Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 379 Sincerity
In the lobby, Qu Shisi looked at Leng Sengji, who was solemn, and frowned, saying softly:
"Change location?"

"Yes, it is the change of place"

Leng Sengji's expression straightened up and he said in a deep voice
"The vast expanse of Huguang and the Central Plains is difficult to distinguish, but the southeast and southwest are naturally divisible."

"Now, our Great Qing has occupied Hanzhong and Baoning and has penetrated into Sichuan Province, while the three prefectures in southern Zhejiang occupied by the Great Ming have also penetrated into Zhejiang Province."

"The Qing Dynasty is willing to exchange places with the Ming Dynasty!"

"My Great Qing will hand over Hanzhong and Baoning to the Ming court, and your Great Ming will also hand over the three prefectures of southern Zhejiang to my Great Qing. In this way, in the southwest, the two sides can use the Qinling Mountains as the boundary, and in the southeast, the Xianxia Mountains as the boundary, and each of us can occupy a separate area."

"With these two mountain ranges separating us, we can reduce the number of troops stationed at the two borders and reduce the level of conflict between the two sides."

"In the past few years, our two sides have been in constant friction at several places on the border, and the people have suffered a lot. If our two dynasties can stop the war, it will also be a blessing for the people of several border provinces. What do you think, Mr. Qu?"

Qu Shisi looked at Leng Sengji, who had a sincere expression on his face. After just a moment's thought, he completely understood the Tartars' plan.
Qu Shisi sneered in his heart. These Tartars burned, killed, and looted in the Central Plains, and even enslaved millions of people in the Central Plains.

A bunch of barbarians, in order to carry out their evil schemes, have the nerve to talk about the welfare of the people.

Although Qu Shisi had discovered the Tartar's intention, he remained expressionless at this moment. He just frowned, as if he was thinking about the pros and cons of this matter.
Leng Sengji saw that Qu Shisi had been silent for a long time, but he didn't care and spoke again.

"The Qing Dynasty came here with the sincere intention of negotiating peace. The Ming Dynasty has a strong navy. Mr. Qu should know that after this change of territories, it will actually be more beneficial to the Ming Dynasty."

"Please Mr. Qu and His Royal Highness Gui, please seriously consider this proposal."

The Qing court had no decent navy at all. Now the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang are almost all controlled by the Ming navy.
After the two sides exchanged territory, although the Qing court occupied the entire Zhejiang Province, if the war broke out again in the future, the Ming court navy would be able to rely on its maritime advantage to quickly deploy troops and cut off the coastal areas of Zhejiang Province.
On the other hand, in the southwest, after the two sides exchanged land, the Qing court did not gain any advantage.
The Qinling Mountains stretch between Qin Province and Hanzhong. The cavalry, which the Qing court is good at, is at a disadvantage in this mountainous area. If the Qing army withdraws from Qin Province, it will not be easy to attack Hanzhong in the future.
If we only look at the situation after the two places were relocated, the Ming court was indeed more advantageous after the relocation.

But it doesn't work that way. Looking at these two places alone, the Ming court does have an advantage, but if you put it in the overall picture, that may not be the case.
Leng Sengji certainly understood that the Ming court would not easily agree to the exchange, but it didn't matter. He was just proposing the exchange before the formal peace talks.
Negotiations are always a matter of give and take, with both parties offering prices. As long as the Ming court is interested, it is just a matter of price.
Leng Sengji knew that although Qu Shisi was the prime minister of the Ming court, the matter of changing the place was definitely not something that Qu Shisi could decide.
After Leng Sengji proposed the change of location, he said goodbye and left, and Qu Shisi did not try to persuade him to stay.
After Leng Sengji left, the hall quickly became quiet, with only Qu Shisi sitting in the hall.

Qu Shisi looked at the figure disappearing outside the hall and suddenly sneered.

"There are so many loopholes. A bunch of barbarians actually want to learn from the Central Plains masters. It's just a joke."

Qu Shisi took the envelope from the table, then stood up and walked out of the house towards the palace.
In the study room of the Guangzhou Palace, Zhu Lang sat behind the desk while Li Chengzhi stood in the hall, reporting on the movements of the Qing Dynasty envoys in the past few days.
"Since arriving in Beijing, Leng Sengji, the chief envoy of the Qing Dynasty's envoys, has been visiting the residences of many ministers in the court on the pretext of delivering letters."

