"Those guys are complete speculators, and they have always wanted to transfer Manchuria and Mongolia to us in exchange for our support. At least for now, they don't dare to betray us so blatantly. Remembering the long letter he had received from the leader of the Kuomintang Party to himself, Okuma snorted heavily.

Takaaki Kato looked at the Prime Minister with some trepidation, and for a moment he didn't know what to do.

"Now it doesn't make much sense to find out who leaked the news." Shigenobu Okuma looked at Takaaki Kato and said, "What we should do now is to force the Chinese government to give in as soon as possible, and not give Britain and the United States and other countries a chance and time to intervene." ”

Takaaki Kato nodded repeatedly, indicating that he understood what he meant.

"We don't have to pay too much attention to the attitude of Britain and France, the main trouble comes from the Americans." Shigenobu Okuma continued, "It is okay to admit the contents of No. 1 to No. 4 and deny the existence of No. 5 to Americans as much as possible. ”

"I understand." Takaaki Kato said.

"Don't give the Chinese more time, if the Chinese are still deliberately delaying, just issue an ultimatum." Okuma Shigenobu said, "This time our course of action is the word 'fast', but unfortunately it has been delayed a lot by the cunning Chinese, you know, if it were not for the war in Europe, we would not have such a good opportunity." ”

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency, I will take care of it." Takaaki Kato assured.

Okuma nodded, turned and left the hall.

Shigenobu Okuma came out into the street, and the sky was darkened, and large clouds rolled in, indicating that a storm was coming.

Shigenobu Okuma looked up at the sky, feeling the wind blowing across his face, and he stood there expressionless, holding out the umbrella in his hand.

The rain soon fell, and at this time, another Chinese in a suit and a top hat and his entourage were hurrying into the Chinese Embassy in Japan with umbrellas.

"How?" Mei Shengwen, counselor of the embassy, asked Lu Zongyu, the Chinese Chinese minister to Japan, who was still dripping with rain, "Have the Japanese elders agreed?" ”

"They didn't even know there was such a thing." Lu Zongyu said with a gloomy face, "Damn! ”

"They're not trying to pass the buck and lie to us, are they?" Mei Shengwen asked in surprise.

"It's not." Lu Zongyu shook his head, "They really don't know. Okuma and Kato didn't tell them at all. ”

"What do the patriarchs say?" Mei Shengwen asked again.

"They agreed to help," Lu Zongyu, who had just finished "Qin Ting's Cry", snorted a little sadly, trying not to recall those painful scenes, he simply replied, "I don't know how much of a role it can play." ”

"Just now, the Russian minister has sent someone to tell you that the contents of No. 5 are actually in the nature of 'advice'." Mei Shengwen said and handed a note to Lu Zongyu.

"Exhortation?" Lu Zongyu glanced at the note, and his hand immediately clenched involuntarily, "Damn!" ”

"If it's an exhortation, why do you want to force us to say yes like this?" Mei Shengwen asked a little puzzled.

"They are used to being arrogant to us, and they want to eat a fat man in one bite, so they force us like this." Lu Zongyu said, "If we give in and admit the account, they will pick it up, and if they give in because of foreign interference, they will say that it is 'advice' to prevaricate." ”

"So what are we going to do?" Mei Shengwen asked with some panic.

"Immediately send an urgent telegram to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, telling them that No. 5 is in the nature of an exhortation, and that they must not agree to it, and it is better not to talk to them about the contents of No. 5." Lu Zongyu said, "The first to the fourth in front of us should be delayed as much as possible, the ministers of the United States, Britain and France have already sent inquiries to the Japanese government, and the longer it drags on, the more beneficial it will be for us." ”

Lu Zongyu emphasized some details to Mei Shengwen again, and after Mei Shengwen turned around to send a telegram, Lu Zongyu looked at the note in his hand, took a lighter, lit the note and put it into a glass ashtray.

The note burned in the ashtray, and Lu Zongyu watched the note turn into ashes little by little, and let out a heavy sigh in his heart again.

May 7, 1915, Beijing, War Department of the Republic of China. ,

"Is he Zhang Jingyao really sick or fake?" Duan Qirui angrily threw Zhang Jingyao's call back on the table and roared loudly.

