Standing on the side of the boat, Ito raised his eyes to look across the river, and the boat had sailed into the Huangpu River, so that although the sky was overcast, the scenery along the river could still be seen very clearly.

Although this is not the first time Ito Hirobumi has come to Shanghai, it is indeed the most reluctant of him, at this moment, Ito Hirobumi suddenly thought to himself, if he jumps now and drowns in this Huangpu River, what kind of result will it be!

At this moment, only to hear the sound of footsteps behind him, Ito Hirobumi looked back and saw that it was Miyamoto Naoto behind him, and said, "Mr. Ito, we are about to arrive at the dock, let's get ready to get off the boat." ”

Ito Hirobumi didn't move, turned his head again, looked at the ups and downs of the European-style buildings on the riverbank, sighed softly, and said, "Miyamoto-kun, did you say that when Li Hongzhang went to negotiate in Shimonoseki back then, was he in the same mood as I am now?" ”

Miyamoto Naoto was stunned for a moment, and he didn't know how to answer for a while.

Ito Hirobumi still said to himself: "During the negotiations in Shimonoseki, Li Hongzhang was assassinated, but he still insisted on completing the negotiations with injuries. To be honest, I did have sympathy and even admiration for Li Hongzhang at that time, and if I had changed places with him at that time, I would not have been able to do that to his extent. But at that time, I told myself that I must not allow such a moment to happen in Japan, but I did not expect that this moment would come. ”

Miyamoto Naoto smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Ito, don't think about it. ”

Ito Hirofumi shook his head and said: "That's what I said, but I can't help but think about it, why did we fail this time, when we fought against Russia at the beginning, we fought very well, but after East China ** entered the war, it was defeated again and again, and finally defeated, it was indeed too many mistakes, first of all, we underestimated the determination of East China, thinking that there was pressure from Britain, East China They did not dare to enter the war; secondly, they underestimated the combat effectiveness of the People's Army, and after defeating Russia, we made us arrogant; and during the Portsmouth negotiations, we believed too much in Britain and France, and as a result, the expeditionary force was also defeated. And in the final analysis, our understanding of East China is still insufficient, [Sun Tzu's Art of War] said, 'Know yourself and know your opponent, you will not be defeated in a hundred battles', but we still treat East China ** as a Qing country, how wrong it is. ”

Miyamoto Naoto said: "In my opinion, this can only be said to be providential, if there were no overseas Chinese, Japan would have won the Russo-Japanese War." ”

Ito Hirofumi also thought that Miyamoto Naoto was comforting himself, but he didn't know that Miyamoto Naoto was saying something, in fact, it meant that if there was no crossing event, according to the development process of the old time and space, Japan won the Russo-Japanese War, and achieved huge geostrategic benefits from the victory, so that Japan has been eating the old book for nearly 30 years. So just smiled, Miyamoto's insight, vision, and judgment are all the best choices, but the level of comfort is too poor.

While the two were talking, the steamer had already sailed into the dock, and Ito Hirobumi led the people to get off the boat and came to the shore, only to see that on both sides of the dock, a column of soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition had been arranged. At this time, the American and German consuls in Qingdao had already greeted them at the wharf, because the United States and Germany were the mediators of the talks, so the two consuls made a special trip from Qingdao to Shanghai to greet Ito Hirobumi and his party at the wharf.

After the two sides had a cold chat, the American consul Robert Bacon said: "Mr. Ito, Mr. Li Songchen, the person in charge of the Shanghai New Area of East China, is also here, he is the deputy representative of East China** for this negotiation, and at the same time, he is responsible for the living arrangements of your delegation in Shanghai. ”

Ito nodded and said, "Oh! where is he?"

At this time, the German consul had invited Li Songchen to meet with Ito Hirobumi and introduced them, Li Songchen said: "Mr. Ito, you have worked hard all the way. ”

Ito Hirobumi hurriedly said: "There, there, while in Shanghai, I still have to trouble Mr. Li." ”

Li Songchen smiled slightly and said, "Where the responsibility lies, it is natural." After a pause, he said, "Mr. Ito, there are many reporters gathered on the dock now, and I hope that Mr. Ito can answer the reporters' questions, and if Mr. Ito is tired from traveling and does not want to see reporters now, I will send someone to tell these reporters and arrange another time to be interviewed by reporters." ”

Ito Hirobumi thought for a while and said, "Since the reporters have already come, it's not good for them to go back empty-handed, meet the reporters, and answer a few questions, it's okay, but it will delay Mr. Li's time." ”

Li Songchen talked and smiled, and immediately ordered someone to arrange, only to see a team of soldiers come over, with ropes, railings to pull out a simple venue, and arranged two speakers on the scene, Li Songchen took out a microphone, handed it to Ito Hirofumi, and taught him how to use it, Ito Hirofumi was also secretly surprised in his heart.

