Everything went smoothly, and Li Hongzhang finally completed a winning signing. All previous agreements with foreign powers in the Qing Dynasty were unequal agreements, and of course this time they were also unequal. But this time it was not our Daqing who was wronged, Li Hongzhang walked out of the cabin and looked at the blue sky and white clouds and took a deep breath. Secret curse in my heart: When did I Daqing and my Li Hongzhang ever raise their eyebrows like this? !

When the news of the abolition of the Old Covenant and the payment of reparations to the Qing Dynasty came back to China, the whole country suddenly boiled. The battle between China and France was full of twists and turns. This seriously ill country, concentrating all the outstanding talents, concentrating all the resources that can be concentrated, and then taking advantage of the delicate international situation, finally defeated a country that they seemed invincible.

The Daqing Daily published a photograph of the French Expeditionary Force surrendering to the Qing army and handing over its equipment, in which Lieutenant General Gu Ba handed over his command knife with a grim face.

And most of the officials of the Westernization faction of the imperial court and the governors of various places also breathed a sigh of relief, this one-day battle, it will cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, in this fight, the little foundation accumulated since the Westernization Movement will be exhausted, and now the guns and artillery bureaus in the provinces do not even have the wages to start work, if it were not for the fact that the workers did not make a fuss this time, I am afraid that the sky would have been turned upside down long ago. So this time it was an unprecedented voice of praise for virtue.

And this Sino-French war also shocked the whole world, if the French army was weakened because of the Franco-Prussian War, then his world's second navy, the Oshimizu Division, defeated the French fleet again and again, which had to impress people in other countries. Especially the colored people in countries such as Asia and Africa, who thought that even if they were brave and not afraid of death, they could not defeat the Europeans, but the Chinese set an example for them.

The French army had a large number of prisoners, with a total of nearly 50,000 men in the navy and army. Their great republic spent a full 2,000,000 taels of silver to redeem them, plus 5,000,000 taels of war reparations, and the return of a total of 8,000,000 taels in the Sino-French Treaty of Beijing in the Second Opium War.

So in this Sino-French war, the Qing Dynasty received 15 million taels of silver from the French. Although this is not a lot, it was a relief in the snow for the Qing Dynasty at that time. After more than a year of war, the treasury has long since bottomed out. Through the "Daqing Daily", Guan Xuqing constantly encouraged the people to donate money and grain, and the workers of the arsenal worked in arrears. Even Guan Xuqing also reduced the expenditure of the Internal Affairs Office again and again, and there was no such raw food and frugality, where did the 20 artillery battalions continue to bombard the Hucheng fortress for several days without stopping?? The shells that were knocked out in those days had to be made in China for several months.

After the end of the war, Guan Xuqing began to worry about this land in Vietnam. At the beginning, it was just to help Vietnam and send troops to fight against France, but now that the French army has been defeated, according to normal logic, we have to withdraw from Vietnam.

At that time, people liked to describe Vietnam as "a flat pole carrying two baskets of rice". The "two baskets of rice" it picks up refer to the two famous "granaries" of the Red River Plain in the north and the Mekong Plain in the south.

Historically, before World War II, Vietnam produced 6.5 million tons of rice per year, one-third of which was exported, accounting for a quarter of the world's total rice exports. At that time, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) was one of the world's three largest rice markets, along with Yangon and Bangkok. However, after the 40s, due to the continuous war, agricultural production has been greatly affected, and now in their own hands, it will surely become China's "granary", which can just make up for the lack of arable land in the Qing Dynasty. In the hearts of the Chinese there is a deep land plot. But now China's arable land is basically saturated, except for the northeast there is a fertile black soil, other good irrigation conditions, high yield of good land has basically been reclaimed, if not to expand outward, the population will increase again will have to reclaim those barren land, which is a great loss of labor efficiency.

Thinking that in order to increase the area of cultivated land, the Qing Dynasty surrounded lakes to create fields, cut down trees on the mountains to make terraces, and turned good pastures into low-yield farmland, Guan Xuqing often lamented the violent destruction of these Vietnamese creatures. Now that this fertile land has fallen into the hands of the Qing Dynasty, it can finally play its value.

So he decisively left the Black Flag Army in Vietnam, and Liu Mingchuan went north from Vietnam to Guangxi, and continued to guard the three provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangdong. Dong Liangbu followed the troop carrier escorted by the warship and returned directly to Zhili. Lu Yiwei's troops took a train from Guangdong to garrison in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and changed Chen Heng's troops, who were originally stationed here, to Sichuan.

"Your Majesty, all the captives of the French army have returned. The reparations for France are also in place, hurry up and restore the normal expenses of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, look at how thin you have been this year. The minister is distressed! "Prince Alcohol is distressed and admires his son.

