Li Hongzhang was stunned for a moment and couldn't help feeling a little uncomfortable. Although Xia Bohai's statement was not directed at himself, under the favorable conditions, he signed a treaty that was not conducive to the Qing Dynasty. Li Hongzhang did not do much in such a thing, and recommended that it was the [Vietnam Treaty] signed by China and France. Of course, whether the signing of this treaty was due to France's victory and the Qing court was due to unbeaten, there was still considerable historical controversy. Then, the [China-Japan-Beijing Special Agreement] signed by Li Hongzhang in 1874 was an irrefutable treaty that paid compensation when the situation was dominant.

The background of the signing of the [China-Japan-Japan-Beijing Special Agreement] was in 1874. The Japanese government used the excuse of killing Ryukyu fishermen in the Taiwan War to invade Taiwan by the excuse of Taiwanese residents killing Ryukyu fishermen. However, due to the huge gap in strength between Japan and China at that time, and the local environment was not suitable for the Japanese war in Taiwan. Seeing that it was impossible to occupy Taiwan by force, the Japanese government signed the "Swap clauses and exchange certificates between Japan and Qing Countries" with the Qing government in the same year (also known as [China-Japan-Beijing Special Agreement]). Although the Qing government forced Japan to withdraw its troops from Taiwan, it paid 50,000 taels of silver compensation to Japan, and also admitted that the Ryukyu people were Japanese people. As a result, Japan had sufficient excuses to completely annex the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1879 and change it to Okinawa Prefecture.

Although this treaty was not famous in history and did not pay much compensation, it was signed by the Qing court with an absolute military advantage, which not only encouraged Japan's ambition to expand externally, but also allowed Japan to see through the weak and incompetent nature of the Qing court, laying the groundwork for the subsequent Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. The signer of this treaty was Li Hongzhang.

However, now Li Hongzhang could only smile bitterly and said, "You are brave and good at fighting. I admire you very much. Moreover, since you returned to China, you have indeed won the Eight-Nation Alliance in a row. Both the 6th line of the Sea have made great achievements. However, the power of the Eight-Nation is not comparable to that of our Qing Dynasty. Moreover, although you are good at fighting, the 6th army is only thousands and the navy is only several warships. Among the eight countries, only one or two countries are angry and angry. The soldiers who are thriving in the war will start again.

So how to resist? Even if you can win, your vitality will be severely damaged. Other countries may take advantage of the situation, and what if they do. Therefore, it is better to make a little concession to each country to avoid starting a war again. After the situation in the Qing Dynasty is stable, the court will definitely think about reform and strive to govern in order to enrich the country and strengthen the army. The nobles have great potential. When the Qing Dynasty's national strength is strong and the military is in good condition, they will try to avenge their shame and revenge. I wonder what Commander Xia thinks?"

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "What Zhongtang said is not unreasonable. We don't know how much we have after winning a few battles. In fact, we only have more than 6,000 people. Any country in the Eight-Nation Alliance has its overall strength above us. If there is really a country attacking the whole country, it will be difficult for us to resist."

Li Hongzhang couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this. He thought Xia Bohai would still argue with him, but he didn't expect Xia Bohai to admit frankly that his strength was indeed not as good as any country in the Eight-Nation Alliance. However, Li Hongzhang also understood that Xia Bohai said this not to make concessions to him, but that there must be some information.

Sure enough, Xia Bohai continued: "But among the Eight Kingdoms, Japan and Russia are only close to the Qing Dynasty. The other six countries are all separated from China by oceans, with a distance of more than ten thousand miles. If you want to attack China with the power of the whole country, it must be a labor force to attack China. Not only does it cost a lot, but there are too many variables in it, so it may not be possible to make a move. The Eight-Nation Alliance is not a monolithic body, and there are deep contradictions between each other. Therefore, we believe that the current scale of the war is the limit that countries can reach, and it is difficult for the Eight-Nation Alliance to expand the scale of the war."

Li Hongzhang said silently. At this time, Li Jingfang said: "Commander Xia, you said that the Eight-Nation Alliance is very conflicting with each other, I don't know how to tell me?"

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "Political Commissar Qin, please explain this. He is very knowledgeable about the general trend of the world."

Qin Zheng said: "Let's talk about Britain first. Although Britain is the world's largest power today, Britain is now engaged in the Boer War in Africa. It has invested more than 400,000 troops and spent 20,000 pounds. However, the situation is still shady and the outcome is uncertain. Therefore, Britain cannot engage in another large-scale war at this time. France and Germany have become enemies in the French-Prussian War and restrain each other in Europe. Now Germany is strong and France is weak. Of course, France does not dare to invest too much strength overseas. The German Expeditionary Force has just been defeated by us, and the army and fleets are all It has been wiped out and lost Qingdao. It has no foothold in the Far East, so it is naturally unable to dispatch its troops. The United States just defeated Spain two years ago and accepted Spanish colonies in the Americas and Asia. It is now digesting. Moreover, the United States is not known for its military strength, so of course it will not easily invest its troops. As for Italy and Austro-Hungarian Empire, it was originally a way to make up the numbers. Britain, France, Germany and the United States did not act, and they would never dare to act rashly. Therefore, the six European and American countries are actually not worth worrying about."

