After leaving Chita, Witt and his party took the train for another four days and finally arrived in Harbin. At this time, Qin Zheng had already arrived in Harbin for 5 days.

After a day's rest for Witt and his entourage, negotiators from both sides met formally for the first time to discuss the details of the negotiations.

After the two sides met, Qin Zheng first stretched out his hand to Werther, and said with a smile: "Mr. Werther, welcome to Harbin." ”

Witt was stunned for a moment, feeling that this was a little awkward, he was not here to visit, what was there to welcome? Is it difficult to make it difficult for East China to be able to obtain compensation in the negotiations, so he is welcome to come? Or do he think too much, this is originally an ordinary diplomatic word, although these thoughts are turning in his heart, but Witt's movements are not slow, he stretched out his hand to shake Qin Zheng, and said: "Mr. Qin, I have heard of a great name for a long time." I hope that this negotiation between me and Mr. Qin will end the war between us and reach peace. ”

Qin Zheng said, "Does Mr. Witt really hope that peace can be reached this time?"

"Of course, I'm here for peace this time," Witt said. ”

Qin Zheng smiled and said, "It's not difficult to reach peace, as long as the Russian side accepts our conditions, the war can end, and peace will be reached immediately." ”

Witte was stunned for a moment, Qin Zheng's words were too arrogant, it seems that Russia will only be slaughtered by East China? He has not yet answered, and his assistant Sergeev himself said: "It is too unreasonable for you to say this, it seems that Russia has completely lost this war, and now that the negotiations have not yet taken place, is it that we have already decided that we can only accept the conditions you put forward?"

Qin Zheng said: "I know that such a statement will be difficult for you to accept, but people always have to face the reality, the war between us has reached this point, who wins and who loses is very clear, I don't think that the Russian side still has any capital to bargain with us, so I think fully accepting our conditions is the best choice for the Russian side." ”

At this point, Witt couldn't help but say something, otherwise he would be too weak, so he said: "Mr. Qin, I admit that in the previous war, East China** It does occupy a certain advantage, but it is too rash to determine that Russia is the loser, our Russia is not Japan, it has a vast territory and a huge population and rich resources, we still have 800,000 regular troops in the European direction, and more than 2 million reserve troops, so we still have the strength to fight again, if Russia concentrates the resources of the whole country into the battle, then it is difficult to say who will win and who will lose, Russia decided to negotiate with you for the sake of peace, but please do not regard Russia's goodwill as weakness, let alone think that it has defeated Russia。 ”

Qin Zheng sneered and said, "If that's the case, then I don't think there is any need to negotiate now, Mr. Witt, please go back." ”

Werther was stunned for a moment and said, "What... What?"

Qin Zheng said: "I mean, we don't have a consensus on the outcome of the war now, so there is no need to negotiate, but to continue the war until one side completely admits defeat, so this time we can only let Mr. Werther run for nothing." ”

Witte couldn't help but be a little confused, although he didn't have confidence in this negotiation, but he didn't expect it to end like this, and the talks hadn't even started yet? And looking at Qin Zheng's appearance, it didn't look like he was intimidating, as long as he didn't give in, I am afraid that the talks would not be able to be completed. If Zisi ended the negotiations like this, then he would not have explained to the tsar when he returned to St. Petersburg, but now he could not give in to Qin Zheng and admit the defeat of Russia, so Witte thought for a while and said: "I think there is no point in arguing about the outcome of this war now, we are here to negotiate for peace, not to discuss the outcome of this war, so I don't think there is any need for us to continue this topic, let's discuss the matter of negotiation." ”

Qin Zheng smiled slightly and said, "Okay, let's talk, we are welcome at any time, fight, and we will accompany us to the end, even if Mr. Witt chooses to negotiate, then let's talk about it first." ”

Witte also breathed a sigh of relief, no matter what, the negotiations could still go on, so that the negotiations broke down, and he was not responsible.

So the next day, the two sides began formal negotiations. However, at the beginning of the negotiations, Qin Zheng handed Witte a folder and said: "Mr. Witt, this is our conditions, if the Russian side accepts these conditions, then we can sign a contract and reach peace; if the Russian side cannot accept these conditions, then this negotiation can be declared broken." ”

Werther's body trembled slightly, he didn't expect Qin Zheng's attitude to be so tough, whether they felt that they had already settled on Russia, or they didn't want to negotiate at all, so they deliberately put on such a tough posture.