"At this time, except for the Prime Minister Qu, the other four ministers and the six ministries and nine officials, a total of 17 ministers in office, all received the letter sent by Leng Sengji."

"The letters that Leng Sengji carried were all written by a group of surrendered rebels. The 17 letters sent by the Qing invaders have now all been received by the Jinyi Palace."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lang put aside the memorial he had just reviewed, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and said softly:
"Did they go to the Jinyifu to get it, or did they deliver it themselves?"

"The Imperial Guards did not come to ask for the letters. All the letters were delivered to the Imperial Guards personally by the ministers. The seventeen letters were sealed intact and have never been opened."

Zhu Lang nodded upon hearing this. These ministers in the court were still sensible.

Of course, Leng Sengji was very thoughtful in sending these letters. The senders were either students or teachers of ministers in the court, or old friends of the same age.

Since Jiashen, the country has been in chaos, with the north and the south separated. To be honest, although the ministers in the court despised the sender of the letter, they also wanted to know some news about the old people in the north from the letter.

But the news of Leng Sengji's visit and letter delivery had already spread, and among these letters, there were even letters written by treacherous eunuchs such as Feng Quan and Jin Zhijun. Under such circumstances, who would dare to open and read those letters?
Not to mention opening and reading these letters, if they were not delivered in time, I'm afraid all the imperial censors in the court would immediately impeach the ministers who received the letters.

Zhu Lang just asked casually, but didn't take it too seriously. He said

“What did the letter say?”

"The Imperial Guards have only opened and read fourteen letters. The three letters that were just delivered today have not been checked yet."

"According to the letters I have opened, there is nothing special in the letters. They are all about advising officials in the court to do their best to promote peace talks."

"The Imperial Guards are still checking the contents of the letter to see if there are any hidden codes or secret messages in it."

Zhu Lang glanced at the summary of information handed over by Li Chengzhi and spoke again

"What is the current situation in the court?"

"Ever since Leng Sengji sent the letter to the city, all the ministers in the court have been very secretive about the peace talks. Now no one has submitted a memorial to mention the peace talks anymore."

Zhu Lang allowed Leng Sengji and others to move freely in the city. On the one hand, he wanted to see if he could catch a big fish, and on the other hand, he wanted to use the Qinglu envoys to shut up the ministers in the court.

After the news that the Qing government had sent an envoy to negotiate peace reached the court, a considerable number of ministers in the court actually submitted memorials to discuss the peace negotiations. Among these ministers, most were from Fujian and Guangdong provinces.

Although some ministers in the court supported peace talks, no one dared to say that they should divide the country according to the current battle line.
No one dared to speak of such things. The northern capital and the southern capital were now in the hands of the Qing court.

Under such circumstances, anyone who dared to persuade the court to give up both and negotiate peace immediately would probably be labeled a traitor the next day.
Most of the ministers who supported peace talks in the court believed that peace talks with the Qing court would only be possible if the Qing court returned the Southern Capital.

But in fact, this is basically impossible. Although the Qing court took the initiative to come, the situation in the court had not changed fundamentally. The main force of the Eight Banners of the Qing court was still there.
The Qing court would at most accept peace talks on the current front line, but would never give up Nanjing for nothing and return it to the Ming court.
But the problem now is not whether the peace talks can be successful, but that no one should even bring this up.

If the court now admits that it can start peace talks by returning Nanjing, then once the imperial court recovers Nanjing in the future and the Qing court sends people to it again, can the imperial court start peace talks with the Qing court?

As long as Nanjing is taken back, can the imperial court start to cease fighting, divide the river with the Qing court, and sit in the south to enjoy the colorful world?
Zhu Lang didn't want to argue with these people in the court anymore, so he decided to use the Qing Dynasty delegation to shut them up.

After the Qing Dynasty's envoys took action, the effect was indeed very good. After Leng Sengji sent the letter, almost no ministers in the court dared to talk about peace talks.

The Tartar envoy is sending letters in the city to advocate peace talks. If there are still ministers who want to make a petition to persuade them to make peace, then what is your intention, you villain? Have you been secretly instigated by the Tartar envoy to do things for the Tartar?

