Ps. Thank you Zhang Leng 123 book friends, your support is my motivation.

After receiving a telegram from the Crown Prince requesting a detailed investigation, Minister Barand made several consecutive trips between Beijing and Tientsin in the last week of April.

I met both Prince Gong and Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang.

As a veteran diplomat who understands and is familiar with the cultural environment of East Asia, Minister Barland's first visit to Prince Gong naturally did not show any cards, but only said in front of Prince Gong that he had reported to China the matter of the Qing State's request for him to preside over the judgment between the Qing Dynasty and Japan.

He also assured Prince Gong that the German government and the German people were good friends of the Qing Dynasty since ancient times.

He even hinted that Prince Gong Yixun even if his Berlin government did not agree, but for the sake of his friendship with Prince Gong for many years, he was still willing to do personal mediation as the German minister to Qing and Japan.

In short, the first meeting with Prince Gong was successful and friendly, and the two sides talked freely about the friendship between Qingde and Virtue in the past.

Regarding the first visit to Li Zhongtang, Minister Barand was much more straightforward, and asked directly without going around in circles, "Lord Li, since you have invited President Grant as a mediator, why did your country invite me again?" ”

Li Hongzhang has been doing foreign affairs for a long time, and has a very close personal relationship with Barland, while smoking dry tobacco, he familiarly pointed to the cigars that Barland gave him, and said humorously, "Your Excellency, the cigars you gave and the dry tobacco in my mouth are made of tobacco leaves, and they are also from your West. ”

"Old man, I like the dry tobacco in my mouth, and I like the cigar smoke you send, since I like both, I can't favor one over the other!" The meaning of stepping on two boats is beyond words.

"There is a saying in your country, I remember that it is called the exchange of gifts, and I don't know what gift Master Li will give to President Grant, and what gift he wants to give me." They are all people who have been engaged in diplomacy for a long time, and Minister Barland naturally understands Master Li's thoughts, and he also smiles and says his request.

"You European foreigners, you have to calculate everything, you just fall into the eye of money and can't climb out." Li Hongzhang knocked off the cigarette ash in the cigarette pouch vigorously, "The same foreigners, Americans are benevolent and righteous in doing things!" ”

"To tell you the truth, I have been friends with President Grant for a long time, and this time President Grant is willing to come forward as a mediator, completely out of trust in me and friendship between friends, I don't want me Li, I don't want to clear the slightest benefit!"

"That's rude. With the prestige of Lord Li in the Western world, every person with status in the West is willing to work for Lord Li, and if it were not for my public office, frankly speaking, I would also like to take up the position of this personal mediator. Minister Barland smiled and complimented.

But in his heart, he was very dissatisfied with Li Hongzhang's trust in President Grant, and Barland knew that all the mediation that President Grant would do in the future, even if President Grant did his best, he would definitely not be able to satisfy Qingguo.

The reason is very simple, first of all, President Grant has stepped down after all, even if he was a hero in the Civil War and served two consecutive terms as president, the power of the incumbent president and the outgoing president are completely different, and how powerful Japanese officials are, Barland knows very well.

Second, the ultimate goal of Grant's round-the-world trip is to gather popularity and prepare for his third presidential campaign.

In fact, at the luncheon of the Minister Barland in Beijing, he was extremely surprised to hear the US Ambassador to China (George Seward) talk about this incident.

"Why is it that when you are running for president of the United States and want to parade around the world, shouldn't you be parade all over the United States?" All the ambassadors asked curiously.

"The hero of Apomatox is a good general, but not a good president, and although he was re-elected, the American electorate is fed up with his cronyism and corruption, so he can only find a presence in the international community for the American electorate." Ambassador Xihua unceremoniously attacked the corrupt former president.

In May 1880, that is, in May of next year, the United States will start its 24th presidential campaign, which means that President Grant wants to accumulate popularity through global tours, so it is impossible to mediate for a long time for the conflict between Qing and Japan.

Without time, diplomatic mediation is doomed to fail.

Finally, any diplomatic efforts and mediation efforts cannot be achieved without the strong support of the state behind the mediator, and even if the mediator is able to speak well, no one on either side of the conflict will care about your mediation without the endorsement of the state.

Based on these points, Minister Barand did not believe that a person who did not have the support of the U.S. government and relied only on his own personal prestige could do a good job in the complicated mediation work between the Qing and Japan, and judging from the tone of Ambassador Xihua, President Grant was not a politician who won by eloquence.

With the information obtained from the first visit, Minister Barland, who had a good understanding of his heart, with the intention of promoting the purchase of fast guns, the promotion of railway equipment, and the purchase of warships of the Qing Dynasty, visited Prince Gong Yixun and Li Hongzhang several times within a week.

After several successive visits, Prince Gong Yixun and Master Li Hongzhang, as political veterans, naturally understood what Minister Barand meant.

On the matter of purchasing fast guns, Prince Gong Yixun and Li Hongzhang's attitude is very clear, in terms of guns, the Qing Dynasty just likes German goods, only German fast guns can meet the requirements of the Qing Dynasty, and German goods are preferred.

However, Master Li, who was proficient in the state of Western weapons and equipment, very sophisticated, asked for Mauser guns and Krupp cannons by name.

As for the railway, there was a huge difference between Prince Gong and Master Li Hongzhang, and Prince Gong clearly told Ambassador Barand that the attitude of the Qing Dynasty towards the railway was only one word: "demolition"!

However, Lord Li's attitude towards the railway is quite ambiguous, and the official tone on the surface is that I, Li Hongzhang, take the imperial court for everything, but at the banquet with Barand in private, I expressed my heart.

"I, Li, want to build a railway, but above." Li Hongzhang pointed to the west with his finger, and then shook his head.

