The Russian fleet for the expedition to the East set out, and because of the circumnavigation of the Cape of Good Hope in Africa, it would take them about half a year to reach the South China Sea, and that would not be until after April of the following year.

After the departure of the fleet, journalists from all over the world once again turned their attention to the East. Journalists, as the name suggests, are people who record people, and their main job is to record various events and then tell them to others. Having something to say and something to report is what a journalist should do. The journalist in 1904 was happy, and after several years of calm international community, the Qing state in the Far East was ...... No longer called China now, they are once again a place where journalists gather, and with the pen and mouth of journalists, China has once again become the focus of the world's attention.

Just over halfway through 1904, there was a discernment of true and false emperors in China in the Far East. When the reporters had just opened the dusty notebook and had not had time to make a big announcement, Yuan Shoushan, commander of China's Northeast Military Region, used a bloody massacre to clean up the new emperor and other royal nobles who had not yet ascended the throne of the Qing Dynasty. However, the whole of China suddenly calmed down. Politically far-sighted journalists understand that this is only the calm before the war. While all the reporters were waiting for China to fight a civil war for supreme power, a small clean-up operation in Beijing completed the transition between the old and new governments.

The reporters were disappointed because they couldn't write articles that caught the world's attention without the big war, and naturally they couldn't understand their value. At this moment, they are full of grievances about China. The news that the former fake Guangxu Emperor and now the new Chinese emperor announced that he would return to Beijing for the enthronement ceremony after paying homage to his ancestor Yellow Emperor did not make the reporter excited. Because for China, the emperor is still the same one, and the ministers are still the same group, and the established national policy will not change from nature. That is, there will be no change in either the world pattern or the situation in the Far East.

China, however, did not disappoint journalists. China has declared war on Russia. Less than 20 minutes after the declaration of war, the Chinese army brazenly rushed out of the border and launched an attack on Russia. At this time, the reporters were excited, and they finally had something to report. Military experts from Britain, France, Germany, the United States, Italy, and other countries have expressed their views in major newspapers, believing that the Russians are fierce and capable of fighting and fighting at home, and the Chinese are as imposing as they are trying to regain lost territory. They predicted that it would be an uphill battle of equal strength.

However, before they could say anything, China hit them back with the fact that it occupied Vladivostok in ten days, and they were dazed and speechless like a heavy slap in the face. Later, in a decisive counterattack in Xinjiang, the Chinese once again proved their military strength and severely beat the Cossack cavalry that once made Europe tremble. As Chinese troops push the border in Xinjiang and Russian fortresses in Eastern Siberia are surrounded by Chinese, the situation looks increasingly unfavorable to Russia. Then it was the Chinese who showed the world their ice and snow warfare methods in winter. At this time, military experts in Europe and the United States once again predicted that with the arrival of winter, the war between China and Russia will inevitably calm down, and the main war will take place in the spring of the following year. At that time, the Chinese will launch a full-scale attack on the Russian fortresses, and Russia will lose Eastern Siberia.

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia roared unwillingly at this time, declaring that another 500,000 army would completely defeat the invading Chinese in the coming year, and then invade China itself to retaliate. Subsequently, the world's third largest navy assembled the most powerful fleet in history to expedition to China. Military experts in Europe and the United States have issued a third prediction, believing that when the expeditionary fleet arrives in the Far East, it will be the spring of Siberia in the following year, and Russia, which has already assembled a large army, will attack from west to east again by using the original fortress as a support point. The Chinese will face attacks from both the north and the south. On land, China will suffer. On the sea. The Chinese Navy will also be dealt a heavy blow. China's richest southern coastal region will be overshadowed by war, and the countries and regions within the Qing sphere of influence around the South China Sea will fall. The north will be under direct attack from the Russians, and large areas of land will be placed under the iron heels of the Russians.

