At first, Li Hongzhang and Dayuanjun, these senior advisers to President Moe, repeatedly delayed negotiations with the Japanese under the pretext of holding a state funeral for Concubine Min, and Dayuanjun, who has always been xenophobic, was also angered by the rudeness and cruelty of the Japanese, and while ostensibly expressing to Ito Hirobumi that he was no longer stubborn in locking up the country, he secretly persuaded President Meng to mobilize the whole country to repel the Japanese army. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Dissatisfied with the delaying tactics of the Korean side, Ito Hirobumi led the Japanese troops to withdraw from Seoul and return to Jeju Island on April 22, 1878, as a sign of the breakdown of the negotiations, and he issued an ultimatum to the Korean government in China, intending to resort to force in the event of a breakdown of the negotiations, according to the established plan.

The two sides faced off on the front line of Seoul and Incheon, and the situation was unprecedentedly tense.

The Chinese army has two brigades, plus a fully established artillery regiment, totaling 20,000 people, and plus the garrison force, the total number exceeds 30,000.

The Japanese are less than three thousand, and the armament is not of the same magnitude, and the two sides are not on the same level.

The question now is not how long it will take for the Chinese military to kill all the Japanese in Korea, but because the Chinese are trying to reverse relations with Britain and France, and do not want to easily expand the scale of the war.

It is precisely because the Japanese see this that they continue to provoke.

The Japanese retreat in a fit of rage also gave the Chinese army a chance to strike backwards.

On August 22, 1878, Li Hongzhang and Dayuanjun sent people to rush to Mashanpu and asked the Secretariat of the President of the Chinese Army to deal with the conflict between Korea and Japan.

"In that case, there's no need to talk about it. I now order that all the Japanese and Koreans in Korea be killed, and that those who have not yet evacuated Korea to the three new provinces of Siberia and the provinces of Central Asia are all people who do not intend to return to the Chinese regime, and there is nothing to be sorry for killing them! President Meng stood up and said indifferently.

Li Hongzhang and Dayuanjun actually guessed that the emperor would give a similar order, and they were not surprised, but they didn't expect Emperor Hua's reaction to be so fierce. If one is not satisfied, the negotiations will be terminated.

You must know that Britain and France still have absolute superiority in naval strength in Asia, and they will fight wherever they want, and doing so will be another step backwards for Britain and France, which have just eased somewhat.

"Your Majesty, it's easy to start a war, you can start fighting at any time, the Japanese have actually fled almost, and the rest is a little good at mountain warfare, in our words, a little guerrillas." Li Hongzhang muttered: "Is it another note to the embassies of various countries?" ”

Princess Katrina Kafu also persuaded: "Yes, it is okay to take a note while fighting, and it seems inappropriate not to say a word." ”

President Meng nodded and said: "Diplomacy can continue to note, but we must make it clear to other countries that Korea is a province of China, and now it is all Han Chinese, and it is an inseparable part of China, and no country can attempt to interfere with the unification of China, in addition, we can't count the behavior of the Japanese like this, we must let them cede Nagasaki City, and because of the Japanese military behavior and hostile behavior in Korea, we must also let the Japanese pay compensation, at least 100 million Chinese yuan!" ”

100 million Chinese dollars is equivalent to 100 million taels of the original Qing Dynasty official silver, how can the Japanese take out so much?

Everyone present was stunned, but Li Hongzhang nodded calmly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I'll do it immediately." ”

Li Hongzhang has replaced the old-fashioned title he was used to saying about Lao Chen with a new era term.

On the one hand, the Chinese army has carried out a large-scale 'aftermath' throughout Korea to ensure that there will be no more illegal foreign personnel and troops in Korea, except for Han Chinese and foreigners who have registered with the Chinese government and have passports and have entered the country legally.

On the other hand, Li Hongzhang is actively contacting the envoys of various countries.

"Hello everyone, I invited everyone here today, just to get together, everyone is welcome." Li Hongzhang raised the red wine glass with a smile, and the bright red wine rippled in the goblet, with a beautiful shape and a beautiful color.

With Li Hongzhang's words, there were gunshots everywhere outside, and in such a short period from Seoul to Busan, more than 20,000 Chinese troops made an all-out attack, and it was very difficult to hide, because the Chinese army was originally born in guerrilla warfare, and the more the main division of the Chinese army's first field division, the more it would not forget these old traditions, and often went to the mountains to conduct training in mountain warfare.

The ministers of several countries stood up one after another and discussed softly, and everyone thought that the war between the Chinese army and the Japanese was about to start again.

"Mr. Foreign Secretary, if the conditions are unreasonable, we can talk about it again, and we can't start a war again!" The British minister frowned and said to Li Hongzhang: "After the emperor threw an olive branch to European countries, haven't the relations been eased?" Why is there another fight? ”

The olive branch that the British are referring to is what President Meng said when he spoke to a British reporter a few days ago, that China's social system and the system of the European powers are the same ideology, and everyone is a similar system, so there is no political and economic system disputes, which is the most important thing.

