Iwakura naturally understands that gaining the support of the military now is undoubtedly an important factor in maintaining political stability, so today he summoned the Minister of the Navy and the Minister of War to discuss how to deal with the current predicament.

Yama Prefecture Aritomo did not take the initiative to launch another attack this time, Kuroda Daisa, who led the troops to conquer the Ryukyus, was his student, and he naturally knew Kuroda's steadiness in leading the troops, and the soldiers of the Fourth Brigade dispatched this time belonged to the elite units of the Japanese Army, and they were all equipped with imported Manlisha breech-loading rifles, and they were equipped with infantry field guns, which can be described as an army armed to the teeth.

Now it was frustrated in the attack, and the camp was also attacked during the defense, Kuroda described the artillery fire of the Qing army, with his experience in leading the troops, although the army is inferior to the navy in construction over the years, but every year still sends a large number of intelligence personnel to the Qing State to spy on the intelligence of the Qing army, the most elite Huai army of the Qing government, in the eyes of the Japanese officers, is also a fighting army, so when the battle is full of confidence, but the reality is surprisingly cruel......

He looked at Saigo Congmichi, in comparison, the situation of this eldest brother is much worse, although the defeat of the fleet commander Arai Yugong has been burdened, but the navy always has a heavy responsibility, "Iwakura-sama, I think that it is necessary to increase the renewal of army equipment, and at the same time strengthen the coastal defense, to prevent the Qing army from taking advantage of the victory to invade our territory"

"Ito-kun, do you have any ideas?" Saigo looked at Yama County Youpeng from the road, although the army was also defeated, but after all, it was a cross-sea battle, they lost for a reason, and they were indeed responsible for their defeat, but the connections of the Saigo Congdao family can be described as extremely thick, and his elder brother is one of the three heroes of the Meiji era, Saigo Takamori, this little setback can't shake his status at all.

Recently, in order to promote the development of Japan's shipping, the Ministry of Public Works has supported Mitsui Zaibatsu and Sumitomo Zaibatsu to invest in the shipping industry, hoping to increase the vitality of Japan's shipping industry through guò competition.

Ito Hirobumi originally had high hopes for this conquest of the Ryukyus, and if the Qing State was defeated again, it would undoubtedly give Beijing Yano Fumio more bargaining chips at the negotiating table, but now he thinks the same as Iwakura Gushi, and must first maintain the power structure of his current alliance with Iwakura in order to finally ascend to the supreme power throne that dominates Japan.

"Lord Iwakura, Saigo-kun, and Lord Yama, the first thing now is to immediately put an end to any excuse for the Qing people to attack us, and I think that we should conclude a temporary peace treaty with the Qing State through diplomacy, and I would like to personally consult with the British Minister Sir Thomson on this matter, and use them to exert influence on the Qing government and promote the signing of the treaty."

Ito's proposal was obviously a very decisive move, but of course, for the diplomatically savvy Secretary of Industry, it was a diplomatic negotiation based on a weak position, and it was obviously more challenging to bring about a negotiation outcome, and of course the main point was the support of the British, which has been increasing since the Meiji Emperor's New Deal

Iwakura Gushi is obviously very interested in this construction, if an agreement is reached, the empire can get a few years of recuperation, with the current financial situation, although the production capacity in the cotton cloth and cotton yarn industry is eliminated, but the emerging industry is rising, the overall trend is gradually improving, plus Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki, Furukawa and other big chaebols in the industry The competitive advantage in the industry is becoming more and more obvious, and today's financial income is still maintained a substantial increase.

He immediately assured Saigo Congdo and Yamayama Armour that he would use his forces to push forward a five-year expansion plan, and that the Japanese Navy would build a new-type navy, including eight capital ships, within three to five years, and that the Japanese Army would also receive funds for the establishment of another first-class division and one second-class division, so that the entire Japanese regular army would reach the scale of four first-class divisions and three second-class divisions, with a huge combat force of nearly 120,000 people.