The third prophecy was also an assessment of the war situation submitted by military experts to their respective governments, and the governments began to adjust their Far East policies on the basis of such assessments. The first to react was the United Kingdom, which was hotly debated in the British Parliament, with most members arguing that China's rise would inevitably deprive the British Empire of its interests in the Far East. At this time, the best strategy is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, and wait for the results of China and Russia before the British Empire intervenes in the Far East to seek maximum benefits. However, at this time, O'Agne, the former minister to China, who had become a senior adviser to the British Far East, said that it was the basic national policy of the British Empire to restrain Russia in any direction, and once Russia completely defeated China, it would inevitably move south, and this would affect the interests of the British Empire in Jiangnan of China. Eugene suggested that at least the Chinese Navy should be strengthened. Let the Chinese Navy have the strength to fight with the Russian expeditionary fleet. Otherwise, in the event of a complete defeat of the Chinese Navy, then the British Far East Fleet would face the Russian Far East Fleet alone with the madman Nicholas II.

"In fact, the Chinese are already the first line of the British Empire against Russia." Ogna's words were met with the approval of many lawmakers. Only if both the Chinese Navy and the Russian Expeditionary Fleet are defeated, the British Far East Fleet will be able to influence the situation in the Far East. To be honest, the British Far East Fleet has really had a hard time in recent years. As a result, the British Minister to China, who had received permission from the government, met with Li Hongzhang and proposed that Britain could sell three Majestic-class battleships and three new heavy cruisers in order to help China because of the traditional friendship between Britain and China. As for the Army, there is no Germany in the way.

German Minister Barand also offered Li Hongzhang to help China by selling army arms. Because Germany's zone of interest in China was concentrated along the Jiaoxi Railway from Shandong to Shaanxi, it would inevitably pose a threat to these regions as soon as Russian power entered northern China. As for the navy, Germany has no intention of helping, anyway, it is Britain who is unlucky, and what does it matter to Germany.

For the goodwill of Britain and Germany, Li Hongzhang was polite. He believes that China will be able to solve these problems on its own, but once again expresses his heartfelt thanks to the two countries and his best wishes for the further deepening of the friendship between the two countries in the future.

France did not speak, and the others hoped that China would be completely defeated by sea and land. France and Britain had contradictions in their African colonies, as well as on the island of Zhongnandou. Isn't the reason why France lent money to Russia in the hope that Russia would put pressure on Germany from the other side of Germany? But this time it seems to work better, as soon as Russia enters northern China. Wouldn't it be better for France to directly threaten Germany's zone of interests in China, so that the contest between Germany and Russia in the Far East would allow the two countries to move most of their forces to the Far East? So to supply Russia with coal, France is the most active.

The United States is also very concerned about this war in the Far East, which has been beaten by the Spaniards at sea and Cuba for two years before barely taking it. The United States is beginning to learn from the pain. The Navy is easy to manage, although it does not have enough technology, it can always replace quality with quantity, so the United States has launched the most warships in recent years. The United States is also considering strengthening the strength of the army, but the army is not the kind of warship decisive battle of the navy, and the army needs rich experience. Therefore, what the United States talked about the most was that it hoped to send military observers to China and Russia at the same time, but they were refused. The reason for Russia's refusal is that they hate this nouveau riche, and the reason for China's refusal is that the United States is China's core enemy, how can you understand the strategic and tactical thinking of our army and its advanced weapons.

Only then did the reporters realize that it was always Europeans who spoke about the war, while China, as a belligerent country, never said a word. They seem to be just doing things and not talking. This makes the reporters dissatisfied, so you can say a few words.

"The soldiers are coming, and the water is coming to cover the earth, so there is no need to talk about it." Facing the reporter who chased him to his home, Li Hongzhang was really annoyed and gave a fluttering sentence.

What does this mean? Countless foreign journalists have begun to learn from their Chinese counterparts, but it is too difficult to explain Chinese idioms to Westerners. The final explanation became: You just sent a small soldier, and I sent a general to block it. You always know the difference between a general and a minor. Even if you are water everywhere, I am the thick earth to restrain you. Western journalists understood. Qing Guo compared himself to a general and Russia to a small soldier, which did not take the Russians into account at all. It's too arrogant.

Compared with this, the words of the Chinese chief of staff are much more credible. He said: In response to Russia's possible increase of 500,000 troops in Siberia in the coming year, China will increase its troops to the entire northern theater by 2 million in the spring of the coming year. Indeed, there are really many Chinese, relative to China with a population of hundreds of millions. Two million soldiers is really not a problem. After that, Chief Wang showed a map of the Yuan Dynasty, pointing to the map and saying that the entire territory of Siberia is China, and the Chinese are fighting a just war to recover their homeland, and justice will surely defeat evil.

