86_86612 In May of the 24th year of the Meiji era (1891), when the weather was supposed to be in full spring and the weather was pleasant, although the cherry blossoms were falling, it was also the best time of the year, but now the clouds were covering the Japanese archipelago, and the atmosphere in the air was solemn and oppressive, and the Japanese were breathless. The gunfire in Otsu City four days ago changed a qiē.

In the past four days, the official apologies have been denounced by Western countries as "despicable wordplay," and more than 10,000 telegrams of condolences and apologies have been sent to the Tsar in St. Petersburg, from the National Assembly House to the prefectures, cities, towns, and villages. For the Japanese, their greatest fear is Russian retaliation - starting a war against Japan. In order to apologize, all schools were closed, children were no longer in school, everyone wrote letters at home, stacked thousands of paper cranes, and then pieced together to send them to the tsar or the legation in Russia, and at the same time, bad news kept coming.

First, Russia issued an "ultimatum" that almost put Japan in the brink of extinction, then the French government said that Japan should accept the ultimatum for peace in Tohokudai, then Germany also expressed its support for Russia, and Britain was horribly silent.

On May 13, the Japanese archipelago's reserves and reserve officers and soldiers received a call-up order, and the war had reached the point where it was on the verge of breaking out, at this time, it seemed that all efforts were meaningless, and now the Japanese had to fight for the survival of Japan, but not everyone gave up hope, more precisely, the Japanese, who knew their own strength, knew that Japan was by no means an opponent of Russia, and they were still trying to calm the anger of the Russians with their own efforts.

While the people are still trying in vain to get their own way, the Tokyo Imperial Palace is in the Senkusa Hall. The Imperial Council was convened again, and the 72-hour ultimatum was about to expire, and the Japanese government still did not give an official reply, only trying to communicate with the United Kingdom, the United States, and even the Qing to mediate.

The minister of the United States said. Although the United States is willing to mediate, there is very little hope, and they believe that it will be difficult to force Lucia to make concessions in the ultimatum clause without the intervention of Britain! ”

When he said this, the tone of Shuzo Aoki, who was full of fatigue, seemed a little sad. In the past three days, he has used a trick to ask foreign ministers to immediately engage with governments in the hope that they will mediate, but the outcome seems to have been foregone from the start.

According to the reports of the envoys to Britain and France. At present, public opinion in various European countries supports Russia's ultimatum against our country, and the majority of governments have clearly expressed their support for the country's action against our country......"

"And what about Britain?"

Hirofumi Ito asked rhetorically.

"Hasn't the British government made a decision yet?"

"Your Excellency, the British Minister to Japan clearly conveyed two hours ago that, given the present form, it would be difficult for Britain to play a role in mediation!"

This is a diplomatic rhetorical answer, in other words, Britain has no intention of mediating for Japan anymore, and what is the reason for this? Shuzo Aoki's gaze turned to the Emperor on the throne. The Emperor sat there calmly, still as in the past, and Japan would never agree to allow the Emperor to go to Lu Country to apologize.

"Does the Qing agree to send a fleet to visit our country?"

Again, the answer is no. Even the "Oriental Bismarck" refused to receive the minister to the Qing Kingdom, and in the face of these news, everyone attending the imperial council fell silent, but in this strange silence, Emperor Meiji broke the silence and looked at the ministers and said.

"Zhu Qing has worked hard for state affairs for many years. I feel it, today's things. Since Lu Guo asked me to go to Lu Country to apologize for my sins, for the sake of the country. I immediately agree to this article, and I also ask you to do everything possible to save the situation! ”

As soon as Emperor Meiji's words fell, Yama Prefecture Youpeng hurriedly stood up and said in fear.

"Your Majesty, this matter must not be done!"

Yama County Youpeng, who bowed in fear, continued.

"Lu Ren's ultimatum asked His Majesty to go to Lu Country in person to apologize, but it is really to humiliate our country. Where do you put your people? The heavy damage to the national psychology will far outweigh the humiliation of the land reparation, and please take back your life! ”

Although Yama Prefecture and others knew very well that the emperor who was regarded as a "god" by the people was only a "person", for thousands of years, the people had been accustomed to regard the emperor hidden in the palace as a "god", and now if the emperor goes to Lu Province to apologize, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the national faith, which is exactly what Yamaguchi and others cannot accept.

"But, if we don't agree, then we have to face the invasion of Lu State, you sue me, when the time comes, what should we do to stop the invasion of Lu **?"

Compared with Yama Prefecture and others, Ito Hirobumi has repeatedly studied the ultimatum after receiving the ultimatum, and has always had a plan in his heart, trying to make concessions by agreeing to the emperor's personal apology in exchange for Lu Guo's land cession and reparations, but he knew that this matter was very important, but he didn't dare to say it at all, and now that His Majesty has taken the initiative to say it, then he can naturally speak for "His Majesty".

"When the time comes, what awaits Japan will undoubtedly be the destruction of the country!"

"If the country is destroyed, then let the world remember Japan, remember Japan that will never compromise with threats, instead of humiliating the threat when the threat comes, and push His Majesty to the enemy country as a shield. Your Excellency Ito! ”

The Minister of War Dashan Yan shouted in a deep voice on the side, and then he looked at everyone and said:

"Once the weapons ordered from Germany arrive in Japan, we will recruit 250,000 troops again, and then the army divisions that can be used to resist the invasion of Lu ** in Japan will reach twenty-four, with a total strength of nearly 500,000, and at present, Lu has only 110,000 troops in the Far East, and has been mobilized, although Lu has a million troops, but its army is completely concentrated in Europe, and it is thousands of miles away from Asia, the General Staff has discussed, even if Lu lands, as long as we insist on not surrendering, and there is enough ammunition, then, We can at least keep the empire alive and fight for a long time to force Lu to withdraw its troops......"

