Li Weiguo's envoys went to Guanwai, Saibei, and the Western Regions to try to solve the problem by peaceful means.

However, there was no progress in the first round of negotiations between the parties, especially in the areas under the jurisdiction of the three generals outside the Guanwai, General Sheng Jing, General Jilin and General Heilongjiang, who had no intention of making peace with Li Weiguo, and even did not claim to be vassals. As for the Northern Mongolian tribes and the Western Regions tribes, although they did not agree to be vassals to Li Weiguo, they did not immediately show the intention of war, and obviously had the intention of waiting and seeing.

Everyone knows Li Weiguo's current strength, he has won the entire Central Plains and the south, and defeated the foreigners, millions of elite troops, it is when the sun is in full swing, against Li Weiguo, all parties have no certainty of victory, so all parties can only be in a defensive state, see Li Weiguo's next move, if it is urgent, do not rule out the possibility of all parties uniting.

When the news reached Beijing, Li Weiguo immediately convened hundreds of civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures.

Wu Yong directly proposed: "Lord Wang, Saibei and the Western Regions are obviously waiting, and the Kanto region is a big disaster, and the territory under the jurisdiction of the three generals is the last force of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. ”

"The minister agrees with Chief of General Staff Wu! In addition, the minister felt that the New Year's Day was coming, and the prince should first ascend the throne as the emperor, and sweep the Quartet with the luck of New China. "Li Hongzhang, as the minister of Beiyang, is an important minister above 10,000 people under one person, and now he is attached to Li Weiguo, so he naturally has a lot of advice, and he is not in vain to be trusted.

Sweeping the Kanto region with the power of the new emperor's accession to the throne, this proposal was immediately approved by the civil and military officials, which was a good strategy.

Wu Yong proposed again: "Lord Wang, on the day you ascend the throne, you might as well come to a military exercise and invite the departments of the Kwantung, Saibei and Western Regions to watch, which can have a deterrent effect." ”

"This proposal is not bad, Wu Yong, you can arrange it. Show the most powerful side of our army, and surrender without a fight. Li Weiguo nodded and agreed to the proposal.

Rong Hong said: "Lord Qi, the envoys of the United States, Russia and other countries in China have expressed their willingness to recognize the new empire as soon as possible, and hope to form an alliance with the new empire. The British and French ministers to China hoped to reach a peace agreement with the new empire, and it now seemed that Britain and France had given up war with us altogether. ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Britain and France have finally relented, and this is our great victory." According to the king's bottom line, you can continue to negotiate with them without worrying. If this king is not mistaken, Europe is not at peace at this time. The war of unification of Prussia will soon burn to the French, and we have more than 60,000 British and French prisoners in our hands, and the British and French will inevitably choose to back down in order to end the state of war with us as soon as possible. ”

Li Weiguo paused, and then said: "As for the United States and Russia, they waited until the situation became clear, which is also an affirmation of our strength. As for the conclusion of alliances, for the time being, do not consider Russia, it is a national policy to attack from afar and closely, and Russia is trying to taste its courage. Their serfdom reforms had already paid off, and once they had regained the vigor they had since their defeat in the Crimean War, the possibility of a war against China could not be ruled out. As for the United States, across the Pacific Ocean. There is no core conflict of interest for the time being, and an alliance can be considered. ”

Rong Hong immediately received the order.

At this time, Li Jing came out and said: "Lord Qi, the minister has received a report." The situation in the United States is worrying, and they are seeking an alliance with us, fearing that they want us to help. ”

Li Weiguo frowned suddenly. Rhetorical question: "What is the situation in the United States?" ”

Since the beginning of the Third Yapian War, Li Weiguo has not paid attention to the affairs of the United States.

Li Jing then replied: "The minister learned that at present, the American Union government (Southern Army) is constantly losing wars, slave riots have broken out in manors in various parts of the south, and black slaves have joined the American Federation (Northern Army), which has made the strength of the Northern Army expand day by day, and more than a dozen base areas have been opened up in the south. ”

"Isn't the Northern Army in Canada? How did you go to the southern part of the United States? ”

Lincoln led the Northern Army over the Rocky Mountains, through the Colorado Desert no man's land, across the Mississippi River to the southern United States, opened up a base area, instigated the southern black slave rebellion, and completely freed the black slaves. The U.S. Southern Army originally had few troops, and after occupying the entire United States, its forces were overly dispersed, so Lincoln took advantage of the loophole, causing the U.S. Northern Army led by Lincoln to revive and rebel. ”

Li Weiguo suddenly smiled bitterly, this Nima is clearly the American version of the 25,000-mile Long March, Lincoln is worthy of being an epic boss, so he can turn over.

