Seeing that Li Jingfang did not refuse his arrangement, and between his expressions, he was quite eager to do so, Li Hongzhang's heart was also a little relieved, because now his plan in his heart could not be clearly stated, if Li Jingfang refused, Li Hongzhang could only use his father's authority to suppress, but from Li Hongzhang's heart, he did not want to do this. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 Of course, Li Hongzhang also understands Li Jingfang's thoughts, since Li Jingfang has always wanted to enlist in the army, then let him go to the battlefield to experience the experience this time, so that Li Jingfang will understand that the battlefield is not as simple as he imagined.

Li Hongzhang said: "Zhang Nanpi (that is, Zhang Zhidong, he is from Nanpi County) over there, it is not difficult for the old man to write a letter to Zhang Nanpi, but you all know that the old man and Zhang Nanpi have always been not very eye-to-eye, so how much effect can writing a letter have, maybe it will backfire and it is not known, since we want to help overseas Chinese, then we must help to the end, in case Nanpi sees the old man's letter, refuses to sell weapons to overseas Chinese, but does a bad thing." As he spoke, he turned his head to Zhang Peilun and said, "It's better for Youqiao to write a letter to Zhang Nanpi first, explain the requirements of overseas Chinese clearly, and state the benefits and disadvantages, and probe his tone." ”

It turned out that when Zhang Peilun was the imperial envoy in Beijing in his early years, he was a member of the Qingliu Party, famous for impeaching ministers, and Zhang Zhidong, Chen Baochen, and Baoting were called the Qingliu Four Advices, so he had a good relationship with Zhang Zhidong. After Zhang Peilun lost the Battle of Mawei, on the way to exile Zhangjiakou from Fujian, he also wrote a letter of recommendation to Zhang Zhidong for his staff member Rong Junye, hoping that Rong Junye could find a suitable job under Zhang Zhidong.

However, Zhang Peilun later became Li Hongzhang's son-in-law, and Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong have never dealt with each other, so Zhang Peilun has less contact with Zhang Zhidong. After the First Sino-Japanese War, Zhang Peilun settled in Nanjing because of his bad relationship with Li Jingfang, when Zhang Zhidong served as the governor of Liangjiang, which happened to be under the rule of Zhang Zhidong, it is said that the two can meet again and recount the old relationship, but the two basically have no contact. But after all, the relationship between the two was good back then, so Zhang Peilun wrote a letter to Zhang Zhidong, which was much better than Li Hongzhang.

Zhang Peilun nodded and said, "Okay, Peilun will write immediately." ”

At this time, Li Jingfang suddenly interjected: "Wouldn't it be better to let Peilun accompany overseas Chinese to Hubei to meet Zhang Xiangtao (Zhang Zhidong No. Xiangtao)?"

Li Hongzhang glanced at him, shook his head, and said: "No need, Pei Lun and Zhang Nanpi haven't seen each other for many years, even if they accompany overseas Chinese to Hubei, it may not be useful, it is enough to write a letter, we can only help overseas Chinese go to this step, and whether we can convince Zhang Nanpi in the end depends on the ability of overseas Chinese themselves." ”

This time, overseas Chinese came to Zhang Zhidong to buy weapons from him, and this matter is more important, but it is much greater than convincing the Shanhaiguan guards, but it is not the friendship between Zhang Peilun and Zhang Zhidong that can work. If overseas Chinese want to buy weapons from Zhang Zhidong, they must have a major exchange of interests with Zhang Zhidong, and there may be some shady deals, as for what kind of benefits overseas Chinese can come up with to impress Zhang Zhidong, of course, it is impossible to tell Li Hongzhang, so it is not good to let Zhang Peilun accompany overseas Chinese to Hubei to meet Zhang Zhidong, because overseas Chinese and Zhang Zhidong still have to carry Zhang Peilun on their backs when negotiating, so why bother to find this embarrassment.

Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai did not speak just now, because they both knew very well that once Li Hongzhang decided something, he would not make easy changes, and it can also be seen from the decision made by Li Hongzhang that Li Hongzhang obviously hoped to establish a further good relationship with overseas Chinese.

Of course, Li Hongzhang's decision is not inappropriate, after all, after the capture of Beijing, the overseas Chinese have basically taken full control of the situation in northern China, if the Russian army is repulsed, then the prestige will be skyrocketing, I am afraid that even the imperial court will have to give them three points, with the current force of the overseas Chinese, although it is unlikely to replace the imperial court, but it is estimated that it will also follow the story of the three feudatories when the Qing Dynasty founded, forcing the Qing court to let itself be divided, and the current situation of the imperial court, I am afraid that they can only agree to the conditions of overseas Chinese. Therefore, Li Hongzhang and the overseas Chinese are doing a good job, but in fact they are also blackmailing the overseas Chinese to gain self-respect.

And the mood of the two at this time is not very useful, Zhou Fu is mainly worried that although Li Hongzhang is now coercing overseas Chinese to respect himself, he can indeed stabilize his position in the court, even if he makes a comeback from now on, it is not impossible. However, if the overseas Chinese really split one side, there will definitely be a conflict with the imperial court in the future, and the Bi Jing court will never let the overseas Chinese sleep soundly on the couch, so when the time comes, where will Li Hongzhang be placed? Could it be that he plans to take refuge in the overseas Chinese? Thinking of this, Zhou Fu couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, this is not an impossible thing, if Li Hongzhang has already decided that the overseas Chinese can succeed.

