The first article of the British minister's document reads: "The British Empire leased to the Qing government the area north of Boundary Street on the Kowloon Peninsula of Hong Kong and 262 nearby islands for a period of 99 years." ”

Historically, the British occupation of Hong Kong was not done at one time, but in three parts, and this requirement was originally put forward in the 1898 treaty, because of the crossing of the Beijing ship, which was brought forward to the present.

Article 2 reads: "All banks to be established by the Qing government in the future must be jointly established by China and Britain, and the British side shall not hold less than 51% of the shares." ”

Lin Yuan became popular at a glance, the bank controls the financial lifeline of a country, finance has always been called the blood of national development, a country, no matter what it does, whether it is to build a large arsenal or build roads and railways, it needs banks to provide funds. Once the bank is seized by foreigners, the whole country will be completely safe!

Lin Yuan sneered: "We can't agree to these requests!" In the words of you British, noway! ”

When the British minister saw that Lin Yuan refused so simply, he wanted to threaten with force, so he said: "You know, our fleet is anchored in Hong Kong, we have just defeated your Beiyang fleet, if you don't agree, we can go north at any time, capture your Beijing, capture the Forbidden City!" ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "With our aircraft carrier here, your fleet still wants to sail to Beijing." ”

So Lin Yuan sneered and said, "You can come if you want, but I want to ask Your Excellency a question." ”

The British minister said: "What is the problem? ”

Lin Yuan said: "I wonder if Mr. Minister Lu Dao has any research on marine life in the East China Sea? ”

The British minister said angrily: "I don't want to discuss such a boring topic! ”

Lin Yuan said: "I want to warn the Minister that there is a sea monster that can explode in the East China Sea, and I hope that your fleet will be careful when sailing on the East China Sea and not encounter it." ”

The British minister was shocked, only a few people knew about the explosion and sinking of the Sovereign-class battleship Determination, could it be that this Qing man said these words, implying that the explosion of the Determination had something to do with them?

The British minister thought to himself: "It seems that this matter will have to be discussed more later." So he said: "If you don't agree to our conditions, wait for our British Empire to take down Beijing." With that, the British minister brushed his sleeves away.

Chen Fei saw the British envoy go out, so he came into the house, saw a few snacks on the table, picked up a few pieces and tasted them, and said with a smile: "I said captain, our Chinese food is really worthy of its reputation, and in the future, we must vigorously develop the food industry and use these things to make money from foreign devils." ”

Lin Yuan's heart moved, and he thought: "Yes, this is really a good way to make money, after all, future development needs a lot of financial support." ”

At this moment, Li Jingfang walked in and said, "Mr. Lin, my father is invited." ”

Lin Yuan and Chen Fei followed Li Jingfang to a warm pavilion in the backyard, Li Hongzhang was sitting on the kang, not wearing an official uniform, with a blanket on his legs, and when he saw Lin Yuan, he said, "Please sit down." ”

Then he pointed at Chen Fei and asked, "This is?" ”

Lin Yuan said: "He is my sworn brother, surnamed Chen Mingfei. ”

Li Hongzhang nodded lightly and said: "When I was in Japan, I saw Mr. Lin's diplomatic skills, and now that I am in the Qing Dynasty, I am negotiating peace with other countries, and it is the time for Mr. Lin to show his skills." ”

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Lord Zhongtang, I'm not here to help with peace talks this time. ”

Li Hongzhang frowned, and Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Lord Zhongtang, I came here this time to send troops for the Qing Dynasty and recover the lost territory in the Northeast. ”

When Li Hongzhang heard this, he coughed a few times, obviously frightened by Lin Yuan's bold idea.

Li Hongzhang shook his head again and again, and said: "This is unacceptable, and now it is still based on peace talks, which is also the meaning of the saint and Lafayette." ”

Lin Yuan said: "Lord Zhongtang, now that Japan and Russia are in the northeast, Shanhaiguan is in danger, if Japan and Russia invade Bohai Bay again and reach Beijing with their troops, then what should we do?" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "The imperial court has ordered that all the troops and horses from all walks of life who had been defeated and retreated in Fengtian should be incorporated into the troops defending Beijing, and at the same time, elite forces should be drawn from all over the country to resist the enemy. ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "In order to save themselves, the local officials will inevitably use excuses to pass the buck, and when they come, the war may be over." ”

Li Hongzhang has been in officialdom for a long time, and naturally knows all about these prevarications, he sighed helplessly, Lin Yuan said: "The best defense is to attack, instead of sitting on the side to sue for peace and sign an alliance under the city, it is better for us to go out of the customs directly and recover the lost territory!" ”

Li Hongzhang said: "This matter depends on the Holy Lord and Lafayette. ”

Lin Yuan said: "Can you bother Lord Zhongtang and let me meet the Holy Lord and Lafayette, I naturally have a way to get them to agree to send troops." ”

Li Hongzhang was dumbfounded when he heard it, this Lin Yuan actually dared to make such a request, but Li Hongzhang thought about it, this Lin Yuan might really have some ability, seeing that when he was in Japan, he didn't even pay attention to Ito Hirobumi and Mutsu Munemitsu, so Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "Okay, I'll send a telegram to the saint tonight, you go to Beijing to prepare first." ”

The Beiyang Trade Yamen is located in Tianjin, Lin Yuan took Li Hongzhang's handwritten letter, with this you can go to the Ministry of Rites to study the ceremony, to see Emperor Guangxu and Cixi, you need to prepare a very complicated set of etiquette, and then rush to Beijing with Chen Fei non-stop.

Lin Yuan said to Chen Fei: "You go to the embassy in the Ryukyus first, find Zhang Hua and them, and I will meet someone." ”

Chen Fei asked, "Who are you going to meet?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "The leader of the clear rumor, Weng Tongyi." ”

Chen Fei asked, "What are you going to do with him?" ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Of course, I want to seal the mouths of those gossip officials!" ”

Lin Yuan knows very well that the generals who lead the troops outside are most afraid of the emperor's distrust, and the emperor's side, the most talked about is this group of speech officials, Chinese courtiers have always had the lofty ideal of "civil death advice, military death war", so the speech officials dare to say anything, but they often do not understand the actual situation, and lack practical experience, and often think things too ideally, empty patriotic feelings, but always do wrong things with good intentions, so it is absolutely impossible to lead the troops to recover the lost territory and not control their mouths.

When Lin Yuan arrived at Weng Tongyong's mansion, it was already dinner time, and at this time there were snowflakes in the sky, Weng Tonggong was the master of Emperor Guangxu, an important minister of the imperial court, and the leader of the Qing gossip official, it was naturally not easy for Lin Yuan to see him.

Lin saw from afar that there were a lot of people waiting at the gate of Weng Tong's mansion, and he knew that these people were all people who wanted to see Weng Tonggong but couldn't. He knew that Weng Tonggong and Li Hongzhang were at odds, so he didn't dare to take out Li Hongzhang's letter, but went to the roadside shop to borrow paper and pencils, wrote a letter, and handed it to Menzi for him to pass it on.

After Menzi went back, he quickly came out and said with a smile: "This master, our family is invited." ”

(Preview of the next issue: What is written in Lin Yuan's letter?) I saw Weng Tongyi at once. What method did Lin Yuan use to seal the mouth of the official? When Lin Yuan saw Emperor Guangxu and Cixi, how did he use to get them to agree to send troops? ）