"I don't know what Ziran thinks of the Russian army forcing the Japanese capital Tokyo?"

If someone else asked this question at this time, Tang Haoran would definitely feel that this person was deliberately changing the topic, but out of his understanding of Sang Zhiping, he knew that this was the real topic. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In other words, this is the purpose of Sang Zhiping's trip!

Russian troops approached Tokyo.

For the current Chinese people, what happens in Japan is naturally not their concern, and what does the life and death of Japan have to do with them? But for Tang Haoran, Japan's fate is something he has to care about, and even to a certain extent, his concern for Japan is almost not inferior to his concern for the current war in Northeast China.

Just seven days ago, the "Battle of Kanto", which decided the fate of Japan, ended.

Four months earlier, on February 1, the Japanese army had gathered 370,000 troops to attack the 170,000 Russian troops who had just entered Tochigi Prefecture. After 8 days of fierce fighting, by February 9, the Russian army, which was in a weak position, was forced to retreat, and the next day the Japanese army recaptured Unomiya. After this battle, the Japanese army seemed to have won the battle, driving the Russians back out of the Kwantung Plain.

For Japan, it was a long-awaited victory, and it even provided a pretext for diplomatic mediation, allowing Japanese diplomats to use this victory to lobby Western countries to intervene in order to end the war diplomatically in exchange for Japanese lives. In fact, this was the basis of the Japanese army's mobilization of the last bit of reserves to launch this campaign - a victory to force Russia to realize that Japan still had the power to resist. At the same time, it also allows countries to get involved.

But to the surprise of the Japanese army. Two days later. The larger "Battle of Kwantung" began, and in the face of the last forces gathered by the Japanese army, the Russian army mobilized more than 300,000 troops in the following month, which was the largest battle since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War. From February 11 to five days earlier, the Japanese mobilized nearly half a million troops, and the Russians committed the same number of troops.

On the battlefield, one side is desperately attacking, and the other side is desperately defending. The Japanese soldiers knew that if they lost this battle, Japan would inevitably perish, so they resisted desperately, and the Russians also understood that defeat would realize the failure of this expedition, and the whole of Russia would bear an unprecedented shame - the shame of being defeated by the yellow monkey!

In the two sides, the stalemate on the front directly led to the fight to the death, and in the following two months, whether it was the Russian army with an advantage in equipment, or the lack of guns and artillery. The Japanese army, which was also severely short of ammunition supplies, was exhausted. But at this time, no one has the ability to break through the opponent's defense line and give the opponent a fatal blow.

Just when the front was in a two-month stalemate, in order to break the deadlock on the battlefield, the newly formed 17th Army of the Russian Far East landed from Toyama Bay and advanced towards Nagano and Gunma to form an encirclement of the main Japanese army, and the Japanese defense line that was trapped in the belly and the enemy collapsed. The Japanese army, whose last defensive line collapsed, suffered heavy casualties under the attack of the Russians, and the main force was forced to withdraw from Tochigi Prefecture, and the battle ended in a Russian victory.

For the Japanese army, the worst blow was not the defeat of the battle, but the defeat of the defeat, which led to the dashing of hopes for diplomatic peace. The long-term stalemate and confrontation seemed to have created an opportunity for diplomatic mediation, just as the top Japanese government officials had expected at first, and when the United States expressed its willingness to mediate and began to engage with Japan, Britain also expressed its willingness to mediate the matter through its ambassador to Russia in the hope of "preserving Japan's national system" out of its own interests.

Although Russia is still very tough on the surface, the huge military spending of more than one billion rubles caused by the long expedition has not only exhausted the last ruble in the treasury, but also burdened Russia with heavy debts, and an armistice seems to have become the last option.

At this critical moment, the landing of the 17th Army in the Far East changed everything, completely dashed the hope of a diplomatic settlement, and also made the hope of the end of the war seen by high-level Russian officials who had originally intended to end the war through mediation. War will inevitably continue.

