Master Yuan, start!

"Sir Claude MacDonald, welcome to Tianjin and to your new post as Minister to China. I believe this will be a brand new starting point for your official career!"

"English?"

Churchill, who was getting off the gangway, paused. It was the first time he heard a yellow-skinned, black-haired official speak English in the Far East. His pronunciation was clear and his sentences were fluent, which was much better than the curry-flavored English he heard in India.

Perhaps this General Yuan really had extraordinary abilities? Churchill began to think about interviewing Yuan Xiangcheng.

Chapter 245 I am invincible among the great powers

Tianjin Zizhulin, in the British Concession.

At that time, the Tianjin Concession was dominated by Britain, France and the United States. Due to time reasons, Germany, Tsarist Russia and Austria-Hungary did not open concessions here until after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895.

Among these three countries, the Americans were obsessed with the huge profits brought by industrialization and did not care about maintaining the American Concession in Tianjin. They did not even send anyone to manage it at the beginning. Therefore, the American Concession was only a concession in name but not in reality.

Britain and France had been secretly competing in the Tianjin Concession.

In order to establish banks such as HSBC and Gowling, as well as trading companies such as Jardine Matheson and Swire in the concession, the British

The French were not to be outdone and soon established the Banque de l'Indochine, intending to compete with the British for dominance of Tianjin's economy. They also used the killing of a French bishop in the Tianjin Incident as an excuse to forcefully demand the expansion of rights within the concession.

However, with the disastrous defeat of France led by Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, only a few French merchant ships arrived in Tianjin each month, and sometimes there were none at all, indicating that the French had completely withdrawn from the competition for the Tianjin Concession.

Britain also began to completely dominate Tianjin's foreign trade.

Against this background, the British became increasingly interested in the Second Tianjin Concession. They not only built new docks and ports, but also paved gravel roads along the Haihe River, greatly facilitating trade between Tianjin city and the concession.

The central part of the British Concession, the Zizhulin area, became a place where Chinese and foreign businessmen gathered to discuss trade matters.

So much so that there are more than a dozen Western restaurants here.

Yuan Xiangcheng was wearing a military uniform with an exquisite porcelain plate in front of him. He held a knife in his right hand and a fork in his left hand. He skillfully scooped a little butter from the glass jar in front of him and spread it on the bread on the porcelain plate.

Slowly cut off a piece of bread covered with butter, slowly put it into your mouth, chew it repeatedly, and finally put it into your stomach with a slight movement of your Adam's apple.

This extremely skillful set of movements amazed Claude MacArthur, Churchill and the interpreter standing by.

Compared with traditional Qing Dynasty military officers, it seems that General Yuan is more like a European professional soldier, no, more like an aristocrat.

Churchill had seen his grandfather eating, and although his grandfather's eating style was not exactly the same as General Yuan's, it could be said that they were almost the same.

Buttered bread, a classic English breakfast. Judging from his movements, it seems that this is not the first time he has eaten it. Could it be that he has studied abroad in London?

That shouldn't be the case. Although he was bald and had no queue, a Qing Dynasty Chinese with such obvious physical features would have been widely reported by those reporters as long as he had studied in London.

Churchill and Douglas MacArthur were somewhat puzzled, while Ming Ye, who was standing behind Yuan Shikai, tightened his lips and tried hard not to laugh out loud.

Only he knew how many times the chief instructor had secretly practiced eating with a knife and fork in order to "cheat" the trust of the British.

From the initial left-hand knife and right-hand fork, it was corrected to left-hand fork and right-hand knife; then from grasping grip to pinching grip; and finally, you have to accept the greasy butter sauce, which makes you feel sick for a long time after taking one bite.

But no matter what, looking at the expression of the foreigner in front of him, he seemed to be shocked by the performance of the instructor.

That's easy. According to the head instructor, when you need help from others, you don't have to beg them for help in a servile manner.

Only by taking the initiative and letting others offer to help you can you be more proactive.

"Sir Claude MacDonald, in 1894, that is, last year, according to data provided by Robert Hart, the Inspector General of Customs, Tianjin's total foreign trade value was 5000 million taels of customs, equivalent to about 1000 million pounds." Wiping the butter off with a napkin, Yuan Xiangcheng put down his knife and fork and took the initiative to speak:

“Thanks to the help of the British Empire, a small Chinese town has developed into a leading city in the Far East.

So, I want to discuss with the Jazz about building more Tianjin in China."

