Just as the time travelers were preparing for the second Shanghai negotiations in many ways, they were quite uneasy in the ancient city of Xi'an, thousands of miles away from Shanghai.

At this time, the Qing court had settled in Xi'an for nearly four months, and because of the emergence of overseas Chinese, they defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Qing court basically stabilized in Xi'an. Xi'an became the temporary capital of the Qing Dynasty at this time. Many officials fled from Beijing and the Manchu and Han royal families also rushed to Xi'an to join the court. Therefore, thousands of officials and their families had gathered in Xi'an. In addition, the army that rushed to Xi'an to protect the king almost filled the ancient city of Xi'ai, which was not very large.

Xi'an was the residence of the Governor of Gansu and Shaanxi, the nine governors of the Qing court. Therefore, the Qing court's palace in Xi'an was located in the Governor's yamen in Shaanxi Province. It turned out that the North Courtyard in the yamen was the Governor's yamen, and the South Courtyard was the Governor's yamen. However, there were more rooms in the Governor's yard, so Empress Dowager Cixi, Emperor Guangxu, the Empress, the Empress, the Eunuchs, the Palace Maids, and others lived in the North Courtyard. The South Courtyard became a place for officials to discuss matters, and the Governor of Gansu and Shaanxi could only find another place to work.

However, the yard of the government office was dilapidated, with weeds growing, and many rooms leaked. This was a common phenomenon in the Ming and Qing dynasties. No matter how local officials searched for wealth, as long as they could still be used, they would never repair the government office. Therefore, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the government offices were dilapidated and incomplete. Those who didn’t know thought it was the main hall of the Beggars’ Sect.

Of course, the old empress dowager and the emperor naturally could not live in a broken house. Therefore, although the local officials tried their best to repair the government office, although it still seemed too simple, it could finally block the wind and rain. The eunuchs and other palace people accompanied him, and the royal relatives could only requisition the houses in the small alley in front of the yamen. On the outside were the troops stationed and defending the palace.

Before the New Year, officials from all over the country also sent various offerings to Xi'an: delicacies, chicken, duck, fish, local specialties, strange flowers and fruits, silk and satin, fox and marquis, gems and jade, crafts and antiques, etc., as well as a large amount of silver. On the several avenues leading to Xi'an from all over the country, there were almost all wooden wheels and carriages loaded with goods, rolling in dust, and turbulent day and night.

This was originally a tax and silver that all provinces and regions paid to the court every year. In the past, it was always a troublesome thing for the court, because in the words of the queen mother, these "conscienceless things" were always paid less or late with various excuses. But now it is not the same. The first thing the Qing court did after stabilizing in Xi'an was to send imperial envoys to various provinces to urge silver. These imperial envoys arrived at the provincial governor's offices and described the displacement of the imperial royal family. Few ministers were not worried about it, so the issue of paying silver seemed quite conscious this year.

With the silver and grain, both the emperor, the queen mother and the princes and ministers were relieved, and the next thing was naturally to discuss how to end the war and return to Beijing. However, just after the New Year, overseas Chinese defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance and recovered Beijing. After the news reached Xi'an, it was very inspiring. Some officials suggested to the court to celebrate, but they were rejected by Empress Dowager Cixi on the grounds that everything was simplified.

At this moment, Li Hongzhang sent the submission form for overseas Chinese, along with a secret memorial from Li Hongzhang to Xi'an.

There is no problem with the content of the appendix schedule. It only introduces the origin of overseas Chinese and expresses their wish to return to China, and requests the court to take in, etc. Their words are very respectful. However, Li Hongzhang's secret memorial was different. Not only did he ask the court to immediately recruit overseas Chinese, but he also conveyed the requirements of overseas Chinese to the court. They hoped to use the entire Shandong Province as their fiefdom, follow the old stories of the three vassalms in the early Qing Dynasty, respect the court as the truth, and the vassal states' internal affairs and autonomy.

Because it was a secret memorial, not many people saw it. In addition to Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu, there were only a few military ministers and important princes and ministers, only 10 people in total. Even Cen Chunxuan, Wu Huai and others, who were more confidant, were not qualified to know about this because their official positions were too low. But despite this, Li Hongzhang's secret edict still shocked those who knew it. The appetite of overseas Chinese was too great. If you want to make the entire Shandong Province their vassal state and internal autonomy, wouldn't that be a country in the country that was transformed into?

Since the Three Feudal Rebellion was put down, the Qing court never established vassal autonomy on its main territory. Even if every dynasty granted many princes and princes, these lords were just empty titles. Not to mention establishing themselves as a country like the Three Feudal Rebellion, they did not even have symbolic fiefs. Even in places like Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet, they were only partially autonomous. The Qing court either set up troops at important passes or used marriage to support agents locally.

Moreover, once a feudal feudal system was established, even if it was not a title, it would have to be a duke. Since the Three Feudals, the Qing court had not given many titles to foreign ministers, not to mention a title of Duke, even a marquis. Even Zeng Guofan made unparalleled contributions to the Qing court, and in the end he was granted a first-class courageous man. Although the overseas Chinese were far greater than Zeng Guofan, if they were just a title of Duke, it would not be too much. However, even if it was not unprecedented, it was an incredible move to establish a vassal autonomy.

