Chen Hao's worries were not unreasonable, after the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Qing court transferred Li Hongzhang from the governor of Liangguang to the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang. Cixi appointed Li Hongzhang as the "Minister Plenipotentiary", and after arriving in the capital, he went to visit the British and German ministers, but on the way back he suffered from a cold and became ill. After signing the famous unequal treaty "Xinchou Treaty" with foreigners for a long time, when he signed the treaty with Prince Qing, public opinion denounced that "Qin Hui, a traitor, and Li Hongzhang, a miscountryman." ”

Li Hongzhang, the tinkerer of the Qing Dynasty, was still wiping his ass for the Qing Dynasty before he died, but he was infamous. It can be seen that it is not a wise choice to participate in the diplomatic game in the game, after participating in the negotiation and signing of the traitorous treaty, public opinion must be condemned, and the main condemnation is the imperial court, and those who participate in the negotiation will also be shot.

Players participating in diplomatic missions are condemned by public opinion, but there are also opportunities to show their abilities, and people with a clear mind can understand the difficulties of diplomats. After successfully completing diplomatic missions, players can get the affirmation of some NPCs, and they will also be attacked by some NPCs, and the overall reputation value will not change much.

Even so, Chen Hao was reluctant to participate in such a mission, the future he designed for himself was to become a warlord, and participating in the signing of the "Xinchou Treaty" would be a big stain on his life. In the future, after establishing a base area and becoming a force, his participation in the signing of the contract will definitely be caught, which will affect his future development.

Players who want to become the leader of a party themselves will only gain positive fame in the game, so they decide not to participate in the task of signing a traitorous treaty. Even if you can get promoted and make a fortune after participating in this kind of diplomatic mission, you must not participate in it, and it is only cost-effective for players who take the auxiliary route diplomacy to participate in this kind of mission.

Chen Hao remembered that in the game, Li Hongzhang had an A-level diplomatic stunt "Trying to Maneuver", which could reduce one's losses by 30% during negotiations, and increase one's gains by 10% in negotiations that were beneficial to oneself. This stunt is the top stunt of the diplomatic class, and it is a coveted skill for diplomatic players, and it can be very useful if players who take the diplomatic route can learn it.

Li Hongzhang participated in the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the Treaty of Xincho, and after the First Sino-Japanese War, Li Hongzhang was appointed by the Empress Dowager Cixi as a plenipotentiary minister to rush to Japan to negotiate peace. Although the Qing court had granted Li Hongzhang full authority to pay compensation for the cession of land before his departure, he still hoped that "every point of the battle would be gained" and repeatedly debated with the Japanese representatives.

It is said that at the last moment before signing the agreement, he once said to the mission's American adviser Kosda: "If the negotiations fail, only by moving the capital to Shaanxi and fighting Japan for a long time, Japan will not be able to conquer China, and China can resist for an indefinite period." In the end, Japan was bound to lose and sue for peace. ”

Therefore, later generations praised Li Hongzhang at a high price, believing that he "saved 100 million silver for the Qing government with a handful of bones and tears, and made great contributions to the survival of the Qing government". When the "Xinchou Treaty" was signed, Li Hongzhang began to cough up blood, knowing that his time was short, and he wanted to end the negotiations as soon as possible. However, after the signing of the "peace outline," the coalition forces showed no sign of withdrawing their troops.

The attitude of various countries is that the amount of compensation must be set, and at this time, Li Hongzhang no longer has the strength to fight with foreigners, and he vomits blood to the extent that he is "endangered". In the last part of his life, Li Hongzhang lay on the sickbed and instructed the lower-level officials to reduce the losses to the lowest point, from the one billion taels of silver proposed at the beginning to 450 million taels, which would be repaid in 39 years at an annual interest rate of four percent.

"A weak country has no diplomacy", although Li Hongzhang was scolded for misleading the country, he tried his best to minimize the losses when he signed the contract twice. The system's diplomatic stunt setting of Li Hongzhang is also reasonable, if it were not for Li Hongzhang, the decaying Manchu court may not have been able to support 1911, he is a veritable Qing tinker.

The top NPCs in the game have at least three stunts, usually one A-level and two B-s. Li Hongzhang is a top figure in modern history, and his stunts are two A-level and one B-class. In addition to the diplomatic stunt "Trying to Maneuver", he also has an A-level stunt "Western-style mastery", but these two stunts are auxiliary stunts and are not suitable for Chen Hao to learn.

The Empress Dowager Cixi tried her best to protect Chen Hao, but she appointed Chen Hao as the deputy envoy for negotiations, although it was also a trust in him, but it made him quite entangled. For the sake of his reputation in the future, Chen Hao will not participate in the signing of the traitorous treaty anyway. If you can let Bai Hu Demon participate in this biggest diplomatic mission in recent years, the benefits to Bai Hu Demon are immeasurable, but the court appointed him instead of Bai Hu Demon.

Chen Hao thought all the way about how to operate in order to refuse the task, and the Empress Dowager Cixi issued an order for him to cooperate with Li Hongzhang in negotiations, and if he refused to accept the task, he would resist the order. The player has the right to choose whether to accept the task, but Chen Hao, as a person in the system and a five-grade official in the imperial court, will be doomed in his career after refusing the task.

Even if he is not ready to participate in the negotiation and signing, the position of deputy negotiation envoy is still very useful, at least he can prevent his subordinates from hiding in the secret tunnel. As the deputy envoy for negotiations, no one in the capital controlled by the coalition forces dared to attack him, or even search his residence.

