Zhenjiang and Nanjing have always been in contact, and under normal circumstances, Zhou Peigong only needs to contact Nanjing through guò envoys, but this time Zhou Peigong returned to Nanjing in person with Deng Ming's threat of war and ultimatum to discuss the matter with Jiang Guozhu. After hearing about Deng Ming's new conditions, the governor of Jiangning was also a little surprised, and he didn't understand how the other party could suddenly become so tough, as if he was about to re-enter the state of war overnight.

So far, Zhou Peigong's performance has been quite good, and the secret envoys sent by Jiang Guozhu in the past have not been able to argue with reason at all, and basically accepted all the conditions offered by Deng Ming when the situation was bad, and Zhou Peigong was not only able to constantly put forward anti-construction to force Deng Ming to reconsider the conditions, but also to obtain some favorable terms for Nanjing.

"Why did Deng Minghui suddenly start fighting?" Jiang Guozhu's first thought was to ask Zhou Peigong, an expert on Deng Ming's question.

"Because Zheng Chenggong sent him a letter from Fujian." Zhou Peigong relayed Deng Ming's words to Jiang Guozhu with added fuel and vinegar, pointing out that Zheng Chenggong's victory in Fujian made Deng Ming more confident: "However, Xia Guan believes that Deng Ming is not very sure now, although he is fierce, but he is not completely sure that Zheng Chenggong is telling him the truth." ”

"Oh." Jiang Guozhu hesitated and asked, "How can you see it?" ”

"If Deng Ming is convinced of Zheng Chenggong's victory, he will not only have one Chongming Island, anyway, we have no reinforcements for the time being, Zhang Huangyan has no worries, let's not say that Chongming Island cannot be recaptured, and it is even difficult to force him to give up Zhenjiang; If Deng Ming was convinced that Zheng Chenggong was not exaggerating, he would not only ask for Chongming Island, but also ask us for a ransom fee from Zhenjiang. ”

"That's right," Jiang Guozhu nodded, Zhou Peigong's description of Deng Ming was very consistent with his impression of the latter, I heard that Deng Ming knocked Lin Qilong hard not long ago in Yangzhou: "Then does he still want to test us when he puts forward this opinion now?" ”

"Yes, Deng Ming now thinks that Zheng Chenggong may really win, but the results are also suspected of exaggeration; He is now bluffing us, hoping that we will also think that Zheng Chenggong has won a great victory, and agree to his request in a panic. When he didn't dare to ask for ransom fees, he was afraid that if the conditions were too much, and Zheng Chenggong didn't actually win a big victory, we would be angry and regret it; Now Deng Ming is very careful to grasp the scale: even if we only agree to his conditions because we believe that Zheng Chenggong will win in Fujian, because this condition is not too excessive, we may not suffer much in the future and stop entangled with him with the idea that more things are better than less. ”

The point is that Jiang Guozhu and Zhou Peigong knew that Zheng Chenggong's victory was probably not a rumor, and that the policy of banning the sea hinted by the imperial court to the governor was tantamount to admitting to them the destruction of the five provincial sailors.

"So Xia Guan thinks that we should agree to Deng Ming's terms, if Deng Ming confirms that what Zheng Chenggong said is true, then the conditions he proposed are estimated to be much harsher." In Zhou Peigong's view, Deng Ming's request was very restrained, far less than Zhou Peigong expected, so Zhou Peigong suspected that Deng Ming and Zheng Chenggong had an estrangement, or Deng Ming knew what difficulties Zheng Chenggong had, so even if Zheng Chenggong won a big victory in Fujian, Deng Ming did not think that he could wait for Zheng Chenggong to enter the Yangtze River again and then sign an alliance under the city.

"Hmm." Jiang Guozhu couldn't help but agree, he had to admit that this kind of intrigue at the negotiation table was really not his forte, and the traditional rule has always been that the winner takes all: "Then Deng Ming won't regret it after confirming the news?" ”

"Deng Ming is a trustworthy person." Zhou Peigong said meaningfully.

Jiang Guozhu had nothing to refute this, since the possibility of Deng Ming breaking the contract was very small, then Zhou Peigong's suggestion was very tempting, taking advantage of Deng Ming's lack of clarity about the real situation in Fujian, to make an agreement that would not suffer too much, so as to avoid greater losses in a more unfavorable situation.

"If Deng Ming wants to introduce Zheng Chenggong into Chongming, he needs to notify us one year in advance, what does the governor think of this mention?" Zhou Peigong observed his words and felt that Jiang Guozhu had basically agreed, so he came up with another solution to the potential threat.

"A year? Deng Ming would never agree. Jiang Guozhu exclaimed in surprise: "What's the use of mentioning this? ”

"Yes, he may not agree, but then he has to come up with anti-construction, even if he can't get it for a year, half a year, or three months, isn't it?" Zhou Peigong felt very hard, so all the negotiation skills had to be handed over to Jiangnan by hand, Jiang Guozhu was the same as Zhang Changgeng before, he would not abide by any agreement when he was superior, so he did not believe that the other party would abide by any agreement when he was disadvantaged, and now although he met Deng Ming, a rare person who is trustworthy, Jiang Guozhu does not know how to use even the simplest trading strategy to the enemy.

"Oh, yes, this official forgot about it again, Deng Ming will abide by the agreement." Jiang Guozhu patted his forehead lightly, signaling Zhou Peigong to continue.

