At this time, Komura Shoutaro said: "As for our negotiations with Russia, Britain suggests that we make concessions to Russia and return Mukden to Russia, and as long as we agree to this condition, they are willing to negotiate between us and Russia." ”

The meeting room suddenly exploded again, and several people slapped the table and cursed.

Masayoshi Matsukata shouted, "What kind of ally is this, and it actually forced us to surrender to Russia." ”

Shiki Kayama also said: "Yes, damn the British, will you abandon us when Japan is used up?"

In the midst of the rebuke and righteous indignation, only Ito Hirobumi and Yamaguchi Aritomo maintained a calm attitude and did not say a word, and after everyone vented, Ito Hirobumi said: "Everyone, please calm down, I understand the intention of the United Kingdom." ”

When the others listened, they all stopped venting meaninglessly and focused their eyes on Ito Hirobumi.

Hirobumi Ito said: "First of all, everyone must understand that Britain signed an alliance treaty with Japan, and in the first few years of the war against Russia, it did a lot of help to Japan, in essence, for the interests of Britain, hoping that Japan could curb Russia's expansion in the Far East and protect Britain's commercial interests in the Far East. Of course, for Japan, we are also facing the threat of Russia, and we need to rely on the strength of Britain to fight against Russia, so our relationship with Britain is to use each other's own strength, and it is impossible to expect one side to go all out to rescue the other side when it is in danger. ”

Listening to Ito Hirobumi's words, everyone also lowered their heads, in fact, Ito Hirobumi said this truth is clear to everyone, but due to the intervention of East China's politics, Japan's good situation suddenly reversed, this is like a gambler who has won a lot of chips on the gambling table, and as a result, when gambling on the last hand, not only the chips won before, but even their own capital have been lost, and anyone at this time will inevitably have a mentality of constancy.

Katsura Taro said: "According to Ito-kun, Britain has already thought that Japan has no use value and intends to abandon Japan.

Ito Hirobumi shook his head and said, "Of course not, and I don't think Britain has given up on Japan yet." ”

Katsura Taro immediately said, "Oh! Why?"

Ito Hirobumi said: "Britain has huge commercial interests in the Far East, but its homeland is too far away from the Far East, so in order to protect its own interests in the Far East, it is necessary to support an agent in the Far East to assist Britain in maintaining peace in the Far East, and this agent is only Japan, Russia and overseas Chinese are too ambitious, and the Qing court is too weak, which determines that Britain will never give up Japan." ”

"Then why would Britain ask us to cede Mukden to Russia?"

Hirobumi Ito said: "This is precisely the ingenuity of Britain, which aims to draw Russia into the war as well. The main reason why Russia is now able to impose strict conditions on us is that they have not directly clashed with the overseas Chinese, and once Russia also goes to war with the overseas Chinese, I am afraid that they will beg us to unite, and if we cede Fengtian to Russia, then Russia can directly contact the overseas Chinese, and then it will be impossible for Russia to maintain such an attitude of staying out of the matter. ”

Saying that, Ito Hirobumi asked people to take out a map of Northeast China, and saw that Liaozhong, Shenyang, and Liaoyang almost formed a triangle, Liaoyang was located about 50 kilometers south-east of Liaozhong, and Shenyang was about 70 kilometers northeast of Liaozhong, and if Russia occupied Shenyang, then Russia, Japan, and the East China government would form a triangular structure, and even if the East China government would not immediately go to war with Russia, it would at least be contained by Russia, so that the pressure on Japan would be much smaller, and Russia would no longer be so arrogant. It can be said that this trick of the British is indeed very subtle.

In fact, the British are also having a headache now, they are very dissatisfied with the East China government's participation in the war, but they have a feeling of helplessness. Britain had fostered Japan as its proxy in order not to be dragged into the war, and the Bieb War had left too much shadow over Britain, and now Britain had to face an aggressive Germany in Europe. Therefore, Britain could never have sent warships to the Far East, or even anchored in the alleys of Japan, which was no different from entering the war.

And the economic blockade of the East China government is also unrealistic, because the volume of trade between the British and the East China government is not large, and the East China government's foreign trade is first recommended by Germany, followed by the United States, and Britain can only rank third. On the one hand, this was deliberately done by the East China government and did not want to get too close to Britain; on the other hand, Britain accounted for more than 70 percent of China's overall foreign trade, and no longer cared about any trade with the East China government.

