Xie Ming

August 25th, the first year of the Hongguang reign.

After Liu Fangliang's part of Li Zicheng's Dashun Army advanced eastward for the second time, it attacked the southwest of the capital. However, due to the full-scale counterattack launched by Ajige's troops, it was completely defeated and retreated westward to Shanxi.

On the 26th, Ni Yuanlu, the deputy assistant of the Southern Court and the Minister of Personnel, Shi Kefa, the Minister of War, together with Zuo Maodi, the Right Vice Minister of War, Ma Shaoyou, the Doctor of Military Affairs, Chen Hongfan, the Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, and more than a hundred relevant personnel, formed a team to go north to negotiate peace.

They marched north in a mighty force to negotiate peace with the Qing court.

By the beginning of September, peace talks were just beginning.

The Southern side has four main issues of concern and policy and strategic demands.

1. The territory was divided and governed differently on the north and south sides of the Yellow River.

At this time, the Southern Dynasty was actually still fantasizing that the Qing court would voluntarily give up the attack on southern Shandong and only occupy the area north of the capital to determine the ownership of the territory. The bottom line was at least not to cross the Yellow River and invade southward.

2. Annual tribute and the Western Expedition.

No matter how unwilling the Southern Court Emperor Zhu Cilang was, he could not resist the coercion of his ministers.

In fact, during this period, most of the officials and nobles of the Southern Ming Dynasty had secretly regarded themselves as the Southern Song Dynasty.

We hope to promote negotiations through annual tribute and achieve permanent peace with the Qing government under a new situation.

Moreover, this annual tribute was also given a high-sounding name, disguised as military expenses in Ni Yuanlu's plan of driving the tiger to devour the wolf.

In this way, the world would be more accepting and the Southern Dynasty's reputation would be saved.

As for the Western Expedition, there is more room for implementation.

3. The relationship between each other’s titles.

This proposal is still trying to make up for the loss, but it is just a superficial effort.

It was first proposed by Ni Yuanlu, Ma Shiying and others, and later it was decided to be discussed. It is said that Emperor Shunzhi was still young, and there was an age difference between him and Emperor Hongguang. So later on, they decided to establish the two countries as brothers, with the South being the elder brother and the North being the younger brother.

Fourth, the reason for reburying the late Emperor Chongzhen.

This issue was also very important because when Li Zicheng was defeated, he buried Emperor Chongzhen in the tomb of Concubine Tian. The Southern Ming hoped that the Qing court would return the old emperor's body to the south and rebuild the mausoleum in Nanjing for burial.

In general, the four discussions revealed that the Southern Ming Dynasty had already tacitly approved of the Qing Dynasty's rule over the Central Plains between the lines.

The so-called negotiation is nothing more than a way to gain greater benefits.

The Qing court was also happy to see the emergence of this ambiguous period.

Moreover, at this time, it was difficult for Dorgon to fully understand the strength of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

After the first discussion, Dorgon weighed his words and made sharp responses.

It is a long and eloquent speech, but it avoids the important points. In general, there are four requirements.

First, make it clear to the Southern Court that, in response to its request, the Qing army would seek an opportunity in September or October to march westward and deal a devastating blow to Li Zicheng's Dashun Army, in order to comfort the spirit of Emperor Chongzhen in heaven and to avenge the Southern Ming.

This theory also implies that the Southern Court was first given benefits in order to trap the latter and deceive their minds.

Second, it questioned the establishment of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

Give a sweet date and then you will get a stick.

From a moral perspective, Dorgon questioned Ni Yuanlu, asking why he should establish a new emperor when Chongzhen's great revenge had not yet been avenged?
Well, it seems that this is just a plan to embarrass people, but this question has a great impact on the mentality of the old ministers of the noble families below.

3. State your exact position.

A warning to the Southern Ming: The Qing Dynasty has entered the capital and is occupying the northern Zhili and Jingji areas. These lands were seized from the Dashun rebels, not the old Ming territory that was forcibly taken.

In fact, it was a declaration of the Qing Dynasty's absolute sovereignty over the area north of the Yellow River.

Fourth, question the Southern Court: since they keep saying they want to avenge the late emperor, why are they so timid and inactive?

Do you want to reap the benefits while sitting back and waiting?

He also pointed out directly that as for military expenses, if the Qing army's cooperation was required, it must be paid in advance every year.

With these four rows, a combination of hardness and softness, Dorgon took advantage of the Southern Dynasty ministers' fear of the enemy.

