The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 78 Qing's Decision

Shenzhou Continent.

After leaving Yingtian Prefecture, Ji Yun and Fengshen Jilun immediately boarded the same passenger ship they had come on and headed north along the Yangtze River.

The group returned to Shuntianfu, the capital of the Qing Dynasty, half a month later.

The wounds on Fengshen Jilun's body have all healed, and he is now able to walk.

But he deliberately continued to have people carry him on a stretcher and followed Ji Yun into the palace to meet Emperor Qianlong.

Qianlong was not mentally prepared and was frightened by Fengshen Jilun's posture:
"What happened? What kind of injury did you suffer?"

Fengshen Jilun immediately exaggerated his trip to the Ming Dynasty:
"...In short, the damned Southern Dynasty people deliberately didn't tell us how we should perform etiquette.

"When I bowed to the King of Wu as they usually do, he shouted that I was a barbarian and didn't know etiquette, and threatened to chop off my head.

"It was because Mr. Ji helped me beg for mercy that the King of Wu changed the beheading to beating with a stick.

"He hit me with twenty sticks, and my entire back was covered in blood!
"Your Majesty, please make the decision for me!"

After hearing this, Qianlong frowned and looked at Ji Yun.

Fengshen Jilun said some nice things to Ji Yun in his speech, actually he was trying to win over Ji Yun to cooperate with him.

Ji Yun also carefully considered his words and said:
"The Honglu Temple of the Southern Dynasty did it on purpose. They didn't specifically remind us how to behave when we meet their King Wu.

"After meeting the King of Wu of the Southern Dynasty, the eunuch at that time shouted 'Bow' directly.

“My Lord Commander and I instinctively bowed and saluted, but the eunuch kept shouting over and over again.

“After hearing it for the third time, I suddenly realized that they might want the kowtow ceremony from the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago.

“But the situation was too urgent at the time, and I was too late to remind the commander-in-chief, which led to him being humiliated by the King of Wu from the Southern Dynasty.

“It should be said that the King of Wu from the Southern Dynasty was well prepared and was deliberately trying to humiliate our group.

"If the Lord Commander and I were to realize this, he would probably find another way to humiliate the two of us."

Qianlong asked with a stern face:
"And then? How did the Southern Dynasty respond to our request?"

Ji Yun was a little confused, thinking, isn't the fact that your grandson was beaten not as important as the news from the Southern Dynasty?
However, Ji Yun did not dare to show surprise, but reported the situation honestly:

"The Southern Dynasty allowed us to participate in the peace talks and treaty, and all the land we occupied in North America could be divided among us.

"But I require Your Majesty... that you sign in the name of the Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou in the Nurgan Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty..."

Fengshen Jilun immediately followed suit and added fuel to the fire:

"These people from the Southern Dynasty are so arrogant that they actually want the Qing Dynasty to sign a contract as their vassal. They have really forgotten how powerful our Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers are!"

There was no change on Qianlong's face, but he kicked Fengshen Jilun directly:
"stand up!"

Fengshen Jilun immediately shouted:

"Ouch—"

Qianlong immediately kicked again:
"If the people of the Southern Dynasty are really ruthless, they can beat you to death with twenty strokes of the cane."

Fengshen Jilun was seen through by Qianlong and could only climb up with the help of a stretcher, but he still kept chattering:

"Your Majesty, the people of the Southern Dynasty are so arrogant that they bully our envoys like this. Are we just going to let it go?"

Qianlong went up and kicked again:
"It's a good thing I didn't beat you to death. It's good for you to suffer more when you are young.

"Go find your third uncle right now and go to North America with him.

"Draft an imperial decree to transfer Fengshen Jilun to the post of deputy commander of the American forces of the Bordered Blue Banner."

Fengshen Jilun was very unhappy, but he also knew that his grandfather had the final say, so he could only leave the Qianqing Palace with a lot of complaints.

After Fengshen Jilun left, Ji Yun asked Qianlong about his attitude:

"Your Majesty, the attitude of the Southern Dynasty is very tough. Should we continue to interact with them?"

Qianlong pondered for a long time:

"The draft decree is to establish a Nurgan Dusi Office in North America, under which will be a Jianzhou Zuowei Commandery Office, which will nominally govern the entire North America.

