In the Korean and Ryukyu battlefields, Song Xiaofei and Liu Mingchuan beat Yue himself. Song Xiaofei estimated that Saigo Congdao suffered a crushing defeat in Korea and Ryukyu, and he would definitely be angry and start a war with the Qing Dynasty. In this way, the Great Qing State could justifiably take advantage of the fact that it was not strong, destroy it, and change it to China's Taitung Province, and never suffer in the future.

It's a pity that the Qing Dynasty in 1875 was like a broken wooden ship full of holes, and the wood was rotten, either there were holes here or there were loopholes. In 1875, on the border of Yunnan, the diplomatic translator of the British Embassy in China, Ma Carrie, was killed by the indigenous residents of Yunnan because he did not understand the rules of the ethnic minorities in the mountains and refused to pay the "road money".

He said that he had a chance to take advantage of the opportunity, and that the sunken "Dreadnought" was a British [***] ship, and he said that he repeated his old trick, and wanted to do the same as in Taiwan in 1874, and if he could not fight, he would use diplomacy to rub China's oil and ask for compensation, and he persuaded the British and American envoys to support it, and Pai Sen Youli was the special envoy, and went to the prime minister's yamen in Yanjing to "fake the tiger", saying that the Huai army had sunk the British [***] ship in Korea and claimed 1 million taels of silver.

Prince Gong did not hesitate to throw this hot potato to Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang was struggling with the British minister Wei Tuma because of the murder of Margaret, and he was anxious and incompetent, so he wrote a letter asking Liu Mingchuan to withdraw his troops from Korea and come back to negotiate with Sen Youli.

Liu Ming passed to Song Xiaofei to see Li Hongzhang's letter, Song Xiaofei read it, his heart was blocked, it turned out that Weng Tonggong saw the Huai Army's victory, afraid that Li Hongzhang had made a great contribution, and regretted supporting Liu Mingchuan to go on the expedition, Li Hongzhang applied for a military salary of 400,000 taels of silver for Huai Jun, Weng Tonggong deliberately instructed the household to press, and delayed allocation. Prince Gong also won the trust of the Empress Dowager Cixi because Li Hongzhang supported the Guangxu Emperor, and stole his limelight, and he was unhappy, and did not support Li Zhongtang's proposal to go to war with himself. Song Xiaofei's face was heavy, and he shook his head and said helplessly: "Brother Liu, if you don't destroy this book at this time, twenty years later, you will definitely defeat China." ”

Liu Ming said: "I don't want to withdraw the army, today's victory is all won by the brothers with blood and life, I can't wait to fight to Tokyo, like the old hair to destroy the book." But fighting a war requires real money, this defeat said that the army, the Huai army also suffered nearly 1,000 casualties, and half of the military salary was spent on the pension, and the military salary of 100,000 taels of silver brought quickly bottomed out. It is difficult for a strong general to lead an army without pay, and after a long time, there will definitely be chaos. ”

Song Xiaofei thought to himself, Xixiang came to Dao Seppuku and said that his country would ask for money to rent a warship, but Weng Tongyi was stuck with Huaijun's military salary and did not pay, this is really a pig-like teammate! Once again, it was explained that the rule of officials in the late Qing Dynasty had rotted to the roots, he thought about it, sighed, and said to Liu Ming: "It's okay to go back to the peace talks, I will be the interpreter for Brother Liu, and this peace talks, I will never let Yu himself take advantage of it again." ”

Liu Ming said: "The general will not be subject to the orders of foreign monarchs, can we be like last year's Xixiang Congdao attack on Taiwan, in the name of bandits, and then ask the court to posthumously recognize it?" ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Our 4,000 Huai army has no chance of winning if we go to the local area to deal with the 30,000 standing army, not to mention that we have to cross the ocean and sea, and we don't have a big warship, so it is simply impossible." Moreover, if the Qing Dynasty first declares war on Yueben, it will be that we do not abide by international law, and the United States and Britain will not sit idly by. ”

Liu Ming said: "After we go back, we must find a way to bring down Weng Tongyi, otherwise this old man will mislead the country and the people sooner or later." ”

Song Xiaofei said: "Brother Liu is right, I think so too. ”

As Li Hongzhang said, there are rules for everything in the world, that is, rules. At that time, there were international rules such as the public law of all nations and the Neiwa Convention, if you were stupid and didn't understand, even if you were very powerful, if you were the enemy of the whole world, you would inevitably be beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, and the late Qing Dynasty suffered too much in this regard, and Song Xiaofei knew this. This time, Song Xiaofei decided to talk to Sen Youli about the "truth".

Twenty-eight-year-old Mori Youli, of course, is not an idle person, this person is bald, born in Kagoshima in 1847, at the age of eighteen to study at the University of London, after returning to China, he felt that this education is backward, and published a monograph "The Problem of Education" to open up the wisdom of the people, according to the current standards, his knowledge has reached the level of a doctor. He also spent three years in Washington, D.C., as ambassador to the United States. China's first batch of young children to study in the United States was only sent in 1872, and a diplomatic talent like Sen Youli had no opponent in the Qing Dynasty at that time, but unfortunately he met Song Xiaofei.

Before Song Xiaofei saw Sen Youli, he reviewed the book on public international law lent to him by Rong Rong, changed into a brand-new gray robe, and went to the Zhili Governor's Mansion in Baoding with Liu Mingchuan, waiting for Sen Youli to compete.

