Chapter 6 Section VI

On March 15th, an imperial edict was issued, and Prince Qing Yikuang, Minister of State Supervision and Prime Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was appointed Minister of Military Aircraft.Because of his title, even though he is new to military aircraft, he is not a "curtain military aircraft" who "learns to walk", but a "leader" who has all the right to speak when he visits every day. So Yingmen's congratulatory guests, from Baoding to the capital, continued every day. Among the foreign envoys, the first one to congratulate was Russia's acting minister Prasong. Regarding matters related to the withdrawal of troops, no details were given.

It turned out that the negotiations between the three eastern provinces of China and Russia had been suspended invisibly since the death of Li Hongzhang. After returning to Luan, Yikuang and Wang Wenshao were ordered to continue the negotiations. On the first day of March in the 28th year of Guangxu, they signed the "Four Treaties for the Handover of the Three Eastern Provinces". It is stipulated that Russia should withdraw its troops in three phases, each of six months.The first period expired in September last year, and Russia finally fulfilled the agreement, withdrawing the occupying forces in the southwest section of Shengjing and returning the railway outside the pass.Now the second period will expire at the end of March in ten days. Yiqiang thought that Russia would withdraw all the Russian soldiers in Fengtian and Jilin as it did half a year ago. He didn't take it to heart at all, and only handed over the original to Lianfang, the right servant of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with.

On the second day, in the early morning of March 22, when he was waiting to go to court, Lianfang knocked on the door to pay homage. "My lord," he said, "is in serious trouble!" "What trouble?" "The translation of the Russian note, please have a look at it, Your Majesty." Yikuang took a look and was shocked.Russia’s note stated that the treaty could not be fulfilled, and put forward seven new requirements: “First, China shall not transfer or lease the land in the three eastern provinces to other countries; ; Third, no matter what you want to do, you are not allowed to hire people from other countries; fourth, Yingkou customs duties should be collected and stored by China and Russia Daosheng Bank, and the tax department must use Russians, and entrust the customs to manage quarantine affairs; fifth, Except for Yingkou, it shall not be opened as a treaty port; sixth, the administration of Mongolia shall remain the same; seventh, before the Boxer Incident, the interests of Russia shall not be changed."

"Isn't this going to annex the customs again?" "Yes." Lianfang replied, "Today the Rongzhong Hall will be hanged, and envoys from various countries will come. If anyone asks, how should I answer?" "No one will know, right?" Yi Kuang was puzzled, "How can Russia leak it by itself and invite other countries to interfere." "Then, ask your lord, can we reveal it ourselves?" This is the usual technique of using barbarians to control barbarians.But if it is not used properly, it will cure the silk and heal the wound. Yiqian is quite self-aware, he dare not use this method, but he has no other good strategy, he just said: "Let's discuss it later."

Lianfang knows more about the general trend of the world than Yikuang.Because of Russia's entrenched presence in the three northeastern provinces, Japan feels threatened like someone snoring next to a couch. Therefore, at the beginning of the Sino-Russian resumption of negotiations on the treaty of handing over the three northeastern provinces, they began to conclude the Anglo-Japanese alliance with the purpose of countering the Russian-French alliance.Now that Russia has this new request, even if China is willing to accept it, Japan will definitely oppose it with all its strength.That being the case, why not use Japan to control Russia?

After resigning from Prince Qing's Mansion, Lianfang drove to the Rongzhai in Dongchang Hutong. This was not only a private affair of Shen Shen's memorial service, but also a business. Because the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the Prime Minister Yikuang, and according to the custom, the prince and the Han people do not have weddings and funerals, they can give gifts, but they are not allowed to visit in person, and the minister Qu Hongji, as the Minister of Military Affairs, cannot sit in the Rongzhai for a long time .In this way, the responsibility of receiving foreign guests who went to the Rong Zhai to express their condolences fell on the shoulders of Lianfang and another minister, Gu Zhaoxin, who was born in Zhang Jing, the head of the General Administration.

The envoys from various countries came together.As usual, the leader of the minister is a senior minister. After returning from the Spanish Minister Geluogan, he pushed the American Minister Conger to stay in China for the longest time, so he led the salute.There must be some condolences. Lianfang was stumbling because of Kang Ge, and couldn't get in touch with Uchida Yasuya, the Japanese minister who made another visit to China, so he couldn't help feeling anxious.Because there is no chance to talk to Uchida except on this occasion, if you interview Uchida exclusively, or send a secret letter, you will be presumptuous, and you will bear a great responsibility. traces of contact.

Just when he was at a loss, he suddenly had an opportunity; it turned out that the funeral home prepared snacks, coffee and cakes for foreign guests, but Uchida changed to plain noodles because he knew how to use chopsticks.Lian Fang had an idea and invited him to another table to eat noodles. In a few words, he revealed this big secret of international diplomacy. Uchida was very deep, and at that time his voice was calm, and he braved the heavy rain at night to visit Yikuang. Coincidentally, Natong arrived first, and Yikuang said, "Qinxuan, please see me on your behalf." "No!" Natong He calmly replied: "It's better to ask the prince to meet him in person."