However, after being shocked, Empress Dowager Cixi did not express any opinions, but instead handed them over to the Military Affairs Office for discussion. At the same time, she repeatedly warned the ministers and princes who knew about this matter not to be disclosed.

Before the Gengzi Rebellion, there were six military ministers in the Qing court, with the foreman being Prince Li Shiduo, and the rest were the governor of Zhili, the Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, and the Minister of Personnel Ronglu; the Grand Secretary of the Ministry of War, the Grand Secretary of the Ministry of War, the Grand Secretary of Gangyi; the Minister of Rites Qi Xiu; and the Minister of Justice Zhao Shuqiao. Now, the foreman Li Prince Li Shiduo was sick and unable to be in charge of the director. Gangyi died on his way to escape. Qixiu stayed in Beijing and was captured and executed by the Eight-Nation Alliance. The six military ministers were lost in one go, and his foreman Li was not there.

The prince was appointed as the foreman of the Military Affairs Office, which started with Prince Gong Yi. Yi was the sixth son of Daoguang and the younger brother of Xianfeng. He was known as the Sixth Guardians. He was one of the few capable talents in the royal family in the late Qing Dynasty. Daoguang once wanted to make Yi the crown prince. Later, after Xianfeng ascended the throne, he appointed Yi as the minister of the Military Affairs Office. First, Yi was indeed talented, and secondly, he used the prince to be in charge of the Military Affairs Office, which was also more reassuring. From then on, such a system was established with the prince as the foreman of the Military Affairs Office. However, after Yi, most of the princes in the royal family were mediocre. Prince Li Shiduo was such a mediocre person. Being able to serve as the foreman of the military affairs office was highly qualified, and secondly, it was to reassure Empress Dowager Cixi.

After the Qing court stabilized in Xi'an, because Prince Li said he was sick and could not be in charge of the director, Cixi appointed Prince Qing Yili as the foreman of the military aircraft, and still maintained the regulations of the foreman of the prince, but did not add any personnel to the Military Aircraft Department. After all, after fleeing to Xi'an, the affairs of the court were reduced by most, and the military aircraft of the four people were enough to maintain it.

However, overseas Chinese have requested to enfeoff Shandong. Such a major matter cannot be decided by the Military Affairs Office. Moreover, the Empress Dowager did not give any clear instructions. Even Ronglu, who was most trusted by Empress Dowager Cixi, could not figure out what the Empress Dowager thought this time, so the Military Affairs Office naturally could not agree to a result. But it was not a solution to drag on it like this, because the overseas Chinese had already been sent to Xi'an, and there was a reply. Moreover, overseas Chinese still occupied Beijing. If the imperial court wanted to return to Beijing, it must behave according to the expressions of overseas Chinese. The imperial court had the qualifications to bargain with them. However, if the overseas Chinese accepted the requests of overseas Chinese, who dared to be this family? Therefore, for three consecutive days, the Military Affairs Office did not come up with a result. In the end, the four military affairs ministers could only request that the empress dowager and the emperor ruled.

However, to the four military ministers' surprise, Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu immediately announced the discussion, and not only recruited four military ministers, but also Prince Zhuang Zaixun, Prince Duan County Zaiyi, Shanxi Governor Yuxian, Shaanxi Governor Duan Fang, that is, ministers who knew the requirements of overseas Chinese.

In fact, Empress Dowager Cixi is more clear than the ministers. After the overseas Chinese won the Shanhaiguan victory, the court could only follow the overseas Chinese if they wanted to preserve it. Although the overseas Chinese had excessive demands, the Qing Dynasty ceded out how much land and how much money it had paid for over the years, and still cared about this. Although overseas Chinese wanted to seizure Shandong, they still regarded the court as the truth. Even if they were crowned kings and established vassals, it was much better than cede land and compensation. Therefore, the requests of overseas Chinese were not unwilling to agree.

As for the ancestral system, it is just a tablet. It is taken out and used when needed, and put it up when not needed. In fact, if it is to say that it violates the ancestral system, Empress Dowager Cixi is the first one. The ancestral system of the Qing Dynasty never allowed the empress dowager to rule from behind the curtain. Even Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, who was regarded as the queen of all dynasties and imitated by the empress dowager, had never done such a thing. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi never took the ancestral system seriously.

What made Empress Dowager Cixi hesitate was the attitude of overseas Chinese towards the court. To be precise, overseas Chinese would be in the empress dowager and the emperor would support which side. In theory, overseas Chinese were foreign forces and had nothing to do with the forces within the Qing court. Moreover, they never expressed that they would support which side between the empress dowager and the emperor. Empress Dowager Cixi's concerns mainly came from the emperor's attitude.

After the overseas Chinese recovered Tianjin, Emperor Guangxu actively advocated immediately recruiting overseas Chinese and relied on him to compete with foreigners. Before the first Shanghai negotiations, Emperor Guangxu even urged the court to issue an order to commend overseas Chinese and let the court participate in the negotiations.

This time, Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't help but become more careful. Of course, the emperor's little thoughts could not escape the empress dowager's eyes. It was nothing more than using the power of overseas Chinese to get rid of his own control and in fact he was in power. Moreover, Empress Dowager Cixi also knew that the emperor wanted to get rid of his own control at all times. During his escape, he asked him many times to return to Beijing to negotiate with foreigners, but with himself, he didn't even think about this.
Chapter completed!