"The Qing Emperor issued an edict to nationalize the country's railways. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"

When Mr. Kuroshima saw the news, he was preparing to attend a celebration hosted by a special envoy of the South Korean government to welcome the Second Brigade of the Imperial Japanese Army to Busan. So, after a brief consideration, and in a few seconds, he crumpled the telegram into a ball, and threw it out with all his might, as if wishing it to leave him, and the farther away the better.

"Your Excellency, Director?" The spy delivering the telegram looked at him in astonishment. He had read the telegram, and his analytical abilities as a spy told him that it was good news, and therefore his superiors should like it.

But he threw it away.

Why?

"Nothing. Forget about it. Kuroshima waved his hand, but didn't say much—he didn't want to talk about the news. It's good news, it's just meaningless.

The strategic center of gravity of the imperial government has been completely shifted to Korea. In order to fight for control of the peninsula and fulfill the terms of the loan agreement signed with the Bank of the United States, the countdown to war with the Lucian Empire is imminent. In this special period, Tokyo will not support his plan to recapture Formosa at all, even if there is a good opportunity in front of him.

"What a great opportunity that is." He muttered under his breath, half to himself.

"Your Excellency?"

Kuroshima didn't seem to hear the call of his subordinates. He slowly turned in the direction of China, looked at it, and continued to sigh: "At least 100,000 men bought shares in those two unfinished railways, and a fifth of them were officials, landlords, and wealthy merchants. If the Qing emperor wants to nationalize the railways, even if we do nothing, it will cause violent social unrest...... It's a shame. ”

This time, the spy didn't say anything, just waited quietly.

"I could have avoided that stupid plan." Kuroshima then sighed, his face turning depressed. It was a grave mistake to place the burden of social unrest on the crappy conspirators, and to place hopes in them: the adventurous plan that had infuriated the Cabinet and the General Staff Headquarters did not succeed, and he became not only the laughing stock of his peers, but also severely reprimanded by His Majesty the Emperor......

"It's a shame." He repeated.

Then he stopped talking.

After a few more moments, convinced that he really couldn't speak, the spy felt like he could speak. "Your Excellency, Director." He tentatively suggested, "Maybe we can do some of it ourselves—"

"I said, forget about it." Kuroshima turned his face sideways and glared at him fiercely, causing the spy to shut his mouth obediently and quickly. Then Kuroshima Ren announced: "From now on, I will suspend the Kuroshima Agency's spy activities against China, and use all the forces that can be mobilized to collect information about the Lucia Empire." ”

It was not his own will, but it was the only way to save his future after being reprimanded by His Majesty the Emperor and becoming a thorn in the side of the Cabinet and the General Staff Headquarters. And, if he can do well in that new battleground, he can save his reputation.

Reputations must be salvaged. Ren Kuroshima knew that he could not disgrace the Kuroshima family, who were "pure-blooded Chinese for three thousand years".

"Also," secretly thinking about his own private affairs, he continued, "The intelligence work against Qin Lang and the umbrella group also needs to be suspended. Inform the people in charge of this part of the work and instruct them to go into hiding, and not to do anything until I give new instructions. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"We must create an illusion that Qin Lang thinks that we have given up our activities against him." Kuroshima Ren turned in one direction, looked to the east, looked at the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and then raised his head with a sneer on his face. "Just let him be happy for a while."

A few seconds later, he snorted again. "But I think he's very happy by now."

His guess was not wrong, Qin Lang was indeed very happy, and it was not just him, Rachel was also very happy - for no other reason, but because they had calculated the final benefits of the second phase of the railway plan.

Eight million dollars -- not a whole number, of course, is a little more than eight million -- a small amount compared to the first phase of the plan, but given the state of China's economy and the exchange rate of silver against the dollar, it is still an outstanding achievement that deserves much celebration.

"Maybe we should have a big cocktail party." Rachel suggested—for her character, it was not easy to suggest.

Qin Lang smiled and shook his head. "In San Diego, there is no point in holding this kind of celebration. You know, here, we were the only ones involved in that program, and the only ones left were the victims of the first phase. He blinked, "Let me think, you're not going to show off in front of them, are you?" ”

"Of course not." Rachel denied it with a serious face, but within two seconds she was revealing her true colors: "Although I do want to do that." ”

"Then I'd suggest you hire a team of professional dignitaries, and UMBRELLA is more than happy to recommend this service to you, ma'am." Qin Lang's serious suggestion made Rachel, who was drinking champagne, choke. She coughed, and Yi Shui hurriedly stepped forward to help her regain her composure.

