After returning to Lishunde Hotel, Li Jingfang, Zhang Peilun and Sa Zhenbing gathered in Li Hongzhang's room to discuss the content of today's talks.

Li Hongzhang said: "What do you think about the attitude of overseas Chinese towards this negotiation?"

Zhang Peilun hesitated for a moment before saying, "Zhongtang, Peilun thought that although Commander Xia's words just now were a bit too much, it was because they had lived overseas for a long time. They were unfamiliar with Chinese etiquette, not intentionally disrespectful to the court, but their words were not unreasonable. In this negotiation, we were indeed dominant in the situation, so we could not easily cede land and pay compensation."

Li Jingfang also said: "Yes, father, since overseas Chinese are full of confidence, then let them negotiate with other countries first during negotiations. If they can really negotiate without cede land and not pay compensation, it is not a good thing. If the negotiation fails, the father will come forward to ease and make a little concession, and overseas Chinese will have nothing to say."

Sa Zhenbing also said: "The middle hall is still a military general. The reason should not be involved in this matter, but if these things can be negotiated without cede land and compensation, it will be considered a blessing for the country."

Li Hongzhang nodded slightly. Of course, he knew that these people actually agreed with the negotiation proposal of overseas Chinese not to cede land and not to pay compensation. This is of course understandable. After all, in the past few decades, the Qing Dynasty has almost never ceded land or to pay compensation. It is extremely humiliating. If we can use the power of overseas Chinese to negotiate a peace agreement that does not cede land and does not pay compensation, it is indeed a diplomatic victory that has never been seen in the past few decades.

In fact, Li Hongzhang did not want to sign a peace agreement with a foreign country that would not cede land or pay compensation. After all, a considerable number of peace agreements that would cede land and pay compensation were signed by Li Hongzhang, and he also had a lot of infamy. Now Li Hongzhang is a 78-year-old man, and he knows that he has not had a few days to live. If he can sign a peace agreement that can be proud in his later years, it can be considered as a safeguard for a night of peace.

However, Li Hongzhang is not Li Jingfang after all, Zhang Peilun and Sa Zhenbing are comparable. The reason for overseas Chinese is to protect the interests of the Chinese nation. It is upright and irrefutable, but Li Hongzhang knew in his heart that the goal of overseas Chinese is not just this. Overseas Chinese have achieved extraordinary military achievements on the battlefield. If they win again at the negotiating table, then overseas Chinese will be at its peak in China. If overseas Chinese just want this false reputation, it is still acceptable, but overseas Chinese obviously have no ambitions.

The Jingfang, Zhang Peilun, and Sa Zhenbing only looked at the first basis of negotiation proposed by overseas Chinese, which was to not cede land or pay compensation. However, Li Hongzhang noticed the second article, overseas Chinese demanded to take over Beijing. Of course, Li Hongzhang knew the political significance of Beijing. Once overseas Chinese controlled Beijing, it meant that they had completely controlled the lifeblood of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the strong combat power of Shanghai Chinese, who knew what they would do next? Controlling the royal family of the Qing court and using the emperor to command the princes? It is not impossible to replace it.

Of course, Li Hongzhang was still loyal, so from his heart, he did not want to follow the pace of overseas Chinese. Moreover, if he made some concessions to various countries and reached peace talks as soon as possible, even if he ceded land and paid compensation, he would not spare any effort. He would not allow overseas Chinese to take full advantage, and let the empress dowager and the emperor return to Beijing as soon as possible to regain the capital. This would be the most beneficial result for the Qing court. In this way, overseas Chinese would at most become a separatist force, and the overall threat to the Qing Dynasty would be much smaller. Moreover, in the future, the Qing Dynasty could still rely on its overall national strength to slowly and gradually eliminate it.

However, only Li Hongzhang could understand the truth in this. Of course, the old lady who fled to Xi'an might also understand it, but Li Jingfang, Zhang Peilun, and Sa Zhenbing were obviously still a little tender. Li Hongzhang couldn't explain this truth in detail to them, so he had to say, "It's just that the court doesn't think so. You all know the telegram from the court."

Xia Bohai could say without hesitation that "the interests of the Chinese nation cannot be sacrificed to safeguard the private interests of each family." However, Li Jingfang, Zhang Peilun, and Sa Zhenbing did not dare to make any slight words to the Qing court. So the Qing court has been forced to do so, but after all, the Qing court has had 25 years of rule and has been deeply rooted.

After a while, Li Jing said: "Father, it's useless to say that it's not helpful to me. Now I'll give the content of today's talks to the court as soon as possible, and the court will decide."

Li Hongzhang nodded, and could only do this. After all, it is impossible for him to change his attitude from overseas Chinese now, so he said, "Youqiao, you can write this telegram."

Zhang Peilun nodded and said, "Yes." He paused and said, "Zhongtang, overseas Chinese arranged for us to visit their factory in the afternoon, will we still go?"

