The decision of the Military Aircraft Department was not sent to the whole country in writing. Because the emperor's jade seal was needed to mobilize troops, Li Hongzhang did not present it to the emperor after writing the chapter. The emperor didn't even take the initiative to ask. Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention it again, and everyone thought that what the emperor said on impulse did not count. Wait for tomorrow morning to discuss again......

It was already late at night, and the editorial office of Daqing Daily was still brightly lit. The editors were happily talking. There are three meat and three vegetarian side dishes on the table, as well as two pots of good Moutai. However, these good side dishes were not cared for, and everyone was immersed in the topic of discussion. This newspaper hall can be seen by anyone with a discerning eye, and it is a place where the emperor cultivates the future pillars of the imperial court. Although these people have no real power, they have the right to speak specially approved by the emperor, and they can speak boldly. Each person has his own opinion, and he is not guilty of anything that is right or wrong! Guan Xuqing also often looked at the newspaper and looked at the editor's name. Which person is avant-garde and dares to accept new things. Within a few days, he was transferred away as an official!

That night, everyone was in the editorial office discussing France's initiative to sue for peace.

Among this group of people, the oldest is Zheng Guanying, the person in charge of the newspaper hand-picked by the emperor. At this time, he was slightly drunk, and said in a daze.

"In the naval battle of the East China Sea, our Dashimizu Division won a complete victory, and the French army will have nothing to do with us for a while, and the French minister has also proposed peace talks, and the question now is, how do we decide?! Whether to recognize the rule of the legal person in Annam in this peace negotiation, or to continue the fight and defeat the French once and for all. If we continue to fight, what are the chances of our Daqing Dynasty winning, how much loss will I pay, and what is the reaction in France? And what are the benefits of my Daqing? However, I see the emperor's thoughts, it seems that he doesn't want to fight with the French again, and if he wants to fight, he will wait until our national strength is stronger in the future. ”

His words were immediately approved by most people, among whom Kang Youwei, who had recently been directly assigned by Guan Xuqing to enter the newspaper office, was in high spirits, and said with his hands gesturing: "I strongly agree with the emperor's thoughts, these days I read foreign newspapers, and the French already had 38 ironclad ships, 9 coastal defense ironclad ships, 50 cruisers, gunboats, and 80 torpedo ships the year before last. The total tonnage reached 500,000 tons. The second largest navy in the world, after the United Kingdom. If we continue to fight, even if we can win two battles once in a while, we will inevitably lose in the end. Only by winning and seeking peace is the right thing. Now that the legal person is taking the initiative to seek peace, I am afraid that it will be difficult to propose the terms of compensation for the cession of land. As for the concern that some people are worried that the occupation of Vietnam by the legal person will be unfavorable to our Qing Dynasty, I think it is unfounded. In the past, the British, the French, and the Russians all wanted to get a piece of the pie. That's because we ourselves are not strong enough, as long as I can endure for one or two decades, when I become strong in the Qing Dynasty, then the French want to offend our Qing Dynasty, and they will bring humiliation on themselves. ”

Everyone nodded yes, although they didn't want to admit it. But in fact, their generation has a natural fear of foreigners in their hearts, and the more they know about foreigners, the more fearful they become. Because in their opinion, whether it is the political system, military strength, national quality, or cultural level, it is much worse. The Qing Dynasty cannot be an opponent of foreigners!

Only those martial artists who don't understand anything will kill foreigners as monkeys in battle! He doesn't understand, so he's not afraid!

Seeing this, Zheng Guanying said: "Then this article on war and non-war will be ghostwritten by Brother Lao Kang!" It will be sent to the whole country tomorrow, so that people in the world can see that my forbearance in the Qing Dynasty today is for the sake of taking off in the future. ”

At this moment, a thin black young man wearing a pair of black-rimmed eyes and sitting in a corner stood up. Said to everyone: "I want to say my shallow opinion, I always think that my Qing Dynasty is not without opportunities, now the French Far East Fleet is newly defeated, the warships are not in order, as long as my Daqing Division goes south to the South China Sea, it can control the sea power, cut off the French supply to Annam, at this time the army will launch a large-scale counteroffensive, before the French fleet comes to help, control the entire Vietnam as quickly as possible, so that even if the French domestic reinforcements come, it is rootless and difficult to last long." ”

This black and thin young man's name is Yan Fu, and he is a talented student of Weihai Shipbuilding School. Recently, he was recommended by Peng Yulin and was released to the newspaper by Guan Xuqing.

As soon as Yan Fu's words were finished, before everyone had time to think deeply, Kang Youwei had already questioned beside him: "Is Brother Yan too idealistic, the number of legal person troops is large, there are as many as 70,000. And our Qing Dynasty only had 50,000 in Vietnam, and the French army had controlled Vietnam for so long that there was no need for domestic supplies of grain and grass. As for weapons and ammunition, in fact, I am even more lacking in the Qing Dynasty, and it has been half a year since the war between China and France. The state treasury has bottomed out, and the major arms manufacturing bureaus have been cut off due to funding problems. How could the French occupy Vietnam be wiped out in an instant? Besides, the French army still has the Indian Ocean Fleet in the Far East, and at this moment it is only afraid that it is already on the way. And even if we win, what will I get? Is it a few hundred miles of wasteland in Vietnam? Or reparations for the French? Even if the French were defeated, that is, they withdrew to Europe, could we still catch up with Europe? Receiving reparations from the French is pure fantasy. At that time, everyone in the country will not have enough to eat, orphans and widows will be everywhere, and the treasury will be poor. In my opinion, even if the French demanded reparations this time, as long as the amount was not excessive, it would be acceptable. And after a decade or two of perseverance, it is really possible for me to go to Europe and ask them to return all the money to us, including the principal and interest. ”

