"Mr. Foreign Minister, you know that now the relationship between China and Britain and France is very rigid. Although our German shipbuilding industry is slightly behind that of Britain and France, our German industrial products have always been the guarantee of quality. Your price is too low, and I guess the domestic government may not be interested." The German consul was also very scheming. Although he did not say it straightforwardly, his meaning was already very clear. Except for Germany, China could not find a more suitable buyer.

Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "Sir, you must not think so. Germany is indeed our buyer, but we can also choose not to buy. You must know that with the current national strength of China, we only seek to protect ourselves, and our 6th army is not bad. I think that even if the Chinese navy is not strong enough, it will not affect our national security."

The German Consul smiled and said, "Mr. Foreign Minister, you are wrong. Coast defense is not only for protecting the territory, but also for the manifestation of national prestige."

"Haha, Mr. Consul, everyone knows these, but if the price is not appropriate, if we buy more warships with money, will we have national prestige? Okay, let's not talk about this topic, right? We are both subordinates, and the key is to make decisions at the top." Li Hongzhang looked calm.

The scheming Li Hongzhang naturally knew that it would be useless to say too much now. The more he did not make the German consul feel that China had a strong desire to buy warships, the more it would help the negotiations and the transactions would be reached.

"My friend, I will contact the country immediately, there should be no problem. But do you only have two ships? Otherwise, build a few more ships, you should know that your current enemy is very powerful. Britain and France have Far East Fleets, and Russia also have fleets. Haven't you just experienced a great war with Tsarist Russia? You should know that fighting countries like Tsarist Russia will turn their backs on their faces. When the warships we built for you are in service, their combat power will definitely be greatly surpassing those opponents." The German consul enthusiastically promoted German warships.

Compared with Britain, the German navy still has a very big gap. If they want to chase the British navy, they need to build a large number of warships, especially battleships.

All of these require a lot of funds. If a lot of funds can be obtained by selling warships to the outside world, the German naval development will probably increase a lot.

Li Hongzhang's mouth twitched.

But Li Hongzhang knew that the cute CEO would not be so stupid as to spend money to buy a lot of warships and come back!

The future naval construction of China's country will mainly rely on the power of China itself. At present, as long as it can guarantee its advantages over the eastern island countries, it is enough.

"Sir, you know, now our military expenditure is tight. These warships need some of our current preset directions. If a deal can be reached, it will naturally benefit both parties. However, if the price is really not suitable, or if it is too different from the price of China, our naval construction plan can be postponed for ten years. So we have ordered so many for the time being. However, I need to order a full set of equipment needed by a large shipyard to ensure that the warships can be built and repaired more than 10,000 tons." Li Hongzhang said calmly, "With Germany's technical support, we will pay the corresponding reward."

"There is no problem with the shipyard. Although the price is relatively expensive, I know that China is very rich and can definitely afford it. But I wish I could ask myself, do I have so many skilled shipbuilders and warship designers in China now?" asked the German consul.

In the impression of the German consul, although the 6th army of China was strong, the navy was still blank.

The German consul did not think that Beizhong was capable of building ships, but believed that it was Li Hongzhang who was bluffing.

"Haha, Mr. Consul, I thought you knew China very well, but I didn't expect that you didn't know anything. Have you forgotten that we already had a large shipyard in the hands of the Qing court? Mawei Shipyard and Jiangnan Shipyard have a large number of workers and designers, especially Mawei Shipyard. As for designers, Mawei Shipyard was able to build more than 1,000 tons of cruisers. After a period of training, they should make greater progress. At the same time, I also hope that Germany can urgently support a group of skilled workers and designers, and we will hire them with double salaries." Li Hongzhang said with a smile. On shipbuilding, China and the West do have a very big gap, but these gaps are not uncommon. The Chinese people have always been very good at learning. As long as there is a good teacher guidance, it is not impossible to catch up with the West.

"Okay, I will report this issue to the German government as soon as possible!" said the German consul. He is just a consul and he has no right to decide many things. However, he believes that based on the current domestic policy, these requirements of the Chinese Navy will be met.

"Hehe, thank you, Mr. Consul. This is a gift, which I gave to Mr. Consul. You know, there is no hurry to do this kind of thing, but the people below us are anxious. This is a political achievement!" Li Hongzhang reminded.