A strong United States is not in China's interests, the southern slave-owning class ruling the United States can delay the rise of the United States, if the northern bourgeoisie wins, then the United States will quickly become stronger, especially the Lincoln administration, which will definitely retaliate against China, because Li Weiguo once fully supported the Southern Army.

Thinking of this, Li Weiguo said: "You can form an alliance with the United States, and if they ask for assistance, they can provide some as much as they can." If the U.S. government allows it, we can also send an expeditionary force to help them eliminate the Lincoln guerrillas. ”

"Please think twice, the country has not yet been pacified, and it is not suitable to send troops to cross the ocean to the United States, and besides, the expedition costs a lot of money and food, which is not the blessing of the people."

Standing up against it was Weng Tongyong, who is currently the secretary of the Criminal Department, who is honest and fair as an official and has a good reputation.

Although there are mixed reviews of this person in history, he can clear the grievances of low-level civilians like Yang Naiwu and Xiao Cabbage, and Li Weiguo admires him very much for this famous historical case alone.

Because Weng Tongyi did not become the teacher of Emperor Tongzhi, he was not implicated and still served as the secretary of the Criminal Department.

Li Weiguo smiled slightly and explained: "What Weng Qing said is very reasonable, now that the country has not yet been pacified, sending troops to the United States is indeed a waste of money and labor. But I want to ask you one thing, why did the British and French powers invade us? ”

"The British and French powers are greedy, and our heavenly kingdom is rich, so naturally they are peeped at and invade." Weng Tongyi was stunned for a moment, feeling that this question was a bit too simple, but why did Li Weiguo ask him such a simple question? There must be something strange among them, but unfortunately Weng Tongyi can't guess it.

Li Weiguo said: "You only see the appearance, but you don't see the essence of the problem!" China has been dominant in Yadong for thousands of years and has dominated the world since the Han Dynasty. Until the Manchu Qing entered the customs and ruined our dominant position, the West took the opportunity to rise. During the hundreds of years of Manchu rule, the East was no longer the world leader, but the West of the British and French powers became the world leader. Since ancient times, the weak eat the strong. If we do, the British and French powers will come and invade us, as you see. But what is the essence behind it, is that the British and French powers are afraid that we will rise from the new and attack their hegemony, so the British and French powers will not allow a powerful China to rise, and if necessary, it will be destroyed through war. ”

Weng Tongyi seemed to understand whether he understood or not, and asked rhetorically: "Then dare to ask the prince, what does this have to do with your expedition to the United States?" ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Do you still remember why the British and French powers negotiated peace with us five years ago? ”

Weng Tongyi replied: "At that time, it seemed that the United States had broken out into civil war, and Britain and France were eager to help the American Southern Army. So I was forced to negotiate peace with us, and even the minister heard that the prince was also involved in the American Civil War, and now the American coalition government can rule the United States, and it seems that the advanced weapons provided by the prince have made a great contribution. ”

"Not bad!" Li Weiguo nodded and said, "Then do you know why the British and French powers are worried about the American Civil War?" Why did the British and French powers and the king not support the northern government of the United States and the southern government? ”

Weng Tongyi felt that his brain was a little insufficient, and he reluctantly replied: "It is estimated that the northern government of the United States at that time was strong and the southern government was weak, and helping the weak side was the first choice for third-party forces to intervene in the war. ”

Li Weiguo said: "Yes, you can also understand it this way. Help the strong defeat the weak. We can only make the strong stronger and become our strong opponents. And help the weak defeat the strong, and the weak will become our vassals. In other words, a strong United States will become our fierce rival or a formidable enemy. So we will not allow the United States to become stronger, just as the British and French powers will not allow China to become stronger. ”

"The prince declares, the minister understands!" Weng Tongyi felt like an initiation, and many things that he couldn't understand suddenly came to his senses.

I only heard Li Weiguo continue: "Look at it." Britain and France will soon turn their attention to the United States again, and they will not allow the Lincoln government to resurrect it, and will even cooperate with us. ”

Weng Tongyi suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "If you just finish the battle, you will cooperate with us." Then the British and French are too shameless! ”

The crowd burst into laughter.

Everyone knows that the relationship between countries is the same as drifting, no matter if you drift him or she drifts you, as long as both parties are willing to pay the ticket in the end, no matter how miserable the scars are, then you can continue to cooperate next time.

Rong Hong was ordered to continue to negotiate with Britain, France, the United States and Russia, because Li Weiguo's determination of China has become a fact, no one can stop it, so Britain and France are not holding a fluke mentality, and reconciliation with Li Weiguo is the only choice at present, because France has been completely angered by Prussia in Europe, and more and more friction broke out between the two sides because of the struggle for hegemony on the European continent and the reunification of Germany.

