On the night of August 23 in the sixth year of Chengde, because the matter of gathering the eight banners of the Eight Banners was solved smoothly, Emperor Chengde was in a good mood, so he forgot the doctor's advice, and drank a few more glasses of wine at dinner, and at night he felt a headache and brain swelling, and night sweats did not stop, so he urgently summoned many doctors from the Tai Hospital to the Qianqing Palace for diagnosis and treatment.

On August 24, the sixth year of Chengde, the envoys of the six countries jointly issued a note, asking to restart the negotiation process, the court of Shangshu Lang Erheng did not dare to be specialized, reported to Hongqing, at that time, Hongqing was leading the elder brothers to wait outside the hospital room of Emperor Chengde, after hearing the news, did not specialize, but entered the ward to report to Emperor Chengde, the emperor said: all kinds of matters, you deal with it. Accordingly, Hongqing ordered the resumption of multilateral talks scheduled for 3 o'clock on 25 August, which were still held at the Summer Palace.

"Your Royal Highness, after many days of consultations, our envoys from the six countries have unanimously agreed that it is possible for us to reach a package peace agreement, but it must be agreed on one by one.

After seeing Hongqing's toughness again, Earl Wilson obviously changed his strategy and did not intend to fight Hongqing to the end.

"This is all right, but there is one thing, and the king must remind His Excellency the Earl that there are still seven days left, and if you and I cannot reach an agreement within the prescribed time, this negotiation will be aborted."

Article by article negotiation is the proper procedure of reciprocal negotiations, as for the direct conclusion of a package agreement, it is just a blackmail by a strong country to a weak country, in this regard, Hongqing knows a lot in his heart, and he doesn't mind thinking about it one by one, but he doesn't intend to play a marathon negotiation trick with the envoys of the six countries, as soon as he opens his mouth, he has already limited the final time limit of the negotiation without distinction, and it is not entirely to show a tough attitude, but Hongqing really does not have time or too much energy to deal with the envoys of the six countries. Because Emperor Chengde's condition has obviously deteriorated to the point of endangering his life, at such a sensitive time, Hongqing must and can only focus on the change of power.

"I am glad that you and I have been able to reach an agreement on the procedures of the negotiations, first of all, we have a mention, in view of the fact that you and we have many contacts, the trade quota has increased dramatically every year, and the cooperation has always been pleasant, and it is time for us to establish normal diplomatic relations between us, I hope that you can agree to the establishment of embassies in the capital of the Qing Dynasty in our European countries, so as to facilitate exchanges between the two sides. It's all an extremely beneficial thing, I don't know what His Royal Highness thinks? ”

This is the second time that Hongqing has raised the question of the time limit for negotiations, and Earl Wilson is obviously not very satisfied with this, but he did not protest or admit it, but played the trick of avoiding it, and instead talked freely about the exchange of ambassadors, talking about international conventions, but not explaining what international practices are, obviously testing whether Hongqing knows anything about international conventions.

Oh, this old man is really slippery!

As soon as he listened to the translation's paraphrase, Hongqing immediately guessed the tricks played by Earl Wilson, there is nothing else, if Hongqing really knows nothing about international conventions, what awaits him must be a lot of traps, maybe he will be sold by this old boy, and he has to help him count the money, of course, this kind of thing will definitely not happen, the reason, is it very simple, the officials of the Qing Dynasty may not be clear about the so-called international practice, but Hongqing, who has experience in his previous life, will not not know what the so-called international practice is, It is impossible to fall into such a superficial verbal trap.

"The Earl's proposal is very constructive, this king agrees, and it will be done in accordance with international practice, in addition to the exchange of envoys between European countries and our Qing Dynasty, our side requests the establishment of consulates in various places in the South Seas and India to protect the interests of our Qing Dynasty nationals, this is also an international practice, I think the Earl will not object?"

Sending a large number of envoys to the European powers, is a necessary step for the Qing Dynasty to go to the world, in this regard, Hongqing is happy to see its attitude, but, it is obviously not the best time now, the reason is very simple, the strength of the Qing Dynasty has not been recognized by the European countries, in today's mainstream European society, the Qing Dynasty is still regarded as an uncivilized country, is the object of colonization, at this time to send an envoy, one is difficult to ensure that it is respected enough, and second, the Qing Dynasty does not have so many diplomatic elites at present, In this sense, it is obviously inappropriate to hastily establish diplomatic relations with European countries, of course, Hongqing will definitely not say such a reason, nor will he say words of blatant opposition, but will laugh at the Earl Wilson's army.

