On December 23, the Russian telegram officially approved was sent to the Russian Consulate in Tianjin. The Russian government agreed to the negotiation conditions of the Minister to China Kuman and Wang Chenhao. Therefore, Kuman and Wang Chenhao agreed to formal negotiations on the 24th and sign a contract.

In the past few days, the ambassadors and consular personnel from various countries have basically known the negotiation conditions between the Qing and Russia, and they have their own thoughts.

The most responsive one was the British. The British Minister Dou Nale rushed to Tianjin from Beijing and met with Wang Chenhao and Li Hongzhang many times, suggesting that he continue to attack the Russian army in the Far East, and at the same time, extorting Russia as much as possible in negotiations.

The British's purpose was very obvious, which was to weaken the Russian Far East military power as much as possible.

However, Wang Chenhao understood the purpose of the British. In order to avoid excessively weakening Russia and avoid the British's strategic goal from targeting Russia to targeting China, Wang Chenhao politely rejected Dou Nale's suggestion and chose to sign a contract with Russia on the grounds that the court forced him to end the war before the end of the year and the court could not continue to pay huge war expenses.

On December 24, 1896, November 19, the 22nd year of the Guangxu period, the Governor's Office of Zhili, Tianjin.

The Qing Empire's minister of plenipotentiary power over Russia, Wang Chenhao, and Russian minister of plenipotentiary power over Russia, signed the Qing-Russian "Tianjin Armistice Agreement". Since the two sides had reached a compromise in previous closed-door meetings, the negotiations on the Japanese departure only took a formality and directly concluded a armistice agreement.

It is not clear whether it is Wang Chenhao or Kuman. Both sides have their own ulterior motives and have their own purposes. This can be seen from the fact that the two sides signed a melee agreement rather than a real peace treaty. The melee agreement only stipulates that the Qing and Russia end the state of war, and the two sides return to the state of pre-conflict, and stipulates that there will be no more military conflict within five years of the agreement. In a broad sense, this is just a buffer 1

It shows that Russia is unwilling to admit its failure, and the concessions in front of it are only temporary. Russia, which is unwilling to fail, will use this period of time to actively reserve military forces and wait for the time to ripe before finding the place from the Qing Empire.

Similarly, Wang Chenhao also understood that the Russians were just a temporary choice to give in. With Russia's military strength and contempt for the Qing Empire, they would definitely not be willing to suffer losses. In addition, Japan took the initiative to withdraw from North Korea, eased the conflict between Russia and Japan. Russia turned its finger to the Qing Empire, which in turn made the conflict between Qing and Russia irreconcilable. Wang Chenhao's Russo-Japanese War in that era could no longer break out, and it would be replaced by an unprecedented total Qing and Russia war.

According to the agreement, Russia will return more than one million square kilometers of land forcibly occupied by Russia in the two treaties of the Sino-Russia Discussion of the Northwest Border and the Aihui Treaty, but Russia takes time to deal with it under the pretext of post-care. The Russian military facilities on these territories also require relocation and redemption negotiations, so the Russians took the opportunity to deliberately delay, and the local officials of the Qing Empire who were responsible for receiving these lands were still cowardly and incompetent, making the return of these lands stipulated in the agreement a piece of paper.

The Russians used tricks, and Wang Chenhao also did not sincerely give the Russians the money for redemption. Wang Chenhao used the excuse that the Russians were delaying the return of the territory, so more than 40,000 Russian prisoners of war were suspended from returning to Russia. Since these prisoners of war required silver to eat, drink, remove and sleep, Wang Chenhao used them as free labor and sent them to Heilongjiang and the Ussuri River to build river defense fortifications. The labor efficiency of these 40,000 Russian prisoners of war was equivalent to 100,000 young and strong migrant workers, and they did not require labor costs, which was really cost-effective.

Russia protested accordingly, but Wang Chenhao answered that when did they return the land and when would they repatriate prisoners of war? So the Qing and Russia had a long negotiation and negotiation on this series of post-war issues. However, it was not until the Qing and Russia broke out again that the two sides did not reach an agreement. It was not until many years after the full-scale war that these prisoners of war were repatriated back to the country. Most of the prisoners of war had been free laborers in China for more than ten years. Of course, these were later stories.

