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Chapter 42: What to Do

In the tenth year of the empire, on December 15, at ten o'clock in the morning, the palace government affairs building was as heavily guarded as before, and officials and civil servants shuttled back and forth in the government affairs building.

In the conference room on the third floor, a government council was being held at this time, according to the common saying in the newspapers, that is, the "Imperial Council", but the official law is "the highest government council of the empire", the so-called supreme government council, the reason is very simple, the presiding officer is His Majesty the Emperor himself, in the early days of the empire, this kind of meeting was often held, and in recent years, this kind of highest rule of government meetings are rarely held.

The government conference room on the third floor is the place where the highest government affairs meeting is held, this conference room is decorated with the taste of an oriental study, with a simple black wood inlaid grid on the top, and white s-hin boards, Chinese chandeliers and simple Chinese furniture hanging in the grid, making this place look very simple.

In fact, except for the Purple Mountain Royal Palace, this kind of palace and government affairs building, whether external or internal, there is no place to show the "face of the empire", which may also be the pragmatic side of the country, but even so simple, even only three simple Ming-style desks and chairs in the conference room, but in the ten years since its completion, it has decided the fate of this ancient and young country again and again, and historically, the important political meetings that determine the fate of the country are almost always held in this conference room.

The atmosphere of the day's supreme government meeting was tense at the outset.

Is it to accept or to reject?

-- All the participants felt that China was once again at a serious crossroads, and this idea was tightly gripping.

At the beginning of the meeting, Lu Zhengxiang, the new foreign minister, first explained the proposal put forward by Zhu Erdian, which was very simple, and it was nothing more than "sending troops to Europe in exchange for France returning Guangzhou Bay."

Subsequently, Guan Mingtang, who had just become prime minister, presented to the emperor the draft prepared by the War Department for this meeting -- the "Strategic Points of Imperial Europe."

After taking over and looking at the draft of the "Key Points", Chen Moran asked in a rather incomprehensible tone.

"The order of the planned items is a bit strange, why do you put the preparation of troops first, and the outer jiāo try second?"

Faced with His Majesty's question, Guan Mingtang explained unnaturally:

"This draft, in the same order as putting the outer jiāo negotiations at the top of the plan, has written the most important x-ng of the outer jiāo attempt."

Chen Moran was naturally dissatisfied with this answer, and could even be said to be very dissatisfied, could they have forgotten what they had said?

Sensing His Majesty's dissatisfaction with the question of sending troops, War Minister Cai Yi immediately gave an answer with roughly the same content.

"After full discussion, we believe that since our country has entered the war, it is inevitable to send troops, and instead of waiting until it is unavoidable, it is better to use sending troops as a bargaining chip to ask France to return to Guangzhou Bay."

Faced with this answer, Chen Moran asked Jiang Baili, the chief of staff, directly with dissatisfaction.

"If the Army is sent to France now, how soon will the Army be able to solve the problem with certainty?"

After a little contemplation, Jiang Baili replied tentatively:

"If 60 divisions can be dispatched in the first half of next year, we believe that in the second half of the year, we can solve the problem of war in Europe by cooperating with the combined forces of Britain and France."

Then he added.

"After careful discussion and deduction by the General Staff, we believe that if we send a limited number of troops, then it will be difficult for us to obtain a separate command of the front, so the first batch of troops needs to send at least fifteen divisions to obtain independent command of a certain theater of operations, rather than giving command to Britain or France, which can prevent our army from being reduced to cannon fodder."

This answer only made Chen Moran's face more ugly, and he asked:

"Could it be that if we send fifteen divisions to Europe, we are not going to be cannon fodder?"

His Majesty's questioning only made Jiang Baili take aback at first, and then pleaded: ...,

"Your Majesty, the situation is different, if we give the command of the army to the British or the French, they will not spare the lives of the Chinese soldiers, but if we command them alone, we can ensure that the lives of the soldiers will not be charged."

As soon as he heard this, Chen Moran raised his voice—I am afraid that in their opinion, His Majesty had never used such a harsh tone—in fact, it was simply a rebuke to Jiang Baili's arguments.

"Don't send troops to Europe, you really cherish the lives of our soldiers, and don't forget what we built our army for, to defend our country, not to help the British or the French to fight"

Jiang Baili just lowered his head, and he was speechless at all to His Majesty's reprimand, and Cai Yi saw that the signs were wrong, so he said from the side.

"Your Majesty, the General Staff is considering the overall situation, since our country has already entered the war, it is inevitable to send troops, otherwise, I am afraid that it will cause dissatisfaction within the Entente."

"Could it be that if they are dissatisfied, I will use the X-Ng lives of the soldiers to satisfy them?"

In the face of His Majesty's reprimand, Jiang Baili, who had been bowing his head and being silent, asked directly.

"Your Majesty, if Your Majesty does not agree to send an army, why should the army be expanded? If it's just to defend China, one hundred and six divisions are enough, why ......"