"Your Royal Highness, I think that it will be enough to send ambassadors to each other before the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and as for the establishment of a consulate, can we leave it for a later discussion?"

As soon as he heard the paraphrase of the interpreter, Earl Wilson was a little dumbfounded, no side, what Hongqing said was really an international practice, but if he really wanted to let the Qing generals open consulates in India and other places, what would happen next, then only God could tell, in this regard, Earl Wilson did not dare to agree, but he had said too much before, it was difficult to oppose directly at this time, and in desperation, he could only play a delaying strategy.

"Otherwise, the king thinks that this is an imperative to do so, and since His Excellency the Earl keeps saying international conventions, he must be well aware of them, and will not make such a low-level diplomatic mistake?"

Earl Wilson wanted to get away vaguely, but Hongqing insisted on not giving him such a chance, and unceremoniously blamed him.

"Your Royal Highness, I am afraid that you have misunderstood, according to international practice, the first step in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides should be to send ambassadors to each other, and the respective heads of state should confirm the agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two sides before proceeding to establish embassies.

Seeing that Count Wilson was forced to ask by Hongqing, the Kingdom of Portugal is making Count Diego Rodriguez a little unbearable, no, because of the Portuguese da Agassi, the Portuguese are one of the countries that know the strength of the Qing Dynasty best, although they don't know how powerful the Qing Dynasty is, but they know that the strength of the Qing Dynasty is not something that the Portuguese Kingdom can resist, and they don't want to see the consulates of the Qing Dynasty really open to all parts of the South Seas. This hurriedly interrupted from the side.

"Well, that's easy to do, you are all plenipotentiaries of all countries, and you must have the right to make decisions on the spot, so let's negotiate the consulate first, but if we can reach an agreement here, the matter of sending ambassadors to each other can also be decided, what do you think of this king?"

With the experience of his previous life, how could Hongqing not know what procedures should be for the establishment of the consulate, but he deliberately pretended not to know, and insisted on the consulate, of course, it cannot be said that Hongqing is unreasonable, after all, these six envoys are all plenipotentiary representatives, and they really have the power to make decisions, and if they can really reach a consensus at the negotiation table, it is also in line with the practice of diplomacy.

"Your Royal Highness, it is not impossible for you to insist on talking about the consulate first, according to international practice, if your country has requested the establishment of a consulate in our territory, then we also have this request, if your country agrees to open ports in Guangzhou, Tianjin, Quanzhou, Ningbo, Jiaoao and other places to allow us to trade freely, we can agree to your request, and at the same time, we also request the establishment of consulates in the above-mentioned places to form reciprocal diplomatic relations."

Seeing that Hongqing insisted so much, the Kingdom of Spain was making Carlos Pilès Gonzalez unable to hold his breath, and hurriedly interrupted from the side, proposing the construction of the opening of the five trade ports.

"Yes, it is so, if your country is sincere, my Kingdom of Portugal is willing to establish eternal friendly relations with you."

"Count Carlos is right, and so is my Kingdom of the Netherlands."

"I, the British Empire, agree to the construction of the Earl of Carlos!"

……

As soon as Count Carlos said this, except for the Grand Duke Petrovich, the head of the Russian Empire, who did not say anything, the ambassadors of the other countries all echoed their words.

"Grand Duke Petrovich, what do you think, this king is very curious, Your Excellency may wish to come and listen to this king?"

Seeing the envoys of the five countries jumping happily there, Hongqing secretly sneered in his heart, but he did not rush to express his position, but looked at the Grand Duke Petrovich, the Russian envoy, with a smile, and asked with great interest.

"Your Royal Highness, my Great Russian Empire's demands are very simple, just three: first, to ask your country to return the 380,000 square kilometers of land that we have forcibly seized from our Great Russian Empire; Second, to request your country to return the 80,000 prisoners of war forcibly held in your country and make corresponding compensation; Thirdly, I would like to ask your country to open the treaty ports of Ili, Aihui, and other places, and if His Royal Highness the Prince can grant it, our Great Russian Empire is willing to reach eternal friendship with your country. ”

Although the Russian Empire was invited by the Kingdom of Great Britain to attend the meeting this time, it obviously also had its own calculations.