Saigo sat leisurely in the office building of Yokosuka Port, quietly savoring the fragrance of tea.

When it comes to tea, it is natural to mention China, where tea has been discovered and used for four or five thousand years, and it has been prosperous for a long time and spread all over the world. Tea is the national drink of the Chinese nation, originated in Shennong, smelled in Lu Zhougong, flourished in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and was popularized in the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the later period of the primitive commune, tea became an item of exchange for goods. By the time King Wu was killed, tea had been used as a tribute. Making tea, appreciating tea, smelling tea, drinking tea, and tasting tea is more of a symbol of etiquette than a habit. Every move when drinking tea has a deep meaning, determining relatives, deciding suspicions, don't have similarities and differences, and know right and wrong, all in this cup of tea.

But the Qing Emperor, who was the birthplace of tea culture, drank tea and joked. It is said that Guangxu and the ministers have a banquet, and they all have to serve tea before the official start. Everything was fine until the waiter served the tea bowls to the emperor's ministers. Guangxu put the bowl to the side with a big grin, picked up the tea bowl and started drinking it regardless of others, until the other ministers looked at each other, do you drink this tea or not? Fortunately, Li Hongzhang, a person who had dinner with the emperor, knew that this was the emperor's "informality" (in fact, he didn't know how to drink tea), so he could only signal other ministers to start tasting tea. As a result, the etiquette was complicated, so Guangxu asked: How can you drink tea. It also asked people to replace it with a large tea jar, and the small cup was not enjoyable to drink.

Thinking of this Xixiang from the Tao I want to laugh, the key to tea is a "taste" word, from the tea to drink the meaning of life, the pursuit of a spiritual realm. Since the introduction of tea to Japan, the Zen art of tea ceremony has been formed, and the Zen art of harmony, respect, purity, and silence has been adopted for Zen tea, and the Tao is in the tea. Like the Qing Emperor, he is not drinking tea. It's drinking water.

Therefore, Saigo has always drunk tea by himself, and never pretended to others. Enjoy the tea, smell the tea, and taste the tea rhyme. Saigo was extremely peaceful at the moment, although he was urgently summoned to the palace late at night two days ago and told him that the Combined Fleet of the Japanese Empire had been defeated off the coast of Arthur. Six ships were captured, fifteen were sunk, and only six escaped, while many of the Qing ships were seriously damaged, but none of them were sunk.

Although the news was shocking and confirmed by the foreign legations, Saigo believes that it is better to remain calm at this time. Therefore, as the Minister of the Navy, he personally came to Yokosuka to confirm the situation of the fleet as soon as possible, and even when he was informed that the Combined Fleet had returned, he still maintained a calm mind. Until the guards broke into his tea room. With a panicked look, he reported to him that something might have happened to the Combined Fleet.

"What's the panic?" Saigo reprimanded the flustered attendant angrily. In his opinion, how could the mighty Combined Fleet of the Great Japanese Empire have such a bad record?!

Saigo had originally come to meet the combined fleet, but now that the fleet had approached, he naturally had to go to the docks. Saigo sorted out his clothes calmly and walked towards the dock with a leisurely pace, ignoring the attendants who were already jumping to their feet in a hurry.

But when Saigo raised his binoculars on the dock, if it weren't for the officers next to him desperately blocking him, I'm afraid he would have jumped into the sea long ago. At this moment, he was so anxious, he wanted to ask Yamamoto Gonbei, where is the Combined Fleet of the Great Japanese Empire?! At this moment, the Japanese sailors and officers who were also standing on the pier opened their mouths wide and stared at the balls, unable to believe what they saw.

Mottled hull. Crippled turrets, collapsed chimneys, bare decks. Holes and traces left by explosions are everywhere. Especially the Shikishima, it is clear that the main gun in front is facing the bow of the ship, but a gun barrel is pointed to the side, and the key is where is the other gun barrel?

Of the six, only six came back, and they came back scarred. No matter how they looked into the distance, they never found a single pillar of smoke again, and Saigo's heart suddenly fell into the depths of Tokyo Bay, could it be said that the result of the naval battle off Lushun was true?

The Japanese sailors and officers, who did not announce the results of the battle, did not know the truth, they just asked again and again in their hearts: What happened? Why are only six battleships left? What about other warships? Where are they?

"This is the main fleet of the Great Japanese Empire, which cost tens of millions of pounds and is known as the First Fleet in the Far East?" Saigo didn't wait for the flagship King Kong to stop. He grabbed Yamamoto Gonbei's coat by the collar and asked, "Are you talking?"

