Chapter 1507
Mei Shilang's Little Abacus
Chapter 1507 Mei Shilang's Little Abacus
The Ming court was not ignorant of the practice of the Haihan people in Shandong, which was like an invasion.Since the seventh year of Chongzhen, that is, the second half of 1634, urgent memorials from Shandong have been continuously sent to the capital, claiming that the Haihan Army invaded from the sea and occupied the area of Zhifu Island near the sea in Fushan County, Dengzhou, and built a port. , with long-term plans to settle down.
At that time, the Ming court was suffering from the constant kowtowing of the Later Jin Army and the intensifying uprising of the peasant army in the Central Plains. How could it be bothered to open up a third battlefield to fight the legendary Haihan people who were very difficult to provoke.Therefore, the opinion of the imperial court is quite a bit of a disregard, and the Shandong government is allowed to decide on its own, but the overall situation must be taken into account, and the Shandong Peninsula must not be allowed to reignite the war.
After all, the court also counted on Shandong to recover from the previous Denglai Rebellion as soon as possible, and use food, manpower and taxes to support the court to quell the other two wars.The Haihan people only occupied a small island near the sea in Dengzhou. What is there to shout about? Are there still fewer islands occupied by the Haihan people in the south?In the eyes of the adults in the court, Fuguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which were also occupied by the Haihans on the coastal islands, did not cause chaos. Only the Shandong side complained, as if the sky was falling. It seems that the local officials are capable. There are also some problems.
Of course, the officials on the Shandong side are unspeakable. Although the Haihan Army stationed in Fushan County is not very strong, its combat effectiveness is extremely strong.The Haihan Army was also able to free up its hands and wiped out the bandits and bandits near Fushan County, as if they were the real masters of this place.
Although there have been stumblings between the Shandong government and Haihan in the following two years, and there have been occasional armed conflicts, generally speaking, there has been no real war, which is worthy of the court's explanation.The Shandong government's plan to expel Haihan from the local area has naturally failed to materialize. Instead, Haihan gradually achieved a de facto occupation in Fushan County, and began to operate in the local area in a similar manner. The Occupied Territory is regarded as Ming's territory.
The governor of Shandong Zhu Dadian, the prefect of Dengzhou Chen Zhongsheng, and the magistrate of Fushan County Zhang Pucheng, these three officials are naturally directly responsible for Haihan's public establishment of a control area in Shandong.But the problem was that the court wanted to drive away the Haihans, but they were unwilling to take military measures, making the situation out of control, so their dereliction of duty was tolerated by the court.After all, the Haihan people are only active in Fushan County, and there is no sign of wanting to conquer the Shandong prefecture. From this perspective, the court believes that they can maintain their merits, and their merits and demerits are offset. fault.
But it's one thing to forgive one's own people, and it's another thing to admit Haihan's interests and power in Shandong.The two requirements raised by Hao Wanqing were things that Haihan had to win, but for Daming, this was undoubtedly a condition for losing power and humiliating the country.Even if Shilang Mei wanted to get some benefits from Haihan, he didn't dare to compromise on such a big issue.
"The two conditions raised by Mr. Hao, I am sorry that this official cannot agree." Mei Shilang's voice was not loud, but his tone was very firm: "Da Ming will not cede an inch of land to other countries, and everything in Daming's territory is naturally owned. All of Daming."
Hao Wanqing smiled and said: "Mr. Mei misunderstood, our country is not asking Daming to cede these areas in Fushan County that are actually controlled by our country, the land is still owned by Daming, what our country requires is the power of management and governance. You see, we It has been almost two years since I came to Shandong, but I still retain Daming’s government office and garrison in Fushan County, which I think is enough to show the goodwill of our country and Daming for peaceful coexistence.”
The purpose of this meeting between Hao Wanqing and Mei Shengchuan was not necessarily to negotiate the ownership of Haihan's rights and interests in the Shandong-controlled area at the moment, but to test the policy bottom line of the Ming court.Of course, Hao Wanqing's first contact with the Minister of War, Mei Shengchuan, was definitely Hao Wanqing's test target. Haihan had no direct experience in dealing with such high-level officials of the Ming Dynasty before, so this time the person in charge of the Security Department would be the one in charge. Come and meet with him in person, in the hope of getting more valuable information during the meeting.
Hao Wanqing will not be stingy about giving the other party a little leeway. For Haihan, the ownership of the land is actually just a false name, just like Hainan Island has been in the hands of Haihan for several years, but he has never formally requested the ownership from the Guangdong and Guangxi government. redefinition.At present, the Executive Committee is more concerned about the actual control. As for Daming admitting or not recognizing the sovereignty of these occupied areas, what does it matter? It is more beneficial for Haihan to let Daming retain a little face.Commerce, immigration, these projects with actual benefits are the conditions that Haihan really cares about.
But does Mei Shengchuan really understand the truth in the middle?Not necessarily.In addition to the silver of Baihuahua and the successive victories, Dongjiang Town sent to the capital, there was also a lot of information related to Haihan.Haihan has occupied a lot of places in Daming Haijiang over the years, and how they use this method to strengthen their own strength, the big figures in the capital are not ignorant of this.
At least Mei Shengchuan is very aware of what the Haihan people have done in Shandong in the past two years, such as opening ports, building a port, occupying land for mining, trading and immigrating. .The means seem to be peaceful, but the Haihan people turned these controlled areas into a country within a country little by little under this situation, and Daming could not come up with any effective countermeasures.After all, money and silk are very appealing. Once they are drawn into Haihan's interest system, it is difficult for officials or citizens to get out of it.
However, Mei Shengchuan did not expect that the Haihan people would take the initiative to make concessions on the issue of territorial sovereignty. He originally thought that the conditions requested by the other party would definitely include requirements such as ceding all the existing occupied areas to Haihan, but the other party was so generous. Taking a step back, it was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations.
"Trade, commercial exchanges, these can be discussed, but the management of local areas, this is originally my Daming territory, and naturally it should be handed over to the Chinese government." Mei Shengchuan was not satisfied with this, and continued to point out the inappropriateness of Hao Wanqing's words. The place.Like the other party, he is also approaching this meeting with the idea of testing the bottom line.
Hao Wanqing spread his hands, indicating that he had no intention of arguing with Mei Shengchuan about this issue: "As I said just now, we retain the local government and the garrison, as for whether they can exercise the original function of governing the locality, that is not our country's. responsibility."
Hao Wanqing's implication is that you don't want the house to leak and blame the rubbish, and the government agencies will keep it for you. These people can't exercise their authority, so how can you blame us.Of course, Hao Wanqing would definitely not admit the inability of the local officials in Daming to perform their functions and the military pressure exerted by the Haihan garrison.
Ironically, Mei Shengchuan, as the Minister of War, of course also knew the reason, but if he took the initiative to bring it up on this occasion, he would undoubtedly bring his own humiliation. measures to safeguard the dominance of the government.Therefore, for Hao Wanqing's argument that he shirks responsibility, Mei Shengchuan can't say anything to expose the other party, but he can only recognize the blame with his nose.
And Hao Wanqing has already obtained the information he wants to know - both business and trade can be discussed, which means that the ports, towns, infrastructure facilities and mines that Haihan develops and builds locally have great opportunities. Obtain the official permission of Daming official.As for the flow of population, with the settlement of the trade problem, this will be solved naturally.
After more than an hour of talks between the two, it was time for dinner.Haihan has always had a tradition of negotiating at the dinner table, and this time was no exception. Hao Wan ordered someone to prepare a sumptuous banquet early in the morning to welcome the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty who were visiting secretly.However, the location of the banquet was very particular. It was not placed in the officers' cafeteria in Zhifu Port, but on the roof of the small building of the Zhifu Island Management Committee.
A pergola is set up on the roof, from which you can see the scenery in Zhifu Port at a glance.Merchant ships and fishing boats that are loading and unloading cargo at the port, a sailing warship being repaired in the dock, and the outpost on the hill opposite the bay that used to belong to the local garrison army but now has the Haihan bicolor flag. It is clear to the naked eye.
"When we came here two years ago, there were still many refugees by the sea. As long as we promised to give them a bite to eat, they would climb on to our boat recklessly and send them wherever we wanted." Hao Wanqing While pouring wine for Meishengchuan, he talked about what he had seen when he first arrived in Shandong: "Now there are no hungry people in Fushan County, no bandits, everyone has food, and the security is much better than two years ago. Times. People in other nearby states who can’t survive will also come here to make a living. It is no exaggeration to say that more than half of the people in this place now rely on us to support.”
Mei Shengchuan really wanted to refute Hao Wanqing's statement, but he also knew that it was useless to reason with the Haihan people, and they didn't eat this at all.These Haihan people are good at calculating, and everything is based on practical interests, and the fact is that people's governance here is better than the local government.Mei Shengchuan could only say angrily: "No matter what, this is Daming's territory, and the people here are all Daming people. Some of your country's practices may seem to be overbearing."
Hao Wanqing said: "Mr. Mei is right, but the people don't think that way, they just want to live well. Daming can't give them safe shelter, food and clothing, but Haihan can. If Lord Mei thinks what I say It’s not true, you can take time to visit the local people later to see if they think it’s better to be a Ming person or a Haihan person.”
No matter how Mei Shengchuan could bear it, when he heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little angry, and snorted coldly: "These ignorant grasshoppers are short-sighted, they only know the petty profits in front of them, how do they know how important the identity of the people of Daming is!"
Hao Wanqing said with a smile: "The common people don't have much knowledge. Of course, whoever feeds them thinks who is good. But we are different. We need to consider more things for our country and strive for more interests. For the sake of Daming, I also admire it very much. But negotiation is negotiated, dinner is dinner, and when you have a good wine and good food, there is no need to say those unpleasant words. Mr. Mei, I toast to you!"
Hao Wanqing probed for a few words, and seeing that Mei Shengchuan was more sensitive to the topic of what people want, he stopped the conversation decisively, first blocked the other's mouth with wine and vegetables, and diverted his attention.And Mei Shengchuan stretched out his hand and didn't hit the smiling man. Since Hao Wanqing stopped talking, it was not easy for him to continue the attack. He silently raised his glass and drank with Hao Wanqing.
Of course, Hao Wanqing wouldn’t just keep his mouth shut. After eating a few mouthfuls of food, he changed the topic: “Please look, Mr. Mei, the two ships docked at the wharf closest to us in the south are heading towards the south. A special cargo ship for transporting copper ingots. The several ships parked at the pier next to it are all from Zhejiang, and they will leave for Liaodong tomorrow to deliver supplies there. There is also the big ship with black sails, that is The merchant ships from Fujian specialize in transporting goods from the south to Shandong, and sell them through our market in Fushan County. At present, there are nearly a hundred merchant ships entering and leaving the port here every month. Mr. Mei works in the Ministry of War. I don’t have a precise understanding of this, but let me briefly describe it. The value of goods entering and leaving Zhifu Port every month is probably more than 30 taels of silver. Calculated for the whole year, there are about 500 million taels of goods coming from here. In and out."
After listening to the first half, Mei Shengchuan was indeed a little confused, not knowing what Hao Wanqing was going to say, but after listening to the second half, he faintly understood.This port does not seem to be large, but the scale of operation is not small.Hao Wanqing informed himself of these circumstances, and besides boasting of Haihan's management ability, I am afraid there are other purposes as well.
Sure enough, Hao Wanqing changed the subject: "Mr. Mei may find it strange that there are so many daring businessmen who dare to come here to borrow the port we built to do sea trade business. In fact, the reason is very simple, because behind these merchant ships, there are many At least they all have an official background. The shipowner or even the entire shipping company may be the property of an adult in a certain southern state. And we are also very happy to cooperate with Daming officials to engage in this kind of trade. On the one hand, everyone is a well-known person On the other hand, Daming officials can indeed provide us with a lot of convenience, so that it will be easier for everyone to make money together.”
Hao Wanqing's words were quite explicit. Mei Shengchuan was not a fool, so he naturally understood that the other party was expressing himself. If there was a plan to make money, then Haihan could provide such an opportunity.
(End of this chapter)
The Ming court was not ignorant of the practice of the Haihan people in Shandong, which was like an invasion.Since the seventh year of Chongzhen, that is, the second half of 1634, urgent memorials from Shandong have been continuously sent to the capital, claiming that the Haihan Army invaded from the sea and occupied the area of Zhifu Island near the sea in Fushan County, Dengzhou, and built a port. , with long-term plans to settle down.
At that time, the Ming court was suffering from the constant kowtowing of the Later Jin Army and the intensifying uprising of the peasant army in the Central Plains. How could it be bothered to open up a third battlefield to fight the legendary Haihan people who were very difficult to provoke.Therefore, the opinion of the imperial court is quite a bit of a disregard, and the Shandong government is allowed to decide on its own, but the overall situation must be taken into account, and the Shandong Peninsula must not be allowed to reignite the war.
After all, the court also counted on Shandong to recover from the previous Denglai Rebellion as soon as possible, and use food, manpower and taxes to support the court to quell the other two wars.The Haihan people only occupied a small island near the sea in Dengzhou. What is there to shout about? Are there still fewer islands occupied by the Haihan people in the south?In the eyes of the adults in the court, Fuguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which were also occupied by the Haihans on the coastal islands, did not cause chaos. Only the Shandong side complained, as if the sky was falling. It seems that the local officials are capable. There are also some problems.
Of course, the officials on the Shandong side are unspeakable. Although the Haihan Army stationed in Fushan County is not very strong, its combat effectiveness is extremely strong.The Haihan Army was also able to free up its hands and wiped out the bandits and bandits near Fushan County, as if they were the real masters of this place.
Although there have been stumblings between the Shandong government and Haihan in the following two years, and there have been occasional armed conflicts, generally speaking, there has been no real war, which is worthy of the court's explanation.The Shandong government's plan to expel Haihan from the local area has naturally failed to materialize. Instead, Haihan gradually achieved a de facto occupation in Fushan County, and began to operate in the local area in a similar manner. The Occupied Territory is regarded as Ming's territory.
The governor of Shandong Zhu Dadian, the prefect of Dengzhou Chen Zhongsheng, and the magistrate of Fushan County Zhang Pucheng, these three officials are naturally directly responsible for Haihan's public establishment of a control area in Shandong.But the problem was that the court wanted to drive away the Haihans, but they were unwilling to take military measures, making the situation out of control, so their dereliction of duty was tolerated by the court.After all, the Haihan people are only active in Fushan County, and there is no sign of wanting to conquer the Shandong prefecture. From this perspective, the court believes that they can maintain their merits, and their merits and demerits are offset. fault.
But it's one thing to forgive one's own people, and it's another thing to admit Haihan's interests and power in Shandong.The two requirements raised by Hao Wanqing were things that Haihan had to win, but for Daming, this was undoubtedly a condition for losing power and humiliating the country.Even if Shilang Mei wanted to get some benefits from Haihan, he didn't dare to compromise on such a big issue.
"The two conditions raised by Mr. Hao, I am sorry that this official cannot agree." Mei Shilang's voice was not loud, but his tone was very firm: "Da Ming will not cede an inch of land to other countries, and everything in Daming's territory is naturally owned. All of Daming."
Hao Wanqing smiled and said: "Mr. Mei misunderstood, our country is not asking Daming to cede these areas in Fushan County that are actually controlled by our country, the land is still owned by Daming, what our country requires is the power of management and governance. You see, we It has been almost two years since I came to Shandong, but I still retain Daming’s government office and garrison in Fushan County, which I think is enough to show the goodwill of our country and Daming for peaceful coexistence.”
The purpose of this meeting between Hao Wanqing and Mei Shengchuan was not necessarily to negotiate the ownership of Haihan's rights and interests in the Shandong-controlled area at the moment, but to test the policy bottom line of the Ming court.Of course, Hao Wanqing's first contact with the Minister of War, Mei Shengchuan, was definitely Hao Wanqing's test target. Haihan had no direct experience in dealing with such high-level officials of the Ming Dynasty before, so this time the person in charge of the Security Department would be the one in charge. Come and meet with him in person, in the hope of getting more valuable information during the meeting.
Hao Wanqing will not be stingy about giving the other party a little leeway. For Haihan, the ownership of the land is actually just a false name, just like Hainan Island has been in the hands of Haihan for several years, but he has never formally requested the ownership from the Guangdong and Guangxi government. redefinition.At present, the Executive Committee is more concerned about the actual control. As for Daming admitting or not recognizing the sovereignty of these occupied areas, what does it matter? It is more beneficial for Haihan to let Daming retain a little face.Commerce, immigration, these projects with actual benefits are the conditions that Haihan really cares about.
But does Mei Shengchuan really understand the truth in the middle?Not necessarily.In addition to the silver of Baihuahua and the successive victories, Dongjiang Town sent to the capital, there was also a lot of information related to Haihan.Haihan has occupied a lot of places in Daming Haijiang over the years, and how they use this method to strengthen their own strength, the big figures in the capital are not ignorant of this.
At least Mei Shengchuan is very aware of what the Haihan people have done in Shandong in the past two years, such as opening ports, building a port, occupying land for mining, trading and immigrating. .The means seem to be peaceful, but the Haihan people turned these controlled areas into a country within a country little by little under this situation, and Daming could not come up with any effective countermeasures.After all, money and silk are very appealing. Once they are drawn into Haihan's interest system, it is difficult for officials or citizens to get out of it.
However, Mei Shengchuan did not expect that the Haihan people would take the initiative to make concessions on the issue of territorial sovereignty. He originally thought that the conditions requested by the other party would definitely include requirements such as ceding all the existing occupied areas to Haihan, but the other party was so generous. Taking a step back, it was indeed somewhat beyond his expectations.
"Trade, commercial exchanges, these can be discussed, but the management of local areas, this is originally my Daming territory, and naturally it should be handed over to the Chinese government." Mei Shengchuan was not satisfied with this, and continued to point out the inappropriateness of Hao Wanqing's words. The place.Like the other party, he is also approaching this meeting with the idea of testing the bottom line.
Hao Wanqing spread his hands, indicating that he had no intention of arguing with Mei Shengchuan about this issue: "As I said just now, we retain the local government and the garrison, as for whether they can exercise the original function of governing the locality, that is not our country's. responsibility."
Hao Wanqing's implication is that you don't want the house to leak and blame the rubbish, and the government agencies will keep it for you. These people can't exercise their authority, so how can you blame us.Of course, Hao Wanqing would definitely not admit the inability of the local officials in Daming to perform their functions and the military pressure exerted by the Haihan garrison.
Ironically, Mei Shengchuan, as the Minister of War, of course also knew the reason, but if he took the initiative to bring it up on this occasion, he would undoubtedly bring his own humiliation. measures to safeguard the dominance of the government.Therefore, for Hao Wanqing's argument that he shirks responsibility, Mei Shengchuan can't say anything to expose the other party, but he can only recognize the blame with his nose.
And Hao Wanqing has already obtained the information he wants to know - both business and trade can be discussed, which means that the ports, towns, infrastructure facilities and mines that Haihan develops and builds locally have great opportunities. Obtain the official permission of Daming official.As for the flow of population, with the settlement of the trade problem, this will be solved naturally.
After more than an hour of talks between the two, it was time for dinner.Haihan has always had a tradition of negotiating at the dinner table, and this time was no exception. Hao Wan ordered someone to prepare a sumptuous banquet early in the morning to welcome the senior officials of the Ming Dynasty who were visiting secretly.However, the location of the banquet was very particular. It was not placed in the officers' cafeteria in Zhifu Port, but on the roof of the small building of the Zhifu Island Management Committee.
A pergola is set up on the roof, from which you can see the scenery in Zhifu Port at a glance.Merchant ships and fishing boats that are loading and unloading cargo at the port, a sailing warship being repaired in the dock, and the outpost on the hill opposite the bay that used to belong to the local garrison army but now has the Haihan bicolor flag. It is clear to the naked eye.
"When we came here two years ago, there were still many refugees by the sea. As long as we promised to give them a bite to eat, they would climb on to our boat recklessly and send them wherever we wanted." Hao Wanqing While pouring wine for Meishengchuan, he talked about what he had seen when he first arrived in Shandong: "Now there are no hungry people in Fushan County, no bandits, everyone has food, and the security is much better than two years ago. Times. People in other nearby states who can’t survive will also come here to make a living. It is no exaggeration to say that more than half of the people in this place now rely on us to support.”
Mei Shengchuan really wanted to refute Hao Wanqing's statement, but he also knew that it was useless to reason with the Haihan people, and they didn't eat this at all.These Haihan people are good at calculating, and everything is based on practical interests, and the fact is that people's governance here is better than the local government.Mei Shengchuan could only say angrily: "No matter what, this is Daming's territory, and the people here are all Daming people. Some of your country's practices may seem to be overbearing."
Hao Wanqing said: "Mr. Mei is right, but the people don't think that way, they just want to live well. Daming can't give them safe shelter, food and clothing, but Haihan can. If Lord Mei thinks what I say It’s not true, you can take time to visit the local people later to see if they think it’s better to be a Ming person or a Haihan person.”
No matter how Mei Shengchuan could bear it, when he heard this, he couldn't help but feel a little angry, and snorted coldly: "These ignorant grasshoppers are short-sighted, they only know the petty profits in front of them, how do they know how important the identity of the people of Daming is!"
Hao Wanqing said with a smile: "The common people don't have much knowledge. Of course, whoever feeds them thinks who is good. But we are different. We need to consider more things for our country and strive for more interests. For the sake of Daming, I also admire it very much. But negotiation is negotiated, dinner is dinner, and when you have a good wine and good food, there is no need to say those unpleasant words. Mr. Mei, I toast to you!"
Hao Wanqing probed for a few words, and seeing that Mei Shengchuan was more sensitive to the topic of what people want, he stopped the conversation decisively, first blocked the other's mouth with wine and vegetables, and diverted his attention.And Mei Shengchuan stretched out his hand and didn't hit the smiling man. Since Hao Wanqing stopped talking, it was not easy for him to continue the attack. He silently raised his glass and drank with Hao Wanqing.
Of course, Hao Wanqing wouldn’t just keep his mouth shut. After eating a few mouthfuls of food, he changed the topic: “Please look, Mr. Mei, the two ships docked at the wharf closest to us in the south are heading towards the south. A special cargo ship for transporting copper ingots. The several ships parked at the pier next to it are all from Zhejiang, and they will leave for Liaodong tomorrow to deliver supplies there. There is also the big ship with black sails, that is The merchant ships from Fujian specialize in transporting goods from the south to Shandong, and sell them through our market in Fushan County. At present, there are nearly a hundred merchant ships entering and leaving the port here every month. Mr. Mei works in the Ministry of War. I don’t have a precise understanding of this, but let me briefly describe it. The value of goods entering and leaving Zhifu Port every month is probably more than 30 taels of silver. Calculated for the whole year, there are about 500 million taels of goods coming from here. In and out."
After listening to the first half, Mei Shengchuan was indeed a little confused, not knowing what Hao Wanqing was going to say, but after listening to the second half, he faintly understood.This port does not seem to be large, but the scale of operation is not small.Hao Wanqing informed himself of these circumstances, and besides boasting of Haihan's management ability, I am afraid there are other purposes as well.
Sure enough, Hao Wanqing changed the subject: "Mr. Mei may find it strange that there are so many daring businessmen who dare to come here to borrow the port we built to do sea trade business. In fact, the reason is very simple, because behind these merchant ships, there are many At least they all have an official background. The shipowner or even the entire shipping company may be the property of an adult in a certain southern state. And we are also very happy to cooperate with Daming officials to engage in this kind of trade. On the one hand, everyone is a well-known person On the other hand, Daming officials can indeed provide us with a lot of convenience, so that it will be easier for everyone to make money together.”
Hao Wanqing's words were quite explicit. Mei Shengchuan was not a fool, so he naturally understood that the other party was expressing himself. If there was a plan to make money, then Haihan could provide such an opportunity.
(End of this chapter)