Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 66 Sino-French Negotiations
The negotiations were initiated by the new French cabinet, interim President Hubner.Li Hongzhang was specially invited to France for negotiations.

"Welcome Your Excellency. The journey at sea has made you exhausted. I hope that the boys in the navy have not done anything rude to you." Li Hongzhang's passenger ship was "protected" by French warships as soon as it entered the Mediterranean Sea, and escorted them all the way. Descend to the Port of Nantes.

The person speaking at this time was a slightly skinny looking French official in his fifties with a mustache. Although he managed to squeeze out a smile, the arrogance in his bones couldn't be concealed.

Accompanying Li Hongzhang were Wu Tingfang and Guo Songtao, who had been a British envoy. Wu Tingfang translated the words of the French in Li Hongzhang's ear. Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "It's okay. We are a country, but for the habits that your country has not had for a long time, we will not force others to make things difficult."

The French official's face turned blue immediately, and he bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency, the political officer has been waiting for a long time, let's go in." In Li Hongzhang's view, the arrogance that terrifies foreigners is nothing, but he can't let them down, so he nodded and walked in. .

The person in charge of the negotiations in France was Miller, the political officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was fairly equal to Li Hongzhang.Before the negotiation, the two sides talked a lot of nonsense, which was not difficult for Li Hongzhang, who had been in the officialdom for many years, but the French were eager to know whether the Chinese had signed an alliance with the Germans.

"Your Excellency, we all know that there were some misunderstandings between the two countries some time ago, and I am very sorry about that. It is meaningless to argue about who is right and who is wrong now. The loyal soldiers of the two countries have all died. More people died, our country is very sincere to carry out peace talks with your country,"

Li Hongzhang sneered secretly. He had dealt with these foreigners for decades, and he knew their faces best. In their eyes, they could let go of anything as long as it was beneficial.Seeing that he has lost the fight, he no longer pursues right and wrong, maybe he treats himself as a fool.Li Hongzhang immediately pointed out that the reason for the war between the two countries was that France invaded Vietnam, a vassal country of the Qing Dynasty, and the fault was the legal person. Then Li Hongzhang proposed China's conditions.

"Your Excellency Miller, the Qing Emperor has made very clear the terms of the negotiation. First, the captured French must be redeemed with silver; All the indemnities in Xinyou Year shall be returned to Qing Dynasty; [-]. Vietnam must be returned to Qing Dynasty; [-]. All agreements signed between France and Qing Dynasty shall be nullified. Only these four items are indispensable.” Li Hongzhang said sternly .

"The strength of your country is far from our French opponent at this time. As long as we really make up our minds, your army and naval power will never stop the Republic. It's not that France doesn't have the strength to defeat your China, but It is hope that some misunderstandings will not cause greater casualties to the two countries. Please do not take this kind of good wishes as a cowardly performance! If you really want to live in peace with the Republic, show your sincerity, otherwise you It is the Republic that will destroy you at all costs."

Li Hongzhang laughed instead of anger when he heard this. He suddenly stood up, looked at the panicked Mi Le and said, "In this case, there is no need to talk any further. With me, Li Hongzhang, I want to see you guys." Why did you destroy my Qing Dynasty?" He said and walked out first, Guo Songtao and Wu Tingfang hurriedly followed after seeing him.

"Master Zhongtang, is the condition I'm waiting for too harsh? After all, the strength of the legal person is still higher than mine." Wu Tingfang took a few steps and chased after Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang turned his head and gave Wu Tingfang a faint look: "Tingfang, when dealing with foreigners, we must not only guard against arrogance and impetuosity, but also be neither humble nor overbearing, and judge the situation. The emperor worked so hard to win this century-unseen victory for the Qing Dynasty. If we are easily How can the legal person be worthy of the emperor with a few false threats? Besides, these conditions are all set by the emperor. How can the emperor make such words and we can change them without authorization? You should think carefully about how to make the French agree to our conditions."

