Alchemy Greater China

Not only did he resent Long Hao, a 'hypocrite', for what he said was different from what he did, Li Hongzhang also knew that the myth that the Beiyang Navy was powerful and invincible in East Asia was shattered!

From the bombardment of the Japanese harbor when it was first established, to the fact that one gunboat was sunk by someone, and eleven gunboats including the "Zhenyuan" were driven and huddled in this dilapidated small port like bereaved dogs. ... The Beiyang Navy's external strength but internal emptiness may be seen by many interested people after this battle.

Li Hongzhang's dream of defending the Qing Dynasty and patrolling the world seemed like a bubble that was about to burst!

After Li Hongzhang finished cursing, Lin Taizeng said again: "My lord, that Princess Ashley not only announced that she would participate in the tariff distribution meeting, but she also sent a telegram to the world yesterday, announcing the relationship between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Long Hao's alchemy kingdom." The fact of cooperation, the princess said, will buy ten submarines from Long Hao to form the Austria-Hungary 'Dragon Guard' fleet stationed in the Far East to ensure the interests of the Austria-Hungary Empire in Asia!"

"Hulong, Nianlong... Dragon, another dragon!"

No matter how stupid Li Hongzhang was, he could still hear Ai Shili's attachment to Long Hao. This was a naked slap in the face. He was so angry that he said, "What is she going to do? Let those damned submarines be controlled." The East China Sea, and then block my Great Northern Ocean in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea? It’s too deceptive!"

Lin Tai once said: "My lord, Liu Kunyi also invited us to the tariff distribution meeting the day after tomorrow. You... Now that you are awake, do you want to go to this meeting?"

Now Beiyang is in an embarrassing situation, being forced into a small broken port.The Nianlong from the Austro-Hungarian Empire did not come to fight again, but they did not say anything to let them go.

Before Li Hongzhang woke up, Lin Tai didn't dare to act arbitrarily and let the gunboat leave the port. Otherwise, if there were several submarines waiting outside, wouldn't these Beiyang ships fall into the trap?

After all, Beiyang is still a "prisoner of war" of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at present. If one's own side is not good, there is no way to blame the other party for making a silent move.

"Go, the old man must go!"

Li Hongzhang forced himself to sit up.He said word by word: "Huh. Even if Beiyang is completely sunk, I can't lose this tone! If the old man doesn't go, others will really think that I was defeated by Liu Kunyi, and they are too afraid to show up! Kaishi. Change my clothes. We're going to Shanghai now!"

The Western New Year of [-].Great Shanghai is spent in a sea of ​​fangs and claws, and a group of ghosts dancing wildly.

The barking teeth and claws here are naturally describing the chaos in Shanghai today, with undercurrents surging.As for the "group of ghosts" in the flurry, it refers to the representatives of the great powers - foreign devils.Although most of them have stayed in Shanghai for more than 20 years, only this time, they frequently appear in the eyes of the general Shanghai citizens and have been exposed countless times.

This is of course thanks to the convening of the tariff distribution meeting, as well as the spare no effort to report on this matter by the "Alchemy Express" under the alchemy flag.

On January [-]th, Li Hongzhang, a first-rank official of the Qing Dynasty and a powerful faction in the court, appeared in Shanghai Bund.

In the past few days, there were rumors that he had died of anger and blood because of his failure in the East China Sea naval battle last Christmas, but now it seems that this is obviously a rumor of someone with ulterior motives.

Li Hongzhang led his staff and several important Beiyang generals to appear in the new concession.

Well, I want to add a word here, the so-called "new concession" does not refer to the newly opened Shanghai concession, but specifically refers to a piece of vacant land cleared after the "robbery day".

The "empty land" here does not mean that this area is empty. The "empty" here means that its original owner has left Shanghai. Therefore, this area backed by the Huangpu River has become an unowned land. land.

Liu Kunyi chose the location of the tariff distribution meeting here, which also meant neutrality.

This unowned new concession has one of the best buildings on the Bund in Shanghai. Although its original owner was only a small country in Europe, it was built with great effort and painstaking efforts. Therefore, it was chosen as the conference center , all parties involved were very satisfied.