After the signing of the Tianjin Armistice Agreement, the Qing and Russia officially announced the end of the state of war and returned to the state of peace between the two countries before the war. The Russian Cossack Cavalry Regiment also withdrew from Heilongjiang and Ménggu, and the Qing government also lifted the assembly order of the Ménggu cavalry. The two countries agreed to lift the war mobilization order, and at the same time the army's combat readiness level was reduced on both sides of the border. One month later, from level one combat readiness to level two, two months later, and the combat readiness status was lifted. The troops of both sides evacuated and the police border patrol were restored.

With the end of the Qing and Russia war in the Northeast, the people of the two countries returned home one after another. In this war, Russia suffered heavy losses due to insufficient preparations and underestimating the strength of the Beiyang Army. In terms of personnel, the Russian army lost more than 110,000 naval and army soldiers, of which more than 60,000 were killed, more than 40,000 were captured, the navy lost more than 1,000 people, and more than 100 were captured. In terms of equipment, the Russian army lost at least five divisions of weapons and equipment, the navy lost five main warships, and the Amur River Fleet was wiped out, with a total loss of more than 20,000 tons of tonnage. Excluding the losses of personnel and equipment, the Russian army's accumulated expenditure on logistics supplies and military expenditure was also very large, reaching 5,300.

In total, the Russian army suffered a total of 180 million rubles in this war, which was 20 million rubles.

In comparison, the Qing Empire suffered a relatively small loss. The Qing army suffered more than 60,000 casualties, most of which were old soldiers, and the Beiyang Army suffered less than 5,000 casualties. In terms of the navy, the Qing army lost the Songhuā River Naval Division, but it was insignificant compared to the Russian Navy. However, the Beiyang Army was much higher in ammunition consumption and military expenditure than the Russian army. In addition, the Russian army caused a lot of damage to the Heilongjiang General and Shengjing General's jurisdiction, which caused the Qing Empire to suffer a loss of 14 million British list. Although the Qing Empire won, the price paid was also high.

Only the senior leaders of the Qing Empire knew about these things, and the people were not clear about them, and they would not ask about them. They only focused on the end of the war. If the war was won, it was easy to say, and the people were excited and cheered for it.

The Qing Russian War ended, and rewards on merits were immediately put on the agenda.

Wang Chenhao's great contribution to the dynasty is obvious to all. Although Emperor Guangxu was unhappy, in order to block the leisurely mouths of 40 million citizens, the court had to reward Wang Chenhao heavily.

On the 25th, the Qing court issued an edict to reward the civil and military officials who had made great contributions. Wang Chenhao ranked first. The court appointed Wang Chenhao as the first-class Count of Loyal and Braves and rewarded the Three-eyed Boss. Among them, the Quanyal and Brave Boss was finalized after Guangxu thought of many names, in order to give Wang Chenhao a big hat of Loyal and Braves to restrain him. The SanYing Feng was a reward of Empress Dowager Cixi, and his status was equivalent to that of Li Hongzhang, because in addition to Li Hongzhang, Wang Chenhao was the first person in the country to be rewarded with the Three-eyed Boss in decades. Of course, such as imperial horses, yellow jackets, yellow cushions, and imperial boots.

There are countless gold, silver, jewelry, silk, silk, satin, etc., but they are all too much inferior to the three-eyed feathers, and Wang Chenhao doesn't care about these at all.

All the rewards were famous. The court did not give Wang Chenhao a real new official position, and still asked Wang Chenhao to act as the Beiyang Military Training Minister and continue to train the Beiyang Army.

After the test of the Russian War in the Qing Dynasty, the eight towns of the Beiyang Army were already considered to be trained. The court originally gave Wang Chenhao two years to train the eight towns of Beiyang, but because of the Russian war, the eight towns of Beiyang were trained one year ahead of schedule. According to the original steps, the court ordered Wang Chenhao to train the eight towns of Zhili within two years and to train the remaining twenty-eight towns in various provinces within six years. Now the training of the eight towns of the new army in Zhili has been completed, and it is reasonable to continue to train the remaining twenty-eight towns of the new army. However, the court's fear of Wang Chenhao made Guangxu ordered the governors and governors of each province to organize the new army by themselves and prevent Wang Chenhao from interfering.

In fact, after Wang Chenhao became the first town of the Beiyang Army, after the Yongping Qiucao exercise, Huguang Governor Zhang Zhidong and Liangjiang Governor Liu Kunyi had already started to train the new army by themselves.

They did not want Wang Chenhao to interfere in the military affairs in their territory, so they formed a new army on their own.

