Two days of negotiations followed, but basically the time travelers were talking to various countries, while the Qing court was on the wall. However, the negotiations in the past two days were not much progress, because the time travelers and countries were reluctant to make any compromises and concessions, so the negotiations also fell into a deadlock.

Finally, Li Hongzhang suggested that one day be suspended, and all parties would carefully summarize the content of the three-day negotiations when they returned, adjust their goals, and then start the negotiations again. Time travelers and countries had no objection to this suggestion. After all, at this time, it would be better to stop and seriously discuss the next negotiation strategy.

Since you can rest for a day, the time traveler did not hold a meeting to discuss that night. He just spoke with the country and reported the situation. Everyone went to rest and prepared to discuss it tomorrow.

But just early the next morning, Li Hongzhang brought Li Jingfang and Zhang Peilun to the Licha Hotel in person to visit Qin Zheng.

Qin Zheng was also a little surprised when he heard this. There must be something important about Li Hongzhang's visit at this time. Ten is related to this negotiation, so he personally took Li Hongzhang and others into the Licha Hotel. Both parties sat in the reception room. Qin Zheng said: "I wonder what the Zhongtang is visiting today?"

Li Hongzhang said: "To be honest, I received a telegram from the court yesterday. The emperor and the queen mother urged me to sign a treaty with foreigners as soon as possible so as to restore peace as soon as possible and return the two palaces to Beijing as soon as possible."

Qin Zheng said calmly: "Does the court plan to accept the conditions proposed by various countries?"

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "If you want to sign a contract with foreigners as soon as possible, you can only agree to foreigners' conditions."

Qin Zheng said: "So, I dare to ask the Central Government, and the eight negotiation clauses are proposed by various countries. Which ones are the imperial court planning to accept?"

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "What the court means is that as long as you can sign a contract with foreigners as soon as possible, you can agree to any terms."

Qin Zheng laughed instead of anger and said, "According to Zhongtang's statement, the court intends to fully accept the conditions proposed by various countries, as long as it can sign a contract with various countries as soon as possible?"

Li Hongzhang nodded, his expression a little unnatural, but he still said, "That's right."

Before Qin Zheng could speak, Li Sanjie couldn't help it and said angrily: "What are you saying? We fought bloody battles on the battlefield and fought verbally with other countries at the negotiating table. Just to safeguard China's interests, the court was so generous that he gave all the benefits we worked for to all countries with a big stroke. Could it be that the court really regarded the land of China as the private property of his Aixin Gioro family?"

This sentence is quite a rebellious. It was a decade ago that it might have been sentenced for this sentence. However, Li Hongzhang, Li Jingfang, and Zhang Peilun did not think that Li Sanjie's words were inappropriate. First, the Qing court is now in a weak situation and there is no way to deal with time travelers. Second, to be honest, they were also dissatisfied with the attitude of the Qing court, thinking that this concession was too great.

Li Jingfang said: "This is the meaning of the court, not the original intention of the central government."

Qin Zheng said: "Zhongtang, can I read the telegram from the court?"

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "Of course, I have brought it." As he said that, he took out the telegram from his pocket and handed it over to Qin Zheng.

After taking the message handed over by Li Hongzhang, Qin Zheng read it roughly. The basic content is indeed as Li Hongzhang said. The Qing court did clearly tell Li Hongzhang that as long as the treaty was signed with various countries as soon as possible and return to Beijing as soon as possible, all the conditions set by various countries could be agreed.

It turned out that after the first day of negotiations, on that night, Li Hongzhang sent the main content of the first day of negotiations, the conditions offered by various countries to the Qing court, and the attitude of the time travelers to Xi'an, and reported it to the temporary court who had temporarily settled in Xi'an.

The next day, Li Hongzhang received a reply from the Qing court, saying that he could accept the conditions proposed by various countries and urged Li Hongzhang to negotiate an agreement with various countries as soon as possible and sign a treaty.

This result surprised Li Hongzhang. Although Li Hongzhang did not agree with the principle of not paying compensation and not cede land, he did not advocate accepting the conditions issued by various countries. After all, the conditions proposed by various countries are too harsh, which is even better than the [Sino-Japan Shimonoseki Treaty] signed by Li Hongzhang five years ago. After all, the Qing court can rely on the support of overseas Chinese and have enough confidence to bargain with various countries. At least they can suppress the conditions of various countries. They can even refuse some too harsh conditions and sign the treaty with relatively favorable terms to the Qing court.

Of course, the terms that Li Hongzhang believed were relatively favorable to the Qing court were not like the time travelers insisted on not paying compensation or cede land, but rather referring to selective acceptance. For example, the compensation could be cut and bargained, and the compensation was cut from 300 million to 150 million, or 100 million, or at least 100 million, or at least less than the [Treaty of Shimonoseki]; and the concession could also talk about it again, and it was not impossible to set up concessions. After all, the level of foreigners in governing the concessions was determined to be higher than that of the Qing court, and fortunately, they could do business with foreigners, but the places in the new concessions could be set less, the lease period was shorter, and the rent was raised, and the Qing court had certain power in the concessions; the situation in the embassy area was similar to that in the concessions; and allowing foreigners to garrison in China was a clause that should be rejected as much as possible. If it was really impossible to refuse, try to reduce the location and scale of the garrison. These were the results that Li Hongzhang believed were beneficial to the Qing court.

