Section 100 Historical Turns

With a snap, the bow was opened left and right, and Gentaro Kodama's palm imprinted bright red marks on Nogi Noshinori's old face. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"You bastard!"

"Hey!"

Nogi Noshinori did not refute, but bowed ninety degrees, and he was bent on begging for death, but was discovered by his subordinates and stopped him.

"How can you do that?"

Gentaro Kodama scolded resentfully.

Nogi Noshinori continued to apologize: "I have caused trouble to you, and I apologize to His Majesty the Emperor for me!" ”

He was still determined to die, this time he was ordered to cut off the railway, and he did not hesitate to suffer casualties along the way, and even personally led a surprise attack, but in the end it failed, and he could not feel the edge of the railway until the last Russian train left.

Witnessing the withdrawal of the last Russian troops, how can this be said to be a victory, how can it still be awarded with a medal, Nogi Noshinori feels that he is too ugly, and he has lost the courage to live.

But he knew that his death would bring shame on the Japanese military and even embarrass the emperor, and the general who had just received the medal committed suicide by seppuku, which was too shameful for the emperor.

"You go and apologize to Your Majesty in person! How can you be so irresponsible. ”

Kodama Gentaro scolded fiercely, he had never been so angry, even if he lost troops in Lushun Nogi Noshinori, he was not so angry.

Nogi Noshinori is still in a bent state.

Gentaro Kodama knew that his old friend had decided to die.

Suddenly with a sense of sadness, his tone softened: "I shouldn't have stopped you. Whether it's the overall situation or loyalty to the country, I won't talk about it. Suffice it to say, you don't give a damn. It's not you who should be damned, it's those chaebols who are damned, it's the British ghost animals who forced our country to the death with the Russians, it's the tsar who is not greedy enough and wants to occupy the northeast and Korea. ”

Nogi still didn't get up.

Gentaro Kodama continued, "Just yourself. If it weren't for you this time, it would be impossible for anyone to rush to the vicinity of the railway line so quickly with so few troops. After all, we have much fewer troops than the Russians. Whether you want to accept it or not, in fact, you are the greatest hero in the battle of Fengtian. ”

Kodama Gentaro said very solemnly, what he said was the truth, the strength of the 3rd Army at that time was less than half of the usual strength, and to assault the right flank of the Russian army, no complete army could not do it, only Nogi Noshinori could do it, not that he was smart enough, nor that he had strong command ability, but that he had a resolute ability to execute, and he would not waver under any difficulties and pressure, a quality that no one else had, including Oyama Yan. Of course, if Limi Shangwen was ten years younger, he would have been able to undertake this task, but Lijian seniors were in their sixtieth year after all.

"Although we have not completed the plan of annihilating the Russian army, the elimination of more than 80,000 Russian troops is also a remarkable achievement. His Majesty the Emperor has decided that today is Army Day in the Imperial Japan. It's all earned by you. But you are going to die, and you are dishonoring not only the Emperor, but the entire Imperial Army. You've also made our group of corpse vegetarians faceless. And if you die, the whole army will be shaken. ”

"What if the Russian army is not eliminated in Liaoyang, what if they are not eliminated in Lushun, and what if they are not eliminated in Fengtian, can't we make persistent efforts to go to Tieling, to Harbin, and Moscow to eliminate them. As soon as you die, the morale of the army will be scattered, and the end of the defeat of our empire is about to come. You should think about it yourself, whether to go to Tieling with us, or whether you go to the kingdom of God alone, it's up to you. ”

After saying that, Gentaro Kodama walked out of Nogi Noshinori's headquarters, and he walked with an extremely old and heavy look.

"Courage, I need courage."

Nogi Noshinori said that the pressure on his back was too great, he couldn't afford to die, and it took courage to die, and he needed the courage to abandon the whole of Japan, but he needed courage to live, and he needed courage to support him to continue fighting.

The news of the Japanese victory at the Battle of Mukden spread throughout the world, and no one doubted that the Japanese would win the final victory.

In the London financial market, the latest issue of Japanese bonds was sold out at an interest rate of 4.5 percent, and at the beginning, the interest rate on Japanese bonds was as high as 6 percent, which was one percent higher than the commercial loan borrowed by the Qing government from the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank.

