Master Yuan, start!

However, at present, as the largest tax-paying group in China, most of the farmers near the capital are no longer tending to production in the countryside, but have disappeared.

Where did you go?

There is no doubt that he went to work in nearby Tianjin. Since Tianjin was opened as a trading port after the Second Opium War in 1860, this city at the end of the Nine Rivers has developed step by step relying on industry and commerce.

Book search group 865]-: 8

During the slack farming season, the docks of Tianjin Weihe River were always crowded with farmers from all over the countryside. When some farmers' homes were ruined and their relatives had all died, the strong ones among them would be recruited by the British into the patrol force and become a glorious concession patrolman.

But you can't blame these farmers for anything. In a small-scale peasant economy where men farmed and women wove, the slack season was the perfect time to take care of household chores. Women would learn needlework and mend the rags and rags of the family, while men would help their wives weave and sew, or practice horseback riding, archery, and martial arts.

But after Europeans imported large-scale industrial products into China, homespun cloth and yarn quickly disappeared. Machine-woven cloth was indeed not dense or thick enough, and its style was crude and of poor quality.

But it’s hard to resist because they are so cheap. If a machine only costs 20 cents to produce, it can produce 100 pieces a day.

It takes several days to weave it by hand. Although the quality is good, it only takes a few days to make one piece, and it must be sold for at least 100 wen, otherwise the cost of the materials cannot be recovered.

Comparing the two, handicrafts were naturally beaten without any chance of fighting back. If women could not sell the things they wove, they could only stay at home.

Men can rely on their strength to go to big cities like Beijing and Tianjin to sell their labor, earn a few copper coins, and work as thugs or bodyguards to earn some money for the New Year.

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This is why various martial arts schools were so popular in the late Qing Dynasty, because many people learned them. Why did so many people learn them? Because if they didn't learn them, the farmers in the countryside would have no other way out.

With a heavy heart, Yuan Xiangcheng left the small village and arrived in Tianjin City in silence.

In a guild hall in Tianjin, the lights were on at this moment. The Japanese Inoue Kaoru said to Wu Daji, the Left Vice-Minister of the Inspectorate, in a blunt tone:

"The issue of compensation for the Seoul uprising is an internal affair of the Joseon Dynasty and Japan. How can you, the Qing people, interfere?"

"Korea is a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty. The upper country has the obligation to assist Korea, and there is no need to inform you Japanese in advance!" Wu Daji also retorted tit for tat.

Chapter 38 Who is responsible?

The negotiations between the two people in the room were intense. Japanese Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru and the deputy envoy sent by the court for negotiations, Wu Daji, were arguing with each other, and neither could convince the other.

Originally, Inoue Kaoru planned to go to Seoul to negotiate directly with the Koreans, but Duan Qirui, at the suggestion of Yuan Shikai, had already banned new Japanese from contacting the Korean King Lee Hee, and also prohibited Korean ministers from contacting Inoue Kaoru and his group, for fear that, like in the original time and space, the Koreans would be intimidated by the Japanese and sign an unequal treaty.

After two days of wandering around the city in vain and after many negotiations, Inoue Kaoru and others found that they could not meet with the Korean ruling party, so they turned west and headed straight for Tianjin, hoping to negotiate a result with the Qing Dynasty first, and then turn back to deal with Korea.

Ma Jianzhong, the Korean garrison commander, was also busy. Seeing that the Japanese were heading for Tianjin, he quickly ordered the newly appointed Left State Councilor Kim Hongjip to board a ship to Tianjin as well. After all, although the Qing court was currently powerful, it could not ignore the Koreans and negotiate with the Japanese alone. It still had to consider the Koreans' feelings.

In other words, in addition to the Qing and Japanese parties, there was also a representative from the North Korean government. However, this representative was more like an irrelevant third party, watching the Qing and Japanese representatives bickering without being able to get a word in.

The focus of the dispute was that the Japanese wanted Korea to admit its mistake and pay compensation. As the representative of the Qing Dynasty, Wu Daji was naturally unwilling to let Korea admit its mistake. After all, Yuan Shikai's suppression of the rebellion was a complete success. If Korea admitted its mistake and paid compensation, it would be a weak Song Dynasty. Even if it defeated Western Xia, it would still have to pay annual tribute.

But Kim Hong-jip of the Korean party did not think so. He was willing to settle the matter peacefully in exchange for a moment of peace for Korea. Before leaving, King Lee Hee also told him that as long as Korea did not suffer any loss of face, it would be no problem to pay some death compensation for the Japanese ronin.

