On this day 129 years ago, on April 30, 1896 (March 18, 1896 lunar calendar), Li Hongzhang went to Russia. On April 30, 1896, Li Hongzhang went to Russia to attend the coronation ceremony of Nicholas II and arrived in Petersburg. After Russia, France, and Germany successfully intervened in Japan's withdrawal from the Liaodong Peninsula, Tsarist Russia regarded itself as a "benefactor" and "friend" and took advantage of the coronation ceremony of Tsar Nicholas II to ask the Qing government for compensation for interfering in the return of Liao, and named the Qing government to reassign Li Hongzhang, who was a special envoy to Meiluo. The Qing government did nothing but listen and dispatched Li Hongzhang as the "first-class envoy minister of the imperial court". On May 3, the negotiations between China and Russia began. Under the coercion and inducement of Tsarist Russia, on June 3, the two sides signed the unequal "Sino-Russian Mutual Assistance Treaty", namely the "Sino-Russian Secret Treaty".