The talks were held in Beijing as scheduled, and the Chinese side was represented by Yi Xin, Minister Plenipotentiary for Peace appointed by Xianfeng, and the British and French representatives were British Minister Pruss, French Minister Bourblon, and their entourage of 15 people. In addition, US Minister John Warren and Russian Minister Ignatiev attended the hearing as mediators.

At first, Li Weiguo did not participate, because Xianfeng did not let him participate, and he was not interested in the bargaining table, so he only cared about accompanying his daughter-in-law to visit Beijing Sijiu City, and was happy.

However, soon Yi Xin came to Li Weiguo, because during the negotiations, the British and French had a very unkind attitude towards Yi Xin, not only put forward all kinds of harsh demands, but also had to ask the Qing government to compensate for all the losses of the British and French forces, otherwise it would be dangerous for Britain and France to start a full-scale war with the Qing Empire.

After all, Yi Xin is still young, although she has a bit of foresight, but her experience is limited, and she was immediately frightened by the other party.

"Lord Li, you can save me, Britain and France are threatening to go to all-out war, and when the time comes, they will mobilize millions of troops to raze me to the ground."

Li Weiguo was not afraid at all, but smiled: "Don't worry, they are scaring you." ”

Yi Xin said with a bitter face: "I see that their expressions are very serious, not like a lie." ”

Li Weiguo snorted coldly and said, "If they can't act, then they don't deserve to be a politician." ”

"Why don't you go and meet those foreigners, Lord Li? To tell the truth, without you by his side, this king lacks confidence and can't overpower them. ”

Seeing that Yixin was still shocked, Li Weiguo said: "In this way, you ask the emperor to allow me to participate in the peace negotiation." ”

Li Weiguo took it up, Xianfeng didn't let him negotiate peace, it was impossible for him to go up the pole to help, this time it was the other way around Xianfeng's army.

Yixin knew that Li Weiguo would compete with Xianfeng again. Li Weiguo did not publicly say that he wanted to rebel, and Xianfeng did not publicly want to kill Li Weiguo, but the two of them are already incompatible, and whoever submits first will admit defeat first.

But Yi Xin had no choice, so he asked him to negotiate with Britain and France, originally as the victorious country. Britain and France should be asked to compensate for the losses, but the other party's aggressiveness made Yixin completely lose his temper, and in turn, the other party also demanded compensation for the silver of Britain and France, which has risen from 200 million taels of silver at the beginning to 300 million taels, and the previous Tianjin Treaty is still valid, and Hong Kong Island cannot be recovered.

At the beginning, Li Weiguo told Yi Xin that the conditions proposed by Yi Xin have not been met, and in turn, he must compensate Britain and France with silver, otherwise the other side will start a full-scale war. Destroy the Qing Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Yi Xin felt a lot of pressure, so he immediately reported to Xianfeng, conveyed the conditions of the British and French forces, and asked Li Weiguo to betray the peace.

Xianfeng, who was far away in Chengde, was lying on the sickbed, and after learning the conditions of Britain and France, he was so angry that he spurted blood again, but before he fell into a coma, he unexpectedly agreed to let Li Weiguo serve as the Minister of Peace and Plenipotentiary.

This is Su Shun's idea to Xianfeng, to let Li Weiguo be this sinner. They thought that the foreigners would definitely not give up and fight again. Under the all-out war, the common people must hate Li Weiguo, make peace without a fight, and promise the harsh conditions and huge indemnities of Britain and France, but they will also be scolded by the common people.

Xianfeng now knows that he can't fight Li Weiguo, so he can only choose to show weakness, if he can ruin Li Weiguo's reputation. That's excellent too.

With this plan, Xianfeng asked Li Weiguo to be the Minister of Parliament and Plenipotentiary, originally this Minister of Parliament and Plenipotentiary was deliberately given to Yi Xin by Xianfeng, just to let Yi Xin bear the consequences, so that Xianfeng would have an excuse to remove Yi Xin. Prevent Yi Xin from rebelling after his death. Now that Li Weiguo's threat is greater, Xianfeng can only let Yixin go for the time being.

Soon, the will came to Beijing, and Li Weiguo became the Minister of Peace and Plenipotentiary.

Knowing Xianfeng's tricks, Li Weiguo was not afraid, but full of confidence, which was a great opportunity for him to become famous. At that time, Xianfeng will definitely regret his death, and it will be strange if he doesn't vomit blood again.

