Chapter 1513 Tripartite Talks

Of course, Sha Xi was very aware of the process arrangement of this negotiation. He first asked Mei Shengchuan to interview Hao Wanqing on Zhifu Island, Shandong, and asked Hao Wanqing to confirm that his identity and intention of coming were indeed true. Then he brought Mei Shengchuan to Lushun, Liaodong, for talks with him.

At this stage, some intentional things must be finalized, and finally Umegawa will be arranged to meet with Bai Kesi. This step is to directly sign some previously negotiated diplomatic agreements. In principle, there will be no further lengthy consultations and negotiations.

But if Sha Xi fails to deal with Mei Shengchuan in this link, then until Bai Kesi comes forward, there will be very little buffer space left for Haihan, and this is definitely not a situation he wants to see. Sha Xi saw the navy and army drills arranged

It was all over, but the other party still didn't make a clear statement, which made him feel a little frustrated. He originally thought that arranging so many activities to show off force would make Umeikawa, who had already indirectly benefited, give up completely.

prevention, but the actual results are far from expected.

Why does this happen? Sha Xi thinks that this is probably because Mei Shengchuan's position is still more inclined to the Ming Dynasty. This is of course not surprising. After all, Mei Shengchuan was born in the Ming Dynasty and his current foundation is also in the Ming Dynasty. It is impossible to be like

Like those lower-class immigrants, they chose to be loyal to their new masters in order to have food, clothing, and a stable life.

But based on Sha Xi's past operational experience in the south, he originally expected that the other party would loosen its position after receiving the money sent through Dongjiang Town. Coupled with the show of force arranged here, it should be a natural progression for him to loosen his stance.

But judging from the current situation, Umeikawa is not that easy to get rid of. At least compared to those bureaucrats in the south, Umeikawa's position is much more stable and has not been shaken by the threats and inducements in front of him. This is probably the reason.

The professional ethics of senior officials.

Although it is still not possible to grasp Mei Shengchuan's true attitude, one thing is certain for Sha Xi. Since the Ming Dynasty sent the Minister of War to Liaodong for talks, it shows that the other party should also have the idea of ​​​​promoting peace through talks and living in peace with Haihan.

But how Ming intends to proceed with this matter, and what kind of requirements they have, Mei Shengchuan has not put forward so far. Based on his past experience, Sha Xi believes that this is a strategy of the other party, and delays the pace first.

Try to temper your patience, and then slowly release conditions to restore the current negotiation disadvantage bit by bit.

Sha Xi is no stranger to this kind of negotiation strategy. There are many officials from the Ming Dynasty who he has come into contact with in the past who have used similar methods. However, the difference is that the level of officials he has come into contact with in the past is limited to one province at most.

The conditions for bargaining are only based on a certain place, and it is difficult to cause real trouble to Haihan. But the Minister of War currently dealing with him is a genuine high-ranking official of the imperial court, and his attitude is to a certain extent

It represents the attitude of the Ming Dynasty, and the conditions he can offer are likely not limited to the southern coastal areas where Haihan influence is relatively strong.

Sha Xi did not dare to underestimate this uncontrollable situation. After all, this was Haihan's first contact with a senior official of the imperial court. It can be said that there was no experience to follow before, and everything could only be based on trial and error. For the sake of caution, Sha Xi did not dare to

If you continue to rush for success, otherwise if you make Mei Shengchuan feel disgusted, you may not even be able to solve the problem with money.

Fortunately, until now, Umeikawa has not shown any obvious dissatisfaction with Haihan, and is also willing to continue the talks. The best way to deal with it at the moment may really be to slow down the pace of negotiations and let the other party set the conditions.

I brought it up to have a look.

After Sha Xi sent Mei Shengchuan back to his residence, he immediately used the radio to inform Bai Kesi in the north of the situation. Bai Kesi was relatively optimistic about this. He believed that the situation was still under his control, even if the other party proposed some

The conditions that will make things difficult for Haihan are that at least the Liaodong side is unlikely to be affected by the Ming Dynasty, because the Ming Navy currently does not have the ability to fight across the Bohai Sea. Instead, Haihan occupied Zhifu Island and Lushun two

After the important ports, it has formed a stranglehold on the Bohai Bay. If you advance, you can land in the Gyeonggi area from the sea, if you retreat, you can block the waterways in and out of the Bohai Sea, and attack the coastal states of the Shandong Peninsula. So from a military perspective, Haihan

The situation in the Bohai Sea can be said to have taken the absolute initiative, and there is no fear of Ming Dynasty's tough measures.

After getting Bai Kesi's opinion, Sha Xi felt a little calmer. After all, with the military as the backing of negotiations, this confidence must be much stronger than that of the Ming Dynasty, which is now in decline.

The next day, the two sides returned to the negotiating table, and Sha Xi once again raised the issue of establishing communications and even military assistance between the two countries. Sure enough, after a night of buffering, Mei Shengchuan opened his mouth and put forward the Ming Dynasty's request.

The first thing Mei Shengchuan put forward was the territorial demand. The territory Haihan occupied from the Ming Dynasty must recognize the sovereignty of the Ming Dynasty, and at least the power of jurisdiction and governance must be returned to the hands of the Ming Dynasty. This request includes many southern coastal areas including Hainan Island.

The islands, Shandong, and Liaodong areas occupied by Haihan are also listed. However, Taiwan Island was not included in it because it had not been included in the territory of the Ming Dynasty before.

The Ming court also knew that it was impossible for Haihan to willingly surrender these occupied areas, so this request was very sensible as long as Haihan recognized its sovereignty and retained Ming local governance in these areas, at least in form.

dominance in the world.

In addition, the second requirement of the Ming court is that Haihan guarantees that he will not take any military actions in the territory of the Ming Dynasty without notification. This requirement also applies to the Liaodong region that has been occupied by the enemy.

In other words, the Ming Dynasty requested that officials such as military supervisors be stationed at various locations of the Haihan Army to ensure that Haihan’s military actions would not harm the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

As for Haihan's proposal to establish communication and trade, it can only be realized if Haihan meets these two conditions. In other words, Ming Dynasty wants to use this method to regain the current disadvantage in the relationship between the two countries.

.

Sha Xi knew very well that the essence of the communication method of negotiation was to ask for a high price and pay back the money on the spot. Although the conditions offered by the other party sounded like it was impossible to get Haihan's consent, Sha Xi also understood that the conditions were serious.

, people are alive, and since it is a negotiation, there is room for bargaining. Whether the two parties can finally reach an agreement depends on how much common interests they have. What Haihan is good at is not only the use of military means to siege cities, but also the extent of common interests.

Beyond the land, it was to provide Ming officials with ways to make money.

Of course, Mei Shengchuan is a relatively special case. Although he accepted Haihan's benefits and even helped Haihan do some work to manage the court's relations, he did not intend to choose the path of treason, but hoped to cooperate with Haihan.

While maintaining peaceful coexistence with Han Dynasty, it strived for more favorable conditions for Ming Dynasty. In this case, if the ways of making money and common interests that Haihan wants to give are limited to Mei Shengchuan personally, it may be difficult for him to choose.

yield.

Sha Xi decided to convince people with reason and refuted the other party's requests one by one: "Mr. Mei, since you have made the request on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, let's open the sky and speak clearly. These disputed territories, even our country

If you give it back with both hands, the Ming Dynasty will encounter great resistance if it wants to reclaim these lands, and it may even cause civil strife in the Ming Dynasty. Do you understand why?"

Mei Shengchuan had already guessed what he had learned a few days before contacting him: "It's because there are too many people in Ming Dynasty who have interests in you. If these lands are to be returned to Ming Dynasty, these people will inevitably be affected."

interests. If Ming Dynasty wants to reclaim its territory, these people are natural opponents."

Sha Xi nodded and said: "Once these lands are returned to the hands of the Ming Dynasty, even if the industries they invested in are not confiscated, they will be taxed heavily as a punishment for cooperating with Haihan in private. The industries owned by Haihan in the area occupied by Haihan will exceed

The more money you have, the more likely you are to be severely punished by your court in the end. Don’t forget, Mr. Mei, that the people who invest the most money in our country are precisely the officials at all levels in your country. These people will not just watch their property being filled.

In the treasury.”

Mei Shengchuan sighed and said: "Even so, the imperial court's will must still be carried out."

"I'm just afraid that you won't be able to carry it out at all!" Sha Xi sneered: "Not to mention far away, even if the emperor is far away, even if there is a will, it will be useless. Just talk about nearby places, such as Shandong and Liaodong, what will the Ming Dynasty do?

Take it back? Can you send troops to station in Liaodong? You can also send supervisory troops, but the battlefield is very risky and we cannot guarantee your personal safety."

After being reminded by Bai Kesi, Sha Xi had already seen the weakness of Ming Dynasty very accurately and was not worried about what tough military measures Ming Dynasty could take. If the officials of the Ministry of War of Ming Dynasty were not dizzy, they would realize that negotiation is their only option.

Any attempt to solve the problem peacefully or by military means may cause the outbreak of war between the two countries, which may lead to irreparable consequences.

Of course, Mei Shengchuan was aware of the risks involved, so his toughness was only verbal, and he did not dare to speak too harshly to avoid ending the situation. But this kind of inadvertent weakness naturally escaped

However, after Sha Xi's observation, he immediately responded with words.

Mei Shengchuan didn't know that the difficulty of executing these things was no less than a national war. If he had a choice, he might choose to settle the matter and continue to maintain the current state of peace with Haihan. As for those who have been killed by Haihan

What would happen to the islands occupied by the Han even if they were taken back? If the Ming Dynasty could manage these islands as well as the Han Dynasty, how could it have easily lost control of these places?

As for the appointment of supervisory troops to the Haihan Army's garrison, Mei Shengchuan could only secretly scold Zhang Fengyi, the Minister of War, for this idea was too stupid. Just think about it and you will know that if the Ming Dynasty sent supervisory troops to the camp of the Haihan Army, these supervisory troops

Either they will eventually collude with the Haihan people and become the same breed, or else they will die unexpectedly or disappear mysteriously because they are ignorant of current affairs. It is better to learn from the Ming army in the south and select some officers to serve as observers in the name of military cooperation.

He entered the Haihan Army and acted with him.

Umeikawa offered conditions, but Shaxi quickly rejected these unrealistic conditions. Both parties were not satisfied with the conditions offered by each other, and the negotiations inevitably fell into a deadlock again.

However, a telegram brought about a slight change at this time. The Northern Fleet led by Wang Tom had made progress in North Korea. They had a face-to-face meeting with King Li Zhu of North Korea and persuaded the other party to send envoys to Liaodong again.

Participated in the tripartite talks between Ming Dynasty, Haihan and North Korea.

Of course, this tripartite talk actually had some impromptu elements. If Wang Tom had not known that Ming Dynasty had sent senior officials to quietly negotiate in Liaodong, he probably would not have bothered to organize such a talk. In this way, it also gave Sha

I welcome an opportunity to resolve the deadlock in negotiations.

"Mr. Mei, the North Korean envoy will arrive in Liaodong in a few days to discuss military cooperation with us. I suggest holding a tripartite talk so that our three countries can have the opportunity to join forces to deal with the enemies in the north." Sha looked pleased.

After finishing, he showed the contents of the telegram directly to Mei Shengkawa, and at the same time persuaded him to participate in talks in Liaodong attended by North Korean envoys.

Mei Shengchuan did not know that in North Korea, Wang Tom also persuaded the King of North Korea to send envoys to Liaodong to participate in the so-called tripartite talks on the pretext that the Ming Dynasty court would send senior officials to visit Liaodong. As for the content of this talk, it would be

As for the international issues involved, Ning Qi, Schneider and others basically compiled the content in Sanya, and then sent a telegram to Wang Tom, who would take action.

Mei Shengchuan didn't quite understand how the Haihan people persuaded the Koreans to do such an outrageous thing. They secretly got in touch with Haihan without informing Ming Dynasty. But he never dreamed that the Koreans had never taken the initiative to do so.

What kind of measures were taken? Haihan was basically manipulating this matter, forcing North Korea to get on board.

In the next two days, Sha Xi arranged for Mei Shengchuan to visit the local construction status and the resettlement area of ​​Dongjiang Town, which is thirty miles away from Lushun Fort. After confirming the living conditions of the local immigrants, Mei Shengchuan once again lamented Haihan's

Hands-on. To resettle thousands of immigrants across the sea, in addition to enough food and drinking water to ensure that they can survive until they disembark, the most important thing is to provide these immigrants with a livelihood that can support themselves. Haihan is undoubtedly in this regard

It is extremely good at it. When Mei Shengchuan visited here, the central town and several villages had basically taken shape, and the roads leading to Lushun Fort and the nearby coastal docks were also under construction. In time, Liaodong will be a prosperous place.

It's a small town.
Chapter completed!