No one could answer Prince Gong's question, or no one dared to answer.

However, the Qing court has a fine tradition, in case of indecision, it will be delayed, and it can not use the troubles of the past to affect today's happiness, after all, if you want to solve the problem, there is still tomorrow.

But every move of the Qing Dynasty is no secret to those who have a heart. For example, last night a certain prince of the Qing Dynasty did not lift the concubine in the tenth room, and the next morning, this gossip could spread in the mouths of the teahouses, morning shops and palanquin drivers in the capital, and then spread throughout the capital.

Such an intimate matter is like a sieve, let alone a national affair? In the hearts of the old and young masters who are begging for a life in the capital, if you don't know the freshest national events, how can you be embarrassed to go out and chat with people? How to reflect the political level of the common people at the feet of the Son of Heaven?

Besides, in the eyes of the scholars of Yanguan, Qingliu, and Hanlin Academy, the country is no matter how big or small, and everything should be let the scholars see first, after all, family affairs, national affairs, world affairs, and everything must be cared about.

What, you want to keep it a secret from the reader?! That is the foundation of the country, and the biggest perverse thing is nothing more than this!

Therefore, the eyebrows of the Qing and Germany were not only a copy of the contract between Germany and Germany, but even the latest battle plan of the German Navy's Grand Fleet.

In the afternoon of the same day, Kita-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo, the East Wing Conference Room on the first floor of the Japanese National Staff Headquarters.

In contrast to the scorching summer outside, the atmosphere in the conference room was very cold, at least in front of the angry Minoru Sanjo, the sunken Iwakura Goshi, and the silent Ito Hirobumi, several members of the Japanese Ministry of War and the Navy felt very cold.

There were not many people in the conference room, except for the three giants of Japan's ruling power, Prime Minister Minori Sanjo, Right Minister Iwakura Gushi, and Secretary of the Interior Ito Hirobumi, who did not dare to pant loudly at the bottom, were Vice Admiral Aritomo Yama, director of the General Staff Headquarters, Iwawa Oyama, deputy director of the General Staff Headquarters, Gentaro Kodama of the first deputy director of the General Staff Headquarters, and Saigo Nomichi, the first person of the Japanese Navy.

Between the Big Three and the heads of the Fourth Army was the Far East battle plan drawn up by the staff of German Rear Admiral Dietrich.

This battle plan, which only took three days to draw up, is actually only version 1.0, according to the temperament of the German staff officers, the subsequent versions of 1.0+, 2.0, 2.0+, etc., will continue to be planned from General Dietrich's operational staff room, and it is not the style of the German staff officers to plan a war plan to the bottom of everything.

Even the first version of the battle plan still seems to have some traces of urgency in it, but the idea of operation has already made the Japanese military leaders present feel a deep fear.

According to the plan of the Germans, after the German Grand Fleet went north from Hong Kong to Shanghai, it went straight to Kyushu, first shelled Nagasaki, looked for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese naval fleet at the Sasebo base in Nagasaki, and destroyed it.

If the Japanese naval fleet was destroyed, the German Grand Fleet left Nagasaki and headed north, through the Shimonoseki (Shimonoseki) Strait, into the Seto Inland Sea between Honshu and Shikoku, and shelled all of Japan's coastal industrial and commercial cities along the lines of Hiroshima, Matsuyama, Fukuyama, Takamatsu, Kobe, Osaka, and Wakayama.

If the Japanese navy avoided the war, the German Grand Fleet left Nagasaki and attacked Kagoshima and Miyazaki, the spiritual and military centers of the Satsuma Domain, forcing the Japanese navy to fight a decisive battle, destroying the Japanese navy, and then entering the Seto Inland Sea along the Bungo waterway.

After the shelling of the Seto Inland Sea, the Grand Fleet sailed northwest again out of the Kii Waterway and attacked the cities of Toyohashi and Shizuoka along the eastern side of Honshu. Finally, knock on Yokosuka, enter Tokyo Bay, and shell Tokyo.

"Yaga! Look at the good things you guys have done! Mimi Sanjo roared, "How did you guarantee before you went to the Ryukyus! It is said that as long as the Japanese soldiers set foot on Ryukyu Island, Qingguo can only sit stupidly and watch Japan eat Ryukyu in one bite! ”

"But now! As long as it is only 10 million taels of silver, and the Qing Dynasty only needs to spend 10 million taels of silver, the fruits of several generations of hard work and frugality since the Meiji era can be turned into ruins under the guns of the Germans in an instant! ”

"You bastards, if this happens, go for seppuku! No, I'm going to hang you, I won't let you apologize, you are not worthy to be the emperor's samurai! ”

The roar of the three beautiful mimi, like rolling thunder in the summer, kept exploding in the staff headquarters of Beiqingshan!

