Chapter 73 Chapter 73 bad idea

Li Hongzhang's notebook and Wade's letter were quickly delivered to the palace, and the Empress Dowager Cixi was surprised again after reading it.This surprise was no small matter. She ordered the Military Aircraft Office to issue orders to the local government offices where Wade passed by, ordering local officials to dissuade them no matter what when they saw Wade's ships, and made it clear to Wade that as long as they should The envoy agreed, and the Prime Minister's Yamen will send another minister to discuss with him again. At the same time, Prince Gong and other princes and ministers were summoned, and they slammed the table and cursed. It took a full hour to vent.

Prince Gong was so frightened that he didn't dare to speak out, Xu Tong also lost his previous ability, and hid behind Shen Guifen, not daring to move. People in the capital were panicked for several days, as if foreigners came in the next day. Li Hongzhang, who was in Tianjin, did not give up his last effort. On the day the booklet was released, he sent an urgent letter to Hurd in Shanghai, imploring Hurd to mediate the matter at this critical juncture.Hurd is naturally willing to play such a role, because by doing so, he can please both China and Britain.On the day Hurd received Li Hongzhang's letter, he took a boat to meet Wade, intending to mediate.

In fact, the Qing Dynasty and Li Hongzhang and others did not know the situation in Britain at this time.At this time, Britain was in an international crisis over the Turkish issue, and had no time to look east.When Wade and his party arrived in Yantai, they received an order from the British Prime Minister Derby. The order required Wade to solve the Yunnan problem as soon as possible, and there was no need to return to China to ask for orders. Wade was taken aback when he received the order, and was in a dilemma, so he ordered the ship to dock first.At this time, there happened to be Liu Xihong, a fifth-rank official at the port, who knew that the British envoy Wade was here, so he hurriedly boarded a boat to pay homage.

After returning to his seat after the ceremony, Liu Xihong accompanied him cautiously, and relayed the imperial court's will, begging Wade to stay here for a few days, hoping to resume negotiations, and especially emphasized that if Minister Wei can agree, The imperial court immediately dispatched officials to deal with this matter at its discretion. When Wade Ma heard this, it was tantamount to being rescued from a desperate situation, and immediately agreed.After hearing this, Liu Xihong immediately took Wade and his party off the boat, and invited them to stay in the posthouse.Afterwards, he played the imperial court overnight, one to clarify the matter, and asked the imperial court to send officials to come here quickly, and the other to show his merits.After Wade stayed for less than two days, Hurd also came to Yantai.

After seeing Wade, Hurd immediately wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang, saying: "Listen to Minister Wei's tone, the UK really sees this matter as very important, and I'm afraid it won't be settled easily." Hurd finally threatened: "The situation in the West is now that Turkey's affairs are changing day by day. The British court would like to take this opportunity to let other countries understand that the country's power can not only make decisions in the West, but also use troops in the East to do things as it pleases." When He Dexin arrived in Tianjin, the imperial edict of the imperial court was also handed over to the embassy.

The decree said: "According to the report of the Shandong Governor's Yamen today, Wade and his party arrived in Yantai. Liu Xihong, the Yantai Port Yamen, was ordered to inquire. He said that the Ming court wanted to send ministers to discuss the case of Ma Jiali with the envoy. The envoy did not agree at first. After Liu Xihong's repeated persuasion, Shi Fang agreed, but he had to send a full-fledged minister to come here before discussing other reasons. Li Hongzhang, as the full-fledged minister, went to Yantai to deal with the envoy to deal with the Yunnan case. The minister Jiuli Diplomacy, He is well versed in the temperament of Westerners, so he can do things cheaply, so as to avoid other changes. I respect this."

Li Hongzhang took over the imperial decree for a long time without understanding. As the leader of the Qing Dynasty, he did not retain Wade, let alone persuade Wade to "discuss this matter leniently." Tuoma stayed, and asked Wei Tuoma to restart the negotiation!What kind of person is this Liu Xihong?How is it so amazing? Li Hongzhang made up his mind at that time, when he arrived in Yantai, he would go to meet this Liu Xihong first, and if he was indeed a capable person, he would recommend him vigorously as an encouragement. Not long after Li Hongzhang received the order, he successively received letters from the envoys of Russia, the United States, France, Germany, Austria and other countries stationed in Beijing.In the letter, all the ministers and envoys expressed their willingness to mediate the matter.Li Hongzhang was overjoyed and sent a letter to express his welcome.