Everyone knows about justice, which is something that can only be in the hands of the final victor. It can face the approaching Russian expeditionary fleet. The Chinese General Staff Headquarters only gave a statement of victory, but there was no substance. Wu Deren, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Navy, who was reviewing the navy in Tianjin, couldn't stand the ubiquitous reporters and said: "Worry about fart, as long as I find a group of girls to strip naked and stand in a row, the Russians will have to surrender." All the reporters present were stunned, and indeed for the Russian sailors who had been sailing at sea for half a year, this was indeed a powerful attacking power. When the newspapers of the whole country were written in the newspapers like a joke, there were really people who did not take it as a joke. Three days later, the mothers of the Qinglou in Tianjin really went to the navy yamen to petition, as long as the imperial court really used it, they were willing to go to the country. Frightened, Wu Deren hid in Lushun by boat that night.

When foreign reporters told the story as a joke to Li Ming, the Chinese emperor in Xi'an, who was interviewed by Chinese and foreign reporters, Li Ming suddenly fell silent. After a long time, Li Ming said in a deep voice: "When a country even knows how to love the country, the country will be invincible." Indeed, for the Chinese nation, this is probably the biggest crisis in 5,000 years. If it fails, the Chinese nation may sink for a thousand years. Then Li Ming laughed: "But once it wins, the Chinese nation can stand tall in the world, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty that was oppressed and humiliated will forever become a thing of the past." This is not just done by relying on the courage of soldiers, but also requires a country and the entire Chinese nation to work hand in hand. It may take many years for the war to end, and there may be defeats in it, but I believe that the final victory will belong to the Chinese nation. The reason why I have this confidence is not only because of the hard-trained soldiers, but also because the Chinese nation has awakened, and we still have a group of ** who are willing to fight for the country. What reason do we have to lose, what reason do we have to lose. ”

Li Ming signaled the applause of the audience to stop: "Ming Chengzu Zhu Di once said that the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies. Even if it really comes to the point where the whole army fails, it's nothing. At most, I went up with my own soldiers. Here I can tell all the people that if the Russians want to invade their homeland, they can only step on my corpse. ”

The full text of the emperor's speech was published in the newspapers, which swept away the depression caused by the Russian army of 500,000 troops and 50 warships in an instant, and the whole country suddenly became blindly optimistic. Just like a pedestrian on the side of the street said: "Isn't it just 500,000 people, we can just pull 2 million people up in China." Don't look at Maozi, there are really few adults. But that land will soon be ours. ”

Of course, there are also people who do not want to be soldiers: "Fighting a war is about dying, and I don't want to go to war." ”

"What do you say? They don't want to go to war, who will defend their homes and defend the country. If it weren't for Lao Tzu's old age, the court wouldn't accept it, and Lao Tzu would have wanted to go up and shoot twice. After speaking, he took off his shoes and pointed to his son who didn't want to be a soldier and scolded: "Even the girls in Qinglou know how to kill the enemy and defend the country, why did Lao Tzu give birth to such a bad thing as you, see if Lao Tzu doesn't kill you." After that, he picked up his shoes and began to hunt down his son.

Yangzhou Ten Days Jiading Three Massacres, the Manchu Qing Dynasty suppressed the martial spirit of the Chinese nation with brutal killings, 200 years later, in the face of the fierce attack of the Russians, the blood that had flowed for thousands of years was really boiling. The imperial court is just talking about it, and it has already planned two million conscriptions. In fact, it is only a plan for the transfer of 200,000 reservists, because China still has many vassal states, and it is time for them to contribute. For example, North Korea has recruited six divisions and is expected to enter Siberia in late winter, and the Ryukyu Division and the Ninth Luzon Division are also among the recruits.