"You don't understand"

Directly responded with four words, Chen Moran "VIPs, they don't know why they insist on expanding the army, do they really think that their expansion of the army is to help the British or the French?"

It's no wonder, they don't understand history at all, so they don't understand it, but the question is, on this shijie, in addition to themselves, how many people can understand this history? Can you see through the evolution of the Shijie situation? No, at least not a second person

You don't understand

Is there a harsher rebuke than this one? In everyone's opinion, I am afraid that there is really no harsher word than this

You don't understand, even if it's just four simple words, danshi is almost an insult to these people who are regarded by the outside world as the pillars and talents of this country.

In the face of His Majesty's rebuke, everyone fell silent, and they occasionally turned their eyes to their colleagues opposite, as if they wanted to get some answers from them, but surprisingly, they didn't have His Majesty to use such words at all.

Realizing that he had used too many words, Chen Moran opened his mouth to ease the atmosphere.

"Sometimes, the situation is like m-fog, when I can't see through it, you can see through it, so most of the time, I need to rely on the help of the ministers to get a good grasp of the country, and similarly, when I can see it, you can't see it clearly"

When everyone was silent, although the tension in the venue eased somewhat, Chen Moran still didn't forget to beat them again to pull them back to the right path:

"Let's put it this way, when we fight with Westerners, we must first protect ourselves, that is, we don't suffer losses, if we send troops to France now, then no matter what, we will suffer a big loss."

In the face of His Majesty's words, beads of sweat had appeared on Jiang Baili's neck, originally he thought that His Majesty had already decided to send troops to Europe, so he would agree to expand the army, so he would ...... But it turned out that His Majesty had not changed his mind from the beginning to the end of his mind not to send troops to Europe.

For His Majesty, fighting with the Europeans, even if it is a temporary loss, is often to take advantage of it in the future, just like the concessions made to Germany at the signing of the Sino-German Alliance Treaty, although its original intention was to introduce Germany to restrain Britain, but the present facts prove His Majesty's foresight.

In the past ten years, Germany has become the largest investor of the great powers in China, nearly 10 billion marks of investment and loans, relying on German investment and loans, China has established a large number of modern enterprises, and in order to attract German capital, China has made concessions in many aspects, at that time, in the eyes of many people, it was very helpless, because the initial decision was made out of the decision of "market for technology" and "market for capital".

After the outbreak of the war, by declaring war on Germany, confiscating German assets in China and refusing to repay loans, in other words, through this war, China not only received two million square kilometers of new territory occupied by military liliang, but also received an additional return of more than 10 billion marks.

Sometimes behind His Majesty's insistence, there are often other considerations, and after thinking it through, coupled with His Majesty's explanation before, like everyone else, Jiang Baili's face began to ease. …,

"Now we're going to talk about a very simple topic,"

Seeing that the meeting had come to this point, Chen Moran knew that he needed to set a tone for this meeting now.

"First, how should we use the Y-U to get the French out of Canton Bay through the Outer Jiāo attempt, and at the same time how should we use the French to make the British return at least the New Territories Jiāo to us?"

As long as the British Jiāo left the New Territories, then Victoria Bay would become a rib for the British, a bay that could be blocked with small-caliber shore guns, and could it be a natural military port that could not be abandoned?

"Second, what kind of ways do we need to show the Europeans the combat effectiveness of the army?"

Your Majesty's words only made Jiang Baili and the others frown, Your Majesty did not agree to send the army before, but now you want to show your combat effectiveness, does Your Majesty have other plans?

Of course, there are other plans, since Zhu Erdian left the palace, Chen Moran has been thinking about how to intervene in World War I, of course, this intervention must be the kind of limited intervention, which can make the British and French speechless, only in this way, can delay the issue of sending troops to Europe, so that the French Jiāo can go out of Guangzhou Bay, and even collect some interest by the way, for this problem, he has been thinking about it for two days and two nights.

"Your Majesty means ......"

Yuan Shikai, who was also worried about whether he should oppose the soldiers, first glanced at His Majesty, Yijing, who was the president of the House of Nobles, vaguely understood what His Majesty meant, and after thinking about it for a while, he made a speech, he emphasized that it was necessary to go all out to open up the situation through external means, and said sharply:

"I took a look at the draft, and it seems that the main thing is to send troops, and to send troops as a breakthrough, and the so-called sending troops is to send the army to Europe. However, can we understand the true meaning of the draft in this way: We have always taken the dispatch of troops as the basis for opening up the situation, that is, if we do not send troops, there is no possibility of breaking the situation. ”

Just as Jiang Baili wanted to stand up and reply to this, Sa Zhenbing, the Minister of the Navy, who saw that he had been severely reprimanded by His Majesty, stood up and replied:

"When drafting this plan, the military had consulted with the State Council, but sending troops was only a bargaining chip, and it was also our only bargaining chip.

