Just after the New Year, Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Shotaro visited Qingdao again and asked for continued consultations on matters related to cooperation between the East China Government and Japan, mainly the establishment of a joint operations command and the issue of joint management after the occupation of the northeast region.

However, during the negotiations, Komura Shoutaro proposed that in view of the current situation, the Japanese government may start a war against Russia within one to two months, so it may not be too late to negotiate the establishment of a joint operational command and the joint management of the northeast region, so he hopes that the East China government will first provide supplies to Japan in accordance with the previous agreement reached between the two sides, and has come up with a list of the first batch of supplies.

Throughout 1903, Japan and Russia hardly stopped negotiating, and the venue of negotiations shifted from St. Petersburg to Tokyo, to London and Paris. The reason is that in addition to the fact that both sides are unwilling to concede less in their core interests, the interference of external factors is also an important influence, and Britain, France, the United States, Germany and other countries have their own interests in this marathon negotiation, and some countries have even added fuel to the fire of both sides, making this already very difficult negotiation even more difficult.

On December 12, 1903, when Shinichiro Kurino, the Japanese minister to Russia, handed over the Nth version of the revised terms of the negotiations to Russian Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, he issued a stern warning to him: If Japan and Russia could not reach an agreement as soon as possible, a serious situation would arise and even become out of control.

Although this was not an ultimatum issued by Japan, war was already the only option in Japan. On December 28, the Emperor of Japan issued an emergency edict to mobilize for war, and all units of the army were on standby at all times, and the combined fleet of the navy was also assembled in the port. The British, though not intending to enter the war directly, made the necessary preparations, and the officers of the Irish Regiment were ordered to report to India, and the naval reservists were required to inform the Admiralty in London of their addresses.

All countries also smelled the thick smell of gunpowder, and the merchants of Lushun left one after another, and in the stock exchanges in London and Paris, all Russian bonds to the public and private were being sold.

However, Russia's reaction was slow and careless compared to other countries, and after receiving a warning from Japan, Tsar Nicholas II also summoned a royal council to discuss countermeasures, but the Russian ministers were optimistic. Previ believed that it was beneficial for Russia to go to war, because it could be used to divert the growing political crisis and social contradictions in the country, and the tsar could use a small-scale and controllable war that was sure to win to enhance the prestige of the monarch, so as to appease the people's dissatisfaction with the state autocracy and the call for constitutionalism.

The commander-in-chief of the Russian forces in the Far East, Lieutenant General Alexei Kuropatkin, believes that one Russian soldier can deal with three Japanese soldiers, and we need only 14 days to gather 400,000 troops in the Far East, which is three times the number needed to defeat the Japanese army, so it is more appropriate to say that what will happen in the future is not so much a war as a military walk.

It was in this mood of optimism that Nicholas II proudly declared to his ministers that there would be no war between Russia and Japan, because I did not want to go to war now.

Of course, the Russian government was optimistic, but it was not entirely unprepared, and Nicholas II authorized the Governor-General of the Far East, Admiral Alesekev, to decide for himself whether or not to mobilize for war, and further instructed that if a Japanese warship was spotted on the Korean coast heading north, it could use force without waiting for the other side to open fire.

Under these circumstances, Japan naturally needed to negotiate with the East China government, because the two sides were still in a cooperative relationship, and once the war began, Japan would need a large amount of supplies. Of course, Japan has also played a small trick, and the establishment of a joint operations command and the joint management of the northeast region can be negotiated slowly, and after the war starts, depending on the progress of the war, it can be delayed and postponed, but the materials must be obtained first.

After the two sides began consultations, Li Sanjie, a representative of the East China Government, first severely reprimanded Japan, accusing Japan of deliberately delaying time, resulting in the fact that the two sides had no time to negotiate now that war was imminent, and therefore believed that Japan had no sincerity to cooperate at all, and threatened to stop cooperation with Japan and start a war with Russia alone.

However, Komura Shoutaro apologized repeatedly, bowed and nodded continuously, and repeatedly explained that it was not that Japan intended to delay the time for consultations between the two sides, but that the situation was changing too quickly, and Japan originally expected that the war would break out in April or May, so it did not negotiate cooperation with the East China Government at the very time, but the Japanese Government, as well as His Majesty the Emperor, attached great importance to cooperation with the East China Government, and were absolutely sincere, and hoped that the East China Government would understand. In addition, Japan will immediately dispatch relevant personnel to hold formal consultations with the East China government, and strive to decide on the mode and details of cooperation between the two sides as soon as possible. Dealing with Russia is beneficial to both sides, so it is hoped that the East China Government will give priority to the overall situation and not act rashly.

