The Qing government's work of clearing diplomatic channels appeared to be very amateurish, and the little progress made was also done by Li Zhongtang in Guangzhou. Now the military expenses of the Eight-Nation Coalition are all paid by each country out of their own pockets, and the real money and silver originally obtained from the robbery were intended to be transported to Tianjin, but they did not expect that in the third batch and the largest amount, they were bizarrely robbed on the way, not to mention hundreds of dead and wounded, and several tons of gold and silver actually disappeared, (in fact, they think that the disappearance is very close to reality, because I used the airship of the base, from the perspective of the aircraft, it is indeed wingless) There is no trace. The aftermath of the "kidnapping night" is still unresolved, and the relationship between the coalition forces and the citizens of Beijing is now similar to that of the American troops in Iraq and the Iraqi believers in later generations, and it is almost impossible to get them to gain mutual trust. It can be said that although the current coalition army has increased to more than 47,000 troops, the garrison area has also expanded several times, and the strength of the army is still overstretched. Now both sides are in a dilemma, and the communication is not the essentials, often the chickens and ducks speak, or the chickens talk with the ducks, and the chickens and ducks do not communicate with the ducks themselves.

At the end of the second month of Lafayette's visit to Jinan, it was already the eleventh lunar month, and a breakthrough was made in the peace negotiations on the question of whether the Great Powers would recognize Li Hongzhang as the Minister of Plenipotentiary Peace of the Qing Government. The British government recognized the Qing government's proposal for peace. Following Britain, France also expressed its agreement on the question of the choice of peacemaker. After Britain, France, the United States, and Russia have all agreed to have Yi Xuan and Li Hongzhang serve as China's election for peace, other countries have also expressed their agreement. From my point of view, I hope that the negotiations will be delayed for a while, and that when Yuan Shikai, the governor has not left his post but is not very concerned with local affairs, it will be convenient for me to control Shandong smoothly, and when the next governor arrives, I will have to face the choice of whether to maintain the status quo or break the net.

Li Hongzhang, the governor of Liangguang who stayed in Jinan for 15 days, received a "signal" from General Manager Li that as long as Cixi was kept, anything could be discussed. In this situation, the countries of Britain, France, the United States and Japan began to weigh the pros and cons. The foreigners gave the names of other culprits other than Cixi, and when Li Hongzhang played the right game to Lafayette, he euphemistically proposed that the imperial court punish these "culprits" in the hearts of the foreigners as soon as possible, so as to prevent the coalition forces from moving south and create conditions for negotiations. Galeries Lafayette was forced to issue two successive edicts to "punish the culprits", but such general official articles were not approved by the foreign powers, and Wadsey even openly proclaimed that if China did not come up with a decision that satisfied the countries, the coalition forces would attack Shandong to capture the real culprits. In addition to demanding the punishment of the culprits, the great powers are also entangled in the question of "when will the two palaces return to Luan". The ministers unanimously demanded that negotiations should begin only after the Chinese Emperor and Empress Dowager returned to Beijing. And Lafayette is like a frightened bird, and he has no idea of returning to Beijing at this time.

Now Li Hongzhang and Yixuan are in a dilemma, and they have to call Yuan Shikai, Rong Lu (who has just arrived in Jinan from Baoding) and others to discuss this matter. Comrade Lao Yuan suddenly remembered that he was his deputy, and he took me with him before going out to visit Lao Zhongtang.

"The two palaces refuse to return to Beijing, and they can't sit down to punish the news of the culprit, the foreigners have a firm position, and the old man is helpless" Li Hongzhang asked his son-in-law Zhang Peilun to introduce the situation, and said to himself, "Please come and discuss how to deal with it next." After speaking, Li Hongzhang was also a little angry, coughed a few times, and sat on the Taishi chair with his eyes closed. It was cold for a while, and King Qing, who was also the minister of peace talks, couldn't continue to pretend to be stupid and cute, so he had to answer.

"Lao Zhongtang has been negotiating with foreigners these days, and his body is tired. If you want to say that this foreigner is not a thing, the emperor and the queen mother finally left the wolf's den, how can they return to the hands of foreigners. As for the conditions, isn't the buying and selling all about asking for a price to pay back? How can you bite to death and not let go? You might as well come up with a strategy first, and then let's bargain with the foreigners, that negotiation. Everyone is an important minister of the court, and they should also share their worries for the court, let's talk about it, let's talk about it. "The words are full of momentum, but the content is not fart, there is an official oil, who are these red tops in the hall who are stupid, no one picks up his stubble.

"Ahem, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if I should say anything below." My family is expanding the army and managing the government, who can practice bench skills with these old zombies, Yuan Shikai saw that I was going to speak, but gave a color that was not obvious, I am still a little grateful, after all, Lao Yuan took me as his own care, but I have repeatedly weighed before speaking,

"Lord Wu, you have also negotiated with foreigners, and you know better than us old people, so you will definitely have a foolproof plan, so you can speak boldly. The prince and Zhongtang are still waiting" Rong Lu saw me speak, and praised violently, but he didn't have a good heart, he is now unlucky to see others go away.

"Lord Rong Lu has won the award, you know that he is a businessman in the next place, he doesn't know how to be an official, and he just puts forward a little shallow opinion from the experience of doing business, and I think Lord Rong must have the pearl of wisdom in his hands. Thanks to your love, I will first follow the foolishness of throwing bricks, and then ask Lord Rong to relieve the worries of the prince and Zhongtang. "I also simply fought back, anyway, this old guy didn't bounce his head for a few days, just to use him to establish my image as a stunned official.

