Chapter 3596
Chapter 3596
Chapter 3596
There had indeed been such a substitute before, and Hai Han had once joined forces with Ming to deal with the barbarians from the north. But the Qing Dynasty was no longer what it once was, and since Hai Han had blocked its invasion route to the south, its war potential had begun to shrink dramatically.
Unable to continue plundering personnel and materials from the Ming Dynasty and Korea, the Qing Dynasty's national strength could not withstand the consumption of a long-term war. In just a few years, it was forced back into the mountains and forests by Hai Han, and continued to engage in farming, forestry, fishing and hunting to make a living.
Yue Shizong had also seen the Qing envoy Geng Jimao attend the Zhoushan Forum before. He had traveled thousands of miles to Zhoushan just to ask for a passage to the sea for the Qing. If it were twenty years ago, it would be unimaginable that the Qing envoy would be so humble to ask for help.
Although the territory of the current Qing Dynasty is not small, the areas it controls are all sparsely populated and cold in the northern border, with a population of only a few hundred thousand. Let alone going to war with Hai Han, it is likely that it cannot even defeat North Korea, Hai Han's little brother.
The Qing Dynasty is no longer worthy of being Hai Han's opponent, and of course it is impossible to attract Hai Han's attention.
Yue Shizong discovered sadly that apart from his own country and the old rival, the Qing Dynasty, there were no other neighboring countries around Hai Han that could pose a threat to it.
Japan is now plunged into a large-scale civil war, and both warring parties are under indirect control of Hai Han. I am afraid that for a long time to come, they will have to hide on the island and be busy killing each other in the country.
Almost all other neighboring countries are supporters of Hai Han. There are also loyal countries like Annan and Korea who consider themselves as allies of Hai Han and will spare no effort to assist Hai Han in maintaining the international order. It is impossible to expect these countries to turn against Hai Han.
The newspaper said that Hai Han was engaged in a fierce battle with the Spaniards south of the Luzon region, but Yue Shizong felt that the battlefield was so far away that without huge benefits, it would be difficult to attract Hai Han to deploy large numbers of troops there in the future.
Yue Shizong thought about it and finally found that this plan of diverting the trouble to the east seemed to be a solution, but in fact it was still difficult to solve the dilemma of the Ming Dynasty. Because there were only a few countries left that were qualified to be Hai Han's rivals.
"Dead end! Dead end!"
Yue Shizong raised his head and sighed unwillingly. If Hai Han's military expansion was intended to deal with the Ming Dynasty, then the Ming Dynasty's two hundred years of national prosperity would probably enter the countdown stage.
Yue Shizong racked his brains in Hangzhou to find a way out of the Ming Dynasty's predicament, but then a bucket of cold water was poured on him.
An urgent secret decree was sent from the capital over an distance of eight hundred miles. When Yue Shizong opened it, his blood suddenly boiled and he almost fainted.
It turned out that the two counties and one state in Nanjing that were attacked by Hai Han not only sent distress signals to nearby areas and the Hangzhou Embassy, but also reported the matter to the capital.
However, the letters of help sent from the two counties and one state to the capital, as well as the subsequent results of the battle, were almost delivered to the palace at the same time. Before the Ming court had time to respond, the several places in the south that had requested help had already changed hands.
Emperor Chongzhen believed that in addition to the poor defense of these areas, the embassy in Hangzhou was also responsible. In a secret decree, he reprimanded Yue Shizong for being completely ignorant of Hai Han’s plan and for not providing any advance warning, thus constituting the responsibility of negligence.
However, the Ming court could not immediately send someone to replace Yue Shizong at this critical juncture, so Emperor Chongzhen asked him to atone for his sins, find out Hai Han's intentions as soon as possible, and persuade the other side to stop attacking Ming. If Hai Han could sign a new armistice agreement, the conditions could be relaxed appropriately, such as voluntarily giving up the claim to the occupied areas.
Yue Shizong was angry because he had done his best in Hangzhou, but the court blamed him for the loss of territory. And judging from the tone of the secret decree, if the follow-up matters were not handled properly, he might even be used as a scapegoat.
Yue Shizong could understand that the imperial court did not take armed confrontation as its first option, but he was a little disappointed that the responsibility of mediating the war fell entirely on him.
If diplomatic means could eliminate Hai Han's ambitions, then the Ming Dynasty would have suffered for nothing for so many years. It has long been proven that ceding territory in exchange for temporary peace is not feasible.
In the book On the Six Kingdoms written by Su Xun in the Song Dynasty, it is said: "Today we cede five cities, tomorrow we cede ten cities, and then we can sleep peacefully for one night. When we get up and look around, the Qin army is here again."
Today, the Ming Dynasty is a small country that is seeking peace by ceding territory. No matter how much it cedes, it cannot satisfy Hai Han's ambitions. Judging from the intentions expressed by the Executive Committee, Hai Han does not want these small gains on the Yangtze River. Its real goal is to replace the Ming Dynasty and rule the world.
However, if he told the truth to the imperial court, it would inevitably anger those bigwigs who wanted to continue to whitewash the situation.
Perhaps the emperor himself was one of them.
Yue Shizong couldn't help but think of the previous meeting with Zhu Zian, when the other party also mentioned that Hai Han actually wanted to complete the dynasty change in a peaceful way so that the Ming Dynasty could exit with dignity.
It's just that Daming feels that it still has some assets and can still fight, so it has been holding off for a day. Who knows, maybe Hai Han will suddenly disintegrate on its own?
Little did they know that the longer the war dragged on, the stronger Hai Han's accumulated national strength would become, and the chances of Ming turning the tables would become slimmer and slimmer. At least after witnessing Hai Han's powerful military manufacturing capabilities at the Zhoushan Forum and Kyushu, Japan, Yue Shizong no longer had confidence in the slogans put forward by the court, such as "counterattack Hai Han and restore the territory."
"Then let's see what happens next!"
Yue Shizong put away the secret decree with a wry smile. Since the imperial court didn't care so much about the loss of territory, why should he risk his life?
As for how to appease the higher-ups, that was easy enough. Hai Han had already suspended its military operations in the area around Nanjing, so it could just take the credit for itself first. The buffer time gained was just right for planning a future retreat.
Yue Shizong had been in Hangzhou for a long time and had seen many officials who had left the Ming Dynasty to work for Hai Han. As long as they had certain professional abilities, most of them could be employed by Hai Han. Although he himself had no intention of joining Hai Han, from what he knew, he could at least settle down in Hai Han and obtain asylum after resigning from office, so that he would not have to worry about being punished by the Ming court.
In just a short moment after reading the secret decree, Yue Shizong's thoughts underwent a huge change. Perhaps he himself did not understand what was going on.
But such a change did not happen only to him. Over the years, many Ming officials had made similar decisions sooner or later. He was just another person who chose to adapt to the development of the times.