In fact, Japan also estimated that the East China Government would definitely be dissatisfied, after all, the national politics is only Yang conspiracy and no conspiracy, and at this point, anyone can see that Japan does not want to form a joint operations command with the East China Government and jointly manage the Northeast region, but it also wants to obtain material support from the East China Government. It's just that the Japanese government thinks that the East China government will finally compromise, after all, the East China government also needs to cooperate with Japan in order to resist Russia.

In addition, this can be regarded as a test of the cooperation attitude of the East China government, of course, this time after all, Japan is indeed at fault first, so the Japanese government also asked Komura Shotaro to lower his position in Qingdao this time, expressing the Japanese government's apology, if the East China government really wants to cooperate with Japan, it will eventually make a compromise.

Sure enough, Komura Shoutaro behaved very humbly in Qingdao, apologized vigorously, and tried his best to excuse Japan, and after losing his temper, Li Sanjie did not mention the matter of stopping cooperation, and also agreed to provide the first batch of materials to Japan, which also made Komura Shoutaro breathe a sigh of relief, it seems that the East China government still really wants to cooperate with Japan.

However, Li Sanjie then put forward four conditions to Japan: First, the current cooperation between the two sides is limited to the first batch of supplies, and if Japan makes a similar move again, then the East China Government will terminate the cooperation in the future and will no longer provide Japan with preferential conditions for supplies; Second, the Japanese side must formally notify the East China Government before taking military action, otherwise the East China Government will be regarded as Japan sabotaging cooperation; Third, in this negotiation, it is necessary to draw up a roadmap for the establishment of a joint operational command and a joint management of the occupied areas, and then strictly follow the road map; and fourth, it is necessary to prevent Japan from launching a war before the two sides reach a conclusion, and the two sides will do so in this negotiationto negotiate a contingency plan to deal with this situation.

In the end, Li Sanjie stressed very forcefully that if Japan does not accept these four conditions, the East China Government will regard Japan as having no sincerity in cooperating and will terminate the cooperative relationship between the two sides.

Of course, it was impossible for Komura to agree to such a request on the spot, so the two sides adjourned for three days, and Komura Shoutaro had to ask for instructions from the country, and also set aside time for discussion in the country.

After receiving the report from Komura Shotaro, the Japanese government immediately assessed the four conditions of the East China Government, but the primary content of the assessment was not whether it could accept the East China Government's conditions, but whether the East China Government was sincere in cooperating with Japan.

There is no conspiracy in national politics at all, and the leaders of every modern country are basically elites, and there are a large number of staff and think tank personnel, and it is not a simple fool, and some national conspiracies and deceptions in history have considerable subjective and objective reasons, and the other is that the victim country is paralyzed and careless.

Japan has always been a country that attaches importance to tactical details, and at the beginning of its cooperation with the East China Government, there was a voice of opposition in the country, believing that the East China Government was using Japan, but now this voice is getting louder and more detailed, pointing out that the East China Government's conspiracy is to hope that Japan and Russia will lose and suffer from the defeat of both sides, and that they are profiting from it.

Although the Japanese government was not affected by this voice, it could not but take precautions, and another important goal of this negotiation was to determine whether the East China government really wanted to cooperate with Japan. Before Komura Shotaro visited Qingdao, the Japanese Government held that if the East China Government had no intention of cooperating with Japan, or if there was a conspiracy, there were two manifestations: First, if Japan terminated the cooperation on the grounds of Japan's breach of contract, then Japan would completely sever its dependence on the East China Government and completely use its own strength to confront Russia; second, it was very tolerant of Japan's breach of contract and accepted all of Japan's conditions in the negotiations, which showed that the East China Government had no intention of cooperating with Japan at all, but had other conspiracies and tricks, and that Japan must lighten its dependence on the East China Government, and while fighting against Russia, it should be highly vigilant against the East China Government and ask for help from Britain when necessary。

After the Japanese Government's assessment, it is believed that the East China Government's reaction is very reasonable, because after all, it is Japan's fault first, but in order to take into account the overall situation of resisting Russia, the East China Government cannot tear its face with Japan, and can only strive for more interests in other aspects, which is better than suffering a loss.

Moreover, the four demands put forward by the East China Government are also very reasonable, the first and second points are almost the bottom line, and there is nothing to blame, while the third point has the implication of forcing Japan to accept, but it also shows that the East China Government still hopes to strive for more interests within the framework of cooperation between the two sides, and the fourth point shows that the overseas Chinese are delicate in their thinking, and they are about to eat a trench and grow wise.

This also shows that the East China Government still hopes to cooperate with Japan on the whole, unless there is a major change situation, such as Japan being defeated by Russia and having to rely on the East China Government, so these four demands can be agreed, and as for whether or not to implement it, and how to implement it, it still depends on the progress of the war.

As a matter of fact, the East China government has also repeatedly studied these four demands, and has put themselves in their shoes, believing that they are the most reasonable and can win Japan's trust the most, and at least for a certain period of time, they will be able to stabilize Japan.