The East China government did not refuse the Qing court's request for negotiation, after all, now is not the time to destroy the Qing court, so at this time, peace with the Qing court can also be used to deal with the battle in the northeast, and of course, the Qing court must knock a stroke on it to subsidize the war.

So Zhang Zhidong came to Qingdao to negotiate with the East China Government, and the East China Government made five conditions for Zhang Zhidong to make peace

1. The Qing court must recognize the East China government as an independent and legitimate power;

2. The Qing court withdrew from the entire territory of Henan Province and placed Henan Province under the jurisdiction of the East China Government;

3. The Qing court will compensate the East China government for war losses totaling 60 million taels of silver;

4. The Qing court must severely punish officials who advocate launching attacks on rivers and lakes, and the list and punishment measures must be approved by the East China government;

5. After the Qing court carried out the above commitments, the East China government withdrew from Hebei and handed over the occupied state capital to the Qing court.

Although the East China government is in fact an independent political entity, and other countries have basically recognized that the number of countries that have set up consulates in Qingdao has reached 22, the East China government is still not an independent political entity in terms of legal theory, so it is better to take this opportunity to make a complete cut with the Qing court and force the Qing court to recognize it. Moreover, it will be more convenient to negotiate with Russia and Japan in the future.

After all, the Qing court has ruled for more than 260 years, and the orthodoxy has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and the East China government is tantamount to openly splitting and fighting for independence, but now is an extraordinary period, because of the series of brilliant victories won by the People's Army in the northeast battlefield, the prestige of the East China government has reached an extremely high level, and in all parts of the country, in the southeastern provinces, the calls for the East China government to replace the Qing court are by no means a few, and some of them have even openly called on the newspaper line to demand that the Qing court give up and ask the East China government to take over the overall situation of the country。 Therefore, the East China government is now openly independent, and it will not arouse much opposition, on the contrary, there will be many people who support it.

Before the war, the river and lake base areas had actually occupied most of Henan Province, and now it is not too much to ask the Qing court to occupy the entire Henan Province, and now the East China government is using the money, and it is not too much to ask the Qing court for compensation of 60 million silver, and the East China government is not going to exterminate the Qing court, and the land in Hebei Province is a signal sent to the Qing court.

According to the East China government's expectations, such conditions were completely acceptable to the Qing court, after all, compared with the traitorous treaties signed by the Qing court, the conditions of the East China government were quite good. Zhang Zhidong, the minister of negotiations, rejected the request of the East China government on the spot, saying that such conditions were absolutely unacceptable to the Qing court, and refused to continue negotiations with the East China government, demanding to return to Beijing to resume his life.

This is really beyond the expectations of the East China government, because of the force Zhang Zhidong does not seem to be this kind of decisive person, and although Zhang Zhidong is the minister of negotiation, but the decision is still in the hands of the Qing court, no matter what the result of the negotiation, Zhang Zhidong has no right to decide whether to sign or not, but should report the results to the Qing court, and the Qing court decides whether to sign or not, there are people like Zhang Zhidong.

However, since Zhang Zhidong is leaving, of course the East China government will not detain him, and the East China government is also begging the Qing court to make peace, so it also let Zhang Zhidong leave, and the military working group is also ready to discuss, and no longer let the volunteers go further, attack Zhuozhou, and put more pressure on the Qing court. However, before leaving, Zhang Zhidong left a letter to the East China government, saying that he refused to negotiate again and was still involuntary, and only wanted to preserve the evening, and the Qing court would send another person to negotiate before the Qing court, and asked the East China government to wait patiently and not misunderstand Yunyun.

Only then did everyone understand that Zhang Zhidong knew that he must not sign this treaty, and if he signed it, Li Hongzhang was the second, and he could not pass the terms proposed by the East China government back to Beijing, because passing them back meant that these terms were negotiated between himself and overseas Chinese, and the imperial court accepted these conditions, or signed them by himself, so this pot should still be carried by himself, so Zhang Zhidong refused to negotiate and returned to Beijing. In this way, he refused the request put forward by the East China government, did not sign a contract, kept his personal reputation, and brought back the conditions of the East China government, and if the Qing court accepted, he could send an individual to Qingdao to sign a contract with the East China government.

After figuring this out, several people in the working group couldn't help but cry and laugh, knowing that Zhang Zhidong cherished his reputation, and he was really hard enough. However, it didn't matter how the Qing court tossed around, but it was useless to play these tricks in front of the East China government, so the working group decided to put a little more pressure on the Qing court.

After Zhang Zhidong returned to Beijing, he immediately folded to the imperial court, explained his trip to Qingdao, explained in detail the conditions of the East China government, and impassionedly stated that the imperial court would never accept these conditions, and he had clearly refused.

After reading Zhang Zhidong's excerpts, Cixi was almost so angry that she vomited blood, of course she could see that Zhang Zhidong's intentions were nothing more than for his own little bit of fame, and he ignored the overall situation of the imperial court. But Cixi can't do anything about Zhang Zhidong, after all, he is an old minister of the Three Dynasties, and he can't cure Zhang Zhidong's crime for this matter, and Zhang Zhidong's behavior has also been supported by many officials, thinking that Zhang Zhidong has integrity and character, and is much stronger than Li Hongzhang.

