The anti-Qing movement began with the looting of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Chapter 129 The Confidence in Negotiation

"In six months, I could organize an army of 200,000. Are you sure you can defeat me?"

"Don't forget, our country has a population of 400 million. Even if we lose 200,000, we can still organize 500,000, 1 million, or 5 million troops to fight you!"

"How many armies can your countries muster to wear us down?" Shen Lian asked with a crooked smile.

"General Shen, you're too optimistic! Do you think the people of your country will obey your orders?" Sa Daoyi sneered.

“Yes! Sir, you’re right! I know that quite a few governors and viceroys are now having secret affairs with you. But that was in the past!” Shen Lian suddenly raised his voice.

“In the past, this was a local war, and those governors and viceroys thought they could stay out of it! But if the war really escalates, do you think they will still, or dare to, compromise with you?”

"Moreover, before this, the imperial court only needed to issue an order that whoever failed to confiscate your foreigners' assets would own them. Whoever killed a foreigner would be rewarded with fifty silver dollars. Before your army arrived, did you think you still had a piece of land or a living person within our country?" Shen Lian said with a wicked grin.

"You..." Sa Daoyi hadn't expected Shen Lian to be so insidious, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

“Then before that, our navy can bomb your coastal ports into ruins!” French Minister Bouvet said coldly.

"Go ahead and bomb! We can immediately order all coastal residents to retreat twenty miles. What can you do after you bomb them?"

"At worst, we'll just stop doing business! We're an agricultural country anyway, we can survive without doing business with you. I wonder what will happen to you if you lose our biggest market? Hehe!" Shen Lian said nonchalantly.

"Furthermore, since you're not letting us have an easy time, then none of us should have an easy time. We can send troops into Vietnam, Burma, India, and other Southeast Asian countries to call on everyone to rise up and overthrow your colonial rule."

"I wonder how you will deal with this?" Shen Lian asked with a wicked grin.

"A madman, he's a complete madman!" the ministers cursed inwardly.

Although they all knew Shen Lian was bluffing, if things really came to that, he might actually do it.

Then these countries will truly never have peace again!

"Ahem! General Shen, esteemed ministers. We're here today to negotiate a ceasefire, aren't we getting a bit carried away?"

Seeing the tense atmosphere, U.S. Special Envoy John Rockhill stepped in to smooth things over. As a rising power, the United States had little presence among the major powers.

This is nothing more than following in the footsteps of other countries in an attempt to gain some advantage; isolationism is rampant in the United States right now. There's absolutely no way they'd go to war with that country.

Besides, their losses this time were negligible; only a dozen or so people died in total. In addition, Shen Lian had returned from studying in the United States and had already reached a private agreement with them.

So now all Jokyi wants is to stop the fighting as soon as possible and do business. Why bother fighting anymore!

"I'm not trying to digress, are I? You invaded our country and now you've been beaten. Not only do you not admit your mistake, but you also want to continue threatening us. I was just acting in self-defense!" Shen Lian shrugged and spread his hands.

"General Shen, there's something we need to clarify first. You were the ones who killed our special envoy first, and you were the ones who declared war on us first!" the German special envoy, Muran, who had been silent until now, suddenly said.

"Minister Mu Ran, first of all, I express my condolences for the unexpected passing of your Minister Klind!" Shen Lian stood up and said with a serious expression.

This was the biggest trigger for the war, Shen Lian didn't deny it. Moreover, he didn't dare to offend Germany at all, but fortunately, he had already communicated with the German side through Jason.

Germany's focus has always been on Europe, and as long as there are sufficient benefits, they will not continue to send troops to China.

"But that was just an accident, not our country's intention. You know how chaotic the capital was at the time, so it's normal for something like that to happen, right?"

German envoy Muran snorted in protest.

"As for your claim of declaring war! Ladies and gentlemen, your warships bombarded our forts, killing thousands of our defenders. Doesn't that count as a declaration of war? We are merely responding to your acts of war," Shen Lian said loudly.

"If this doesn't count as a declaration of war, then we'll send warships to your country one day, kill a few hundred people, and then say it was a misunderstanding. What do you think then?"

The foreign ministers were speechless for a moment!

What do you think? For decades, it has always been the great powers that have been burning, killing, and looting in countries around the world. Has any other country ever dared to run wild in their country?

"No matter what, the war was caused by your country, and you must apologize to our country and compensate us for our losses!" Mu Ran was too lazy to argue with Shen Lian and spoke directly.

"On this point, our country does bear some responsibility. An apology to your country is negotiable, but compensation is absolutely out of the question!"

"You've only lost a few people! From the time you bombarded the Dagu Forts and occupied Tianjin to your advance into our capital, how many of our soldiers and civilians have you killed?"

"Furthermore, your army has committed murder, arson, rape, and looting in our country. How much harm has it caused! Don't you pride yourselves on being a civilized nation? Look at what your soldiers have done!" Shen Lian angrily rebuked, then slammed a large stack of photos onto the table.

These photos were taken by the war correspondents of the foreign powers that Shen Lian had commissioned to take.

"This is what you call a civilized country? A civilized army?" Shen Lian sneered.

The ministers were speechless, even though they all did the same thing. But that was in private, and now someone had presented evidence of it in such a public setting. The ministers felt extremely embarrassed.

Yikuang and Li Zhongtang were extremely impressed with Shen Lian. This guy single-handedly silenced all the ministers, he was really amazing!

Seeing the awkward atmosphere, Shen Lian gave Li Hongzhang a wink, and the latter understood immediately.

"Gentlemen, this is our first meeting today. It seems our differences are too great, and we are unlikely to achieve anything in the short term. How about we adjourn for now, go back and report, and then continue our discussion in three days?"

The special envoys from various countries naturally offered their support. They had just been rendered speechless by Shen Lian's rebuttal and were now feeling utterly ashamed. Being able to leave was something they couldn't ask for.

Yikuang then adjourned the meeting and said they would talk again in three days!

"Zhiyuan, you've truly impressed me! I never expected you to be so eloquent, leaving all the nations speechless. I think even Zhuge Liang's debate with the Confucian scholars during the Three Kingdoms period couldn't have been more impressive!" After the envoys from various countries left, Yikuang stroked his beard and said with satisfaction.

“Your Highness, the confidence to negotiate ultimately comes from strength! If we had been the ones to lose this time, the great powers wouldn’t be in this situation now!” Shen Lian shook his head and said.

Li Zhongtang nodded, indicating that he deeply understood.