Not only was he resentful of what Long Hao, a "hypocrite," said and did, Li Hongzhang also knew that the myth of the Beiyang Navy being invincible in East Asia had been shattered!

From the scenery of shelling Japanese harbors when it was first established, to now one gunboat was sunk, and then eleven gunboats including the "Zhenyuan" were driven like bereaved dogs and huddled in this shabby little port.

...The Beiyang Navy's external strength but internal emptiness will probably be seen by many interested people after this battle.

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

After Li Hongzhang finished cursing, Lin Taizeng said: "Sir, that Princess Ashley not only announced that she would participate in the tariff allocation meeting, but she also sent a telegram to the international community yesterday, announcing the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Long Hao's Alchemy Kingdom.

In fact, the princess said that she would purchase ten submarines from Long Hao to form the Austro-Hungarian 'Dragon Guard' fleet stationed in the Far East to ensure the interests of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Asia!"

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

No matter how stupid Li Hongzhang was, he could still tell that Ai Shili was attached to Long Hao. This was simply a slap in the face. He was so angry that he said, "She, what is she going to do? Let those damn submarines control her."

Living in the East China Sea, and then blocking the Great Northern Ocean in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea? This is too much!"

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

Now Beiyang is in an embarrassing situation. They are forced into a small and broken port. The Nianlong of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from outside does not come to fight, but they have not said anything to let them leave.

Before Li Hongzhang had not woken up, Lin Tai had not dared to act arbitrarily and let the gunboats leave the harbor. Otherwise, if there were several submarines waiting outside, wouldn't these ships in Beiyang fall into a trap?

After all, Beiyang is still considered a 'prisoner of war' of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If one's own side is not good, one cannot blame the other side for silencing them.

"Go, I must go!"

Li Hongzhang forced himself to sit up and said word by word: "Huh, even if Beiyang is completely sunk, I can't lose this tone! If I don't go, others will really think that I was defeated by Liu Kunyi. And I'm afraid

They don’t even dare to show up! Kaishi, change my clothes for me, we are going to Shanghai right now!”

The Western New Year of 1894 was spent in Shanghai in a state of chaos and chaos.

The baring of teeth and claws here naturally describes the current chaos and undercurrents in Shanghai. As for the dancing "ghosts", they refer to the representatives of the great powers - foreign devils. Although most of them have stayed in Shanghai for more than twenty years

, but only this time, they appeared frequently in the eyes of Shanghai citizens and were exposed countless times.

This is of course thanks to the convening of the tariff allocation meeting and the diligent reporting on the matter by the Alchemy Express under the banner of Alchemy.

On January 5th, Li Hongzhang, a first-class official of the Qing Dynasty and a powerful figure in the court, appeared in Shanghai.

In the past few days, there were rumors that he had died of blood and heart attack due to the failure in the East China Sea naval battle last Christmas, but now it seems that this is obviously a rumor spread by people with ulterior motives.

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

Well. I want to add something here, the so-called "new concession" does not refer to the newly opened Shanghai concession, but specifically refers to the empty 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, so this area with its back to the Huangpu River has become ownerless.

land.

Liu Kunyi chose this place as the venue for the tariff allocation meeting with a neutral intention.

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, he put a lot of effort and effort into building this building. Therefore, it was selected as the conference center.

, all parties participating in the meeting were very satisfied.

The perimeter of this new concession was guarded by Qing soldiers armed with foreign guns. Their faces were serious and they did not allow other people to enter. However, even so, it attracted nearly 10,000 Shanghai citizens to come and watch.

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

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

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

Naturally, the word "welcome" here is in quotation marks. I think a few days ago, Mr. Zhongtang led the Beiyang Army southward. He was very high-spirited and threatened Shanghai. He clamored to capture Mr. Liu who could drive foreigners out of the concession and bring him back to the capital for trial.

...All of this, secretly fueled by some well-intentioned people, has made Li Hongzhang's reputation so bad that in the past ten days, several streets in Shanghai have become so stinky that everyone is shouting for beatings, but it is still far from enough.

Not far away.

What's more, today's Li Hongzhang is still a prominent figure who appears as a loser. The so-called "winner and loser" applies to ancient and modern times. Therefore, Li Hongzhang, who was fully dressed in the first-class official uniform of the Qing Dynasty, almost faced the abuse of many citizens along the way.

The voices of ridicule and ridicule continued. If there were not soldiers to maintain order and block those who went too far, Li Hongzhang's noble official uniform would have been stained with filth such as tomatoes and eggs.

Li Hongzhang is worthy of being a prime minister. Faced with such huge pressure, he can still keep his pace calm, his demeanor calm, and even walk into the conference building with a smile on his face.

Liu Kunyi, who was observing in secret, couldn't help but admire his unshakable courage despite being pointed at by thousands of people.

According to Liu Kunyi, since he had seized the opportunity to trap Li Hongzhang, he should take advantage of his illness to kill him. Even if he did not destroy his body, he would have to fight Li Hongzhang to the end from the spiritual level, public opinion, and court forces.

