By the morning of the next day, the members of the delegation had left the Lishunde Hotel and went to the consulates of various countries in Tianjin. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info and Li Hongzhang also took Zhang Peilun, Li Jingfang, and Sa Zhenbing to the Tianjin Government Administration Building by car to formally hold talks with the traverser.

This time, Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, Wang Yunpeng, and Xu Jichao all arrived, and the two sides met in the conference room, and after introducing each other, Li Hongzhang first read out the edict issued by the Qing court to the traverser.

Yesterday, Qin Zheng had negotiated with Li Hongzhang on the etiquette of accepting the edict, although theoretically speaking, this edict is equivalent to a holy decree, but it was neither written in yellow silk nor stamped with a jade seal, but Li Hongzhang according to the telegram sent to him by the Qing court, a copy of his own handwriting, strictly speaking, this can not be regarded as a formal holy decree, and now the traveler is not a subject of the Qing court, so the ceremony of accepting the edict does not need to be so complicated. All of the three shouts and long live were exempted, so Xia Bohai and the other five people just stood up and listened to Li Hongzhang's reading.

The edict issued by the Qing court to the travelers reads:

"For more than 200 years, I have been deeply benevolent and benevolent, and in the past 30 years, the Westerners have gradually become more numerous, and there are many provocations and grievances, but they are still radically changing. I am in charge of the age, into the unification, to think of the invigorating picture, but the times are difficult, the Beijing division is disturbed, it is the mercy and thrill, the sect is in danger, the shock of the temple of Yangsi, the destruction of the Beijing division in the north, the displacement of thousands of scholars, hundreds of thousands of dead and wounded soldiers and civilians, round into ruins, and full of clothes.

Fortunately, there are overseas righteous people Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, Wang Yunpeng, Xu Jichao, etc., who are descendants of China, who are loyal and righteous, and their hearts are like a child. By July, when he returned to China by boat, the division was straight and strong, and he was punished for his guilt in the heavens. Yu plays repeatedly in Rongjie, and the map is urgently restored in Qifeng. The front is invincible, in order to conquer the battle, the division is disciplined, and the Kong'an is reached. The achievements are written in the Bang family, and the prestige is shocked by Yidi, and the journey of the eagle is compared to the area of the rat thief. The division has repeatedly been in Beijing and Tianjin, and its fame has been shocked in Lunan. The gathering of the four cities of Lianke, the restoration of thousands of miles of territory, the appreciation of the country, the importance of merit, the return of Zhenkai, the strategy can be followed?

Li Hongzhang, a scholar of the special order of the Emperor, as a plenipotentiary minister, acted cheaply, and stopped the military peace with the envoys of various countries, and hoped that when Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng signed the treaty, they would cooperate with each other to make a peace treaty as soon as possible, and deeply recite the words of the sorrowful enlightenment, and do not forget to bow down to the friendship. Don't be disappointed, the world is stable, there will be a big reward, I and the Queen Mother have high hopes to know this encyclical. Chin this. ”

Although Xia Bohai and the other five people are not scholars of ancient literature, they are all high-level intellectuals in the old time and space, and they have quite solid writing skills, and it has been five months since they came to this era, and the level of ancient literature has also improved somewhat.

In fact, this edict does not have much actual content, although the traverser is praised and said a lot of good things, but in the edict it is only a description of the embarrassment of the Qing court, and the scene of the war, but there is no accusation against the Eight-Nation Alliance, so the merits of the traverser can only be praised in general terms, and there is no mention of the Qing court's reward for the traverser, only that it is because of the difficult situation, and can only wait for the stability to reward the traverser, to put it bluntly, it is to open a "world is stable, there will be a reward" It is estimated that the Qing court wanted to lure the travelers with a reward, and asked the travelers to do their best to assist Li Hongzhang and negotiate peace with other countries as soon as possible. This also shows that the Qing court is now eagerly looking forward to the success of the peace negotiations with the foreigners at an early date, so it does not dare to offend the foreigners, and can only mention the crimes of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

However, there is also a satisfaction of the traverser in the edict, that is, the Qing court finally officially recognized the identity of the traverser as a descendant of China, and after this identity, it will be much more convenient for the traverser to act in the future, which is also one of the main goals of the traverser. As for the reward or something, the traverser doesn't care, although the traverser's goal is to occupy Shandong and stand on its own, but this is not a reward from the Qing court, it ultimately depends on the traverser's own strength, and the matter of negotiating with foreign countries, the traverser also has his own plans, and will not buy the interests of the country and the nation for the reward of the Qing court.

Of course, after Li Hongzhang read out the edict, Xia Bohai also politely said a few words, expressing his gratitude to the Qing court for its trust, and that he would do his best to facilitate peace talks, etc., before the two sides entered the formal mode of talks.

