The 194th visit to Tianjin (6)
Xu Jichao said: "But I still have some concerns. Although the Eight-Nation Alliance has their own ulterior motives and it is unlikely that they will unify their opinions and expand the scale of the war, Weihai and Qingdao are colonies of Britain and Germany. If we send troops to conquer Weihai and Qingdao, will it completely anger Britain and Germany? Even if some countries refuse to increase their troops, Britain and Germany jointly send troops. In addition, Japan and Russia in Asia, these four countries cannot be regarded."
Xia Bohai said: "Don't worry about this. We will never put all our hopes on our opponents. Even if some countries will send troops alone, it will take at least three to five months to prepare. During this period, we can completely gain a foothold in Shandong, and even if they send troops, we don't have to worry about it. In addition, no matter which country wants to expand the war, we must come from the sea, but at present, we have an absolute dominant position on the sea and can completely annihilate the enemy at the sea."
After listening to Xia Bohai's speech, Xu Jichao was also very at ease and said, "Okay, then let's discuss our conditions."
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Just at 9 o'clock the next morning, Qin Zheng and Wang Yunpeng officially met Zhang Peilun on behalf of the time traveler and proposed to Zhang Peilun the six principled conditions for their negotiations:
1. This negotiation will be held by the Qing court, overseas Chinese, and representatives of the Eight-Nation Alliance, rather than overseas Chinese, and the Eight-Nation Alliance. We will negotiate and negotiate the resolution of the situation in China as a whole.
2. During the negotiations, the two sides stopped the war completely based on the current occupied areas. The eight countries prohibited the dispatch of more troops to China. Moreover, the scope of activities of the Eight-Nation Alliance was limited to the Beijing area, while the overseas Chinese troops were limited to the Jingu area. The Qing court could send a small number of troops to station between Beijing and Tianjin.
3. The Eight-Nation Alliance must unconditionally withdraw from Chinese territory and return all occupied areas to the Qing court. It also respects the sovereignty of the Qing court and shall not ask for compensation or concessions from the Qing court.
4. The Qing court suffered losses and injuries to the Qing embassies and embassies personnel in the previous stage, as well as the subsequent diplomatic relations between the Qing court and various countries, and the Qing court and other countries, will be negotiated and negotiated by the Qing court and other countries, and overseas Chinese will not participate.
5. The repatriation, compensation, redemption and other matters of the Eight-Nation Alliance soldiers captured by overseas Chinese will be negotiated and resolved by overseas Chinese and the Eight-Nation Alliance.
6. The ownership of the Tianjin to Dagukou area was decided by the Qing court and overseas Chinese in consultation and decided by the Qing Dynasty, and no country has the right to interfere.
After reading the six conditions proposed by the time travelers, Zhang Peilun felt that it was not too much. On the contrary, he agreed very much. The first article to bring the Qing court into this negotiation not only gave the Qing court great face, but also gave the Qing court a chance to take advantage of the victory of overseas Chinese and negotiate with various countries on relatively superior conditions, at least without compensation or cede land. In such a situation, being able to achieve such a result would be a very good result for the Qing court.
In addition, Zhang Peilun also thought that Li Hongzhang signed a humiliating treaty with Japan on behalf of the Qing court and was accused of being a traitor. If Li Hongzhang could sign a relatively favorable treaty with other countries on behalf of the Qing court, it would be of great benefit to Li Hongzhang's reputation.
Article 4 means that overseas Chinese are not right, because attacking the embassies in the Qing Dynasty and injuring the embassies of various countries, this is indeed wrong. It is reasonable to provide certain compensation to various countries. Of course, overseas Chinese have also brought the harm of the Eight-Nation Alliance to Beijing, which is completely understandable in terms of reason. Could it be that only the Qing court's harm to the embassies of various countries, and the harm to Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance is not harm to Beijing? In fact, Zhang Peilun also understands that this is just a good card for the Qing Dynasty in negotiations with various countries, and ultimately it is just a symbolic compensation.
Of course, it seems a bit rude that overseas Chinese want to talk to the Qing court about the ownership of Tianjin, but after Zhang Peilun learned about the origin of overseas Chinese, he felt relieved. He was not a subject of the Qing court, and he had already given the Qing court a lot of help. Even if this is too much, it is no big deal.
Overall, Zhang Peilun was very satisfied with these six basic principles. Although he was a little stronger, after all, overseas Chinese are the winners, so it is natural to take advantage of the situation. Moreover, overseas Chinese did not ask for compensation from various countries, nor did they ask for compensation from other countries to return the land that had previously occupied and forced leased the Qing court. As the winner, it is not too much to offer such conditions.
However, Zhang Peilun still remembers Li Hongzhang's instructions, do not express his opinion easily, and send the conditions proposed by overseas Chinese to Li Hongzhang for a review. So Zhang Peilun said: "The conditions proposed by Political Commissar Qin, Director Wang, and the conditions proposed by you must be immediately passed to the Lord Zhongtang, and the Lord Zhongtang will decide."
