Gyeongbokgung Palace, the first of the seven palaces in Seoul, is also the so-called main palace. The name comes from the ancient Chinese poem "Ten Thousand Years of Poetry", "Gentleman Wannian, Jieer Jingfu", because it is located in the north of Seoul, it is also called "Beique". In fact, Gaozong and Min both lived in the Qianqing Palace, but in order to show their solemnity, they specially greeted Yuan Shikai and others in Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Come to the main gate Xinghua Gate, three rainbow door holes, the middle for the emperor to enter and exit, and the two sides for the minister to pass. Yuan Shikai proudly passed through the middle gate and walked straight to the main hall of the Qinzheng Palace. The road in the palace is full of spring flowers, rhododendrons, fragrant everywhere, and auspicious magpies fly in the palace, which is tranquil and refreshing, as if in a paradise.

After the Gwanghwamun Gate, it is the Heungryimun Gate. It was originally called Hongli Gate, but it was renamed Xingli Gate because it wanted to avoid the Qianlong Emperor Hongli. zuihou is the Qinzheng Gate, and then it is the Qinzheng Palace.

Qinzheng Hall is built on the platform of two altars with gorgeous patterns, crowned with two layers of heavy eaves, there are thrones and caisson wells in the hall, the hall body is surrounded by a cloister, the stone slab is paved in front of the hall, in addition, the color of the gorgeous Danqing, the beautiful shape of the caisson, make the building more solemn and solemn, extremely magnificent.

Gaozong and his ministers greeted Yuan Shikai here, and the deacon was very respectful.

After the ceremony, the two sides held talks, and as soon as Yuan Shikai proposed to lay an undersea cable between Tianjin and Incheon, Gaozong immediately agreed, which surprised Yuan Shikai. Immediately, it was relieved that Gaozong was just a puppet, and he must have been instructed by Concubine Min in advance, and Concubine Min must have known that China's powerful fleet had arrived at Incheon, and the effect of this deterrent was really extraordinary!

After the talks, Yuan Shikai stayed at the Muhua Pavilion, a state guesthouse specially designed to entertain Chinese envoys, and had a detailed discussion with Ma Jianzhong.

Ma Jianzhong also expressed his surprise, because the Korean court was quite cold to him before, and the matter of laying cables was also fragmented. Unexpectedly, Yuan Shikai was able to solve it as soon as he came.

Yuan Shikai sneered: "It's just that I have to lower my posture to see the arrival of my country's fleet." ＂

In any case, as long as the cable was laid, they could ask the emperor for instructions at any time, and both of them were relieved to do this first thing. In fact, China has already carried out a complete study of the cable line, including exploration and laying of the line, the hydrological condition of the seabed, etc., so as soon as the construction starts, the line will be ready soon. You know, Japan has already laid the power line from Seoul to Busan, and the submarine cable from Busan to Nagasaki at this time.

The first issue next is the signing of the which the US representative is in Seoul at the moment.

At this time, China, North Korea and the United States had reached an agreement on the details of the treaty, and it was time for Zuihou to sign it. According to Ding's Jihua, the treaty would satisfy some of the U.S. demands in return for U.S. mediation efforts during the Sino-French War. In fact, this is also a helpless move, because if China does not facilitate this, Japan will also come to curry favor with the United States, and this favor will be lost to Japan. Moreover, the history of previous lives has proven that the United States is still concerned with economic interests and has no territorial ambitions for North Korea.

Ding Yuntong's aim was to sign a treaty on Korea through negotiations between China and the United States, so as to show the vassal relationship between China and the DPRK, and the Chinese side hoped to write in the first paragraph of the treaty that "Korea is a vassal state of China," but the US representative Xue Feier resolutely refused.

The Chinese side changed its strategy, and the Korean government prepared a separate note in addition to the treaty to indicate the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and North Korea; When signing the agreement, in addition to clearly explaining the relations between China and the DPRK, the representative of the DPRK side also bowed three times and bowed nine times to the portrait of the Chinese emperor. Moreover, after the signing of the agreement, it must be signed by the Chinese representative before it can take effect. Zuihou's US side agreed, which is tantamount to acquiescing in the fact that China is the suzerain.

A few days later, on April 6, in the main hall of Changqing Palace, China, North Korea and the United States signed their names, namely Yuan Shikai, Jin Hongji and Xue Feier.

The treaty stipulates that the United States enjoys extraterritoriality, and that the tariff rate on daily necessities shall not exceed 10 percent, that of luxury goods shall not exceed 30 percent, and that the tax rate on the export of Korean native products shall not exceed 5 percent.

The treaty also gave American missionaries the right to move freely. In the previous life, it was precisely because of this clause that the Protestant Protestants in the United States invaded the country, which directly led to the number of Korean Christians in the later ranks among the highest in Shijie, second only to the Philippines in Asia.

On the day of the signing, the Japanese minister Yoshishi Hanafang also came to Changqing Palace, but he was not allowed to enter. Huafang Yizhi was chaotic outside the palace gate, indignant. In fact, he already knew the content of the treaty, and the important thing was the process.

During the entire process of signing the treaty, Japan was completely excluded and became a marginal person with nothing to do with it, and it could only stand outside the meeting hall while the Chinese representative supervised the signing of the treaty in a grand manner, which was an incomparably clear demonstration of China's suzerainty over Korea, which was something that Japan could not accept under any circumstances.

It is even more irritating to recall that a few days ago, the DPRK quickly agreed to lay a communication cable between China and the DPRK. Because it took several years for Japan to force Korea to agree, and a large number of Korean Confucian students continued to come to protest, all of which made Hanafang Yoshishi feel that although the Min clique was relatively close to Japan, as soon as the Chinese fleet came, the attitude of the Min clan immediately changed subtly.