Li Weiguo participated in the peace talks in his capacity as governor of Zhili and commander-in-chief of the Shanghai Army, while British and French representatives were still British Minister Pruss and French Minister Bourblon, and American Minister John Warren and Russian Minister Ignatiev attended the meeting as observers.

Before, Pruss and Bourblon saw Yixin's cowardly appearance, and really thought that the benefits that could not be obtained from the war could be easily obtained from the negotiating table. Now they are all nervous, the shadow of the famous tree, Li Weiguo is the plenipotentiary minister, which makes them feel a little nervous, and the tension is intensifying, a little afraid of Li Weiguo, the killing god, when they think of Li Weiguo slaughtering more than 100,000 British and French troops, everyone suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

After some introductions, the roundtable negotiations began, and Warrenham and Ignatiev spoke first as mediators.

"Dear Lord Li, Britain and France have already put forward their conditions before, if you have any opinions, you can put them forward now."

Li Weiguo glanced at everyone, and finally fell on Hua Ruohan and Ignatiev.

He suddenly snorted coldly and said, "Before negotiating, one thing must be clarified first. Mr. Warrhohan, did the United States provide supply ships and war grants to the Anglo-French forces? ”

"This-" Hua Ruohan was stunned for a moment, he already understood what Li Weiguo meant, but as a minister, he was very thick-skinned, and still said with a smile: "I don't know about this situation, may I ask Lord Li, where did you hear the rumors?" ”

"I don't care if you're clear, as long as I'm clear." Li Weiguo knew that Hua Ruohan was deliberately pretending to be confused, so he went straight to the point and said: "Since you have provided supply ships and war funds to the British and French forces, then you are not neutral and are not qualified to be a mediator, please leave." ”

Hua Ruohan said: "This must be a misunderstanding!" ”

Li Weiguo threatened: "I don't want to repeat it a second time, if you insist, my guards will entertain you!" ”

Hua Ruohan's face was ugly, in front of so many people, he was really faceless for people to be driven down, but when he saw Li Weiguo's personal soldiers eyeing him and wanted to come up, he was a good man who didn't suffer the immediate loss, so he had to go down embarrassed by himself, but he didn't leave and insisted on being an observer.

Li Weiguo did not pay any more attention to Warren Ruohan, but turned to Ignatiev and said coldly: "Your Excellency Ignatiev, are you qualified to mediate?" ”

Ignatiev was a thief and asked rhetorically: "I am a minister to China appointed by the Russian Empire, and of course I am qualified to mediate. Your Emperor has agreed to my status as a mediator. ”

Li Weiguo snorted coldly and said: "Don't think I don't know, you Britain, France, the United States, and Russia have joined forces to invade us, Britain and France have sent troops, the United States has paid for it, and you Russians have mediated as mediators. In fact, it was a cover for Britain and France to steal intelligence. ”

Ignatiev was shocked, but he didn't expect Li Weiguo to know this, but he said without changing his face: "Do you have evidence?" You can't slander us. ”

"Slander?" Li Weiguo sneered, immediately became furious, slammed the table, and shouted angrily: "You Russians are the most greedy. Your Siberian governor-general, Muravyov, took advantage of the Anglo-French alliance to capture Dagukou and forcibly occupied more than 600,000 square kilometers of land north of the Heilongjiang River and south of the Outer Khingan Mountains, while the Cossack cavalry regiment occupied about 400,000 square kilometers of territory east of the Ussuri River. Are you going to make new territorial claims after your mediation? ”

"How do you know?" Ignatiev's eyes widened, with an expression of seeing a ghost, this kind of thing he also got the secret instructions of the Tsar, because the Anglo-French army was defeated too quickly, and the Tsarist Russian army had not had time to implement all the plans, and it was exactly what he thought in his heart to continue to threaten the Qing government with mediation merit, but he was unexpectedly seen through by Li Weiguo.

Li Weiguo shouted: "Get down." You are not qualified to mediate! ”

"You- you can't do this to me! We, the Russian Empire—"

"If you are long-winded, I will kill you! Since you have invaded our territory. That's war, and I have the right to kill you! ”

Hearing Li Weiguo say this, Ignatiev suddenly shut up, looking ashamed and unwilling.

Yi Xin, who was on the side, saw Li Weiguo coming up, so he gave the foreigners a dismount and drove the American minister and the Russian minister down, so strong. It makes him feel very uplifted.

At this time, Li Weiguo turned to the representatives of Britain and France and said with a smile: "Okay, there is no mediator, let's start negotiations." ”

Pruss and Bourblon looked at each other. I feel the pressure.

