Compared with the navy, the nest of the Qing Imperial Army really made everyone in the country lose face, and even the great powers opened their mouths in disbelief, enough to swallow goose eggs.

The situation is really confusing. Traditional military strategists believe that after the destruction of the Yueben Navy, there is no suspense in this war, and the victory of the Qing Empire is already a certainty, in fact, even within the Yueben Empire.

However, what is surprising is that in the absence of supplies, the army actually beat the Qing Emperor's [***] team to lose their armor and retreat. After the fall of Haicheng and Liaoyang, not only did they provide food supplies to the army, but a large amount of weapons and ammunition of the Qing army fell into the hands of the enemy.

Once that happened, the victory of the Qing navy lost its role as a lever of war.

The Qing court realized this, so it took advantage of the relatively favorable situation to agree to peace talks with Yueben.

The Qing Empire used Prince Gong Yi, who had been idle for many years, who was once a powerful figure in the Qing Empire, the first minister of the Prime Minister Yamen, and had excellent negotiation skills. The most fundamental reason is that Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Naval Division has won, and if Li Hongzhang is allowed to negotiate, it will further boost his prestige. After the Qing court, the party was not happy to see it, the Nanyang faction was not happy to see it, and the imperial party was not happy to see it, so Yi was used to fight against Li Hongzhang.

After the meeting with Komura Shotaro, the two sides generally delineated the framework on the Korean issue, the Liaodong war situation, territorial cession, war reparations, and economic and trade issues.

However, Yi said that Komura Shoutaro did not have the qualifications for reciprocity, and asked for direct negotiations with Prime Minister Komoto. At this time, the original strong position was no longer there, so Komura Shoutaro naturally wanted to give way.

The war situation in Liaodong seriously affected the interests of Germany, France, and Russia, so under the strong intervention of the three countries, the Qing Dynasty and the two sides reached an armistice agreement first, stipulating that the two sides would cease fighting for one month and quickly send their counterparts to negotiate.

During the previous negotiations, the Yue army did not enter the northeast, so the surprise attack of the Yue army in violation of the negotiation agreement did not annoy Germany, France, and Russia. But now it is different, the battlefield is in southern Liaoning, Germany, France and Russia have made a strong statement, and if anyone dares to disobey the armistice agreement and then suddenly start a war, they will be severely punished.

In this case, he didn't dare to make any more small moves.

However, this does not mean that the army does not make plans and preparations.

After arriving at Incheon, the commander of the First Army, Yama Arm, held a meeting with the commander of the Second Army, Daesan Rock, and the two exchanged views on the fact that the Qing Imperial Army had been decadent and vulnerable for a long time.

In the end, Dashanyan actually agreed with the view of Youpeng in Shanxian County, that is, to continue to attack the Qing Empire with war to fight for greater bargaining chips at the negotiation table.

However, both of them thought that with the current imperial ability to attack Yanjing, they probably didn't have that power, but they both thought that there was no problem in taking Fengtian.

Dashanyan then sent a telegram to the base camp of the Empire, demanding that the Second Army immediately go to the front line of the war against China, and that there was no need for supplies from the base camp, and that Dashanyan would plunder enough food in Korea to bring it to the First Army, and strongly demanded that the main forces of the two armies would attack Mukden.

It seemed that the base camp also felt that this plan was feasible, so Prince Gong Chiren called back to allow Dashan Yan to make a confident decision. Regarding the action plan of Dashanyan and Yama County, Gong Chiren neither admitted nor denied it, obviously the consequences had to be borne by the two of them.

The Second Army then crossed the Yalu River and moved closer to the First Army, although it did not cross the Line of Actual Control to attack, but the pressure on the Qing Empire was enormous. On the one hand, the Qing Empire prepared a battle plan to defend Mukden, and on the other hand, intensified negotiations.

On December 5, Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu arrived in Tianjin and held negotiations with the Qing Empire's negotiating minister Yi in the Gordon Hall of the British Concession City Hall next to the Haihe River in Tianjin. Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Russia and other countries sent representatives to observe the hearing.

The concession land, that is, the state of China, is a disguised way of seizing territory by the great powers. Since 1860, Britain, France and the United States have opened up three concessions in Tianjin. The concession is a complete urban area, with municipal axes, taxes, police, army, courts and other facilities of the great powers, which are not interfered with by the Qing Empire, so it is a country within a state.

At the negotiating table, the Qing Dynasty said that the military operations of the two sides were evenly divided on land and sea, and Mutsu Zongguang threatened that his army was capable of entering Yanjing, while Yianti threatened him that the Beiyang Naval Division could also attack Tokyo. The two sides did not have much dispute militarily, and both believed that the other side had that strength, so neither dared to say that they were the final victorious powers.