"Isn't it the opposition of the people of your country? I have heard from the British about the Songhu Railway the year before last, because of the strong opposition of the people of your country, your country finally redeemed the railway, and I recently heard the news that Lord Shen of your country is ready to send these British railway equipment to Taiwan and sink them. Isn't it Lord Lee? Barland asked.

"Hehe, Lao Ba, your news is fast enough." Li Hongzhang raised his glass with a smile, "Lao Ba, you have been to the capital for a long time, and you know a thing or two about my family affairs in the Qing Dynasty, do you really think that my Qing Dynasty court cares about what the people below think?" Let's take a full drink of this wine! ”

Watching Barland boldly dry the liquor in the glass, Li Zhongtang smiled.

"Lao Ba, I see that every time you come to visit me in the past few days, you can bring gifts for the sake of my heart, so I will tell you why I am afraid of building the railway in the Qing Dynasty." After saying that, Li Zhongtang also raised his head and drank the wine in the cup.

"It's not the people who are afraid of building the railway, but the court of my Qing Dynasty!"

"Do you want to know what my Qing court is most afraid of? The most afraid is that the people rebel, I have been scared of long hair, twisted bandits and back chaos in the Qing Dynasty over the years, if the railway is really built, what if the people along the railway rebel? ! Li Zhongtang stretched out a finger and gestured.

"That's just one of them. Second, you foreigners build a railway, never report to the imperial court, and don't take my Qing court in your eyes, do you know what my Qing dynasty pays the most attention to? The most decent! There are no rules, there is no circle, you foreigners are the most fucking unruly! A wave of wine came up, and Li Zhongtang burst into a foul mouth along with his heart.

"And you also hire laborers privately, and when a railroad is built, you often have to gather tens of thousands of coolies. There is no one from the court watching inside, what should you foreigners do if you want to rebel against my Qing Dynasty? Li Zhongtang stretched out a second finger to Barland and continued.

"Now the most active in building railways are the British, I can't beat the British in the Qing Dynasty, so the British have never respected my Qing court, to my Qing court, I want to say it, I want to scold, hmph, anyway, my Qing Dynasty is also a country, you say that my Qing Dynasty can make the British happy?" With the intention of drinking, Li Zhongtang said something from his heart.

"Third, if the railway is really built, how many people will I have in the Qing Dynasty..... In your foreign words, yes, unemployed! Not much else, but the loss of the foot, the coachmen, and the boatmen, could be another rebellion! I finally gave birth to two days in the Qing Dynasty, and if you can not mess up, don't mess up, more things are better than less things. Li Zhongtang shook his three fingers and said slightly drunk.

Looking at Barland's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, Li Zhongtang stretched out his fourth finger and said with a smile, "Old Ba, don't worry, there are still four things you haven't said!" ”

"Fourth, if the Qing Dynasty agrees to you foreigners to build a railway, you will build a railway on the land of the Qing Dynasty according to your temperament, won't you want to run rampant on the land of the Qing Dynasty? Once the construction of the railway is completed, or has it not yet been completed, will the power of you foreigners be stronger than the power of the imperial court? ”

"Lao Ba, you must know that we who are engaged in foreign affairs have been eliminated, and we like to deal with you foreigners, and the rest of us hate to deal with you. And there are many such people in the court. ”

"The above four things, I Li can't handle it, so don't think about the railway, and concentrate on your fast gun and artillery business!"

"Master Li, a few words will make me pause! This glass of wine is toasted to Lord Li, and I wish him good health! Barand raised his glass and saluted again.

"Hehe, Lao Ba, you will also drop your bookbag now! I think you're trying to get me drunk, don't do this! With your friendship with me, there is still something to say, don't go around in circles! ”

"Hehe, I can't hide anything from Lord Li, I just want to ask about the purchase of ironclad ships in Beiyang."

"Oh." Li Zhongtang looked at Barland's smiling face, the wine suddenly woke up, and said with a smile in his heart, "It turns out that you, a German, have also taken a fancy to my Daqing business, and the Englishman Hurd is also going to do this business. ”

Li Zhongtang raised his head and drank the liquor in the glass, and smiled at Minister Barland, "Old Ba, do you also want to do this business?" Okay! ”

On the matter of purchasing warships, Prince Gong Yixun and Li Zhongtang's attitude is surprisingly consistent, it is rare for foreigners to pry each other to steal business, such a good thing for the benefit of the country and the people, in the eyes of Prince Gong Yixun, naturally the more the better.

Barand sent back to China the attitudes of the important ministers of the Qing court towards fast guns, railways, and warships in detail, and thought that it would take more than a month to reply to him according to the previous German bureaucratic tradition, but he did not want to receive an extraordinarily long telegram reply two days later, which listed eight requirements and suggestions in a complicated manner, and he was eager to tell him how to do things.

Originally, seeing such a telegram hurt Minister Barland's pride, and he did not trust his judgment as a veteran East Asian diplomat.

But after reading the telegram, Minister Barland's attitude towards the telegram changed from anger to amazement.

The demands and suggestions mentioned in the telegram were obviously written by an insider who was familiar with the interpersonal relations of Eastern society, and many of the demands and opinions were completely in line with the current situation in East Asia, and they were not at all conjectured demands and suggestions made out of thin air by the group of fools who worked behind closed doors in the Berlin Foreign Ministry.

After some careful consideration, Minister Baland added his personal views, exchanged several telegrams with Berlin, and after discussion, Minister Baland tentatively decided on his own diplomatic plan of action.

Today's meeting, which he had booked with Prince Gong three days ago, was the first step in Minister Barland's diplomatic action plan.

Minister Barland's carriage turned westward at Tieshi Hutong and headed all the way to Prince Gong's Mansion in Houhai.