Episode 65 The Ultimate Goal

At 2:00 a.m. on November 3, in the eastern section of the Qinling Mountains, the Ming army launched a motorized infantry division in Xixia County, and the snow-bright headlights lined up in a long line. One of them went straight to Wuguan, and the other went straight to Dasanguan.

In the middle of the night, the endless headlights squirmed brightly on the mountain road, and it was a complete target, but for the next few hours, not a single bullet was attacked. Although the mountain road is rugged, and the high mountains on both sides are also extremely treacherous, but along the way of these two natural dangerous roads, every outpost, every pillbox fortification, and every warehouse are lit up, and the big bulbs are brightly lit, under the lights, one by one, the Qing soldiers have already stacked their guns neatly at the base of the wall, and one by one is still yawning, but they are very excited and laughing, stomping their feet and rubbing their hands in the cold of the early morning of late autumn, waiting for the arrival of the legendary Ming army.

Everywhere the Ming convoy passed, it was unimpeded, and they only needed to take away their guns, and then leave a few Ming troops to watch them, waiting for dawn before going down the mountain together.

At five o'clock in the morning, the Ming army at the west end of the Qinling Mountains drove through the Dasan Pass, and at half past six, the vanguard troops drove down the Qinling Mountains and entered the westernmost big city of the Guanzhong Plain - Baoji, and joined the Guanzhong Ming army stationed in Baoji.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the Ming army at the eastern end of the Qinling Mountains drove through Wuguan. At one o'clock at noon, the vanguard also drove down the Qinling Mountains and entered Lantian County in the Guanzhong Plain, twenty kilometers northwest of Xi'an. Here they joined forces with the Ming army of Guanzhong, which was stationed in Xi'an.

At noon on November 3, the two main roads that crossed the Qinling Mountains: Wuguan Road and Dasanguan Road, were all controlled by the Ming army. And most of the Qing troops in Qinling are on these two main roads. With the collective surrender of the Qing troops along the way, there were actually no Qing troops left in the entire Qinling Mountains. Qinling can also be said to have been controlled by the Ming army.

Now it is south to Sichuan and north to Guanzhong, and there is no Qing army-controlled area in between. Although there are still two natural barriers, Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain, politically and militarily, the north and south have been completely connected.

The next step for the Ming army is to make full use of several major highways and set up a series of transportation transfer stations along the way to do a good job in road transportation. Although there are no railways, many things in the world are not perfect. Whether we can use cars to do a good job in logistics transportation without trains is also the key to whether Daming can consolidate the new land of Shaanxi and then successfully continue to enter Shanxi.

……

On the morning of the 3rd, the negotiations between the Ming and Qing dynasties entered a new agenda. This is also what the Qing side is looking forward to. Now what Guangwu is most afraid of is that Nanming has obtained Qinling in Hanzhong, and then he will not talk to him and continue to march in Shanxi. It's not bad now, but the worries finally didn't happen.

But in the morning, Zhu Yourong invited several ministers to breakfast in the fortress. The number of people who came to attend was small, but they were all important. Shen Rongxuan came, the Minister of Foreign Affairs came, and the Minister of the Army and Navy also came. Several of the most senior generals who were originally in the fortress also participated. Of course, Xiang Xiaoqiang also participated.

This breakfast meeting, in fact, Shen Rongxuan called Zhu Yourong last night to suggest it. Because the capture of Qinling Hanzhong marked the end of the southwestern battle of the Ming army, and also marked the temporary end of the western part of the war, the next negotiations were very important, and the main purpose of the negotiations must be finalized again.

At the breakfast meeting, the core decision-makers of the Ming side determined the central idea of the next negotiation, that is:

First, the ultimate goal of the Ming Dynasty was to eliminate the Manchu regime and unify all of China. Either way, this goal must not change.

Second, it is necessary to make good preparations with both hands, on the one hand, to negotiate and strive to strive for the greatest interests at the negotiating table, and on the other hand, to make war preparations, and to have the consciousness of fighting a decisive battle with the Qing army in the Central Plains in winter.

Third, if the war really ends in negotiations, the following conditions must be met through negotiations:

1. Greatly weaken the war potential of the Northern Qing Dynasty and make it collapse;

2. The geopolitical situation of the Ming Dynasty against the Northern Qing Dynasty must be in an absolute advantage, at least to form a strategic encirclement of it in the south and west, so as to facilitate the continued use of troops against the Northern Qing Dynasty in the future;

Fourth, in the negotiations, it is necessary to include certain clauses on "no collusion with Russia and Japan." It was directly forbidden for the Northern Qing Dynasty to accept any military assistance, training, volunteer troops, etc. from a third regime (state).

Fifth, the negotiations must be clean and concise, and we must not fall into the procrastination trap of the Qing side.

……

At the end of the breakfast meeting, several civil and military generals had already set the tone almost, and when it was about to end, Zhu Yourong suddenly "asked to speak". So everyone looked at her together and listened to His Majesty's speech.

Zhu Yourong hesitated and said:

"Hmm...... Ladies and gentlemen, I have thought about it for a long time, and I think that it is appropriate to add some clauses to the negotiation conditions that will shake the foundation of the Qing Dynasty's rule. ”

The military generals looked at each other and didn't understand what they meant.

…… The terms that shook the foundations of Qing rule?

Zhu Yourong saw that everyone was puzzled, so he smiled and said:

"Well, that's right, I think, if we add a few to the armistice conditions, such as...... The Qing court had to open up the ban on newspapers, restore the open media environment of the Guangxu era, and allow private newspapers to run ...... In addition, the newspapers of the Ming Dynasty and foreign newspapers broadcast in, so that the people could buy shortwave radios and hear the broadcasts outside...... No matter what the private newspaper writes, the imperial court is not allowed to control it...... In this way, let the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty also want to be like the people of the Ming Dynasty, see and hear at any time, and understand what is happening at any time...... For example, the same thing happened, and there used to be only one voice in the "Daqing Daily", but now there are dozens of voices, so that the people of the north also have the opportunity to get rid of the control of lies and learn to think about things with their own brains......"

Several courtiers looked at each other.

Everyone understands that Your Majesty is preparing to seek skin with the tiger and let the Northern Qing Dynasty court "open the people's wisdom" to the people of the Northern Qing Dynasty.

Zhu Yourong then said:

“…… And, for example...... The Qing court had to agree that the people in the areas under their control could move freely and freely choose whether to live in the Northern Qing Dynasty or in the Ming Dynasty...... Also, there are no restrictions on traveling overseas......"

Several courtiers couldn't stand it anymore. Everyone looked at Shen Rongxuan. Shen Rongxuan looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang again.

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at everyone, nodded, looked at Zhu Yourong, and said embarrassedly:

"Your Majesty, you know, we ...... There is a word in our idiom dictionary called 'skin with the tiger'. ”

"Stand out," Zhu Yourong interrupted him, looked at him seriously, and said softly, "I know what you want to say, you want to say that I am seeking skin with a tiger." ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang also looked at Zhu Yourong and nodded.

Tang Yunsheng followed up and spoke:

"Your Majesty, you are very straightforward, but it shows his enthusiasm for the reunification of the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty...... Your Majesty, the minister also understands what you mean, hoping to open a gap in the closed iron stuffy tank of the Northern Qing Dynasty, so that the people inside have the opportunity to breathe fresh air, so that the rule of the Northern Qing Dynasty will be unsustainable internally...... But Your Majesty, this is tantamount to directly asking for Guangwu's life...... The current domestic situation in the Northern Qing Dynasty is like an active volcano, and now it is all pressed by a huge army......

"Guangwu couldn't be clearer that once his soldiers read the newspapers outside and listened to the radio outside, their thoughts slowly became the same as those of the Ming soldiers, then his reign would be over! Needless to say, there is the consciousness of the Ming soldiers, even if they have half of the consciousness and one-third of the consciousness of the Ming soldiers, will they still be willing to shoot at their fathers and ordinary people? Once the Qing soldiers were no longer willing to shoot at the people, the Guangwu Emperor ...... Even a street sweeper can knock him to the ground. Your Majesty, you only have to think about all this to know that such a request will never be granted by the Qing court. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:

"Your Majesty, what Lord Tang said is very reasonable. Guangwu would rather fight with the Ming Dynasty to the end, even if he finally retreats to the border and goes into exile in Japan and Russia, he will not accept this article. ”

Shen Rongxuan finally spoke. He sighed and smiled:

"Huh...... Of course, it may not be to the point of exile. It is possible that after the defeat of the next major battle, the Qing court would accept such conditions...... But it will only be accepted on paper. This kind of thing has high requirements for specific operations. The Qing court will not really open up the media as we hope. ”

Shen Rongxuan's words immediately won the unanimous support of everyone. Xiang Xiaoqiang also had to admit that the situation that Shen Rongxuan said was more likely to happen.

Zhu Yourong looked at everyone and felt depressed. She was silent for a while, and then said softly:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the last day of the Empire's Supreme Military and Political Council before the war was held in a special place...... I remember you're all gone. ”

There was silence around. Everyone knows that she is talking about the bloody scene of the southward escape that she witnessed in the observation fort on the bank of the Yangtze River.

Zhu Yourong is right, everyone present did go that day, and they all witnessed it with their own eyes.

Zhu Yourong said quietly:

"Do you remember that I said that the ultimate goal of this war is not for land, not for resources, not for geopolitics, not for anything else...... We started this war for the sake of the people of the Northlands, and there is no need for them to flee south like this in the future...... There is no longer a need to die on the way to the south, no more machine gun fire on the Yangtze River, and no longer have to watch the lucky ones who cross the river...... watched his family being hooked by the iron hooks of the Qing army, passing through his collarbone, and escorting them back bloodily...... There is no need for such separation...... Ladies and gentlemen, if we had not made these demands, there would have been no need to start this war in the first place, and there would have been no need to negotiate an armistice now. ”

After saying these few words, the military generals of Wenchen all looked at each other, not knowing how to say it.

After being silent for a while, he smiled at Xiaoqiang:

"Your Majesty, no one said that the ultimate goal is not this! Haven't we set the ultimate goal? It is necessary to eliminate the Northern Qing regime and unify the whole of China, which cannot be shaken in any way. But...... Your Majesty, this is the 'goal', and we still have a 'process' to go through. If you want a purpose, then you can't rule out the process. You can't just have a purpose and not a process, right? That's called one step at a time. Now...... Your Majesty, there must be a process in this war, and it can't be done in one step.

"We have an advantage over Qingyu now, but after all, we don't have that advantage to that extent. …… If we compare the strength with the Qinglu, it's like ...... Like the Soviet Union did with Poland, or the United States with Mexico, then we can say: OK, this is what we want, will you say yes? I counted to three. …… Look, Your Majesty, haven't we yet reached that point? ”