On the same day, Oriental Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu and British Ambassador to the Orient Chu Enchi held the first preliminary talks on the armistice between Qing and Japan at the British Embassy.

During the talks, Mutsu said that Toyo has always been a peace-loving country and fully agreed with Britain's proposal for an immediate truce and peace talks.

And conveyed the conditions of the Meiji Emperor about the armistice.

First, the Qing Dynasty renounced its rights to the Korean suzerainty, promised never to interfere in the affairs of the peninsula, and gave the people and the Korean royal family the autonomy they really wanted.

First, the Qing Dynasty compensated the Oriental government for its military expenditures, 300 million taels of silver, to make up for the huge amount of war expenses incurred by the Oriental in order to correct the mistakes of the Qing Dynasty and safeguard the rights of the Korean people.

Third, the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan Island and its affiliated islands, the Penghu Islands, and the Liaodong Peninsula to the East.

Fourth, the Qing Dynasty opened seven treaty ports to the East: Yanjing, Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Xiangtan, and Wuzhou.

Article 5 Oriental ships shall have the right of free navigation in inland rivers such as the Yangtze River, the Pearl River, the Wusong River, and the Canal.

On the sixth day, the East had the same trade rights as the Western countries, and obtained extraterritoriality and concession rights.

By the time Mutsu Munemitsu finished talking about the conditions of the Meiji armistice one by one, Chu En, who was sitting opposite, was already dumbfounded sooner or later, and looked at Mutsu Munemitsu who was smiling in a daze, and didn't speak for a long time.

"Your Excellency Mutsu, with all due respect, I personally think that these conditions you put forward are impossible for the Qing Dynasty to accept; In Lushun, your country's Second Army is still in a stalemate with the Qing army, and it seems that your country has just suffered a great defeat in Shanhaiguan, and a ship of your navy has just been sunk by the Qing navy. ”

Chu Enchi said unceremoniously: "If the Qing Dynasty does not agree, your country will not be able to capture the Shanhaiguan, Lushun, for a long time, it may be an irreparable disaster for your country!" ”

"Thank you, Minister, for your concern; However, now the elite of the Qing Dynasty have been suppressed by General Dashanyan's Second Army in the small land of Lushun, and the Qing army that lacks food will soon be wiped out; The Qing army blocked in Shanhaiguan was a rabble, and the First Army only carried out an artillery bombardment to hit the morale of the Qing army because of its respect for the will of your country, and it did not suffer any losses at all, but blew up their main city of Shanhaiguan. ”

Mutsu Munemitsu always said with a smile on his face: "Regarding this point, as long as the observation groups of Western countries return to the customs outside, they will naturally confirm it; And the ship, just a tiny wooden-hulled gunboat. If your country would like to see—"

Mutsu Zong Mitsu raised the sake in his hand towards Chu Enchi: "The first army of the Imperial County General can easily break through the Shanhai Pass within three days and besiege the capital of the Great Qing Dynasty within a week; Then break through it and capture the emperor, empress dowager and ministers of the Great Qing Dynasty. ”

The fifth day of the Lunar New Year.

Seeing that the telegram had been silent for two days, Youpeng in the joyful county couldn't help it, and just wanted to try the telegraph route again, chatting with the mountains and rocks in Dalian Bay.

A telegram from the Hiroshima base camp was sent.

It is said that the Empire, under the mediation of the British, is trying to negotiate peace, and at this moment, the First Army must take a clear position and wait for the new instructions from the base camp.

Then, in the telegram, it was mentioned that the 11th Brigade had already boarded more than 11,300 troops, carrying a large amount of military supplies, and would stop at the mouth of the Datong River for a day to unload 2,000 Oriental samurai.

The fleet is expected to arrive at Shanhaiguan around February 10.

Then, at the end of the telegram, what seemed to be an understatement was added: 'In addition, Lieutenant General Kuroki Weizhen, Major General Okuhogong, and Prince Akihito Komatsumiya will go to Shanhaiguan together to form the Grand Governor's Palace." ’

Seeing this, Yama County Youpeng was furious and knew what the hell these guys Ito Hirofumi were fighting.