"Say, say. Say. What do you want me to say? The distracted Yamamoto suddenly pushed away Saigo's congdao, and roared like a great god possessing him: "I have long said that I will not contact the Qing Kingdom within three years, and any of you have heard of me." Now it's like this, what's the matter with me-" After saying that, he burst into tears: "The empire is over, and the empire has no chance to prosper." ”

"Eight." Saigo pulled up Yamamoto from the road and waved his hand is a slap: "You are the commander of the Imperial Navy, cheer up." Even with the loss of the navy, the empire still has a million army forces. ”

"The empire's million-dollar army can't even go down to the sea, so it's good to be able to defend the mainland." At the Imperial Staff Headquarters meeting, the Army's Chief of Military Orders, Oyama Iwa, expressed doubts about the capabilities of the Imperial Army.

This can't be blamed on him, the battle of Liaohe completely killed him. In the case of absolute superiority in troops, it was impossible to break through the defense of the Qing Emperor, and the combat effectiveness of the Qing Army definitely exceeded that of the Imperial Army. In the First Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Army lost all its equipment and returned to Japan empty-handed, followed by reparations and the purchase of warships, and the money that the Imperial had borrowed from the foreign powers was basically spent, and the pitiful funds left to the Army were only to restore the armament of seven divisions and regiments, which was only the level of the First Sino-Japanese War. But the Qing Army on the other side of the sea is already equipped with 152 mm caliber heavy artillery. An army with a single-shot Murata rifle engaged an army armed with large-caliber artillery, and Oyama Iwa saw no chance of winning.

"Eight." Shan Shan Youpeng angrily reprimanded: "Dashan Iwa-kun, as the Minister of the Imperial Army, don't you have any confidence in your army? ”

Dashan Yan did not answer, and others also spoke, and the whole meeting was quiet and terrifying. Ever since Gonbei Yamamoto returned to Tokyo to tell the base camp about his defeat, he was imprisoned. Judging from the information gathered from various aspects, the Imperial Combined Fleet was really led to confusion in formation and insufficient hit rate due to insufficient training, and it is worth affirming that the Imperial Navy still put up fierce resistance. But the defeat led Japan into an abyss, at which point the Qing navy could drop their land forces on any part of the empire's coastline, which the empire could not cope with. Then it was reported that Yamamoto had attempted suicide in prison to apologize. But the news that the prison prison found out about the final suicide attempt filled the entire base camp with the mood of failure. And Dashan Yan's words made them fall into a state of near despair.

"The Cabinet has received a rumor from the British that the Qing have asked the Empire to hand over the last six warships to the Qing as war reparations. What is your opinion? Seeing that no one dared to take up the burden of counterattacking the Qing landing, Yamamoto could only retreat to the next best.

This stabbed the hearts of all members of the Japanese Cabinet. The empire must not hand over this last warship to the Qing state, otherwise the empire will lose its navy and will never be able to get out of this small island full of volcanoes. Although these six warships are in a dilapidated state, they are the last hope of the Empire. Therefore, the cabinet members present made it clear that they could not agree to Qingguo's request. But there is no way to deal with the possible follow-up blows of the Qing State.

"What are the plans for the Qing Kingdom in the future, have you ever heard the news?"

"There is only news from the British side that if the empire is willing to pay for the warships, the Qing should have no plans to attack Japan." In the face of Yama Prefecture's questioning, Kawakami Caoroku, who was the deputy chief of staff and also the head of Japanese intelligence, shook his head: "The empire is no longer able to get intelligence directly from the high-level of the Qing State. The only way to analyze the Qing situation is to rely on the embassies of other countries and civil phenomena. ”

Kawakami did not ask for guilt, and no other cabinet came to ask for guilt, because it was a fact. Since the declaration of war in the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan's intelligence system that had been lurking in China for decades has been wiped out, leaving only one in Hankow. Kawakami knew that the Qing Kingdom was going to use this last place to monitor the imperial spies, and he didn't think about letting Hankou Leshantang attract the attention of the Qing Kingdom, and start a new business himself. But how did he rack his brains and try his best to send spies to the Qing Kingdom, ninety percent of the spies disappeared and were never heard from again. A small number of escaping spies brought back the news that they were under surveillance as soon as they entered the Qing Kingdom, and some disappeared before they disembarked. They even felt like they were being watched as soon as they appeared in the ports of the Empire. In order to strengthen the investigation of Qing intelligence, Kawakami Caoliu even used a civilian force - Xuanyang Society. The Xuanyang Society attempted to use the assassination of the Qing emperor or the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs to disrupt the Qing subordinates, but the Xuanyang Society sent six waves of assassins to the Qing State in a row. The last time, the head of the Genyosha clan, Touyama Mandu, set out in person, but they didn't come back. I didn't even hear that any of the Qing ministers had been frightened by the Assassins, but the Qing had repeatedly attacked Japanese expatriates who tried to cause rebellion. As a result, the entire Japanese cabinet is helpless.