Li Hongzhang said: "Of course we have to go."

The factory where the traveler arranged for Li Hongzhang and his party to observe was a textile factory that had just been established.

The textile industry is an important basic industry that concerns the national economy and people's livelihood, and is also a pillar industry in the early stages of the First Industrial Revolution. A large number of early steam engines were used in the textile industry, which led to the textile industry from individual handicrafts toward mechanized production and created a large number of industrial workers. The development of the textile industry has in turn driven the post-exhibition of machine production, steel, coal mining and other industries, forming a virtuous cycle and promoting the high development of the capitalist economy.

Although the textile industry is no longer an emerging industry and its profits have dropped significantly, fabric is a necessary daily necessity in every country. Moreover, the textile industry has a low threshold, low technical difficulty, and easy to get started. The demand for society is huge. Even if it is small profit, it is still profitable. The proportion of female workers in the textile industry in the domestic and foreign textile industry is relatively large, which also has a great promoting effect on improving women's social status and liberating social labor. Therefore, in the countries that have been developed later, the textile industry is still regarded as the main industry in the early stages of industrialization in their own country.

The Meiji Restoration that began in Japan in this era was to list the textile industry as the main industry to promote its economic development. Until the Meiji Restoration was carried out for more than 30 years, textile products were still the main source of Japan's foreign exchange income. By 19oo, Japan's raw silk export volume had reached the world's first place. However, the exhibition of Japan's textile industry did not rely on technological progress or enterprise management, but was based on the cruel narrowing of its workers.

In China, cloth, grain and salt are called three daily necessities related to people's livelihood. For a long time in ancient China, cloth, grain and salt can be used as currency. Moreover, Tianjin's geographical location determines that Tianjin is not suitable for heavy industry. Light industry, such as the textile industry, which does not have high technical requirements and is related to national economic life, is more suitable for building factories in Tianjin. Time travelers themselves need a large amount of cloth. Therefore, in the standardization of time travelers, textile factories will be the key exhibition project in Tianjin.

The location of the textile factory is the original Zizhulin Military Camp. When the travelers first occupied Tianjin, they stationed their troops here. Now the army has withdrawn. The building of the military camp is relatively wide and it is more suitable to use it as a textile factory. There are many open spaces around, leaving enough space for the expansion of the textile factory in the future.

However, although the machinery and equipment of the textile factory has been installed and debugged, it has not officially opened yet, and there is not even a formal factory name. At this time, personnel training is still being conducted. The French technicians who installed the machinery have not returned to China during the production trial operation stage. They are still teaching the time travelers and workers to use these machinery and equipment in the textile factory. But this is the factory that has been invested by the time travelers so far, and it is also the first factory created entirely by the time travelers themselves. For example, other timber factories, vehicle factories, glass factories, brick factories, printing factories, etc., they are renovated after the local factories acquired by the time travelers. Therefore, letting Li Hongzhang and others visit this textile factory that has not yet officially started can better show the attitude and ability of the time travelers in establishing an industry.

The director of the textile factory is Tian Zechu, who is one of the first project leaders to participate in the construction of the new countryside. Because according to the principle that those with grassroots work experience are preferred, all the directors of these factories in Tianjin have participated in the construction of the new countryside. Tian Zechu was appointed as the director of the textile factory because he worked in a textile factory for a year when he was young.

It turned out that Tian Zechu's parents were employees of a state-owned towel factory in the old time and space, and their service years had passed 30 years. After Tian Zechu graduated from university, his parents asked him to work in the towel factory. However, Tian Zechu studied in college as a professional in the construction of the industry, which was completely different from the professional of the towel factory, so he could only do some physical work. Moreover, Tian Zechu could not stand the working environment of the towel factory, so he left the towel factory after only one year and went to a private construction company, and then gradually became the engineering manager of the previous construction project.

Although Tian Zechu only worked in the towel factory for a year and was not a technical job, the towel factory was in the textile industry after all, and Tian Zechu's parents were both workers in the textile industry for life. Tian Zechu has been influenced by it since childhood, never eaten pork, and has always seen pig runs. Therefore, the Executive Committee appointed Tian Zechu as the director of the textile factory. In addition, 15 time travelers were arranged to work in the textile factory, serving as managers and technical jobs at all levels, and are also the one with the most time travelers in each factory.

Tian Zechu was also very satisfied with this appointment. Although the textile industry is not an emerging industry, it is an important basic industry related to the national economy and people's livelihood and will never be outdated. Moreover, the textile factory is also a state-owned enterprise, which has an administrative level. Even if the textile factory cannot be ranked as a state-level enterprise in the future, it can still be considered a provincial-level state-owned enterprise. The administrative level of the factory director should be the bureau-level. This is a pretty good result. In the old time and space, if you can survive the sky, you can become a project leader, and it is almost impossible for bureau-level cadres to achieve.
Chapter completed!