You can't only love the Qing Dynasty when you're eating the fruits of others' labor.

Chapter 349 The Total Outbreak of Conflicts in the Yongli Regime

The hall was quiet.

Everyone craned their necks and stared expectantly at the messenger, hoping to get a satisfactory answer.

The envoy looked around at the crowd, clasped his hands in greeting, and then spoke loudly.

"The Duke of Qian is a wise and experienced strategist. As his plenipotentiary envoy, I can answer these three questions you have raised."

"First, after joining the United Empire, the imperial court promises never to interfere with local armies, but they will need to be reorganized, eliminating the old, weak, and rogue, and keeping only the elite troops. Apart from that, nothing will change."

The military officers inside the hall all breathed a sigh of relief.

The envoy glanced at the Yongli Emperor, who looked flustered.

"Secondly, if the peace talks go smoothly, His Majesty will remain His Majesty, with his title unchanged, and will need to return to the Forbidden City. However, his imperial power will be restricted, and he will need the assistance of the civil service. Simply put, everything His Majesty wants to do in the future will have to be reviewed and approved by the cabinet."

Emperor Yongli's face turned ashen.

The civil officials inside the hall were extremely excited.

Great! My Ming Dynasty is back! My Ming Dynasty civil service has made a comeback! Treating the emperor as a mascot is the true Ming Dynasty!

……

The envoy took in everyone's reactions and sneered inwardly, "A bunch of vermin! With you around, how can we not destroy our country!"
He continued:
"Third, your loyalty is as clear as day, but after joining the United Empire, there are limited official positions. Whether you can retain your current titles and ranks depends on your abilities and loyalty. In short, some will be promoted and some will be demoted."

"However, the Grand Secretary said that the four of you, Prince of Jin, Prince of Shu, Duke of Liao, and Duke of Qian, need not worry. Everything will remain the same, with only additional titles and no reductions."

Wu'erte sneered.

"Even military power won't be stripped?"

"These are the Prime Minister's exact words, without alteration. After the peace is restored, they will still be allowed to lead their own troops, so I don't expect there will be any trouble. If trouble does arise, we can simply quell it with armed force."

The hall was quiet.

Everyone could feel the absolute confidence of Grand Secretary Jiang of the Ming Dynasty!
The envoy's smile vanished.

"Under the brilliant command of the Grand Secretary, the government troops wiped out Wu Sangui's 20-strong rebel army in just one day. I don't think anyone would consider themselves stronger than Wu Sangui, would they?"

Li Dingguo calmly countered with the question:
"Your Excellency, I am not very good at fighting, but I think that even 20 pigs could not be captured in a day, let alone 20 living people?"

"Your Highness is right. We can't catch them all, but we can drown them."

"What do you mean?"

"The Grand Secretary used cavalry to drive 20 Wu troops into the Xiang River. Otherwise, let alone a day, it would have taken three or five days to capture them all."

The hall suddenly became silent.

Everyone, including the Yongli Emperor, was intimidated by Chief Minister Jiang's ruthlessness.

First show kindness, then impose your authority!

Use both soft and hard tactics!

After successfully taking control of the situation, the envoy walked up to Li Dingguo.

"Your Highness Prince Jin has dedicated your life to destroying the Qing Dynasty. Now that the Qing Dynasty is gone, what are you still hesitating for?"

He then bowed to Yongli.

"The Forbidden City has already opened its gates, what is Your Majesty still hesitating for?"

"Everyone, farewell!"

Having said that, the messenger strode away.

……

This was a successful lobbying campaign, which led to the Yongli regime falling apart and experiencing an absurdly strong centrifugal force within it.

That night.

The area in front of the post station where the envoys stayed was bustling with activity, much like during the Lunar New Year.

Officials from all walks of life came to visit in an endless stream, their carriages stretching for a mile.

The first to visit was Ma Jixiang, who was in charge of the Yongli cabinet.

He spoke privately with the envoy for half an hour.

After he left, officials of all ranks visited him one after another, either to express their loyalty, to offer generous gifts, to build relationships, or to provide intelligence.

