On April 4th, Qingming Festival approached, because he wanted to return to his hometown to worship his ancestors, the school was able to have three days off. This was the first time Xu Shuiwa went home after leaving home. Xu Wu, who was thinking about his son day and night, was waiting at the village head early.

Seeing her husband slowly walking towards him from a distance, Xu Wu picked up the youngest son, regardless of whether the little daughter around him could keep up, and ran quickly towards her son whom she was thinking about day and night.

When he arrived, Xu Wu shook his youngest son in his arms to her husband, then rushed to his eldest son and began to check inside and out. "Okay, okay..." Seeing that his son was back with all his beards, Xu Wu cried with joy. All the worries and longings of these days turned into tears.

Xu Dashan looked at his wife and said with relief and complaining: "Look at what you look like?"

Xu Wu only has his son in his eyes, so how could he listen to her husband’s complaints? He led his son home, and kept asking: “Is it cold in the school? Can you eat enough? Have you been beaten?”

On the way back to his hometown, Xu Shuiwa had known his mother's longing for him from his father's mouth. Faced with his mother's questions one by one, Xu Shuiwa smiled and wiped away the tears from his mother's face, while answering with ease: "There are fire braziers in the school, both in the classroom and in the dormitory where he sleeps, which are warmer than ours. The quilts in the dormitory are thicker, and the school has made a set of cotton coats for each of us students. Unfortunately, they can only wear them in the school and are not allowed to wear them home. But mother, don't worry, the child is not cold at all."

While saying that, Xu Shuiwa patted his not-so-strong chest hard. "Mom, look, is the child strong?"

Xu Wu looked at his son's slightly rosy face and smiled and said, "My son has grown up."

Xu Shuiwa was even happier after receiving her mother's praise. "Do you know, we have meat in school! It's real meat, it smells so good!"

Xu Wu looked at his son in surprise, "Shuiwa, do you think you can still eat meat in school? Don't coax your mother."

"Really, really..." Seeing that his mother didn't believe it, Xu Shuiwa immediately introduced her food in the school to her mother in detail: "Although it can only be eaten once every three days, it's so delicious. The child thought at that time, how great it would be if his father, mother and younger brothers and sisters could eat it."

In fact, when Xu Shuiwa ate meat for the first time, she didn't chew her tongue, so she didn't care about her parents and brothers and sisters. When he remembered it, it was the first time he had eaten meat. But in this case, he wouldn't say it in front of his mother, for no reason to make his parents unhappy and even make his brothers and sisters laugh at her.

After hearing Shuiwa's words, the second sister asked curiously: "Brother, brother, what is meat?"

Xu Shuiwa was asked by her sister's question. He didn't know how to describe 'what meat' to her sister, so he could only say vaguely: "Anyway, it's a very delicious thing, which is better than rice porridge and better than salted fish."

In Xu Ermei's mind, the best thing I have eaten since childhood is rice porridge and salted fish, which is a delicious food that I can't eat a few times a year. But in my elder brother's mouth, the thing called "meat" is actually better than rice porridge and salted fish... Xu Ermei's mouth suddenly drooled.

"Mom, I also want to go to school to eat meat."

Xu Wu held back her tears, picked up her second daughter who had never tasted the fragrance of meat, and comforted her, "My sister, when you grow up, my mother will take you to eat meat."

"Oh..." I heard that I had to grow up before I could eat it, Xu Ermei lowered her head in frustration.

Xu Dashan saw it and felt bitter in his heart, and quickly changed the topic. "You can eat meat every three days, so what do you usually eat?"

Xu Shuiwa thought for a while and said, "Often morning, rice porridge, pancakes and pickles, and eat mixed grains and rice at noon, and sometimes there is broth. Dad, our family can't eat rice several times a year, but we eat it every day in school." As he said that, he thought of his poor second sister and younger brother, and Xu Shuiwa pouted and muttered, "It's a pity that I can't bring it back. It would be great if my younger brother and sister could eat it too."

Xu Wu smiled and touched his son's head, "Don't be afraid, just eat your fill first. My sister and brother will have a chance to eat in the future."

After hearing this, Xu Dashan finally confirmed that his son had enjoyed his blessing when he entered this "foreign school". At this time, he said solemnly: "Shuiwa, you must study well in the school! As long as you study well in the school, the teacher will not drive you home and you can have meat to eat. Only with knowledge in the future can you make money and let your sister and brother have enough food! Do you understand!"

Although Xu Shuiwa is only nine years old, the huge life differences over the past month have already made him firm in his belief that he should stay in school no matter what. Now when his father said that, this belief is even more solid, because it has nothing to do with whether he can continue to eat meat, but also with his younger brother, sister, father and mother!

Shuiwa nodded heavily: "Dad, don't worry. I must study hard. Dad, I have known dozens of words these days. The gentleman praised me for being smart and learning well."

Looking at his son's sensible appearance, Xu Dashan smiled with relief and kept muttering: "Okay...good..."

The next day was the day to worship ancestors. Because his son Xu Shuiwa was able to go to school and enjoy his happiness this time, Xu Dashan prepared this sacrifice particularly grandly.

The three-day holiday passed in a flash, and Shuiwa left her mother's arms and returned to school again. However, this time he no longer had the anxiety and fear of a month ago, but left happily and firmly with the wishes and dreams of the family.

