At this time, Katsura Taro said: "Is there really no way? I remember that at the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, the 'Gao Sheng' incident that occurred was also in an uproar at that time, and British public opinion was very likely to start a war with Japan.

Komura Shoutaro smiled bitterly and said, "This time, that time, the nature of these two things is different, so they can't be the same. ”

The Gao Sheng Incident was an incident that occurred during the Battle of Toshima at the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War. At that time, the Qing court chartered the British merchant ship Gaosheng to transport troops to Korea, and sent warships Jiyuan and Guangyi to escort it. It was intercepted by the Japanese fleet in the waters of Toshima, and as a result, the Guangyi was sunk, and the Jiyuan escaped with Fang Boqian. The Qing troops on the Gao Sheng refused the Gao Sheng's captain's request to surrender to the Japanese warship, and was eventually sunk by the Japanese warship.

At that time, this incident did cause an uproar, because the Gao Sheng was a British merchant ship, and there was no Boer War at that time, the British Empire was in full swing, and the Japanese warship dared to sink it, so at that time, the whole country was in an uproar, public opinion was boiling, and they all said that they would severely punish Japan, and the British Navy also asked the British government for authorization to retaliate against the Japanese Navy. The Qing court, including Li Hongzhang, also believed that Britain would definitely stand on its side, and even if it could not send troops directly, it would join forces with other countries to sanction Japan.

After the British Maritime Court conducted an investigation and hearing, it ruled that the sinking of the British merchant ship "Gao Sheng" by a Japanese warship was a legal act, on the grounds that China and Japan were in a state of war, and the Gao Sheng was carrying Chinese soldiers and military supplies, so it had already intervened in the war, and the Chinese soldiers on board also refused to carry out the captain's order to surrender to the Japanese army. Of course, the actual reason was that Britain had already chosen Japan as its agent in the Far East at this time, and naturally did not want to suppress Japan too much. In the final analysis, international politics is to serve the interests of the country, if it is.

Of course, in order to strive for the outcome of the Gaosheng incident to its own advantage, Japan also did a lot of public relations work, long before the start of the Sino-Japanese War, Japan provided 600 pounds of funding to the British Reuters in exchange for Reuters' care for Japan, and after the Gaosheng incident, the Japanese government set aside another 1,000 pounds as activity funds, and won some British experts and scholars to publicly defend Japan in the media. For example, Westlake, a professor at Cambridge University, and Huland, a professor at Oxford University, both published articles in The Times to defend Japan. As a result, public opinion later reversed, and the Japanese government lodged a strong protest against the British, demanding that the British government order its subjects to observe strict neutrality. Therefore, the Gaosheng incident also became a major victory for Japan in the diplomatic battlefield in the First Sino-Japanese War.

Katsura Taro reversed this incident in the hope that Japan would have another major reversal of public opinion like the Gao Sheng incident. However, Komura Shoutaro knew that it was impossible to make a reversal this time, because in the Gaosheng incident, Japan's behavior was tenable in international law, so Japan clung to this point and fought for the best result for itself, and some experts and scholars dared to defend Japan, which was also based on this war, and this time the Japanese army's behavior was not acceptable to the public no matter in that country, and I am afraid that no one dared to defend Japan anymore.

In addition, there is another important reason why Japan was able to win the victory of the Gao Sheng incident, that is, the other party to this incident, the Qing court's performance was too clumsy, and on the same day that the Gao Sheng incident occurred, the Japanese side had already begun to negotiate the matter with the British side. He expressed his willingness to compensate Britain for its losses, and to severely punish the Japanese captain who made his own claims, and made proper arrangements for the British crew members on the Gao Sheng, and actively carried out a large amount of evidence preparation for the British hearing investigation, and collected a large number of investigation records of the rescued captain and chief mate of the Gao Sheng, as well as the testimonies of some other rescued people, all of which were beneficial to Japan, and all of them helped to win the victory of the Gao Sheng incident.

The Qing court's reaction speed was obviously inferior to Japan's, and only two days after the Gao Sheng incident occurred, the Qing court began to discuss the matter with the British minister, not only was it a step late, but also the Qing court at that time thought that Britain would definitely come forward to teach Japan a lesson, neither began to investigate, nor collected evidence, all of them waited to see a good show, no one thought of what to prepare, let alone take the initiative to use public opinion, and in the end, even the hearings, including the second hearing, were held in Shanghai, China, and Jingran did not send anyone to attend.

However, now that Japan is confronted with overseas Chinese, it is obvious that their understanding of public opinion is much deeper than that of the Qing court, and their means of manipulating public opinion are 100 times more sophisticated than that of the Qing court.