As mentioned earlier, only this form of dispute is the fundamental contradiction, since there is no such contradiction, then, what remains is the dispute of interests, in fact, it is not a big deal, the British and the French, as well as countries, the great powers do not want China to be too strong, but China is already strong, and it is impossible to prevent China from reunifying North Korea, which borders North Korea, and they basically have no idea of preventing China from unifying North Korea.

The key is still Japan, originally the British and the French wanted to use the strength of the Japanese to involve the power of Tsarist Russia in the Far East, and now Tsarist Russia does not exist, then, they just push the boat down the river, with the help of the Japanese, to involve the development of China's power, in fact, it is the same, but they don't want to start a war casually, in particular, Japan is not China's opponent at all, after China released a brigade in Japan, the problem of guarding Nagasaki Castle is actually not big.

The Chinese army is still in a weak position, and there are many brigades, but if the sea area from Korea to Japan is cut off by the British fleet and the French fleet, there will be no supplies, and if it were not for the fact that the Chinese army already has a population of nearly one million in Nagasaki City, otherwise, even an ace brigade with nearly 10,000 people will not be able to hold out for a long time.

"There is no way, who let the Japanese always not go? Isn't this just the only way to fight? It will not affect the countries doing business in North Korea, nor will it affect the relationship with China. Li Hongzhang smiled slightly, "We drink, these are small things." ”

"Yes, the problem of North Korea is a minor problem now, the key is when the Chinese army will withdraw from the Japanese mainland, and it can't always occupy Nagasaki City? Moreover, the conditions for demanding compensation of 100 million Chinese dollars from the Japanese side are too harsh, and several of our countries cannot accept them! The British minister is right.

"Is this a matter between us and Japan, Mr. Minister, are you a little too lenient? The compensation must not be less, and Nagasaki Castle must also be controlled by Huaguo, and according to the will of our emperor, if any country wants to have a port in Japan, we Huaguo will also give affirmation. Li Hongzhang replied with a smile.

Several ministers were dumbfounded, their appetites were not small, and their skins were thick enough, but they really couldn't catch up with the Chinese Emperor, what are you doing in Japan? Is it cabbage? This wants to be divided?

The key countries are not interested in Japan's homeland, and the people are small and the region is small, and the benefits that can be obtained are limited, unlike China.

In the early and mid-19th century, especially before the opening of the shogunate, Japan experienced invasions, such as the arrival of black ships, the "Ansei Five-Power Treaty", and the opening of treaty ports, but neither the depth nor breadth of the Qing Dynasty was inferior, and it was not invaded on a large scale.

At that time, under the rule of the Edo shogunate, because of nearly 200 years of peace, Japan was already a loosely armed country, and there was little resistance in the face of Western powers.

The Qing and Japan were not much different from each other in the early to mid-19th century, and the military strength of the shogunate was even weaker than that of the Qing state, and even in the early Meiji Restoration, Japan's military strength could not be in the eyes of Britain and France and other powers.

The more than 10,000 British troops who fought to Zhenjiang in 1840 and the more than 20,000 British and French troops who fought to Beijing in 1860 could still enter Kyoto and Edo if they were thrown to Japan, and there would be no other difference.

The reason why Japan did not suffer a large-scale invasion by foreign powers was its geographical location and its poor resources.

Japan was an island country isolated in a corner of Northeast Asia, the geographical position was not superior, and it was not on the important trade routes at that time, for the Western powers, a large-scale invasion of Japan was actually difficult (Britain was able to invade the Qing Kingdom because of the base and springboard of India), and it was clear that when Commodore Perry led several black ships to bombard the gates of the palace, the primary purpose was to provide a supply point for the future merchant ships and fleets of the United States to the Far East.

Of course, if Japan had the resources that the great powers coveted, then in the 19th century, even if it was remote, it would have attracted a large-scale invasion from the West, but it did not.

This is by no means to say that Japan has always been poor, in fact in the early Edo period (17th century), Japan was a notoriously rich country - because of its abundance of gold and silver, it was even called the "Land of Gold" by Marco Polo in his travels, and later by the Spaniards and the Dutch.

Kurokawa Kanzan, Yunoku Kanzan, and Sado Kanayama were among the largest gold mountains in the world at the time, and they became important financial resources and financial pillars for the shogunate in the early Tokugawa shogunate.

In addition to the gold mine, Japan also had a number of large-scale silver mountains, all of which were among the largest in the world at that time.

So, in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spaniards and later the Dutch, including the later Qing people, gained great wealth through trade with Japan.

Contrary to the general impression, Japan also did business with the Qing Kingdom, and even regarded the Qing Kingdom as a major trading object.

In 1715, the shogunate promulgated the "New Regulations on the Exchange of Maritime Ships", which stipulated that the Qing dynasty could trade with 10 ships a year, and the transaction amount was limited to 3,000 kō, while the Dutch traded within 1,500 kō a year (a unit of weight in Japan at the time, about 3.75 kg).

At that time, due to Japan's small exports and large imports, Japan's trade with foreign countries brought about a staggering amount of trade deficits, and the consequence of this trade deficit was a large outflow of gold and silver.