However, what Britain did not expect was that Germany and the United States have been trading more and more frequently with the East China government in recent years, and with the help of the East China government as a springboard, they have expanded into China's interior, so the trade volume between the two countries and China has skyrocketed, and they are opening up new markets.

If the East China government wants to carry out an economic blockade, it must get the support and cooperation of Germany and the United States, but this will require Britain to pay a lot of costs and diplomatic resources, because before the East China government entered the war, Germany and the United States issued bonds worth 15 million pounds, and the funds raised were used to buy goods and materials of the two countries, which also made the two countries and the East China government more economically close. Among them, the United States is better, although there is some trouble, but Britain can still find some solutions, but Germany is quite troublesome, and the relationship between the two sides has been fiercely antagonistic because of the Moroccan crisis, so Britain wants to settle Germany, and the price required is impossible for Britain to accept.

In addition, the economy of the East China government is not based on foreign trade, and most of their products are actually sold to Chinese mainland, so even if Britain pays a heavy price and receives the support and cooperation of Germany and the United States, the effect that can be achieved is still very limited. However, Britain is an old player after all, and soon found out that the key point in this game is that Russia has not yet played, but is watching Japan struggle to support it, so it is necessary to find a way to pull Russia into the game and make the game balanced.

After listening to Hirofumi Ito's remarks, everyone suddenly realized that they finally saw a little hope.

At this time, Yamaguchi Youtomo, who had not spoken for a long time, opened his mouth and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, I also admit that this British proposal is a clever move, and probably our only chance, but have you ever thought about how Japan will react if we reach such an agreement with Russia?"

Ito Hirobumi was stunned, and his face changed a little, the domestic reaction was indeed something he didn't expect, but after the reminder of Youpeng in Yama County, Ito Hirobumi also immediately realized that the domestic reaction was indeed a * annoyance.

Before the East China government entered the war, Japan was very smooth on the battlefield, winning consecutive victories, and many victories were deliberately exaggerated at home, although it boosted the morale of the Japanese people and their support for the war, but also increased the appetite of the Japanese people, and at the same time, the contempt for Russia also increased greatly, and the media continued to copy it, so all sectors of society believed that Japan would reap far more benefits from this war than the First Sino-Japanese War.

In this optimistic mood, if Japan wants to make peace with Russia, it can also use the participation of the East China government in the war to prevaricate the past, but it also wants to return Shenyang, which the Japanese army has already occupied, to Russia, which is an absolutely unacceptable result in Japan. And Ito Hirobumi knows very well how terrible things can be done when the people in the country become angry. Ito Hirobumi has not forgotten that 10 years ago, Li Hongzhang was assassinated during negotiations in Japan, and he did not want to be "punished by heaven" by this so-called patriot.

Ito Hirobumi could think of it, and others could naturally think of it, so there was silence in the council hall again, seeing that there was a way to live, but he found that this road could not be walked at all, and many people almost collapsed. And Ito Hirobumi was still calm and said, "Shanxian-kun, do you have any good ideas?"

There is a friend in Shan County: "Yes." ”

Katsura Taro hurriedly said, "What is it?"

Shan Shan Youpeng said: "We should refuse to make peace with Russia now, but we can take the initiative to withdraw from Mukden and induce overseas Chinese and Russians to fight for Mukden, and as a result, no matter which side obtains Mukden, it will be beneficial to us, and for China, we can claim that we lost Mukden under the attack of overseas Chinese and Russia, so that we can explain the past." After Russia is also dragged into the war, the next step will be determined depending on the situation. ”

Hirobumi Ito let out a long breath, nodded, and said, "Yamasan-kun, this is really a good idea, it's really too clever." ”

Yama Prefecture Youpeng is also quite proud in his heart, because he can hear that Ito Hirobumi's praise is from the heart, he and Ito Hirobumi have been fighting for more than 20 years, but it is indeed not an easy thing to be praised by Ito Hirobumi. In fact, this suggestion was not something he came up with, but a clever plan that Oyama Iwa, Kodama Gentaro and others on the front line came up with in view of the situation faced by the Japanese army.