However, the young people who lined up at the gates of government offices everywhere to sign up for the army forced the two million conscription plan to come true. After receiving the telegram, Li Ming also believed that since the people were so enthusiastic to serve the country, the imperial court could not chill the hearts of these people. As a result, the imperial court began to formally recruit 1 million young people to join the army, and used the winter slack time to conduct basic military training. Whether or not to go to war will have to wait until the outcome of the war next year. It's always good to have at least some more trained reserves. However, compared to the one million people recruited by countries with a population of more than 500 million, it is only 2 per 1,000, which makes many people who come late and do not have enough conditions to cry bitterly. So much so that there were young people who failed to join the army to make trouble outside the yamen and the barracks, and finally after receiving a military stick, they watched with envy helplessly and envious as their comrades in neat military uniforms drove to the training ground.

At the same time, 300,000 police units reorganized from the Green Battalion, Army Training, and Regiment Training have also been requisitioned and transferred to various localities for intensive training. As for letting the army maintain law and order. Even Duan Qirui thought it wouldn't work. Once that group of killers has killed their temperament, it will be difficult to get them to stop. Killing, that's not what ruling a place should look like.

The Chinese in Nanyang were also actively preparing, and they gathered the young children of the entire Nanyang Chinese to organize three divisions at one time, but they did not wait for the order of the imperial court. Li Guanshan, the leader of the Nanyang Chinese and the governor of the Pontianak Chinese Autonomous Region, is convening a meeting of Chinese representatives from all over the Nanyang in Pontianak.

"This time the Russian expeditionary fleet reached as many as fifty ships. Its main warship also has thirty ships. In addition, China has concentrated all available warships and has only about 30 warships under construction, of which the number of capital ships is only 20, and the rest are only small boats such as patrol boats in coastal waters. In the face of such a large Russian expeditionary fleet, the imperial court also made it clear that there was no guarantee that it could be defeated at one time, and the most conservative way was to take advantage of the shortcomings of being unable to replenish them from afar, and to deplete their reserves through long-distance artillery bombardment and mobile warfare. Until they don't have a single shell or a gram of coal, they will be surrounded and annihilated. Li Guanshan motioned for everyone to wait for him to finish speaking: "Many of you here have entered Beijing together to face the saints back then. Do you remember what the emperor said at that time? Lanfang wants to become a barrier for China in the South Seas, and even if Lanfang is broken, it cannot let the flames of war spread to the mainland. Now the Russian expeditionary fleet is coming, but the Chinese Navy has to temporarily avoid it because of its lack of strength. The imperial court is to put the entire Lanfang at the forefront, put Lanfang under the Russians' naval guns, and the Russians also brought 5,000 troops, this is to attack Lanfang's interior, and Lanfang will really be broken after this war. Now the old man is here to ask: Can Lan Fang do it? ”

Li Yuchang, the former chief of general staff of Lan Fangguo, stood up and spoke: "The old man has sent all his family back to the mainland, and the old man will stay in Lanfang to fight the Russians to the death." Chief Li, just say it clearly, what does the court want us to do. ”

With Li Yuchang's words, other Chinese also nodded yes. Only then did Li Guanshan say: "Vladivostok, the only naval base of the Russians in the Far East, has been occupied by the imperial court. The Russian fleet, which came from afar, had to occupy a place to be filled with coal when it had nowhere to replenish it, and most likely it was Lanfang, Java, and Luzon, especially Lanfang. The imperial court did not recruit the Lanfang army to go north this time, because it hoped that the Lanfang army would be broken into pieces and strike at the Russians everywhere in the entire South Seas, so that they could not gain a foothold. At the same time, the imperial court has already sent a messenger. I hope that we will cooperate with the Qincha to buy all the coal in Nanyang, and at the same time transfer all the arsenals under the rule of the Chinese in Nanyang to the mainland. So that they could not find a gram of coal and a shell. Just wait for the imperial court to win a great victory in the north and then turn around and pack up the Russian expeditionary fleet, then the entire Nanyang will be in the hands of the imperial court, and my Lanfang can also be restored. ”

"What Lord Li said is extremely true, and we should fully cooperate with the imperial court." Everyone nodded yes. In recent years, the entire Nanyang Chinese have been slaughtered under the protection of China, and the Chinese, who were enough to influence the direction of the Nanyang economy, now firmly control the Nanyang economy, not only turning the entire Nanyang into China's largest material base, but also extending their influence to the entire Indochina Peninsula and even to Australia. And the Indonesian colonizer Dutch feared the Chinese government's deterrence. He didn't dare to encourage the local natives to retaliate against the Chinese, but suddenly found that the Chinese paid more taxes.

