After being depressed for a while in Osaka, Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki immediately sent a telegram of the news to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, and Ito Hirobumi was also undecided when he received the news. From the Ryukyu War to the present, the Japanese military finally determined that the leading role in this war was the so-called famous general Qin Kai, who defeated the French fleet by the Nanyang Naval Division, which had been hotly discussed by the military before.

And now, this well-known "strategic master" of the Qing Dynasty has actually set his sights on Japan, which has just begun to rejuvenate, which makes Ito Hirobumi quite puzzled, although a popular policy of rejuvenating the country in Japan is to expand into the surrounding areas on the premise of maintaining friendly relations with Britain, France, Russia, and the United States.

At the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, there were two plans for the expansion of the government and the opposition, both of which were proposed by Saigo Takamori, one of the three heroes of the Meiji era, one was to completely annex the Ryukyus, use it as an outpost for the attack on Taiwan, and use Taiwan as a springboard to develop in the South Seas, and the other was to provoke trouble in Korea and take the opportunity to launch a war against Korea.

On the Korean issue, Saigo Takamori even invited himself to serve as the minister of North Korea, and then provoked North Korea with the help of diplomatic means, if the North Korean plan killed him, then Japan can justifiably send troops to crusade, this later Tang Ge "The Last Samurai" in Japan's strong samurai leader prototype, is undoubtedly a model of loyalty and courage for the Japanese, but in the end, he became a traitor to the empire, which is undoubtedly a bit disgusting!

In the early days, Ito Hirobumi was also opposed to the plan to quickly start a war with the surrounding areas and resolve the conflict between the unemployed samurai in the country, but with the increasing effectiveness of the Meiji Restoration and the rise of the Japanese army and navy, the expansion plan proposed by Saigo Takamori in his early years became very urgent.

The formal annexation of the Ryukyus three years ago, as well as the expansion of the navy and army in the past two years, are silently preparing for this, but the huge Qing Empire on the side is still continuing the development trend of Tongzhi Zhongxing.

What I didn't expect was that the Qing Kingdom turned out to be such a Nanyang minister, Qin Kai, took advantage of the strength of the army, not only attacked the Ryukyus, but also took advantage of the defeat of the Japanese fleet to hit the door. Now after throwing out this sixteen-article peace treaty that scared people to death, he actually played missing?

It's really hard to judge what this person is doing...... According to his understanding of the officials of the Great Qing Dynasty, there was no shortage of well-educated and wise officials in that dynasty, but there was absolutely no such extravagant governor! This attack on the Ryukyus is even a reconquest of lost territory, and the shelling of Sasebo, Nagasaki, Kumamoto Port, Yashiro Port, and Mizuzumi Port is a national war!

Isn't there a little bit of a national body in this Great Qing Kingdom? Can a feudal official provoke a national war? At this time, Ito Hirofumi couldn't understand the meaning of Qin Kai's disappearance for the time being, but this "Qin Kai Sixteen Articles" was absolutely unacceptable, even if any of them needed to be greatly revised before a compromise could be reached.

He immediately telephoned Minister Fumio Yano in Peking, and asked him to negotiate with the British Minister to China, Sir Wittoma, to make a peace treaty between the two sides, believing that even the greatest concession would be much more cost-effective than the treaty signed with this Lord Qin!

However, these few Qing warships that have disappeared without a trace...... It was a headache, and the only measure that could be taken now was to come through diplomacy, and he immediately called Sir Thomson, the British minister to Japan, hoping that the British would come forward and at least find a way to stop these Qing warships and sit down for negotiations with peace of mind.

Unfortunately, Sir Thomson simply refused to accept Ito's proposal, but in view of his mediated position, he promised that he would be stationed in Osaka throughout the negotiation process, and that the British fleet would remain in Osaka for the time being.