Qin Zheng bowed his head and said, "This is what it should be, but these six are the principles of our negotiations. When the next three minutes today, it will be notified to the whole country, and all countries must reply within ten days whether they accept it."
After hearing this, Zhang Peilun didn't think much about it, because since this is the negotiation principle of overseas Chinese, it is certainly inconvenient for him to interfere with it. It is reasonable to set the time limit. What if countries use negotiation as an excuse to secretly increase troops to China? Therefore, Zhang Peilun immediately stood up and said, "Since that is the case, I will send these six principles to Li Zhongtang immediately and say goodbye."
Qin Zheng said: "Mr. Youqiao, please give me some advice."
After leaving Gordon Hall, Zhang Peilun immediately rushed to the Telegraph Office and sent the six negotiation principles proposed by the time traveler to Shanghai, and of course he also sent his opinions back.
At this time, Li Hongzhang was also anxiously waiting for news from Tianjin in Shanghai. He got up at six o'clock this morning and sent someone to invite Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai to study the conditions of overseas Chinese. At the same time, Li Jingfang was sent to guard the telegraph office in person. As soon as the telegraph came from Tianjin, it was delivered to Li Hongzhang immediately. In addition, he was afraid that the content of the telegraph would be leaked, so he could not let the foreigners know first.
Sure enough, as soon as the telegram reached Shanghai, it was immediately received by Li Jingfang. He was the first to see the six negotiation principles of the time traveler. Li Jingfang's view on these six principles was almost the same as that of Zhang Peilun. He believed that the six principles were really not excessive and were very beneficial to the Qingting. So Li Jingfang immediately rushed back to Li Hongzhang's residence and handed the telegram to Li Hongzhang. He said: "Father, it seems that the situation is good this time."
Li Hongzhang took the telegram and saw it, his face changed drastically. He smiled bitterly and said, "There is no longer a talk, the Qing Dynasty is in danger, and the Great Qing Dynasty is in danger."
Li Jingfang couldn't help but ignore Li Hongzhang's attitude and said, "Father, why can't the talks be reached? I think the conditions for overseas Chinese are not harsh, and they are also of great benefit to my Qing Dynasty."
Li Hongzhang glanced at Li Jingfang and said, "What do you know?" Then he handed the telegram to Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai and said, "You two can take a look, too."
Seeing the contrasting attitude between father and son, Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai couldn't help but be curious, so they hurriedly received the telegram and watched together.
The content of the telegram was not long. Not only did the two of them read the six negotiation principles of the Time Traveler, but they also read Zhang Peilun's opinions, but after reading them, they were speechless for a long time. It was not that the two had no opinions, but that they felt that Li Hongzhang's attitude was a bit strange. It was obviously a good condition, so why couldn't Li Hongzhang get a chance?
Seeing that the two of them were speechless for a long time, Li Hongzhang also knew what they were thinking, sighed and said, "What do you two think about the negotiation conditions of overseas Chinese?"
Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai looked at each other, and Zhou Fu said, "Zhongtang, I think the conditions of overseas Chinese are upright and have no intention of getting out of the box. Only Article 6 is somewhat suspicious of Yue Ji, but this has nothing to do with other countries. Why does Zhongtang think that the negotiation cannot be reached?"
Li Hongzhang looked at everyone and said, "You know that if the overseas Chinese are the winners and the Eight-Nation Alliance is the loser, there will naturally be no wrong conditions."
After hearing this, everyone became even more confused. Sheng Xuanhuai said, "Aren't overseas Chinese the winners?"
Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "At present, overseas Chinese are naturally the winners, but countries may not see this way. In the eyes of various countries, they are not defeated by overseas Chinese, and they still do not want to fight. If military warships are transferred from various countries, overseas Chinese will not be the opponent. However, overseas Chinese regard themselves as winners and put forward such conditions, how will each country agree?"
After hearing this, everyone understood what Li Hongzhang meant. It turned out that they did not look at the conditions they put forward from the perspective of overseas Chinese as winners on the battlefield. If we look at the position of winners, these six principles are of course not excessive.
But now countries do not think they are losers on the battlefield, because they do not think that they cannot defeat overseas Chinese, but they just don’t want to fight this battle. Of course, it is not unreasonable for countries to think so. If countries transfer troops from the domestic market to reinforce, the outcome of this battle will be really difficult. From this perspective, looking at the negotiation conditions proposed by overseas Chinese will naturally be too much, so it will definitely not be reached. If the two sides cannot reach the negotiation, they have to continue fighting.
Only then did everyone realize that Li Hongzhang was Li Hongzhang, and his understanding of foreigners was much deeper than that of others, and others more or less ignored the attitude of foreigners.
At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Zhongtang, send power to Peilun quickly and ask him to inform overseas Chinese and ask overseas Chinese to correct their conditions as soon as possible."
After hearing this, Zhou Fu and Li Jingfang both turned their heads, but Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "It's useless."
Chapter completed!