As the British side, at this time, it is also thinking of dirty thoughts, France is the only one in Europe, and it has always been a problem for Britain. Because Britain pursued a policy of balance of power on the European continent, it did not want France to have too much energy to develop its navy and seize colonies around the world with Britain, especially France's recent aggressive interest in Southeast Asia, which made the British government vigilant. Fortunately, the Songhu Society was defeated, otherwise if it was won, even if Britain got the Upper Burma region, France would also get Cambodia, which would allow France to open a breakthrough in the Asian colonies, and from then on it would have a foothold in Asia and could compete with Britain for Asian spheres of influence.

It can be said that some British politicians have to thank Li Weiguo for winning the battle because of this kind of thinking, although this makes Britain very faceless, but at least France has suffered a big loss, and Cambodia must spit it out.

Therefore, the British government instructed the British minister to China to reach a peace with Li Weiguo as soon as possible, and he could give up Upper Burma, which was actually cheating France, because as long as Britain relented and gave up the Burmese colony, then France would have no allies and would have to spit out Cambodia and return it to China.

French politicians scolded the British for being shameless and treacherous, but that's what politics is all about.

In the end, France was also forced by domestic pressure and urgently needed to strengthen its domestic military strength, and the French army that participated in the Battle of Songhu still had about 40,000 prisoners, all of whom were the elite of the French army, so the French government urgently needed to redeem the 40,000 French troops and finally gave up Cambodia.

On December 23, 1865, Li Weiguo signed a memorandum of annex to the Treaty of Beijing with the British and French envoys in Beijing.

The annex memorandum states:

1. The provisions of the Beijing Peace Treaty remain valid.

2. From now on, during the period from the signing of the "Beijing Peace Treaty" in 1861 to the signing of the memorandum annexed to the "Beijing Peace Treaty" on December 23, 1865, all agreements signed between the Qing government and Britain and France will not be recognized without the approval of the Chinese government, the losses of the loans used for the war part will not be refunded, and the British and French banks shall bear the losses themselves, and the remaining loans will be used to rebuild the Chinese homeland destroyed by the British and French forces.

3. From now on, the British, French, and naval forces shall withdraw from the territorial waters of China and its vassal states, and guarantee that there will be no further invasion.

Fourth: From now on, the Chinese government will release the British and French prisoners of war, and the British and French governments shall pay 500,000 pounds sterling and 12 million francs respectively for the corresponding management, accommodation, food and medical expenses.

5. From now on, China, Britain and France should always avoid war and work together to safeguard world peace.

There are five articles in the memorandum, and except for the last one, which is nonsense, all four of the above can be regarded as China's victory.

First of all, the Beijing Peace Treaty remains in force, which fully guarantees the integrity of China's sovereignty and dignity. From 1861 to 1865, the Qing government borrowed as much as 13 million pounds from the banks of Britain, France, Germany and other European countries.

The third is to order the withdrawal of British and French troops, including from Burma and Cambodia, which is equivalent to protecting Burma and Cambodia regardless of British and French colonies, demonstrating the great strength of the suzerain.

Article 4 is purely blackmail, and does not directly propose to make war reparations between Britain and France, which is tantamount to a slap in the face, and Britain and France will certainly not accept it. But Li Weiguo went around in circles and asked for compensation on the issue of prisoners, so that Britain and France could explain to their own people, and it was not too embarrassing.

However, in terms of the amount of reparations, Britain was less than 20,000 prisoners, but only paid 500,000 pounds, while France, although there were more than 40,000 prisoners of war, had to pay 12 million francs, equivalent to about 4 million pounds.

Apparently France was very slaughtered.

This is because Li Weiguo knew that France was about to break out into war with Prussia, France was defeated, the Second Empire collapsed, and he would not be able to seek revenge on Li Weiguo for a long time in the future, so when will France blackmail if he does not blackmail at this time?

Britain is different, although the Far East was defeated, but the powerful British Navy did not break the bones, if Li Weiguo opened his mouth widely, the British would definitely not do it, after all, Li Weiguo's navy was not enough to compete with the British Navy, if the British Navy went crazy to attack and loot China's coastal areas everywhere, it would be bad. Therefore, Li Weiguo did not dominate Britain very much, but only asked for 500,000 pounds, which was not a problem for Britain, and both sides were happy.

With the signing of the memorandum of understanding of the "Beijing Peace Treaty" between China and Britain and China and France, the world immediately boiled, because the world's first and second most powerful countries were defeated by China twice.

Is this the rhythm of China's rise? (To be continued.) )