Ito Hirobumi also understood that the British fleet was not Japan's police, and that they would not do anything to maintain the security of Osaka, and that the British were able to maintain their current position, and that they clearly had their ideas, and that according to the Japan-Britain Treaty of Friendship, the British had the right to enjoy the reciprocal policies that Japan had signed with other countries, and it was clear that the British were also interested in some of the contents of the 16 Articles of Qin Armor.

Japan's Minister of War Yama Prefecture Aritomo has received an order from the Imperial Government to strengthen the security forces of Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe, which is also the only countermeasure that Ito can make, and the Minister of the Navy, Saigo Tomichi, is now completely out of ships, and if there is a buffer of three or five months, some merchant ships can be converted into warships, which can be regarded as a little useful for coastal defense. ,

The Japanese top brass spent two days in an uneasy atmosphere, and it seemed that there was no peace, and nothing happened anywhere, but the city of Beijing, thousands of miles away, was met by various forces and began the final game.

Since the outbreak of the Ryukyu War, Prince Gong, Zhang Shusheng, Li Hongzao and Zuo Zongtang, a bachelor who has just returned to the capital, have come to visit him, and now the first person to deal with the foreign affairs of the Qing Dynasty, Lord Li Zhongtang, is worried, and Zeng Jize is naturally the first choice for this matter.

In fact, the negotiations with the French some time ago and the negotiations on Ryukyu Island, which the court demanded to reopen, were all served by Zeng Kizawa, but the French and the Japanese avoided talking about it, one hoped to talk about it after the facts were created, and the other caused the facts to be kept silent, which made him very angry!

Unexpectedly, this time the Nanyang and Beiyang sailors won the victory, recaptured the Ryukyu Island in one fell swoop, and it is said that the Japanese sailors were defeated.

The king of Doluo County, the commander of the Yellow Banner Protector Army, Brother Nuo, didn't know which tendon was out of order, this hereditary iron hat prince actually led a group of people to satisfy the relatives and nobles in front of the queen mother, what is the majesty of the sky, peace is precious, and some people even threw out the argument that the Nanyang and Beiyang sailors sent troops without the orders of the imperial court.

These arguments are one, the court has stabbed a hornet's nest, the merit of this battle, that is the great merit of opening up the territory, how many forces are staring at a piece of the pie, no, in the past few days, the court has been Qingliu and a party of verbal criticism, and the Huai Army and the Hunan Army are even more noisy, and they have written directly to call Brother Nuo a traitor!

However, the queen mother in the palace and the military aircraft yamen did not mean to brand the hereditary iron hat king as a traitor, and they also kept silent about the merits of the Beiyang and Nanyang sailors.

Zeng Jize is now having a headache about this matter, yesterday the emperor recruited Prince Gong and him into the palace to discuss matters, in his opinion, now at this time is naturally talking about this Ryukyu matter, but in fact it is talking about the court disputes, the queen mother wants to hear his thoughts on the hereditary Yiyong Marquis.

Don't talk about state affairs, but talk about the controversy in the court, Zeng Jize naturally heard the sound of the words, obviously, for the imperial court, the recovery of the Ryukyus is naturally a face-saving thing, but compared to the small island that hangs overseas and has little output value, the dissatisfaction of the magnates in the court is the place that needs to be appeased and paid more attention.

Zeng Jize heard that he was the son of an official eunuch, and he was not a second stunned, so he naturally expressed his opinion euphemistically according to the meaning of the Queen Mother.

The middle-aged woman in the curtain was very appreciative of the hereditary Yiyong Marquis's knowledge, and appreciated several styles of dim sum and two paintings of Daoguang Ye's calligraphy.

From entering the palace to leaving the palace, Prince Gong barely made any announcements except for a few words of slight chatter, and only when he got outside did he pull Zeng Jize and said: "Zeng Hou, the queen mother's intention must also be understood, this time the Japanese people are soft, it would be good, if it weren't for the overseas island, the road is far away, our Qing Dynasty pinched a Japanese country to death, and it is not to be captured!" ”

After returning to the mansion, he hurriedly convened his staff to re-measure the terms of the negotiations with the Japanese, and some of the terms that were difficult to negotiate in a short period of time had to be removed temporarily, and some of the clauses were even more thoughtful, and they were added again after being removed......

