On the second day, Xiao Jianjun left Tianjin, rushed to Dagukou, boarded the Kunming ship, set sail to the east, and went to the waters of Shandong to survey the hydrology and reef conditions in the waters around Weihai and Qingdao, as well as to reconnoiter the arrangements of the British and German troops in Weihai and Qingdao.

At this time, in Tianjin, the Provisional Executive Committee received a telegram from Shanghai in the name of Li Hongzhang, asking Zhao Weizhong to go south and meet with Li Hongzhang in Shanghai.

This was the third telegram with about the same content, and it was also the second telegram after the end of the Battle of Tianjin, which had just ended when the Shanghai side sent a telegram urging Zhao Weizhong to go south. But at that time, the crossing group was preparing for the second meeting, and there was no time to discuss the matter of Zhao Weizhong's southward departure, so he only replied to Shanghai in the name of Zhao Weizhong, politely shirking it, and a few days later, Shanghai sent a telegram again, urging Zhao Weizhong to go south again, but the wording was more urgent, which shows that after the traverser won the victory in the defense of Tianjin, the countries finally could not stabilize.

Although it was in Tianjin, the travelers were not ignorant of the outside world, because the contents of the telegrams between the consulates of various countries in Tianjin and the outside world were mastered by the travelers, so the travelers knew that the victory in the defense of Tianjin had brought a huge shock to all countries. The United States and other countries have already begun to reconsider the issue of negotiations with the traversal group, and asked the consuls of various countries in Tianjin to try their best to contact the traversers, collect intelligence materials on the traversers, and test the attitude of the traversers.

Although the traverser does not intend to negotiate with the countries now, because the real goal of the traverser has not yet been achieved, the current military deterrent of the traversers is not enough to force Britain and Germany to give up the concession of Shandong at the negotiating table, on the contrary, it will prematurely expose the traverser's hole cards, so it can only be the time to negotiate before the facts can be determined, but it is still possible to carry out formal contact with the countries now, on the one hand, to keep in touch, it is also conducive to future negotiations, on the other hand, the traversers also need to buy a batch of machinery and equipment from various countries。 So Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Wang Yunpeng, and Xu Jichao, who stayed in Tianjin, also immediately started negotiations for this.

Qin Zheng first said: "I think it's time too, we should let Zhao Weizhong go to Shanghai, and it is of no use to us that he stays in Tianjin, it is better to let him go to Shanghai to meet with Li Hongzhang and the consuls of various countries, I estimate that they will definitely ask Zhao Weizhong to bring us a message." ”

Wang Yunpeng said: "I have no objection to letting Zhao Weizhong go to Shanghai, this is also something we have decided a long time ago, but whether we let Zhao Weizhong go to Shanghai alone, or send someone to Shanghai with Zhao Weizhong to meet with Li Hongzhang, so that we may be able to discuss some things." ”

Xia Bohai shook his head and said, "This is not the time to send our people to Shanghai, because we are not ready to negotiate with the imperialists now, so even if we meet Li Hongzhang, we will not be able to talk about anything." ”

Xu Jichao said: "What if Zhao Weizhong goes to Shanghai and talks nonsense? Or what if he doesn't return to Tianjin when he arrives in Shanghai?"

Wang Yunpeng said: "Wouldn't it be okay not to let him take his daughter to Shanghai? As long as his daughter is still in our hands, we are not afraid that he will not return to Tianjin, and we will not dare to talk nonsense in Shanghai." ”

Xia Bohai said with a smile: "Actually, whatever he says in Shanghai, he doesn't know about the real confidential things, and Li Hongzhang and the consuls of various countries are not stupid, it is impossible for Zhao Weizhong to believe whatever he says, not to mention that the telegrams from Shanghai and Tianjin have never been broken, and they also know the situation here, and they can verify it at any time." ”

Qin Zheng said: "I don't advocate detaining Zhao Weizhong's daughter in Tianjin, if Zhao Weizhong wants to take his daughter to Shanghai, let him take it, there is no loss to us." Now Zhao Weizhong's role is actually to follow the line, and it is not without him, we have not gotten in touch with Shanghai, it is just trouble, so it is nothing if Zhao Weizhong does not return to Tianjin, but if Li Hongzhang and other countries want to contact us, they will definitely send Zhao Weizhong back to Tianjin again. According to how many times I have been in contact with Zhao Weizhong, after all, this person has done foreign affairs, and he is not a die-hard person, and he has some good feelings towards us, and he still has an industry in Tianjin, and it is not a bad thing for him to stay and follow us. We might as well be generous and let Zhao Weizhong choose for himself, if Zhao Weizhong is really willing to follow us, of course it will be beneficial to us. ”

Xia Bohai nodded and said, "I agree with Lao Qin's opinion, let Zhao Weizhong choose for himself." ”

Wang Yunpeng thought for a while, nodded as well, and said, "Okay, I also agree with Political Commissar Qin's opinion. ”

Xu Jichao also said: "Just follow the advice of Political Commissar Qin." ”

Seeing that everyone agreed with his opinion, Qin Zheng was not polite, and said: "Then it's decided, I will immediately find Zhao Weizhong and ask him to prepare to go south to Shanghai." ”

The opinions were agreed, everyone immediately dispersed, and Qin Zheng immediately sent someone to invite Zhao Weizhong to come. Because Qin Zheng came forward and contacted Zhao Weizhong before, it was still Qin Zheng who received Zhao Weizhong this time.

