In fact, in Qin Zheng's words, he played a word game, because the time traveler of course had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty, and the time traveler's goal was to establish his own country, and the system was definitely a republic system. Therefore, of course, the Ming Dynasty would not be restored on the land of China, let alone the emperor. But from the perspective of the listener, the time traveler completely denied that he had other ambitions to return to China this time. Although he could not completely fool the issue of the time traveler's identity, it was still reasonable on the surface and could maintain the relationship between the time traveler and the Qing court for the time being.

After Qin Zheng finished answering, a lot of applause came from the scene, and some people deliberately stared at the Japanese press group. Qin Zheng paid attention to the observation and saw that the Japanese reporters who asked the question were always calm and could not see through it.

At this time, Li Sanjie stood up and announced that today's press conference and answering reporters' questions were completely over. The Licha Hotel had prepared lunch and invited the reporters to the restaurant to have a meal. However, most of the reporters did not stay and enjoy their free lunch. Instead, they hurried back to the report hall with their manuscripts to make a newspaper and prepare for tomorrow's trip. If there is no official newspaper publishing tomorrow, they will also plan to go out of the business, so time is very tight.

The reporters who stayed are basically foreign journalists, and only they are not in a hurry to publish today's news. And today's gains are quite good, enough for them to return to China to make a special report, and they may become famous in one fell swoop. Therefore, foreign journalists are in a good mood and of course they will not give up the opportunity to have a free lunch.

However, the content of the press conference was reported as soon as tomorrow. In the afternoon of the same day, the relevant content had been spread to consulates in various countries, the labor department bureaus in the concessions, and the Shanghai government. Everyone was seriously studying the content of the time traveler's answers to reporters' questions, hoping to clarify the political propositions and purpose of the time traveler. Because they are consulars of various countries, because tomorrow is the time for formal negotiations, they also hope to understand the time traveler's attitude towards this negotiation through these studies, and at the same time adjust their negotiation plans.

Just as the Time Traveler held a press conference, in the suburbs of Shanghai, Li Hongzhang's villa Lilac Garden, Li Hongzhang, Sheng Xuanhuai, Zhou Fu, Zhang Peilun, Li Jingfang and others were also gathering together to discuss.

It turned out that just early this morning, Li Hongzhang received a letter from British Consul Huo Bilan, which was written: If the Qing court could agree to compensate for the losses of various countries and accept other conditions proposed by various countries, Britain would deal with it, prompting other countries to give up the responsibility for pursuing the Qing court's war, and support Empress Dowager Cixi to continue to rule, and at the same time recognize the status of the eldest prince as the heir to the throne.

After receiving this letter, Li Hongzhang was also quite interested because he knew very well that Empress Dowager Cixi and the Qing court ministers were most worried about the countries that they were pursuing their responsibility for the war, and they did not care about other reparations. Therefore, in this negotiation, the Qing court represented by Li Hongzhang was to use the power of overseas Chinese to strive to prevent countries from pursuing Empress Dowager Cixi and the Qing court ministers, and then to try to pay less compensation and cede less land. As a result, Britain also stated that it could recognize the status of the eldest prince's heir to the throne, and such conditions were almost impossible to refuse by the Qing court.

The reasons for the change in the Gengzi Kingdom were extremely complicated. Although the struggle between the emperor and the empress was the main reason, and China's high xenophobia was also one of the main reasons, the eldest prince was also an important driving factor.

The eldest prince was Fu Jun, the eldest son of Prince Duan Zaiyi. It turned out that due to foreign interference, Empress Dowager Cixi did not dare to depose Guangxu's throne, so she changed her method and used Guangxu's lack of heirs as an excuse to establish her niece. Fu Jun, the eldest son of Prince Duan Zaiyi, was the "Big Prince", which was equivalent to the crown prince. In this way, if Guangxu had three long and two short, Fu Jun could succeed him to the throne as emperor.

However, foreigners are all good at conspiracy. Empress Dowager Cixi's tricks made foreigners more tricks than foreigners, so foreigners did not recognize the eldest prince. It is said that on the day when the eldest prince was conquered, Prince Duan Zaiyi arranged a feast in the mansion and waited for the ministers of various countries to come to the palace to congratulate him. After waiting for a day, no minister came to the door and became a laughing stock. So Zaiyi hated foreigners deeply since then. After the Boxer Movement exploded, Zaiyi not only strongly recommended that the Boxer Rebellion could support the Qing Dynasty and destroy foreign countries, but also gathered a group of royal families and ministers, who strongly advocated the war against various countries. He also created a fake document, angered Empress Dowager Cixi and declared war on various countries, and finally led to the change of Gengzi.

Now the British sent such a letter to Li Hongzhang, which also shows that Li Hongzhang's goal of using overseas Chinese to put pressure on foreigners has been initially achieved. Although this is just a suggestion put forward by the UK, it can also be seen as a concession made by the foreigners to the Qing court. However, Li Hongzhang also knew that foreigners would not suffer losses and would never give in so easily, because the British also mentioned that the Qing court had to promise to compensate the losses of various countries and accept other conditions proposed by various countries. Although there was no amount of compensation in the letter, Li Hongzhang knew that this would never be a small amount, at least not less than the compensation of the [Treaty of Shimonoseki]. As for other conditions, he did not know how much land to be cede and how much national sovereignty would be transferred.

