Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 376 Coolness
In Sangtian Village, Liu Wang and others verified the identities of Guan Can and others and brought the delegation back to the village.

The villagers knew that a Tartar delegation was coming, but they were unwilling to let the Tartars stay in the village.

After understanding the villagers' wishes, Guan Can did not force them and directly placed the Qing Dynasty delegation in a dilapidated temple outside the village.

At the gate of the dilapidated temple, the sky gradually darkened. Liu Wang bowed to Guan Can and said:
"The countryside may not be as prosperous as the city, but there is no shortage of chicken, duck, fish and meat."

"The village has prepared wine and meat to welcome General Guan and his brothers to calm their nerves."

Just as Guan Can was about to speak, the guard Luo Shi in the dilapidated temple behind him looked dissatisfied and said loudly:

"Guan Can, what exactly do you mean by arranging this dilapidated temple?"

Guan Can's face turned cold when he heard this.

Guan Can ignored the loud shouting Luo Shi and looked directly at Leng Sengji in the back, and shouted in a deep voice:
"Leng Sengji, because you left the team without permission, you have caused trouble several times along the way. My patience has its limits."

"You can stay in this temple or not. I don't have the time to send anyone to watch you tonight. If you have the guts, go to the village and cause trouble. See if I dare to kill you Tartars!"

After Guan Can finished speaking, he ignored Leng Sengji and the others who looked unhappy. He only left two soldiers at the gate of the ruined temple to pass on the message, and then led the remaining Wuxiang Army soldiers to the village for the banquet.
In the evening, the village head Liu Bao led a few young men to deliver food to the dilapidated temple.
The envoy's guard Luo Shi looked at the porridge and pickles on the ground with an angry look on his face. He couldn't help but shout:

"We are the envoys of the Qing Dynasty. What are these things you sent?"

"Where's Guan Can? Ask him to come over. I have plenty of money. Send the wine and meat over quickly."

Luo Shi looked at the one-armed man in front of him and threw a few silver ingots directly to the middle-aged man's feet. The fire in the temple shone, and the silver ingots rolled to the ground, emitting a hazy silver light.
The young men who followed them looked at the silver ingots on the ground and couldn't help swallowing their saliva, but Liu Bao didn't even look at them and said in a cold voice:
“Whether you like it or not”

"If it weren't for General Guan's order, I would have fed it to the dogs rather than let you wait for these Tartars."

"You guys are wasting the good rice porridge by giving it to you Tartars!"

The people in the Ming court who were most hostile to the Qing court were not the people in Fujian, Guangdong, Huguang and other places who had been slaughtered by the Qing invaders, but the imperial guards in the court.

The generals in the army were deliberately indulgent, and coupled with the preaching of the military missionaries day after day, the imperial guards from top to bottom were extremely hostile to the Qing court.

The porridge sent to the temple was actually freshly made, but Liu Bao and others put it in cold water to cool it down completely before sending it to the temple.
Liu Bao ignored the gloomy faces of the envoys and turned around to hand the two bamboo baskets to the two soldiers at the door.

The white cloth on the bamboo basket was opened. In one basket was a pot of steaming white rice, and in the other basket were roasted meat, fried fish, and a fat chicken. There were also two bottles of freshly boiled rice wine in the basket.
"Brothers, please eat first. If it is not enough, please go to the village to get more."

"The Tartars are always cunning. If they behave strangely, you two can go to the village for help. We villagers will come to help immediately."

A tall and strong soldier at the door glanced at the envoys behind him and said

"Captain Liu, just rest assured, these Tartars don't have the guts to mess around."

"But having said that, I really want these Tartars to take action. Once they do, the general will be able to justify killing them all!"

When the Qing Dynasty envoys heard this, their expressions changed slightly, but the tall and strong soldier remained expressionless and said in a cold voice:
"Negotiation of peace, fucking peace!"

"How many Han people have been killed by these dogs? I think even if Qin Hui appeared in our court, what can we discuss with the dogs?"

Liu Bao was stunned at first, but then nodded happily.
After delivering the meal, Liu Bao led the young men back to the village, while the two soldiers guarding the gate went directly into the back room and ate and drank by themselves, without worrying that the envoys would go out and cause trouble.
In the ruined temple, the leader of the delegation, Luo Shi, saw the empty gate and looked angry.