"The prince has been thinking too much, and now this silver has to be given to the soldiers who are fighting as a military salary. I have promised them two years' salaries to pay the dead martyrs. I can't break my word. In addition, the wages of the workers of the provincial gun bureaus must also be paid to them as soon as possible, without their non-stop work, what would the soldiers at the front use to fight the French? The reconstruction of Mawei Port, the renovation of Lushun Military Port, the reconstruction of Tianjin Dagu Fort, and the three German and British cruisers have not yet been paid. Alas......" Guan Xuqing said and his head hurt as he spoke.

"Your Majesty, take care of the dragon's body. Sniff, sniff ......" Prince Alcohol not only coughed.

"Lord Wang, pay attention to your body." Guan Xuqing still respects and cares about this "father" very much in his heart.

Prince Alcohol saw this Guan Xuqing burst into tears, and blurted out: "Your Majesty, the insiders miss the emperor very much...... I hope to see the emperor. ”

Guan Xuqing is a person who has crossed over from the next generation, and he has no impression of this "mother" who has not seen each other for several years. When Prince Jing said this, he was shocked in his heart, and the past suddenly came to his heart. At the beginning, in order to prevent his son from entering the palace, that arrogant energy was really a bit of Cixi's shadow.

"Oh, let's take Fu Jin into the palace to live for a while later, I miss her too."

Just as Prince Alcohol wanted to say something, the eunuch Wang Shang hurriedly came.

"Your Majesty, Chao Xian telegram."

Guan Xuqing took the telegram and read it carefully, showing a heartfelt smile. He casually handed the telegram to Prince Alcohol and muttered: "The Japanese have withdrawn their troops in Chaoxian, and the Chaoxian people who helped the Japanese have also been exterminated by Liu San and them." The outcome of the Sino-French War may have shocked the whole of Japan, and now the Japanese do not dare to be our enemies of the Qing Dynasty. ”

"A small country, the emperor only needs to send a navy and an army to level them." Prince Alcohol said loudly.

Guan Xuqing watched the birth of this general, and there was a brave and unscrupulous "no relatives". He shook his head with a smile and didn't answer.

In the palace of the Japanese emperor, the Japanese emperor is also discussing the development of the situation in the DPRK and Xian with the ministers.

"So we've failed?" Emperor Meiji of Japan said with a blank face.

Inoue Xin stood up and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is that Weichen has not thought about it and underestimated China's power in Chaoxian, please ask Your Majesty to punish the crime." ”

Emperor Meiji waved his hand and said, "Forget it, the Chinese have already defeated France, and even if there is no such thing, we will withdraw our troops." ”

Hirobumi Ito, who was sitting cross-legged next to him, said, "Originally, we could have quickly increased our troops in Goryeo. Caused a fait accompli, * forced the Qing people to compromise! I didn't expect that China, the old empire, had decayed into that state and could still defeat the French. ”

Shan County Youpeng said a little unwillingly: "Now that the empire's new-style army has seven towns, and the Qing army's army is still far away in Vietnam, as long as we put all our troops into it, we can quickly occupy Chaoxian, and please ask Your Majesty to think more about the matter of retreating." ”

Emperor Meiji did not speak, and the Minister of the Navy, Shiki Kayama, said: "Originally, the empire had maritime superiority, and we could rely on new ships such as 'Fuso' to ensure the safety of the empire's landing army, deter China's Beijing-Tianjin region, and also threaten China's sea transportation routes." But now the situation has changed, and we have lost our maritime superiority over the Qing State. Although the Qing navy suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Mawei, the results of the later naval battle showed that the Chinese had been able to give full play to the combat effectiveness of capturing the French ** ships, and after the capture of the Honghe Military Port, there were new French ** ships captured by China, and I believe that now the Chinese have also repaired these ships and are ready to go into battle, if a war breaks out with China at this time, even if we quickly occupy the DPRK, the Qing can calmly mobilize troops by virtue of their naval superiority, and even use the navy to cut off our supply lines! We only have four capital ships, 'Fuso', 'Kongo', 'Hiei', and 'Tsukushi', and we can't stop the Qing people at all. I heard that they recently bought five more Jumbo warships from Germany. The situation is even less rosy. ”

Emperor Meiji listened to Shikiri's words and thought slightly: "So the strength of the Chinese navy has far surpassed ours?" ”

"I'm afraid so, Your Majesty." Shiki Kayama bowed his head and said.

Emperor Meiji was staring ahead with his eyes on the front, and his beard showed his might.

"I deeply feel that a strong army is the foundation of a rich country, and a strong army for me Japan is first of all a navy, and only by raising the emperor's prestige on the sea can Japan survive and develop, without a navy, there would be no Japan, have you seen the record of the Qing Dynasty?"

"Yes." All the ministers bowed their heads in unison.

"This plan must be prepared to attack the Qing Kingdom within five years, and I will discuss with the Minister of the Navy and the General Staff Headquarters to increase the military spending of the Navy, and within five years, the number of warships and firepower will surpass that of China, and we must surpass them." Emperor Meiji slammed his fist on the table, as if to strengthen his own resolve.