Negotiations went relatively smoothly, and for the first time, after some bargaining between the two sides on the amount of compensation to be paid in Article 2, it was finally determined that the amount of compensation to be paid by Japan was 800 million yen.

In this era, the exchange rate of the yen against the pound is about 9.4:1,800 million yen is converted into about 8,500 pounds, which is basically within the acceptable range of both sides, and East China ** requires payment in the currencies of Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and Japan has no objection, after all, if Japan wants to pay the compensation of East China**, it must be borrowed from other countries, but the specific payment method still needs to be discussed.

And the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two sides, is not a big problem, before the war, Japan has set up a consulate in Qingdao, according to the agreement between the two sides, East China ** should also set up an office in Japan, but East China ** deliberately delayed, and then the Russo-Japanese War broke out, so Japan did not pay attention to it, and it has been delayed until now. After the end of the war, although Japan and East China have formed a lot of bonds, it is also more necessary to establish diplomatic relations, so as to better understand the trends of East China.

As for economic and trade relations, it is all the more necessary. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan not only received a huge indemnity of 230 million silver, but also obtained the same preferential tariff policies as other powers, and Japanese goods entering the Chinese market only need to pay 5% tariff, and they no longer have to bear any taxes and fees. Japan has a small territory and insufficient population resources, so China is the source of most of Japan's resources, minerals, and raw materials on the one hand, and the main market for the consumption and sale of industrial products on the other hand, which has caused the Japanese economy to rely on the Chinese market, but the Qing court is too weak and incompetent to make good use of this advantage.

However, at this time, Japan's import and export trade with China was basically completed through Shanghai Customs, first, there was sea transportation, and the infrastructure was also very perfect; second, at this time, Japan's main imports of iron ore and raw silk from China could be easily exported through Shanghai Customs. In the old time and space, it was only after the Russo-Japanese War that Japan began to penetrate into the Tohoku region, and gradually turned the Tohoku region into its main source of raw materials.

But now that East China has controlled the Shanghai Customs, and the Northeast has been no longer able to count on it, Japan must sign a new trade agreement with East China if it wants to keep the Chinese market and ensure the supply of raw materials from East China.

In a short period of time, three of the four draft articles proposed by East China have basically reached a consensus, but at this time, the Japanese negotiating group put forward a new condition, and East China must return all the captured Japanese soldiers, battlefield laborers, and personnel captured by the People's Army in Japan to Japan.

Qin Zheng said that people can be returned, but Japan must pay a fee, which is calculated at 1,000 yen for a soldier and 500 yen for battlefield labor and other personnel, which is the cost of ransom prisoners.

The Japanese soldiers captured by the People's Army are not many, only more than 68,000, not 70,000, and there are quite a few battlefield laborers, a total of about 230,000, a total of about 300,000, and about 700,000 people captured from Japan.

Of course, it was impossible for the Japanese delegation to accept this condition, so Ito Hirobumi insisted that the cost of the prisoner was already included in the 800 million yen that had been negotiated, and that it was unreasonable for Huadong ** to ask for the cost of the prisoner again.

And Qin Zheng insisted that the indemnity is an indemnity, and the ransom fee is the ransom fee, and the two cannot be mixed up, and the 800 million yen negotiated before is just an indemnity, not a ransom fee, so if Japan wants to return these people, it must pay the ransom fee, otherwise East China ** will never release them, if Japan does not redeem these people, East China ** will deal with the captured Japanese soldiers, The battlefield laborers will be tried and sentenced according to the crimes they have committed in China, and the term of imprisonment will be determined, and only after the completion of the sentence can they be released and returned to China; and the group of people brought back from Japan, they all came to China voluntarily to work, and they did not come from captivity, but East China ** will respect their personal wishes, but if they want to leave China and return to China, they must first be paid for their work, and East China ** will transport them to China and pay off the expenses such as food and drink on the way.

Of course, Ito Hirobumi knows that Qin Zheng said so much crookedly, in fact, he just doesn't want to release people, of course, this is basically what Ito Hirofumi expected, because Ito Hirofumi knows that Northeast China is vast and sparsely populated, and it is estimated that East China wants to get a group of labor in Japan to develop the Northeast region, otherwise East China will work hard to get people from Japan to China, so it is not so easy to get this group of people back from East China.

As a result, the negotiations reached an impasse again, so they had to be suspended again, and Ito Hirobumi sent a telegram back to Japan asking for instructions, saying that the issue of apologies and prisoners had become a stalemate in the negotiations, and that the negotiations could not be completed without some changes.

