The speedboat Yorktown, which was affiliated with the British steamship company, carried a shipload of journalists, including British, French, Japanese, American, German, Russian, Italian, Austro-Hungarian, Spanish, Dutch, and even Mexican journalists, more than 20 people. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The Yorktown fast steamer was speeding up the Yangtze River, splashing water on the surface of the river, and the surrounding fishermen were killed.

When passing through Nantong, everyone ran over to watch, but the Yorktown was far away from the shore of Nantong, and everyone could only vaguely see the shore of Langshan Port. Ratlier White and Calle Maxwell also ran to the deck to watch, but the boat was moving so fast that it almost fell off the ship.

The captain of the ship, the red-nosed old Mike, asked no one to go on deck again, and the old Mike complained to everyone: "If you want to get to Yangzhou within the specified time, you have to endure the bumps along the way, damn it, if it weren't for the money, I would never have ruined my ship like this." ”

Indeed, the reduction of the original voyage of four or five days to one day was due to the Yorktown Clipper, otherwise other ships would not have been able to do it. A boatload of reporters endured a day and a night of turbulence before finally arriving at the Yangzhou wharf, and after getting off the boat, almost everyone collapsed to the ground from exhaustion.

The Jiangbei government has a special person in charge of reception, and when he learned about the situation of the people, the reception commissioner immediately reported the matter to the leaders of the Jiangbei government.

In order to take care of the reporters, General Wang Yongan specially let them rest for eight hours, and after eight hours, General Wang Yongan will officially hold a press conference. The reporters were grateful, but they couldn't really sleep for eight hours, they could only sleep for three to four hours, and then start preparing the materials and planning the interview.

The reporters also heard that it was not only General Wang Yongan who attended the news conference this time, but also General Li Shirui, General Qiao Zhen, General Li Zuzhi, and Officer Meng Qingfu.

At this time, the Japanese government was really anxious, and Prime Minister Katsura Taro felt unprecedented pressure after the defeat in the Battle of Langshan Port.

The defeat was not terrible, but the terrible thing was that the Japanese army of 11,000 people was completely annihilated, of which more than 4,100 were captured, even in the Russo-Japanese War, the Japanese army had never fought such a battle.

As the leader of the main battle faction, Katsura Taro should be responsible for this, especially the extremely hasty preparation of this battle and the extraordinary contempt for the Chinese army, which led to the defeat of the Japanese army. However, Katsura Taro did not think that this was the defeat of the Japanese army, and the Japanese 16th and 17th Divisions had already arrived in the open sea of Dongyu Town, Nantong, and the 16th and 17th Divisions could land as long as the military headquarters gave an order.

But on the first day when Katsura Taro was ready to order the landing, Saionji Gongwang and Yamamoto Gonbei began to force Katsura Taro's palace, Yamamoto Gonbei was a Japanese naval faction and was familiar with everything about the military, so Katsura Taro's hole cards were completely exposed in front of political opponents, and in desperation, he immediately asked Yama Prefecture Aritomo and others for help, but Yama Prefecture Aritomo was also extremely disappointed in Katsura Taro because of the defeat in the Battle of Wolf Mountain Port.

This is an era of strength to speak, if the Battle of Wolf Mountain Harbor had not been defeated, then Katsura Taro was a national hero, he defeated the Chinese army with a partial division, Katsura Taro might have set a record, but now he has set another shameful record - defeat to the Chinese. (The Japanese never thought that the Korean battle in the Wanli period at the end of the Ming Dynasty was Japan's defeat, so they thought that Japan was never defeated by China)

No one said anything about the deviation from the division, the Japanese army is the Japanese army, and no matter whether this unit is composed of Taiwan soldiers and Japanese officers, and another militia wing that has just been formed for less than two months, in short, defeat is defeat, and there is no excuse or reason.

Japan is a very realistic country, and it was Katsura Taro's contempt for the Chinese that led to the defeat, so Katsura Taro should be fully responsible. Yama Prefecture Aritomo therefore refused to continue to support Katsura Taro, and even though Katsura Taro knelt on the ground and kowtowed, Yama Prefecture Aritomo remained indifferent.

After all, Yama Prefecture Youtomo didn't want to take this responsibility on himself, although he had supported Katsura Taro before, but now, when it was time to face Emperor Taisho, he felt that this old face had nowhere to put it, and he felt even more ashamed that he couldn't hold his head up in front of his consistent political opponent, Saionji Gongwang.

Prime Minister Katsura Taro was so disappointed that he could only consult with the Chief of Staff of the Army, Yoshimichi Hasegawa.

And Hasegawa Yoshimichi also suffered defeat because of his suggestion to start a war with China, and even in the staff headquarters, many people think that Hasegawa Yoshimichi should be more responsible, but Hasegawa Yoshimichi is only supporting Katsura Taro, he is just a chief of staff, not a decision-maker.

Hasegawa thought about it for a long time, and finally made a shocking decision, saying: "Guijun, there are two plans for today, the first is that you and I will go into the wilderness, automatically admit defeat, and from then on the political arena will be indifferent." ”

"This ......," Katsura Taro shook his head, "what about the other way?" It can be seen that despite being in his sixties, Katsura Taro's mentality is not old, and he is not willing to give up power. For a power-obsessed person like Katsura Taro, losing power is worse than killing him.

"Continue the war, continue to fight, completely reverse the curved surface, occupy Yangzhou, and take Wang Yongan's head to sacrifice the flag." Hasegawa said coldly.

"Keep fighting?" Katsura Taro said in surprise, "But now that the Saionji Kotoshi wants to impeach me in the Diet, and Gonbei Yamamoto, the military minister, has also defected and participated in me in front of the emperor, I am facing double pressure, how can I ...... easily."

"It's up to you." Hasegawa sneered, "Or a war with China, completely defeat the Chinese, prove for yourself that the Japanese Army is invincible, and the Chinese defeated just a partial division, it's not a big deal, the Chinese don't need to celebrate." Or can make the Chinese happy for a while, who let the Chinese have always been the defeated generals of the Great Japanese Empire. ”

Katsura Taro said: "You mean, if our army is at war with the Chinese army, forcing the military department to support the army to continue fighting, and thus cannot do without my support." ”

"Will the Saionji Gongwang fight?" Hasegawa laughed and said, "If you hadn't strategized, I'm afraid that the 16th and 17th Divisions would have been defeated by China, and with the wisdom of Saionji Gongwang, could he take over this embarrassing situation?" Only you can turn the tide and create another victory in the Sundew War. ”

Katsura Taro was excited, clenched his fists and shouted: "Okay, I'll order Yusaku Uehara now, ignore anyone's instructions, and immediately launch an attack on Nantong, China." ”