After hearing what Qin Zheng said, Li Hongzhang and others felt a sudden realization. In fact, Li Hongzhang and others had seen some of the things that Qin Zheng said in newspapers of various countries in Shanghai, but they were all limbs, scales and claws, and they couldn't understand the key points after reading them. However, Qin Zheng linked these things together, which gave them a general understanding of the current world trend. According to Qin Zheng, at least the six countries of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, and Italy are sure that it is unlikely that they will invest more troops into the Chinese battlefield.

Although Li Hongzhang wanted to refute, he could not find a suitable reason. After all, Li Hongzhang was the most knowledgeable Chinese in this era and would not denounce Qin Zheng's words as nonsense. However, Li Hongzhang did not have a real world consciousness. His understanding of the world was actually only limited to a local area with China as the core, and he did not have a clear understanding of the overall world trend. After all, China is not the center of the world situation in this era, and Li Hongzhang is like this, let alone Li Jingfang, Zhang Peilun, and Sa Zhenbing.

At this time, Qin Zheng said: "Along with the two countries, Japan and Russia, compared with the six countries of Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Austria and Italy, these two countries are very close to China. Russia has a wide border with China, while Japan faces China across the sea. However, Russia's territory is vast, but its focus is still in the European part, not in the Far East, and it is separated by the vast Siberia in the middle, which is all barren land. Therefore, Russia has to mobilize troops from the European part to the Far East, which is not as difficult as Britain, France, Germany, America, Austria and Italy. This time, Russia took advantage of the Boxer Rebellion and dispatched 120,000 troops to occupy the northeast of our country. This is Russia. The ultimate force that can be mobilized in the Far East. Moreover, after Russia occupied our northeastern region, the military front was pushed to the Korean Peninsula, which seriously threatened Japan's interests in the Korean Peninsula, and Britain would not sit idly by and watch Russia expand in the Far East. Although Britain's national strength is insufficient, the remaining power is still there, and it is just right to use Japan's power to curb Russia's expansion. Not long ago, Japan and Russia almost fought on the Korean Peninsula, and the crisis on the Korean Peninsula has not been completely resolved. Therefore, Japan and Russia are now restraining each other and it is impossible to invest more troops in China."

Xia Bohai continued: "So as long as we pull Japan back in this negotiation, we say that we can work with Japan to deal with Russia's expansion in the northeastern region of our country, Japan will definitely make some concessions to us in the negotiations. In addition, Britain is about to use Japan's power to curb Russia, so it is naturally optimistic and will not embarrass us too much in the negotiations. France and Russia form an alliance to fight against Germany together, so naturally they will not hope that Russia will invest too much in Asia, and it can also be used for us. Not only can it build France well, but it can also put pressure on Russia through France to force Russia to accept our conditions, and what is to withdraw from the northeastern region, so the entire Eight-Nation Alliance will completely collapse."

After listening to the two of them, Li Hongzhang and others did not come back to their senses for a long time. Because Li Hongzhang has always advocated using barbarians to control barbarians. Although he has achieved some success, overall, it is not a success. He suffered a lot of losses. On the one hand, although the Qing court itself is limited, it also requires enough capital to play such a game of winning one sect and fighting one sect. On the other hand, it is also because Li Hongzhang's limited knowledge and does not have a real world vision. Although China is not the center of the world, it is a big country with a large population and a vast territory. Every move will have a strong impact on the whole world. Therefore, to play the role of unity and unity and use barbarians to control barbarians, you must want to put your vision in the world perspective, otherwise you will not be able to play this game.

However, although Li Hongzhang could not find a reason to refute, he did not fully agree with Xia Bohai and Qin Zheng's views. He always felt that their gameplay was too risky. Is the Eight-Nation Alliance so easy to fool? The Qing Dynasty cannot stand the demolition now. Therefore, Li Hongzhang thought about it and said: "What you said just now makes sense, but things are unpredictable. You really dare to assert that no country will reject the terms of peace talks proposed by you. Will the Qing Dynasty increase its troops?"

Xia Bohai smiled and said, "Of course we cannot guarantee 100% that one or two countries will send troops to attack China regardless of everything, but if such a thing happens, we will definitely fight to the end, and I firmly believe that the final victory must belong to us."
Chapter completed!