In the Bund Hotel in Shanghai Trade Zone, even though the cold wind is howling outside, the huge conference hall in the hotel is warm as spring, and this hotel has just been completed since its completion, it has become the tallest building in Shanghai and the most expensive building.

The high cost is not only because of the low price and the high construction cost of the main building, but also because the cost of decoration is too high, this by the royal bank belonging to the royal family, Xinde & Co., Jardine Matheson & Co., and more than 10 large commercial banks at home and abroad, the joint venture hotel is built with the goal of building the first hotel in the Far East.

Not only is it the tallest building in Shanghai, but it is also the most luxurious building.

In front of the hotel is an open square, and the square is not paved with ordinary stone slabs, but all the same color of marble, into the door, the handle of the door is made of pure gold, and even the uniform worn by the doorman who opens the door is a customized high-end dress.

The large crystal chandelier hanging in the hall is worth more than 10,000 taels of silver, the surface of the staircase handrail upstairs is all gilded, and the Chinese food for the guests to dine has ivory chopsticks, jade bowls, etc., and the Western tableware is more expensive aluminum tableware in addition to the popular silver tableware. The aluminum of this year is not as bad as the later generations, and the current aluminum metal has not been able to be industrialized on a large scale, and its cost is quite high.

Since its opening, this luxurious hotel has become the most upscale hotel in Shanghai's business district.

The diplomatic negotiations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire and various countries were also held in this hotel!

In the conference hall on the second floor, on either side of the long square table sat foreigners in Western-style tuxedos and officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Chinese Empire in Chinese costumes.

At this point, it seemed that the meeting had reached a temporary pause, and the diplomats on both sides did not argue loudly, but only exchanged words with each other.

After about a few minutes, Song Guanqian finished talking in a low voice with a subordinate next to him, and then glanced at an agreement in his hand a few times. Then he said: "For this new agreement proposed by your side, my country can accept it to a limited extent, but we also have new requirements!" ”

Bao Ling, who was on the other side, heard Song Guanqian say that he would accept it to a limited extent, and a burst of joy inevitably arose in his heart, could it be that after talking for half a year, the Chinese Empire finally made concessions? Could it be that the coalition's attack on Guangzhou made them realize the huge gap between the two sides? Thus choosing to give in?

Of course, Bao Ling naturally wouldn't say these thoughts in his heart, in fact, his face still didn't change at all, showing the quality of a good diplomatic officer, and he immediately nodded slightly: "Please speak!" ”

"The Imperial side will not recognize any relevant treaties signed by the puppet Qing and other countries, this is the basic principle of the country, and it cannot be changed in any way, if the countries have diplomatic and trade affairs, they can negotiate and sign new treaties with their own countries!"

When Song Guanqian said this, his expression was full of firmness, and he did not recognize any treaties signed with other countries in the former Qing era. This is the basic principle of imperial foreign policy, which is not only about actual diplomatic interests, but also about showing the legitimacy and rationality of the imperial regime, which is simply a matter of face.

The arrival of the Chinese Empire did not mean that it was inherited from the hands of the Puppet Qing or the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but was seized through war, and the Chinese Empire had no inheritance or inheritance relationship with the Puppet Qing Dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, so the Chinese Empire would never inherit even a single word of the former Qing Dynasty-related legacy, whether political or diplomatic.

For these words of Song Guanqian. Bao Ling and others have heard it countless times, if it weren't for the Chinese Empire's reluctance to recognize the relevant treaties of the First Opium War. It is estimated that this time the war is far from being fought so quickly.

After Song Guanqian finished saying the previous grandiose words, his tone changed rapidly: "However, His Majesty the Great Emperor sympathizes with the life of the Taixi subjects, and pities the Taixi subjects for admiring Chinese culture and can't, so he will reward the coastal cities for opening ports and trade, and communicate with each other!" ”

The above sentence is the scene words, and the next sentence is the point: "In accordance with the holy decree of His Majesty the Great Emperor." Our country can open five existing treaty ports in Guangzhou, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Ningbo and Shanghai, and at the same time add four new treaty ports in Hangzhou, Chaoshan, Taiwan and Qiongzhou, but we also require that in the above ports, your merchants must fully comply with the relevant laws and regulations of the empire, and those who violate the relevant laws of the empire will be punished by the laws of the empire! ”

When Song Guanqian spoke. The assistant next to him had already handed over a relevant document, which contained some details related to the treaty port.

"In terms of tariffs, we insist on abolishing all relevant provisions of the pseudo-Qing era, and countries can negotiate and formulate relevant tariff agreements with their own countries, and I can make a commitment to this that even if countries sign new tariff agreements with their countries, the new tax rates will not change too much from the existing tax rates!"

