Lin Yuan then said: "Let the ministers of various countries go to the auditorium of the Yamen of the Ministry of War, and I will meet them there." The subordinates then went to prepare, and soon came back and told Lin Yuan: "The ministers of various countries are already waiting for you in the auditorium. ”

Lin Yuan came to the auditorium to see the ministers, Lin Yuan had a lot of dealings with the ministers of various countries when he was in the capital, and he thought that he could see a lot of familiar faces this time, but he didn't expect that none of those ministers he knew, and he only learned that the ministers of various countries had been transferred back to China during the time they went to Gansu, so now they are all new ministers.

Someone introduced Lin Yuan one by one, and Lin Yuan thought: "Where do I remember so many names?" So he asked the attendants to write down all these names, and when they were seated after the introduction, Lin Yuan asked, "The ministers came to me in their busy schedules, I don't know what is going on in the road?" ”

The British minister first said in Chinese: "From the Qing court announcing your intention to rebel to the present when your troops have entered the capital, and the whereabouts of the emperor are unknown, we in the British Empire have been paying attention to the situation in Beijing, so we want to know what is the purpose of your actions now?" Was it a plot to usurp the throne, or was it just a military admonition to the Qing emperor? We found the words 'Qing Jun's side' on your army's propaganda materials, so we thought of the possibility of carrying out military advice? ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "I heard you talk to me in Chinese, your understanding of Chinese culture is very admirable, but what you said about the usurpation of the dynasty I can't accept, the usurpation of the dynasty means to replace another emperor with one emperor, we overthrow the rule of the Qing court, not to change an emperor, but to completely eliminate the emperor, so that the common people become the masters of the country." ”

The British minister asked, "Is your country going to abolish the imperial system once and for all and move towards a republic?" ”

Lin Yuan smiled and nodded, and then saw that everyone was stunned, Lin Yuan knew that among the countries present, only France and the United States were republics, and the other countries were imperial, so it was not surprising to see them.

At this time, the British minister smiled and said: "We don't want to interfere too much in how your country chooses, we want to know more about some things related to our vital interests, and what we are most concerned about is: We have signed a series of economic and trade agreements with the Qing Emperor before, and these agreements do not know how your new government will treat them?" ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "The new government will definitely uphold a more open mind to participate in the trade of the world, so we will treat the economic and trade agreements with other countries differently, and we will keep those that are beneficial to the people on both sides, and we will definitely revise them if they are unfavorable." ”

The British minister smiled slightly and said, "Okay, I don't have anything to do, can I ask Mr. Lin Yuan to answer the questions of the other ministers?" ”

The German minister stood up at this time and said, "Mr. Lin Yuan, I have some personal opinions that I would like to inform you. ”

Lin Yuan pointed to the chair with his finger and said with a smile: "Mr. Minister, please sit down and speak." ”

The German minister said with a smile: "The people are stupid, how can the fate of the country be in their hands, so the republic is not a good policy, I hope Mr. Lin Yuan will think twice." ”

Lin Yuan was a little unhappy when he heard this, not because the German minister said that "the people are stupid", but because the German minister was completely condescending and arrogant when he said this, Lin Yuan was naturally unhappy, but in front of so many people, Lin Yuan did not embarrass the German minister, but smiled politely and said, "Thank you for your suggestion, I will consider it." ”

The German minister then said: "Mr. Lin Yuan, I hope to have a private meeting with you!" ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "This German minister's attitude is very arrogant, it seems that it has something to do with Germany's status in the world, and now Germany is bent on catching up with Britain and becoming the most powerful country in the world, and Germany's economy, driven by a series of new technologies, is taking off majestically." ”

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan secretly laughed, and thought: "You scientists who can make breakthroughs in basic disciplines have been brought in by me, and your science and technology skills can't advance much, so you can slowly become arrogant." So Lin Yuan said: "Okay, I can talk to you alone, what about the ministers of other countries?" Do you want to meet separately as well? ”

Everyone nodded, and Lin Yuan smiled and said, "You guys discuss it, who talks to me first, and I'll wait for you at the place where I meet." Lin Yuan came to a smaller meeting room, and the British minister walked in after a while, and after the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, the British minister straightened up and said: "Mr. Lin Yuan, I know that the Qing Emperor has fled to the south, I guess he will definitely come back, and the civil war in your country is about to break out." ”

When Lin Yuan heard this, he thought to himself: "He must have come to knock on my bamboo pole!" I'll hear what he wants. So Lin Yuan asked: "We also know these things, I don't know what attitude the British Empire will have?" ”

The British minister smiled and said: "If Mr. Lin Yuan is willing to become friends with our British Empire, we will naturally welcome it, and our British Empire is willing to do its best to help our friends." ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "Become friends? Your friends are certainly not so easy to be! You will definitely put forward a lot of conditions to make me agree, and these conditions will either harm China's interests or make me betray the country! Well, I'll see what you British devils can come up with! ”

So Lin Yuan smiled and said, "Aren't we friends with the British Empire?" ”

The British minister smiled: "We are friends with Mr. Lin Yuan, but Mr. Lin Yuan was originally a courtier of the Qing court, and now he is an opponent of the Qing court, so this matter is a little troublesome." ”

Lin Yuan said with a smile: "Mr. Minister, we don't have to go around in circles, just say what conditions you want to put forward!" ”

The British minister smiled: "That's right, we want to continue to strengthen trade with your country, for example, we want to buy more Chinese goods, but the price of your country's goods is too high, we hope to consider tariffs, so that more people in our country can afford to use your products." ”

Lin Yuan sneered in his heart and thought: "If you want to spend less money to buy our things, you still talk so high-sounding, do foreigners dare to make face!" Lin Yuan suppressed the anger in his heart and said, "If we cut the selling price of goods, our producers will have no profit." ”

The British minister smiled and said: "If you agree to our conditions, we in Britain are willing to provide you with 50,000 rifles, which is enough for you to arm an army of 50,000 people, how about this condition?" ”

Lin Yuan asked, "Gun?" What gun? ”

The British minister smiled: "Of course, we are the standard rifle of the British army, the Martini-Henry rifle, and we are willing to provide a lot of ammunition!" ”

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "What are the British going to do?" The Martini-Henry rifle is a single-shot large-caliber rifle, in my time, two years later this gun was replaced by the Enfield rifle with medium-caliber cartridges, but the early model of the Enfield rifle was also single-shot, and the BQ-95 automatic rifle we are equipped with now cannot be compared, and the British are still using black powder as propellant for their current bullets, and our bullets have long been nitrocellulose, and the British want to exchange a bunch of old antiques for our good things? ”