Saigo from the province and Yama County Youpeng naturally understands the intention of Minister Zuo to take the initiative to expand the army, these are all political zhì old fritters, naturally understand that Iwakura Gu sees that what is now playing is a white strip, but now under the system of the Tai Zheng Guan, Minister Zuo and the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry have absolute power to formulate such a plan, but when it comes to specific implementation, it still has to be implemented to one issue - money,

Speaking of money, the eyes of the two ministers of the Navy and the Army naturally fell on Ito Hirobumi, who has jurisdiction over almost all the industries that can make money in Japan, and under Japan's current national policy, the government wants to make money, and the only measure is to raise taxes, but it is clear that Ito Hirobumi, who leads the Ministry of Industry, has his ideas.

Ito pondered for more than ten minutes, and then said resolutely: "Saigo-kun, Lord Yamagu, invest 5 million yen (about 3 million taels of silver) every year to carry out a five-year military expansion plan, which is the largest financial resources that the imperial treasury can come up with, and this matter needs to be approved by His Majesty the Emperor."

"His Majesty the Emperor, Ito-kun and I will explain this, this should not be a big problem", Iwakura Gushi was naturally very satisfied with Ito Hirobumi's statement, and it was he who put Ito in the position of secretary of the Ministry of Industry, second only to Minister Zuo, and the Iwakura-Ito political alliance represented the direction of Japan's politics for at least ten years to come.

Ito Hirobumi nodded and added, "In addition, in my opinion, the news of the defeat of the fleet this time must be completely blocked, and in terms of the loss of battleships, the news of the two sunken battleships should not be released."

The four giants have reached a consensus between the political interests that the Japanese navy and army will receive the greatest support, and the navy and army will unconditionally support the policy of the imperial government, because each of these Meiji ministers is soberly aware of the direct relationship between "strong troops" and "rich countries", and Japan can only strengthen its troops first, and then use strong troops to enrich the country

Fumio Yano, who was far away in Beijing, was holding the resolution of the meeting of the Big Four at this time, and he immediately thought of a figure who could match him - the king of Doro County and the commander of the Yellow Banner Protector Army, Noge.

Brother Nuo is a standard yellow belt, the name of Aixin Jueluo's clan, the ancestor is Prince Yi of the iron hat, hereditary replacement, but in this life, Prince Yi has long lost the authority of the old generation, but with the name of Aixin Jueluo, Brother Nuo is now a powerful minister in the imperial city.

Yano Fumio is also a figure who wanders in the high-level of the official palace in Beijing, although the Manchu aristocracy and Han nobles in this era still have this natural sense of superiority over the Japanese people, but this does not affect his integration into this top-level society, money, women, these two things, for him can be controlled at any time, and it is precisely these two things that are invincible in the city of Beijing

In the county king's mansion, Brother Nuo was very surprised by the visit of the Japanese minister, and now the relationship with the Japanese is on the cusp, his dignified Dora county king, yellow belt, although he eats and drinks all day long, is not a fool, but after seeing the two superb Japanese art ji written on the Japanese gift list, he is still very happy to meet Yano Fumio.

Since it was a private house, many words could be said openly, and Fumio Yano only made one request, asking him to come up with an idea to mediate a peace agreement with Japan

The Japanese demanded and? Brother Nuo was also very surprised when he heard it, this is a rare thing, in the past few decades, the Qing Dynasty has fought and lost a battle in foreign wars, even if Zuo Dashuai has confronted the Russians in Xinjiang for two years, it is also a diplomatic solution to the dispute, no matter how you calculate it, the Russians have taken advantage.

Now that the Japanese have actually begged themselves to come here, the benefits of this passage cannot be slipped, and besides, what is the difficulty in this matter, the difficulty is to make the article beautiful, no matter how fierce the battle with the Japanese is on the front, it cannot finally solve the problem, this battle cannot be fought endlessly, sooner or later it will be the result of the pen.

