Just as the People's Army captured Chenyang and began to relocate the distribution of troops in the Northeast region, another game also began in Beijing.

The end of the Battle of Chenyang had a significant impact on the situation in the entire Far East. It was a great impact on Britain and France, which were gathering fleets and organizing troops to participate in the Far East. Therefore, the Russian troops stationed in Chenyang in the war plan they formulated were very important to play. However, neither Britain nor France expected that the 300,000 Russian troops would be so vulnerable. With solid fortifications, they only held on for 5 days and were completely annihilated by the People's Army. From then on, the People's Army had no worries and could calmly face the attack of the coalition forces. This was equivalent to Britain and France losing one game before they sent troops, so Britain and France had to find a way to save a city.

So on the third day after the end of the Shenyang Battle, the envoys of Britain, France, Japan and Russia to the Qing court jointly issued a diplomatic document to the Qing court, formally inviting the Qing court to join the anti-East China government alliance formed by the four countries. They also offered generous conditions for the Qing court, promising to return the territory of the Northeast and Shandong to the Qing court after the war, and restore it to the state before 1900. Russia also made a separate commitment to negotiate with the Qing court on the distribution of interests of the Middle East Railway. At the same time, Britain and France also confirmed to provide low-interest loans worth 50 million pounds to the Qing court to ensure military expenses after the Qing court joined the war, and to return part of the tariff power to the Qing court, etc.

In fact, the plan to pull the Qing court into the four countries' anti-East China government alliance was a plan that Britain and France had long set, because the Qing court was the current legal government of China after all, and it still had a great influence in China. Therefore, if the Qing court also joined the four countries' anti-East China government alliance, then in this battle, the anti-East China government alliance formed by the four countries would be legally legitimate, which was very necessary politically. In addition, according to the plan of Britain and France, after the war began, 6-8 divisions of troops would be drawn from Japan, landed at the Yangtze River estuary, and attacked Shandong along the Grand Canal, forming a pincer attack on the East China government on the north and south lines, but this plan also requires the participation of the Qing court to implement it.

However, it turned out that Britain and France planned to persuade the Qing court to join after the joint fleet formed by the two countries arrived in the Far East. Because the Qing court joined the anti-East China government alliance too early, it was very likely that it would be attacked first by the East China government. With the current strength of the Qing court, of course, it would definitely not be able to resist the East China government. Moreover, when the joint fleet formed by Britain and France arrived in the Far East, it also had enough power.

However, after Shenyang was lost and the Russian troops stationed in Chenyang were wiped out, the status of the Qing court became even more important. In order to offset the adverse impact of Chenyang and boost Japan and Russia's confidence in the war, it was necessary to invite the Qing court to join the four countries' anti-East China government alliance.

Britain and France also evaluated the risk of the Qing court joining the anti-East China government alliance in advance, believing that the risk was not great, because the Qing court was too large, and the East China government might be able to easily capture Beijing, but it would take at least five years to completely destroy the Qing court. Moreover, the Qing court was still a legal government of China after all, and although the foundation of China's rule was shaken, it still had a deep foundation. Once the East China government launched a battle aimed at destroying the Qing court, it would inevitably establish a group of new enemies for itself. In the Northeast battlefield, the Northeast battlefield was not completely over and faced the embarrassment of the British and French coalition forces, so as long as the leaders of the East China government were not hot-headed, it would be impossible for them to start a war against the Qing court again.

It turned out that after Britain and France announced their participation in the war, it caused a huge sensation within the Qing court. After the defeat of the encirclement and suppression of rivers and lakes of the East China government, the pro-war faction represented by the Manchu upstarts was originally hit hard. At this time, they seemed to see hope and began to move again. Some middle and lower-level officials wrote letters to the Qing court, suggesting that the Qing court join the anti-East China government alliance formed by the four countries to jointly fight against the East China government and test the court's attitude.

The Qing court was not moved by this because Cixi and Guangxu knew that foreigners were unreliable. Now overseas Chinese were on the side of the bed, while Britain, France, Japan and Russia were all thousands of miles away. Once the Qing court acted rashly, it would be immediately devastated. There were also several well-established and steadfast ministers, such as Prince Qing, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai, etc., who also believed that the Qing court would never easily stand in front of the battle before the outcome of the war was clear. Therefore, they did not take this seriously.

