Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

"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. It was at stake. China had sent a minister to negotiate with the government, but the government rejected the Chinese requirements.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 political storm in France. People held up slogans and gathered around the government gate to ask 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 already rushed into the government 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 government for disregarding the lives of soldiers, and many of our people agree with them, which will be very detrimental to 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."

"The Germans..." Hubner murmured, 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 15 billion francs, which is equivalent to 500 million taels of silver. In terms of payment method, Wu Tingfang and the others accepted the French method and included this compensation in the ransom and paid it 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 wants to mobilize the whole people, the Qing Dynasty 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 prisoners?" Miller said with an annoyed expression on his face.

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.

The Lion Awakens Chapter 67 Japan's Ambition

Everything went smoothly, and Li Hongzhang finally completed a successful signing.All previous agreements between the Qing Dynasty and foreign powers were unequal agreements, and of course this time it was also unequal.But this time it was not our Qing Dynasty who was wronged. Li Hongzhang walked out of the cabin and looked at the blue sky and white clouds and took a deep breath.Curse in my heart: When did I, Daqing, and Li Hongzhang feel so elated? !

The news that China and France abolished the Old Testament and made reparations to the Qing Dynasty came back to China, and the whole country suddenly boiled.The Sino-French battle has twists and turns.This seriously ill country gathered all the outstanding talents, gathered all the resources that could be concentrated, and took advantage of the delicate international situation to finally defeat a country that they seemed invincible.

"Daqing Daily" published a photo of the French expeditionary force surrendering to the Qing army and handing over its equipment. In the photo, Lieutenant General Gu Ba handed over his command sword with a livid face.

Most of the officials of the Westernization Movement of the imperial court and the governors of various places were also relieved. This one-day battle will cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. If this continues, the foundation accumulated since the Westernization Movement will be defeated It's all gone, and now the gun bureaus in various provinces don't even have wages to start work. If the workers were surprisingly quiet this time, the sky would have been turned upside down long ago.So this time is an unprecedented sound of praise.

And this Sino-French battle also shocked the whole world. If the French army was weakened because of the Franco-Prussian War, then what about his world's second largest navy, the Great Qingshui Division, defeated the French fleet again and again , which has to impress people from other countries.Especially the people of color in Asia, Africa and other countries, they think that no matter how brave they are, no matter how fearless they are, they will not be able to defeat the Europeans, but the Chinese have set an example for them.

The number of prisoners in the French army is large, with a total of nearly 5 people in the navy and army.Their great republic spent a full 200 ​​million taels of silver to redeem them, plus 500 million taels of war indemnities, and the return of a total of 800 million taels of indemnities in the Sino-French Beijing Treaty during the Second Opium War.

So in this Sino-French war, the Qing Dynasty got 1500 million taels of silver from the French.Although this is not a lot, it was a timely help for the Qing Dynasty at that time.After more than a year of war, the treasury has already bottomed out.Guan Xuqing continued to encourage the public to donate money and food through the "Daqing Daily", and the workers in the arsenal did not pay their wages and so on.Even Guan Xuqing reduced the expenditure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs again and again. Without such frugality, how could 20 artillery battalions bombard Hucheng Fortress continuously for several days? ?The shells that were just destroyed in those few days had to be manufactured in China for several months.

After the war ended, Guan Xuqing began to worry about this piece of land in Vietnam.At the beginning, we only sent troops to fight against France to help Vietnam, but now that the French army has been defeated, we have to withdraw from Vietnam according to normal logic.

At that time, people liked to describe Vietnam as "two baskets of rice on a pole". "One pole" refers to the narrow strip in central Vietnam, and the "two baskets of rice" it provokes refer to the two famous "granaries" of the Red River Plain in the north and the Mekong River Plain in the south.

Historically, before World War II, Vietnam produced 650 million tons of rice every year, one-third of which was exported, accounting for one-quarter of the world's total rice exports.At that time, Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) was one of the three major rice markets in the world, as famous as Yangon and Bangkok.However, after the 40s, due to successive years of wars, agricultural production was greatly affected. Now in my own hands, this place will surely become China's "granary", which can just make up for the lack of arable land in the Qing Dynasty.There is a deep land plot in the hearts of Chinese people.But now China's cultivated land is basically saturated. Except for the fertile black soil in the Northeast, other lands with good irrigation conditions and high yields have basically been reclaimed. If we don't expand outwards and the population increases, we can only reclaim those barren lands. land, which is a great loss to the efficiency of labor use.

Reminiscent of the Qing Dynasty’s efforts to increase the area of ​​arable land by surrounding lakes to build fields, cutting down trees on mountains to build terraced fields, and turning good pastures into low-yield farmland, Guan Xuqing often lamented that these Vietnamese were reckless.Now that this fertile land has fallen into the hands of the Qing Dynasty, it can finally realize its value.