"In fact, Lord Zhongtang's use of razing is the only way to solve this dilemma. I'm not afraid of a few adult jokes, although Tong Su is not bullied when doing business, but sometimes he can't help but do some small tricks. Sometimes in order to sell the product, you have to pull a pull and make a rush to buy in order to force the buyer to place a bet. I didn't wait for Rong Lu, who was trembling with a straight face, to stop me, and put forward my suggestion in one breath: "Since Lord Nakado followed the influence of the Russians and made the countries accept our request for negotiation, we might as well repeat the old trick." This time we added a little bit to him. It was reported that Russia was preparing to supervise the three eastern provinces, and the adults were willing to hand over the three eastern provinces to the Russians in exchange for Russian protection, and that the northern provinces would open their markets to Russia in the future, and at the same time they were ready to move their capitals to Mukden, and put the imperial court under the protection of the Russians, so that they would no longer be threatened by the invasion of Beijing by foreign countries in the future. The second was to invite the representatives of Russia and Germany to make private contacts, and let the newspapers break the news that Russia occupied the three eastern provinces and that Germany had colonized Shandong and Jiangsu, while respecting the special interests of Britain in the Yangtze River valley and France in Guangzhou. From then on, the Qing Dynasty did not want coastal territory, and wholeheartedly asked Germany and Russia to help defend the maritime frontier. ”

"Ah, what if it turns out? Then the nations will negotiate according to this, and the inheritance of our fathers will not be buried in our hands. After listening to my suggestion, Prince Qing was stunned, "Lord Wu, aren't you talking about it?" Looking for old age and so on. ”

"The prince is wrong to blame the lower officials. Xiaguan doesn't dare to play child's play, what Xiaguan said just now is to release the news, since it is not an official document, naturally the Chinese government is not responsible. As for the newspaper breaking the news, it is even more nonsense, when we only need to catch a few newspaper operators, how can foreigners tolerate me? ”

"If the foreigners are serious, and negotiate according to this blueprint, do they really want to cede the land of the ancestors of Longxing? Isn't this disregard for our ancestors? Sure enough, Rong Lu got this opportunity. Hats are flying all over the sky, I pouted, and said in my heart, the first to sell the land of Longxing to Lao Maozi was also your holy ancestor Kangxi, the Treaty of Nebuchu was not signed by the Han emperor, you have sold your hometown for more than 100 years, ah, the piecemeal betrayal of the country is called negotiation, and I once sold the three eastern provinces and became a villain who disregarded his ancestors.

"If this is the case, of course, Germany and Russia are happy to jump high, but it is Britain and France who are in charge, and they can only keep the rights they have now, and watch Germany and Russia eat with their mouths full of oil, is it possible? Besides, the United States advocates all-round opening up, and Japan has been coveting the three eastern provinces for a day or two. I continued, "Even if we are willing to sell, Britain, France, the United States and Japan will not let them eat it." In addition, Li Zhongtang has been working hard all day long, does he need to recuperate for a while. What I just said is just the old technique of killing three soldiers with two peaches, and it is really difficult to enter the ears of Lord Rong, so you might as well let me wait to hear Lord Rong's high opinion, it must be a clever plan to repel millions of foreign soldiers. ”

"You, you fortunate minister, old man and me..."

I also straightened up, I dare to cut him if the old man Rong dares to make a move, Lao Tzu's good guy in his twenties can't beat him an old man in his sixties, and moving the bench can be regarded as a bully for the masters.

"Hmm" Li Zhongtang coughed lightly, and the room immediately became orderly, and several red-topped people sat upright in their respective positions, each with a poker face, and did not say a word.

"Sure enough, it is a hero from ancient times, although Lord Wu's plan is a bit risky, but it is easy for tens of thousands of foreigners to enter Beijing and difficult to leave Beijing, and they are now eager to find steps to step down. Lord Wu's analysis is roughly the same as the current form of the nations, the great powers have their own demands, and it is common for the coalition forces to tilt within the alliance, and it is completely feasible to get the foreigners to take the initiative to lower the conditions through false news. "Li Zhongtang's words can be regarded as a stop for today's zombie meeting, but God knows if I will be allowed to participate in the next meeting.

"Is Lao Maozi reliable?" Qing Wangye was also uncertain, and took advantage of the empty boat to cross the lake and leaned into my ear and said, "Brother Chenxuan, let me tell you, Lao Zhongtang has suffered a big loss from Lao Maozi, you didn't know back then, and you almost didn't let the old man's gang of Qingliu scold to death." Now I want to let Lao Maozi help build momentum, and I won't be cheated, right? ”

"Lord Wang, rest assured." I sat at the stern of the boat with this wrinkled old brother and the prince, the lord Li Zhongtang and Rong Lu, Yuan Datou and others at the bow of the boat were chanting poems to enjoy the scenery, I and Qing Wangye were not too lazy to be vassals and elegant, so they simply sat together at the stern of the boat to drink tea and eat snacks, during which Yuan Shikai also came to dip a garlic as the host, and asked An Hou to see that I and Qing Wangye could chat in the alley, so I turned back to the bow to accompany Li Hongzhang and Rong Lu.

"Li Zhongtang is an old connoisseur in negotiations, and the Empress Dowager has been entrusted with full powers, and the lower officials think that this time Lord Zhongtang will never go again, and the prince can rest assured that he will follow suit." I bit the words of the old connoisseur a little harder, Qing Wangye was stunned for a moment, and then a knowing smile gradually bloomed, and the chrysanthemum pattern of a long face was clearly visible, and he twisted his beard and said: "It's clear, Brother Chenxuan!" ”