After consultations with Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, Wang Yunpeng, and others, it was believed that to control Shandong, it is best to use both the top-down and bottom-up methods, but the bottom-up method is the mainstay, and the top-down method is the auxiliary, after all, the control of the grassroots and land reform is the most important thing, which is related to the ruling grassroots of the crossing group.

However, due to the current shortage of relevant professionals in the crossing group, the bottom-up control operation should not be carried out in a comprehensive manner, but should be carried out step by step, first with the goal of controlling the Laizhou government.

Laizhou Mansion is located in the connecting area of the Shandong Peninsula and the mainland, bordering the Bohai Sea in the north and the Yellow Sea in the south, dividing the entire Shandong into two, divided into the peninsula area and the mainland area, and it is also the area where the Jiaozhou Bay was located in the past. Moreover, Laizhou has a total of 6 counties and a scattered state, and at present, the crossing group has controlled three counties, with the current human and material resources of the crossing group, it is not difficult to control the Laizhou government, and then use the Laizhou government as a base to control and expand to other areas of Shandong from the bottom up, in the same way as Jiaozhou, Gaomi, and Jimo counties, first starting from the countryside, and then developing to the county seat, and finally obtaining the control of the prefecture and the state. Until then, Qing officials at the prefectural, state, and county levels were allowed to remain in office temporarily.

On the other hand, we must not give up the high-end official posts in Shandong Province, and we can first get all the official positions at the provincial level, so that we can have the highest power in the whole province in name and discussion, and we can issue commands to officials at all levels of government, prefecture, and county, and cooperate with the actions of the grassroots level. This is very important because Jinan is the capital of Shandong, the administrative center, and the seat of the governor of Shandong, so it must be fully controlled in Jinan.

The ultimate goal of the group is to strive to take full control of Shandong, or control the vast majority of Shandong, and complete the land reform work in most areas in the next year.

At this time, the Qing court's reply was also sent to Qingdao, and the Qing court finally confirmed that it fully accepted the three major principles proposed by the traverser, so the negotiations between the two sides were in full swing. And Li Hongzhang also proposed to Qin Zheng that this time he would conduct separate negotiations on the three directions of Shandong (with Beijing), Tianjin, and Shanghai, and assign Yuan Shikai, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang to be responsible for detailed negotiations with the traverser, and he just grasped the general direction.

This can not only speed up the efficiency of the negotiation, but also Li Hongzhang's burden is easier, after all, Li Hongzhang is almost 80 years old, for most of the year, for the fate of the Qing court, and try his best to protect a little more interests of the Qing court, although not like the old time and space for the negotiation tired and anxious, and finally killed, but it is also a very energy-consuming thing, so the current Li Hongzhang is indeed physically and mentally exhausted, and the following negotiations are not negotiations with various countries after all, and there is no need to be so nervous, you can let go of the younger generation of people to do it。

Qin Zheng has no objection to Li Hongzhang's suggestion, this is also an opportunity for other traversers to get practice, after all, Qin Zheng is not a professional diplomat, unless he encounters a major matter in the future, Qin Zheng should also come forward less, but leave it to the diplomat to deal with.

After the negotiations were restarted, the details of the settlement of Shandong (with Beijing) were first decided, after all, both sides were fully prepared for Shandong's handling, and the Qing court did not want to dwell on this issue.

In the end, the two sides reached a condition that the Qing court would appoint the traveler to serve as the governor of Shandong, the secretary of the administration, the envoy of the inspector, the Taotai, the admiral, the general soldier and other provincial-level official positions, while the remaining prefectures, Zhili Prefecture, Sanzhou, and county officials all remained in office until the end of their term of office, and then the traverser sent someone to take over, or asked the Qing court to stay in office. Officials in the state and county were sealed or dismissed.

Such a clause is tantamount to giving the crossing group the power to appoint and dismiss all local officials in Shandong, which is also conducive to the crossing group to issue orders to all local officials in Shandong and ensure the smooth implementation of government decrees. As far as the Qing court was concerned, although Shandong was handed over to the jurisdiction of the crossing group, the appointment and dismissal of local officials in Shandong still required the order of the Qing court, so that formally speaking, the Qing court still had jurisdiction over Shandong.

In addition, the Qing court also had a wishful thinking, that is, if there was a power conflict with the crossing group in the future, it could also set up obstacles in personnel appointments as a bargaining chip in the game with the crossing group. And the traverser is also aware of this, but he doesn't care.

The crossing group also reaffirmed its commitment to fully withdraw its troops from the Beijing area in two batches when the handover of Shandong began, and to make a good handover with the Qing court's takeover army, and that the materials and property of the People's Army, as well as the families of the soldiers recruited by the People's Army in Beijing, could be taken with the army.

