Downing Street, London, England.

Compared with other countries, public opinion here is controlled by the British government, and some reports that are unfavorable to the UK are naturally not allowed to be published.

In particular, the news of the crushing defeat of the British Navy in the naval battle of the Solomon Islands was blocked.

However, the demonstrations still came to the Prime Minister's Office suddenly, without any warning, and the impetus behind this is self-evident. Even in the 21st century, any demonstration has the shadow of a hostile country behind it.

The British learned the news so quickly, apparently the masterpiece of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Benjamin misled the country and the people, and he will step down immediately!" The political opponents of the ruling faction are shouting and taking the opportunity to oust the ruling faction from power.

"Everyone in the Admiralty is going to ****!" The indignant youths were roaring and fed the dogs with patriotic blood.

"Give me back the baby! You executioners! "Parents are crying and hoping their children will come back alive.

In the dark, agents of the Chinese Empire were the first to throw eggs and stones and smashed them at the doors and windows of the Prime Minister's Office. This caused a chain effect, and it was out of control, and all the citizens of London who marched were immediately angry, and followed by a "shelling" of the Prime Minister's Office.

Benjamin had not closed his eyes for three days, and he had learned of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Solomon Islands earlier than the Chinese Empire, because there were more than 100 British naval warships that had escaped ahead of schedule, and most of these warships had fled back to Australia and Singapore, and the telegram was sent to the British authorities that night.

Upon hearing the news of the British naval fiasco, Benjamin had gray hair overnight, and the failure of the general election was no longer important, and resignation was inevitable, but his political career was over, and the evening was not guaranteed.

The parliamentarians have been meeting for three days and three nights, and they must make a decision as soon as possible whether they want to continue fighting. Or sum.

This is a difficult decision, the British Empire and the Chinese Empire fight every five years, and now it has fought five times, except for the first time when it won the war with the Qing Dynasty, the next four times all lost, should you be cheeky and take the initiative to sue for peace? It's a tough question.

You know, every time the British Empire used to have excuses, such as not doing its best, such as being too far away to keep up with supplies, and being attacked during the Battle of Scarborough Shoal, for example. If you fight with dignity, you must lose the Chinese Empire.

This time, however, there was no excuse, and the British Empire dispatched almost all of its maritime power, but it was still defeated and beaten out.

Benjamin felt the urge to commit suicide, but the members of the council would not allow him to commit suicide, and he had to come out as a scapegoat to be whipped and abused by the British people.

The intensifying demonstrations outside forced parliament to make a swift decision to resign Benjamin and apologize to the people. Attract the hatred of the people.

The general election was approaching, and since the British Navy had lost the war, it was only natural that Benjamin's government, which had started the war, should step down.

As a result, Benjamin publicly apologized to the British people the next day. Then he dissolved the liberal cabinet and resigned himself.

In accordance with a secret agreement between liberals and conservatives in parliament, early elections were held.

There is no doubt that conservatives slammed the liberals for provoking the Sino-British war and causing a crushing defeat. Amid the invective of the British people, the liberals lost one election after another, and no people voted for the liberals. This resulted in conservative victories in all local elections, culminating in Salisbury as a candidate for prime minister.

Salisbury promised the British people that he would end the war immediately, improve relations with the Chinese Empire, and improve the living standards of the British people, and his election topic was quickly supported by the British people.

Because it was a war period, the British general election was going very fast, and all the formalities were completed in just five days, Salisbury became the new prime minister of the United Kingdom, and the conservatives formed a cabinet and began to govern.

This is an efficiency that is unparalleled, and even the British themselves find it incredible.

However, the British people could not stand it anymore, and at this time, the prices in Britain were soaring, and the illegal banknotes seriously disrupted the British monetary system, making the British people miserable. The fiasco of the navy made the British people panic, fearing that the Chinese Empire would hit the British mainland in the next second. Families with children serving in the British Navy are demanding that the war be ended as soon as possible so that their children can come back alive.

In this general atmosphere of war-weariness and fear of war, the newly established Saul government immediately mediated through France and sent a request for peace to the Chinese Empire.

However, this time the Chinese Empire did not immediately reply, which made the British nervous immediately.

In the previous Sino-British wars, whenever Britain made a request for peace, the Chinese Empire was basically quick to respond and agreed to end the war peacefully. At that time, the military strength of the Chinese Empire was much weaker than that of the British, especially the disparity in maritime power. The Chinese Empire urgently needed time to carry out economic construction at home, and it could not be interrupted, and once the British Navy came to attack the major coastal cities and industrial areas of the Chinese Empire, it would be the most terrible consequence for the Chinese Empire, so when the British took the initiative to sue for peace, the Chinese Empire immediately agreed.

