In fact, the East China government also attaches great importance to providing materials to Japan. Although this has indeed helped Japan, for the East China government, according to the plan of the East China government, the People's Army will participate in the war by 15-18 months less than that of Japan, and this period is a great opportunity for the East China government to promote economic development.

Since the war requires a lot of materials and the parties involved in the war did not have the energy to bargain, it was a rare opportunity for non-believer countries. In the old time and space, the United States rose to make money during the First World War. Although the Russo-Japanese War was just a local war, it was the largest local war before the First World War. Japan and Russia consumed a total of about 850 million pounds. For other countries, it may only be a decent set meal, but for the East China government, it is definitely a big meal. First, the East China government has a small size, and second, the East China government has the first to get the moon, so naturally it cannot miss this opportunity.

In addition, Britain and the United States will provide enough support to Japan in terms of materials, and the East China government can also take advantage of this opportunity to accumulate enough materials for itself without attracting the attention of other countries. Therefore, the East China government will naturally not accept Japan's payment method. If it delays a year to pay, then what money will the East China government make?

Li Sanjie said: "Mr. Komura, our government is small in size and has limited funds. The deposit is what we need to purchase materials from outside. The deposit is necessary. Moreover, the Japanese government needs a turnover period, and our government also needs a turnover time. We can't delay that long. Of course, we can also understand Japan's difficulties and can make some concessions appropriately, but we cannot accept the conditions of Japan."

Speaking of this step, both sides also tried to get 6 or 7 points on each other's conditions, so they were adjourned again. The East China government had to negotiate the next negotiation conditions again, and Sutaro Omura also sent the current negotiation content back to the country to listen to further instructions from the country.

Three days later, the Japanese government replied to Sutaro Omura, proposing that a separate preliminary agreement could be signed with the East China government on the provision of materials and payment methods, and the rest of the matters could be temporarily shelved and negotiated later.

The East China government did not refuse Japan's proposal. After all, it was very common to put some clauses in the negotiations. Therefore, after several days of negotiation, Japan finally compromised on the price and agreed to purchase from the East China government at the market price at that time. After all, purchasing materials from the East China government did require the Japanese government to save some money by purchasing them themselves. The East China government also made some concessions in the payment method, agreeing to reduce the deposit to 25%, and only pay 50%, while the remaining 25% is allowed to be paid after one month.

Although it has not fully achieved its own goal, Japan is still very satisfied with the content of this agreement. However, this is just a preliminary agreement. The two sides have not officially signed a treaty. After all, there are other terms that require further negotiation. The two sides also agreed to hold another negotiation at the end of this year or the beginning of next year to determine the cooperation between the two sides and to officially sign the treaty. Because the Japanese government believes that at that time, the third negotiation with Russia will be held, and then Japan will also formally determine whether to launch a war against Russia and when will the war start, and then determine the conditions with the East China government based on the situation at that time.

Komura Sutaro returned to China with a result, but the East China government received a joint document from Huguang Governor Zhao Erxun and Henan Governor Zhang Renjun. Of course, this document was sent to the Shandong Governor's Office, although the Shandong Governor's Office has been laid off now.

It turned out that after the East China government protected overseas Chinese, it put the Qing court in a very awkward position. However, although the Qing court was annoyed, it did not dare to vent to overseas Chinese. Empress Dowager Cixi simply came out of sight and was not upset. It turned out that although Shandong was granted the fief of overseas Chinese, the Qing court still had official documents with various parts of Shandong as usual and appointed officials to Shandong. Although it was useless to know that these officials were in Shandong, the Qing court also knew that taking office as an official was an empty air, and in fact there was no power at all. If it was not done, it would be impossible to save his life. Therefore, everyone regarded Shandong as an official and a dangerous road.

After protecting overseas Chinese in Java, the Qing court refused to accept any official documents from Shandong, and did not like the officials sent by Shandong. Just as the Qing Dynasty did not have a place like Shandong. The Qing court officials were naturally happy and finally no longer had to go to this dangerous place. Of course, the Qing court did not care about Shandong officials. Some officials with connections all asked favors, found connections, and transferred to other places, while officials without connections either left with seals or simply surrendered to the East China government.

The East China government was actively promoting the de-cleaning process in Shandong, and took this opportunity to lay off all local officials and institutions of the Qing court, completely erasing the last trace of the Qing court in Shandong.