On the outskirts of this new concession, there were guards from the Qing Dynasty armed with foreign guns, with serious faces, and no one else was allowed to enter, but even so, it also attracted nearly [-] Shanghai citizens to come to watch.

Soldiers from the Qing Dynasty came to protect a group of prominent figures, mainly foreigners, for a meeting. This rare scene seems to have never happened since the founding of the Qing Dynasty.

If you miss this Western view, you will regret it for the rest of your life.

Because of this, the crowds were crowded, so when Li Hongzhang entered the new concession, he was warmly welcomed by the majority of Shanghai citizens.

Naturally, the word 'welcome' here is in quotation marks. A few days ago, Master Zhongtang led the Beiyang army to the south, threatening Shanghai with high spirits, clamoring to arrest Master Liu, who can drive foreigners out of the rental industry, and bring him back to the capital for trial... ...All of this, fueled secretly by some caring people, has already made Li Hongzhang's reputation. In the past ten days, several streets in Shanghai have been rotten. up.

What's more, today's Li Hongzhang is still a prominent figure who appears as a loser. The so-called winner and loser is applicable in ancient and modern times. The voices of ridicule and sarcasm marched forward. If there were no soldiers to maintain order and keep some excessive people away, I am afraid that Li Hongzhang's noble official uniform would be stained with filth such as tomatoes and eggs.

Li Hongzhang is worthy of being a prime minister. Faced with such huge pressure, he still kept his steps calm and calm, and even walked into the conference building with a smile on his face.

Liu Kunyi, who was observing secretly, couldn't help but admire the courage to stand still and stand still despite the criticisms of thousands of people.

According to Liu Kunyi's meaning, since Li Hongzhang was trapped by the opportunity, he should take advantage of his illness to kill him. Even if his body is not destroyed, Li Hongzhang should be smashed from the spiritual level, public opinion, and court forces. In the end, don't give him a chance to make a comeback.

It is normal for Liu Kunyi to have such thoughts. Why did Li Hongzhang come to Shanghai?It is conceivable that he came to arrest Liu Kunyi for trial in Beijing.Once Li Hongzhang succeeds, Liu Kunyi's end will be so miserable.

Therefore, he couldn't help but bear the grudge to the end!

What's more, Nanyang and Beiyang are natural enemies. Seeing the other party in trouble, it would be very sad if you don't step forward.

However, Liu Kunyi also knows that the situation has developed to this point, and there are many things.It's not up to you at all.

The governor of Liangjiang and the temporary manager of Haicheng.In the eyes of ordinary people, this name is certainly bigger than the sky, but in the eyes of others, it is at most a little bigger than a fart.

This 'other' is the representative of Long Hao's interests.for example.The National Defense Forces headed by Sun Renjun.For example, the new... Austro-Hungarian princess!

It was them who conveyed Long Hao's meaning.He easily dispelled Liu Kunyi's idea of ​​killing Li Hongzhang.

Of course, Liu Kunyi protested for a few words: "Why didn't you take Li Hongzhang down? Keep him, the Beiyang Navy is always a hidden danger! With the threat of Beiyang, we can't really control Shanghai!"

Of course, what Liu Kunyi was more worried about was that with Beiyang's support, the imperial court would sooner or later settle accounts with him.

Through the telegram, Long Hao just sent an understatement: "Li Zhongtang and Mr. Liu have a rift, I understand, but in the current China, Li Zhongtang is still indispensable..."

As for why it was indispensable, the length of the telegram was limited, and Long Hao didn't specifically say it. However, judging from the fact that Liu Kunyi immediately fell silent, this clever Governor of Liangjiang must have figured it out.

Beiyang is Li Hongzhang's Beiyang. If the old man is still alive, Beiyang can be controlled. But if he dies or is forced to leave the center of power, then Beiyang will surely fall into chaos, and the drama of fighting for power and position is inevitable.