At this time, the reporters had already come in and stood at the designated place, and there were almost 100 people, most of them outsiders. Shanghai is the most developed area of China's news media in modern times, first, each country has its own newspapers, and a large number of early Chinese media people set up newspapers in Shanghai, foreign-run newspapers, of course, the Qing court did not dare to move, and most of the newspapers run by Chinese were distributed in the concessions, and the Qing court was also beyond the reach of the whip. As a result, Shanghai's news media industry flourished, and when East China recovered the Shanghai concession, there were more than 100 newspapers of various kinds in Shanghai.

Although there are a large number of newspapers, but because the concession control of the news is not standardized, so the quality is uneven, some advanced, some conservative, some friendly to East China, some are very hostile to East China, in general, there are not many newspapers with more rigorous reporting and more standardized operation. After East China took back the Shanghai Concession, it formulated news management regulations to regulate the behavior and work of the news media, and it was to strictly supervise foreign-funded newspapers, because the travelers had already seen the double standards of the BBC and CNN in the old time and space, as well as the distortion and blackening of China, so they would not have believed in the fairness and freedom of the news advertised by the Western media, and the news media must be subject to necessary supervision.

As a result, there are many newspapers in Shanghai, and since they are foreign-funded newspapers, they have to cease operation one after another, and now there are only about 20 newspapers left in Shanghai. However, although the newspaper has stopped, the reporters have not left, on the contrary, all countries have sent additional reporters to Shanghai, because it is now a concentrated area of global news hotspots, and Japan and East China ** negotiations, naturally the biggest news event at present, so a large number of reporters rushed to the dock, want to get first-hand news.

During the Portsmouth negotiations, the Russian negotiating team frequently met with reporters and gave interviews to major newspapers, so that Russia was the best in the media throughout the negotiations, and Japan at that time, although supported by US President Roosevelt, was inferior to Russia in terms of temperament. Now Ito Hirobumi also wants to learn from Russia, and first set up a good image of the Japanese negotiating team in the media, and then he decided to meet with reporters at the dock.

After all the reporters arrived, Ito Hirobumi first said: "Welcome to all journalists, we have come to Shanghai to participate in the negotiations this time to eliminate the misunderstanding between Japan and East China**, and to restore peace in the Asian region. ”

At this time, a reporter said, "Mr. Ito, what do you think of this negotiation? ”

"As we all know, China and Japan are neighbors separated by a strip of water, and there are many cultural similarities, and historically, the two countries have always had friendly exchanges, but the world is still a great change unseen in 3,000 years, China and Japan are both Asian, and they are both East Asian countries, and they should unite and work together to face global competition." Although some time ago, there was a war between Japan and East China because of some misunderstandings, I believe that through dialogue and communication, misunderstandings can be eliminated, the war can be ended, and hostilities can be turned into friendship and friendship. ”

Another reporter said: "I heard that this negotiation can be carried out because Japan has accepted the condition of paying reparations to East China.

Ito Hirobumi frowned and said, "The negotiations have not yet taken place, and everything has not yet been decided, how can we conclude that Japan will definitely pay reparations?"

Immediately, another reporter said: "So in this negotiation, does Japan intend to pay reparations to East China? Or does it insist that it does not intend to pay reparations?"

Ito Hirobumi's forehead was sweating a little, how could he answer this question? I didn't expect that the reporter was really difficult to deal with, and I couldn't help but regret it in my heart, I knew that this was the situation, so I shouldn't have seen any reporter, but now it is difficult to ride a tiger, so I can only calm down and stubbornly reply: "In principle, Japan will not pay any compensation." Saying that, Ito Hirobumi also secretly glanced at Li Songchen, and saw that he still looked self-assured, and didn't seem to care about Ito Hirobumi's speech, so he was a little relieved, and continued: "But if it is caused by a misunderstanding between the two sides, and it is determined that the Japanese side has caused losses to China due to an unintentional mistake, we think it is acceptable to make necessary compensation." ”

Originally, Ito Hirobumi thought that he could be explained in this way, but the reporters did not let him go, and immediately several reporters rushed to ask: "So how much is the necessary compensation, and does Japan have a comprehensive figure, or how much compensation is possible?"

Ito Hirobumi hurriedly said: "Of course not, how much compensation should be...... Should ......"

At this time, Komura Shoutaro suddenly came over and said loudly: "We believe that the compensation figure should be recognized by both parties, not forced by one party, and it is fair and reasonable, and should not be deliberately exaggerated." However, China is a country of etiquette, a country of gentlemen, and is based on integrity, so we believe that East China will not deliberately blackmail Japan. ”

When the reporters heard this, they all laughed, and Komura Shoutaro immediately said: "Okay, that's all for today's answer to reporters' questions, good luck to everyone." ”