Komura Shoutaro sent the results of the talks back to China, and after reading them, the Japanese Government's Katsura Taro Cabinet was very satisfied, because the two sides had reached a certain foundation on the intention of cooperation, and if the two sides could really negotiate cooperation, Japan would be greatly emboldened in the confrontation with Russia.

In the eyes of the Japanese Government, the conditions put forward by the overseas Chinese are not unacceptable, and the fact that the overseas Chinese have put forward these demands shows that the overseas Chinese really have the intention of cooperating with Japan, and if the overseas Chinese do not mention any conditions, there will be a problem. In addition, Japan's primary goal now is to secure its own interests on the Korean Peninsula. As for China's northeast region, the Japanese government elite now knows very well that Britain, the United States, Germany, and France will not allow Japan to monopolize China's northeast region. Therefore, if the Russian army is defeated, Japan does not intend to seize the northeast region of China, but ensures that its own garrison and commercial interests in the northeast are enough, so that not only the overseas Chinese have nothing to say, but also can ensure Japan's presence and influence in the northeast region of China, and then wait for the right time.

Today's Japan has not yet reached the point where the whole country is crazy in the old time and space, and there are also desperate gambling behaviors, but it is also based on careful planning, On the one hand, Japan's current strength is not strong, and it was only the Qing court that defeated the paper tiger seven years ago, and this victory can certainly boost the morale of the whole of Japan, but the elites know that the persuasiveness of this victory is not strong, and Japan's position in the world can only avoid being squeezed into the status of a second-rate power, and compared with Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, there is still a considerable distance; on the other hand, most of the elites who emerged during the Meiji Restoration are still alive, and most of these people have a world vision, and have experienced the process of turning Japan from weak to strong, and have experienced 30 years of military and political experience, and have a strategic vision, far more than their juniors. Understand the principle that only when you give away can you get something, and you can receive it when you see it.

Although at some times, some Japanese soldiers had a very loud voice, shouted fiercely, and wanted to fight all over the world, but that was just a means of political bargaining, in order to compete for the prime minister's throne, at this time the Japanese soldiers were still very self-aware, after the First Sino-Japanese War, Russia, France and Germany intervened to return Liao, Japan quickly relented, and the military was honest and did not speak, and no one dared to call for war with Russia, France and Germany.

The overseas Chinese proposed that the two sides adopt the form of a secret treaty, and after consultations, the Japanese government also thought that it was feasible, first, that Japan and Britain formed an alliance, which had aroused Russia's vigilance and strong backlash, and it sent six battleships to the Far East at once, so that Japan suddenly felt the pressure was great, and also saw the strong strength of the world's first-class power, so if Japan and overseas Chinese openly formed an alliance, it is not known that Russia will make any stronger and more crazy moves, even if it is not impossible to start a war in advance, but at this time Japan is not completely prepared, it is better not to provoke Russia too much。 、

Second, it is a secret treaty, that is, it cannot be made public, and if it is made public, it can not be recognized, so it also gives Japan a lot of room for maneuver, although Japan does not intend to annex Northeast China after the war, but if conditions permit, it is not bad to cut a piece of meat from it to fill its appetite. In addition, the location has already been thought of in Japan, that is, the Liaodong Peninsula, and in Japan's view, this is originally Japan's place, so it is completely reasonable to take back its own place after defeating Russia. Anyway, if Russia is defeated, there will be no need for overseas Chinese.

Therefore, the Japanese government immediately ordered Komura Shoutaro to immediately hold formal talks with overseas Chinese, and to sign an agreement with overseas Chinese in his private name.

After receiving the order from China, Komura Shoutaro immediately started formal negotiations with Li Sanjie, and after several days of negotiations, the two sides finally reached four agreements:

1. The Government of Japan and the Government of East China respect each other's rights and interests, the Government of East China recognizes Japan's special interests in the Imperial Peninsula, and Japan recognizes that the sovereignty of the Northeast region belongs to China and guarantees that it will never encroach on these areas;

2. The two sides should share information on the Russian side, support and cooperate with each other in the international arena, and establish a mechanism for informing each other before major operations;

3. In the event of an attack by either of the two sides, the other side shall send troops into the war, and if either side takes the initiative to attack Russia, the other side shall enter the war only if it sends an invitation to the other side;

4. This Agreement is a confidential agreement and neither party may disclose it to the outside world, and may deny this agreement to the outside world. P.S. Since Japan has an alliance agreement with Great Britain, this article does not apply to Great Britain.

After receiving the terms of the agreement, the Japanese Government was very satisfied, and the first two items were mutual transactions between the two sides, with the emphasis on the third article, because overseas Chinese and Russia had no direct contact, so when Russia took the initiative to attack, it could only attack Japan first, and Japan would have the bottom in its mind if it had this article; and if Japan took the initiative to attack Russia, it would depend on the situation on the battlefield whether it was necessary to invite overseas Chinese to send troops.

