The bustling city of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the commercial capital of Japan, has been in turmoil since three days ago, and the merchants of Osaka have always been a very powerful group on the Japanese stage, especially after the Meiji Restoration, they have long been informed that the war will affect this commercial city.

However, the news received from the governor of Osaka was very closed, and it was only known that the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Lord Sasaki, was dealing with this urgent matter in Osaka, but another change increased the turmoil in the city, and a large number of army soldiers were stationed in Osaka, set up a blockade near the port, and began to build fortifications.

But by the time these Japanese woke up, the incident had already broken out, the port of Osaka was heavily shelled, and more than a dozen shells smashed directly into the city of Osaka, the shelling was not violent, but for a city that had been calm for more than ten years, this immediately caused a riot, but what was even more bizarre was that the bad elements who caused the riots stayed in the port of Osaka at this time, and moved around unscrupulously, and the Japanese navy did not have any movement to fight back......

The rare 150mm rapid-fire gun on the 501 ship finally came into play this time, and the various Japanese ships were named one by one in the harbor, and this battle was really fun! On the battleship, the soldiers of every post were engaged in their work with great spirit, and just a moment ago, a small Japanese gunboat that tried to approach and did not threaten was destroyed by name!

Lu Han stood in the command room, he was actually not very interested in this completely asymmetrical battle, he was naturally very satisfied with the operation of this 10,000-mile attack, the overall strategy was proposed by Qin Liefeng, but the specific actions of the fleet were all commanded by him, which was undoubtedly a great challenge for him, but this was not the life and dream he longed for.

There is no suspense about the current war, except for the light 601 ships patrolling around the port, the 501 ironclad ships and the 701 heavy cruisers are berthed outside the port, waiting for the Japanese to reply, looking at the Qin armor with a fixed expression on the side, Lu Han still has some thoughts, whether the Japanese will fight to the end, he is not sure at all, after all, with the strength of the Nanyang Naval Division, he can control the sea, and if he wants to land in battle, he will be powerless.

So he asked, "Gale Wind, are you so sure that the Japanese will come out to sue for peace?" I think the Japanese soldiers' style is also a character who is not afraid of death! ”

Qin Kai turned his head to stare at Lu Han and smiled, "Gengtang, this Japanese soldier training is indeed not bad, and the people like Iwakura Gushi and Ito Hirobumi who are now in power are not incompetent, but the current situation is something they can't resolve, smart people will calculate the gains and losses, if we blockade their port for a day, how big will their losses be, how can they not calculate!" ”

Sure enough, in the afternoon, the British warship appeared again, and after a while, the consul of the Qing Kingdom in the Osaka Consulate, Ma Yousan, boarded the 501 ship, and after seeing Qin Kai, it was said that the British Minister Sir Thomson invited Lord Qin to get on the British ship to negotiate peace with the Japanese Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki.

At the same time, he also brought a very unfavorable news, Chen Baochen inquired that the Military Aircraft Department was preparing a telegram asking the Nanyang Navy Division to stop military operations in Japan, but this bill was temporarily shelved by Li Hongzao.

This made Qin Kai quite passive, he went on a crusade on this sea, and the little Japan was beaten down, but he didn't expect that the Manchu lords in Beijing would order a ceasefire, he naturally understood very well that the idea of this ceasefire definitely did not come from the military aircraft department, most of them were meant by the palace, and this matter would definitely not be so simple......

Qin Kai talked to him with a smile, and then followed him to the flagship of the British Tokyo Squadron, which was the location of negotiations between China and Japan, and Lu Han immediately confined the surroundings to prevent accidents.

Qin Kai also meant to go on the British warship to play, he only brought Lu to lead a few personal soldiers, and he had already thrown the matter of negotiation to Zeng Jize who was far away in Beijing, he was just waving the flag and shouting, and he didn't have the energy to handle the cumbersome negotiation.

