You think too much about this problem. What Li Hongzhang wrote in the Treaty of Xin Chou was not the word "Su", but his flower contract. Li Hongzhang not only signed the flower pledge on the "Xin Chou Treaty", but also signed this flower pledge in other treaties and daily documents.

Li Hongzhang signed the so-called Huayue in treaty of shimonoseki, which is a special way of signing in ancient China. In ancient times, it was generally necessary to sign the end of a document or letter. Because this signature is often written, it will be very skilled later, and the writing method is close to cursive. However, because everyone has their own writing habits, this kind of signature is different from ordinary cursive script, and there will be various variants, which vary from person to person.

Later, in order to pursue writing convenience and highlight personal characteristics, some people will deliberately write their signatures differently from ordinary words, and may even have no direct connection with their names. In fact, it is somewhat similar to the popular personalized signature or personal label. This kind of signature is also called gambling. Chinese gambling appeared as early as the Jin Dynasty, and later it became more and more popular. Because there is no certain rule, only I know the details and writing order, so it is difficult to imitate the complicated flower bet, which achieves the purpose of anti-counterfeiting to some extent. Of course, there are also some people who are quite individual. For example, there are not many strokes in Flower Bet, which looks a bit like the word "Tian" and a bit like the word "Xia".

Li Hongzhang, signed by Song Huizong Evonne, wrote the flower oath on the Treaty of Xin Chou. This flower looks like a "Su", but it is not a "Su". Only Li Hongzhang knows its specific meaning. In fact, in the "Xin Chou Treaty", not only Li Hongzhang signed the flower deed, but also the signature of the Qing Prince Yi Kuang was a flower deed with only one word. So there is no need to interpret Li Hongzhang's signature too much, it's just Li Hongzhang's signature.

The Signature of Li Hongzhang and Yi Kuang, Prince of Qing Dynasty, the Treaty of Xin and Chou

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