The property worth one million taels of silver in the dark tunnel is secured, and the NPC no longer has to worry about being killed, which is a great thing. Of course, the most perfect situation is to let Bai Hu Demon become the deputy envoy of negotiations, participate in the whole process of negotiating with the foreign powers, and by the way, let him learn his diplomatic skills before Li Hongzhang's death.

Chen Hao soon came to Xianliang Temple, Xianliang Temple is the residence of the important ministers of the imperial court to enter Beijing to see the court, Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zuo Zongtang, Zhang Zhidong and other hot places in the late Qing Dynasty Governor Fu into Kyoto to live here. Li Hongzhang lived in this Xianliang Temple when he first entered Beijing, and then Li Hongzhang lived in Xianliang Temple several times when he entered Beijing.

After the Empress Dowager Cixi decided to negotiate peace, Li Hongzhang, who was serving as the governor of Liangguang, was transferred back to the capital from Lingnan to negotiate peace. At that time, in the capital, the Eight-Nation Coalition announced that except for "two small courtyards under the jurisdiction of the Qing government", the rest of the capital was occupied by each ** team division. The "two small courtyards" called by the coalition forces are the palace of Prince Qing, which negotiated peace with the coalition forces, and the other is the Xianliang Temple where Li Hongzhang lived after returning to Beijing.

After Chen Hao accepted the order as the deputy envoy for negotiation, he could live in Xianliang Temple with his subordinates without worrying about the coalition forces searching again. After the guards in front of the door went in to report, Li Hongzhang let Chen Hao in, and at this time, Li Hongzhang happened to visit the British and German ministers and came back, and was lying on the hospital bed with a cold on the way.

Chen Hao entered Li Hongzhang's bedroom, the imperial doctor had just seen him, and Li Hongzhang was lying on the hospital bed with a pale face. Chen Hao strode to Li Hongzhang's sickbed and saluted: "Xiaguan Yingkou Zhili Hall knows Chen Ba first, I have seen Lord Zhongtang first. ”

Li Hongzhang waved his hand weakly to signal Chen Hao to get up, and said with a slight smile: "Lord Chen is really young, in the future, we old bones will not be useful, and we have to rely on you young people to maintain the Great Qing Kingdom." ”

Chen Hao hurriedly said: "Lord Zhongtang is old, and this negotiation with the great powers has to rely on Zhongtang and the great powers. ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head and said, "It's old, it's useless." This time, the Queen Mother appointed me as Minister Plenipotentiary, and appointed you as the Deputy Envoy for Negotiations. Because I don't know where you are, the Queen Mother let me see the oral message of your time, and appointed you as the deputy envoy of the negotiation to assist the old man in the negotiation. ”

"Player Chen Baxian, NPC Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang Li Hongzhang passed on the oral message of the Empress Dowager Cixi on behalf of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and issued you the task 'Xinchou Treaty', task completion conditions: Assist Li Hongzhang to negotiate with the Great Powers and finally sign the "Xinchou Treaty", task reward: unknown, do you choose to accept it?"

Chen Hao didn't want to accept this task, he hesitated for a moment and said: "Lord Zhongtang, the lower officials like to lead troops to fight, and they have never been good at words, and they are only afraid that they will miss the major affairs of the court as the deputy envoy of negotiations." I also hope that Lord Zhongtang will say the item on his behalf and avoid the errand of the lower official. ”

Li Hongzhang rubbed his head and glanced at Chen Hao and said, "You are young and promising, you are afraid that participating in the negotiation will ruin your reputation, and you will be infamous like the old man, right?" Since we are courtiers of the court, we should share the worries and solve problems for the court, how can we have such selfishness? This is the Queen Mother's edict, if you disobey it, it will be a protest, you go and talk to the Queen Mother yourself! ”

Chen Hao smiled bitterly and said: "Lord Zhongtang misunderstood, I like to speak straightforwardly, and I have never been good at negotiating with people, and I dare not accept the order for fear of misunderstanding the major affairs of the imperial court." I have a strange man named Bai Hu Demon, who has a very good mouth and is very sociable, how about I recommend him to replace me as the deputy negotiator? ”

Li Hongzhang said lightly: "The Queen Mother asked you to serve as the deputy envoy for negotiations, she values you, how can she allow you to shirk?" This time the negotiations with the great powers are mainly with me, and it doesn't matter if you are not good at words, the old man advises you to take the order first! ”

Chen Hao had no choice but to accept the task and became the deputy negotiator appointed by the imperial court. Li Hongzhang said very reasonably, whether he is suitable to participate in diplomacy or not, he has always been a loyal minister in Cixi's mind. If he resisted this time, all his previous efforts would be nullified.

Chen Hao officially became the deputy envoy of the negotiation, so he had to negotiate with the foreigners with Li Hongzhang, and when he saw that Li Hongzhang's complexion was not good, he said with concern: "I heard that Lord Li contracted a cold on the way back, I don't know if my body is better?" ”

Li Hongzhang shook his head with a smile and said: "You are indeed not good at sociability, the old man is seriously ill, you should have visited the old man when he came in, but he only visited the old man now." Hehe! It's normal for an old man to occasionally feel a chill when he's old, but it's not a bad thing to get sick this time. The foreigners want to deliberately delay the sky-high price, but I can't do it with my old bones, they are afraid that if I die, no one will clean up the mess, and the negotiation treaty can be signed earlier. ”

Chen Hao actually deliberately showed his unreasonable and sophisticated side before entering Xianliang Temple, wanting to leave an impression that Li Hongzhang was not good at communicating, and tried not to negotiate with the foreign powers. Hearing Li Hongzhang ridiculing himself for being unsociable, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Lord Zhongtang's eyes are like torches, I am indeed not good at words. ”

(To be continued)