In the entire negotiation hall, Li Weiguo's aura has completely suppressed everyone.

Before formal negotiations began, Li Weiguo had already won the first round.

"We are still on the same terms," Pruss said, "even if you change people, you must agree, otherwise what awaits you will be a full-scale war from Britain and France, and believe me, your country cannot withstand the wrath of the two most powerful countries in the world." ”

Li Weiguo snorted coldly and said disdainfully: "I also tell you very clearly, abolish all unequal treaties, return Hong Kong Island, compensate us for our economic losses, and if we are defeated, we must have the consciousness of defeat, don't tell me anything about all-out war, I'm not afraid!" ”

Pruth grew his mouth in surprise, and Bourblon immediately said: "You have to think clearly, if you start a full-scale war with Britain and France at the same time, the consequences will be very serious. Don't think that if you are lucky enough to defeat our 200,000 British and French troops, you will be able to see everything, the strength of our British and French is definitely not comparable to your Qing Empire, we have a strong industry, we can mobilize millions of troops, thousands of warships. ”

Li Weiguo was not afraid and said: "If you have a kind, you can try, I can destroy your 200,000 British and French troops, and I can destroy your 2 million British and French troops." The question is, can you afford to play? ”

Can you afford to play?

The answer is clearly no.

Pruss and Bourblon rolled their eyes suddenly, you think this is a play house, who dares to say that you can afford to play?

However, the two also muttered in their hearts, Li Weiguo's Shanghai army had easily defeated 200,000 British and French troops, and its own losses were only more than 10,000 people, and the battle loss ratio was staggeringly high. In order to completely wipe out Li Weiguo's Shanghai army, theoretically Britain and France need to send at least 1.5 million more troops, but the question is whether Britain and France may send 1.5 million troops on another expedition?

The answer is clearly no.

Whether it is Britain or France, their core interests are in Europe, and it is already their limit to send 200,000 troops to Asia thousands of miles away for expeditionary operations, and the combined strength of the two countries is enough to gather 200,000 people, and it is impossible for any single country to send so many soldiers on an expedition, because it is too far, it will take more than half a year to march alone, and the daily consumption of 200,000 troops is an astronomical amount, let alone send another 1.5 million troops, even if Britain is rich, it will not have this financial support. In addition, the Qing Empire was too big, and with such a large strategic depth, if it lasted for three or five years, the finances of Britain and France would be completely dragged down.

Li Weiguo obviously recognized this. So be fearless and dare to argue with each other.

Looking at Li Weiguo's sworn appearance, Bruce and Bourblon glanced at each other, both helpless in their hearts.

Obviously, the two of them knew better about the situation in their own country, not to mention that Britain and France did not have so many troops. Even if there were, it would not be possible to bring down Asia and fight a war without Europe.

"Although you have won the ground war, our Royal Navy of the British Empire has not lost, and it is impossible for you to defeat the Royal Navy."

When Bruce said this, he already showed that he couldn't be tougher.

Li Weiguo nodded and said: "That's right, I have to admit that your Royal Navy is indeed the strongest navy in the world at present, and I admit that I can't help your navy, so I will negotiate peace with you, otherwise, I will send the navy to expedition to your British Island now." ”

Bruston was stunned. I never thought that Li Weiguo would have such ambitions, and even think of an expedition to the British Empire, which is really sensational.

However, Bruce sensed Li Weiguo's strength, if Li Weiguo's East China Sea Fleet was strong enough, even if it only caught up with the size of the French Navy, I am afraid he would dare to expedition to the British Empire and engage in a large-scale naval decisive battle with the Royal Navy.

Bourblon couldn't help it. "What do you want?" Do you want to fight us? ”

Li Weiguo smiled, he knew that he was right. Sure enough, the other party couldn't hold his breath anymore.

"War with the world's first and second powers is not what we want! As long as you agree to my terms, then this war is over, and we can continue to cooperate. ”

"Abolish all unequal treaties, return Hong Kong Island, and compensate for economic losses of 100 million taels of silver."

Hearing Li Weiguo say this, Bruce and Bourblon immediately breathed a sigh of relief. But Li Weiguo's next condition suddenly made them jump.

"What? I will compensate you 100 million taels of silver! Why don't you grab it? ”

"No way, Hong Kong Island can't be returned to you!"

