Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 361

The head of the envoy was Chen Hongfan. He was a military attache. He was under Xiong Wencan at first, and later he fought with Zuo Liangyu.

After he heard the news, he worked a bit and became the official history of the mission.

Soon a civil servant, Zuo Maodi, the governor of Anqing and other places, heard about this incident and wrote a letter requesting to go north with Chen Hongfan.

The reason why Zuo Maodi told the governor not to go to Beijing was very simple. He was from the north. He came to the south to be an official not long ago, and his mother was placed in Beijing. When the news of his mother's death came, he planned to go back to attend the funeral.

This kind of envoy to the north to deal with the Tartars is something that everyone is willing to go, and this person volunteered to the court to wish for it.

So they were added officials and nobles, into Zuo Maodi, the right servant of the Nanjing Military Department and the censor of Youqian capital, and Chen Hongfan, the prince and Taifu.At the same time, let Zuo Maodi be in charge of Hebei, the secret mission of contacting the Kwantung military affairs, and hope that Zuo Maodi can contact Wu Sangui, who is considered loyal by the court.

Although Yang Chao couldn't thwart the emperor's decision, there was no problem in stuffing a few people into the envoys in private.

So soon the envoy with Yang Chao's people set off.

They carried the imperial letter "Emperor Ming sent a letter to the Khan of the Northern Kingdom", the imperial edict bestowing "Ji Guogong" Wu Sangui and others, 10 taels of silver, 1000 taels of gold, and [-] pieces of silk; , Sacrifice to the first emperor; thank the king of Qing, and reward the banner of "Suppressing Kou, Wenwu and Laoxun".The purpose is to negotiate with the Manchu Qing, and talk about joint suppression of bandits and territorial division.

At the end of November, the mission went north.

He only arrived in Shandong in mid-December, and Yang Chao also received the first accurate news from the north.

At this time, Shandong had been completely occupied by the Qing Dynasty. Except for the rebel army in a few places, the Ming army basically surrendered, and the peasant army was basically wiped out.

Linqing was also given up by Yang Chao long ago. It was only used as a bridgehead, it was too far away from the south of the Yangtze River, and Yang Chao didn't have the strength to compete with Manqing.

The existence of all the rebels in Shandong is due to the policy of the Qing Dynasty. Dorgon saw that they could easily enter Beijing, and a few days later he announced that the people should shave their hair. As a result, not only the Gyeonggi area was in chaos, but at one time there were rebels everywhere outside Beijing. , Even the coal from Xishan cannot be transported to the city.

Not to mention in Shandong, the resistance was even more intense. As a last resort, Dorgon gave up his idea of ​​forcibly shaving his hair, and only then did the people calm down.

Shaved and easy to wear!

Yang Chao secretly remembered this signal. It seems that shaving his hair and changing clothes came sooner than he thought, but he just gave up for a while.

And the resistance in the north is no worse than that in the south.

The news came one after another, but it was not good news. The Manchus marched very quickly, and they chased Li Ziguo and entered Shaanxi.

But it was just after crossing the Yellow River. The battle situation has not been transmitted yet, maybe it has been transmitted, but Yang Chao's spies can't find out. After all, Yang Chao's request to them is to be as concealed as possible and safety first. Messages are delivered in clear text.

In late December, Yang Chao couldn't receive news at all, because the envoys had entered Beijing, and Yang Chao's spies had been in hiding. The most important thing for them now was to establish an intelligence station, rather than rushing to deliver news.

Yang Chao knew that Man Qing and Li Zicheng would not go south until the outcome was decided, and there would be no war in the Jiangnan area for the time being, so hurry up and continue to stabilize the rear.

Naturally, military training cannot be relaxed. Yang Chao's [-] troops are already very strict. They have been insisting on practicing three times a day. They have enough food every day, and each person can eat two or two taels of meat every day. There is no problem with nutrition. Coupled with strict training, soldiers His physical fitness may be slightly inferior to that of the elite of the Eight Banners, but he is more than one point stronger than the soldiers of the Peasant Army and Ming Army.