After more than an hour of tossing and turning, roaring at the same content, even Mishi Sanjo, who was only in his early forties, felt quite struggling, and finally could only sit down in his chair and gasp for breath, the only thing he could do was to kill the four stupid guys in front of him with his eyes.

After a moment of silence, a voice that was much gentler than Mimi Sanjo sounded, "Saigo-kun, you are the first person in the Japanese Navy, can you tell us first, what is the background of the Japanese Navy, and whether the current Japanese Navy can withstand the German Grand Fleet, or .....?"

"How long can you resist?" Hirobumi Ito thought for a moment and asked.

Saigo slammed his head against the ground and said in a deep voice, "Lord Ito, there are five ironclad ships at the Sasebo Naval Base in Nagasaki, the East (AZUMA), the Ryujo, the Fuso (FUSO), the Kongo, and the Hiei (HIEI), and the Middle East was capsized by a typhoon in Meiji 7 (1874), and now it has been converted into a reserve ship, and the main ironclad ships that can be used in combat at the Sasebo base are actually four. ”

"IN ADDITION TO THE MAIN IRONCLAD SHIPS, THE SASEBO BASE ALSO HAS THE FOLLOWING LIGHT SHIPS, THREE STEAM FAST FRIGATES: FUJIJAMA, TSUKUBA, AND NISSHIN; one unprotected light cruiser: Asamayama (ASAMA); two steam sail warships: SEIKI and AMAGI; TWO PADDLE (PADDLE WHEEL) FRIGATES: KASUGA AND JINGEI. ”

"It must be noted that these light ships were either built for a long time, such as the Tsukuba, which was built during the shogunate, or they were light in tonnage and without any armor protection, and in fact, they only served the role of daily vigilance patrols, and did not help in decisive battles at sea."

In the face of such a crisis, Saigo did not dare to hide anything from the Japanese Navy, and truthfully revealed his family background in one breath.

Next to him, there were friends in Shan County, who were lying on the ground together, and there was obviously a trace of anger across his face, "This group of navy is really red deer, crying all day long and shouting that they don't have decent warships at hand, and asking the army to suspend and let the navy buy ships first." Hum! Today finally revealed the bottom of the family, where is there no warship, obviously how much! ”

"Hehe, no wonder Saigo Jun is the main force to take the Ryukyus, and even straightened his chest, and promised us old guys hiding in the room that as long as the Qing Navy is dispatched, you can annihilate them all, hehe, so many ships, of course, you have enough confidence!" Iwakura Gushi smiled with a smile, but his face could sink into the water.

Saigo was drenched with sweat all over his body, and he didn't know if it was the hot weather in Tokyo in June or the low temperature in this room.

"Fukushima Yasumasa, the military attache stationed in the Qing Dynasty, just sent a telegram from Hong Kong two days ago, do you want to hear about the scale of the German Grand Fleet?" Ito Hirobumi's voice is still so gentle and beautiful, "I won't talk about the previous nonsense, I'll get to the point." ”

"The German Grand Fleet consisted of six ironclad battleships, the flagship SMS Kaiser (8,799 tons), the Prussia (SMS Preussen) (7,596 tons), the SMS Friedrich der Grosse (7,596 tons), the Deutschland (8,799 tons), the SMS Hansa (4,334 tons), and the SMS Sachsen (7,677 tons)."

"Well, according to Fukushima-kun's intelligence, Frederick the Great and Deutschland are old warships that have been in service for nearly ten years, while the other four are all new ships built in the past five years, of which Saxony was commissioned only last year."

"In addition to the main ironclad battleships mentioned above, the cruisers accompanying them were: the flat-deck ironclad cruisers SMS Leipzig (4,553 tons), the SMS Sedan (4,553 tons), the "SMS Bismarck" (2,947 tons), the SMS Blucher (3,332 tons), and the SMS Moltke (3,332 tons)."