"Sir, these Ming dogs have been making things difficult for us along the way and have no intention of negotiating peace. Why should we go to Guangzhou and endure their humiliation?"

"These Ming people are so arrogant after only a small victory. When the Qing cavalry rushes into Fujian and Guangdong in the future, we will kill these Ming dogs one by one. I wonder if these lowly people will dare to be so arrogant again!"

Leng Sengji saw the angry envoys and said in a deep voice:
"Going to the Ming court to negotiate peace was a task assigned by the Regent himself. It is the Ming people's business if they do not want to negotiate peace, but we must not let anything go wrong here."

Leng Sengji was Dorgon's confidant, so he naturally knew the real intention of Dorgon's peace talks.

The great victories of the Ming court in recent years not only caused the Qing court to lose several provinces in the south

After the news of the Ming Dynasty's victory in the south spread, it greatly inspired the Han people in the northern Central Plains. Now, various rebel armies in Jiangnan and Hebei provinces have risen up, making the Qing Dynasty somewhat anxious.
Dorgon proposed peace talks at this time, on the one hand to solve the domestic bandit problem, on the other hand to solve the problem of Hauge
Jirgalang and others guessed correctly that the reason why Dorgon wanted to negotiate peace with the Ming court at this time was to solve the problem of Hauge, the rebellious

Why did the Qing army's reinforcements take so long and were so scarce during the Huguang War? It was because a considerable part of Dorgon's direct troops were transferred to Qin Province to defend Hanzhong, which made the Qing army's reinforcements stretched to the limit.
If Dorgon wanted to maintain a state of war with the Ming court and deploy troops on the border, then Dorgon would not be able to spare enough troops to deal with Hauge.
The Qing court was quite sincere in negotiating peace this time, and really wanted to promote the peace talks.

However, the experience of the delegation after entering Fujian and Zhejiang made Leng Sengji realize that it might be difficult to negotiate peace.
Although the Ming court agreed to allow Leng Sengji and others to go to Guangzhou, it strictly ordered local governments not to receive the Qing delegation, and the delegation had to be responsible for their own accommodation and water along the way.
Although Leng Sengji and others were dissatisfied, they could barely accept it because when the Hongguang Dynasty delegation went to the Qing court to seek peace, they were also treated in the same way.

Now that the Qing court has taken the initiative to ask for peace, these Ming people will certainly not miss this opportunity and will definitely try to regain their former face from these people.

The official attitude of the Ming court could be explained by equal retaliation, but the attitude of the common people towards them made Leng Sengji feel that this peace talk was probably hopeless.

The Ming court strictly ordered that no government offices along the way were allowed to receive guests, so Leng Sengji and others had to solve their own food and lodging problems.
As they traveled, the people along the way were either terrified or angry when they learned of their Qing identity, but without exception, everyone was extremely hostile to them.
Leng Sengji and his men had money in their hands, but they could not stay in a hotel or buy food. The members of the delegation could not even buy a roast chicken with ten taels of silver.

When they were in Fujian Province, there were also merchants who coveted money and secretly sold them drinking water. However, when the people in the city found out, they were immediately caught and beaten by the people. After a few times, no one dared to sell anything to the delegation anymore.

Since entering Fujian Province, the Qing Dynasty delegation has been relying on dry biscuits provided by the escorting soldiers. This is why Luo Shi quietly left the team that day and bought bacon on the road in secret.
The people in the delegation were all nobles from various banners in the capital. They had been used to eating delicacies from land and sea in the past few years in Beijing. How could they bear such a hard life?

What happened today made Leng Sengji feel even more heavy-hearted. Luo Shi went out to buy food in secret, and there was no imperial guards following him.

But just because the thin braids on the back of their heads were accidentally exposed, the villagers spontaneously organized themselves and tried to hunt them down.
This shows that the hostility of the Ming people towards the Qing court was almost spontaneous. Whether in the county town or in the countryside, there were a large number of people who were hostile to the Qing court.

Although Leng Sengji's conclusion was good, there was a slight deviation in the process.

Chaozhou and Huizhou were extremely special places in the Ming court. After the land was divided between the two places, most of the people in the two places were soldiers of the imperial army and their families.

