Three days later, Zhang Zhidong entered the palace and met Cixi and Guangxu in secret, and presented the results of his negotiations with Britain and France.

Zhang Zhidong and Britain and France negotiated two plans. One was that the Qing court and the East China ** formed a joint **, implemented a constitutional system, and discussed the distribution of power with the East China CPPCC. However, considering that the East China ** is strong and the Qing court is in a weak position, the result of power distribution is definitely unfavorable to the Qing court; the other was that China's territory was equally divided, with the Yangtze River as the boundary, all the land north of the Yangtze River was given to the East China **, and the Qing court moved its capital to cities in the south, and then the two sides signed a peace treaty under the witness of various countries.

In fact, these two suggestions were discussed by Yuan Shikai and other countries, and then handed over to the ministers of Britain and France, whom they proposed to the Qing court. It turned out that after Yuan Shikai took over as the Governor of Liangjiang, with the support of various countries, he quickly stabilized the situation in Jiangnan, and on the other hand, he handled the relationship with East China. Therefore, Yuan Shikai settled firmly as the Governor of Liangjiang and began to recruit soldiers and expand his army.

However, the Governor of Liangjiang actually has three provinces, but in Yuan Shikai's hands, there is only one province in Jiangxi and half Anhui, half Jiangsu Province, and half Anhui, half Jiangsu Province, all in the hands of East China, which is equivalent to one-third of the territory and population. This is very unfavorable for Yuan Shikai's expansion of the army. Although he has financial support from various countries, there is another important condition for expanding the army, which is the population. A decrease of about one-third of the population will of course cause a significant obstacle to the expansion of the army.

But it is impossible to regain the lost territory from the East China **. Not only did Yuan Shikai dare not start a war against the East China **, but other countries would not support him in doing so. Moreover, even if he regained the lost territory of the Governor of Liangjiang, Yuan Shikai only occupied three provinces and could separatist one side, but it was impossible to control the entire south and achieve the goal of confronting the East China ***.

Moreover, the Qing court was still there at this time, and Yuan Shikai could not rely on force to capture the territory of other governors in the south. Therefore, although Yuan Shikai had not reached the bottleneck of development, if he was trapped in the territory of the governor of Liangjiang, the space for development would be limited. It would probably be too late to wait until the Qing court was destroyed by the East China ** before taking action.

In fact, when Yuan Shikai went south, he thought of this issue, but at that time he was mainly considering leaving Beijing, a place of trouble, so he did not think about other things. Now that Yuan Shikai has gained a foothold in the south, he should also consider his own development issues. All countries also hope that Yuan Shikai can control the south as soon as possible so that countries can have the capital to bargain with East China **.

So after several negotiations, everyone agreed that if Yuan Shikai wanted to control the entire south, at least most areas in the south, the best and fastest way was to borrow the famous discussion of the Qing court. Of course, the Qing court would not directly order Yuan Shikai to hand over other southern provinces to Yuan Shikai's control. However, Yuan Shikai's aide Yang Du immediately gave him a suggestion: use the emperor to order the princes. That is, use the threat of East China as an excuse to try to persuade the Qing court to move the capital to Nanjing, so that the court would reach Yuan Shikai's territory. Wouldn't it be at the mercy of Yuan Shikai?

Although Yuan Shikai had not read any books seriously, he was very clear about the principles and operations of using the emperor to command the princes. After all, he had read the [Romance of the Three Kingdoms], and he had read it more than once. Therefore, after listening to Yang Du's suggestion, Yuan Shikai was a little moved, but he was also very clear that once he did this, he would be the contemporary Cao Cao. In this era, Cao Cao was not a positive person, and there was no such thing as whitewashing the true nature of the city. Although Yuan Shikai did not mind being the contemporary Cao Cao, he couldn't help but worry whether he could be Cao Cao! Don't make it impossible to make a tiger look like a dog.

Yuan Shikai thought about it for three days and three nights, but still hesitated. At this time, the East China ** launched a war against Mongolia and captured Kulun, which happened to be a great excuse to suggest that the Qing court move the capital. So Yuan Shikai finally made up his mind to have such a good opportunity, and he would have to fight for it no matter what.

So Yuan Shikai immediately explained his plan and the representatives of Britain and France, and received strong support from both countries, because Britain and France also had this plan. He believed that the Qing court would not be as good as giving up all the land in the north to the East China ** and moving the imperial court to the south. This would help to concentrate its strength better. After all, the forces in the East China ** are basically in the north, and the Qing court could not defend the north at all. After the East China ** obtained the territory of the north, it would take at least 3 or 5 years, or even longer to stabilize and develop. After all, compared with the southern part of China, the northern society is more poor and backward. If the East China ** wants to claim that it is different from the Qing court, it will naturally take more effort to transform and develop the social economy in the north. This not only takes more time, but also requires more manpower and material resources.

