At 2:00 in the morning on November 3, in the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, a motorized infantry division of the Ming Army in Xixia County launched its entire division. Their bright car lights lined up in a long line and drove up the Qinling Mountains along the highway. At the same time,
, in the western section of the Qinling Mountains, another motorized infantry division that was already guarding the eastern suburbs of Feng County also mobilized its entire division and drove up the Qinling Mountains in a long line with their lights on. One of them went straight to Wuguan, and the other went straight to Dashan.
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In the dark second half of the night, the endless car lights were shining brightly on the mountain road, making them perfect targets. However, in the next few hours, there was no bullet attack at all. Although the mountain road was rugged and the mountains on both sides were dangerous,
Incomparable, but along these two dangerous roads, every outpost and every bunker
Every warehouse in the fortifications was lit with lights, and the lights were brightly illuminated by large bulbs. Under the lights, rows and squads of Qing soldiers had already piled their guns neatly on the walls. Each one was still yawning, but they were very
Talking and laughing excitedly, stamping their feet and rubbing their hands in the cold late autumn morning, waiting for the arrival of the legendary Ming army.
Everywhere the Ming army convoy passed by, there was no obstruction. All they needed to do was to take away their guns, and then leave a few Ming soldiers to watch them and wait for dawn before going down the mountain together.
At five o'clock in the morning, the Ming army passed Dashan Pass at the western end of the Qinling Mountains. At 6:30, the vanguard troops drove down the Qinling Mountains and entered Baoji, the westernmost large city in the Guanzhong Plain, and joined forces with the Guanzhong Ming Army stationed in Baoji.
At seven o'clock in the morning, the Ming army passed through Wuguan at the eastern end of the Qinling Mountains. At one o'clock at noon, the vanguard troops also drove down the Qinling Mountains and entered Lantian County in the Guanzhong Plain. Twenty kilometers northwest is Xi'an. Here they and Guanzhong stationed in Xi'an
The Ming army reunited.
At noon on November 3, the two most important thoroughfares through the Qinling Mountains: Wuguan Road and Dashanguan Road, were controlled by the Ming army. Most of the Qing troops in the Qinling Mountains had control over these two roads.
On the main road. With the collective surrender of the Qing troops along the way, there are actually no Qing troops in the entire Qinling Mountains. It can also be said that the Qinling Mountains are already under the control of the Ming army.
Now it reaches Sichuan in the south and Guanzhong in the north. There is no Qing army-controlled area in between. Although there are still two natural barriers in the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain, politically and militarily, the north and the south have been completely connected.
The next step for the Ming army is to make full use of several major highways, set up a series of transportation transfer stations along the way, and carry out road transportation. Although there is no railway here, many things in the world are not perfect. Can it be done without
In the case of trains, using cars as much as possible for logistical transportation is also the key to whether Ming Dynasty can consolidate the new territory of Shaanxi and then successfully continue to advance into Shanxi.
…
On the morning of the 3rd, the negotiations between the Ming and Qing Dynasties entered a new agenda. This is also what the Qing side expected. What Guangwu is most afraid of now is that Nanming will get the Hanzhong Qinling Mountains, and then they will not talk to him and continue to march in Shanxi. Now it is not bad
, what I was worried about finally didn’t happen.
But in the morning, Zhu Yourong invited several ministers to have breakfast in the fortress. There were not many people attending, but they were all important. Shen Rongxuan came, the foreign minister came, and the army and navy ministers also came. Several people who were in the fortress
The most senior generals also participated. Of course Xiang Xiaoqiang also participated.
This breakfast meeting was actually suggested by Shen Rongxuan on the phone to Zhu Yourong last night. Because the capture of Hanzhong in the Qinling Mountains marked the end of the Ming Army's southwest battle, it also marked the temporary end of the western part of the war. The next negotiations
It is very important to finalize the purpose of the negotiation again.
At the breakfast meeting, the core decision-makers of Ming Dynasty determined the central idea of the following negotiations, which is:
First, the ultimate goal of the Ming Dynasty was to eliminate the Manchu Qing regime and unify all of China. No matter what, this goal must not be changed.
Second, we must be prepared on both sides. On the one hand, we must negotiate and strive to strive for the maximum benefits at the negotiation table. On the other hand, we must prepare for war and be prepared for a decisive battle with the Qing army in the Central Plains in winter.
Third, if this war really ends with negotiations, the following conditions must be met through negotiations:
1. It greatly weakened the war potential of the Northern Qing Dynasty and brought it to a state of collapse;
2. The Ming Dynasty must be at an absolute advantage in its geopolitical situation over the Northern Qing Dynasty. It must at least form a strategic encirclement in the south and west to facilitate the continued use of troops against the Northern Qing Dynasty in the future;
Fourth, in the negotiations, several clauses stating "no collusion with Russia and Japan" must be included. The Peking Qing Dynasty is directly prohibited from receiving any military assistance, training, volunteer troops, etc. from the third regime (country).
Fifth, negotiations must be clean and tidy, and we must not fall into the Qing’s delaying trap.
…
The breakfast meeting came to an end, and several civil servants and generals had already set the tone. When it was about to end, Zhu Yourong suddenly "requested to speak." So everyone leaned forward to look at her and listen to His Majesty's speech.
Zhu Yourong hesitated and said:
"Well... dear friends, I have been thinking about it for a long time and feel that we should include some clauses that shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule in the negotiation conditions?"
The civil servants and generals looked at each other, but they didn't understand what he meant.
...a clause that shakes the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule?