So he decisively left the Black Banner Army in Vietnam, and Liu Mingchuan's troops went north from Vietnam to Guangxi, and continued to guard the three provinces of Yun, Gui, and Guangdong.Dong Liang's troops returned directly to Zhili with the troop carrier escorted by the warship.Lu Yiwei's department took a train from Guangdong to station in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and replaced Chen Heng's department, which was originally stationed here, to Sichuan.

"Your Majesty, all the prisoners of the French army have gone back. The French indemnity has also been paid in place. Hurry up and resume the normal expenditure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I see that you have lost weight this year. My heart is distressed!" Prince Jin said to his son again. Distressed and admired.

"My lord is too worried. Now the money has to be paid to the soldiers who are fighting. I have promised them two years' salary to pay for the dead martyrs. I can't break my promise. In addition, the workers of the gun bureaus in the provinces also pay It must be sent to them as soon as possible. Without their continuous work, what will the soldiers in front use to fight the French? The reconstruction of Mawei Port, the renovation of Lushun Military Port, the reconstruction of Tianjin Dagu Fort, the three cruisers of Germany and the United Kingdom, our money I haven't paid yet. Sigh..." Guan Xuqing's head hurt as he spoke.

"Your Majesty, take care of the dragon body. Ni, ni, ni..." Prince Chun also coughed.

"My lord, pay attention to your body." Guan Xuqing still respected and cared about this "father" very much.

Seeing Guan Xuqing's eyes filled with tears, Prince Jin blurted out: "Your Majesty, my wife misses you very much... I hope to see you."

Guan Xuqing was originally a person who traveled from later generations, and he no longer had any impression of this "mother" who hadn't seen each other for several years.Prince Jing Chun's heart was shocked when he said this, and the past suddenly came to his mind.Back then, in order to prevent her son from entering the palace, the arbitrariness was really a bit like that of Cixi.

"Oh, let's bring Fujin into the palace to live for a while, I miss her too."

Just as Prince Jin was about to say something, the eunuch Wang Shang hurried over.

"Your Majesty, North Korean telegram."

After Guan Xuqing took the telegram and read it carefully, he smiled from the bottom of his heart.Handing the telegram to Prince Jin casually, he murmured: "The Japanese have withdrawn their troops from North Korea, and the Koreans who helped the Japanese have been wiped out by Liu San and the others. The outcome of the Sino-French war may have shocked the whole of Japan. Dare to be an enemy of our Great Qing."

"It's a small country, the emperor only needs to send a navy and an army to crush them." Prince Jin said loudly.

Guan Xuqing watched the birth of this general, brave and foolish "no relatives".He shook his head with a smile and didn't answer.

In the palace of the Emperor of Japan, the Emperor of Japan is also discussing the development of the North Korean situation with the ministers.

"So we have failed?" Emperor Meiji of Japan said expressionlessly.

Inoue Xin stood up and said: "Your Majesty, this matter is due to my lack of thoughtfulness and underestimation of China's power in North Korea. Your Majesty, please punish me."

Emperor Meiji waved his hand and said: "Forget it, the Chinese have already defeated France. Even if there is no such thing, we will retreat."

Ito Hirobumi, who was sitting cross-legged next to him, said: "We could have quickly increased our troops in Goryeo. It created a fait accompli and forced the Qing people to compromise! I never thought that the old empire of China, which has become so decayed, can still defeat the French. .”

Shanxian Youpeng said unwillingly: "Now the empire's new army has seven towns, and the Qing army is still far away in Vietnam. As long as we put all our troops into it, we can quickly occupy North Korea. Your Majesty will ask more about the withdrawal of troops." consider."

Emperor Meiji did not speak, and the Minister of the Navy, Kawayama Suki, said: "Originally, the empire has maritime superiority. We can rely on new ships such as 'Fuso' to ensure the safety of the empire's landing troops, deter China's Beijing and Tianjin regions, and also threaten China's maritime forces. transportation routes. But now the situation has changed, we have lost the sea superiority over the Qing. Although the Qing navy was severely damaged in the Mawei naval battle, the results of the subsequent naval battle showed that the Chinese had been able to give full play to the combat effectiveness of capturing the French warships, and the After the capture of the Honghe Naval Port, new French warships were captured by China. I believe that the Chinese have repaired these ships and are ready to go into battle at any time. If we start a war with China at this time, even if we quickly occupy North Korea, the Qing Dynasty can also Relying on their naval superiority to calmly mobilize the army, and even use the navy to cut off our supply lines! We only have four battleships 'Fuso', 'King Kong', 'Hiei', and 'Chikushi', and they cannot stop the Qing people at all. I heard that they recently Another five giant warships were bought from Germany. The situation is even less optimistic."

Emperor Meiji thought a little after listening to Kawayama Suiki's words: "So the strength of the Chinese navy has far surpassed ours?"