Episode 156 The Incredible Requirements

The Beiqing side designated Xiang Xiaoqiang to participate in the Nanming Negotiation Team and go to the Beiqing. After the Foreign Minister read it out, the imperial study was shocked.

Zhu Yourong's face turned a little white. She looked up at Xiang Xiaoqiang, her lips moved, and she didn't say anything. But she pretended to be calm, picked up the teacup and took a sip, and placed it on the table. The tea splashed a little.

Xiang Xiaoqiang's head buzzed, and a cold air rose from behind. Then, anger rose from his heart. But he had a stern face and said nothing.

This is obviously the boy Guangwu who wanted to take the opportunity to take revenge and trick me into Peking and Qing, and then clicked. He didn't say anything, he would definitely not go, and only a fool would go.

But he knew that this "can't go" was absolutely inconvenient for him to say it, and he had to let others say it. Even if he didn't say it, the ministers in this circle would definitely object, pointing out that Emperor Guangwu was uneasy and we could not be fooled, and we could not let General Xiang go.

However, if you can't say it first, you will be greedy for life and fear of death: Why, Xiang Xiaoqiang thinks you are? He values ​​your life more than the lives of those thousands of soldiers?

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Zhu Yourong and saw the girl pretending to be calm, but her eyes were full of concern and worry. Xiang Xiaoqiang felt warm again and had an impulse: If there is such a confidante, as long as she feels it is necessary and asks herself to go, then even if she sacrifices her life to go to him, what's the big deal?

Zhu Yourong's face was still a little white, but her voice calmly said:

"My dear friends, what do you think? Tell me."

Zhu Yourong wanted to say "Xiang Xiaoqiang can't go", but she was very guilty and dared not say it. Although her relationship with Xiang Xiaoqiang has not been made public, many people can guess it. A young man and woman, Xiang Xiaoqiang often runs into the palace, and Zhu Yourong listens to Xiang Xiaoqiang's everything... In everyone's opinion, there is nothing left.

Shen Rongxuan coughed, pondered for a moment, and did not say it himself, but looked around several ministers and said:

"Yes...what do you think? Let's talk about it."

Foreign Minister He Ziguang glanced at Xiang Xiaoqiang and then looked at Shen Rongxuan. The Foreign Minister of the Ming Dynasty can be said to be the second heavyweight in the cabinet except the Chief Minister. Now Xiang Xiaoqiang himself doesn't speak, His Majesty doesn't speak, and Master Shen doesn't speak, so it's his turn.

He Ziguang knew that Shen Ge always wanted Xiang Xiaoqiang to go, and it would be better not to go back. As a cabinet minister, he always hoped that Xiang Xiaoqiang's political power would "disappear". However, he could not say that he agreed to go to Xiang Xiaoqiang. The Qing barbarians wanted to lure Xiang Xiaoqiang, a famous general who resisted the Qing Dynasty, to kill him. This was too obvious. If he agreed, there would be a question of his position.

"Your Majesty, Master Shen, everyone," He Ziguang said slowly, "Ziguang thought that General Xiang must not go. This was obviously a trick of the Qing dynasty. General Xiang's previous actions were alone in the hinterland of the Beiqing Dynasty, and his outstanding achievements during the Nanjing Defense War, had long made the Qing dynasty hate him. If General Xiang went, there would be a lot of danger. We must not be fooled."

After He Ziguang finished speaking, several ministers nodded and agreed. Zhu Yourong's face calmed down a little, showed some smiles, and nodded, "Yeah, yeah".

Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed lightly, shook his head, and said lightly:

"Actually, it's nothing to take some danger by myself. As long as I can save thousands of soldiers from the Ming Dynasty, I will not lose even if I die in the north. Alas, the problem is that once this example is opened, the Qing barbarians taste the sweetness of seducing them, and I'm afraid they will be happy in the future. In that case, as long as they hate, such as Princess Liaoyang, Pu Hengbeile, and those anti-Qing patriots who were exiled to the Ming Dynasty, they may have their lives to worry about."

Zhu Yourong nodded immediately and sighed:

"Yes... Xiang Qing said so well, that's the reason..."

...