Everything in the military is normal, but Yang Chao has to worry about other aspects.

Dong Xiaowan insisted on going to Japan to help Yang Chao develop trade. After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Chao agreed with her to go.

At the same time, the three warships received from the Dutch were sent to escort her, and three hundred elite soldiers were brought to protect her, all of whom were Yang Chao's personal soldiers.

It took Yang Chao a lot of effort to get these three warships out to sea. First of all, Yang Chao sailed directly to Japan, and Zheng Shi was not at ease. Agree to go, Yang Chao can't go either.

In the end, after talking with Zheng Shi five times, Zheng Shi agreed. Zheng Shi sent their captain, Yang Chao only sent some sailors, and Yang Chao promised Zheng Shi that he would not intervene in Zheng Shi's trade with Japan. The ship was indeed loaded with goods, but it was not the raw silk and other items that the Zheng family was mainly engaged in. It was mostly cultural items, such as pens, inks, paper and inkstones, books and classics, paintings and so on.

Yang Chao's purpose is actually to promote culture, and at the same time open up the Japanese market. The Japanese admire Chinese culture, so there should be a good market for these stationery items. After all, the customers for these items are people with certain status, at least Can understand Chinese, otherwise I can't appreciate it.

In addition to these high-end things, there are some exquisite daily necessities, some daily necessities of the upper class in the Ming Dynasty, such as special spices, such as clothing, jewelry, basically let Dong Xiaowan pass on the life of the upper class people in the Ming Dynasty, I believe Compared with obscure cultures such as books, life culture is actually more aggressive.

Yang Chao's fundamental purpose of promoting culture is actually to expand culture.

How many people in China in later generations admire the West, always talk about Europe and the United States, and ask themselves whether they are looking at the material life of the West or the shitty parliamentary system, they know it best.

So tell the Japanese that Ming Dynasty's wealthy, civilized, personable, and extremely elegant material life will probably get better results.

A few days after seeing off Dong Xiaowan, the Chinese New Year will be here.

This year, the Yang family was equally lively, because after licking someone, she was still a princess, and her parents were extravagant.

Yang Chao already knew how to coax women, and Auntie Zhu gradually integrated into the Yang family, her depressed mood has long since melted away, and she looked healthy.

It's just that I often feel guilty that I didn't get the emperor to allow Yang Chao to take a concubine, but Yang Chao comforted him that he would think of a way.

No news from the mission came back during the Chinese New Year.

Yang Chao didn't know, in fact, everyone didn't know that, as the envoy of the envoy, Chen Hongfan surrendered as soon as he arrived in Beijing.

The most important purpose of the envoys going north was actually to negotiate with the Manchus. The first was to talk about joint operations, and the second was to talk about how to divide the territory.

It has to be said that the civil officials in Nanjing had long been prepared to give up the territory to the Manchus. They knew that the Manchus would not go out after entering the customs.

Some people intend to follow the model of the Southern Song Dynasty, "with the Huaihe River as the boundary."

Gao Hongtu, an assistant minister of the cabinet, objected: "Shandong Baier Mountains and Rivers must not be abandoned. It is a last resort, and it must be the ear of Hejian."

Ma Fushiying said: "The lord is still young, so he can be his uncle and nephew with the emperor."

In the end, it was basically determined that the Hejian area could be handed over to Manqing, which is actually the area north of Cangzhou.

Gao Hongtu's claim is also well-founded, which is basically equivalent to Shi Jingtang ceding Youyun Sixteen Prefectures to Khitan, which means that Gao Hongtu advocated that the territory should be divided in the form of the Northern Song Dynasty instead of the Southern Song Dynasty.

The plan was very good. The Ming Dynasty restored the territory of the Northern Song Dynasty, while the Manchu Qing occupied the territory of the Liao Dynasty. The two sides were uncles and nephews.

But Man Qing didn't want to talk about it at all.

At this time, Dorgon changed his attitude of avenging the Ming Dynasty, and did not recognize the Southern Ming Dynasty at all.

Instead, he intends to appease the southern Ming court.

