Chapter 102 Section 102 Emergency Peace Negotiation

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi had withdrawn the edict to declare war, the Eight-Power Allied Forces continued to push forward and broke down the gate of Beijing ten days later. Empress Dowager Cixi had no choice but to leave Beijing with Emperor Guangxu and a group of princes and ministers in a hurry, and ordered Prince Qing and several ministers to stay in Beijing to deal with the situation.Before leaving, the Empress Dowager Cixi was still asking Gangyi: "Fortitude, didn't you say that you saw the Boxers invulnerable with your own eyes? Why are you so involuntary?" Gang Yi dragged his tears and said: "When you go back to the Queen Mother, the servant saw the living Boxer, and it was absolutely invulnerable, but when the servant saw the dead Boxer later, his body was beaten like a sieve!" At this time, he was also carrying a burden, and with the support of his son, he squeezed into the fleeing team.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw Xu Tong, she stopped immediately, ordered Li Lianying to summon Xu Tong to her face, and said with a sneer, "Xu Tong, don't you claim to be blessed? Your wish is all over, what are you doing alive?" Xu Tong's body trembled, but he didn't dare to say a word.The Empress Dowager Cixi yelled: "You two, go to hell!" Throwing down these words, the Empress Dowager Cixi got in the car and left. Seeing Xu Tong's father and son trembling in a daze, Li Lianying couldn't help but smiled and said, "Why don't you two accept the order to thank you?"

Xu Tong and his son hurriedly knelt down in front of the driver, kowtowed and said, "Thank you for the order!" The father and son quickly returned to the mansion, and they both hanged themselves in the blink of an eye. The first thing the Empress Dowager Cixi did after escaping from the capital was to issue an order to Li Hongzhang, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, in the name of Emperor Guangxu, to transfer Li Hongzhang to the governor of Zhili and the Minister of Beiyang Commerce, and to grant the imperial envoy full power to negotiate peace. Representatives, they rushed to the capital to celebrate Prince Yikuang and negotiate peace with other countries.

The imperial decree was sent to the Tianjin Telegraph Bureau to send it out quickly.Empress Dowager Cixi and her entourage left the capital, and the Eight-Power Allied Forces entered the city immediately, occupying the Forbidden City and looting wantonly. Li Hongzhang accepted the offer, tears streaming down his face. After a long time, he looked up to the sky and sighed, "I'm already seventy-eight years old. I'm afraid I won't have the time to return to the south this time when I went to the north to discuss peace! It's up to people to make things happen, and it's up to heaven to make things happen. Man can't beat God!"

Zhao Lian was also in a mess at this time, she couldn't think of any other good idea except to cry with her husband.However, Xiao Hong persuaded her decisively: "Master, you should just listen to the servant girl this time, and ask the queen mother for sick leave. The foreign soldiers have already occupied Tianjin and Beijing, and I heard that they have become popular. This time, you Going north, can there be a good result?" Xiaohong's words reminded Zhao Lian, and Zhao Lian also hurriedly said: "My lord, Hongmei is right. No matter what happens to the court this time, you can't go north according to the order! People can't put their heads on the sharp point of a sword touch!"

But Li Hongzhang wiped away his tears, and asked his servants to pass the housekeeper into the room, and ordered: "Let them clean up quickly first, and send the wife, the red girl, and the young masters to the old house in Hefei first." Zhao Lian said anxiously: "My lord, you still want to go north? Why don't you listen to advice? Do you have to let the concubine kneel down and beg you?" After Zhao Lian finished speaking, she fell to her knees.Li Hongzhang and Xiao Hong supported Zhao Lian from left to right. Li Hongzhang stroked his beard and said, "Lian'er, people can be homeless, but they can't be without a country. Since I was born in this world and alive, I can't just watch my country perish!"

Zhao Lian cried: "This time you go north to negotiate peace, don't you still have to be regarded as a traitor?" Li Hongzhang said with a wry smile: "The old man has been a traitor countless times in his long history of diplomacy, so why not do it one more time!" Seeing that Li Hongzhang had made up his mind to go north, Xiao Hong said, "Since the master said so, let the servants serve the master to go to Beijing." When Zhao Lian heard this, she was greatly moved, took Xiaohong's hand and began to sob. Zhao Lian soon bid farewell to Li Hongzhang in tears, and was escorted by her son-in-law Zhang Peilun to Hefei by land and water.On the second day after his wife left, Li Hongzhang took Xiaohong and a team of soldiers, together with his birthday material, and rushed to Shanghai.

