After hearing Li Hongzhang's words, Huo Bilan felt that his attitude was indeed a bit too much, because overseas Chinese belong to foreign forces, and no matter how they counted, they could not count on Li Hongzhang. Therefore, he said: "Of course I know what Master Zhongtang said, but Master Zhongtang has direct contact with overseas Chinese, so this Master Zhongtang cannot deny it."

Li Hongzhang laughed and said, "Of course."

Huo Bilan said: "So I hope Lord Zhongtang can convey what I said just now to overseas Chinese."

Li Hongzhang raised his head and said, "Of course, but do you have any other opinions from the Consul who need to convey, such as whether you are asking overseas Chinese to return Weihaiwei to your country?"

Huo Bilan shook his head and said, "No, Lord Zhongtang just needs to bring my words to you. If overseas Chinese don't want to be enemies with our British Empire, they should know what to do."

Although Huo Bilan was so angry with the time traveler, he had not completely lost his mind. In fact, he knew that what he had just said was not very effective even if it was passed on to overseas Chinese. Since overseas Chinese had already captured Weihaiwei, there was no reason to return it to Britain. After all, any tough diplomatic words were backed by force. Overseas Chinese were not the Qing court. They could scare them by saying a few harsh words, unless they sent ten battleships from the British, they might also have some effect.

My actions were actually for other countries, and the Qing court saw them. After all, overseas Chinese were the first to attack Britain, and Britain had no other choice in a short period of time, so they had to take a stance no matter what.

Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "Okay, once overseas Chinese respond, I will notify your country immediately."

After Huo Bilan said goodbye, Li Hongzhang did not dare to neglect it. He immediately called Zhang Peilun and asked him to generate electricity for Tianjin immediately, convey Huo Bilan's words to overseas Chinese, and also made a request to overseas Chinese that they hoped to visit Tianjin again.

Huo Bilan's words just now scared the overseas Chinese and did not know that it was not known, but it did make Li Hongzhang nervous. The UK was very angry and the consequences were very serious. Although Li Hongzhang did not think that overseas Chinese would make concessions easily, he still had to work hard to win, hoping to understand the benefits and subdue overseas Chinese. Li Hongzhang even planned to go to Tianjin if necessary, even if it was to touch the bottom of overseas Chinese.

Zhang Peilun naturally understood what Li Hongzhang meant, so he immediately sent a newspaper to Tianjin and conveyed Li Hongzhang's request. After the telegram was sent, it was only a little over a time before Tianjin's reply was received. The traveler first stated that regaining Weihaiwei is to safeguard China's national interests, and this is the obligation of every Yan and Huang Jisun. Therefore, Weihaiwei will never be returned to the UK. If the UK really decides to send troops, it will hit the UK head-on and defeat the British century's majesty. And the traveler also welcomed Zhang Peilun's request to visit Tianjin again, but the time and itinerary of the whole body must discuss the time and itinerary, and will reply in the past few days.

Of course, Li Hongzhang didn't know that in fact, the time traveler really hoped that Britain would increase its troops and send a powerful fleet to China, because in this era, the time traveler could destroy the fleet of any country, and the time traveler could establish his authority through this battle, so that all countries knew that the time traveler was not easy to mess with, and any behavior that challenged the time traveler would have to pay a heavy price. But the time traveler would never compromise with the United Kingdom, but expressed it very clearly. Of course, the time traveler still gave Li Hongzhang enough and did not refuse Zhang Peilun's request to go to Tianjin. However, under such circumstances, even if Zhang Peilun went to Tianjin, he would probably not have any results.

In addition, Li Hongzhang also thought that Shandong is not only a foreign leased land, Weihaiwei, but also Qingdao. Will overseas Chinese take over Qingdao after seizing Weihaiwei? But this is really difficult. After all, overseas Chinese have even provoked Britain, so I am afraid they don’t care about provoking Germany again.

In fact, it was not just Li Hongzhang who thought so. After the time travelers captured Weihaiwei, the most embarrassing was undoubtedly the British, while the most nervous was the Germans. Because Qingdao was only more than 200 kilometers from Weihaiwei, and the sea route was less than 300 kilometers. Therefore, the Germans immediately thought about whether the next target of overseas Chinese would be to attack Qingdao. The Germans did not forget that the German fleet, which was originally held high by Germany and the entire Eight-Nation Alliance, was a fleet that was defeated by overseas Chinese. There were more than 30 ships of various types, and only seven fled to Qingdao.

There are now about 600 German troops in Qingdao, all of which are transferred from Germany. Therefore, their strength is of course much stronger than the British troops of Weihaiwei, but the original conditions in Qingdao were much worse than those of Weihaiwei. Weihaiwei was originally one of the two berthing bases of the Beiyang Fleet, with all infrastructure and fortifications very complete. Although it was damaged in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, it was not damaged, and it only took a little repair.