"With regard to your country's request to establish an embassy in Beijing, your country may, in principle, agree to your country's establishment of an embassy in Beijing, but the establishment of an embassy must be established between the two sides and your side recognizes China as the sole legitimate government of China!"

As Song Guanqian's words continued one after another, although Bao Ling's face on the opposite side remained the same, he was already calculating the gains and losses in his heart.

Although it is said that Song Guanqian is still very stubborn and conservative in this negotiation, many conditions have been relaxed a lot, and compared with the negotiations in the past six months, the concessions made by Song Guanqian today are almost huge.

However, for Bao Ling, these conditions mentioned by Song Guanqian are still not enough, such as the treaty port, the British insisted on opening Zhenjiang and Nanjing, as well as Jiujiang and Hankou, which are important cities along the Yangtze River Basin, and they want to extend their tentacles into the hinterland of the Yangtze River, into the interior of China, as well as Wuzhou in the Pearl River Basin, as for the coastal cities, they also ask for more, whether it is the southern coastal or the northern coastal cities that are still under the control of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, such as Tianjing, Qingdao, Yingkou, etc., they want to open up.

However, in addition to maintaining the original five treaty ports, the Chinese Empire has only opened four new treaty ports, and two of them are island ports such as Taiwan and Qiongzhou, whose value is quite limited, and only Chaoshan and Hangzhou are really valuable. These are obviously not enough to satisfy the ambitions of businessmen of various countries.

In addition, the Chinese Empire also requires that the personnel of various countries in China need to accept the supervision and trial of the laws of the Chinese Empire, which is to abolish the previous consular jurisdiction, which is not good news for businessmen from all over the world, although the laws of various countries are also extremely weak in these years, but obviously much more sound than China's legal system.

According to the previous Treaty of Nanjing, the two sides did not clearly stipulate how much the tax rate, but said that if the Chinese side wants to adjust the tax rate, it must be negotiated with various countries and implemented after reaching a consensus, and now is not after the second Opium War in history, the countries have not yet been able to actually control China's tariff rate, and the Chinese Empire has also made a commitment to ensure that the future tax rate will be the same as the current tax rate. So the opposition from the British side is not very loud.

Then there is the very sensitive opium issue, for which the Chinese Empire has a very strict attitude, they don't even talk about the so-called opium issue, and if the British want to legalize the opium trade, it is really necessary to break Nanking to be possible.

However, the Chinese Empire did not fail to make a compromise, that is, in any treaty text, the Treaty of Nanking was completely referenced, that is, the so-called opium issue was completely put aside and avoided talking about it.

Although it was not explicitly stated, Bao Ling also knew that the Chinese Empire's policy on opium was a continuation of the former Qing Dynasty's policy, that is, to turn a blind eye, you have to cover up and continue to declare customs in the name of foreign medicines, and as long as you pay a high tax rate, the customs officials are too lazy to care, but if you want to smuggle directly without paying taxes, then arrest directly.

And public legalization is even more impossible.

Therefore, at this meeting, the opium issue was once again completely ignored, and both sides tacitly avoided talking about it.

However, as the presiding officer of the Chinese Empire's foreign affairs with Europe, especially with Britain, Song Guanqian knew that His Majesty hated opium, and the reason why the empire used such a tough attitude against Britain and France, and even made all-out preparations for war, among which the opium issue and the tariff issue were the two most important reasons.

This is not to say that Lin Zhe likes it personally, nor does it mean that he feels sorry for the Chinese people who have become the sick man of East Asia after smoking opium, the reason why he wants to ban opium is actually quite simple, that is, the import of opium has led to the outflow of hundreds of millions of silver, resulting in the import and export of the empire becoming over, and this has too much financial impact on the empire.

In fact, in the early years, the Qing court wanted to ban opium, and the real reason was also because of financial problems, no one liked to spend their silver like flowing water, only in exchange for a few boxes of opium that had no interest in the country and the nation.

Song Guanqian knew very well that the opium issue would never allow any concessions, and the reason why this time the opium issue and even on many issues such as tariffs and treaty ports were regressed was not to say that the empire was going to give in.

Even if the diplomatic negotiations were negotiated and the treaty was signed, there was no possibility of implementation, because the empire had never intended to give in from the beginning to the end, and the current negotiations were only to delay time and prepare for war.

If it is delayed for more than three months, the empire will be able to make preliminary preparations, if there is a buffer time of half a year, the empire can be fully prepared for land resistance, and if it is more than a year, the empire will be fully confident of facing the landing operation of more than 20,000 or even 30,000 British and French troops.

Now, what Song Guan has to do before is to use this negotiation to buy more time for the Imperial Command to prepare! (To be continued......)