"Deng Ming attaches great importance to commerce and trade, we can allow his fleet to continue sailing on the Yangtze River, but we can't cover them in vain, we should set a tax, and he will need to pay taxes to us when he passes through Guò in the future." Zhou Peigong's proposal this time was not entirely for Jiang Guozhu's sake, but also for his own safety. Sooner or later, this matter will implicate more and more people, if Wuchang's Tongdeng completely depends on Zhang Changgeng to maintain it out of his own pocket, then it is estimated that it will not be able to maintain it for a long time, Zhang Changgeng will not only not be willing to maintain the status quo, but will deliberately tear up the treaty every day: "These taxes can be used to buy insiders, so that rumors that are unfavorable to the governor will flow out, if the imperial court hears any rumors and sends people to investigate, we can also have a fund to deal with it." ”

In the past two years, Wuchang has summed up a lot of lessons and lessons, and Zhou Peigong, as an expert on the Deng Ming issue, is not only a decision-maker but also has access to all the reports, and he is definitely the first to talk about all kinds of precautions. Jiang Guozhu had no room to intervene, and finally said that they were all handed over to Zhou Peigong for full disposal.

After Zhou Peigong left, Jiang Guozhu felt the need to re-evaluate Zhou Peigong:

"When I borrowed him, although I had already guessed that he would be a little clever, but I valued the Governor of Huguang behind him more, and I also felt that although I didn't talk well with Deng Ming, there were many talented people in my staff, and there would always be a few capable people." When listening to Zhou Peigong's introduction of Wuchang's experience just now, Jiang Guozhu gradually changed his contempt for negotiation skills at the beginning, and found that this was actually a science, rather than the simple blackmail and scoundrels he had misunderstood earlier: "Our dynasty and the Ming Dynasty have been fighting for many years, and no matter whether they win or lose, they can't talk about it in the end, or even can't talk about it at all, because the Ming Dynasty doesn't believe that our dynasty will abide by the agreement, and anyway, if you don't talk about it, you still have to raise soldiers. And I also don't believe that the Ming Dynasty will keep its promises, and occasionally releases a call for negotiation, that is, I want to paralyze the Ming Dynasty, because I know that most of the other party will not have any sincerity, so this kind of paralysis method with little effect is also lazy to use more. But this Deng Ming is different, no matter whether he is weak or strong, as long as he has the opportunity to negotiate, as he said, he pursues the benefits of both sides, as long as he can give him benefits, Deng Ming is willing to help us hide the truth from Beijing, in order to be able to continue the transaction, he also keeps his promise. ”

For the enemy will not believe what he says, but will only speculate on his intentions with the greatest malice, so the effect of the trickery in the art of war is getting lower and lower, and now when the enemy appears to be an honest businessman, the effect of this strategy is not only not increased, but even more insignificant, because there will be fierce retaliation for non-compliance with the treaty, and it is better to negotiate a mutually beneficial agreement from the beginning than to regret it afterwards.

In this way, the significance of Zhou Peigong became extremely important, Jiang Guozhu seriously thought about the inside and outside of the yamen of the governor of Liangjiang, and did not find a person with the same ability as Zhou Peigong, at least not yet.

"When Zhou Peigong first arrived in Jiangning, I gave him the political envoy Da Yin mainly for Zhang Changgeng behind him, and I wanted to compete with Zhang Chao, I couldn't let Zhang Chao turn Huguang into his ally. But now it seems that Zhou Peigong himself is also worthy of wooing...... "Zhou Peigong just now not only showed his strong ability to figure out people's hearts, but also showed Jiang Guozhu his economic acumen and political sense, not only able to reach an agreement with Deng Ming, but also able to conceive of aftermath measures in advance, so as not to wait until there is a problem to hurriedly cover up."

"Watch him a little longer." Jiang Guozhu moved his heart to love talents, if Zhou Peigong's future performance is as good as ever, the governor of Jiangning intends to put Zhou Peigonglong under his banner, and now the political and military forms of Liangjiang are intricate, Jiang Guozhu really has a feeling of walking on thin ice walking on it, and he really needs some right-hand men to help him tide over the difficulties.

……

In Zhenjiang, when Zhou Peigong repented and began to negotiate again, Deng Ming had already begun to try to support the pro-Ming merchant groups in Jiangnan, and once the Manchu crackdown on the maritime merchants began, a large number of trading houses would go bankrupt, and a large number of accounts and men would be unemployed -- once the peaceful life of these people was lost, they would definitely have complaints against the Beijing court, and if there was no one to recruit them, it would be fine, but now Deng Ming would not only absorb these unemployed, but also guide them to work against Beijing.

The shopkeepers, bookkeepers, and associates, in addition to their work expertise, also possessed a large amount of production resources -- Deng Ming never believed in the saying that "the products of the world are certain", and the loss of commerce would inevitably lead to the regression of industry and agriculture. When the maritime trade stopped, the artisans who depended on exports would lose their jobs, and if they could not find the land, they would have to sell themselves into slavery or ask for food; A large number of farmers who grow mulberry cotton will also be severely affected, and many may have grown cash crops for generations and no longer know how to produce food.

These people will become the suppliers of goods in the Deng Ming plan.

"Admiral." When Deng Ming and his subordinates were discussing these matters, a guard came to report: "There are also scholars who ask to see them, and they have letters of recommendation from Qian Qianyi and Huang Zongxi." ”