Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 327 Yi: I would rather befriend foreign nations than befriend my domestic slaves!
After several days of quarreling and wrangling, the negotiations between the Tang Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty finally came to an end.

But the final result was a breakup.

The two sides were unable to reach any conclusion in this negotiation.

The reason for this is very simple, because the conditions proposed by both parties are too far apart.

The Tang army wanted the Qing government to compensate them for the losses caused by blowing up the Yellow River embankment and thus changing the course of the Yellow River. They wanted the Qing emperor to abdicate and become a vassal. They wanted the Qing government to cede the land of the Liaodong Peninsula outside the Great Wall.

Of these conditions, except for compensation for the blown-up of the Yellow River dike, the Qing Dynasty would never agree to the other two.

If Yi announced his abdication himself, he would not be able to explain to the Qing court.

As soon as he announced his abdication, the Eight Banners would probably launch a Qing Dynasty version of the coup d'état.

Well, Emperor Daoguang had more than just two sons, Xianfeng and Yi.

If Yi doesn't do it, there are plenty of people who will!

The cession of land outside the Great Wall was a sore spot for the Qing Dynasty.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty wanted to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty again was to be able to withdraw troops from the interior to reinforce the areas outside the Great Wall and expel the invasion of Tsarist Russia from the birthplace of the Qing Dynasty.

However, the conditions for peace talks proposed by the Tang Dynasty were that the Qing Dynasty cede the land outside the Great Wall.

How could the Qing Dynasty possibly accept this?

Drive away the Russians and welcome the Tang army. It would be better to let the Russians stay in the north.

The distance between Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty was more than thousands of miles.
It would be impossible for Tsarist Russia to destroy the Qing Dynasty across thousands of miles of territory.

But once the Tang army went outside the Great Wall, the Qing Dynasty would really lose even its last retreat outside the Great Wall.

Similarly, the Tang Dynasty could not accept the conditions proposed by the Qing court.

Although the Qing government agreed to compensate for the Yellow River embankment and to withdraw from the Great Wall, it demanded that the Tang army withdraw from Tianjin and the area north of the Yellow River, giving the Qing Dynasty ten years to prepare.

Ten years later, the Manchus will naturally migrate out of the country.

Naturally, the Tang Dynasty could not accept such conditions.

Ten years, even if Li Yi started his rebellion, it has not even been ten years in total.

How could he possibly wait for the Qing Dynasty for ten years!
Therefore, the two parties parted ways unhappily during the negotiations.

After seeing off the Qing Dynasty's negotiation delegation, Zhuang Yuandao came to meet Li Yi and submitted a negotiation minutes.

"Your Majesty, these are the minutes of the negotiations between our Tang Dynasty and the Qing Yao during this period of time."

"Your Majesty, please have a look!"

Li Yi nodded slightly when he heard this, took the negotiation minutes and began to read them.

Zhuang Yuandao carefully reported the negotiation process to Li Yi.

A moment later, after listening to Zhuang Yuandao's report, Li Yi stopped flipping through the books in his hand, looked up and said to Zhuang Yuandao.

"If it doesn't work, then it doesn't work."

"Originally, I was just negotiating with Qing Yao this time. If it works out, that's the best. If it doesn't, that's fine too."

"It is expected that the Qing army will not be able to launch a counterattack against the Tang Dynasty in the short term."

Zhuang Yuandao just responded when he heard this.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Li Yi nodded slightly, then continued.

"Since the negotiations with Qing Yao have come to an end, there is no need to worry about this matter any more."

"It just so happens that I have a task that I need to entrust to the Qing family."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yuandao bowed immediately.

"Please give me your instructions, Your Majesty."

Li Yi nodded slightly and then said.

"The imperial court is preparing to send troops to Vietnam to suppress the rebellion."

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also needs to send personnel to Cambodia, Laos, Siam and other Southeast Asian countries to contact them."

"We ask all countries to remain neutral in the upcoming war between the Tang Dynasty and Vietnam, and even try to gain support from all countries to form a coalition to jointly attack Vietnam."

"How about letting your family lead the team to the various countries in Southeast Asia and negotiate with them?"

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to attack Vietnam, it naturally could not just make a decision and start fighting.

Before fighting, preparations must be made in all aspects, including military, diplomatic, political, and propaganda.

Needless to say, in terms of military, the army needs to formulate combat plans in advance, prepare the military supplies and food needed for combat, and conduct adaptive training.

These are all the tasks of the General Staff.

In terms of diplomacy, it is necessary to stabilize all forces that may participate in the war, isolate Vietnam, and even form a coalition to fight Vietnam together.

It will never go wrong to make your enemies fewer and your friends more.

And this is the task of the Department of Diplomacy.

Li Yi was going to assign this task to Zhuang Yuandao.

Of course, this is not actually that difficult.

Vietnam is known as the little overlord of Southeast Asia. Laos and Cambodia, which border Vietnam, have both been invaded by Vietnam.

If the Tang Dynasty wanted to attack Vietnam, they would most likely choose to get involved, to seek revenge if necessary and to settle grievances if necessary.

Even if we don't get involved, it's impossible for us to stand on Vietnam's side.

As for countries like Siam and Myanmar, they are likely to remain neutral.

They have no common interests with Vietnam, so why would they stand against the Tang Dynasty, the big daddy of East Asia, for Vietnam?
Upon hearing this, Zhuang Yuandao bowed again.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I promise to complete the task."

Li Yi continued.

