Li Hongzhang smiled faintly and said, "Your people have been returning to Zhongtu for more than half a year, and the court has long wanted to recruit people. However, the current situation is unfortunate. The two palaces are in the west and the capital falls, which is delayed. However, this is not the case. How can you have the opportunity to show your skills and make meritorious contributions? Now you recover Beijing and defeat the Russian army. The situation is settled and you will officially join the court as soon as possible. You can also legitimately establish your foothold in Zhongtu, and the court can also accommodate your family members."

Qin Zheng thought about it and felt that Li Hongzhang's words made sense. Although the Time Travel Group now has territory, army, and reputation, it is short, has not had a long prestige, and has not deep foundations. Therefore, at this time, the banner of the Qing court is still needed. So he nodded and said, "Okay, but I ask the Zhongtang, what procedures do we need to go through to formally submit?"

Li Hongzhang was stunned for a while before he understood the meaning of the word "process", so he explained to Qin Zheng. In fact, there was no clear procedure for the Qing court to surrender to foreign tribes, but after several incidents of surrender to foreign tribes, a set of conventional procedures was formed.

First, the court submitted a letter to the court to express his willingness to surrender, which is equivalent to an application form; and he also had to find a minister to pass the memorial to the court on his behalf, and this minister was like an introducer; and after the court received the memorial to accept it, if it decided to accept it, it would send an imperial envoy to issue an order to commend and comfort the people, and the officials who reported the memorial to the times would also serve as the imperial envoy to comfort the imperial envoy; of course, if there were many people who surrender, or there were any important figures, the court would also recruit the brains of the people who surrendered to the capital, personally receive it, and give rewards, and then place it.

Now Li Hongzhang is equivalent to the introduction of time travelers, and the time travelers need to formally submit to the Qing court. Although the Qing court can only be regarded as an exiled government now, the face of the Celestial Kingdom is still needed.

Qin Zheng had no objection to this process. The Qing court was nothing more than to take face. The current time travel group valued more practical interests and surrendered to the Qing court. First, there was the banner of the Qing court, and second, it was necessary for the Qing court to officially confirm that the time travel group occupied Shandong. The rest of the matter was easy to discuss, but according to the time traveler's plan, it should be to negotiate with various countries first, and then negotiate conditions with the Qing court after the various countries were settled. Therefore, Qin Zheng said: "Zhongtang, surrendering to the imperial court was originally the purpose of our return to China this time, but I think all countries will come to us in the near future and start peace talks again. This is still a major matter of national sovereignty and cannot be easily dealt with. Therefore, I think it is better to deal with the peace talks with various countries first and then discuss our surrender."

Li Hongzhang nodded. This was the same as his idea. From Li Hongzhang's heart, he also hoped that he could handle the peace talks with various countries first and then talk about the affairs of overseas Chinese. After all, handle the affairs of various countries first so as not to cause any trouble. Now overseas Chinese have actually gained a firm foothold on the land of China. Can the court still drive them away? However, that is the affairs of overseas Chinese, but the court cannot be indifferent to overseas Chinese. The attitude of placing a pleading must be made. Otherwise, it may not be easy when discussing with overseas Chinese in the future. You should know that overseas Chinese are not good at all. This is also the reason why Li Hongzhang strongly suggests that the court issue an order to plead overseas Chinese as soon as possible.

As for Empress Dowager Cixi's little thoughts, even if there is no hint, Li Hongzhang understood that, based on Li Hongzhang's understanding of overseas Chinese, their main purpose was to gain a place to establish a foothold in separatism and would not easily intervene in the mother-son dispute between the emperor and the empress dowager, and this happened to be where the empress dowager and overseas Chinese could trade.

So Li Hongzhang said: "It's good, but peace talks with various countries and the court can be held at the same time. You may as well submit a letter to ask for help and surrender. For such a major event, the court will make an instruction and take some time before sending an imperial envoy to appease the people. Moreover, with the merits made by the people, the court will definitely recruit the people, reward them in person, and then place them in person. This will take a lot of time. You can also hold peace talks with other countries. If the statement is not made at that time, I can submit the court on my behalf, and the actions of diligent observation can also be postponed."

Qin Zheng thought about it and felt that Li Hongzhang's arrangement was good. After all, the two things that were discussed with various countries and surrendered to the Qing court were decided as soon as possible. For the Time Travel Group, what is most needed now is a stable development time. However, some things must be explained to Li Hongzhang and asked him to convey to the Qing court. So Qin Zheng nodded and said, "It's better to have such an arrangement. Zhongtang is indeed Lao Cheng and is very serious, but some things still need to be talked too in person. I hope Zhongtang can convey them to the court on our behalf."

