Kowloon wins

Chapter 944 The Temptation of Not Being Popular ([-])

Negotiations involving the relationship between the two countries have never been an easy matter. Even if the Qing Dynasty has an absolute upper hand at this time, and the chief negotiators of the two sides have reached a consensus in private, the big aspects can be said to be settled. However, there are countless disputes and calculations in the details. Because of this, although Hongqing only agreed to give a two-day negotiation schedule, under the strong request of the Russian side, the negotiation was finally delayed for a full three days Time, this can be regarded as a framework agreement-"Sino-Russian Ili Treaty".

There are dozens of articles in the treaty, but the core content is not too much. After careful study, there are only four articles. The 32 square kilometers of land along the Ergun River was ceded to China, and China promised not to pursue Russia's invasion this time; second, Russia recognized the suzerainty of the Qing Dynasty over the Kazakh Khanate and the Turghut Khanate, The Qing Dynasty promised to restrict the two countries and not engage in armed conflicts with Russia without authorization; thirdly, Russia will follow international practice to redeem the Russian officers captured in the First World War on Gedeng Mountain, and the specific price will be discussed again. Yes, the Qing side promised to fully cooperate; Fourth, the Qing Dynasty and Russia will reopen border trade and agree to open a border trade market in Nerchinsk to encourage merchants from both sides to trade freely here and exchange what they need.

On July [-]th of the third year of Chengde, Hong Qing, the representative of China and Russia, and Grand Duke Petrovich signed the "Sino-Russian Ili Treaty" and exchanged texts. Written in four languages, in quadruplicate, each holds two, and it will come into effect after the emperors of both sides sign the peace treaty. Interestingly, whether it is China or Russia, the fate of the captured [-] Russian soldiers They didn't mention a word. Obviously, the Russians didn't intend to pay a lot of ransom for ordinary soldiers who were mostly serfs. The Qing side was also happy to get more than [-] road-building coolies for nothing, and both sides got what they wanted.

On July [-]th of the third year of Chengde, a group of more than a hundred Russian negotiators left Ili and headed west, but Hongqing did not stay long, and ordered Tashan to be the general of Yili, and allocated a division from the Third Army As the remaining troops, they were handed over to Tashan to command, and Yue Zhongqi was promoted to be the commander of the first army. Around noon that day, he led the main force of [-] soldiers and horses to leave Ili, and marched towards Luntai City along the way. Urgently, send the original "Sino-Russian Ili Treaty" and Hong Qing's memorabilia to the capital.

On July 25th of the third year of Chengde, the text of the treaty and Hongqing’s memorabilia arrived in Beijing, causing a sensation among the government and the public. Some applauded it, some expressed regret, and some privately dismissed it. The treaty still held a positive attitude, but expressed doubts about whether the 32 wild lands were worth 700 million taels of silver. The debates aroused by this were quite old, but Emperor Chengde didn't say a word about it. On the contrary, he was extremely annoyed at Hongqing's act of returning to the teacher without asking for an order, and he couldn't get angry. If we stay in the frontier, we will easily have disputes again, and we will waste rice and food. In addition, autumn is coming, and severe winter is not far away. The army has insufficient food, so we must return to the division as soon as possible. As for local appeasement and border security, we have General Tashan and a division of troops. Now, you can be sure that you will be safe.

Emperor Chengde never cared about bilateral agreements or even local appeasement. The reason why he repeatedly emphasized that there is only one purpose, and that is to trap Hongqing and the more than [-] troops in the border area. After a lot of tinkering in secret, he never expected that Hongqing could reach a reasonable peace agreement with Lao Maozi so quickly, and even dared to withdraw the army without asking for an order. Emperor Chengde felt a little caught off guard, and at the same time, also I am very annoyed, the problem is that Emperor Chengde has no guts to really turn against Hong Qing at this moment, as for sending a letter to ask for responsibility, a sentence of "I will not accept the order of the emperor outside" can make Emperor Chengde speechless, In this regard, although Emperor Chengde was helpless, he would never give up, so he called Fang Bao and Li Minquan to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"You all know the matter, that bastard went back to the army without asking for an order, and now everything has not been arranged, so let's talk about it, what should we do, huh?"

The deployment against Hongqing this time was made by Fang and Li. Emperor Chengde naturally didn't have too many scruples in front of the two of them. Once the ceremony was over, he was extremely impatient and went straight to the point .

"Returning to Your Majesty, I think it's advisable to proceed with caution in this matter. Your Majesty should first explain the will, test it a little bit, and then make a decision."

In the matter of plotting against Hong Qing, although Fang and Li were ordered at the same time, in comparison, Fang Bao basically didn't take care of things. Li Minquan was in charge of most of the arrangements and dispatches. Obviously In terms of how to respond, Li Minquan believed that he had far more say than Fang Bao. No, just as Emperor Chengde finished speaking, Li Minquan spoke confidently.

"To be more specific, how should this temptation go?"

