On 5 April, the Japanese Government officially sent a diplomatic note to the East China Government, informing it that the East China Government would send a delegation to Nagasaki on 10 January to hold consultations on cooperation, and hoped that the East China Government would come up with a detailed plan.

By this time, the Combined Fleet had made five sorties, and in addition to the two closed operations, there were also three exploratory attacks, and each time it was a declaration of victory, and then it was a big victory, in fact, except for the first small victory, the actual results of the other several battles were lackluster, and it was the second closed operation, which could almost be regarded as a defeat. The Military Command Department also felt the severity of the war, after all, for Japan, this was another battle to gamble on the fortunes of the country, and it could only win but not lose, and maybe it really needed the East China government to participate in the war. The negotiations between the two sides had already been postponed once, and it was difficult to postpone them any longer, so they took the initiative to send an invitation to the East China Government without waiting for the East China Government to urge.

Nagasaki is one of the two major home ports of the Japanese Navy, and Kure Port is the location of the Naval Guardhouse, which is an important base for the Navy. Since the cooperation between the East China government and Japan was private, the choice of Tokyo for the negotiations was too noticeable, and Nagasaki was more hidden. The reason why the Japanese have given such careful consideration is that, on the one hand, the Japanese have a character of paying attention to details, and on the other hand, it is also because the East China Government has saved 2 9 Japanese soldiers and sold them to Japan a great favor, so the Japanese Government has no choice but to give more consideration to the East China Government.

After receiving the diplomatic note from the Japanese government, the East China government immediately began to study countermeasures, and although the East China government did not intend to really cooperate with Japan, it was still perfunctory at this time, and it still had to do the same thing as the real thing on the surface, so it should not be too sloppy.

First of all, of course, it is necessary to determine the candidates for the delegation, because this time the talks are not only about military cooperation, but also about civil administration cooperation, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will definitely participate, Li Sanjie naturally occupies a place, the others are Han Chao, chief of staff of the navy, Zhang Wei, commander of the fleet, chief of staff of the army*, political commissar Zhang Liyong, a total of five people, and there are also 8 deputies, all of whom are composed of crossing soldiers, and the entourage is 1 5 people, a total of 2 8 people.

In the next two days, the cooperation plan of the East China Government was negotiated, although the East China Government did not want to negotiate with Japan, but it could not deliberately make a random offer, after all, the Japanese government at this time was indeed an elite gathering, which must be seen, so it was necessary to grasp the proportion.

On April 7, a delegation from the East China government set out from Qingdao, and since Japan and Russia were at war at this time, they did not take a merchant ship, but sent the cruiser Yizhou to Nagasaki.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 9th, the Yizhou arrived in Nagasaki, led by Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Shoutaro and Navy Minister Gonbei Yamamoto, to greet them at the wharf, and arranged a very grand welcome ceremony, with a guard of honor and a military band. Even Emperor Meiji sent his adopted son, Prince Higashifushimiya, as an envoy to greet him, thanking the East China government for saving 29 Japanese soldiers, and also awarding imperial medals to the members of the delegation. As a result, it took more than an hour to toss around on the dock.

The Japanese side also prepared a magnificent four-wheeled carriage for the delegation and sent them to the hotel where they were staying. Along the road, I saw that on the side of the street, the front of the shop was full of Japanese flags, naval flags, banners celebrating the victory of the war, and leaflets supporting the Russo-Japanese War, and there were many parade groups, speech groups, and young people wearing imitation Japanese military uniforms on the streets, either chanting slogans or giving speeches, and they also attracted a large number of crowds of onlookers, and some people applauded from time to time.

After a short time, the group arrived at the hotel, after everyone checked in, rested for a while, and the Japanese side prepared a sumptuous banquet for the delegation, the dishes were both Chinese and Japanese, and there were traditional Japanese cultural performances. In short, the Japanese side has done a very good job in terms of etiquette specifications.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, the two sides formally held consultations and talks, and in addition to Komura Shoutaro, Yamamoto Gonbei, and Prince Higashifushiminomiya, there were also Kodama Gentaro, deputy director of the Army General Staff Headquarters, and Matsukawa Toshiyin Osa, director of the War Department, who came overnight yesterday, to form the negotiating members of the Japanese side.

After the negotiation began, Kodama Gentaro first said: "Now that Japan and Russia have started a war, it is indeed a bit difficult to rely on us Japan to fight Russia alone, if you can send troops to help, of course it will be better, but I don't know what your plan to send troops is?"