What Oyama Iwa said was not a lie, and the Army General Staff had specifically consulted the Navy when formulating the defense plan. The navy was also confident that the war would be stalemate in the land battle of Tongguò, and all of them were based on one point - Lu was too far away from Japan to support hundreds of thousands of troops to fight in Japan for a long time.

"How long does it take to arm twenty-four divisions?"

Hirobumi Ito, who is extremely Russophobic at heart, does not believe Oyama's exaggerations.

"Is it possible that the Lu people will give us time to arm and train the army?"

"Your Excellency!"

Dashan Yan replied in a deep voice:

"According to the information currently available, Lu Guo wants to send troops to Japan. They had to requisition and lease a large number of merchant ships, and even if they were given to them by merchant ships from all over the world, it would be difficult for Lu to transfer hundreds of thousands of troops from Europe to the Far East by sea in a month or two, and then hundreds of thousands of troops would enter the Far East. It is also faced with problems in various aspects, such as logistics, so if nothing else, in the next six months, it is very likely that Lu ** will first attempt to defeat our fleet with the superior Pacific Fleet. After he has gained control of the sea, he will mobilize the Far East Army to attack Hokkaido, where our defense is the weakest, in order to gain a foothold to attack Japan......"

Dashan Yan's analysis can be said to be the head of the road, just to take the map to show everyone the army staff's deduction of future battles, and the army deduction seems to have their own reason, all the deduction is based on a premise - Lu is an army power rather than a naval power, and it will inevitably choose a more favorable battle across the strait, and attack Japan step by step from north to south. Instead of crossing the Sea of Japan and directly attacking the heavily defended island of Honshu.

Japan's weak transportation capacity and long voyages seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Despite his extreme fear of the power of the country, Ito Hirobumi had to admit that the War Department's plan did have some workability, and as long as Japan could hold on for one to two years, the financially poor country would inevitably choose to seek a decent end to the war.

But is it really possible for a qiē to act according to plan?

Come to think of it. He set his sights on the Emperor, who was dressed in a military uniform. But it doesn't look mighty. The emperor sitting on the throne had a solemn expression, and a golden screen behind him was impressed. The orientation of the seats was determined according to court etiquette. He seems to be above worldly affairs.

"I agree with the Army."

The Minister of the Navy, Shikinori Kayama, stood up and bowed at this time, and said:

"However, if there is still a glimmer of possibility, I think we should also use diplomatic means to solve the problem, even in war, we need to constantly seek the possibility of a diplomatic solution."

Compared with the army, there is still a little confidence, but the navy does not have the slightest confidence, the weak navy is far from the opponent of the Qing State, and it is not the opponent of the Lu State, on the surface, there is only one battleship in the Pacific Ocean, but there are 7 first-class cruisers, 3 second-class cruisers, and two torpedo cruisers, and its strength far exceeds that of the Japanese Navy.

But as a soldier, he had to defend Japan, not abandon his duty to force the government to accept an ultimatum that amounted to destruction.

"Diplomatic measures will not succeed,"

Knowing that the situation was irretrievable, Shuzo Aoki, who had only two options for Japan, replied:

"Still, if there's a silver lining, I hope it's the last option."

Sorrowful!

Looking at the people who had given up accepting the ultimatum, Ito Hirobumi closed his eyes painfully, he knew that nothing could be recovered, what rich country and strong army, what civilization and restoration, with the outbreak of war, this qiē will become a bubble, and even whether Japan will exist has become an unknown.

Emperor Meiji sat silently throughout the meeting, seemingly expressionless, with unspeakable pain in his eyes. Even as emperor, he could not stop the ministers' decisions.

What will be the fate of Japan in the future?

(I have looked at the discussion forum in the past two days, and I need to explain here about the pronunciation of the official dialect, in history, the official dialect of Beijing replaced the official dialect of Nanjing, and it was after the middle of the 18th century in China.) At the end of the 19th century, Beijing official dialect (then known as Qing dialect, Beijing dialect, Beijing dialect) became the language of diplomats and businessmen from all over the world, of course, they did not have the tradition of learning Chinese, after the conclusion of the treaty with the Manchu Qing in 1871, Japan changed the "Tang dialect" of the past, sent students or directly invited back the "flag people" language teachers, in Japan to repair new Chinese textbooks, in order to mark the Japanese Chinese teaching from Nanjing official dialect to Beijing official dialect. (The information is from two Korean Chinese textbooks in the context of Beijing official dialect at the end of the 19th century)

The reason why the protagonist decided to make concessions in pronunciation was more out of the consideration of "political zhì correctness", and this political zhì correctness, seemingly inconspicuous, but in fact it was a distinction, and furthermore, the Beijing official dialect at that time was limited to the people of Beijing and Tianjin and officials, while the local people did not mainly use dialects, in this case, as the basis of the future Chinese language, the correctness of the political zhì was undoubtedly in the interests of the protagonist - different from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and by no means inherited. This...... There shouldn't be any need to argue, well! Thank you for your support and love for "Rising Sun of the Empire"! (To be continued).