There was silence in the hall for more than two minutes before Cixi said, "Yuan Shikai, then what do you think the imperial court should do?"

Yuan Shikai said: "Back to the Empress Dowager, the minister thought that the imperial court should declare neutrality as soon as possible, and demarcate the zone of war between Japan and Russia. ”

At this time, Prince Qing also said: "Queen Mother, the minister thinks that Yuan Shikai's words are reasonable, and the ministers of various countries have sent letters to the Yamen of the Prime Minister's Office several times, asking the imperial court to strictly abide by neutrality. ”

Hearing that Prince Qing moved out of the foreigners, Tie Liang and Rongqing's arrogance was suddenly suppressed a lot, after all, for more than 60 years, the pressure of foreigners on the Qing court is all-round, although the Qing court in this time and space did not sign the [Xin Chou Treaty] of losing power and humiliating the country, but the change of Gengzi country still makes the Qing court have lingering palpitations until now, if it were not for the sudden rise of overseas Chinese, the Great Qing Kingdom may have already perished, but now overseas Chinese are unreliable, although Tie Liang, Rong Qing dared to scold Li Hongzhang, and even dared to scold overseas Chinese, but when it comes to foreigners, he must not only be shorter.

Cixi was silent for a while before she said, "Then how can the overseas Chinese explain it? They made it very clear, and it would be difficult for the imperial court to make a decision. ”

At this time, Zhang Zhidong said: "Empress Dowager, the minister thinks that it is better to let the foreigners go to deal with overseas Chinese, and the imperial court can't be caught in the middle of this splint gas." ”

Cixi bowed slightly, and said: "This is a law, Prince Qing, this matter is up to you to negotiate with the foreigners." ”

Prince Qing hurriedly said: "Back to the Queen Mother, it is not difficult for the ministers to negotiate with foreigners, but I am afraid that overseas Chinese may not be able to sell foreigners' accounts. ”

Cixi frowned and said, "In your opinion, what should be done?"

Prince Qing said: "The minister thinks that he should send someone to negotiate with the overseas Chinese first, find out the bottom of the overseas Chinese, and then make other plans, otherwise it will only let the foreigner get personal favors in vain." ”

Cixi pondered for a while before nodding and saying, "That's fine, but who are you going to send to Shandong?"

Prince Qing looked at Li Hongzhang and said, "I'm afraid I can only work hard for Lord Li again, and in the past, it was Lord Li who was responsible for negotiating with overseas Chinese." ”

Cixi looked at Li Hongzhang and said, "Li Hongzhang, what do you think?"

Li Hongzhang said: "Ministers should be duty-bound. ”

Cixi said: "Okay, then you will have to work hard to run again"

Early the next morning, Li Hongzhang and Yuan Shikai set off together, leaving Beijing by Huodong, first to Tianjin, and then taking a boat to Qingdao in Tianjin, which was also the most common route for Qing court officials in Beijing to go to Qingdao.

Of course, the East China government knew Li Hongzhang's intentions, and it had already made preparations, and Qin Zheng still came forward to receive Li Hongzhang.

More than 8 months have passed since the last time we met for the Javanese overseas Chinese protection operation, but when he saw Li Hongzhang again, Qin Zheng found that Li Hongzhang had aged a lot and his spirit was much worse, and he was indeed a little old. However, Li Hongzhang is already an 81-year-old man, in the old time and space, he should have died 3 years ago, although it is because of the emaciation of negotiations with various countries, but it is also related to Li Hongzhang's old age, and his health is not as good as before, although due to the appearance of the traverser, Li Hongzhang has less to worry about during the Gengzi National Revolution, but then Li Hongzhang joined the military aircraft director, which is also a laborious thing, so it is reasonable for Li Hongzhang to be so old now.

After the two of them sat down, Qin Zheng said: "I haven't seen you for a few months, Li Zhongtang is much older, I think I have to worry a lot about state affairs, and I ask Li Zhongtang to take care of his body, you might as well do a full body examination with us, and it will not be accidental." ”

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly, thinking in his heart that if you don't come to make trouble, I will save at least half of my heart, but I can't say this, and Qin Zheng is also very kind, so Li Hongzhang said: "Thank you for your concern, it's just that there are many affairs in the imperial court now, and there are many internal and external troubles, so I can't worry about it." ”

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "Of course, the external trouble is the Russo-Japanese war, and this internal worry probably refers to our river and lake base areas." ”

Li Hongzhang has long been accustomed to the honesty of the traverser, not to mention that when the two talked in private, they had already talked about more straightforward and bold topics than this, so Qin Zheng's confession was not unexpected, and said: "Political Commissar Qin is still so fast-talking, the old man came to Qingdao this time to talk about these two things." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Okay, we can have a good talk, but should Li Zhongtang talk about internal worries or external troubles first?"

Li Hongzhang thought for a while and said: "Let's talk about external troubles first, now Japan and Russia are out of peace, and the swords and soldiers are meeting each other, but the battlefield is in the land of Liaodong in our country, so the government and the opposition are in an uproar, and they all want the court to expel Japan and Russia and recover the land of Liaodong, but the countries require the court to strictly abide by neutrality and not interfere in the war between Japan and Russia, and now the court is also in a dilemma, and I don't know how to decide." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "So what is the imperial court's plan now?"

