The Richard Hotel Shanghai is an East Indian-style two-storey brick and wood building, with a pale red building and a semi-circular roof like a pagoda, full of exotic atmosphere.

The chief representative of the mission is Cheng Yi, the vice minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Sichuan Jingyan people, who are resolute, intelligent, like to learn and be good at words, and are one of the cadres of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Honglu Temple is also listed as the Department of Etiquette, from the three-product organization, in charge of the court, feast, sacrificial praise etiquette and foreign affairs reception matters, Cheng Yi won the appreciation of Foreign Minister Zou Kai, after Zou Kaizhi left Shanghai, Cheng Yi became the actual speaker of the mission.

The north and the south were negotiating the ownership of Shanghai, and Cheng Yi launched a tug-of-war with the north in accordance with the edict of the regent and several drafts agreed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

At present, the draft given by Cheng Yi is a condition after the Southern Dynasties made a small concession, that is, Shanghai is jointly managed by the North and the South, and the taxes of the Shanghai Jiang Customs are handed over to the North and South tax authorities according to the destination of the goods from the south to the north, and the goods from the Southern Dynasties passing through Shanghai into the North are exempt from tariffs, and similarly, the goods from the Northern Dynasties passing through Shanghai and entering the South are also exempt from customs duties.

Cheng Yi has been grinding with the officials of the Northern Dynasties on this draft for half a month, and the two sides are deadlocked, and no one is willing to give in.

Today is the same, in the conference room specially opened on the first floor of the Richard Hotel, I argued with the officials of the northern country for a morning, and in the afternoon, Cheng Yi came to the conference room early.

The envoy to the northern negotiation is Du Han, a military aircraft walker, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, the right-hand man of the six kings, but because the negotiation envoy sent by the Southern Dynasty is the vice minister of foreign affairs, but a second-grade official, Yi Du Han will no longer participate in the talks, but Bao Zhengping, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and Cheng Yi will fight each other, which can be regarded as reciprocal negotiations.

Cheng Yi drank tea while admiring the Western oil paintings on the wall of the negotiation room, a magnificent cathedral, looking at it, his mood gradually calmed down, as if the faint bell was ringing in his ears.

The open door, there was a chaotic sound of footsteps, Cheng Yi turned around, slightly stunned, Du Han, who had not appeared for a long time, walked in with all directions, walking beside him was a gray-haired and brown-eyed Russian officer in a cold temperament, and his eagle-like eyes turned around Cheng Yi, revealing a little surprise, because he immediately realized the difference between the officials of the north and the south, this official of the south was calm and serene, and there was no indescribable rotten atmosphere of the officials of the north.

"Lord Cheng, come, this officer will introduce to you, this is General Vladimir, commander of the Oros Far East Fleet."

Cheng Yi stretched out his hand, shook hands with Vladimir gently, and bowed his head.

Du Han smiled again and said, "Lord Cheng, General Vladimir is here to observe our negotiations, and hopes to put forward some pertinent opinions. ”

Cheng Yi didn't think about it and flatly refused: "Russia is not in the ranks of the mediating countries, and Mr. Vladimir is not a representative of the mediating countries, so he has no right to participate in our negotiations." ”

Du Han smiled slightly, and said: "Master Cheng, then now add Oros to the ranks of the mediation countries, now you have no opinion, sit, sit." "It's rare to be so kind to Cheng Yi, usually he has a good shelf, and he doesn't bother to say anything to Cheng Yi, of course, it's not arrogant, but a posture, a unique posture of dynasty officials.

As he spoke, Duhan made a gesture of invitation and invited Vladimir to sit on the side of the long table.

Cheng Yi said categorically: "How can there be such a reason? Lord Du is too ridiculous, isn't it, does the mediator state say that it can be added? It's ridiculous! That being the case, we can only withdraw from today's negotiations. ”

Bao Zhengping frowned and said, "Lord Cheng, the gunboats of the Russian Far East Navy are close to the left, you don't know it, right?" ”

Cheng Yi didn't speak, turned around and left, and the seven or eight southern officials sitting behind the long table stood up in unison and followed Cheng Yi out.

Du Han frowned slightly, there were four or five Russian soldiers with arrogant expressions standing in front of the door, one of them stretched out his hand to stop Cheng Yi, and on the other side, three or four southern soldiers wearing grass-green military uniforms immediately came over and pushed him away.

Not long after the Russians arrived in the Far East, they only stayed in Rovsk for a few days, and then explored a small village and town in the southernmost part of the Liaodong Peninsula in China, preparing to build a shipyard here, because in the Far East, the Russians simply did not have a decent base for the maintenance of naval ships, and although the technical strength of the Rovsk shipyard was barely able to maintain ironclad battleships, it was not a suitable port for the navy. It is because the Russians are preparing to find an excellent ice-free port in North China to build a shipyard for the fleet to berth, this is a top priority, and we must not slack off, this small fishing village is named by the Russians "Darny (Dalian)", of course, whether we can build a port in North China in the end, it depends on the results of negotiations with North China.

These Russian soldiers do not know much about the cause and effect, but the various renderings of the oriental peoples in the country, naturally do not look at the Chinese in the eyes, seeing several muscular Chinese soldiers pushing them back one after another, immediately came to the temper, one of the Russian soldiers reached out to pull out the dagger, the hand just touched the handle of the dagger, the Chinese soldiers had already brushed out the revolver, a row of seven people, the black hole hole muzzle was cold, aimed at these Russian soldiers.

"What are you doing here?!" Standing in front of the door, Du Han's face turned slightly blue, these officials of the Southern Dynasty were arrogant, but he lost his face just now, how could his face be good-looking?

"Everyone, everyone!" The owner of the hotel, Richard, came running over with a smile, he was a fat Caucasian man in his forties, shy and panting.

For the safety of the Licha Hotel, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Concession is naturally listed as the top priority, and the patrol is dispatched to patrol and patrol at night, no matter which official on both sides has an accident, the Bureau of the Ministry of Industry of the Concession cannot afford it.

Vladimir watched Cheng Yi and his party go upstairs, a touch of deep thought flashed in his eyes, he waved his hand, said a few words in Russian, and the Russian soldiers slowly retreated.

"General Vladimir, I'm really sorry." Bao Zhengping, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, smiled, and glanced at Du Han, who was pale, but he was a little happy in his heart, he had been repeatedly applied for by Du Han, and he was really tired of this old man to the extreme.

Vladimir smiled, turned to Du Han and said, "Lord Du, it seems that your southern opponent is very difficult to deal with!" ”

Listening to the interpreter translating Vladimir's words, Du Han frowned and didn't squeak, knowing that this Russian general was a powerful person, the tougher the officials of the Southern Dynasties behaved, the more difficult it was for the Southern [***] team to deal with, and the more these Russians asked for a sky-high price when cooperating with the emperor.

"Mr. Duhan, while you have time today, let's talk about how to defeat your enemies in the south, shall we?" Vladimir smiled.

Du Han nodded expressionlessly.

(To be continued)