In Chengguan Town, Dongfang County, the army club was filled with smoke, and a group of officers dressed in the uniform of lieutenants and colonels were holding a meeting.

This is the tactical command room located on the basement level, and the only door stands at the door of six heavily armed soldiers, commanded by a gendarmerie sergeant. Since this was a confidential meeting, the sergeant of the gendarme, who guarded the door, was instructed to arrest anyone who had not been invited to the conference room without asking for instructions, and to shoot him on the spot if he resisted.

Present at the meeting were the chief and deputy company commanders of the army's infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineer, and baggage companies stationed on the mainland, the chief and deputy captains of the militia brigades in various counties, the chief and vice principal of the Dingyuan Army Military School, and some instructors of the Corps Fort. It can be seen from the composition and lineup of the participants that this is an enlarged meeting of the army system, and the main purpose is to unify thinking, speak with one voice, and strive for greater interests for the army system.

To be honest, the Army had a rough time in the past few years. With the passage of time and the obstruction of some civilian officials within the government, the army's military spending has dropped sharply, and its remuneration is generally not high, which cannot be compared with the navy with deep pockets. The civilian-led government approved the navy's shipbuilding plan one after another despite its lack of financial resources, and the army's plan to expand the specialized engineering battalions, baggage battalions, and reconnaissance companies was rejected on the grounds that military spending was tight and the budget was not listed.

In addition, the army's plans for a general drill of more than 10,000 people (including militia brigades in various counties) and large-scale confrontation exercises in the field put forward by the army on several occasions were all rejected. This made the leaders of the War Department almost crooked their noses in anger. Of course, the whole army is also very dissatisfied with this. Especially when there is a navy as a backdrop. The Army's fragile pride was ruthlessly trampled on, so everyone was holding back a fire in their hearts, and this was actually a major trigger for the burning of the barracks.

After the outbreak of the war, the army quickly vented its anger on the Spaniards in La Plata, and the momentum of the siege made the people's morale boil throughout the country. Even with the powerful aura bonus of the navy having wiped out the Spanish fleet of La Plata and the Peruvian fleet, the army that brought back a large amount of property and livestock from La Plata still won the support of the vast number of farmers who had received benefits (bonus cattle), and the momentum was extremely strong for a while, sweeping away the low-key and unfortunate atmosphere of a few years ago.

However, as the war dragged on for two years. The idea of ending the war began to rise in domestic public opinion, and although the sea and land armies on the east coast continued to win victories on all fronts, the huge disparity in national power with the Kingdom of Spain still terrified many people - including some of the crossers - so they hoped to take it as soon as they saw it, conclude a peace treaty with the enemy when the conditions and form were more favorable at present, and then bury their heads in development. Because in their thinking, the major countries of the European continent will always be entangled and fighting viciously in the future, and the East Coast can sit back and watch the success or failure and rise peacefully, just as the United States did in the past.

And more importantly, this argument is now quite popular among the members of the Executive Committee. The military department has won the support of at most 4-5 out of 11 members of the Central Executive Committee. And this is undoubtedly not enough for them to exercise their will. At this time, they often need to win over one or two allies. If you can't win it, hehe, the military leaders in front of and behind the scenes of the army system may make dangerous moves. Of course, when things get to this point, the army itself will inevitably pay a great price, and the country may even be divided because of it, so no one will sacrifice such a trick to hurt others and themselves unless it is absolutely necessary. What's more, with the increasing number of graduates of the Corps Fort, the number of cadets united around the Executive Committee today cannot be underestimated. In other words, today's executive committees don't seem to be as "easy to bully" as they used to be. If the army wants to express its opinion, it is better to follow the rules.

"Xiao Liao, tell me honestly, is there a big problem on the navy's side? If the war continues, do they have any problems? I mean, if the Netherlands and Britain intervene in the war, will the navy be able to maintain our sea transportation lines? Peng Zhicheng pressed tobacco into his pipe while looking at Liao Meng, who was sitting opposite him, and asked.

Liao Meng is the Minister of the Army, and he is also the Chief of the General Staff of the National Armed Forces, and he often deals with the Navy in peacetime, after all, even the Minister of the Navy himself is his nominal subordinate. Of course, in the eyes of the arrogant army, the navy is just a fart, just an army transport fleet. Although Liao Meng does not look at the navy unfavorably because of various complicated interests like other army officers, his attitude towards the navy is indeed not very friendly.