He knew that in the past few days, the British Minister Sir Wittoma had also visited the military aircraft Yamen, hoping that the two countries would reach a peace agreement as much as possible, and the British Empire was willing to coordinate for the reconciliation between the two sides, but he naturally understood the main points of the negotiations and gave full play to his own advantages in order to gain the greatest initiative in the negotiations, so after the first brief talks, he used the excuse to suspend the progress of the negotiations for a few days. ,

At present, it seems that the effect is very good, and the Japanese minister has sent people to the military aircraft yamen many times to ask for the start of negotiations, and in this regard, the Japanese have fallen behind! Thinking of this, Zeng Jize added a few clauses that he had considered twice, worked diligently, and retreated bravely, which is also Zeng's family motto.

At this moment, a family member outside came in to tell him that Chen Baochen, a scholar from Hanlin, had come to visit the adult.

Chen Baochen? Zeng Jize was also stunned, this "Qingliu Four Counselors", one of the Hanlin bachelors, does not have much intersection with himself on weekdays, in fact, the so-called Qingliu celebrities who are now known as Qingliu in order to maintain the so-called Qingliu celebrities, basically do not form parties and do not socialize, in fact, it also means that they basically do not do anything, because some of them are just clear, but if these Qingliu Hanlin people want to do something practical, this resistance is inevitably a little bigger.

If it weren't for the position of Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Peilun, who were feudal officials like Zhang Zhidong and Zhang Peilun, these Qingliu, who had already offended all the factions in the court on weekdays, left the Beijing Division, it would really be a cup.

Now at this critical moment, Qingliu is an important role in this Ryukyu war, and the boss of Qingliu, Li Hongzao, has also come to visit him, in the process of promoting the recovery of the Ryukyus, Qingliu has been shouting for almost six or seven years, and now he has finally succeeded in the competition, so he must have come to give advice for this negotiation......

When they arrived at the side hall, Chen Baochen was already waiting here, and after the two of them greeted each other, Zeng Jize naturally said a few polite words, and then went straight to the topic, "Chen Hanlin, I must have come here today for Sino-Japanese negotiations, right?" ”

"I can't hide anything from you! Here's something, Zhang Youqiao asked me to pass it on to you," Chen Baochen smiled, took out a telegram and a transcribed manuscript from his bosom and handed it over.

Zhang Peilun was a big role in this Ryukyu War, a year ago, he also set up a sailor marine corps in the name of recovering Ryukyu, Zeng Jize took that thing thoughtfully, looked at it twice, and was immediately completely attracted, and after reading it all, the expression on his face was even more joyful and worried.

Standing up, he walked back and forth a few times, fully considering that there was a cup of tea, Zhang Peilun specially asked Chen Baochen to come to the door to deliver the news, the reliability of this news is naturally guaranteed, but the content of this is too exaggerated, which makes him a little surprised! Qin Kai...... The young officials he had seen at the private banquet in Li Zhongtang's mansion were now high-ranking officials from the official to the governor.

But this young man is really different, when others reach the position of governor, it is necessary to support their own forces and control one acre and three points of land, he is good! With the warship, he actually said that Zhang Shusheng went to sea together, and he competed in the first battle, and this journey was still within the scope of his imagination.

I didn't expect ...... Defeated the Ryukyus, and also led the fleet to attack the Japanese mainland, destroying Japan's largest military port Sasebo Port, even if it was a pursuit of victory, he even fought all the way to Osaka! Although the telegram does not have many words, it only briefly describes the battle situation and the content of the "Qin Armor 16 Articles" contract, but this thousands of miles of long-distance attack must be described as mighty!