Leng Sengji sent letters to important officials in the court in order to promote the momentum of peace talks, but the result was that no one in the court dared to talk about peace talks anymore.
In order to clear their suspicion, the important officials of the court began to suppress the officials in their departments and strictly prohibited them from submitting memorials to discuss peace talks.
After listening to the situation in the court, Zhu Lang thought for a moment and then spoke

"After you've opened and read the letters, put them back into the envelopes and reseal them. Then, find a time to burn them in front of all the ministers in the court."

"Yes, I understand."

Li Chengzhi responded respectfully. He was about to continue reporting on the rebellion of the Qing envoys, but at this time Li Guoyong walked into the room and said

"Your Highness, Lord Qu is leading a group of other Lords in the Cabinet to see you."

Li Chengzhi also spoke at this time

"The Tartar envoy Leng Sengji is seeking to see Lord Qu through the Honglu Temple. Lord Qu should have finished his talk with Leng Sengji by now."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Lang also replied directly

"Let them in"

In the study, Qu Shisi, Lu Daqi and other five ministers were sitting in the room. After Zhu Lang read the letter presented by Qu Shisi, his face turned cold.

Zhu Lang ordered Li Guoyong to pass the letter to several cabinet ministers below, and then looked at Qu Shisi below.

"Have you confirmed that it was written by Qian Muzhai?"

"I recognize the handwriting. This letter was indeed written by Mr. Qian... Mr. Mu Zhai"

Qu Shisi hesitated for a moment before he replied. Sure enough, the next moment, a cold snort came from above.

"Good Qian Qianyi, good scalp itchy"

At this time, several cabinet ministers in the room had also finished reading Qian Qianyi's letter, and their faces were filled with inexplicable expressions.
Qian Qianyi was very famous at this time. During the Chongzhen period, Qian Qianyi was considered the leader of scholars in the world.

It was also because of Qian Qianyi's fame that after Qian Qianyi chose to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, various rumors about Qian Qianyi also spread wildly among the scholars.
Qian Qianyi is most famous for two things: "The water is too cold" and "My scalp is itchy". "The water is too cold" became more famous because of Liu Rushi's participation.
But in fact, after investigation, it can be basically determined that the water is too cold, while the itchy scalp is basically true.
After the Qing Dynasty occupied Jiangnan, it issued an order to shave the head. At that time, the people and scholars in Nanjing were discussing it. After hearing the order of the Qing Dynasty, Qian Qianyi told his family that his scalp was very itchy and left.
The people in Qian's house thought Qian Qianyi had gone out to buy a comb, but when Qian Qianyi returned home, they were shocked to find that Qian Qianyi had shaved his head and had a braid.
When the Qing army attacked Nanjing, Qian Qianyi and Wang Duo led all the officials in the city to surrender. After the surrender, Qian Qianyi wrote letters to recruit scholars from all over Jiangnan to surrender, and then entered the capital to serve as the Minister of Rites of the Qing court.
Qian Qianyi stayed in the capital for only one year before retiring to his hometown. Judging from Qian Qianyi's late actions of secretly assisting the Ming court's righteous army, Qian Qianyi's decision to take office was probably forced by the Qing court.

Qian Qianyi surrendered to the invaders in the early period, and later spent all his family wealth to secretly support the Jiangnan Volunteer Army. From this point of view alone, Qian Qianyi was just a scholar who still had a conscience but was afraid of death.

If Qian Qianyi was just an ordinary official in the Ming court, no one could criticize his actions, and one could even say that his situation was pitiful. However, this evaluation is not true for Qian Qianyi.

What is Qian Qianyi's identity? Before he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, Qian Qianyi was the leader of the Donglin School of the Ming Dynasty, the leader of the scholars, the master of the literary world, and his reputation spread all over the world.

Qian Qianyi was a man of great reputation, so how could he be evaluated by the standards of an ordinary official?
You can't remember that you are a leader of scholars when you are enjoying the praise of the world.

Qian Qianyi's surrender to the Qing Dynasty had an extremely bad impact. Qian Qianyi's kneeling and shaving outside Nanjing almost destroyed the resistance morale of most of Jiangnan.
When the Qing army reached the city of Nanjing, everyone in the city was saying that Qian Qianyi would die for his country. Even Qian Qianyi himself said that he would die for his country. But in the end, he knelt down and surrendered.
The gentry in Jiangnan were originally bound by the integrity of scholars, and even if they surrendered to the Qing court, they would hide their identities and feel ashamed to see others.

