"Your Excellency, do you still have to quibble now, isn't that Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army a disguised by government troops? If your country wants to go to war against our Great Japanese Empire, then it will be a formal declaration of war in an open and open manner. Don't your country feel too despicable and shameless to carry out such a camouflage sneak attack? The Japanese Minister Iji Hikoyoshi was extremely angry in the presidential palace and sprayed at Yuan Shikai, and his saliva was about to spray on Yuan Shikai.

Together with the Japanese minister, there was also the British minister Zhu Erdian, who had always supported Yuan Shikai, but this time his face was pale, and he looked at Yuan Shikai with unkind eyes. This time, he was severely reprimanded by the cabinet, believing that he had failed to control China well, resulting in a major change in the war in Qingdao, which was a serious dereliction of duty.

After all, Yuan Shikai is the president, representing the Republic of China, where can Foreign Minister Lu Zhengxiang see that he was so sprayed by the Japanese Minister Iji Hikoyoshi, and immediately stood up and reprimanded angrily: "Your Excellency, you must have evidence when you speak!" Not to mention that it is the president of the Republic of China who is in front of you, that is, an ordinary person, without conclusive evidence, you can't slander so casually! ”

When it came to the evidence, Iji Hikoji was even more furious, gritting his teeth and shouting: "Evidence? The lives of nearly 6,000 warriors of the Japanese Empire are not evidence, and the destruction of a large number of military supplies by the coalition forces is not evidence either? Tell me, what more evidence is needed? ”

It was the first time since the Russo-Japanese War that the Japanese army had suffered such heavy casualties, and if it had not been for the British opposition, I am afraid that the Japanese side would have let Ijihikichi declare war on China long ago.

This question made Lu Zhengxiang unable to answer.

Brigand? How dare your bandits brazenly issue an ultimatum to the Anglo-Japanese forces? Your bandits can wipe out the 24th Brigade of the Japanese Army with as many as 5,000 people? Can your bandits have such a large group of bombers?

Unless they are fools, no one believes that the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance is a bandit.

At this time, Yuan Shikai finally spoke, and said in a deep voice, "Your Excellency Minister Yiji, Your Excellency Minister Zhu Erdian, I think most of you also understand in your hearts that this Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army cannot be a member of our Beiyang Army. As for who they are, there is only one person in the whole of China who can get such a huge bomber group, and that is Wang Mo, the young marshal of the Sichuan Army! ”

For this explanation of Yuan Shikai. Neither Iji Yanji nor Zhu Erdian showed the slightest surprise, because the moment they learned that the bomber group appeared in Shandong, they immediately thought that the commander of the Yimeng Autonomous Coalition Army was probably the "assassinated" Sichuan Army Major Marshal Wang Mo.

The reason why Iji Yanji sprayed Yuan Shikai so wildly was just to take this opportunity to put pressure on Beiyang. forced Beiyang to send troops to stab the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance led by Wang Mo from behind.

Of course, Iji Yanji didn't show a trace of such thoughts on the surface, but just pretended not to believe Yuan Shikai's explanation at all, smiled coldly, and said, "Wang Mo, the young marshal of the Sichuan army? Your Excellency the President may have forgotten. This man had already been assassinated. Does the president think that by carrying a dead man out, he can prevaricate? ”

"Your Excellency the minister, you are simply messing around, whether the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army is the young marshal of the Sichuan Army Wang Mo is in charge, as long as you check!" Lu Zhengxiang immediately retorted.

Indeed, the 20,000-strong contingent of the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army cannot be without any clues. Everyone didn't notice it before, and that was because no one took the bandits of the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army seriously.

Now that the strength of the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army has been exposed, as long as all forces send a few people to Yimeng to investigate, they can easily find out that there are a large number of officers of the Sichuan Army and the Hubei Army in the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance. Most of his subordinates were officers of the Sichuan Army and the Hubei Army. Except for Wang Mo, the young marshal of the Sichuan Army and the former governor of Hubei (after the assassination, Wang Haoshan served as the governor of Hubei), no one really could do it.

The truth is this, but will the Japanese in a strong position be reasonable?

Sure enough, Iji Yanji still said coldly: "Even if the person in charge of the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army is Wang Mo, the young marshal of the Sichuan Army, who can be sure that what he did in Shandong was not at your behest?" ”

That's really messing around.

Yuan Shikai's face sank, and he said in a cold voice: "Minister Yiji, what do you mean by this?" All over the world, who doesn't know that the Sichuan army and our Beiyang are on the same footing. You think, even if I instruct it. Will Wang Mo listen? ”

Iji Yanji snorted coldly and said, "Whether it's really the same as fire and water, it's not something you say, it depends on what you do, the president." ”

Yuan Shikai has been in politics for decades. Naturally, I could hear that Iji Hikoyoshi was just biting on this, and he was nothing more than trying to blackmail and persecute him. However, looking at Zhu Erdian, who was still silent next to him, he knew very well that Britain should be on the side of the Japanese at this time, so he had to say: "What do you want to say, Minister Iji?" ”

"The coalition means that if the Beiyang Army can send troops to Shandong, it will flank the Yimeng Autonomous Coalition Army with the coalition army before and after. Naturally, it proves that the president and Wang Mo, the young marshal of the Sichuan army, secretly did not have any collusion and transactions. Ijihikichi finally said what he really meant.