Ordinary people may still be afraid of the Tartars, but these imperial guards have no fear of them at all.

Leng Sengji had already discovered that at this time, not only the common people in the Ming court were dissatisfied with the peace talks, but even the soldiers of the Ming court were equally dissatisfied with the peace talks.

The two Ming soldiers just now shouted and called for killing, seemingly trying to scare the delegation, but Leng Sengji and others knew very well that this was not just a simple threat.

These Ming soldiers provoked the envoys several times during the escort process. They were not just talking, but were really ready to force the envoys to take action.

As long as the envoys couldn't help but take action first, Guan Can and others could kill the envoys and completely destroy the peace talks. Leng Sengji thought about the various experiences along the way, and his heart became heavier. Now the only people he could count on were the ministers in the central government of the Ming court.

Since the Ming court was willing to allow the delegation to enter Beijing, it means that the Ming court leaders still have ideas about peace talks.
If the Ming court officials really didn't want to negotiate peace, they could just drive them away. Why did they let them come to Beijing? It couldn't be just to humiliate them on the way.

In the dilapidated temple, cold porridge was placed on the ground, but no one came to take it. Suddenly, a middle-aged man in a long gown stood up and walked towards the porridge bowl.
The middle-aged man took a broken bowl beside him and scooped a bowl of cold porridge, but he didn't even take the pickled vegetables beside him. He just sat in the corner and drank the porridge bowl.
On the night of the first month of the lunar calendar, the weather was extremely cold. The porridge in the bowl had already cooled down completely. The porridge tasted like ice and snow. The middle-aged man shivered as he drank the porridge.

Luo Shi looked at the man in the long gown whose face turned pale from the cold, and couldn't help but speak.

"Master Li, these Ming people are doing bad things. Please heat up the porridge before drinking it."

The man in the long gown forced a smile on his face and said in a trembling voice
"It's alright, Commander Luo Shi, please help yourself, this porridge tastes really cool."

The middle-aged man said, holding the bowl of porridge again, and continued to drink. While drinking, his body kept shaking.
Seeing the man shaking in front of him, Luo Shi was speechless for a while, and then he no longer cared about the man in front of him.

These scholars have never been in their right minds. If he wants to drink cold porridge, then let him drink it.
After finding out the reason for the interception in Sangtian Village today, the bacon that Luo Shi secretly bought was also confiscated by Guan Can and others.
At this time, the delegation had nothing to eat except the cold porridge in front of them.
Leng Sengji and his companions had not had a drop of water since they were surrounded at noon.
The envoys were so hungry that they didn't care about anything else. They put the porridge bowl on the fire to heat it up, and then ate it with pickles.

The delegation was drinking hot porridge around the fire, but the man in the long gown was lying in the corner with his back to the crowd.
The man looked out the window at the dark night, and two lines of tears suddenly slid down his face.

Guangzhou, Jinyi Mansion, Deng Mingwu sat behind his desk, looking at the intelligence collected by the Secret Guard Division.
Under the desk, Yang Bingzhong, a captain of the Imperial Guard, was reporting on the situation of the Qing Dynasty delegation.
"The chief envoy of the Qing Dynasty delegation is named Leng Sengji, a member of the Plain Yellow Banner, and a minister of the Imperial Guards Department of the Qing Dynasty."

"The spies that the Secret Guards have planted in Beijing are all Han Chinese, and they are unable to obtain intelligence on the movements of high-ranking officials of the Eight Banners. We only know that this person is Dorgon's confidant."

"The deputy envoy of the Qing Dynasty delegation is named Li Wen, a secretary of the Qing Dynasty cabinet, and is highly regarded by Dorgon."

"There are five Han officials in the Qing envoys here. This person has the highest status among them and is the one most likely to instigate rebellion."

Li Wen, a native of Songjiang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, was a member of several former societies. He was proficient in poetry and prose, and enjoyed great fame in the Jiangnan literary world at a young age.
Although Li Wen became famous at a young age, his path to the imperial examination was not smooth. It was not until two years before the fall of the Chongzhen Dynasty that Li Wen passed the examination.
When the Qing Dynasty captured the capital, Li Wen was in the city. Later, because of his fame in the literary world, he was recommended to the Qing court and served as a secretary.