Sen Youli came with a carriage of information, and also brought a translator, named Zheng Yongning, said that the minister in China, he said that he was Chinese, and the ancestor was Zheng Zhilong, a relict of the Ming Dynasty, and a local tyrant in Quanzhou, Fujian, and he had a son, who was the famous Zheng Chenggong in history.

In addition to interpreting, Mori Youli also invited ministers or counselors of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and other countries to observe the hearing, which was like a press conference, with the purpose of talking about international law and putting pressure on China.

Sen Youli had a bright head that day, wearing a black tuxedo and Zheng Yongning, who was wearing the same suit and leather shoes, came to the Governor's Mansion in Baoding to ask for the guilt.

The negotiations were held at a long table, with Sen Youli and Zheng Yongning sitting opposite Liu Mingchuan and Song Xiaofei, with diplomats from other countries watching and two clerks taking notes.

Clausewitz said at the beginning of his world-famous book "On War": "War is not an end, it is nothing but politics written by the sword." In other words, the diplomacy of the two countries will ultimately bear fruit at the negotiating table.

Therefore, as soon as Sen Youli came up, he launched a fierce offensive against Liu Mingchuan: "It is in accordance with international law to go to North Korea by the undergraduate examination ship, why is it attacked by the North Korean army?" ”

Liu Mingchuan didn't understand what a scientific research ship was, and Song Xiaofei said that a scientific research ship was a scientific research ship. Liu Mingchuan asked, what is science? The diplomats present exchanged heads and ridiculed Liu Mingchuan for not understanding science. This meeting made Song Xiaofei a little embarrassed, after all, "Mr. De" and "Mr. Sai" were not known to the Chinese people until forty or fifty years later, and he didn't know how to explain to Liu Mingchuan what science was, so he said: "The scientific research ship I said is the boat that goes to fetch fresh water." ”

Liu Mingchuan slapped the table and said, "Fuck it, do you still need to install three or four large-caliber guns on the ship that gets fresh water?" ”

Zheng Yongning didn't know how to translate "let his mother's shit" translate, and was about to skip it, when Song Xiaofei smiled and said: It's Baga's mother.

Mori Youli said, "Even if this ship is a warship, we go to North Korea, what is the matter with Guan Daqing?" ”

Liu Ming said: "North Korea is a vassal state of China, and the kings are all sealed by my Qing Emperor, do you say that it is none of our business?" ”

Zheng Yongning coughed twice, suggesting that Mori Youli could make a fuss about the loopholes in the treaty concluded between China and North Korea. Mori Youli understood and took out a letter of agreement between China and the DPRK and said: "China does not care about the internal affairs of the DPRK, and the treaty with the DPRK does not clearly indicate that the DPRK is a vassal state of China. ”

When Liu Mingchuan heard this, he asked, "Didn't it be written?" ”

Zheng Yongning said: "We studied it for three days, and there is really no such thing. ”

Liu Mingchuan laughed and said, "That's easy to do, next time I go to North Korea and find them to make up for it, the North Koreans will definitely be happy." ”

Mori Youli couldn't cry or laugh, and said: "The Fang boat went to the North Korean coast to get fresh water, and the North Korea opened artillery attack, and said that he was forced to return fire, and they were ignorant and violated international law." ”

North Korea is China's little brother, attacking North Korea is a slap in the face of China, Song Xiaofei countered: "I also have studied international law, even if the warship is to take sea water, according to international law, the land near the shore is its own territory." The North Korean artillery, as the French and Americans present here should know, is the equipment of the Ming Dynasty, and the firing range is only a few hundred meters. ”

Mori Youli was speechless, so he changed the topic and talked about Ryukyu: "Ryukyu belongs to a foreign land, why should the Qing Dynasty help them?" ”

Song Xiaofei took out a letter and showed it to diplomats from various countries: "Everyone, please see, this is the blood letter from the Ryukyu King Shangtai to the emperor of the Great Qing Dynasty, the words on it are all Chinese characters, which fully explains that Ryukyu is also a vassal state of my Great Qing Dynasty. ”

When Sen Youli heard that Song Xiaofei still understood human rights, he was completely bored and incoherent: "China sank the British [***] ship 'Dreadnought', and it should pay 1 million taels of silver." ”

Song Xiaofei was still very calm, and it was estimated that he would buy a dreadnought for six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver, and he really dared to open his mouth, so he asked: "May I ask whether the Dreadnought was flying the flag or the British flag at that time?" ”

Mori Youli said: "This flag is called. However, it was originally leased, and China would be responsible for any problems. ”

Song Xiaofei smiled and asked rhetorically: "In this way, if something happens in the concessions of various countries, is China also responsible?" Then we are happy to be responsible, I wonder what the ministers here think? ”

In 1845, Britain set up the first concession in modern history in Shanghai, China, and by 1875, Britain, the United States, and France had set up a number Chinese of concessions in Shanghai, Tianjin, and other places.

After talking for two hours, Sen Youli didn't take advantage of it at all, and the defense line in his heart completely collapsed, he got up and slapped the table, and stopped talking: "Our people are belligerent, and once the war starts, China will reap the consequences." ”

Liu Mingchuan looked at it, and smashed a hole in the three- or four-inch-thick wooden table with a fist, "Damn, that's what I'm waiting for!" You said that there were 30,000 soldiers, and I had 40,000 people in the Qing Dynasty, and one person drowned you with a mouthful of spit. ”;