Komura Shoutaro said: "Reparations are a common thing in European countries, and in the Franco-Prussian War, France also paid reparations to Prussia, and now France is also a world power. ”

Terauchi Masaki said: "So the cabinet intends to pay compensation to overseas Chinese, if so, I will resign and commit suicide at home tomorrow, and I will never accept this humiliating result." ”

Komura Shoutaro hurriedly said: "Of course not, this is just a proposal made by the President of the United States, and we are just discussing it now." ”

Katsura Taro also said: "Yes, the United States has given us great help to Japan in the previous war, so we cannot ignore the proposal made by the United States, and it should be discussed at the cabinet meeting, which does not mean that we have accepted the proposal of the United States." Terauchi-kun, please don't get excited. ”

Katsura Taro Bi Jing is the prime minister, and he is also a member of the army, so he spoke, and Terauchi Masaki couldn't help but give Katsura Taro face, so he kept silent.

However, Ito Hirobumi secretly sighed, knowing that there was no hope for negotiations, so he said: "Now the United States and Germany have agreed to continue to issue bonds of the East China government, and have also promised to buy them supplies, and according to the information provided by Britain, Germany has sold arms to the East China government. ”

Terauchi Masashi couldn't help but be taken aback when he heard this, and said, "Does Germany support overseas Chinese?"

Ito Hirobumi said: "That is not yet, Germany is just simply selling arms to the East China government, I just want to tell you that Japan is in a very dangerous situation at present, I hope that everyone will carefully consider the United States' proposal, if we refuse, then we are sure of a military victory." Terauchi-kun, can you tell me that we can still defeat the East China government, and if we can't, then what's the point of holding on?"

When Terauchi Masashi heard this, he couldn't help but bow his head, because he didn't have the certainty of defeating the East China government. At this time, Yamayama Youpeng said: "Ito-kun, I understand what you mean, but now Japan has not reached the point of exhaustion, and we still have a chance to turn defeat into victory." ”

When Ito Hirofumi heard this, he couldn't help but be stunned and said, "What other chance do we have?"

Shan County Youpeng said: "Now that overseas Chinese and the Russian army are facing each other in Mukden, there will be a battle between the two sides, and this is our opportunity." ”

Shan County Youpeng said: "If the overseas Chinese attack Mukden, the Russian army will definitely not be able to hold it, but after all, the overseas Chinese are the attacking party, and they will inevitably pay a huge price.

Although Ito Hirobumi is not a soldier, he also worked in the army when he participated in the fall of the curtain in his early years, and later Japan participated in many wars, Ito Hirobumi has conducted detailed research on each war, so he still knows a little about military affairs. Shan Shanjun, please answer me a few questions, we are now cut off from the Korean Peninsula, and we cannot increase our troops on a large scale to the Korean Peninsula, so we can only rely on the existing forces on the Korean Peninsula, whether they are sufficient, and whether there are also weapons and ammunition enough, and as far as I know, the East China Government has already deployed troops along the Yalu River, and according to your plan, what is the chance of success? ”

"The army we withdrew to North Korea together with the wounded soldiers totaled about 150,000 people, and now the wounded soldiers have basically recovered from injuries and returned to the team, except for the seriously injured and disabled, a total of 143,000 people, and about 80,000 people have been selected from the logistics personnel to enlist, so the total number of troops exceeds 220,000, and all have been reorganized, and the whole army is organized into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th corps." In addition, three South Korean regiments have been formed, totaling about 100,000 people, and 300,000 South Koreans have been recruited as logistics personnel, and now our total strength on the Korean Peninsula has reached 320,000, although our army lacks training and actual combat, but at least 140,000 are veterans, and according to the information we have, although the KPA has built fortifications along the Yalu River, only 5 troops are left to garrison. 60,000 people, and since there is no railway line on the Yalu River, their most powerful weapon, the armored train, is not on the Yalu River, which is completely sufficient in terms of troops. ”

After a pause, Shan Youpeng said: "As for weapons and ammunition, we originally had a part of the inventory on the Korean Peninsula, and some time ago the British cargo ship helped us transport a batch, and now the accumulated weapons and ammunition can at least fight a large-scale battle." ”

Ito Hirobumi frowned and said, "Is it only enough to fight a large-scale battle?" So what is the effect of making us break through the defense line of the Yalu River of the East China government. ”

Shan Shan Youpeng said: "Of course it is useful, because the overseas Chinese do not know how much ammunition we have, so as long as we can break through the defense line of the Yalu River, we can form a huge pressure on the overseas Chinese, they cannot fight with us and Russia on two fronts at the same time, then we will ask Britain to mediate, and the overseas Chinese will never dare to ask for reparations again, so that we can achieve the minimum goal of decently withdrawing from this battle." And to achieve better results......"