The agreement on the lease of land in Shanghai did not take much time, after all, it was not a big deal, and the final geographical scope assigned to the crossing group was from the north of the eastern area of the Shanghai public concession to the north of the Huangpu River into the mouth of the Yangtze River, with an area of about 20,000 mu, which is 2/3 of the public concession. Although the location of this area is relatively remote, it is the mouth of the Yangtze River that guards the entrance of the Huangpu River, and belongs to the important place of the Huangpu River waterway, so the geographical location is very important.

In the end, the traverser came up with a name, called the Shanghai Special Economic Zone, and the supreme chief executive was called the Taoist of the Shanghai Special Economic Zone.

Although the Qing court had agreed to only take back the old city of Tianjin, the original concession area was under the jurisdiction of the crossing group, and the area south of the Haihe River, east of the old city of Tianjin, and the area around Tanggu north of the Haihe River were all owned by the crossing group, which was roughly equivalent to the scope of the Jinnan District and Binhai New Area of Tianjin in the old time and space, and the Qing court also agreed to transfer the shipping rights of Tianjin Customs and the Haihe River from Dagukou to the old city of Tianjin. The right to operate the railway was all under the jurisdiction of the Crossing Group, and the name was still modeled after Shanghai, called the Tianjin Special Economic Zone, and the special zone was appointed as the highest official.

However, the Qing court also made several demands on the traversers: first, to ensure the transportation of money, taxes, and grain from the southern provinces of the Qing court to Beijing; second, to ensure the supply of materials from the southern provinces to the north; and third, to ensure that the traversers could not garrison troops in the Tianjin Special Administrative Region. The first two are to ensure Beijing's material support, while the third is to ensure Beijing's installation. The Qing court's consideration was that even if the two sides eventually had a bad relationship and the traverser launched an attack from Tianjin to Beijing, it would take at least 5-8 days to transfer troops from Shandong to land in Tianjin and launch an attack, and this period of time would be enough for the Qing court to dispatch troops to defend, and it might even take the lead in capturing the Tianjin Special Administrative Region before the traverser attacked.

After consultation, the traverser replied to the Qing court, and could agree to these three articles, but also put forward several conditions: first, the right to operate the waterway from Tianjin to Shanghai was under the full control of the traverser, and all ships traveling to and from the Qing court and foreign ships were subject to the management of the crossing group; second, the Qing court was not allowed to garrison troops in Tianjin, and the forts, barracks, and military depots along the line from Tianjin to Beijing were cleared out at once. The third is to demolish the walls of the old city of Tianjin, so that people from both sides can come and go on their own and no obstacles can be erected.

These three were naturally-for-tat with the conditions put forward by the Qing court: first, it was to monopolize the right to operate the waterway from Tianjin to Shanghai, because the economic value of this waterway was extremely great, and second, it was also necessary to ensure the security of the Tianjin Special Economic Zone, and no one would be stationed in Tianjin, so that in wartime, there would be room for maneuver. The demand for the demolition of the city wall of the old city of Tianjin, first, is to achieve a balance between the defense of the two sides, the Tianjin Special Economic Zone does not have a city wall, and the traverser does not intend to build a wall here; second, it is also for the sake of personnel exchanges between the two sides, Tianjin is a circulation economy-based area, once it loses its circulation, Tianjin will become a dead land, this is naturally not the situation that the traverser hopes to see, so it is very important to open up the circulation between the Tianjin Special Zone and the old area, which is very important for the development of Tianjin.

The two sides again engaged in a war of words over their own conditions, so much so that after the conclusion of the negotiations in Shandong and Shanghai, all the personnel of both sides also threw themselves into the negotiations on Tianjin.

In the end, the two sides finally reached an agreement, and the crossing group promised to guarantee the supply of materials in Beijing, and also gave up the monopoly of the right to operate the waterway from Tianjin to Shanghai, but as compensation, it will be qualified to operate other waterways. Neither side was allowed to garrison troops in Shanghai, but police personnel could be stationed to manage law and order in their respective areas, and the police could only be armed with pistols and not rifles or other weapons; the Qing court promised to station only 1,000 troops in Yangcun along the line from Beijing to Tianjin, and not to be equipped with all weapons except pistols and rifles, and also promised not to build forts, barracks, and barracks along the line from Beijing to Tianjin. The Qing court promised to demolish the city wall of Tianjin and ensure the free circulation of personnel, but between entering and leaving, the necessary inspections were still to be carried out, and the contents of the inspections were to be decided by the two sides through consultation.

The negotiations lasted for a total of 12 days, and finally all the details and terms were finalized, and Li Hongzhang sent the terms to Xi'an to ask the Qing court for final approval before the final signing could be made.

Two days later, the Qing court replied by telegram, agreeing that Li Hongzhang should sign the agreement, and asked the crossing group to report the list of people and official positions as soon as possible, so that the Qing court could officially plan the seal and complete the last step of appeasement.

On the second day, Li Hongzhang signed the agreement on behalf of the Qing court and Qin Zheng on behalf of the crossing group, and of course the two parties also agreed that this agreement would not be open to the public, but only circulated within their respective departments, so it was later called the [Qingdao Secret Treaty].