Li Hongzhang said: "I won't hide it from you, with the current military strength of the imperial court, it is simply not capable of sending troops outside the border to expel Japan and Russia, unless you can send troops, otherwise even if there is a big uproar in public opinion, the imperial court can only abide by neutrality in order to protect itself." ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said: "Okay, why didn't the imperial court let us send troops? Just let us go and fight with Japan and Russia, won't the imperial court be able to profit from it? I don't believe that no one in the court suggested this." ”

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he couldn't help laughing, and said, "Political Commissar Qin really has a deep understanding of the affairs of the DPRK and China. But in his heart, he was thinking about whether this was Qin Zheng's guess, or the information that overseas Chinese had carefully discovered in Beijing.

Qin Zheng said: "Since this is the case, then why doesn't the imperial court accept it?"

Li Hongzhang smiled and waved his hand, and said: "There is no need to say these words anymore, it is just the arrogant words of a group of ignorant people, and you should also know very well that it is impossible for the imperial court to adopt this proposal, not to mention that it is not easy to explain to foreigners, even if there are no foreigners to interfere with it, the imperial court cannot hand over the military and political power to you, so the imperial court will never order you to attack outside the customs." ”

Qin Zheng also nodded and said, "Zhongtang can still see it, so what does Zhongtang plan to discuss with us when he comes to Qingdao this time?"

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly again and said: "Originally, the imperial court had decided to abide by neutrality, but the statement you issued made the imperial court very passive and public opinion was in an uproar. In this Russo-Japanese war, what do you want to do, the imperial court naturally can't control it, I just hope that you don't involve the imperial court, what conditions do you have, although you can put it forward. ”

After Qin Zheng heard this, his face became serious, and he said: "Zhongtang should understand that since our return, although what we have done is a little disrespectful to the imperial court, it is to safeguard the overall interests of the Chinese nation. That's why we made this statement. ”

Li Hongzhang also nodded and said: "Since you returned to Huaxia, you have indeed done a lot of things to fight against foreign aggression and boost the prestige of our country, and the imperial court is also greatly inferior in this regard, and the old man is also deeply admired." It's just that I forgive the old man for saying bluntly, this time the bad relations between Japan and Russia are not compared to before, the Eight-Nation Alliance countries have not done their best, Java War, the Netherlands is not a strong country, but this time Japan and Russia have done their best, not the Qing Dynasty can be compared now, even you, I'm afraid it is also a little inferior. ”

Qin Zheng also admitted very calmly: "Yes, our strength is definitely not as good as that of Japan and Russia, but this does not mean that we will sit back and watch the Northeast become a battlefield for other countries, this is the biggest difference between us and the imperial court, of course, we will not fight with Japan and Russia immediately, but will intervene in this war at an appropriate time." ”

Li Hongzhang was slightly stunned, and immediately understood, it is estimated that the overseas Chinese want to send troops outside the border after the two countries are defeated, this is indeed a good way, and it is also the only way, but the overseas Chinese can do this step, it is already good, and if the court is changed, I am afraid that Japan and Russia will lose both, and they dare not do it, so Li Hongzhang said: "I don't know what you need the court to do?"

Qin Zheng said: "The first is that after we intervene in the Northeast, the imperial court will ignore it, just pretend not to know, don't do anything like giving orders and rewards, or now keep in line with us, oppose Japan and Russia together, or even prepare to intervene in the Northeast together, but I estimate that this is impossible." ”

At that time, the imperial court did not give clear support to overseas Chinese when they were protecting overseas Chinese, but after the success of protecting overseas Chinese, they hurriedly rewarded and commended overseas Chinese and stained them from overseas Chinese.

Qin Zheng said again: "Second, the imperial court cannot use troops against our river and lake base areas. ”

Li Hongzhang couldn't help but be taken aback, and said, "What?" I didn't expect that the external troubles would come up again.

Qin Zheng said: "I don't hide it from Zhongtang, we only have one province in Shandong now, the land is narrow and there are few people, far from enough for us to develop, so we need to expand our territory, but let the imperial court allocate a few more provinces to us, the imperial court may not be able to agree, I am afraid that it is not easy to explain, so we can only seize the occupation, but please open one eye to the imperial court, close one eye." ”

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid this request is difficult for some strong courts. ”

Qin Zheng shook his head and said: "The imperial court has empty land in the whole country and rules over hundreds of millions of people, but it cannot make good use of it, and internally it cannot be that the country is rich and strong and the people are healthy; externally, it cannot resist strong enemies and guard our borders, so it is better for us to replace the responsibility of the imperial court, not that I boast, if we now have the territory of three or four provinces and a population of more than 100 million, how can we be afraid of Japan and Russia? ”

Li Hongzhang listened, and couldn't help but be speechless, although Qin Zheng's words were very rebellious, but it was indeed not unreasonable, if they really gave overseas Chinese enough territory and population, with their ability, they would definitely make China rich and strong, and no longer be bullied by foreigners, of course, if it really came to that time, there would be no imperial court.