To tell the truth, these 16 contracts really scared Zeng Jize alike, and the conditions for Qin Kai to describe Qin Kai with a lion's big mouth are definitely not enough to describe his prestige, of course, such a condition is that it is difficult for the Japanese to agree with his diplomatic means, you know, the Celestial Empire is a big country, and the income of the imperial court is less than 70 million taels, how can Japan, the land of projectiles, get 10 million taels of silver!

Obviously, this Qin Liefeng is a pioneer for himself! When the soldiers came to the city, the Japanese were much more nervous than themselves, and their desire to sign a contract was much stronger, Zeng Jize's depressed mind suddenly resolved, he got up and arched his hand towards Chen Baochen, "Boqian, it's really a charcoal in the snow, please report back to Zhang Youqiao, I will fight for this matter for the Qing Dynasty!" ”——

On 6 March, the Sino-Japanese negotiations on the Ryukyu issue in Beijing began as promised, and Japanese Minister Fumio Yano could not wait to throw out the contents of the contract that the Japanese side had redrawn in the next few days, and the main island of Ryukyu was no longer a topic for negotiations, and the Japanese side proposed that according to the Qing Dynasty, the north of Anmi Oshima would be returned to Japan, and the south would be returned to the Qing Dynasty.

However, Zeng Jize immediately gave him a slap in the face, and he threw out a draft that was later called "Japan's Six Articles of Traitor" by the indignant youth of Japanese descent, and Japan apologized to China for its invasion of Ryukyu and Taiwan, and paid 3 million taels in compensation; What do you want for Anmi Oshima? None of the gates, and at the same time demanded the cession of the Sanan Islands; Japan is not allowed to send troops to Korea under any conditions; Four ports of Nagasaki, Osaka, Hyogo, and Tokyo were opened; Chinese goods have a half-tax preference at Japanese ports; At the same time, China enjoys the preferential conditions that Japan has signed with other countries. ,

This "Zeng's Six Articles" is much simpler than the "Qin Kai Sixteen Articles", and it is relatively easier to reach a consensus or make amendments to the consensus, Yano Fumio was also dumbfounded after seeing this clause, and the last signing date issued by the Taizheng official was short, and he was also very anxious, but these clauses were really not something he could decide.

So Yano Fumio protested to Zeng Kizawa, asking the Chinese fleet to withdraw from the Japanese coastline first, and in the negotiations between the two sides, Zeng Kizawa did not hesitate to refute the original Japanese occupation of the Ryukyus as evidence that Yano Fumio was sweating, and the weak country has no diplomacy, which is an indisputable fact, and after a day of fierce discussion and debate, Yano Fumio sent a telegram to Japan overnight.

That night, the official residence of the left minister of Tokyo, Iwakura Gushi and Ito Hirobumi looked at each other, the current situation is extremely bad, tomorrow is the ultimatum date of the Nanyang Naval Division, the impossible contract to sign is naturally a dangerous bomb, what will happen at that time, the two have also estimated, the strictest zhòng is not material losses.

The ports that were shelled by the Nanyang Fleet, except for the Sasebo Military Port, which was damaged and the Nagasaki Shipyard was blown up, the other ports did not suffer much damage, and many of the ships that were sunk in the port could still be repaired after a period of time after being salvaged and refurbished.

It's just that for the Japanese business that has just recovered, the impact came too suddenly and too violently, and the Japanese merchant ships in several ports were all sunk, and many merchants canceled their business because of the urgency of the war, waiting for the news of the end of the war.

At this time, the urgent telegram sent by Fumio Yano had arrived, and the two officials were relatively silent in the face of those terms, these conditions were very mild compared to the "Qin Kai 16 Articles", but there was still a very big gap from Japan's bottom line, and the two could be said to have negotiated all night, and finally determined an upper limit of the agreement that could be reached.

Seeing the morning light shining in the east, the two Japanese bigwigs suddenly remembered the three-day agreement today...... Damn three days!

Sure enough, just after breakfast, the officials outside rushed in, with a panicked face, Ito Hirobumi shook his head speechlessly, and asked, "Ikeda-kun, what's the matter, why do you need to be so flustered!" ”