But after Qian Qianyi surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, all the scholars in Jiangnan surrendered to the Qing Dynasty without any scruples and became justified.
Even Qian Qianyi, the leader of the world's scholars, surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, so what did their surrender to the Qing Dynasty mean?

If we regard Qian Qianyi as a respectable and lamentable person just because he secretly restored the Ming Dynasty in his later years, then what about Ni Yuanlu and Li Banghua who resolutely died for their country in the north, and what about Shi Kefa and Zhang Guowei who swore to defend the city to the death in the south?

In the study, Lu Daqi, He Wuzuo and others looked at Qu Shisi with strange expressions on their faces. Qian Qianyi was not only the leader of Donglin, but also the teacher of Qu Shisi, the current prime minister of the Ming court.
When Qu Shisi was sixteen years old, he began to study with Qian Qianyi. He was a real disciple, not a nominal teacher-student relationship like during the imperial examination.
Zhu Lang was about to curse a few more times, but looking at Qu Shisi who was silent below him, he finally waved his hand and said

"Okay, let's not talk about this person anymore."

Although Zhu Lang disliked Qian Qianyi, he was still Qu Shisi's teacher after all.
Even if Zhu Lang continued to scold him, Qian Qianyi would not know that Qu Shisi was the Prime Minister, so he had to give Qu Shisi some face.
When Qu Shisi saw that His Royal Highness the Regent had taken the initiative to disclose the matter of Qian Qianyi, a trace of gratitude flashed across his face.
In this era, the relationship between master and disciple was an extremely close one. Even though Qian Qianyi's kneeling and surrendering to the enemy was despised by others, Qu Shisi, as his disciple, could not be easily insulted.

The master-disciple relationship between Qu Shisi and Qian Qianyi has become a weakness of Qu Shisi. If the court really wants to investigate further, it is not impossible that Qu Shisi will be dismissed from his position as prime minister because of this.

Zhu Lang threw Qian Qianyi's letter aside and said

"That Leng Sengji has been making trouble in the city for the past few days. What on earth does he want to do?"

Upon hearing this, Qu Shisi immediately replied

"The Qing invaders are cunning and treacherous. When we met today, they actually proposed to exchange Hanzhong and Baoning for the land in southern Zhejiang. They are really harboring evil intentions."

After hearing Qu Shisi's report, Zhu Lang thought about it for a moment and immediately understood the Qing court's intention.

Zhu Lang sneered and said

"It seems that the Tartars have no sincerity, but that's OK, I didn't intend to negotiate peace with them anyway."

The Qing court was determined to exchange the two places and separate them, which seemed to be very sincere, but in fact, the Qing court had no intention of negotiating peace.
The Qing court thought it was keeping it secret, but in fact, the ministers in the Ming court had already grasped the situation inside the Qing court.

The Baoning and Hanzhong that the Qing court proposed to exchange were the lands occupied by Haoge. Even if the two sides negotiated and agreed to exchange lands, the Qing court could not afford to exchange Hanzhong with the Ming court.
The Qing court sent an envoy this time not to negotiate peace with the Ming Dynasty, but to use the peace talks to eliminate Haoge.

With the support of Jirgalang and Shunzhi, Hauge is still the general of the Western Expedition and still occupies Hanzhong, Baoning and other places.
After the peace talks between the Ming and Qing dynasties, Dorgon won the upper hand. If Hauge withdrew from Hanzhong as ordered, it would become a sourceless stream and would inevitably be annexed by Dorgon.
If Hauge refused to withdraw from Hanzhong, Dorgon could label him a traitor and send troops to attack him, accusing him of sabotaging the peace talks.
Dorgon sent people here just to use the Ming court to accuse Hauge of disrupting the peace talks, and then force the Qing court to send troops to attack Hauge.

As long as he could induce the Ming court to agree to a change of location for peace talks, Dorgon could even join forces with the Ming army to attack from both the north and the south and completely strangle Hauge.
As for whether they would really switch sides with the Ming court after getting rid of Hauge, we would talk about it at that time. Even if the agreement was really broken in the future, the Qing court would only lose some reputation, and the Qing court cared least about its so-called reputation.
(End of this chapter)