From 1655 to 1715, 2,397,600 taels of gold and 374,200 taels of silver flowed out of Japan in the 60 years, accounting for half of the gold production and three-quarters of the silver production at that time.

In the 19th century, due to the oppression of Westerners, the outflow of gold and silver accelerated again.

In 1854, after Commodore Perry's Black Ship sailed, the Treaty of Peace between Japan and the United States was signed, and the shogunate promised to fully open trade to the United States.

An important part of this was to take advantage of Japan's lower gold-silver ratio (at that time, Japan's gold-silver exchange ratio was 1:10, compared to 1:20 in countries such as the United Kingdom) and used silver to buy Japanese gold in large quantities.

In just over a decade, Japan's gold flowed out in large quantities again, and the shogunate's finances reached the point of exhaustion, and it was precisely because of the financial failure that the Restoration Party was able to overthrow the shogunate rule for nearly two and a half centuries so easily.

What is even more frightening is that at this time, Japan's mines have been depleted after many centuries of mining, and the production of large gold mines such as Sado Kanayama has become very low in modern times, and it can no longer be compared with the heyday.

As a result, after centuries of inaction and failed trade with the Qing and Westerners, Japan's original precious metals have flowed out in large quantities, and it has become a barren country from a country of gold that everyone admires, and compared with the Qing country, which has accumulated silver for hundreds of years through the trade of silk and tea, it is tantamount to a country without any 'value' of aggression.

If Japan still had as much wealth as the Qing Dynasty, then in that era of the jungle, no matter how enlightened and hard the Japanese shogunate or the Japanese imperial court was, they would definitely face aggression from the Western powers, so what matters is not how it is, but whether it is worth invading.

The British and the French certainly could not watch China squeeze Japan like this, and if China was allowed to succeed, how much would China's national strength be enhanced? How much will Japan be weakened?

Li Hongzhang and the ministers of several countries, the two sides began a long quarrel of words and swords.

Of course, it was certainly fruitless.

In the quarrel, Huaguo completely solved the Korean problem, and in North Korea, there are no more 'outsiders' outside the control of Huaguo, only Han Chinese, and they are all Han people with ID cards, and foreigners, all of whom are legal foreigners who have obtained passports.

Now all that remains is the Japanese problem.

"President, Saigo Takamori asks to see you." Wang Zhankui came to report.

President Meng was stunned, this guy, how did he come to Seoul, on the Japanese side, President Meng won't go again, he went to play once, and it's almost the same, the key is still not 'safe'.

President Meng still attaches great importance to personal safety, as long as he doesn't die, Huaguo will develop slowly at most, even if it is slow, according to the current speed, it is not a big problem to catch up with the next strong in ten years! It is even possible to catch up with such a great power as France.

"Shall we see you? Since they've all come from Japan, I don't know what to do. Princess Katrina Kafu said softly.

President Meng smiled slightly, shook his head and said, "I can't guess what he wants, he is not willing to attach himself to Huaguo, and besides, he is still fighting against the government army, I can't understand it." You say, who is more thorough, the Meiji Restoration government in Japan, or the Takamori government in Saigo? ”

The essence of the War was not to overthrow feudalism and establish a capitalist system, Saigo was largely only to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate, and his real purpose was to establish a powerful regime ruled by a group of samurai nobles.

The composition of the Shogunate faction was quite complex, including the semi-bourgeois and semi-landlord class like Mitsui, the half-samurai and semi-capitalist supporters such as Okubo Toshitsu and Sakamoto Ryoma, and the feudal samurai class like Saigo, and when the common enemy, the Tokugawa shogunate, fell, class contradictions began to intensify.

In the early days of the Meiji government, the two powerful feudal clans relied on the Sacho clan militarily, the support of the rich oligarchs economically, and the feudal conservatives and bourgeois reformers superficially maintained the peace politically, while the conservatives could suppress the reformers everywhere because of the army.

Saigo's ideal Meiji government was to serve the daimyo and the samurai class, unite internally and resist foreign enemies, so he didn't care about the contradictions within the Meiji government, because he had an army in his hands and could continue to be a daimyo who controlled the government remotely.

The reformers and intellectuals led by Okubo believed that the only way to save Japan was to establish a capitalist system, and it was clear that the feudal daimyo and the backward samurai class that had been divided from the whole country had become the target of the eradication.

Therefore, the Southwest War was a real bourgeois revolution in Japan.

"Who's more thorough? Is the emperor referring to the bourgeois revolution? That should be the Meiji Restoration government in Japan. Princess Katrina Kafu smiled: "Saigo Takamori's body still has feudal colors, and he is actually a feudal capitalist imperialist. The Meiji government was actually feudal capitalist imperialism, but slightly better. ”

President Meng nodded, "What you said is very good, and I see it that way, so, in essence, they are just a struggle for power!" There are no irreconcilable contradictions, and if I had not fought this war, the Meiji government, which was sure to be more thoroughly revolutionary, would have prevailed and would have won the final victory. ”

"I can't guess what this guy is doing again?" Princess Katrina Kafu worried.