On the banks of the Huangpu River, a touch of morning light poured into the room through the thick curtains, and Roosevelt's face was gloomy and terrible, and he extinguished the pungent kerosene lamp, and then slowly took off his glasses and put them on the telegram that he could not understand after reading it for several days.

Next to him, George Dewey, dressed in a crisp white navy uniform, sighed slightly and opened the curtains.

Two British cruisers anchored quietly on the shore, next to the USS Baltimore, in which he had come, and the flags of Britain and the United States were intertwined, just as the relationship between the two countries was.

They are both opposites and need each other.

For more than half a month, the intermittent negotiations on the Far East are finally coming to an end, and although the negotiations will not endanger the vital interests of the United States, Roosevelt, who had carefully prepared and hoped to find an opportunity to contain his opponent, has completely failed.

George Dewey looked at Roosevelt's tired back and wondered why President Cleveland had changed his mind less than two months after they left, succumbing to the huge purchase orders thrown by the Hawaiians.

He didn't understand, where did the little Hawaii get so much money? Could it be that they really sold white sugar for the price of gold?

Although he didn't know how the Duke of Hawaii persuaded Germany, he seized Tsushima and Jeju Island, blocked the Gulf of Tonkin, shocked Yuben, shelled Shanhaiguan, frightened the Qing army to retreat dozens of kilometers, and went to the United States to persuade the President and Congressmen of the United States to change their policies.

Russia's maritime power in the Far East has been swept away, and the army that has entered the northeast has all laid down its weapons, so it can be said that this huge polar bear has lost its claws and teeth in a short period of time, and it will not be able to recover at all in a few years.

Therefore, it is only a matter of time before Russia compromises, and if Russia does not insist, then France will certainly not insist either, after all, France cares more about Vietnam than about the Northeast.

As for the Qing State, they all need to rely on outsiders for their own territorial issues, and they cannot be relied on at all, and the small shelling at Shanhaiguan a few days ago frightened them.

Can the U.S. still stop Honolulu from expanding?

George Dewey shook his head affirmatively, the loss of Hawaii has already determined that the United States has lost the initiative in the Pacific Ocean, even if there is a containment of Midway, it will not be able to make trouble for Honolulu, after all, Midway Island lacks the most important freshwater resources and cannot station fleets and soldiers on a large scale!

At this moment, he understood why Roosevelt was so angry when he heard that Hawaii was occupied that he was so angry that he encouraged Congress to go to war! It was only the parliamentarians who paid more attention to Cuba that finally gave Li Mo a chance.

In fact, George Dewey did not think about forcibly taking Hawaii, but the information in front of him made him a little stabbed. According to observations, Li Mo has deployed more than 500 large-caliber coastal defense guns on Oahu and Kauai, plus all kinds of small-caliber artillery, the total number may be nearly 1,000!

And he has been ordering small torpedo boats, although there are not many countries that can build ships for him now, but there are almost no restrictions on torpedo boats, Britain alone has built twenty for Honolulu, plus his own shipyard, and now there are more than fifty 100-ton torpedo boats in Hawaii!

Coupled with the unique geographical environment and such a dense defense, let alone just the Pacific Brigade, even if a few battleships on the west coast are transferred, I'm afraid there will be no results!

Such a person, originally confined to only a few small islands, lacked the necessary strategic resources, but with the defeat of Yue himself, the annexation of the Ryukyus, Honolulu's hand has reached to the Far East, and now they control the vast and vast northeastern provinces, once the resources there are activated, what kind of changes will he bring to this world?

The only good thing is that after Honolulu entered the Far East, they did not have ten years to sort out the mess, so the contraction in the Pacific Ocean was a foregone conclusion, and the threat to the United States was minimized.

But the vigilance still cannot be put down, because from the east coast to the west coast of the United States, you need to detour the whole of South America, which is not only expensive, but also very time-consuming! At that time, I suffered because I didn't make it to Hawaii in time.

Looking at the rising sun, Roosevelt seemed to regain some vitality, gritted his teeth and asked, "How are the negotiations with the French?" How could George Dewey not know what he was asking, he shook his head with a wry smile: "This is the second time that the French have refused to sell the Panama Canal in the right to dig it." ”

"Damn French!" Roosevelt cursed from the bottom of his heart, and he could imagine how ugly the British face would be today when Germany and himself took the lead on behalf of the United States in supporting Hawaii to lease the three northeastern provinces.