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Don't worry, you go back and think slowly, what we have is time." But you better know. I also have more than 6,000 British and French prisoners of war such as Scott, Brons, and White, many of whom need medical treatment, and if you don't hurry, I guess I'll have to collect their bodies. ”

Bruston said angrily: "You can't do this, they're already captives, you can't abuse them." ”

Burblon also said anxiously: "You must heal them, and if they die, we will not give up." ”

"It depends on my mood!"

Li Weiguo snorted coldly, got up and left directly, and this peace talk ended.

Yi Xin chased after him and asked, "Master Li, why did you leave before you finished talking?" ”

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "Lord Wang, you must know that negotiation is an art, and you can't rush it. Whoever is in a hurry first loses, and the comparison is patience. The less anxious you are, the greater the benefits you get. On the contrary, if you are in a hurry, then the other party will definitely sit on the ground and start the price. ”

Yi Xin smiled bitterly: "I really admire you in this regard, go up and give the foreigners a dismount, and drive the Americans and Russians down." In retrospect, when I was negotiating with Britain and France, the Americans and Russians actually helped each other, which made me so anxious that I had no opinion in front of them. ”

"Okay, I'll go through it a few more times in the future!" Li Weiguo said with a smile, thinking that it is no wonder that Yixin in history is very good at negotiation, it is estimated that it will come naturally after more experience, and no one is born a genius.

For the next month, the two sides continued to negotiate and bargain.

Li Weiguo asked for a sky-high price, and Britain and France sat on the ground to pay back. On the core issues, such as the issue of unequal treaties involving sovereignty and national dignity, the Hong Kong Island issue, the opium trade issue, etc., Li Weiguo resolutely refused to give in, but on the issue of compensation, in the end, Li Weiguo changed his way, not asking for compensation, but asking for food and medical expenses for taking care of the prisoners of the British and French forces.

In the form of compensation, Britain and France will not lose face too much, and the representatives of both sides will be more easily accepted.

In the end, the two sides negotiated repeatedly and determined the final terms of the Beijing contract.

On October 13, 1860, Li Weiguo, on behalf of the Qing Empire, signed the Sino-British and Sino-French Treaty of Beijing with Britain and France.

According to the provisions of the treaty, Britain and France abrogated all unequal treaties signed with the Qing Empire since 1840, returned Hong Kong Island, abolished consular jurisdiction, abolished the right to concession law, abolished the opium trade, and abolished customs duties must be based on the right of consultation between Britain and France, and British and French people must be allowed to enter the Qing Empire to preach, work, reside, and do business, and refund all the compensation paid by the Qing Empire since 1840. The two sides set up legations in each other's capitals, the coastal and riverside cities of the Qing Empire were fully opened to ports, British and French merchants were allowed to trade with them, British and French merchants were allowed to open factories and recruit workers in China, and the most favored nation treatment of Britain and France was retained (not one-sided), since the signing of the treaty, the British and French troops in Tianjin, Yantai and Luda were immediately withdrawn, and the British troops stationed on Hong Kong Island were evacuated three months later, and the assets were purchased by the Qing Empire at market prices, and the British in Hong Kong had to decide to stay within three years. Those who remain belong to the nationality of the Qing Empire forever.

The contract seemed fair, Li Weiguo only abolished the unequal clause, and did not overly irritate Britain and France, after all, it is more in the national interest to cooperate with Britain and France at present. As for Britain and France, if they were defeated, they had to bear the consequences of defeat. However, what they never expected was that Li Weiguo would allow them to set up a legation in Beijing, fully open up all coastal and riverside cities to trade, and even allow British and French businessmen to set up factories in China.

For Britain and France, the purpose of their war was to trade, and they had long wanted to open the treaty ports of the Qing Empire, set up embassies in the capital, and open factories in China, but the Qing Empire had always disagreed, and now Li Weiguo actually agreed, which was undoubtedly a huge victory, allowing Britain and France to save some face.

As far as Li Weiguo is concerned, he is just conforming to the international trend, only reform and opening up can strengthen the country and enrich the people, he is the only person in the Qing Dynasty who understands this truth, although many people will think that Li Weiguo has softened to Britain and France, but as long as it is beneficial to the country and the people, it doesn't matter if he is infamous on his back.

It was precisely because Li Weiguo made huge concessions in this regard that Britain and France happily signed the "Beijing Peace Treaty" with Li Weiguo.

With the initialling of the "Beijing Peace Treaty", the Second Opium @ Film War was officially over, and Li Weiguo became famous in this war and became the biggest winner. (To be continued......)