But this time is different, the economic construction of the Chinese Empire has formed a scale, the British Navy is blocked in the Pacific Ocean outside Guam, and cannot get close to the domestic industrial areas of the Chinese Empire, so there is no need to worry about the domestic economic development being interrupted by the war, and the major coastal cities and industrial areas do not have to worry about being attacked and destroyed by the British Navy, although the battles in Western Xinjiang, Ryukyu and Sakhalin are going on, but they are also the principle of the Chinese Imperial Industrial Zone, and the Chinese Imperial Shence Army is enough to block the enemy on land, so there is no need to worry.

In this case, the Chinese Empire will naturally not be in a hurry to end the war, anyway, if the national strength is compared, the economic aggregate of the Chinese Empire will overwhelm Britain, the industrial capacity will overwhelm Britain, and the navy will win the naval battle of the Solomon Islands, and the Pacific Theater will be dominated by the Chinese Imperial Army, everything will be unfavorable to Britain, and the longer it is delayed, the heavier the British losses, and the Chinese Empire will get more benefits.

At this time, the news of the British Navy's defeat in the Battle of the Solomon Islands had already spread all over the world, and the British warships that had fled in disarray by the Imperial Chinese Navy returned to Australia, Singapore and India, and also spread the panic of defeat to the local British army, causing the local British army to also fall into panic.

Subsequently, the Chinese Empire announced in a high-profile manner that it would enter a major strategic counteroffensive operation, which frightened the British troops in these places and seriously shook their morale.

On April 5, 3976 (May 9, 1876), the Pacific Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy returned to Guam with a great victory after resting and resupplying.

A British Navy cruiser flotilla covering British ground operations in the waters off Guam fled without a fight. Abandoned 30,000 British troops.

At the same time, 20,000 troops belonging to the Overseas Theater of the Chinese Empire transferred from Alaska were also involved in the Battle of Guam, and after three days of fierce fighting, more than half of the British troops were killed and wounded, and it was learned that the British Navy had been defeated, Guam was already isolated, and the British commander was forced to surrender.

The 192-day Battle of Guam came to an end, with the British throwing in 270,000 troops and losing 130,000 men, including more than 15,000 prisoners. and the Apra Coast Guard in Guam, with a total strength of nearly 50,000, 11,000 wounded and 2,116 killed.

After the Battle of Guam, Chen Shaoyi repaired Guam's submarine cable, got in touch with the Imperial General Staff, and also received the next combat order.

On April 9, 3976, Chen Shaoyi led the main force of the Pacific Fleet to return to Australia, and the fleet was divided into two routes. All the way from north to south, along the Coral Sea, Solomon Sea, and Tasman Sea in eastern Australia, it launched attacks all the way, and captured the Australian capital of Muddy for the seventh time, Brisbane for the ninth time, and Melbourne for the first time; The other route runs along the waters of western Australia. Successively attacked Darwin, Perth and other important Australian cities, these cities were attacked by the Chinese Imperial Navy for the first time, and the British navy that fled back here had already been frightened and fled without a fight.

As a result, the Imperial Chinese Navy took full control of the waters around Australia. Soon, the 40,000 Chinese Imperial Shence Army on Guam was sent to the Australian mainland, and the Australian Campaign was in full swing.

At this time, Australia was already panicked. After learning of the fiasco of the British Empire's navy, a large number of British in Australia began to prepare to escape, and when the Chinese Imperial Shence Army landed in Australia again, the Australians who had been abused and did not want to flee with their families wrapped up in their last property.

There are still more than 100,000 troops in Australia, and the troops who have retreated from the front line of the island to recuperate, as well as newly recruited recruits, have no way to retreat, and continue to fight with the Shence Army of the Chinese Empire, but they have more defeats and fewer victories.

Australia is too big, and the 40,000 Chinese Imperial Shence Army can only occupy important cities, so it is difficult to completely eliminate the Australian army for a while, so they can only ask the Imperial War Department for help and ask for additional troops to come to help in the war.

Edo, the capital of Japan, since the Chinese Empire forbade Japan to change the name of Edo to Tokyo, since the Japanese Emperor of Japan, all Japanese people have held a grudge, feeling that this is the greatest humiliation, and they want to fight the Chinese Empire to the end.

With the full support of the British, Japan's economy developed rapidly, and the navy and army grew unprecedentedly, becoming the dogs of the British, and actively cooperating with the war after the Sino-British war broke out again.

After half a year of fighting, the Japanese army had captured half of Sakhalin Island, a third of the Ryukyu Islands, and almost the entire Korean Peninsula.

Since the main fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy was all transferred to the Pacific Theater, the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy experienced the pleasure of being called the king without a tiger in the mountains. However, the Chinese Empire, lacking strong naval support, could only adopt a defensive posture on Sakhalin, the Ryukyu Islands, and the Korean Peninsula.

