On January 1, 1906, the preparatory meeting for the tripartite talks was held under Roosevelt's chairmanship, and Roosevelt had the ingenuity to set up the meeting on the President's special ship to the Mayflower.

The Mayflower sailed on September 6, 1620, carrying 102 Puritans, including men, women and children, from England to the American continent on November 11, 1620, and on board the Mayflower Convention, which was the first important political document in American history and the source of the American spirit of freedom. Later, with the independence of the United States, the Mayflower became famous. And this sailing ship for the President of the United States is named after the Mayflower, which naturally commemorates this historical event.

However, after the negotiators of each side boarded the sailboat, they would hold separate talks with Roosevelt, of course, such talks were not long, and it was impossible to negotiate anything substantive, but Japan and Russia did not want to lag behind, and vied to talk with Roosevelt first. However, Li Sanjie scoffed at this, this is not a registered patent, what is there to fight for, and it is difficult for the party that talks with Roosevelt first to take advantage of it. Therefore, the East China government did not require the order of the talks with Roosevelt, and it was okay to put it last, and it was too lazy to argue with Japan and Russia over these trivial matters.

When Roosevelt learned of this, he said to Rutte: "Although the East China government is not yet a formal country, their demeanor and bearing are not inferior to those of any big country." In the end, Roosevelt decided to hold the talks in the order in which they arrived in the United States, and to follow the order of all matters thereafter, so as to put an end to this pointless dispute.

After learning of the order set by Roosevelt, the Japanese delegation, which won the first place, did not have much joy, because the East China government was not bothered to fight with them at all, which made Japan feel that it was not interesting.

Since the East China government delegation was the last to hold talks with Roosevelt, they were the last to arrive at the port, and by the time they arrived, the Russian delegation was boarding the steamboat and preparing to sail for the Mayflower anchored in the bay.

However, the delegation of the East China government caused a burst of warm cheers and applause from the surrounding reporters, which was much more lively than that of Japan and Russia, and also made Werther have a gloomy face on the motorboat.

While he was waiting, a reporter asked Li Sanjie: "Mr. Commissioner, you are the last of the three parties to arrive in the United States, and there is an argument that this is your arrogant attitude toward this negotiation, and now that you are the last to meet with the president, some people think that such an arrangement will affect your negotiations. ”

Li Sanjie asked the reporter with a smile and said, "Mr. reporter, can you tell me what time the newspaper you work for is every day?"

The reporter was stunned, but replied, "8 o'clock in the morning." ”

Li Sanjie asked again: "If you arrive at the newspaper office at 6 o'clock every morning, will your boss give you a raise?"

The reporter shook his head again and again: "No, as long as you arrive before 8 o'clock, it will be the same as early as you come." ”

Li Sanjie said again: "So if you go to the newspaper office at 7:59 every day, will your boss think that your attitude is arrogant?"

The reporter said: "Of course not, I arrived before the stipulated working hours." ”

Li Sanjie smiled and said, "Very good, then do you still need me to explain it to you now?"

The reporter was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood the past, and said, "Mr. Commissioner, your answer is really brilliant. And the other reporters around him applauded.

After a short time, the steamer returned to the dock, and Li Sanjie and his entourage boarded the motorboat, and sailed towards the Mayflower moored in the sea amid the cheers of the reporters. About 15 minutes later, the motorboat leaned against the side of the sailboat, the sailboat lowered the gangway, Li Sanjie and the others boarded the Mayflower in turn, and the captain Winslow greeted them on the gangway, and the salute on the Mayflower fired 19 times. The crew was also lined up on the side of the ship.

After getting on the boat, Winslow led Li Sanjie and his party to the lounge and let the others rest, and Li Sanjie and Zhou Fengshan went to meet Roosevelt. Only the members of the negotiation team came to the Mayflower this time, and none of the business group came, and Gu Kai was with the business group, so only Li Sanjie and Zhou Fengshan went to the reception hall. Roosevelt warmly received the two and wished the negotiations a success, and Li Sanjie also expressed his gratitude to Roosevelt on behalf of the East China government.

After holding separate talks with all the negotiating parties, Roosevelt gathered representatives of the three parties, which was the first formal meeting between the three parties.

For this meeting, the United States renovated the reception room into a square shape, with the host of the United States and the three parties to the talks each other, and the East China Government once again showed a lenient bearing, allowing Japan and Russia to choose the position first, while the East China Government did not argue, and Japan and Russia also felt that they were not able to fight, so after making some concessions to each other, the Russian representative sat on Roosevelt's left, Japan on the right, and the East China Government on the opposite side of Roosevelt.