Han Chao said: "Since the last meeting, we have been making preparations, and now we can dispatch 3-4 divisions of the army at any time, each of which does have more than 8 0 artillery pieces, and the navy can dispatch about 10 warships, including 2 battleships and 2 large armored cruisers. By October, it was estimated that only 1 0 army divisions would be dispatched, and the navy would be able to dispatch 20 warships. ”

The Japanese representatives glanced at each other, and Gentaro Kodama said: "To tell the truth, the Japanese army plans to take action in May, and it is expected to invest 1 0-12 divisions to land ashore from two places respectively, if you can dispatch 6 divisions in May, and also choose two landing sites, forming a situation where 4 arrows are fired at once, you can defeat the Russian army in one fell swoop." ”

* shook his head and said: "I'm sorry, if it is in May, we can only dispatch a maximum of 4 divisions, and to carry out a landing operation, we also need the cooperation of the navy, as well as enough transport ships, I am afraid that we can only dispatch 3 divisions, and at most we can land at one location." ”

Zhang Wei said: "If it is just to cover the landing of the army, the navy can do it, but it is difficult for the navy to transport the army ashore and equip the materials, because this requires the recruitment of enough transport ships in advance, and it is estimated that it will only be completed in June." ”

At this time, Yamamoto Gonbei said: "Your Lordship in the Navy, can you send more warships, battleships are not needed, preferably cruisers, now the Russian Maritime Fleet is attacking our transport lines, and our fleet is mainly fighting in the direction of Arthur, unable to drive out the Russian fleet and protect the sea transport lines, I hope your navy can provide help in this regard." ”

Zhang Wei said: " As far as we know, the scope of activity of Russian warships is mainly in the Sea of Japan, which is about 1,500 to 2,500 kilometers away from us, so let us help Japan escort the convoy, labor expeditions, the consumption is too great, in addition, in terms of information exchange, there are also many problems, I think it is better for the Japanese side to transfer some warships from the combined fleet to be responsible for escort work, and our warships can make up for the gap in the direction of Lushun, so that the Japanese warships can escort in the waters they are familiar with, and the distance is short, the replenishment is convenient, and there is no obstacle to information exchange。 In the direction of Lushun, it is closer to us, and it is easier for our warships to dispatch and replenish the supplies, so this arrangement is more suitable for both of us. ”

As a matter of fact, the Japanese Navy and Army put forward these two demands for a purpose, and the army has already drawn up a landing operation plan in the direction of the Korean Peninsula and the direction of Dalian, and the retired German Major General Jacob Merkel has made a suggestion to the Japanese Army General Staff, holding that the Japanese landing operation on the Korean Peninsula and in the direction of Dalian should be a feint aimed at containing the Russian troops, and then concentrate the main forces to land near Jinzhou by surprise and attack in the direction of Mukden (Shenyang).

Major General Merkel was a prominent German tactician, having served as deputy chief of the German General Staff and teaching at the German Army University. Because Merkel had come to Japan in 1885, taught the Army University for three years, brought out the first to sixth trainees, and was known as the instructor of the modernization of the Japanese Army, so he had a good impression of the Japanese Army, although Merkel has now retired, but after learning that Japan and Russia started the war, he still paid attention to the Japanese Army, so he gave advice to the Japanese Army.

Although the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters did not agree with the roundabout combat plan from Jinzhou to the Liaodong Peninsula, because this would stretch the front too long and the logistical pressure would be too great, it did give the War Department a hint that if the East China Government wanted to participate in the war, it would be better to hand over the task of landing in Jinzhou to them, and let the People's Army land in Jinzhou first, so that it would be able to attract a considerable part of the Russian troops, and then the Japanese army would attack from the direction of the Yalu River, and the pressure would be greatly reduced.

The navy is even more thoughtful than the army, and simply leaves the dirty and tiring work of escorting convoys and defending communication lines to the East China government, which is laborious and thankless, and even if Russia is finally defeated, the main credit is still Japan's, and when distributing the results of the war, Japan's interests can be guaranteed to be maximized.

On the one hand, they wanted to use the military strength of the East China Government to reduce the pressure on Japan, and on the other hand, they did not want the East China Government to perform too prominently in the battle, thus affecting the distribution of Japan's interests after the war. It is best to leave the dirty work, tiring work, and cannon fodder to the East China government, while Japan does the things that steal people's heads and show off.

However, the East China Government obviously did not give troops in vain, and as far as the army was concerned, it postponed the time to go to June, but the reason was also reasonable, the Bijing landing operation was indeed more complicated, and the preparation time was longer, and if Japan wanted the East China Government to send troops first, then all the plans drawn up by the Army General Staff Headquarters would have to be revised, and it would obviously be worth the loss for Japan.

In terms of the navy, the East China Government's rationality is even more sufficient, since the Sea of Japan is on the edge of Japan, and the warships of the East China Government have rushed all the way to the Sea of Japan to escort the convoy, while Lushun, which is close at hand, has been handed over to the Japanese fleet.

Seeing that the soldiers on both sides were a little frozen, Komura Shoutaro said: "I think the tactical plan of the club will be put aside for a while, and let's discuss the matter of the establishment of a joint command center by the two sides first, and if the joint command is established, it is not too late to negotiate the tactical plan." ”

Li Sanjie also said: "I also think that we should first negotiate the establishment of a joint command, we seem to have reversed the order." ”