However, after the envoys of the four countries' envoys to the Qing court jointly sent the diplomatic documents to the Qing court, the situation changed. The upstarts of the Manchus who advocated participating in the war suddenly became active. On the one hand, they frequently wrote to the Qing court to ask the Qing court to participate in the war; on the other hand, they met with diplomats from the four countries' envoys to talk about the Qing court's support for the four countries. This was not only to build momentum for participating in the war, but also to take foreign powers to respect themselves. At this time, the Qing court could no longer underestimate them, so they ordered Yuan Shikai to negotiate with the envoys of the four countries, and ordered Zhang Zhidong to assist Yuan Shikai.

After the Qing court failed to conquer river and lake bases, Yuan Shikai became the biggest winner. Not only did he restore his official position, he also served as the governor of Zhili, minister of Beiyang, minister of the military training club, and also served as minister of the Prime Minister's Office. He also ranked third in the Military Affairs Office after Prince Qing and Zhang Zhidong. If you only look at official positions, you have surpassed Li Hongzhang at that time. After all, Li Hongzhang was not a military affairs minister back then, so such an errand naturally fell on Yuan Shikai.

After receiving the order from the court, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but feel overwhelmed because this was not a easy task. In fact, before that, the ministers of Britain and France had met Yuan Shikai privately, actively persuaded Yuan Shikai to step forward and influence the Qing court and join the anti-East China government alliance formed by the four countries, and may give Yuan Shikai a lot of benefits.

Yuan Shikai knew very well that this muddy water was not easy to get through. If he agreed to the request of Britain and France, he would inevitably offend the East China government. However, this one was a foreigner or a four-nation foreigner. Neither of these sides could offend Yuan Shikai. Therefore, Yuan Shikai could only care about the request of Britain and France, and hoped to get through it. But now that the Qing court issued an order, Yuan Shikai could not get through it, so he could only bite the bullet and meet with Zhang Zhidong to meet the ministers of Britain, France, Japan and Russia.

However, before meeting with the envoys of the Four Kingdoms, Yuan Shikai negotiated with Zhang Zhidong and determined the tone of the talks with the envoys of the Four Kingdoms. Both of them believed that before the situation was clear, the Qing court would be better off maintaining neutrality and not to take sides easily. After all, the risk was too high, and the Qing court could not afford to both sides. Therefore, if the wrong team was taken, it would be a disaster. Of course, if the Qing court had to choose a side to take sides this time, then the two could not make a decision and they would never take the blame for the Qing court.

So after the two sides met, British Minister Zhu Erdian said first: "Zhang Zhongtang, Yuan Zhongtang, five days ago, our four countries in Britain, France, Japan and Russia jointly proposed to the Qing government that we hope that the Qing government can join the four countries' counterattack East China government alliance. We think this is in the interests of the Qing government. I wonder what the Qing government is thinking about?"

Yuan Shikai and Zhang Zhidong looked at each other, Zhang Zhidong shook his head and said, "Mr. Minister, this court has not decided yet."

French Minister Gu Rui said: "Why hasn't decided yet? It's been 5 days. And now the East China government is the biggest threat to the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, there are so many favorable conditions to fight against the East China government with us. This is definitely a favorable thing to the Qing Dynasty. I don't understand why the Qing government has not made a decision yet."

Zhang Zhidong said slowly: "Mr. Minister, this move is of great importance, and the court must not be cautious. How can it be decided rashly? It takes only 5 days to make a decision!"

Japanese Minister Abe Sotaro said: "So I wonder how many days does the Qing government need to consider?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "That's hard to say. Maybe there are 10 days and 8 days, or 10 days and half a month."

Russian Minister Pukedi said angrily: "I think you are clearly trying to drag the edges. No, today we must give us a clear answer."

Yuan Shikai snorted and said, "Do you ministers come to negotiate with us today, or force us to agree?"

Zhu Erdian hurriedly said, "Of course it was negotiated, that's a reason to be compulsive. Just now, Minister Pukedi was just a little anxious and had no malice. Please forgive me for the two ministers."

Zhang Zhidong laughed and said, "It's easy to say, Weiting, don't mention this statement again."

Yuan Shikai said: "Zhang Zhongtang saw that he was right."

Zhu Erdian said again: "But what Minister Gu Rui said just now is indeed correct. It is absolutely in line with the interests of the Qing Dynasty. Therefore, we think that the Qing Dynasty has no reason to refuse, so we don't understand why there is no decision yet? In your words, after passing this village, there will be no such village." He paused and said: "If the Qing government still has any doubts or worries, we might as well mention it today, so that we can explain it clearly."
Chapter completed!