Mingyue of the Song Dynasty http://www./0_1/                                                                                                                        

"Welcome to you, the journey on the sea has made you hard... I hope those naval young men did not make any rude actions to you." As soon as the passenger ship Li Hongzhang was on entered the Mediterranean, he was "protected" by the French ship, and then arrived at Nantes Port with escort all the way.

At this time, the person speaking was a French official in his fifties who looked slightly thin. He had two beards and could barely smile, but the arrogance in his bones could not be concealed.

Accompanying Li Hongzhang were Wu Tingfang and Guo Songtao, who had served as British ambassador. Wu Tingfang translated the French words in Li Hongzhang's ear. Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "It's okay, although my Qing Dynasty is a great country and a country of etiquette, we will not force others to do anything about the habits that your country has not had for a long time."

The French official's face suddenly turned pale and he lowered his head and said, "Your Excellency, the government official has been waiting for a long time, let's go in." In Li Hongzhang's opinion, it would be fine if he was rude to foreigners. Fan couldn't let them get out of Taiwan, so he nodded and walked in.

France presided over the negotiations by Foreign Affairs Minister Mi Le, who was a government official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and his identities were quite equal. Before the negotiations, both sides said a lot of irrelevant words, which was really not difficult for Li Hongzhang, who had been in the officialdom for many years. However, the French were anxious to know whether the Chinese had signed a covenant with the Germans.

"Your Excellency, we all know that some misunderstandings occurred between the two countries some time ago, and I feel very sorry for this. Now there is no point in arguing about who is right and who is wrong. The loyal and brave soldiers of both countries have already sacrificed. What we have to do is not let more people sacrifice. Our government is very sincere in engaging in peace talks with your country."

Li Hongzhang sneered secretly. He had been dealing with these foreigners for decades and knew their faces best. In their eyes, they could let go of anything as long as they had interests. Seeing that he lost, he would not pursue right or wrong. Could it be that he would be a fool? Li Hongzhang immediately pointed out that the reason for the two countries' war was that France invaded Vietnam, the vassal state of the Qing Dynasty, was the legal person. Then Li Hongzhang proposed China's conditions.

"Hisser Mile, my Emperor of the Qing Dynasty has already made clear about the conditions for negotiations. First, the captured French must be redeemed with silver; second, the compensation must be paid to our Qing Dynasty, and the compensation for the Gengzi and Xinyou years must be returned to me. Third, Vietnam must belong to our Qing Dynasty; fourth, all the terms signed by France and our Qing Dynasty will be invalidated. All these four articles are indispensable." Li Hongzhang said righteously and sternly.

"The strength of your country is far from our France at this time. As long as we truly make up our minds, your country's army and naval strength will never be able to stop the Republic's footsteps. France is not that it has not defeated your China's strength, but hopes that there will be no greater casualties for both countries due to some misunderstandings. Please do not regard this good wish as a manifestation of cowardice! If you really want to live in peace with the Republic, show your sincerity, otherwise you will be the Republic to destroy you at all costs."

Li Hongzhang laughed again this time when he heard this. He stood up suddenly and looked at Mi Le with panic and said, "That's it, there is no need to continue talking. With me, Li Hongzhang, I want to see how you destroy the Qing Dynasty." As he said that, he walked out first. Guo Songtao and Wu Tingfang hurriedly followed him as soon as they saw it.

"Master Zhongtang, are the conditions we have put forward too harsh? After all, the strength of the legal person is still above me." Wu Tingfang took a few steps and chased to Li Hongzhang and said.

Li Hongzhang looked back at Wu Tingfang indifferently: "Tingfang, when dealing with foreigners, we must not only be arrogant, but also be neither humble nor arrogant, and judge the situation. The emperor worked hard to win this victory that had not been seen in a century. If we were easily intimidated by a few false words by legal persons, how could we be worthy of the emperor? Besides, these conditions were all set by the emperor, how could we change the emperor without authorization? You should think carefully about how to get the French to agree to our conditions."

When Wu Tingfang heard this, he immediately started thinking and replied for a moment: "Tingfang thought that if he wanted the legal person to agree to the conditions, he had to go from within. The legal person system was different from our Qing Dynasty. The officials were chosen by the people. If we expose the news that tens of thousands of French troops were surrounded, the families of those French soldiers would inevitably require the French government to make efforts to reach a peace agreement. If we use money to make friends with one or two legal person officials and speak about this matter, I think the French government will inevitably be unable to stop this pressure."

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

Guo Songtao also nodded and said, "Tingfang's plan is very good. In addition, I heard that the Ministry of Rites has selected a group of officers to study the army in Germany, and the Ministry of War has also bought a large number of guns from Germany.

Chaos rebirth is the king of another world http://www.77nt/23488/ If the cannon weapon can do these two things in a big way and let the legal person know, it will definitely make the legal person feel a dark ghost and dare not speak out again to start a war."

"Just do what you two said." Li Hongzhang decided on the peace talks.

On the other hand, the French soldiers who were besieged had eaten their dry food. This was the seventh day of being besieged. When they were out of ammunition and food, they suddenly saw giants coming towards them on the sea. They thought they were warships sent by their republic.

But after getting closer, I realized that it was the Qing Dynasty's Master, "Triumph", "Changsheng", "Juyin" three iron-clad ships, "Nanji", and "Nanxiang" two cruisers and several gunboats.

The dozens of warships drove towards the French devils trapped by the sea, which scared the Frenchmen all lay on the ground and hugged their heads, fearing that the large-caliber naval guns would greet them.

