The Anglo-Japanese alliance was one of the most important international alliances before World War I in the early 20th century, and one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War.

As soon as the treaty was signed, France and Russia felt obvious pressure, after all, this treaty was first against Russia, and then against France, although in recent years the relations between France and Great Britain have improved a lot, and their attitude in some international affairs has also been consistent, but after all, there were too many grudges in the past, which could not be eliminated at once, so France and Russia also immediately issued a joint statement: In the event of aggression by other powers or another disturbance in China, which poses a threat to the interests of the Russian and French governments, the two countries will consult on means of defending these interests, and will use all possible means。

Before the signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, Britain negotiated and signed a commercial treaty with the Qing court, extending the jurisdiction of the Chinese customs controlled by the British Hurd to Northeast China after the withdrawal of Russian troops, and the British Jiangfeng Bank, which was responsible for storing China's customs revenue, was bound to enter Northeast China to conduct business, and also encouraged the United States to negotiate with the Qing court, obtained industrial and railway concessions in Northeast China, and asked the Qing court to open up Fengtian and Dagushan as commercial ports.

This series of combination punches has made Russia quite overwhelmed, because Russia has long regarded China's northeast region as its own forbidden territory, although it has promised to withdraw its troops from the northeast, but it is only under the pressure of all sides, and it is forced to do so, and the withdrawal does not mean that Russia has given up China's northeast region, but only changed its military means to economic. The means of cultural infiltration, taking advantage of Russia's geographical advantages, still maintain a huge influence in Northeast China, and squeeze out Japanese power, once the time is ripe, it is not too late to annex Northeast China, and of course take the Korean Peninsula as well.

But now that Japan and Britain have signed an alliance, and with the support of Britain, Japan's attitude toward Russia has also become obviously tougher, and Britain and the United States will also extend their hands to Northeast China, which is naturally a big taboo for Russia, and Russia of course knows that if it wants to fight for the economy, it will definitely not be able to fight for Britain and the United States, so it can only regain its military means, refuse the second batch of troops to withdraw from Northeast China, and clearly put forward to the Qing court that the forces of other powers are prohibited from entering Northeast China, and Russia is involved in the administration of Northeast China.

As a result, the domino effect triggered by the signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance also began immediately. It is also necessary for the East China government to evaluate its own pros and cons and formulate its own coping strategies. Of course, it is only a small-scale discussion now, and it is not an informal decision-making, so there are only five people who participated: Xia Bohai, Qin Zheng, Xiao Jianjun, Wang Yunpeng, and Xu Jichao, and they are still the original five-person group.

Xia Bohai first said: "The Anglo-Japanese alliance treaty has been signed, so will the Russo-Japanese War happen as scheduled?"

Qin Zheng said: "If the Anglo-Japanese alliance is not signed, there is still the possibility of negotiating a settlement of the dispute between Ben and Russia, but if the Anglo-Japanese alliance is signed, there is basically no possibility of reconciliation between Japan and Russia." Because according to the principle of Murphy's Law, if there is a possibility that something will go bad, then it will always happen, no matter how small that probability is. And there is also a European proverb that if a person is taken as an enemy, then he will be an enemy. According to historical experience, this kind of alliance with a common imaginary enemy can only lead to war in the end, as was the case with the Anglo-Japanese alliance, and the same was true with the later Entente and Allied Powers, with the exception of the Cold War, but the reason is known to everyone, it is not that the two sides do not want to fight, but that they really cannot afford to fight, and in the case of a nuclear war, once the war really starts, they will both end up. ”

Xia Bohai said: "Then the plan we made before will really be implemented?"

When the East China Government was established, such a plan was formulated, once the Russo-Japanese War really broke out, the traversers should make full use of this opportunity, and when both Japan and Russia were exhausted, they suddenly entered the war, and dealt a heavy blow to Japan and Russia in one fell swoop, and took the opportunity to occupy Northeast China to expand their own development space, and at the same time demanded compensation from Japan and Russia as funds for the next development of the East China Government.

However, since it was not certain whether the Russo-Japanese War would occur at that time, this was only an ordinary preliminary plan, but it was not planned in detail, nor was it determined as an official plan of the East China government, but now it can be basically determined that the Russo-Japanese War will definitely occur, so the previous plan must be further refined and formally determined as a plan.

