Coincidentally, on this day, when Li Hongzhang was reading Lin Yizhe's telegram, Wei Tuma's four-wheeled carriage happened to stop at the office of the governor of Zhili. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Looking at the British Minister who had been in and out several times, the doorman of the government office greeted Wei Tuma himself and his ancestors for eighteen generations and female relatives in his heart, and then pretended to be smiling and sang loudly, "The envoy of Great Britain, the Minister of Wei Tu Ma Wei has arrived!" ”

In the inner hall, Li Hongzhang heard the sound of singing and smiled slightly, but he did not immediately greet him, but immediately drafted a telegram.

Soon after, when the draft was completed, Li Hongzhang ordered that a telegram be sent immediately to the Prime Minister's Yamen, a telegram to the Chinese Legation in London to Guo Songtao, and another telegram to the Fuzhou Harbour Bureau.

As in previous negotiations, Li Hongzhang welcomed the arrival of Weituma and extended greetings in accordance with international diplomatic etiquette and Chinese etiquette, although he was extremely impatient with these red tape Weituma, he always thought that this was a deliberate delay by the Chinese, but out of politeness, he still endured it.

Because he has this feeling: Today's negotiation with Li Hongzhang may be the last.

The British Far East Fleet had already assembled its most powerful forces, and conducted an unprecedented military exercise off the coast of Dagukou, which disrupted some progress by the Chinese Navy, but still succeeded in demonstrating to the world the military strength of the British Imperial Navy in the Far East. Since the exercise was conducted in the sea near the coast, it attracted a large number of Chinese civilians and foreigners, and the defenders of the Chinese batteries even started the business of renting telescopes from tourists. When the British warships fired 10,000 guns, the Chinese people without exception showed shock, and the Chinese Navy's interference with the exercise proved the fear in the hearts of the Chinese. Wei Tuma had reason to believe that Li Hongzhang and the Qing court behind him would definitely give in and give in when the British warships gathered at Dagukou.

But what surprised him was that Li Hongzhang actually chatted with him about his daily routine, without mentioning the Dian case at all!

"Your Excellency the Governor, I think it's time for us to get down to business." Seeing Li Hongzhang's leisurely appearance, Wei Toma couldn't help it and brought up the matter of negotiation.

"Oh?" Li Hongzhang pretended to be stunned, "What does Minister Wei want to talk about?" ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, I think you have already understood that the British Imperial Navy has just held a military exercise outside the port of Dagukou, and the Imperial Government has lost patience with your government for shirking its responsibilities and blindly delaying!" "Today may be the last negotiation between us!" War may soon break out, and you don't seem to be in a hurry, do you really want the sound of artillery to sound again in this troubled land? ”

Listening to Wei Tuma's greedy threats, Li Hongzhang just smiled slightly.

"Don't you think it's too much for Minister Wei to make such threatening remarks and persecute China, ignoring the rapprochement between the two countries?"

"It is the actions and ideas of the exclusion of foreigners that have caused all this, Your Excellency the Governor." "China has to pay a price for this to make a difference." ”

"It's really Margaret who is too arrogant and illegally explores the way, which leads to great difficulties, and it is definitely not China's xenophobia." Li Hongzhang still had a smiling expression, but his words became stern, "Minister Wei happened to be here today, and I have something to tell you." ”

"What Your Excellency the Governor has told me is not to be said if it has nothing to do with the negotiation at hand, for it will be a waste of our precious time." Wittoma said forcefully.

"Hehe, this matter is just related to your minister and peace talks." Li Hongzhang said, "What I want to tell your minister is that because Zunjia is too persecutive to China, regardless of the reconciliation between the two countries, he insists on threatening war, the demands put forward are too harsh, and his words and deeds are contrary to the promises of the queen of your country, from today onwards, China will no longer regard Zunjia as a negotiation opponent. Recently, the General Administration of Foreign Affairs (GAO) sent a telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of your country, asking you to send another minister to Beijing to take up a post. ”

"What do you say? Your Excellency the Governor? Wittoma's eyes widened in surprise, "Don't you think I'm a negotiator?" What does that mean? ”

"I've made it very clear just now, if your minister doesn't understand something, you can take care of it later." Li Hongzhang got up as he spoke, and arched his hand to Wei Tuma, "I still have official business, so I won't accompany me." ”

At this time, Wei Tuma had not yet recovered from the shock, and when he saw Li Hongzhang turn around to leave, he couldn't help but get up from his chair.

"Your Excellency, do you really want to see war break out?"

Li Hongzhang stopped, turned around, and sneered: "Your minister is so big!" Our minister was killed in the capital of your country, and for the sake of friendship between the two countries, our country has not yet spoken about military affairs, and your minister is an interpreter, and he wants to activate the sword army, what is the justice? Your minister dares to clamor to mobilize troops without the order of the queen of your country, and I ask the queen of your country if she can spare you when she learns the news? ”

Li Hongzhang's words were like a basin of cold water, pouring Wei Toma from head to toe, and he stood there dumbfounded, speechless for a while.

