Xu Jichao said: "But I still have some worries, although it is said that the Eight-Nation Alliance has its own ghosts, and it is unlikely that they will unify their opinions and expand the scale of the war, but Weihai and Qingdao are colonies of Britain and Germany, and we will send troops to capture Weihai and Qingdao, will it completely anger Britain and Germany, even if some countries refuse to increase their troops, but Britain and Germany have jointly sent troops, plus Japan and Russia in Asia, but these four countries cannot be underestimated." ”

Xia Bohai said: "Don't worry about this, we will definitely not pin our hopes on the opponent, even if some countries will send troops alone, but it will take at least three to five months to prepare, and during this time, we can completely gain a foothold in Shandong, even if they send troops, there is no need to be afraid." In addition, no matter which country it is, if it wants to expand the war, it must come from the sea, but for the time being, we have an absolute superiority on the sea, and we can completely annihilate the enemy at sea. ”

After listening to Xia Bohai's speech, Xu Jichao was also greatly relieved and said, "Okay, then let's discuss our conditions." ”

―――――――― Divider ――――――――― Dividing Line――――――――

At nine o'clock in the morning of the next day, Qin Zheng and Wang Yunpeng formally met with Zhang Peilun on behalf of the traverser, and put forward to Zhang Peilun six principled conditions for their own negotiations:

1. This negotiation will be attended by representatives of the Qing court, overseas Chinese, and the Eight-Nation Alliance, rather than the two sides of the Overseas Chinese and the Eight-Nation Alliance. and negotiate a settlement of the situation in China as a whole.

2. During the negotiation period, the two sides will completely cease the war within the limits of the areas they currently occupy, the eight countries will prohibit the sending of additional troops to China, and the scope of activities of the Eight-Nation Coalition will be limited to the Beijing area, while the troops of overseas Chinese will be limited to the Jingu area, and the Qing court may send a small number of troops to the area between Beijing and Tianjin.

3. The Eight-Nation Coalition must unconditionally withdraw from Chinese territory, return all occupied areas to the Qing court, respect the sovereignty of the Qing court, and must not demand compensation or concessions from the Qing court.

4. The losses and injuries caused by the Qing court to the embassies and embassy personnel of various countries in the previous stage, the losses and injuries caused to the Qing court during the occupation of Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and the subsequent diplomatic relations and principles between the Qing court and other countries will be negotiated and negotiated between the Qing court and other countries, and overseas Chinese will not participate in them.

5. The repatriation of soldiers of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces captured by overseas Chinese, compensation, ransom, and other matters shall be settled through negotiations and consultations between the overseas Chinese and the Eight-Nation Allied Forces.

6. The ownership of the area from Tianjin to Dagukou shall be decided by the Qing court through consultation with overseas Chinese, and no country has the right to interfere.

After reading the six conditions put forward by the traversers, Zhang Peilun felt that it was not excessive, on the contrary, he agreed very much, the first article brought the Qing court into this negotiation, not only gave the Qing court a great face, but also gave the Qing court a chance, can take advantage of the victory of overseas Chinese, with relatively superior conditions to carry out peace talks with other countries, at least without reparations, without ceding land. In such a situation, it was quite a good result for the Qing court to be able to achieve such a result.

In addition, Zhang Peilun also thought that Li Hongzhang signed the [Treaty of Shimonoseki] with Japan on behalf of the Qing court, and was accused of being a traitor, and if Li Hongzhang could represent the Qing court and sign a relatively favorable treaty with other countries, it would also be of great benefit to Li Hongzhang's reputation.

The fourth article is to say that overseas Chinese are not unreasonable, because attacking the embassies of various countries in the Qing Dynasty and harming the embassy personnel is indeed a mistake done by the Qing court, and it is reasonable to compensate various countries to a certain extent. Of course, it makes perfect sense for overseas Chinese to bring in the harm done to Beijing by the Eight-Nation Alliance, and it makes perfect sense from a logical point of view; could it be that only the Qing court's harm to the embassies of various countries in the Qing Dynasty is harm, and the harm done by the Eight-Nation Alliance to Beijing is not harm? In fact, Zhang Peilun also understood that this was just a good card for the Qing court to grasp in negotiations with various countries, and in the end it was only a symbolic compensation.

Of course, it seems a bit rude for overseas Chinese to talk to the Qing court about the ownership of Tianjin, but after Zhang Peilun learned about the origin of overseas Chinese, he was also relieved that they were not subjects of the Qing court in the first place, and they had already given a lot of help to the Qing court before, so even if this article was too much, it was not a big deal.

On the whole, Zhang Peilun is very satisfied with these six basic principles, although he is a little stronger, but after all, now that the overseas Chinese are the victorious side, it is natural to occupy the point, and the overseas Chinese have not demanded reparations from various countries, and even did not ask the countries to return the land that they had previously occupied and forcibly leased the Qing court.