Of course, Japan did not have other thoughts, and overseas Chinese may also have similar ideas, but the implementation of the agreement still depends on the situation of the club, but this is equal to both sides, and Guan Jian still depends on the government's diplomatic maneuvering ability.

So under the instructions of Komura Shoutaro in China, he and Li Sanjie negotiated in a private name and signed an agreement called [Li Xiaomi Covenant] by later generations.

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Komura Shoutaro took the secret agreement and rushed back to Japan to report, and at this time, someone visited Qingdao again, this time it was Yuan Shikai, the new governor of Zhili in the Qing court.

It turned out that Russia had violated the [Treaty on the Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces] and put forward harsh additional conditions to the Qing court, and at the same time sent a diplomatic note to the Qing court, hoping that the Qing court would agree to Russia's conditions, and also threatened that if the Qing court refused to accept Russia's terms, Russia would refuse to implement the [Treaty on the Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces] At the same time, it will also send troops to occupy the areas where it has withdrawn its troops, and march south again; if the Qing court accepts Russia's terms, Russia will not only continue to withdraw its troops as agreed, but will also be willing to help the Qing court, such as providing loans, building railways, and fighting against Britain and Japan. He also met privately with some officials of the Qing court, bribed him with money, and asked them to speak up for Russia.

So there are also people in the court who speak out, thinking that Russia's conditions should be accepted, although these conditions are indeed harsh, but after all, the Northeast can be recovered, and if Russia's conditions are rejected, not only will the Northeast not be recovered, but Russia will really send troops to war, then the Qing Dynasty will be really dangerous.

However, at this time, the envoys of Britain, the United States and Japan also sent diplomatic notes to the Qing court, asking the Qing court to refuse to accept the conditions put forward by Russia, and at the same time supporting the Qing court to demand that Russia continue to fulfill the [Treaty of Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces].

And this time the Qing court is a little dilemma, after all, neither side can be offended, although most people are biased towards the side of Britain, the United States and Japan, on the one hand, because the international image of Britain, the United States and Japan is better than that of Russia, and if Russia continues to fulfill the [Treaty of Settlement of the Three Eastern Provinces] Of course, it couldn't be better, but now after all, Russia occupies the northeast, and it must not leave, and the Qing court has no way to take him, although Britain, the United States and Japan say that they support the Qing court, but no one dares to guarantee that it can support it to that point, and to be honest, the Qing court does not trust that country now.

Just when the imperial court was undecided, Li Hongzhang suggested that it would be better to send people to inquire about overseas Chinese to see their attitudes, if there was really a war with Russia in the future, the Qing court could only rely on overseas Chinese.

So Chunting issued an order and ordered Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, to go to Qingdao and meet with overseas Chinese. The reason why this errand was assigned to Yuan Shikai was because the Qing court had already issued an order to Yuan Shikai to send troops to quell the rebellion of Jing Tingbin, Zhao Sanduo, Li Zhuangyong and other boxers in the south of Zhili, and because the location of this time the rebellion was at the junction of the three provinces of Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, it was possible to lead the war to Shandong Province, so it was necessary to reach a certain understanding with overseas Chinese, on the one hand, to facilitate the suppression of bandits, and on the other hand, to avoid misunderstandings. Yuan Shikai can just do these two things together.

On the way back to Beijing from Xi'an, Jing Tingbin, Zhao Sanduo, Li Zhuangyong and others ambushed the Qing court's team halfway, which frightened Cixi, but this attack greatly increased the prestige of Jing, Zhao, Li and others, and the Qing court was in a hurry to return to Luan at that time, and after arriving in Beijing, it needed a certain period of stability, so it dragged on for another two or three months without action. This gives them plenty of time to develop.

As a result, the power of Jing, Zhao, Li and others expanded rapidly in these 2 or 3 months, and the number of troops has reached more than 70,000 people, and swept Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, more than 20 state capitals, the Qing court's Henan governor Zhang Renjun, Shanxi governor Yuxian have twice sent troops to suppress, but they have been defeated by Jing Tingbin, Zhao Sanduo, Li Zhuangyong and others, and now they have captured 7 county seats, 2 state cities, and the momentum is quite amazing. And the Qing court no longer dared to despise the remnants of this group of boxers, so Cixi personally made the decision and ordered Yuan Shikai to lead the Beiyang New Army to attack and quell the rebellion.

At this time, Yuan Shikai has been training for 5 years, and the Beiyang New Army has also expanded from more than 7,000 people to more than 25,000 people from the small station, during the Gengzi National Revolution, the Beiyang New Army did not participate in the war, although the Chunting Court has no longer pursued the matter, but it is also quite criticized, so Yuan Shikai also intends to take the opportunity of this quelling to show the Qing court the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang New Army, but first of all, we must solve the relationship with overseas Chinese, after all, this battle is carried out on the border of Shandong, and it is very likely to spread to Shandong。

So after receiving the order of the Qing court, Yuan Shikai immediately handed over the preparations for sending troops to Xu Shichang, Wang Shizhen, Duan Qirui and others to complete, while he took Feng Guozhang and Cao Kun to Qingdao to meet with overseas Chinese.