Yuan Shikai's telegram to Qingdao was very humble, saying that he had no intention of offending the traverser, and Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others acted privately, and they really didn't know, but they were also guilty of negligence, and now Sun Zhongkui, Wan Kun and others have been shot to justice, and the losses caused to overseas Chinese are willing to compensate 100,000 taels of silver as compensation, and promise that similar things will never happen again in the future.

At the same time, Li Hongzhang also sent a telegram to the traverser to decompose for Yuan Shikai, and hoped that the traverser would not continue to hold Yuan Shikai responsible, and ensure that Yuan Shikai would fully cooperate with the traverser in the future to complete the work of handing over Shandong, and said that after the negotiations with Russia were over, he would visit Tianjin with Yuan Shikai to negotiate the return of the Qing court to Beijing and the delivery of Shandong.

After nearly three months of negotiations, Li Hongzhang and Russian Consul General in Shanghai, P.A. Dmitriev, reached a general agreement on various matters concerning the withdrawal of Russian troops from the three northeastern provinces.

In fact, at this time, in Russia, the way of dealing with the Far East, mainly in Northeast China, was generally formed into two factions, one was represented by the former Minister of the Imperial Empire Alexander Bezobrazov, the Minister of Internal Affairs Vyacheslav Previ, the Marshal of the Navy, the imperial uncle Alesekseev, the former Imperial Minister Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, the nobles, Count Vorontsov Dashkov, the wealthy merchant von Liarllyarsky and others as representatives. These people are basically from Russian aristocratic backgrounds, or have blood ties with the imperial family, and they advocate a tough attitude towards China and Japan, and do not hesitate to seize China's northeast region by force, and they do not need to care about the attitude of other countries at all.

The other faction is dominated by Finance Minister Sergei Witt, including Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, Minister to Korea Pavlov, Minister to Japan Luo Xian, and the next Minister to China Ressar. They are much more sober than other domestic ministers in the current international competition, and they believe that in the current international competition, the conquest of oneself by pure force is a relatively low-level means, while the high-level means are to achieve the goal through diplomatic, economic, political, cultural, and other comprehensive means to ensure the maximization of one's own interests, and the use of force is mainly used as a means of deterrence, and it is not necessary to start a war lightly.

The Far East, because it is Northeast China involves many interests, countries will not allow Russia to easily annex Northeast China, if Russia forcibly occupies the Northeast China, it will only make Russia isolated by other countries into passivity, so to adopt the strategy of Qing Guo, to win the goodwill of the residents of Northeast China, and to obtain some commercial interests in Northeast China, and then to economic means as the forerunner, supplemented by political, cultural, Diplomacy and other comprehensive means have gradually cultivated pro-Russian forces in Northeast China, and when the time is ripe, Northeast China will naturally become Russian territory.

The Russian tsar vacillated between these two factions, initially agreeing with the ideas of the Vitte faction; after the first afternoon, Russia, France, and Germany came up with a "three-country intervention and Liaoliao incident" that really won the favor of many Chinese, and there were many ministers in the Qing court who advocated allied with Russia to resist Japan; under this mood, during Li Hongzhang's visit to Russia in 1896, the [Sino-Russian Secret Treaty] signed with Russia was the result of Werther's vigorous promotion.

However, in 1900, the Boxer Rebellion broke out in the Qing court, and the Tsar believed that the Qing kingdom would fall into division, so he changed his mind and decided to take advantage of China's civil strife to occupy Northeast China by force. As a result, although Russia did occupy the northeastern region of China, it caused tensions with other countries, and it was born as an overseas Chinese, first defeating the Eight-Nation Alliance, and then defeating the Russian army in the Battle of Shanhaiguan, and later even holding joint naval exercises with Japan, which greatly increased the momentum of the two sides joining forces against Russia.

This time, the Russian army has also felt heavy pressure, the troops in the Far East are seriously insufficient, the supply of logistics materials is also very unfavorable, and the sea is more passive, and the sea control is lost, if the overseas Chinese really join forces with Japan to start a war, at least the current situation is quite unfavorable to Russia. Under these circumstances, Russia switched to the ideas of the Werther faction and negotiated with the Qing court.

However, Russia made many unreasonable demands during the negotiations, proposing to Li Hongzhang that it was okay to withdraw the army, but that the Qing court must consult with Russia on the appointment and dismissal of officials in the northeast region; that any loans made by the Qing court in the northeast could only be made in Russia's Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank; and that no railway or industrial lease rights in the northeast could be ceded to other countries without Russia's consent, and so on. Attempt to monopolize Northeast Finance and all lease rights.

This time, however, Li Hongzhang had the support of overseas Chinese, Britain, the United States, Japan, and other countries, and he had enough confidence, and he was rarely tougher, rejecting all these demands made by the Russian side, and the negotiations reached a deadlock for a time. However, this time, the Russian side really did not have any tough bargaining chips, so in the face of Li Hongzhang's tough refusal, he did not hesitate to threaten the negotiation breakdown, and had to make concessions.

In the end, the two sides signed the [Qing Russian Treaty on the Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces], which has four general contents:

1. The three northeastern provinces are still under the control of Chinese territory and Chinese officials before they were occupied by the Russian army.