The German consul nodded and smiled, "It's still Mr. Foreign Minister who knows how to be a human being. When you were the governor of Zhili in the Qing court, I could see that you can hold your foot no matter when it comes, thank you."

A pure gold pen given by Li Hongzhang is very heavy, at least tens of thousands of yuan!

The German consul was naturally happy to be heard.

"Okay, sir, I will speak for your Chinese country as much as possible. I will also prepare the things you need as soon as possible!" The German consul smiled and nodded, and said softly: "Actually, our German emperor also has a good impression of your Chinese emperor. Your Chinese emperor has allowed the German emperor to see the enterprising spirit of the Eastern people and changed his impression of the Eastern people for the first time. The last time I neglected the Chinese emperor, you Chinese emperor was just a businessman. The German emperor once expressed his intention to invite the Chinese emperor to visit Germany again."

The German consul knew about the cute president.

In the eyes of the German consul, the cute president is a magical figure. He founded such a big foundation in a few years, even if it was placed in Europe, it is a legendary story.

What's more, while ruling such a large country in China, the cute president also pacified Siberia and Central Asia. This degree is simply terrifying.

After that, Li Hongzhangxun contacted the President's Secretariat.

The cute president listened to a detailed report on Li Hongzhang's contact with the Germans.

Princess Katrina Kaif smiled and said, "Li Hongzhang is indeed quite suitable for diplomacy."

The cute president smiled and said, "That's because China has national strength!"

In the original history, Li Hongzhang has always been a traitor!

Faced with the heavy obstruction of feudal diehards within the Qing court, Li Hongzhang eloquently proposed that "we are in a time when we are happy to talk about the Westernization Movement today." He believed that in the process of pursuing self-improvement, we must adhere to the general Westernization Movement of "external harmony and reform within", that is, in an environment where the great powers are surrounded and foreign aggression is becoming increasingly serious, we should use the diplomatic means of "using barbarians to control barbarians" to win as much peace as possible for China's Westernization Movement - self-improvement construction. For this reason, he was a diplomatic expert in his life and handled many major foreign negotiations. But ironically, when signing an unequal treaty that forced China to transfer its interests, Li Hongzhang was the favorite negotiator of the great powers. He often appointed Li Hongzhang to negotiate, and even received bribes during the signing of a treaty with Russia.

On July 29, 1871 (the tenth year of Tongzhi), shortly after completing the Tianjin lesson plan, Li Hongzhang signed the "China-Japan Revision Rules" with Japan on behalf of China. This was an equal and reciprocal treaty between the two sides. However, from the Japanese attitude of the Japanese in the signing process, Li Hongzhang saw that Japan "will be a problem for China in the future."

Sure enough, in 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi), Japan sent troops to invade Taiwan. Li Hongzhang actively supported the Qing government to send Shen Baozhen as an imperial commissioner to lead a fleet to Taiwan for inspection, and dispatched 65oo members of the Tang Dingkui troops stationed in Xuzhou to Taiwan in batches. Although the matter was temporarily calmed down by signing the Sino-Japanese Taiwan Affairs Treaty, Japan later took the slightest to annex Ryukyu in 1879 (the fifth year of Guangxu).

Before and after negotiating with Japan, Li Hongzhang also signed the Sino-Peru Trade Treaty with Peru in 1874 (the 13th year of Tongzhi) respectively; in 1876 (the second year of Guangxu), the Sino-British Yantai Treaty with Britain. The former was intended to protect Chinese workers; the latter was a serious negotiation between China and Britain caused by the "Ma Jiali case". Under the threat of British envoy Weituma from declaring war, Li Hongzhang cleverly used international law to restore the situation of breakup. At his suggestion, the Qing government sent Guo Songtao to the UK to apologize, and Guo became China's first foreign ambassador. However, the treaty also opened four trading ports in Yichang, Wuhu, Wenzhou and Beihai, and allowed the British to enter Tibet, which damaged China's sovereignty.