On the afternoon of the day when Li Hongzhang left Guangzhou, the Russian Tsar Nicholas II took advantage of the chaos of the Qing Dynasty and issued a mobilization order. He successively mobilized nearly 180,000 troops and appointed himself the commander-in-chief. Pao massacre and Jiangdong sixty-four massacre. On the day Li Hongzhang arrived in Shanghai, he flew to Zhili Admiral Mei Dongyi and others to step up the search and suppression of the Boxers in Zhili. He also urgently met with the consul generals of various countries stationed in Shanghai, and asked the consul generals to report the peace talks to their respective countries and send a report to the capital. Prince Qing, who presided over the situation, asked about the situation of the coalition forces in the capital.

The consul generals of various countries quickly issued a joint note to Li Hongzhang, pointing out: "If the Qing Dynasty wants to start a discussion, it must first send the Prince Zhuang Zaixun who led the boxers, the co-organizer Gangyi, the right-wing general Zailan, the left-wing general Yingnian, and Bi Zongquan. Prince Zaiyi of the Duan County of Bandits, Zhao Shuqiao, Minister of Punishment who investigated the falsehoods, and other princes and ministers should execute the law, otherwise the meeting will not be held." Li Hongzhang immediately telegraphed the joint note of various countries to the emperor and empress dowager who were on the way.

When the Empress Dowager Cixi saw Li Hongzhang's telegram, she immediately issued a decree, ordering that Prince Zhuang Zaixun and Prince Duanjun Wang Zaiyi who were accompanying him should be removed from their titles first, and Yu Xian dismissed from office and arrested for questioning; suicide. The person who was not resolute enough to deliver the decree finished speaking, stretched his legs, raised his pigtails, and frightened to death.The Empress Dowager immediately ordered someone to draw up an order, and first notified that Prince Zhuang and Duanjun Wang had been dismissed, and that Gang Yi had already been executed, and then said: "Minister of Plenipotentiary Wenhuadian University, Li Hongzhang, Governor of Zhili, will notify all countries of the above reasons to obtain understanding, And I will go to Beijing regardless of water or land, and discuss all matters with Prince Qing, without delay. Hereby."