After much discussion, the disagreement among the three parties ultimately came down to the issue of compensation.

Japan wanted Korea to admit its mistakes and pay compensation. The Qing Dynasty did not want Korea to admit its mistakes and did not want to pay compensation. Korea was unwilling to admit its mistakes, but could pay compensation at its discretion.

Liu couldn't agree on anything and ended up parting on bad terms.

liu Early the next morning, when Inoue Xin entered the meeting room for the second round of talks, he found that there was a short, burly young official beside Wu Daji.

At this moment, Inoue Kakugoro beside him suddenly looked serious and said to Inoue Xin nervously: "Ambassador Inoue, this person is Yuan Xiangcheng!"

"Oh, really?" Inoue Xin stared at Yuan Xiangcheng for a few seconds, then sat down at the negotiating table without changing his expression.

Wu Daji, the representative of the Qing court, and Jin Hongji, the representative of North Korea, also took their seats, and a new round of confrontation began.

Following the negotiators in were a dozen Qing soldiers who served as guards. Their clothes were clean and tidy, and it was obvious that they had just received new uniforms from the Ministry of War.

There were four standing on each side of the door, and one standing at each corner of the room, with their heads held high and their hands on their swords, as if they were proclaiming that the winner of this negotiation was the Qing Dynasty.

However, it is normal for Wu Daji to put on such a show. Although the Japanese are not yet regarded as one of the great powers, it is still very exciting that Yuan Shikai thwarted the Japanese conspiracy. This incident can also demonstrate the majesty of the Qing Dynasty and its determination to maintain its vassal state.

As soon as he sat down, Inoue Kaoru couldn't wait to say, "As we discussed yesterday, North Korea must apologize to the Great Japanese Empire and compensate Japan for the losses suffered by the victims and the injured."

"Ambassador Inoue, this rebellion was caused by the Japanese envoy mistaking the plan of the Korean enlightenment faction and losing his way, which led to the destruction of the embassy and the killing of civilians. It is truly his own fault. How dare you ask for compensation?" Wu Daji had already learned the whole story through Jin Hongji, Yuan Xiangcheng and others. The Japanese played a crucial role in this Korean rebellion.

Even if he is not called an instigator, he can at least be labeled an accomplice.

"Mr. Wu, North Korea's compensation to Japan is the basis of negotiations. Without compensation, there is nothing to talk about!" Inoue Kaoru's attitude was extremely arrogant, and revealed a hint of anxiety.

We clearly didn't talk about this topic last night, so why is Wu Daji still bringing it up today?

Inoue Kaoru had reasons to be anxious. He rushed from Japan to Seoul, and then from Seoul to Tianjin. His purpose was to resolve the incident as soon as possible so as to get rid of the Japanese's disgraceful side in the Seoul Rebellion.

Because Ito Hirobumi and Inoue Kaoru, who are currently in charge of diplomatic affairs in the Japanese government, are both from Choshu domain, and Takezoe Shinichiro, the ambassador to Korea, and Inoue Kakugoro, a student of Fukuzawa Yukichi who was responsible for planning and leading the team to the Korean royal palace, are also from Choshu domain.

If the dispute over the Seoul Rebellion is not resolved in a short period of time, it will give his political opponents from the Satsuma clan in the domestic political arena a handle to use, affecting his future in Japanese politics.

The Satsuma-Choshu conflict began to emerge after the Meiji Restoration and the return of power, and reached its peak during the Seinan War.

After the Southwest War, although the leader of the Satsuma clan, Saigo Takamori, committed suicide by seppuku, causing the Satsuma clan's power in the army to plummet, the conflict between Satsuma and Choshu did not decrease.

Moreover, after Saigo Takamori's death, as compensation, the Satsuma clan also gained some of the civil service power in the Meiji government. Coupled with its deep influence in the navy, the Satsuma clan and the Choshu clan were almost like water and fire. This is also the reason why the navy and the army were at odds in later generations.

From the very beginning of the Meiji Restoration, the navy and the army did not belong to the same system, and they developed separately from each other for decades. It would be strange if there were no conflicts.

When it comes to negotiations, what Inoue Kaoru has to do now is to cover up the truth and strive for a quick resolution.

Yuan Xiangcheng, knowing history, would not create such an opportunity for him. He stepped forward and said, "It's ok for Korea to pay compensation to Japan, but should Japan also pay compensation to the Korean civilians and merchants who were robbed and killed?"