"Minister Yano, it's not difficult to say this, it depends on your Japanese posture" got the benefit, Nuo Ge began to analyze very righteously, how can he have such a diplomatic mind, his basis is completely the set of things in the inner courtyard of the palace, and this is the rules of the Qing Dynasty.

"Lord Junwang, then please show me the way, if there is any request to come, I will try my best to arrange it" Yano Fumio saw this willing to take the bait, and immediately continued to bait without hesitation.

In the Yamen, the center of power of the Qing Dynasty, Prince Gong and several of his hardcore ministers are refreshed today, and the good news of the Ryukyus war has arrived at the military aircraft today, and Yi Na personally sent all the excerpts from the Governor of Zhili, Zhang Shusheng, the Minister of Beiyang, Zhang Peilun, the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, Ding Richang, the Governor of Fujian, and Qin Kai, the Governor of Guangdong, into the palace.

At these times, the French were making trouble in Vietnam, and the imperial court did not bother to think about the affairs of Vietnam, but they did not expect that the Beiyang and Nanyang naval divisions would make a surprise attack, and at once the Ryukyu issue, which had been in trouble for many years, was settled. ,

However, in terms of merit, Prince Gong was stumped, this fold can be written all over the sky, the Beiyang fold of the new battleship is super brave, boasting like the god of war, of course, the victory of this front, is from thousands of miles away Tianjin Wei's strategy, as for how to strategize, it is more well-founded, more than the romance, more noisy than the big drama

The Qingliu faction high-profile their participation, of course, this provides a lot of convenience for the growth of the Nanyang Naval Division, so in the Nanyang Naval Division's achievements, Qingliu has a strong stroke, Ding Richang's excerpt is impartial, and it can be regarded as a footnote for Zhang Peilun.

And the Guangdong governor Qin Kai's excerpt was the most low-key, half of the meritorious service was given to Beiyang, another piece was cut to Zhang Peilun, and the rest of the things were returned to Liu Kun, the governor of Liangguang

These old guys in the Military Aircraft Department are not human spirits, and compared the time before and after the attack on the Ryukyus, the beginning and end of this matter have already been figured out seven or eight points, but this does not affect them in the slightest to continue to pretend to be confused, no matter who wins the battle of the Ryukyus, the important thing is to win, whether it is a victory there, it is the victory of the military discipline yamen, and Zhang Shusheng is raised, which is not the meaning of the palace

In the Palace of Nourishing Hearts, the little emperor Guangxu patiently listened to the conversation between the empress dowager and Prince Gong, and the little emperor had no feeling at all about the content of their conversation, and he only cared about when this lengthy discussion would end......

"Prince Gong, since this battle is so outstanding, you see...... Should it be a generous reward? The middle-aged woman behind the curtain was an expert in the balance of power, and her lukewarm voice floated out.

Prince Gong naturally understood that this was the queen mother's thoughts, and was busy presenting an excerpt, "Queen Mother, the old minister has drafted an excerpt here, I think that Zhang Shusheng of the Huai Army should be rewarded to marry the holy family, and now the Nanyang Navy Division has become a scale, and the governor of Guangdong, Qin Kai, can be said to have made great contributions...... This Nanyang Naval Division is a newly formed army, not like the Huai Army, or can be included in the control of the imperial court In addition, Zhang Peilun, Ding Richang, Liu Kunyi, these important ministers should also be rewarded."

The woman in the curtain was silent for a long time, for the re-control of the military power by the banner man, it obviously attracted her attention, the woman sitting behind the curtain very calmly flipped through the folds of several feudal officials, for the achievements mentioned, she was not too interested, that place was too far away from Beijing, and no matter how you look at it, it was just a small place.

Under the whole world, it is not the king's land, the land of the Great Qing Kingdom is big enough, so big that she feels a little bored, such a huge country, just trivial affairs are enough to annoy people, and she is a woman who only cares about the front of her, and the flood behind her has nothing to do with it, but the face of the great country, in her opinion, is far more important than the projectile land of the Ryukyus.