Li Hongzhang first spoke: "This Geng Xiao change, the second palace west tour, the Beijing division was shaken, the Qing Dynasty is almost unsafe, fortunately, the nobles returned to China at this time, and thwarted the spirit of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and raised the prestige of my China. Seal the wife and the shadow. The old man can guarantee that everyone can be knighted, even if they enter the military plane and take charge of the government, it is okay. ”

Xia Bohai said: "We don't value the benefits of officials, we just hope that the land of China will no longer be bullied by foreign criminals from now on, and the Chinese people can live and work in peace and contentment, enjoy peace, and China can become rich and strong from now on, and squeeze into the ranks of the world." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded, and said with a smile: "The noble people are high-spirited, regardless of fame, and the old man is also very admired, but the top priority now is to negotiate peace with various countries as soon as possible, and after the imperial court restores stability, can we make great efforts to govern the country, colonize and prosper, and seek to enrich the country and strengthen the army. ”

Xia Bohai did not answer the empty check issued by Li Hongzhang, but said: "Zhongtang is right, now the first thing is to promote negotiations, although this negotiation is a tripartite talk, but we are originally descendants of China, and although Dachun is the Manchu into the Central Plains, but it has been more than 250 years, it can be regarded as the integration of Manchu and Han, so we and the Qing Dynasty, in fact, can be regarded as one party, then before the negotiation, we should first set the next unified tone, as the basis for negotiations between our two sides and various countries." ”

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he also nodded again and again, and said, "What Commander Xia said is very true, the old man came to Tianjin this time, and it is precisely for this reason that he came. ”

Xia Bohai raised his eyebrows and said, "I don't know if Zhongtang has a plan ready for negotiation." ”

Li Hongzhang was stunned, shook his head, and said: "In this negotiation, the old man still needs to rely on your momentum, so you should still be the main party, presumably you have already prepared a plan for negotiation." ”

Xia Bohai was not polite, and said: "We have indeed drawn up a basis for negotiation, you can ask Zhongtang to take a look at it first." ”

At this time, Xu Jichao immediately took out a few pieces of paper from a folder and handed them to Li Hongzhang and others in turn.

Li Hongzhang took a piece of paper, only to see that the layout is similar to the horizontal column of foreign characters from left to right, rather than the traditional Chinese vertical arrangement from right to left, although the font is Songti characters, but it is a simplified style used by the people, so Li Hongzhang is somewhat disdainful in his heart, this group of people has really lived overseas for too long, and the traditional Chinese habits have been almost lost. However, there is not much content in the text, and it doesn't seem too strenuous.

There are five written on the paper:

1. There will be no land cession and no compensation in this negotiation.

2. After the conclusion of the talks, the Eight-Nation Coalition must unconditionally withdraw from Beijing and hand over Beijing to overseas Chinese.

3. The Eight-Nation Coalition may take away weapons and ammunition, but the property plundered in China must be left behind, and the food and drink after the withdrawal can be provided by overseas Chinese, and the settlement shall be made according to the actual situation.

4. Each country may send its own ships to Tianjin to pick up its troops for repatriation, but only civilian ships may be dispatched, and warships shall not be dispatched.

5. Soldiers of various countries who have been captured by overseas Chinese shall be redeemed by each country by paying a ransom fee, and shall pay the living expenses of the soldiers during their captivity, and the expenses shall be determined by the overseas Chinese and the other countries through consultation.

Li Hongzhang frowned when he saw it, because he knew very well in his heart that it was impossible for all countries to accept these conditions offered by the traverser, and among the five articles, only the fourth and fifth articles could be discussed, and the first three articles were probably difficult to sell, after all, the eight-nation alliance army labor expedition had been dismantled for more than half a year, and of course the countries would not return home empty-handed, and they must have to make more benefits in the negotiations. Indemnity payments are certainly indispensable, and it is even more impossible for the Eight-Nation Coalition to spit out the property plundered from China, and now that the Eight-Nation Coalition still occupies Beijing, it is precisely to use Beijing as a big bargaining chip for negotiations and later reparations, and it will never be willing to give it up easily.

The attitude of the Qing court towards this negotiation was also very clear, as long as the foreigners did not hold the Empress Dowager Cixi accountable and preserved the Qing court, any other conditions could be agreed, that is, the so-called "measuring China's material resources and forming a friendship with the country", claiming that it also included land cession, indemnity, and even the city of Beijing could be abandoned, and it was a big deal to set up a new capital. Although the emergence of overseas Chinese gave the Qing court a greater room for maneuver in negotiations, the general principle of the Qing court's negotiations remained unchanged, and it was only necessary to lose a little money and cede less land. It can be said that the principles of negotiation formulated by overseas Chinese were quite different from the goals of the Qing court.

After about ten minutes, Xia Bohai said, "What does Zhongtang think?"

Li Hongzhang put down the paper in his hand, smiled bitterly, and said, "Commander Xia, with all due respect, if the conditions you offer are followed, according to the old man, it will be extremely difficult for all countries to agree." ”

Xia Bohai also nodded and said, "What Li Zhongtang said is not wrong, in fact, we also know that countries will not easily accept our conditions. ”

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned, and he didn't understand what Xia Bohai meant by saying this, if overseas Chinese knew that other countries would not accept these conditions, why did they have to set such a negotiation principle?

Xia Bohai said: "Li Zhongtang, please don't get me wrong, we don't think that countries will accept the conditions we offer, not based on the current situation, but referring to the habits and psychology of countries. In fact, if we look at the current situation, the Eight-Nation Coalition has lost several games in a row, the navy has been wiped out, and the army has lost nearly half of it, so it can only be trapped in Beijing, but Tianjin has been occupied by us, cutting off the retreat of the Eight-Nation Alliance, it can be said that the Eight-Nation Coalition Army now guarding the city of Beijing has no reinforcements from outside, no ammunition supply inside, and in fact there is not much resistance, and these conditions we have set are not harsh, and even tolerant, but in the past few decades, in the image of various countries, the Qing Dynasty is a place that can be bullied at will. The countries that wantonly slaughter, so as long as it is a negotiation, they must take advantage of the Qing Dynasty before they are willing to stop, and will not consider whether the situation is beneficial to them, but this time in the negotiation, it is necessary for us to let all countries recognize the current situation, then all countries will accept our conditions.