Although Yuan Shikai was very dissatisfied with the concessions' violation of China's sovereignty, things had come to a point where he would gain political face but lose economic benefits by forcefully taking back the concessions.

It would be better to celebrate the funeral as a wedding, first trick the British into investing, and then when the time is right, pull off a pig-killing scheme and take them all away.

Yuan Xiangcheng only knew ordinary English and had no idea about professional terms, so after he finished speaking, he silently waited for the British interpreter to translate.

"General Yuan, you seem to be different from other Qing people. You can recognize the changes that the British Empire has brought to the Qing Dynasty. As a subject of the Queen, I am very pleased about this." Dou Nale was touched by Yuan Xiangcheng's words. He smiled with narrowed eyes and said:

"However, Rome wasn't built in a day. Tianjin's achievements today are inseparable from the unremitting investment of the Concession Municipal Council over the past 20 years. As for whether to build another Tianjin, I think that depends on the specific circumstances."

Dounale understood the implication of Yuan Shikai's words. Although he also wanted to expand Britain's interests in China, he had just arrived and was unfamiliar with the situation in China, so he could only pretend to refuse and see if Yuan Shikai would come up with something more sincere.

Jiu Yuan Xiangcheng felt a little dissatisfied when he saw that Dou Nale did not accept the challenge and instead started to bargain.

Nonsense, Rome was certainly not built in a day, but the city of Rome was built by the Romans themselves. As for the British Concession in Tianjin, you British people hired Chinese people.

"I wonder where the former Minister Ogene is currently assigned to?" Since he didn't accept the challenge, Yuan Xiangcheng could only throw out a bigger bait.

"Hong Kong, he will serve as the Acting Governor until the new Governor arrives." Claude Douller replied as he skillfully picked up the bread.

"However, there is no guarantee there will be a new Governor. The Colonial Office doesn't seem to have a suitable candidate at the moment. Perhaps after a few years of acting, he will be promoted to the permanent position."

"So, Mr. Ogene was demoted." Yuan Xiangcheng pretended to be annoyed: "If I had known earlier, I should have presented him with a proper ceremony!"

In fact, he had known for a long time that Ogen was going to Hong Kong, and he brought it up at this time just to introduce the next topic.

"Oh?" Dou Nale became interested. "I wonder what gift General Yuan wants to give to Lord Ogene?"

Yuan Xiangcheng said this in Chinese, and the British interpreter next to him thought about it and could only translate Cheng Yi as gift.

"A" Yuan Xiangcheng raised his index finger and smiled, "a bigger Hong Kong."

“A bigger Hong Kong?”

Now not only Dounale, but even Churchill, who was standing aside and on guard, was very bored, was attracted by these words and could not help but look at Yuan Shikai.

"Why does a second Tianjin need to be a new city? As your Excellency said, Rome wasn't built in a day, but if we recreate Rome on its ruins, it will definitely save a lot of effort.

Hong Kong is so small that merchant ships have to queue up to enter the port. I think if we want Hong Kong to have the same development prospects as Tianjin, we have to expand its area!"

"General Yuan, may I take it that you agree to cede land to the British government?" Dou Nale became serious and seemed a little bit unbelievable that a Chinese would actually sell out his country's land.

Old man 9758+44

"Yes and no."

Yuan Xiangcheng first nodded, then shook his head, using a very classic answer from a British civil servant.

"What does General Yuan plan to do?" Dou Nale continued to ask.

Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng took out a map and pointed to a small river north of Hong Kong and said, "If the British Empire is willing to expand its investment in China, set up factories within the bonded areas of Incheon and other places, and provide me with loans.

Then I can make a promise on behalf of the central government that after unification, all the land south of the Shenzhen River will be handed over to the Hong Kong Governor's Office. The area is about three times the size of Hong Kong today. Of course, it will only be for jurisdiction."

3 times!

Dou Nale was excited when he heard this, but then he felt a little disappointed when he heard the word "jurisdiction".

Is it just jurisdiction? Dou Nale thought to himself, it would be great if it could be ceded.

But after a moment, he regained consciousness because he remembered the South China Sea Fleet north of Hong Kong and the Lingnan New Army.

He knew that the South China Sea Fleet had been showing off its power in Southeast Asia in recent years, and he also knew that there were tens of thousands of Lingnan New Army troops near Guangzhou, not far from Hong Kong.

Dou Nale understood that although simple jurisdiction was not as good as cession, if he talked to Li Hongzhang, he might not even have the chance to govern.

