The temptation of the British did not cause much heated controversy in the imperial court, and in the eyes of the civil and military officials, the Qing Dynasty's own foreign affairs were even subject to interference by foreign powers, let alone nominal vassals.

"Your Majesty, this is just a trivial matter, why not promise the British. Now that I have finally achieved this peaceful situation in the Qing Dynasty, it is the time to try my courage and strengthen my national strength, and if I can take advantage of this matter in exchange for the help of the British, it will not be a hundred times better than the barren land of Burma. Li Hongzhang said bitterly.

It cannot be said that Li Hongzhang's words are unreasonable, and many people in later generations believe that this is the development path that China should take, which is also in line with the Chinese philosophy of "helping the world if it is good, and being poor is good for itself", and now China is undoubtedly a time of poverty. In the ancient feudal society, in which countries were almost semi-closed from one country to another, such a foreign policy may be correct. But in the case of the world moving towards integration and increasingly close exchanges between countries, such a development path will not work, when others take the world's best raw materials, energy producing areas, and vast markets as their own, can that kind of closed-door development catch up with others? Throughout the history of the growth of every great power, all of them have been driven by external expansion, and Japan is a typical example, Japan dared to send troops to Taiwan and annex the Ryukyus shortly after the Meiji Restoration, and the power gap between Japan and China at that time was not necessarily smaller than the power gap between China and Britain today. External expansion is the best way to accumulate raw capital, otherwise it is only to exploit the peasants of the country and accumulate raw capital by the difference in the prices of raw materials and products. Guan Xuqing wants to change China's thinking of sitting behind closed doors and worrying about the world, which may lead China into the abyss of militarism, but in Guan Xuqing's view, this is also better than the current thinking of "forbearance" and "forgiveness."

"Those are the land handed down from our ancestors, don't you want it like that?" Guan Xu glanced around, standing in the Jinluan Palace, the civil and military officials.

Li Hongzhang listened and said: "Your Majesty, the British have always been rich and light on land, and this time they are just provoking trouble by taking advantage of the British merchant ships being punished, as long as we agree to the British request as soon as possible, and the British will have no excuse to send troops." ”

"Well, I'll leave that to you. Let the Burmese king agree to the request of the British as soon as possible, but at this point. If the British want to send troops to Burma again, I will swear to deal with them to the end. After Guan Xuqing finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves and walked out.

"Your Majesty." Li Hongzhang saw that the emperor was finally relieved, and couldn't help showing joy, and knelt on the ground with his ministers.

After Guan Xuqing retired from the court, he returned to the Yangxin Palace, Wang Shang hurriedly followed in and whispered: "Your Majesty, the person you are looking for has already been brought by the minions." ”

"Oh? Bring it in. Guan Xuqing's expression was full of surprise.

Wang Shang brought into the Yangxin Hall was a foreigner in his fifties, who was wearing a simple tuxedo, a bow tie on his chest that was neatly buttoned, and his hair was obviously carefully combed, reflecting the identity of the owner.

"Your Excellency the Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, I am very happy to see you."

"Haha, Mr. Jones. Welcome to the Great Qing Dynasty, and I hope that my courtiers have not neglected you. ”

Jones gracefully bowed to Guan Xuqing and said, "The beauty of China has opened my eyes, and if I have time, I really want to have a good tour." ”

"There will be opportunities, the Qing Dynasty and the United States have many similarities, such as the same vast territory, rich in natural resources, but also many complementary places, the United States is prosperous in science, but our Great Qing Dynasty has the most abundant human resources in the world. The two countries face each other across the ocean, and in fact, it is very necessary to do a good job in the relations between the two countries. ”

"That's one of the reasons why our President sent me."

Guan Xuqing continued: "The current world situation, presumably President Cleveland also has a clear understanding, Britain's strength is now in the weakest time, the domestic industrial and agricultural reform is slow, the malaise is serious, and there is nothing to see in military innovation, its navy has just experienced a dark period, most of the warships are aging and have not been replaced. Even in tonnage, if it had not been for the defeat of the French Far Eastern Fleet by China, I am afraid that the proud Royal Navy would have now been surpassed by the French. And the stubborn and arrogant isolation policy of the British left them without a single friend in the world. ”

Jones didn't answer, but continued to listen carefully, his face deep in thought.

