Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 321 Li Yi: I will be grateful to you for what you have done to me…

Li Yi concluded his inspection of the Yellow River embankment construction site in Tai'an.

The camera clicked several more pictures of him caring about the victims and even personally mixing cement and participating in the construction of the levee.

After finishing all this, Li Yi left the construction site on the Yellow River embankment with his mind set on returning to Jining.

Along the way, Li Yi was thinking about immigration.

Currently, there are only two directions in the whole of East Asia that can accommodate large-scale immigration.

One is Nanyang, and the other is Liaodong outside the Great Wall.

Among them, Nanyang was still in the hands of the Netherlands and Spain, although the Tang Dynasty had occupied some concessions from the Netherlands and Spain.

But at most it will be small-scale immigration, large-scale immigration is definitely not possible.

Besides, northerners cannot adapt to the climate of Southeast Asia. If they really want to immigrate, I don’t know how many will die on the way.

If Li Yi really wanted to force the northerners to immigrate to Southeast Asia, the people's hearts that the Tang Dynasty had just won would probably be lost.

As for the situation outside the Great Wall, it is not easy to deal with it at the moment.

Because, now the areas outside the Great Wall are still in the hands of the Qing Dynasty. If the Tang Dynasty wants to immigrate to the areas outside the Great Wall, it depends on whether the Qing Dynasty agrees.

If it doesn't work, you still have to fight!

However, the current Tang Dynasty is truly unable to start another war.

Li Yi had just returned to Jining and had not had time to settle down when he saw Li Liang coming hurriedly to report.

"Kings!"

"I have something important to report!"

Li Yi jumped off the horse and turned to say to Li Liang.

"Follow!"

"Come in first and then talk."

As soon as he finished speaking, he took Li Liang into the temporary headquarters.

Li Yi entered the study, dragged a chair and sat down, then looked up and asked.

"Tell me, what happened?"

Li Liang took a deep breath and spoke.

"In reply to Your Majesty, the latest news has been sent back from Shanghai."

"The Tokugawa shogunate of Japan sent envoys to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty. The envoys brought 100,000 dan of grain with them."

"We are going to donate it to the disaster-stricken areas on the front line free of charge, as a gift from the shogunate to the Tang Dynasty."

When Li Yi heard this, a strange expression appeared on his face.

When did the Japs become so generous?

When they provide disaster relief to other countries, don't they like to donate paper cranes the most?
Why did they really give us food this time?
"what is going on?"

Li Yi asked.

Li Liang took a few steps forward, came to Li Yi, and recounted to him the details of what had happened.

"Your Majesty, this is what happened..."

After listening to Li Liang's explanation, Li Yi's expression looked a little strange.

"Tsk, that's interesting."

"This Liang Geng is really interesting. He is a talented person and can be promoted later."

Seeing this, Li Liang asked.

"Your Majesty, are you going to receive the envoy sent by the shogunate?"

Li Yi picked up the teacup, took a sip, and laughed.

"Let's meet!"

"Since the Tang Dynasty has accepted the food sent by the shogunate, it is reasonable for us to meet the shogunate's envoy."

This is called eating someone's mouth short...

Li Liang heard this and said immediately.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

Then he continued.

"Your Majesty, besides this, I have two more things to report."

Li Yi nodded slightly and then asked.

"Which two things? Just tell me directly!"

Li Liang heard this and spoke.

"The first thing is the news coming back from Vietnam."

"Since the news of the Yellow River bursting its banks came, our Tang Dynasty has started to purchase grain from Vietnam, Siam and other countries to fill the domestic food gap."

"But when the Vietnamese king Nguyen Phuc learned that the Tang Dynasty was buying grain from Vietnam on a large scale, he ordered to cut off trade with the Tang Dynasty merchants, expel the Tang Dynasty merchants, and prohibit Vietnamese grain from being exported."

"In addition, the Qing court sent another delegation to negotiate peace with the Tang Dynasty."

"Please make the decision, Your Majesty!"

Hearing this, Li Yi's eyes flashed with murderous intent and he asked with a frown.

"Why did Vietnam prohibit the export of grain to the Tang Dynasty?"

"Who gave Nguyen Phuc Shih the courage to dare to put pressure on the Tang Dynasty at this time?"

Upon hearing this, Li Liang replied with a serious expression.

"In reply to your Majesty, according to the spies that the Tang Dynasty has deployed in Vietnam, the reason why Vietnam banned grain exports should be because of the interference of Britain and France."

"Moreover, not only did Vietnam ban the grain trade with the Tang Dynasty, but even merchants from Western countries also massively reduced their grain quotas when they came to the Tang Dynasty to trade."

Li Yi's face became quite calm when he heard this.

There was murderous intent flashing in his eyes.

"Good! Good! Good!"

"Great Vietnam, great Britain and France!" In fact, in the original history, Vietnam does not get along with Britain and France, and the contradictions between the two sides are very deep.

In just a few years, France will launch an aggressive war against Vietnam.

However, although Vietnam, Britain and France did not get along, they had a common enemy, the Tang Dynasty.

Britain and France had just suffered losses in the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, and they were unwilling to accept this humiliation. They wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Tang Dynasty was suffering from a disaster and urgently needed to import grain to alleviate the domestic disaster to cause trouble for the Tang Dynasty.

Vietnam has a similar idea.

Although they were at odds with Britain and France, Britain and France were far away in Europe. Even if Vietnam was at odds with Britain and France, Britain and France could only colonize Vietnam at most, but could not destroy Vietnam.

But Vietnam is right under the nose of the Tang Dynasty. Once the Tang Dynasty unifies the world and expands outward, Vietnam will be in real danger of extinction.

Of course, it is normal for Vietnam to have this concern. Every time a dynasty in the Central Plains changed, didn’t it have to use Vietnam to gain military advantage when the country was first established?
Otherwise, why would Wang Bo’s father go to Vietnam to serve as a county magistrate?
The enemy of the enemy is the friend.

Therefore, Vietnam, Britain and France chose to get involved at this juncture and tacitly stop exporting grain to the Tang Dynasty in an attempt to delay the process of Tang Dynasty's unification of the country.

Li Yi frowned and continued to ask.

"Then why does the Qing Dynasty want to negotiate peace with the Tang Dynasty?"

"The Tang Dynasty has already reached Tianjin. What is there to negotiate?"

Li Yi was somewhat confused about the Qing Dynasty's thinking.

Upon hearing this, Li Liang began to explain.

"In reply to your Majesty, according to the information sent back by the spies in the capital."

"The Manchus are now preparing to withdraw to the Liaodong area outside the Great Wall. Some time ago, Heilongjiang General Yinglong outside the Great Wall asked the Qing court for help, saying that Tsarist Russia was trying to invade the south and had a conflict with the Qing court's border troops outside the Great Wall. The situation was extremely unfavorable to the Qing army."

"The Qing court wants to send troops to reinforce the war outside the Great Wall, so it is prepared to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty for the time being."

Li Yi's face became more gloomy when he heard this.

If the Qing court wanted to negotiate before this, Li Yi would naturally never agree.

However, the situation now is somewhat different.

Vietnam, Britain and France took advantage of the fact that the Tang Dynasty was unable to take action in the south and started to stir up trouble, while the Qing government took the initiative to seek peace and wanted to dispatch troops to fight against Tsarist Russia.

Under such circumstances, it seems to be a good choice for the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty to negotiate so that both sides can free up their hands to teach the foreign enemy a lesson...

In addition, Li Yi was thinking about whether he could take advantage of this peace talk to get a piece of land outside the Great Wall, and then immigrate from Shandong to the outside of the Great Wall, and start the tide of breaking into Guandong in advance.

Well, it is actually quite close for Shandong immigrants to go outside the customs by sea.