When Germany leased Qingdao, it was just a fishing village. Although Qingdao had a superior geographical location and Germany had formulated plans to build Qingdao, it was only more than two years after all, and most of the engineering projects were still on the drawings. Now only a few basic projects such as military camps, docks, hospitals, and roads have been completed. Shipyards, arsenals, and projects invested and started by German merchants are still far from completion. The other is that the German Governor in Jiaoao (Qingdao) does not have a special Governor's Office, but temporarily lives in the yamen of Zhang Gaoyuan, the former general of Jiaoao in Jiaoao in Qingting. Therefore, there are almost no sea and land defense fortifications in Qingdao now.

In addition, although the German army has more troops than the British army of Weihaiwei and is much higher in quality, it has only more than 600 people after all, and the navy is even less needed. It is originally a defeated general of overseas Chinese. Therefore, although Ye Shike, the governor of Jiaoao, Germany, has ordered to start preparing to defend Qingdao, it is not easy for Qingdao to defend Qingdao with the current strength. Ye Shike also generated electricity to the domestic market, saying that it would be very difficult to defend Qingdao if there were no reinforcements.

But both the German country and the German consulate in Shanghai were helpless, because it was obviously too late to transfer troops from Germany to reinforce. Germany only had the only colony of Yudao in the Far East. Other colonies were either islands in the Pacific Ocean or Africa. It was better to transfer troops from these places than to mobilize troops from China.

Even if the country cannot rely on it, it is okay to borrow some troops from allies or friendly countries. Now Shanghai has only 10,000 troops, mainly the troops of Britain, France, the United States and Japan.

It turned out that in June, the Boxer Rebellion in northern China reached its peak and there was a trend of vibrating to the south. Some cities in the south even appeared as if they were claiming to be Boxer organizations, which naturally attracted the attention of Britain, who had the greatest interests and the most powerful in the Yangtze River Basin. Therefore, Huo Bilan called the country and suggested taking measures to maintain order in the Yangtze River Basin. Shanghai sent the Fairy and Cardinal warships to Nanjing and Hankou to guard the warships. The Fearless warships, which were originally stationed in Hong Kong, were stationed in Shanghai. At the same time, about 5,000 troops were drawn from India, Hong Kong and other places to land in Shanghai, and then stationed in Nanjing and Hankou respectively.

Although the Qing court's Southeast Governor and consuls of Shanghai later signed Southeast Mutual Protection to ensure the security order in Southeast China, and the Qing court's governors were responsible for the spread of the Boxer Rebellion to the south, they also asked all countries not to send troops and warships to the southeast China. Although the UK also signed the [Southeast Mutual Protection Charter], it still found various excuses to send troops to Shanghai.

In fact, Britain's goal is not only to maintain order in the Yangtze River Basin, but to use the Boxer Rebellion in the north to develop along the Yangtze River to China's inland, expand its sphere of influence in China, and it is best to include the entire Yangtze River Basin under the control of Britain.

In August, Major General Seymour, who participated in the Eight-Nation Alliance, led the first batch of British troops to Shanghai. Although Chinese officials repeatedly negotiated with the UK, Seymour and Huo Bilan still left 000 soldiers stationed in Shanghai on the grounds of defending Shanghai.

However, Britain's wishful thinking cannot be hidden from other countries. Of course, all countries will not sit idly by and watch Britain send troops regardless of it. Because it is France, the United States and Japan, it also has many interests in the southeastern region of China, and these three countries have troops to adjust, so they all sent troops to Shanghai, of course, the reason is to defend Shanghai. Although Russia, Germany, Austria, Italy and other countries have little interests in the southeastern region of China or have no soldiers available, they all followed suit because Britain could not dominate China. As a result, by the end of August, the troops of France, the United States and Japan also entered Shanghai, making the garrison of Shanghai reach 10,000.

Chinese officials took the opportunity to negotiate with various countries and demanded that the troops were only limited to Shanghai and could not spread to the mainland. On the one hand, Britain was angry and unrestrained, and on the other hand, various countries restrained each other and formed a balance, so countries could only compromise again. So now Shanghai still has enough troops. If one or two thousand reinforcements are drawn from it, the chance of defending Qingdao will naturally be greatly increased.

But Germany was very sad to find that these four countries had no friendship with Germany, and France did not need to do so. Since the French-Prussian War, Germany and France have become mortal enemies. The relationship between Germany and Britain has been deteriorating in recent years. Although it is not completely hostile, it is definitely not friendly. Therefore, I hope that Britain and France will send troops to reinforce Qingdao, so I don’t even think about it.
Chapter completed!