The conflict between the Sichuan army and the Sichuan army sank five warships and captured more than 1,000 people, and the Hanyang Iron Works had no hope at all, only in exchange for a dead letter from the United States on the raw silk issue, and the political axe was very clear, although the United States promised to give up supporting Sichuan's raw silk instead of the book, but the United States would definitely secretly support Sichuan, in order to lower the international price of raw silk and obtain greater benefits, and Sichuan, which is not controlled by the company, will definitely not let go of this huge profit.

It is precisely because of this unfavorable situation that Yue Ben must get his face back from Yuan Shikai, so that he can give an explanation to the people, otherwise it will be a huge trouble, and there will even be a danger of the cabinet falling.

Therefore, Prime Minister Shigenobu Okuma sent a combined fleet to cruise in the Bohai Sea to force Yuan Shikai to make concessions, and on the other hand, he sent a special envoy to Sichuan to negotiate in a low-key manner, hoping to get these more than 1,000 prisoners in his hands as soon as possible and try his best to save face.

Consul General Yama Kijiro and Special Envoy Masao Nakamura found Qiao Yu, and after the two sides had been seated, Nakamura took the lead in speaking: "Your Excellency, we have a little conflict with you, which has caused great unpleasantness, I hope that we will not destroy the friendship between you and us because of a small matter, and I also hope that you can return our prisoners to us!" ”

Although Qiao Yu won the victory in this conflict, he knew very well that this time could not be regarded as a victory at all, because he could have gotten more from Yuan Shikai, in fact, in terms of quality, if Sichuan was a coastal province, or Qiao Yu's territory was in the coastal area, he would never have the courage to provoke him, in this era of sea power, the combined fleet of Yue Ben was like a big stone pressing on his heart.

Although Qiao Yu knows very well that the appearance of aircraft can greatly reverse the situation of naval warfare, but it is a pity that the current aircraft technology is still in its infancy, I am afraid that it will take at least ten years of accumulation to be able to defeat the huge warship, and it will not be able to compete with the combined fleet, and it is still difficult to shake the position of the company, so Qiao Yu now only wants to get a chance for stable development, and in the case of insufficient strength, he must not blindly conflict with the company.

"Mr. Special Envoy, China was originally a very happy friend of cooperation, and Sichuan also attached great importance to business and trade with Yuben, but since the outbreak of World War I, Yuben has disregarded the feelings of the Chinese people, challenged China's bottom line again and again, and even brought Yucheng Iron and Steel Plant and other companies into the control of Yuben, and did not hesitate to use force to seize Hanyang Iron Works. I don't think it's too much to help the people of Hubei restore their houses damaged by the war. ”

Qiao Yu said it politely, but Qiao Yu is going to ask for reparations from Yueben, and he is still very sensitive to this Yueben, as long as the compensation is given, it is equivalent to Yueben's admitting responsibility for the war, which is unacceptable to Yueben!

"Your Excellency, the conflict between us is all due to misunderstanding, and there is no plan for Chinese companies, we are just worried that some companies in your country will fall into the hands of Europe and the United States, and now the white war losses are too great, in order to make up for the production gap, it is absolutely possible to annex your factory, we will send troops out of goodwill, of course, Abe and Ishihara as commanders may have a problem, this is just a small problem, and I hope that the patrol will not be surprised!"

Qiao Yu has seen his ability to tell nonsense with his eyes open several times in negotiations with him, and this time Nakamura Masao once again showed Qiao Yu this talent, not to mention telling nonsense with his eyes open, it is simply reversing black and white, regardless of right and wrong, no wonder later generations will say that Ben will deny the crime of aggression in every way, it seems that this is already his inherent tradition.

"Mr. Special Envoy, I hope what you said is true, but in fact, it was your army that took the lead in attacking us, and it was our Chinese people who were hurt.

"Mr. Patrol Envoy, it was not Yue himself who took the lead in firing, but the Sichuan Air Force who dropped bombs on Yue Ben first, this is the real fact!" Yamachijiro interjected at this time.

"Isn't it enough to show that it was Ben who took the lead in launching the provocation and that Ben deliberately attacked China, despite the warnings of the Chinese Air Force, approaching Wuhan, the most important city in China, and insisting on attacking forward despite the warnings of the Chinese Air Force? You might as well think about it from another angle, if a Chinese warship appeared on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea with Chinese troops, what would be your reaction? ”

"How could the people of China set foot in the sacred territory of this country, please take back this parable!" Nakamura Masao was instantly enraged, as if Qiao Yu's metaphor was a huge insult to him, how powerful and great the empire is, is it worthy of the Chinese soldiers to set foot in this empire!

