After receiving the third mediation suggestion from the United States, the East China *** were relieved. To be honest, at this time, Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, Wang Yunpeng, Xu Jichao and other leaders of the East China ** were all broken. Although the means of putting pressure were used, no one could have any confidence in how much effect it could have and when it could have effect.

Xia Bohai and others were very clear that although East China now has an absolute advantage and is performing quite strongly, fighting as soon as you say you want, grabbing as you want, and grabbing as you want. Britain, France, Japan, Russia and other countries basically have no way to take East China, but the basis of this advantage is quite fragile. Once the critical point is passed, East China will collapse in an avalanche.

Of course, East China ** is also trying to extend the arrival of the critical point, intercepting merchant ships and landing on Japan to plunder. On the one hand, it is to put pressure on Britain, France, Japan and Russia and other countries to force them to surrender as soon as possible; on the other hand, it is to extend the arrival of the critical point through the plundering materials, but these practices can only extend the time for a limited time, and the critical point will eventually come. So no one dares to make this guarantee whether Britain, France, Japan and Russia and other countries to surrender before the critical point comes.

Although the Netherlands had surrendered at this time and signed a treaty for compensation and cede land with East China **, because the Netherlands' strength was too weak and almost insignificant in the expeditionary force, it was only symbolic, but it had no substantial impact on the overall situation. Now Britain and France have finally surrendered to East China *** and accepted the conditions for compensation. This is the real major turning point. It means that the alliance of the expeditionary force has completely disintegrated.

East China ** immediately stated that it could accept the mediation from the United States, but required that the negotiation location be located in Shanghai. In fact, the negotiation location is very important. Setting it on the territory of the party means that the party has the advantage of the negotiation, and if both sides are evenly matched, it is generally located in a neutral country.

The United States did not ask that the negotiation location be located in the United States, because President Roosevelt knew very well that in this negotiation, the United States played a role not so much as a mediator, and it was not very influenced by the three parties in the negotiations, so it was impossible to lead the negotiation location, so it would not naturally not ask that the negotiation location be located in the United States. Britain and France had no objection to this, but just made a request, which was to ask East China ** to stop intercepting merchant ships and attack ports in the colonies of Britain and France.

East China ** refused to stop intercepting merchant ships, but agreed to stop attacking the ports of British and French colonies. In fact, East China ** also had its own considerations for this reply. First, after the fleet attacked Saigon Port, it did not continue to attack other ports of the Indo-Chinese Federation, but returned to Java to implement the negotiation agreement and prepare to accept the rule of Kalimantan Island. Therefore, it stopped attacking the ports of British and French colonies, which was just to sell personal favors; secondly, it was to divide Britain and France.

Although Britain and France negotiated with East China and planned to assist each other this time, the two countries are not monotonous, and their respective interests and demands are also different. East China and France's stop attacking the ports of the colonies of Britain and France, which is actually beneficial to France, because the Indo-Shanghai Federation is the most important overseas colony of France. In addition to Saigon, there are also important ports such as Hongji, Da Nang, and Cam Ranh. The British colonies in Southeast Asia are not of great value, and the only important port is Singapore, but Singapore has at least three battleships in charge; but intercepting merchant ships is a big loss for Britain, while France suffers a small loss.

Sure enough, after receiving the reply from East China **, Britain and France immediately had differences. Britain believed that it could not accept the conditions of East China ** and still wanted to continue to put pressure on East China ** and must stop intercepting merchant ships; while France advocated accepting this condition. This result was beneficial to itself. If it continued to put pressure on East China **, if East China ** changed and stopped intercepting merchant ships, but continued to attack the port, it would be a waste of time.

Therefore, in the face of interests, of course, we cannot give in. Therefore, Britain and France also had a fierce debate. Finally, France stated that if Britain could not accept the conditions of East China, then France would hold negotiations with East China alone. In desperation, Britain could only compromise, otherwise it would only be more unfavorable to Britain when the French and East China negotiations were successful.

Both Britain and France accepted the conditions of East China **, and the next step was to determine the negotiator. The two sides had a dispute. If people were sent from Britain and France to China to negotiate, it would take at least one month. Therefore, the UK advocated that the two countries' ministers to the Qing Dynasty should serve as the negotiator. At this time, the British ambassador to the Qing Dynasty was Sir Juerdian. This person was a veteran of the British diplomacy. He had served in the Qing court for many years and had a wide connection. He had established good personal friendships with Li Hongzhang, the important ministers of the Qing court, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others who were still alive. The UK was also confident that he would hand over such important things to him. It would be beneficial to the UK to negotiate earlier and restore peace.

