"Mr. Minister. Keeping quiet is not the answer. You must know that the Vietnamese army is trying its best to regain the lost territory of its country. And I, the Tiger Ben of the Qing Dynasty, can also move south anytime and anywhere and enter Saigon. ”

"The overall situation of the war in Vietnam has been decided, and France has no power to return to heaven. Don't you think, Mr. Minister, that it is beneficial to make a conclusion early and to have three parties, including you and me and Vietnam? Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said leisurely.

"The French Republic is willing to admit defeat, but it will never accept blackmail. Saigon was still firmly in the hands of France, and a powerful naval fleet could still attack from any point along Vietnam's narrow coastline. France was only defeated in the battle at Zhongqi, not a total military defeat. ”

"Your Excellency, your terms are an utter insult to the French Republic. I firmly refuse. And I hope you can put away your greedy heart. France could withdraw from Vietnam, but that was all.

The six provinces of Nanqi belong to the inviolable interests of France! ”

Luo Shuya left the table angrily. Naturally, the negotiations could not proceed on this day.

The distance between the front and rear feet, the Belgian minister to China, Maeterlinck, came to the place where Luo Shuya was footed.

Belgium is a small country in Europe, not as large as the island of Taiwan, and it is a permanently neutral country. But as long as it's a country, there's a tendency. Traditionally Catholic Belgium was inherently close to France, and when Belgium became independent in 1830, the French supported the movement because they did not approve of the decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to declare the formation of a united Netherlands [Netherlands].

Belgium's friendship with France is a historical one. If Li Hongzhang had learned about this from the beginning, he would not have been surprised when the ministers and consuls of Belgium and Spain stood up to support Luo Shuya.

"My friend, I can understand your anger, as a diplomat of the Kingdom of Belgium in China, I am also very disgusted by the bad attitude of the Great Qing State, and those conditions and demands are indeed unacceptable to the glorious France.

But the war is going on, and every day you delay, a piece of land in Nam Ki will fall into the hands of those monkeys. The same is not desirable.

I hope what you're saying will work. Otherwise, I can only suggest that you accept the formal opening of negotiations with the Chinese. I will work with the U.S. Minister Defender to jointly propose a bilateral cease-fire and conduct new negotiations based on the existing control areas. "As a small country, Maeterlinck has pushed his abilities to the limit.

"Maeterlinck, France will not forget your help. Rest assured, I am at least seventy percent sure that the situation in Nanqi will be reversed. Luo Shuya's face was filled with excitement, "It's just that before the answer is revealed, I'm sorry, I can't sue you." You just need to know that the good news may already be on the sea in Guangzhou. ”

With both hands clenched into fists, Luo Shuya fantasized about the moment when the good news came. At that time, he must not have been able to contain his excitement.

Maeterlinck was amazed, he knew what she was like. Without a certain degree of certainty, Luo Shuya would not express himself like this. Obviously, his 'intendent', the success rate is very high.

"Then let's pray to God." Shrugging his shoulders, Maeterlinck hugged Luo Shuya, "Hope for a good outcome, my friend." ”

"There will definitely be. We're going to have a good drink then! ”

Li Hongzhang on the other side is here. In a small flower hall not far from the meeting place, Li Hongzhang and Ali Guo sat opposite each other, and on the coffee table in front of them were Chinese-style green tea, as well as black tea that the British loved.

"Li Zhongtang!" Ali Guo is an old China expert, and his title is completely Chinese, and he will not be called 'earl' by calling Li Hongzhang. Mr. Luo Shuya has been avoiding talking about it, which proves that he still has a trace of luck in the war in Vietnam. General Liu of your country should decisively defeat this glimmer of hope of the French. ”

"Of course. The conditions in your country are indeed a humiliation for France. If Luo Shuya accepted this treaty, he would be directly nailed to the history of shame in France. ”

"As a good friend of the Qing Dynasty, I would like you to immediately urge General Liu to launch an attack on the Nanqi region of Vietnam. At the same time, I will once again facilitate the opening of trilateral negotiations. If Luo Shuya still has the same attitude as today......" Ali Guo's voice said here, a little sluggish, "I will build yì, and the attitude of the Vietnamese side will be slightly conceded. ”

Li Hongzhang fell into deep thought, he knew that since Ali Guo said so, then this should be the real attitude of the British Empire towards negotiations. "Mr. Minister, what are the conditions under which the Government of Great Britain is preparing for peace talks?"

To suppress France, the British had to tighten up all the time. Since the British government already has such a meaning, Li Hongzhang feels that he should simply 'get straight to the point'.

For Li Hongzhang's straightforwardness, Ali Guo raised his eyebrows in surprise, in the East for so many years, he has been familiar with the 'Tai Chi' of the officials of the Great Qing Dynasty.

"Actually, this is just my initial idea, not the official policy of the British government." The endorsement of his country is the most common way for diplomats to speak. "I only have two conditions: the first condition is that the Qing side should immediately issue an order for General Liu to lead his army directly to Saigon, but it is not for him to really take Saigon, this is just to put pressure on the French. At the same time, the Vietnamese side will stop the offensive, and the two sides will use the existing control area as the boundary line to achieve a ceasefire. The second condition was that the Vietnamese side would recover part of its land in the Nam Ki region, but most of the land would remain in its pre-war ownership. Even if necessary, be prepared to abandon the idea of reclaiming the land. On both sides of Vietnam, France retreated to the pre-war line. ”

"You have two French generals and one or two thousand French soldiers, and this is your capital. But you must not abuse them. Otherwise, the Qing Dynasty would be hated by the entire civilized society. At that time, even the British government can no longer stand on the side of the Qing Dynasty. Please be aware of this. ”

The conditions of the Ali Kingdom are much more concessionary than the current conditions of Zhongyue, if it is after the defeat of the French army in Hue, the talks will be opened immediately, and Li Hongzhang has already agreed to such conditions with a smile. But now, the French army is completely passive and inferior, and if Li Hongzhang signs such a treaty, it will completely push Vietnam, a subject country, into the centrifugal direction. Although Vietnam is not a subject country on weekdays, it is a subject country.

The current officials and bigwigs of the Qing Dynasty still don't know what a 'domino camp' is, but the truth of 'a thousand miles of embankment collapses in an anthill' is very clear. This is not just a problem in Vietnam, but also Siam, Burma, Nanzhang, Korea, Nepal, etc., today they opened an opening here in Vietnam, and the suzerainty system established by the Ming Dynasty and China for 2,000 years will collapse in one day.

Li Hongzhang will definitely not agree to Ali Guo's conditions now. Unless, the British Empire now jumps to the backstage of France.

"What's the problem?" Seeing Li Hongzhang, Ali Guo shook his head and asked.

"The first thing is to say, I will immediately send a letter to Liu Yuandu, I don't need to ask Beijing, I can act immediately in the army of Vietnam. But on the second point, the old man really could not agree with the opinion of the minister.

Vietnam is a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty must consider the interests of the vassal country. Now that the French have been defeated, they must not uncover this war without paying any price. Li Hongzhang's eyes flashed with fine light, the British in Burma, the British in Tibet, the British in Nepal, and Afghanistan, Li Hongzhang was very clear about their deeds.

If there is only one country in France involved in the disputes of the Qing vassal states, Vietnam, then the British are three, four, five. The Qing dynasty is now collapsing, and the British are definitely more cheerful than the French.

Now Li Hongzhang has never imagined that the battlefield in Vietnam has undergone great changes.

……

Vietnam, Song Domain.

A remnant of a defeated army with low morale is walking with a dejected look to the north. Wu Zhongping was lying in a carriage, his hair graying, and he was not at all in the same high spirits as when his troops entered the Saigon River a few days ago. Now he is like a dying old man.

Around the carriage were the few remaining personal soldiers under Wu Zhongping, and not far away were the soldiers of the Qin army's sharp knife team. And the rear of the team is the sniper unit led by Hu Wenguang.

The slightest bitterness now covered Hu Wenguang's face. The sniper unit of 25 people when it went south is still 16 left, and the total loss of the Qin army in this battle exceeds 20 people. These are the elites of the Qin army, not ordinary soldiers!

The pride and victory brought to Hu Wenguang by the previous victories in battles were knocked away by this blow. He is now looking forward to the fact that the troops' road back to Hue will never be finished, because he doesn't know how to explain to Liu Xian!

……

Wu Wenbo lowered his head, and peeked at Major Sissoko from time to time out of the corner of his eye. This is the captain of the guard of the French stationed in Jiading Province. It seems that his status is not high, but it is relatively France's own people, and in the eyes of Wu Wenbo, Sissoko is already a high-ranking official.

He failed to wear the tails of the two Chinese, and although Wu Wenbo knew that the French rarely killed people, he was also worried that he would be severely punished.

Sissoko has a strong body, and for a low-looking Vietnamese, it's a hairy bear. He didn't react to Wu Wenbo's explanation, as if it was none of his business at all.

The fact is that Wu Wenbo is completely distracted, and the French, who have suffered huge losses in strength, attach great importance to and trust Wu Wenbo and their family.

Those who are not 'faithful' have been eliminated long ago, haven't they? When a large number of Vietnamese fled to Saigon, there were also many indigenous families who were reused by the French and threw themselves into the Vietnamese official army!

"Mr. Wu, it's good that you can come back. Those two Chinese can't escape, and you will soon be able to avenge your sacrificed men. ”R1152