When the 'Zhengqing Grand Governor's Palace' was established in Shanhaiguan, all the actions of the First Army would be under the close supervision of Komatsumiya Akihito.

Either there are friends in other counties who honestly become a marionette, or they have to accept being robbed of military power, and be a marginalized and dispensable spectator in this magnificent war of conquest and clearing.

And these two results are the humiliation that the proud and irascible Shan County Youpeng can never bear.

In the afternoon of the same day, Yama Prefecture Youpeng called Yakuzaki Shuichi to his office, scolded a dog's blood sprinkler, and then drove Yabuki Shuichi out in anger.

The Minister of Engineers of the First Army, Hideichi Yabuki, returned to the engineer camp with a depressed and frightened face.

He sat stunned for a long time, drank two large bowls of cold water, gritted his teeth, twisted his face, and selected five soldiers who were usually very radical to come in.

"There are traitors around the emperor!"

Yabuki Shuichi ordered his lieutenant to go out, closed them tightly, and opened his mouth to shout in a low angry voice:

"Now our First Army, under the leadership of the commander, is about to hit Yanjing, capture the emperor of the Qing Dynasty alive, and annex the Manchu Dynasty; However, the Manchu Emperor asked Li Hongzhang to use the silver to buy the traitors in the country, Ito Hirobumi got 100,000 taels of silver, and Mutsu Zongguang got 30,000 taels, so they deceived His Majesty the Emperor and decreed that our first army was not allowed to attack Shanhaiguan and attack Zhili! ”

"Yaga!"

"Bastard!"

"I will die with him!"

"This old king!"

"Kill him!"

Just like in the future time and space, the ronin Toyotaro Koyama who assassinated Li Hongzhang in Maguan, these tenacious idiots can always be easily made enthusiastic by a provocative language.

"Now, for the sake of the great cause of the empire, His Excellency has decided to forcibly attack Yanjing regardless of his own honor and disgrace, and capture the emperor of the Qing Dynasty alive! When the emperor of the Great Qing surrendered and ceded the territory of the Great Qing Dynasty to the empire, His Majesty the Emperor would naturally know who was a loyal minister and who was a traitor! ”

"Long live the Emperor! Capture the emperor of the Qing Dynasty alive! ”

The five Japanese soldiers were all excited and excited.

"But before that, you need a few real warriors of the empire to do something for the eternal foundation of the empire, are you willing?"

Yabuki Shuichi stared fiercely at the five soldiers.

"Yes!"

The five Japanese soldiers roared in unison with red eyes and chicken blood on their faces.

"Good! You're all this! ”

Yabuki Shuichi looked at the five Japanese soldiers very seriously and gave a thumbs up.

The five Japanese soldiers trembled with excitement.

"You are all heroes of the Empire!"

Yabuki took a handful of black pills the size of five soybeans and placed them on the table.

"These are five pills, after you finish it, you find a beautiful place to take it, and afterwards the empire will record your name and merits for eternity, and your tablet will enjoy the incense of ten thousand years; For the sake of the empire, for the sake of the emperor, are you afraid, do you dare? ”

"Don't be afraid, we dare!"

Thinking that he was a small person who could die for His Majesty the Emperor and the commander, the five Japanese soldiers were all fanatical.

Nearly dark, the Japanese army Jiujianghe guard post.

Engineer Soldier Taro Sohara and four of his men lay listlessly in a simple pine needle shed by the river, wrapped in military coats and slept.

It was dark, and not a single soldier got up to cook on the fire.

Of course, there is not a single soldier who is outside on this cold day.

Taro Harada was already desperate to think that as long as the group of anti-Japanese soldiers came to destroy the wires, the five of them were doomed to die.

So I just broke the jar and broke it, and I just slept and waited for death.

"Yaga! What about people? Why are there no guard posts? Bastard! ”

Suddenly, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and the five Japanese soldiers in the shed were sitting up in horror, clenching the rifles in their hands.

Suddenly, I heard a Japanese scolding.