Speaking of which, the situation has become so turbulent that it has a certain relationship with Xu Hongji.

Although there are many generals fighting with the Tiance Army, they are basically field battles, and they are not decisive battles at a concentrated distance. In the outer city, they are basically local battles. Although they all lost, they just think that the Tiance Army is very strong.

But they did not think that the Tiance Bureau could be so powerful that it could capture the capital city. The Yaofang Sect had not many troops stationed, and it was disrepaired for a long time, so its defense ability was not strong. The Tiance Army was just caught off guard.

Those who knew the terrifying strength of the Tiance Army were the people from the Nanjing Navy. Four times the number of warships was completely a lamb to be slaughtered in front of the Tiance Army Navy. There was no room for fighting back, and finally he ended up with a big defeat.

However, most of the navy soldiers were captured, including a large number of generals including Yicheng Bo Zhao Zhilong and Ancheng Bo Zhang Guocai. Not many of them escaped, and only Xu Hongji was able to attend this level meeting.

Zhang Guocai knew it, but after being captured by the Tiance Army, he was released as a messenger, so his words were very credible.

Xu Hongji was in his fifties and was so scared that he lost half his life when he suffered this disaster. He was stunned for a morning like a sect god, without reminding them of these things, otherwise they would not be so arrogant.

Now Xu Hongji spoke, and they also saw with their own eyes the real strength of the Tiance Army, so they did not have the courage to continue to resist stubbornly.

Since the Tiance Bureau is so easy to explode the city wall, as long as Kong Youde is willing, it will be a matter of time before the two water gates, Sanshan Gate and Shicheng Gate, will be broken. At that time, the warships of the Tiance Army can enter the capital city along the Qinhuai River, and can even fight from the southeast of the city to the northwest of the city, or even enter Xuanwu Lake. At that time, there will be no more people to speak.

The War doctor who was sent out the previous time was beaten and then sent back with his legs broken. They also knew that they had done the wrong thing, and this time they had to be corrected.

Therefore, the level of the negotiator sent this time is very high, Zheng Mingtai, Minister of Revenue.

Nanjing is a backup of Beijing. Although there are six departments in Beijing, such as Dali Temple, Tongzhengsi, Imperial College, etc., there are some departments in Nanjing, but the real power is the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, one is the army with the commander in half of the Jiangnan area, and the other is in charge of tax revenue.

As for other departments, they are basically all good things. For example, the Ministry of Personnel is actually just a decoration. All the appointments of all the officials in the Ming Dynasty were taken over by the Beijing Ministry of Revenue. The Nanjing Ministry of Personnel has nothing to do.

Therefore, except for the three eunuchs in Nanjing, the Minister of War, and the Minister of the Nanjing garrison, the Minister of Revenue can be regarded as the fourth largest figure, and the level is not low.

Although he was despised by military generals at heart, he had also seen the huge gap by the Qinhuai River where the Tiance Army naval ships were blown up. Knowing that this task was important, if he was not careful, he might have all entered it himself. Kong Youde dared to fight Nanjing City, and it would not be difficult to kill him, the Minister of Revenue.

So this time, his attitude was very straightforward, not only an equal dialogue, but also a little aggrieved and demanding help.

Kong Youde was very happy about Zheng Mingtai, the envoy. The second-rank court officials came out to negotiate. It seemed that they were indeed a little sincere and no longer perfunctory as before. There was hope for this matter.

Looking at him, Kong Youde said happily, "Shangshu Zheng, I didn't expect that the person who came was such a big man like you! I have lost my farewell to welcome you, and I hope to forgive you!"

"It is my blessing to General Kong to welcome him personally. How dare you blame me!"

Zheng Mingtai also returned with a smile. He did not have any contempt for the military generals at all, as if he had respect from the heart. As for whether it was pretending or real, Kong Youde didn't mind. It seemed that this person was back and had sincerity, so this matter would be easy to deal with.

"Come on, look at the tea!" Kong Youde ordered, and then said with a smile, "Mr. Zheng, my conditions here are simple, so please ask Master Zheng to give in. If you are negligent, I hope he will forgive me!"

"Those are not hindered! But now business matters are important. I still hope that General Kong can start as soon as possible, which will benefit both sides!"

"Since Lord Zheng is so anxious and serious, I won't tell you anymore. Let's start!"

