Although the cabinet members unanimously opposed "respecting China's territory and sovereignty" as the basis for negotiations with the East China government, Katsura Taro, who served as prime minister, knew very well that if this premise was excluded, there would be no way to negotiate with overseas Chinese at all, and Japan would have to rely on Japan to fight Russia alone.

After the cabinet meeting, Katsura Taro summoned Terauchi Masashi and Oyama Iwa separately to ask whether they could be sure of defeating Russia if they did not form an alliance with overseas Chinese and rely only on Japan's own strength? Terauchi Masatsuki and Oyama Iwa swore that they would definitely be able to defeat Russia; but when Katsura Taro asked why they could defeat Russia, neither of them could answer, and Oyama said that they would definitely be able to defeat Russia by relying on the Japanese soldiers' determination to fight to the death and serve the country with seven lives.

But Katsura Taro just sighed after hearing it, and Terauchi Masatsuki and Oyama Iwa didn't have anything to say, in fact, the three of them understood in their hearts that the words "fight to the death and serve the country with seven lives" are still okay as a mobilization of soldiers, but when it comes to defeating Russia, even I don't believe it, after all, they are all people who came from the Meiji Restoration, and have experienced the Shogun War, the Southwest War, and the First Sino-Japanese War, and they know what the war is all about, not just by spiritual power, which is still fundamentally different from the Showa group in the old time and space.

Originally, Katsura Taro wanted to discuss it again, but the next day, he received an official letter from the British government, suggesting that Japan immediately negotiate with the East China government on the basis of negotiations with the East China government.

Originally, according to Article 4 of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, the two Contracting Parties agreed that each would not enter into other treaties without agreement with the other party. Therefore, the contents of the negotiations between the Japanese Government and the East China Government were to be informed to the British Government.

Of course, Britain hoped to bring the Japanese government and the East China government together to confront Russia, because after all, Britain did not have much confidence in Japan's strength, and the basis for negotiations proposed by the East China government was completely acceptable in Britain's view. In fact, with the wisdom of British statesmen, of course, they knew that the Japanese Government was unwilling to accept these conditions, but they still demanded that the Japanese Government negotiate in accordance with the requirements of the East China Government, and in fact did not want Japan to take advantage of the Russo-Japanese War to gain traction. Britain is known as the "European-stirring stick" and is a master of playing offshore balancing, and the principle is that there can be no single power in any region, and it is best to stand side by side, at least two heroes, so that it is convenient for Britain to fight one faction and fight another.

In the old time and space, Asia could only be of great use, so Britain had to fully support Japan to resist Russian expansion, and after defeating Russia, Japan really took the opportunity to expand its power in Asia, and finally turned against Britain. And in this era, the arrival of the time-traveler has given Britain one more choice. Of course, Britain's preferred target of support is Japan, and of course they do not want Japan to be defeated by Russia, so that not only will their own investment be wasted, but it will also be difficult to curb Russia's expansion in Asia; but Britain also does not want Japan to take advantage of the opportunity of defeating Russia to become bigger, and this is also not in Britain's interests.

The basis for the negotiations proposed by the East China Government was exactly in the hands of Britain, and it was the first article that basically restricted Japan's acquisition of land in Northeast China, so that Japan could not take advantage of the opportunity to defeat Russia, and at the same time, it could also sell the favor of the East China Government and use the East China Government to contain Japan, so that Japan would have to continue to obey Britain's orders after defeating Russia, and this was the result that was most in line with Britain's interests.

Although the terms of the Anglo-Japanese alliance are basically equal, the status of the two is different; Britain is an old imperialist with more than 3,000 square kilometers of colonies and a colonial population of more than 500 million; while Japan is still a novice who has just joined the imperialist player circle, so the distinction between master and slave in this alliance is very clear, and the Japanese government does not dare to take Britain's opinion lightly.

As a result, Prime Minister Katsura Taro suddenly fell into a great dilemma. In desperation, Katsura Taro can only ask his teacher Yama Prefecture Aritomo for advice. In fact, everyone in Japan knows that although the prime minister Katsura Taro cannot be said to be a puppet, there are limits to what he can do, and it is Yamaguchi Aritomo who really controls the Japanese regime.

In the era of the time-traveler, the Japanese prime minister was one of the most unstable national leaders, except for a few people, the rest were basically like a marquee, and in the 11 years from 2002 to 2012, there were 10 prime ministers, so that in some diplomatic occasions the name of the Japanese prime minister will be mistaken. And this has a historical tradition from reality.

The Prime Minister of Japan has been established since 1885 and has been in existence for a total of 18 years, and Katsura Taro is the 11th Prime Minister, including three acting prime ministers. In the year 1898, there were four prime ministers, Masayoshi Matsukata, Hirobumi Ito, Shigenobu Okuma, and Aritomo Yamagumi, and it is estimated that only a country like Japan would have such a strange thing.

Aritomo Yamaguchi has served as Japan's prime minister twice, but neither time has served for two years, although if it were in Japan, this would be a long term. And it is precisely because of these two prime ministers' experiences that Yama County Youpeng understands that the position of prime minister is actually not easy to sit on, so he pushed his disciple Katsura Taro to the foreground, and he hid behind the scenes to manipulate, which is actually far better than the false name of the prime minister.