"The Emperor ordered the fifteenth son, Yongyan, to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Nurgan Military Region and concurrently the commander-in-chief of the Jianzhou Left Guard." The commander-in-chief's office is stationed in the capital and is solely responsible for dealings with the Southern Dynasty. It is not currently responsible for the specific affairs of the North American development.

"All North American affairs will be temporarily handled by the original government agencies of the North American Camp."

Qianlong planned to let his son take the blame for him by giving him the title of Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou in the Nurgan Military Region, and later asked him to sign the treaty.

At the same time, all the land in North America was nominally granted to this son, but he was not allowed to actually manage the affairs.

In short, he manually created a loophole to avoid the problem of being a vassal of the Southern Dynasty in the treaty.

If an officer in the Ming Dynasty had multiple hereditary military positions, he could have reserved one for his eldest son in the future, allowing his other sons to obtain other hereditary military positions in advance.

The Commander of the Left Guard of Jianzhou was originally a hereditary military position, and such an arrangement was indeed in line with the previous rules, but it had to be conferred by the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in the past.

Ji Yun made a serious analysis on his way back to the north and felt that Qianlong would probably still accept the conditions of the Southern Ming.

Although its reputation would be damaged, if this treaty was signed, it would be equivalent to the Southern Dynasty recognizing the Qing Dynasty's land ownership in North America.

If a fierce war to destroy a country really happens in the future, this position and land ownership will be a ready-made way of compromise.

There would be no problem in really surrendering and moving to North America.

Ji Yun just didn't expect that Qianlong would actually transfer this title to his son.

This seems to help avoid some reputation issues.

If the content of this agreement were leaked, people would only see that the commander of the Jianzhou Left Guard of the Nurgan Regional Military Commission of the Qing Dynasty signed the agreement.

I wouldn't immediately think that in the Ming Dynasty, this identity belongs to the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, not to a certain prince.

This way, the impact on the reputation of the Qing Emperor can be minimized.

Ji Yun subconsciously wanted to compliment and praise Qianlong's intelligence and wisdom.

But before he even said it, he realized that Qianlong might not be proud of such a thing, and might even feel ashamed and humiliated in his heart.

So Ji Yun didn't respond directly and watched Qianlong instruct the grand secretaries to complete the procedures.

Later, Qianlong gave Heshen and Ji Yun a new title respectively, and both of them were officials under the Jianzhou Zuowei Yamen.

When the formal negotiations take place in the future, let them both go to Yingtian Prefecture.

Heshen and Ji Yun both felt uneasy when they heard about the appointment and really didn't want to do this job.

Officials such as Heshen and Ji Yun had actually known for a long time that the Southern Ming court had extremely high hostility and disgust towards the Qing Dynasty.

If it weren't for Emperor Taizong of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty might have been able to destroy the rebels and continue to rule the entire Central Plains instead of just half of the country.

If the subsequent Qing court had not been in long-term collusion with the vassal officials of the Southern Ming Dynasty, the Southern Ming Dynasty would have had a chance to successfully launch a northern expedition to the Central Plains.

It’s just that the two courts rarely had the opportunity to come into close contact in the past, so there was no chance to express disgust directly.

Even in the rare occasions when officials from both sides had to deal with each other, the Southern Dynasty did not have the hot-tempered little prince like today.

Before this young prince was enfeoffed, dealing with the Southern Dynasty court was obviously a thankless task.

However, the two had no way to disobey Qianlong's order and could only agree obediently.

Then the two began to study the history of the Ming Dynasty very carefully and in depth, especially the records of etiquette rules.

I was afraid that the next time I went there, the emperor or prince of the Southern Dynasty would find fault with me and beat me to death.

On the other hand, the Shun Kingdom raised the banner of the Ming Dynasty's Shun King in India and occupied the British colonies in northern India.

Afterwards, they came into contact with the Indian troops of the Ming Dynasty and established contact with the Ming court.

After the Byron Mission from Britain left Yingtian Prefecture, the Ming Emperor asked the Grand Secretaries to draft an imperial edict and send it to Shun State.

Invite the other party to send someone to Yingtianfu next summer to discuss the issues of power and border demarcation in the Indian region.

The Dashun Emperor Li Changshou would not kneel down to receive the imperial edict from the Ming Dynasty, but after receiving it, he happily accepted it and said that he would send someone.

Then he arranged for one of his younger brothers, a Han official, the Minister of Rites, and a Mongolian nobleman, to set off for the Ming Dynasty next spring.

(End of this chapter)