After the telegram of the crossing group was released, there was a big wave in Shanghai, because the series of victories achieved by the crossing army were confirmed, so many officials and gentry gave hope that they could rely on the strength of this group of overseas Chinese to fight against the Eight-Nation Alliance, and even some people believed that after this group of overseas Chinese returned to the Qing court, the Qing Dynasty had a powerful army, which could not only defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, but also recover all the previously ceded land, and the Qing Dynasty no longer had to be afraid of foreigners.

However, Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai are knowledgeable people after all, and of course they don't think things so simple. Of course, they know that it may not be too difficult to defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, because the Eight-Nation Alliance is only 20,000 or 30,000 in total, and its strength is not very strong, but the strength of the Eight-Nation Alliance is not equal to the strength of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and any country participating in the Eight-Nation Alliance has very strong strength, and the Eight-Nation Alliance is actually more than one percent of the strength of these countries, and this group of overseas Chinese may be able to defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance, but they are by no means the opponent of any of the Eight Nations. As long as any country is serious, even if it only mobilizes half of its forces, it is not something that this group of overseas Chinese can compete.

And taking a step back, if this group of overseas Chinese is really strong enough to defeat any country in the Eight-Nation Alliance, then this strength is not something that the current Qing Dynasty can fight against, and the real motive for this group of overseas Chinese to return to China is straightforward. Driving the tiger and devouring the wolf is a dangerous move, and if you can't get it, when the tiger swallows the wolf, you will bite yourself when you turn around.

And the other telegram was even more unexpected to the two of them, there was actually a person who could be regarded as his own person met this group of overseas Chinese by chance, and participated in almost all the experiences of this group of overseas Chinese landing. Of course, the two of them can also see that Zhao Weizhong's telegram must have been instructed by this group of overseas Chinese, but this Zhao Weizhong is still very valuable.

Li Hongzhang picked up the second telegram and said, "What do you think of this telegram?" ”

Zhou Fu pondered for a while before he said: "Zhongtang, according to the humble opinion, since this group of overseas Chinese can defeat the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and even capture Dagukou and Tianjin, its strength cannot be underestimated. ”

Li Hongzhang glanced at him and said, "It's feasible to call back, but how to reply to Zhao Weizhong, do you want to send someone to Tianjin to contact him?"

Before Zhou Fu could answer, Sheng Xuanhuai hurriedly said: "Zhongtang, you must not send someone to Tianjin." ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Xingsun, how can you say this." ”

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Zhongtang, as far as I know, this group of overseas Chinese defeated the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance, but they still took advantage of the night to sneak attack, and they were lucky to succeed, not a war achievement, and the capture of Tianjin was also to take advantage of the fact that the main forces of the Eight-Nation Alliance were in Beijing and Tianjin was empty, so they took advantage of the weakness to enter. At present, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces still have more than 20,000 troops, and the German fleet has arrived in Shanghai, with more than a dozen ironclad ships and more than 8,000 infantry troops. If someone is sent to Tianjin at this time to contact this group of overseas Chinese, in the event that this group of overseas Chinese is defeated by the Eight-Nation Alliance, will Zhongtang's move not give the foreigners a handle? In the future, when making peace with the foreigners, many incidents will inevitably arise, so if we follow the humble view, it is better not to ignore this for the time being, but to wait and see what happens, and wait for the opportunity to act. ”

Li Hongzhang was silent for a while before he said slowly: "If in Xingsun's opinion, this group of overseas Chinese loses, it will naturally be fine, but if this group of overseas Chinese wins, what should happen?"

Sheng Xuanhuai was stunned for a moment, and was speechless for a while.

It turned out that Sheng Xuanhuai's habitual thinking was that China would definitely not be able to defeat foreign countries, so everything was based on this thinking as the starting point, and he never thought about what China would do if it won the war. But now it is not the Qing army that is fighting against the Eight-Nation Alliance, but the overseas Chinese, whether it is a sneak attack or taking advantage of the situation, but at least for this reason, this group of overseas Chinese has always had the upper hand militarily, and it is true that the Eight-Nation Alliance still has 20,000 troops, but they did not take the initiative to attack and recapture Tianjin, but waited for the arrival of the German fleet and attacked back and forth. This shows that the Eight-Nation Alliance, which relies only on Beijing, is not completely sure to defeat this group of overseas Chinese.

Although Sheng Xuanhuai is not optimistic about this group of overseas Chinese, it cannot be said that this group of overseas Chinese has no chance of winning. So if Li Hongzhang ignores this telegram sent in the name of Zhao Weizhong, but the final result is that this group of overseas Chinese won, then it will also be unfavorable to Li Hongzhang.

At this time, Zhou Fu said: "Zhongtang, I think it's better to call back to Tianjin and let Zhao Weizhong come to Shanghai to talk about it, how about it?"

Li Hongzhang's eyes flashed, revealing a look of approval, Zhou Fu was older than Sheng Xuanhuai, and his vision was farther than Sheng Xuanhuai. Because this telegram was sent to Li Hongzhang in the name of Zhao Weizhong, and Zhao Weizhong was Li Hongzhang's old ministry, Li Hongzhang called back and asked Zhao Weizhong to come to Shanghai to report to him, which is understandable, and if overseas Chinese want to show their sincerity, they should also let Zhao Weizhong come to Shanghai. On the contrary, if overseas Chinese do not let Zhao Weizhong come to Shanghai, then the fault is not Li Hongzhang.