"As for the other auxiliary ships, they are all cargo ships that assist in coal refueling and water feeding, so I won't go into details." Ito Hirofumi smiled and shook the telegram in his hand, "Fukushima-kun is young, but I didn't expect to be so careful and serious in doing things, Yamasan-kun, your vision is really good!" I like him very much, I don't know if the army, especially the county gentleman, can you cut your love? ”

"Lord Ito, this is an honor for the Army, and it is also an honor for Aritomo in my prefecture!" Shan County, who was lying on the ground, was obviously a little excited.

Fukushima Yasushi is a young man he poached from the Ministry of Justice in the 7th year of the Meiji era, and he deliberately stayed by his side as an attendant secretary, specializing in the army intelligence section that Yamaguchi Aritomo insisted on advocating and establishing, and today Fukushima Yasuma has entered the eyes of Ito Hirobumi, which means that the intelligence system originally established by Aritomo Yama in the army is about to become Japan's national intelligence system, in other words, the person in charge of this system is a student of Aritomo Yama County.

Ito Hirobumi looked at Saigo who was lying on the ground, then turned his head to look at Minoru Sanjo who was sitting on the top with an angry face, and Iwakura Gushi, who was sitting on the top with an angry face, lowered his head and touched the back of his head, sighed and said, "Sanjo-kun, Iwakura-kun, the navy insists on taking the Ryukyus, with my consent in advance, I didn't think that it would develop to such a point today, Ito Hirobumi has to bear the responsibility first, Saigo-kun is just acting according to my will." ”

"I have a small land and many people in Japan, and if I want to become a world power, the Qing Kingdom is an obstacle that cannot be bypassed, so whether it is a westward expedition or a southward expedition, Japan's goal is always to clear the country, and as for Korea or the Ryukyus, it is just a fleeting scenery on the Japanese journey."

"Since it is the scenery on the journey, as a forerunner, we must do a good job, we must do a good job if we can see the beautiful scenery, and we must do a good job if we can't see the beautiful scenery. It's never a smooth journey, is it? General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who swept Japan, also fell on the way to the west to conquer Korea, if it doesn't work once, I'll do it again, I'm Ito Hirobumi believe that today's Japan can do what General Toyotomi Hideyoshi can't do. ”

Worthy of being the first person in Japan in the future, Ito Hirobumi's words obviously eased the atmosphere, and the temperature in the conference room seemed to have risen a few degrees, and it was no longer cold.

Ito Hirobumi took out another report from his side and said with a smile, "Everyone knows that I'm fond of gambling, and gambling is a nine-point calculation and a one-point luck in my eyes. As he spoke, he patted the report in his hand lightly, "The calculation of nine points is all in this, only the luck of the Germans, I didn't calculate." ”

After flipping through the report, Ito Hirofumi pulled out a page from it, "Recently, Prince Gong of the Qing Kingdom, Yixun, likes to read Wei Yuan's "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" before going to bed, and it is said that he also specially wrote a banner to hang in the study, and the banner reads, Master Yi Chang Technique to control Yi. It is said that he learns it day and night. ”

Hearing Hirofumi Ito say this, Minoru Sanjo and Iwakura Goshi's faces finally showed smiles.

Ito Hirobumi looked at these two, and also showed a happy smile on his face, and said with a smile, "The most enlightened and powerful prince of the Qing Kingdom has such a vision, even if the Qing country has strong reinforcements, Sanjo-kun, Iwakura-kun, why are you and I afraid?" ”

The head of the four armies lying on the ground was confused.

Iwakura looked at Saigo Congdao with disgust, and said in a low voice, "Saigo's luck is stronger than his brother, although he has no long-term worries now, he still has near-term worries!" ”

"Saigo, I ask you, what should happen to the German navy if it attacks the Japanese mainland?!"

"My lord, since Saigo, the Japanese Navy has been up and down, and all of them are willing to fight the enemy, and the jade is broken!" Saigo replied in a deep voice.

"Hehe, Saigo-kun, Lord Iwakura is asking about the battle plan of the Japanese Navy, so don't always say anything stupid, Japan's restoration needs everyone's hard work, if the restoration is not successful, you can't sacrifice lightly! Japan's reform and its secession from Asia and its entry into Europe require people's efforts, and without people, Japan will have nothing. Hirobumi Ito laughed again and interrupted Saigo's death oath.

"Sneak attack, the navy is preparing to sneak attack the German Navy Grand Fleet in Hong Kong, sink them first, and then cover the landing of the army in Tanggu, and break through the Qing Beijing in one fell swoop! Forced the Qing State to sign the alliance under the city! Saigo twisted his head and gritted his teeth to continue.