Since the outbreak of the Russian War in Gu, Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi were both feeling the urgency of the war, so they accelerated the pace of training the new army. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the two rivers and three provinces had already trained into a new army and one town, and Huguang had trained into a new army. Among them, Liu Kunyi's new army was expanded on the basis of the self-strengthening army, and it was relatively strong in combat. Zhang Zhidong had the experience of training the self-strengthening army, so the new army in Huguang also had a lot of combat power. Other provinces also trained new army, but due to differences in financial, material and manpower, the capabilities of each province were limited, and the scale and progress of the new army were different.

The court did not want Wang Chenhao to dominate the country, so the matter of training new troops in various provinces was no longer under Wang Chenhao's control, which was actually equivalent to undermining Wang Chenhao's position as the military training minister. The purpose was to allow each province to have its own independent command system and not be controlled by Beiyang, and thus achieve the goal of competing with Beiyang. As long as the Nanyang factions such as Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi restrained Beiyang, Wang Chenhao would be scruples and dare not be arrogant to the court.

Guangxu's fear of Wang Chenhao was also reflected in his concern for Wang Chenhao's control of the Pacific Fleet. Guangxu also wanted to take Wang Chenhao's si fleet for himself, so he summoned Weng Tongsu, Li Hongzao and others to discuss countermeasures.

"I want to place Wang Chenhao's Pacific Fleet into the court. What do you think of the two Qing families?" Weng Tongsu and Li Hongzao looked at each other, and were all shocked. Unexpectedly, Emperor Guangxu had such thoughts.

Weng Tongsu said: "Your Majesty, it is said that the great power of the world is the king's land, and the boundaries of the land are the king's ministers. All the artifacts and people in the Qing Dynasty belong to the emperor. As my Qing subject and the emperor's people, Wang Chenhao should present the Pacific Fleet to the emperor. Moreover, as a subject, Wang Chenhao, the si people, raised a huge fleet, which is not reasonable."

Weng Tongsu's words made Guangxu very happy, but Li Hongzao quickly poured cold water on him.

Li Hongzao thought for a long time and said, "What Lord Weng said does make sense, but this Pacific Fleet was purchased by Wang Chenhao himself, with the purpose of defeating the Russian Navy. In fact, this is true. The Pacific Fleet defeated the Russian Navy and made great contributions in the war. If the emperor wanted this fleet, he could invest in the purchase, but if Wang Chenhao handed over it directly, it would be difficult, and the emperor would be criticized for doing this." Guangxu certainly understood that this was a method of openly snatching people, but he had no choice.

"I also want to buy this fleet, but I am helpless that the court's treasury is empty and I can't afford to pay."

Li Hongzao said: "Can you please hand over the Pacific Fleet? Let Wang Chenhao hand over the Pacific Fleet. If the court has money, give him some compensation every year." Guangxu thought for a while, this was a good idea. Just when he was about to nod, Weng Tongsu suddenly said: "Will he agree? The court can't even afford the Beiyang Navy. With a Pacific Fleet, the cost of maintaining two fleets alone is very huge. Where can I get money to him? If it were you, would you like?"

This question really made Li Hongzao speechless. Guangxu kept looking at him. Even if Li Hongzao said he was unwilling, he would not dare to say that. He could only bite the bullet and answer!" Of course I would like to do it!"

Weng Tongsu sneered, turned to Guangxu, and said, "Your Majesty, just ask Wang Chenhao to hand over the fleet, otherwise he will be punished for the crime of having a fleet that is inappropriate." Guangxu has been looking for an opportunity to deal with Wang Chenhao. His purpose is to force Wang Chenhao to do something wrong, and it is best to commit an unforgivable crime, so that he can deal with Wang Chenhao.

In fact, Guangxu's considerations were somewhat reasonable. He now forced Wang Chenhao to resist the court, just to eliminate Wang Chenhao while Wang Chenhao was still in full swing and could not control it to prevent future troubles. Otherwise, it would be difficult to move him when Wang Chenhao's strength is stable and unshakable.

Guangxu was still a little politically sensitive in this regard, and in a sense he did this was the right way.

But Li Hongzao didn't know what Guangxu was thinking. At that time, he sighed helplessly and secretly criticized Guangxu. He really lacked consideration to treat Wang Chenhao like this, which could only make people feel disappointed.

Just when the three of them were talking to each other, they didn't know that there was always someone behind the screen eavesdropping again.

Soon, a little eunuch left in a hurry.

Chenhe Garden, Paiyun Hall.

