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Taking a king of a country as a hostage has been an extremely rare thing since ancient times;
Like Korea, it only took two princes as hostages.
Fuchai and Goujian had a grudge against each other for killing their fathers, so after the defeat of Yue, Goujian had to go to Wu as a hostage.
From a legal perspective, taking a king as a hostage is equivalent to handing the entire country over to someone else, and you have to do whatever they tell you to do.
Now that the Qing Dynasty still had the strength to fight, it was willing to give up its imperial title, send its princess to marry, use its monarch as a hostage, and voluntarily withdraw from beyond the Great Wall. This series of actions was truly unexpected.
The Qin ministers in the palace discussed this matter a lot. Scholar-type officials such as Ai Nanying even sighed sincerely, "The world can stop fighting!"
After the governor of Qin ordered Guaerjia Xifu to be taken away first, the imperial envoy Xia Zhiyuan was the first to come out and say, "Qin King, the ancient sage kings were all benevolent and virtuous. The sage also said that those who conquer others by force are not convinced by their hearts, because their strength is not enough; those who conquer others by virtue are sincerely convinced by their hearts.
Now that the Northern Barbarians are willing to voluntarily withdraw from the Great Wall and use their king as a hostage to protect them forever, it shows their sincerity. I think our king should be kind and forgive their past crimes to prevent the millions of people in the Central Plains from suffering from war again. "
Huang Yida, the Imperial Secretary, then came out and said, "King Qin, you were able to recover the Central Plains without resorting to war. This is truly due to your benevolence, which has made the barbarians dare not rebel against your virtue. I also think that your Majesty can pardon the past crimes of the Jiannu and turn hostility into friendship. Internally, you can save millions of people from the flames of war; externally, you can make the barbarians sincerely convinced. In this way, the Great Qin, the Jurchens, and the whole world will be fortunate!"
As more and more people came out to express their acceptance of the Qing Dynasty's peace proposal, finally even a large number of ministers including Minister of Rites Tan Qiubai, Minister of Punishments Bai Tie, Minister of Personnel Yang Tinglin, Minister of Works Song Yingxing, Hanlin Academician Gu Yanwu, Right Vice Minister of Rites Bian Di, Imperial College Chief Academician Luo Wanzao and Left Vice Minister of Rites Ai Nanying also stood up and asked Qin Mu to accept the Qing Dynasty's peace proposal so that they could peacefully take over the Central Plains.
They believed that this would not only save the huge expense of hundreds of thousands of troops in the Northern Expedition, but also prevent the Central Plains from being ravaged by war. In short, this was a hundred benefits and no harm to the Qin Dynasty.
Among the six ministers, only the Minister of War He Liang and the Minister of Revenue Liu Boquan did not stand up.
In fact, Liu Boquan wanted to take over the Central Plains peacefully and avoid the use of military force more than anyone else.
It's just that he was used to following Qin Mu's lead. Before Qin Mu expressed his opinion, he was never willing to express his opinion first.
Qin Mu looked around and saw that more than half of the ministers in the palace supported accepting the peace agreement with the Qing Dynasty. He looked at Sima An and found that Sima An had a serious expression; Lu Zhenfei beside him seemed to be thinking about something; and Li Yuan seemed quite interested.
Qin Mu secretly sighed that Dorgon was indeed a cunning badger. After suffering repeated defeats, he offered such conditions as taking the emperor as a hostage, withdrawing from outside the Great Wall, and sending the princess as a marriage partner, which made many ministers of Qin believe in his sincerity in seeking peace.
Even Qin Mu was not sure whether Dorgon's promise to withdraw from beyond the Great Wall was true;
Dorgon was a man of great talent and strategy. He was flexible and resilient. In order to maintain the internal unity of the Manchus, he was willing to give up the throne and promote the six-year-old Fulin. In the face of the strong temptation of the throne, few people in ancient and modern times could do this.
Given Dorgon's wisdom, it is not ruled out that he really abandoned the Central Plains and retreated outside the Great Wall in order to preserve the vitality of the Qing Dynasty.
After all, if they really withdraw from the border areas, it may not be a bad thing for the Qing Dynasty.
No matter what, Dorgon used this move and seized the moral high ground.
If Qin Mu did not agree to his request for peace and insisted on launching an expedition to the north, he would be opposed by many Qin officials, making it difficult for the Qin people to unite as one.
At the same time, Qin Mu can also be accused of "not caring about the lives of the people and being warlike by nature."
Once this big hat is put on his head, Qin Mu's reputation among the Qin people will plummet.
What is more worrying is that the people of the Central Plains could have been spared from the ravages of war and returned safely to the Qin Dynasty. However, because Qin Mu refused to accept the peace talks and insisted on launching a war, they were caught up in the war again. At that time, will the people of the Central Plains still support the Qin army's Northern Expedition
Once the people's support is lost, the balance of war will slowly tilt in favor of the Qing Dynasty.
If Qin Mu took these into consideration, once he started the peace talks with the Qing Dynasty, it would take at least two months to go back and forth between Nanjing and Yanjing.