The navy and army under his command are all battle-hardened!

Moreover, if we don’t agree now, will such conditions still exist after General Yuan unifies China?

So this is not a bad offer? Dou Nale pondered silently.

If General Yuan was not in charge of southern China, he would not have offered such conditions. It is indeed very generous to give the enemy's territory as a gift to others.

If we had negotiated with Li Hongzhang, war between China and Britain would probably have been inevitable.

As the Japanese ambassador to China, Claude MacDonald knew that he had no authority to order Hong Kong or Japan's Far East Fleet to fight a naval battle.

Even if he forcibly dispatched a squadron to fire, there were risks. If he won, it would be fine, but if he lost, what awaited him was eternal demotion.

Never mind, let's just do it.

"Then it's a pleasure to work with you, General Yuan."

Dou Nale stretched out his right hand and decided to reach an agreement with Yuan Xiangcheng.

In the end, under the influence of the butterfly effect, the new minister to China was frightened by China's slogan of "I am invincible among the great powers, and I can be defeated by the great powers."

Between Yuan Shao and Li Hongzhang, he chose to cooperate with the former and expand together.

I'm taking a leave of absence. I'll resume two updates tomorrow.

Friends, there was a strong wind in Zhengzhou last night. The wind blew in from the air conditioner outdoor unit duct, and the broken sand and stones blew directly onto my face, waking me up.

I could only find some toilet paper to stuff into the pipe opening and try my best to block the air leak. I was busy for an hour and finished at 4 am. I thought that was it, but who knew it would be even more exaggerated.

When I got home from get off work in the afternoon, the property management informed me that the air conditioner outdoor unit had been scraped off.

Fortunately, the building below was the top floor of a shop, so no one was hurt. However, I was dealing with some things in the afternoon and didn’t have time to update.

9 I’m late again, sorry.

You can go to the discovery page to receive a red envelope, which is the author's apology.

Starting tomorrow, I will resume updating twice a day, and unless there are special circumstances, I will update at least twice a day.

If you can't do it, in addition to updating every day, we will also send out 100 red envelopes.

5 Huai'an Prefecture, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, an artificial artery that has carried the rise and fall of the north and the south for 500 years, became deserted for thousands of miles in the spring of 1895, with only warships wandering back and forth.

"Boom, boom!"

4 After the beginning of spring, the National Defense Army and the Hunan Army had been engaged in artillery battles in Huai'an Prefecture for more than a month. With the strong support of the British, the National Defense Army's artillery fire was greatly replenished, and it madly poured artillery fire on the city in front of it.

The Hunan Army was not willing to be outdone. After Xuzhou fell inexplicably, although Liu Kunyi did not know what had happened in the city, he still ordered Li Guangjiu on the front line not to believe the telegram easily. He must base his decision on the 800-mile express intelligence sent from Jiangning City and confirm that it was correct.

As for logistics, although Yuan Xiangcheng sent troops to harass the Grand Canal, he did not go there every day. Moreover, Yuan Xiangcheng sent people to harass, in addition to exhausting the Xiang army, there was a more important purpose.

Therefore, starting from Jiangning and transporting food to Huai'an by water was still a more reliable food route in the hands of the Hunan Army.

After the conspiracy was exposed, the French, knowing that the Jiangnan market might be lost, intended to expand their interests in China, regardless of British opposition, sold and gave the guns and cannons made in Annam, Taiwan and other places to Liu Kunyi, vowing to fight against Yuan Shikai, who was supported by the British.

This time, Liu Kunyi accepted it with pleasure because the French did not demand as many rights and interests as before.

: In addition, Liu Kunyi forcibly levied public debts in Jiangnan and raised a sum of money. For a time, the Hunan Army was quite strong.

Yuan Shikai had another plan. He was unwilling to use the ant-like siege method, so he ordered the National Defense Army to gather heavy troops and pretend to be surrounding the city and attack the reinforcements. The two sides came to a stalemate in front of Huai'an City.

"Bah, pah!"

Listening to the sound of artillery fire, the generals in the Hunan Army's command barracks in Huai'an City shook off the dust on their bodies and focused their eyes on the map in front of them.

"It's been dozens of days now, bombarding every day, bombarding every day. Even if it's only for a few minutes each day, how can the National Defense Army get so many shells? They didn't have so many when they bombarded Xuzhou last time, right?"

"Isn't this brilliant? Once their artillery is exhausted, have Lord Li lead the cavalry out to reap the harvest!"