When the consuls heard this, there was another burst of discussion, although Huo Bilan's proposal was quite attractive, if the Qing court was really allowed to make compensation to various countries, then all the consuls would naturally make a great contribution to the country and their own party, which would be of great benefit to everyone's political future. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

However, if you can get a consul abroad, since you are the consul of an overseas colony, there is no stupid person, although Huo Bilan's proposal is good, but it just looks beautiful, and if it is really implemented, no one can say how sure it can be, Bai Zaotai said: "If it is under normal circumstances, Qingguo will honestly agree to our conditions as His Excellency the Consul said." But now it is very obvious that there are overseas Chinese behind them, and to be honest, we have nothing to do with overseas Chinese, and under such circumstances, will the Qing court still accept these conditions? ”

Huo Bilan smiled: "Your Excellency, how many years have you lived in China. ”

Bai Zaotai was stunned for a moment and said, "Five years." ”

Huo Bilan said: "I believe that with Your Excellency's wisdom, five years is enough for Your Excellency to become a China expert, so Your Excellency should be clear, what kind of government is the current Qing government, to put it mildly, the Qing State is still a tribal politics, and the monarch of the country is the chief of a tribe, not the ruler of a super large country with a thousand square kilometers." The Empress Dowager was just an ignorant and old-fashioned old woman, and she was only concerned with her personal power and luxurious life, not the interests of the whole country, so for the Empress Dowager Xi, it was not a question of how much land to cede and how much silver to compensate, as long as she could ensure her power and luxurious life. ”

"In addition, don't think that the Chunguo is really one with the overseas Chinese, think about it, with the strength of the overseas Chinese, will they submit to a weak, ignorant, backward, and decadent medieval country? You must know that overseas Chinese are descendants of the Han Chinese in China, and the Qing State is a country established by the Manchus, 250 years ago, the ancestors of overseas Chinese were driven out of Chinese mainland by the Manchus, not to mention that now overseas Chinese have much more powerful power than the Qing court, so at today's daytime press conference, the question raised by the Japanese reporter to the overseas Chinese is very clever, as long as this news reaches the ears of the Empress Dowager Xi, she will definitely not believe the overseas Chinese, of course, maybe she has never believed in the overseas Chinese, so will the Chunguo accept our conditions, do you need to analyze again? ”

Oda did not expect that Kobayashi's question would be appreciated by the British consul, although he was happy, after all, he was valued by the British, and it was naturally of great help to Japan against Russia, but it was more of a bad taste, because before he came to the British consulate, he also severely criticized Kobayashi.

The consuls were silent for a while, all thinking about Huo Bilan's words. People who can be consuls in China naturally have a very good understanding of the situation in China, and they have a considerable study of the characteristics of the rulers of the Qing court, so they all agree with what Huo Bilan said, and the current rulers of the Qing court are indeed the kind of people who only care about their own selfish interests and ignore the interests of the country. However, overseas Chinese have always been a threshold in front of other countries.

Guna said: "But this negotiation is a tripartite meeting between us, overseas Chinese, and Qing Guo, of course it doesn't matter what attitude Qing Guo has, but will overseas Chinese accept such conditions?" As Your Excellency just said, overseas Chinese have always regarded themselves as patriots, and if the Qing court accepts such conditions, it will also have an impact on the voice of overseas Chinese, so overseas Chinese will allow the Qing court to accept such conditions, whether the rulers of the Qing state believe in them or not, but at present, the rulers of the Qing state are not capable of swaying the wishes of the overseas Chinese. ”

Huo Bilan shook his head and said: "Although the Qing State cannot influence the wishes of the overseas Chinese, they can decide their own choice, don't forget that the legitimate government of China is still the Qing State, so if the Qing State insists on us signing a peace treaty, the overseas Chinese will not be able to stop it, at most they will refuse to sign the peace treaty, and then publicize to the outside world to put all the responsibility on the Chun Ting, and break themselves out of this peace treaty, with the wisdom of the overseas Chinese, it is not difficult to do this." What we have to do is to try our best to put pressure on the Qing to accept our conditions, and we don't have to pay too much attention to the attitude of the overseas Chinese. ”

Knappe said: "These are all unilateral considerations of Your Excellency, and there is no practical basis, but will the overseas Chinese do what you think, just as before yesterday's football match, Your Excellency also believed that the British team would win, but what was the result, so what if in the end the overseas Chinese did not do what you envisioned, but did something else, what would happen?"

