On February 20 of the first year of Guangxu, only more than two months after the death of Emperor Tongzhi, the tortured Empress Xiaozhe finally died with hatred at the age of 22. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Soon after, an edict came out of the palace, the full text of which is as follows:

The Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces: Empress Xiaozhe is filial piety, cautious and gentle, and serves the Empress Dowager of the Two Palaces. At this moment, he will pass away; It is more than 100 days since the great funeral of the Emperor Daxing, and it has been more than 100 days since this change, what a pain!

Written in Shoukang Palace to collect the memorial ceremony, the selection date to move to the Yongsi Palace for a while, all matters by the Prince Gong Yi?? Together with the Minister of Funeral Rites, and the yamen will investigate the routine case, and properly prepare for the performance at any time.

"Tongzhi" ended, and was replaced by the dictatorship of the Empress Dowager Cixi.

In the fourth year of Guangxu, the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains were safe, and the Prime Minister Yamen naturally wanted to claim back Ili. In the tenth year of Tongzhi, Xinjiang returned to turmoil, and Russia took the opportunity to send troops from Siberia to occupy Ili. Prime Minister Yamen sent a note to Russia, questioning the reasons for the invasion.

The Russian government replied beautifully, saying that it was to recover Ili on its behalf, and as long as the Chinese government ordered it, it would naturally return it once it could carry out Ili.

The Russian government put forward two conditions: the Chinese government should be able to protect the security of the future frontier and at the same time reimburse Russia for the government expenses it had spent on Ili over the years. Zeng Jize is in the UK, Chen Lanbin is in the United States, Li Fengbao is in Germany, He Ruzhang is in Japan, and Guo Songtao has not been handed over for a long time and is unwilling to go out of the mountain.

There is only one who has been a minister of trade for a long time and has been an envoy to France. The prime minister's ten ministers of the Yamen, the head of the house is Shen Guifen, he tried his best to protect the respect, and the head naturally followed, so at the end of the year, Chonghou was sent to Russia as a servant of the ministry.

The Manchurian ministers are familiar with the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and Chonghou knows that this "begging Jingzhou" envoy is not trivial, and the Eastern Wu will not succeed in seeking Jingzhou, and both sides will be defeated, so they must not make this mistake.

Observing the situation tacitly, he thought that the people's morale was open, and Zuo Juexiang was making great contributions in the west, and he could bring Yili back, and the dignity of the court could be preserved, and he would have an explanation for the Qing Dynasty, as for suffering a little loss in secret, it didn't matter.

Therefore, as soon as he arrived in Petersburg, the negotiations with the Russian "Foreign Ministry Shang" Geers went quite smoothly, and in less than half a year, Russia agreed to return Ili.

However, the 18-article treaty, except for Article 1 "Russia is willing to return Ili to China" and Article 18 stipulates the procedure for the exchange of the treaty, the other 16 articles are all obligations to be fulfilled by China, including compensation of 5 million rubles for military expenses.

The land west and south of Ili was ceded to 1,000 or hundreds of li, Russian merchants did not have to pay taxes on goods to and from the north and south roads of the Tianshan Mountains, and Russian merchants could trade with Xi'an, Hanzhong, Hankou and other places from Jiayuguan.

The full text of the eighteen articles of the treaty was telegraphed back from the capital of Russia, and Prince Gong did not look like he was talking, and he was not allowed to reply to the telegram.

But Chonghou, in the capacity of a "plenipotentiary minister", had already signed a treaty with the Russian Foreign Ministry in Livardia, near the Black Sea. At the same time, he left for China, leaving Counselor Shao Youlian in Petersburg as acting minister.

This matter was extremely absurd and confusing, but as soon as it broke out, the Prime Minister Yamen from Prince Gong down had no problems, so Shen Guifen contacted Dong Sui and obtained Baojun's support.

Xiang Gong said that the case should be tried to be recovered in secret, and he asked him to send Zuo Zongtang, Li Hongzhang, and Shen Baozhen for detailed planning and confidential consideration.

