Entered the old De Wangfu, Mr. Li was waiting in front of the door, Li Zhongtang and Qing Wangye entered the wing room as the chief and deputy ministers of the peace talks, Rong Lu and I were waiting in the middle hall, fortunately, Mr. Li greeted the tea and snacks to serve, so that I was able to eat a lot of food in addition to the luck of the two of Rong Lu, but the taste of the dim sum is very familiar, a look at the pad paper under the dim sum, it is really a product of Mintian Food Factory, these salesmen are also a little good, A food factory that had just opened for half a year actually took advantage of Lafayette's tour of Jinan to put its products into the inner court and turned it into a tribute. Well, remember to give a bonus to these boys when you go back.

Later, I learned from the mouth of General Manager Li that King Qing really deserved to be the iron hat king of the first corpse vegetarian meal in the Qing Dynasty, and praised Li Hongzhang's countermeasures, in addition to the good words except for the packing ticket, Cixi saw that the two ministers' insights were highly unified, she played palace fights and power struggles, and she may not be a layman in provoking the people to fight the masses, and in terms of international politics, she is a garlic pounding mortar-purely a mallet, and there is no good choice except for believing in Li Hongzhang and Yi Xuan.

Li Zhongtang immediately assigned the task after coming out of the wing room with a serious face, and the two ministers of peace talks naturally wanted to hold friendly consultations with foreign friends who occupied the capital to dry their quilts, and as for letting the wind behind the scenes, stirring up the news in the press, and putting pressure on Britain, the United States, France, and Germany to sit down at the negotiating table, the errand fell on my head unexpectedly.

Li Zhongtang's original words were, "Lord Wu is clever and worthy of a heavy responsibility, and this errand of fishing in troubled waters will definitely be able to live up to the trust with the ability of Lord Wu." The old man recommended you to the Queen Mother, and the Queen Mother has already given her permission, so please do your best to Lord Wu. ”

"That's it, Lord Wu, you have a lot of dealings with foreigners, and you have returned from overseas, and you are like looking at the palm prints of the rules and minds of the people of Fanbang. Besides, since Lord Wu can think of it with Lord Zhongtang, he must already have a good idea of how to build momentum, and when it is done in the future, don't forget the power of this king's recommendation, and I must invite this king to drink three cups. Qing Wangye had a teachable expression of underbeating.

"Wu Daren is both civil and military, and he is well versed in this, and the lower officials also think that Wu Daren is indeed the best person to do such things." Yuan Datou nodded and smiled at me while agreeing, with a hateful face of elders praising juniors. You say that you praise me, but no matter how you listen to it, it sounds like Wu Yuhan's specialty is fanning the flames and sowing discord, and he is a complete villain, pure scum.

"The lower officials also think that Li Zhongtang knows people and is good at his duties, and Lord Wu is indeed good at instigating cough and coughing, and is good at building momentum, and he is really a master among the hundred officials who are good at this." Rong Lu naturally wouldn't let go of this opportunity, put on a posture of harmony, and gave me a thumbs up, almost writing "I'm optimistic about you" on the door of his head.

After some preparations, I sent telegrams and letters to Zhu Zhiyao in Shanghai, and then I personally went to the capital, made an appointment with Counselor Somoset, and a 3,000-pound HSBC cashier's check, and smoothly connected with Dou Nale and handed him the draft of the Russian secret treaty that I had concocted according to historical records. I don't know what the old man Dou Nale thinks, but now the queen's attitude towards the polar bear is very vigilant, so I have to pay attention to the "pro-British" faction among the Qing officials, and I can get the draft of the secret treaty from the Qing government. Officialdom has always been "good at the top, and the lower must follow", and the officials of the British Empire are no exception, and soon this news spread in Dongjiaomin Lane, and the old Maozi's Governor Alekseev's categorical denial is more like circumstantial evidence for this matter, and the Japanese are even more anxious to jump their feet, and Komura Shotaro, a Japanese negotiator from Chinese nationality, made an appointment with Governor Aleksaiev at the Six Nations Hotel, and as a result, the big nose and the small nose almost didn't pinch on the spot. Komura considered the Russians' denial to be completely insincere, and hoped that Governor Alekseev would issue a formal message within the coalition forces assuring that Russia would not seek special interests in Manchuria and that the existing interests of the coalition powers, primarily Japan, in North China would be respected. This is equivalent to sealing the claws of the polar bear, although the bearded Governor Alekseev does not know whether there is a secret agreement in the country, but this is equivalent to giving up the Tsar's Yellow Russia plan, even if he is the Tsar's own uncle, he cannot be forgiven, so he sternly refused the request to make a statement. The two quarreled until a few years ago, when the Russians tried to pull France and Germany together to exclude Japan, and Komura was also angry, so if it weren't for Dou Nale and the German minister, Governor Alekseev would have thrown white gloves on Komura's cake face, and Komura almost took out his ribs to trim the beard.

A few days later, the news that Russia was preparing to supervise the three eastern provinces suddenly came to the Shanghai newspapers, which caused great uneasiness in Japan, Britain, the United States, France, and other countries, and in addition, Li Hongzhang was old and frail and fell ill in Jinan Province due to overwork.

In this way, on the day before Christmas in the West, the ministers of the eight countries and 11 countries, including Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, handed over the "Outline of the Peace Conference" to the Qing prince, and the great powers demanded a quick reply from the Qing government.