At this time in Tianjin, the game between Hiromitsu Ito and Li Hongzhang had already gone on for two rounds.

The Sino-Japanese talks have just begun, and Hirofumi Ito directly put forward three requirements: "withdrawal", "punishment", and "indemnification".

After the talk, Ito first mentioned the issue of withdrawing troops on the "future matters". However, after briefly exchanging intentions on the issue of withdrawal, Ito immediately turned the topic to "previous matters" and demanded that the Chinese army stationed in North Korea be punished and compensated for the silver.

Li Hongzhang immediately rejected it. The Qing court already knew that the Korean incident was caused by the "rebellion" collusion with four Japanese officials, so Li Hongzhang argued with reason and believed that the responsibility was entirely on Japan. China could not compensate Japan for the so-called losses, and it was even more impossible to punish the officers and soldiers stationed in North Korea.

In the following days, the two held two talks, and once stalemate around "the past events". On April 7, during the third talks, Hirobuki Ito still raised compensation and pensions, but Li Hongzhang flatly refused, and the negotiations almost broke down.

It was not until April 8 that Li Hongzhang led the issue back to the issue of withdrawing troops again.

At that time, Li Hongzhang had to show the position of the Qing government, pointing out that the two things "withdrawal" and "punishment" "will be difficult to do both, or one thing can be negotiated", and proposed to discuss the withdrawal of troops for a special period, and the other two things will be temporarily left unresolved.

On this day, Li Hongzhang told Hirobu Ito with a tough heart that either we would only discuss the issue of "retreatment of troops", or we would start fighting.

This was the first time that the late Qing government and Li Hongzhang used force to threaten their opponents at the negotiating table. After receiving the ultimatum of Li Hongzhang, Ito was still unwilling to submit easily. That night, Ito ordered Japanese Ambassador to China Takeo Tomoto to meet Li Hongzhang and asked, "How many things can be agreed upon in the three affairs of the court?" and threatened it with "departing for a trip and returning to China."

However, since Li Hongzhang even said something about preparing for war, why would he care whether Ito will return to his country or not? Naturally, his attitude is quite tough. Hirobuki Ito finally accepted Li Hongzhang's proposal in desperation.

Before Hiromoto Ito came to China, the Qing court learned the core content of Ito's coming to China through Xu Chengzu's intelligence. At that time, Li Hongzhang once suggested to Emperor Guangxu: "The Russians also covet North Korea's interests and intend to seize Yuanshan. Can they negotiate with the Japanese? Neither countries will withdraw their troops, and use this as a condition to unite Japan to fight against Russia?"

At that time, because the North Korean incident was once tense, both China and Japan sent troops to North Korea, so Li Hongzhang made this proposal.

After all, in the eyes of Li Hongzhang, and even the vast majority of Qing officials, no matter how Japanese are, they are still yellow people in East Asia, and they are better than Rakshasa people with golden retrievers and blue eyes.

However, Emperor Guangxu did not agree with Li Hongzhang's suggestion. Zai Tian solemnly reminded Li Hongzhang, "The Japanese have been planning to North Korea for a long time. If this opening is made, it may lead the wolf into the house and it will be difficult to deal with in the future."

However, Li Hongzhang said, "Although the Japanese are wolves, the Russians are bears. Although it is difficult to deal with the wolves into the house, they can prevent polar bears. The two evils are the least, and I think it is feasible."

Previously, the Russians' foreign focus was mainly in Europe, but after the Crimean War, the Russians' European strategy was frustrated and they had to turn their attention to Asia. This led to a series of unequal treaties on the occupation of land in the Qing Dynasty. Through these treaties, Russia occupied a total of 1.5 million square kilometers of land in the Qing Dynasty.

In 1878, the Berlin Conference once again restricted the development of Russia's power in the Balkans. Germany, Italy and Austro-Hungary Empire formed a three-state alliance in 1882 to jointly fight against the development of Russia's power. During this period, the Qing dynasty's monarchs and ministers were worried about France's military operations in Vietnam. They were completely unaware of this major international change. When Guangxu and Li Hongzhang came to their senses, they found that the Russians were already standing at the gate of North Korea.

The Russians' threat was far greater than that of the Japanese, and Emperor Guangxu had to admit this. So in the end, he was persuaded by Li Hongzhang to agree to the strategy of "inducing wolves into the house" and jointly dealing with the "polar bear".

However, Ito Hiromoto did not talk to Li Hongzhang about the issue of retaining the garrison. This is not that Ito Hiromoto didn't want to garrison in North Korea - on the contrary, he dreamed of it. However, Ito used the strategy of retreating to advance, and he believed that only by forcing the Qing court to a dead end could Japan obtain more.

So he was waiting. So before he came to China, he had already set up a big trap.

Xu Chengzu's intelligence accurately reflected all the purposes and requirements of the Japanese coming to China this time. The Qing government took the lead in the negotiations because it obtained key information in advance. However, why no one thought about it. Xu Chengzu only took half a year to Japan, how could he even clearly touch Ito Hiromitsu several times a day in the toilet? Could it be that he was the roundworm in Ito Hiromitsu's belly?

Xu Chengzu also had a nose and two eyes, and no matter how he looked, he didn't look like a roundworm. The reason why he knew this was because someone privately passed on him information.
Chapter completed!