On 3 April, 4,400 men of the 2nd Regiment and 3rd Regiment of the 9th Division of the Jiangbei Army left the Sanshan position by train overnight and returned to the next position, the Guanglangshan position. After www.biquge.info watching Zhang Fengwu's fortifications, the two of them laughed and said that this position could stop them for at least five days.

However, when the three of them had just had a meal, they suddenly received an urgent telegram from the military department, saying that because the Jiangbei local independent government had been unable to solve the case of the Japanese being poisoned in Yangzhou for a long time, the Japanese government had decided to punish the Jiangbei government, and had already officially telegraphed that Nantong would be temporarily retained as collateral before the case of the Japanese instructor being poisoned was solved. At the same time, Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Taro announced that in the previous case of the Japanese instructor being burned to death, there was various evidence showing that the Jiangbei Independent Government secretly planned and bribed the Manchu officer Dai Chi, so the Jiangbei Independent Government should be held responsible for this again.

Katsura Taro also told other countries that Japan's dispatch of troops to Nantong was not to seize concessions or cede national territory, but to demand that the Chinese side have a clear attitude toward compensation, and that once the Chinese side pays compensation and he can give all the explanations to the families of the Japanese instructors, then Japan will immediately withdraw from Nantong.

Prime Minister Katsura Taro's telegram was sent from Yokohama, Japan, so it is also called the Yokohama telegram; although the full text of the Yokohama telegram is only more than 40 words, but the words are heart-wrenching, and the Japanese government demands that the local government of Jiangbei compensate until the Japanese family is satisfied; this is simply a bottomless pit, and Nantong has been used as a mortgage, and it has trampled on China's dignity, and no Chinese will accept the use of territory as collateral.

As soon as the Yokohama telegram came out, all Chinese were dumbfounded, and all Chinese forces such as Wang Yongan, Yuan Shikai, Sun Yixian, Li Liejun, and others were all stunned, because they really did not expect that Japan would send troops to intervene in China because of the killing of the instructor.

Of course, it can be understood as a declaration of war against China, or it can be a gross interference in China's internal affairs, although Japan only made a request to a local warlord, but this undoubtedly poured a drop of water into the boiling oil pot in the country, and in an instant all parties in China boiled.

On the second day after learning of the power supply in Yokohama, Yuan Shikai immediately summoned the Japanese ambassador to China, Kumataro, and the special envoy, Koichiro Tachibana, and said that the Qing government absolutely did not accept the use of Nantong as a mortgage, and that Nantong was the Nantong of China, not the Nantong of the Jiangbei local government, and that they had no right to mortgage it to you, and that you had no right to take Nantong for yourself.

"Premier Yuan seems to have misunderstood us, first, we have no intention of occupying Nantong." Koichiro Tachibana said eloquently, "Second, as long as the local government of Jiangbei compensates us for our losses and wins the understanding of the instructors' families, we will immediately abandon Nantong and restore the original state; Third, this move has already won the support of Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, and it is not regarded as an offensive act of our Imperial Japanese Empire against China without authorization; First death, my great Japanese empire's move is actually helping you, presumably Premier Yuan also knows that your army is blocked everywhere in Jiangbei, although the first road led by Feng Guozhang swept through Anhui and approached Bengbu, but with all due respect, if it weren't for the Jiangbei Army's intention to let your army go to Bengbu for a decisive battle, I'm afraid Feng Guozhang's army would be difficult to reach Fengyang Mansion within a few months, right? ”

Yuan Shikai said angrily: "First, whether you have any intention of occupying Nantong or not, once your Japanese army steps on the land of Nantong, it will declare war on the whole of China; Second, what is the bottom line of your so-called compensation, this is not only to show to the Jiangbei local government, but also to say to us, because we are the only legitimate government in China, not the local government, they are illegal and armed, so your demand for them has no legal basis; Thirdly, despite the support of the great powers, I have not yet received a clear attitude from an ambassador, which means that although they do not oppose it, they do not support your military action, and I have even learned that some ambassadors actually oppose it, such as the ambassador of the United States, and I believe that the United States and other countries with a righteous heart will not support your military action against our country; Fourth, the movement of our army south to sweep away the rebel forces in Jiangbei was a civil war in China, and it did not need the support of any forces, including the support of the Japanese army. I have repeatedly stressed that in China's civil war, outsiders will never be allowed to interfere. ”

"Hahaha...... Premier Yuan's speech was just ridiculous. Tachibana Koichiro said coldly, "If you don't need the intervention of the great powers, then Feng Guozhang's military supplies and ammunition supplies, do you want to transport them to Hubei and Jiangbei by yourself?" If one bullet is shipped like this, presumably the price of this bullet is enough for the shipping cost of twenty rounds. Your so-called need not to interfere was already gone when you borrowed money from the banks of the four countries to fight the civil war. ”

"You ......" Yuan Shikai was so angry that his hands trembled, he flicked his sleeves and turned away, and after returning to the Prime Minister's Yamen, Yuan Shikai immediately said to Wang Shizhen: "Announce, stop the war against the Jiangbei rebels, stop, cease!" ”

"Truce?" The soldiers looked up in surprise.

Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly: "If we continue to fight at this time, then we will really become traitors." Everyone looked at each other, and couldn't help but show a wry smile, little Japan miscalculated, they thought that the Chinese were far more enthusiastic about the civil war than the enthusiasm of the foreign war, for example, when Russia forcibly occupied the outer northeast and the outer northwest, the Taiping army was launching the Northern Expedition at the same time, and the northwest rebellion was massacring 20 million Han people in Gansu, Shaanxi.

It is a pity that today's China has changed in time, Yuan Shikai is a nationalist, and even the generals of the Beiyang Army are all nationalists, and in the face of foreign interference, they chose to support their compatriots. Of course, some people thought that this was an intention to watch the fire from the other side or catch cicadas and yellow finches, but after Yuan Shikai's telegram was sent, the generals on the front line of the Beiyang Army were taken aback and immediately ordered the army to stop advancing.

Feng Guozhang's troops immediately returned to Hefei from the Sanshan position, and Duan Qirui, who was actively preparing to move south, had to order the army not to enter the Jiangbei region, and he himself immediately rushed back to Beijing.

And when Tachibana Koichiro asked Yuan Shikai why he ordered the Qing army to withdraw and no longer exterminate the rebels, Yuan Shikai sneered and said to him: "It is our Chinese soldiers who should do to exterminate the Jiangbei rebels, and if the Japanese are involved, I will never allow it." Subsequently, Yuan Shikai sent people to meet with the representatives of the Beijing Division sent by the Jiangbei side of Yangzhou for the first time, and the Japanese had exhausted their organs, but they accidentally prompted the Chinese peace talks, and Tachibana Koichiro had to report to Katsura Taro truthfully.

The news that the Chinese Civil War would be truceed because of Japanese intervention put Katsura under pressure.