However, the Empress Dowager Cixi also knows that now is not the time to change people, although the imperial court has been stabilized, but the new policy has just begun to be implemented, and these old ministers are still needed to preside over the plan, and the situation in the Northeast is becoming more and more serious.

Although Britain and Japan both expressed their support for the Qing court's claim to Russia for sovereignty over Northeast China, Li Hongzhang and other ministers also understood that the promise of the foreigners was unreliable, and although the threat of war issued by Russia was unlikely to be realized, it could not be ignored, and some people in the court had already advocated that it would be better to renegotiate with Russia. The reason is that anyway, now that Russia has clearly refused to hold the [Treaty on the Delivery of the Three Eastern Provinces], not to mention that they are also occupying the three eastern provinces and not leaving, and maybe they will go south by force, and if the negotiations are resumed, they may be able to recover the three eastern provinces, even if it is good to take back some of them.

On the contrary, if the Qing court does not negotiate with Russia, according to the current situation, there will definitely be a war between Japan and Russia, and perhaps they will lose both, and then rely on the mediation of other countries, and perhaps there will be a chance to keep the three eastern provinces.

At this moment, the news came that overseas Chinese had signed the [East China Government-Japan Government Mutual Defense Cooperation Treaty] with Japan, and Li Hongzhang certainly understood that this treaty was aimed at Russia, so it seemed that overseas Chinese were also a force that could be used.

Although the overseas Chinese openly negotiated the signing of a treaty with Japan in the name of the East China government, the Qing court now took a blind attitude towards everything that the overseas Chinese did, as long as the overseas Chinese maintained a vassal relationship with the Chun court on the surface. When the East China government suppressed the Qingzhou bannermen, some of the Eight Banners nobles in Beijing once played to the imperial court, asking the imperial court to punish overseas Chinese, and the next day the imperial court issued an order to dismiss several Eight Banner nobles and send them to the northwest to replenish the army, so no one dared to mention the affairs of overseas Chinese in the court.

However, after all, the overseas Chinese regard themselves as the Chinese ethnic group, and the actions they have done since the landing are objectively also aimed at maintaining the rule of the Qing court; now, although the overseas Chinese have already established themselves and established their own government, they still regard themselves as subordinates to the Qing court in terms of name, so at this time, the only force that the Qing court can really rely on is the overseas Chinese. Therefore, Li Hongzhang proposed that he should not visit and send someone to inquire about the attitude of overseas Chinese before making a decision.

The ministers of military aircraft discussed it for a while, and also thought that Li Hongzhang's suggestion could be tried, after all, it was just to test the attitude of overseas Chinese, and if overseas Chinese were really willing to stand up for the Qing court to fight against Russia, of course it would be good, if they were unwilling, they would make other plans. The Military Aircraft Department reported this opinion to the Empress Dowager Cixi and the Guangxu Emperor, which was also recognized by the two of them, and asked the Military Aircraft Department to determine the candidates to contact the overseas Chinese.

Naturally, Li Hongzhang had the best relationship with overseas Chinese within the Qing court, but now Li Hongzhang is too old and has a high position of power, so it is not appropriate for him to personally come forward to deal with overseas Chinese. In the Military Aircraft Department, Prince Qing and Zhang Zhidong had contact with overseas Chinese, but the relationship was not deep, and the status of the two was not much worse than Li Hongzhang, and they were not suitable for this task, after all, it was just a tentative operation, and Li Hongzhang proposed that Yuan Shikai be in charge of this matter, and then send Li Jingfang to assist.

Yuan Shikai was the official of the Qing court who had the most contact with overseas Chinese except for Li Hongzhang, and he established good personal relations with some high-ranking officials of overseas Chinese, and he was also the governor of Zhili, although he was not as good as the Minister of Military Aircraft, but it was not much different, and the weight was sufficient; and Li Jingfang and Li Hongzhang also communicated with overseas Chinese many times, and they also knew the situation of overseas Chinese very well, so it was most appropriate for these two people to come forward. Several other ministers of military aircraft listened to this, and they all had no objections. And after the Empress Dowager Cixi learned of the candidate, she was silent for a while before she said, "That's it." ”

After receiving the order, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but be overjoyed, it seemed that his efforts were not in vain. It turned out that Yuan Shikai was originally Li Hongzhang's disciple, and later Li Hongzhang lost power in the First Sino-Japanese War and became a traitor pointed out by thousands of people across the country, Yuan Shikai was also afraid of being implicated, alienated Li Hongzhang, and took the opportunity of the Wuxu coup d'état, and took refuge in Ronglu, but after the Gengzi National Revolution, Li Hongzhang was reinstated, and Yuan Shikai hurriedly resumed the relationship with Li Hongzhang, fortunately, Yuan Shikai was only alienated from Li Hongzhang at the beginning, and did not denounce Li Hongzhang in the well, and also left room for meeting again in the future, and now Li Hongzhang recommended Yuan Shikai to meet with overseas Chinese, and also sent Li Jingfang to accompany him, indicating that Li Hongzhang had accepted Yuan Shikai, so how could he not make Yuan Shikai happy？

In fact, Li Hongzhang also has the intention of supporting Yuan Shikai, although he is now recovering himself, but most of the old troops of the Huai Army have been scattered, and now they urgently need to cultivate a new team. And Li Hongzhang is very optimistic about Yuan Shikai's ability, and Yuan Shikai is also his old subordinate, although Yuan Shikai was alienated from Li Hongzhang after the First Sino-Japanese War, but at that time he was indeed difficult to protect, and it is no wonder that Yuan Shikai is not guilty, Li Hongzhang still has this mind. And now that Yuan Shikai intends to rely on Long, Li Hongzhang is naturally willing to accept it.