It has only been three months since the victory report arrived in Beijing at the end of April. Although Emperor Chengde has gone all out to make arrangements, it is a pity that the time is too short. Hongqing's important confidantes have basically been replaced, but the adjustments that should be made have not yet been made - Meng Guangzu and others have just taken office, and it is still difficult to control the overall situation. It has not yet been clarified that under such circumstances, Emperor Chengde really does not have the confidence to completely tear apart his face with Hongqing. Because of this, he will not have any objections to Li Minquan's thoughts on stability. I said it.

"Your Majesty clearly learned that during this Western Expedition, more than [-] troops were dispatched from Central Sichuan, but they have never been replenished. Moreover, the governor of Sichuan, Li Minxing, is now stationed in southern Xinjiang. There is inevitably a risk of emptiness in Central Sichuan. Your Majesty may issue an edict to simply let Li Minxing change his post. The Admiral of Southern Xinjiang, and Prince Ren will send [-] troops to Sichuan, and he can promise to send someone for the admiral of Sichuan, and it will not be too late to see how Prince Ren responds."

Li Minquan came prepared this time, he was not slow to deal with Emperor Chengde's question, but when he bowed, he explained it confidently.

"Hmm... According to Qing's family, how will that guy react?"

Emperor Chengde is a shrewd person, just listening to it, he already vaguely guessed the intention behind Li Minquan's trick, but he didn't rush to make a decision, but after pondering for a while, he finally made a decision. With a raised eyebrow, he asked a question calmly.

"Your Majesty, I have learned that if Prince Ren has no intentions, he will obey without a doubt. If he has a different heart, he will pay attention to everything. There is nothing else."

Li Minquan was determined to bring down Hong Qing, so he was so vicious, but he completely forgot that his status today was all due to Hong Qing's support.

"Well, what if you obey? What if you don't, huh?"

Regarding Hongqing's ability to calculate, Emperor Chengde knew it very well. No matter how confident Li Minquan said, Emperor Chengde dared to do it so rashly. After hesitating for a while, he still didn't Dare to make up his mind, but asked further with a slight frown.

"If you obey, that's fine. Your Majesty can plan calmly, follow the original plan, step by step, gradually dismember his tribe, and don't worry about major problems. If Prince Ren refuses to follow, His Majesty can temporarily station him in Zhenyuan In the city, under the exchange of official documents, it is enough to delay for a period of time, and when the road is blocked by heavy snow, the overall situation is settled!"

As far as the ability to make calculations is concerned, although Li Minquan is not bad, it is still far from the level of the top wise men, but when it comes to the ability to observe colors, he is definitely one of the few people in the world, even if Chengde The emperor's thoughts were hidden very deeply, but Li Minquan had already seen that Emperor Chengde had actually made up his mind, and the answer at this moment was of the utmost ability to bewitch.

"Well, what Zicheng said is reasonable, but if he refuses to obey and insists on entering the customs, what will happen?"

Emperor Chengde nodded approvingly, thinking about agreeing to Li Minquan's proposal, but after thinking about it, he felt a little uneasy, so he hesitated to ask a sensitive question.

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I think that Prince Ren would not dare to risk the displeasure of the world to force such a situation, probably because if there is a chaos, there will be endless troubles. This is definitely not what Prince Ren would like to do. From this point of view, he is stationed in accordance with the order. The possibility of Zhenyuan City should be relatively high."

The reason why Li Minquan betrayed Hong Qing was not entirely because of the third elder brother Hongxi's efforts to win him over, but the most fundamental reason was that Li Minquan knew Hong Qing's personality too well, and knew whether his status in Hong Qing's heart was actually high or not. Where to go, it is unlikely to be reused by Hongqing, and this is obviously not the result that Li Minquan, who thinks he has worked hard, is happy to see it. Because of this, Li Minquan had already been with Hongqing when Chengde Emperor Longqian. Qing gradually drifted away, but this did not hinder Li Minquan's understanding of Hong Qing's personality, and now it is deduced that it really looks like that.

"What do Mr. Linggao think?"

Emperor Chengde was not a dull person, he had already made a judgment in his heart, and generally it was not much different from what Li Minquan said. Now that Li Minquan had made his words so clear, Emperor Chengde himself did not ask any further questions. Instead, he threw the question to Fang Bao, who was always silent.

"Your Majesty is wise, the old minister has no objection."

As the executor of the edict of the old man Kangxi, Fang Bao was 12 extremely unwilling to see such a life-and-death struggle between Emperor Chengde and Hongqing. Listen, Fang Bao is helpless, every time when discussing matters, he can only talk less and listen more, and it is the same at this time, even if he actually has other ideas in his heart, he doesn't want to cause more trouble, just respectfully praise It's over.

"Well, that's good, draft an edict!"

Emperor Chengde had already made a decision in his heart. He had asked Fang Bao before, but it was just a matter of situation. Now, seeing that Fang Bao had no objection, Emperor Chengde didn't hesitate anymore. ordered...

(End of this chapter)