That evening, Roosevelt also rushed back to the White House, and the next morning, the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Kentaro Kaneko, came to visit him. It turned out that the Japanese delegation had been paying close attention to the actions of the East China Government, and yesterday Li Sanjie and others stayed in Roosevelt's villa until almost 4 o'clock in the afternoon before leaving, and Roosevelt invited them to lunch, so the Japanese were also a little suspicious, and they did not know what they talked about in the day.

In fact, Kentaro Kaneko is more afraid that the United States and the East China government have reached some kind of agreement behind Japan's back, and even betrayed Japan. Although the United States supported Japan in the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Kaneko Kentaro did not forget that Japan and the United States actually had contradictions, and although they were covered up by temporary common interests, covering them up did not mean eliminating them, and they would still be exposed at the right time, and would even intensify them. Therefore, early this morning, Kentaro Kaneko also hurried to Roosevelt to inquire about yesterday's talks, which was also to test the attitude of the United States.

Roosevelt also expected Kentaro Kaneko to come to him early this morning, so he rushed back to Washington last evening.

Since they were both acquaintances, and the two were college classmates, they did not have much politeness after meeting, and Roosevelt explained the contents of yesterday's meeting with Li Sanjie in detail to Kentaro Kaneko, and at the same time reiterated the attitude of the United States in support of Japan.

After hearing this, Kaneko Kentaro was also happy and worried, glad that the attitude of the United States in supporting Japan had not changed, and was worried that the attitude of the East China government was so resolute that there was no sign of backing down, and even the British and French troops could not frighten them.

Although Britain has not yet officially stated that once the negotiations break down, it will directly send troops to the war, but the Japanese government has also heard some rumors, although it has brought some comfort to the Japanese government, to be honest, Japan is quite dissatisfied with Britain during this time, and they all think that Britain has pushed back on the issue of participating in the war and has not fulfilled its obligations as an ally. Of course, the mood was better when he learned that Britain would fully support Japan in the negotiations and would send troops to the war after the negotiations broke down.

In this way, however, Japan was divided into two factions, one faction was represented by the military and the army, and they believed that it would simply let the negotiations break down completely and draw Britain into the war, and with Britain participating in the war, it would certainly be able to defeat the East China Government, so that Japan could not only win back all the things it had lost on the battlefield in front of it, but would also win more, and the leader of this faction would naturally be Aritomo Yamachi; while the other faction was represented by civilian officials, who believed that it was best to use Britain to exert pressure on the East China Government and reach a peace agreement with the East China Government on better terms, so as not to continue fighting。 Because the war had consumed almost all of Japan's strength, and now there were a large number of factories closed, shops closed, prices soared, and materials were poor, and if Britain had not provided Japan with a loan worth 200 million yen in time to stabilize the economy, Japan would have been bankrupt long ago. However, once the war resumes, even if Britain participates in the war, it will be difficult to predict the outcome or defeat, and with Japan's current national strength, it is really difficult to sustain itself, so as long as the conditions are acceptable, Japan does not need to cede major interests, and it is acceptable. And the representative of this school is Hirobumi Ito.

Komura Shoutaro, the representative of this negotiation, belongs to the latter, and although Kentaro Kaneko is not in China, he is after all a person who has studied in the United States, and his sense of the overall situation and strategic vision are much higher than those of the domestic army, and he also believes that it should not be possible to stop the war as soon as possible and let the domestic economy recover.

However, now that the East China government clearly has no intention of compromise, it still has a hard-line attitude, and even ignores the British threat, and even puts on a posture of not hesitating to fight, so it seems that it is almost impossible to reach a peace agreement, so it is also very frustrated by Kaneko Kentaro. "Is there really no way?"

Roosevelt also smiled bitterly and said: "Old classmate, we don't rule out that the East China government is pretending, in short, we should not give up lightly until there is no result." However, I personally believe that when Japan is negotiating, it is better to leave the reparations payment at the end of the negotiations, and reach an agreement on other matters first, so as to allow some more time, and perhaps there will be other turnarounds. ”

Kentaro Kaneko also knew that what he said just now was really stupid, so he said, "Yes, we will never give up easily. ”

Roosevelt said: "But I would also suggest that Japan better be prepared for the breakdown of negotiations." ”

Kentaro Kaneko also smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. President, thank you very much for your help to Japan. After saying that, Kentaro Kaneko got up to say goodbye, left the White House, and went back to deliver a letter to Komura Shoutaro so that he could negotiate a countermeasure.

As soon as Kentaro Kaneko left, Rout came to the Oval Office and said, "Mr. President." ”

Roosevelt said, "Elihue, you have come just in time, how are the War and Admiralty going on in their calculations? I need their conclusions as the basis for the next move." ”

Although Roosevelt believed that after Britain and France entered the war, the East China government would certainly not be an opponent, but he was not a professional military personnel and could not rely on his own feelings as the basis for decision-making, so he ordered the Admiralty and the War Department to analyze and deduce the progress of the war after Britain and France entered the war.