Kang Youwei spoke endlessly, and most of the people agreed with his views. Although Yan Fu felt that something was always missing, he couldn't say it. According to what Kang Youwei said, why did the emperor launch the Sino-French war? After half a year of fighting, I didn't get anything in the Qing Dynasty, Vietnam didn't get it, and I also took the Fujian Naval Division, Mawei Military Port, and most of the Nanyang Naval Division, and even had to pay compensation?

The next morning, outside the noon gate. Most of the officials waiting for the DPRK are exchanging things about peace talks!

"These days are really worrying, I knew for the first time that the Nanyang sailors did not come to Tianjin, but went to the East China Sea to fight with the French. Hurriedly sold the pawnshop in the capital and sent his wife back to her parents' house. I thought that this time the foreigners were going to hit the capital again. I didn't want to ......."

"Alas, you! It's not a good thing to know too much news, you see, to rush out of the pawnshop. I must have lost a lot. Look, is the emperor willing to negotiate peace this time? ”

"Needless to say, the emperor wants to fight, but look at who else is willing to fight? There were only ten ships left in the Nanyang Naval Division. Although the army did not suffer too many losses, it was heard that the ammunition could not keep up. There is no money in the treasury. The Black Flag Army in Vietnam had never used a gun, and last month the emperor ordered them to receive relief equipment. As a result, the consumption of ammunition was horrifying, and the bullets and artillery dropped by a few thousand men were more than our 50,000 troops in the Qing Dynasty. ”

"Alas, the bandits. The dare guns are all fired towards the sky. ”

Everyone entered the Taihe Hall and saw that the dragon chair was empty. After waiting for a long time, the emperor didn't come out, and they started to talk about it. Some people say that the emperor is sick, and some people say that the emperor is also worried about whether to fight or not, so he simply thinks about it for another day. There are even more obscene people who guess that the emperor is someone in the harem, and he let the palace maid sleep yesterday. Today, I am nostalgic and warm, and I don't want to get up.

Just when everyone was guessing, Zhang Yu, the four-rank guard with a knife and the commander of the Imperial Forest Army, appeared on the case and said loudly: "The emperor has a decree, and he will not go to court today!" ”

There are many more unbelievable conjectures at the moment......

"It's not a palace maid, I've heard. It was with Emperor Tongzhi's concubine Yi. ”

"No, no, the prince said that he was with the palace maid last night."

"I've heard that he's sick. Smallpox is out. ”

"What do you all know? Don't guess. Yesterday, the emperor left the palace and spent the night in Lihua Courtyard. ”

Just as everyone was talking, Zhang Yu shouted loudly again: "The emperor has an order, and the ministers kneel to listen." ”

And they knelt down to hear

“…… Since I was taught, I have often lamented that my Chinese shame is beyond the past and the present. Throughout China and abroad, there is no one who has ceded land and paid compensation to become rich and strong, but since the Daoguang Dynasty, against the foreigners, our Qing soldiers do not think about the strategy of protecting the country and the country, and they have no intention of killing the enemy and defending the country. But he pinned his hopes on the compensation for the land cession, and begged for peace. Daoguang cut Hong Kong in the nineteenth year, cut the Rus in the second year of Tongzhi and cut Jiangdong, and cut the Ryukyus in the thirteenth year of Tongzhi, but I didn't see that the Qing Dynasty was getting stronger and stronger, but the sun set and the mountains set down. Therefore, since I became pro-government, I have reorganized the new army, opened factories, established banks, purchased schools, purchased warships, and reorganized the army and military forces just so that China will no longer be bullied by foreigners. Thanks to the blessing of the sailors, the East China Sea won a complete victory in the first battle and raised the prestige of our country! However, more than 1,000 martyrs died in the sea, and I am deeply saddened. I swear to the heroic spirit today that one day, the Qing Dynasty will no longer cut an inch of land and pay one tael of silver. Today, the French want to cut off my Vietnam and divide me into two pieces of silver. I will fight it to the end! Either I defeat the legal person, or the legal person destroys the Qing Dynasty. Then I can tell the people of the world and tell the ministers. I will win! The legal person will be defeated! Heaven and man learn from it, the ancestors learn from it, and the Chinese people learn from it. ”

As soon as this edict came out, the court immediately exploded, and the sound of chirping filled the entire Taihe Palace. Many ministers stepped forward to ask where the emperor was, and wanted to enter the palace to ask for a meeting, but they were all stopped by Wang Yu's imperial army.

At this time, Guan Xu Qingzheng personally ordered the mobilization of troops across the country!

He pondered the map for a moment before hastening to put pen to paper......

After this edict was sent to the whole country, the terrible waves that had been stirred up by the great victory in the East China Sea reached an unimaginable height, and this edict raised this terrible wave to a new height. Countless young people put down their private schools to apply for military schools, and in the barracks where they couldn't catch strong men, some people took the initiative to ask to be soldiers! The whole country is united, and the anti-French sentiment is rising!

A new war is about to begin......