Of course, Li Hongzhang could not easily decide on such a major matter, so he immediately recruited his trusted personnel to discuss how to respond to the British suggestion. Everyone expressed their opinions and had different opinions. At this moment, someone also sent the content of the press conference to Dingxiang Villa. Li Hongzhang also paused his discussion and read the content of the press conference first. After all, this is also something Li Hongzhang is concerned about.

Li Hongzhang finished reading it first, and was silent for a while before saying, "You can take a look, what have overseas Chinese said today?"

Li Jingfang took a step forward and took the manuscript from Li Hongzhang. The others watched it together in his hands, while Li Hongzhang was thinking and silent.

It was not long, and everyone had basically read the content of the press conference. Zhou Fuxian said: "Zhongtang, over the past period of time, this group of overseas Chinese have been vigorously promoting the Qing Dynasty's reforms and strengthening in various occasions in Shanghai. Now, they are using the voices of Shanghai newspapers to promote reforms. I think overseas Chinese have a very small ambition to return to China this time, and they are definitely not just trying to return to their hometowns and live and work in peace. We must be careful."

Sheng Xuanhuai immediately followed and said, "Yes, Zhongtang. I see that overseas Chinese hold the power of military revolution, and use clever words to make people think about the government affairs, bewitching people's hearts, while ignorant people do not understand right and wrong, and listen to their false words. Some people claim that the court should let overseas Chinese enter the military to take charge of the government affairs. Zhongtang is an important official of the country, so we cannot sit idly by. If overseas Chinese really let overseas Chinese take charge of the government affairs, the harm will be a hundred times greater than that of Kang and Liang."

Since the time traveler appeared, Sheng Xuanhuai basically had no good feelings for the time traveler. The reason is that after the time traveler occupied Tianjin, he cut off Sheng Xuanhuai's wealth path.

Among the many industries of Sheng Xuanhuai, the shipping industry of China Merchants Corporation was one of the main financial channels, and the shipping company operated three main routes: one is the Yangtze River channel; the second is the Shanghai-Guangzhou channel; and the third is the Shanghai-Tianjin channel. Although the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China, due to the protection of the [Southeast Mutual Protection Articles], the Shanghai-Tianjin channel of China Merchants Corporation not only did not decrease, but also increased by 20% to 30%. Because the Eight-Nation Alliance needed a large amount of military supplies, most of them were purchased from Shanghai nearby and transported by China Merchants Corporation. However, after the crossers occupied Tianjin, the Shanghai-Tianjin channel decreased a lot, and the crossers took over the Tianjin Customs and set customs tariff rates on their own, which greatly increased the cost of the Shanghai-Tianjin channel. At the same time, they also carried out shipping by themselves, which caused Sheng Xuanhuai to suffer a lot of losses.

At the same time, the time traveler not only completely controlled Tianjin's economy, but also formulated a series of economic systems, and was vigorously building industries. Although Sheng Xuanhuai was essentially a businessman and had considerable practical ability, he was good at organization and planning. In business operations, he mainly relied on the Qing court, followed the old path of combining official and business, monopolizing business operations, and at the same time cooperated with foreign businesses, rather than relying on market competition to improve efficiency. Therefore, he had an instinctive resistance to the time traveler's economic system, and naturally he was more blamed on the time traveler.

At this time, Zhang Peilun said: "I see that although the words of overseas Chinese are a little too extreme, they are not without reason. If the old law is useful, the Qing Dynasty will never fall to this point today. If we do not think about changes, we may not be able to last for the country. The words of overseas Chinese are all proficient in Western learning and have a history of governing the country overseas. Lao Cheng is polite, and it is not comparable to the enthusiasm of Kang and Liang's scholars."

Sheng Xuanhuai glanced at Zhang Peilun and said, "You Qiao, you have the heart of a gentleman, and overseas Chinese are probably not as open-minded as you."

Zhang Peilun wanted to say something else. At this time, Li Hongzhang said: "Don't pay attention to the affairs of overseas Chinese for the time being. The most urgent thing is still the letter from the British. I wonder what you think?"

Sheng Xuanhuai said: "Zhongtang, I think the proposal of the British is very good. The two palaces have been going on for more than August in the west, and there is no one in the capital. The country is in a state of peace. We should negotiate with the UK as soon as possible to determine the conditions of each country, negotiate peace talks as soon as possible, stop the troops and stop the war, and let the two palaces return to Beijing to prevent changes if they are late."

Zhou Fu said: "But the UK is just a proposal, and it does not mention the attitudes of other countries. It is not known whether the countries agree, nor does it mention what conditions each country has. How to talk about it? Moreover, it should also ask what attitudes overseas Chinese are."

Sheng Xuanhuai said confidently: "British is a great power. If Britain comes forward to deal with it, other countries will definitely respect their compliance, and the conditions of other countries can be negotiated together. This negotiation is still the matter between our Qing Dynasty and the countries. What does it have to do with overseas Chinese? What should he do?"
Chapter completed!