If he wants to keep this modernized fleet, which is known as the No. [-] in East Asia and the No. [-] in the world, Li Hongzhang will not be able to do it for a while...not yet!

At least Liu Kun asked himself, if Beiyang fell apart now, his own Nanyang would indeed not be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of defending China's territorial waters.

... Li Hongzhang was not the first big person to arrive at today's tariff distribution meeting, but he was not the latest either.

Just in the middle.

Because, although he is the most famous big shot in the hearts of Shanghai people, but in this meeting, he is a supporting role.

Where there is a match, there is an owner.

So, who is the protagonist?

Hehe, of course they were the real winners before the meeting: Liu Kunyi and Austro-Hungarian princess Aishi Li.

You know, the "carving up" meetings in this "barbaric" era have always been based on the results of the battle as the only measure!

If we say that the tariff pricing power lost by the Qing Dynasty in the first and second Sino-British wars is a complete big cake, including cheese and fruit.

Then, Liu Kunyi and Ai Shili, who are the victors, have the right to cut off and take away the first piece of the richest and most delicious cake!

This is customary and acquiesced by the European powers who have participated in countless similar carve-up conferences.

They believe in a truth, whoever has the biggest fist can taste the most delicious spoils.

But in any big drama, it is always after the main character comes on stage that the important scenes will make their debut, and the main theme will also appear.

No, it wasn't until near noon, when the representatives at the meeting got a little impatient, that Princess Ashley came late.

As soon as she appeared, the gorgeous dress and beautiful face immediately shocked the audience.

Everyone's impatience in waiting seemed to disappear with Ai Shili's alluring smile.

Ai Shili said a few words of apology, and sat down gracefully on Liu Kunyi's left hand.

Although she is the protagonist, the distribution meeting is still presided over by Liu Kunyi, the "landlord".

When everyone arrived, Liu Kun was unambiguous, and with a few opening remarks, he sent out the stacks of "Distribution Manuals" that had been sorted out.

Everyone here, except for Li Hongzhang, actually has a general understanding of the contents of this "Distribution Manual", and they are mentally prepared without reading it.

After all, today this meeting is here to announce the result, not to continue discussing the game.

However, the cutscenes still have to go, the signing of the treaty, the procedure is indispensable... rustling, the representatives of various countries bowed their heads as if to check, while Li Hongzhang held up his reading glasses, struggling to read word by word, afraid Missed half a punctuation mark.

The instruction manual is bilingual in Chinese, English and French. Li Hongzhang not only read it himself, but also distributed the English and French versions to his staff for them to read.So as not to fall into the text trap that has suffered countless losses before.

However, when Li Hongzhang saw the drafting party on the first page of the manual: Great Qing Dynasty, his expression visibly shook.

Once upon a time, the Qing Dynasty could also draft the main instructions at the meeting to discuss the distribution of benefits with the great powers?

For a moment, Master Zhongtang was so excited that he almost forgot his position and shouted hello for Liu Kun.

Of course, for Li Hongzhang, this kind of "impulsive" mood was just a matter of time.soon.He suppressed the feeling that something was wrong and reminded himself: This assignment will be organized by Liu Kunyi, the more successful he is, the higher his reputation will be.The old man wants to find loopholes in it.destroy it.It must not be allowed to complete smoothly.

The tariff allocation instructions are very long, and for a first-time reader, 10 minutes is definitely not enough.

Even ten lines at a glance are not enough!

Liu Kunyi would not take into account the feelings of Li Hongzhang's "family".After only 10 minutes, he, as the host, said: "Everyone, this instruction manual is very detailed. If there is no problem, please sign your pen and sign. Before lunch time, we will go out as soon as possible to report to everyone." The media declared the meeting a complete success, and then went to have a big meal to celebrate, haha, please!"

Li Hongzhang was startled: Is it about to sign?No, no, I don't know anything!

So, he quickly said: "I object!"

Liu Kunyi seemed to have known that Li Hongzhang would have such a reaction, he was not surprised, but glanced over with a playful look: "Oh, it's Master Li, what's your problem?"