First of all, under Roosevelt's introduction, the negotiators of the three parties met with each other, handed over the power of attorney of their respective governments, and then shook hands with each other, and the atmosphere was very harmonious. Of course, on this occasion, no one would say anything bad about the scenery, but naturally they would say something that their own country has always loved peace and negotiated for peace. Roosevelt was also very satisfied with the atmosphere of the trilateral meeting, and he also made a concluding remarks, expressing his wishes for the success of the negotiations and the restoration of peace in the Far East.

At this time, the morning meeting was over, lunch was held on the sailboat, led by Roosevelt, out of the reception room, and Werther immediately got up and rushed to follow Roosevelt without hesitation, Li Sanjie and Komura Shoutaro were a step late, Komura Shoutaro also wanted to take the lead, but after taking a step, he felt that it was inappropriate, and stopped and looked back at Li Sanjie. Seeing that Li Sanjie not only did not fight, but also made a gesture of "please first", Komura Shoutaro followed Witt, and behind Li Sanjie was the Russian ambassador to the United States Rosen, followed by Kaneko Kentaro and Zhou Fengshan, and the other representatives also consciously lined up in this way of spacing each other.

Roosevelt, Li Sanjie, Werther, and Komura Shoutaro occupied a four-person round table, with Lee Sanjie and Komura speaking English and Witte speaking French and talking to each other. Of course, the conversation on this occasion will not involve sensitive topics, it is nothing more than the weather is good today, the American form is good all over again, and other non-nutritious words.

After lunch, the three parties went to the foredeck to take a group photo, and in order to solve the problem of location, they took multiple photos to make the positions of each side different, so that the representatives of each side could have a photo close to the position next to Roosevelt in the middle, and naturally no one had anything to say. It can also be said that the United States has indeed made painstaking efforts to maintain its image of neutrality and impartiality and to maintain its relations with the three parties.

Then the people of all parties, under the leadership of the captain, toured the sailboat and watched the history of the Mayflower, in fact, the people of all sides of this history know, even if they didn't know it before, they also made up for it before coming to the United States, but they also praised this history.

At 3 p.m., the talks resumed, and this was the substantive part of the preparatory meeting, in which the three parties, under the chairmanship of Rothford, decided on the various matters to be arranged for the negotiations.

The tripartite talks are indeed a complicated matter, and the United States has really spent a lot of effort in order to make arrangements for this meeting, first of all, to determine the order of the talks, because it is a three-party talks, and only two parties can hold talks every day, so one side must have a bye to rest. The order of the talks between the three parties was decided by drawing lots, and it was finally decided that on the first day, the East China Government would negotiate with Russia, and Japan would have a bye; on the second day, the East China Government would negotiate with Japan, and Russia would have a bye; on the third day, Russia would negotiate with Japan, and the East China Government would have a bye; and after the conclusion of the first round of talks, either side could propose to suspend or suspend the talks.

The time for negotiations is set at 9.30 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m., and the daily negotiation time may be shortened or extended if both parties agree.

Negotiators, five negotiators from each side of each negotiation, with a plenipotentiary designated, an interpreter and a note-taker to participate, the list of persons shall be determined before 8 p.m. of the previous day and submitted to the presiding party and the other party, and personnel may be replaced in the middle of the negotiation. If there is a need for temporary additions, the appointment of a commissioner is required, which must be agreed by the other party.

The language of the negotiations, the official conversation between the two parties will be in English as the main language, and the main text of the documents produced by the meeting shall be in the national language of all parties, and the English and French shall be the common originals, and the two sides of the meeting shall sign and confirm.

Negotiation record, each negotiation will form a negotiation record, record the content of the negotiation, and at the end of the negotiation on the same day, signed by the plenipotentiaries of both sides of the negotiation, and provide a copy of the record in English and French to the party that does not participate in the negotiation.

The daily proceedings of the negotiations will be made public, and the content of the communiqué will be decided by both parties to the talks.

The responsibility of the United States is that two US officials preside over the negotiation matters of the day for each negotiation, announce the beginning and end of the negotiations on that day, but are not allowed to speak during the negotiations, but can terminate the negotiations in the middle of the negotiations when there is a fierce quarrel between the two sides of the talks, and if the parties to the talks are dissatisfied with the presiding officials, they can propose to replace them; after that, the United States is also responsible for informing them every day, greeting the negotiators, and preparing for the negotiations, and sending the daily negotiation records to the party that did not participate in the negotiations.

The three parties were very satisfied with the arrangements made by the United States on these matters, because they were fair to all parties, so the three parties did not have much opinion on this, and they all agreed quickly.