Sheng Xuanhuai thought that it was not as complicated as Zhou Fu thought, and he mainly considered whether he should change his attitude towards overseas Chinese, after all, the rise of overseas Chinese is inevitable now, and he is even more powerless to stop it, so it is better to establish a direct relationship with overseas Chinese as soon as possible with the help of Li Hongzhang's pass. Although Li Hongzhang has been in contact with overseas Chinese for a long time, due to Sheng Xuanhuai's prejudice against overseas Chinese, he had the opportunity to meet overseas Chinese with Li Hongzhang several times, but Sheng Xuanhuai found various excuses to avoid it, and Sheng Xuanhuai couldn't help but regret it secretly.

However, Sheng Xuanhuai immediately thought that Zhao Weizhong had a deep relationship with overseas Chinese, and Yanran was the business representative of overseas Chinese in Shanghai, so he might as well find some breakthroughs from him.

And in the midst of the two people's thoughts, this negotiation also ended, Zhang Peilun immediately sent a letter to Zhang Zhidong, explaining that the overseas Chinese hoped to get acquainted with Zhang Zhidong, and very tactfully explained the requirements of the overseas Chinese, and then immediately sent it to Wuchang.

What Zhang Peilun didn't expect was that early the next morning, Zhang Zhidong replied to Zhang Peilun, first using a lot of space to express the old feelings of the two when they were "Qingliu" in the capital together, and the nostalgia after parting, and then the tone of the conversation changed, expressing that he was very appreciative of the loyalty, righteousness and courage of overseas Chinese, hoping to meet famous people among overseas Chinese, and also hinted that it was good to discuss if he wanted to buy weapons. Therefore, Zhang Peilun was strongly invited to go to Wuchang with overseas Chinese to negotiate in person.

Although I didn't expect that after so many years, Zhang Zhidong's personality of liking false names has not changed, but Zhang Zhidong's reply is still a positive signal, so Zhang Peilun is also very relieved.

So Li Hongzhang also immediately informed Li Sanjie and asked him to come to Lilac Villa again. After the meeting, Li Hongzhang also told Li Sanjie about his decision and Zhang Zhidong's reply. At the same time, Zhang Peilun also said that although it is inconvenient for him to go to Wuchang, he can also write another letter to Zhang Zhidong, and the representative of the overseas Chinese will hand it over to Zhang Zhidong, I believe that after seeing the letter, Zhang Zhidong will definitely treat the representative preferentially, but Zhang Peilun also reminded Li Sanjie that Zhang Zhidong is very famous and likes to make friends with celebrities, and most of the staff around him are celebrities and fanatics, so overseas Chinese must send a suitable representative, and suggested that it is best to go by Qin Zheng in person.

In the exchanges with overseas Chinese, Zhang Peilun had the most contact with Qin Zheng, and left a very deep impression on Qin Zheng's rich knowledge, keen reflexes, and organized mind, and although the last Shanghai negotiations were not successful, Qin Zheng's performance in Shanghai won a high reputation, so Zhang Peilun thought that Qin Zheng was the most suitable person to meet Zhang Zhidong among overseas Chinese.

After learning of Li Hongzhang's decision, Li Sanjie was also very excited, and he did not expect that these two things could be done so successfully, so he immediately said that he would not hesitate to do things, and it was best to arrange for Zhang Peilun and Li Jingfang to go to Tianjin tomorrow to persuade the guards of Shanhaiguan as soon as possible, so that the People's Army would have enough time to arrange a garrison in Shanhaiguan. Li Hongzhang did not refuse this, and the two sides made an appointment to meet at the Shanghai office of the Crossing Group early tomorrow morning, and send a ship from the office to send Zhang Peilun and Li Jingfang to Tianjin.

Now the traverser has a 318 boat moored in Shanghai, and it takes about 15 hours to get from Shanghai to Tianjin. Of course, it was up to the Executive Committee to decide who to send to Wuchang to meet with Zhang Zhidong, and Li Sanjie only had to convey Zhang Peilun's request to Tianjin.

After bidding farewell to Li Hongzhang, Li Sanjie immediately rushed back to the office, activated the radio station to get in touch with the Tianjin side, and reported today's results to the Tianjin side in detail. After receiving Li Sanjie's report, the Tianjin Executive Committee was also very satisfied with this result, because it was much better than the result expected by the Executive Committee, so it praised Li Sanjie's work in Shanghai. However, the executive committee also immediately gave Li Sanjie a new task.

It turned out that tomorrow, a new issue of [New China News] will be sent to Shanghai, and in this issue of [New China News] It also published three editorials strongly criticizing the Eight-Nation Coalition under the guise of protecting embassies, but in China it is engaged in bandit acts and waging a war of aggression that is not dismantled or deducted, which once again exposes the hypocrisy of imperialism and proves that the development of imperialism is based on the frenzied plundering of backward countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and so on.

The crossing group can naturally expect that after this issue of [New China News] is published in Shanghai, it will definitely cause a strong backlash from the consuls of various countries, so Li Sanjie is required to be prepared, and there will definitely be a fierce confrontation between the consuls of various countries, and at the same time, it can also take the opportunity to arouse the national sentiment in Shanghai again After all, now that the People's Army has fully occupied Beijing, the advantage on the battlefield has been unshakable, and taking advantage of its own advantageous position to negotiate with the opponent and obtain greater benefits at the negotiating table is also the military-political practice of this era. Of course, the Executive Committee also gave some instructions on how Li Sanjie consulted with other countries for Li Sanjie's reference.