So Li Hongzhang did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly gave the court another copy, saying that the terms issued by various countries were too harsh and there were many clauses that could be argued according to reason, so that they could use overseas Chinese to put pressure on various countries to make the conditions lower, which would be beneficial to the court. However, Li Hongzhang immediately received a reply from the court, still asking Li Hongzhang to sign a treaty with various countries as soon as possible. If the countries are unwilling to make concessions, they could agree and specifically stated that the two palaces could return to Beijing as soon as possible. However, in these two replies, the court did not mention overseas Chinese, and seemed to have forgotten overseas Chinese.

If the court's first reply did not mention that overseas Chinese were willing to do so, then Li Hongzhang specifically mentioned that he could use the power of overseas Chinese, but the court still ignored this and asked Li Hongzhang to sign a treaty with various countries as soon as possible, and even accept the conditions of various countries at all costs. The meaning of it is intriguing.

Who is Li Hongzhang? He has been in the Qing court's officialdom for nearly 50 years and is very familiar with the movements of the court. At this time, he still doesn't understand the court, or to be precise, Empress Dowager Cixi's meaning. It seems that the court's precautions for overseas Chinese are much greater than he expected. Isn't this obvious reluctance to allow overseas Chinese to make contributions in this negotiation?

In fact, the Qing court's attitude towards time travelers was basically to appease and use them. After learning about the news of the Shanghai negotiations, the Qing court also planned to use time travelers to strive for more interests in the negotiations. This is not to say how concerned the Qing court is in safeguarding national interests, but mainly because it is afraid that countries will hold the Qing court responsible for provoking this war and punishing the parties as the conditions for negotiations. Therefore, they can only rely on time travelers to check and balance foreigners.

However, all countries have made it clear that as long as the Qing court accepts the conditions proposed by various countries, the Qing court will not hold the responsibility for provoking the war, nor will the Qing court punish the parties involved, and support Empress Dowager Cixi to continue to take power, and can also recognize the status of the eldest prince as the crown prince. This immediately made the Qing court relieved. As Prince Duan Zaiyi, his attitude towards foreigners was even more sloppy, and he strongly advocated accepting foreigners' conditions.

Since his son Fu Jun was made the eldest prince, Zai Yi began to dream of becoming the Supreme Emperor. In the past, Zai Yi took the lead in supporting the Boxer Rebellion and opposing foreigners, and even forged foreign notes to encourage Empress Dowager Cixi to declare war on various countries. The most fundamental reason was that foreigners did not recognize the eldest prince. Now that foreigners have changed their attitude, Zai Yi will naturally no longer regard foreigners as his enemies.

When the foreigners recognize the eldest prince, Erjie's position will be stable, but the eldest prince is not the emperor yet. Therefore, if Zai Yi wants to become the Supreme Emperor, the biggest obstacle to becoming the foreigner has changed from the foreigner to Guangxu. Although Guangxu is in poor health, he is in his prime. It is probably not a short time for the eldest prince to succeed to the throne. However, if he can get the support of the foreigner, if the foreigner hopes that the eldest prince will succeed to the throne as soon as possible, then there is great potential for accepting the negotiation conditions of the foreigner, which is a signal that Zai Yi shows goodwill to the foreigner.

Of course, Zai Yi also knew that overseas Chinese also wanted to pull Long, but things had to be done step by step. It would not be too late to show kindness to overseas Chinese when he came back to Beijing. Aren’t they going to return to China? As long as he spoke a few words in front of the Lafayette, the court issued an edict and a few admirals, he could naturally pull overseas Chinese.

Zai Yi is not an ordinary idle prince, because he is the niece of Empress Dowager Cixi and is trusted by Empress Dowager Cixi. Otherwise, Empress Dowager Cixi would not have made his son the eldest prince. Moreover, before fleeing Beijing, Zai Yi served as the chief minister of the Prime Minister's affairs office, general of the Imperial Guard Tiger Shenzang, and other important positions. His brother, hereditary Duke of the Auxiliary Guard, Zai Lan, served as the right wing general of the Shenji Camp of the Imperial Guard; another distant relative of the hereditary family, Prince Zhuang Zai Xun, served as the commander of the infantry battalion of the Imperial Guard, stayed in the nine gates of the capital and commanded the Eight Banners infantry. Moreover, a group of ministers were surrounded by the Zai brothers, so he was a very powerful force in the Qing Dynasty, and even had a considerable influence on Empress Dowager Cixi. He advocated accepting the conditions of foreigners in full and received responses from a considerable number of officials.
Chapter completed!