The Russians, by contrast, have sold off their bonds. And the chaos in their country began, the demonstrators began to take to the streets, and the tsar was no longer afraid to appear in public in St. Petersburg. The Tsar felt that if the war continued, his rule would be threatened, and he began to consider peace talks with the Japanese.

At this time, the Americans also jumped out and began to call for peace in the international community, and mediated the war with the French, who were worried that they would not be able to repay their loans, and the Americans even secretly notified the Laiwu Arsenal, demanding that the sale of arms and materials to the Japanese be stopped, and that the Yantai Iron and Steel Plant should not supply steel to the Japanese.

Johnson told Yang Chao about the government's order as soon as possible, and he scoffed at it, saying that as long as Yang Chao could get the business, they would definitely be able to meet the production, and in the face of profits, Morgan and Rockefeller's arsenal, which had a large number of shares, would not consider the government's opinion at all, and Yantai Iron and Steel Plant also had such a request. However, the Qingdao Arsenal had completely stopped selling arms to the Japanese, and the governor of Qingdao called Yang Chao to ask if he could sell the arms in Qingdao to the Russians.

However, the operation of the US government still has results, and the Japanese must give the Americans a face, after all, nearly half of their funds come from Wall Street in New York, and the Russians themselves are in a worrying situation, and at the same time they must give the French a face, so the two sides began to contact.

Through the United States and France, each expressed its own demands.

The Japanese always opened their mouths and demanded "preferential rights to operate goods in Russia, Vladivostok as a neutral commercial port with no fortifications, Russian troops retreating to Harbin, Russia repaying all Japanese loans for the war, the Northeast Railway being handed over to Japan and Russia for joint management, and the withdrawal of the formation of the Second Pacific Fleet." ”

Japan's demands angered the tsar, who already wanted to withdraw from the war with dignity, and the tsar had hoped to agree to Japan's pre-war demand, that is, to give up Korean interests, but he did not expect that the Japanese would completely drive them out of the Far East.

The Tsar had no good impression of the Japanese, but he was almost assassinated in Japan, and the eight-centimeter-long wound on his face felt a faint pain. Moreover, the Tsar has not yet lost his old capital, the Second Pacific Fleet is about to reach the waters of China, as long as it rounds with the Arthur Fleet and occupies the sea supremacy, the Japanese will not be able to start a land war in the Northeast, and there is no choice but to retreat.

So the tsar rejected all the demands of the Japanese, closed the channels of communication, and strongly stated that he would fight to the end.

The Japanese had already thought of the reaction of the Russians.

However, Japan is now celebrating the whole country, the significance of the Battle of Mukden is too great, and no country has ever defeated the Russians in the Battle of the Great Corps alone, and Japan has stubbornly repelled the Russian army from Mukden, the center of Manchuria, which was defended by Russia's superior forces.

This move is enough to prove that the Japanese Army is already a first-class army in the world.

That's why the whole people are jubilant, and the sound of celebration can be heard by the emperor in the palace, because many people are praying outside the palace.

It's just that the emperor also has some worries, and there are ministers sitting in front of him, who have also come to congratulate him.

Prime Minister Katsura Taro, Foreign Minister Komura Shotaro, War Minister Masaki Terauchi, Navy Minister Gonbei Yamamoto, and others are all members of the Cabinet, but there are others who do not normally have the right to discuss Cabinet matters, such as Hirobumi Ito and Aritomo Yamagumi.

Hirobumi Ito was the prime minister of the previous cabinet, but after being replaced by Katsura Taro, he was busy with the party constitution and never served in the government again, and Yamaguchi Aritomo was the chief of staff at this time, and the Katsura Taro cabinet was actually his representative, although neither of them entered the cabinet, in fact, the influence behind them was very large.

By saying hello to the emperor, Ito asked to see the emperor.

The emperor knew his intentions, and Ito's insistence on constitutionalism made it difficult for him to directly interfere in government affairs, but at this important moment, the emperor himself was not at ease to prevent Ito Hirobumi from expressing his opinion, and he really wanted to hear the opinion of this old minister.

So the same scheming Emperor Meiji cleverly brought the topic to the Russians' refusal to negotiate.

"The Russians will not accept the offer of peace until the army and navy simultaneously achieve a decisive victory."

The Emperor sighed.

Hirobumi Ito continued, "If our conditions were more lenient, it might be acceptable. ”

Ito was very worried about the current situation, which was one of the reasons why he came to meet the emperor despite his status.