"Onboard! Great Japanese Navy onboard! Kodama Gentaro, the first deputy officer of the General Staff Headquarters, suddenly straightened up, raised his hands and shouted hoarsely, "The Japanese Army is willing to work with the Navy to fight this war with the Qing State!" ”

"Bang dang!" Kodama Gentaro was kicked to the ground by the iron-faced Yama Prefecture Aritomo, and then it was Yamayama Prefecture Aritomo who slapped Kodama Gentaro's face with a crisp slap, and finally Yamayama Prefecture Aritomo scolded Kodama Gentaro angrily, and then bowed down and apologized to the Big Three in a low voice, "Let you see the laughter, it's all Yama Prefecture Sometomo who is not effective in restraining his subordinates." ”

"Hmph, it's good that the army has a person with brains in charge!" Iwakura said unhappily.

"Haha, there is a county gentleman, it is a blessing for the Japanese army, I just recently read a new work by Yama County, Yama Prefecture Jun is in the book, it is really to say what my generation thinks!" Ito Hirobumi looked at Yama Prefecture Youtomo, stretched out two fingers, and said with a warm smile, "Japanese soldiers must keep in mind their two missions, the first is to defend their country's sovereignty line and never allow others to infringe on it; The second is to protect the line of national interests and never allow others to get involved. ”

Youpeng of Shan County raised his head and said in a firm tone, "What is the sovereignty line without losing the shape of the winning position, and the territory of the country is also; What is the line of interests, the area closely related to the security of the line of sovereignty is also the area. ”

"Oh, Yamasan-kun, do you understand the navy now, and do you understand Saigo's painstaking efforts to win the Ryukyus?" Hirobumi Ito's eyes sparkled as he looked at Aritomo Yamaguchi, the father of the Japanese Army.

"Yes, Ito-sama, Yama Prefecture Aritomo understands the Navy. Please also wait patiently for a few more years, and Yamaguchi Youpeng will definitely bring a new type of Japanese Army, an invincible Japanese Army, to His Majesty the Emperor and your Excellency! Shan County Youpeng looked at the Big Three with a resolute face and swore.

Iwakura quietly slanted his gaze to Ito Hirobumi, but the clenched fist exposed Iwakura Gushi's nervous mood, fortunately, only after a moment of silence, Ito Hirobumi nodded and smiled, "As it should be, everything is entrusted to the county gentleman." ”

Iwakura let go of his fist, looked at Yama Prefecture Aritomo with a look of ecstasy, and then looked at Saigo Congdao, who bowed his head and was silent, pursed the corners of his mouth, and tried his best to hide the smile on the corner of his mouth. Iwakura knew that since Yama Aritomo resisted the temptation of the German navy to attack Hong Kong and later attacked the Qing Kingdom, the harvest of the Changzhou Domain today had exceeded expectations, and it was time to let the Satsuma Domain go.

Saigo Congdao could only bow his head and smile bitterly, originally wanted to turn the Ryukyu incident into a contradiction between the military and the political circles by pulling the army into the water, and let the army and the navy bear this difficulty together, who knew that it seemed like a tendon, and the dead-headed Yama Prefecture Youtomo was not fooled, and after kicking down the fanatical and hard-hardened Kodama Gentaro, he never mentioned the attack on the Qing Dynasty.

Now it seems that in order to save him, Ito Hirobumi had to make a big deal to the Changzhou Domain in order to get him out of this quagmire.

Hirobumi Ito's request to Aritomo Yamaprefecture to prepare for a new army means that he agreed to the reform of Aritomo Yamaguru's new army, and his straightforward understanding of the implicit dialogue of the Japanese is as follows:

First of all, Yamayama Aritomo got the coveted right to directly see the emperor, and to put it more bluntly, the Japanese army would be directly subordinate to the administration of the Japanese emperor, and the government and parliament would have no right to intervene.

Secondly, it is the Tsukiyokai that has always existed within the army, and the Tsukiyokai who advocate learning the French democratic system will be completely suppressed, and the Soga Yujo, Miura Goru, Horie Yoshisuke, and Torio Koyata, who have been preaching French-style liberal democracy... These generals and officers who opposed the Prussianization of the army were destined to be dismissed, and the best destination might be to be ordered to retire, and the only bad destination was seppuku.