Zhu Yourong saw that everyone looked puzzled, so he smiled and said:
"Well, that's the case. I think that if a few conditions are added to the armistice conditions, for example... the Qing government must open up the ban on newspapers, restore the open media environment of the Guangxu era, and allow private newspapers to run... Also, newspapers in the Ming Dynasty,
There is also the entry of foreign newspaper broadcasts, so that people can buy shortwave radios and listen to outside broadcasts... No matter what private newspapers write,
The imperial court must not control anything... In this way, the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty can see and hear what happened at any time, just like the people of the Ming Dynasty. For example, if the same thing happened, there was only one voice in the past, the "Qing Daily".
Now there are dozens of voices, giving the people in the North a chance to get rid of the control of lies and learn to think about things with their own brains..."
Several courtiers looked at each other.
Everyone understands that His Majesty is planning to seek the skin of a tiger and let the Northern Qing court "enlighten the people's wisdom" in the Northern Qing Dynasty.
Zhu Yourong went on to say:
"...Also, for example...the Qing court must agree that people in the controlled area can move freely and can freely choose to live in Beiqing or Ming Dynasty...Also, there must be no restrictions on traveling overseas..."
Several courtiers couldn't stand it anymore. Everyone looked at Shen Rongxuan. Shen Rongxuan looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang.
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked around everyone, nodded, looked at Zhu Yourong, and said awkwardly:
"Your Majesty, you know, we... there is a word in our idiom dictionary called 'seek the skin of a tiger'."
"Come on," Zhu Yourong interrupted him, looked at him seriously, and said softly, "I know what you want to say. You want to say that I am seeking skin from a tiger."
Xiang Xiaoqiang also looked at Zhu Yourong and nodded.
Tang Yunsheng spoke immediately:
"Your Majesty, what I said to you is very straightforward, but it shows his enthusiasm for the cause of the Ming Dynasty's Northern Expedition and the unification... Your Majesty, I also understand what you mean. I hope to use this to open a gap in the closed iron jar of the Northern Qing Dynasty, so that the contents inside can be opened.
The people have the opportunity to breathe fresh air, making the rule of Beiqing unsustainable internally... But Your Majesty, this is tantamount to directly killing Guangwu... The current domestic situation in Beiqing is like an active volcano, and now it all depends on
The huge army pressed down...
"Guangwu knows very well that once his soldiers slowly become like Ming soldiers because of reading outside newspapers and listening to outside broadcasts, his rule will be over! Needless to say, he has the consciousness of Ming soldiers. , even if they had half the consciousness or one-third of the consciousness of the Ming soldiers, would they still be willing to shoot at the common people? Once the Qing soldiers were no longer willing to shoot at the common people, then Emperor Guangwu... wouldn't even have a sweep Anyone in the street could knock him to the ground. Your Majesty, as long as you think about all this, you will know that this kind of request will never be agreed to by the Qing court."
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:
"Your Majesty, what Mr. Tang said is very reasonable. Guangwu would rather fight the Ming Dynasty to the end. Even if the fight ends up forcing him to retreat outside the customs and go into exile in Japan and Russia, he will not accept this."
Shen Rongxuan finally spoke. He sighed and said with a smile:
"Haha... Of course, it may not go to the stage of exile. It is possible that after the failure of the next big battle, the Qing court will accept this condition... but it will only be accepted on paper. This kind of thing, for The specific operational requirements are very high. The Qing government will not really let go of the media as we hope."
These words of Shen Rongxuan immediately won the unanimous agreement of everyone. Xiang Xiaoqiang also had to admit that the situation mentioned by Shen Rongxuan was more likely to happen.
Zhu Yourong looked at the crowd and felt depressed. She was quiet for a while and said softly:
"Everyone, the last day of the empire's highest military and political meeting before the war was held in a special place... I remember that you all went there."
There was silence all around. Everyone knew that she was talking about the bloody southward escape scene she witnessed in the observation fort on the bank of the Yangtze River.
Zhu Yourong was right. Everyone present did go there that day and witnessed it with their own eyes.
Zhu Yourong said quietly:
"Do you still remember that I said that our ultimate goal in launching this war is not for land, resources, geopolitics, or anything else... We launch this war for the sake of Northland The people of the country no longer need to flee south like this in the future... they no longer need to narrowly escape death on the way south, they no longer need to be shot by machine guns on the Yangtze River, and the lucky ones who cross the river no longer need to watch... looking at their families. He was caught by the iron hook of the Qing army, passed through his collarbone, and carried back bloody... There is no need for such separation of flesh and blood... Everyone, if we did not raise these demands, there would be no need to start this war in the first place, and there is no need to start this war now. There is no need to negotiate a truce."
After saying these few words, the civil servants and military generals all looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
After a moment of silence, Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"Your Majesty, no one said that the ultimate goal is not this! Didn't we set the ultimate goal? We must eliminate the Northern Qing regime and unify the entire China. This cannot be shaken no matter what. But... Your Majesty, this It is the 'purpose', and now we still have a 'process' that we must go through. If you want the purpose, you cannot exclude the process. You can't just have the purpose without the process, right? That's called getting it right in one step. Now... Your Majesty, our war is certain There has to be a process, it can't be done in one step.
"We now have some advantages over the Qinglu, but after all, the advantage is not to that extent... If the comparison of strength between us and the Qingqi is like... like the Soviet Union against Poland, or the United States against Mexico, then We can say: OK, this is our request, will you agree to it? I'll count to three... Look, Your Majesty, haven't we not reached that level yet?"