Section 114 Universal

It is said to be a protection, but in fact it is an invitation, and the purpose is to probe the attitude of the Qing government. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Despite Yang Chao's travels, the Qing government repeatedly told the envoys of various countries that it did not have any political or diplomatic mission.

But at this critical juncture of the Japan-Russia talks, no one will believe it, at least not the US government.

So they sent a secretary of the so-called Sino-US Friendship Federation to meet with Yang Chao in a private capacity.

But all the questions were about politics.

"The attitude of our government is very clear: our government will not recognize any content that involves our territory without the consent of our government."

After the peace talks between Japan and Russia began, the Qing government expressed its desire to participate in the negotiations, but no one paid any attention, and then the Qing government sent a note to all parties and issued the above statement.

"Of course, you have the right to do that. But for the Liaodong problem, you should have your own solution. ”

Secretary Jonathan stroked his eyes and said.

Yang Chao said with certainty: "Of course, of course, the Chinese government has its own plan. Of course, I am not convenient to disclose the specific contents, but personally, I believe that we should respect Russia's interests in the northeast, and our country should take back the sovereignty of the northeast. As for Lushun and Dalian, I think being an open and free trade city is beneficial to everyone. ”

Recovering sovereignty and opening up commercial ports is Yang Chao's attitude.

Jonathan smiled: "Personally, I fully agree with your personal opinion, and at the same time, I will be very supportive of your personal attitude. ”

Approval, support, this is the attitude of the Americans.

At this point, Yang Chao got what he deserved.

As for the negotiations between Japan and Russia, this is almost public, and the American newspapers turn over the garbage bins without sparing a single word, and there are no secrets here.

The Japanese asked too high, the Russians were greedy, and it was not so easy to negotiate, and the negotiations lasted for fifteen days, and the two countries broke off the negotiations three times, one of which lasted for three days.

During this period, the armies of both countries also made unfriendly moves, the Russian army made a gesture of advancing closer to Korea, and the Japanese army, which had the right to control the sea, directly captured Sakhalin Island.

In the final analysis, the Russians are still instigated, everyone has captured Russian territory, and they have only made a circle on the Korean border, and they have never dared to fight over, as for the territory, who will remember that Sakhalin was once the Qing Dynasty.

Portsmouth is indeed very lively, it was originally a small city, although it has a long history, but it is Portland in the north, Boston in the south, two excellent ports, the two big cities are like a black hole in gold, investment opportunities, industrial capital, have been sucked over, Portsmouth wants to develop is really not easy.

But with the recent population boom, representatives of Japan and Russia, the U.S. military, government officials, tourists and journalists from all over the world have swept away all the hotels and hotels, causing Yang Chao to almost have to live on an airship, and finally the U.S. government helped him live in a rich man's villa.

Social activity is also very intensive, even more so than in San Francisco, which is the focus of the world at this time.

However, the questions asked by the reporters here are more political, most of them are related to the Russo-Japanese War, and Yang Chao only expressed two points, that is, China must take back the Northeast, and Lushun Dalian is opened as a commercial port, and at the same time emphasize that it only represents his personal views.

Another 10-day event, interviews with reporters, visits to local high society, and the opening of exhibitions to collect admission fees.

During this period, the negotiations between Japan and Russia did not lead to anything, and they were still talking after New Year's Day.

Maybe they can drag it out until the Lunar New Year, which is February.

But Yang Chao did not have any interest in the outcome of the negotiations between the two sides, because the results were already obvious, what you can't get on the battlefield, you can never get at the negotiating table.

Now the limit of the Japanese is to Dalian, Lushun they have no hope of capturing, and the Russian army cannot destroy the Japanese army, both sides have the ability to continue to increase troops at the same time, but at the same time there is no financial resources to fight.

Therefore, the final result must be that the Japanese will keep Korea and the Russians will occupy the northeast, and the only variable is whether the Japanese can grab Dalian, whether the Russians can return to Sakhalin, and as for the issue of war reparations, this is just a joke, and no one will take it seriously.

Yang Chao's airship continued to set off, this time across the Atlantic, with the next stop in London, England.

From the United States to London, about 6,000 kilometers, Yang Chao sailed at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour, but it took only 20 hours.

Although it has the same engine structure as the Zeppelin, it is doubled in proportion, and the processing capacity beyond the times allows Yang Chao's engine to be loaded with greater pressure, and the power is naturally greater and the speed is faster.

As in the United States, airships were sought after by the British.

In fact, it was not only the British, but the whole of Europe was a sensation.