Sir Thomson, the British minister, an old British gentleman who looked very arrogant, although his attitude was a little blunt, but Qin Kai didn't care about it, the British only had economic interests here, and it was inconvenient for him to have a hard fight with John Bull at present, but, given time, sooner or later he would have to meet with the British in the Far East. ,

But now that the British have come forward, it is just time for the fleet to rest, and he immediately started to talk to Thomson in fluent English, and the topics are even more imaginative, from the British legend King Arthur to Queen Victoria's demeanor, from the current ruling Liberal Party Gladstone to the Conservative Party veteran Disraeli, Qin Kai is at his fingertips, and talks eloquently.

After a moment's effort, Sir Thomson, who had been a little arrogant, had already put away his contempt, he had no idea that in their seemingly backward Far East, there could be a Qing official who could know so much about England, and such erudition was completely beyond his imagination.

After a moment of talking, Thomson had already talked about today's business, and Thomson now did not dare to despise the young Chinese official in front of him, and his original plan was to use the strong position of the British Empire to promote a cease-fire between the two sides, but it was clear that the wise and belligerent Chinese official opposite did not apply this system, and he immediately asked the Japanese Foreign Secretary Goro Sasaki to come in.

Naturally, Sasaki didn't show any anxious expression when he came in, he pretended to be calm and performed Japanese etiquette to Qin Kai and Thomson before sitting down and waiting for the British's opening remarks.

After Thomson introduced the two to each other, he said: "We in the British Empire are also very concerned about the war between China and Japan, so we hope that the two sides can have friendly negotiations to resolve this border dispute!" The British Empire is willing to maintain a neutral position to assist the two countries in resolving their disputes! ”

Qin Kai smiled slightly, squinted at this arrogant John Bull, we are here to talk nonsense today, we are here to negotiate, and immediately asked rhetorically: "Sir Thomson, I wonder if the British Empire was neutral when Japan occupied Ryukyu, a vassal state of the Qing Dynasty a few years ago...... Conciliation? ”

Thomson, who asked these words immediately, opened his mouth, this was definitely to the point, but after Thomson defended two sentences, he looked embarrassed and found a reason to quit, he kept claiming neutrality, and Qin Kai used the word "neutral" to shave his face.

Bombed Thomson away, Qin Kai looked at Sasaki on the opposite side coldly, this was a standard Japanese image in his impression, medium height, with a stern expression, at this time he was already ready to start negotiations with himself, he smiled and threw out a sentence without yin or yang, "Sasaki-kun, how many small boats are there in Japan?" Do you need me to go to Tokyo Bay and sink them! ”

Sasaki was going to debate with Qin Kai first, and then throw out the bribery plan approved by Hirobumi Ito, after all, as the foreign minister of a country, it is already a very shameful thing to negotiate a ceasefire with the enemy, not to mention spending money to bribe the enemy, but with such a break for Qin Kai, there is no idea of debating immediately.

He stubbornly asked: "Lord Qin, I am here to negotiate with you on behalf of the Japanese Imperial Minister, Minister Iwakura Gushi, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Ito Hirofumi, since the two sides are in the negotiations, I would like to ask you and your fleet to cease fire first......

There was a loud "pop" sound on the opposite side, which scared Sasaki for a while, and raised his eyes to look at Qin Kai on the opposite side, but at this time he was smashing the table with an empty cup, and shouted "Cockroaches, cockroaches!" ”

Sasaki was so angry that he almost ran away, but it wasn't today that he was going to go berserk, but he came with a difficult task, and hurriedly asked: "Lord Qin, I don't know if you heard it?" ”

"I heard you, you want a ceasefire, don't you?" Qin Kai laughed, "Actually, this is not difficult...... The treaty I mentioned can cease fire once it is signed! ”

Sasaki broke out in a cold sweat, the second-grade Qing State official on the other side was really outrageous, but it is said that the officials of the Qing State are very corrupt, so let's use the method of Lord Iwakura to mention yì, he smiled and said: "Lord Qin, the conditions you proposed still need to be negotiated, but as compensation for Lord Qin's fleet, our government is willing to pay a part of the military expenses to Lord Qin in exchange for a ceasefire between the two sides, so that the contract can be discussed in more depth!" ”

Sasaki observed Qin Kai's expression on the other side as he spoke, but Qin Kai still had a thunderous expression, but he seemed to be smiling more happily, it seems that this method is feasible!