The society in southern China is more civilized and the economy is more developed. Therefore, the Qing court gave up all the land in the north to the East China **, not only to get rid of a big burden, but also to win more integration and preparation time for itself, and of course, it also won more time for all countries. After all, most of the interests of all countries in China are in the south.

Yuan Shikai's suggestion can be said to be coincidental with Britain and France. So after several rounds of negotiations, the three parties finally formulated a complete plan. First, Yuan Shikai put it on the page, and on the grounds of the fall of Mongolia, he suggested that the Qing court immediately negotiate peace with the East China **. Then Britain and France also gathered ministers from various countries to make similar proposals to the Qing court to endorse Yuan Shikai.

If it were before the Mongolian War, Yuan Shikai's comment would have caused an uproar in the Qing court. However, in the context of the East China capturing Kulun, whether voluntarily or forced, Zhebuzundanba VIII publicly announced his separation from the Qing court and surrendering to the East China Captain. Although many officials used this as a reason to unleash Yuan Shikai, his momentum was obviously insufficient. After all, anyone with discerning eyes could see that the East China Captain's attack on the Qing court was forcing him to win. It was either at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year. If at this time, the successful peace talks with the East China Captain would be at least a few more years of survival.

However, no one has seen through Yuan Shikai's little thoughts. Therefore, when Zhang Zhidong negotiated with the ministers of Britain and France, he deliberately added one thing, what if the capital was not moved south? The ministers of Britain and France were forced to give a suggestion of "forming a joint **, implementing a constitutional system, and discussing the distribution of power with the East China CPPCC." However, repeatedly emphasized that such a result would definitely be unfavorable to the Qing court.

After listening to Zhang Zhidong's reply, Cixi turned to ask Guangxu and said, "Emperor, what are you looking at!"

Guangxu calmed down and said, "If we can form a joint with East China and implement a constitution, it is acceptable. It is just that we may lose the orthodoxy of the court. If we move south, we will lose all the foundation of our ancestors. Moreover, since ancient times, those who move south have no hope of restoring the country, so it is indeed difficult to choose."

Cixi said: "No matter how difficult it is to choose, you have to choose one. It is better than sitting here and waiting for death. Zhang Zhidong, what is the attitude of foreigners?"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Report to the Empress Dowager, the foreigners advocate moving the capital."

Cixi snorted and said, "Moving the capital? I'm afraid this is Yuan Shikai's idea."

Zhang Zhidong said: "Reporting to the Empress Dowager, whether this is Yuan Shikai's idea or not, the risk of moving the capital to the south is always smaller."

Guangxu frowned slightly and said, "How can I see it!"

Zhang Zhidong said: "Now the overseas Chinese are strong and the court is weak. Once they form a joint ** and implement a constitutional system, they are afraid that the power will be all over the overseas Chinese. The safety of the empress dowager and the emperor are all in the thoughts of overseas Chinese. When they move the capital to the south, although there is a hardship of carriages and horses, there is no peace along the way, but there will be no big storm. Moreover, the south belongs to the court, and it is just a story of the school's visit to the south."

Cixi said: "Zhang Zhidong, you also advocate moving the capital south."

Zhang Zhidong said: "Report to the Empress Dowager, this matter is related to the country, court, empress dowager, and the emperor's safety. I only explain the pros and cons of it, but I dare not make any decisions. Everything is subject to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor's Holy Tribunal."

Guangxu hesitated for a moment and said, "I think that if the court merged with East China and changed to a constitutional system, and had its own constitutional constraints, it would be to impose all the power of the government on overseas Chinese, and they might not harm the Empress Dowager and me." Speaking of this, Guangxu peeked at Cixi again, and saw that she had no intention of stopping her from speaking, so he continued: "At that time, each of them would do their own responsibilities and do their own policies, it would be a feasible method. Once the capital was moved south and the country was separated from the north and south, the war would begin sooner or later. It would not be a good thing to suffer from the misfortune of life."

Zhang Zhidong said: "What the emperor said is the most true, everything is up to the empress dowager and the emperor's holy commander."

Guangxu turned his head to look at Cixi and said, "What do you think about the Empress Dowager?"

In fact, from Guangxu's heart, he did not want to move south to move the capital, but agreed to form a coalition **. Because after the Reform of 1898 and the report submitted by the five ministers after studying abroad, Guangxu now had a certain understanding of the constitution. Although the power of the monarch would be greatly weakened in the constitutional state and would be subject to the parliament, the throne was protected by the constitution. Moreover, although the relationship between Guangxu and Cixi has been eased, the grudge between mother and son has not been eliminated, and the power of the government is still firmly controlled by Cixi. Guangxu is still a puppet and has no power.
Chapter completed!