"Oh," Yi Kuang took a closer look at Natong's face, "You know Uchida very well, and you want to know why he came here. What is it for?" "Come to see me at night, and it's raining again. Naturally, it's not a confidential matter that can't be understood by outsiders." Yikuang thought for a while, then stood up, "Okay!" He said, "Don't go, we can talk about it after I see him." As Natong reminded him in advance, Yikuang met Uchida and his translator, Secretary Shimizu, in his study.After a brief exchange of pleasantries, Uchida asked straight to the point: "Russia has already sent seven new requests to China. What attitude is China going to take?"

That's why!Yikuang asked rhetorically, "According to your minister, what attitude should China take?" "If China accepts Russia's request, I dare say that the three northeastern provinces will no longer be owned by China." "Yes, we also know. However, your minister should understand China's situation. Since the Eight-Power Allied Forces, China's vitality has been severely damaged. Now it needs to recuperate and recuperate. It cannot be against its strong neighbors." "The strong neighbor you mentioned is Russia?" Yikuang knew that Uchida was "smell", and replied with a smile: "I think there should be your country."

"Japan just wants to be a good neighbor of China and help China deal with bad neighbors." Uchida paused and said again: "Your Excellency should remember the result of Minister Li's 'friendship' with Russia, such as a precious Chinese idiom, cited as 'a lesson from others' '." "Yes, I am very grateful to your minister for his advice." "So," Uchida excitedly said, "Your Excellency intends to reject Russia's request?" Yi Kuang thought for a while and said, "I personally would like to do this, but I cannot make the decision by myself. I have to discuss with my colleagues and ask the superior to make a decision. In short, I cannot control the overall situation alone." "Your Excellency is too modest." Uchida said half flatteringly, half mockingly: "Your Excellency is the Prime Minister. You are in charge of internal affairs and foreign affairs, and you have won the trust of Empress Dowager Cixi. China's major plans are in your hands. I believe you will be able to Make the decision that is best for China." "I hope so," Yi Kuang said with an emphatic tone, "but offending Russia is by no means the best thing for China." Hearing this, Uchida became depressed, talked with Shimizu briefly in Japanese for a while, then stood up, folded his hands in front of his abdomen, and looked at Shimizu. "My lord," Qing Shui said in fluent Chinese, "Minister Uchida wants to accuse the lord, please stay away for now." "Oh," Yikuang didn't know what kind of medicine they sold in the gourd, so he agreed: "Okay, okay, please do it!" When they faced each other alone in the study, Qing Shui took out a passbook from his pocket and offered it with both hands, "My lord has become the minister of military aircraft, and the expenses are very high," he said, "It's a small thing, please keep it for me." Qing Shui is not only a "China expert", but also a "Chinese officialdom expert". He also knows how to donate cash to nobles. Look at the passbook of the Japan Specific Gold Bank.The name of the account is "Qing Ji", and there is a deposit on the inside page, which is 200,000 yen in Japanese currency. One dollar in Japanese money is worth more than 60 cents in Longyang. Not too little. "Okay! This booklet is here for now. I don't have to meet with your minister again. Please tell him that I will do my best." "Yes! This is a matter of mutual benefit, public and private interests!" Qing Shui pressed his hands Knees bent, bowed with a flat back, turned around and left. As soon as he left, Yikuang realized that something was wrong. With only a passbook and no seal, how could he raise the money?Could it be that Qing Shui was negligent and forgot to leave the original seal?If you think about it, the Japanese always pay attention to the details when they do things, so they shouldn't have such a major negligence. After thinking about it again, it suddenly dawned on me that as long as the letter rejecting Russia's request was sent, the Japanese embassy would naturally send the stamp for withdrawing money. "Hmph!" Yikuang couldn't help but sneer, "Damn, you're so mean!" That said, it's still something to be happy about.Yikuang thought to himself, rejecting Russia's request is justified, but there are still people sending money to use it, where in the world can we find such a good thing?This money will definitely not cause great trouble like the Li family and his son used Russian rubles. It seems that I have really made a step of luck. "My lord!" someone shouted at the door. He looked up and saw that it was Na Tong, followed by his eldest son Zai Zhen, he nodded and said, "Come in." "What did Uchida say?" "It's not about Russia." Yikuang pointed to the passbook without hesitation and said, "Leaving such a passbook without a stamp, it's just hollow glutinous rice balls!" Natong received 300,000 from Uchida, and 200,000 from Zaizhen, so they naturally helped the Japanese: "I must have forgotten to keep it." Natong said: "Uchida said that this is the first sum, and it will be done." After that, there is also filial piety." "Oh!" Yikuang thought for a while and said, "There are many people here, so it's not appropriate to be too secretive. Fortunately, you are going to Japan soon. If there is something to do, I will send you a confidential call, and you can connect with Xiaocun." Natong also thinks so.The current Japanese foreign minister, Komura Kotaro, is Uchida Yasuya's predecessor, and he knows each other well. It is more convenient to contact him in Japan than Yikuang here to connect with Uchida. "Are you going to be on the boat the day after tomorrow?" Yi Kuang asked his son. "yes!" "Although you are an 'envoy', your experience is far inferior to Qin Xuan's. This time you go out, you must ask Qin Xuan for advice everywhere, and don't make random opinions." Yi Qiang also warned: "Don't be ridiculous! Be careful Make a joke, shame on you!" "No." Na Tong defended Zai Zhen, "My lord, please rest assured."