Chapter 223 Chips for Congruence

Cherry advised: "Guge, although the Buddha will not be angry, we should also understand the Buddha. Seeing that the Spring Festival is coming, I heard that there will be a war in Shandong. I'm afraid this year will not be good. The Buddha is in a bad mood. Let's not fill in the old man's house.

Minxiu looked back at the cherry and said, "What do you know! She is angry, but she is not angry with Shandong!" Minxiu knows the old Buddha too well. If the military and state affairs can't be done well, the old Buddha will be angry, but he will never be so angry.

"Then who is she angry with?"

"Who else can it be!" Minxiu pouted to the east.

Cherry was so scared that she spit out her tongue and dared not ask again.

To the east of the Summer Palace is the Forbidden City, in which there are two people who make the Buddha the most angry, one is the emperor and the other is the imperial concubine!

That's the family matter of the Empress Dowager!

For the subjects of the Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager's family affairs are more dangerous than national affairs! That's the forbidden area!

Minxiu opened the conversation: "The Empress Dowager Buddha was angry with the emperor and the imperial concubine. In fact, it was all because of the Zhou Charter! The emperor didn't know what he thought. Zhou Charter stood still in North Korea and watched the Japanese attack our Liaodong and Shandong, but the emperor not only did not reprimand Zhou Charter! Don't mention the Empress Dowager, everyone is angry when they look at it!"

Cherry looked at no one left and left and said boldly, "Guge, is there anything difficult for Zhou Charter? I think he is not that kind of person..."

"Cherry!" Minxiu shouted, "Why do you always say good things for Zhou Charter! What kind of person is he? He is a scoundrel!"

Cherry has been a close maid for Minxiu for ten years. She grew up together. Although she is a master servant, she is actually a sister. Therefore, Cherry is not afraid of Minxiu's scolding, but whispers, "Guge, Ye Zhichao led tens of thousands of troops. As a result, he was beaten across the Yalu River by Little Japan. Zhou Charter, with a group of defeated soldiers, killed Oshima Yichang, destroyed the mixed brigade, and recovered Pyongyang. I think the emperor should reward him, and..."

"And what?"

Cherry blushed: "No, and it's gone." Cherry said it smoothly and almost mentioned the ridiculous thing about Tianjin Wubei School.

At the beginning, Cherry and Liu Buchan let Zhou Charter go, on the condition that Zhou Charter must keep his mouth shut and rot it in his stomach. Although Zhou Charter swore that he would never say anything about it, his mouth was on Zhou Charter's face. He really wanted to talk nonsense everywhere, and there was nothing Cherry could do about him, so Cherry had always been worried. Now it seems that there is no wind at all. Zhou Charter really keeps his promise and does not talk nonsense everywhere, which makes Cherry more convinced that Zhou Charter is a gentleman and has a better and better impression of Zhou Charter.

Keminxiu, a hot-tempered Gege, has refused to forgive Zhou Charter until now, which makes Cherry very helpless.

"Cherry, have you heard anything?" Minxiu became alert, and she was most worried about any rumors outside.

"No, no." Cherry said, "Oh, it seems that I heard something."

"What do you say?" Minxiu became nervous.

Cherry said, "Some people outside said that when Zhou Charter was not an official, he once borrowed thousands of taels of silver from Gege and kept relying on it, so Gege was very angry that he always quarreled with him."

"Bah!" Minxiu scolded, "What kind of people are talking about? Zhou Charter is the high-ranking disciple of Jin's father-in-law. He is righteous. How can he do the loan money and not pay it back!"

"Gig, you also recognize Zhou Charter's righteousness." Cherry laughed.

Minxiu's face sank: "Did I say his righteousness?"

"I heard what Ge Ge said in person just now."

"You heard it wrong!" Minxiu said with a red face, and her heart was flustered.

Now, Minxiu herself can't figure out whether she still hates Zhou Charter or not. Minxiu was rough in the military. She knew that all fronts of the Qing Dynasty were defeated. Only Zhou Charter seized half of North Korea from the Japanese. Moreover, Zhou Charter had no reinforcements outside and no food and ammunition inside. He could defeat the Japanese army, which was not only explained by military science.

Zhou Charter must have perseverance and strong personality charm, otherwise, those defeated soldiers will not fight with him and the Japanese!

A scoundrel can't do this!

However, what happened in Tianjin Wubei School is indeed too ridiculous. As a victim, Minxiu can't let go anyway.

Therefore, Minxiu can't get along with Zhou Charter everywhere. As long as someone mentions Zhou Charter's achievements in front of him, she will definitely insist that Zhou Charter is a scoundrel!

However, if someone speaks ill of Zhou Charter, Minxiu can't help defending Zhou Charter.

Minxiu's contradictory mentality made Cherry very funny, but it was not easy to break. She had to follow Minxiu and said, "I probably heard it wrong, but Zhou Charter is also quite kind..."

As the two said, they unconsciously came to Mr. Buddha Xiang. A small eunuch hurried forward and Shi Li said, "Please speak softly. The empress dowager is waiting for you in the old Buddha."

