By the time Henry escaped from the tomb, it was dark, and he was now sleeping in the middle of a ruined temple in the mountains. Henry dragged his tired body into the ruined temple and fell asleep in the straw pile. Outside the temple, there was a constant cool breeze, and the wind blew the branches of the trees and swayed in the dark night. Blowing the paper window, the temple door slowly opened, and the creaking sound seemed to be someone pushing the door in. In the dark night, lightning continued, as if a storm was coming, and the temple gate was unusually hot. Henry lay in the haystack, his hands outstretched, snoring incessantly, and in the confusion he heard a woman's cry, her cry so miserable, the miserable cry wandering in the air. At this point, Henry's limbs seemed to be tied, making him unable to move. Suddenly opened his eyes, the clay statue in front of him, eyes as big as copper beads, as if this clay statue looked down at him, the fierce and vicious appearance was terrifying. A bolt of lightning struck the clay statue's hand and hit the long mace in his hand, and the long mace fell and hit his head, only to hear a scream, the long mace fell, and blood sprayed out. In this way, the French ambassador plenipotentiary to China was stoned to death by King Qi's long mace, causing the French army to withdraw from Chongqing to the area of the Red River in Yunnan.

In the middle of the night that day, Mrs. Tai died depressed at home, before he died, his mouth kept calling, "Guozhi, my grandson," it seems that Mrs. Tai has been thinking about her grandson, until the thought becomes ill, sick in bed, until the end of life, the heart of the concern has not decreased, but the condition is more serious, to the early morning of this day died of illness.

The rule of the country in Guangdong is getting more and more depressed day by day, without the fighting spirit of the past, staying in the smoke hall and green building all day long is drunk and dreaming of death, I don't know what year it is? Just today, he received a letter from home, and when he learned the bad news of Mrs. Tai's death, he was so sad that he sat up on the bed. A woman behind her was bare-shouldered, got up and asked, "Xianggong, what's wrong with you?" Guozhi's eyes were rolling, but his eyes were blurred, and his mind was blank, and he didn't say anything. He got up and sat down at the round table, sat for a long time, was silent for a long time, lifted the flask, and poured the wine into the glass. Drinking alone and sullen. The woman sat at the head of the bed and looked at the country in front of her, and took a cigarette gun from the side.

"Xianggong, forget all the unhappiness in the past, take a sip," Guozhi looked at the cigarette gun in her hand, the woman held the cigarette gun in her hand, lit it and took a puff, leaned forward close to Guozhi's convulsing lips and spewed smoke. Guozhi opened his eyes slightly, lay in her arms, and took a big breath, the whole room was filled with smoke, as if he was in a fantasy world.

The country has gone through several calamities and has raised the slogan of self-improvement. The DPRK and China, led by Li Hongzhang, launched a vigorous Westernization Movement and established the Beiyang Naval Division to resist foreign enemies. The Empress Dowager Cixi and the ministers around her, and the Guangxu Emperor boarded the warship to test the gun. For this reason, the Empress Dowager Cixi said complacently: "This is a foreign cannon." Li Hongzhang called for a test cannon, lit the gun pipe lead, and with a boom, the deck was shaken, and the waves exploded on the sea, which were thousands of feet high. Li Hongzhang stood aside and said, "This ship can resist foreign enemies and drive these foreigners out of the country." ”

Emperor Guangxu said excitedly: "Okay, this ship can boost the prestige of the country and let those foreigners see our million-strong master of the Qing Dynasty." ”

The next day, Li Lianying, the chief eunuch, came to Li Hongzhang's mansion, and Li Hongzhang went out of the mansion to greet him, and said with a smile: "Chief Administrator Li, I don't know why I came to Hongzhang's mansion?" Then he asked Li Lianying to sit down.

After Li Lianying sat down, she said: "Lord Zhongtang, it will be Lafayette's sixtieth birthday in half a month, and the miscellaneous family is worried about this matter, and they have to worry about repairing the Summer Palace." ”

Regarding the matter of repairing the Summer Palace, Hongzhang will think of a way again, "Regarding the preparation of the funds for the repair of the Summer Palace, the funds are still huge, and there are some difficulties, and he is hesitant to make a decision on this matter."

"You see, the miscellaneous family is doing things for the Queen Mother, which is the majesty of the royal family and is indispensable."

Li Hongzhang was silent for a while, called his subordinates to send some silver taels, and said: "These silver taels are some of Hongzhang's intentions, you tell the Queen Mother to rest assured, and prepare for the repair in three days." ”

"The miscellaneous family can get such a lot of love from Lord Zhongtang, how dare they accept it."

"Didn't Manager Li's words treat Hongzhang as an outsider?"

"Okay, Lord Zhongtang's mind has been received by the miscellaneous family," Li Lianying accepted the silver taels sent by Li Hongzhang, and after getting up, she said: "It's okay to have Lord Zhongtang's words, and the miscellaneous family will report the words of Lord Zhongtang to the Queen Mother." ”

In 1867, at the beginning of his ascension to the throne, Meiji Emperor Muhito declared in his "Emperor's Imperial Letter" that he would "open up thousands of miles of Hakiyo and proclaim the prestige of the country in all directions," and intended to expand overseas. In 1871, China and Japan signed the first treaty, the "Sino-Japanese Reconciliation Regulations", the first paragraph of which stated that "after that, the Qing Dynasty and the Great Japan Kingdom were in harmony with the world, that is, the territories to which the two countries belonged, each treated each other with courtesy, and could not invade the slightest transgression, and was humbled to permanent security," which was one thing, but Japan did not abide by this treaty after this treaty. In 1874, there was a Ryukyu drifter accused of the killing of the Taiwan Gaoshan tribe, Japan used this as an excuse to send troops to Taiwan, but the disparity between the strength of Japan and China, coupled with the water and soil adaptation, the Japanese army lost the first landing on the island, under the mediation of the United States and Britain and other countries, Japan asked the Qing State for 500,000 taels of silver, and forced the Qing court to admit that Japan's invasion of Taiwan was a righteous act to protect the people, and withdraw troops from Taiwan. In 1879, Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom and renamed Okinawa Prefecture.

In 1876, Japan opened the door of Korea by force and forced Korea to sign the Treaty of Ganghwa, which obtained a series of privileges of consular jurisdiction. In 1882, the Imwu Mutiny broke out in Korea, and China and Japan sent troops to Korea at the same time. Although the Qing army suppressed the Japanese army in this incident, the Japanese army still obtained the right to send troops and garrison troops in Korea in the Treaty of Jemulpo. In 1884, Japan helped the Kaihwa Party of Korea to carry out the Kashin coup d'état in an attempt to expel Chinese influence in Korea. Yuan Shikai led the Qing troops to defeat the Japanese army and suppress the coup d'état, but Japan and the Qing court signed the "Tianjin Conference Article", stipulating that China and Japan should withdraw their troops from Korea at the same time, and the two countries must notify each other of sending troops to Korea.

In 1890, when the economic crisis broke out in Japan, the demand for war became more urgent, and the then Japanese Prime Minister Aritomo Yamaprefecture threw out the so-called sovereignty line and interest theory in his policy speech at the First Imperial Conference, taking the Japanese mainland as the sovereignty line, China and the Korean Peninsula as Japan's interest line, claiming that Japan was underpopulated and must defend the line of interests by force and step up the expansion of military warfare. In 1894, the Donghak uprising broke out in Korea, and the Korean army was defeated one after another, forcing them to beg for help from the Qing court. Japan thought that the time had come to start a war, and said to the Qing court, "Why don't you act on behalf of Han Jian as soon as possible?" "Induce the Qing court to send troops to Korea. The Qing court sent Ye Zhichao, the governor of Zhili, and Nie Shicheng, the general soldier of Taiyuan, to lead the elite 2,000 people of the Huai army to register in Asan in North Korea a few days after June 6, preparing to suppress the uprising and notify Japan. On June 10, the Korean** and the rebel army reached a peace agreement in Jeonju, and the Qing army quelled the uprising without a fight. On June 25, the originally planned third group of Qing troops landed at Asan, bringing the total number of Qing troops stationed in Korea to 2,465. At that time, the Ito Hirobumi cabinet was facing impeachment in a no-confidence motion in the parliament, and while Korea was begging for help from the Qing government, Japan learned through its embassy in Korea that the Qing court was going to send troops to Korea, and it began to provoke war with all its might. On June 2, 1894, the Ito Cabinet decided to send troops to Korea. On 5 June, Japan immediately set up a base camp for the chief of staff, the deputy chief of staff, the minister of the army, and the chief of the naval command to serve as the supreme leadership organ for directing the war of aggression. On 9 June, Japan sent an advance force of 400 troops, under the leadership of Keisuke Otori, the minister to the DPRK, to enter Seoul, the capital of Korea, under the pretext that Japan had the right to protect the embassy and overseas Chinese under the pretext stipulated in the Treaty of Jemulpo, and at the same time informed the Chinese side in accordance with the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Tianjin, and then sent 800 troops to Seoul on 12 June. Before the departure of the Japanese advance team, Japanese Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu instructed Minister Keisuke Otori to carry out the impromptu punishment as he deemed appropriate, authorizing Otori to provoke a provocation.

After the Jeonju Rebellion was reached, North Korea ** demanded that China and Japan withdraw their troops, and Keisuke Otori began to negotiate with Yuan Shikai, the minister of the Qing court in Korea, to withdraw troops, and the Japanese side verbally agreed to withdraw troops and signed a written agreement. On 15 June, China and Japan jointly proposed to assist the DPRK in reforming its internal affairs. On June 16, Major General Yoshimasa Oshima led the first batch of troops of the mixed brigade to land at Incheon, and the number of Japanese troops invading Korea reached more than 8,000, which was an absolute advantage over the Qing army stationed in Korea. However, Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili and the minister of Beiyang, hoped that the Chinese and Japanese armies would withdraw together, that is, they did not send reinforcements to Korea. The Qing army did not withdraw first on the grounds that Yuan Shikai, Nie Shicheng and others had suggested it, and finally gave Japan an opportunity to take advantage of. The reason why Japan put forward the bill of joint reform of Korea is, on the one hand, to make its own military assist the DPRK in reforming its internal affairs. On the other hand, dragging down the Qing troops stationed in Korea was a provocative measure taken solely for the purpose of waging war. Qing ** refused to reform the Korean case and stressed that Japan must withdraw its troops, so Japan issued the first letter of renunciation to Qing ** on June 22. After that, Li Hongzhang pinned his hopes on Britain, the United States, Russia, and other European and American countries to stress a halt and let Japan withdraw its troops; because of the interests of the above-mentioned countries, the United States, Britain, and Russia only condemned Japan and did not take tough measures. On July 14, Japan sent a second letter of renunciation to Qing **, refusing to withdraw its troops, and slandering China for deliberately causing trouble, threatening, "If an accident occurs in the future, Japan ** will not be responsible," and thus the Sino-Japanese negotiations broke down.

After Japan issued the first letter of renunciation to the Qing court, it began to reform its internal policy strategy, and during the Korean negotiations, Keisuke Otori pressed North Korea to deny that it was a vassal state of China; On the other hand, it put forward five 27-point reform plans to force the DPRK to accept it within a time limit. Therefore, the DPRK was very disgusted with Japan's arrogance, perfunctory Japan's demands, and repeatedly urged Japan to withdraw its troops, and by July 17, the Japan-DPRK negotiations had also broken down.

During 1894, Japan's conspiracy to start a war became more and more apparent, and public opinion in China and the Qing generals stationed in Korea asked the Qing court to increase troops to prepare for war. In the imperial court, the main battle faction headed by Emperor Guangxu Zai Yan and Hubu Shangshu Weng Tongyi was formed. However, the Empress Dowager Cixi did not want her 60th birthday to be disturbed by the war, Li Hongzhang in order to preserve the strength of his descendants of the Huai Army and the Beiyang Naval Division, also tried to reconcile, these people formed the main peace faction in the imperial court, until mid-July after the Sino-Japanese negotiations broke down, Li Hongzhang, who had been standing still, responded to the request of the Guangxu Emperor and began to send troops to reinforce Korea. With the collapse of the Sino-Japanese and Japan-DPRK negotiations one after another, the suspension of the talks failed. On July 17, 1894, the Japanese headquarters made the decision to go to war. On 20 July, Japan formed a combined fleet under the command of Ito Sukehiro, ready to provoke at any time. On the same day, Keisuke Otori, the Japanese minister to the DPRK, issued an ultimatum to the DPRK, demanding that the Warsaw Pact be abolished and that the Chinese troops be expelled, and that a reply be given within 48 hours. Korea** continued to perfunctory Japan, so Japan decided to send troops to control Korea**, and had found a commission to start a war with the Qing army stationed in Korea.

In the early morning of July 23, 1894, the invading Japanese army raided the palace of Seoul, defeated the Korean defenders, held the Korean king Li Xi hostage, disbanded the pro-Chinese ** in Korea, and supported the king's biological father Xingxuan Dayuan Jun Li Gang Ying to become regent, Japan urged the pro-Japanese ** in Korea to sever relations with the Qing court, and entrusted the Japanese army to expel the Qing army stationed in Korea and control Korea**. On July 25, 1894, Japan did not declare war, attacked the Qing army troop carriers reinforcing Korea on the sea of Toshima in Korea, and the Battle of Toshima broke out in Jiyuan, Guangyi, and Toshima. At this point, Japan finally detonated the First Sino-Japanese War.

On August 1, 1894 (the first day of the seventh month of the twentieth year of Guangxu), China and Japan officially declared war, and the Qing court pointed out in its edict that Korea has always been a vassal state of China, and the Qing court sent troops at the request of North Korea. Therefore, Li Hongzhang sent various armies to quickly attack, gather lions, and set off one after another to save the Han people. Japan's Meiji Emperor Muhito confronted each other in his declaration of war, claiming that "Korea was the first independent country to be joined by the empire," and put forward the reason for the war. And stated the purpose, "to save Korea from chaos forever, to maintain peace in the East as a whole, and to proclaim the glory of the empire to China and abroad." ”