Perhaps this will be the biggest victory of the talks, as the British voice in the Far East is becoming increasingly diminished with Honolulu's strong involvement.

Roosevelt wrinkled his eyebrows, he still didn't understand, why Li Mo was so lucky, taking advantage of the opportunity of the war between Yuben and Russia, and seizing these two golden opportunities?

"Let's go."

Picking up his clothes from the hanger, he was just about to go with George Dewey to participate in the final negotiations that were about to begin, when suddenly there was a sound of footsteps, and the door was knocked open.

The US ambassador to China bumped into the two of them with a solemn expression: "Both, we are in trouble, there was a big riot in Cuba five days ago!" ”——

In Yanjing's military aircraft department, incense was curling, and several military aircraft ministers who stayed behind sat on chairs, looking at the two folds on the table, and everyone's faces were extremely bad.

Prince Gong coughed violently a few times, breaking the silence in the room, and even said that running around had made his already not very good body worse, as long as the cool breeze blew, he must be coughing constantly, but there was no way, for the sake of the emperor, for the sake of the Qing Dynasty, he was not allowed to come here early in the morning to discuss matters.

"Let's talk about it, what should we do now?"

After Weng Tongsu finished speaking, he glanced at the aging Yixun, and sighed softly, but there was also a certain expectation in his heart, if Prince Gong, one of the emperor's party, really couldn't hold on, maybe it would stimulate the emperor to step up the pace of reform.

But he couldn't say that now, so after glancing at it, he immediately turned to look at the others.

Because Sun Yuwen and Xu Yongyi went to Shanghai, in addition to Li Hongzao, who had just returned from Shanhaiguan, there were only the military department Shangshu Gangyi and the household department Shangshu Wang Wenshao, in addition to the other Qing prince Yixuan, who had just entered the military aircraft department.

Prince Qing Yixuan only recently entered the military plane to walk, mainly because Prince Gong was old and frail and in poor health, the Queen Mother Lafayette opened his mouth to let Prince Qing return to the military aircraft, but this person is shallow and shallow in his wisdom, and he is a die-hard Queen Mother, so the emperor has been pressing until recently Prince Gong is really unable to manage the government for a long time, so he had to compromise and enable him.

Weng Tongsu's words caused more sighs, the negotiations in Shanghai had already been a complete failure, and no one present expected that the foreigners would collectively turn to Hawaii and admit the fact that the Pacific Army controlled the three northeastern provinces with Mukden as the boundary.

Coupled with the shelling that Li Hongzao saw with his own eyes at Shanhaiguan, everyone knows that the recovery of the three northeastern provinces is already in the mirror, and it may also catch Yantai and Lushun, and it seems that he is about to go to court, but who will tell the emperor the truth has become the most difficult problem.

"Lord Weng, you are the emperor, I think it is better for you to go to the emperor, not because I don't work hard, but because I don't treat me from time to time!" Gangyi swallowed his saliva, glanced at the hot fold, and said.

"Yes, yes, Lord Weng, you said it was the most suitable." Prince Qing also hurriedly agreed.

Seeing that these people all said that they would submit it, Weng Tongsu suddenly scolded in his heart, this is obviously the thunder, if it is not good, it will be a dismissal and dismissal, how can he do this kind of thing.

So he hurriedly looked at Prince Gong, who had not yet expressed his position, and at this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside the corridor, and everyone hurriedly looked, only to see Rong Lu rubbing his hands and walking into the military aircraft and immediately said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Lafayette is relieved!" ”

This sentence suddenly caused a sound of relief in the military aircraft department, since Lafayette has relented, then the emperor may have to change his course. "Lafayette's edict, Nie Shicheng colluded with foreign enemies and failed to fight, and should be sentenced to death!" Without waiting for everyone to speak, Rong Lu had already taken out a fold from his cuff.

This sentence made everyone present chuckle suddenly, this all agreed to the lend-lease, but killing Nie Shicheng, who is inextricably linked to the Pacific Army, at this time, does it indicate anything? ——

In the evening, as the negotiations were coming to an end, a telegram from Yanjing completely changed the atmosphere in the Shanghai club at Three on the Bund.

On September 2, 1896, the armistice negotiations between Hawaii and Russia, as well as the status negotiations of the three northeastern provinces, which had lasted intermittently for a month, finally reached a final agreement in the middle of the night.

First of all, Russia, Foreign Minister, Plenipotentiary for Far Eastern Affairs, Robertov, in the face of the sudden change of attitude of the countries, finally had to bow down the proud heads of the Slavs that he called them.