The most famous achievement of this person was that he wrote a letter of persuasion to Shi Kefa on behalf of Dorgon. Because of this letter of persuasion, Li Wen was deeply trusted by Dorgon, but it also made Li Wen infamous.

According to the original trajectory, Li Wen should have died of illness on the way back home three years ago, but three years ago, the Ming army launched a massive counterattack on Fujian and Zhejiang, and the Qing invaders in the Jiangnan area were also in a state of panic.

In order to prevent scholars from returning home and taking the opportunity to start a rebellion, the Qing government strictly prohibited officials in Beijing from leaving their posts and returning home.

Li Wen stayed in the capital until last year, when he was appointed by Dorgon as the deputy envoy of the delegation to the Ming court.

Deng Mingwu frowned as he looked at Li Wen's resume. According to the intelligence, Li Wen had already served in the Qing court when the Qing invaders entered Beijing.

After this person entered the Qing court, he personally wrote an edict to persuade Shi Kefa to surrender. Many of the Qing court's edicts and imperial edicts were also written by this person. Just looking at this resume, Li Wen can be said to be a traitor among traitors.
Deng Mingwu looked at Yang Bingzhong below and said

"Since this person is highly valued by the prince Dorgon, how can we persuade him to rebel?"

Upon hearing this, Yang Bingzhong also replied respectfully

"Sir, allow me to report that although this person entered the Qing court very early, according to the intelligence obtained by the secret guards, this person seems to have no intention of pursuing a career in the Qing court."

"This man was one of the earliest Jiangnan scholars to serve in the Qing court. He was trusted by the prince Dorgon. During his time there, he not only wrote many memorials for the Qing court, but also served as the first examiner of the Shuntianfu provincial examination in the Qing court."

"With this person's qualifications, if he had intended to pursue a career in government, he should have been a senior official in the Qing court by now. But now, five or six years have passed, and he is still a secretary of the Central Secretariat."

"After the Secret Guards sorted out this person's resume, they concluded that this person was intentionally wasting his career."

"During his time as an official in the Qing Dynasty, he disregarded his own safety and repeatedly traveled to the Qing court to protect the orphans and families of anti-Qing heroes in Jiangnan. His poems and essays often revealed regret."

"Therefore, I believe this person is most likely to be instigated to rebel and be used by the imperial court."

Deng Mingwu took the detailed information from the bottom and looked through it. After a quarter of an hour, Deng Mingwu put down the information in his hand.

Deng Mingwu looked at the poems collected by the Secret Guard on the table and snorted coldly.

"I heard you swear to heaven, I am ashamed, I wish to protect Nanshan Nan again?"

"This southern half of the sky was taken back by your highness and other soldiers after bloody battles on the front lines, killing hundreds of thousands of prisoners. It is not something he can save by writing a few crooked poems or swearing a few oaths."

"I miss you so much every day and every night, and my tears have accumulated for two years and become like frost on my clothes?"

"Can crying day and night kill the Tartars? If crying works, then what is the use of weapons and imperial guards?"

"You say you want to return home, but now you are serving as a fake official in the Qing court, enjoying the splendor and wealth of the Qing court. You are a fraud and a thief."

Deng Mingwu spoke in a cold voice, but Yang Bingzhong below seemed to be deaf to it. He just lowered his head and stood below, waiting for Deng Mingwu's decision.

Deng Mingwu flipped through the information on the table several times. Although Deng Mingwu didn't like this person, he had to admit that this person was indeed very valuable. Just because this person was trusted by Dorgon, it was worth a try.
Deng Mingwu thought for a moment before speaking
"Well, let's make this person our target this time."

Yang Bingzhong's face relaxed when he heard this, and then he immediately said

"I chose this person as my target, not only because he has repented, but also because he has a wide network of friends."

"There are several officials in the court who are old friends of this person. If the court wants to incite this person to rebel, I'm afraid it will need the help of several officials in the court."

Deng Mingwu heard this, but waved his hand and said

"Make a good plan, write a proposal and submit it to me. I will communicate with the people in the court and ask them to come forward."

"Yes, I will prepare it right away."

Yang Bingzhong responded and left the room.

The Jinyifu was busy planning the rebellion, and Leng Sengji and other Qing envoys went through hardships and finally arrived in Guangzhou City under the escort of the Wuxiang Army.

(End of this chapter)