Although the Japanese are arrogant and arrogant, it does not mean that they are stupid, and they will only fight and rush violently. With the strong combat effectiveness displayed by the Yimeng Autonomous Coalition Army, even if the Japanese army can finally annihilate it, it will inevitably pay an extremely heavy price for casualties, which is definitely not what the Japanese want to see.

Therefore, after deliberation, the Japanese high-level decided to find a soft pinch for persimmons. As a result, Japan pulled the tiger skin of Britain and coerced and coerced the Beiyang Army to send troops to attack the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army from behind, so that it could destroy the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army that dared to hinder the empire's invasion of Shandong at the lowest cost.

Yuan Shikai's face was extremely ugly, he was previously forbidden to meddle in the war in Shandong and reclaim the leased land in Jiaozhou Bay, but now he coerced and coerced him to send troops to Shandong to deal with the Yimeng Autonomous Coalition Army.

Yuan Shikai couldn't help but turn his head to look at Zhu Erdian, and asked with a hint of hope: "Minister Zhu Erdian, I don't know what you mean?" ”

Since entering the presidential palace, Zhu Erdian has kept a straight face and said nothing, which is really very different from his previous performance of being in a dominant position everywhere. This is entirely due to the fact that after the outbreak of the European war, this powerful minister to China basically had little domestic support, and in many cases even had to rely on the Japanese to maintain the situation in the Far East.

Therefore, it is not that Zhu Erdian does not want to be strong, but that it is difficult for him to be strong now. Otherwise, as soon as the situation in the Far East gets out of control, he will inevitably be removed from his post and recalled to the country for accountability. For example, in the case of the Shandong Yimeng Autonomous Alliance, he was severely reprimanded by the cabinet.

Moreover, Zhu Erdian was also very annoyed that the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army intervened in Qingdao to fight against Germany, and naturally he would not mind that the Japanese would coerce Yuan Shikai in the tiger's skin of the British.

Zhu Erdian did not directly answer Yuan Shikai's question, but said: "President, the British Empire and Japan are currently allies of the Entente Powers, and the British Empire's army has also formed an alliance with the Japanese army, and the army is fighting with the German ** team in Qingdao. ”

This is not an answer, but it is clearer than a direct answer. Everyone present could hear that Zhu Erdian's meaning was very clear, that is, Britain was on the side of Japan this time.

Hearing Zhu Erdian's words, Ijihikichi raised his head high, his face full of pride. He did not believe that Yuan Shikai could withstand the joint pressure of the Great Japanese Empire and its ally Britain.

Yuan Shikai's face changed drastically, although he was a little mentally prepared, he still did not expect that Britain would be so firmly and openly on the side of the Japanese, without taking into account his interests and China's interests at all.

If he could, Yuan Shikai wanted to refuse Yiji Yanji's request on the spot, and then put down the cruel words extremely strongly: "If the war starts, the war will start, and the nearly 100,000 Beiyang troops under Lao Tzu are not muddy!" ”

However, Yuan Shikai did not have the courage to face the toughness of the "Entente Alliance" after all, and said with a gloomy expression: "This matter is very important, I will think about it for a few days, and then give an answer to the two ministers." ”

This is Yuan Shikai, who is known as the strongman of China? But that's it!

Iji Yanji glanced at Yuan Shikai with contempt, stretched out three hands to instruct, and said, "Three days, we will give the president three days to think about it." Three days later, if the Beiyang Army is still unwilling to send troops to deal with the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance, then our side can only conclude that the president and Wang Mo secretly colluded and made deals. At that time, I will declare war on your country on behalf of the Empire of Japan, and China will become a belligerent member of the Entente Alliance! ”

Subsequently, Zhu Erdian and Iji Hikoji left the presidential palace one after another.

As soon as the two ministers left, Yuan Shikai was so angry that he smashed a teacup in his hand on the spot, and scolded angrily: "Bastard, how dare you do this, how dare you do this!" ”

Compared with the anger of the British and Japanese sides and the breathlessness of Yuan Shikai, the Chinese people were simply ecstatic when they heard the news that the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army had annihilated a 5,000-strong brigade of the Japanese army and carried out large-scale air raids against the British and Japanese forces.

"Jiaoxian victory!"

"The Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army annihilated 5,000 Japanese troops in World War I!"

"The 24th Brigade of the Japanese Army has been completely annihilated!"

"Air raids! Air raid! ”

"The Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army showed its sword and dealt a heavy blow to the Anglo-Japanese Coalition Army in one fell swoop!"

"The Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army told foreigners with practical actions: Qingdao is my country's territory!"

……

Countless newspapers and periodicals marked shocking headlines on the front pages in bold black fonts, and invariably praised the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance Army, which dared to resist foreigners and safeguard the country's territorial sovereignty, to the altar in their reports.

Countless people across the country poured into the streets, snapping up newspapers and periodicals, and reading over and over again the news about the Yimeng Autonomous Alliance's resistance to the Japanese army in Shandong, as if they would never get tired of reading it.

I think that at the beginning, when I learned that foreigners were fighting in Shandong, they were still fighting for our land, as long as they were not completely numb Chinese, who did not feel angry and angry.

When he heard that the central government of Beiyang did not dare to accept Germany's proposal to return Qingdao because it was afraid of foreigners, he closed his eyes and ignored the burning, killing and looting of the British and Japanese forces in Shandong.

There is no greater mourning for a husband than for the death of the heart, and death for a person is secondary.

Faced with such a situation, how can the people of the country not be sad, sad and disappointed.

However, now a squadron finally stood up and told the foreigners with the guns in their hands: Qingdao is our land! (To be continued.) )