After the crossing group captured Tianjin City, Zhao Weizhong returned to Tianjin City with the consent of the traverser. He originally had an old house in Tianjin, and three shops, but the old house and a shop had been destroyed in the war, and there were still two shops left, although most of the goods and money were robbed, but the houses were generally well preserved, and most of the furniture was still there, so Zhao Weizhong's family lived in a shop.

Although the losses were heavy, but after all, it was his own industry, it was better than all the losses, and later after Zhao Weizhong's reaction to the crossing group, the foundation of the old house was also approved and returned to Zhao Weizhong, and the loss was much smaller than Zhao Weizhong imagined. And although the business can't be done for the time being, Zhao Weizhong's family can get a subsidy from the crossing group, and they are living well. Zhao Weizhong is also very grateful to this group of overseas Chinese.

And after all, Zhao Weizhong is a person who has done foreign affairs, and he can be regarded as well-informed, although this group of overseas Chinese has not been in Tianjin for a long time, but their style of action is very concise and effective, and they treat the people amiably but not severely, and they are neither blindly hostile nor grovelling, but neither humble nor arrogant, reasonable and disciplined. Full of vigor and vitality, there is no trace of the Qing court's old, redundant, and boring appearance.

The victory of the traverser in the defense of Tianjin also made Zhao Weizhong reassess the strength of this group of overseas Chinese, and even felt that it was a fortunate thing that this group of overseas Chinese came to China at this time, which could help the Qing Kingdom gradually get rid of the suppression of foreigners.

Of course, Zhao Weizhong did not fail to see that this group of overseas Chinese did not seem to have any reverence for the Qing Dynasty, and after capturing Tianjin, they immediately established their own administrative system to include Tianjin in their sphere of influence. However, Zhao Weizhong didn't think there was anything wrong with this, not that Zhao Weizhong was disloyal to the Qing court, but because Zhao Weizhong belonged to the Huai army system.

On the one hand, for a long time, the Huai army was the main national defense force of the Qing court, and in the Sino-French War and the Sino-Japanese War, the main force of the Qing army was the Huai army. On the other hand, from the day the Huai Army was founded, the Qing court's precautions against the Huai Army have never been eliminated, and the development of the Huai Army has been restrained in many ways. And Li Hongzhang, the founder and supreme leader of the Huai Army, the Qing court also used it while defending, although Li Hongzhang was an official and had a high position, but he never entered the military aircraft and ruled the government. Therefore, there is a saying that "those who have not entered the military aircraft and are called Zhongtang, only Li Hongzhang is the only one".

From Zhao Weizhong's point of view, of course, the Qing court was ashamed of the Huai Army, so this group of overseas Chinese did this, in Zhao Weizhong's view, it is also reasonable, if the Huai Army or Li Zhongtang were also so this group of overseas Chinese, the Huai Army's life would be better now.

Zhao Weizhong even hoped that this group of overseas Chinese would better join forces with Li Zhongtang, on the one hand, to help the Qing Dynasty deal with foreigners, and on the other hand, to maintain their own independence, and at the same time to expand the development of foreign affairs, so that they could work in peace and stability for a few more years and accumulate some wealth for retirement.

After receiving Qin Zheng's invitation, Zhao Weizhong did not dare to slack off, hurriedly changed his clothes, and rushed to Gordon Hall, which had been renamed the administrative office building of the Tianjin Provisional Government.

After the two met, Zhao Weizhong bowed down and said, "I've seen Political Commissar Qin." ”

At this time, Zhao Weizhong already knew the official title of the crossing group very well, but he was not used to meeting and shaking hands. Therefore, Qin Zheng also withdrew his hand a little embarrassed, arched his hand with both hands in fists, and said, "Mr. Zhao, don't be polite, sit down." ”

After the two of them sat down, Qin Zheng handed the telegram from Shanghai to Zhao Weizhong, and said with a smile: "There is another call from Shanghai urging you to go south." ”

Zhao Weizhong took the telegram, read it again, and then said, "I don't know how the political commissar plans to reply." ”

In the first two telegrams, although Tianjin replied in the name of Zhao Weizhong, the actual content was drawn up by the traverser, and then handed over to Zhao Weizhong, who changed it into classical Chinese and sent it back to Shanghai. And Zhao Weizhong was also very knowledgeable, he didn't say anything every time, and changed the wording according to the meaning of the traverser, without adding any branches and leaves. Therefore, when he learned that another telegram had arrived from Shanghai, Zhao Weizhong thought that it would be like the previous two times, and this group of overseas Chinese would first draw up the content and then transfer it to him to revise the wording.

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "This time, Mr. Zhao replied to Li Zhongtang himself, saying that you will go south in the near future and rush to Shanghai, please rest assured that Li Zhongtang." ”

Zhao Weizhong was stunned, thinking that he had heard it wrong, and said, "What?"