The plan to withdraw troops from Korea was unanimously approved by the Cabinet and the War Department, but in order to be able to intervene smoothly and quickly in the affairs of the Korean Peninsula at some point in the future, he retained Wonsan as a strategic base in the East Korean Gulf and regarded Gangwon Province as a sphere of influence.

Although the action of the political axe made Germany, France and Russia puzzled for a while, it was a good thing that the troops withdrew. After Russia installed the Korean king Yi Xi as emperor, he organized a pro-Russian cabinet in Korea and forced Yi Xi to sign a series of treaties that were conducive to Tsarist Russia's control of Korea.

The withdrawal of Tsarist Russia in the Far East brought about a change in its military strategy in the Far East, and Tsarist Russia's Asian plan was restarted without the hindrance of Tsarist Russia. The commander of the Far Eastern Theater, General Kuropatkin, decided to use Korea as a second springboard for the invasion of the Qing Empire, because the Amur region of the Russian Far East was cold and freezing for most of the year, which was not conducive to military operations. On the contrary, the climate on the Korean Peninsula is more suitable and supplies are convenient. Moreover, North Korea directly threatened Shengjing, the small court of the Qing Empire, if troops were sent from Korea to attack the Qing Empire, only the first line of Jinzhou and Shanhaiguan was needed, then the entire Northeast would become a turtle in the urn, which would be conducive to the smooth occupation of the three northeastern provinces by Tsarist Russia.

On the basis of these favorable conditions, General Kuropatkin on the one hand transferred troops to Korea to consolidate his control over the Korean Peninsula, and on the other hand, immediately sent a telegram to St. Petersburg requesting Tsar Nicholas II to allocate funds to the Far East for the smooth implementation of the Asian plan.

Saint petersburg.

Tsar Nicholas II was very pleased to receive the telegram from Kuropatkin, and immediately convened an imperial council, which was attended by Russian Minister of War Alekseev, Minister of the Navy Prince Alexandrovich, Minister of Finance and Communications Witte, Foreign Minister Robertov, and Director of the Department of Asian Affairs Kebnister.

At the meeting, Nikolai demanded that the Asian program be restarted as soon as possible. The Secretary of State for War and the Secretary of State for the Navy supported this, but Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte poured cold water on Nikolai.

"Your Majesty, I have to remind you that the empire is still in a financial crisis, and this international bank crisis has caused serious losses to the empire's finances. If it is not converted to the gold standard as soon as possible, the empire will lose even more as the silver deficit crisis further intensifies. If the Asia project is restarted now, I am afraid that the current domestic economy will be trapped in a vicious cycle. ”

Nicholas II was upset by Witte's words, but he had to admit that the current silver crisis was a serious problem. Tsarist Russia lost tens of millions of gold rubles in this silver crisis, and although the international exchange of silver and gold has been frozen, the trend of soaring domestic prices has not improved. For a long time, Tsarist Russia took advantage of the Qing Empire's two opium wars to follow Britain and France to rob the fire, and if it started a war against China alone, it did not have that kind of conditions.

"So what do you mean, when will we be able to resume the Asia program?"

Witte replied respectfully: "The minister hopes to complete the reform of the gold standard first and stabilize the domestic economy, and then go to the Far East." ”

Alekseev said: "However, at present, in the Far East and Northeast Asia, the Qing Empire is training new land forces, its navy is also undergoing advanced modifications, and powerful new battleships are about to be commissioned, which is a great threat to the interests of the Far East of the Empire." By the time our gold standard reform is over, I am afraid that the Qing Empire will already be difficult to deal with. ”

Alekseev's words are not unreasonable, at this moment Nicholas II is also in a dilemma, after he ascended the throne urgently needed to establish authority to maintain his rule, Tsarist Russia military expansion as the main national policy, so Nicholas II wanted to completely control the Tsarist army through a war. However, for the sake of safety, Nicholas II wanted to pick up soft persimmons and pinch, so the Qing Empire became his target.

The Minister of the Navy, Prince Alexandrovich, understood Nicholas II's intentions, and in order to protect the royal interests, he supported Nicholas II's plan, saying: "The Qing Empire's ability to avoid the silver deficit crisis this time also exposed its domestic economic strength. Through the exchange of silver, we learned that the Qing Empire had as much as 500 million rubles (more than 400 million taels of silver) in circulation, which was three times the amount of currency in circulation of the empire, which shows that its domestic wealth is still very large, and if it is allowed to develop its naval and army forces, it will be the great enemy of the empire in the future. ”

Witte argued: "Ben launched the war against China and issued 400 million rubles of war bonds to Britain, and we now owe a lot of debt to the French because of the Russo-Turkish war, and it may be difficult to repay it if we issue a large number of national bonds." ”

The Russo-Turkish war has been fought for two hundred and fifty years, and it breaks out every 19 years on average, which happens to be the formative period of a generation of soldiers. Tsarist Russia's financial resources were almost all spent on it, and just sixteen years had passed since the 10th Russo-Turkish War, which meant that the 11th Russo-Turkish War was about to break out. If the Asian plan is to be pursued in the Far East, then the next Russian-Turkish war must be stopped.

"The last time the Ottoman Turks suffered heavy losses, they have been rearming and preparing to retake lost territory all these years, and Britain and Austria-Hungary are behind them, and they are now massing heavy forces near the Danube and the Caucasus, and if we operate in the Far East, it is difficult to guarantee that the enemy in these two theaters will not fight back," Aleksayev said. And we don't have the capital to fight on two fronts. ”

Nicholas II was in a state of hesitation, and the points of view on both sides were justified, each with its pros and cons. At this time, he noticed that the director of the Asian Affairs Department, Kebnister, had been silent, so he asked, "Kebnister, what do you think?" ”

Kebnister looked at the crowd, and he didn't dare to offend anyone, so he proposed a compromise. "Let's test it first," he said. To carry out a military operation in the Far East without declaring war, not on a large scale, to maintain a local conflict of less than 10,000 people. If the Qing Empire retreats, then we will encroach step by step. If the Qing Empire resists strongly, we will appropriately control the scale of the conflict without falling into a stalemate war. As soon as the Eastern Front is in a stalemate, or Turkey on the Western Front takes the opportunity to attack us, then we will immediately end the conflict on the Eastern Front and make every effort to ensure the security of the Western Front. ”

Kebnister's compromise is not offended on both sides, and there is a certain viable surname. Nicholas II decided to create friction in the Far East and find an excuse to carry out a strategy of gradual encroachment on the Qing Empire. In this regard, Witte could not stubbornly refuse, so he had to take out a sum of military expenses from the limited funds and send it to the Far East.

Tsar Nicholas II demanded that the commander of the Far Eastern Military District, Kuropatkin, be careful, control the scale of the military conflict, and implement the strategy of encroachment as much as possible with the limited support of military forces and military spending.

After receiving the Tsar's reply, Kuropatkin immediately began to make preparations and dispatched local police forces to carry out tactics to harass the local people in the Heilongjiang and Yalu River valleys, constantly provoking friction. Fearing that he would annoy Russia, the Qing government strictly ordered the garrisons and border officials of the three eastern provinces to calm down and tolerate everywhere.

The policy of the Qing government emboldened the Russians, and they carried out provocations on the issue of the 64 tuns in the east of the Aihui River in the Heilongjiang Valley. On the banks of the Yalu River, under the pretext that the Korean volunteers fled to Shengjing, the Russian troops stationed in Korea constantly sent troops across the river to harass the people along the river, and even openly demanded that the camps and fortifications of the Qing imperial border garrison be searched.