From November 17 to 21, the KPA Navy attacked the coastal cities of Kitakyushu, Sasebo, Miyazaki, Shizuoka, and Yokosuka, destroying a total of four ports and severely damaging three ports, and then returned to Qingdao.

This attack on the sea has had a tremendous impact on Japanese society, and the loss of personnel is secondary, and Guan Jian's psychological blow to the Japanese government and people is fatal. Because this is the Japanese mainland after the "Black Ship Founding Incident", it is once again threatened by Shanghai from Shanghai. Prior to this, although the Russian Vladivostok fleet posed a great threat to Japan's sea transportation lines, it did not cause harm to Japan itself, and this time, the Japanese government and residents finally realized that Japan itself could no longer stay out of this war.

After completing the naval attack on Japan, the East China Government also formally replied to the United States, saying that it would accept President Roosevelt's new proposal, abandon the payment of reparations as a precondition for negotiations, and hope to start peace talks with Japan and Russia.

After receiving the reply from the East China Government, President Roosevelt had no choice but to smile bitterly, and of course he could see that the East China Government was showing its authority to Japan and Russia as well, and although the East China Government gave up the payment of reparations as a precondition for negotiations, it did not mean that the East China Government had given up the reparations, and the naval bombardment took place before the East China Government's reply, so the East China Government's actions were also in line with international rules. Of course, now it depends on Japan's attitude.

Sure enough, after learning that the East China Government had shelled the Japanese mainland at sea, the Japanese Government immediately expressed its acceptance of the US proposal and renounced the payment of reparations as a precondition for negotiations.

As a result, the Japanese Government immediately issued a government statement, first of all, strongly condemning the East China Government for shelling the Japanese mainland, causing a large number of accidental injuries to civilians, which also shows that the East China Government has no sincerity in negotiating at all, so although the East China Government has accepted the US proposal, Japan needs to reconsider the US proposal.

Britain and France also criticized the East China Government, holding that the East China Government's attack on the Japanese mainland before accepting the US proposal was not only meaningless, but also added obstacles to future negotiations and undermined the process of restoring peace in the Far East.

The Russian government also clearly sided with Japan, severely accusing the East China government of destroying peace, and pointed out that the rise of the East China government is a new round and the greatest threat to European civilization, so it called on all European countries to unite and support Russia and jointly deal with the East China government. However, not a single European country responded to the Russian Government's statement.

On the one hand, the United States expressed its appreciation for the East China Government's acceptance of the new US proposal for mediation, and on the other hand, it also euphemistically expressed the hope that all sides would exercise restraint and do more helpful things for the restoration of peace in the Far East.

The East China government has always refused to admit it, so it has also issued successive government statements in response to the accusations made by Japan, Britain, France, and other countries against the East China government. He said that the behavior of the East China Government was completely in line with the rules of war, that Japan and Russia were fighting on China's territory, causing huge losses to China, and that the East China Government should not attack Japan's territory, and ridiculed Japan that if it could not withstand the territorial blows, it would be better not to start a war, and if it started a war, it must be prepared to be beaten by itself, and Japan is not a blessed country, and can only fight other countries, and other countries will not attack Japan.

As for Britain and France, the East China government was also unceremonious, accusing the two countries of pulling sides, not for the recovery of efforts in the Far East, but for helping their allies, without the support of Britain and France behind Japan and Russia, the war would not have broken out at all.

The East China Government was even more ruthless when it said that it would reconsider the US peace proposal, saying that Japan was just making a gesture and would eventually accept the US proposal, and that it would not be able to deceive anyone at all, and that Japan would have the confidence to refuse to negotiate. At the same time, it also announced that in view of Japan's desire to reconsider the US peace proposal, the East China Government regarded Japan as having not accepted the US peace proposal and would launch another attack on Japan's mainland at any time.

President Roosevelt, of course, knew that, on the surface, the three sides were engaged in an unintentional bickering, but in fact they were all exerting pressure on the other side and striving to overwhelm each other in momentum and gain the main power in the negotiations. Japan presents itself as a victim and creates a sense of tragedy in order to win sympathy from other countries; Russia is pulling a tiger skin and spreading a banner in an attempt to get other European countries to endorse it; and the East China government is in a posture that you should not negotiate with me and we will fight another war.