When Wu Tingfang heard this, she immediately used her brain and replied in a moment: "Tingfang thought that if we want the legal person to agree to the conditions, we need to start from the inside. The legal person system is different from my Qing Dynasty. Its officials are elected by the people. If we will When the news of tens of thousands of French troops being besieged spread out, the families of those French soldiers must demand that France do its best to reach a peace treaty. If we use money to befriend one or two corporate officials to speak out for this matter, I think France will be unable to withstand this pressure. "

Li Hongzhang nodded after listening, then looked at Guo Songtao and said, "Songtao, what do you think?"

Guo Songtao also nodded and said: "Ting Fang's plan is very clever. In addition, I heard that the Ministry of Rites sent a group of officers to Germany to study the army, and the Ministry of War also bought a large number of machines for producing guns from Germany. If we can combine these two If the matter is done with great fanfare and let the legal person know, it will definitely make the legal person feel dark ghosts, and they will not dare to speak out and start a war."

"Just do as you two said." Li Hongzhang made a final decision on the peace talks.

On the other side, the besieged French soldiers had run out of dry food with them.This is already the seventh day of the siege, when ammunition and food are running out.Suddenly, he saw huge monsters coming towards him on the sea.They all thought it was a warship sent by their own republic.

But after getting closer, I realized that it was Master Qingshui. Three ironclad ships "Triumph", "Changsheng" and "Juyin", two cruisers "Nanji" and "Nanxiang" and several gunboats.

When these dozens of warships drove towards the French devils trapped by the sea, the frightened Frenchmen all lay on the ground and held their heads, for fear that those large-caliber naval guns would greet their heads.

At the same time, the French Paris Daily published an explosive news on the front page. The French expeditionary force was surrounded by 10,000+ Chinese troops and was in danger. China has sent a minister to negotiate with the Chinese, but rejected the Chinese request .The newspaper also briefly published some demands made by the Chinese, such as taking back Vietnam, abolishing the peace treaty signed before, and using money to redeem soldiers, etc.

Immediately, countless French residents took to the streets. In their view, these demands of the Chinese have nothing to do with them. Vietnam can take it back. It is not the land of France in the first place, and it has not brought any great benefits to France. Interest, it is a European tradition to redeem soldiers with money, and there is nothing to say. As for the abolition of those treaties and the return of indemnities, although I am not reconciled, who told me that I was defeated?There is nothing wrong with them taking back those rights and interests. What is really important to them is the lives of those captured relatives and friends.

This turmoil was particularly intense in Paris, the center of the French political storm. People held up slogans and gathered around the door asking them to agree to the demands of the Chinese. If the policemen holding up their batons stopped the crowd, I am afraid they would have rushed into the city. in the building.

"What's wrong with Miller, how can such news be sent out." The French interim cabinet president Hubner yelled, holding a copy of the Paris daily in his hand.

Sarich, Hubnell's private secretary, said on the sidelines: "I'm afraid it's the Chinese who are the ghosts this time. The foreign minister has already greeted some newspapers beforehand, but you also know our news control. I'm afraid this kind of thing It cannot be prevented. What is important now is that many opposition parties have begun to speak out, criticizing the disregard for the lives of soldiers, and many of our people agree with them, which is not good for us in the upcoming general election."

Hubner lost his temper for a while, but quickly calmed down.

"Do you think that if we agreed to the Chinese's request, they would have no excuse to attack?"

Saric thought for a while, and said: "The loss of Vietnam was the fault of the previous cabinet. It seems that this should not be blamed on us. As for other things, we can think of some solutions."

"Is there any way? The guys in the parliament are very sensitive to compensation. I dare say that if we sign the compensation agreement, then mistrust will not be far away from us."

Saric smiled slightly: "We can properly increase the money for redeeming soldiers and persuade China to cancel the conditions for compensation. I think they will agree."