Zuo Zongtang's duties were related to his responsibilities and he should be advisers, and Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, and Shen Baozhen, the governor of Liangjiang, have become important ministers at home and abroad.

The recital of the trifecta has not yet arrived in Beijing, and the truth of the sublime loss of power and humiliation of the country can no longer contain the fire in the paper, Qingliu is all indignant, Wang Renkan takes the lead, and Sheng Yu continues to attack. Soon Chonghou returned to China, and when he arrived in Tianjin, he did not dare to return to Beijing.

Shen Guifen is the identity of the recommender, so she is naturally concerned, and secretly sent someone to Tianjin to meet with Chonghou, and asked about the experience, and Chonghou himself knew that he was wrong.

The matter was helpless, so he had to rush to issue an edict first, but he didn't want to point out that his negotiations were ridiculous, and the "crime that he wanted to add" was: "Chonghou was ordered to send an envoy, did not wait for the edict, and set off to return to Beijing without authorization. ”

As for the "Statutes of the Treaties under Discussion, and the various folds of the Prime Minister's National Affairs Yamen, the Scholars, the Six Ministries and the Nine Secretaries, and the Han Zhan Kedao, are properly discussed and played. ”

On the first day, he sent an edict, and Chonghou entered Beijing from Tianjin the next day, invited Sheng'an at the palace gate, and then went home and thought about it behind closed doors.

The next day, the Russian chargé d'affaires in China, Kai Yangde, rushed to the prime minister's yamen in a rage, saying that according to the public law of all nations, there is no reason to punish the crime of nobility, and to do so is an insult to Russia.

This time it was Dong Sui who received him. Hearing Kaiyangde's protest, he was greatly surprised, "The two countries are fighting each other, and they will not kill the envoys", and it is not the crime of dealing with your Russian minister, why do you ask?

However, he has been the "housekeeper wife" of the prime minister's yamen for many years, dealing with foreigners, and has a set of tricks for only smiling faces and not arguing, so on the one hand, he is vain with the snake, and on the other hand, he is looking for someone to discuss, and it is said that there is such a precedent in international negotiations.

Fortunately, there are excuses.

"Your envoy has misunderstood." He explained to Kai Yangde through an interpreter, "The reason why my country is guilty of noble sin is because he did not wait for the edict and set off to return to China without permission. This is our internal rectification and has nothing to do with your country's representations. ”

This explanation finally stood up in theory, and Kai Yangde was helpless and walked away.

Dong Sui had an idea, thinking that it was just a good way to suppress public opinion, so he discussed with Shen Guifen, asked people to come over, and greeted Qingliu and Yanguan everywhere:

The situation of the imperial court is very difficult, you must be patient, and you must not make trouble again, otherwise you don't know how to take measures to change the treaty, and Kaiyang De has extraneous branches, and there are disputes, which is not a blessing for the country.

So the cabinet meeting was suppressed.

However, the eighteen articles of the treaty have been seen in the Di copy, Zhang Zhidong, who likes to make discussions and go to the article, looks like a good topic, and he does not sleep for two days and two nights, and writes a 3,000-word recital, which is a single title, saying that "if you don't change this proposal, you can't do it for the country", and there are four ways to change the proposal: planning, vigor, management, and planning.

The purpose of the decision is to "borrow people's heads" to show determination, believing that Chonghou has reached the point where "everyone in the country can be killed", and "Fu Wangna will be handed over to the Criminal Department, and the punishment will be punished, and the crimes of the envoys can be Dudu the mouth of the Russians", so "if you punish Chonghou, you will be decided".

The so-called "vigorous" is an edict to China and foreign countries, accusing Russia of being wronged.

The next suggestion is to put Ili aside, and there is no need to rush to take it back, then the treaty that Chonghou has promised has not been approved by the emperor, just like the princes of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, who will meet the alliance but not shed blood, which is not enough to rely on. This is the "manager". (To be continued.) )