Listening to the analysis of Wang Huaiyuan and Xiao Hexin, everyone present had a basin of cold water poured on their foreheads. There was silence in the flower hall, only the sound of matches being struck and the thicker smoke of cigars.
Xiao Letian looked at the silent crowd and knew that his goal had been achieved. He took a sip of bitter tea and stood up. "I know that everyone is holding a breath in their hearts. I also know that what happened today is quite cowardly. I also know that the continuous Victory has made you forget yourself."
"But today's incident has sounded a wake-up call for us. He reminded us that we are not as strong as we thought, and we are simply not prepared to face a national war..."
"So I decided... to start negotiations with the Manchus and suspend all revenge plans. If we cannot achieve our goals through head-on confrontation, then we will achieve it at the negotiation table."
"Prime Minister." Luo Huo stood up first, "Are we just going to give in? I don't accept it..."
"Asshole, this is not a matter of submission or disobedience, this is politics, this is a secret war, not to mention that there is nothing that occupies the limelight in the world. We can obtain the right to issue currency by taking advantage of the weak Qing Dynasty energy to lick our wounds. This is We have already taken advantage of it. What is our purpose? It is to use more than ten years to accumulate our strength, complete industrialization and form an army that can protect our country...especially the navy."
"This is our grand strategy and no one can change it. We are not misers. Our business has never been about making money for the sake of making money. What do we want to get, is to be as rich as the country and enjoy happiness?"
"If you think that is your ideal, then I can also imitate Cixi and betray the country. If I sell this country, the handling fee will be enough for our children and grandchildren to enjoy the next eight generations."
Xiao Letian looked at them and said sadly, "But we are not that kind of people. Our purpose is to save the vitality of a country and protect the country from passing through the crisis safely. This is our responsibility. We have figured this out. , do you still care about that little money?"
Luo Huo's aggrieved eyes turned red. "Prime Minister, you know me. I, Luo Huo, don't care about money. The money I have now is enough for me to spend in several lifetimes... I just can't swallow this breath."
"Angry." Xiao Letian shook his head, "If you really love this country, love it to the core, let alone being angry and losing face, even if you are humiliated by Han Xin's crotch, and suffered by Su Wu Beihai all his life, you And I can endure it.”
"Are we not as good as the ancients? Just because of such a small setback, we can't wait to die together." Xiao Letian took out a piece of paper from his pocket.
"This is the news from Marshal Zeng brought by flying pigeons in Shanghai this morning. There is only one word, and that is tolerance. I can understand what Marshal means. Now Zuo Jigao is desperately vomiting blood to pacify Gansu, Shaanxi and the Western Regions. What he is doing What is it? Is it really because of the Manchu Qing Dynasty? No, he is doing it for us Han people or the future of our civilization."
"At this juncture, let's not get into trouble. Let the Manchus get some advantage. Isn't it just a little money? I know what they want to do. They just want to train the new army. Then let's let them train. I, Xiao Letian Your brother must have that ambition and let him train troops. Even if he trains a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and generals, we can still smash him."
Now the atmosphere in the flower hall finally got better, and the gloominess on people's faces finally dissipated.
"Hey, just let the Tatars get some more dividends, and sooner or later, they will spit out their capital and profits..."
"That's right, it doesn't matter whether you have money or not. As the Prime Minister said, more than 10 million square kilometers of land cannot be lost, not even a penny."
Xiao Letian clapped his hands, "That's right. People can't just look at money. What is money? Money is just a tool. As long as we Chinese people are given a space for peaceful development, the hard-working Chinese people can create more wealth." It’s beyond your imagination…”
"What is the national spirit that we want to protect? It is the land left by our ancestors, our national integrity, our culture and wisdom... As long as these things are not lost, we will have a chance to turn over."
"Okay, let's take action. There are still many things to do on the negotiating table."
In the twelfth lunar month of the sixth year of Tongzhi, officials in Ryukyu and Beijing suddenly canceled all holidays and became abnormally busy. Although the telegraph network was initially formed, although some areas still required flying pigeons to deliver messages and express horses, the efficiency was already high. It was very fast. The Manchu and Qing court tasted the benefits of the telegraph network for the first time.
When sending a message from Beijing to Ryukyu, there are two options. One is to send the message directly to Dengzhou, then use a flying pigeon to pass the message straight to Fuso, and then pass it to Ryukyu through a submarine cable.
The other route is to send a message directly to Shanghai, and then change the flying pigeon to send the message directly to Ryukyu. The time of the two routes is about the same, and it takes about three days to arrive.
At this moment, on the sea, the submarine cable from Ryukyu to Fuzhou and Shanghai is being laid, and the submarine cable from Denzhou to North Korea is also being advanced at the same time. If nothing unexpected happens, by May or June next year, a telegraph network for instant transmission of information in East Asia will be formed. .
At that time, Beijing and Ryukyu will be able to communicate with each other instantly.
This negotiation went smoothly beyond everyone's imagination. People thought that Beijing and Ryukyu would quarrel over the details, but they did not expect that both sides actually agreed to make concessions.
This is like fighting a wolf with a straw. Xiao Letian is afraid that the Manchu and Qing court will go crazy, and the Manchu and Qing Dynasty are not willing to see the people's newspapers continue to demagogue people. It is best to maintain the current normalcy.
On the 29th of the twelfth lunar month, the two sides reached a draft, and the Ryukyu side promised to provide Beijing with a full set of printing equipment and technology, and to send engineers to help the imperial court print bonds.
The imperial court also agreed to Ryukyu's proposal. The two parties jointly managed the number of bonds issued, and used the Yellow River as the boundary. The taxes of the provinces north of the Yellow River, including arrears, were used as reserves for Beijing's printed bonds.
The tax arrears of the provinces south of the Yellow River are the reserves for bond printing by Lotte and Yang. The two parties reconcile the accounts every quarter and make a schedule for bond printing in the next quarter.
This is legalizing counterfeit currency. Xiao Letian is very smart. When he found that he could no longer restrain the court's desire to print counterfeit currency to make money, it would be better to directly delegate power and put his desire on track.
Don’t you just need money, then join in, and both parties will make a fortune together, and it is guaranteed that you will earn more than printing counterfeit currency, so the court will naturally lose the motivation to make counterfeit money.
The People's Daily has not been banned, but Xiao Letian promised that every issue of the People's Daily will not contain words that slander the imperial court. In the future, the style of the People's Daily will be transformed into a commercial newspaper, advertising, distributing business information, and introducing world anecdotes. What.
Xiao Letian knew that enlightening people's wisdom should not be too impatient. He should first develop the people's habit of reading newspapers, and then add sand little by little.
It really complied with the old saying that Xiao Letian once said, "The so-called negotiation does not mean that there must be a winner or lose, or that one family must cry and the other laugh. The best negotiation should be one in which both parties and even many parties complain a lot after the result is announced. , are always jumping up and down, but in the end they are able to implement it... This is the highest state of successful negotiation."
On New Year's Eve in the sixth year of Tongzhi, the two sides confirmed the details of the draft for the last time and exchanged telegrams. On the 16th day of the first lunar month, representatives from both sides signed the agreement in Tanggu, and the entire crisis was finally resolved satisfactorily.
