"What do you say?

"Yes, this is what their political commissar Qin Zheng really told us that their country has a volcanic eruption that destroyed the island a few months ago, and now only their personnel and ships are left. ”

"Oh no, no. After listening to Zhang Peilun's speech, Li Hongzhang stomped his feet and sighed again and again, while Zhou Fu, Sheng Xuanhuai, and Li Jingfang also changed their faces.

It turned out that when Zhang Peilun returned to Shanghai from Tianjin, three days had passed since the six principles of the negotiations announced by the traversers, and except for Russia, which responded the next day, saying that Russia would absolutely not accept the negotiation principles of overseas Chinese, the other countries had not yet expressed their attitudes.

After Zhang Peilun returned to Shanghai, he immediately told Li Hongzhang about the origin of overseas Chinese. After hearing this, Li Hongzhang beat his chest and sighed sadly, even Zhang Peilun was inexplicable. It turned out that Li Hongzhang thought that there was a state support behind this group of overseas Chinese, so they dared to argue with other countries so strongly, but after listening to Zhang Peilun's words, he realized that this group of overseas Chinese turned out to be paper tigers, with teeth and claws on the surface, which was quite scary, but the inside was just empty.

Sooner or later, it will definitely be possible to find out that overseas Chinese are only strong in the middle and abroad, and they will naturally not be polite to overseas Chinese, and when other countries clean up the overseas Chinese, they will naturally not let go of Dachun. Of course, it is not a pity for the overseas Chinese to end up with any results, but the Qing Dynasty is going to be unlucky, how can this not make Li Hongzhang anxious!

But what made Li Hongzhang even more anxious was that although most of the countries had not yet expressed their stance on the negotiation principles of overseas Chinese, the Qing court in exile, On the evening of the day when the overseas Chinese announced the principles of negotiation, the Qing court, temporarily residing in Taiyuan, sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, saying that they could negotiate with other countries in accordance with the principles of negotiation announced by the overseas Chinese, and that they could also make some concessions, and that they could also appease the overseas Chinese and use them for the imperial court to balance the various countries.

Some of them held that the six principles of negotiation announced by overseas Chinese were very beneficial to the Qing Dynasty and hoped that Li Hongzhang would do his best to bring about the talks; some congratulated Li Hongzhang and held that with the six principles of negotiation announced by the overseas Chinese, the crisis could be resolved very quickly; some were still sober and asked Li Hongzhang what the chances of success of such negotiations were; and some had bad intentions and even thought that Li Hongzhang should strive for more benefits for the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, Li Hongzhang also received news that among the ministers who fled to Taiyuan with Cixi and Guangxu, some of them had taken the initiative to ask for an order, asking to be responsible for negotiating with various countries, or to come forward on behalf of the imperial court to appease this group of overseas Chinese.

When Zhou Fu, Sheng Xuanhuai, Li Jingfang, and others saw these telegrams, they were convinced of Li Hongzhang's foresight, and if Li Hongzhang had proposed the principle of opposing the negotiation of overseas Chinese at that time, would it be strange that he would not have been scolded to death by the whole country at this time?

But now it is found that this group of overseas Chinese is unreliable at all, and now everyone is naturally anxious, although Zhang Peilun is a little unclear, but after listening to Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai explain to him the stakes, he is also anxious, and said to Li Hongzhang: "Zhongtang, what should we do now?"

After all, Li Hongzhang is also a person who has experienced strong winds and waves, ups and downs, and quickly calmed down, he also knew that it was useless to be anxious now, it was better to calm down and think of countermeasures, and said: "The matter has come to this point, and it is useless to be anxious, not to mention that foreigners still don't know the details of overseas Chinese, so it may not be impossible." ”

Zhang Peilun said: "Do you want me to go to Tianjin again, meet overseas Chinese again, and explain the benefits and disadvantages." ”

Li Hongzhang waved his hand at Zhang Peilun and said, "It's useless for you to go, and it's not good for us to have more contact with overseas Chinese at this time." It is only up to them to negotiate with the countries, and we are not involved. After a pause, he turned to Li Jingfang and said: "Jingfang, you immediately send a telegram to the imperial court, Russia has rejected the negotiation principle of overseas Chinese, and other countries have not yet expressed their position, and they should not be in a hurry." ”

Li Jingfang nodded and said, "Yes, I'll do it." ”

After hearing this, everyone also thought that Li Hongzhang handled it very properly, because the top priority was indeed to stabilize the imperial court, and now it was troublesome enough, if the imperial court came to add chaos at this time, it would be a real headache.

At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Zhongtang, about the overseas Chinese, should we tell the countries?"

