"If the situation compels it, the minister may cut it first and then play it, and sign a peace treaty with the Chinese side without waiting for His Majesty's holy ruling, so as not to miss the time and ask for the other side's sky-high price. In case, the minister said that in case the situation turned after the signing of the peace treaty, it would be better to say that it was the minister's own decision, and to give an explanation to the British with the minister's life. Ito Hirobumi bowed deeply to Meiji and said that he had come up with a method borrowed from Saigo's old wisdom.

"How can this be? Let me do it, Ito-kun, you're still young! Although his political views are different from Ito Hirobumi, he knows how important Ito Hirobumi is to Japan, and he would rather die himself than let Ito die early.

But Ito Hirobumi shook his head, saying that only he could do it, "Although Katsukun is highly respected, it may not be able to convince the Chinese that if they insist on waiting for the emperor to use the seal, it will not be easy to count." After all, I have been the prime minister of the cabinet, and the weight is much heavier, so this responsibility can only be borne by me. ”

Meiji was very moved after hearing this, he ignored the difference between the monarch and the minister, stepped forward and held Ito Hirobumi's hand for a long time and refused to let go, but he finally agreed to Ito Hirobumi's request, because this is indeed the best solution at the moment, compared to the entire country of Japan, it is too cost-effective to sacrifice just one person, even if that person is Ito Hirobumi.

Ito Hirobumi did not hold a grudge against this, not only because he made the request himself, but also because he knew that a good ruler should not be too emotional, and Meiji's performance made him deeply gratified that even if he was really gone, there was still hope for Japan.

Well, in fact, Ito Hirobumi is not so dangerous, because he will only sacrifice himself if China is defeated by the British, and it is an unexpected defeat when the situation is favorable before, and he has to lose very badly. This possibility is not very small, and it will never be great, and it is only a few percent to die, and it is not even as dangerous as Ito Hirobumi's participation in the Curtain Downfall Movement when he was young, so why would he not dare?

What's more, Ito also knows that Meiji is not mean and unkind, no matter what the outcome of his trip is, his family will definitely be taken care of; And if his gamble is successful, with this great merit in hand, as long as he does not make big mistakes in the future, his position will be unshakable, and his political ideals will definitely be realized at that time, for this goal, even if the risk is greater, Ito Hirobumi is willing to give it a try, after all, he is not a politician who can be satisfied with power, but a real politician.

Although Ito Hirobumi, who served as the chief envoy, and Katsu Haizhou, who served as the deputy envoy, both had a certain ability to spy on intelligence, but the two of them had a high status and it was inconvenient for them to go deep into the lower ranks, so Ito Hirobumi still brought several professional spy personnel, the leader of which was Fukushima Yasumasa, an army staff officer who used the identity of the military attache of the regiment as a cover

Although Japan's intelligence personnel made a lot of contributions in the First Sino-Japanese War in history, strictly speaking, their work was actually very problematic, and the main reason why they could achieve so much success was that the counter-espionage work of the Manchu Qing Dynasty or Beiyang was too bad. At this time and space, Li Hui just gave Li Hongzhang a wake-up call, and almost wiped out all the Japanese spies who came to China, which is a good proof.

Historically, it would take a few years for Japan to establish a mature and perfect intelligence department, and the one who made the greatest contribution was Fukushima Yasumasa, who was later called the "father of Japan's intelligence warfare."

At this time, Fukushima Yasumasa is still only a staff officer who has not even become a general, but he is already quite famous, both in Japan and in the world.

At the beginning of 1892, Fukushima Yasumasa, who regarded Tsarist Russia as Japan's greatest imaginary enemy in the future, set out from Germany in the name of exploration in order to collect intelligence, overcoming various difficulties including overcoming the extremely cold weather of minus 50 °C, and traveled through the whole of Russia alone, which lasted 488 days and traveled 14,000 kilometers, causing a sensation in the whole world. The Japanese authorities, who knew what his true purpose was, praised him for the amount of valuable information he had gathered, and even portrayed him as a hero of Japan.

Yasumasa Fukushima is fluent in five foreign languages, including Chinese, and is particularly adept at finding valuable information from publicly available information such as the daily lives of residents, making him a natural candidate for diplomatic espionage. Moreover, Fukushima Yasumasa also has the advantage that he is deeply admired by Aritomo Yamaguchi and has worked under the leadership of Ito Hirobumi, and using him as a military attaché can not only maintain the balance of factions within the mission, but also ensure the authority of Ito as a military envoy.

If Fukushima Yasumasa has any shortcomings, it is probably only naval expertise, but there is Katsu Kaishu, and the mission is on the Japanese Navy's substitute cruiser "Saikyo Maru" specially modified for inspection by the Minister of Military Command and other bigwigs, and it will definitely bring some naval professionals, even if it is some work that is inconvenient to do as Katsu Kaishu, I am not worried that I will not find someone to do it.

To the surprise of the mission, on the first day after going to sea, there were no Chinese warships wreaking havoc in Japan's coastal waters, and Sheng Haizhou analyzed that this was because Japan had a long coastline and many excellent ports, and although the Chinese Navy may have incorporated the Nanyang Naval Division and the Guangdong Naval Division, and the scale had been significantly expanded, it would have been impossible to completely block the passage for Japanese ships to go to sea when the main force was heading south.

"Especially those old warships generally have poor endurance, and they often have to return after staying here for a few days, and it is not difficult to avoid them after figuring out the rules." , a navy junior who had just returned told the truth indignantly, "The shortage of domestic materials is certainly due to the long-term blockade of the Chinese Navy, but the main reason is that those profiteers take the opportunity to hoard and raise prices, otherwise it would not be like this!" ”

Ito Hirobumi was a little embarrassed after hearing this, as the former prime minister of the Japanese cabinet, he knew the inside story, and it was not only ordinary small and medium-sized businessmen who participated in the speculation of food and other daily necessities, but even the three major chaebols were involved, and it was strange that the government could control it!

It is important to know that unlike China, which achieved great unification more than 2,000 years ago, in Japan, which had long practiced a feudal system, the status of merchants, especially large merchants, was much higher, and in the Edo period, many princes even relied on borrowing money from merchants to maintain the normal operation of their territories, which is unthinkable in China. After the Meiji Restoration, the three major zaibatsu led by Mitsui took full control of the Japanese economy, and even senior government officials like Ito Hirobumi could not stand without the support of the zaibatsu (to be continued). )