Episode 159 Bribery

The Qing delegates finished their opening remarks in a high-profile manner, but there was silence in the venue, and the Ming delegates tacitly agreed that no one spoke.

After a while, Guadxin couldn't help it, frowned and asked:

"How...... Why don't you speak? What is your attitude? ”

The Ming delegates looked at each other, but still did not speak, and Vice Foreign Minister He Weibang sighed and shook his head gently.

Guadxin waited for a few seconds, looked down at the emperor's negotiation instructions, and then looked up tentatively and asked:

"If you have no opinion or approval of this condemnation from our side just now, then we can write it into the beginning of the treaty?"

He Weibang waited for him to say this. With a look of surprise and indignation, he said:

"Didn't I hear clearly? What do you mean ......? ”

Guadxin repeated:

"As for the war between you and us at the beginning of this year, this condemnation of you just now, if you have no objection, we can write it into the treaty."

He Weibang frowned and asked:

"What do you mean by this so-called 'condemnation' that you are going to publish in the newspaper for your own people, or is it written into a treaty and made public to the world as a mutually recognized historical conclusion?"

Guadxin said expressionlessly:

"It's the latter."

……

In fact, Guadxin didn't know the bottom in his heart, knowing that the opening remarks just now were reversing right and wrong and confusing black and white, and Nanming would never easily admit it. This means that the lives of thousands of their officers and soldiers are pinched in their hands, so that it is possible to force them to agree to smear feces on themselves. Guadxin also knows that even if he uses hostages to coerce and force Nanming to sign and recognize, this is also a great shame for Nanming that violates conscience and principles, and the Qing side will definitely lose a lot of substantial benefits while obtaining this self-deceptive "justice".

But there is no way, the emperor has made up his mind, he must let Nanming sign to admit that he is an aggressor and unjust, while Beiqing is a forced defender and is just. This was the primary political task of the Qing Dynasty, even if it suffered losses in other practical interests.

Although there were hundreds of tons of gold in the treasury of the Southern Ming Dynasty, non-ferrous metal raw materials in the warehouse, advanced technology in the laboratory, and advanced aircraft and tanks in the arsenal, there were famines of all parts of the Qing Dynasty every year, and the granaries of the Southern Ming Dynasty were full of old grain that could not be eaten over the years......

But all this is far from being as good as making Nanming admit that he is wrong and that Daqing is right. This was just a disgusting thing for Nanming, but it was a huge victory for Daqing. This will be a powerful internal propaganda weapon to make the rule of the Aixin Jueluo family more stable: Look, the Qing Dynasty is good, the Ming Dynasty is bad, even the Ming Dynasty himself admits it, what are you stinky people chirping about. What, don't believe it? There is a treaty here, and there is a signature of the envoys of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Look, in black and white, the court didn't lie to you this time.

……

The members of the Nanming Mission, including Xiang Xiaoqiang, were all unshocked at the moment, and even indignant, but their hearts were happy. They didn't expect Beiqing to make such a request as soon as they came up. And it seems that the Northern Qing Dynasty's desire for this article is stronger than the Southern Ming's desire for his thousands of officers and soldiers. Originally, I thought that I might have to spend a lot of money, but now it seems that as long as the Northern Qing Dynasty is stuck in this article, it will be in an advantageous position in the negotiations. In addition to accepting a pot of and cooperating with the Manchu rulers in the country, other practical costs will be saved.

Moreover, Xiang Xiaoqiang and He Weibang were even happier. Because there were only two of them in the delegation who were of sufficient rank, they knew that they would start fighting against the Qing in two months. And even if Daming wears this basin, it will only be worn for two months. And more importantly, this will seriously challenge the moral bottom line of the Ming people. Under normal circumstances, if the government had signed such a humiliating treaty, the people would have to drag the first minister out of the official residence and slaughter him. But now the people know that the government signed this humiliating treaty to save the lives of thousands of citizens and the hope of thousands of families. Therefore, the people will never settle the account on their own government, but will only settle the account on the head of the Beiqing, and point all their anger at the Beiqing. The Ming Dynasty will once again unite the whole country in a very short period of time.

In this way, the purpose of war planners such as Xiang Xiaoqiang has been achieved.

……

Next, the Ming deputies all cooperated very well, and expressed shock, indignation, unacceptability, and incredulity at this "unreasonable demand" put forward by the Northern Qing Dynasty. And the Qing deputies also knew in their hearts that it was indeed not easy to get Nanming to accept this kind of request. So they pulled down their faces, and took out the thousands of Ming officers and soldiers to threaten them, saying that this was the threshold for negotiations, and if the Ming side did not agree, then there would be no talks, and we would turn around and send those thousands of prisoners to labor camps.