"Prince Gong, you see that among these people, the generals who can lead the army may wish to recommend one or two"

"It's the Queen Mother, the Eight Banners Army in this Beijing Division is really not enough, but our Manchu children in the north can still pick out some elite soldiers and strong generals......"

"Prince Gong, then you draw up a list and submit it back!" The woman in the curtain was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "This Qin Kai has been in the limelight recently, what kind of character is it?" Prince Gong can tell me what to hear",

"Queen Mother, this Qin Kai was originally the favorite general of Fujian Governor Ding Richang, and he is good at learning machinery from the West......" The Empress Dowager Yijian suddenly became interested in this feudal official who had never entered the capital, so she talked respectfully

This military confrontation, which lasted not long and was led by two countries over a territorial dispute, apparently attracted the attention of the Western powers, especially the British, the French, and the Americans, who had not yet begun to stretch out their nosy paws in this era, and who had only mediated the question of the ownership of the Ryukyus during his recent visit to Japan by their predecessor President Grant.

After a rigorous evaluation, the British greatly adjusted their assessment of the Qing national defense forces, but the British can be said to have seen the root of the corruption of the country's politics, and in their view, the collision between a new capitalist Japan and this huge feudal empire was undoubtedly an unsuccessful provocation, and the result of the egg hitting the stone was also expected.

However, in this war, the British only sent three warships to visit them with nothing, but they still reaped great benefits from it. The Earl Thomson, the Minister to Japan, had already telegraphed Sir Wittoma, the British Minister to China, in Peking, and the Secretary of Works Ito Hirobumi, who had absolute power in the Japanese Government, had secretly signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Anglo-Japanese Cooperation" with him. ,

Although the British Minister Thomson was very disgusted by the Japanese government's decision to hand over these so-called important industries to government-run enterprises, in fact, only a few British businessmen were willing to set up factories in resource-poor Japan.

Japan's only advantage is human resources, although it has been 14 years since the Meiji Restoration, the improvement of the living standards of the Japanese people is actually very limited, and the price of human resources here is even lower, but ...... In addition to the attitude of the Japanese government, the British who came to set up factories here were not only the attitude of the Japanese government, but also the low capacity of the Japanese workers, which was completely unimaginable.

If Qin Kai knew Thomson's evaluation of Japanese workers, he would probably have the idea of complaining, in his time, although China was already extremely strong, but Japan still had a good position in some high-tech industrial chains, and Japanese workers in that era represented fine quality.

However, this is indeed a true portrayal of Japanese workers in this era, the Japanese government-run Nagasaki Iron Works purchased steel-making furnaces from Britain from the beginning of the Meiji Restoration, and in the previous eight years, not a single qualified steel furnace was smelted, and so far, it has only been able to produce wrought iron, and these technologies, in the same government-run Mawei steelworks, are almost a joke.

But not long after, Ito Hirobumi was extremely bold in formulating a policy that China could be labeled as a national thief in later generations, but it completely released Japan's industrial energy that continued for more than ten years, and laid Japan's industrial foundation in one fell swoop.

In addition to opening up some sensitive industries, Ito Hirobumi very boldly and directly proposed to Sir Thomson to borrow 8 million yen from Britain as collateral for Japan's customs duties, and this money would be directly used for Japan to order new warships and weapons from British shipyards, which is undoubtedly a big business for Britain, whose commercial interests are paramount.

At the same time, Ito hoped that the British government would allow the issuance of Japanese government bonds in the bond market from Japan to the United Kingdom to raise funds for the construction of the country's industry, which was definitely a request that the British did not expect at all, but after obtaining confirmation from the British government, these terms were included in the memorandum of assistance between the two countries.

In Kobe, Japan, a small shipyard acquired by an Englishman, Crabber, has ...... the stage of Japanese history.