He hoped for peace as soon as possible, because he had already seen the crisis behind Japan, and this time it was different from the last time he faced the Qing government, even if the war against the Qing government failed, Japan did not think that the Qing government would destroy them, but the Russians really dared to destroy them.

Now it seemed that the Japanese had the upper hand, but the Russians did not suffer much damage, and although they continued to retreat, the casualties did not affect their combat effectiveness at all. Japan, on the other hand, has been fighting on a tight footing, and the slightest negligence may lead to a major collapse.

So Ito wanted to persuade the emperor to put an end to the war on a lenient condition and even if he made certain concessions.

"So how does Ito-kun plan to be tolerant? Russia's withdrawal from the Northeast, the repayment of our debts, and the withdrawal of the navy and army, which one can be retreated? ”

As a political opponent on equal footing, Shan Shan Youpeng immediately asked.

Hirobumi Ito has long pondered this question: "Repaying the loan is nothing more than war reparations, and you can ask for less or even no money." The withdrawal of troops is a must. But it is unrealistic for the Russians to withdraw the entire Far East. ”

Ito believes that the Russians will certainly not agree to the issue of reparations, and they will certainly not agree to the issue of no defense in Vladivostok, and the only possible agreement is to withdraw the troops stationed in the northeast and recall the Second Fleet at the same time.

Shan County Youpeng sneered: "If the war reparations are less than 2 billion yen, I dare to guarantee that the Gui Cabinet will not dare to go out of this door, and the people outside will tear him apart." ”

For the Japanese people, what they want to see most is actually the war reparations, the silver blackmailed from the Qing government ten years ago, started Japan's industrialization, and has its current status, and this time they want more, at least ten times as much as last time, because the Japanese have really spent more than a billion yen, there is really no way to less, the government wants less, and the people will definitely scold the traitor.

Ito Hirobumi stopped talking, it seems that since the First Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese have embarked on a road of no return, and that road was opened by him.

Later scholars commented that the conditions put forward by the Japanese before the Battle of Tsushima were too insincere, proving that the Japanese had no intention of peace talks at all, and the real situation is that the Japanese had long lost their way in the land battles one after another, and from top to bottom they believed that they should ask the Russians for a large amount of reparations, and even several doctors from universities expressed their opinions, believing that it should be at least 3 billion yen, and the people felt that it should not be less than 2 billion.

However, on the question of reparations alone, the Tsar could not have agreed. And it is impossible for him to agree to retreat to Harbin, and it is impossible for him to promise not to defend himself. The only thing the tsar could accept was to cede Korea.

Both are extremely hungry wolves, and it is impossible to look good at eating, and the only solution is to continue to bleed and know that one side has fallen. For example, when the Americans fought Mexico and Spain, and finally ceded land, they were willing to spend a lot of money to cover up the possibility of military plunder. But in Japan and Russia, absolutely no one wants to accept payment.

After the news of the end of communication between Japan and Russia and the re-entry into the war came out, no one asked for the Russians' bonds.

They no longer have the means to raise funds in the French market, and the French people and capital are not willing to accept their bonds.

The Russians could only turn to the French government, and although the French government was annoyed that the Russians refused to make contact, the French also felt too humiliated to see the conditions of the Japanese, and no white government could accept such conditions, and in order not to make the Russians die too ugly, they had to borrow money again.

The French government gave Russia a huge loan of 600 million francs, but required Russia to purchase French arms, but French arms were notoriously expensive, a Krupp grenade cost only 17.5 rubles, and the French shells cost 23.8 rubles.

Seeing the war machine of both sides rumbling again, Yang Chao, who had been paying attention to the situation, was relieved, Yang Chao was still afraid that the Japanese would negotiate with the Russians, after all, Japan's overall strength was inferior to Russia's, but it was Japan that won the victory, and because of Yang Chao's reasons, the Japanese have not taken Lushun and cannot occupy the sea dominance, so Japan has enough reasons to take a step back and make peace with the Russians.

Fortunately, because of his arrival, the wolf ambitions of the Japanese were not weakened, otherwise the Japanese government would not have been able to exchange Korea for North Korea instead of Northeast China.

However, the comparison of history has indeed changed, the Russians lost the land battle, but there is still hope for the naval battle, so the final victory or defeat is only five or five points, and the Russians still have hope to defeat Japan.

However, history has not yet turned around, and Yang Chao hopes to make history turn around.