“In addition, when the Department of Foreign Affairs is active in Southeast Asia, it must also pay attention to the movements of countries such as Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Spain.”

"The reason why Vietnam dared to cut off the grain trade and provoke our Tang Dynasty this time is that these Westerners are interfering and even instigating them."

"I am worried that the Southeast Asian countries will make an unwise choice under the instigation of Westerners such as Britain, France, the Netherlands and Spain, and stand on the side of Vietnam to fight against the imperial army of our Tang Dynasty." Zhuang Yuandao agreed again, then took his leave.

……

Capital, Forbidden City!

Baojun and Shen Guifen returned to the capital and went straight into the imperial city to report to Yi on the specific matters of their negotiations with the Tang army.

After hearing the reports from Baojun and Shen Guifen, Yi's face visibly darkened.

"The peace talks have failed. It looks like the war will have to continue."

Rui Lin, who was standing by, saw this and spoke up.

"Your Majesty, let me tell you that although the peace talks have failed, the war does not necessarily have to continue."

"As of now, the Tang bandits are in Shandong to provide disaster relief, so they should be unable to continue their advance."

"As long as the Qing Dynasty firmly guards the fortresses and does not take the initiative to go out of the city to fight, giving the Tang army a chance to fight in the field, then the Tang bandits will most likely not take the initiative to attack."

Yi nodded upon hearing this.

"Rui Lin's words make sense."

"But I am worried that the Tang thieves will attack outside the Great Wall."

"During this peace talk, the Tang thieves proposed that the Qing Dynasty cede the land outside the Great Wall. I'm afraid this is not without purpose."

"Now that the peace talks have failed and the Tang thieves cannot achieve their goals through negotiations, it is not impossible that they will choose to use military force outside the Great Wall."

It is normal to use knives and guns to get what you can't get at the negotiation table.

As soon as Yi said this, everyone fell silent for a moment.

Yes, what if the Tang army attacks outside the Great Wall?
If they take the land route, it would be difficult for the Tang army to attack outside the Great Wall.

Zhili, Shanhaiguan, and Liaoxi Corridor are all obstacles.

But what if the Tang army advanced by sea?

It’s not far from Dengzhou in Shandong to Lushun.

The Qing army's current defense focus is on the capital, the Liaoxi Corridor, and Shengjing outside the Great Wall. The southern Liaoning area is quite empty.

Once the Tang army lands in Lushun, it will be able to directly threaten Shengjing.

Baojun, who was standing by, heard this and spoke.

"Your Majesty, I thought you could give an order to Lord Gui Liang, ordering him to dispatch troops to reinforce southern Liaoning in case of emergency."

Gui Liang is now outside the Great Wall, in charge of the Qing court's reclamation affairs outside the Great Wall.

In order to reclaim the land outside the Great Wall as quickly as possible, Yi gave him the power to act at his discretion.

Now that troops need to be deployed outside the Great Wall, naturally Gui Liang can only go.

Yi thought for a long time, but still said.

"I am afraid that even if Gui Liang dispatches troops to reinforce southern Liaoning, he will not be able to stop the Tang bandits' offensive."

The troops under Guiliang's command are not elite.

It might be enough to suppress civil unrest and deal with bandits, but it was not enough in the face of the Tang army.

Upon hearing this, everyone could not help but remain silent.

However, at this moment, a burst of hurried footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hall.

Yi looked up and saw Lin Ronglu running in from outside.

"Report! Your Majesty, urgent news from outside the Great Wall!"

Lin Ronglu strode up to Yi and handed him a memorial with both hands.

Yi took the report and simply glanced at it, and the expression on his face changed from gloomy to bright.

Although the negotiations between the Qing Dynasty and the Tang bandits were fruitless.

However, Shengbao, who led his troops outside the Great Wall to reinforce the war in Heilongjiang, brought back good news.

After Shengbao contacted the representatives of Tsarist Russia, Tsarist Russia expressed its willingness to send troops to help the Qing Dynasty fight against the Tang army.

The special envoy sent by the Central Powers for negotiations has arrived in Shengjing and is on his way to the interior.

Shengbao's memorial was intended to allow the capital to make preparations in advance to welcome the Russian envoy.

Yihe reported this and couldn't help laughing.

"Yeah!"

"My Qing Dynasty has gained another helper!"

Suddenly, Yi seemed to remember something and spoke.

"By the way, didn't Britain, France, the United States and other countries send special envoys to stay in the capital?"

"Go and invite the envoys from various countries, and tell them that I have important matters to discuss with them."

Although the envoys of the great powers in China are now stationed in Guangzhou, their diplomatic focus on China is also the Tang Dynasty.

However, although the Qing Dynasty was weak, it still had several provinces and hundreds of thousands of troops, and could be considered a powerful force.

The great powers would naturally send envoys to the Qing Dynasty. After all, sending an envoy did not take much effort.

Ruilin, Baojun and others all looked at Yi, as if asking what Yi was going to do.

Yi made some eye contact with everyone, and stroked his beard with a smug look on his face.

"I am prepared to cede Lushun and other places to Western powers such as Britain and France."

"Don't the Tang thieves want to march beyond the Great Wall and take over southern Liaoning of the Qing Dynasty? I will not let them do as they wish."

"I would rather give my land to friendly nations than to my slaves. Even if I give my land to Westerners for free, I will never give it to the Tang thieves."

When everyone heard this, they immediately understood what Yi was thinking.

This is a preparation to use the great powers such as Britain and France to protect the Qing Dynasty from disaster!

(End of this chapter)