Li Hongzhang thought for a while and said, "Don't leak it out for the time being, let's wait and see what happens." After a pause, he said: "The Russians have already made it clear that they do not accept the negotiation principles of overseas Chinese, and I will go to the British and French consulates tomorrow to find out their tone." ”

The next day, following Russia's statement, the German consulate in Shanghai also issued a statement, declaring that Germany did not accept the principle of negotiation with overseas Chinese, and called on all countries to increase their troops on the Chinese battlefield and resolutely defeat the overseas Chinese; and later on the same day, the Russian government again stated that Russia would consider sending 100,000 Russian troops to the Chinese battlefield and send the Russian Far East Fleet stationed in Vladivostok to Port Arthur to deal with the overseas Chinese.

The two countries have successively stated that they will not accept the principle of negotiation of overseas Chinese, and they are also preparing to increase troops on the Chinese battlefield, which has also caused a shock again.

However, after Russia and Germany expressed their positions, for three consecutive days, no other countries followed up, and the overseas Chinese in Tianjin did not move, and at this time, there were only three days left before the ten-day time limit set by the overseas Chinese.

―――――――― Divider ――――――――― Dividing Line――――――――

In an office of the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai, Oda Kiri, the Japanese consul in Shanghai, handed a telegram to Yasumasa Fukushima, saying: "Fukushima-kun, the military department has decided on your disposition and demoted you to colonel." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa did not go to answer the telegram, but said: "Oda-kun, my application, whether the military department has approved it." ”

Xiao Tian Che said: "Well, the military department has approved your proposal, you can return to Tianjin as a military attache of the consulate in Tianjin, and the relevant documents have been sent to China, and it is estimated that you can get to Shanghai in these two days." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa nodded, immediately straightened up, then reached out and took the telegram, and said, "Very well, I accept this position, and I am glad to have the opportunity to make amends for my mistakes." ”

Oda said, "Fukushima-kun, do you think overseas Chinese will agree to our reopening of the consulate in Tianjin?"

Fukushima Yasumasa said: "I think we are at least 60% sure that we already had a consulate in Tianjin, but we just evacuated it, and since the overseas Chinese allow the consulates of other countries to exist in Tianjin, then they are not refusing us to reopen the consulate in Tianjin, and this is also the best way for us to obtain information in Tianjin and understand the overseas Chinese." ”

Oda Che said: "Yes, we don't have a business bank in Tianjin, and as soon as the consulate is withdrawn, there will be no news." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa said, "It was my mistake. ”

Oda Che shook his head and said: "Fukushima-kun, this can't be blamed on you, under the circumstances at that time, you were able to make a quick decision and withdraw a very small number of consulate personnel, which is indeed a good job, but none of us thought that this group of overseas Chinese would be completely different from the Qing Kingdom." ”

Fukushima Yasumasa can only smile bitterly, when the traverser attacked the Tianjin concession, Fukushima Yasuma made a decision, before the concession was lost, with the Japanese consul in Tianjin, Ijiin Hikoyoshi, and the consulate staff threw away the consuls of various countries, fled from Tianjin, Ijiin Hikoyoshi took the consulate staff to Beijing, and Fukushima Yasumasa broke up with them halfway and came to Shanghai.

When he first arrived in Shanghai, Fukushima Yasumasa was once regarded as a hero, because he saved the entire staff of the Japanese consulate in Tianjin, and also brought news of Tianjin, and Japan also planned to reward him. Soon after, however, news spread from Tianjin that all the consulates of various countries were safe and sound, and that the overseas Chinese had closed the Russian consulates because of the Russian consul's insulting remarks, the consulates of other countries still existed, and their activities were not subject to much restriction, and they could also send telegrams to Shanghai to deliver news.

Moreover, the consuls of various countries in Tianjin were very dissatisfied with the behavior of the Japanese consulate in Tianjin for throwing others behind and escaping from Tianjin, because everyone had agreed at that time to jointly defend the concession, so all countries protested to Japan, which also made the Japanese government very passive and could only apologize to other countries.

Of course, this is not a big deal, in fact, all countries also know in their hearts that Japan really can't be blamed for this matter, and they understand that they couldn't hold the concession at that time, so the Japanese fled from Tianjin first, which is understandable, and it is not easy to catch it.

However, the other consequence is very serious, although Japan has a concession in Tianjin, but it has not been developed, so there are no Japanese companies stationed in Tianjin to operate, so after the evacuation of the consulate in Tianjin, there is no Japanese activity in Tianjin. The consulates of other countries can send news back to Tianjin in a timely manner, but Japan is the only country that completely ignores Tianjin, and can only inquire about Tianjin from other countries, and it has also met with a lot of blank eyes.

Naturally, Japan was very dissatisfied with the result, and someone had to bear this responsibility, so it naturally chased after Fukushima Yasumasa, so Fukushima Yasumasa was demoted and dismissed.

In this regard, Fukushima Yasumasa can only consider himself unlucky, who would have calculated that this group of overseas Chinese would actually do this, but Fukushima Yasumasa still takes into account the overall situation after all, and does his best for the interests of Japan, so he suggested to China that the Japanese consulate in Tianjin be reopened, and take the initiative to apply to Tianjin, so as to observe the situation of overseas Chinese at close range and collect intelligence.