As he did it, he reproached, "You should know that enough is enough. And I don't see anything to celebrate about this, it's just eight million dollars, and most of our plans could make more. ”

Qin Lang was amused by him. He knew that Yi Shui said that "most of our plans could make more" by no means because he had such a keen sense of foresight, he said that only because he was unwilling to continue to watch him and Rachel make fun of that thing, because: first, his joke caused her to choke, and second, the old mistake of this patriotic young man had been repeated.

Just like it was a week ago.

Of course, this time the situation was not serious, but it caused him to be a little depressed. Again, for two reasons: first, the Chinese people were being harvested by American capital, and second, the Manchu government was shaking the foundations of its rule. The second result was exactly what he was looking forward to, but it was not surprising that he felt depressed when he thought back to the time when he loved that government so much that he even ran away from home to study sailing in the United States alone, and although he began to participate in and plot a plot to overthrow it within a few years, when it was really in crisis and about to collapse.

Qin Lang understands Yi Shui, but that doesn't mean he will support him.

"You've always been like this, man." "It's your choice, so you have to accept the outcome," he admonished. ”

"Of course I accept that result, Qin." Yi Shui said, "It's just that I don't think there's any need to celebrate it—"

"You know, that's just a joke." Rachel interjected. She has fully recovered.

"I know it's just a joke, Rachel." He insisted on his opinion, "The problem is, now is not the time to joke, we still have a big mess of things to solve!" ”

"For example?" Qin Lang pretended to be attentive.

And Yi Shui continued. "For example, we haven't actually gotten the money yet, and of course that's something you need to be concerned about. And what I have to worry about is how to bring down the Manchu government, but not so quickly that no one can quickly grasp the situation in the country. ”

"You're worried about a civil war?" Rachel asked. Now, her expression has also become serious: Yi Shui's family is in China. Although she hadn't seen anyone else but his father, had no affection for them, didn't actually care about them, and as an arms dealer, she loved war - just like Qin Lang.

But as his wife, she still had to show her concern.

Not exactly ceremonial. She didn't want him to hear some sad and unfortunate news.

Yi Shui didn't want to hear that either, but he didn't have time to worry about his family - since he could have made a move to run away from home a few years ago and never went back, it was natural that he nodded at her and said in the affirmative: "If the Manchu government collapses quickly, then there will be a civil war." ”

"But I remember that you had some supporters in China, and a few of them controlled the military."

"Yes." Qin Lang replied.

"It's just that they still have too few troops at their disposal, only tens of thousands of soldiers, which is not enough to control a huge country." Yi Shui glanced at Qin Lang, and then said, "And their political power is even weaker than their military strength, almost non-existent. ”

Qin Lang understood the meaning of his glance: according to his advice, Zhang Binglin had been selecting his comrades very carefully, not only with the same political convictions and firm will, but also after a long period of investigation to determine that the person was not his spy, which made the development of his organization seem very slow.

Until recently, the political group he was planning to form — and, not particularly interestingly, the "Republican Party" — had only about a hundred core members. With only such a small number of people, it is absolutely impossible for that group to control a country.

Yes, it basically equals non-existence.

Qin Lang raised his eyebrows. "It's a bit of a problem. However, I firmly believe that Zhang Binglin's cautious attitude is correct. ”

"He did the right thing." Yi Shui glanced at him again. There are some things you know and I understand. He thought to himself, but he didn't stop talking. "But the situation is moving faster and more complicated than he expected."

"Maybe not as bad as you think." Rachel cautiously said, "The Qing government should still be able to maintain its rule. After all, it still has the army in its hands, although the soldiers are basically cowardly and useless waste. ”

Yi Shui nodded, then shook his head. "You know what the combat effectiveness of the Qing army is. They were waste, but the Manchu government had to deal with more than 20,000 officials, landlords and wealthy merchants, all of whom had great influence and were able to mobilize a large number of people and materials, and even private armed forces. ”

"The militia in Guangdong is enough to give the government a headache." Qin Lang shrugged.

Rachel thought for a moment, and finally could only say, "According to your description, it looks really bad. ”

"Yes—"

"It's not that bad." Qin Lang interrupted Yi Shui and said, "Before the various regions begin to take force against the expropriation of the railway, we still have time to complete the first phase of the training project of that young emperor's 600,000 army plan, which means 120,000 well-trained troops, which can give us a great advantage. Not only that, but theoretically, the 120,000 soldiers of the second phase of the training program could also carry out simple repressive tasks. ”

He smiled. "In the end, my plan is exactly what was prepared for the current situation."

"Your plan?" Both Yi Shui and Rachel had heard for the first time that he had a plan, and although it seemed nothing strange according to past practice, Qin Lang had always declared that he had no interest in leading the revolution in China, which made them confused and curious. "What's the plan?"

"When the time comes," he replied, still in the same mystical style as he had always maintained, "you will know." (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )