Chapter 2470

Time entered 1648. In the original history, the Ming Dynasty was at the end of its power at this time, losing most of its territory and could only barely maintain its rule in a few areas in the south. However, due to the intervention of Haihan in this time and space, the Ming Dynasty and Manchuria were now The situation in Qing Dynasty has almost turned around.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty successfully defended the northern border and recaptured part of the territory occupied by the Qing Dynasty after several hard fights. The Qing Dynasty could only retreat to the bitter cold land north of Shenyang to survive, which was impossible in a short time. Going south again threatens the rule of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the price paid by the Ming Dynasty was quite heavy. In order to win this war, almost two-thirds of the coastal areas were lost. The actual scope of control was greatly reduced, and a large number of people and wealth flowed into the Haihan rule. , the balance of strength between the two sides also began to undergo subtle changes.

In the past, Haihan had only relied on the Ming Dynasty for development. The resources, population and market of the Ming Dynasty were all necessary conditions for Haihan's development. For its own development, Haihan had to take the initiative to maintain diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty.

However, as Haihan gradually encroached on Ming's territory over the years and his national power grew rapidly, his attitude toward Ming gradually became less polite than before. In the process of occupying the southern provinces, Haihan did not take Ming into consideration much. The response was to first occupy the territory by force, and then go back to discuss with Ming Dynasty the ownership and division of these areas.

Naturally, the Ming Dynasty was not willing to give up a large area of ​​its territory. It had endured the humiliation in the past few years in order to obtain military assistance from Haihan and put all its troops into the war to quell the civil strife and expel the Tartars. But now the domestic situation has stabilized. The powerful enemy in the north was also completely defeated, so it seemed like it was time to clear up the territorial dispute with Haihan.

After the spring of 1648, the Ming Dynasty contacted Haihan through official channels, hoping that Haihan could return the territory "illegally occupied" by the Ming Dynasty after the signing of the Jinzhou Peace Treaty in 1639 as soon as possible.

Haihan is now slowly digesting these new territories. Of course, he will not make concessions at the negotiation table and return these areas that he finally obtained to Ming Dynasty. The negotiations between the two parties quickly failed due to different opinions.

In April, the Ming Dynasty sent Hong Chengchou to Ganzhou Prefecture in Jiangxi Province in an attempt to gather the Ming armies from Hunan and Jiangxi, enter Guangdong from Nanxiong Prefecture and Shaozhou Prefecture, and take back the areas occupied by Haihan.

However, the Ming Dynasty took too long to mobilize and assemble the army, and the movement was too great. Before the Ming army was fully assembled, the intelligence had already reached Haihan.

Haihan went against the grain and mobilized troops to attack Ganzhou from three directions: Nanxiong Prefecture, Huizhou Prefecture, and Chaozhou Prefecture. Xu Xinsu's troops also sent troops from the direction of Tingzhou Prefecture to launch an offensive against Ganzhou from west to east.

Hong Chengchou hurriedly accepted the challenge, barely able to put up any decent resistance, and was pushed all the way to the gate of Ganzhou City by the Haihan Army. He had to go out of the city to negotiate with the Haihan Army in person, saying that the Ming Army's assembly in Ganzhou was just a daily exercise, not a Action needs to be taken against Haihan.

However, Haihan dispatched thousands of troops for this purpose and was ready for a full-scale war. It would be difficult to deal with such a scene. Yan Chujie, who was supervising the battle at the front, made a request that the Ming Dynasty should compensate Haihan for sending troops this time. All expenses will be dealt with at the same time by the main war officials represented by Hong Chengchou in the court. If the Ming Dynasty refuses to agree, then the Haihan Army in Liaodong, Shandong, Zhejiang and other places will also take simultaneous actions, and the consequences will be determined by Daming is responsible for it.

When things came to an end, Chongzhen and his ministers realized that the Ming Dynasty was not really ready for a full-scale war. Haihan's opponent was completely different from the Manchu Qing. To deal with the Manchu Qing, they only needed to hold the northern border, at least several times.

Pass fortresses can block the opponent's army, but once Haihan launches an offensive, the thousands of miles of coastline may become a passage for Haihan's invasion, making it impossible to guard against it.

Moreover, there are large plains along the coast of the Bohai Sea in the north. Once the Haihan Army lands, the Ming Dynasty will be completely unprotected, and the capital will be directly exposed to the guns of the Haihan Army.

As a result, the ambitious plan quickly failed due to Haihan's initiative before it could be implemented. However, Chongzhen was concerned about his face and was unwilling to admit failure publicly. He only asked Hong Chengchou to sign a secret agreement with Haihan on the front line, and thus stopped all attacks.

Haihan's hostilities, and pay Haihan two million taels of silver as compensation for his military expenses. As for Haihan's request to deal with the officials of the main war faction, the condition is simple. The officials named by Haihan should be temporarily suspended for a period of time.

, but it won’t hurt your muscles or bones.

For Chongzhen, this seems to be an acceptable result. But if you look at the timeline a little longer, he has broken the tradition of not ceding territory and not paying compensation since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Once this bottom line is broken, the compromise attitude of the Ming Dynasty will also be

It will be difficult to proactively seek change through diplomacy.

After that, Haihan did not continue to be in trouble. As long as the Ming Dynasty did not struggle, it would take its time to cut the flesh with a soft knife. The large tracts of land previously annexed also needed time to digest, and there was no rush to completely overthrow the Ming Dynasty.

In July, news came from Fujian that Xu Xinsu suddenly fell seriously ill. Haihan took this very seriously and sent a team of medical experts led by Johnson and Morgan to Fujian to diagnose her. However, the results were not optimistic. After consultation, the experts believed that Xu Xinsu was suffering from a serious illness.

A malignant tumor has formed in the chest cavity, and it is very likely that it has become cancerous. In this era, effective treatment is definitely not possible.

However, Xu Xinsu was already over seventy years old at this time. In terms of the average life expectancy of this era, he was considered to have lived a long life. However, after Xu Xinsu's death, the Fujian area controlled by the Xu family will inevitably experience certain turmoil, and may even

Conflicts arise due to uneven distribution of family interests. This is not a situation Haihan wants to see.

Of course, there is another voice in the Executive Committee, which believes that this rare opportunity can be taken advantage of to bring the Fujian area under the rule of Haihan.

Ever since Xu Xinsu took control of the Fujian region, its ownership has always been quite embarrassing. Although the Ming Dynasty has lost control of Fujian, it is unwilling to grant the throne to Xu Xinsu, making this area completely the private property of the Xu family.

.Although the Xu family has always been attached to Haihan, they are unwilling to take the initiative to incorporate the Fujian area into the Haihan Kingdom. However, if the Xu family wants to establish their own country, neither the Ming Dynasty nor Haihan will allow such a situation to happen.

For this reason, the Executive Committee launched a remote negotiation with Xu Xinsu on the hospital bed via telegram, which focused on the future ownership of Fujian and the status of the Xu family.
Chapter completed!