Just as Xue Fucheng sent the telegram, Wei Tuoma was riding a carriage on the way to the Zhili Governor's Office. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 At this moment, he did not know that the "scandal" of the British fleet was already known to the Chinese, but was thinking about how to force Li Hongzhang to agree to his conditions as soon as possible.

Last month, Li Hanzhang and Xue Huan made the final conclusion of the investigation into the Yunnan case to the Qing government, and determined that it was "savages" in the deep mountains and dense forests on the Yunnan-Burma border who killed Ma Jiali and stopped Bai Lang. During the interrogation of the ministers, Gwene sent his attaché to observe, and in his report to Wittoma, he said that the conclusions of Li Hanzhang and others were not true, and Wittoma made a great deal of trouble about the Dian case itself. As early as after the Dian case, he repeatedly and arbitrarily insisted that the case was instigated by a border official named Li Zhenguo, and then shifted the blame to Cen Yuying, the governor of Yunnan, and other local officials, with the aim of saying that the incident was directly related to the local government of China. Previously, he roared to Prime Minister Yamen many times: "The root cause of Ma Jiali's killing and Bai Lang's obstruction is that the officials in the imperial court are all concerned with the outside world, so Li Zhenguo is in accordance with the constitution, and Cen Yuying is in order. "demanded" Cen Yuying and all officials and criminals to be brought to Beijing for interrogation; Li Hanzhang and Xue Huan investigated and handled the case untruthfully, and they should also be punished together." "If China does not do so, the country is willing to take the blame and bring great disaster upon itself." Its arrogance has reached new heights. By the end of May, in addition to continuing to dwell on the Dian case itself, Wei Tuma once again inquired about practical measures for preferential treatment of ministers and rectification of taxation. At this time, Prime Minister Yamen had already received Li Hongzhang's report (that is, Lin Yizhe's handling strategy), and categorically refused a series of unreasonable demands such as bringing Cen Yuying and others to Beijing for interrogation. In order to achieve his own goal, Wei Tuma summarized the previous requirements, listed them as eight, and proposed to the Prime Minister Yamen that this was used as an exchange condition for exempting Cen Yuying and others from being brought to Beijing, but the Prime Minister Yamen also categorically refused.

In order to induce the Qing government to agree, Wei Tuoma adjusted the requirements, saying that the issue of preferential treatment of ministers was not included in the eight articles for the time being, and the important requirements were: 1. Prime Minister Yamen should explain the occurrence of the Dian case and the investigation and handling of the minister, and explain why the British envoy could not accept the conclusion of the investigation, and the manuscript must be read by the British envoy before it is published; (2) The preceding recital, together with the corresponding edict, shall be included in the notices and posted throughout the country for a period of two years, and British officials may at any time request that they be accompanied by Chinese officials to inspect the postings; 3. If a case involving the life or property of a British person occurs in Chinese mainland, the United Kingdom may send personnel to observe the trial; 4. The Yunnan authorities should be ordered to send personnel to cooperate with British officials to investigate the situation of border trade in Yunnan Province and to negotiate trade regulations; 5. Britain may send consuls to Dali or other places in Yunnan to inspect trade for a period of five years; The same is true in Chongqing; 6. Chinese and foreign businessmen can apply for tax stamps (half tax bills); China must open more ports along the coast, along the rivers and along the lakes, such as Dagushan, Yuezhou, Yichang, Anqing, Wuhu, Nanchang, Wenzhou, Beihai, Shuidong, etc.; If China accedes to these demands, Britain is willing to negotiate an adjustment of the opium import tax; If China agrees to the exemption of the "mouth boundary", the UK will also allow China to increase taxes through international agreements; 7. After the above six articles are stipulated, the Chinese envoys shall go to England, and their credentials shall state their regret for the Dian case; The letters of state must first be read by the British envoy; 8. The compensation shall include the bereavement of Margaret's family, the compensation for the losses of Berlang, the dispatch of troops by India to escort Berlang, etc., and the dispatch of British troop ships, the total amount of which shall be determined by the British Government. In the ensuing negotiations, Wittoma offered to pay 200,000 taels of silver (not including the dispatch of the warships). Clearly, these eight articles further concretize the requirements of Britain for many years in relation to trade interests. However, Prime Minister Yamen still unceremoniously refused, and coupled with the assassination of Liu Xihong in London, Prime Minister Yamen severely questioned Wei Tuoma, and then put forward a request for countermeasures. Wei Tuma refused and threatened to return to China, but Prime Minister Yamen ignored it. Angry as a result, he left Beijing and went to Tianjin, while Prime Minister Yamen pushed the boat to let Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, be in charge of negotiating with Wittoma.

Unwilling to break off negotiations with Beijing, he sent his secretary Mei Huili to the Prime Minister's Yamen to discuss the wording of two documents, one of the eight demands mentioned above, and the second of a note inviting ministers to discuss commercial matters. Mei Huili said that the discussion involved one of the eight British demands, which was the same wanton extortion as Wittoma, claiming that the amount of money should be determined by the British government, and that "whether the claim is thousands, or as little as tens of thousands, or as many as millions or tens of millions, China will agree to it, and it is non-negotiable". Of course, the Chinese side will not allow it, and the negotiations broke up unhappily. Subsequently, Wei Tuma again mentioned that Cen Yuying would be sent to Beijing, and he sent a note to Prime Minister Yamen, overturning all the agreements reached through the previous negotiations. At this point, the negotiations between Wei Tuma and the Qing court center finally broke down.