In fact, Qin Zheng has been ready for the breakdown of this negotiation, because the attack on Jinzhou shows that Russia has not completely surrendered, and wants to try its best to fight for it, it seems that the blow caused by the last customs closure operation to Russia is not enough, and it is also necessary to carry out a more severe and stronger blow to Russia, only in this way can we completely defeat Russia's luck and honestly accept the conditions of East China.

Werther reached out and took the folder, and instead of opening it immediately, he said, "Can't we dispute these terms?"

Qin Zheng smiled: "Of course you can, but we won't change anything, if we want to reach a peace agreement, we must accept our conditions, otherwise it will be war." ”

Witt nodded and said, "I see." With that, he opened the folder and watched.

I saw that the first article was that Russia would pay 1 billion rubles in reparations to East China, which would be converted into pounds, francs, dollars, and Deutsche marks. Witte was also taken aback, 1 billion rubles is equivalent to about 94.6 million pounds, which is more than the reparations of Britain, France, Japan and the Netherlands. East China** is really a lion opening its mouth.

And the second is that Russia will give Sakhalin Island (Sakhalin Island), as well as the territory of the Heilongjiang River, the eastern and southern banks of the Amur River, and Temple Street (Nikolaevsk) to the jurisdiction of East China**. This one did not exceed Wirther's expectations, after all, now that East China has taken Amur City, it is impossible to let go of Temple Street. And the area on the east bank of the Amur River is actually occupied by most of East China, so Russia has not lost much, and Sakhalin Island (Sakhalin) is isolated overseas, and it is also a place that Russia is unable to defend, the only thing that has some value is Temple Street (Nikolaevsk), after the loss of Vladivostok, Temple Street (Nikolaevsk) is Russia's only port in the Far East, but Temple Street (Nikolaevsk) is in a frozen period for at least 5 months of the year, and the symbolic significance is greater than the actual value.

The content of Article 3 is that the sovereignty of the Heilongjiang-Amur River basin belongs to East China, and Russia is not allowed to build ports, wharves and other facilities on the northwest bank of the Heilongjiang-Amur River without the permission of East China, and the route and site selection of the embankment must be negotiated with East China.

The fourth is that Russia will hand over the sovereignty of the Amur-Vladivostok section of the Eastern Railway and the Aberian Railway to East China**.

Although the Heilongjiang-Amur River basin is an important river transport route in the Russian Far East, after losing a large number of Far Eastern cities, Russia's strength in the Far East has been greatly reduced, and the utilization rate of this waterway will not be too high.

The next clauses are about the economic and trade exchanges between the two sides, tax rates, etc., and these parts are not too controversial and are acceptable.

After reading it, Witte couldn't help but smile bitterly, although Qin Zheng's attitude was tough, in fact, on the whole, this draft clause was basically what Witte expected, and Russia could accept it, and to be honest, this was also Russia's smallest loss. As a matter of fact, although Qin Zheng was ready for the breakdown of this negotiation, he could not give up completely, in case Russia did not intend to be tough? Therefore, when drawing up the terms, he also carefully considered them, and basically put forward reasonable demands, but did not really put forward conditions that Russia could not accept, and if Russia accepted the fact of defeat and really negotiated in good faith, it should accept these terms, and they should not be amended at all. It's a pity that Witte received an order from the Tsar, which explicitly forbade the payment of indemnities and the cession of land, so this negotiation was actually unnegotiable.

And Witt knows it all too well. After the breakdown of this negotiation, the two sides launched a war again, and the losing side could only be Russia, although Witte did not understand military affairs, but he knew that the current situation in Russia was not able to fight a war with the already inadequate, because Russia had no money, and now it was all dependent on blood transfusions from Britain and France to sustain itself, so what could it do to fight a war with East China? Therefore, when the two sides negotiated again after the war was over, Russia would probably face a more harsh and more costly treaty than this one.

Thinking of this, Werther was naturally quite depressed in his heart, Bi Jing was still a responsible person, of course he didn't want to see Russia so unlucky, but Werther couldn't do anything about it. Therefore, he said: "Well, I have understood your attitude, but whether or not to accept this treaty, I need to ask the country, and I hope to give me a little time." ”

Qin Zheng nodded, this request was not excessive, so he said, "Okay, is it enough to give you 48 hours." ”

Witt thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "48 hours is too short, I hope it's 72 hours." ”

Qin Zheng said: "Okay, then 72 hours, it's 9 o'clock in the morning, and 3 days later, 9 o'clock in the morning is the final deadline." If you refuse, or if you have not yet made a decision, we will also consider it a refusal. ”

Witt nodded and said, "Okay." ”