, not giving him a chance to make a comeback.

It is normal for Liu Kunyi to have this idea. What did Li Hongzhang come to Shanghai for? He came to arrest Liu Kunyi and return him to Beijing for trial. You can imagine how miserable Liu Kunyi's fate will be once Li Hongzhang succeeds.

Therefore, he has no choice but to hold his grudge to the end!

What's more, Nanyang and Beiyang are natural enemies. When they see each other in trouble, they don't step forward to step on them. That's very sad.

However, Liu Kunyi also knew that when the situation had developed to this point, many things were beyond his control.

Governor of Liangjiang and temporary manager of Shanghai City, this title is certainly a big deal in the eyes of ordinary people, but in the eyes of others, it is at most a little more than a fart.

This 'other person' is the representative of Long Hao's interests, for example, the National Defense Force headed by Sun Renjun, for example, the newly arrived...Austro-Hungarian princess!

It was them who conveyed Long Hao's message and easily gave up Liu Kun's idea of ​​killing Li Hongzhang.

Of course Liu Kunyi argued a few words about this: "Why not capture Li Hongzhang? If we keep him, the Beiyang Navy will always be a hidden danger! With the Beiyang threat, 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: "I understand that Li Zhongtang has a rift with Mr. Liu. However, today's China is still indispensable for Li Zhongtang..."

As for why it was necessary, the length of the telegram was limited and Long Hao did not elaborate. However, judging from Liu Kun's immediate silence, the clever Governor of Liangjiang must have figured it out.

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

If he wants to retain this modern fleet, which is known as the first in East Asia and the sixth in the world, Li Hongzhang will not be able to do anything for a while...

At least Liu Kun asked himself, if Beiyang were to fall apart now, his 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 allocation meeting, but he was not the latest either.

Just in the middle.

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

Whoever is worthy has the Lord.

So, who is the protagonist?

Haha, naturally they are the actual winners before this meeting: Liu Kunyi and Austria-Hungary Princess Ashley.

You must know that the 'partition' meetings in this 'barbaric' era have always been based on results as the only criterion!

Suppose that the tariff pricing power that the Qing Dynasty lost in the first and second Sino-British wars was a complete big cake, including cheese and fruits.

Then, as the victors, Liu Kunyi and Ai Shili have the right to cut and take away the first, richest and most delicious cake!

This is common practice and has been acquiesced by the European powers that have participated in countless similar partition conferences.

They believe in the truth that whoever has a bigger fist can taste the most delicious spoils.

In any big drama, the most important scenes will appear after the protagonist appears, and the main theme will appear accordingly.

No, it wasn't until noon, when the representatives at the meeting were getting impatient, that Princess Ashley arrived belatedly.

As soon as she appeared, her gorgeous clothes and beautiful face immediately shocked the entire audience.

Everyone's impatience in waiting seemed to disappear with Ashley's charming smile.

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

Although she is the protagonist, this distribution meeting is still hosted by Liu Kunyi, the 'landlord'.

When everyone arrived, Liu Kun was unambiguous. With a few simple opening remarks, he handed out the stacks of "Distribution Instructions" that he had sorted out.

Everyone here, except Li Hongzhang, actually has a general understanding of the contents of this "Distribution Instruction", and is mentally prepared without having to read it.

After all, today's meeting is here to announce the results, not to continue discussing the game.

However, the formalities still have to go through. The signing of the treaty is indispensable... The representatives of various countries lowered their heads and looked like they were checking, while Li Hongzhang held up his reading glasses and struggled to read word by word, fearing that

Half the punctuation mark is missing.

The instruction manual is in Chinese, English and French. Li Hongzhang not only reads it himself, but also distributes the English and French versions to his staff so that they can read it so as not to fall into the trap of writing, which he has suffered countless losses before.

However, when Li Hongzhang saw the three words "Drafting Party: Qing Dynasty" on the first page of the manual, his expression visibly shook.

Once upon a time, the Qing Dynasty could also draft major instructions at meetings to discuss the distribution of interests with the great powers?

For a moment, the master in the middle hall was so excited that he almost forgot his own position and shouted for Liu Kun.

Of course, for Li Hongzhang, this kind of 'impulsive' mood was just a passing moment. Soon, he suppressed this uncomfortable mood and reminded himself: This allocation will be organized by Liu Kunyi, the more successful it will be.

.The higher his reputation will be, I will find loopholes in it and destroy it. I will never let it be completed smoothly.

The tariff allocation instructions are very long. For a first-time reader, just ten minutes is definitely not enough.

Even one glance and ten lines are not enough!

Liu Kunyi would not take into account the feelings of Li Hongzhang's "family". After only ten minutes, as the host, he spoke: "Everyone, this explanation is written in great detail. If there are no questions, please sign it.

Lunch time hasn’t come yet, so we went out as early as possible to announce to the media that the meeting was a complete success. Then we went to have a big dinner to celebrate, haha, I’ll treat you!”
To be continued...