He was so arrogant and arrogant because he firmly believed that he had seen that the rulers of the Qing Empire did not dare to resolutely resist his blackmail, and that the prime minister Yamen was only giving in to him step by step, unwilling to submit all at once. But what he didn't expect was that Prime Minister Yamen showed an unusually tough attitude this time. After he left Beijing, the Qing government informed Li Hongzhang to make a decision with him in Tianjin. Li Hongzhang once expressed his retention to Wei Tuma, but Wei Tuma said that "there is nothing to negotiate in the Dian case except for Tijing" and "I am not willing to discuss in Tianjin"; However, he did not close the possibility of further negotiations, claiming that "if you do not believe in Zhongtang, you can only trust the Prime Minister's Yamen." If the Qing government sends a "minister with full power and cheap action" to Shanghai to make more concessions to him, there is still room for negotiation. Wittoma then left Tianjin and headed south. Li Hongzhang is no longer retained.

The sabotage of the negotiations in Beijing was reported to London, and at a time when Britain was in an international crisis on the Turkish issue, British military power must first be subordinated to the needs of the situation, so the British Foreign Secretary Derby strongly expressed in his instructions to Wittoma that he "very much hoped that the Yunnan issue would be resolved as soon as possible", which in fact set the limits of Wittoma's actions. However, he still pretended to be tough on the outside, and he continued to intimidate the Qing court center through Hurd. After the meeting with Wittoma, Hurd wrote to Li Hongzhang: "Listening to the tone of the Minister of Wei, Britain really sees this matter as very important, and I am afraid that it will not be easy to end it from power. He also said: "The situation in the West is now changing in Turkey, and the British court is willing to take this opportunity to show other countries that it can be the master of the West and the East to use troops and do things at will." The letter also named Li Hongzhang to go to Yantai for talks with Wei Tuma, but before leaving, "he must have the order to act cheaply with full authority" and "he must have new ideas, and he must be generous in handling business matters" so that he can reach a conclusion. The letter also said that going to Yantai for negotiations is "the end of the road, and if we do not follow this discussion, there is really no other way to make peace." The implication is that if you don't act in this way, you will only be treated by British force!

In response to Wittoma's intimidation by force, Li Hongzhang sent a telegram to seek Lin Yizhe's opinion, fearing that if the negotiations really broke down, it would be "difficult to win" in a war with Britain, and finally the situation would be out of control. Today, Li Hongzhang sent a telegram to Lin Yizhe of the incident of the exercise outside the mouth of Dagu, in order to further inquire about him.

Lin Yizhe, who was far away in Fuzhou, soon received a telegram from Li Hongzhang.

"Zhengqing is really powerful, he can humiliate the British like this, after this incident, the British should no longer dare to underestimate my Da Qingshui Master!" Lin Yizhe smiled and handed the telegram to Xu Run.

"The British sailors are fine, the best in the world, and there are many ships, although I can win the battle in the East Asian sailors, and the other country is trapped in Turkish affairs, but if they send another brigade from the mainland with all their might, I will be difficult to support, and it is better not to open this battle lightly." Xu Run said, "The old man thinks that the enemy is strong and I am weak, even if I give him some benefits a little, it will be good to be able to calm this matter." If you really use troops with the British, the disaster will be even more unpredictable. ”

"That's what the gentleman said." Lin Yizhe said, "We still have to talk about it, but this Wei Tuoma is too hateful, so I just took the opportunity to change him." ”

"How do you want to replace him?" Xu Run saw Lin Yizhe's confident appearance, and couldn't help but ask strangely.

"When I went to England, I met the Queen of England many times, and the Queen promised not to seek new trade routes into China unless I had the permission of the Qing Dynasty, and that Wittoma dared to disobey the yang and send Margaret to steal into Yunnan in the name of tourism, and as a result, he was killed, and I will use this to condemn the Queen of England, and the Queen of England will be furious when she sees it, and she can remove him." Lin Yizhe told Xu Run a hand of hole cards that he had prepared many years ago.

"I see! My lord's blow to Wei Tuma's back, it's really ruthless! Xu Run suddenly realized, "If you change to a kind person, this matter will be easy to do." ”

"Without further ado, I'm going to call you back now, and my husband will send it to me." Lin Yizhe said.

Xu Run nodded in agreement, Lin Yizhe took the pen and paper, and began to draft the telegram.

“…… The other country is now trapped in the Turkish affairs, the Wangdian case and the murder of the London star envoy are solved as soon as possible, for this reason or to the naval force to threaten each other, but the British ships in China, can fight only 8 ships, our naval division is new to defeat Japan, the spirit is flourishing, if the war is really started, it may not be able to defeat me, the dignity can rest assured to fight with it, he will not dare to do it. …… If our country wants to develop commerce on a large scale, it must open more ports, and he immediately put forward this proposal, and I can take the opportunity to induce him to allow me to increase taxes, so that the rights and interests can be restored, and the state can be increased. …… If Wittoma is bent on being strong, he can telegraph to Guo Shilang, and in the name of violating the Queen's promise not to explore trade routes again with the permission of our country, he will do all kinds of rebellious acts, and ask the Queen of England to stop and change the envoy to talk. ”

Soon, Li Hongzhang received a call back from Lin Yizhe.