Section XXVIII. Attitude of the Great Powers

What Yuan Shikai didn't know, the problems encountered by Li Hongzhang would also be encountered more than ten years later, and he was also very hesitant to face the Qing Dynasty regime at that time, and he hesitated for a long time to force the Qing Emperor to abdicate. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

It is just the kind of reputation and dignity of the traditional literati, no one wants to be a disloyal and unrighteous person, although they can gain power, but they want to be famous in history, and it is notorious, and it will be stinking for thousands of years.

It's just that he doesn't know what is going on in his position, and how Yuan Shikai thinks that being president is a good deal.

For the murder of the two palaces, Yuan Shikai found that he didn't have much reaction, which made him a little strange, the first was probably that he had been shocked a few days ago, and the second he also had a faint desire to change the dynasty in his heart, this kind of chaotic era is the hero's favorite.

But when the news passed through two lines, one south and one north, the northern line was the Siberian telegraph line established by the Russians, and the southern line was from Tianjin to Shanghai, from Shanghai to Hong Kong, from Hong Kong to Singapore, to India, to Egypt, and gradually spread to Europe.

Europe was immediately shocked.

The invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Coalition can be described as a media feast, as it is the first time that so many countries have waged war against one country, and there are only two major wars in the world this year, one is the Boer War, a colonial war launched by the British, and the second is the Eight-Nation Coalition War of Aggression against China.

Of course, the invasion of China by the Eight-Nation Coalition is China's name, and Westerners call it the Eastern Salvation War, and it is the besieged churches and diplomatic embassies that are being saved, and from the standpoint of Westerners and international rules, they have reason to think that this is a just war, and in modern diplomacy, embassies are inviolable.

Protecting diplomatic embassies, saving priests, diplomacy plus religion, and the Chinese chivalry of the Boxer Rebellion, the taste of Robin Hood in the West, this war story is too strong, and many streams have written comments about it later, such as Mark Twain of the United States who supports China and claims to be a member of the Nominal Peace League.

Therefore, it was originally a hot spot, and suddenly the empress dowager and emperor of China also died in the war, which immediately detonated international public opinion, and the number of sympathizers for China naturally increased immediately.

By noon, it spread throughout the major countries, and various newspapers rushed to report it, the evening newspaper was published in advance, and the morning newspaper was printed in the extraordinary.

Kaiser Wilhelm II had this document on his desk, and of course he didn't need to rely on the newspaper to know about it, and there was a special telegram to report it to him.

Wilhelm II also felt a little surprised, although he kept clamoring for revenge on the Chinese rulers, and even arrogantly fantasized about arresting the Chinese emperor to apologize, but that was only a fantasy, but he did not even fantasize that the Chinese rulers would be killed.

In the norms of Western countries, the monarch will generally not be killed, and even the nobles will be treated preferentially in war, which is the origin of the preferential treatment of prisoners of war, of course, collecting ransom may be the original purpose, but with the development of civilization, various habits have been put on more civilized clothes, and this preferential treatment of prisoners has become a kind of aristocratic spirit.

Therefore, Wilhelm II could not accept the death of the Chinese ruler for a while, even if he did not think that the Chinese monarch could be compared with the monarchs of Europe.

"Is the message confirmed?"

Wilhelm II asked the Foreign Minister.

The foreign minister said: "It should be confirmed." What the British confirmed, it is basically impossible to go wrong. Otherwise the British would have created a scandal. ”

Wilhelm II nodded: "What is the attitude of the British?" ”

"The British ambassador would like to hear your views on the China issue, and hopes that the two countries will reach a consensus on this issue as soon as possible and adopt a consistent attitude in the East," the foreign minister said. ”

Wilhelm II nodded, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs had come to inform him that the British ambassador had asked to see him.

The British were clever and knew that the German question was primarily the problem of this monarch, so they went straight to the point and asked for a direct meeting.

Previously, Wilhelm II had been actively demanding the continuation of the war under the pretext that the Chinese rulers had not been punished and had not been taught a lesson, and now that Cixi and Guangxu were dead, how could this emperor be satisfied, so this question was no longer an obstacle.

Then the next step is simply a matter of interest.

The British only gave the Kaiser an analysis, and if the war continued, then the Russians would be the biggest winners, and the whole of China could be torn apart by the Russians, and Germany would not gain anything.

At the same time, the British promised that if the Germans were willing to end the war in the Far East with the British, then the British would support German interests in expanding in northern China.