"That's impossible. Our Japanese people were forced to fight back. It was actually the people of Seoul who started the riot and attack. Our people were forced to attack and injure several people." Inoue Kakugoro also stepped forward to refute.

"Whether to fight back is best known to you, the Japanese." Yuan Xiangcheng gave Inoue Kakugoro a long look and fetched a gun from his luggage. Frightened, Inoue Kakugoro quickly crouched and hid behind a table. "But the muskets used by the Korean rebels are mostly modified versions of the Japanese army's breech-loading Enfield rifles, not the firearms commonly used by the Korean new army."

"What Enfield rifle? Can you conclude that Japan is involved in this just by looking at a gun? The Enfield rifle was produced by the British. Why don't you go to the British?" When Inoue Kakugoro saw that Yuan Shikai was holding a broken gun without a barrel, he felt embarrassed again, so he stuck his neck out and tried to argue.

Yuan Xiangche didn't think that a rifle would force the Japanese to confess honestly. He raised the gun with his backhand and tore off the piece of yellow cloth wrapped around it. He held it in his hand and asked Inoue Xin:

"Then these four characters 'Japanese Envoys Come to Wei' couldn't have been written by an Englishman, could they?"

Chapter 39 The person hasn't changed, but the heart has changed

"This..." Inoue Kaoru looked at the bloody yellow cloth in Yuan Xiangcheng's hand and froze for a moment. She wanted to ask Inoue Kakugoro what was going on.

It is purely coincidental that Inoue Kaoru and Inoue Kakugoro share the same surname; they are not related by blood. Inoue Kaoru was adopted by his adoptive parents, the Shimichi family, when he was young.

Her real name was Shido Mondo. Before she went abroad to study secretly with Ito Hirobumi and others, she changed her name back to Inoue Kaoru for fear of implicating her adoptive parents and others.

Inoue Kaoru turned to look at Inoue Kakugoro. Inoue Kakugoro did not expect Yuan Xiangcheng to bring out this evidence during the negotiation. He was a little stunned. This was different from what they had agreed.

But a moment later, he quickly thought of a solution and retorted, "This yellow cloth has no official seal on it. It must be a frame-up by the rebel army. It has nothing to do with our embassy."

Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng did not argue too much. He put the yellow cloth aside and stepped aside.

Seeing this, Inoue Kakugoro stroked his chest which was trembling with nervousness, knowing that he had been fooled by Yuan Xiangcheng.

Long before Yuan Shikai returned to China, in order to capture the two remaining Xu brothers of the Jiashen Coup Five, Yuan Shikai made a deal with Takezoe Shinichiro of the Japanese Embassy.

Inoue Kakugoro and a dozen Japanese policemen were exchanged for the two Xu brothers, and it was guaranteed that the Qing side would never pursue the matter again.

The dispatch of military and police into the royal palace in Seoul was entirely a personal act of Takezoe Shinichiro at the instigation of Park Young-hyo. He had not consulted with Japan. It was good that he had successfully brought the King of Korea out, and the Japanese top leaders might have accepted it.

As the saying goes, I'm not afraid of walking alone, I'm afraid of failing when I walk alone.

Takezoe Shinichirō's plan was thwarted by Yuan Shigao. Fearing that he would be investigated and blamed by his country, Takezoe Shinichirō concealed the news and agreed to Yuan Shigao's proposal.

However, Yuan Xiangcheng did not play by the rules and revealed the matter during the negotiations. Inoue Kaoru did not know this news, so he looked at Inoue Kakugoro in confusion.

Fortunately, Inoue Kakugoro was clever and used the excuse that the yellow cloth was not stamped with the king's seal.

Inoue Kaoru sensed something was wrong and took the initiative to propose a recess, taking a group of people outside the palace to discuss important matters.

Yuan Xiangcheng also took the opportunity to ask the negotiating representative Wu Daji about the situation.

"Lord Wu, what is the court's bottom line in this negotiation? Do you really want North Korea not to apologize or pay compensation?" Yuan Xiangcheng was a little worried.

After the Seoul Mutiny, although his Incheon New Army recruited a large number of refugees from Northeast China and the Beijing-Tianjin area, these talents had just been sent to Korea for training and were far from forming combat effectiveness.

If the Japanese were pushed too far and attacked Korea, it would be difficult for him to handle the situation. Although this possibility was unlikely, Yuan Xiangcheng still had to take it into consideration.

Although Japan carried out the Meiji Restoration in 1868, it actually had to wait until after the Southwest War to truly accelerate its entry into industrial society.

