"Now I am entrusted with the weight of 40,000,000 people, and I will never be a citizen of the country!" Yuan Shikai wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, stood up suddenly, and said loudly.

Seeing Yuan Shikai's expression, Army Chief Duan Qirui was so excited that he took the lead in applauding, and then the surrounding participants also applauded, and the applause in the room was thunderous for a while.

Yuan Shikai stabilized his mood, waved his hands, and waited until everyone's applause calmed down little by little, and he immediately turned the topic to the specific details of the operation.

"This time, Japan is bent on persecuting our country and sending this ultimatum, which can be described as extremely rude and arrogant." Yuan Shikai's gaze swept over everyone, "He has limited my government to promise before six o'clock tomorrow afternoon, how should I reply?" ”

"At that time, the ultimatum will be returned to the Japanese envoy, saying that it will not be accepted." Lu Zhengxiang thought for a while, and replied first, "You don't need to reply to the text, let them touch a soft nail." If he declares war, he will go, and as long as our country does not declare war on him, he will be helpless. ”

"Yes, in this way, it is clear at a glance who is the real peace and who is the false peace, so that the nations can know that this peace talks will not succeed, and they will not provoke themselves." Cao Rulin also said, "If he starts a war against me first, he will be taken care of, and he will be isolated and passive in the international community, then the initiative to maneuver in the future can be in my hands." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded, and his eyes immediately fell on Duan Qirui, the chief of the army, and Liu Guanxiong, the chief of the navy, who had not spoken.

"Now that Shandong and Mukden have been full of Japanese soldiers, if I refuse to sign the contract and return the ultimatum, the other army will drive straight in, how will I deal with it?" Yuan Shikai asked again.

"In the past few months, the War Department has made pre-arrangements, and at present, more than 100,000 soldiers and horses from various provinces have come one after another, stationed in various important places to prevent the Japanese army from attacking." Duan Qirui said, "The generals of all provinces have received orders from their subordinates, and they are all ready for war. ”

"The Navy is ready. The Japanese ships are so large that it is difficult for our navy to resist them head-on, so they are prepared to use mine-laying ships and new mines to block the shipping lanes as the main means to prevent the Japanese ships from attacking. Liu Guanxiong glanced at Yang Shuoming inadvertently and said to Yuan Shikai.

After listening to the words of the commander-in-chief of the navy and army, Yuan Shikai's heart calmed down slightly, he took a breath and sat down in the chair again.

"How sad it is to make such a decision after repeatedly weighing the pros and cons, and having no choice but to refuse to accept Japan's ultimatum request! How hard! This is the biggest crisis since the founding of the Republic of China, as the saying goes, 'invincible foreign patients will die forever', after this great difficulty, we must recognize the '21 articles' requirements put forward by Japan as a great shame, and the spirit of this lie down to try the courage of the heart, and do the cause of hard work. Military, political, diplomatic, and financial matters should be refreshed, and plans should be set, time limits, determinations, and concerted efforts should be made to achieve the goal. Then Zhu Envoy (referring to British Minister Zhu Erdian) so-called buried his head for ten years, and Japan raised his head, or there may still be hope. If things change and the shame is forgotten, then it is not a time when there is no revenge for the great shame of the past, and I am afraid that ten years from now, the danger of China will be even greater than today, and the pain of losing the country is now. Yuan Shikai's gaze swept over everyone, and said in a deep voice, "Now I am responsible for this heaven by myself, even if my bones are broken, as long as the country can survive this misfortune safely, I am willing." But the prosperity of the country, the monarchs are responsible, and the death of the country, the monarchs are also responsible. ”

After listening to Yuan Shikai's speech, which was quite full of tears, Yang Shuoming couldn't help but nodded,

"From today on, everyone will hang in their hearts with the words 'destroying the country and destroying the species'! Inspire the conscience! Eliminate private opinions! Do your duty! Let's go to the national disaster together! Yuan Shikai said in a deep voice, his voice was soon drowned out by the thunderous applause in the room again.

Despite the excitement of all the attendees, Yang Shuoming still seemed calm, his gaze turned out the window, and by this time the clear sky had become overcast, and a huge dark cloud obscured the sun, as if to foretell the coming storm.

At about the same time, at a foreigner-owned restaurant in Beijing, a veteran foreign journalist who had been in Beijing for many years saw this huge dark cloud and said with a sarcastic smile to the US ambassador to China, Reinsch, who was sitting at the table: "While we are happy here, China's sovereignty is drifting to the east like this cloud." The drama of North Korea is now repeating itself. ”

"Yes! Now this cloud will soon drift to Tokyo. Gu Weijun, who was sitting next to Rui Enshi, turned his head to look at the darkening dark clouds, revealing an extremely bitter smile. ,

Listening to Gu Weijun's words, Rui Enshi couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh.