Before going to Yantai, Li Hongzhang transferred Guo Songtao to the prime minister's office to help his colleagues handle the matter.purpose.Li Hongzhang and Guo Songtao met in Tianjin and went to Yantai together.After Guo Songtao arrived as scheduled, Li Hongzhang immediately selected Huang Pengnian, the editor of the Imperial Academy, Qian Yingzeng, the head of the household department, Xu Qianshen and Zhu Qizhao, the Taoist priests, Xue Fucheng, the magistrate of Zhili Prefecture, Xu Qingquan, Zhu Kequan, the magistrate of the county, and others as attachés. He also selected two English translators from the Tianjin Customs Road Yamen to take with him, transferred the China Merchants Fengshun steamer, and the Fujian Shipping Bureau Zhenhai and Chenhang ships as vehicles, heading straight for Yantai.

When the ship arrived at Yantai Port, Ding Baozhen, governor of Shandong Province, and his entourage greeted him here.After seeing the ceremony, Li Hongzhang said to Ding Baozhen: "Ding Futai, you don't always drink tea in the provincial capital, what are you doing here?" Ding Baozhen replied: "Xiangguo is traveling, the mountains are shaking and the ground is shaking, and the lower officials are in the provincial capital, how can they sit on the bench?" Li Hongzhang put his hand on Latin Baozhen's cuff and said, "Okay, don't be silly, brother, tell me quickly, who is Liu Xihong? You have such a capable person by your side, how come you don't know anything about it?"

Ding Baozhen snorted, and then looked at a wretched man behind him and said, "Isn't that him? If Zhongtang likes it, he can be with him now." Li Hongzhang nodded, and said in a low voice: "After dinner, you ask him to come to the post house, my brother wants to ask him a few words." Ding Baozhen nodded. A group of people got on the sedan chair, left the pier in a mighty way, and headed for the city. After dinner, Ding Baozhen was talking with Li Hongzhang and Guo Songtao in the room. According to Ding Baozhen's previous instructions, Liu Xihong held his hand to greet Li Hongzhang.Liu Xihong entered the door, gave big salutes to the three of them, then stood with his hands down, waiting for questioning.

Li Hongzhang took a closer look at Liu Xihong. He was in his fifties, with small eyes, a flat nose, a few mouse whiskers on his chin, and a not very thick braid hanging from the back of his head. Some are worn out, wearing a pair of brand new official boots, quite nondescript. Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "Are you Liu Xihong?" Liu Xihong hurriedly said, "It's the next official." Li Hongzhang said: "Liu Xihong, I want to ask you a few words, and you have to answer them truthfully. Before I left for Tianjin, I received a letter from Feng Yuguang of Shanghai Road. However, they regarded it as a monster. Some people even poured dog blood and other filth on it while the train was moving, and some people lay on the rails with a dog blood basin on their heads, so that the train ran over ten people to death within three days after it started. Several people. This matter, Feng Dao is in Shanghai, and he is ordered to negotiate with the British. The old man is here, and he and Wade will discuss this matter with Wade at the same time as he handles the Yunnan case. Liu Xihong, you have to be serious Answering the old man's question, what do you think of this matter?" Liu Xihong blinked, and said loudly: "Back to the middle hall for questioning, the lower officials thought that the so-called train and so on were just a demon method used by Westerners. Although this method is not to be feared, if it is to be broken, it may not be subdued by ordinary blood. Xiaguan just now thought of a good method in his stomach, which is many times stronger than ordinary dog ​​blood, and the monster will definitely lose its soul when it sees the magic weapon prepared by Xiaguan, and cannot move forward." Li Hongzhang hurriedly asked: "Oh? You actually know how to make magic weapons? Tell me, how do you make your magic weapons?" Liu Xihong replied: "The lower official's house has a big white-haired dog. Its nature is many times fiercer than that of Westerners. If this dog is killed with a knife, its blood will be mixed with the blood of a woman's menstruation, and it will be aimed at the monster. How can you not be afraid of monsters if you throw them head-on? If you are harmed by monsters, it is because your spells are too low. Lord Zhongtang please look carefully." Li Hongzhang nodded expressionlessly, and asked again: "Liu Xihong, you are really a man of insight. If the old man recommends you as the Taoist of Shanghai, what will you do?" Liu Xihong replied happily: "Master Zhongtang really recommends that the next official be promoted to Shanghai Dao. The next official will raise a hundred big white-haired dogs, and then let the subordinate officials go to the countryside to collect a large vat of women's menstrual blood. My next After the official took office, whenever he saw a Western utensil, the lower official would pour a ladle of water on it. In less than a year, the Westerners would never want to survive in Shanghai, and they would all get out of Shanghai. The lower official dared to assure Zhongtang that Shanghai From then on, there will be no more negotiations. The General Administration and your lord will never get angry because of Yang Yi again." Li Hongzhang smiled, and suddenly asked: "Liu Xihong, the old man is asking you now, when Wade came to Yantai, did you leave him with blood?" Liu Xihong replied: "When the official returned to the middle hall, Wade did not disembark when he arrived in Yantai. The official did not want to see him at first, but because of the sacred decree, the official had to go to see him. When I went to see him Not only did the Xiaguan not carry dog ​​blood, he did not even have the woman's menstrual blood. But after hearing what the Xiaguan said, Wade didn't ask the Xiaguan to say anything, and he didn't chat with the Xiaguan, so he just said Agreed. Xiaguan was thinking just now, if Xiaguan really splashed the white-haired dog's blood on him, maybe he would not dare to mention things to the court again, and the lord might not have to make such a hard trip. Xiaguan What I just said is all from the bottom of my heart, please be careful in the middle hall." Before Li Hongzhang could speak, Guo Songtao sneered at this moment and said, "Master Liu, I have some doubts about what you said just now. I am asking you now, if you really use dog blood to pour Wei Tuoma, you are not afraid that he will use a musket to kill you." Did you kill him?" Liu Xihong snorted contemptuously, and said: "Master Guo, do you always really not understand or pretend not to understand? The officer really poured blood on him, would he go for a musket? He has already turned into a puddle of mud !" Li Hongzhang had no choice but to wave his hands and said, "Liu Xihong, you go down first, this trip is worthwhile for the old man." Liu Xihong had no choice but to salute and withdraw. Guo Songtao said angrily to Ding Baozhen: "Ding Futai, why do you have such a living treasure under your old hands? I really can't believe that Wade can listen to his nonsense?" Ding Baozhen smiled and said: "My dear Yun, don't underestimate this Liu Xihong. He came to Beijing to introduce him last year. I heard that Xu Tong invited him to dinner three times in a row. Xu Tong's eye sockets are high! Those of us People, including Lord Zhongtang, has he ever looked straight at him?" Li Hongzhang said at this time: "Ding Futai, Liu Xihong, it's better for you to move him away from Haikou. Haikou is a place that foreigners must pass through. One day he had a whim and sent his family's white hair The big dog was beheaded, and he took the dog's blood to fight foreigners, didn't he cause trouble for you and the court?" Ding Baozhen said: "Don't worry about Zhongtang, the subordinate officials have already recommended him to Beijing for introduction, and he will leave his post and go to Beijing in a few days. Maybe Xu Tong can keep him in Beijing as his fifth-rank member Wailang. After returning to Shandong, the subordinate officials must have taken him to the government office, and he was not allowed to participate in the affairs of the port. However, the subordinate officials heard that although Liu Xihong hated foreigners very much, he had been at the port for the past few years. Foreigners in the past are still very careful. "It seems that he is still afraid of the guns in the hands of foreigners. By the way, I have another matter to report to Zhongtang. That is, the day before Zhongtang and Mr. Guo arrived, the Russian Minister to Beijing, the American Minister to Beijing, and the French Minister to Beijing The envoys, as well as the German envoys, have all arrived in Yantai, saying they are here for vacation. The officer thought, could they have been bewitched by Wade to cheer for him?" Li Hongzhang pondered for a while, and said: "When he was in Tianjin, Wade Ma once said this to the old man himself: 'If there are envoys from other countries who come forward to mediate, I can't agree; I can only act according to my idea.' Based on this analysis, it is unlikely that he will invite ministers from other countries to participate in the review.” When Li Hongzhang said this, he got up and walked a few steps, and suddenly asked Guo Songtao, "Xian Yun, is it Longevity Day tomorrow?" Guo Songtao nodded and said, "Exactly." Li Hongzhang said: "Ding Futai, taking advantage of the Longevity Festival, you old tea, go and make arrangements to transfer the existing large warships in Yantai to perform exercises together. The old man invites Wade and the ministers of various countries to come and read Look. Forget it, we will hold a reception on the warship. This old man wants to take this opportunity to see what is going on in various countries. If the envoys of various countries are not invited by Wade, this old man can use this opportunity to isolate Wade and prevent him from doing too much. Blackmail. What do you think?" Guo Songtao said: "Zhongtang's plan is very clever, it can be said to kill two birds with one stone." Ding Baozhen said: "The lower officials are thinking, if the envoys of various countries are really invited by Wade, our expense will not be worth it." Li Hongzhang laughed and said: "This expense, I have my own way. I won't spend a tael of silver from Shandong. You, you have been in the local area for a long time, but you don't know the dangers of diplomacy. Sometimes, you spend a lot of money. Two taels of silver can save the court a hundred taels of silver. Diplomacy is the same as war. War is all about strategy and equipment, while diplomacy is about strategy and national strength. If your national strength is strong, you will have the upper hand; Have the upper hand. Cough! It's hard to say!"