Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 957 Refusal to Renew the Alliance
He hurried all the way to Nanjing, Bai Wenxuan did not meet the important officials of the Ming Dynasty, but was taken by Liu Wenxiu to visit around Nanjing City every day, from shops, restaurants to wharf warehouses, to warehouses for storing materials, and finally To the various military workshops of the Ming Dynasty.

Bai Wenxuan knew the intention of the Ming Dynasty, which was to show its strength in various aspects, which made him fear the strength of the Ming Dynasty in his heart, so that he did not have enough confidence when negotiating again.

Wang Yan's intention was indeed achieved. Every time Bai Wenxuan went, he became more anxious. He began to worry about the future of the entire Daxi Kingdom.The Ming Dynasty he imagined was all about the desolate and desolate north, but along the way, compared with the north, the south of the Ming Dynasty has two different appearances.

Information is inconvenient in this era, so he has such a stereotyped image.

Visiting the military workshop, where thousands of craftsmen work together, a black and shiny new blunderbuss, brushed with oil, put into a long wooden box stuffed with straw, and then loaded into a carriage and taken away, almost every day In a quarter of an hour, a car was transported from the workshop to the warehouse, and Bai Wenxuan's shock reached a peak, making him startled, drunk, and mad at the end.

Coming out of it, Bai Wenxuan couldn't calm down for a long time. He wanted to go back to the building to rest, but officials from the Ministry of Rites came to summon him, saying that the King of Chu wanted to meet him, so he immediately got into the carriage and headed for the Palace of King Chu.

In the living room, Wang Yan talked with Zhang Huangyan and Gu Yuanjing for a while, and after a while, Bai Wenxuan was brought into the living room by the customs officers of the Ministry of Rites.

The petty official saluted, introduced him to Bai Wenxuan, and bowed out of the living room. Bai Wenxuan bowed respectfully to Wang Yangong, bowed his hands to Zhang and Gu Erren, and presented Sun Kewang's letter to Wang Yan.

Wang Yan stretched out his hand to let him take a seat, and then unceremoniously opened the letter. After reading the letter, he handed the letter to Gu and Zhang next to him, and said with a smile: "Gu has already read General Sun's letter. Is this the final request, or can we talk about it later?"

Bai Wenxuan just sat down, stood up again, cupped his hands and said solemnly: "I don't know what your highness is dissatisfied with the conditions in my king's letter? Our Western Kingdom and the Ming Dynasty have the same language and the same species. My king inherits the ambition of the previous king and fights against the strong with the Ming Dynasty. , Bao Han family mountains and rivers. When the Qing captives went south, the former lord and His Highness made a covenant together. 20 soldiers of our western army went out to fight against the Qing Dynasty and fought bloody battles in Hanzhong. Now my lord is helping the Ming Dynasty to quell the cholera in Yunnan. This time the Jin captives attacked Sichuan, my lord is still We abided by the covenant between the two sides, and did not take advantage of others' dangers, but marched into southern Sichuan to defend against the Jin captives for the Ming Dynasty."

Speaking of this, Bai Wen picked out a yellow scroll, unfolded it for Wang Yan to read, and continued: "This is the covenant signed between His Highness and the Former Lord, with His Highness's autograph and seal, His Highness will not deny it Promise!"

How to negotiate with the Ming Dynasty? Sun Kewang explained before Bai Wenxuan set off. One is to talk slowly, and the other is to get straight to the point. It is necessary to solidify the relationship between the two alliances.

Back then when the Qing army attacked Huguang aggressively, Wang Yan couldn't stand it by himself, so he took the initiative to approach Zhang Xianzhong and formed an alliance.

At that time, the court's strategy also changed from uniting with the captives to suppress the bandits to uniting with the bandits to fight against the bandits. Wang Yan, He Tengjiao, and Du Yinxi successively recruited more than 20 Shunjun troops in Huguang. The court did not reject contacting Zhang Xianzhong, so After Wang Yan submitted the letter, Long Wu gave him full authority to deal with it.

In order to confirm the alliance relationship, Wang Yan and Zhang Xianzhong signed a covenant and stamped the official seal. This is why Zhang Xianzhong was defeated in Hanzhong and when Sichuan was in crisis, he would send people to Guangzhou to ask for help from the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Yan, Gu Yuanjing, and Zhang Huangyan looked at each other. They didn't expect that Sun Kewang would still keep this agreement, and he really had to admit it.

Wang Yan picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then put it down. With this action, he already had a countermeasure, so he said calmly, "There is this covenant!"