Therefore, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs went to the Tokyo Embassy to generate electricity, rejecting the request of the Beiqing. The Southern Ming side accused the request of the Beiqing for lack of sincerity. Because General Xiang Xiaoqiang was only the commander of the People's Guard, his identity had nothing to do with the negotiations. Moreover, the Ming side directly pointed out that General Xiang Xiaoqiang was one of the people most hated by the Beiqing. If he went to Beiqing with the regiment, it would be a sheep entering the tiger's mouth.

An hour later, news from the Northern and Qing Dynasties came through the Tokyo Ming Embassy. The Northern and Qing Dynasties first said firmly that Xiang Xiaoqiang's participation in the Southern Ming delegation was a prerequisite for the Qing Dynasty to be willing to talk to the Southern Ming Dynasty. If this article cannot be met, then there is no need for dialogue. The Southern Ming still has only two choices: either exchange 150,000 Qing army prisoners of war, or never want to see the thousands of officers and soldiers of their own again.

In addition, the Beiqing side also explained in the telegram, saying that there was no other meaning inviting General Xiang Xiaoqiang to go. It was just that the Qing Dynasty admired General Xiang's performance during the Ming-Dutch negotiations in the Southeast Asian country and did not lose face as the Chinese. Several adults from the Qing negotiation team wanted to take the opportunity to meet Lord Xiang. Moreover, the Beiqing side solemnly promised that the Qing Dynasty would never take the opportunity to detain General Xiang, or hurt General Xiang, and that nothing would be unfavorable to General Xiang. You can rest assured.

After reading the call from Beiqing, the imperial study room fell into silence again.

After a moment, the Interior Minister snorted coldly:

"The Qing Lu also said that he appreciated the performance of negotiations with the adults in the Southeast Asian countries, and did not lose the face of the Chinese. "Chinese", hum, the Qing Lu still had the nerve to call himself Chinese? He was so shameless."

No one else spoke, but his expression was the same as that of the Interior Minister. He regarded himself as "Chinese" as the "Chinese".

Xiang Xiaoqiang had discovered this phenomenon long ago. At this time, the Ming people generally did not regard the Northern and Qing dynasties as "China". The mainstream view of the Southern Ming Dynasty was that the Northern and Qing dynasties could not be considered China at all, at least it was a castrated China. The only one who can truly represent China is the Ming Dynasty south of the Yangtze River.

But Xiang Xiaoqiang came from later generations, and in the history of that space, the Ming Dynasty was completely destroyed shortly after the Qing Dynasty entered the pass. Therefore, the Qing Dynasty replaced the Ming Dynasty and became a dynasty in Chinese history, and it was a legal dynasty recognized by historians. Moreover, after the switch was opened in the late Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was also interacting with various countries as the Chinese government and recognized by various countries.

However, at present, this time and space were divided into rivers and ruled by the Ming and Qing dynasties, and they did not recognize each other... It was really teasing. In this time and space, although Xiang Xiaoqiang also regarded the Ming Dynasty as the orthodox Chinese, he was still very uncomfortable with the Ming Dynasty's idea of ​​"not recognizing that the Northern and Qing dynasties was China".

...

No matter what, the call from Beijing and Qing dynasties once again raised the hearts of Xiang Xiaoqiang and Zhu Yourong. The man said firmly: If Xiang Xiaoqiang doesn't come, then don't talk about it...

Xiang Xiaoqiang frowned, held the telegram, stared at the words on it, and his mind was spinning rapidly, guessing what the other party meant and how credible the other party’s guarantee was. Also, even if the guarantee from the Peking University and Qing dynasties was credible, then what was the motive for them to ask themselves to go?

Zhu Yourong stopped talking, just lowered her head to drink tea, but her eyes revealed fear and anxiety. She hesitated for a while and finally blurted out:

"No! Xiangqing can't go!"

Everyone was staring at her. Zhu Yourong didn't care about other people's gazes anymore, and continued to lower her head and said firmly:

"No, Xiangqing can't go... send a newspaper there saying that we can talk about anything else, but this one cannot talk about..."

Xiang Xiaoqiang was very moved. He opened his mouth and was about to speak, but Chen Rongxuan spoke:

"Your Majesty, I have a way. Lord Xiang is not completely unable to go. But since the Qing barbarians kept ensuring the safety of Lord Xiang, we can seize this and let them give us a real guarantee."

