"Everyone, do you have anything else to say?" In just a few days, Emperor Meiji seemed to have aged 10 years. The cause of conquering the Qing Dynasty and dominating East Asia had become a fantasy yesterday, and even Japan seemed

It was like a candle in the strong wind. The entire Yamato nation also fell into the abyss, without any light at all.

"Negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty and ask for help from Britain." Ito Hirobumi said that the only way for Japan to survive now is to immediately end the war with the Qing Dynasty, especially Beiyang, bring back its relatively intact army, and at the same time ask Britain for help. Although Britain is against Japan

Ben was very dissatisfied with defecting to Russia, but there are no permanent enemies, only permanent interests. In order to prevent Russia from obtaining an ice-free port, the British must also take some actions.

"Li Hongzhang's request is that all Japanese troops in Northeast China and North Korea must lay down their weapons, and Japan must surrender." Aoki Shuzang said with a pale face.

"That's too much! Now Beiyang still wants to eat the Japanese Army? Don't they know that they have reached their limit?" Emperor Meiji said angrily.

"They have already attacked. They have not received supplies for a long time and the news of a sneak attack on the homeland has completely defeated the Japanese First Army. Mr. Shanxian has no way." Dashanyan said with a bitter smile.

"Now Japan has no choice. Let's contact Beiyang again. If they are willing to negotiate peace, I will leave for Tianjin immediately. In addition, what is the attitude of the British?" Ito Hirobumi asked.

"The British expressed their indignation at the Russians' actions! But at the same time, the British said that they had no other solution for the time being except moral support, and that a quick end to the war with Beiyang was the best way. Moreover, the British also suggested that Japan

Surrender to the Qing Dynasty." Aoki Shuzang said helplessly.

"If we can really negotiate with the Qing central government, it is not necessarily a bad thing. These Manchu guys are much easier to deal with than Li Hongzhang." Kawakami Cao Liu said with a flash of his eyes.

"I'm afraid this is impossible. Now that it's time to reap the rewards, how could Li Hongzhang give up this opportunity? And don't forget, even if we negotiate with the Manchu Qing Central Committee, if Beiyang insists on not stopping the war, it will even kill our Japanese captured soldiers.

, Japan’s army’s decades of accumulation are completely gone!” Ito Hirobumi said.

"Li Hongzhang wouldn't do this?" Emperor Meiji asked in surprise.

"Li Hongzhang can definitely blame all this on the Manchus. In the Northeast, everyone knows what the Imperial Army does. The Japanese who have lost their weapons may have to face the butcher knives of those Avengers at all times? And they will

If the foreign emperor's orders are not accepted, the central government of the Qing Dynasty can

She will not get into trouble with Li Hongzhang over the names of Japanese officers and soldiers. Maybe Cixi still hopes that such a thing will happen. After all, she is a Manchu." Sooner or later, you will have to pay back the money if you come out to hang out. This sentence is very suitable for the Japanese army.

. Saigo Yumichi expressed support for Ito Hirobumi’s words.

"Then what should we do now?" Emperor Meiji was completely helpless.

"Surrender. There is no other way. If we delay for one more minute, the empire will be greatly harmed." Ito Hirobumi said.

At the same time, Hurd, on behalf of the British government and the commander of the British Far East Fleet, went to Tianjin to visit Li Hongzhang. The two sides would discuss issues regarding the future situation in the Far East and how to deal with Japan.

"Now that the Russians have extended their claws to the Far East, I personally think that Beiyang should end the war with Japan as soon as possible to prepare for the fight against Russia." Hurd said.

"As long as Japan surrenders and accepts our conditions, everything will be easy to negotiate." Li Hongzhang said and handed over a document.

"Master Zhongtang, I have to say that your conditions are too high. Japan, which is already exhausted, can never bear such a heavy burden." After a quick glance, Hurd took a few deep breaths and managed to stabilize himself.

Said with emotion.

"You have money to fight but no money to pay compensation? Even if you take away the last ri yuan from Japan's treasury, even if you take away the last machine from Japan's factory, the compensation is absolutely indispensable." Li Hongzhang said categorically.

"Lord Zhongtang, the main opponent of the Qing Dynasty and Beiyang in the future is Russia, and Japan can be used as a boost for Beiyang to fight against Russia. If Japan is weakened too much, it will also be detrimental to Beiyang." Hurd made his attitude clear.

"It is precisely because we have to fight against Russia that we, the Qing Dynasty, need to obtain more resources from the defeated to develop ourselves. Without these things, how can we, the Qing Dynasty, heal the wounds of the war? How can we accumulate enough strength to fight against Russia? Moreover,

This Japan is not worth supporting at all. They are despicable and have no credibility at all. They got help from Russia and betrayed the British Empire. Aren't you afraid that one day Japan will fight against your country and the Qing Dynasty again?" Li Hongzhang's attitude

Extremely determined.

"Japan has no chance. He will never be able to threaten the Qing Dynasty." Hurd said.

