want to kidnap them?
How can a Ming Dynasty soldier allow Ming Dynasty to hand me over to Xiaoqiang? According to this, once this example is started, Qinglu will definitely become addicted to being a kidnapper! It will come over every now and then to kidnap our people and then threaten them.
Let us, let us hand over those who are not pleasing to its eyes! So, the anti-Qing patriots in exile in the Ming Dynasty, the writers who wrote articles exposing the darkness of the Northern Qing Dynasty, the writers who criticized the Northern Qing Dynasty, the Dongchang commissioner who organized and led the Northern Qing resistance organization, and even our cabinet
Ministers, Princess Liaoyang, even the Chief Minister and His Majesty himself... As long as the Qing captives kidnap enough people and their weight is sufficient, who can't be blackmailed?... So, this is not a matter that can be discussed at all!
“So I am here today to say these few words. Firstly, I want to talk to you about what I have been feeling for the past few days. Secondly, I also want to say a few words to His Majesty the Emperor Guangwu of the Northern Qing Dynasty in this public place:
"Your Majesty, this is boring, really boring. What's the benefit of doing something that harms others but does not benefit oneself? Apart from venting your frustration about not being able to invade the south and making us suffer, what else can you get? For our Ming Dynasty,
It is unthinkable and unthinkable for a country to hand over tens of thousands of its citizens to the enemy.
It is simply impossible. If we really do this, then our government is no longer worthy of being our government, and even our Ming Dynasty will lose its legitimacy in an instant. A man who can personally hand over tens of thousands of citizens to anyone else
How can such a divided country stay in this world normally in the future? To put it bluntly, how can it survive in this world?!
"Your Majesty the Emperor, if I were you, I would think about it. If you have such a good deck of cards in your hand, you should play it carefully and not waste it. If you lose the opportunity to make better use of it in a short time, wouldn't it be too much?
It's a pity. Yes, our relatives are in your hands now. We have a request from you, and it's not impossible to bow our heads to you. But don't force us to do things we can't do. Hand over tens of thousands of citizens to the task.
The Qing Dynasty may be able to slaughter the enemy, but we, the Ming Dynasty, cannot.
"Really, His Majesty the Emperor, please be more pragmatic. If everyone is more pragmatic, this matter should be able to achieve a satisfactory result for both parties. I believe that His Majesty the Emperor is wise and will not stubbornly believe that the only way to force us to deal with a few
Thousands of citizens will be thrown into labor camps by you, which will satisfy you the most
result, right? There must be thousands of other results that will make you more satisfied. I think the Qing Dynasty must still need a lot of things, but the only thing it doesn’t lack is tens of thousands of mouths to eat. If both of us can
With the pragmatic spirit of the tacit ceasefire agreed at the beginning of the year, what problems cannot be solved satisfactorily?
"The above is what I want to say."
After Xiang Xiaoqiang finished speaking, he bent down and jumped out of the car. Suddenly, the spotlights flashed crazily all around, and the silent square instantly boiled. His speech was like a drop of cold water in a hot oil pan, causing the pot to explode.
Already.
Countless reporters shouted, crowded towards the Little Qiangbee, and shouted at the same time:
"General Xiang, does your speech represent the official attitude of the Ming government?"
"General Xiang, can your speech be interpreted as soft words for Ming Dynasty?"
"Xiang General, what is the current attitude of the Ming government? What is the attitude of the Ming military? What is your Majesty's attitude?"
"General Xiang, you just called Guangwu 'His Majesty the Emperor' many times. Is it tacitly approved by Her Majesty the Queen?"
"General Xiang, may I ask how much the Ming Dynasty will pay to redeem the captured officers and soldiers? What price will it cost?"
"General Xiang, may I ask..."
"General Xiang, please talk to me..."
"Xiang General..."
"Towards……"
…
The most frequently asked questions are "General Xiang, do your speech represent the official attitude of the Ming Dynasty" and "General Xiang, do you come to speak softly to Emperor Guangwu on behalf of the Ming Dynasty official?" But Xiang Xiaoqiang jumped out of the car and
He kept his mouth tightly closed and didn't explain a word. He just smiled and got into the car and closed the door while being protected by the guards.