"Not yet, they say that the war environment is too complicated, and there is a lack of detailed information on both sides, so there are too many unpredictable factors, and it is difficult to draw accurate conclusions in one or two deductions, and it takes time," Rout said. ”

Roosevelt pondered for a while before he said, "But I don't have time, you go and tell them that you must first submit a report to me after three days, and you don't need a clear result, at least let me know the advantages and disadvantages of both sides." ”

"Okay," said Rutte, "I'll tell them later." ”

Roosevelt said, "What has the Russian delegation been doing in the past two days?"

"Again," said Rutte, "Count Witte went to St. John's Cathedral yesterday and was blessed by Bishop Hoysky. ”

Roosevelt laughed and said, "Aren't the Russians Orthodox Christians? Why do they go to Protestant services?"

"The Earl probably felt the pressure from the East China government, and just this morning he donated 5,000 rubles to Horton Hospital, but the press conference of the East China government was followed by very few reporters present, and the reporters did not seem interested in this 'approachable aristocratic politician' a few days ago," said Rutte. ”

It turned out that after Li Sanjie and his entourage made a brief speech and answered reporters' questions when they first arrived in New York, they immediately caused quite a stir in New York, because Li Sanjie's answer was very novel and seemed relaxed and humorous. In contrast, the Japanese delegation is basically tight-lipped about the media, and even if someone comes out to be interviewed by reporters, except for the determination of determination, the others are lackluster and quite uninteresting, while the Russian delegation is better, but although Witte maintains his own pro-people style, is very polite to reporters, and responds to requests, his answers are too formulaic, and the news value is not low, and Witte himself can only speak French, not English, so answering reporters' questions also requires translation, which is not only troublesome, but also makes American reporters feel a little awkward.

Of course, if there was no East China Government, it would not have been bad for the Russian delegation to arrive, after all, it would still be able to get some words out of the mouth of the Russian delegation, but as soon as the East China Government arrived, its performance at the railway station immediately dwarfed the Russian delegation, so this morning the East China Government held its first press conference, and all the major media in New York sent reporters to attend it, for fear of missing the big news. And Witt's donation to Horton Hospital has not been noticed much anymore.

Roosevelt sneered and said, "This idiot, doing some meaningless things, still thinks he is proud." Forget it, leave him alone, this is his opponent. ”

Root said: "Mr. President, but there is one thing that needs to be reported to you, last night, the minister of the Qing State visited Mr. Witt, and they discussed for more than 2 hours. ”

Originally, in order to reform the law, the Qing court sent five ministers to the country in early 1905 to inspect the system, economy, administration, and justice of Western countries, so as to refer to the Qing court's reform of the law. In fact, this overseas expedition began to be planned in 1903, and was jointly performed by Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others, during which it was repeated several times, and even the candidates were changed several times, the initial candidates were: Bei Zi Zaizhen, Minister of Military Aircraft Rong Qing, Household Secretary Zhang Baixi and Hunan Governor Duanfang; however, Rong Qing and Zhang Baixi were reluctant to travel, so they changed to Qu Hongzhen, Minister of Military Aircraft, and Dai Hongci, a household servant. Later, due to Zaizhen and Qu Hongzhen's official duties, they could not go abroad, so they were reassigned to Zhenguo Gong Zaize, Dali Temple Secretary Xu Shichang, and added the right Cheng Shaoying of the Ministry of Commerce. The final candidates for going abroad are Zai Ze, Dai Hongci, Duan Fang, Shang Qiheng, and Li Shengduo, of which only Duan Fang is the initial candidate.

After the five ministers went abroad, they first arrived in Europe, visited Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and other countries, and left Europe in October and came to the United States, where the United States held trilateral talks, and the five ministers made a request to the US Government, claiming that the three northeastern provinces were all the territory of the Qing court, and that other countries had no right to decide on the territorial ownership of the three eastern provinces, and asked the US Government to intervene and prohibit the question of the ownership of the three eastern provinces from being discussed in the tripartite talks. Roosevelt, on the other hand, prevaricated on the grounds that foreign affairs could only be raised through the Qing government. The five ministers again asked to participate in the tripartite talks, but Roosevelt pushed them away again on the pretext that all three parties rejected the Qing government. In private, Roosevelt once said to Rutt: "What qualifications does the Qing government have to participate in the negotiations between the East China government, Japan, and Russia?" ”

After listening to Root's words, Roosevelt thought for a moment before he said: "Don't care about the small actions of the Russians, they can play whatever they want, just don't be self-defeating." ”