2. Within a year and a half, all Russian troops were withdrawn from the three northeastern provinces in three phases.

3. Before the Russian army retreats, the number and location of Chinese troops in the three northeastern provinces must be agreed upon with the Russian officers; after the Russian troops retreat, China's troops in the three northeastern provinces should be increased or decreased, and Russia should be notified at any time.

Fourth, the Qing government should compensate 800,000 taels of silver for the return of the railways along Yingkou and Xinmintun by Russia, and no other country should be allowed to occupy the sections of the land that Russia had retreated.

Although in the end, it was necessary to compensate Russia with 800,000 taels of silver, but on the whole, this was still a good result for the current Qing court, after all, Russia promised to withdraw its troops from the northeast. Therefore, after receiving the draft of the treaty, the Qing court in Xi'an, after only one day of discussion, fully agreed to accept the treaty in its entirety and ordered Li Hongzhang to sign a contract with Russia immediately.

After receiving the reply from the Qing court, Li Hongzhang immediately signed a treaty with Russia, and it was only then that the war of aggression against China by the Eight-Nation Alliance was basically put to an end. And other countries are relieved.

For Britain, blocking Russia in northern China would pose much less of a threat to its interests in China. As far as the United States is concerned, blocking Russia's southward movement but expanding its commercial interests in China for the United States, it can expand its commercial interests in northern China; as far as France is concerned, it is finally curbing the momentum of Russia's expansion in the Far East, so that Russia's attention can be drawn back to Europe, containing Germany's forces, and sharing the pressure of France; as far as Japan is concerned, the withdrawal of Russian troops from northeast China will also cut off direct ties with the Korean Peninsula, so that Japan will face much less pressure on the Korean Peninsula, but also to a reliable ally that can stand up to Russia. Therefore, it can be said that all countries have gains, of course, provided that the Russian army withdraws from northeast China as scheduled.

Li Hongzhang is also a matter of concern, no matter what, this time the negotiation, he can be regarded as a smooth time, and it is estimated that no one will scold him as a traitor. However, Li Hongzhang also understands that his business is not over, and there is an important negotiation waiting for him next, that is, negotiations with overseas Chinese, which is also not an easy opponent to deal with.

On the second day after Li Hongzhang and Russia signed the [Treaty on the Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces between Qing and Russia], he received a telegram from the Qing court, asking Li Hongzhang to immediately negotiate with overseas Chinese about the return of the Qing court to Beijing. Although the Qing court has now decided to hand over Shandong to overseas Chinese, of course, it is necessary to discuss how to exchange Shandong with overseas Chinese in Beijing, how to deal with Tianjin, Shanhaiguan and other places, and whether overseas Chinese have other demands.

This was also expected by Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang immediately sent a telegram to Tianjin and requested a visit to the traverser, of course, to formally negotiate with the traverser. At the same time, Li Hongzhang also proposed that he would bring Yuan Shikai to Tianjin to negotiate the delivery and handover of Shandong.

Because Yuan Shikai sent a telegram to Li Hongzhang, hoping that Li Hongzhang could help him deal with the relationship with overseas Chinese, Li Hongzhang also had this plan, because he was still very optimistic about Yuan Shikai, thinking that among the next generation of officials in the Qing court, only Yuan Shikai was expected to become a great weapon, and Yuan Shikai was also from the Huai Army, and Li Hongzhang also planned to help him, which can be regarded as a promotion for younger generations.

However, if there is a contradiction between Yuan Shikai and overseas Chinese, it will not be a good thing for Yuan Shikai's future career, so Li Hongzhang hopes to take Yuan Shikai to visit Tianjin this time, just to resolve the contradiction between him and overseas Chinese, on the one hand, Li Hongzhang thinks that he has some friendship with overseas Chinese, and the conflict between Yuan Shikai and overseas Chinese is not a big deal, as long as Yuan Shikai insists that it is the personal behavior of middle- and lower-level officers, there is a lot of room for maneuver, so overseas Chinese will also sell their own face; on the other hand, Yuan Shikai is the current governor of Shandong, and if overseas Chinese want to take over Shandong, they will inevitably have to deal with Yuan Shikai, if Yuan Shikai cooperates well, it can also save them a lot of trouble, why bother to go against Yuan Shikai?

Through contact with overseas Chinese, Li Hongzhang has some understanding of them, these people are not like the Qing court, empty talk about morality, as long as they do everything with face and no confidence, they pay attention to the application of things, everything is pragmatic, so Li Hongzhang also believes that overseas Chinese will make the right choice.

After receiving Li Hongzhang's telegram, after discussion, the Tianjin Executive Committee believed that Li Hongzhang's proposal was feasible, and the traverser really did not want to be the enemy of Yuan Shikai, so that he was not afraid of Yuan Shikai, but he didn't bother to pay attention to him at all, although Yuan Shikai turned the clouds and rain in the old time and space and became a generation of heroes, but in this era, it is obvious that there is no stage for Yuan Shikai to perform, so since Yuan Shikai took the initiative to show goodwill, there is no reason not to accept it, but there is a little objection, and the location of this meeting is changed to Qingdao.