"Smack!" At the official residence of the Japanese Prime Minister, Ito Hirobumi threw the message to the ground in anger and roared: "Yaga! A bunch of garbage, all garbage! The empire has worked hard and cut back on food and clothing to make the army of sea and land have the scale it has today, look at what battles you have fought! The dignified Ninth Guards Brigade was beaten by 3,000 Qing troops, and even the brigade commander was captured alive, what did your army do to eat? Rubbish! And you navy! Usually they are clamoring so much, shouting that Asia is close to invincibility, just like that, if you go to attack the Beiyang Naval Division, you can still achieve this virtue, the loss of combat power is more than one-third, and the main ships are all destroyed! Are you worthy of His Majesty the Emperor? ”

The important ministers beside him, such as Dashan Iwa, Kawakami Caoroku, Saigo Congmichi, and Yamamoto Gonbei, were silent, I have to say that they never expected that the Qing Dynasty would be so difficult to deal with, and judging from the intelligence information in the early stage, the Great Qing Kingdom was indeed rotten to the bones. The army, after the imperial court's suppression of the Hunan army and the Huai army over the years, the two pillars of military strength have been greatly weakened, and at the same time, in recent years, the most important pillar of coveting comfort, the combat power of the Huai army has also obviously declined; Navy, for several years, the Qing court has never allocated enough military funds for the Beiyang Naval Division, the equipment is still stuck in a few years ago, the ammunition reserves are insufficient, the navy lacks training, and the combat power has declined sharply; All this, it seems, is strong and weak in the early morning.

Who would have thought that since the start of the Sino-Japanese war, apart from starting a few small-scale battles and achieving some results, the Japanese army has rarely won victories, and bad news has been constantly coming. This time it was even more thorough, in the first battle of Kaesong, the 9th Brigade was completely defeated, and the remnants of the army retreated to Seoul and were beaten into a formation; In the first battle of Dadonggou, although Japan was not defeated, it also suffered heavy losses, and several major capital ships were either destroyed or seriously damaged, and there was no way to put them into battle in the short term.

Indeed, the camel that was killed was bigger than the horse.

As soon as he got the message, Ito Hirobumi was so angry that a mouthful of blood spurted out. These are the family funds he has worked hard to accumulate, and the loss is distressing at all. Originally, he was not very approves, such an eager attack, the time has not yet come, once defeated, the empire cannot afford such a serious loss.

The ministers of the navy and army below, as well as the foreign minister Xiyuan Temple Gongwang and others, were also depressed, and the battle was too cold.

Dashan Yan said cautiously: "Prime Minister, the defeat of the army this time is due to the accidental factor, and the other is because the Qing army in North Korea has an additional mysterious army, and its combat power is very terrifying, and it is omnipotent in reconnaissance, raiding, and sniping, and it has sabotaged our battle plan many times, and the intelligence organs of the empire have not been aware of it in the slightest, and I am extremely dissatisfied with this." According to the report of the former enemy, the head of this army is the number one think tank under the command of Nie Shicheng, extremely talented, and poses a great threat to the future imperial invasion of China.

Ito Hirobumi said hatefully: "What are the intelligence agencies doing, tell them to step up their operations, I want the exact information of this unit, as well as the exact information of the leader of the troops, and send ninjas to North Korea to find an opportunity to assassinate this person." ”

"Hay!" Kawakami Caoliu hurriedly bowed his head, the intelligence collection work of the Great Qing Kingdom has always been in charge of Kawakami Caoliu, and there was such a big mistake, he felt very uncomfortable, so he had to hurriedly agree.

"Your Majesty," Ito Hirobumi said to the Saionji Gongwang, "how about our second loan with the United Kingdom now, we need more financial support from the United Kingdom, now that the Sino-Japanese War has just begun, there are more places to use the money, let the Minister in the United Kingdom step up the operation, and be sure to finalize the second loan as soon as possible to support the Empire's war against the Qing!" ”

Saionji Gongwang is a rare talent in the Japanese imperial family, and he is quite prestigious in Japanese political circles.

"Your Excellency, the British side has now relented and is willing to provide us with a loan of about 10 million pounds, and at the same time, a month ago, I have ordered the British envoy to negotiate with the British Navy for the purchase of additional cruisers, but there is no definite information on this matter for the time being. ”

Ito Hirobumi frowned and said: "Your Excellency, this matter must be implemented as soon as possible, firmly grasp the British Roseberry, give him some benefits, be sure to do it as soon as possible, now the war is not good for me, once the British political circles have doubts, it will be difficult to get a loan, and the matter of the cruiser must also be fastened!" ”

The prince of Xiyuan Temple replied: "Hai! ”

Hirobumi Ito continued: "Now that the navy has suffered heavy losses and cannot be engaged in battle in the short term, what can the army plan for the Korean war situation? ”

Dashan Am replied, "Your Excellency, now that the war is unfavorable, we must increase our efforts to send reinforcements to North Korea. Now that the Qing army in Korea has only more than 10,000 people, we should take advantage of the fact that before the Qing reinforcements arrive, we should defeat Nie Shicheng's troops in one fell swoop, advance the battle line to the area around Pyongyang, and then concentrate our forces to break through the defense line of the Yalu River of the Qing army and burn the flames of war outside the pass. ”

Ito Hirofumi nodded and said, "Oyama Iwa-kun, what you said makes sense. Although the Oshima Brigade was defeated, our army still had a great advantage in North Korea, and ordered Yama County Youpeng to go to Korea in person to lead the Korean war situation, the first army should completely enter North Korea within half a month, and the third army should enter North Korea within two months, and then launch a general attack on Nie Shicheng's troops! ”

Saigo hesitated: "Prime Minister, now the navy has been hit hard, although the transportation capacity of our army is not very affected, but the number of ships escorting the ship is insufficient, once the Qing Navy launches a sea attack, our losses will be great......"

"Yaga! Saigo-kun, you coward! The Imperial Navy suffered serious losses, and the Qing Dynasty's navy also suffered a lot of losses, and they were afraid that they would have the distressed mind to remove Ding Ruchang from his post! What are you afraid of? Are you still an Imperial soldier? Bastard! In recent years, most of the empire's military spending has been given to the navy, and the army's equipment has been updated very slowly, and the army's failure and equipment can't keep up is also one of the reasons, and the army has always had a very big opinion on this. Seeing Saigo's hesitation, Dashan Yan was furious and scolded angrily.

Saigo argued: "Dashan Iwa-kun, this is a war, we can't be reckless, any decision must be made according to the situation on the battlefield." The Navy suffered heavy losses and could not withstand such a blow again! ”

Ito Hirofumi's face sank, and he shouted: "Don't fight anymore, what Oyama Iwakun said is reasonable, the Qing court regards money as life, and the navy has suffered such a big loss, so it will definitely not dare to send the navy rashly." We must speed up the dispatch of reinforcements to Korea, before a large number of reinforcements from the Qing court enter Korea, determine the battlefield advantage, and give the Qing army a severe blow, Xixiang-kun, carry out the order! ”

"Hay!" Saigo saw that Ito Hirobumi was angry and had to agree.