The idea of ​​limiting imperial power is brilliant!

With just this one sentence, the civil officials of the Yongli regime accepted the new chief minister and submitted to him wholeheartedly.

Facing various groups of people, the envoy smiled throughout, listened and recorded without expressing his opinion, and eventually compiled the account into a book titled "The Travels of Officials in the Southwest".

Military officers rarely visit.

This indirectly confirms that the Ming army in the southwest was still firmly in the hands of Li Dingguo, who held a high level of personal prestige within the army.

5 days later~
The messenger received a clear reply.

"The Emperor of the Ming Dynasty will dispatch Grand Secretary Ma Jixiang and Imperial Guard Korkun to Jiangning to participate in the peace negotiations scheduled for the tenth day of the tenth month." This is only the first step.

But the results were remarkable.

All the internal contradictions within the Yongli regime erupted.

Roughly:
The conflict between Yongli and his civil officials.

The conflict between Yongli and the Zhenglan Banner.

The conflict between civil officials and military generals.

The personal conflict between Li Dingguo and the Uerts.

The personal conflict between Li Dingguo and Ma Jixiang.

The slogan "Eat his mother's food, wear his mother's clothes" could no longer be shouted, and the Ming army's expansion plan in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces came to a standstill. The meat-eaters all hoped to go further in the united empire and had no interest in other things.

Chiang Kai-shek's political skills were superb.

He didn't actually do anything special; he simply found the original crack in the porcelain from the Southern Ming Dynasty, carefully tapped along the crack, and the crack widened on its own.

……

The night before the envoy left the capital.

Uert and Korkun paid a visit.

“Prince Jin, kill the envoy and fight to the end. The Ming Dynasty will either be restored or destroyed. There is no other choice.”

"My lord, I am conflicted."

"Your Highness, don't be naive. If we follow his path, neither of us will have a good future. In the ways of officialdom, even if we were tied together, we wouldn't be a match for his little finger. You haven't dealt with him, but I have. He's a devil."

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"You have military power; kill all the peacemakers."

"Wouldn't I then become a traitor and a rebel?"

"That's better than the country being destroyed. How can a real man act with hesitation? At worst, we can follow the example of the Qing Dynasty, enter the pass, go south, seize the Irrawaddy River, slaughter millions of them, and rebuild the new Ming Dynasty."

Li Dingguo sighed and shook his head.

Wuerte slammed the door and left.

objective comment:

Yongli was a good-for-nothing, Ma Jixiang was a good-for-nothing, and Mu Tianbo was an upright good-for-nothing.

Although Li Dingguo was a war god, he was too naive in the political arena.

From the moment the envoy entered Kunming and stood before Emperor Yongli and his ministers, he was doomed to lose.

His only way to resist is to launch a coup! Kill Yongli, kill all the civil officials, then establish himself as king and develop independently; perhaps he can carve out a new world for himself.

But he couldn't do that; character determines destiny! Everyone has an invisible rein around their neck, and some people have many reins around their necks.

……

The Yongli regime was rife with corruption and chaos.

Kinmen Island.

The Iron Man Army's training is in full swing.

Upon seeing Zheng Sen on his inspection tour, Ma Xin and Gan Hui hurriedly came to pay their respects.

"See you, Your Majesty."

"No need for formalities. How is the training?"

"Your Highness, your battle formations are skillful and you are ready to form an army."

"Yes, ever since my father's time, we have been strong in naval warfare but weak in land warfare. This weakness must be overcome, otherwise we will never be able to gain a foothold on land."

"Yes."

Zheng Sen then silently observed the Iron Man Army's drills for a while longer.

The armor worn by the soldiers covered them from head to toe, leaving only their eyes exposed. It was not traditional lamellar armor, but rather plate armor.

Arrows cannot penetrate it, and swords and spears cannot break through it.

This requires relatively advanced metallurgical technology.

suddenly~
The servants came running.

"Your Highness, the Qing court has sent people."

"Who's coming?"

Huang Zongxi.

(End of this chapter)