Finally, on January 23, 1801, Li Zhongtang and Qing Wang Ye Yixuan signed the "Outline of Peace" with the approval of Lafayette Cixi. Li Hongzhang, who knew that his time was short, wanted to end the negotiations as soon as possible. On behalf of the Qing government, he demanded that all countries withdraw their troops at an early date, but the attitude of all countries was that they must see with their own eyes the punishment of the culprits and that the amount of compensation must be set, otherwise they will never withdraw their troops. Forced into a corner, Cixi had no choice but to issue a decree to punish the culprits for the fourth time, which began to be implemented on the third day of the first month of the first lunar year. The punishment basically met the requirements of all countries. After Lafayette cut off more than 120 of his relatives and ministers like cutting melons and vegetables in one go, the turmoil about punishing the culprits in various countries gradually subsided. But then, the issue of reparations has become the key to peace negotiations between China and foreign countries, which is the ultimate core of concern for all countries.

Lao Maozi naturally didn't understand what politeness was, and took the lead in asking for compensation of 130 million taels of silver. In Germany, a rising imperialist country, Kaiser Wilhelm's dream was to build a naval fleet to compete with Britain, so the German minister did not blush and put forward a claim for compensation of about 400 million marks. In addition, France demanded more than 70 million taels of reparations, and the above three countries also demanded that the indemnity be paid in cash in a lump sum on the grounds that the international credibility of the Qing court was negative. However, those countries with more commercial interests in China, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan, are afraid that excessive reparations pressure will weaken the purchasing power of the Chinese market and thus harm their own commercial interests, so they advocate keeping the amount of reparations within a limit while making quotations.

But in any case, the final offer of all countries far exceeded their actual costs and losses. After several months of repeated negotiations, the two sides finally decided on the total amount of indemnity: the Qing government was to pay a total of 450 million taels of silver to the foreign powers, to be repaid in 39 years, with an annual interest rate of 4 percent, and the customs duties, salt taxes, and customs revenues as collateral guarantees. The great powers said that 450 million Chinese, "one or two per capita, as an insult."

The chick of the telegraph bureau was almost tired of pumping, and after tossing until the Spring Festival of the Xin Chou year, the helpless Cixi finally called back: the reparations of various countries totaled 450 trillion, 4 cents of interest, and it was immediately approved. At this point, the overall situation of the peace talks has been basically formed. At that time, the Qing government's annual fiscal revenue was less than 90 million taels, and 980 million taels was the total fiscal revenue of the whole of China in 11 years. The amount of reparations finally determined was so high that the Great Powers could not believe it, and it is no wonder that the British newspaper said that this figure "far exceeded the losses of the coalition forces".

Although the peace talks have not yet been carried out, the ceasefire has long been achieved, the coalition forces have no troops available, the Qing army has no available soldiers, the regimental training armament (such as the insurance regiment) has no heart to fight, and the Boxer brothers have no intention of fighting.

As a result, this "Compilation of Regulations of the New Army of the Armed Wings", which was a mixture of the military regulations of the German army in the late World War I, the military regulations of the National Revolutionary Army, and the joint training program of the infantry artillery in France in the twenties, made Wu Peifu, Zhang Shaozeng, Lan Tianwei and others shocked.

The recruitment of the new army of Wuyi is also progressing smoothly with the full cooperation of the prefects in various places, and the only one who is a little delayed is the Yizhou prefect who was born in the two lists of jinshi was taken to Jinan Mansion by me, and the old prefect who originally planned to do a strong order was sent directly to the old Dewang Mansion by me. First, he knelt in the second gate and waited for more than an hour, and then was called by the little eunuch to the ear room for a scolding, and he had to kowtow to thank him. The old man went back and was ashamed and angry, hernia attack, paralyzed in bed, Yizhou Mansion was naturally replaced, I recommended Yuan Shikai's son of the clan in Anyang Renzhi County to take over, the old Yuan also reciprocated, let the old Zhixian who was more than forty years old to come to Jinan Mansion to confess, after going back, the recruitment of soldiers and grain in Yizhou Mansion was very positive, and other prefects and governors saw this situation, and they were also silent, and they did not dare to do Yang Feng Yin again.

Originally, I had a very fulfilling life, but I didn't expect the effect of fanning the flames to be too good, so that the Lafayette who was recuperating in Jinan was big, and in order to excite the reward, a hat of the deputy minister of parliament and vice minister was buttoned up, and I was asked to pass on the oral message of the general manager of Li, and I immediately discussed the gist of the peace talks with Li Zhongtang and others, and prepared to negotiate with the foreigners next month to ensure that the two palaces returned to Luan before August. God is pitiful, my trip to Gengzi Country has become muddy and the water has ended, so I plan to return to the nest to cultivate my self-cultivation, meditate and participate in Zen, where did I think of mixing with the big dung pit of the "Xinchou Treaty".

However, it is difficult to disobey the holy order, so I have to register my name in the leading group for peace talks first, but I am busy with my own affairs in private. I didn't expect that this day just from the old German palace of the East Qian Tang peace team off the business, before the carriage was squatted by an official squatting on the side of the car pulled the sleeve, I fixed my eyes, this squatting in front of the car, just like looking at the old man of the car is actually Duan Qi Ruizhi Quangong, a tired face, his eyes are deep-set as if he has smoked ten years of Fushou * ointment The image made me almost not recognize. Unexpectedly, the number one general under Yuan Shikai, the future leader of the Anhui warlords, did not open his mouth, he cried first, and shouted:

"Lord Wu, help!"

My brain crashed, what's going on?