Seeing that Knappe mentioned the football match again, Huo Bilan was angry in his heart, but he had to forcibly suppress it, because at this time, he must not get angry easily, otherwise it would be difficult to convince the other consuls, so he forcibly suppressed his anger and said: "Then may I ask Your Excellency, what actions do you think overseas Chinese will have?"

"For example, war, I think if the overseas Chinese refuse to accept the outcome of the negotiations, they will start a war to solve it, and their next target is probably Shanghai," Knappe said. ”

After listening to Knappe's words, everyone was talking again, this is not an impossible thing, Bijing countries and overseas Chinese do not have much contact, and no one lacks enough experience to judge the next move of overseas Chinese. Moreover, after the overseas Chinese captured Qingdao, there were indeed rumors that the overseas Chinese wanted to attack Shanghai, which once caused social panic in Shanghai, although the overseas Chinese swore at the press conference that the overseas Chinese had never made a plan to attack Shanghai, but no one would take this seriously.

At this time, Huo Bilan said: "Then may I ask Your Excellency what is the factual basis for making such a judgment?"

Knappe said: "According to the news sent by our Tianjin consulate, during this period of time, overseas Chinese have issued restrictions on food, cloth, medicine and other materials in Tianjin, and collected a large number of livestock and vehicles, I think you should have received this news, and these actions are prepared for military operations, so I can be sure that once this negotiation breaks down, overseas Chinese will definitely launch military operations, the target is either Shanghai or Beijing, and I personally judge that Shanghai is more likely." ”

Huo Bilan shook his head and said: "I have received this news, but my judgment is just the opposite of Your Excellency, I think that the overseas Chinese are just bluffing, and the purpose is probably to create pressure on us to force us to accept the conditions of the overseas Chinese, and people like Mr. Knappe really believe it, which shows that the conspiracy of the overseas Chinese has indeed played a certain role." ”

Knappe said, "So, can you tell us your reasoning?"

Huo Bilan smiled slightly and said: "Very happy, first of all, if the overseas Chinese really plan to launch a military operation, the preparatory actions in the early stage should be carried out secretly, then there is such a fanfare operation, which is obviously to let us know and put pressure on us." In addition, although we really do not have the ability to launch a military offensive against the overseas Chinese, the overseas Chinese also do not have the ability to launch military operations again, and have captured Tianjin, Weihaiwei, and Qingdao, which is already the limit of their military expansion, and do not forget that there are actually only more than 6,000 overseas Chinese left, and it is quite free to occupy the current area. Therefore, the army of overseas Chinese is mainly composed of local Chinese, not to mention whether the weapons and ammunition are enough, but the quality of the army, you think that their combat effectiveness can be strong there, so we do not have to worry about overseas Chinese attacking Shanghai. ”

After listening to Huo Bilan's remarks, the consuls had another discussion, and Huo Bilan's remarks were indeed quite reasonable, because it was no secret that overseas Chinese were recruiting troops to form the People's Army in Tianjin. It's just that the army of overseas Chinese is powerful, but the army they recruited from the Chinese native people is so powerful that they go there, which the consuls really don't believe, so it seems that the possibility of overseas Chinese launching military operations is really not very likely, so most of the people have begun to have some activities in their hearts, after all, it is good to be able to get compensation.

However, only Kepena knew in his heart that the overseas Chinese would definitely not let the Qing court accept the treaty of indemnity and land cession, and once the negotiations failed, the overseas Chinese would definitely start another war, either attacking Shanghai or Beijing. And these consuls still underestimate the overseas Chinese, although the army composed of Chinese natives is indeed not very strong, but it depends on who the general who leads an army, a group of sheep led by a lion can defeat a group of lions led by a sheep, overseas Chinese are not comparable to ordinary Chinese. It's just that Kepena has tried his best to help the overseas Chinese succeed in the negotiations, which can be regarded as fulfilling Germany's obligations, but he still can't convince the other consuls, so he can only give up.

In fact, if the war breaks out again, there will be no loss to Germany, because now Germany's interests in China are not big, although it has lost Qingdao, but the cooperation with overseas Chinese, can basically make up for it, whether the overseas people occupy Beijing or Shanghai, it will have no impact on Germany, on the contrary, it can also take advantage of the cooperation agreement with overseas Chinese, take advantage of the overseas Chinese expansion of the free ride, expand Germany's market share in China, so Germany is optimistic, and Kepena will naturally not say anything.

And Kepena didn't speak, so naturally there were other people who spoke, and Bai Zaotai immediately said: "May I ask Your Excellency, so what should we do now?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Huo Bilan's mouth, knowing that he had finally moved these consuls, he immediately said: "Let's discuss what conditions should be proposed to Qingguo." ”