As he said that, Kong Youde handed him three pieces of paper, and then continued, "I have always been generous. I will keep a line of people and do things, and will not force people to a dead end! So, there are three plans here to understand this matter. As for which one to choose, you can do it yourself!"

After Zheng Mingtai took it, he checked it one by one. The more he looked, the ugly his face became. These conditions were more difficult to accept than the other.

The first plan is to compensate the military expenses and personnel losses of the Tiance Army, the benefits of the Tiance Army's salt caused by the crackdown on private salt, Kong Youde's personal mental loss expenses, and more than 30 expenses, totaling 15 million taels of silver, and then the Tiance Army retreated.

The second one is slightly better, with the compensation amount being only 10 million taels, but in addition to that, there are two more items.

First of all, one thousand craftsmen were drawn from the military weapons bureau under the jurisdiction of the Qing Lishu Department of the Ministry of Works, and from the military weapons bureau under the inner guard office of the inner guard office, and to deliver them to the Tiance Army.

Also, in the salt farms along the coast of Nanzhili, Liaoning merchants spent fifty taels of silver to buy five, and Nanjing should not interfere with the normal operation of these five salt farms.

The third option is that they can not compensate, but the Tiance Army will come in and get it by itself, and there is no need to be too much. If you get enough compensation, you will leave.

Zheng Ming Taitou is too big for such conditions, and for him, none of these conditions can be accepted.

The first thing to rule out is the third choice. It is simple, "Go to the city and take it for yourself". It looks like a trip to the capital. If you really want to choose this item, it is estimated that the Tiance Army will be able to enter the city tonight. Whether they can survive depends on Kong Youde's mood.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zheng Mingtai had to agree to the second condition first. As for whether an agreement could be reached, it depends on what everyone in the Ministry of War’s yamen is.

Compared with the eight million I offered in the morning, this ten million is indeed a lot, but compared with the 15 million in the first article, it is much better. Now that the initiative is not in their hands, it is not bad to have such a result.

As for the two thousand craftsmen, it is nothing to them. Anyway, the craftsmen themselves have a low status, and they are not worth 100,000 taels in total, so there is no problem with the Tiance Army. Then I will recruit craftsmen.

The five salt fields are sold to Liaoning merchants, and to put it bluntly, they are assigned to the Tiance Army. This Liaoning merchant is obviously owned by Kong Youde.

As for their purpose, Zheng Mingtai could also see that the Tiance Army wanted to have a foothold in Nanzhili, and he felt that there was nothing unacceptable to this, but it was necessary to limit the number of people in this salt field, otherwise no one would be able to endure it if he came again.

Looking at Zheng Mingtai with a bitter face, Kong Youde drank tea and said, "These are all major issues, and there are some details. You can wait until the second round of negotiations are resolved! I wonder what Master Zheng wants?"

"Since General Kong has made a choice, I will go back with these conditions first. Within an hour, I will definitely give an answer! Before that, I hope General Kong will restrain his subordinates to avoid any unfavorable things to both sides!" The latter said helplessly.

"Mr. Zheng walked slowly and said hello to all the lords in the city on my behalf!"

Zheng Mingtai is very knowledgeable and knowledgeable about the current affairs. There is no need to make things difficult for Kong Youde. The most important thing is to negotiate this matter as soon as possible.

When Zheng Mingtai brought the results of the negotiations back, the senior executives in Nanjing were once again excited because this time, not only did they have to compensate for more than 2 million taels of silver, but there were other conditions, especially the issue of the salt field.

This made them doubt that Zheng Mingtai defected to Kong Youde, or that Kong Youde had promised any benefits, otherwise, how could this result be reached?

In fact, they don’t know how to negotiate this matter, or have never experienced such negotiations.

Military negotiations are actually a process of two parties with conflicting differences, unwilling to use force, or not continuing to use force, and thus negotiating solutions together. To put it bluntly, it is a bargaining process.

Although the results of the negotiation are related to the level of the negotiators involved, they can only affect some details, and the final result is determined by the strength of both parties.

For example, Li Hongzhang was called a traitor because he signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki. He believed that he had colluded with the Japanese and sold out national interests, so he had such a result.

Little did they know that as far as the situation in the Qing Dynasty was concerned, it would be the same if anyone had negotiated. Even if Kong Ming was reborn, the result would still be like this.