The Kaiser had no reason not to be convinced, the biggest obstacle to Germany's expansion of China's interests had always been the British, the Germans occupied Qingdao, and the British immediately occupied Weihai in response, and now Britain expressed support for the Germans' expansion interests, which was a diplomatic victory no matter how you look at it.

As for the nominal commander-in-chief of the coalition forces sent by Germany, Field Marshal Wadsey is still halfway through, this is not a problem at all, and it is enough to let Wadsey actively cooperate with the British after arriving in China and block the Russians.

Speaking of which, William also felt that this farce seemed to make the Russians eat too much, and China was left with the little interests in the north that could be divided, and the Russians were too ugly to eat, hundreds of thousands of troops, is this to destroy the Chinese? William even wondered if the Chinese emperor had been killed by the Russians.

At this time, William realized that he had not read the information carefully, and after sending the British ambassador away, he read it carefully and found that the news disclosed by the British to the outside world was that the Empress Dowager and the Emperor of China were killed by a rebel named Zhu Kaishan.

Convincing the Germans solved most of the problem, and then the British negotiated with Japan, the Japanese did not have the courage to refuse the world hegemon, speaking of which, the Japanese have always wanted to be on the thigh of the British, and have always hoped to form an alliance with the British or something, but the British do not look down on the strength of the Japanese.

The British had requirements for Japan, which showed that Japan's status was elevated, and the Japanese did not want to fully agree to it, saying that everything was actively cooperating with the British.

Speaking of which, the Japanese only realized the importance of international diplomacy when the three countries intervened in Liaodong, and at that time they ceded Liaodong through the Treaty of Shimonoseki, and as a result, the three rogue countries of Russia, France and Germany were forced to vomit.

At that time, the Japanese understood that the cake of this world is not something that you have a good tooth for, and if you can gnaw it, it is yours, and you have to agree with the hegemonic country, otherwise you will have to spit it out in your stomach.

After receiving the support of the countries with the strongest reasons for war and the closest to sending the most troops, the British began to lobby France, and as for Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Belgium, the British simply informed them, and the most critical issue was France.

In order to fight against the Germans, France formed an alliance with Tsarist Russia, and in recent years, it has tried its best to form this ally, and France's loans and technology have been invested in Russia's huge territory without money, so that the Russian economy has developed rapidly in recent years. What the tsar said, the French government basically did not have the courage to refuse.

Sure enough, the French did not support this, but in the end they got a neutral attitude, and that was enough, and this is what the British wanted, and the French could do it immediately.

After a diplomatic undercurrent, when the Russians were still happily attacking cities in the northeast, they did not realize that the British had woven a diplomatic network to besiege Russia.

A week after the news of the deaths of Cixi and Guangxu broke out, Britain suddenly joined forces with Germany, Japan, and other parties involved in the Eight-Nation Coalition to send a note to the Russian Government, hoping to immediately negotiate with the Chinese side on the China issue and demanding that Russia refrain from military action in China.

Although the tsar was arrogant, but when he saw that suddenly so many countries suddenly stood up together, he was still a little timid in his heart, and as a last resort, he said against his heart that they also hoped to end the war in China as soon as possible and return peace to the Chinese people, but for the end of the military operation, the tsar decisively refused, saying that from Qiqihar to Shenyang, the attack of the Chinese has not ended, and the military operations of the Russian army are completely self-defensive in nature, and it does not matter whether self-defense to other countries' countries is some self-defense.

The British sent out an invitation for negotiations, and Li Hongzhang took a British steamer to Tianjin and rushed to Beijing by train.

Li Hongzhang was still in the name of the Great Qing Dynasty, but Cixi had sent him a telegram before he fled, appointing him as the plenipotentiary to be responsible for negotiating with the foreigners, but at that time he did not accept it, and came up with any false edicts and other excuses, and now he suddenly came under the banner of this representative, and he did not feel the slightest embarrassment, and the Western countries actually accepted his statement.

Because of his contact with the British, Yang Chao was also appreciated by Li Hongzhang, and was added to the temporary position of prime minister Yamen walking and joined Li Hongzhang's negotiation team.

Yang Chao thought that he could play a role, but he didn't expect that the task given to him by the Prime Minister Yamen was to translate foreign materials, and it was not a valuable material, it turned out to be a bunch of English newspapers! Li Hongzhang wanted to know that the public sentiment in the West was good, but he still felt a little depressed when he asked Yang Chao to do this kind of thing.

So two days later, I lost interest, and I found an excuse to be passive and didn't go to work.