After receiving Ito Hirobumi's telegram, Japan immediately started consultations, although a small number of people clamored for the immediate termination of negotiations with East China and the fight to the death, but Katsura Taro, Yama Prefecture Tomotomo, and other leaders were still sober-minded, knowing that Japan could not afford to fight at all, and it was not easy to negotiate like this, and this negotiation must not be allowed to break down. At the same time, the cauldron of the emperor was sacrificed, and the negotiation with East China ** was the emperor's resolution, who dared to doubt the emperor's decision?

Of course, there were also a few middle- and lower-ranking Japanese officers who were full of mushy in their heads organized and went to the palace to petition the emperor, asking the emperor to retract his order, but the Japanese ** punished these officers on the charge of disrespecting the emperor, which suppressed the voice of terminating the negotiations.

In view of the current stalemate in the negotiations, after careful analysis, Japan believes that it is basically impossible to let East China release people for free, and it is unrealistic to pay for the redemption of prisoners, although the cost of reparations is within the acceptable range of Japan, but it is also a huge amount of money, of course, it is best not to increase, so it is almost impossible for Japan to get people back from East China, so it can only give up the prisoners, in exchange for East China to cancel the conditions for Japan to admit its mistakes and apologize.

However, Terauchi Masatsuki believes that battlefield laborers and the captured population can be abandoned, but the captured soldiers should be ransomed. This is because these soldiers are all veterans who have undergone strict and systematic training and have actual combat experience, and there are also many middle- and lower-ranking officers, and there may even be some officers at the division and brigade level, these are the qualities that are most lacking in the Japanese army at present, and the redemption of this group of soldiers can also boost the morale of the army. Economically, if it wants to redeem all the personnel, of course, Japan cannot afford it, but if it only redeems the captured soldiers, it can still afford it, after all, there are not many captured soldiers, less than 70,000 people, and it can't add much money. Therefore, it is reasonable to redeem these soldiers.

Katsura Taro is also from the army, so he is very supportive of Terauchi Masatsuki's proposal, not to mention Yamaguchi Yutomo, with the support of these two bigwigs, it was naturally successfully passed in the cabinet.

After receiving the instructions from China, Ito Hirobumi had no objections, after all, he also knew that this group of Japanese troops was indeed needed by Japan, and the Japanese troops at home were really inexperienced, so he also proposed a new plan to Qin Zheng in accordance with the instructions of the country.

After consultation, East China ** believes that this proposal is acceptable, because this group of Japanese prisoners is indeed not very easy to manage, most of them are veterans, and they are very serious and brainwashed by Shi Yu "Loyal to the Emperor and Serve the Country in Seven Lives", and they are not afraid of death, almost every few days there are always people making trouble, and even attacking the management personnel, so far more than 100 people have been shot, and more than 1,500 people have been punished, but they still can't help it, and they can't kill all these prisoners, just put them back, and you can exchange more money to come back.

Although some people are worried that if these Japanese soldiers are released, will it be a return to the mountain, but Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng both think that this worry is unnecessary, after all, there are less than 70,000 people, and the overall situation cannot be changed, not to mention that after this war, Japan not only suffered heavy losses, but also owed a lot of debts, at least in 10 years, there is no ability to start a war again, and after 10 years, East China will not be the current situation.

So Qin Zheng and Ito Hirobumi started talks again, and after some bargaining, the reparations paid by Japan finally increased to 850 million yen, about 90 million pounds, in exchange for the release of captured Japanese soldiers in East China and the cancellation of the first article in the herb.

At the same time, Japan also agreed not to build any military facilities within 30 kilometers of the east bank of the Yalu River as a buffer zone between the two sides, and also allowed East China to build a bridge over the Yalu River in exchange for concessions from East China. In this way, the defensive pressure of East China on the front line of the Yalu River can also be greatly reduced, and it will be much easier to attack the Korean Peninsula in the future.

Japan, on the other hand, promised to pay the reparations in full within 3-6 months, and although Britain, France, the United States and Germany were willing to provide loans to Japan, the credit procedures for such a huge sum of money could not be completed in a short period of time, because it also involved negotiations on a series of issues such as loan interest and low mortgage.

However, until Japan pays all the reparations, Huadong** will still occupy Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka, but Huadong** also agreed to withdraw troops from the Noto Peninsula first as a sign of sincerity. In fact, at this time, there is not much oil and water to be fished on the Noto Peninsula, and Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka still have a lot of potential to be tapped, of course, East China ** also agreed, with Japan paying reparations in installments, it can also withdraw from Kyoto, Kobe, and Osaka one by one, but the Japanese prisoners must wait until Japan pays all the reparations before they can be released.

So after 15 days of negotiations, East China ** and Japan finally reached a unanimous agreement, so the [Shanghai Treaty] was officially signed.