Russia agreed to pay £1,000,000 to redeem all the army soldiers, but all weapons and horses were left at the disposal of the Pacific Army, which meant that even the elite Cossack cavalry had to leave the northeastern provinces on both feet.

Although at the beginning, the two sides still had great differences in terms of key compensation and the tonnage of Russia's navy in and out of the Far East, but in the end, with the intervention of various countries, Li Enfu deliberately bought face and promised not to pursue 20 million pounds in compensation for the time being, but the total tonnage of Russia's navy in and out of the Far East must not exceed 30,000 tons!

As long as it doesn't cost any more money, Robertov can only grit his teeth and agree, as for the total tonnage does not exceed 30,000, it's okay, anyway, Russia can't draw more warships to the Far East now.

In the end, it was about the release of the captured warships and sailors of the Russian Far East Fleet, in this regard, Li Enfu obviously adhered to the tradition that the young master must not leave an experienced sailor to the other side, and agreed to unconditionally release the commander of the Russian Far East Fleet, Witheft, but the other personnel had to pay a ransom according to the tradition of the navy, 10,000 pounds per person, and each destroyer was 100,000 pounds, the cruiser was 500,000 pounds, and the battleship must be 1 million pounds!

A discerning person knows at a glance that this is a deliberate difficulty, and it will cost tens of millions of pounds just to redeem all the sailors! Naturally, no one can accept such conditions, but Li Enfu also said that if Russia is unable to redeem it, then these soldiers can return to China on their own as long as they serve five years of labor in Honolulu, and Russia is allowed to send people to visit them once a year to understand their physical condition!

Pay the ransom!

Robertov never thought about it, there are many Russian soldiers! So after hearing that he could visit, he immediately made a decision to temporarily abandon the idea of rescuing the officers and men of the Far Eastern Fleet, and he did not know how much he would pay for today's idea in a few years.

When the detailed rules and words were chewed up repeatedly, the armistice agreement between Honolulu and the Russian Empire was finally finalized, although both sides were vague on the specific date of the armistice, but neither the Russians, Honolulu, nor other countries knew that the Russians would not be able to intervene in the Far East again in five years.

With the armistice agreement reached between the two countries, the northeast status negotiations also began, and in the case of internal worries and external pressure, the Qing government finally had to agree to take Mukden as the boundary and lease the three northeastern provinces.

In the treaty port, although Qingdao and Yantai were promised, but asked Britain to also participate in the management, Li Mo, who had only put forward the request for the two places for fear of German occupation, immediately agreed to the other party, and agreed that the British and Xia would jointly manage the two places, and the number of troops stationed in each place should not exceed 500.

In addition, in order to compensate for the losses of the Pacific Army in driving out the Russian army, Qing Zhengaxe promised to lease 200,000 mu of land in Jinzhou Bay, including Huludao, to Honolulu for construction.

When the last bell came to zero o'clock at 3 o'clock, everything was finally settled, and Li Mo immediately became a wolf-hearted thief in the mouth of all the people of the Qing Dynasty, and Li Enfu and others were officially promoted to the overseas party annihilation clan.

In the years of post-war negotiations, the only one who was disappointed was Britain, because of the error of judgment, Britain gained almost nothing in this battle of interests, and Yantai and Qingdao were deliberately dragged in by the Qing Dynasty for fear that the Pacific Army would continue to grow.

The only thing that gave Ogner some comfort was that the Pacific Army had agreed that it would not change the current Qing rule, much to the relief of Britain, who had huge interests in the Far Southeast.

On September 9, 1896, six days after the signing of the Shanghai Agreement, the British political axe officially announced that it would refund the purchase money of the two battleships of the Pacific Army, and that the two unfinished battleships would also be restarted and sold to the Pacific.

Surprisingly, the German government announced that it would continue to fulfill the Pacific Army's procurement agreement and speed up the delivery of the two battleships, which made Chen Pingping, who had always been worried about being detained, breathe a sigh of relief, but also wondered why Germany still made such a strange choice after receiving the contract.

In the face of the rising Pacific Army, Britain and Germany made completely different choices, which suddenly made everyone scratch their heads, and they all speculated what kind of deal was made under the negotiating table of the Shanghai club.

But at the same time, everyone also understands that with these two statements, the next war in the Far East will be getting closer and closer, and how will the rising Pacific Army face the new navy?

(To be continued)