Nakamura's reaction made Qiao Yu more and more disliked, saying that he is really a forgetful nation, just a few decades ago China's Beiyang Fleet visited the city, and more than sixty years ago there was a famous black ship incident, the United States [***] ship also swaggered into the territory of the country, said that the book has only been wide for decades, and he forgot about this, and he doesn't know what kind of virtue he is, this kind of nation is destined to have no great future.

"I also ask you to withdraw those two words, there is an ancient Chinese saying called 30 years of Hedong, 30 years of Hexi, Chinese people are accustomed to looking at history from the big picture, in the past 2,000 years, more than 1,800 years have been China's subject countries, don't we also call your country a slave country?"

"You?" Nakamura Masao had never seen a Chinese official who could not be afraid of the might of Yumoto, and the young man in front of him was simply not a Chinese.

"Your Excellency, don't think that Sichuan can win a skirmish, and it can really defeat Yuben, the gap in our strength is still huge!"

"That's right, it is precisely because of this disparity that I only proposed civil compensation, otherwise I would have to ask you to compensate 230 million taels of silver!"

Qiao Yu insisted on compensation, so that the negotiations fell into a stalemate, Yamaki Jiro knew very well that Qiao Yu was not a figure who could be subdued by intimidation alone, and Qiao Yu had a far more than ordinary grasp of the international situation, and he did not have any awe of the Empire at all, so Shan Qi thought that Qiao Yu should be negotiated in a more flexible way, not only with a stick but also with a carrot.

"Mr. Patrol Envoy, China is a good friend, President Yuan Da has won the support of the Imperial Political Axe, and the Imperial Political Axe thinks that you are a more promising political figure, and is willing to maintain a more friendly relationship with you, if you are willing, this Imperial can completely let you go one step higher!"

Shan Qi began to lure Qiao Yu, but Qiao Yu knew very well in his heart that if he controlled a Sichuan, he would be able to add so much trouble to Yue Ben, so could he still be willing to expand his power by himself, isn't this a blank check, if he wants to fool himself, his skills are still too bad.

"Special Envoy, Mr. Consul General, if you are not willing to pay compensation, then there is only one way, and that is to let these captives work as laborers, and let them earn their own money to pay for their mistakes, and there is no other way!"

The negotiations between the two sides ended temporarily, Nakamura Masao and Yama Kijiro hurriedly communicated with the country to discuss a solution, and Qiao Yu ushered in a new guest, Jiang Baili accompanied a young man to Qiao Yu's marshal mansion, this young man was only twenty-four or five years old, young and handsome, capable and shrewd, it was the famous Chen Shaokuan.

Qiao Yu is ready to establish Qinzhou Shipyard, Jiang Baili has insight into Qiao Yu's ambitions, but Jiang Baili also hopes that a strong navy can appear in China, so he recommended this little fellow villager to Sa Zhenbing to Qiao Yu, originally Chen Shaokuan was still skeptical about Sa Zhenbing's vision, he was already a naval colonel, and he saw that he had a great future, but he wanted to run to an inland province of Sichuan, could he realize his naval dream here, isn't it a joke.

However, the ensuing Sino-Chinese conflict made Chen Shaokuan look at Qiao Yu with admiration, especially when he learned that the Sichuan army had sunk five warships with his plane, he was even more ecstatic, and hurriedly set off to Sichuan, wanting to ask Qiao Yu about naval issues.

"Qiao Shuai, the first battle on the Wuhan River has played the prestige of China, isn't the invincible navy also going to sink into the sand, let's see if it can continue to commit murder!"

Qiao Yu also looked at this naval officer who was about the same age as himself, of course he knew Chen Shaokuan's status in the future, this is a very talented and knowledgeable person, it can be said that China has always been short of geniuses, but there is not enough stage for them to perform.

"Colonel Chen, we were taken by surprise in the first battle of Wuhan, the place of the battle was the narrow waterway of the Yangtze River, and the warships of Yuben could not be avoided at all, and the sunken warships were all old warships of Yuben, and there was not much to praise!"

"Nope! I don't see it that way! Referring to professional knowledge, Chen Shaokuan was very excited: "Although the scale of the Wuhan campaign is very small, but this battle shows the rise of air power, which will become the key to the revitalization of our navy, in the face of the huge combined fleet, we have no other way than to build more artillery ships, but the emergence of aircraft has made a huge change in the mode of naval warfare, in the European war, aircraft, submarines have been put into the battle, the battlefield is three-dimensional, and the combat mode has also changed, The navy is the most technologically powerful branch of the military, and the change is also at hand, and only by striving bravely can China avoid being left behind by the world again! ”

Chen Shaokuan does have some talents, it is really rare to be able to analyze these, the more he talked, the more excited he became, and Qiao Yu and Jiang Baili both listened with a smile on the side, "Brother Jiang, you have brought me the commander of the navy in the future, I want to thank you very much!" ”

Jiang Baili also laughed loudly: "Marshal, you better get the warship out first, the navy is still far away!" ”