During the months of negotiations, Rui Enshi, who has always had a good impression and sympathy for China, can be said to have done his best, but the results of his efforts have been very disappointing even to himself.

Although the Japanese strictly forbade the Chinese side to leak information about the negotiations, Reinsch and the British minister Zhu Erdian learned the details of the negotiations in the shortest possible time. At the end of each negotiation, the key members of the Chinese Foreign Ministry would hold a secret emergency meeting in a small conference room, at which Lu Zhengxiang and Cao Rulin would inform Gu Weijun of all the details, and Gu Weijun would inform Rui Enshi and Zhu Erdian of the progress and details of the negotiations by the next morning at the latest. Thanks to Gu Weijun's efforts, not only the British and American ministers, but also the French and Russian ministers also knew the contents of the "21 Articles."

In order to get rid of the noose imposed on their heads by the Japanese, Chinese diplomats for the first time used their own failure to keep secrets as a weapon, and they played it to the fullest.

Although the Western powers learned the news, to the disappointment of the Chinese side, although the Western powers were very dissatisfied with the actions of the Japanese behind their backs, they clearly did not intend to do anything. Just as Russia was only concerned about whether their interests in North Manchuria had been harmed, and France stopped talking about it after Japan hinted that it would not infringe on France's sphere of influence in southern China, the British had more obvious appeasement intentions than France and Russia, and in the whole process of negotiations, the British only pretended to let the minister in Japan "persuade" the Japanese Government, and after the Japanese said that they would not monopolize China, the British immediately turned in favor of Japan. In contrast, the attitude of the Americans appears to be more positive, but it is far from the extent of turning the other cheek with Japan for the sake of China. During the negotiations, Reinsch repeatedly telegraphed to the US Government to take action to stop the Japanese from persecuting China, and the US Government then conducted severe questioning of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, forcing Japan to disclose the main contents of the "21 Articles" to the outside world, and arguing to the US side that No. 5 was a "hope" rather than a "demand." Under pressure from the US side, Japan was forced to decide to cancel Article No. 5 at a cabinet meeting on 4 May. But that's all the Americans have done. At the last moment when the Japanese were "trying to show their fortune" to China, the US side finally only sent a note to the Chinese and Japanese governments, saying, "The US Government will never recognize any treaty between China and Japan that will harm US interests in China, the open-door policy, and the integrity of China's territory and domination." ”

At this time, Gu Weijun looked at the gradually darkening sky, and his mood became more and more sad.

Foreign aid is hopeless, it can't be beaten, and it can't afford to make peace, where is China's way out?

Just as Gu Weijun was anxious and hesitant, there was a strange roar in the sky.

Gu Weijun came to the window with some surprise, and at this time, he saw that there seemed to be a small black dot moving rapidly in the dark clouds in the sky.

Rui Enshi and the foreign reporters also noticed the anomaly in the sky, and gathered in front of the window, looking at the sky in unison.

The black dots in the sky were rapidly getting bigger, and soon, a biplane appeared in the sky.

Gu Weijun looked at the two-seater plane whose figure was getting clearer and clearer, and he noticed that the wings and fuselage of this plane were all painted with a big black and red "human" logo, and the nose of the plane was impressively depicted with a hideous dragon head with teeth and claws!

The dragon head pattern and the herringbone logo seemed to remind Gu Weijun of something, he couldn't believe the thoughts that suddenly surged out of his heart, at this time, he couldn't help but rush out of the door, came to the street, and looked up at the sky.

The plane swirled low in the sky for a while, as if looking for something, and in a few moments the plane began to descend and swooped down towards the middle of the street.

Seeing that the plane seemed to be about to land on the street, the people in the street screamed.

Gu Weijun watched the plane roaring and flying in a daze, he saw the plane landing steadily on the street, making a huge roar, and rushing straight towards him.

The pilot who piloted the plane obviously also spotted Gu Weijun standing in front of him, he waved his hand to Gu Weijun anxiously, signaling him to quickly dodge, but when he found that Gu Weijun showed no signs of moving, he desperately controlled the plane, trying to avoid the people on the street.

The plane then taxied forward, rushing straight towards Gu Weijun, and at the moment when he saw that the plane was about to hit Gu Weijun, the pilot suddenly steered the plane to turn, and the plane made a turn on the wide street, and then stopped steadily in front of Gu Weijun.

The pilot in the front seat of the plane looked at Gu Weijun, who was still standing there in a daze, leaned out of the cockpit angrily, took off the flight cap with goggles, and yelled at the counselor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"You fucking you! Want to die? ”

Hearing the pilot's scolding, Gu Weijun reacted to what had happened, he was not angry, but smiled slightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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