On the day Li Hongzhang received the imperial edict, he also received an urgent letter from Prince Qing from the capital. Prince Qing wrote in the letter: "The safety of the clan society is all in the middle hall alone. The middle hall cannot be held in Beijing, and there cannot be a meeting. The situation is not only difficult to decide, but also considers the change of the original intention of all countries. What a scene of dust for thousands of miles! The provinces are at a loss. What an emergency! Only the public thinks about the prosperity of the four dynasties, the two palaces rely heavily on it, the officials all praise it, and the world looks up to Yin, and quickly sent north to save the drowning and burn, and weep and pray." Prince Qing was in a state of desperation, and was about to go insane.On the eighth day of August, Li Hongzhang arrived in Tianjin by water. At that time, Tianjin had been occupied by armies from various countries, and the city gate was also guarded by foreign soldiers.When Li Hongzhang and his party landed in Tianjin, the Tianjin Dutong Yamen established by the Eight-Power Allied Forces in Tianjin had received an order under the mediation of the Russians to allow Li Hongzhang and his party to enter the city. After Li Hongzhang entered the city, he sent people to Baoding on fast horses to fetch Guan Fang, the imperial envoy, Guan Fang, the governor of Zhili, and the seal of the Yan government. After visiting the consulates of various countries in Tianjin, I went back to the hotel to rest. That night, Li Hongzhang developed a fever, and Xiaohong was so anxious that several times during the night, the Central Russians invited doctors to check her pulse.At dawn, Li Hongzhang's condition was slightly milder, and it happened that the officials who had gone to Baoding to collect customs defense and seal letters also rushed back. Li Hongzhang asked Xiao Hong to serve him and reluctantly drank a bowl of ginseng soup, and then set up an incense table to receive the seal.On the day Li Hongzhang received the seal, under the protection of the Russian army, he carried the coffin, took the train out of the city, and rushed to the capital with his illness.This trip to Beijing was made under the premise that the Russians guaranteed their safety.The Russians are willing to do this, and naturally they have their ulterior motives. Before boarding the car, Li Hongzhang gave Xi'an Xingzai a 10% discount on the "Zunzhi Arriving in Tianjin and receiving the seal" as usual.In the middle of the compromise, Li Hongzhang wrote in a very helpless tone: "Fu Nianchen thought it was difficult because of his declining years. When the country is facing difficulties, the ministers are serving. Although the enemy is riding horizontally and horizontally, the truce has not been allowed, and the public's sentiments are unpredictable. , It is not easy to withdraw troops. The minister only has the target to be loyal, promulgates faith, makes the best use of the situation, and reluctantly mediates." On the train, Li Hongzhang closed his eyes slightly, leaned his head into Xiao Hong's arms, and murmured, "Hong'er, I'm dizzy, flustered and short of breath, I'm afraid I won't be able to enter the capital!" Xiaohong hugged Li Hongzhang's limp body with her hands, and said with tears in her eyes, "Master, you are fine. The slave girl heard from the doctor that you are always in a hurry, and you should take a rest. You always listen to me." For slaves, close your eyes and sleep for a while." The train arrived in the capital in the evening, Prince Qing and all the princes and ministers staying in Beijing were waiting at the gate of the station.Li Hongzhang was helped out of the station by Xiaohong, and he opened his eyes for a long time before seeing the faces of Prince Qing and the others. Li Hongzhang's legs were trembling and he was about to make a big gift. Prince Qing flew forward and held him back, and said repeatedly: "Shaoquan, this king is looking forward to you! If you don't come, foreigners will ignore me! Don't talk about it!" Discussion, even a serious sentence is not acceptable!" Li Hongzhang's lips trembled for a long time, and he wanted to say something, but he didn't make a sound.Xiaohong said at this time: "My lord, Lao Zhongtang fell ill as soon as he arrived in Tianjin, and now he still has a fever!" When Prince Qing heard this, he was shocked and said: "Why did you get sick at this time? Get in the car and go back to the city! Turn around, I will send the doctor in the mansion to take a look." Li Hongzhang stayed at Xianliang Temple that night, and Prince Qing sent two doctors over to see the pulse and make medicine. Prince Qing sighed to a group of princes and ministers staying in Beijing: "This Li Shaoquan is carrying a coffin into Beijing. I don't know whether he is here to discuss peace or to die!" The group of princes and ministers staying in Beijing sighed, but no one could say anything else. Li Hongzhang recuperated in Xianliang Temple for more than ten days before he gradually recovered.He will soon join Prince Qing and visit the embassies of eleven countries in China in Dongjiaomin Lane to discuss peace negotiations. The envoys of various countries sent over a draft list of criminals to be punished after repeated secret discussions, claiming that: before the discussion begins, the imperial court must punish these people for their crimes, otherwise the meeting will not be held. After thinking for two days, Li Hongzhang decided to invite the envoys of the eleven countries together to ask about the origin of these lists. Li Hongzhang said to Prince Qing: "You can't say what foreigners say. What's more, the court has removed Prince Zhuang and Duanjun from their titles, Gang Yi has been executed, and Yu Xian has also been arrested and interrogated. This has already shown the sincerity of the peace negotiation. So Beheading the subjects without hesitation, I am afraid that the court has already killed all the subjects before the discussion. How can this be done?" But Prince Qing tried to dissuade him again and again: "Shaoquan, according to this king, it is better to send a telegram to request an order for this matter first. Foreigners are busy transporting things out of the city all day now. The inventory in the palace in the past few years is almost They're about to blow it all up. If we start the discussion one day earlier, we will lose one day less, right?" Li Hongzhang was helpless, so he sent a note to Wadsi, the supreme commander of the Eight-Power Allied Forces, claiming that for the convenience of requesting orders, the post stations along the Beijing-Tianjin route and the Tianjin Telegraph Office must be returned first, and the Chinese army will take over. Waldsey was busy searching for treasures in the palace and ignored the matter.Li Hongzhang was in distress, so he had to turn to the newly appointed German minister Mu Mo, who asked for instructions from the country, and after Mu Mo conveyed the domestic instructions to Vadsee, Waldsee had to agree to the matter.