Finally, the future battle plan against the Qing State will inevitably begin with the westward conquest of Korea, and Taiwan will no longer be the main direction of attack.

"Shan Shan Jun, since you strongly advocate Prussian-style military reform, and you have also spent a lot of time in Germany, I think there must be some friends of the German Army who are passable, I don't know if you can ask them to help inquire why Germany has to fight to the death with Japan for an irrelevant Qing country thousands of miles away, you must know that Japan still admires Germany very much." Ito Hirobumi smiled and instructed Aritomo Yamaprefecture, who kept nodding.

"Indeed, the navy is not until the end, and it must not be lightly spoken." Looking at Saigo Congdao, who bowed his head and was silent, Iwakura Gushi finally relented, "However, the Germans also reminded us that the Japanese island is surrounded by the sea, and when facing a more powerful naval threat, in addition to the heroic Japanese Navy, it is necessary to prepare for shore fire prevention in important places, such as the Shimonoseki Strait, the Bungo Waterway, the Seto Inland Sea, the Kii Waterway, especially Tokyo Bay, which is not a place where anyone can come and leave if they want to!" ”

Since Iwakura Gushi and Ito Hirobumi both opened their mouths to forgive the navy, and finally took the panting Sanjo Mimi only to borrow a ladder to go downstairs, looking at the head of the four armies still lying on the ground, and said coldly, "The navy or the army, both are the army of His Majesty the Emperor, you must always put the interests of the country first, and next time you dare not to communicate with the cabinet, you will act without authorization, whether it is the army or the navy's Yaga, just prepare for seppuku!" ”

Then, he turned his face to look at Ito Hirobumi and asked, "I'm going to enter the palace to see Your Majesty later, how can I give advice to Your Majesty about this?" ”

"You can't fight." Ito Hirobumi said with a smile, "If you really let the Qing Kingdom spend a mere 10 million taels of silver, and let the Germans smash the achievements since the Meiji era, how can you and I go to see Yoshida Shoin in the future, you must know that we just laughed at Wei Yuan." ”

Looking at the uncomfortable face of Sanjo Meishi, Ito Hirofumi raised his fingers and said lightly, "It's easy to deal with Qingguo, it's just a courtesy." It's not a reason, it's a polite courtesy, just a face! ”

"Hehe, the Qing people never understand that face is not given by others, but earned by themselves! Haha, I'm not the Qing State's Secretary of Internal Affairs, so there's no need for the Qing people to understand this truth. ”

Ito Hirofumi, who was smiling, showed a rare hesitation on his face, "I just don't know what this outlier in Germany will do, I hope that Yamachi-kun's emotion can work, otherwise I have to tempt him to take advantage."

If you want to lure it to profit, you can't naturally be petty, the Qing country paid 10 million taels, and Japan can't also do this number, otherwise how can it reflect a good word? If it doesn't cost 20 million taels of silver, oh my God, it's 50 million yen, which is a lot of money......"

Hirobumi Ito suddenly felt that he was actually very painful about the matter of inducing him to give away the money. In any case, I still have to make myself strong first, at least so strong that one day I can be like the Germans, and go to the world to rob the fire, thinking of this, Ito Hirobumi doesn't seem to be in pain, and he should pay a tuition?!

Alas, the tuition fees are still too expensive......

After sending the three giants away, Saigo Congdao immediately couldn't help but ask Oyama Iwa, "Oyama-kun, what kind of allusion is this from the "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" that the three adults said just now, you are also a student of Mr. Yoshida, can you tell me about it?" ”

Looking at the inquiring glances cast by Yama Prefecture Aritomo and Kodama Gentaro together, Oyama Iwa smiled faintly, "Mr. Yoshida was locked up in the prison of the shogunate back then, and he also admired the book "Atlas of the Sea Kingdom" earlier, and originally thought that he should learn from Yi to control the country, but in the end, Mr. Yoshida threw this book into the mud. ”

Before he was released from prison, Mr. Yoshida wrote in the book "Questions and Answers on the Prison House" that those who seek outside and leave behind are murderous, and those who govern inside and rule outside are Yoshiya! I think that the foundation of the Meiji Restoration in Japan is Tianxingjian, and the gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement. Relying on external forces, it is just a flower in the moon mirror in the water, and before the Qing State understands this truth, you adults will not be afraid of the Qing State's strong reinforcements. ”