At this time, I only heard him groan slightly, and then said, "I'm afraid it's not very sure." I had previously talked to Guo Zili, Li Yi and other major admirals about this issue, and they said that if they went all out, they would probably be able to keep the sea lines of communication open for one to two years, and then they might have to completely abandon the European market and shrink their defense lines to the south of the New World. In short, the British sea power may be very average, but the Netherlands are very strong, and if they are determined to intervene, it will be impossible for us to solve it, and the result will only be a defeat for both sides. ”

Hearing that the navy could only hold the enemy for one to two years, Peng Zhicheng's face immediately turned cold. I saw him stand up with a gloomy face, and after pacing around the room, he said in a dumb voice: "In any case, the existing conditions for negotiation are unacceptable. What are you kidding, the territorial scope is limited to the area east of the Wujiang River? So what is the system of giving up the town of La Plata, which we have conquered after thousands of loyal warriors have fought bloodily? Are those people in the Government Council worthy of the yin spirits in the god's temples in the counties? I heard that the civilian gang is ready to wait for the end of the war when the government is re-elected, they want to support him as the Minister of the Navy, and even to win the post of Chief of the General Staff of the National Armed Forces, which is a very bad signal for us. ”

Hearing Peng Zhicheng's words, everyone present was a little worried. Everyone is now a whole, backed by the Army, and if the Army system is weakened, then everyone will also be unlucky, which is intolerable to everyone. Therefore, they absolutely need this war to continue, otherwise once the war is over, the government is re-elected, and the naval forces dominate the military department, everyone may have a hard time.

At that time, the already unfairly distributed military expenditure ratio (the army and navy are divided into four or six parts) will probably be further tilted in favor of the navy. Not only that, but there is also a rumor circulating outside the outside world that the Government Council is quite dissatisfied with the fact that military spending accounts for 60% of the total fiscal expenditure every year. They want to disarm to cut costs, and then invest the money they save in the domestic infrastructure industry, after all, once the war is over, there seems to be little reason to continue to maintain a huge army and navy.

Since the matter of disarmament is no longer a secret, at this time, if Lu Ming, a naval officer who is very close to the civilian officials, comes to power, will the army still have good fruits to eat? At this time, it is an exaggeration to say that everyone in the army system is in danger, but it is also true that everyone's sense of crisis has greatly increased, and this undoubtedly provides sufficient room for operation for some veterans of the army.

"La Plata must not be returned in its entirety, and in addition to Puerto Blanca, the Patagonian plateau must also be ceded to the Republic of the East Coast of China!" Peng Zhicheng said endlessly. The Patagonian Plateau is also known as the wasteland, although the natural environment here is harsh, the precipitation is not much, but the victory is in the vast area, some areas can develop grain cultivation, most areas can also develop animal husbandry, and is located at the northern end of the Strait of Magellan, the geographical location is critical, or has considerable strategic value.

Everyone is already aware of the diplomatic letters that the Mosanto Navy brought back home, and at the same time, some of the provisions contained have been studied in depth. In the Army's view, if these conditions were approved by the Executive Committee, the probability of reaching a peace agreement with the Spaniards within a year would be a high probability. And when that happens, how will the Army deal with itself? Therefore, ending the war at this time was not very much in the interest of the Army, and the conditions that Peng Zhicheng had just proposed for the cession of the Patagonian Plateau were a product of this mentality.

If the Spaniards had broken their heads and agreed to cede the Patagonian plateau to the people on the east coast, then it happened that this was proposed by the army, and it was also the result of the army's victory in a hundred battles that forced the Spaniards to submit. At this time, the scale of your dismantling of the army will not seem to be good, and the army will be able to win a lot of sympathy points at this time, and most of the disarmament matters will be yellow. And if the Spaniards do not agree, which is the most likely, then there is no doubt that the war will continue, and it is undoubtedly in the interests of the Army. So, in any case, the Army is now reluctant to cease the war unless their conditions are met (i.e., on the issue of post-war disarmament), in which case the war between the two sides may continue for many more years.

Peng Zhicheng's construction set off a heated discussion among the congregation. Everyone carefully analyzed the various possible directions of the matter, and then discussed them one by one again. Peng Zhicheng and the others did not speak, but watched everyone debating enthusiastically, and at this time, the army needs to unify its thinking and speak with one voice, otherwise it is likely that it will not be able to effectively safeguard the interests of the group.

They discussed for more than two hours, and by noon, they had finally reached an agreement, and they had perfected the details of the question raised by Peng Zhicheng on the status of the post-war Patagonia plateau, and then a special clerk sorted it out for the record, and then submitted it to the Executive Committee in the name of the War Department and the Joint Staff Headquarters, as guidelines for diplomatic negotiations put forward by the Military Department for the "reference" of the members of the Executive Committee. (To be continued......)