Faced with such an answer, Yuan Shikai once again emphasized the need to use external means to open up the situation.

"I'm relieved to know that the High Command also has the same opinion as the Lord of the Navy?? Anyway, I think ......"

As he spoke, he glanced at His Majesty, in the matter of protecting the Constitution, perhaps His Majesty intended to use him as a scapegoat, but in the end, His Majesty still did not forget him, and now he can become the president of the House of Nobles, how much, he is satisfied.

"Your Majesty's proposal couldn't be more suitable, outside jiāo, outside jiāo, is the relationship of mutual use, the British want to sacrifice the French, without the French will not sacrifice the British, as the saying goes, the snipe and the clam compete, the fisherman profits, now we have to be this fisherman, anyway, whether it is the British, or the French, we all have something to ask for, as long as the war continues, like now, into a war of attrition, stalemate, our more than 200 divisions, is the sweet and sweet in their eyes, What we have to do is for them to see, not to eat, not to eat, and to want to eat......"

In fact, in Yuan Shikai's heart, he wants to use "a wife is not as good as a concubine, a concubine is not as good as stealing, and stealing is better than stealing", but in this case, it is better not to say it at this kind of meeting, so as not to leave the impression to future generations that he Yuan Shikai does not want anything else except NV people.

Yuan Shikai's words made Chen Moran glance at him, and then sat motionless in front of him, staring intently at the meeting. At this time, as if he could not control himself, he moved his upper body, and said in a high-pitched voice that no one had usually heard:

"Yuan Qing's words are even the same as my meaning, this is what I mean, this is negotiation, since it is negotiation, we have to put up a shelf for them to see the difficulty, so that we can show more sincerity"

"That's right"

Nodding in agreement, Yuan Shikai added.

"Your Majesty, I think it is necessary to let public opinion take action and get the news out, of course, the main tone does not support the government to send troops to the European continent, in short, first use the public opinion of the people as a block, and then slowly talk to them"

Yuan Shikai's suggestion only surprised everyone, they didn't xiangdao, at this time, Yuan Shikai would say such a thing, but they noticed that His Majesty's face was a little laughing because of his words. …,

"This old fox"

While looking at Yuan Shikai, he muttered in his heart, Guan Mingtang couldn't help but sigh in his heart, Yuan Shikai has his excels, at least in figuring out His Majesty's thoughts, he reacts faster and more sensitive than others.

When Guan Mingtang looked at himself, Yuan Shikai just smiled slightly, and then half-closed his eyes again, he, the president of the House of Nobles, often did not need to express too many opinions when participating in the supreme government council, sometimes, only one or two sentences were enough.

"And how do you show our military liliang?"

Guan Mingtang asked in a slow voice.

However, this did not need Yuan Shikai to answer, Chen Moran directly took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket, and said unhurriedly:

"This is a letter from many years ago, and it has been in my arms all these years"

This piece of paper is a letter written to himself by a person who is imprisoned in prison, and the reason why I received this letter is because of a sentence in the letter.

There is such a sentence in this letter: "With China's weakness, how dare you speak up, China's decline, how dare you call it emperor, China, internally, the people's wisdom has not been opened, outside, external troubles have not been appeased, the sea, overseas has no land to colonize, shame, the land of the country is based on outsiders"...... The empire of China, the emperor is two thousand years of traditional feudalism, the national rule, the new bottle of old wine, it is really unbearable"

Chen Moran still remembers that when he first saw this letter, he only felt red when he read this sentence, but this time, he went to raise the letter in his hand, and then added:

"The first time I read this letter, my face was red, but my heart was flat, and he told me that I needed to do those things, and I had to try to do them, to do them the same, to end some things, to start some things, and to start some things......."

With some smiles on his face, Chen Moran showed the letter to others for the first time, and when he was happy, his face was a little proud, and his words became relaxed.

"Now ten years have passed, the inside, the people's wisdom has just opened, the outside, the external troubles have been appeased, the sea, there have been millions of colonies overseas, but this shame is ......"

Fingers tapped on the table, and Chen Moran's face was a little helpless.

"So far, it still hasn't been solved, I want to solve it, but because of the reality, some things can only sit back and watch for the time being, so, for me, in order to save some of the situation, we need more colonies, only by obtaining more colonies overseas, can we make up for some things, so as to save some of the country's face, before recovering the lost territory, there is a way to treat the 500 million citizens of the empire, those Westerners want to use us, okay, but first, they must admit some things, agree to some things, such as, We will send our troops to a certain place, they don't agree, it doesn't matter, we send troops to fight ourselves, I still don't believe it, with the Chinese army, if we want to take down a place, is it impossible? ”

"I don't know what Your Majesty is referring to......"

"Middle East"

(I'm really sorry yesterday.,Something temporarily delayed the update.,I'm really speechless, I'm sorry, I'm sorry)