But will foreigners honestly follow the path envisioned by overseas Chinese? Li Hongzhang knows that foreigners do have the intention to negotiate with overseas Chinese, but this does not mean that foreigners will admit defeat like overseas Chinese.

Of course, Li Hongzhang knew that although the Eight-Nation Alliance had suffered several defeats, even the German fleet was defeated by overseas Chinese, the so-called Eight-Nation Alliance actually only dispatched less than one percent of the strength to various countries. The German fleet's strength is not weak, but it is only one country. The Eight-Nation Alliance really wants to act genuinely, and its strength has increased by more than a hundred times. Therefore, foreigners want to negotiate with overseas Chinese, but they do not mean to admit defeat, but they don't want to spend a lot of money. They travel thousands of miles from home to China, and just stop.

Moreover, through the news that it was reported from Tianjin to Shanghai some time ago, Li Hongzhang also knew that after the overseas Chinese captured Tianjin, they recruited soldiers and formed troops in Tianjin. This shows that for some reason, this group of overseas Chinese may not be able to obtain support from this group of overseas Chinese countries in a short period of time. It is impossible for this group of overseas Chinese to treason or acted privately, so they did not dare to ask for help from the country. They could only rely on recruiting soldiers in Tianjin to supplement their lack of troops.

This also means that the strength of this group of overseas Chinese is limited and not as powerful as imagined. It may have reached the limit of being able to fight. After the end of the Tianjin Defense War, many people in Shanghai had great high expectations for this group of overseas Chinese, believing that the Qing court should recruit this group of overseas Chinese and rely on their military strength to fight against various countries.

However, through various news reports, Li Hongzhang concluded that the court should be more pacified than the gang of overseas Chinese. After all, the battles ahead prove that the combat effectiveness of this group of overseas Chinese is indeed far above the Qing army. It is rare that they have a powerful navy navy that can defeat the German fleet. The strength of this fleet in Ming Dynasty is far higher than that of the Beiyang Navy at that time. If the court had taken over this group of overseas Chinese, it would have the capital to compete with various countries.

But the court cannot hold too much hope for this group of overseas Chinese. First, this group of overseas Chinese are not native Chinese. Whether their hearts are really towards China and whether they will be loyal to the Qing Dynasty is still unknown. Don’t get a front door to drive the tiger and the back door to the wolf. There are countless examples of this kind; second, it is only relying on this group of overseas Chinese to be difficult to be enemies with various countries. Therefore, at this time, we should stop when we see the good news. Taking advantage of this group of overseas Chinese to win several victories and capture Tianjin, gaining obvious strategic advantages. We quickly negotiate peace with other countries, strive to pay less money and cede less land in exchange for withdrawing troops from China, and letting the empress dowager and the emperor return to Beijing as soon as possible. Of course, overseas Chinese have not suffered much losses, but on the contrary, they can gain a foothold in the Qing Dynasty.

Otherwise, if the foreigners were really forced into anger and then transferred a large army from the country, Li Hongzhang did not think that this group of overseas Chinese could defeat the armies of various countries again. At that time, these advantages in front of him would be immediately reversed. At that time, this group of overseas Chinese might have left on the ship and returned to their country, but he threw this mess to the Qing Dynasty, and indeed to him, Li Zhongtang, to clean up.

However, although Li Hongzhang thought very well, this group of overseas Chinese obviously did not follow the rhythm of Li Zhongtang. On the contrary, he felt good about himself. Now Li Hongzhang also knew that he could not control this group of overseas Chinese. Although he was worried and rushed, he could only let him go. But he could ask Zhao Weizhong about the situation of this group of overseas Chinese before making a decision.

In fact, in Shanghai, we receive a large amount of news from Tianjin every day, which are collected by consulates from various countries in Tianjin and sent to Shanghai. However, consulates from various countries in Tianjin are under the control of this group of overseas Chinese, and the information they can collect is probably limited. The news that Li Hongzhang received was conveyed by consulates from various countries in Shanghai. I don’t know how much it was hidden. Zhao Weizhong has been with overseas Chinese for more than a month, and his relationship is still counted. Therefore, he should know a lot of things that Li Hongzhang hopes to know.

So Li Hongzhang said: "Weizhong, just explain in detail how you met and overseas Chinese and how you get along with each other. Everything you remember will come out."

After hearing this, Zhao Weizhong did not dare to neglect himself. He took a boat to sea and was sunk by a ship of unknown origin. He happened to meet a fleet of overseas Chinese and rescued them, and all of them were explained in detail. During the days when he lived on the Kunming warship of overseas Chinese, Zhao Weizhong saw a large number of things that he had never seen or heard of before, which left a very deep impression on him, so he also explained it in detail.