Of course, the governor of Huguang Zhao Erxun and the governor of Henan Zhang Renjun knew about this situation, but the two still jointly sent official documents to the East China government, and there was nothing we could do about it. It turned out that the "mining division plan" implemented by the East China government last year brought huge pressure to Huguang and Henan.

The mine division plan has been implemented for more than a year and has made great progress. The sphere of influence of the base area now spans Henan and Hubei provinces, and is distributed in Guide Prefecture, Chenzhou Prefecture, Kaifeng Prefecture, Xuzhou, Nanyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, De'an Prefecture and other places. The areas under its full control are nearly 30,000 square kilometers. In addition, the actual controlled areas are more than 50,000 square kilometers, with a population of about 3 million. A complete administrative management system and fiscal tax system have been established, and it is officially named the river and lake base area.

Since the base area also implemented a policy of cracking down on landlords and distributing land, it quickly received support from the local people. Now the number of armed volunteers has reached more than 8,000, organized into three regiments, about 2,000 logistics and administrative personnel, and about 3,000 local militias, and full support from the East China government. Therefore, the assembly of the army is not bad, and at least one rifle can be guaranteed.

Of course, the local governments could not know about such a big disturbance. However, the base areas were mainly based in the countryside in the early days and did not capture the county town. Even if some county towns were actually surrounded by the base areas, a series of bureaucratic systems such as the government offices in the county town were still built, and official documents were completely normal. Therefore, the magistrate did not dare to easily inform the provincial government of the gang. After all, as long as the county town was not lost, no matter how fierce the outside of the city was, it would be nothing. Who would cause trouble for themselves?

But the government does not care about the local tyrants, but the gentry cannot ignore it, because wherever the base goes, their land and property are confiscated, and their power is deprived. Therefore, some local tyrants and gentry desperately move in the prefectures, causing some people to go to the governor or the governor's office to ask the government to clear the base.

The local governments were a little impatient. Although the Henan Governor and the Huguang Governor's Office did not take it seriously, they thought that the people often gathered to cause trouble and slaughtered the big families, so they ordered local officials to suppress bandits. So the local governments in Nanyang Prefecture, Xiangyang Prefecture, Chenzhou Prefecture and other places organized troops to fight against each other, but were defeated by the volunteers. Since both sides had torn their faces, the base area was not polite, and its current strength was enough. Yujie captured 5 or 6 county towns in a row.

At this moment, Henan Governor Zhang Renjun and Huguang Governor Zhao Erxun were also unable to sit still. If the trouble was not good, this was the second Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. However, at this time, neither of them was ready to report to the court, but they joined forces to resolve the matter internally. So the two immediately started to organize the expedition and suppression work, of course, they had to first inquire about the details of the bandits.

But this inquiry scared both of them. It turned out that this group of bandits was related to overseas Chinese. In fact, this was not difficult to inquire, because the methods of implementing land reform and cracking down on the powerful landlords and powerful forces were almost the same as those of the Volunteer Army. In addition, the Volunteer Army was well-equipped and had excellent weapons, and it was completely different from the ordinary bandits. Therefore, if the relationship between the two was not visible, it would be a fool.

Zhang Renjun and Zhao Erxun were all ministers with some ability. They all knew that this problem was very difficult, and at this time, they could not report it to the court, because both of them knew that the court now, because the old Buddha could not hear any news from Shandong at all. It is said that the palace sang operas and stopped dramas related to Shandong, such as Qin Qiong selling horses and Wu Song fighting tigers, so they reported it to the court at this time, and whether they wanted this black hat.

But we can't let this group of bandits ignore it. Now this bandit is already in Henan and Hubei has a little bit of a climate. Who knows what else they will do? Therefore, if they want to hide it, they can't hide it. If something really happens, the court will definitely know it, and the two of them will have a good end.

At this time, Zhang Renjun and Zhao Erxun also realized the seriousness of the situation. So after the two met and negotiated, it was necessary to test the attitude of overseas Chinese before the expedition and suppression. If overseas Chinese wanted to protect this group of bandits, then there was no other way for the two to report to the court, and the court could solve the problem. As for how the court would deal with the two, they could only leave it to fate. However, if overseas Chinese cleared their relationship with this bandit, then the two would still implement the expedition and suppression plan and resolve it within the scope of their power.
Chapter completed!