"Your Excellency General!"

Next to Mikhailovic, a staff officer reported: "The current casualties of our army have risen to 3,000. Although the casualties of the Japanese are definitely more than twice as many as ours, according to this casualties, unless Japan announces surrender, it is impossible for us to occupy Sapporo or Muroran. In fact, it is probably difficult for us to fight anywhere!"

"Do you think the Japanese will surrender?" Mikhailovic glanced at the staff officer with a side light.

"This..." Looking at the tragic battlefield in the distance, the staff officer chose a more conservative estimate: "I'm afraid not, yours."

"What else can I say!" Mikhailovic was a little angry. The troops he commanded were known as the elite Russians, but they fought a group of monkeys in the east, which made him feel like he was losing all his face!

"Let's retreat and go back to Hakodate!" In the end, Mihailovic ordered helplessly.

The Russians' decision was undoubtedly correct. Takeshiro Nagayama's strategy was to trade life for life and consume the Russian army. Although Japan was small, there were many people in the local war. Although Russia was powerful, it was thousands of miles away, and one less died. Even if the Tsar decided to wipe out Japan, it would be a few months later when a new army was sent. Moreover, whether a large number of soldiers could be sent from the European part of his country to fight in the Far East is not up to the Russians' family to decide, but it depends on the face of Britain, Germany and even the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Takeshiro Nagayama used the lives of nearly 10,000 Japanese soldiers to buy time and a chance to survive for the Japanese Empire.

In the late October, China, Japan, Russia and France spent military operations around the Japanese mainland. During this period, in addition to intensifying the gathering of troops, the British ambassador to China Wallsen also actively lobbies the Qing government and urged the Qing government to send troops to Honshu, Japan as soon as possible, to occupy Tokyo before the Russians and end the war.

Yi Xin can now be said to be the busiest person in the entire Beijing city.

When the war reaches this point, only the final distribution of interests is left. Diplomacy becomes extremely important.

The original war between China and Japan was entangled with the shadows of Russia and the British, but now the French have also gotten involved. That's not all. Under the suggestion of Guangxu, the Germans were also pulled in, and the Americans also expressed concern. Even the Austro-Hungarian and Italians who could not beat the eight-pole were ready to move.

Among these countries, the most difficult thing to deal with is their relationship with the United Kingdom.

The Qing Dynasty is currently a quasi-ally alliance with the British. Naturally, the British, who have a great family and a great career, are not very concerned about the interests of Japan, but the British never want to let the Russians get involved in the Far East. So Wall repeatedly asked Yi Xin and urged the Qing Dynasty to land in the state as soon as possible so as to force the Japanese to surrender.

They believed that once Japan surrendered, the war would end and the Russians would have no reason to intervene in the war. As for the contract between the Japanese and Russians, Japan, as a defeated country, naturally could not fulfill it. Then Russia could only regard itself as a failure of its investment. In this way, the Russians were still suppressed in the northern part of the Whale Sea in the Far East and could not go further south.

"Mr. Wallsen, as a belligerent country, of course our country hopes that the sooner the war, the better. However, you also know that some of the remaining troops in North Korea have not been eliminated, so our army cannot launch an offensive against Japan immediately..."

Before Yi Xin could finish his grievances, Wall took the lead and said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, Your Highness. As far as I know, the Japanese army in North Korea has basically been wiped out by your army, and all that is left is only a so-called division of more than 10,000. However, your army in North Korea has more than 90,000 troops, and your country has armed some Koreans, and there are tens of thousands. With your country's combat capabilities, you should be able to easily wipe out the remaining Japanese troops. I don't understand why this has become a ties with your country's troops to send troops to Japan!"

Yixin said: "You are right, but this is just a list of numbers on the surface. If you only look at the numbers, then Japan would not have launched this war! Although our country has six divisions in North Korea, five of them were seriously damaged after a series of fierce battles and had just obtained new troops to supplement them. What's more, our ammunition was seriously damaged in the previous bloody battles. The only division left by the Japanese army is one of their most elite troops. Although there is insufficient field battle, it has enough to defend the city. If our army uses all the ammunition to attack the city, there will be no ammunition available in the subsequent battle against Japan!"

Wall frowned. This reason is really hard to refute.

"In addition, Japan has set up heavy troops to defend the land and built solid artillery batteries in all major ports. It has long blocked the major ports with mines. By just occupying Nagasaki, we have invested half of the total naval forces and the forces of two infantry divisions, not to mention Tokyo. Our country is now in a hurry to lack surface ships and large-caliber artillery shells. Otherwise, even if the army draws out its troops, it will not be able to fight against Japan."

At present, China's industrial system cannot produce shells of more than eight inches. Such naval shells are imported from abroad, and one can be shot less.

"This is easy to deal with!" Wall immediately replied: "My country will provide the Qing Dynasty with the large-caliber artillery shells you need."

But Yi Xin did not show the joy she deserved: "You know, Mr. Minister, when the war is underway, our country's financial resources are already in short supply. The new round of bonds issued have not been sold yet. At present, we are already very reluctant to only ensure the soldiers' military pay and daily needs, so..."

Wall gritted his teeth, "It's easy to say in this regard. Our government can allow your country to return this money after the war. As for now, it can provide your government with a batch of ammunition in advance through interest-free loans."

"Oh, on behalf of the emperor, I would like to thank your country for your support. But if our country cannot obtain relevant benefits from Japan after the war, then this loan..."

This is the distribution of benefits.

What is the purpose of fighting war? Isn’t it just to seize interests? Japan hopes to plunder resources and interests through war, but the Qing Dynasty also wants to.

"Has your country seized the Kyushu area?"

"Yes, but just as you have seen, the loss of Kyushu did not cause unbearable harm to the Japanese government, and they still have the ability to continue the war. Therefore, the so-called occupation of Kyushu is actually not very meaningful and cannot bring the rewards it deserves to the Qing Dynasty."

As the first person in the Chinese government's diplomacy, Yixin is known as the "Divine Six". After so many years of Westernization diplomacy, she has already known how to win benefits for her government. Although Jiuzhou is far inferior to that of the state in terms of economic value, its geographical location is extremely important. It can control entry into the Pacific Ocean in the east, control the Ryukyu Islands in the south, connect to the most important naval base and port city in the Qing Dynasty in the west, and is only 700 meters wide from the state in the north.

Moreover, although Kyushu does not have rich natural resources and is not a good place for agricultural cultivation, it has many excellent ports, such as Sasebo, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, etc. It can be said that it has a unique geographical location.

But Yixin avoided talking about these things, just talking about Kyushu's economy and industry, which is naturally far from Japan's economy and industrial center Honshu Island.

"In order to deal with Japan's war of aggression, our government has spent more than 100 million taels of silver so far, which is not considered an indirect economic loss. If it is to land in Japan, it will definitely continue, and the silver spent will exceed 150 million taels. The total amount of economic and trade industries in Kyushu is only 100 million taels a year. It is far from being able to make up for our country's losses."

Although Yixin’s request is a bit exaggerated, the British government does not care about how much the Chinese want or how much the Japanese can bear. All they want is to stop the Russians.

"My government will support your country's reasonable demand for war reparations. But the premise is that your country needs to win the war first. So before the Japanese government is forced to sign an armistice agreement, all this is just a beautiful idea, right?"

The cunning Wall body rewinds the topic again.

"Oh, of course." Yixin said: "So I said from the beginning that as a belligerent country, our country hopes to end the war as soon as possible. But our government also has some concerns. For example, once our army enters our state and conflicts with the Russians, who can ensure that the supply line of our army is not threatened? You know, after the war against Japan, our navy cannot match the Russian fleet."

Yixin was not stupid either, so she kicked the ball to Wall again.

The implication is, "I'm fighting ahead, brother, you have to show our way out. Otherwise, if the elder brother behind the other party sends a slap, then I'll die in vain."

After a few days of bargaining, the British government finally reached a secret agreement with the Qing government. In short, the Qing government was responsible for fighting against Japan and was responsible for preventing the Russian army from operating on the Japanese mainland. Correspondingly, the British government ensured that the Qing army's maritime supply line was not affected and assisted the Qing government in transporting the army and supplies.

That is, "You come on land, I come on sea."

As for the distribution of interests after the war, the British government supported all the Qing government's interest demands against Japan, including territory, ports and reparations. In return, the Qing government promised to start combat operations against Japan's Honshu within one month, that is, before December 1893. While forcing the Japanese government to surrender, it ensured that the Russians could not be involved in Japan's mainland (in this era, the Japanese mainland only referred to Japan's Honshu Island. In addition, Kyushu, Shikoku, and Hokkaido were all out of the island).
Chapter completed!