But in comparison, Japan and Russia are actually bluffing, and everyone knows that in this war in the Far East, Japan is not a victim of the role, and no European country will endorse Russia. Only the East China government really has the confidence, because now Japan and Russia can no longer hold out on the battlefield, and they need peace more than the East China government.

Roosevelt was also afraid that the more the three parties talked like this, the more they talked, the more stiff they became, and in the end they could not get off the stage, resulting in the inability of the negotiations to be held, so he also hurriedly came forward to play a round. First of all, he expressed to the East China Government that he hoped that the East China Government would exercise restraint and not attack Japan itself, but the East China Government replied that if Japan did not want its own country to be attacked again, it should immediately accept the US proposal and hold negotiations instead of reconsidering, so the United States should now do Japan's work and not waste time with the East China Government.

Having hit a soft nail here in the East China government, President Roosevelt had no choice but to smile bitterly, this mediator is really not easy to be, and the East China government is really not easy to fool. It turns out that the United States is really playing a little cautious trick when it first does the work of the East China Government, and if all parties agree to hold talks in the end, then it will give people the impression that the East China Government is the first to compromise, while Japan and Russia will only agree after seeing the East China Government's compromise, and this will invisibly give Japan and Russia a certain psychological advantage. To put it bluntly, this is a game of blinking first, but the East China government obviously saw through this little trick, so it kicked the ball to Japan's feet and let Japan choose first.

President Roosevelt did not dare to force the East China government too much, after all, the United States wanted to maintain the neutrality of its mediators, and although the United States was all over Japan and Russia, it could not be too obvious. In addition, Roosevelt was also worried that if the East China Government was forced to be in a hurry, it would be self-defeating for them to refuse to negotiate, because after all, the East China Government had the capital and confidence to refuse to negotiate.

President Roosevelt then contacted the Japanese Government and advised Japan not to act rashly and to accept the proposal for negotiations as soon as possible, otherwise the consequences would be unfavorable to Japan.

However, the Japanese government still felt that it could not swallow this breath, so it proposed to let the East China government decide first, thinking that the East China government would accept the negotiations and Japan would follow up. However, President Roosevelt warned Japan very seriously that if the East China Government was allowed to make the decision first, the United States could not guarantee that the East China Government would choose to negotiate, and perhaps the East China Government would choose to continue the war and then continue to attack the Japanese mainland.

The Japanese Government was also a little stupid at this time, because Japan really did not have the capital for war, and at this time Britain also suggested to Japan that it was the most in Japan's interests to commit to negotiations as soon as possible, so the Japanese Government finally issued a statement again, saying that although the Japanese Government was dissatisfied with the behavior of the East China Government, for the sake of peace in the Far East, Japan was willing to accept the United States' proposal and participate in peace talks.

However, the East China Government did not let Japan go, saying that it had known this result for a long time, and ridiculed the Japanese Government for pretending that it could not continue, and of course finally said that the East China Government was also willing to negotiate and stop the war during the negotiations. Although Japan was a little embarrassed, it also knew that now was not the time to act rashly, so it did not make any more trouble.

And Russia has already agreed to negotiate a long time ago, and there is no trouble with it, and of course there is no need for the United States to do any more work, so now the three parties have finally agreed to negotiate.

After confirming this, President Roosevelt also wiped a sweat, this mediator did a really difficult job, and Roosevelt was also a little exhausted. However, all three parties finally agreed to negotiate, which is also a very good result, and the next step can be carried out. President Roosevelt first decided to set up the place of the tripartite negotiations in Portsmouth, a port city in New Hampshire, which is about 200 kilometers away from Washington, the capital of the United States, and can be reached in only half a day in terms of developed railway transportation in the United States。

After the location is determined, the next step is the time for negotiations, after all, the East China government, Russia, and Japan are not close to the United States, and the journey will take at least 20 days, and all parties will have time to prepare for negotiations, so there will be at least one month, and it will be the end of November, so President Roosevelt will set the time for negotiations on January 1, 1906, so that the three parties will have more than 30 days to arrange their work and itinerary.

The three sides also had no objection to the US arrangement, and all replied to respect the US arrangement, and then each began its own preparations for negotiations. The struggle between the three parties has finally shifted from the battlefield to the negotiating table.