After just a few words of conversation, Liu Xiang became deeply interested in Guo Guoji, this young man who is less than 30 years old has a maverick thinking, but he has a different kind of insight, and what satisfies Liu Xiang the most is the attitude towards the motherland, and it is this kind of talent that is most needed to calm Taiwan and clean up the hearts of the people.

"Mr. Guo, what do you think of Lian Yatang and the others?"

The corners of Guo Guoji's mouth twitched slightly, and he said contemptuously: "Commander Liu, Lian Yatang is just a villain who wants to step on two boats and is greedy for profit, he traveled to China for a period of time in the first few years, and had contacts with some people in the Beiyang government, and after returning to Taiwan, he wrote the so-called "General History of Taiwan" These are just speculations to enhance his reputation, he is close to the motherland on the surface, but secretly colludes with Japan, and even I suspect that he was bought by Japan!" ”

"Mr. Guo, it's not good to speak ill of others behind your back!"

"Hmph, I said this even in front of him, not long ago, Lian Yatang wrote an article on the benefits of opium, advocating that the opium smoking of the Taiwanese people is a manifestation of hard work, which is worth advocating!"

Liu Xiang and Deng Xihou both stared at the boss, they couldn't believe their ears, since Lin Zexu Humen sold tobacco, the Chinese have realized the great harm of opium, counting it for decades, even the most shameless people dare not openly say that opium is beneficial, even in the Beiyang government's opium shop must be hung under the guise of only selling paste, this Lian Yatang's brain has been burned out, and he actually applauded opium!

"Commander Liu, Chief of Staff Deng, in recent years, Japan has been financially constrained, and it is urgent to exploit the colonies to obtain benefits, Taiwan's opium was originally controlled by the Mitsui chaebol, since President Qiao took power, the motherland has vigorously banned opium, this trend has also blown to Taiwan, and the people everywhere consciously boycott opium, so that opium sales have shrunk year after year. Neither the Japanese government nor the chaebol can sit still. Do everything possible to expand sales, Lian Yatang came out at this time, and it is normal to solve problems for the master, in the past, I also thought that Lian Yatang was just a little sleek, and he also understood the national righteousness in his heart, and now he sees that everything is his face. In essence, he is still a Japanese minion, but his acting level is a little better! ”

Hearing Guo Guoji's explanation, Liu Xiang combined the information he got and found that most of what he said was right, and now it seems that Lian Yatang is indeed an opportunist, and he is still the type that has no shame. There has always been no shortage of this kind of ugliness in Chinese history, and Mingzhe is their best fig leaf, just like Lian Yatang, who first did everything possible to increase his fame in China, and then in turn attracted the attention of the Japanese.

After he can talk to the high-level leaders on both sides, he will be left and right, and he will take advantage of both ends, and whoever is strong will do things for whom. At the same time, try not to offend either side. In the past, the Japanese had the upper hand, and he could even write articles about the benefits of opium. It shows how shameless it is, now that China is powerful, he came over early to express his allegiance, but at this time, he did not forget to help the Japanese governor to send a letter to Mitsuyuki Shangyama, in order to turn the feng shui around in the future, and he can still be left and right.

Seeing through this ugly face, Liu Xiang's heart became more and more disgusted with people like Lian Yatang, the current China is completely different from the past, the tricks of the old bureaucrats have become more and more marketable, the whole country pays attention to the selection of talents, everything must be based on real talent and real learning, pay attention to real skills, it is already very difficult to rely on political speculation to get to the top, and it is also disdainful of others!

"Mr. Guo, I am ready to hire me to be in charge of propaganda work, responsible for letting the people of Taiwan accept the motherland as soon as possible, and at the same time digging out the pro-Japanese elements hidden in all social strata.

Guo Guoji gladly received the order, Liu Xiang stationed troops in Keelung for about ten days, the follow-up troops have been driven one after another, the Chinese army on the island exceeded 50,000 people, Liu Xiang immediately personally commanded two divisions, a total of 30,000 troops marched towards Taipei, as in the past, it was still the air force to open the way, and the air force threw a large number of leaflets in advance where the army passed.

After several rounds of contests, China and Japan finally reached a consensus on some major aspects, and Foreign Minister Gu Weijun was reporting to Qiao Yu in the Miyun Villa.

"President, in the territory Japan agrees to return the islands of Taiwan and Sakhalin, but also asks us to give up the Ryukyus, and in the Korean direction, Japan agrees to recognize the ruling power of the Republic of Korea in northern Korea, but demands that China not annex Korea!"

As for the Korean issue, it is a matter between North Korea and China, and it has nothing to do with Japan, if Japan still wants to intervene, China will never agree, and you can tell Japan that the areas demanded by China are now within China's line of actual control, and if Japan is obsessed, China will take back South Korea and the Far East together, and even Tanegashima in Japan will face the danger of loss!"

For the territorial issue, the Chinese region is very relaxed, and there is no lion to open his mouth, in fact, this is not Qiao Yu's benevolence, but the meal has to be eaten one bite at a time, and he can't be busy, and although China's domestic economy is developing well, the foundation is still too thin, and it is not enough to digest too much territory, so he did not make too many demands, but if Japan is obsessed, China will not mind expanding its territory!

Gu Weijun also held this view on the territorial issue, saying that he could only take tough measures against Japan, and that the territory that had already been acquired could never be returned, and that China was not a Manchu Qing dynasty and would never fight an undefeated battle.

"In addition, the issue of the biggest difference is the issue of reparations, our side is asking for 2.3 billion Chinese dollars in compensation, but Japan resolutely disagrees, they don't want to pay a penny of compensation!"

China compensated 230 million taels of silver in the First Sino-Japanese War, and this time China opened the price to 2.3 billion, which also means that it is a shame before the snow, of course, the units of the two are not the same, and the problem of inflation must be considered, in fact, the difference is not as big as ten times, but the amount of this indemnity is far more than Japan's bottom line.

In modern times, Japan has not been a rich country, and there is a huge gap between the European and American powers, and it is not easy to accumulate a little family foundation in World War I, and the Soviet Union and Russia fought in the Far East, losing a lot, and then suffered the Great Kanto Earthquake. The losses are even more staggering. With a huge deficit in the current fiscal system, it is difficult for them to come up with that much money.

"Minister Gu, what do you think about the issue of reparations?"

"President, I think Japan's ability to compensate is indeed limited, and it is absolutely impossible to come up with cash, so I think it is better to compensate in kind, for example, it can confiscate a division of Japanese warships. Or take some factory equipment in Japan, and then we can compensate for our losses! ”

Qiao Yu suddenly remembered a new idea in his heart, but he didn't say it to Gu Weijun, he just said: "Minister Gu, you can make an appointment for me with Japanese Prime Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki and Xiyuan Temple Gongwang, I want to talk to them alone about the issue of reparations!" ”

"It's best for the president to come forward in person. Now there is another difficult problem is the division of naval strength, this problem has already involved the United States and Britain, because of the defeat of Japan, they no longer have the strength to maintain the naval share obtained at the Washington Conference, the naval forces of various countries need a new balance, over how to distribute tonnage, the debate is very fierce, especially the United States and Britain are preparing to build a large number of aircraft carriers. And France and Italy are also going to be involved! ”

Naval armament has always been at the heart of the concerns of countries in this era. In this era of sea power, a strong navy means huge overseas interests. This is also the core lifeblood of all countries, the war between China and Japan has undoubtedly shown the unique combat effectiveness of aircraft carriers, and now in addition to China, the main force of the navy is still battleships, it can be said that it has fallen behind the times and must be updated.

It is precisely for this reason that the United States and Britain strongly advocate peace talks, and their main purpose is to take this opportunity to redetermine the distribution of naval tonnage and avoid a new round of naval competition!

The arms race is a nightmare for all countries, and the cold warships are piled up with countless amounts of silver, and there is no ambiguity at all, and it is a huge test of national strength, and the United States and Britain now have their own difficulties.

The situation is even worse for the United Kingdom, which has a large number of battleships, most of which are old from the First World War, and whose declining national power means that they have little strength to cope with the new round of naval transformation.

You must know that the construction of aircraft carriers can be a systematic project, in addition to aircraft carriers, but also to train a large number of pilots, build a large number of auxiliary ships, all of which require huge investment, Britain is now in industrial decline, financial emptiness, the burden of overseas colonies is getting heavier and heavier, it can be said that this empire that never sets the sun has entered the afterglow of the sunset.

If we frantically plunge into a new arms race at this time, I am afraid that if we don't have to fight, the country will collapse, so what Chamberlain and all parties talk about most these days is the naval issue, and Chamberlain strongly demanded that the aircraft carriers of various countries should be controlled within an acceptable range, and absolutely not to start an arms race easily.

Compared with the naval question of Britain's fate, how Japan negotiated peace with China was a minor matter, and was relegated to a secondary position.

"Minister Gu, for the naval issue, we are in favor of control, but the specific distribution must be carefully weighed, we might as well reconvene an international conference, this time the Beijing peace talks are mainly between China and Japan, and after the two countries restore peace, we will discuss it!"

After the explanation, Qiao Yu met with Japanese Prime Minister Reijiro Wakatsuki and the patriarch Saionji Gongwang that night, and Qiao Yu went straight to the point.

"Both, China and Japan used to be friendly neighbors, but your country insisted on going its own way, resulting in today's situation of fighting each other, which is a harm to the people of the two countries, I hope that the two countries will quickly restore peace, and we had better quickly give a solution to the issue of reparations!"

"Your Excellency, the Imperial Government is willing to bear the responsibility for compensation, but the economic situation of the Empire does not allow for such a large amount of money, and there is really no way to reach the amount demanded by China!"

"Well, in that case, I'll provide you two with a new plan, how about you see?" (To be continued.) )