Chapter 438: Entering Beijing (5)

After listening to Qin Zheng's words, the faces of the ministers of various countries became very ugly, and no one thought that overseas Chinese would put forward the conditions for searching the embassies of various countries, although in this era, there is also an internationally recognized and clear diplomatic treaty provisions, diplomatic immunity, and the rights of consulates of various countries abroad are not infringed upon by the countries concerned, and other concepts that have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the old time and space, in fact, in the old time and space, in the "Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations" signed in Vienna, the capital of Austria, in 1961. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In this era, diplomatic relations were basically conducted in accordance with international practice, or diplomatic agreements signed between the two countries. Of course, generally speaking, all countries still have more respect for their legations in their own countries, and many of the rules of diplomatic relations that have been confirmed in the old time and space have basically become the practice of international diplomacy, and in fact the "Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations" is only a summary of the previous international diplomatic practice, and it has been determined in the form of international law. And it has been approved and implemented by the vast majority of countries, and even the United States, which was known as the world's policeman in the old time and space, did not dare to break into the embassies of other countries to arrest people.

However, it is precisely because there are no clear international legal provisions in this era that violations of international diplomatic practices between countries also occur from time to time, and it is not uncommon for embassies of other countries to be searched and their staff arrested and detained. Of course, once such a thing happens, it is often considered to be a great insult to other countries, leading to the severance of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the least, and even leading to war, so such things generally occur in more hostile countries. The trigger for the Geng Kuoguo Revolution was that the German minister to China, Kling, was shot dead by the Qing army on the streets of Beijing.

Overseas Chinese proposed to search the embassies of various countries, which was naturally a great insult to all countries, but the reason put forward by Qin Zheng made the ministers of various countries feel a little unreasonable, during the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, they did store a large amount of looted property in their own legations, and the ministers of various countries, as well as other staff members in the legations, also took this opportunity to reap a lot of benefits for themselves.

Of course, the minister and the embassy personnel will not participate in the robbery, but they can buy it, because for the soldiers, a porcelain vase, cultural relics and antiques are not as real as real money, and most of the ministers are knowledgeable people, so Kebei buys from the soldiers of his country at a very cheap price, like all kinds of precious ancient books and ancient paintings treasured in the palace, you can buy more than ten volumes with a hanging money, and a fine porcelain bottle is only 2. 3 taels of silver, a diamond-encrusted black eagle star given to the Emperor of China by the Emperor of Prussia could be purchased for only 20 taels of silver, and since most of the soldiers did not know the true value of the looted treasures, someone later came up with a way to pay the same weight of silver according to the weight of the goods. In this way, the ministers of various countries naturally got a lot of precious and exotic cultural relics.

Although everyone knows these things, the so-called protection of their own embassies and expatriates is just an excuse, and it is natural to take the opportunity to make a fortune and save a little pension money for themselves, but this Bi Jing is under the table and cannot be brought to the table, so once overseas Chinese search for these treasures and wealth from the embassies of various countries, it is quite embarrassing for all countries. In the name of expatriates, plundering the treasures and wealth of other countries is an unjustifiable thing there, and it will greatly reduce the moral superiority of each country.

But now no one has the ability to stop the overseas Chinese army from entering the embassy to search the embassy, and judging from the past behavior of the overseas Chinese, they are definitely not just talking. After a long while, the French Minister Bi Shengcai said: "Political Commissar Qin, frankly speaking, your request is indeed excessive, because the search of the embassies of various countries is an important accident and a gross violation of the sovereignty of our countries, and you should be clear about this consequence. ”

Qin Zheng said: " Of course, I know what we are doing, but one thing should be clear to you is that it is the Qing Dynasty that has diplomatic relations with your country, not us, and that after the breakdown of the Shanghai negotiations, we and your country are already in a state of war, so we have done our best to protect the safety of the embassies and the staff of the embassies, and we only demand that the treasures and treasures of our country that have been plundered by the countries be returned and inspected, and as for the weapons, since we promise to protect the security of the embassies of the countries, then there is no practical point in the embassies keeping their weapons, and frankly, if we do not promise to protect the safety of the embassies of the countriesDo you think that even if you keep your weapons, you can protect the security of the embassy?"

After Qin Zheng finished speaking, all the ministers also looked at each other, and had to admit that Qin Zheng's words were indeed very frank, but they were also facts, overseas Chinese and other countries did not have diplomatic relations, and they were in a state of war, so naturally there was no need to respect diplomatic conventions. Even if it is a cooperation agreement with Germany, it can only be regarded as a commercial agreement, although there are also clauses in it that the two sides will set up offices and send office representatives, but first, they have not yet been dispatched; second, the representatives stationed in the office are still business representatives in name and are not real diplomatic relations, so it is completely justifiable in legal theory for overseas Chinese to search the embassies of various countries.