Li Hongzhang didn't pay any more attention to Wei Tuma, but flicked his sleeves, turned around and left the living room, leaving Wei Tuma and several of his entourage in the living room.

Seeing that Li Hongzhang's front foot had stepped out of the threshold of the living room, Wei Tuma, who had reacted, roared regardless of his face: "Your country insists on going its own way and despises Britain, and all the consequences in the future must be borne by your government!" ”

"The envoy is serious-" After listening to Wei Tuma's roar, Li Hongzhang didn't stop at all, but replied loudly: "Minister Wei, let's think about how to convince Your Majesty the Queen of your country first!" As these words drifted into Wei Tuma's ears, Li Hongzhang's figure had disappeared from his sight.

Wei Tuma stood there in a daze, and after a long time, when Xue Fucheng's figure appeared in the living room, he came back to his senses.

"This is a note, please take it." Xue Fucheng said, handing a note to Wei Tuma.

Just now, when Li Hongzhang met with Wei Tuma, Xue Fucheng hurried to prepare a note, and after sending Li Hongzhang to see the seal, he sent it to Wei Tuma according to Li Hongzhang's instructions.

Wei Tuoma stood there with a blank expression, his eyes fell on the note for a long time, but he just didn't reach out to take it.

Xue Fucheng saw that no one from the British stepped forward to take the note, so he snorted, put the note on the table, and turned to leave.

Wei Tuma watched Xue Fucheng's figure disappear blankly, sighed, picked up the note, didn't even look at it, threw it into the hands of his entourage, turned around and put on his hat, and walked out.

In the back hall, Li Hongzhang saw Xue Fucheng coming back, and asked with a smile, "The note was sent?" Uncle Yun? ”

"Sent it." Xue Fucheng smiled and nodded, "People are stupid, they can't even speak." ”

Hearing Xue Fucheng's answer, Li Hongzhang's chest was full of depression, and he felt extremely happy for a while, and the dark emotions caused by his dry tongue and scorched lips after so many days of negotiation with Wei Tuoma were swept away.

"Lin Kunyu, a true god!" Li Hongzhang recalled all the circumstances that had occurred since the occurrence of the Dian case, and none of them ran out of Lin Yizhe's judgment, and he couldn't help but pat his hands in admiration.

At this time, Li Hongzhang didn't know that while he perfectly implemented Lin Yizhe's strategy, Guo Songtao, who was far away in London, also followed Lin Yizhe's strategy and staged another good scene.

Buckingham Palace, White Living Room.

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask you a question: Do you still count the promises you made to our country's first envoy to your country, Lin Yizhe?" Guo Songtao got up from his chair, bowed to Queen Victoria, and asked solemnly.

"Whatever promises I've made, they've worked." Queen Victoria looked at Guo Songtao, who was angry, with some surprise, and replied.

After Guo Songtao became the Chinese minister to Britain, Queen Victoria received him many times and always had a good impression of him. In Queen Victoria's eyes, Guo Songtao is a loyal elder, always approachable and friendly, but today's Guo Songtao's mood seems to be a little different from the past.

"You seem to be a little emotional today, please sit down and talk." Queen Victoria gracefully pointed to the chair, "I wonder what kind of promise I made to Mr. Lin Yizhe back then, which made you attach so much importance to it?" ”

"At that time, Her Majesty the Queen said that without the permission of the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, before the two countries reached a new treaty, neither the government nor the individual should seek new treaty ports and trade routes in vain." Guo Songtao asked, "I wonder if Her Majesty can remember." ”

"Of course I do." Queen Victoria nodded, as if casually glancing at British Prime Minister Disraeli who was sitting next to her, although it was only for a short moment, Disraeli still felt a palpitation.

"Today, in the name of tourism, Ma Jiali, an interpreter of your country, deceived the Chinese government into issuing a passport, stole into our border, guided the Bailang troops from India, and probed the roads in Yunnan, which was blocked by our border people, and Ma Jiali actually shot and killed our border people, causing public anger and killing our border people." Guo Songtao asked, "I would like to ask Her Majesty, what is the reason why Margaret's behavior has clearly violated Her Majesty's promises, and that your country's Minister to our country, Wei Tuma, should use this matter as an excuse to arbitrarily negotiate eight articles of money, wantonly extort money from our country, and force each other with troops, what is the reason?" ”

After listening to the interpreter's explanation, Queen Victoria was amazed and immediately turned to Disraeli.

"Your Excellency, what's going on?" Queen Victoria asked.

"What Mr. Guo said is the Chinese government's statement, and the case is still under further investigation......" Disraeli listened to the queen's questioning, and couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart.