Chapter 90 Section 90

Li Hongzhang finally met with Wa Dexi.What he said in the electronic performance of "resolutely not to meet" is not true. The fact is that Li Hongzhang hoped to meet Wa Dexi outside the palace, but Wa Dexi insisted on meeting in Yiluan Hall. Seeing that he couldn't persist, Li Hongzhang had to be wronged in order to break the deadlock.I contacted them in writing in advance and agreed to meet on September 24. In the early morning of that day, Li Hongzhang was accompanied by Vice Capital Tong Yinchang and arrived at Xiyuan Gate in a sedan chair.From here to the west of Taiye Pool and the south of Ziguang Pavilion, there is still a long way to go to the Yiluan Hall, which is the residence of the Empress Dowager Cixi. However, Li Hongzhang insisted on getting off the sedan chair and walking. Public opinion is outside, and the system cannot be ignored.”

It took nearly three quarters of an hour to walk to the Hall of Yiluan, panting and pale.However, Wa Dexi was very polite. The ceremonial team lined up from Baoguang Gate in the east to Jingfu Gate in the south. Extending to the east of Duofuzhai to see the ceremony. They were old acquaintances in the capital of Germany. Through Yin Chang's interpreter, they had a long exchange of pleasantries. Li Hongzhang asked Bismarck, known as the "iron-blooded prime minister", the Kaiser and Empress, Lord Lunluoxi, the current prime minister Earl Baulov, and Waldsee's teacher, a descendant of the famous German general Moltke.Then he asked Vadsi himself and his staff, and finally changed the topic and asked about the movement of the coalition forces.

"I heard that the coalition forces plan to march to Zhangjiakou?" Li Hongzhang asked. "No!" Vadsi replied, "It's just the Great Wall. I heard that there are many Chinese troops there." "If there is, it is only to suppress the place." "There are also many Chinese officers and soldiers in Baoding Prefecture. Unfortunately, these troops did not eliminate the Boxers." "But," Li Hongzhang replied tit-for-tat, "it is not difficult for Westerners." "Many Chinese officers and soldiers have no discipline, and the people in the north cannot forgive them."

"I think it's a road rumour, it's not true." "If your minister can guarantee that the Chinese army will not conflict with the coalition forces, I will definitely not send troops anywhere." Li Hongzhang took the opportunity to say: "Where the coalition forces are occupying now, I don't know yet." This means that the places occupied by the coalition forces must be known before the officers and soldiers can be restrained to avoid conflicts.Wadsi immediately expressed that he was willing to send Li Hongzhang a map that recorded the location of the coalition troops stationed.

Then, Vadsi asked about the news of the two palaces, and how to connect the electricity.Li Hongzhang told him: "From Beijing to Shanghai, transfer to Hankou to Xi'an." "The empress dowager and emperor of your country should return to Beijing as soon as possible." "Yes. The great emperor of your country also persuaded him with this. However," Li Hongzhang replied, "the emperor is a little timid." As soon as we talked about this, Qing Wang Yikuang also arrived.It was the first time he met Wa Dexi, and he was introduced by Li Hongzhang.After shaking hands, King Qing opened his mouth and said first, "I want to establish friendship with your commander-in-chief, and it has been a long time."

Vardesi also expressed his admiration for a long time.Then King Qing talked about the visit of Prince Henry of Germany to China and the situation of having a banquet together, which is exactly the same as Li Hongzhang's talking about the old man in Germany, which is to "set up friendship". Unexpectedly, Waldsey is very sophisticated, friendship is friendship, business is business, even Li Hongzhang's request to issue a passport to communicate with the Chinese army and pass through the coalition defense area, he could not agree.When King Qing and Li Hongzhang came here, they found nothing except a map of the area occupied by the coalition forces.

Li Hongzhang's troubles are more than that, he is still pregnant with a ghost.The situation in the three eastern provinces is getting worse and worse. This ghost has a tendency to be unable to hide. Once exposed, even if Zhang Yinhuan will not become the second and the leader will not be guaranteed, but his reputation will be ruined, which is foreseeable. It turned out that after the First Sino-Japanese War, important ministers and powerful governors of the court allied with Russia to reject Japan. Therefore, in the spring of the 22nd year of Guangxu, Li Hongzhang was appointed as the special envoy to celebrate the coronation of the Russian Emperor, and brought a large number of entourages with him. Yangwen's eldest son, Li Jingfang, arrived in Petersburg and signed a "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty".Li Hongzhang was full of ambition during this trip, and he boasted to others: "From now on, we will be safe for at least 20 years!"

This "safety for twenty years" - within twenty years, the "Sino-Russian Secret Agreement" that will not be afraid of Japanese aggression has a total of six articles, the main purpose of which is to jointly defend Japan, and the condition is "when war breaks out, in case of In critical times, all ports in China are allowed to enter by Russian warships.”This is still second, the most important one is to allow Russia to build railways in Heilongjiang and Jilin to reach Vladivostok.It is also recorded in the secret agreement that this railway was undertaken and managed by Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank in Shanghai.

This railway, later named the Middle East Railway, was built by the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank.Among them, a special fund was allocated for the total amount of 3 million rubles, or about 1.5 million U.S. dollars, and it was planned to send Li Hongzhang three times.The first sum of one million rubles was handed over to Li Hongzhang face-to-face in Beijing by Prince Wu Ketuomu, the general manager of the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, in the spring of the 23rd year of Guangxu. In the winter of this year, because Germany occupied Jiaozhou, Russia sent troops to occupy Lushun and Dalian.As a result of the negotiations, Russia must forcibly lease the brigade.The Chinese side of the negotiations was undertaken by Li Hongzhang and Zhang Yinhuan, while the Russian side was still handled by Wade, the Minister of Finance who had always presided over the negotiations with China and had a very close relationship with Li Hongzhang.In order to be afraid of long nights and dreams, and hoping to sign the contract as soon as possible, Weide appointed Babrov, the charge d'affaires in China, and gave Li and Zhang a heavy gift, worth 750,000 rubles.

In this Boxer Rebellion, Russia not only sent troops to land at Dagukou to join the coalition forces, but also sent troops to invade under the pretext that there were Boxers in the three eastern provinces. On the sixth day of August, the capital of Heilongjiang Province was captured, and General Shoushan committed suicide by taking poison.On August 29, they invaded the capital of Jilin Province. General Changshun surrendered to the enemy.This has already made Li Hongzhang deeply disturbed, and the worst thing is that on the eighth day of the eighth lunar month, after the Russian army invaded Shenyang, General Zengqi of Shengjing signed a treaty agreement to The Russian version of the "Temporary Treaty of Handing over Heaven and Earth" has nine paragraphs in total.If this covenant is carried out, Fengtian will become a territory of Russia.When the news reached Beijing, Li Hongzhang was terrified and fell ill that night.

While traveling in Xi'an, he couldn't let Zengqi go. The telegram severely reprimanded "dismissal immediately and ordered to return to Beijing." At this time, the head of the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank, Prince Wu Ketomu, quietly went to Beijing and lived in Xianliang Temple as Li Hongzhang's guest of honor.It seemed that this added momentum to him, but in fact, it came at a very bad time. It turned out that when negotiating with the Foreign Office, one of the things that Li Hongzhang was most afraid of was "conspiring against me", so before he entered Beijing, he had already decided on a strategy, and he had to break up the countries so that they could be manipulated individually.Of course, this must be done from the Russian side. He had discussed it with Wu Ketomu in Shanghai, so as soon as he arrived in Beijing, Russia was the first to withdraw its troops. Solidarity with Li Hongzhang.However, the countries did not want to follow in the footsteps of Russia, and they also saw a set of tricks played by Li Hongzhang, and their suspicions deepened, which turned into a estrangement. Now Wu Ketomu hides in the Xianliang Temple, and has aroused the taboo of all countries.The catastrophe caused by Zaiyi and others involved as many as eleven countries, and eight countries sent troops. Although Russia played a different way and took different steps, but the impact was minimal, the conditions that should be raised are still the same. The main condition for the opening of the meeting is still to punish the murderer.This time, two people were brought up, one had no scruples in the court, and the other had to have scruples. Yuxian who cares nothing, Dong Fuxiang who has scruples.A mighty general with a heavy army in his hand turns into an elbow and armpit in a hurry, which will really bring disaster to the country.Therefore, the Xi'an trip was full of worries from the Empress Dowager Cixi to Rong Lu who had just arrived. Not only Li Hongzhang and Yikuang, according to the opinions of the ministers of various countries, telegraphed the imperial court, identifying Dong Fuxiang as the main culprit, but also vaguely advised that Ronglu should not be allowed to protect him, but Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong also sent telegrams to Xi'an again and again, It is said that the British and French diplomats successively said that Yu Xian and Dong Fuxiang must place all kinds of important books.If Dong Fuxiang cannot be severely punished for a while, he must try to take away his military power and drive him far away, so that the doubts of the countries can be resolved. Just when the imperial court was anxious and worried about difficulties, Li Hongzhang made another report, saying that all countries had "prepared another mourning letter from Meidun, and the disaster will be unpredictable."At the same time, they sent a secret telegram to Ronglu, saying that there were rumors in Beijing that Liu Kunyi and Zhang Zhidong would be removed from their positions. If this happened, it would arouse great resentment from all countries, and there was no hope of peace talks. So, under the auspices of Rong Lu, two secret telegrams were sent: one was to refute the rumors, that is, to provide a guarantee that Liu and Zhang would never be transferred; Yiqin shall not be punished further." Yuxian was exchanged for the lives of Zaiyi and the others.As for Dong Fuxiang, of course, he can only take it slow. After the longevity of the Empress Dowager Cixi, I finally issued an edict: "Dong Fuxiang, the governor of Gansu Province, used to handle the return affairs in this province. He failed to look up, and was reckless when things happened. He should have been severely punished, but considering that Gansu is an important place, the admiral's land is still appropriate, so he will be dismissed leniently and stay in his post. He has dismissed 5,500 troops from all armies , Still leading a few battalions of the pro-army, galloping back to Gansu in recent days, briefly fortifying, to see the aftermath.” This way of dealing with Dong Fuxiang has finally given an explanation to the ministers of various countries.At the same time, the draft outline of the peace treaty was also negotiated and finalized by various countries, and the two plenipotentiaries, Yikuang and Li Hongzhang, were notified to prepare for the discussion, with a statement attached. The statement said that countries know that the terms are harsh, but the Chinese government is also to blame.In the future, when the terms are sent to the Chinese government, there cannot be a word of refutation.If you are willing to accept it, the war will be over from the date of entrusting the order, and the compensation for military expenses will also be settled by the deadline of this date.Otherwise, the coalition forces of various countries will take actions based on military considerations, and the consequences will be very serious. This is of course intimidation, but if you don't accept it, you can't start a discussion.Therefore, Yikuang and Li Hongzhang are filing the secret telegram.The meeting is scheduled to be held at the Spanish Legation on the first day of November. In advance, the Spanish minister issued a note, restricting the number of "guests" from the Chinese side to no more than ten people on the grounds that "the space is narrow and there are not many seats".In addition to the two plenipotentiaries and five translators in English, French, German, Japanese, and Russian, they can only bring three entourages.After discussing with Li Hongzhang, Yikuang decided to bring only two people, one was Chen Kuilong, and the other was Natong, the servant of the household department. On that day, news came out from Xianliang Temple that Li Hongzhang's condition worsened and he was unable to attend the peace talks.It was impossible to postpone, so Yikuang had to take Chen Kuilong and Natong to the meeting.The guest and the host bowed to each other, and there was no greeting, and then the Spanish Minister Ge Luogan recited the outline of the peace treaty, which is a total of twelve articles: 1. In the matter of killing the German envoy, China will send a special envoy of the prince to apologize to the German envoy, and erect a monument at the place where the victim was killed. 2. Severely punish the culprits, who kill and abuse the towns and cities of the people of all countries, and stop the scientific research within five years. 3. To harm the Japanese secretary and cause trouble, you must use the honorable code to thank the Japanese government. 4. Erection of steles at places where graves of people from various countries have been excavated. 5. Arms and materials specially designed for the manufacture of arms are not allowed to be imported into China. 6. Compensation for losses suffered by outsiders and Chinese deacons who are deacons of outsiders. 7. Troops from various countries guard the embassies. 8. There must be a clear passage between Beijing and the sea.All Dagu forts were flattened. 9. The passage shall be guarded by troops from various countries. 10. Posting edicts to permanently ban soldiers, civilians, etc. from hostility to other countries. 11. Amend the various treaties on commerce and shipping. 12. Change the etiquette of meeting with the Prime Minister's office of national affairs and ministers of various countries. After reading, hand over the document to Qing Wang Yikuang.The reading was in French, and the document was also in French. Yikuang didn't know what the content was, so he just replied: "Today, the envoys will submit a peace agreement in person. I will send a telegram to Xi'an immediately. informed." After finishing speaking, he handed over the document to Chen Kuilong, and then said goodbye. The envoys of the eleven countries just stood up, and it was counted as a gift, and the guests resigned, and they didn't even give it away.Of course Yikuang's face was ugly. "Look, Duan Wang is superstitious about boxers, and he caused such a catastrophe!" Knowing that King Qing felt humiliated, Chen Kuilong thought to himself: This is too hard to see, I can't figure it out!For the alliance under the city, it is natural to be humiliated. If you are humiliated and cannot bear the burden, it will be two losses.He should be persuaded not to be so idle, but to cultivate his spirit and fight hard at the conference table, which is serious. Before he could finish his thoughts, King Qing spoke again: "I have been humiliated for my country, and I have nothing to say. You two hurry back to Xianliang Temple and report to Li Zhongtang. The teleplay that will be read must be sent out today. Give it to me to read, and after the power generation, copy a manuscript and give it to me." Chen Kuilong agreed, watched King Qing get into the sedan chair, and turned to look for Na Tong, he was surprised at first sight!Natong's face turned blue, his body trembled, and he seemed to be unable to support himself. "Qin Xuan!" He asked, "What's wrong with you?" It turned out that in the Spanish legation, the stove was very hot. The foreigners didn't wear much clothes, and they took off their thick woolen coats indoors as usual.Natong was wearing a gown with big hair and a sable coat, which was restricted by etiquette and could not be removed. As a result, he was forced to sweat profusely by the fire, and when he came out, the cold wind hit his face. . Chen Kuilong had no choice but to send someone to send Na Tong home, and went to Xianliang Temple alone to do business.The receptionist was Yang Shixiang who was in Li Hongzhang's shogunate as a Taoist in the same year of his examination. "You can't see guests in the middle hall." "Then what should we do?" Chen Kuilong called Yang Shixiang's alias and said, "Lianfu, please go ahead and send in the outline of the peace treaty, let Zhongtang have a look at it first, and then ask for the strategy." "At this time, Zhongtang was in a deep sleep, so he woke up, and he couldn't see it anymore. According to me, it's better to ask you to draw up a draft first, and submit it to Zhongtang for approval and send it out immediately. It's more convenient." "This is a big matter!" Chen Kuilong hesitated greatly, "Without the instructions from the middle hall, it is really inconvenient for me to draw up." "The matter is urgent and there is no time to send this telegram. If you don't do it today, it will be postponed until tomorrow. Old man, if you dare not write it, who else dares to write it? Come, come, do it now!" Yang Shixiang personally took care of the pen and inkstone for him, spread the paper and ground the ink, and forced him to sit down in front of the desk. Chen Kuilong held the pen in his hand, unable to write a word for a long time. In fact, Li Hongzhang's reluctance to accompany Yikuang to the Spanish legation, and