And the first person to appease is the envoy of the envoy.

As soon as the envoys arrived in Beijing, Tang Yu, a general of the Ming Dynasty who surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, told Dorgon that Chen Hongfan could recruit him.It is hoped that Chen Hongfan will be appointed as the commander-in-chief to appease the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty.

Tang Yu was so sure because his son was Chen Hongfan's son-in-law, and Chen Hongfan had no son and only one daughter. At this time, Beishang basically came to seek refuge with his daughter, and the two parents had already settled the matter of surrender.

Dorgon immediately gave Chen Hongfan an appointment.

The envoy defected before the diplomatic corps began negotiations, and the mission was a failure from the start.

However, Zuo Maodi, as the official envoy, did not insult his status, and argued hard. They were made things difficult along the way. As soon as they entered Shandong, they saw a notice from the Qing Dynasty: "According to the decree of the Regent: Chen Hongfan passes through the place, and there is no need to respect it." He had to prepare his own expenses. Chen Hongfan, Zuo Maodi, and Ma Shaoyu only allowed a hundred people to come to Beijing for an audience, and the rest were left in Jinghai. Many people brought by Zu Zepu were allowed to enter Beijing."

Zu Zepu was the son of Zu Dashou, and Zu Dashou had already surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. The southern court hoped that through Zu Zepu, he could win over Zu Dashou to help him speak, but the Manchus instead used this to show favor to Zu Dashou.

After bringing his own dry food all the way to Beijing, Zuo Maodi was anxious to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty.

The mission carried the "Royal Book" and entered the city through Zhengyang Gate.

The Qing court demanded that the imperial letter be submitted to the Ministry of Rites, but Zuo Maodi refused. According to the etiquette system, the imperial letter should be given to the emperor on an equal basis, and asked to be handed over to the Manchu emperor.

The upright official said: "All tribute documents will be forwarded to the Ministry of Rites."

Zuo Maodi claimed that what he brought was the national certificate of the Celestial Dynasty, not a tribute document, and the two sides insisted on it.

The Qing court also accused Jiangnan of suddenly establishing an emperor, saying that the southern monarchs and ministers did not want to avenge Chongzhen, but established a new emperor, which was disloyal and unfilial.

Zuo Maodi argued that Nanjing was established as the crown prince, and he should avenge the late emperor.

Said that in the end the Manchu and Qing officials began to threaten violently: "Don't say too much, we have sent soldiers to the south of the Yangtze River."

Zuo Maodi replied: "Jiangnan is still big, and there are many soldiers and horses, so don't underestimate it!"

Negotiations broke up because of etiquette disputes, and Man Qing finally refused to accept the Ming Dynasty's credential, and the imperial court rewarded Wu Sangui and others with 10 taels of silver, 1000 taels of gold, python satin and other things were also accepted by Man Qing up.

Then drove the envoys: "You can go tomorrow morning. I have sent troops to escort to Jining, and I will go to Zhierjiang River, and I will send troops to the south."

Zuo Maodi asked to go to Changping to sacrifice to the mausoleum and discuss the burial of Emperor Chongzhen.

Man Qing still refused: "I have cried for you, sacrificed, and buried for you. Why did you cry, sacrifice, and bury? When the first emperor was alive, thieves did not send troops; Beg for thieves. The late emperor will not be sacrificed by your disloyal ministers in the south of the Yangtze River!"

He also handed over a letter of appeal to the mission to accuse the ministers in Nanjing of "the first crime is not saving the late emperor;

The Qing court quickly led the troops to escort the mission back south, but Chen Hongfan suddenly suggested that Dorgon keep Zuo Maodi and others, because when Dorgon recruited him, he directly used the emperor's edict and did not shy away from it. Chen Hongfan felt that If I want to go south to appease all the officials, it is better to do it in secret, in fact, I am afraid that the emperor and ministers of Nanming will kill him.

Dorgon adopted the suggestion, sent troops to intercept the mission in Cangzhou, and escorted it back to Beijing.

(End of this chapter)