"But the British, after all, occupy the richest land in the world, and they have the gold coins they have looted for hundreds of years, once they are relieved. Their strength would grow at a terrifying rate, and no country could defeat Britain in such a competition. My fear is that once Britain becomes strong again, it will inevitably begin a new round of expansion...... Do not say that your country does not have such concerns. In Central America, in Venezuela, in Oregon, once the British were determined to get these benefits. Can your country tolerate it? ”

As he spoke, Guan Xuqing was already a little excited: "So instead of trying to curb the ambitions of the British in the future, it is better to take advantage of the time when they are at their weakest." We united to defeat the British. Or rather, your country helped me defeat the British. What are the benefits? Your country will benefit from Central and South America. And the Pacific Ocean will become a pond for our two countries. ”

Guan Xuqing has undergone quite strict speech training in later generations, and he is engaged in the financial industry, and he can easily fool those customers who are better than monkeys, not to mention drawing a blueprint that the other party cannot refuse in front of the existing facts, and he can't guarantee what will happen in the future.

Jones nodded slightly unconsciously, and Guan Xuqing's words described a very wonderful vision. The old world hegemon will be dragged down by the war in China, and the United States will really take the Americas into its own hands and rely on him to grow and grow until finally the flag of world leadership from the hands of the British. At this time, the isolationist forces in the United States were far less serious than they were later, and many American elites were indeed considering such problems.

"Your Majesty, your proposals are indeed very good, and some of them have been raised by President Cleveland, which makes me wonder if you have spoken before. But as you know, the United States is a democracy, and the government is actually carrying out the demands of the people. Our people are disgusted with war, especially with a power like Great Britain, and even for just reasons, I think it will be difficult for the government to convince the population to agree to send troops...... However, we may be able to provide your country with some financial and technical support to mediate if necessary. Dulles was careful with his words. In fact, in his heart, he is very much in favor of forming an alliance with China, because the current strength of the United States is not enough to influence the Far East, so the United States is at an absolute disadvantage in dividing up China's interests, and after signing this alliance, the United States will own China's huge market and establish its own power on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean.

If an alliance with Russia is a conspiracy to limit Britain's military power in the short term, then an alliance with the United States is a long-term boost to China's strength. The United States can not only provide the funds and technology that China needs, but also be a good helper in dealing with Britain at present and Russia and Japan in the future.

After a week of secret negotiations, Jones finally boarded a ship from Tianjin to San Francisco with a treaty he was satisfied with. The treaty includes a $20 million loan from the United States to help China carry out currency reform, and to open up exports to China of important industrial equipment such as steel, metallurgy, shipbuilding, and precision machinery, and if war breaks out between China and Britain, the United States will also subscribe for a war bond worth $10 million and provide a low-interest loan of $100 million in the short term. However, in order to maintain a neutral image, the United States will not export strategic materials such as arms and steel to China during the war.

At that time, one tael of silver was equivalent to two dollars.

And as a price, American goods will enter China with tariffs of less than 2.5%, for example, China has suffered a great loss, with the industrial strength of the United States, their products entering the Chinese market under the condition of low tariffs will certainly have a great impact on China's fledgling industry, and look at the treaty, the United States actually does not need to pay anything, loans and war bonds have to be repaid, those industrial equipment is also bought with real money, and providing a leveling fund for China's currency reform is a matter of great benefit to the United States.

In the treaty, the United States did not assume a single obligation, not even to destroy its image of neutrality. However, Guan Xuqing has already got what he wants, with the level of education in China, to train his own skilled technicians and invent good machine tools. Step by step, heavy industry will be built. I don't know how much time it will take. And the great powers will not give China such time and circumstances. Only by practicing the doctrine of taking things can we develop China's national heavy industry in the shortest possible time.

According to the Sino-British "Treaty of Beijing," China's current customs tariffs are still in the hands of Britain, and they can only be counted if they are recovered.