The guards also returned to the military truck behind. Xiang Xiaoqiang's car was immediately surrounded by dozens of reporters. Countless faces were pressed against the glass and they were shouting in. The dazzling magnesium light kept shining through the glass. Xiang Xiaoqiang was captured and leaned against
What it looks like in the car.
The car honked its horn and squirmed hard among the crowd. The police finally separated the reporters on both sides, and Xiang Xiaoqiang's cars were able to escape.
As soon as Xiang Xiaoqiang left, the reporters on the square also ran away. The rickshaws parked opposite to watch the excitement were all snatched up in an instant. The reporters clutched the shorthand speech scripts in their hands, urging the rickshaw drivers, and rushed to their respective newspapers.
Rush. The reporters of major international newspapers stationed in Nanjing also grabbed the press release and ran to the telephone and telegraph office to grab a window and try to be the first to send this huge news back to their home newspapers.
The square was boiling for a long time. No matter which side of the two camps, everyone was discussing excitedly. The "new citizens" were very happy, although most of them were of very low level and could not understand the meaning of Xiang Xiaoqiang's speech.
, but they always clearly heard Xiang Xiaoqiang’s statement: handing over tens of thousands of citizens is not something that can be discussed. The new citizens were so excited that they couldn’t open their mouths from ear to ear and loudly praised Xiang Xiaoqiang, a fellow villager. After all, he is a fellow villager, and a fellow villager is.
Fellow fellow, you are so honest.
However, the "group of relatives and friends" all understood the meaning of Xiang Xiaoqiang's speech, that is, although it was impossible for Ming Dynasty to hand over tens of thousands of citizens in exchange for thousands of prisoners, it had made a vague promise to Beiqing, and Ming Dynasty could not do anything except exchange people for others.
In addition, you, Beiqing, can make whatever price you want, and I, Ming, will do our best to satisfy you.
They were also very excited, because after all, they had previously petitioned to ask the government to exchange tens of thousands of "new citizens" for their families. They themselves thought it was too much and the possibility was not high. But it was different now. Daming took the initiative to speak softly.
, let Beiqing ask for "His Majesty the Emperor" despite the price, even though it was through Xiang Xiaoqiang's mouth. This was unimaginable in the past. In this way, the possibility of relatives coming back is much greater. Such a good opportunity, Beiqing
There is no way he will not be caught. Emperor Guangwu is not a fool.
…
They really guessed it right. Xiang Xiaoqiang is here to be the "informal, semi-official spokesperson" today. Yesterday morning, Zhu Yourong called Xiang Xiaoqiang, Shen Rongxuan and several ministers into the palace to discuss this matter with them.
There was little progress in the negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan. Zhu Yourong said that she was ready to make a public speech to persuade the Northern Qing Dynasty and expressed her willingness to pay a large price to ask Emperor Guangwu to release him.
Several people immediately discussed it and came up with the idea to Xiaoqiang. Because Zhu Yourong was the monarch of the Ming Dynasty after all, and she directly stepped in at the beginning, it would be equivalent to playing all the cards. Because for a regime like the Northern Qing Dynasty,
It is said that the head of an enemy country publicly bows to it, which is a very attractive thing in itself. Because it will become an excellent propaganda material for it to "boost the morale of the people", and the Beiqing will be like a treasure. This is a big
Chips cannot be played out easily.
As for the Ming Dynasty, the king of a country bowed to the enemy in order to save the lives of his subjects. This will only make the citizens love her more. Even in the international arena, Zhu Yourong will never hurt her because of her bowing her head this time.
The slightest reputation will damage the reputation of the Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, mainstream countries will regard Zhu Yourong as a "saint"-like person. The national image of the Ming Dynasty will be taller, while the image of the Northern Qing Dynasty will be even more despicable.
But after all, this requires someone to start the conversation in an unofficial name. After some discussion, the monarchs and ministers all felt that this candidate must be Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang has always given people the impression that he can say these words.
People. Other generals and ministers can't do it.
…
After Xiang Xiaoqiang returned to the headquarters, he immediately received a call from Zhu Yourong.