In the end, regardless of whether the negotiations were successful or not, Dorgon would be able to achieve his goal of delaying the war until after the summer harvest.
Qin Mu thought a lot, and he asked the ministers in the palace: "Ministers, do you think Dorgon is really afraid of our Great Qin? If he is really afraid, why didn't the Qing Dynasty propose such a peace proposal when Dorgon was defeated last year? Why did they propose it at this time
Could it be that Dorgon feels that he owes the Great Qin too much, so he wants to govern it first, and then hand it over to the Great Qin to govern when the harvest is almost ready, so that he can feel at ease?"
The Imperial Censor Xia Zhiyuan came out and replied, "King Qin, as the saying goes, one situation changes with time. When Duoduo was defeated last year, the morale of the Qing army was unstable. If we immediately seek peace and withdraw from the border, the army will surely collapse. This is impossible.
Now, the internal situation is somewhat stable, while the Mongolian tribes are still somewhat distant. The Qing Dynasty is already in danger of being attacked from all sides. Therefore, I think that the Qing Dynasty's agreement to use his emperor as a hostage in order to withdraw safely from the border is not necessarily unbelievable."
"King Qin, the Qing has expressed its sincere submission. If the Great Qin refuses to accept it and insists on launching an attack, it will be immoral and the people of the Central Plains will blame the Great Qin for the disaster.
If the Great Qin shows its sincerity and the Qing Dynasty goes back on its word, then its sinister face will be exposed to the world. Since ancient times, those who are righteous have many supporters, while those who are unrighteous have few supporters. When the time comes, my king will raise an army of righteousness to attack, and the people of the Central Plains will surely come to welcome them with pots and drinks. "
Qin Mu said calmly: "Let's leave this matter here for now. This is a matter of national importance and we must be cautious. Ministers, don't jump to conclusions. Go back and think it over first."
Qin Mu couldn't insist without any evidence that Dorgon was lying, so he simply withdrew from the court and slowly thought of a solution.
To be honest, he couldn't be sure whether Dorgon was really willing to give up his central ambitions and withdraw from the Great Wall. He really couldn't be sure for the time being.
If it was true, the Qin Dynasty could save countless money and grain, and avoid the Central Plains from being ravaged by war again. Who wouldn't want such a result? No wonder the ministers in the palace couldn't help but stand up and agree to the Qing Dynasty's request for peace.
Qin Mu thought all the way back to the imperial study, and immediately asked Han Zanzhou to summon Sima An, Lu Zhenfei and Li Yuan to discuss the matter.
Qin Mu and the others sat down and immediately asked, "Do the three elders think that the Qing Dynasty's request for peace is credible?"
Sima An replied: "King of Qin, regardless of whether the Qing Dynasty's request is credible or not, the key point is that Dorgon's move made it impossible for the Qin Dynasty to immediately launch a northern expedition."
Yes, whether the Qing Dynasty’s request for peace is credible or not, you have to understand it clearly before you can make a conclusion. If you understand it, the opportunity will be missed.
If you ignore it, if the Qing Dynasty is really willing to give up the Central Plains, then you will be a sinner. It is your stubbornness that will cause the Central Plains to be ravaged by war again, and cause the Qin Dynasty to waste countless money and food, and sacrifice countless soldiers in vain...
Lu Zhenfei said, "King Qin, the Qing envoy insisted that King Qin marry his so-called princess first before he would withdraw from the border. Regardless of whether he is sincere or deceitful, how can he be allowed to make all the conditions?"
Lu Zhenfei's words made Qin Mu's mind seem to flash with light, and he immediately asked: "What good plan does Grand Secretary Lu have?"
"King of Qin, if the other party can make conditions, so can our Great Qin. Didn't the Qing Dynasty claim that it was willing to withdraw from the border areas? Well, now our dynasty will also make a condition. It doesn't require them to withdraw from the border areas first. As long as they are willing to withdraw their troops north of the Yellow River and show sufficient sincerity, King of Qin will take their princess as his concubine, and then we can talk about withdrawing from the border areas."
"Not bad, not bad." Qin Mu nodded.
Sima An said, "I'm afraid Dorgon has other intentions. Our dynasty can naturally propose conditions, but Xifu just claims that he can't make the decision and has to go back to ask his master first. This hot potato is thrown back to the hands of the Qin Dynasty because our dynasty can't wait."
That's right. We should withdraw the troops to the north of the Yellow River first. It's normal for Xifu to say that he can't make the decision on such a matter.
He didn't even need to refuse such a condition. He could just go back and ask for instructions and delay it until after the summer harvest.
How can we prove whether the Qing Dynasty is really willing to retreat beyond the Great Wall or is deliberately delaying time
Even if you don't believe in Dorgon, you must find a reason that can convince all the ministers in the court and the people of the world.
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ps: Dear friends, I humbly beg for your monthly votes. I don't know what happened. The monthly votes have been so few these days. The situation is not good. I was anally raped once... ... twice... ... I can't stand it. Please support me with monthly votes! Hold on!
.(To be continued..)
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