Hubnel suddenly frowned and looked at Saric.After a long time, he said slowly: "Do you think, if the war continues, how likely are we to defeat the Chinese in a short period of time?"

Saric shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this is impossible. The Chinese captured those warships of the Far East Fleet, especially the 'Dour'. The four 'Sachsen'-class battleships ordered by Germany have already returned to China, and Germany also gave China a cruiser similar to the "Tour". Now the tonnage of the Chinese navy exceeds 10 tons, unless we use All the naval forces have the possibility of quick victory, but you also know that this is impossible, they are all scattered all over the world, and it will take a long time to assemble."

"What's more, the Chinese have recently gotten closer to the Germans. They have not only received military aid from Germany, but also industrial aid. It is difficult to guess what kind of agreement there is between them. Under such circumstances I am afraid that it will be difficult for the parliament to pass the request for an increase in China's troops."

"German" Hubner muttered, and then said to himself: "It seems that we can only agree to the request of the Chinese."

When Miller, the political officer of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, appeared in front of him again, Li Hongzhang finally knew that the French could no longer sit still.Although Wu Tingfang has been talking with the French, some major events cannot go on without his nod and nod.These days the French have also begun to let go, basically agreeing to abolish the treaties signed in the two Opium Wars, and China has also made some concessions, agreeing to retain those open trading ports, but the rights and interests such as concessions and customs duties must be withdrawn.The two sides also reached an agreement on the issue of Vietnam and indemnity. Vietnam is owned by China, and China protects the property of the French in Vietnam, but the French must withdraw from Vietnam within one year. Another compensation of 1.5 million francs, which is equivalent to 500 million taels of silver, was accepted by Wu Tingfang and the others in terms of the payment method, and the compensation was included in the ransom and paid together. Guan Xuqing also agreed to this. He is an absolute utilitarian. In his opinion, it is not important to lose face, the key is actual interests. Although the French indemnity is of great help to boost the morale of the people, it also needs to be a step down for France. Who said that France is now stronger than the Qing Dynasty?If the legal person is anxious, if France really mobilizes the whole people, the Qing will not be worth the loss.

Only on the issue of the redemption of the captives, the two sides had a big difference. France insisted that it refused to count the more than 3 French expeditionary forces that were surrounded as captives, because if that was the case, the amount of ransom paid by France would double. Several times, and the equipment of the expeditionary force will also fall into the hands of China.

"Your Excellency, the heroic French expeditionary force is still holding their weapons, and they are still holding on to their positions. How can they be counted as your captives?" Miller said angrily.

Li Hongzhang smiled and said: "I don't know if Mr. Minister is fully aware of the situation of your country's army. More than 3 people in your country are besieged on three sides by the Qing Dynasty's hundreds of thousands of troops. The north and south are less than [-] miles away. I have dozens of battleships in the Qing Dynasty, as long as I cannonball the Qing Dynasty, how many people will be left in your tens of thousands of troops?"

Miller's face became even more gloomy when he heard the words: "Your Excellency, you should know that since the two countries are negotiating, it is regarded as a truce between the two sides. If your country must do that, it will only anger the holy France. I'm afraid I don't need to say more."

Li Hongzhang looked at Mi Le expressionlessly, and said: "If your country insists that those soldiers are not prisoners, we might as well continue the discussion. I hope that each of your soldiers has brought enough food to persist until we reach an agreement." that day."

Mi Le couldn't help sweating his palms when he heard this. If China really did this, he couldn't even find a place to complain, because he didn't admit that those soldiers were captured, so it wouldn't be considered as Chinese if they didn't provide them with food. mistreatment of captives.If the tens of thousands of expeditionary forces were to starve to death, they would probably be shot to death without going out.

"Well, we are willing to pay the ransom for these soldiers, but before that, your country must guarantee their food supply." Bi Le finally reluctantly accepted China's request.

"That's no problem." Li Hongzhang laughed triumphantly.

(End of this chapter)