Qin Kai was also stunned, this little Japan is really capable, spend money to call me a ceasefire, if there is no matter what happened to the military aircraft department, he would not be too lazy to pay attention to little Japan anyway, but now, it's okay to let little Japan have too much blood, he smiled slightly, showing a smile of a wealth fan, "Sasaki-kun, I don't know how much military expenses Ito-sama is going to pay?" ”,

"300,000 yen!" As soon as Sasaki saw that there was a play, he immediately offered a bid.

300,000 yen, only less than 200,000 taels of silver, Qin Kai has a black line on his face, we are worth tens of millions, so this little money is called Hanako, he smiled and looked at Sasaki, "I don't know how much silver is needed for the reconstruction of the dock that you Japan has lost in the past few days?" ”

Sasaki was stunned for a moment, but immediately understood what the other party meant, the losses in this war must be described as heavy, just the reconstruction of two military ports and two government-run shipyards, that is as little as three million taels of silver, if it is damaged, then the reconstruction will be even more expensive!

"2.5 million taels," Qin Kai saw that Sasaki didn't answer, but was just pondering, so he opened his mouth, "Sasaki-kun, I won't hide it from you, if I can't reach an agreement today, tomorrow I will go north to Shizuoka Pier, prepare to fight all the way to Tokyo Metropolitan Port, and directly talk to Lord Iwakura, the Minister of Zuo, about this issue of military spending!" ”

Sasaki's face is black, this lion is really powerful, the treaty is 10 million taels at every turn, and the military expenditure is also 2.5 million taels, and now Japan's domestic industry is also starting, but the annual national tax is only 50 million yen, which is equivalent to about 30 million taels of silver.

However, the Japanese government's spending is extremely large, and a large amount of infrastructure investment has made the government run a huge deficit almost every year, but Sasaki is very clear that if this war continues, the impact on the Japanese economy will definitely be more than the 2.5 million taels of military spending.

After some bargaining, the two quickly reached a compensation of 2 million taels for military expenses, and under the witness of Thomson, the British minister, they immediately signed an agreement, agreeing that within the next month, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire and formally negotiated the 16 articles of Qin Kai.

Both of them have ghosts in their hearts, and they both calculated each other, and signed the agreement very happily, and immediately put it into practice-

The leader of the Qingliu party, now it is none other than Li Hongzao, this Ryukyu strategy is a major event that Qingliu has advocated for six years, and now it is finally able to recover the lost territory, it is really the biggest victory since the Qingliu Parliament, and this time the operation of the Ryukyu attack, the first action is also the Qingliu cadre Zhang Peilun, last year reported to the new army in the imperial court, this year it has achieved its goal.

This is definitely a great boost to the prestige of Qingliu's party, and the main force of this battle, Qin Kai of the Nanyang Naval Division, is now also an armed force that has a lot to do with Qingliu, which is undoubtedly a very good Austrian aid for Qingliu, who has always fought alone.

Now the characters of the Qingliu faction are not like five or six years ago, they can only participate in the impeachment of corrupt officials and corrupt officials in the court, and they have no power outside.

During this time, those conservative Manchu relatives and nobles in the court have poured dirty water and picked thorns on the operation to recover the Ryukyus, which is obviously another plan, sure enough, in the past few days, his eyeliner in the palace has spread the news, the queen mother and several iron-hat princes plan to let the Manchus regain control of the army, and the goal is to come in the limelight Nanyang sailors!

