On December 4, 1883, the text of the "Memorandum of Zeng Ba" was placed in front of Ding Yuntong, and its core content consisted of seven articles:

First, China will accept British mediation, and in return, Britain will support China in East Asian affairs.

Second, China had no intention of annexing Siam or overthrowing the Siamese monarchy;

Third, China's war against Siam is a self-defense counterattack, and the Siamese government needs to make a clear daoqian;

Fourth, Siam must explicitly recognize that the entire Laos region is part of Chinese territory;

Fifth, Siam needed to pay 20 million taels of silver, to be repaid in seven years;

Sixth, China and the UK understand each other's interests in Siam and do not interfere with each other's economic interests in Siam.

Seventh, China understands the actions that Britain is about to take in relation to the arrival of Siamese and Rome in the peninsula.

Ding Yuntong was still satisfied with the contents of this document, after all, he had no intention of annexing Siam for the time being, and now that the enemy was Japan, it would not be possible to completely conquer Siam with Zuo's precious brigade alone.

But he was very dissatisfied with the way the document was signed, and the matter between China and Siam, but he had to negotiate with Britain, and this was the beginning, and Britain would inevitably interfere more in Siam's diplomacy in the future, vaguely regarding it as a protectorate.

However, Britain came out to mediate at the request of the Siamese government, and the name was justified, and Ding Yuntong did not want to turn his face with Britain now, so he had to accept Britain's mediation.

And Britain did not go in vain, he received a promise from China to acquire Siam's territory in the Malay Peninsula, and when he returned, he would extort this "reward" from Siam. The old imperialist methods of gaining large territories without firing a single shot are indeed worthy of serious study.

On December 5, Chulalongkorn, who had just returned to Bangkok, learned of the terms of the Chinese armistice: daoqian, land cession, reparations!

Daoqian is just paying it back, and the burden of humiliation is to bear the burden, but the compensation for land cession is really unacceptable.

Before the war, Siam had only lost Shangliao and Vientiane in Laos, and now it is simply losing Zhongliao and Xialiao, and the entire vast Laos must be ceded to the outside world.

At the same time, it is necessary to pay 20 million taels of silver, you must know that the Siamese government at this time, the annual fiscal revenue is 11.25 million Siamese baht, which is about 900,000 pounds, equivalent to 3.15 million taels of silver, this indemnity amount is equal to Siam's financial income for more than seven years, plus interest, almost every year to pay all the income of the national treasury. This has forced the Siamese government to impose heavy taxes and large foreign debts, and I am afraid that it will not be able to recover for more than ten years.

Agreeing to such harsh conditions for peace talks would be an unprecedented disaster for Siam and fatal to Chulalongkorn's own prestige. He felt that the British did not have a good good good reputation, and were ready to go out in person.

On the same day, Chulalongkorn wrote a personal letter asking the French Minister in China to forward it to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this letter, he first addressed the Emperor of the Chinese Empire, Bixiadaoqian, in the name of the King of Siam. And then the war was a complete misunderstanding. It was launched by the private order of the prince Ji Di Yegong when he was on a tour abroad, and he did not know it in advance. In order to show sincerity, he is willing to hand over the culprit Prince Jiti Yegong to the Chinese side and let it be disposed of in order to resolve the contradictions. Chulalongkorn was in Zuihou and vowed that he hoped to be friendly with China forever. willing to daoqian about this erroneous war; and pay an "appropriate amount of condolence money"; On the territorial issue, "let everything go back to before the war."

The letter was first sent to the French Embassy in China by telegram, then forwarded to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and finally placed in front of Ding Yuntong two days later.

On December 7th, Ding Yuntong looked at this strange article in the world, and almost stopped laughing, the thick-skinned man is invincible in the world, and reading such a ridiculous and ridiculous letter of peace is also a joy in life.

He couldn't help but laugh as he wrote back, refuting these strange theories one by one:

First of all, daoqian is a must, but misunderstandings don't exist. In the past few years, Siam has been in cahoots with Japan and is planning to prepare for war, and China has seen it in its eyes and should not treat others as fools and blinds;

Secondly, China is at war with Siam, not with any Ji Ti Ye Gong personally, and China does not care at all who ordered Siam to start the war.

Again, friendliness needs to be expressed in action, not rhetoric.