Although he didn't say anything absolute, he did take advantage of it and expressed his own wishes. After that, in the discussion, Ni Yuanlu, Shi Kefa and others responded to each other without any strong statements, and they had no confidence at all.

After all, the Southern court was unwilling to send troops to fight the enemy, and took the initiative to send envoys to negotiate peace, which was a sign of complete weakness.

Therefore, as the negotiations continued, Zuo Maodi, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, Chen Hongfan, the Prince's Junior Tutor, and others were openly detained in the capital by the Qing court.

Only important officials such as Ni Yuanlu and Shi Kefa were allowed to return to the south to appease the ministers of the Southern Ming Dynasty.

They said that the peace talks were settled, but there was no money and the Qing army could not send troops immediately.

According to Dorgon's idea, once the plan was successful, he would first extort money from the people.

Secondly, if the Southern Ming Dynasty relaxed its control and continued to invade the south, the Southern Dynasty would be caught off guard.

In short, the peace talks initiated by the Southern Ming Dynasty completely ruined the best opportunity to destroy the Qing Dynasty in a short period of time.

As one side gained strength while the other side declined, the short-sighted Hongguang court, which was content to stay in a corner, might have eventually gone down the old path of raising a tiger to cause trouble.

If we allow the Qing army to continue to march westward with frequent reports of victory, by then the enemy will be strong and we will be weak, and Hongguang will also be in danger.

The words in "On the Six Kingdoms" about bribing Qin to seek peace are still fresh in my ears, but I have no time to look back today.

What to do? What to do.
——The destruction of the six states was not due to their inferior armies or poor fighting skills, but to their bribery of Qin.

To bribe Qin and weaken one's strength is the way to destruction.

Some people ask: Did the six states suffer mutual destruction because they bribed Qin?
He said: Those who do not bribe will be ruined by those who bribe, because they will lose strong support and cannot survive alone. Therefore, he said: The harm lies in bribing Qin.

——In addition to conquering and taking over, Qin also captured small towns and large cities.

Compared with what Qin gained, what he gained from the victory was actually a hundred times more.
The number of princes who died was actually a hundred times that of those who died in defeat in battle.

Therefore, what Qin desires most and what the princes fear most is not war.

Think of your ancestors who braved the frost and dew, and cut through the thorns to gain a piece of land.

Their descendants do not value them very much and give them away to others, just like discarded grass.

Cut five cities today, cut ten cities tomorrow, and then have to sleep well overnight.

He started to look around the surrounding areas, and the Qin soldiers arrived again.

However, the territories of the princes were limited, and the desires of the tyrannical Qin were insatiable. The more tributes they paid, the more urgent the invasions became.

Therefore, the victory or defeat of the strong and the weak has been decided without fighting.

As for overthrow, it is reasonable.

As the ancients said: "To serve Qin with land is like trying to put out a fire with firewood. If the firewood is not exhausted, the fire will not be extinguished."

This is what I said.

Later, due to the smooth progress of the peace talks, the Southern Court also made further arrangements for the four towns in eastern Shandong and northern Jiangsu.

1. He appointed Huang Degong to important posts, stationed him in Jinan with all his strength, and took full control of Shandong military affairs.

He also strongly advocated that the tens of thousands of soldiers originally stationed in Huangzhi Town in Chuzhou should all move northward and enter the Shandong border to take over the defense of many places on the south bank of the Yellow River.

Second, Gao Jie's original troops in Fengyang were officially approved to be under the command of Dai Gao Jinku, and the local elite troops were reduced to make them capable of being dispatched to Henan in the future.

Third, Liu Zeqing and Liu Liangzuo had more than 100,000 troops, with Yanzhou and Linyi as their strongholds, and also re-established strategic towns.

The remaining troops from the former Yangzhou and Xuzhou will be taken north on a chosen day, and their original garrisons will also be assigned to different places for management. The two places will be used as a temporary buffer, and a further decision will be made based on the situation later.

It was obvious that the purpose of this dispatch was to take over southern Shandong as much as possible and restore the Southern Ming rule.

It means a method of advancement, but unfortunately, Shandong has no strategic location to defend, and the four former towns in northern Jiangsu are just a formality.

As the saying goes, there are policies from above and countermeasures from below.

Whether the plan succeeded or not, or whether it was good or bad, is not even worth discussing; the following actions were already a mess.

Such reckless behavior will lead to endless troubles and disasters are not far away.
(End of this chapter)