Don’t expect to get things you can’t get on the negotiating table.

The reason why Japan did not continue to attack at that time was not that it could not, but that it was unwilling to do so, or that it was not cost-effective.

At that time, they had already taken over the Liaodong Peninsula and the Shandong Peninsula, and attacked along the two lines at the same time. It was not impossible to win the capital, but the price would be much greater. In contrast, the increase in the benefits obtained in this way was higher than the increased cost.

In other words, if you don’t continue to fight, you can get 200 million taels of silver, the cost is 50 million, and the profit is 150 million. If you continue to make a profit, you may earn 300 million, but the cost will surge to 200 million, and you can only earn 100 million, which is not worth the loss.

The situation in front of us is actually similar. If Kong Youde wants to completely take over Nanjing City, there is no longer any strength problem.

Although the soldiers at each battalion were only over 4,000, almost all the heavy artillery was in the hands of the Tiance Army. Without the protection of the city wall, it was basically impossible for the Ming army to defend it.

But the reason why he didn't want to take it was mainly because his strength was not strong enough. It was easy to take the Nanjing City, but the result was very serious. This matter was so naked that it slapped the court in the face.

At that time, he will inevitably become a mortal enemy with the Ming court, and the Tiance army will become the court's primary target of elimination, with a limit even higher than that of the Tartars. This is not something Kong Youde is willing to see.

The Tiance Army was not strong enough to confront the entire court, so it would be better to stop here, and negotiate with the court steadily, then separatist, and secretly develop and then do big things.

However, the senior executives of Nanjing City did not know this truth. They all felt that if they changed their individuals to negotiate, they would never have such harsh conditions. If such a bad situation occurred, it was completely because Zheng Mingtai was incompetent.

After some simple discussion, Yan Mingtai decided to take action himself. Zheng Mingtai could come back properly even after he went there. He didn't believe that he would be detained by Kong Youde.

So, Yan Mingtai, who was following the light chariot, went out from Shence Gate to fight Kong Youde.

Almost an hour later, Yan Mingtai came back. He had been anxiously waiting for the crowd for a long time and surrounded him again.

When everyone saw his face feeling depressed and even a little decadent, they suddenly felt a lot colder, and it seemed that the result was not very satisfactory.

When Yan Mingtai went there, he was full of confidence and even made bold statements, he could at least cut half of it, or even traded for three to four million taels, making everyone wait for his good news, but now he doesn't look like there is good news at all.

But I don’t care about that much, I will solve the main business first.

"Sir Yan, how are you talking?"

"How much should Kong Youde agree to reduce it?"

"Sir Shangshu, what did Kong Youde say about falling to the ground?"

...

After a series of inquiries, Yan Ming Taitou was too big and said rudely, "This matter has been decided like this. Let's compensate 10 million taels of silver! The compensation will be completed within two days, so don't delay it for too long!"

Everyone was stunned, but Yan Mingtai did not want to explain to them. With the help of two officers, they went straight into the back hall. Only then did everyone realize that Yan Mingtai's legs were trembling, and it seemed that they had experienced a huge blow.

They had to inquire from several leaders and officers who accompanied them, but they all knew nothing. Only Kong Youde and Yan Mingtai had to participate in this negotiation.

Xu Hongji stood up and said, "Everyone, since Lord Yan also agreed to Kong Youde's conditions, then let's follow this and try to understand this matter as soon as possible!"

Everyone saw that Yan Mingtai and Zheng Mingtai had no choice but to reduce the amount of compensation this time. Moreover, Xu Hongji meant to agree to the conditions, so they had no choice but to obey. After all, these two people are the leaders of Nanjing, and they no longer want to live a worried life all day long. It would be better to know earlier.

The rest is to share the proportion that each company should pay, which is also a troublesome thing. If you just discuss it like this, it is probably not enough for Kong Youde to give two days, so it is Xu Hongji, Han Zanzhou and Yan Mingtai who will discuss it themselves.

The three of them represent the three forces of nobles, civil servants and internal officials. They can also calculate the three representatives. The proportion of money paid is finally calculated. The internal officials pays 2 million, the nobles pay 3 million, the civil servants pay 2.5 million, and the remaining 250 million will be provided by the wealthy businessmen in the city.
Chapter completed!