When the results of the naval battle of the Solomon Islands reached Edo, Meiji Kobunyu was immediately frightened and hurriedly convened a meeting of the Imperial Court to discuss countermeasures.

In the conference room, the friends of the Meiji government were stunned, and they all understood what would follow after the fiasco of the British Navy.

"While the Chinese Imperial Navy has not yet returned, immediately end the war, recall the navy and army, and prepare to hold on to the homeland with all their strength to resist the military invasion of the Chinese Empire." Okubo Ritsu said first.

"No, we finally defeated Korea, and the Ryukyu Islands and Sakhalin Island are about to be occupied by our army, so if we retreat at this time, won't all the previous efforts be in vain?" Kido Takayo immediately objected.

Everyone knows that fighting a war costs a huge amount of military spending, and many people die. But if the war is won, then you can get a huge amount of war reparations, and even the principal and interest will be recovered.

War is like a gambler who wants to win. Some gamblers keep losing money, but when they think that they can get back their principal and profits in the end, they will continue to gamble.

This is the mentality of Japan now, they have invested too much, they want to win the Chinese Empire once, and even get back what they have earned.

For this war, the Meiji government has invested a huge amount of military spending, and if it cannot win the war and get the war dividends, then it will suffer heavy losses.

"If you continue to fight, the loss will be even greater, and you must break your wrist by a strong man!" Okubo Ritsu persuaded.

"How can it be so easy for a strong man to break his wrist? What do you make the hundreds of thousands of Imperial soldiers on the front line think? But the loss is too great! Kido Takayo said unwillingly.

Meiji was very embarrassed, he knew that the military expenditure of the Ministry of Finance in the last six months had already spent more than 100 million yen, which was almost more than double the fiscal revenue of 1875. But if it continues, it will not have the confidence to win the Chinese Empire, after all, the British Navy has suffered a crushing defeat, and Britain may not be able to fight it, let alone support Japan, so only Japan is left to face the Chinese Empire alone, and it is obviously inevitable to lose.

"The Imperial Chinese Navy has even defeated the British Navy, and our Japanese Navy can't beat them at all, at least not now, so let's withdraw it!"

Meiji made the decision, but the Japanese army did not buy it, and they asked the navy to withdraw, and the army had to defend the occupied areas of the Korean Peninsula, the Ryukyus, and Sakhalin.

In the end, after coordination, the Japanese military decided to withdraw its troops from Sakhalin Island and the Ryukyu Islands one after another, avoiding a head-on battle with the Chinese Imperial Shence Army, and only retaining the Japanese troops on the Korean Peninsula.

The Japanese believed that as long as they withdrew from Sakhalin and the Ryukyu Islands, they could end the war by paying a little more money to the Chinese Empire, and that the losses of Japan could be recovered from the Korean Peninsula at that time.

But this idea was naïve, and the Japanese had always been naïve, as they took the initiative to withdraw their troops from Sakhalin and the Ryukyu Islands, and asked the Chinese Empire for peace talks, but the Chinese Empire refused.

"What? The Japanese want to make peace? Go eat his shot! Now it's our turn to beat them, how can we do it if we don't abuse them! ”

Zhang Peilun, the minister of the Imperial Court, directly rejected the request of the Japanese envoy.

The unrelenting Japanese envoy once again asked the ambassadors of France and the United States to intervene in mediation, expressing their willingness to accept the terms of compensation and compensate for the losses of the Chinese Imperial Shence Army.

Subsequently, after Zhang Peilun came back from meeting Li Weiguo, he issued an overlord clause.

"Withdraw from Sakhalin, the Ryukyu Islands, and the Korean Peninsula, compensate 200 million taels of silver for military spending, cede Tsushima and Hokkaido Islands to the Chinese Empire, open Edo, Nagasaki and other places as treaty ports, allow citizens of the Chinese Empire to open factories in Japan, enjoy (one-sided) most-favored-nation status for the Chinese Empire, enjoy consular jurisdiction, and lease the port of Yokosuka to the Chinese Empire for 99 years......"

The Japanese envoy immediately knelt down, this clause is too pitiful, and it can be understood later, the seizure of Tsushima is barely acceptable, but Hokkaido Island is equivalent to one-third of Japan's territory, and it is absolutely impossible to cede it. And why is the compensation for military spending 200 million taels of silver? The Chinese Empire has long not used silver as currency, so what the hell is these two hundred million taels of silver?

This is obviously a prank given by Li Weiguo, Li Weiguo relied on the memory of part of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Shimonoseki in history, and returned it to Japan intact, which can be regarded as a kind of revenge in disguise. (To be continued.) )