In terms of territory, in addition to demanding that the Qing Empire abolish its suzerainty status over Korea and recognize its occupation, they did not want to give up the large territories they occupied in China, such as southern and eastern Liaoning, and wanted to maintain the status quo of the territories within the Line of Actual Control between the two sides, that is, to occupy the territory of the Qing Empire in disguise.

Liaodong and southern Liaoning were the birthplaces of the Qing Empire, and the Qing Empire naturally refused to give up, and the Qing court took a tough attitude and insisted on taking it back. But Yi said he could make concessions on the North Korean issue.

In terms of war reparations, Mutsu Somitsu demanded that the Qing Empire compensate 200 million taels for war expenses, including the losses of the combined fleet. Yi vetoed, and in turn demanded that the Qing Empire compensate the Qing Empire for the losses of the navy and army after the Chenghuan War and the war expenses of 300 million yuan.

The two are-for-tat, both want a truce but neither wants to budge.

Every day, the content of the negotiations between the two will be sent back to the top leaders of their respective countries for approval, and then the meeting will be adjourned for one day, and the joint powers hope to get the affirmation and support of the major powers, and on the third day, the top leaders of each country will reply to the bottom line of the negotiations before negotiating.

It is difficult to reach a consensus in the negotiations, but both sides want to complete the peace talks before the end of the armistice period, so they will choose to make some concessions.

The Qing Dynasty said that negotiations were launched in Tianjin, but Li Hongzhang accepted the award from the Qing Emperor and the Empress Dowager in high spirits. Not only did the three-eyed feather and the yellow coat return, but the command of the army was returned to him.

It's just that, on the surface, it seems to be a reward for him, but in fact, Li Hongzhang has only returned to his pre-war status.

But at this time, after the heavy burden of the army was returned to Li Hongzhang, it made Li Hongzhang even more difficult. At this time, the army is a hot potato, and whoever takes it is hot. The Qing Empire returned the command of the army to Li Hongzhang, so Li Hongzhang had to clean up the rotten situation in Liaodong next. If he succeeds, Li Hongzhang will do his duty, and if he fails, the Qing court can clean him up again.

Although Li Hongzhang had a sad face, he scolded the Qing court for being shameless behind his back. However, the Beiyang Naval Division system is in a state of flux, and all the officers and soldiers who have not died in battle have basically been promoted and rewarded.

Of course, the biggest credit is none other than Wang Chenhao.

Wang Chenhao made great contributions to the decisive battle of the Yellow Sea Naval Battle and the Battle of Incheon Port in succession, and under Li Hongzhang's strong recommendation, no one dared to snatch his position as the first hero of the Beiyang Naval Division.

For this reason, the imperial court canonized Wang Chenhao as a first-class baron with a different surname, and he was officially appointed as the commander of the Beiyang Naval Division, which is equivalent to the post of chief of staff of the fleet, and became the second person in the combat unit of the Beiyang Naval Division, that is, the modern fleet command, after Ding Ruchang. In addition, there were 10,000 taels of silver, as well as a large number of satin cloth and other objects, which were placed in a room full of everything.

However, it is said that the title system of the Qing Empire still implements the system of kings, dukes, marquis, uncles, sons, and barons, and also follows the system of the Jin Dynasty's Zongwang official Yu Jingshi. The vassal king does not belong to the domain, and there is no land.

Qing Dynasty titles are divided into clan titles, titles of meritorious heroes with different surnames, and Mongolian titles.

The clan titles are divided into 12 ranks, each with a number of ranks. The twelfth class can be roughly divided into super products and grades: super products: princes, county kings, Baylors, Beizi, dukes, and generals. Mongolian titles are generally based on the example of clan titles, while retaining the original Mongolian titles, and sometimes the hereditary succession of Khan is still established above the prince.

Of course, the title of meritorious hero with a different surname is awarded to a meritorious person with a different surname. Males, marquises, uncles, sons, and males are part of it. The title of meritorious hero with different surnames is divided into nine classes, and Wang Chenhao is located in the fifth class, which is the second grade, and the annual salary is 350 taels. Below are the Light Rider Lieutenant, the Cloud Rider Lieutenant, the Cavalry Lieutenant, and the En Rider Lieutenant.

The Qing Empire must have a precedent to follow for the title of a different surname, and Wang Chenhao's contribution is huge, he should have been named a viscount, but in the end he was only awarded a baron in the power dumping, which is similar to Liu Mingchuan, the first governor of Taiwan, who was also rewarded as a baron for his military exploits.

What's even more interesting is that the Qing Empire had a preference, and the only surname weapon also had a reward. Jiaolong was also canonized and awarded to her the general of Zhenhai, which was still under the personal management of Wang Chenhao.

In this regard, Wang Chenhao laughed at it.