The East China government did not refuse the negotiation requirements of the Qing court. After all, it is not the time to destroy the Qing court. Therefore, at this time, you can also devote all your energy to deal with the battle in the Northeast. Of course, you have to make another note on the Qing court to subsidize the cost of the war.

So Zhang Zhidong came to Qingdao to negotiate with the East China government, and the East China government issued 5 conditions for peacemaking to Zhang Zhidong.

1. The Qing court must recognize the East China government as an independent and legal regime;

2. The Qing court withdrew from the entire territory of Henan Province and handed over Henan Province to the jurisdiction of the East China Government;

3. The Qing court will compensate the East China government for the total losses of 60 million taels of silver in the war;

4. The Qing court must severely punish officials who advocated the attack on rivers and lakes. The list and punishment measures must be approved by the East China government;

5. After the Qing court implemented the above commitments, the East China government withdrew from Hebei and handed over the occupied prefectures to the Qing court.

Although the East China government is actually an independent political entity, and countries have basically recognized it. There are 22 countries that have established consulates in Qingdao, from the perspective of legal issues, the East China government is still not an independent political entity. Therefore, it is better to take this opportunity to make a thorough cut with the Qing court and force the Qing court to recognize it. Moreover, it is more convenient to negotiate with Russia and Japan in the future.

If it were in normal times, such practice would be detrimental to the East China government in domestic public opinion. After all, the Qing court has ruled for more than 260 years, and the orthodox concept has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. The East China government is equivalent to openly splitting and independence. However, it is an extraordinary period. Due to the series of brilliant victories achieved by the People's Army on the battlefield in the Northeast, the reputation of the East China government has reached a high level. All over the country, from the southeast provinces, there are no minority calls for the East China government to replace the Qing court. Some even publicly call on the Qing court to give way in the newspaper line and ask the East China government to take over the overall situation of the country. Therefore, the East China government is now openly independent and will not arouse much opposition. On the contrary, there will be many people supporting it.

Of course independence is just a matter of status. The East China government must also reap the actual price. Before the war, the river and lake bases actually occupied most of Henan Province. It is not too much to ask the Qing court to occupy the entire Henan Province. Moreover, it is not too much to ask the Qing government for compensation of 60 million silver from the Qing court when it is time to use money. Moreover, the East China government does not want to kill the Qing court. The transfer of land in Hebei Province is a signal sent to the Qing court.

According to the expectations of the East China government, the Qing court was completely acceptable to such conditions. After all, compared with the treason agreements signed by the Qing court, the conditions of the East China government were quite good. However, Zhang Zhidong, the negotiation minister, rejected the request of the East China government on the spot, saying that such conditions were absolutely unacceptable to the Qing court, and refused to continue negotiations with the East China government and demanded to return to Beijing to report.

This is really beyond the expectations of the East China government. Zhang Zhidong does not seem to be a person with determination and courage. Moreover, although Zhang Zhidong is a negotiating minister, the decision-making power is still in the hands of the Qing court. No matter what result is, Zhang Zhidong has no right to decide whether to sign the contract. Instead, the result should be reported to the Qing court, and the Qing court decides whether to sign or not. If there is anything like Zhang Zhidong.

However, since Zhang Zhidong was leaving, the East China government would certainly not detain it. Moreover, the East China government also asked the Qing court to make peace, so it also asked Zhang Zhidong to leave. The military working group was also ready to discuss and no longer let the volunteers go further and attack Zhuozhou, putting greater pressure on the Qing court. However, before leaving, Zhang Zhidong left a letter to the East China government, saying that he still had no choice but to refuse to negotiate again, and only wanted to protect the evening. The Qing court would send someone else to negotiate before, so he asked the East China government to wait patiently and not misunderstand it.

Only then did everyone realize that Zhang Zhidong knew very well that he could never sign this treaty. If he signed it, he would not be able to pass the terms proposed by Li Hongzhang to Beijing, because it would mean that the terms were negotiated with overseas Chinese. Moreover, the court accepted these conditions and signed the contract by himself, so he should still bear the blame. Therefore, Zhang Zhidong refused the negotiations and returned to Beijing. In this way, he rejected the request made by the East China government and did not sign the contract, which saved his personal reputation and brought back the conditions of the East China government. If the Qing court accepted it, he could send someone to Qingdao to sign the contract with the East China government.

After figuring this out, the few people in the working group couldn't help but feel a little amused. If they had known that Zhang Zhidong would have been very hard-working. However, the Qing court would not care about how hard it was, but it would be useless to play these clever things in front of the East China government. Therefore, the working group decided to put some pressure on the Qing court.

After Zhang Zhidong returned to Beijing, he immediately submitted a letter to the court, explaining his trip to Qingdao, explaining the conditions of the East China government in detail, and passionately stated that the court could not accept these conditions, and he had clearly rejected them.