Li Hongzhang understood in his heart that overseas Chinese are going to set up conditions, but he just hoped that overseas Chinese would not ask for a huge price. So he said, "What do you want to do with the public? I'd like to ask, but I'd better say that, I will convey it to the court on my behalf."

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "Okay, we will return Beijing to the court and withdraw all the troops, but we require the court to hand over Tianjin and Shandong to us to garrison and govern themselves, and have absolutely independent administrative, financial, tax, and military power. The court cannot interfere. Of course, in the famous discussion, we still belong to the court's rule. The relevant details can be negotiated in detail in the future."

Li Hongzhang was not only shocked. Although he expected that overseas Chinese would speak loudly, he did not expect that the mouth was too big. Overseas Chinese demanded to separatist one side and autonomy, but Li Hongzhang ignored it, but thought that giving overseas Chinese a state capital was enough. Now overseas Chinese have occupied Qingdao and Weihaiwei? It is just right to divide Laizhou Prefecture or Dengzhou Prefecture to overseas Chinese, but he did not expect that overseas Chinese would have to have the entire Shandong Province as soon as they opened their mouths. In the history of the Qing Dynasty, that is, when they entered the pass and were enthroned by the Three Feudalists, there would be an old case of a province being classified as a fiefdom of one person or a certain force.

However, overseas Chinese are quite similar to the Three Feudalists at that time. They both made great contributions to the Qing court and held heavy troops to command the court to Yan Ji. Therefore, not being able to establish a king and establish a vassal is not enough to reward his merits and appease his heart. However, the original title of kings and establishment of a vassal was a temporary measure, because the Qing court could not always ignore local forces that were not bound by the court, and they were like independent kingdoms. The Three Feudalists would not be willing to give up their power, and they even had further ambitions based on this power. Therefore, when setting up a vassal, it was destined that the Qing court and the Three Feudalists could not coexist for a long time. Now the demands of overseas Chinese are almost the same as setting up a vassal, which actually destined that overseas Chinese and the Qing court would not coexist for a long time.

Of course, this was already expected by Li Hongzhang. In fact, he had long expected that overseas Chinese would not be willing to lie dormant under the rule of the Qing court, and would sooner or later replace it. Of course, this would be a relatively long process. Li Hongzhang believed that it would take at least 2 or 3 years. At that time, Li Hongzhang had already passed away, and was out of sight and was not upset, regardless of the Qing court.

Now the Qing court has no capital to bargain with overseas Chinese. It’s just that the Three Feudatories set up by the Qing court that year was not in southern China, far away from Beijing, and there was no direct threat to the Qing court. The fiefdoms required by overseas Chinese were Shandong, almost close to Beijing, and overseas Chinese also demanded to occupy Tianjin, which was closer to Beijing, almost every day. Therefore, for the Qing court, it was equivalent to putting themselves under a dangerous city. But now it is impossible to seal overseas Chinese to the south. First, overseas Chinese will definitely not go; second, the foreigners in the south are very powerful, and they probably don’t want overseas Chinese to be autonomous in the south.

Seeing Li Hongzhang's face look embarrassed, Qin Zheng said, "What? Does the Zhongtang think the court will not agree to our conditions?"

Li Hongzhang smiled bitterly and said, "I will report to the court truthfully for your request, but it is not my ability to agree." After a pause, Li Hongzhang said, "But it is difficult for you to ask for autonomy in the entire province of Shandong. It is better to just seek autonomy in the four prefectures of Qingyi. I am a little sure enough to convince the court."

Qin Zheng looked at Li Hongzhang and said seriously: "Then the Zhongtang would better tell the court again that what we requested is the whole province of Shandong, not a part. The court must agree to this, without any dismantling. If the court does not agree to our conditions, the court will bear the consequences."

The four prefectures of Denglai and Qingyi mentioned by Li Hongzhang are actually part of the peninsula in Shandong Province. Although in terms of land area, it is about half of the entire Shandong province and basically includes most of Shandong's coastline, in this era, the population, mineral resources, and social and economic development levels of some parts of Shandong's peninsula are far less than those of the six regions within. Therefore, Li Hongzhang feels that it is better to hand over these four prefectures to overseas Chinese than to hand over the entire Shandong Province to overseas Chinese, and can also limit the expansion of overseas Chinese.

However, for the Time Travel Group, it is necessary to control Shandong Province in order to ensure that there is enough population and mineral resources to develop modern industry, so it is impossible to accept Li Hongzhang's suggestions.
Chapter completed!