At the same time, the Paris Daily in France published an explosive news with headlines that the French Expeditionary Force was surrounded by more than 100,000 Chinese troops and was in danger. China had sent a minister to negotiate with the government, but the government rejected the Chinese's request. The newspaper also simply published some Chinese demands, such as taking back Vietnam, abolishing the previously signed peace treaty, using money to redeem soldiers, etc.

Suddenly, countless French residents took to the streets. In their opinion, the Chinese demands had little to do with them. If Vietnam took them back, they should take them back. It was not originally a land in France, and it did not bring any huge benefits to France. It was a European tradition that redeems soldiers. As for the abolition of those treaties and the return of compensation, although they were a little unwilling to accept it, who told me to defeat them? It was understandable that people took back those rights and interests. What was really important to them were the lives of captured relatives and friends.

The storm was particularly intense in Paris, at the center of French political storm. People held up signs and surrounded the government door and asked them to agree to the Chinese. If the police holding batons had not stopped the crowd, they might have rushed into the government building.

"What did Mile do? How can you let such news be released?" French interim cabinet President Hubnerli roared as he grabbed a Paris Daily of the day.

Hubner's private secretary Saric said on the side: "This time, the Chinese are probably going to be a devil. The Foreign Minister has greeted some newspapers before, but you also know that our news controls are not something that can be prevented. What is important now is that many opposition parties have begun to speak out and criticize the government for ignoring the lives of soldiers. Many people agree with their statements, which is very unfavorable to us in the general elections to be held."

Hubnerri got angry and quickly calmed down.

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

Sarichi thought for a while and said, "It is the fault of his former cabinet to throw away Vietnam. This seems not to be counted on us. As for other things, we can think of some solutions."

"What's the solution? Those guys in the parliament are very sensitive to compensation. I dare say that if we sign the compensation agreement, then distrust is not far from us."

Saric smiled slightly and said, "We can appropriately raise the money for redeeming soldiers and persuade China to cancel the compensation conditions. I think they will agree."

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

Saric shook his head and said, "This is probably impossible. The Chinese captured the warships of the Far East Fleet, especially the 'Duer'. You also know that this warship is almost the best warship in the Republic now. Moreover, the four 'Saxon-class battleships customized by the Chinese in Germany have returned to China. Germany also gave China a cruiser similar to 'Duer' tonnage. Now the tonnage of the Chinese navy exceeds 100,000 tons. It is possible to win quickly unless we use all the naval power. But you also know that this is impossible. They are all scattered around the world and it will take a long time to assemble."

"What's more, the Chinese have been a little close to the Germans recently. They not only received military aid from Germany, but also industrial aid. It is difficult to guess what kind of agreement they have. Under such circumstances, it may be difficult for the parliament to pass the demand for China to increase its troops."

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

When French Foreign Ministry officials Mi Le appeared in front of him again, Li Hongzhang finally knew that the French could no longer sit still. Although Wu Tingfang had been talking to the French, some major events could not be carried out without his nod. These days, the French began to give in a little bit and basically agreed to abolish the treaty signed by the two Opium Wars. China also made some concessions and agreed to retain those open trade ports, but the rights and interests of the concessions and tariffs must be recovered. Vietnam and the two sides reached an agreement on the issue of compensation that Vietnam belongs to China, and China protects the French's property in Vietnam, but the French must be in the same way.

Withdrawal from Vietnam within the year, and in terms of compensation, in addition to returning the two Opium Wars, France compensated another 150 million francs, equivalent to 5 million taels of silver. In terms of payment method Wu Tingfang and others accepted the French method and counted the compensation as a ransom and paid it together. Guan Xuqing also agreed with this. He was an absolute utilitarian. In his opinion, it was not important to be face-saving. The key was actual interests. Although the French compensation was of great help to boost national morale, it also had to give France a step forward. Who said that France is still stronger than the Qing Dynasty now? If the legal person is anxious, if France really mobilizes the whole nation, the Qing Dynasty will lose more than it will.

However, on the issue of redeeming prisoners, the two sides had great differences. France insisted on not counting the more than 30,000 surrounded French Expeditionary Forces as the range of prisoners, because if that were the case, the amount of ransom paid by France would increase several times, and the equipment of the Expeditionary Forces would also fall into China.

"Your Excellency, the brave French expeditionary forces are still holding their weapons, and they are still holding their positions. How can they be considered your captives?" Mile said with anger.

Li Hongzhang smiled slightly after hearing this, "I wonder if the minister is fully aware of the situation of your team. More than 30,000 people in your country were surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Qing troops on three sides, less than twenty miles north and south. There are dozens of warships on the sea. As long as my Qing artillery cannons are bombarded together, I wonder how many people can your tens of thousands of troops be left?"

Mile's face became even more gloomy when he heard this: "Your Excellency, you should know that since the two countries are negotiating, it is regarded as a state of truce between the two sides. If your country must do that, it will only anger the sacred France. I am afraid there is no need to say more about the consequences at that time."

Li Hongzhang looked at Mile with a expressionless face and said, "If your country insists that those soldiers are not prisoners, we might as well continue to talk. I hope that each of your country's soldiers has brought enough food to last until the day we reach an agreement."

Mile couldn't help but sweat. If China really did this, she wouldn't even find the place to complain because she did not admit that the soldiers were captured, and the Chinese would not be considered abuse of the prisoners if they did not provide them with food. If the tens of thousands of expeditionary troops were allowed to starve to death, they would probably be shot and killed without going out.

"Okay, we are willing to pay this part of the soldiers' ransom, but before that, your country must ensure their food supply." Bi Le finally accepted China's request.

"This is no problem." Li Hongzhang smiled proudly. User.
Chapter completed!