In 1883 (the ninth year of Guangxu), the Sino-French War broke out in Vietnam, and the Qing court ordered Li Hongzhang to coordinate border defense. Li Hongzhang believed that "the maritime defense soldiers in various provinces were short of single salary, and the navy was not trained, so he could not speak out easily with European powers." He first signed the "Li Bao Agreement" with the French ambassador to China Baohai, and then repented for the French government, and then failed to negotiate with the French ambassador to Japan. When the war was in a stalemate, Cixi reorganized the Military Affairs Office, and the main and public opinion gradually arose. Li Hongzhang had a representative with the French representative on April 17, 1884 (the tenth year of Guangxu).

Flouno signed the Li Fu Agreement. In May, as the French attacked Lang Son, the agreement was torn apart. It was not until the Qing army won the battles in Guangxi and Taiwan that Li Hongzhang finally signed the Sino-French Treaty with French representative Badno, ending the war. France obtained the "right to protect" against Vietnam and the opening of the Sino-Vietnam border to France. Therefore, it was said at the time that "France won without victory, China was defeated without defeat." Zuo Zongtang, who successfully recovered Xinjiang at that time, believed that Li Hongzhang was "worse than ten French generals."

In 1895, Li Hongzhang signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki in Shimonoseki, Japan, ceding Taiwan and affiliated islands, and cedes the Liaodong Peninsula to compensate 200 million taels of silver. However, the Liaodong Peninsula touched the interests of the great powers and caused interference from Russia, France and Germany. Japan was forced to agree to return the Liaodong Peninsula, but the Qing court had to pay 30 million taels of silver to "redemption of Liao" as compensation. Later, Tsarist Russia leased two ports of Lushun and Dalian from the Qing government in the name of "repaying Liao for contributions".

In 1896, in order to make Li Hongzhang abandon the Qing government's policy of building its own railways, the Tsar approved it to bribe Li Hongzhang with 30,000 rubles. But Li Hongzhang was indeed worth only 50,000 yuan in the end, which aroused his revenge on the Russians and refused to sign the contract at the last moment.

Li Hongzhang signed more than 30 treaties throughout his life. The unequal treaties signed by Li Hongzhang as a representative of the Qing government with the great powers include: the Sino-British Treaty of Yantai in September 1876; the Sino-French Concise Articles of the Conference in May 1884; the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Tianjin in April 1885 and the Sino-French New Treaty of Sino-French in the same year; the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki in May 1895; the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki in November of the same year; the Sino-Japanese Treaty of South Liao in the same year; the Sino-German Treaty of South Liao in the same year; the Sino-German Treaty of South Jiaoao in March 1896; the Sino-German Treaty of Jiaoao in the same year; the Sino-German Treaty of Secrets in June of the same year; the Sino-British Treaty of Expanding the Hong Kong Border Sites in June 1898; the Sino-British Treaty of Xin Chou in September 19o1, etc.

Therefore, it is better to say that Li Hongzhang is diplomatic than to say that China is gradually gaining international status.

Without international status, Li Hongzhang, who has no diplomacy, is useless. When China really becomes the world hegemon, even if a child of a few years old goes out to negotiate, he can still show the prestige of a great power.

The cute CEO sat quietly in front of the desk, holding hands with Princess Katrina Kaif, his thoughts drifted far away from Korea and Japan.

In the sixth year of Meiji, Takamori Saigo was not accepted by the "Korean Conquest" and was disagreeing with the government officials such as the right minister Iwakura Hitoshi, so he resigned and returned to his hometown. At that time, the new government officers and soldiers from the Satsuma clan also followed Takamori Saigo and returned to Kagoshima one after another, such as Major General Kirino Takiki and Shinohara Kitan. On the surface, Takamori Saigo, who returned to Kagoshima, no longer cared about political affairs and lived a rural life of farming, fishing, and hunting. In fact, Takamori Saigo still cared about the country in his heart. He was extremely dissatisfied with the various policies of the Meiji government and always believed that the government must carry out reforms.

