St. Petersburg, Hermitage.

Although it was 1 o'clock in the morning, Tsar Nicholas II's office was still brightly lit, with figures moving, and from time to time there were fierce arguments.

However, although there are only about 10 people in the office, they are currently important ministers of Russia, namely: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (equivalent to Prime Minister) Witte, Chancellor of the Exchequer Koksworth, Chairman of the National Defense Committee Nikolayevich, Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, Minister of Internal Affairs Plevy, Imperial Minister Bezobrazov, Admiral Billyev, Minister of the Navy Sakharov, Marshal of the Navy Alekseev, Field Marshal Kurobatkin, etc.

Due to the time difference, the news from the Far East reached St. Petersburg at midnight, so the tsar and his ministers also had to stay up late to deal with the affairs of the Far East, so that they could grasp the dynamics of the Far East and make targeted plans in a timely manner.

Although it is still in the armistice period, and because of the participation of the East China government in the war, the pressure on Russia has been greatly reduced, but it has also made the trend of the war more complicated and unpredictable, but in the early stage of the war, Russia has always been in a disadvantageous position, if it were not for the East China government to participate in the war, Russia may have completely lost the war, so Russia is also closely watching the further development of the situation, looking for opportunities to reverse the unfavorable situation. And he did not dare to take lightly any news from the Far East.

Ramsdorff said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received a telegram from the French Consulate that Japan has officially rejected our request and proposed that we either accept Japan's conditions or not make peace with Japan. ”

Sakharov sneered and said: "Didn't Japan take the initiative to ask for peace with us? Now that they have been beaten up by overseas Chinese, what qualifications do they have to negotiate terms with us? The yellow-skinned monkey always seems to be unable to distinguish the situation. ”

Ramsdorff shook his head and said: "I don't think so, the target of the overseas Chinese is not only Japan, we are also the target of the overseas Chinese attack, but we have no contact with the overseas Chinese now, it can also be said that Japan is in front of us and blocks the bullets of the overseas Chinese for us, but if Japan falls, then the guns of the overseas Chinese will be immediately aimed at us." ”

Nicholas II nodded and said, "What about the overseas Chinese? Is there any new progress?"

Ramsdorf said: "No, the condition for the overseas Chinese is that we are still responsible for attacking Mukden, they will attack Liaoyang, and after defeating Japan, they will negotiate and deal with the territorial issue of the three eastern provinces on the basis of the treaty of [delivery of the three eastern provinces]. After a pause, he added: "The overseas Chinese also said that if we refuse their conditions, then they will attack Mukden, so that we will not get anything." ”

Nicholas II frowned and said, "Damn yellow-skinned monkeys, they're all the same. ”

In the imagination of Nicholas II, Japan and the East China government should be competing to show favor to Russia, in order to get Russia's help, and Russia can just sit on the ground and take advantage of it, but I didn't expect them to see through Russia's goal, not only did they not accept Russia's bid, but one was tougher than the other, which also disappointed Nicholas II, why not follow their own script?

Ramsdorff said: "Your Majesty, in fact, it is fine, let's let these two yellow-skinned monkeys fight each other, and when they are both defeated, we will pick the last fruits." ”

Sakharov said: "No, I think we should accept the conditions of the overseas Chinese, send troops together with the overseas Chinese, and recover Mukden." Because Mukden is the most important city in the Far East, once we recapture Mukden, we can regain the initiative in the Far East, even if we negotiate with overseas Chinese in the future, Mukden is also an important bargaining chip in our hands, and Japan is now very weak, they can't hold Mukden at all, and it is difficult to cause big losses to overseas Chinese, so blindly waiting will only waste the opportunity. ”

Ramsdorff said: "I don't think this is a wise choice, because we have been losing militarily before this, and we will lose Lushun, Liaoyang, Mukden and other places in a row, so we can no longer easily intervene in the war, and once we recapture Mukden, we will directly face the guns of the overseas Chinese, and we will not have much chance of fighting with the overseas Chinese." ”

Sakharov said: "Our previous defeat was mainly due to lack of preparation, which was taken advantage of by the yellow-skinned monkey of Japan, and we won a few battles by luck, and now we have gathered 600,000 troops in the Far East, and we are fully prepared, even if the overseas Chinese do not participate in the war, we will launch an attack on Japan and regain all the losses before, and this time even the overseas Chinese will not be able to stop our army." ”

Ramsdorff said: "The previous battle can be said to be underprepared, but when the Battle of Mukden took place, the war had been going on for a year, and if it was said that it was underprepared at this time, it would be difficult to be convincing, Marshal Kurobatkin, do you think we can defeat the overseas Chinese?"

