"Michinoku-kun doesn't seem to be able to do it anymore. He may only have the last few weeks left on his life. At Ito's official residence, Saionji said to the head of Japan's government, his tone filled with a hint of melancholy.

"It's not just a pain, it's a heart disease, and although we eventually acquired the two armored cruisers, the Nissin and the Izumo, the huge price has always been a burden on Mutsu's heart, and now, this burden has completely crushed him. We all know that Mutsu Munemitsu did the right thing, but no one comforted him, and he has been living in self-blame and ridicule from others. Looking at the silent prime minister opposite, Xiyuan Temple Gongwang said with some unbearable feelings. By now, there are things to talk to him about. ”

£1,350,000 per unit! This is almost the most expensive battleship so far, the 2nd class battleships Fuji and Yashima purchased by Japan from Britain are only more than 900,000 pounds, if only in terms of cost performance, this battleship is also slightly superior to the British Centurion, 4 10-inch guns, 8 8-inch guns and nearly 20 105MM guns against 4 10-inch guns and 10 6-inch guns of the Fuji class. The former has almost 2 times as much projection as the latter! £1.35 million is expensive, but it's okay.

But for Mutsu Somitsu, this price is almost twice the starting price! This result greatly exceeded Mutsu Munemitsu's expectations, and even exceeded the bottom line of his heart, and some unreasonable people began to attack Mutsu Munemitsu's actions. There are even activists who threaten to be "punished by heaven". Mutsu Munemitsu was even attacked near the house! And this series of blows made Mutsu Soguang exhausted, and he who had lived until 1898 was now almost dead in 1897.

"Well, you go with me and tell him that we can't let him leave this world with regret and self-blame." Hirobumi Ito thought for a moment and said.

"Ito-kun, I just want to know. Whether what I'm doing is right or wrong, don't comfort me, I need the truth. Two hours later, when Hirobumi Ito and Kozomi Saionji met Mutsu Munemitsu, the Japanese foreign minister shot out a hard hand and grabbed Hirobumi Ito's collar and said hoarsely.

"You're doing it right, it's us who are not right. We have concealed a lot of things, a plan that has been planned since the end of the Qing-Japanese war. And today I need to tell you about this plan. Hirobumi Ito said.

"How do you evaluate the outcome of the Qing-Japanese War?" Hirobumi Ito asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"Our war is in vain, judging from the numbers, the reparations we received from the Qing State only slightly exceeded our military expenditures, and after paying off the foreign debt, there is nothing left, except for the indemnity, we have not obtained colonies, and without colonies, there will be no raw material production area, and there will be no market. And the development of ports and so-called privileges are of very limited significance to the current empire. ’

"And most importantly. Our diplomatic environment deteriorated unprecedentedly, the Qing Dynasty moved closer to Russia, and at the critical moment of the negotiations, Russia, Germany, and France actually stole the fruits of our victory! The Americans have always had an indifferent attitude, and the British simply could not do anything. We fought a war, but we provoked many powerful countries, and we fell into an extremely passive state diplomatically. "Although the oil has run out, Mutsu Munemitsu still has a relatively accurate analysis of the situation.

"That's right. We won the war, but we didn't get enough of it. And under the operation of those financiers, the domestic financial market is also in turmoil, our financial industry has suffered heavy losses, and the situation in the empire seems to be even worse than before the war, so we need to change this situation and get everything we have lost from somewhere else! Can you understand? Ito Hirovini paused and continued: "Colonies, markets, and raw material sources!" ”

"This! Are you going to start another war? We have just ended the war with the Qing Kingdom. If we fight again, the Qing Kingdom will definitely get help from Russia and even France and Germany, we have no chance of winning, you madman! Mutsu Munemitsu quickly thought of what Hirobumi Ito wanted to say, in his opinion. Now Ito Hirobumi is a crazy gambler, when he didn't make enough profit in the last round of gambling, he became crazy, threw all the weight of the empire into it, and went to participate in another gamble that he couldn't win!

"You're right, if I hadn't fought the Qing again, it would have turned into a war between Japan and the Qing, Russia, France and Germany, and the British wouldn't have been able to save us in this case. So we chose another target, a weak country! An easily occupied colony that lets the dust settle before the nations of the world react. Mutsu-kun can guess. Hirobumi Ito said with a smile. There was a hint of pride in his words.

"Weak country? An easily occupied colony? Is there such a place in East Asia? Mutsu Munemitsu fell into deep thought. But it soon dawned on him. "You mean the Philippines, right? You really are. "At this time, Mutsu Munemitsu really didn't know whether to say whether Ito Hirobumi was bold or smart! Because sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a genius and a fanatic!

"You are very smart, the Philippines is a good place, its area is much larger than the Liaodong Peninsula and the island of Taiwan, it is a colony run by the Spaniards for a long time, there is land, there is a population, and there are cash crops. As long as we can get rid of the Spaniards, we will soon be profitable. Moreover, now that the Spanish army is fighting against the Philippine rebels, the internal chaos of the Philippines has greatly reduced the difficulty of our attack. ”

"Spain itself has sunset. Russia and Germany had a very average relationship with Spain. France will not enter the war in a hurry, and there is little chance that we will be interfered by foreign enemies. Maybe the Americans have certain ideas, but they are too far from the Philippines. As long as we have the approval of the British, we can eat it, and the British, in order to support us against the Russians, acquiesce in our actions and secretly give some support. Hirobumi Ito said.

"But even if it is a declining empire, but they still have 2 7,000-ton ironclad ships and 2 Munich-class armored cruisers, if we really fight, our chances of winning are not very high, and after the fight, if the Russians take the opportunity to attack, our navy has no way!" Mutsu Munemitsu quickly discovered the problem in Ito's plan, although Spain is weaker, but Japan is also weak!

Thank you for the cold tones of the book friends, the tips for the books ~~~, and the monthly pass support of the book friends duckweed and denglaian~~~. (To be continued.) )