Of course, the most important point is to look at the performance in the war. The final verdict of the Gao Sheng incident was issued on November 10 of that year. Prior to this, Japan won the Battle of Dadonggou on September 17, broke through the defense line of the Yalu River on October 26 and entered China's border Gang, occupied Jinzhou on November 6, and occupied Dalian Bay on November 7, basically locking in the victory of the First Sino-Japanese Naval Battle. At this time, Britain made a ruling in favor of Japan, and the implication of this is naturally self-evident.

And on the battlefield now, the defeat of the Japanese army has been decided, only the difference between a big defeat and a small defeat, even if it can retreat to the Korean Peninsula in its entirety, whether it can make a comeback, it is only unknown, but at this time the People's Army is in full swing, like the sky, in this case, who will support a loser?

After listening to Komura Shoutaro's explanation, everyone also understood that the victory of the year could not be replicated, because there was nothing to say.

After a long while, Yama Youpengcai, who had not spoken for a long time, said, "Ito-kun, what do you think?" ”

Ito Hirobumi said: "The army is the most important thing, and everything else is in vain, and only by preserving the army and allowing the army to withdraw smoothly to the Korean Peninsula can we have a chance to turn the tables; even if we negotiate peace with the East China government, and if the army is still there, will we have enough bargaining chips? If we lose this group of troops, Japan's national distance will surely collapse from now on, so as long as we can preserve the army, we must do whatever it takes." ”

Yama Prefecture Youpeng heard this, and he also breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that Ito Hirobumi had always disliked military interference in politics, so he was afraid that Ito Hirobumi would seize the army's misconduct and use it to attack the army's power, and now he can rest assured.

Hirobumi Ito is a person who can distinguish between priorities and urgency, for the sake of this war, Japan has already consumed a lot of national strength, the domestic economy is almost on the verge of collapse, the current situation is extremely unfavorable for Japan, it is almost impossible to expect to profit from this battlefield, what we need to do now is to minimize Japan's losses.

According to Ito Hirobumi's plan, as soon as the Japanese army retreats to the Korean Peninsula, negotiations with the East China Government will be immediately opened, as long as Japan's interests on the Korean Peninsula are preserved, and then the East China Government will sit back and watch the East China Government fight with Russia, and then wait for an opportunity to move. However, negotiations must also be backed by strength, and now that the navy that Japan has built up with all its strength over the past 10 years has been almost completely wiped out, there is still some weight left for this army, so there must be no loss. Ito Hirofumi is not a person who talks about benevolence, righteousness and morality, and at this time, as long as he can keep the Japanese army, he can use any means.

At this time, Katsura Taro said again: "Ito-kun, then what should we do?"

"First of all, the British and American governments still support us, and they can only support us, because whether it is the East China government or Russia gaining power, it will be detrimental to them, so Komura-kun, when you meet with the British and American ambassadors, you must explain this point to them thoroughly, don't be led by their noses, and don't be frightened by their bluffs." As for the pressure of public opinion, it should be up to the governments of Britain and the United States to find a way to deal with it, and we don't have to worry about that. Of course, the necessary commitments can still be made, and you can think about them for yourself. ”

Komura Shoutaro smiled bitterly, knowing that this was a thankless task, but Ito Hirobumi was not wrong, now Japan must protect the Japanese army by any means, so he also nodded and said, "Okay, I will try my best to maneuver." ”

Ito Hirobumi turned to Yama Prefecture Aritomo again, and said: "Yama County-kun, please immediately give an order to the front line, order the army to cross the Yalu River as soon as possible, and give up the baggage of vehicles and everything, and keeping talents is the most important thing." ”

Youpeng hesitated for a moment before he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give the order to the front line immediately." ”

Ito added, "If our troops are successfully withdrawn to the Korean Peninsula, I hope that the cabinet will immediately start negotiations with the East China government, and from now on, preparations will begin." We also look forward to your full support. ”

Katsura Taro hesitated for a moment and said, "Ito-kun, is it the right time to negotiate with the East China Government now? War will definitely break out between the East China Government and Russia, so we can actually wait and see." ”

Ito Hirofumi shook his head and said: "It is precisely because the East China government and Russia must fight, so now is the best time to negotiate with the East China government, only at this time of negotiation, we can get a good result, the East China government will never dare to offer too high, and even make some concessions to us, and after the war between the East China government and Russia is over, we can decide our next move depending on the result." ”

Katsura Taro thought about it again, finally nodded, and said, "Okay, let's do as Ito-kun suggests." ”