But now Katsura Taro has encountered something that can't be solved, so he came to ask Yama Prefecture Aritomo for advice. To be honest, Yama Prefecture Aritomo can't find a good way, although Yama Prefecture Aritomo is one of the Japanese bigwigs who mainly started a war against Russia, but it is just a performance to seize the moral high ground and reap political interests, as one of the veterans of the Meiji Restoration, Yamatomo Youpeng is not really as incompetent as the Qing court.

Relying on Japan's own strength to deal with Russia has no bottom in its heart, and agrees to the negotiation conditions of overseas Chinese, Yama Prefecture Youpeng is also unwilling, and the British attitude cannot be taken seriously, and Yama County Aritomo cannot come up with the best of both worlds. However, Yamaguchi is clear that if there is one person in Japan who can solve this problem, then this person must be Ito Hirobumi.

Although Aritomo Yama has always been a political enemy of Hirobumi Ito, he is very clear about Hirobumi Ito's ability, and he is indeed much more clever than himself in handling major decisions and international relations. Although Ito Hirobumi was his political enemy, he faced another gamble in Japan on the battle of national fortunes, and this time the bet was even bigger than the Sino-Japanese War. In this situation, Yama Prefecture Aritomo and Ito Hirobumi were still able to put aside their grievances and work together, and the two worked together once during the First Sino-Japanese War. It should be said that the overall quality of the Japanese elites during the period of rule was quite high, and although they usually fought for power and profit, and demolished each other, they were still able to take the overall situation into account when it came to critical time.

So Yamaguchi Youpeng immediately called someone to invite Hirobumi Ito to his home for a detailed discussion. Sure enough, Ito Hirofumi immediately agreed to the appointment, so the three of them set up a tea club at a friend's house in Shan County, and had a long talk.

After listening to Katsura Taro's explanation of the current problem, Ito Hirobumi said: "Yama County-kun, Katsura-kun, I think that the first point proposed by overseas Chinese is not important, and it is completely okay to agree to overseas Chinese. ”

When Yama County Youpeng heard this, he was silent, but Katsura Taro was a little anxious and said, "Ito-kun, how can this be done?"

Ito Hirobumi waved his hand, interrupted Katsura Taro's words, and said: "In today's world, the essence of international relations is actually the law of the jungle, the law of the jungle, the law of the jungle, the two of you have no objection to this statement." ”

Shan County has a friend and said: "No." Katsura Taro nodded.

Ito Hirobumi said with a smile: "That's it, the so-called international treaties are all based on strength to ensure their effectiveness, and countries without strength can guarantee their security by relying only on a paper treaty? Therefore, after defeating Russia, whether we can gain territory in the northeastern region of the Qing Dynasty does not depend at all on what kind of treaty we signed with overseas Chinese, but on our strength at that time." For example, although Russia signed the [Treaty on the Delivery of the Three Eastern Provinces] with the Chun State, but now Russia refuses to carry out the treaty on the withdrawal of troops, and neither the Qing State nor the overseas Chinese have anything to do with them, and this is due to their strength. ”

Youpeng of Shan County pondered for a moment before saying: "I understand all the truths you said, but in this way, the overseas Chinese will not only not become our allies, but will also become our enemies, and it is very likely that we will face both Russia and overseas Chinese in this war." ”

Katsura Taro said, "So is it necessary for us to negotiate an alliance with overseas Chinese?"

Hirobumi Ito said: " Of course, it is necessary, the alliance is the same as international treaties, it is not permanent, the alliance is maintained, one is by strength, the other is by interests, once these two conditions are lost, the allies will also become enemies, now we have the common interests with the overseas Chinese, that is, to fight against Russia, so we have the basis for an alliance, and Russia's strength is too strong, we must increase our own strength as much as possible, and once we defeat Russia, we and the overseas Chinese will lose their common interests, and it is not impossible to become enemies。 Even now, we are in an alliance with the United Kingdom. ”

Yama Youpeng exhaled a sigh of relief and said slowly: "What does Ito-kun mean is that you might as well agree to the conditions of the overseas Chinese, first join forces to defeat Russia, and then compete with the overseas Chinese for Northeast China?"

Ito Hirobumi nodded and said, "That's it, but we can't wait until after defeating Russia to think about competing with overseas Chinese for Northeast China, but in the process of defeating Russia, we must consider that it is to make more preparations for long-term garrison in the places we occupy, so as to prevent the overseas Chinese from changing." ”

Katsura Taro said: "But in this way, overseas Chinese have always regarded themselves as descendants of China, and now the Qing Dynasty basically agrees with them, once we turn against the overseas Chinese, first of all, we will indeed lose in legal theory, and the overseas Chinese can also get a lot of support in Northeast China, and they can even join forces with Russia to deal with us." ”

Hirobumi Ito said: " First of all, the overseas Chinese have been agitating the nationalist sentiments of the Qing Dynasty, so it is not very likely that they will join forces with Russia, and even if the overseas Chinese really join forces with Russia to deal with us, there is no need to be afraid, because then we will face the attack of the two countries, and we can activate the third article of the Japan-Britain alliance, asking Britain to enter the war; and Britain certainly does not want to see overseas Chinese join forces with Russia, and will inevitably send troops to help us, so I think that as long as we are fully prepared, overseas Chinese may not easily turn their faces. As for the question of jurisprudence, remember that Northeast China was the territory of the Qing Dynasty, not the territory of overseas Chinese. ”