At this time, the American minister Conger said: "Political Commissar Qin, we don't want to argue with you about right and wrong, we only hope that you can restore the telegraph lines of the embassies, and we hope to ask for instructions from China, and if China agrees to let you search the embassy, we will never stop it." ”

It turned out that after the People's Army occupied Beijing, it immediately cut off the telegraph lines of the embassies of various countries, so the embassies of various countries were unable to communicate with the outside world, and Conger's intention was actually to make this matter bigger, so that Shanghai, and even other countries, could exert pressure on the overseas Chinese, although except for Russia, other countries were not capable of launching military operations against the overseas Chinese, but after all, all countries had tremendous influence and should not be underestimated.

And Qin Zheng spread his hands and said: "I'm sorry, in yesterday's battle, the official telegraph bureau was greatly damaged, and the equipment was damaged a lot, so all the telegraph lines have been stopped, and we are sending people to step up repairs, once repaired, the telegraph lines of the embassies of various countries will be opened immediately, but I hope you can wait patiently for a few days." ”

At this time, the ministers had nothing to say, because no one knew whether Qin Zheng's statement about the destruction of the official telecommunications bureau was true or false, but no one could refute this reason, so the attempt to contact the country and make this incident a big one was completely shattered, and it could not be said that after the official telecommunications bureau was repaired, let the legations ask for instructions from the country. Therefore, at this point, the ministers of various countries also understood that this matter was inevitable, so they only admitted it, and even the Russian Minister Geers, who had always been recognized as the toughest in foreign affairs, and the Japanese Minister Komura Shotaro, who was the most stubborn, did not say anything.

In fact, although the Russians have always been tough, they are not blindly tough to the end, and when it is time to soften their bodies, they will definitely soften their bodies, and the Russian minister Geerth already knew the news that the Russian army was going south, so at this time, he and the overseas Chinese were hard topped, just asking for hardships, and after the Russian army entered Shanhaiguan and occupied Beijing, it was not Russia that had the final say, even if the overseas Chinese robbed Russia's property, it didn't matter, and even all the profits would have to come back at that time.

The current situation is obvious, how dare people not bow their heads when they are under the low eaves? Not to mention that the old imperialists such as Britain, France, and Russia have not made a sound, so there is no need for Japan to come out with such a head. And compared with other countries, in fact, Japan also accounted for a big stool, just one day before the overseas Chinese landed, the main ships of the Japanese Combined Fleet were withdrawn to the country, and along the way, they also took away half of the wealth that Japan looted from China, almost more than 2,000 taels of silver, in addition to the most precious cultural relics, so how Japan also earned.

In fact, the traverser knows very well that although there is no legal problem in searching the embassies of various countries, it is quite unfavorable to the traversal group in international politics, and it may even affect the traversal group and other countries to carry out the next step of negotiations, resulting in diplomatic isolation, but the traversal group cannot sit idly by and watch the treasures stored in the embassies of various countries be lost, first, the traversal clique now needs this wealth; second, it also involves the struggle for power within the traversal clique, because the current executive committee is only a provisional government, and the traversal clique will formally establish a leadership system at the end of this year, and the current leaders want to be elected at the end of the year and continue to hold powerAfter all, the vast majority of time-travelers were very dissatisfied with the government's "protest" behavior in the old time and space, so they did not want to still only "protest" in this era, and the treasures and cultural relics plundered by the Eight-Nation Alliance were undoubtedly the national situation that touched the hearts of the vast majority of time-travelers, and the Executive Committee was not allowed to compromise in this regard.

Therefore, the operation mode of the crossing group is to block the news first and search the ministers of various countries. Finding treasures and artifacts that have been looted by various countries, and preemptively publicizing the news to seize the moral high ground, can suppress the adverse political influence of raiding embassies. To put it simply, it is to search for treasures and cultural relics first, and confirm the crimes of the Eight-Nation Alliance, so that no one will say that the traversers searched the embassies of various countries.

After receiving the ministers of various countries, Qin Zheng met with the bishops of various churches in Beijing. The missionaries in Beijing also got a slice of the feast of the plundering of China, and they were even more radical than the embassy staff, because they knew better what was most valuable. Fan Guoran, the bishop of the Xishiku Church in Beijing, was the commander-in-chief of the looting of Prince Li's mansion, and in order to transport the treasures of the palace back to the church, he used several carts to haul them for seven days in a row.

Although he also promised to protect the safety of the church, and listed the people who were killed and arrested by the People's Army yesterday, he said that the People's Army was different from the Boxers and would not blindly xenophobic, but he also asked the churches to hand over the looted wealth, hand over their weapons, and accept the inspection of the People's Army. Moreover, Qin Zheng's attitude towards foreign monks was much harsher than that of ministers from various countries, indicating that if the church did not cooperate, it would be immediately sealed.