Cixi did not have time to settle accounts with Zhang Zhidong now, since the overseas Chinese had made a condition, it would be easy to do, although the conditions were indeed harsh, but now the Qing court still has any choice? Moreover, Cixi also tentatively asked the ministers of various countries for their opinions, and the ministers of various countries also suggested that the Qing court accept the conditions of the East China government and restore peace as soon as possible. Cixi thought about it and felt that it was right, no matter how harsh the conditions were, it would be much better than the second Gengzi Kingdom.

But the most important thing is to choose a new negotiating minister, Zhang Zhidong is obviously not suitable, thinking of this, Cixi had to sigh, it seems that Yuan Shikai can only be used again. Of course, this time Yuan Shikai was activated, and the imperial court must have something to say, so on the second day, the Qing court issued an order to crown Yuan Shikai as Minister of Beiyang, Minister of Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, Minister of Military Training, and add a first-class Earl of Wuyi; at the same time, Yuan Shikai's heir father Yuan Baoqing Shaobao and Heiniu were given the title of Mrs. Yipin; his biological father Yuan Baozhong Prince Shaobao, and his biological mother Liu Shi was the wife of the Second Rank Order; and Yuan Shikai's eldest son Yuan Keding was also given a third-grade post-supplement platform. asked Yuan Shikai to return to Beijing immediately to take up his post, and was afraid that Yuan Shikai would push any illness or something, so he specially explained that there were good doctors in Beijing, so he could rest assured.

It turned out that Yuan Shikai's biological father Yuan Baozhong had a total of two wives, namely the original Guo family and the stepfamily Liu, Yuan Shikai was born by the stepfamily Liu, ranking fourth. However, Yuan Shikai was passed on to his uncle Yuan Baoqing when he was a child, so the original aunt Niu became Yuan Shikai's heir.

In 1901, Yuan Shikai's biological mother Liu passed away, Yuan Shikai returned to his hometown to bury his mother, and wanted to bury his biological mother in the main cave of Yuan's ancestral tomb in Xiangcheng, but Yuan Shidun, the eldest son born to Guo in Yuan Baozhong's main room, was at odds with Yuan Shikai, so on the grounds of the etiquette of the division of concubines, Yuan Shikai's biological mother was not a wife, and was not allowed to enter the ancestral tomb to be buried with Yuan Baozhong. As a result, no matter how Yuan Shikai pleaded, or even knelt down and begged, Yuan Shidun just refused to give in. In the end, Yuan Shikai had to choose a new auspicious place to bury his biological mother. After the funeral of his mother, Yuan Shikai was furious and vowed not to return to his hometown Xiangcheng again, and placed his hometown in Huanshang Village, Anyang.

After receiving the reward from the Qing court, Yuan Shikai's heart was also very happy, in fact, he was not too concerned about the official positions such as the Minister of Beiyang, the Minister of the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office, and Wu Yibo, only the Minister of Military Training was what Yuan Shikai valued the most, and this was military power. In addition, his biological mother was presented by the imperial court with Mrs. Erpin, and Yuan Shikai was also very happy, this is not only a great honor, but also has the capital to boast in front of the people in his hometown in the future. And Yuan Shikai's biological father Yuan Baozhong did not become an official in his life, and only donated a five-grade Tongzhi with the qualification of a tribute student, but the step-room was given the second-grade wife, Yuan Baozhong naturally can't be just a five-product Tongzhi, so he also gave a prince Shaobao, but in this way, Yuan Baozhong's main room Guo has nothing, so it is also a ridicule for Yuan Shidun. Yuan Shikai can also imagine what Yuan Shidun's expression will be after receiving the gift from the imperial court.

However, satisfaction is satisfaction, but Yuan Shikai can't go back to Beijing rashly, of course, this time it's not to put on a show again, but to ask the Qing court to express its position. It turned out that Zhang Zhidong's behavior also taught Yuan Shikai a lesson, what is this called a human spirit? Since Zhang Zhidong didn't want to carry this pot, then he didn't dare to carry it, Li Hongzhang was drowned by the saliva of the whole country, and it was best to let the imperial court itself clearly agree to accept the conditions of the East China government, and he was only a person who ran errands to sign.

So Yuan Shikai immediately wrote an excerpt to the Qing court, saying that he was willing to contribute to the country, but negotiating with overseas Chinese was very important. The meaning is also very clear, whether to agree to the conditions of overseas Chinese, to give an obvious statement. At the same time, he communicated with the East China government, saying that he had been reinstated by the imperial court and appointed as a negotiating minister, and was trying his best to persuade the imperial court to accept the conditions of the East China government and ask the East China government to be lenient for some time.

After receiving Yuan Shikai's excerpt, Cixi was so angry that she almost lost her breath, this Yuan Laosi's slippery head is not under Zhang Zhidong, and he actually asked the imperial court to clearly agree to the conditions of overseas Chinese first, and then go to Qingdao to negotiate, the imperial court promised everything, and you Yuan Laosi want to talk about something. In fact, Cixi also understood in her heart that Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai didn't want to take the blame for the imperial court, so they just took such an infamy, alas, it was better to have Li Hongzhang.