Shen Weijing was already familiar with negotiating, so at the beginning, Shen Weijing spoke first to suppress the Japanese's momentum.
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Shen Weijing said that after I went back, I discussed it with the Minister of War Shi, and he agreed to your request for tribute. To put it bluntly, you just want to pay tribute to the Celestial Empire. It's all because of North Korea's treachery that led to the war between the two countries. Now that it's all a misunderstanding, you should quickly return the territory and the two princes to North Korea and find another way to pay tribute.
This response is quite cunning. President Xiao Nishi's Chinese is poor, but he can communicate well. This kind of mysterious reply can only be translated by the diplomatic monk Xuansu. President Xiao Nishi made two requests, but Shen Weijing did not agree to any of them, but it seems that he has answered them.
Japan invaded North Korea under the banner of paying tribute. No problem, you don't have to pass through North Korea! Such a simple sentence pried open the basis of Japan's excuse. As for Xiao Nishi's proposal to divide the Taedong River, Shen Weijing did not mention it at all. Instead, he made the return of the territory and the princes a prerequisite for paying tribute.
After going around and around, with the help of the officialdom, President Konishi was confused. They discussed again and again, but they could not come to any conclusion. So, he said helplessly that the two princes were not in his hands. They were in the hands of Kato Kiyomasa, and he could not make the decision.
Shen Weijing immediately followed. What decision can you make?
President Xiao Nishi said that I can make the decision to divide the Taedong River and return it to Pyongyang.
Shen Weijing shook his head, saying no, no, what is this? This is not a deal at all. Who can make the decision?
President Little Nishi honestly explained that it was the central government of the Japanese Army in Seoul who could make the decision. Shen Weijing's eyes lit up and he immediately said, "Then go and ask your central government whether this matter is feasible or not, and then come and talk to me."
President Konishi had to report back to Yukita Hideki's family and his team of strategists in Seoul, and then Seoul had to report back to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Japan. This round trip would take at least a month. During this month, Xiao Ruxun could basically prepare for war with Pyongyang. Most importantly, Shen Weijing also made President Konishi and the others feel that the responsibility for delaying the negotiations was not on the Daming side, but on the Japanese side.
President Little Nishi was completely fooled by the Great Hoodwinker Shen Weijing. He felt very sorry for the old man who had traveled such a long distance, so he took the initiative to suggest that the Japanese troops retreat and return Pyongyang. When Shen Weijing heard this, he thought, 'That won't do. My Admiral Xiao's plan is to eat you up in one bite. How am I supposed to eat you up if you leave? If Admiral Xiao can't eat you, you'll have to eat me!
In the end, the two sides agreed that a month later, on October 30th, the special envoy of the Daming court would wait for the handover with the Japanese troops at the Suning Hotel north of Pyongyang. When President Konishi asked him who the special envoy of the court would send, Shen Weijing replied very seriously, "Xiao Ruxun."
President Konishi did not know who Xiao Ruxun was, but he had completely believed Shen Weijing's words. Shen Weijing's main task had been successfully completed, so the next step was to find clues and blind the eyes hidden behind for Xiao Ruxun.
After the negotiation, President Konishi warmly invited Shen Weijing to have a good meal, and then respectfully asked someone to carry Shen Weijing away in a sedan chair.
Before sending them off, Shen Weijing said to President Konishi, "Why do I feel like there are a lot of North Koreans here? Are the North Koreans also helping you fight the war? "
President Konishi said embarrassedly, "Well, we don't have enough troops. Usually, we also need some North Koreans to act as translators, so we found some people who are willing to submit to help. After all, it's a war between two armies, so we think it's normal."
Shen Weijing looked very dissatisfied, "These guys, they're so disloyal and unjust, really hateful! Since we've already decided to negotiate, when you leave, tie these bastards up and leave them for Great Ming to deal with! "
President Konishi's expression was a little strange, but he still agreed and sent Shen Weijing off. Before leaving, he also gave him some money, a few iron cannons, and a name card — he had personally written in Chinese characters with the names of the main military personnel of the First Army Corps translated into Chinese.