"Since the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates have been plotting against the Central Plains. For the sake of future generations, we must completely eliminate the Japanese threat." Li Hongzhang's uncompromising attitude brought the entire meeting to a deadlock.

"The current Japan is no longer worth supporting. It has lost its navy. The army has been severely damaged, a large area of ​​land has been occupied, and the national economy has collapsed. Japan has lost its value. Even if Beiyang lets Japan go, even if your country treats Japan

If you undergo a blood transfusion, you won’t be able to recover even if you don’t have 30 years,” Xu Jie said.

"Now that Russia has obtained the ice-free port in the Far East, Russia's expansion will definitely be rapid. At this time, supporting a country that has no power at all in a short period of time is obviously not a wise choice! And more importantly,

Japan's actions have angered the entire Qing Dynasty. Public opinion is so, and it has been decided that Beiyang cannot

We can let Japan go, and if Beiyang, which has acquired Japan's resources, can become stronger, it will be easier for us to fight against Russia. And I, Beiyang, urgently need this compensation." Xu Jie said very artistically,

This directly shows that Japan is not worthy of support, and it also shows that Beiyang's situation makes it impossible to let Japan go.

"Then I want to know, after the war, how will Beiyang respond to Russia's expansion in the Far East?" Hurd could only convey the British opinions, but he himself could not respond to Beiyang's attitude.

If you don't let go, let's talk about other things.

"We need a lot of capital, technology and skilled workers to develop our industry. I think the British government can provide some help in this regard." Xu Jie said with a smile, no one would do anything that can make money.

Refuse, only the more sellers there are, the buyers will take advantage. Xu Jie has already said similar things to representatives of other powers. After this war is over, both civilians and Beiyang will go to Europe to purchase relevant equipment and technology.

In this situation, the more bidders there are, the better off the situation will be.

And if Britain sees that it can also get a share of Japan's compensation, then the pressure from Britain will be smaller, which will be more conducive to Beiyang's future negotiations with Japan.

"In addition, regarding the design data of the Pisa class, I think I can work hard to persuade the Royal Navy of Italy to share relevant data with the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. Of course, this also requires openness and honesty from the British side. If your country and Italy reach an agreement, I will

It is not impossible to order ships in the UK." Xu Jie threw out another cake. Historically, the Japanese could use British blueprints to build ships in Germany and France, so this should not be difficult to do. What's more, now Italy

The shipyard is almost filled with orders!

"In that case, I will feed back the opinions of Lord Zhongtang to the cabinet. I hope this is the beginning of our new cooperation." Although the purpose of this trip was not achieved, Hurd himself was still very satisfied with the explanations and rewards from Beiyang.

Satisfied, he thought he could leave now.

After dealing with the British, the Central Committee has also decided on the issue of candidates for negotiation and the profit sharing. Li Hongzhang, who had a tough attitude when it came to war determination, became even tougher when it came to picking peaches, and repeatedly emphasized in telegrams that the Second Beiyang Marine Division

the mainstay role, and at the same time

Launch a public opinion offensive, spread the word about the Beiyang Army's good fighting and Ronglu's repeated defeats, and at the same time selectively announce the price Beiyang has paid for this war to gain the sympathy and support of public opinion. In addition, Beiyang

Due to the strong strength of the army, the central government had to make compromises.

As a result, on the issue of compensation, the agreement reached between the Central Committee and the local forces was as follows. First, the compensation was used to pay for the war losses and expenses of each force, and then the compensation was used to pay the rewards and remuneration of each army. In addition, a special

Part of the funds were used as filial piety to the Queen Mother and the Emperor.

Respect. The last part of the funds will be used as the initial capital to restore the Northeast. After all, as the Longxing land of the Qing Dynasty, it was beaten to pieces by the Japanese army and will eventually be rebuilt. This is what the so-called earmarked funds mean. Who will bear it?

For the task of rebuilding Northeast China, who should get this part of the money?

After Beiyang took care of its relations with Britain and the central government, Li Hongzhang finally decided to meet with Japan's Minister Histaro Komura. When he saw the armistice proposal submitted by Komura Histaro, Li Hongzhang directly threw it to the ground. "We just threw it to the ground.

Accept Japan's surrender and don't talk about the armistice. If Japan's troops and soldiers in North Korea and Northeast China don't lay down their weapons, we don't mind wiping them all out." Li Hongzhang said calmly.

Li Hongzhang knew that there is a huge difference between surrender and ceasefire. The former means that the defeated country will be arbitrarily slaughtered, while the latter means that both sides maintain their original positions and cease hostilities. Therefore, a ceasefire is absolutely unacceptable to Li Hongzhang!

Faced with Beiyang's toughness, Japan finally chose to compromise. Japan decided that if Beiyang guaranteed the personal safety of prisoners of war, it would order all troops to surrender. In response, Beiyang could only guarantee surrender to the Beiyang Army and Navy.

The implication is that if the Japanese army is attacked before surrendering or surrendering to other armies, Beiyang will not be responsible!
Chapter completed!