However, Zhang Peilun still remembered Li Hongzhang's advice, don't express his stance lightly, and first send the conditions proposed by overseas Chinese to Li Hongzhang for a look. So Zhang Peilun said: "Political Commissar Qin, Director Wang, the conditions proposed by you will be passed on to Lord Zhongtang immediately, and Lord Zhongtang will decide." ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "This is the right thing, but these six are the principles of our negotiation, and at three o'clock today, we will notify the whole country, and each country must reply within ten days whether or not to accept it." ”

When Zhang Peilun heard this, he didn't think much about it, because since this is the principle of negotiation for overseas Chinese, then it is a matter for overseas Chinese to be completely announced, and of course it is inconvenient for him to interfere, and it is reasonable to set a time limit, so what if various countries secretly increase their troops to China under the pretext of negotiation? ”

Qin Zheng said: "Mr. Youqiao, please." ”

After leaving Gordon Hall, Zhang Peilun immediately rushed to the telegraph office and sent the six principles of negotiation proposed by the traverser to Shanghai, and of course sent back his own opinions at the same time.

At this time, Li Hongzhang was also anxiously waiting for news from Tianjin in Shanghai, and he got up at six o'clock this morning, and also sent people to invite Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai to prepare to study the conditions of overseas Chinese together, and at the same time sent Li Jingfang to personally guard the telegraph office, and as soon as the telegram from Tianjin came, it was immediately delivered to Li Hongzhang.

Sure enough, as soon as the telegram arrived in Shanghai, it was immediately received by Li Jingfang, who was the first to see the six principles of negotiation of the traverser, and Li Jingfang's views on these six principles were almost the same as those of Zhang Peilun, and he thought that these six principles were really not excessive, and they were very beneficial to Chunting. So Li Jingfang immediately rushed back to Li Hongzhang's residence and handed the telegram to Li Hongzhang. "Father, it seems that the situation is good this time." ”

Li Hongzhang took the telegram and looked at it, his face couldn't help but change greatly, he smiled bitterly, and said: "It can't be negotiated, it can't be negotiated, the Qing Dynasty is in danger, the Dachun is in danger." ”

Li Jingfang couldn't help but ignore Li Hongzhang's attitude, and said: "Father, why can't we talk about it, I don't think the conditions of overseas Chinese are too harsh, and it is also very beneficial to my Qing Dynasty." ”

Li Hongzhang glanced at Li Jingfang and said, "What do you know?" Then he handed the telegram to Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai, and said, "You two should also take a look." ”

Seeing the contrasting attitudes of their father and son, Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai couldn't help but be a little curious, and hurriedly took the telegram, and the two watched it together.

The content of the telegram was not long, and the two of them not only read the six negotiation principles of the traverser, but also read Zhang Peilun's opinions, but after reading them, they were also speechless for a long time. It's not that the two of them don't have an opinion, but the two of them feel that Li Hongzhang's attitude is a little strange, obviously it is a very good condition, why can't Li Hongzhang talk about it?

Seeing that the two of them were speechless for a long time, Li Hongzhang also knew what the two of them were thinking, sighed, and said, "What do you two think of the negotiation conditions of overseas Chinese?"

Zhou Fu and Sheng Xuanhuai glanced at each other, and Zhou Fu said: "Zhongtang, I think that the conditions of overseas Chinese are upright, and there is no intention of leaving the cabinet, only Article 6 is a little suspicious of overstepping the rules, but this has nothing to do with various countries, why does Zhongtang think that it can't be negotiated?"

Li Hongzhang looked at everyone and said, "You know that if the overseas Chinese are the winners of this battle and the Eight-Nation Alliance is the loser, there is naturally nothing wrong with such conditions. ”

When everyone heard this, they became even more confused, and Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Aren't overseas Chinese the winners?"

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said: "For the time being, the overseas Chinese are naturally the winners, but the countries may not see it this way, in the eyes of the countries, it is not that they are defeated by the overseas Chinese, but they still do not want to fight. ”

After listening to this, everyone understood what Li Hongzhang meant, it turned out that they had indeed regarded the conditions put forward by overseas Chinese as the victors on the battlefield from the perspective of overseas Chinese, and if they were viewed from the standpoint of the victors, these six principles were certainly not excessive.

But now countries do not think that they are losers on the battlefield, because countries do not think that they can't beat overseas Chinese, but they don't want to fight this battle themselves, of course, it is not unreasonable for countries to think so, if countries send troops and reinforcements from within the country, it is really difficult to say whether this battle will be won or lost. From this point of view, if we look at the negotiation conditions put forward by overseas Chinese, it is naturally excessive, then it will definitely not be able to negotiate, and if the two sides cannot negotiate, then they will have no choice but to continue the war.

At this moment, everyone suddenly realized that Li Hongzhang was Li Hongzhang in the end, and his understanding of foreigners was much deeper than that of others, and other people more or less ignored the attitude of foreigners.

At this time, Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Zhongtang, quickly send a telegram to Peilun, let him tell the overseas Chinese, and let the overseas Chinese quickly revise their conditions." ”

When Zhou Fu and Li Jingfang heard this, they both nodded again and again, but Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "It's useless." ”

When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other, and Li Jingfang said, "Father, why is it useless?"