When Bai Wenxuan heard that Wang Yan did not deny it, his face was immediately pleased. As long as the Ming Dynasty recognized this covenant, the two countries would be an alliance.

If it is the hegemony of a major country, breaking the contract may not cause obvious harm, but if it is a struggle between several powers and a country's reputation is too bad, then the harm to the country will be obvious.

Wang Yan saw that Bai Wenxuan's face was full of joy, and he had something to say, so he hurriedly reached out his hand to stop him, "General Bai listened to Gu. I recognize this covenant, there is no doubt about it, but according to what I know, When King Daxi was dying, he made a will that he hoped that the Western Army would return to our court, and that the generals would not do unrighteous actions. Moreover, the idea that Prince Xi would be extinct and General Sun would inherit Daxi was somewhat unreasonable. Our court followed the principles of King Xi. The last wish, the covenant has been sealed, and the soldiers of the Western Army who have followed the last wish of the Western King and surrendered to our dynasty, Liu Wenxiu and Li Dingguo are all enfeoffed as marquises, General Bai should be very clear about these situations."

Wang Yan paused, looked at Bai Wenxuan and said, "If General Sun thinks he has inherited the will of King Xi, he should surrender to our court instead of thinking about separatist control of the southwest, so I think the conditions proposed by General Sun are somewhat inappropriate. He wants to establish a country in the southwest, and my court will find it hard to accept!"

Bai Wenxuan immediately said anxiously: "My lord is the adopted son of King Xi, and Daming also recognizes Daxi Kingdom, how can he not recognize it now?"

"General Bai, don't worry!" Gu Yuanjing on the side already understood Wang Yan's meaning, and said with a smile: "My court respects King Daxi's will, and according to King Daxi's wishes, after him, the Daxi Army will return to our court. , so the Daxi Kingdom has ceased to exist since then. General Sun wanted to separate the regime in the southwest, which obviously violated the will of the King of the West. Besides, the Western Army and our dynasty had been in constant friction in Guizhou and deliberately provoked troubles. Naturally, our dynasty could not Admit it, and the covenant will naturally cease to exist!"

Such rhetoric from the Ming Dynasty was expected by Sun Kewang, so he sent Bai Wenxuan to negotiate, with the intention of re-signing the alliance and trying to get the Ming Dynasty to recognize the status of Daxi Kingdom and not treat it as a bandit.

Now that the Ming Dynasty clearly does not want to recognize the original covenant, then if he negotiates according to the previous covenant, this matter cannot be negotiated.

"Your Highness, even if the past covenant does not exist, the bond between the two parties to defend the Qing captives is still there!" Bai Wenxuan was very passive. After he was silent for a while, he decided to follow Sun Kewang's explanation and threw out the bottom line, "Besides, in the southwest , we have reached a settlement with Governor He, the Western Army and the Jinlu are fighting fiercely in southern Sichuan, and the two sides have a basis for another alliance, don't they?"

The Western Army is now at odds with Hauge, and they must hold on to the Ming Dynasty, so Sun Kewang can't wait to renew the alliance with the Ming Dynasty.

As Bai Wenxuan was speaking, he suddenly bowed solemnly to Wang Yan, and then said, "Your Highness, my lord is willing to follow the example of North Korea and pay tribute as a courtier and serve as the southwestern feudal screen of the Ming Dynasty."

Wang Yan, Zhang, and Gu looked at each other, but slowly said: "The Southwest has a very important relationship, our dynasty will never allow the existence of separatist forces, and will not set up a vassal state here. If General Sun is sincere, our dynasty is willing to use The duke's reward, and he is a hereditary duke, invite him to come to Nanjing to serve as an official, and other generals of the Western Army will follow the example of Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu, and be integrated into the Ming army, and they will not be treated differently! This is the condition of our dynasty. I hope General Bai can consider it!"

This was so far from Sun Kewang's conditions that Bai Wenxuan was in a mess and didn't know what to say for a while.At this time, Gu Yuanjing smiled and smoothed things over and said: "General Bai has also worked hard. Today is just His Royal Highness the King of Chu meeting with you. The two sides are trying to figure out the bottom line. It is not a formal negotiation. I think that as long as the two parties are sincere, they will definitely find a good one." A plan acceptable to both parties. It's getting late, let's stop here today, let's talk another day, how about it?"

Bai Wenxuan needed to digest it, he nodded numbly, then saluted and left, while Wang Yan asked Gu Yuanjing to send him outside the palace.

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(End of this chapter)