At this time, Wang Yunpeng said: "Now that the Anglo-Japanese alliance has just been signed, we now believe that the Russo-Japanese War will definitely happen, is it too early, I think it is better to wait and see for another year or half a year, to see how certain the development of the situation is, it is not too late, and this year's plan and budget have been determined, if this time is determined to prepare for the Russo-Japanese War, it will inevitably make a big adjustment to this year's plan, which will cause great chaos in the work of our government." ”

Xiao Jianjun immediately said: "I think there is no need to wait any longer, first of all, after the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan will take Russia as an imaginary enemy and prepare for war, the '66th Fleet' The plan was decided in the second year after the First Sino-Japanese War, and the number of the army was to be tripled; although Russia's preparations for war were a little late, they began now; and after the signing of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, Britain would certainly encourage Japan to wage war against Russia, and Japan would also be tougher on Russia on the Korean and Manchurian issues, and Russia would not back down, so the two sides would certainly desperately expand their armaments and constantly escalate the contradictions and conflicts, and in this arms race, no one would have room to retreat until one of them fell for this, so there is no doubt that this war will inevitably occur。 ”

Qin Zheng also said: "According to the time of the old time and space, the Russo-Japanese War occurred in February 1904, less than two years from the present, of course, the history of this era has changed, so the time of the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War may change, but no matter how it changes, this war will definitely break out before 1905, this is because the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway is expected to be built in 1905, and once the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed and opened to traffic, theoretically speaking, from St. Petersburg to the sea to transport personnel, The time for supplies will not exceed a month, and Russia's ability to project troops will be greatly enhanced, so that even with the support of Britain, Japan will definitely not be able to win this war, so Japan must start a war before 1905, and this leaves us little time to prepare, and we cannot afford to wait. ”

Xia Bohai said: "In fact, this is not a contradiction, we are going to carry out a comprehensive reorganization and establishment of the army, and the navy still has a shipbuilding plan, which is equivalent to preparing for the Russo-Japanese War. ”

When the others heard this, they had no objections. And Xiao Jianjun said: "During this time, I have some more detailed ideas on how to use the Russo-Japanese War and preparations, and we can discuss them together." First of all, the timing of the war, in the old time and space, the Russo-Japanese War took place in February 1904 and officially ended in September 1905, of course, we did not have to enter the war at the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, but waited until both sides were almost exhausted before shooting, I think the best time to play should be May 1905, during the Battle of Tsushima, because at this time, the battle between Japan and Russia on land had been almost fought, and the battle line was pushed to Mukden. On the Liaoyang front, both Japan and Russia are basically unable to fight again, and the Battle of Tsushima will be the decisive battle of the Russo-Japanese War, and we can first annihilate the fleets of both sides in the naval battle, control the sea power, cut off Japan's replenishment, and then land in Lushun and Jinzhou, all the way to the northeast. ”

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "The Battle of Tsushima is indeed a good time, but the Russo-Japanese War in this time and space may not develop according to the course of the old time and space. ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "I have carefully studied the Russo-Japanese War, as long as it is fought, the process of the land war will not be much different, at most there will be changes in time, and the war at sea must start from the attack on Lushun, of course, the Battle of Tsushima is the biggest variable, Guan Jian lies in whether Russia will send a fleet from Europe, I personally think that this possibility is still very large, and no matter when we enter the war, but first give full play to our naval superiority and gain sea supremacy, this idea is not wrong." ”

Xia Bohai said: "Let's tentatively settle down like this, and the time for the whole body to participate in the war will be decided when everyone has a military meeting together." ”

Xiao Jianjun also said: "With the scale of our current navy, as long as we do a good job in the maintenance of five modern warships, there is certainly no problem in annihilating the navies of Japan and Russia, but if we want to control the sea power, we will be a little out of reach, Bi Jing Our warships are still a little less, and they lack fast protective cruisers, so the navy's shipbuilding plan must be completed, only in this way can we ensure that after entering the war, there are enough warships to fully control the sea power." ”

Xia Bohai said: "There is no objection to this, although we have not approved this shipbuilding plan at one time, but we have to do our best to complete it, but we have to do it year by year, and of course, now we have to complete the shipbuilding plan at all costs." ”

Xiao Jianjun said: "This is only the navy, and in the army, both Japan and Russia have invested more than 400,000 troops, although we are taking advantage of their exhaustion to attack, but the number of troops must not be too small, I estimate that at least about 30 troops are needed, that is, 20-25 divisions." ”

Qin Zheng said: "With the size of our current population, it is possible to form 25 divisions, but in this way, it is too obvious, since it is Japan, don't underestimate the intelligence capabilities of the Japanese, I am afraid it will attract the attention of Japan and Russia." ”