The straight-line distance from Yantai to Dalian is less than 200 kilometers, and it only takes six or seven hours at most to get there by ferry.

In this day and age, even if a sailboat is not as fast as a ferry in later times, it is definitely enough for one day and one night.

After thinking for a long time, Li Yi spoke.

"First, send an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to negotiate with Vietnam."

"At the same time, we sent telegrams to the Guangdong-Guangxi Theater and the South China Sea Fleet, asking them to make preparations to send troops to Vietnam and punish Vietnam with force."

"If the Department of Diplomacy can't reach an agreement, then we'll fight!"

"Vietnam dares to act like a fool in front of the Tang Dynasty. It really doesn't know how to live or die!"

Although the Tang Dynasty mobilized the main force of its naval fleet for the Northern Expedition, it still stationed a considerable number of fleets in Guangdong.

In addition, there are the latest ships launched by the Guangzhou Shipyard.

Although we may not be able to defeat the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance, we should be able to teach Vietnam a lesson.

Today's Vietnam is no longer the "Little Overlord of Southeast Asia" and "the third most powerful military country in the world" of later generations. The combat effectiveness of its army is very weak.

What if the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet takes the opportunity to attack?
Well, that’s actually not something you need to consider.

Because after defeating Japan and forcing Japan to open its country, the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet disbanded and withdrew.

The ships still stationed in the Far East do not pose such a great threat to the Tang army!
After explaining this, Li Yi pondered for a moment and then spoke.

"As for the Qing court's request for peace talks..."

"Well, since the Qing court has taken the initiative to seek peace, let's talk to them!"

Facts have proved that although Li Yi has a bottom line, his bottom line is extremely flexible.

Although he disliked the Qing Dynasty, especially after the Qing Dynasty blew up the Yellow River dike.

However, driven by sufficient interests, he did not mind temporarily negotiating with the Qing Dynasty.

Well, Zhu Yuanzhang was once a vassal of the Yuan Dynasty. Did this prevent him from “expelling the Tartars, restoring China” and becoming a truly great emperor throughout history?

It doesn't interfere at all!
History is written by the victors. As long as you can achieve the final victory, temporary humiliation will not matter.

Furthermore, in this so-called peace talk, it was the Qing Dynasty that took the initiative to seek peace with the Tang Dynasty. If any concessions were to be made, it was the Qing Dynasty that made them. How could the Tang Dynasty endure such humiliation?

It's just that Li Yi himself feels a little uncomfortable.

Upon hearing this, Li Liang clasped his fists and took his leave, then went downstairs to convey Li Yi's order.

……

Shanghai, Posthouse!
Masamune Horita got up early in the morning and went to the table to prepare for breakfast.

His breakfast is very Chinese, with soy milk, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and fried cakes...

In addition to these foods, there was also a newspaper on the table in front of Masamune Horita.

The title of the newspaper was written in bold black letters: "Tang Daily".

Masamune Horita was eating breakfast while flipping through the newspaper in his hand.

[The three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan have changed their flags. The situation in the southwest has been determined. The trend of the unification of the Tang Dynasty will be realized...]

[The rebellion in the northwest became increasingly serious, and the local Han people suffered greatly from the rebels. Shi Dakai, the Wing King of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led his army to personally fight, defeated the rebels in Tianshui, and beheaded tens of thousands of them...]

[Vietnam immediately ordered to cut off grain trade with the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has lodged a solemn protest...]

[The Tsarist Russia invaded Heilongjiang, and the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty was attacked. The Qing Dynasty may dispatch troops to deal with the Tsarist Russia's invasion from the south...]

The relevant contents in this Tang Daily are all important world trends in recent times.

Although these so-called world trends belonged to the Tang Dynasty rather than Japan, Masamune Horida still watched them with great interest.

Because he needs to extract relevant information from this newspaper to judge the current situation facing the Tang Dynasty.

And, judge what to say after meeting King Tang.

(End of this chapter)