"I also don't agree to hand over the last six warships to the Qing people." Shan County Youpeng finally spoke: "In this way, the Qing State will inevitably take revenge on the empire. Yokosuka was ordered to repair the six warships as soon as possible and throw all the mines into the Uraga waterway to prevent the Qing Dynasty from storming. Let's start defending ourselves against a possible attack by the Qing Dynasty. ”

After listening to Felimante's analysis of the Battle of Arthur, Eugene immediately made an appointment to meet with Tang Shaoyi, the foreign minister of the Qing Dynasty. Tang Shaoyi, the secretary of the Qing Foreign Ministry, asked him to tell the Japanese side that since Japan no longer had the actual ability to make compensation, the Qing State demanded that Japan hand over the last six warships as compensation for the war. Only this time a sentence was added: Otherwise, the Qing State will attack Japan in an all-out way. There was no room for negotiation with Ben. The Qing state, which had been victorious again, was no longer willing to look at the faces of the British.

Ogne held back his anger and returned to the legation, what does the Qing Kingdom want to do with so many warships? Did the Qing want to challenge the British Empire?

For the challenge of the British, that is necessary but not yet time. Not to mention whether it can win against Britain now, even if Japan really loses warships, the Qing Dynasty can't afford to raise them. The Admiralty has already consulted it. In addition to the retention of the latest ships such as the Dragon and Tiger class, the Dingzhen No. 2 ship will be completely withdrawn from the active service of the Navy and become a training ship of the Dalian Naval School. Other old ships were dismantled if they were damaged, and handed over to Pontianak, North Korea and Siam as gifts in good condition, while helping the Qing Dynasty to maintain outdated warships in case of emergency, it could also be used to win over other countries as a barrier.

Japan can't be completely killed, otherwise the whole of East Asia will have no competitors for the Qing Dynasty, and the minds of the great powers will be cast on the Qing Dynasty together. Although several battles were won, it was not to the point where it was possible to despise the great powers. Therefore, it is necessary to keep the attention of Japan to share the great powers for the Qing Dynasty. Japan owes the United States a debt of ten butts, Britain regards Japan as a forbidden body, and then find a way to pull Germany over, France or something, and let the great powers fight for Japan's life and death, the Qing Dynasty has no time to deal with you if it wants to develop the economy.

The reason why Japan was forced to hand over the last warship was to completely dismantle the Japanese navy. As long as Japan has no navy, can it still be a stumbling block for the Qing Dynasty? In addition, Japan will be completely light-industrialized. Japan's defeat is tantamount to losing all of the next 10 years or even more time, and Japan will have to repay these loans with all its strength in the days to come. Japan has enough human resources, so let Japan vigorously develop agriculture and mulberry, and garment making and textiles are not small industries. In addition, the request for Japan to open a few treaty ports is not too much, and countries such as Britain and the United States will also have this demand, but I don't know if we can take Yokosuka down. It is estimated that the trouble, Britain and the United States and other countries should be reluctant to hand over the gate of Tokyo to the Chinese, then Osaka is no problem. The great powers want to grab the Japanese market, but your products have to be transported through the distant ocean, and you can't compare to Daqing in terms of shipping alone. Coupled with so many years of infiltration and smuggling to Japan, as well as the Osaka Fourth Division as an internal response, can the products of the great powers really be stronger than those of the Qing Dynasty?

For this reason, there has been a clear idea within the Qing court, and in the final analysis, there are only four words - raising thieves and respecting themselves.

The idea is good and actionable. Now after the great victory of the navy, the idea can be concretized, but only if it is approved by the great powers, so foreign ministry officials frequently come and go at the legations of various countries. When one by one, the ideas and ideas were turned into articles, and they waited for the fleet to complete basic maintenance and force it into Tokyo Bay to negotiate with Japan. While the courtiers were still trying to dig more benefits from Japan, an unwilling roar came from distant Europe.

Emperor Nicholas II, who was afraid of inward, greedy for money, and stingy, suddenly announced that Russia would lend France one billion francs to build a main fleet with 20 first-class battleships and 20 second-class battleships by 1904. The world was in an uproar.

"Don't forget the madness of Russia after the Battle of Tsushima, the target of Russia's construction of these warships can only be China, and we can no longer keep Japan as a hidden danger." At an internal meeting of the State Council, Guangxu issued an order: "The General Staff Headquarters shall immediately draw up an operational plan for landing in Japan, and all coastal army and marine divisions shall immediately assemble." This time, we will completely solve the problem of Japan and leave no future troubles. (To be continued)

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