The crossing of the Pacific Ocean should have been more sensational, but the repercussions in Europe were not very strong, because the vast majority of Europeans did not know how wide the Pacific Ocean was, and some geographers certainly knew that they would not cheer for the possibility of a transatlantic airship crossing the Atlantic.

However, in the eyes of ordinary civilians, the Atlantic Ocean is an uncrossable border, and taking a boat to other places is the only option, and if you take a boat, it is normal to take ten days and half a month at every turn, and if you want to go to China, it may take half a year to take a ship, which alone makes the vast majority of people daunted.

But when the airship comes, it will take one day to cross the Pacific Ocean and twenty hours to cross the Atlantic, doesn't that mean that it will take less than two days to travel from Asia to Europe, and I am afraid that it will not take a day to make a direct flight.

The newspaper has not stopped reprinting and analyzing during this time, when Yang Chao's airship landed, this sentiment reached its peak, in London's Trafalgar Square, gathered 100,000 people, the police were as high as tens of thousands, and the cordon had already been arranged, and the government began to publish notices in the newspaper as early as ten days ago, asking the civilians watching to abide by the order, the government's advance announcement made the airship famous, and there was a train from the Scottish Highlands to see the excitement.

Trafalgar Square is in order, the center of London, close to the Royal Palace, government agencies, and the Prime Minister's residence, perhaps because there are often various gatherings, the London police are very good at maintaining order, much better than the Americans, and after Yang Chao landed, no one tried to rush in.

Although he came in a personal capacity, Yang Chao was still received by the British government in a friendly manner, just like Li Hongzhang's visit back then, even in a private capacity, he would be valued by these countries, because they wanted to develop their interests in China, and knew that maintaining a good personal relationship with the Chinese power class was a shortcut, even if Yang Chao was removed from office, but they knew that Yang Chao's political future was far from over, and even just begun.

Of course, the British prime minister and the royal family will not come forward, although they regretted it for a long time later.

Yang Chao was greeted by a counselor of the Ministry of Commerce, and of course he was in London, and Wang Daxie, the Chinese minister to the United Kingdom, also came to meet with Yang Chao and raised some concerns.

The talks with the British, like those with the Americans, were about politics under the pretext of commercial issues.

For the British, Yang Chao will not say those useless.

Very tough: "China will definitely recover the Northeast, even at the cost of force!" ”

Although the British were a little surprised by this, the officials of the Qing Dynasty, and the deposed officials, actually had times when they were arrogant?

The British immediately said that they still wanted to see peace in the Far East, but they also believed that it was legitimate and reasonable for China to recover its territory by any means, and that Britain stood on a moral standpoint and sympathized with China.

It's just sympathy, that's because they don't see hope, the Japanese let the British see their determination, see their determination to play with the Russians in order to protect their interests, so the British gave the Japanese loans, provided diplomatic support, provided all help, and wanted them to defeat Russia.

But here in the Qing government they don't see any hope, so they only sympathize.

Yang Chao will let them see it, because Yang Chao really intends to use force, or put on a posture of using force, Britain will support it.

London is more lively than Portsmouth and San Francisco, after all, this is the world's largest metropolis, New York is still not as good as London, just received 400,000 pounds for tickets, 100,000 people visited Yang Chao's airship, and received at least 10,000 people every day.

The second stop in Europe is Berlin, the Germans are more enthusiastic about technology than the British, and there are more people to see the excitement, but there are far fewer people who are willing to pay for tickets to see it or eat a meal, and the Germans are still more pragmatic, or poorer, and only received 1 million marks, equivalent to 50,000 pounds.

However, the German government's attitude towards Yang Chao was more enthusiastic, and their foreign minister personally intervened, it was Yang Chao's old friend Bernard, who was trusted by Wilhelm II because of the diamond issue, but he was not yet able to become prime minister, but his position as foreign minister was very stable.

Although he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he came up to talk about business issues first, and confirmed with Yang Chao that he had obtained the preferential right to open a factory from Yang Chao last time, and Yang Chao said that any German enterprise was welcome to invest and set up factories in Shandong, and he had already set aside a piece of land of 2 million mu at the mouth of the Yellow River.

The preferential treatment for the Germans includes, free land for investment and factory establishment, of course, only for rent, as long as they continue to operate the factory, then the land will be provided free of charge, but it cannot be transferred, once not in operation, Yang Chao has the right to take back the land and the outbuildings above; These factories will be taxed alongside Chinese companies under China's tax system, but their products will be subject to a 30 percent rail discount.

This was discussed with Yang Chao himself, because the land belonged to Yang Chao's private ownership, and it was the emperor who ordered Yang Chao to allow Yang Chao to occupy it.

So it's just a commercial agreement, and both the Germans and Yang Chao think so.