Speaking of this, Yama Prefecture Youpeng glanced at Yamamoto Gonbei and Ito Youheng, and said: "Then it depends on whether the navy is effective, the more weapons and ammunition in the front stockpile, the better, now Britain has stopped helping us to send supplies to the Korean Peninsula, if the navy can make up for this gap, continue to deliver supplies to the Korean Peninsula, so that our army has the ability to fight continuously, then we may achieve greater results on the battlefield, or adopt a tougher attitude in negotiations to win more benefits." ”

Gonbei Yamamoto said: "The navy is already organizing warships and ships, making plans, and will do its best to deliver supplies to the Korean Peninsula. ”

Shan Shan Youpeng nodded and said, "Okay, thank you for the support of the navy." He turned to Ito Hirobumi and said, "Ito-kun, this is my plan, and it is the only way for Japan to withdraw from this war with dignity." ”

Ito Hirofumi thought about it seriously for a while, and thought that this plan of Yama Prefecture Youtomo was indeed quite feasible, and the probability of success was not low, of course, it was not too high, after all, there were too many variables. Of course, it is a good thing that Japan will be able to at least pay reparations and keep its interests on the Korean Peninsula, and the cabinet members will also be able to give an account to the country, but once it fails, Japan will completely lose the opportunity to withdraw from the war at a relatively small cost, and the East China government will certainly propose a huge amount of reparations to Japan, and even the Korean Peninsula and even Taiwan may be lost.

Thinking of this, Ito Hirobumi said, "Yamasan-kun, this is a gamble. ”

Yama Prefecture Youpeng said: "Ito-kun, when we launched the war against Russia, it was even in 10 years, when we started the war against the Qing Kingdom, we had already started gambling, and this gamble has not ended yet. I don't know what the odds are of winning, but we have to keep betting or we'll lose everything we paid upfront. ”

Ito Hirofumi was silent for a long time before he said: "Okay, Yamasan-kun, then continue to gamble, we will also try our best to help Japan and win this gamble, what help do you need now?"

Yama Prefecture Youpeng nodded, with the support of Hirobumi Ito, then the chances of winning this gamble are naturally much greater. So he said: "We still need financial support for the war." ”

Ito Hirobumi said: "Okay, you can go to the UK for help, the UK still needs us, and it is necessary to support us with some funds, and the foreign minister is responsible for this matter." ”

Komura Shoutaro said, "Yes." ”

Shan Shan Youpeng said: "There is another point, we must grasp the timing of our war again, and we must be at a time when the overseas Chinese and Russia are about to divide the victory and defeat, because at this time, whether it is victory or defeat, it is impossible for the overseas Chinese to be distracted to deal with us, so this is the best time for us to enter the war." We must conclude an alliance agreement with Russia as soon as possible, so that we can grasp the course of the war between the overseas Chinese and Russia, and so that we can grasp the opportunity to enter the war. ”

Ito Hirobumi nodded and said, "Okay, I understand, we will do our best to speed up negotiations with Russia." ”

In fact, there is no need for Japan to speed up negotiations with Russia, but Britain and France can't hold their breath at first, because Germany and the United States agree that the East China government will sell bonds, sell supplies, and send military observation missions, all of which will further complicate and unstabilize this war in the Far East, and for Japan and Russia, which are currently at a disadvantage, it will of course be unfavorable. France must stabilize the situation in the Far East as soon as possible, so both countries also put pressure on Japan and Russia, demanding that Japan and Russia reach a joint agreement as soon as possible, temporarily put aside the issue of the ownership of interests in Northeast China and the Korean Peninsula, and first join hands to defeat the East China government before negotiating a settlement.

Japan immediately responded to the British and French proposals, expressing its willingness to accept the British and French proposals, and Britain also agreed to provide Japan with a low-interest loan of 20 million pounds sterling to ease the economic pressure on the Japanese government; and Russia wanted to take the opportunity to strive for more benefits, but Britain and France simultaneously put pressure on Russia to accept this condition, and Russia could not withstand the pressure of Britain and France, so it could only accept it.

The dispute between the two sides was put on hold for the time being, and the progress of the negotiations would naturally be much faster, so Japan and Russia soon reached an agreement: The two sides would unite to deal with the threat of the East China Government; each side should notify each other of major military operations and do their best to coordinate and cooperate with each other; each side would share their own information; Japan promised that the intelligence personnel remaining in the Liaodong region would provide information to Russia, but asked the Russian side to cooperate and provide support, and Russia also agreed; finally, after defeating the East China government, the two sides would hold negotiations and consultations on the actual status quo in the areas they occupied to deal with the issue of the ownership of interests in Northeast China and the Korean Peninsula。

In this way, in order to deal with the threat of the East China government, Japan and Russia finally turned from hostile sides into allies in name only.

I wish you all a happy New Year's Day