In January 1874, Iwakura Goshita was injured by a group of dissatisfied gentry attacks. In February, the first large-scale dissatisfied gentry. The old Saga vassal vassal, Eto Shin-kun, slander, slander, slander, slander, slander, slander, slander, slander, resigned from office and returned to Saga after the failure of the "Shenghan Conquest". At the same time, the Meiji government began to carry out the "Taiwan Conquest" plan. Since Takamoto Saigo left the government, so many major problems have arisen at home and abroad, and the country has begun to enter a period of chaos. In June, Takamoto Saigo Saigo was in order to follow. A group of young people who returned to his hometown established an educational institution, so they set up private military academies in the former residence of the Satsuma family, including artillery schools, gun schools, etc. It is generally believed that the purpose of establishing private military academies was to prevent the invasion of European and American powers. What Saigo Takamoto was most worried about was Russia's ambitions. Second, Saigo Takamoto saw that the Meiji government was becoming increasingly arrogant and refused to reform, and thought that the dissatisfied gentry in various places would rebel, and a strong army must be carried out again.

In the ninth year of Meiji (1876), due to the destruction of the Knife Order and the policy of the genius, various places were constantly dissatisfied with the rebellion of the genius. On October 24, the "Kamikaro Rebellion" broke out by Oda Kuroe Ao. On the 27th, the "Akimoto Rebellion" broke out in Fukuoka Prefecture, and on the 28th, the "Hi Rebellion" broke out in Maehara Issei, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The ** movements took place frequently, and Takamori Saigo did not take advantage of the time to raise troops. However, the Meiji government was worried about the army composed of the old Satsuma gentry who had the strongest combat power in the time of the attack on the Mafia, so Okubo Rito sent 23 Nakabara Nagata and Nagata Nagata and other 23 secretly spies from Kagoshima, who were born in Kagoshima, to investigate the situation of the private military academy and the intentions of Takamori Saigo and others, and planned to assassinate Takamori Saigo.

In order to weaken the military power of the Satsuma gentry, the Meiji government planned to transport the weapons and ammunition stored in the 6th Army gunpowder warehouse in Kagoshima to Osaka. However, these actions were known by a group of radical private military academy students. On the night of January 31st of the 10th year of Meiji (1877), the military academy students attacked the 6th Army gunpowder warehouse of Kagoshima Kurota. Soon, the Isogen Hall, the gunpowder warehouse of Uenohara and others were also attacked. Many places in Kagoshima City were set on fire, and the riots were out of control. At that time, Takamori Satsuma was hunting in Koneza on the Okuma Peninsula. After learning about this, although he understood that it was not the time to raise troops, he saw that the young students were arrested and the government's actions, Takamori Satsuma had to take advantage of the opportunity to resist the government. At that time, there were 12,000 Satsuma Army, and more than 40,000 dissatisfied gentry from all over Kyushu.

War edited

In February of the tenth year of Meiji (1877), the old Satsuma vassals elected Takamoto Saigo as their leader and carried out the armed rebellion of the **. The Satsuma Army was organized into seven brigades, with a total of more than 30,000 people.

On February 6, before the official launch of troops on February 13, the Sai Army held a combat meeting. At the meeting, the proposal of Saigo Takamori's younger brother Saigo Kobe was rejected to occupy Nagasaki to ensure the supply of materials and prevent the official army from attacking from water. It also took advantage of the Kumamoto town to rescue Nagasaki in order to completely control Kyushu and directly attack Kumamoto Castle.

The court was also prepared for the rebellion. On February 6, Aritomoto, the 6th Army, secretly ordered Kumamoto Town to guard against the Kagoshima riot. On the 12th, he further discussed the dispatch of troops with Hirofumi Ito (Government Senate, Ministry of Works) and Junyi Kawamura (Navalu Daisuke) and prepared to organize the siege troops with the approval of the Minister of the Taizheng Sanjo Mitsumi. On the 19th, the Emperor issued an edict to formally form a "Strike Army" composed of two brigades, appointing Prince Shizuki Aritomoto as the governor of the expedition, and Lieutenant General of Aritomoto in Yama Prefecture, Lieutenant General of the 6th Army of Kuroda, and Lieutenant General of the Navy of Junyi Kawamura. Later, the expedition army increased to 8 brigades, with a total of 55 infantry brigades, six artillery brigades, one engineering brigade, and other baggage troops, cavalry and other troops, totaling 58,858 people.

The Navy dispatched 19 warships and 2280 soldiers.
Chapter completed!