Murcha Tieliang, a native of Manchuria with the White Banner, went to Japan for inspection and served successively as the Minister of Household Affairs, the Minister of War, and the Minister of Military Aircraft. He is currently the Minister of the Sixth Military Department, and is a proper aristocratic minister.

But he is just a pawn pushed by the old witch to "balance" Yuan Datou.

Because she was afraid that Yuan Datou would have too much power and Tie Liang would not be able to fight him, the old witch placed all New Army Towns 1, 3, 5, and 6 under Tie Liang's direct command. With the addition of the 6th Army Headquarters, Yuan Datou was indeed facing a sad day.

.

With the old witch here, Tie Liang and others can still use their strength to fight against each other. But with the old witch gone, these aristocratic wastes...

The first step was to weaken Yuan Datou's power through various political means, and the second step was to correct this man through the Wuchang uprising.

Even though Yuan Datou may have been loyal to the Qing Empire, after experiencing the death of a cunning rabbit and being cooked by a lackey, he must think about what position he will be in if he wins this counter-insurgency...

…

November 6, the eve of negotiations, Tieliang Mansion.

"Master, the traitor's spies are here." Tie Liang's coated slave said through gritted teeth.

"I know, don't act like this. You are a guest. Please lead me to the main hall. I will be there soon." Tie Liang was writing and said without raising his head.

"Main hall? Those traitors..." the coated slave said in surprise.

"That's enough. Don't you understand what I'm saying? You're a slave, have you forgotten your roots? Do you want to go home to Shengjing?" Tie Liang raised his head and scolded angrily.

Tie Liang knew that negotiation was not a good job. The Qing Empire's national power was declining and it was certain that it would be traitorous. It was not impossible to be infamy and even be infamy for thousands of years.

But he is not like Yuan Datou. Yuan Datou is protected by the political legacy left by Mr. Li, and he has the strength to avoid it. Everything he has is given by the Queen Mother. He has no right to object to anything the Queen Mother says.

We can only think of ways to seek help from outside sources.

Looking at the world, Nan Hua, the traitor, might be the one to pull him away.

Seeing the wrapped slave leave in despair, he changed his clothes. If this slave hadn't grown up with him, he would have changed his clothes long ago.

…

"Mr. Lin, I have admired my name for a long time, and today I met him. He is indeed a very talented man, worthy of being called a young hero!" Tie Liang saw a young man wearing a suit and with short hair from a distance, and he hurriedly raised his hands and shouted greetings.

"Sir Tie Liang, you are so polite. I have disturbed you today." Lin Pingzhi bowed his hand.

The two exchanged pleasantries, and when the servant served tea, Tie Liang looked at Lin Pingzhi curiously.

"Mr. Lin, I don't know what you want to do? You have to come to the humble house to talk." Tie Liang sat on the main seat, his manners were dignified, and he did not show any flattery just because he wanted something from others.

"Oh, I came here mainly for two things. The first thing is, since your country has decided to negotiate peace, then we have to talk about the bill." Lin Pingzhi took out a stack of paper from his pocket.

Pass it to Tieliang.

Tie Liang looked at the thick stack of paper curiously. Written on it was a list of imported materials, including weapons and ammunition, tools, medicines, etc.

Tie Liang looked at the records one by one, his heart became excited, and he quickly turned to the last page.

"Why are there so many? It has only been a few months since the war started..." Tie Liang exclaimed.

The last piece of paper clearly stated in uppercase and lowercase Chinese and Arabic numerals, "A total of 2,160, 37,690, 2 Kuping Liang."

"One rifle costs 45 taels. Your country has imported a total of about 80,000 rifles. One 762mm mountain gun costs 7,000 taels. Two regiments of 96 guns have been imported.

One 76mm cannon costs 16,000 taels, and a regiment of 48 has been imported. One 105mm artillery costs 21,000 taels, which is also 48 for a regiment. The above are the quantities that have been delivered." Lin Pingzhi said.

"This is only 6 million taels, this..." Tie Liang serves as the Secretary of the Transfer Department, and his ability to settle accounts is still very strong.

"Sir, the most expensive thing in this battle is not the weapons, but the ammunition." Lin Pingzhi smiled, picked up the tea cup and put it to his mouth.

"Ammunition?" Tie Liang quickly turned forward.

Lin Pingzhi took a sip and then put down the tea cup.

"Your country has purchased more than 20,000 rounds of artillery shells, a large amount of bullets, expensive medicines, tools and equipment, and shipping costs. This is not the first time we have cooperated. Nanhua has a good reputation." Lin Pingzhi chuckled.

Of course, the price of ammunition has increased by "a little bit", but this is normal. In a seller's market, you can't blame others for the price increase.

"Can...can you give me some discounts? Our two countries are of the same origin. Your country needs immigrants, and I have always made it convenient." Tie Liang hesitated for a moment and chose to believe it. After all, he still had something to ask for.

people.

Anyway, it was not him who provided the money in the end. He was the Minister of the Army Department, and the Minister of Household Affairs didn’t even know that year.

"If you take a closer look, you will find that we have already given you the lowest price. At this price, we are only repaying the capital, or lending it to you. The risk is still borne by us." Lin Pingzhi said sincerely.

"Then...what's the second thing Mr. Lin came to do?" Tie Liang thought for a while and put the bill on the table.

