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When the Xia Empire and Yuan Shikai's forces were discussing how to deal with the frontier issue, Yi Liang and the two also reported their meeting with Wu Wenbin to the Queen Mother. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Queen Mother heard that the Xia Empire can accept both lease and sale, and it can be leased for a short period of time, the shortest can be 20 years, in this regard, the Queen Mother has a different idea in her heart, he wants to solve the immediate problem, but also does not want to be unable to face the ancestors and ancestors after death, and now she is not good to directly propose the matter of lease. So the queen mother issued an order to the two of them: "The two princes work hard for the Qing Dynasty, to decide the fate of such a large piece of land, the mourning family is also frightened, since there is still room for negotiation in this matter, I hope to invite all the military ministers and border generals and frontier administrators and some Han governors, the mourning family wants to listen to their opinions, otherwise they will be arbitrary, that is, there is no external pressure, and it will also be used by people with intentions, resulting in the intensification of our internal contradictions." ”

The words of the Queen Mother are exactly in line with Yi Xuan's mind, if there is an accident in this matter afterwards, then he will become a scapegoat, and now there are all the ministers of military aircraft to negotiate together, that is, there is a problem, that is also everyone's problem, thinking of this, Yi Xuan hurriedly knelt down and said: "Yes, I will follow the decree of Tai Haoyi!" ”

So, in the name of the Queen Mother, a telegram was issued, ordering Duan Qirui, Xu Shichang and others to return to Beijing as soon as possible to discuss matters; ordered all ministers of military aircraft not to leave Beijing; He also ordered Han ministers Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai to attend the meeting, representing the local governors in the south and north respectively.

If there is no Han leader who agrees to this matter, it will be easy to incite a Han riot afterwards and make the court bear the blame, so this time the queen mother means to expand the scope of people attending the meeting.

Present at the meeting were the ministers of military aircraft: Yi Xuan, Qu Hongzhen, Lin Shaonian, Lu Chuanlin, Zaifeng, Shixu, Tie Liang, and Zhao Erxun, Duan Qirui and Xu Shichang of the Frontier Special Administrative Region, and Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai, Han governors.

On May 15, all personnel arrived in Beijing.

The meeting was presided over by Yi Xuan, who first introduced the surrounding situation of the Qing Dynasty, the action plans of Britain, France, the United States and Russia, and the goals of the alliance, and finally introduced the content of the two talks with Wu Wenbin, the ambassador of the Xia Empire.

Duan Qirui first asked: "Lord Wang, may I ask how the Xia Empire set up three frontier special administrative regions in terms of geography?" ”

Duan Qirui is now a frontier general, has the best knowledge of frontier military, and is also a representative of the Han people, and his opinions will occupy a large proportion at this meeting.

Yixuan had no choice but to explain in detail: "General Duan, everyone, only the southern Xinjiang can be determined, and neither the western Xinjiang nor the northern Xinjiang have a fixed territory, and the methods set by the Xia Empire after leasing and trading are different; Southern Xinjiang is the five provinces of Yunnan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Sichuan and Tibet; Western Xinjiang is tentatively designated as Xinjiang and Gansu, as well as Inner Mongolia west of Wuliangsuhai and south of the Yellow River; Northern Xinjiang is tentatively designated as Outer Mongolia; Eastern Xinjiang is tentatively designated as the three northeastern provinces plus the remaining areas of Inner Mongolia. ”

Zhang Zhidong continued: "The land of the ancestors must not be abandoned, otherwise you will be stinking for 10,000 years!" ”

Zhao Erxun knew that as long as there was the help of the Xia Empire, it would be easy to defend the frontier, so he hurriedly asked: "Lord Wang, why can't you follow the example of the current frontier special administrative region?" With the help of the Xia Empire, they are developing the economy, improving the people's livelihood, building a strong army, clearing out bandits, and recruiting displaced people. ”

Yi Xuan smiled bitterly: "I believe you all have this question, I originally consulted Ambassador Wu on this issue, and his reply is that the current Frontier Special Administrative Region is facing a common enemy with them, the Russian Empire, and they are doing this for the security of Ezo, Xinzhou, and Lelang Peninsula, they are purely for their own interests, but there is no interest in the New Three Xinjiang Region, so they will not directly come forward to help; There are only interests and uses between countries, and this is the true portrayal. ”

Only Yuan Shikai, Duan Qirui, and Xu Shichang understood that the Xia Empire helped build the Northeast in order to expand the strength of Beiyang and prepare for the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty, but they could not say it.

Subsequently, Lu Chuanlin, Lin Shaonian and others all spoke to express their support for Zhang Zhidong, and the land of ancestors cannot be abandoned.

Zaifeng was young and vigorous and had a prominent status, and when he saw everyone say this, he was obviously dissatisfied with the decision of the Queen Mother, so he said angrily: "I understand your feelings, who is willing to give up in the land of ancestors?" But if it is not sold to the Xia Empire, how can the Qing Dynasty have the ability to defend these places? Moreover, the price of this sale is so high, the Qing Dynasty only left a rich land, without the drag of remote areas, without the burden of compensation, without external threats, have you not considered so many benefits? ”

All the people did not want to deal with him, and they were all silent.