As for the compensation, China's demand for 20 million taels of compensation is already a very appropriate amount.

In terms of territory, "let everything go back to before the war", this is a very absurd proposal, which is equivalent to the fact that the war did not happen, but in fact it did.

Therefore, there will be no room for concession in the slightest. Of course, in order to show the sincerity of the peace request, Siam is willing to hand over the crown prince, so add this clause to the conditions.

The letter also stressed that China and Britain had reached a consensus that if Siam continued to delay, the conditions would be different when the Chinese army arrived under the city of Bangkok.

On December 9, when Chulalongkorn saw the reply, he felt as if he had been poured a basin of cold water on his head, and he was immediately cold. At the same time, the Left Precious Division of the Guards had reached the 16th parallel.

As if to confirm what the letter says, the British Minister also sent a secret note claiming that the British Empire had intervened in its active mediation for the sake of Siam's peace and independence, and that it was therefore necessary for Britain to receive a certain degree of "reward or reward", and that the British Government considered the four princely states of the Malay Peninsula to be Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Perlis as the most appropriate reward.

Chulalongkorn saw that the British took advantage of the fire to rob, Zuihou had no hope at all, it was really a chicken steal, the front door did not drive away the wolf, and the back door entered the tiger again, for a while, the sky was spinning, a mouthful of blood spurted out, and he fainted on the spot.

On December 12, 1883, the Japanese base camp, although it had been prepared, was still extremely disappointed to hear that Siam had officially announced that it would accept the terms of the Chinese armistice. The strategy of the north and the south to attack China has completely failed, and it will greatly boost China's morale, and at the same time, Britain and China have a tacit understanding and more harmonious relations, which really outweighs the losses.

What's even more exaggerated is that the Siamese government is shy and is still urging Japan to pay the promised loan of 5 million yen as soon as possible, which makes Japan even more angry: You have surrendered, and you still want to ask for money?

The only good news is that the minesweepers imported from Russia have finally arrived in the port of Nagasaki, and a minesweeper formation has been formed with great eagerness. That is, the Japanese Navy can now take a decisive offensive.

Now they can only rely on themselves, and the desperate gamblers of the Japanese nation have completely broken out, and the base camp has reorganized the Japanese army, and the first, second and sixth divisions of the Japanese army that confronted China across the Datong River have been organized into the first army; The 3rd and 4th Divisions were organized into the 2nd Army and assembled in Osaka; The 5th and Guards Divisions were formed into the 3rd Army and assembled in Hiroshima.

The army was ready to go into full force after taking control of the sea power, and at the same time, Japan also began to mobilize reserve forces. The base camp of Jihua was to defeat China by active forces, and then use reserve divisions to attack China itself.

On December 13, the first heavy snow fell on both sides of the Datong River.

The climate of the Korean Peninsula is significantly different from that of the north and south, and the climate of the southern part of the peninsula is similar to that of Japan, and the climate is relatively warm and humid due to the influence of warm currents. The northern part of the peninsula has a relatively cold climate with long, dry winters. In January, the temperature difference between the north and south of the Korean Peninsula can even reach 20 degrees Celsius.

The snow was almost half a month later than usual, but it was exceptionally heavy, with goose-featherlike snowflakes covering the entire Pyongyang region. On the west bank of the Datong River, the soldiers of the Guards wore thick and warm cotton military uniforms, and the barracks were roasted warm by the roaring fire.

Before the war, China had stored a large amount of materials in Pyongyang, and was able to use the railway to carry out rapid and rapid supplies, especially in the northeast region, which was an important base for supporting the war, providing the Guards with a large number of military uniforms, military shoes, food, artillery shells, rockets, explosives, and other military supplies, and China was fully prepared in terms of logistical support.

In Zhonghe County, on the east bank of the Datong River, the situation was completely different, and although the logistical supply lines were long, the Japanese still did their best to supply the warm clothing, bedding, shoes and socks needed for the front line. Even so, this year's Korean Peninsula was exceptionally cold, and the Japanese army's clothing, pants, shoes and socks were not designed to adapt to such severe cold.

Most of the Japanese officers and soldiers were huddled in dilapidated wooden houses, and everyone was shivering.

The terrible winter in North Korea has finally arrived