"The Russians have threatened to build a large fleet since their defeat in the Battle of Tsushima, why haven't the imperial court built more warships over the years." In the casual conversation after the main questions of the meeting were answered, some people asked questions. Although he is still confident in the final victory of the imperial court over Russia, Lan Fang must have laid enough foundation over the years, and it is false to say that he is not distressed when he is completely destroyed in World War I.

"In the final analysis, the court is too poor." Li Yuchang said helplessly: "The country is so big and there are so many places to spend money, but the imperial court's income is so small. Although it has been getting better and better in the past ten years, we can't be reckless. The emperor used the money he earned to run education. I also want to plan for the future. Who would have thought that the Russian Maozi people were fighting militarism. In the final analysis, the war is still about money and grain, and the lack of money and food in the imperial court can only say that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been poisoning the world for more than two hundred years. ”

"The court is really. If you don't have enough money and food, you can issue treasury bonds, and if you can't, you can raise donations. Now it's okay, my Lanfang has developed for more than ten years. No matter what, if this battle is really defeated, my Li family's property in Lanfang is over, rather than being destroyed by Russia in vain, it is better to donate it to the imperial court, and my Li family has made a lot of money under the protection of the imperial court over the years. The old man donated 3 million yuan to the imperial court. Finally, there is still half a year to go, and I hope that the imperial court can build more cannons and place them in the coastal area, and I hope that the Russians will not dare to fight them. "Li Guanshan is a little decadent, but he doesn't know if half a year is enough time to set up the fort.

As soon as Li Guanshan said this, everyone suddenly woke up. But it's true. It would be better to let Lan Fang be destroyed by the Russians, so it would be better to buy some artillery to defend it. As a result, the Chinese present donated money one after another, and in just one day, the entire Nanyang Chinese gathered more than 70 million yuan and handed it over to Li Nanxing, chief of staff of Lanfang, to take to Beijing.

The imperial court was unable to build enough warships due to the lack of money and food, and the Nanyang Chinese donated 50 million yuan to the imperial court, hoping that the imperial court could build more warships at this time to keep the enemy out of the country. When the news broke, the whole country was in an uproar. Shanghai, as China's economic center, is a group of bigwigs unhappy, is this the overseas Chinese despising us? The Chinese Navy is defeated, you Lan Fang is unlucky, I will run away from Shanghai? So the big guys in Shanghai had an emergency gathering, and at the meeting, the Lin family, who was the first in charge of Shanghai's finance, first donated 5 million yuan, the Xi family took out 3.5 million yuan, and other wealthy families also contributed 800,000 yuan and 500,000 yuan. The Huang family in Guangzhou also gathered wealthy households in Guangzhou to solicit donations. In the capital, Prime Minister Li Hongzhang raised 800,000 yuan from his own account to donate to the imperial court, and the ministers of the ministries donated one after another. When the news that Empress Yang Zao'er donated 20 tons of gold to the imperial court on behalf of the royal family as war funds was announced in the newspaper, people across the country also made donations.

The people don't know how the money of the court is used, but they know that their children don't spend money on school, and they eat better milk, eggs, big fish and meat than at home every day. The people's idea is very simple, that is, the emperor spent the money on the children, so the court has no money to fight, and this is okay. The people are poor, and they can't compare with the rich people, but they still take out five or ten yuan. As a result, a large number of people gathered in various yamen to donate money to the imperial court. Overseas Chinese did not dare to lag behind, and donated money to the imperial court through Chinese organizations in various places. The U.S. Zhi Gong Court even raised $20 million in the United States to remit it to China. In just one month, the imperial court received nearly 300 million yuan in donations from Chinese around the world. This caused the imperial court to send telegrams to various places to express its gratitude, and at the same time announced that it would concentrate the nation's shipbuilding forces to build another batch of high-speed destroyers within half a year, which was bound to keep the Russian fleet out of the country. (To be continued......)