Yixuan also had no choice, except for Yuan Shikai who did not speak, the rest of the Han people said that they could not sell the land of their ancestors, so they had to say: "Since everyone is unwilling to sell the territory, then what we are discussing below is how to lease it to the Xia Empire and let them help defend it; Leases can be granted for a period of 20 to 99 years, but the shorter the term, the more costly it will be. ”

For the lease, everyone can still accept it, after all, pay the price and let the Xia Empire help defend, and after it expires, these places are still the territory of the Great Qing Kingdom.

Zhang Zhidong asked: "Lord Wang, what is the price of leasing for 99 years?" What does a 20-year lease cost? ”

"The price of the lease for 99 years is to transfer all the islands of Hainan Island and the South China Sea to the Xia Empire, and the price will be even greater for 20 years, so there is no discussion for the time being."

Yuan Shikai thought to himself, both the lease and the betrayal were beneficial to his seizure of power, and if he was to lend, when he developed and became stronger, it would be a very good way to recover these lands again, but he didn't know how big the price was.

Duan Qirui said: "Lord Wang, the combat effectiveness of the Xia Empire's army is very strong, a Praetorian Guard division can defeat 3 to 5 towns of the Beiyang Army, I feel that as long as the Xia Empire sends 4 army infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions, it will help us protect all the territory, and it will be more cost-effective to lease their army." ”

"I made a similar suggestion, and they said that the teacher was unknown! But you put your ideas along, and we'll talk about it. ”

"Okay, lord, I think so, according to the setting of the Xia Empire, Southern Xinjiang and Western Xinjiang merged Northern Xinjiang into Eastern Xinjiang, and when the Frontier Special Administrative Region was set up, it included all the Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia regions, as long as there is something in Eastern Xinjiang, I believe that the Xia Empire will not sit idly by; Now let's just consider the affairs of southern and northern Xinjiang. ”

Duan Qirui's words have a certain truth, if the border special administrative region does not change, the Xia Empire will assist in the defense, so that the leased area will be reduced, and the price paid will be reduced.

"Keep talking!"

"Lord Wang, I think that in southern Xinjiang and western Xinjiang, as long as the Xia Empire sends 2 army divisions and 1 cavalry division respectively, and then helps the local training army, then we will have the ability to defend these 2 frontier areas, as for the northern frontier, just lease 1 cavalry division of the Xia Empire to protect the flank of the western frontier, and now the frontier is rapidly expanding, I believe that it will not take a few years to be afraid of Russia's military pressure in the Far East."

After listening to Duan Qirui's words, Yixuan thought about it carefully and said: "General Duan's words have a certain amount of truth, but only the eastern frontier can lease the army, as for the western and southern Xinjiang, the Xia Empire will not agree to only lease the army, they only accept the leased land, but this method reduces the northern and eastern frontiers, and I believe the cost will be reduced a lot." ”

Xu Shichang said: "Lord, don't be too optimistic, just the cost of defending Tibet and Xinjiang is a lot, and the simple logistics cost is not low, besides, Britain wants to occupy Yunnan and support Tibet, and the Russian Empire wants to occupy Xinjiang and support Gansu. ”

Zhang Zhidong spoke: "It's the Xia Empire's business to have difficulties, they will have a way, don't discuss with the Xia Empire, if we can come up with a way, we won't be bullied into the current state." ”

Seeing that Yuan Shikai had not spoken, Yixuan asked, "What does Governor Yuan think?" ”

Yuan Shikai saw that he couldn't hide, so he had to say: "I personally respect any resolution of the imperial court, if you want to ask my opinion, I still support the lend-lease, and the shorter the time, the better, after all, the night is long and the dream is many, and after the difficulties, I believe that we can also develop a strong military strength at that time, and then take back these lands after the expiration, the upper can be to the ancestors and the ancestors, and the lower can be to the subjects and the people, I believe that the Xia Empire can also understand this method, as for the price paid, it needs to be discussed, but it will definitely not be small, Everyone can understand just imagining Japan's expenses during the Russo-Japanese War, after all, Xinjiang is too far away, and if there is a war, the cost will definitely be higher, and this time facing the four powerful countries of Britain, France, the United States and Russia, the Xia Empire dares to take on this burden, no matter how much it costs, it is cost-effective. ”

Yuan Shikai's words were unanimously agreed by the participants, in the case of solving the current crisis, no one is willing to bear the bad name of selling the land of the ancestors, if the land is leased, it is a different matter, not only to solve the crisis, but also to help the Qing State to form a strong army, without having to sell the land left by the ancestors. For those Manchurians, it's not that they are patriotic, they just don't want to bear the name, and Li Hongzhang's example is right in front of them; And Zhang Zhidong and other Hanchen simply felt that those places had always been the land of their ancestors, even if they were barren, remote, and poor, they couldn't just give up.

In the end, all the staff unanimously decided: to lease the land of Western Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang to the Xia Empire, a total of 7 provinces and regions and part of Inner Mongolia; The maximum lease period is 20 years, but of course, the shorter the better.

For the sake of balance, it was also decided that Zhang Zhidong and Zhao Erxun, two Hanchens, would participate in the talks with the Xia Empire at the same time.