At a time when Wang Chenhao threw a lot of money to build the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base, the situation in the Far East and Northeast Asia was undergoing tremendous changes.

After the outbreak of the Ulwei Incident in the autumn of 1895, Concubine Min was brutally killed, and King Yi Hee fled to the Russian embassy in Korea, and after receiving the positive support of the Russian political axe, he officially proclaimed himself emperor in January 1896, declaring that Joseon would be free from the assisted rule of the Lord.

In addition to providing weapons and ammunition to the Korean volunteers, Russia also transferred an integrated division from the Amur Military Region to South Gyeongsang Province and North Gyeongsang Province in North Korea, in the name of protecting the Russian naval base in Busan, in order to cut off the retreat of the Third Division.

Germany, France, and Russia are all nostrils on the Korean Peninsula, and their common enemies at this time are all Sayben, and they want to drive Nappen out of the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, warships were sent to cruise around the Korean Peninsula to deter the Korean army.

The 3rd Division's frenzied suppression of the Korean volunteers was smooth at first, but with the continuous improvement of military assistance from Germany, France, and Russia, the Korean volunteers gradually formed a guerrilla force that was enough to exhaust the Korean army after many bloody battles.

With the outbreak of the financial turmoil in the Far East, the capital of the silver-standard countries and the financial situation of Russia were hit hard. Especially in this case, the economy, which was already on the verge of erosion after the First Sino-Japanese War, was even worse. The Kuroda Kiyotaka cabinet had no choice but to continue to cut financial expenditures, with the result that the Third Division of the Korean Army in Korea was starved of supplies and fell into a bitter battle.

On March 15, the Kuroda Kiyotaka cabinet held an enlarged meeting, and the cabinet and the War Department held discussions to discuss whether to withdraw troops from North Korea.

It was very difficult for the company to make this decision, because the withdrawal of troops from Korea would be tantamount to the complete defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, which he had painstakingly prepared, and not only would he not gain any benefits, but would lose his entire navy and tens of millions of pounds in war costs. However, there seems to be no other way to do this, and Korea has become the sphere of influence of the three European powers, Germany, France, and Russia, and even the British dare not meddle in the affairs of North Korea, let alone the small one. Moreover, the national economy was already in serious predicament after the First Sino-Japanese War, and the financial turmoil in the Far East that had just raged made it even worse, and it was utterly unable to support the struggle for hegemony with the foreign powers in Korea.

The Kuroda Kiyotaka cabinet tried hard to persuade the Army General Staff to agree to withdraw troops, but faced strong opposition from the War Ministry. The only benefit to be gained in the First Sino-Japanese War was North Korea, and it was very difficult for the War Department to spit out North Korea.

However, the collapse of the economy is a fact, and the War Department knows that there is no money to support the army.

At the palace of Prince Miyachihito, Kiyotaka Kuroda brought Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu to visit, and it happened that Hirobumi Ito was also there.

"The current domestic and international situation is not conducive to the Empire, and I hope that His Royal Highness the Prince can support it."

Kuroda Kiyotaka said his intention, in fact, he didn't say that Prince Gong Chihito also understood, he had been discussing with Ito Hirobumi for a while.

Mutsu said: "There is an old Chinese saying that if we take a step back and endure the calm for a while, we may be able to obtain unexpected gains from withdrawing our troops from North Korea." ”

Gong Chiren smiled: "The Foreign Minister seems to have a better opinion!" ”

Mutsu Zongguang bowed slightly, and said with a smile: "At present, the situation in the Far East and Northeast Asia is complicated, and it is far beyond the scope of the empire's financial and military strength. Germany, France, and Russia are concentrated in Korea, and even Britain can only look at the ocean and sigh. The Russian Empire, the Qing Empire, and the Great Empire became the center of the three-legged contradiction based on the Korean Peninsula. At the beginning, the Qing Empire ceded Korea to us, which made Russia hostile to each other, and then gave the Qing Empire a respite to actively develop its own military strength. Rather than saying that Russia would fight to the death and let the Qing Empire's fishermen benefit, it was better to take the initiative to withdraw from Korea and divert Russia's military objectives in order to promote a military confrontation between Qing and Russia. ”

Hirobumi Ito nodded and said, "What the Foreign Minister said makes a lot of sense. Russia's Busan naval base has opened up a sea route into the Pacific Ocean, and as long as the empire withdraws from Korea, Russia will no longer aim at the islands. In turn, the Yellow Russia plan, which Russia had been pursuing, would lead to a shift of Russian Far Eastern military power to the Qing Empire. ”

Kuroda Kiyotaka also said: "We choose to take a step back and vacate the Korean Peninsula to Russia, so that the surge in contradictions between Qing and Russia can give the empire a breather." If war breaks out between Qing and Russia, our empire may be able to profit from it. ”

Gong Chiren nodded, and the words of several people touched his heart, and he didn't have such thoughts.

"This king has studied the Yongping Qiuying of the Qing Empire, and there are indeed many merits in the training method of its new army, coupled with advanced German weapons and equipment, it is certain to become an elite division in time. If the empire blindly competes with Russia in Korea, it will cheapen the Qing empire, and wait until they have trained the new army badly. ”

Ito Hirobumi said: "Your Highness's concern is not unreasonable, the Qing Empire will train a new army in eight months, as long as the financial resources are sufficient, hundreds of thousands of new troops can be trained in a few years, which is extremely unfavorable to the empire's future continental plans." ”

Kuroda Kiyotaka then said: "Therefore, it is in the fundamental interests of the empire that we withdraw our troops from Korea as soon as possible, let the Russian Empire and the Qing Empire have contradictions, and let war break out between them." ”

Gong Chiren was persuaded by them, nodded and said, "Your Excellency, please rest assured, this king supports you." ”

Kuroda Kiyotaka was immediately overjoyed, nodded and thanked: "Thank you so much, Your Highness!" ”

Gong Chiren nodded, the goal of several people was achieved, and the atmosphere was suddenly much more relaxed, so they raised their glasses and drank together.

Mutsu Zong put down his cup after drinking it and said, "This financial turmoil in the Far East made me realize one thing, there is a person in the Qing Empire who is extremely dangerous to the empire. ”

Ito Hirobumi smiled: "The Foreign Minister is talking about that Wang Chenhao, right?" ”

Mutsu Munemitsu nodded, and everyone gritted their teeth, and anger suddenly appeared on their faces.

Kuroda Kiyotaka sighed: "This Wang Chenhao is really a legendary figure, it is said that the Qing Empire was able to survive this financial turmoil because of his advice. ”

Mutsu Munemitsu smiled bitterly and said, "That's not all. Recently, the imperial legations in Europe and the United States have sent back telegrams, and almost every telegram will mention the word Wang Chenhao. ”

Gong Chiren asked: "I heard that the power within the Qing Empire is tilting, this Wang Chenhao has left the Beiyang Army to visit Russia, I don't know what strange things he has done?" ”

Mutsu Zongguang said: "This Wang Chenhao organized a fleet called the Marine Biological Environmental Research to follow him all the way to St. Petersburg, which is actually selling mutton and dog meat, which is a professional salvage team. Along the way, they salvaged several ancient shipwrecks from the Tang and Song dynasties, and then auctioned them off in the cities they passed through, and it is said that they made tens of millions of pounds. ”

Everyone gasped, you look at me, I look at you, all with a look of envy and death.

Kuroda Kiyotaka said unhappily: "Why can't we afford such a good thing?" A few million pounds was enough to restore the imperial economy to pre-war levels. ”

Gong Chiren said: "So Wang Chenhao has this huge amount of money, he can form a huge army and navy force?" ”

Mutsu Munemitsu nodded, noncommittal. Kuroda Kiyotaka is associated with the economy, and Gong Chiren is associated with the military, both of which are possible.

Ito Hirofumi said coldly: "The new army of the Qing Empire was trained by Wang Chenhao, and their Dengyun-class battleships in the navy are also specially designed to deal with the Empire's Fuji-class battleships. ”

Gong Chiren sighed and said, "Do you think we don't want to get rid of him?" But this person is a high-level important member of the Qing Empire, not to mention the many difficult hands guarding around him, and the slightest accidental leakage of our news will cause a huge [***] or even a war. At present, the Imperial Navy is unable to compete with the Qing Imperial Navy, so it can only endure it for the time being. ”

Mitsu Ao Zongguang said suddenly: "Now that Wang Chenhao is not in the country, the guards around him must not be so tight. He's abroad, so it's easy to start. Moreover, he is visiting Russia this time, and if he is allowed to die in Russia, it will inevitably cause tension between China and Russia. This is an opportunity to create contradictions between China and Russia. ”

Gong Chiren frowned and said: "But if you are not careful, the empire will be held accountable by China and Russia!" ”

Hirobumi Ito then said, "Let's be careful!" There are dead soldiers in the empire, and the news will not leak out. Moreover, Wang Chenhao now has a lot of huge money in his hands, and it is easy to create the illusion of robbery and manslaughter after the matter is completed. ”

Although Kuroda Kiyotaka did not agree with their point of view, thinking that Wang Chenhao could obtain such a huge amount of funds, he said with some emotion: "To be able to find the undersea treasure must be inseparable from his mysterious submarine Jiaolong, that submarine must have unknown secrets in it, if the empire gets it, maybe we can also find some undersea treasures to alleviate the current national economy." ”

Gong Chiren looked at a few people, and suddenly smiled: "A few seem to agree?" ”

Hirobumi Ito, Mutsu Munemitsu, and Kiyotaka Kuroda glanced at each other, and they all laughed unconsciously.

Gong Chiren thought about it, and finally gritted his teeth and said fiercely: "In this case, then the king will pick some elites to act!" ”