Returning to the embassy, Hanafu Yoshinaki sent a telegram to the country to report on the changes in the situation in Korea, especially describing the military appearance of the Chinese fleet. Moreover, the thousand-year-old relationship between China and North Korea is deep-rooted, and if Japan wants to truly control Korea, it must first destroy this relationship. He believes that Japan needs to take a more active stance.

A few days later, in the Qinghui Building in the northwest of the Gyeongbokgung Palace's Qinzheng Palace, Gojong and Min hosted a banquet to entertain Yuan Shikai and Ma Jianzhong, accompanied by many ministers, including several members of the Enlightenment Party, Kim Ok-kyun, the director of the Ministry of Military Affairs, Hong Young-sik, and Park Yong-hyo, the minister of the Righteous and Forbidden Mansion.

Just as he was on his third tour, Emperor Gojong suddenly made a request for Yuan Shikai to convey to the Chinese emperor that he wanted to allow North Korea to send an ambassador in Beijing.

This request made Yuan Shikai and others, who were slightly drunk, immediately vigilant. This request seems insignificant, but it seems very abrupt, especially on such an occasion, it was made by Gao Zong himself.

Yuan Shikai was keenly aware that there was a greasy here, Gaozong had always been a puppet without any opinions, and he was completely manipulated by the Concubine Min group, so this was clearly instigated. It's just that it was proposed by the king of a country, and when the wine was hot, it was precisely to make it difficult for Yuan Shikai and others to refuse. As long as Yuan Shikai agrees, if Beijing regrets it in the future, Japan may be able to take advantage of this to make trouble.

Yuan Shikai is not a mediocre talent, as soon as he stepped on Ma Jianzhong, the two pretended to be drunk by drinking, and deliberately did not hear Gaozong's question. Then he confessed that he was too drunk to drink, and was helped out by his entourage.

After returning to the Muhua Pavilion, Yuan Shikai immediately wrote a secret letter and asked the emperor to report. Of course, he could also rent a telegraph line operated by Japan, first send a telegram to the Chinese consulate in Nagasaki, and then forward it from Nagasaki to Tianjin, which is faster.

But Yuan Shikai was reluctant to do so, not because he was afraid of leaks, because the telegrams were already encrypted. It's just that Yuan Shikai didn't want to ask the Japanese for help, and would rather spend a few more days.

He ordered his men to send the letter to Incheon and then take the Chinese clipper back to Tianjin. At this time, the sea route from Tianjin to Incheon takes three and a half days for transport ships, and two and a half days for ordinary ships.

Three days later, Ding Yuntong received a letter and telegram from Tianjin, and when he saw Yuan Shikai's report that North Korea had requested an ambassador, he was immediately furious.

An ambassador, as the name suggests, is a kind of resident emissary, which is the highest representative sent by one country to another. China and the DPRK belong to a vassal relationship, and it can be said that they are the same country in legal theory, so how can they send ambassadors?

In fact, there is another kind of minister, whose meaning is one level lower than that of an ambassador, and it can be considered as a deputy ambassador, and Yoshikashi Hanabo is a minister. At this time, only those European and American powers would send ambassadors to each other, and all the envoys who came to China were ministers, including Japan. Sometimes even lower-level chargé d'affaires. In the past, China only exchanged ambassadors with foreign countries before World War II.

North Korea already has a representative in Beijing, and it is convenient to change the name, but this is a major turning point in diplomatic etiquette. Such verbal tricks and tricks cannot be imagined by those ignorant people in the DPRK, and nine times out of ten they are instigated by the Japanese. But from this point, it can also be seen that the DPRK has a heart for independence.

This further confirms Ding Yuntong's judgment that with the knowledge of his previous life, Gaozong and the Min clique and others are neither pro-China nor pro-Japanese, and they only want to keep their power. They are now pro-Japanese, but they just want to use Japan to contain China, and when China has the upper hand, they will immediately be pro-Russian. What is played is the set of "razing with razing", and China is also one of the "razing". Including the Dayuanjun at this time, as well as the big party in the future, people's thoughts will change with the change of the environment. In the previous life, the "big party" in North Korea was firmly pro-China, but after the First Sino-Japanese War, the three giants Kim Yun-sik, Kim Hong-ji, and Yu Yun-jung immediately became pro-Japanese.

Seeing this clearly, Ding Yuntong calmed down again. He replied to Yuan Shikai and must refuse sternly, leaving no room for it. At the same time, Yuan Shikai was also encouraged not to speculate too much about the intentions of the Joseon royal family. It won't be long before the situation in North Korea changes dramatically, and for now it just needs to wait calmly.

At the same time, Ding Yuntong issued an order, in view of the fact that the situation in Vietnam has been stabilized, he ordered the independent brigade stationed in Vietnam to transfer the strength of two regiments, a total of more than 3,200 people, to immediately go to Dengzhou Mansion in Shandong, and the remaining troops were commanded by Cen Yuying to continue to monitor Vietnam.

Dengju Province is the starting point of the ancient Chinese Maritime Silk Road, the shipping route to Korea and Japan, from here, it only takes one day and two nights to reach Korea in calm weather.

Ding Yuntong placed these two regiments as a rapid reaction force in Dengzhou Prefecture, with Colonel Wu Zhaoyou, brigade commander, and Zhang Guangqian, lieutenant colonel regiment commander, respectively serving as the chief and deputy commanders.

Be prepared, now wait for the North Korean unrest.

At the same time, Japan's Meiji government was engaged in a heated debate over the changing situation in Korea.