Minxiu nodded and followed the little eunuch into the Foxiang Pavilion with the cherry.

The Empress Dowager Cixi half leaned against her teeth**, saw Minxiu coming in, and slowly sat upright.

Minxiu bent his knees: "Minxiu, please give my best to the old Buddha."

Cixi pointed to the stool in front of the collapse and said blankly, "Sit down."

"Thank you, old Buddha." Minxiu sat down, and Cherry lowered her head and stood behind Minxiu.

Cixi stretched out and looked at the lake and mountains outside the window, speechless for a long time.

Cixi was very angry, but there was nowhere to vent her anger.

After the defeat in Liaodong, the court finally realized that the heavenly kingdom was no longer the opponent of Japan, a small country. The main war faction was silent and even turned to the main peace. Even the Guangxu Emperor, who fought in the main battle, was pessimistic about the prospects of the war. The court began to seek ways to make peace with Japan, hoping to end this doomed war with a decent end.

The court is very clear that to end the war decently, we must rely on the victory on the battlefield. Only when the war is fought well can there be the capital to speak at the negotiating table! Now, Zhou Charter's troops defeated the mixed brigade and recovered Pyongyang, which gave the court a bargaining chip and saw the hope of peace.

However, this chip is far from enough.

The Japanese lost Pyongyang of North Korea, but captured Liaodong of the Great Qing Dynasty. With one gain and one loss, the Japanese still firmly grasped the initiative of the battlefield.

The Qing Dynasty must win a greater victory on the battlefield, and this victory must come from Liaodong! Because Liaodong is the home of the Qing Dynasty! If the Qing Dynasty can recapture Liaodong, the Qing Dynasty can get enough voice. Otherwise, the Japanese will never sit at the negotiating table.

In order to achieve this goal, the Qing Dynasty gathered 100,000 troops, led by Sichuan Admiral Song Qing, and launched several counterattacks against the Japanese army in Liaodong in the cold of minus 10 degrees. However, every attack was easily resolved by the Japanese army under Jinzhou City. The Qing army lost troops, but even a small Jinzhou could not pass, let alone Lushun.

With the passage of time, it is becoming more and more impossible to recapture Liaodong. In fact, in Liaodong, the Japanese army has turned against the guests. The large and small cities in Liaodong were built into strong fortresses by the Japanese army. The Japanese army waited for their work by relying on the city, while the Qing army was exposed to the field. Before they saw the Japanese army, they were defeated by the cold wind and snow! The court finally realized that retaking Liaodong was just a bubble.

Zhou Charter is the only bargaining chip in the hands of the imperial court and the last card of the imperial court. The Japanese are also very clear about this. This card is not a trump card at all. Compared with Liaodong, North Korea is nothing.

But in any case, Zhou Charter is the only life-saving straw that the court can catch.

With this life-saving straw, the court ordered Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang to seek an armistice and make peace with Japan. Li Hongzhang knows that with the current war situation, Japan will never accept the armistice, but Li Hongzhang thought of Westerners.

With the help of Westerners, we must force the Japanese to sit at the negotiating table. Li Hongzhang knows that Westerners do not want to see a rising Japan in East Asia, because a strong Japan is not in line with the interests of Westerners in China. Japan, which has just embarked on the road of becoming a powerful country, does not yet have the confidence and strength to compete with the Western powers.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang circled between the British, Russian, French, German and U.S. ambassadors to China, strongly emphasized the Japanese threat theory, hoping that the great powers would intervene and encourage Japan to accept the armistice negotiations.

As Li Hongzhang expected, in order to ensure their interests in China, Western countries actively shuttled between the Qing Dynasty and Japan to mediate the armistice between the two countries while publishing their neutral reputation.

Soon, the British minister sent the news that Japan conveyed its intention to make peace with the British side through its minister to the United Kingdom.

This made Li Hongzhang very excited.

However, the Japanese peace conditions passed by the British side made the Qing court fall like an ice cave.

There are four conditions put forward by Japan: First, pay the compensation for defeat! Second, North Korea independence, third, ceded Liaodong; fourth, ceded Taiwan!

Such conditions are too harsh! So rude!

Among the four conditions, only the first one is acceptable to the Qing Dynasty, and any of the other three items are unacceptable to the Qing Dynasty.

The so-called independence of North Korea is actually a sanctimonable saying that Japan annexed North Korea. The cause of this war was that the Qing Dynasty vowed to defend its patriarchy over North Korea. The loss of North Korea means that the Qing Dynasty was completely defeated by Japan in this war!

And Liaodong and Taiwan are the inherent territories of the Qing Dynasty. In the Chinese cultural context, ceding land is betraying their ancestors! No one dares to risk the world to give the land of their ancestors to the Japanese! Even the old Buddha himself doesn't have the courage. Once the court agrees to this condition, the court will wait for the collapse. What's more, Liaodong, close to the Longxing land of the Qing Dynasty, gave Liaodong to the Japanese, which is equivalent to putting a wolf next to the tomb of his ancestors!

This is to force the Qing court to a dead end!