Kurobatkin's expression was also a little embarrassed, he was originally the supreme commander of the Russian army in the Far East, and it was because of the loss of Shenyang that he was dismissed from his post in the country, so he returned to St. Petersburg from the Far East. At present, Kurobatkin does not hold the position of the club, but after all, he has been in command of the front line for more than a year, and he knows the situation at the front very well, so he is also allowed to participate in this imperial meeting.

Seeing the tsar's gaze looking at him, Kurobatkin coughed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for saying that the Russian army in the Far East is probably not ready to start a war with overseas Chinese. ”

Although Kurobatkin is a soldier, before the Russo-Japanese war, Kurobatkin was against the war, because he knew too much about the combat readiness of the Russian army in the Far East, although now Russia has gathered 600,000 troops in the Far East, but Kurobatkin knows very well that it is meaningless to simply compare the numbers, since the start of the Russo-Japanese war, the logistics of the Russian army in the Far East have been completely messed, and there has been no improvement by the time Kurobatkin leaves office, and Kurobatkin does not think that his successor, Admiral Linnevich, will be able to change qualitatively in a few months。

Sakharov was quite dissatisfied with Kurobatkin's attitude and was about to make a rebuttal, when Bezobrazov, who had not spoken, said: "Your Majesty, and everyone, I am a layman in the military aspect, but I want to tell you that we need a victory in the Far East. You must not have forgotten the bloodshed that took place in February this year, although the crisis has been temporarily suppressed, but the social discontent has not been completely resolved, and it may erupt at any time, and now we are sitting on a volcanic crater, and we may be crushed at any time, so now we need a victory to deflect the crisis in the country, calm and ease the discontent of the society, and at the same time strengthen the prestige of the government. ”

Listening to Bezobrazov's words, everyone's faces were a little unnatural, the "Bloody Sunday" that happened in February this year On the other hand, the successive defeats of the Russian army in the Far Eastern Theater have also dealt a heavy blow to the confidence of Russian society and their disappointment with the government; after all, war is the thing that the Russians are most proud of, and losing the war is of course difficult for the Russians to accept because they will lose to the yellow-skinned monkey of Japan。

At this time, if the Russian army can achieve a victory on the battlefield, it will be a major victory such as the recovery of Shenyang, although it cannot completely resolve the crisis, but it can also greatly ease the crisis and buy enough time for the government to completely resolve the crisis. Moreover, now was the time when the Japanese army was at its weakest, and victory in this battle was almost within reach, so Bezobrazov's words were of great appeal to Nicholas II and other ministers.

Then Witte said: "Your Majesty, I agree with the suggestion of the Imperial Minister, we need this victory. ”

and Hirobumi Ito in Japanese politics, Before the war between Japan and Russia, he was resolutely opposed to the war, and Bezobrazov was a representative of the war against Japan, because Nicholas II was also inclined to start a war against Japan, the main war faction temporarily gained momentum, and Witte once resigned as chancellor of the exchequer to express his dissatisfaction, but with Russia's successive military defeats, Nicholas II recruited back Wette and made him the chairman of the Council of Ministers, which is equivalent to the position of Russian prime minister, which shows that Russia is also preparing for the end of the war。

Witte added: "But after such a victory, we should settle the problems of the Far East through negotiations with the overseas Chinese, and we must not have another war with the overseas Chinese." ”

Although Witte has always been peaceful, he also understands that Russia's current situation does need a victory to alleviate the crisis, so he also agreed that the Russian army will cooperate with the People's Army to fight and recapture Shenyang. But Witte knew better that now Russia could no longer fight, and this war could only be the last battle, and it must not go to war with the East China government again.

Nicholas II nodded slowly and said, "Okay, then reply to the overseas Chinese like this." ”