"Anyway, he sent his soldiers anyway." Xu Shuzheng said to Duan Qirui, "The commander of the army came to Yang Shuoming, the guard of Ganxi Town, and brought the new fifth and sixth mixed brigades of the Jiangxi army, with a total of 11,200 people. All of them are the elite of the Gan army. ”

"What an elite, don't listen to him Zhang Jingyao blowing nonsense!" Duan Qirui shook his head with a wry smile, and looked at the thick stack of telegrams on the table, "After spending so many days, most of the people who came were rabble, and if you really want to fight, I'm afraid you won't be able to withstand it for even a day." ”

"However, this Gan army is not a rabble." Xu Shuzheng smiled and said, "I didn't expect them to come." ”

"What's the difference? The new compilation and new compilation are just the numbers drawn up by the militia groups. Duan Qirui sneered, "He Zhang Jingyao's two brushes are just practicing the militia." ”

Xu Shuzheng listened to Duan Qirui's words, shook his head with a smile, he clapped his hands, and an officer walked in with a small wooden box.

Xu Shuzheng nodded at him, and the officer placed the wooden box on the table and opened it, and took out a thick spear like a short shotgun inside.

"What is this?" Duan Qirui looked at the thick and large barrel of the gun and the large "bullet" as thick as a teacup placed on the side, and asked in surprise.

"They call this thing a 'howitzer,'" Xu Shuzheng said with a smile, "It sounds like a cannon, it's very powerful." ”

"I've never heard of this gun, where did you get it, and Zheng?" Duan Qirui asked.

"The envoy of Yang Town in Ganxi sent it a few days ago, and this is produced by a gun factory called 'Renhe Company' in his jurisdiction, and this Jiangxi army is equipped." Xu Shuzheng said, "It is said that this gun was designed by this Yang Zhen guard himself. ”

Duan Qirui, who had studied in Germany, looked at this well-made howitzer, and his eyes widened for a while, as if he couldn't believe the facts in front of him at all.

But the Chinese characters engraved on the body of the gun clearly told him that this howitzer with a novel design was purely "made in China".

"Where have they gone now? Again? Duan Qirui thought for a moment and asked.

"I think it's already past Zhengzhou." Xu Shuzheng looked at the map and replied, "It is said that they have a lot of baggage, so they walk a little slowly." ”

"This is already very fast," Duan Qirui looked at the calendar on the wall and said to himself, "Why haven't you heard of this person before?" Looks like a rare talent. ”

"We should meet him. I heard that he brought all the people in his hands, just to compete with the Japanese," Xu Shuzheng said, "Looking at China, there are not many people like him who are willing to contribute to the country." ”

"That is, Cai Songpo screams loudly on weekdays, and now his two divisions in Yunnan have no shadow, and they don't know where they go." Duan Qirui thought of Cai Yi, who had been in a hurry these days, and couldn't speak anymore, and couldn't help but sneer.

"Since this Yang Zhen Envoy is willing to contribute so much, it is clear that he wants to make friends with us," Xu Shuzheng said, "People like him should be well encircled." ”

"You send him a telegram and ask him to come to Beijing himself." Duan Qirui said, "I want to meet him in person. ”

"He himself is said to have arrived in the capital and is waiting for the president and the general minister to receive him." Xu Shuzheng said with a smile.

At this moment, an officer hurriedly walked in, saluted Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng, and then whispered a few words to the two of them.

As soon as the officer's words fell, Duan Qirui and Xu Shuzheng jumped up from their chairs at once. Both of them saw anger and horror in each other's eyes.

"This is an ultimatum submitted by my Government to your Government, and I request your Government to reply by 6 p.m. on 9 May." Japan's acting minister Kohata (Nippon Zhiyi was injured in a fall from a horse at Andingmen on March 17, and the Japanese side switched to Kohata to participate in the negotiations) said proudly to Lu Zhengxiang and Cao Rulin, who were sitting opposite, "Deleting the content of No. 5 is already the biggest concession that the Chinese government can make." If your government is not willing to accept it, your government will bear all the consequences arising therefrom. ”

"I want to know, do you want all Chinese to hate Japan for the rest of their lives?" Lu Zhengxiang got up and asked angrily, "This is what you call 'friendship between the two countries' and 'maintaining peace in Asia'?" ”

"I'm sorry that you understand Japan's kindness to China in this way." Kohata said coldly.

"This is not a negotiation at all, it is a robbery carried out by open fire!" Cao Rulin, who was sweating profusely, couldn't suppress the resentment in his heart at this time, got up and said loudly, "At the beginning of the negotiations, Minister Nichiki told me that the current world crisis will force Japan to take 'far-reaching' actions. He then made an analogy, jokingly, saying, 'When a jewelry store is on fire, it is impossible for a neighbor who lives near the jewelry store to pick up a few jewels.' But now, where are you going to get a few jewels? It's clear that you want to keep the whole jewelry store for yourself! You are robbers! Bandits through and through! ”

Kohata couldn't help but be a little surprised for a moment when he saw the Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs, who had been weak and bullying in the negotiations these days, waving his arms and screaming at him, but he quickly regained his original arrogant look, he didn't pay attention to Cao Rulin's yelling, but turned around coldly and walked out without looking back.

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