Of course, if this group of overseas Chinese really let Zhao Weizhong come to Shanghai, they can also take the opportunity to ask Zhao Weizhong clearly, and it is not too late to make a decision.

So Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "That's very good, just do it." ”

Sure enough, after Li Hongzhang called back, in less than two days, he received a reply from Zhao Weizhong, saying that Zhao Weizhong was willing to come to Shanghai, but now that the German fleet had arrived in Shanghai, it would soon go north to Tianjin, and the Eight-Nation Coalition Army stationed in Beijing also intended to recapture Tianjin, so it was inconvenient for him to leave Tianjin and come to Shanghai at this time, and after this group of overseas Chinese defeated the German fleet and the Eight-Nation Alliance, Zhao Weizhong would immediately rush to Shanghai to meet Li Hongzhang.

The content of the reply was not only expected by Li Hongzhang, but also unexpected by Li Hongzhang, who had long estimated that this group of overseas Chinese would not let Zhao Weizhong come to Shanghai, and what was unexpected was that after this group of overseas Chinese defeated the German fleet and the Eight-Nation Alliance, Zhao Weizhong would immediately rush to Shanghai, which seemed to show that Zhao Weizhong was full of confidence in the strength of this group of overseas Chinese.

Of course, Li Hongzhang knew that Zhao Weizhong was just a spokesman for this group of overseas Chinese, and his reply was actually the reply of this group of overseas Chinese, saying that this group of overseas Chinese planned to talk to Li Hongzhang after defeating the German fleet and the Eight-Nation Alliance.

At first glance, there is nothing wrong with such a reply from the overseas Chinese, because although this group of overseas Chinese has achieved good results so far, they do not occupy an absolute advantage, and when the German fleet reaches China, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces are actually not at a disadvantage, and in Li Hongzhang's view, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces still have a certain advantage. Then this group of overseas Chinese came with self-confidence, and they were sure that they would be able to defeat the Eight-Nation Alliance and the German fleet.

Although Li Hongzhang is not very optimistic about this group of overseas Chinese, he is not sure that they will definitely lose to the Eight-Nation Alliance, after all, at the beginning, who would have thought that such a force would suddenly be killed and disrupt the current situation in northern China.

Of course, having this group of overseas Chinese stirring up trouble is not a bad thing in Li Hongzhang's view, and Li Hongzhang certainly will not be naïve to believe that this group of overseas Chinese really wants to return to China and want to return to the Qing Dynasty, but now the situation in China has become uncontrollable, and no matter how bad it is, it will not be able to go there.

Controlling the razing by razing, using the contradictions between the great powers to check and balance each other, and winning the corresponding interests for the Qing Dynasty were the most important ideas of Li Hongzhang's diplomacy, and they did play a certain role in Li Hongzhang's previous diplomatic experience. In any case, on the surface, this group of overseas Chinese is still biased towards the side of the Qing Dynasty, and if they are used well, they may be able to win a result that is relatively favorable to the Qing Dynasty.

From this point of view, Li Hongzhang hoped that this group of overseas Chinese would be able to withstand the flanking attack of the Eight-Nation Alliance and the German fleet, and not fail, of course, it was best if both sides could fight and lose both. Then it depends on how capable this group of overseas Chinese is.

Of course, he should also consider the matter of negotiating peace with the Eight-Nation Alliance, after all, this battle has reached this point, and the overall situation has been decided, even if this group of overseas Chinese does not lose, it will not affect much of the situation. According to Li Hongzhang's estimate, it is best to have a situation in which the two sides are evenly matched, but this situation is also the situation that Li Hongzhang hopes to see the most.

At this moment, I saw my family come in and said, "Zhongtang, the commander of the German fleet and the commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance, Marshal Wadsey, please ask Zhongtang to come to the German warship to talk about it." ”

Li Hongzhang was slightly stunned, the German fleet arrived in Shanghai three days ago, mainly to rest in Shanghai, and to understand the current situation in the north, and held a welcome banquet at the German consulate in Shanghai, which not only invited the consuls of various countries in Shanghai to attend, but also sent invitations to Li Hongzhang, Yu Lianyuan, Shanghai Daotai, and other Qing officials. However, Li Hongzhang and Yu Lianyuan did not attend, but were represented by Sheng Yihuai.

Because the German fleet came to China to fight, although Li Hongzhang and Yu Lianyuan both participated in the southeast mutual protection, remained neutral in this war, and could communicate privately with the consuls of various countries, it was still inconvenient to attend the banquet to welcome the German fleet, because it was Li Hongzhang, Yu Lianyuan and other court officials, but Sheng Xuanhuai, although he is now the Zhengqing of Dali Temple, but in essence he is still a businessman, so it is most appropriate for him to attend on his behalf.

But now that Waldesi sent an invitation to Li Hongzhang, Li Hongzhang was not allowed to refuse, so Li Hongzhang thought twice and decided to go to the appointment. Because if you negotiate peace with the Eight-Nation Alliance in the future, you will definitely have to communicate with the commander of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and it is better to test his attitude first.

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