Zhu Yourong looked up and said:

“What guarantee?”

Chen Rongxuan said:

"Let the Beiqing send an equally important person to our side. When Lord Xiang comes back safely, we will let that person go back."

"You mean... let them send hostages?"

"good."

Zhu Yourong squinted her eyes and said suspiciously:

"Ge Lao, this matter has made us beg for the Beiqing period, and from time to time, the Beiqing period is begging us. If we make such a request, may they agree?"

Chen Rongxuan said:

"Of course they may not agree, but there is also the possibility of agreeing. No matter what motive they are for, it can be seen that they really want to let Xiang Gong go. If they agree and we think the "hostage" sent by us is worth enough, then what are the concerns about going to Peking University Qing? On the contrary, Beijing and Qing swear to ensure that it will not be detrimental to Xiang Gong. If we cannot even agree to our minimum precautionary requirement, then we really want to lure Xiang Gong. In this case, Xiang Gong doesn't have to go."

Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at Chen Rongxuan suspiciously, guessing what he was thinking. Zhu Yourong hesitated:

"this……"

The Foreign Minister seized the opportunity and said:

"No matter what, we can try it first. Anyway, the choice is still with us. It's better to try the Qingzhang first."

Zhu Yourong looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly. Zhu Yourong also hesitated and nodded.

The telegram was sent out. After a while, the other party's telegram came back.

The Beiqing side agreed. And to Nanming’s surprise, it generously asked the Nanming side to choose the “hostages” they thought were suitable.

Zhu Yourong didn't give up and wanted a lion to speak out. She asked the foreign minister to send a report there, and opened her mouth and called on Emperor Guangwu's younger brother, Aisin Gioro-Yuqi, to come and be hostage.

Several ministers strongly opposed His Majesty's crazy request, for fear of annoying Emperor Guangwu. But Zhu Yourong wanted to immunize Guangwu and forced someone to send a telegram.

Two hours later, the other party replied. To everyone's surprise, Emperor Guangwu did not turn against him, but agreed to send his younger brother to be hostages. However, he put forward an additional condition: Xiang Xiaoqiang's weight alone is not enough to ensure the safety of his younger brother. The Southern Ming Dynasty also had to add another person. Guangwu called on Princess Leping, Zheng Yucong and Xiang Xiaoqiang to join the negotiation team to come to the Peking and Qing dynasties.

Zhu Yourong was a little anxious when he heard that his best cousin would also be a "hostage", but several ministers were relieved. They told Zhu Yourong that since Guangwu could send his younger brother, it was because he was sincere and could not hurt Lord Xiang. The reason why he asked us to send Princess Leping was simply that he felt that his younger brother was too heavy. Nan Mingguang, Xiang Xiaoqiang, was not qualified and could not guarantee the safety of his younger brother 100%. He also wanted to "addition" Princess Leping.

As for why the other party named His Majesty's cousin, not His Majesty's personal sister, it is probably because Princess Leping has the best relationship with His Majesty, and everyone knows it. Moreover, the princess' status is too high, and if one princess is the same, the weight of the "hostage" on both sides is unbalanced.

Now, neither Xiang Xiaoqiang nor Zhu Yourong said anything.

Emperor Guangwu's request made Xiang Xiaoqiang feel relieved. Because Chen Rongxuan had always wanted to find an opportunity to get rid of himself. If he went to Peking University and Qing Dynasty, Chen Rongxuan would do something to Guangwu's younger brother, such as food poisoning, and let that boy die in the South Ming Dynasty, so Xiang Xiaoqiang would not think about returning to the Ming Dynasty. Now that Zheng Yucong is tied to him, Chen Rongxuan would never dare to think of any bad thoughts.

...

That night, Xiang Xiaoqiang and Princess Zheng, who was trembling with excitement, both boarded the special train, drove eastward to Ningbo, and then took a boat from Ningbo to the East China Sea Fleet.

At nine o'clock the next morning, the secret delegation of the Nanming Dynasty boarded the "Xuda" light cruiser and headed north towards the sea coordinate point agreed with the Beiqing River. That coordinate point was about 450 nautical miles north of the Zhoushan Islands.

There will be a light cruiser from the Beijing-Qinghai region waiting there.
Chapter completed!