"In tomorrow's negotiations, as the mediator, I would like to hear your opinions as the representative of the Qing Empire's peace talks." Lin Pingzhi put away his gentle expression and became very serious.

"I have to rely on Mr. Lin for this matter... In this way, the bill will be reported at 30%, and the extra will be treated as a gift to Mr. Lin. I only hope that Mr. Lin can help during the negotiation." Tie Liang listened.

At this point, my spirit was shaken.

30% of more than 20 million, more than 6 million taels of silver. According to the exchange rate at this time, it was about 4 million U.S. dollars. Lin Pingzhi's heart beat hard.

"Let me first tell you what Master Tie Liang has in mind." Lin Pingzhi took a gentle breath.

4 million US dollars is a huge amount of money anywhere. The world-famous Titanic cost 1.5 million pounds, equivalent to 750 US dollars. And due to the arms race, from 1907 to 1911 when the Titanic was launched, the entire

The world is experiencing inflation.

However, Lin Pingzhi did not dare to take the money, or in other words, he did not dare to take the money without asking any questions.

"In this battle, we have lost. I don't expect Japan and Russia to just give up when they see fit. Just follow the old calendar of the last war and compensate them some money. After all, we are still defending Fengtian, right?" Tie said.

Liang thought about it for a while and said.

Tie Liang is not stupid, he has long been prepared to betray the country, but how to sell and what to sell are worth talking about.

First of all, he followed the old calendar. Last time he lost 60 million taels to Japan, and this time he also lost 60 million, 60 million to one family. No one can tell him anything wrong. He just followed the way of his predecessors.

Secondly, there is the land issue. The Longxing land in Northeast China cannot be ceded, but we can consider giving them some leased land, ports, etc. in other places.

As for factories, mines, etc., it is best not to have them, but it is okay to have them.

After hearing what Tie Liang said, Lin Pingzhi frowned and looked at him without saying a word.

"Is there any difficulty? Actually, it's not impossible for Longjiang and Mongolia to..." Tie Liang saw Lin Pingzhi frowning and said hesitantly.

"Fortunately, I can only say that I will do my best. Whether it succeeds or not depends on God's will." Lin Pingzhi reacted and coughed dryly.

‘Why did Tie Liang give me money? What do you mean?’ Lin Pingzhi was unsure.

Judging from the situation on the battlefield, the Qing Empire was only temporarily passive. Although it lost a large amount of land, it was a vast and sparsely populated territory, which was of little significance to Japan and Russia.

The Qing Empire has stabilized the first line of defense in Fengtian, and winter is coming soon, so the Qing Empire is gradually occupying a favorable position.

If you want to talk about it, there is no need to lose so many things.

"Yes, yes, just do your best. Then I would like to thank Mr. Lin here first? I heard that Mr. Lin likes to eat Sichuan food. I have a Sichuan cook here, and the Sichuan food he makes is authentic. You must try it.

Try." Tie Liang greeted enthusiastically.

…

After lunch, Lin Pingzhi left Tieliang's residence with the bill, returned to the embassy, ​​and immediately sent the news back to Nanhua.

Liu Yiming took the report sent back by Lin Pingzhi and smiled proudly at Xu Hui.

"I just said that the bottom line of Qing Empire is very low. You still don't believe it." Liu Yiming sat on the chair proudly.

He made a bet with Xu Hui on the bottom line of the Qing Empire's initial exposure.

Xu Hui guessed that the Qing Empire would at most pay compensation, open the market, allow mining and business, and so on.

But Tie Liang said that according to the old system, he said nothing except that this land belonged to the Qing Empire and was under the jurisdiction of the Qing Empire.

"Isn't this nonsense? Look at Tie Liang's resume. He is either doing inspections, counting money in the household department, or training troops. What diplomacy does such a person know?" Xu Hui looked at Liu Yiming unconvinced.

smile.

"This is how the court is. After all, the final decision-making power on this matter is not in Tie Liang's hands. At best, he is just the old witch's pawn and scapegoat. What's the point of having any experience?

Tie Liang should have realized it, and he followed the old system with open mouth and silence. What a pity..." Liu Yiming shook his head.

"It's so weak that people don't speak loudly. How about we clean up a few ports?" Xu Hui joked.

"Where do you want to go?" Liu Yiming looked at Xu Hui seriously, which made Xu Hui a little confused.

"Yangcheng, Tianjin, Penghu, Keelung, any one will do." Xu Hui lacked confidence and was unsure of Liu Yiming's attitude.

Why is there no Shanghai? Everyone’s eyes are fixed on that. It’s impossible. Even Yangcheng is in great difficulty. The French have always been eyeing this place.

"Then Keelung and Penghu, in the name of building military ports and naval cooperation, will further shrink the encirclement of Japan." Liu Yiming nodded.

"What's wrong with you?" Xu Hui looked around and asked.

"Nothing, I just figured out that the Qing Empire government is not worthy of our rescue. Rather than letting it linger, it is better to give it a try, but..." Liu Yiming frowned.

One situation made him very uncomfortable. Comrade Vladimir had not yet completed the revolution. If changes were made at this time, the most likely scenario would be to fight for a few more years.

Although the Qing Empire is rubbish, the worst order is better than no order. The period of warlord chaos fully proved this point.
Chapter completed!