At this time, Pasteur, the French ambassador to Qing, had a relatively mediocre talent and ability, so France was a little worried about him and felt that sending people from home was reliable, and that delaying for one month had a small impact on France.

However, it was the British turn this time, and the British said that Britain could not afford time now. If France insisted on sending people from Europe, then Britain would take the lead in negotiations with East China. France also knew that it could not let Britain and East China reach an agreement first, so it could only make a step back.

The negotiator sent by East China ** is still Li Sanjie, with Li Songchen, the head of Shanghai area, as his deputy. The negotiation location is chosen at the Shanghai Steamship Merchants Building.

The building was built in 1901 and has a total of 3 floors. It turned out to be the headquarters of Shanghai Shipbuilding Corporation. The Shipbuilding Corporation was one of the few more successful modern enterprises in the Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty. It was a joint venture between officials and businessmen. Both parties contributed together, and the government was responsible for the business and the merchants were responsible for the actual operation. The person in charge was Sheng Xuanhuai, who Li Hongzhang trusted the most. However, after the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing court declined, and the rise of East China and intervened in the shipping business, so the Shipbuilding Corporation gradually weakened.

After the East China ** occupied Shanghai, it took all the assets of the Qing court for itself. Since the China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel were of the same nature as the joint venture between officials and businessmen, the China Merchants Steel and Sheng Xuanhuai negotiated and decided to buy out all the Shangying shares of China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China Merchants Steel and China

Since the negotiators of Britain and France were in China, the negotiations were held soon. In fact, there were not many clauses worth too much trouble in this negotiation. After all, the achievements made by East China ** on the battlefield, such as the recovery of the Shanghai Concession, the confiscation of the assets of British and French merchants in the Concession, the captured warships of British and French warships, and the intercepted British and French merchants, etc., would not be spit out, and they did not have much interest in other interests of Britain and France, mainly the amount and form of compensation.

Of course, there were still disputes about the wording. For example, the ownership of the Shanghai Concession, both Britain and France advocated "transfer", while the East China ** insisted on using "retrieval". The difference between the word, but the opinions were completely different. However, the captives of Britain and France, as well as the merchants, merchant ship personnel of the two countries captured, and the East China ***, and the East China **, also promised to release them all. In addition, Britain and France also recognized that the East China ** has jurisdiction over the Yangtze River channel, which actually recognized that the Yangtze River was the sphere of influence of the East China ***. The East China ** also agreed to open to the companies of Britain and France after the negotiations were successful.

This benefit is quite large. The Yangtze River is not just a waterway, but a huge river water transportation system, and can radiate to the land on both sides of the river. Therefore, East China has controlled the Yangtze River and can easily expand its influence in Wuchang in central Hubei and even Yichang.

In fact, East China only controls the estuary of the Yangtze River, but without the estuary, the value of the Yangtze River channel will drop by more than half. Therefore, Britain and France can only recognize that the Yangtze River is the sphere of influence of East China in exchange for East China to open the Yangtze River channel to companies from Britain and France. Of course, in the future, how the Yangtze River shipping and the interests along the Yangtze River will be distributed will be determined by various parties in addition to special business negotiations.

It took only three days for the three parties to determine all these easy-to-solve matters, and then they entered the most difficult compensation negotiations. Although Britain and France had prepared for compensation, the smaller the amount of the two parties, the better. Therefore, the two parties launched a fierce gambling campaign, citing the classics, fighting according to reason, and bargaining, and sometimes fighting for red faces.

After five days of repeated disputes and bargaining, East China ** and France first determined the amount of compensation, 1.5 billion francs, about 60 million pounds. At the beginning, East China ** offered 2 billion francs, while France only wanted to pay 1 billion francs. After repeated striking, East China ** dropped to 1.5 billion francs, but France insisted on paying only 1.2 billion francs. The two sides argued for two more days, but each refused to give in. Li Songchen even said that 1.5 billion francs was the bottom line of East China **. If France refused again, it would have to declare the failure of negotiations. East China ** would immediately resume the port attack on the Indo-Spring Federation.
Chapter completed!