So Yuan Shikai joined Li Jingfang in Tianjin, took a sea ship in Tianjin, and came to Qingdao. On the side of the East China government, it was decided that Qin Zheng would come forward to receive the two. Because Qin Zheng and the two of them are relatively familiar with each other, they have a certain personal relationship, and although the East China government is now an independent political body, it is still a vassal of the Qing court in terms of name, and Qin Zheng still has the official name of the governor of Shandong, and he is still passable in general.

In addition, the East China government has already determined the general principle of war against Japan and Russia, although it does not have any expectations for the Qing court, but it does not want the Qing court, a pig teammate, to pull its own hind legs, in case the Qing court is forced to pressure Japan and Russia to sign a treaty to betray the sovereignty of Northeast China, although the East China government will not agree to this kind of treaty, nor will it restrain its own actions, but after all, it is very backsliding. Therefore, the East China government also hoped to take this opportunity to make clear its attitude to the Qing court.

Qin Zheng received Yuan Shikai and Li Jingfang in his office, and after everyone saw each other, the guests and hosts sat down, and brought tea, Qin Zheng first said: "It is really not easy for Shuai and Brother Jingfang to come to Qingdao." ”

Yuan Shikai hurriedly said: "There, there, how dare Yuan be arrogant in front of Brother Qin, Brother Qin is still the same as the eldest son, and it is better to be called a brother." Brother Qin is a few years older than Yuan, if you can afford Yuan, it is better to call him 'fourth'. ”

Qin Zheng also nodded, and said with a smile: "Okay, since the comfort shuai is so polite, then I am not welcome, the fourth brother and Brother Jing Fang visited Qingdao, I don't know what to do!"

Yuan Shikai laughed and said: "Brother Yuan, you are pretending to be confused, it's so difficult that you don't know the purpose of our coming? ”

Qin Zheng said: "We are in Shandong, what does it have to do with things in the Northeast?"

Li Jingfang said with a smile: "Brother Qin, let's open the skylight and say something bright, didn't you sign a defense cooperation treaty with Japan? Isn't this treaty aimed at the northeast region and Russia? How can it be said that it has nothing to do with it?"

Qin Zheng also smiled, when Li Jingfang mentioned the treaty just now, he omitted the front row, indicating that the Qing court still used a vague way to deal with the behavior of the traverser's self-established government, and obviously did not want to dwell on this topic more, so he said: "I heard that Russia asked the imperial court to renegotiate, I don't know what the imperial court's attitude is towards this?"

Yuan Shikai sighed and said: "Don't hide it from Brother Qin, the imperial court naturally doesn't want to renegotiate with Russia, because once you renegotiate, there will definitely be no good results, but Russia threatens war, so how can the imperial court have the ability to start a war with Russia now?"

Li Jingfang also said: "Although Britain and Japan both support the imperial court's refusal to negotiate with Russia, the promises of the foreigners have never been reliable, so they sent me and Weiting to ask you for advice, and you should deal with Russia." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said: "Russia's threat of war is just blackmail, and now there will be a war between Japan and Russia sooner or later, so Russia has no ability to avoid the battlefield at all, so the imperial court can rest assured, and directly refuse Russia's request to reopen negotiations." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded and said: "Since this is the case, I am also relieved, I believe that the princes of the DPRK and China can also rest assured, but I don't know what to do next, if Japan and Russia really fight, will you join the war." ”

Qin Zheng said: "If Japan and Russia really fight, of course we will choose the opportunity to participate in the war, no matter what, we must protect the northeast region from being invaded by Japan and Russia, in fact, both Japan and Russia, both have a heart for our three eastern provinces, but now Russia is strong and weak, so Japan wants to cooperate with us and reach Russia together, and we signed a treaty with Japan, one is to reject Russia, and the other is to prevent Japan." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded again and again: "That's good, that's good, with your participation, you will definitely be able to keep the three eastern provinces." ”

Li Jingfang said: "Then once Japan and Russia go to war, what should the imperial court do, and should it also declare war on Russia?"

Qin Zheng said: "We think that although the imperial court should refuse to renegotiate with Russia, it is not appropriate to fight with Japan and Russia at this time, it is better to be noncommittal about this, and we will come forward to deal with it, and we will not use the imperial court's power, so that the imperial court can advance or retreat, attack and defend, if we can protect the northeast, it is naturally good, if we can't, the imperial court can come forward again, and there is always room for it." ”