Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Chapter 303 What does the Shuiqing Empire’s treaty have to do with me?

Listening to Miura Uchie talking seriously, Su Zhengyang casually scratched his ears and waved his hand, interrupting Miura Uchie's endless words.

"Mr. Miura, what does the treaty signed between Shuiqing Empire and your Fuso have to do with our Northern Frontier Government? The fall of Shuiqing Empire is a fact recognized by the whole of China. You don't really think that by holding a few Shuiqing remnants hostage and establishing a puppet Manchurian regime, you can keep the treaty in effect and impose any restrictions on our Northern Frontier Government."

Miura Uchie was slightly stunned, and then immediately retorted: "Member Su, that's not the case. The Liaodong Treaty we signed with the Shuiqing Empire was recognized by the Northern Frontier Central Government headed by President Yang after your Northern Frontier regime was established. Isn't it a bit too childish to play tricks on me now?"

In fact, during the Shuiqing Empire, after the Liaodong Navy was defeated in the Liaodong Bay and severely ravaged by the Fuso Empire, a large number of humiliating treaties were signed with Fuso in the next thirty years.

In 1895, after the defeat in the Liaodong naval battle, the Shuiqing Empire signed the extremely humiliating Liaodong Treaty with Fuso. In the treaty, the Shuiqing Empire promised to lease Baizhou and Xingzhou, two of the six northeastern provinces, to the Fuso Empire for a period of 120 years, and the Shuiqing Empire also provided Fuso with a total of million taels of silver in compensation.

This war also made Fuso see the corruption, decline and cowardice of the Qing Empire. In 1897, the Fuso Marines invaded the port of Shanghai, posing a great threat to the entire Shanghai and southern China. Wang Jingzhang, then Foreign Minister of Qing, signed the so-called Shanghai Treaty with Fuso again on behalf of the Qing Dynasty. Not only did he have to pay Fuso a compensation of million taels of silver within five years, but he also had to carve out a legal concession for Fuso in Shanghai, and provide various unreasonable conveniences and benefits to Fuso expatriates and chambers of commerce.

Only three years later, Fuso once again took the initiative to clash with the Southern Navy of the Qing Empire in the Ryukyu Strait. After completely annihilating the Southern Navy, Fuso turned around and accused the Qing Empire of raiding the Fuso fleet with the intention of provoking a war. As a last resort, the Qing Empire had to cede territory and pay compensation again. While paying 300 million taels of silver in compensation, it ceded the Ryukyu Islands to Fuso.

It can be said that in the past hundred years, the Western powers and Fuso have unscrupulously taken advantage of the Shuiqing Empire. The closed-door policy of the Shuiqing Empire has caused China, which has stood at the top of the world since ancient times, to lag behind the West for half a century. After they saw that the distant Eastern Dragon had gradually fallen into a dormant state, they became more arrogant and unreasonable, looking down on China, and completely regarded the Shuiqing Empire as an ATM that could be bullied and blackmailed at will.

After Yang Jiakai established the Northern Xinjiang regime, Fuso repeatedly threatened to launch a war of aggression against China and forced Northern Xinjiang to sign the so-called Twenty-One Demands. Fortunately, the Northern Xinjiang leadership headed by Yang Jiakai were absolutely tough and kept delaying, eventually causing Fuso's plan to fail. Otherwise, the entire Northern Xinjiang would have been nailed to the pillar of shame.

When you are under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. Although Beijiang did not sign the extremely humiliating Twenty-One Demands, it was forced to recognize the legitimacy of a series of unequal treaties signed between the Shuiqing Empire and Fuso.

Now, Sanpu Neijiang has taken the initiative with the so-called peace treaty terms, intending to accuse the Northern Frontier government of violating the treaty and actively provoking war in order to gain the initiative in the negotiations.

Su Zhengyang personally felt extremely angry and disgusted with Shui Qing for bringing humiliation to the entire Chinese nation. In just over a hundred years, he had brought such a vast country as China to its knees, making the entire Chinese population inferior to others in their own land and becoming third-class citizens. This was an unforgivable sin.

"Excuse me, Mr. Miura. Although I have heard of the Liaodong Treaty, I never knew that our Northern Frontier government had acknowledged the detailed terms of this treaty. For me, Su Zhengyang, I will not take it seriously unless I see it with my own eyes. Now that you are holding the so-called treaty to negotiate with me, I don't see any sincerity at all."

"In other words, this time it was you, Fusang, who initiated the war of aggression to the south, intending to collude with our northern border traitors to occupy our Chinese territory. So, you are the only ones allowed to take action, and we are not allowed to fight back?"

At this point, Jiang Yanlin, who was sitting next to Su Zhengyang, was furious when he thought of the hundreds of thousands of Northeastern Army soldiers who died on the battlefield. Jiang Yanlin stood up, slammed the table fiercely, stared at Sanpu Neijiang and said, "Fuck you, you Japanese devils! You didn't even say hello and directly sent troops to attack Linzhou! Half of my Northeastern Army has been killed, and now you are talking to me about your grandma's contract! Believe it or not, I will kill you now to avenge my dead brothers!"

Jiang Yanlin was born a bandit. He was a very chivalrous man with a strong sense of chivalry. He suddenly got angry at this moment, and his aura was quite intimidating. At least when Sanura Neijiang saw Jiang Yanlin's sudden outburst, he was completely at a loss for a moment.

Su Zhengyang smiled secretly in his heart. The Japanese have always been the most bullying and fearful race. As long as you take a tough attitude, you will immediately make them suspicious. Of course, the prerequisite is that you have the strength to make Fuso suffer a setback.

Miura Uchie felt extremely aggrieved at this moment, secretly cursing the entire Kwantung Army as useless trash. If they had not been unable to defeat the Northern Expedition Corps and were in a desperate situation, would he have had to come all the way from Fuso to here to suffer humiliation?

Su Zhengyang played the role of the good guy at this time. While calming Jiang Yanlin's emotions, he said to Sanpu Neijiang: "If you Fusang really have the sincerity to negotiate, you should not use those old treaties to make things worse. The right and wrong of this matter can't be concluded even after three days and three nights. I have limited time and I have to rush back to spend the New Year with my family. I don't have time to spend with you here."

Miura Uchie was speechless again. If Fuso didn't bring up the treaty, what other bargaining chips would it have except the Northeastern people in its hands?

At the negotiation table in recent years, Fuso has always held the upper hand and dominant position, except when it encountered Su Zhengyang, its nemesis, and it was defeated every time, without exception.

Su Zhengyang looked directly at the confused Sanpu Neijiang and said again: "Why don't you listen carefully to my conditions, Mr. Sanpu, and then make a decision?"

Sanpu Neijiang's heart trembled. Su Zhengyang was the kind of person who would not release the eagle until he saw the rabbit, and would fleece the fat sheep to death. If Su Zhengyang was allowed to negotiate the conditions, wouldn't Fuso be skinned alive?

Miura Uchie was about to open his mouth to refute, but Su Zhengyang's next words blocked all his escape routes.

"Two days! If I don't get a satisfactory negotiation result within two days, even if your Amaterasu comes, you can't save the Kwantung Army! I say!"

Su Zhengyang's aggressive gaze stared directly at Sanpu Neijiang, making Sanpu Neijiang extremely anxious and at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear in his heart. This madman Su Zhengyang might launch an attack without considering the consequences. No one could be sure whether he would really give up the Northern Expedition for the sake of these hundreds of thousands of Northeastern people.

At this point, Sanura Uchie has completely lost the right to have an equal dialogue with Su Zhengyang.