As soon as the negotiations began, the two sides were on the verge of collapse. At this time, Xiang Xiaoqiang came out to play a round. As soon as he put away his arrogance in the Nanyang negotiations, he no longer even called himself a "general", and said with a smile with low eyebrows:

"Hehe, what's that...... Earl Ben suggested, let's not get entangled in this article for the first time, let's put aside the controversy first, talk about it first, ah, talk about it first...... Isn't it just to sit together to solve problems? ”

Seeing that Nan Ming was talking softly, Guadxin sneered and threw the pen in his hand on the table, leaned back in the chair, and said:

"No, we have a decree in the Holy Order, we must correct our names before negotiating, and if our names are not correct, our words will not be good. This article is the basis for negotiation, and if you do not accept it, we have no choice. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was not angry, and then smiled:

"Your emperor asked me to participate in the negotiations with Xiaoqiang by name, and I praised Xiaoqiang for my excellent performance in the negotiations with Xiaoqiang Nanyang, and I did not lose my Chinese face...... Then Xiang Xiaoqiang has a cheeky guess, your emperor can at least listen to a few words from Xiang Xiaoqiang. Can you play your emperor on behalf of Xiaoqiang: Since everyone is Chinese, then don't fight for this false face, if you want to fight, you can fight for something...... What about gold, for example? How much do you want, make a price, and everyone can discuss...... Face is something that has to be fought for with foreigners. Everyone is Chinese, and it's not fun to fight with each other...... What do you think? ”

Guade heard this legendary Xiang Xiaoqiang say soft words one after another, and his heart became more certain. He smiled and continued lightly:

"There's no way, General Xiang, it's not that we want to fight for face, but to correct our name. As I said just now, if the name is not right, it is not good. You asked me to speak to the emperor on your behalf, this is to speak to the general to our emperor, and the official does not dare not play on his behalf. However, the official first told General Xiang that we had an edict before the Holy Lord, saying, 'This Xiang Xiaoqiang said in Nanjing Square that Nanming is asking for me, and it is not impossible to bow his head to me. Now I'll give them a chance to bow to me, and see if they want to. 'General Xiang, do you hear that?' This is our emperor's golden mouth, and the quote is also what you said to your lordship yourself. General Xiang, who do you think we are fighting with whom? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, and he was really a little speechless. This is really what I said, and I was really caught by that kid from Guangwu. But it's okay, what I'm afraid of now is that the other party will give in.

The two sides were in such a stalemate, and there was no progress all morning.

At noon, the first round of negotiations came to an end, and I took a break to eat.

Xiang Xiaoqiang discussed it with He Weibang, and decided to take advantage of the noon time when everyone was having dinner to go to Guadxin in a "private capacity" to say a few words, first pass on the information that "Daming may accept this" to him, and also find out, if Daming accepts this, what benefits can he get in other aspects, is it possible not to pay for it.

This kind of thing is difficult to say at the negotiating table, but it is much easier to say it in private. And once it is said, after both sides have counted, then it will be easy to discuss at the negotiating table.

In addition, according to the plan, it is necessary to bribe the Qing ministers to try to buy the bottom line of the Qing Empire's negotiations, so that the situation can be completely controlled at the negotiation table and the price paid by the Ming Dynasty will be minimized.

This kind of thing, He Weibang and they are all official personnel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and they are not suitable for this kind of thing. And Xiang Xiaoqiang is just an officer, although he is famous, but he is a person outside the Ming government, he does it, it doesn't matter if he succeeds.

……

As a rule, Qing officials accompanied Ming representatives to the luncheon. In the middle, Guadxin left the table and went to the bathroom, and Xiang Xiaoqiang also got up and went with him.

In the bathroom, the two "met by chance", and they were washing their hands with the faucet and greeting each other. Then when he came out, he took out a cigarette to Xiaoqiang and gave it to Guadxin, and then lit one himself.

Xiang Xiaoqiang is rich enough, and the cigarettes he usually smokes are a few grams of gold, and it can be said that a cigarette is worth several grams of gold. This time, I came to the Northern Qing Dynasty to negotiate with someone, and specially asked people to buy more than a dozen cigarettes and bring them to others. But he didn't expect that Lord Guade usually even had hundreds of "ration cigarettes", but now he was smoking Xiang Xiaoqiang's "migrant worker cigarettes", and it was awkward in his mouth. But after all, he is still the Minister of Military Aircraft of the Qing Dynasty, and his identity is here, so he has to take care of politeness.

Guadxin didn't take the cigarette into his stomach at all, and after a circle in his mouth, he spewed it out. He looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang with a smile on his face faintly, and said:

"This is ...... to Lord Xiang Got something to say? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at no one on the left and right, leaned over and laughed in a low voice:

"Hehehe...... Lord Melon...... My melon lord...... Hehehe......"

As he spoke, Guadxin felt that there was something more in his hand.

He touched it, felt a seven-eight, and then looked down again.

In his hand was a sparkling diamond, heavy and the size of a chestnut.

In this environment, diamonds are the best tool for bribery.

Guade was silent, still squinting, and said in a long voice:

"To your lordship...... What does that mean? ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang bowed his head and smiled:

"Master melon...... Alas, you see this morning, everyone can't even eat lunch...... In the final analysis, in this negotiation, you are sent by the emperor, and we are also sent by the emperor...... There's nothing you can do......"

Guadxin grabbed the diamond and didn't let go, but there was a sneering smile on his face:

"Lord Xiang, you are also right, we are all sent by the emperor in this negotiation, our emperor is even more fatal, how to talk, what extent to talk about, this is all determined by our emperor, and we have no room for maneuver at all...... This first condition is what the emperor wants, not what I want, Lord Xiang, don't say you give me this thing, even if you give me a mountain of gold, I don't dare to let me take a step. ”