In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed since the Tiger-Character Flag envoy team arrived in Nanjing. However, the imperial court remained silent on the peace talks with Tiger Character Banner, and did not send anyone to see the Tiger Character Banner envoys.
There was originally a lot of excitement about forming an alliance with the Qing Dynasty. With the arrival of the tiger-character flag envoys, fewer and fewer people were still talking about it in the court.
Only some low-ranking officials were still clamoring for the Northern Expedition. But anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Ming court has been wavering on whether to form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty or to negotiate peace with the Tiger Character Banner.
However, folk rumors about the Tiger Flag are still widespread, and even children of a few years old can say a few things about the Tiger Flag.
As for what is bad about the Tiger Flag, there are many things that can be said. It is just a rumor. No one cares about what the Tiger Flag looks like. They only care about what they heard about the Tiger Flag.
"Futai, the Minister of Rites of the Ming Dynasty has arrived." A guard came to Hong Chengchou to inform him. Upon hearing this, Hong Chengchou frowned slightly and muttered: "Why is he here!" When he was envoy to the Ming Dynasty, he naturally knew something about some high-ranking officials in the Ming Dynasty, including the Minister of Rites.
Unlike others, the Minister of Rites and he were Jinshis in the same subject, but the other person was the top scholar in that subject, while he was only a Jinshi in the second class.
"Since everyone is here, let's meet them!" Hong Chengchou said to the guard, and then said to another person,
"Go and invite the deputy envoy here." Since the Ming court sent the Minister of Rites, the peace talks should have a result.
Yang Jiachen rushed to Hong Chengchou first because he was close.
"I heard Ming Ting sent someone here? Don't you plan to drag it on any longer?" Yang Jiachen entered the room and sat down on an empty seat.
It had been a while since he came to Nanjing, and the novelty at the beginning was gone. Staying like this every day made him feel bored, which was far less grounded than the busy life before.
"Don't worry, we just arrived, there's still a lot of pulling to do behind the scenes!" Hong Chengchou said to Yang Jiachen with a smile. He knew that even if the Ming Dynasty agreed to the peace talks, there would be back and forth arguments over the terms of the peace talks before they could be finalized. After all, the Tiger Character Banner occupied several northern provinces that the Ming Dynasty had once occupied, especially even the capital.
It is impossible for Mingting not to want to take advantage of peace talks. Yang Jiachen said: "You are a legitimate envoy, and I will cooperate with you." He knew that he might not be able to outsmart the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty, and only people like Hong Chengchou could stand up to the treacherous and cunning officials of the Ming Dynasty. Don't suffer.
"Futai, the officials sent by the Ming Dynasty have arrived." The guard announced, and then moved to one side to give up his position.
"Haha!" As laughter came, a Ming Dynasty official who was over sixty years old walked in. Hong Chengchou stood up, raised his arms towards the visitor, crossed his hands, and said with a smile: "Brother Yi, long time no see!"
"Haha, as long as Brother Hengjiu is willing, we can always invite three or five friends to get together and talk about poetry." Qian Shisheng replied with the same smile.
Hong Chengchou said: "I hope that I can make literary friends with Brother Yizhi more often. It's a pity that now I need to take a group of guards with me even when I go out. It's really inconvenient. But Brother Yizhi can go to the capital in the north in the future. Then we can Let’s re-experience the grand event of crossing the Dragon Gate together.”
"Why go to a place so far away from the capital? The south of the Yangtze River is very good. The scenery along the Qinhuai River cannot be experienced in the north." Qian Shisheng said with a smile.
Hong Chengchou smiled and shook his head and said: "I have been to the Qinhuai River too. Just like that, I still prefer the scenery of the capital in the north. Come, please take a seat." He called Qian Shisheng to take a seat.
After several people were seated respectively, the people below served hot tea.
"I miss the days of working with Brother Hengjiu, and I don't know if I will have this opportunity in the future." Qian Shisheng stared at Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou smiled and said: "We are sitting together now."
"Sitting together doesn't mean anything. The key is whether we sit together in the same place." Qian Shisheng said with a hint of meaning.
Hong Chengchou said with a smile: "Brother Yizhi, you were the number one scholar back then, and I am not as good as me, so the seat under my butt is more suitable for me. If brother Yizhi is willing to sit here, I am willing to give it up."
"Brother Hengjiu, your temper has not changed after all these years." Qian Shisheng joked, while also understanding that Hong Chengchou was unwilling to accept Ming's win over.
"Drink tea!" Hong Chengchou raised the tea cup in his hand to signal. Qian Shisheng picked up the teacup, put it under his nose, smelled it, took a small sip, put it down immediately and said, "Brother Hengjiu, you are not an outsider, so I'll tell you the truth."
"Please tell me." Qian Shisheng said: "Recently, the DPRK and China have been arguing about whether to negotiate peace with you or form an alliance with the Qing Dynasty. To be honest, the current situation is very unfavorable to you. Brother Hengjiu, you must make plans early. .”
"It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if the peace talks fail." Hong Chengchou said nonchalantly.
"But you'd better not form an alliance with the Qing State. I believe you can guess the ambitions of the Qing State. They will not be kind enough to help you. We have the same ancestry and the same origin. I don't want one day to let the Qing State's old woods be destroyed because of the internal fighting among our own people. The Tatars who came out took advantage."
"You can't say that." Qian Shisheng shook his head and said,
"The Qing Dynasty is just a small foreign tribe. Even if it has the heart to devour the world, it may not have the strength. Otherwise, it would not be trapped in Liaodong and never come out." At this time, Yang Jiachen interjected: "It is this small foreign country. The clan has defeated you one after another and lost a large area of land in Liaodong. Now that they have Guan Ning's army to strengthen their strength, if it were not for my tiger-shaped flag to block the front, half of the Ming Dynasty would have fallen to this small foreign country that Qian Shilang said. The hand of the clan."
"Who is this?" Qian Shisheng asked Hong Chengchou the identity of the other party, pretending not to know. However, this little thought could not be hidden from Hong Chengchou.
Hong Chengchou still introduced: "This is Deputy Envoy Yang who accompanied me as an envoy to the Ming Dynasty. Deputy Envoy Yang is young and promising, unlike me who has already turned gray and is just waiting for the day to make way for young people." After hearing this Qian Shisheng's face darkened as he spoke.
He was nearly twenty years older than Hong Chengchou. Even Hong Chengchou claimed that he had white hair on his temples. So who was he? He was too old to die.
But he didn't intend to argue with Hong Chengchou over his age. He was the one who would suffer the consequences of the arguments.
He changed the topic and said: "Not long ago, you sent people to kill the envoys from the Qing Dynasty, which made people inside and outside the court very dissatisfied. Originally, Shuntian Mansion was planning to kill people. If there is no one in the court who can speak for you, don't talk about peace talks now. Yes, you have been taken to jail."