"It's too hasty. I haven't even read the three pages of this manual. I'm signing it now? Huh, I won't sign it anyway!" Li Hongzhang naturally didn't have a good tone to Liu Kunyi. On the table, Liu Kun faced each other end to end.

At this moment, the excited Li Hongzhang almost burst into flames, and his anger was justified!

"Hehe, Mr. Li, it doesn't matter if you haven't finished reading it. You can take it home and read it slowly, because...you don't need to sign this manual!" Beiyang spit out the bad breath that had been suppressed on his head.

...The signing session ended as scheduled. Li Hongzhang blushed with an old face and walked downstairs with some difficulty along with the representatives of various countries.

In the square in front of the building, under the witness of many journalists and Shanghai residents, all prominent figures took a family portrait to commemorate the successful conclusion of the 'Tariff Distribution Conference'.

In the photo, Li Hongzhang was nestled in the last row with embarrassment, shame, and indignation on his face, which formed a strong contrast with Liu Kunyi who was sitting in the front row with a happy face.

It is said that afterward, Liu Kunyi specially enlarged and developed this photo, put it in the living room of his home, and observed it from time to time.

Upstairs just now, Liu Kunyi told Li Hongzhang in front of many foreign representatives: You do not have your share in the signature of this distribution meeting, you are just invited to watch.

The reason is also very simple. It is related to the rights of tariffs. Naturally, each country can only have one representative. Needless to say, the Qing Dynasty is naturally represented by Liu Kun, who is the victor. Therefore, the signing naturally has nothing to do with Li Hongzhang.

Li Hongzhang was so humiliated that his face turned red, and he was about to walk away, but after all, he still couldn't resist the temptation to know the result of this assignment immediately, so under the persuasion of his staff, Lin Taizeng and others, he still had a thick skin stayed.

Faced with this result, Li Hongzhang may not be able to accept it, but before Lin Taizeng and others came, he knew it already: they don't expect any glory from the distribution meeting. After all, they are the losers. The eleven Beiyang warships in the small port in the north can safely return to the Shandong base camp.

In order to get first-hand information about the subsequent progress of this meeting, Li Hongzhang warned himself that he had to bear the burden of humiliation, so he stayed.

He wanted to take a look. Liu Kun asked him to come, was it really just to insult himself at the signing meeting?

If that was the case, Li Hongzhang could point at the other party's nose and scold him disdainfully: Liu Kunyi, your belly is too small!Although once in power, it will not be a big deal in the end!

After taking photos, Liu Kunyi led the delegates to dinner.

The place to dine is an ownerless villa in the concession, where Liu Kunyi invited the best chef from the two rivers and three provinces, and his craftsmanship will never be inferior to that of the imperial chef in the capital.

Plates and plates of delicious dishes with a strong aroma and color are enough to make even the most severe anorexic sufferers twitch their index fingers and saliva.

However, it is a pity that when Li Hongzhang sat at the dining table, he was tasteless, and all the contents of the instructions that were quietly translated by the staff beside him turned around in his head...

"The Tariff Pricing Power Specification of the Qing Dynasty aims to use the country's tariffs in an appropriate place, maximize the function of tariffs to promote the circulation of goods, and jointly seek the greatest benefits for the Qing government and commercial representatives of various countries..."

This is a sentence in the preface of the instruction manual. When Li Hongzhang heard it, he sneered in his heart on the spot: full of nonsense, outrageous and outrageous, the tariff pricing power belongs to the Qing Dynasty, so why seek common interests for other countries?

Having said that, everyone knows that things like treaties, agreements, and agreements are unavoidable on paper, and the key depends on the specific content!Which side benefits and which side suffers can only be seen in the details of the treaty.

The detailed rules were read out one by one by the staff, and the result was as expected by Li Hongzhang: the biggest and most delicious piece of cake undoubtedly belonged to the Qing government represented by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Liu Kunyi.

Quantified into figures, that is, the Austria-Hungary Empire has about [-]% of the tariff pricing power, the Qing government has [-]%, and the remaining shares are divided among the representatives of various countries. (To be continued..)