After reading Zhang Zhidong's memorial, Cixi was almost so angry that she vomited blood. Of course, she could see that Zhang Zhidong's intention was nothing more than just for his own little reputation, and she was very strict with the overall situation of the court. But Cixi also had no choice but to deal with Zhang Zhidong. After all, he was an old minister of the three dynasties and could not punish Zhang Zhidong for this matter. Moreover, Zhang Zhidong's behavior was supported by many officials, who believed that Zhang Zhidong was very loyal and had a strong character, and was much better than Li Hongzhang.

Cixi has no time to settle accounts with Zhang Zhidong now. Since the overseas Chinese have offered conditions, it is easier to handle. Although the conditions are indeed a little harsh, is there any choice for the Qing court now? Moreover, Cixi also tentatively asked the ministers of various countries about the opinions of the ministers of various countries. The ministers of various countries also suggested that the Qing court accept the conditions of the East China government and restore peace as soon as possible. Cixi thought it was right. No matter how harsh the conditions were, they would be much better than the second Gengzi country.

But the most important thing is to choose a new negotiation minister. Zhang Zhidong was obviously not suitable. Thinking of this, Cixi had to sigh and it seemed that she could only use Yuan Shikai again. Of course, this time, the court must have some expression. Therefore, on the next day, the Qing court issued an order to add Yuan Shikai's Beiyang minister, a minister of the Prime Minister's office, a minister of military training, and a first-class Count of Wuyi; at the same time, he awarded Yuan Shikai's successor Yuan Baoqing Shaobao, and the successor Niu family was the first-class magistrate wife; his biological father Yuan Baozhong's prince Shaobao, and his second-class biological mother Liu was the second-class magistrate wife; he also added a third-class later replacing platform to Yuan Shikai's eldest son Yuan Keding. Yuan Shikai was asked to return to Beijing immediately to take office, and he was afraid that Yuan Shikai would recommend something else to be sick, so he specifically stated that there was a good doctor in the capital, so he could rest assured.

It turned out that Yuan Shikai's biological father Yuan Baozhong had two wives, namely the original wife Guo and the second wife Liu. Yuan Shikai was born by the second wife Liu and ranked fourth. However, Yuan Shikai was adopted by his uncle Yuan Baoqing when he was young, so his original aunt Niu became Yuan Shikai's heir mother.

In 1901, Yuan Shikai's biological mother Liu passed away. Yuan Shikai carried the coffin back to his hometown to bury his mother. He wanted to bury his mother in the main cave of the Yuan family's ancestral tomb in Xiangcheng. However, Yuan Shidun, the eldest son of Yuan Baozhong's official family, was incompatible with Yuan Shikai. Therefore, on the grounds of the division of legitimate and illegitimate illegitimate, Yuan Shikai's biological mother was not allowed to enter the ancestral tomb and bury with Yuan Baozhong. Although Yuan Shikai was already a chief official at that time, he still had to listen to his brother's opinions in the family. As a result, no matter how Yuan Shikai requested or even knelt down and begged, Yuan Shidun refused to give in. In the end, Yuan Shikai had to choose a lucky place to bury his biological mother. After the burial of his mother, Yuan Shikai was furious and vowed not to return to his hometown Xiangcheng and place his hometown in Huanshang Village, Anyang.

After receiving the reward from the Qing court, Yuan Shikai felt very happy. In fact, he was not too interested in official positions such as Beiyang ministers, Prime Minister's Office, and Wu Yibo. Only the military training ministers were the ones that Yuan Shikai valued the most, which was military power. In addition, Yuan Shikai was also very happy that his biological mother was awarded the second-rank wife by the court. This was not only a great honor, but also had the capital to boast in front of the people in his hometown in the future. Moreover, Yuan Shikai's biological father Yuan Baozhong did not serve as an official in his life, and he only donated a fifth-rank brother-in-law as a tribute student. However, his second-rank wife was awarded the second-rank wife, and Yuan Baozhong naturally could not be just a fifth-rank brother-in-law, so he also gave the title of a crown prince Shaobao. However, in this way, Yuan Baozhong's official wife Guo had nothing, which was also a ridiculous mocking to Yuan Shidun. Yuan Shikai could also imagine what kind of expression would Yuan Shidun have after receiving the imperial gift from the court?

However, even if you are satisfied, Yuan Shikai could not return to Beijing rashly. Of course, this time it was not a proposition, but a Qing court was asked to express his opinion. It turned out that Zhang Zhidong's behavior also taught Yuan Shikai a lesson. What is this so mean? You must not take the blame for what you shouldn't take. Since Zhang Zhidong doesn't want to take the blame, he dare not take it. At the beginning, Li Hongzhang was so unlucky that he was drowned by the saliva of the whole country. It would be better to let the court clearly agree to accept the conditions of the East China government and just act as someone who ran errands to sign.

So Yuan Shikai immediately wrote another memorandum to the Qing court, saying that he was willing to contribute to the country, but negotiations with overseas Chinese were of great importance. When discussing the law, the court asked the court to make it clear. The meaning was also very clear, and whether to agree to the conditions of overseas Chinese was to give an obvious explanation. At the same time, he communicated with the East China government, saying that he had been resuscited by the court and appointed as a negotiating minister. He was trying his best to convince the court to accept the conditions of the East China government and asked the East China government to be tolerant for a while.
Chapter completed!