In this regard, he has convened the Qingliu officials in the capital to discuss the matter, this Qingliu faction has no organization, and the Manchu and Han officials are also mixed in, the "Qingliu Four Advices" in the Baoting is the yellow belt of the Zheng'er Bajing, the iron hat Prince Zheng's lineage, but there was no title before the seventh or eighth generation, but in this Manchurian army, Baoting is also holding up the opposition card.

These officials who value the name of the Qing Dynasty are very clear about what these princes and relatives in the capital are now, and they can't be clearer, let them go to the helm of the victorious sailor, it is estimated that within two years, it will have to be defeated, the Qingliu faction has always hoped to be tough on the outside world, and the Qing Dynasty relied on the Huai Army in the past, but the Huai Army boss Li Zhongtang has always had a disagreement with them, so they have always fallen behind in the confrontation with Li Zhongtang in the past.

The reason for this is nothing more than that the Qingliu faction is less involved in practice, but only in the court to acupuncture the government and impeach the officials, of course, there must be a lot of incorrect impeachment or deliberation, and the Westernists who are often in practice, how can they not seize the weakness of Qingliu not participating in practice to fight back, so that these Qingliu cadres are really unable to deal with it. ,

The reconquest of the Ryukyus this time can be regarded as the most direct practice in which the Qingliu faction is most directly involved, and now there is a new army that can be used as Austrian reinforcements with them, which undoubtedly makes these Qingliu who talk about the government together very comfortable, and as for the matter of letting the Manchurians take charge of the Nanyang Naval Division, there is even more opposition.

When he heard that the Military Aircraft Department was going to order Qin Kai, who was at war with Japan, to withdraw his troops, more than a dozen pens jumped up at this moment, claiming that they were going to go to the top to impeach the arbitrariness of the Military Aircraft Department, but this was immediately stopped by Li Hongzao, who was also a member of the Military Aircraft Department, and some things were not easy to say directly, so he had to point his finger at the sky and hint at it.

As a result, these pens immediately wilted, this is the meaning from the palace, so this battle can't be fought! The Qing Dynasty has not had any major victories in diplomacy in the past few decades, but I didn't expect such a good opportunity to destroy the Great Wall by itself.

The next day, Pan Zuyin, the secretary of the Criminal Department, Huang Tifang, the attendant of the Hanlin Academy, and Deng Chengxiu, the superintendent of Jiangnan Province, went to the fold, and the three of them had different lines, but they all said the same thing, this time the Wa State seized my Qing Dynasty vassal without permission, and it must not be forgiven, the lesson of the Zhongshan wolf is just around the corner, and the sailor should continue to exert pressure on the Wa State!

However, this fold was directly suppressed when it arrived at Prince Gong, and at the meeting of the five ministers of the Military Discipline Department, Prince Gong put it on the table and said, this truce must be stopped, and the queen mother's intention cannot be implemented, but he also understands that this truce, Zeng Jize's negotiations can be delayed, and the queen mother hopes to understand as much as possible, which is a job for herself.

After some discussion, the five ministers all looked at each other, could it be that in the end, they had to allocate this Ryukyu Island to a part of the Japanese country? Otherwise, how could it be possible to end this matter!

However, Zeng Jize, who was negotiating with the Japanese in the yamen, heard the news, and after coming to Prince Gong to discuss the matter, he proposed a proposal that could be sent to the Osaka consulate in an urgent telegram, but it was limited to ordering the Nanyang Navy Division to cease fire, and the naval warships could be ordered to demonstrate in Japanese ports, otherwise his negotiations with the Japanese Minister Yano Fumio would be mysterious.

The five ministers of the Military Aircraft Department immediately agreed to adopt this proposal, sent an urgent telegram to the Osaka Consulate, ordering the Nanyang Fleet to temporarily stop exchanging fire with Japan, and to put pressure on the Japanese government.

When this telegram was sent to the 501 ship, under the pressure of Qin Kai's force, 2 million taels of silver had already been cashed, and with a wave of Qin Kai's hand, the fleet left Osaka Port and disappeared into the vast sea.