Li Hongzhang and others listened to Zhao Weizhong's speech very seriously, but everyone present had a long-term Westernization business and had a basic understanding of the technological level of this era. However, Zhao Weizhong's experience on the Kunming ship, such as a real-life figure board, a box that can talk from a distance, a bright but not dazzling light, and a machine that can fly in the air, etc., still made them feel a little incredible, because these objects were not even made by foreigners, and this group of overseas Chinese could actually make it? Therefore, Zhao Weizhong's remarks and inquiries were repeatedly interrupted.

Zhao Weizhong did not dare to be impatient at all, and he patiently solved it. Of course, he could not understand some things himself, and he could only see this, but he didn't know the details.

Li Hongzhang didn't care what Zhao Weizhong saw on the Kunming ship. It was just a mechanical object. It was nothing more than Westerners doing it more sophisticatedly. Li Hongzhang focused more on understanding the personnel, organizational structure, power distribution, official positions, and style of overseas Chinese. This is where Guan Jian is to understand overseas Chinese, and other things are just superficial.

Zhao Weizhong adhered to what Qin Zheng said, and everything he knew was detailed like Li Hongzhangming. Zhao Weizhong stayed in the Time Travel Group for more than a month. Although he did not dare to inquire in detail, he usually paid attention to it and observed carefully. He found that he had touched the relationship between time travelers and his official positions by 60% or 70%, so he also told Li Hongzhang one by one.

After listening to Zhao Weizhong's speech, Li Hongzhang remained silent for a long time, verified that what he learned from consuls from various countries, Li Hongzhang could basically be convinced that most of the Zhao Weizhong Institute was true, but because of this, Li Hongzhang was also confused in his heart, because the composition of this group of overseas Chinese was too strange, so Li Hongzhang could not be sure what happened to this group of overseas Chinese.

According to Zhao Weizhong, this group of overseas Chinese should first be a fleet with a total of seven warships. Commander Xia Bohai, political commissar Qin Zheng, and chief of staff Xiao Jianjun are the main generals of this fleet. Although the names of overseas Chinese are a bit strange, Li Hongzhang can roughly guess the meaning and responsibilities. The name "Commander" means "Shihao's order", so it should be equivalent to the admiral of the Qing Dynasty. Although the "political commissar" does not know the literal meaning, Li Hongzhang also estimated that it should be a military supervisor and a military supervisor. The chief of staff is better understood, China originally had this official name. The names of the seven warships are named after the place names of China, which indirectly proves that this group of overseas Chinese are indeed descendants of China.

But in addition to the seven warships, there are three large passenger ships, all carrying ordinary people, with thousands of people, and men and women. According to what Zhao Weizhong saw, they were not families of the army, which made Li Hongzhang puzzled. Whether this group of overseas Chinese returned to China or defected from the country, it was understandable to bring their families, but no matter what, shouldn't have brought so many irrelevant civilians, why is this for? Of course, Li Hongzhang would not have thought that he met a group of time travelers.

After this group of overseas Chinese captured Tianjin, a temporary executive committee was established, with three main generals and two civilians serving as permanent executive members. That is, these five people are the highest leaders of this group of overseas Chinese. This shows two more problems. First, this group of overseas Chinese suddenly came to the Qing Dynasty, which was not a fully prepared action, because they did not have the recognized highest leader, and they only established a temporary administrative agency after they arrived in Tianjin. So the so-called return to the Qing Dynasty and admiring China is definitely a lie; second, the three passenger ships are not all civilians, and they are probably also high-ranking officials in China, and there are quite a lot of power, so even the army had to let them get three points, and when forming administrative agencies, they had to share power with them. From this point of view, this group of overseas Chinese should be mostly likely to defect from the country or have other reasons.

This also proves that Li Hongzhang's previous judgment was correct, and he could not put too much hope for this group of overseas Chinese. Therefore, although there are still many joints that Li Hongzhang couldn't figure out, Zhao Weizhong's statement still made Li Hongzhang feel that he had gained a lot. After all, he did know a lot from Zhao Weizhong that Li Hongzhang didn't know before. Some things were not known to the consuls of various countries in Shanghai, but some things were deliberately hidden from Li Hongzhang. Now Li Hongzhang has also consciously negotiated with consuls of various countries in Shanghai again, and he has some confidence.

Seeing Li Hongzhang pondering and not speaking, everyone did not dare to disturb his thoughts, and waited quietly on the side. After a while, Li Hongzhang came to his senses and said, "Okay, it's still early now. Let's have a meal together. Today, everyone will have a meal together." Turning to Li Jingfang, "It's rare that everyone gathers together and asks to make more laces in the kitchen."

Li Jingfang agreed and hurried to the kitchen to make arrangements.
Chapter completed!