The Southwest War completely destroyed the samurai class of old Japan, making the emperor and the Tokyo government truly powerful figures rather than playthings in the hands of powerful feudal lords.

After the Southwest War, Japan is now in the early stages of economic take-off. The country is like a train that has just started, with slow speed and loud noise.

Japan's current domestic contradictions are also very acute, and it is in the throes of transitioning from a feudal society to a capitalist society.

Although Okubo Toshimichi and others successfully strengthened the authority of the Tokyo central government through measures such as abolishing feudal domains and establishing prefectures, rank and salary adjustments, land tax reform, and the development of industry and commerce, they also developed some modern capitalist factories.

But the price was that the abolition of feudal domains and the establishment of prefectures caused dissatisfaction among local feudal lords. Although they did not oppose it openly, they kept making things difficult for the Meiji government in secret.

Then there are the samurai. In ancient Japan, serving as a soldier was a right of the samurai, but after the conscription order, everyone became a samurai, which meant that the samurai's class privileges were gone.

In addition, the salary punishment was carried out with blank checks, which cut the salaries of a large number of samurai, making them almost bankrupt, and a large number of samurai children were forced to enter brothels to pay off debts.

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Later, the samurai's privilege of carrying swords was gradually abolished, and the samurai were suppressed step by step.

These actions also triggered more than a dozen samurai uprisings across Kanto and Kansai in Japan, the largest of which was the Southwest War led by Saigo Takamori.

Although the Southwest War was quelled, the land tax reform also led to the privatization of land and the commercialization of agriculture, which resulted in a large number of bankrupt farmers. These farmers were forced to sell their land and move to the city to be used as bloody nourishment for industrial production.

And their land also became a resource for Japan's industrialization.

Therefore, Japan is now walking on a single-plank bridge. The farmers and samurai in the country are poor, and the newly emerged proletariat lives in pain and suffering. Any carelessness will trigger a major riot.

It is now the end of 1884, not yet 1894. Japan has not yet experienced the 10-year period of dormancy and development, and its strength is far inferior to that of the Qing Dynasty. It has not experienced the victories between Japan and Qing and Japan and Russia, and its self-confidence has swelled to an arrogant level.

After thinking so much, Yuan Xiangcheng was certain that Japan would not form a large army to invade Korea at this time, but he was still a little worried. So he decided to ask Wu Daji what Li Hongzhang's attitude was.

After receiving Li Hongzhang's letter, Yuan Shikai rushed to Tianjin on horseback. However, after entering the city, he was told that Li Hongzhang was not in the city, but had gone to inspect the Dagu Fort.

Upon hearing this, Wu Daji also confessed to Yuan Xiangcheng: Zhongn: 7 like?

"Master Yuan, Master Li told me before he left that I could try to dampen the Japanese's arrogance. After all, our Great Qing has a good reason for this incident. But he also told me not to anger the Japanese too much, lest they lose their minds and do something unexpected to Korea."

It turns out that the previous toughness was just an act. No wonder Li Hongzhang did not show up. It turned out that he wanted his men to kill the Japanese's fighting spirit first. It would be best if they could kill them. If the Japanese were provoked, it would still be in time for him to come forward and appease them.

Upon hearing this, Yuan Xiangcheng thought to himself that as expected, Li Hongzhang still had the mentality of a weak paperhanger. Even though the situation was far worse than in the original time and space, he still wanted to make concessions to the Japanese.

But just give in. It's not Yuan Shikai who will pay the money anyway. As long as Japan can get through the first few years of development, why should a resource-poor island country like Japan become an enemy of Yuan Shikai, who controls Korea and can rely on the Northeast?

After some thought, Yuan Shikai no longer insisted that the Japanese must apologize and pay compensation, but instead preferred the Korean solution.

That is, money can be compensated, but gifts cannot be compensated. Korea and the Qing Dynasty had to keep their composure. They could not win the battle and then let the Japanese turn the tables at the negotiation table.

On the other side, in the Japanese delegation, under repeated scolding from Inoue Kaoru, Inoue Kakugoro confessed all the events in which the Japanese embassy was involved in the Seoul Mutiny, from providing muskets, to leading the team to break into the palace, and then to exchanging the two Xu brothers.

Inoue Kaoru pointed at Inoue Kakugoro and couldn't help but want to curse "Baka" several times, but considering that he was Fukuzawa Yukichi's student, he held back. After making a plan in his mind, he led the team back to the negotiating table.