It was not until they were far away from Pyongyang and into a safe area that Shen Weijing finally heaved a sigh of relief and patted his chest. One of his attendants couldn't help but want to flatter him, "Master! You're really amazing! Those Wokou pirates were so scared that they were stunned! "
Shen Weijing spat and said disdainfully, "Bah! What the hell! When I, your Grandpa Shen, was dealing with the Japanese pirates under General Hu's command, he wasn't even born yet! But these guys are too vigilant, so we didn't get much information. But it's about time, let's go back and report to the Commander! The number of Japanese pirates in Pyongyang is not small at all, the North Koreans are fooling us! "
"Alright!"
The group hurried to Gyeongju.
At Zhenjiang Citadel, after Wu Weizhong handed Xiao Ruxun's warrant to Li Rusong, Li Rusong flew into a rage and tore the warrant to cross the river to find trouble with Xiao Ruxun. Wu Weizhong couldn't stand it and wanted to stop him, but Li Rusong punched his right shoulder and almost dislocated it. If it weren't for Wu Weizhong trying to dissuade Li Rusong for the sake of the overall situation, his southern soldiers would have fought with Li Rusong.
No one could stop Li Rusong, so Li Rusong brought Nurhachi and thirty of his personal attendants along with him. They stole a ferry and crossed the river to find trouble with Xiao Ruxun.
Xiao Ruxun was still busy dealing with the marching route. The North Korean emperor and ministers were really deceptive. Not only did they not help, there would be two or three officials hanging around here every day, in the name of asking for information, but in fact, they were asking Xiao Ruxun to send troops. They didn't know when Xiao Ruxun would be able to send troops, so they were very anxious. Xiao Ruxun couldn't beat or scold them, and he couldn't stop them from entering. He was very distressed.
Finally, Xiao Ruxun was angered. He grabbed a senior official who came to ask for troops and pressed him to his chair. He told the senior official that as long as the roads were repaired and the warehouses were repaired, the troops could be sent immediately. He just needed to do something for him, and if he couldn't do it, he shouldn't make a fuss here.
The official swallowed his saliva and looked at the documents piled up like a mountain. After apologizing, he ran away. Three to five officials were forced to leave by Xiao Ruxun. The North Korean emperor and ministers knew that Xiao Ruxun was annoyed, so they didn't dare to continue harassing Xiao Ruxun. Instead, they went to harass Yoo Sung-Ryong and Yuan Huang, asking about the date and plan of the troops.
Yuan Huang could drive them away, but Yoo Sung-Ryong couldn't. These North Korean officials weren't as polite to Yoo Sung-Ryong as they were to the Daming officials. They swarmed over and asked all sorts of questions, almost causing Yoo Sung-Ryong to collapse. In the end, it was Xiao Ruxun who came to the rescue. He rebuked a group of people who were holding him back, and Yoo Sung-Ryong was reluctantly allowed to continue working.
In short, these North Korean officials didn't care about anything else. They only hoped that the Ming Army could quickly send troops to recover North Korea. They didn't consider the actual situation at all, or perhaps they didn't want to consider it from the bottom of their hearts. They wished that North Korea could recover tomorrow, and the Japanese would all go back to their hometown. Other than that, they didn't care about anything else. Even if they had to use the lives of the Ming Army to make up for the victory, it would be worth it.
With regards to these people, Xiao Ruxun explained patiently at first. Later on, he chased them away with a stern face. He didn't give them any face at all. He often scolded these people for not doing their jobs and chased them out of his office. These people couldn't hang their faces and secretly asked Li Zhi to complain about Xiao Ruxun to Song Yingchang. In the end, Song Yingchang's reply was even more impolite.
Daming sent troops, provisions, and money to help you recover your country. Who is Admiral Xiao's conscientious handling of affairs for? It's fine if you don't cooperate honestly, but you actually want to hold me back. Do you believe that I won't withdraw my troops?!
In short, before the three armies move, the provisions and fodder must go first. If the provisions and fodder are insufficient, the three armies will not move!
This impolite reply finally made the North Korean emperor and officials calm down for a while. However, Li Zhi's mood began to become gloomy again. If this dragged on, who knew when they would be able to recover Seoul and recover North Korea?
At this juncture, Li Rusong came.
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