When the eunuch Li Lianying, the chief eunuch, opened the paper ball and saw the content on it, she was shocked.

"Here are you here!"

"Maintain!"

Li Lianying called a Shiwei in, handed the paper ball to him, and instructed him: "Go, go to Tianjin in person and hand it over to King Chenhao, the king of Zhongyong Bo Mansion." Shiwei asked: "Master, isn't it enough to send a telegram in the past?" Li Lianying said unhappily: "Why are there so much nonsense?"

Shiwei hurriedly said, "Don't be angry! Who doesn't know that Lord Wang has made a mistake? You have to give your servant a chance to make a fortune."

"Just know! Go quickly! Don't delay on land!"

"Abide by the order! I will leave now!" Shigu beat Li Lianying and left, went to the stable to get a group of fast horses, left the Summer Palace, and headed towards Tianjin.

After the guard left, Li Lianying sat down and smoked quietly, then hurried to see Cixi.

In Dehui Palace, Cixi was chatting with her goddaughter Princess Rongshou.

Li Lianying came in to pay tribute to them. Because she knew that Princess Rongshou was not an outsider, Li Lianying did not hide it from her and told her the conversation between Guangxu, Weng Tongsu and Li Hongzao.

Cixi was stunned when she heard this and said, "Which is the emperor singing?" Rong Shoumao smiled and said, "Our emperor is interested in the navy of Lord Wang Chenhao!" Cixi said unhappily: "How can this be done? Isn't this an open robbery? If this is spread, wouldn't it make people laugh at the world and their ministers feel disappointed?"

Rong Shou said, "I think the emperor is afraid of Wang Chenhao's strength and wants to weaken his strength." Cixi said unhappily: "The Ai family also knows that Wang Chenhao's strength is too strong! Wang Chenhao is far more powerful than Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang now, and is both a tragic relationship with the court. However, Wang Chenhao has just made great contributions to the country. In a blink of an eye, the emperor went to rob the fleet he bought with his own money. If this is reported, it will make the country laugh at him. Who dares to work for the court in the future?"

Rong Shou nodded and said, "But the Emperor did this for the sake of the court. After all, Wang Chenhao is too strong. He holds the new army of the Eight Towns of Beiyang, the Pacific Fleet, and he has great funds in his hands. If he is not stopped, he may become a major concern for the court in the future. This son has been living abroad and is not convinced of the education of the Celestial Empire. He may not be as honest as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang!

Cixi nodded in agreement and said, "How can the Ai family not know about these things? They just want to catch the thief and take the stolen goods, otherwise how can they face public opinion? Besides, Wang Chenhao was unanimously praised by the state government at this time. How can he move him at this time?" Rong Shou laughed and said, "It turns out that the Empress Dowager had been wary of Wang Chenhao for a long time. I thought you were bribed by him?"

Cixi gave Rong Shou a blank look and said with a smile: "Is the Ai family so easy to fool?"

Rongshou asked, "What are you going to do if you are the Queen Mother?" Cixi thought for a while and said, "I still said that, you have to take a stake when catching a thief!"

Rongshou said, "But the emperor?"

Cixi snorted coldly and said, "Don't take care of porcelain without a diamond! The emperor thought he was so capable, so he could just let him touch Wang Chenhao, and the Ai family also wanted to see the ability of the two of them!" Rong Shou thought about it, and suddenly understood Cixi's intention. So he smiled and said, "The devil is one foot taller than the Tao is one foot taller than the Tao. You are still the master of your power!"

Cixi smiled faintly and asked back, "Why might Rongshou say something?"

Rongshou then replied: "If the emperor wins this time, he will lose. The state will definitely be dissatisfied with the emperor. The Empress Dowager will have to come forward to sect the government and preside over the overall situation. If Wang Chenhao loses, a fleet of tens of millions of taels of silver will definitely make him feel extremely distressed. If he swallows his anger, it will be fine, it will prove that he is still loyal to the court. The Empress Dowager can continue to use him with peace of mind. Li Hongzhang is old and Wang Chenhao can be used as his right hand. If Wang Chenhao becomes troublesome, it will prove that he is dissatisfied with the court, and the Empress Dowager will make arrangements early."

Cixi smiled and said, "Rongshou has indeed learned the true teachings of the Ai family. It would be great if you were a man!"

Rongshou hurriedly bowed and said, "The Queen Mother is too rewarded!" @.
Chapter completed!