his reluctance to see Chen Kuilong at the moment, were all intentional, in order that after the peace agreement was concluded, he would be attacked by the Qing Dynasty, and even the imperial court would pull the bridge across the river. If you pursue it, then you can take the seriousness of the illness, and you will inevitably not think carefully, so that you can make room for shirking responsibility.At this time, seeing that Chen Kuilong couldn't bear this heavy burden, I had to help him. So Li Hongzhang ordered his youngest son, Li Jingmai, to come forward and say, "My lord said yesterday that this time the memorial should be written with a heavy pen." Chen Kuilong's problem is solved immediately.You don't need to use a heavy pen, you can't get the permission of the Empress Dowager Cixi, so you just laughed and said: "With a heavy pen, you have to invite the ancestral temple to overwhelm everything!" Therefore, Chen Kuilong started with "Xi'an Military Aircraft Department", firstly narrated the process of Yikuang's meeting with the ministers of the eleven countries, and recorded twelve paragraphs in Chinese in the full text of the outline of the peace treaty. In the opinion of all countries, it is difficult for the ministers to have the hope of withdrawing the troops stationed in the Gyeonggi area." Therefore, Qin asked for approval of the outline of the peace treaty. As stated in the last paragraph of the article, the meaning of the word is absolutely absolute and cannot be debated. The mausoleum of the Zongshe is in the hands of others, and if there is a word, it will be broken. The subjects, quickly cut off and obeyed the telegram, they are urgently waiting for orders." Sure enough, the reply was "respecting the ancestral temple and the country, the relationship is very important, and we have to make compromises", but the stakes are serious, and I still hope that Yikuang and Li Hongzhang "try to negotiate and negotiate, and hope to make a little money to remedy it."The tone of voice is completely on point. Unexpectedly, after Xi'an distributed the 12 articles of the peace treaty to the important governors, Zhang Zhidong put forward opinions one after another. The Manufacturing Bureau and the Gun Bureau must also have nothing to do and must be closed, so this sentence must be deleted. The second telegram objected to paragraphs 7, 8, and 9, arguing that the withdrawal of the forts in Dagu, the stationing of guards in the embassy, ​​and the establishment of military checkpoints in Jingu would mean that "the embassy will be peaceful forever, and China will be completely withdrawn as a gateway to defense, which cannot be tolerated." Self-defense is a perpetual danger to the imperial court, and it seems unreasonable." Two ministers with plenipotentiary powers are required, "here to discuss good law with respect." Another telegram said that in the preface of the article, "Embassies in the capital were colluded with officers and soldiers and Boxer bandits, obeyed the imperial decree, and besieged and attacked." Deleted, this matter is "extremely urgent". Immediately afterwards, a fourth telegram came, saying that in the second paragraph, "it will be pointed out in the future that all sentences such as severe punishment will be severely punished. The word "future" is very inappropriate. The people referred to before have been handled by the imperial court separately. Clear the boundaries, and there will be endless troubles", these two words should be deleted. The proposals in these four telegrams were all transmitted by the court to the two ministers with full powers.In particular, "obeying the imperial decree" is obviously to protect the Empress Dowager Cixi and relieve her of the responsibility of conniving with the Boxers. The imperial court is more serious and instructs Yikuang and Li Hongzhang to "debate based on this, and it is always appropriate to delete it!" In Li Hongzhang's view, this is all nitpicking.But outsiders don't understand the difficult situation of the person involved, just to please the Empress Dowager Cixi, they utter nonsense and form constraints, which is extremely hateful! Therefore, Li Hongzhang, who was ill, dictated the replay himself, and refuted Zhang Zhidong bitterly.When the manuscript was submitted for review in the shogunate, Li Hongzhang was furious and added a few words: "Unexpectedly, Governor Zhang has been away for many years, and with a little experience, he is still a scholar in Beijing twenty years ago. It's easy to discuss things outside the office! "Twenty years ago was Gengchen, the sixth year of Guangxu. In this year, the Empress Dowager Cixi beat the eunuch who delivered food to Prince Chun's Mansion for the guards guarding the Meridian Gate. There was a great commotion. The sick Empress Dowager Cixi had to kill the guards. Chen Baozhen, one of the "Four Remonstrances in the Imperial Academy", was the main drafter, and jointly signed the remonstrance with Zhang Zhidong, which was accepted by the Empress Dowager Cixi.Zhang Zhidong also inherited the curtain roll from this, and he has today. Therefore, these few words added by Li Hongzhang's own handwriting are not only to belittle future generations, but also to satirize Zhang Zhidong who is only good at flattering with words.Of course, "it's easy to talk about things outside" The five words also vaguely imply accusing the imperial court of being demanding.