An even more fatal blow to Japan was that the Japanese army not only lost the "Kwantung Campaign", but also lost more than 300,000 troops in the battle, of which more than 100,000 were captured by the Russian army in the process of retreating, which was a "Sedang-style rout". The great rout of the Japanese army directly led to Russia's rejection of the mediation of various countries, and further conditions were put forward, but this condition was at the cost of Japan's annihilation. The most fatal thing is that the weak and poorly trained Japanese army has completely no resistance in the face of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops who have invaded the Kwantung Plain.

If it weren't for the fact that the Russian army also lost more than 300,000 troops in the battle, I'm afraid that the Russian army would have reached Tokyo. But this loss was acceptable for the Russians, who in the Far East still had up to 300,000 troops to move to Japan, which had exhausted its last reserves.

Even the most optimistic observers believe that Japan's demise is only a matter of time before Russian forces are approaching Tokyo. When the Russian army was recovering from the losses of the "Kwantung Campaign", it was when Tokyo fell.

Will Japan continue to fight after the fall of Tokyo?

This is an unknown, and in Tang Haoran's view, the fall of Tokyo may be the end of Japan, and at that time, Japan may surrender at any time. After all, there are not many countries in this world that will still fight and win after the fall of their capitals, and only one country in the history of human warfare has ever done so.

But that country is not Japan!

Surrender would be their only option, and at that point the time would be ripe for the Japanese strategy. But for now...... It's better to take care of your own heart first.

"If Tokyo falls into the hands of the Russians, Japan will surely fall, and the emperor will surrender to the Russians......"

Thinking that Meiji, who was still touted by the Japanese a hundred years later, was plundered to St. Petersburg, Tang Haoran couldn't help but think of another possibility - if Meiji committed suicide, would the Japanese follow him to commit suicide together?

Obviously, there is not much possibility, and the current Japan is not Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War. The prestige of the emperor as a stamp tool for thousands of years. It's just been established, though. The so-called deification is just beginning, "loyal to the emperor"? Even those samurai-born Japanese themselves don't believe in these four words, as for the common people? Is it possible to sacrifice his life for the sake of the "emperor"?

The so-called national glory is nothing but illusory rhetoric. If there really is the so-called "glory", how can tens of thousands of Japanese flee to Korea and Shanghai, and most of those Japanese are the Japanese elite, when the ship is about to sink. Everyone in Japan is planning for themselves, and as for the so-called "Meiji Emperor", his history is over!

"Since Japan's demise is inevitable, then from Ziran's point of view, when Japan dies, won't the Russians take advantage of the prestige of a great victory and try to get involved in the Northeast again? So today's "worries about the east" of the three northeastern provinces are not heavier than yesterday! ”

When the questioning sentence came out of Sang Nanping's words, it made Tang Haoran's brows jump slightly, and he immediately realized the hidden meaning of the other party's words, the so-called "worries". Isn't that Russia's snooping heart for the Northeast?

The reason why he dared to "clear the king's side" this time and dared to send troops to the northeast. It was the opportunity to seize the inability of the Russians to look eastward. This avoids the possibility of Russia trying to get into the Northeast.

As for Russia's snooping on the Northeast, in Tang Haoran's view, at least in the next four or five years, due to the lack of transportation and financial resources, it will not expand to the Northeast, and compared with the Northeast, Russia will have to absorb and digest the newly occupied Japan as much as possible. On the other hand, great powers such as Britain, the United States, France, and Germany would not tolerate their expansion into the northeast. Therefore, the current "worries about the East" are not only heavier than yesterday, but even lighter than yesterday.

It can be said that after Japan's demise, Northeast China seemed to be full of crises on the surface, but in fact, there was no crisis at all, and it was precisely a favorable opportunity to take advantage of the contradictions of the great powers to contain each other and build itself, and there was no need to worry about the so-called "worries about the east" at all, at least in the short term, especially before the construction of the "Trans-Siberian Railway," before Russia stabilized the situation in Japan, and before Russia completed its control over Japan.

But now that Sang Zhiping is mentioning this matter, is it just for "worrying about the east"?

Just when Tang Haoran was thinking about his intentions, he heard Sang Zhiping continue to sigh.

"For many years, the Russians have been dominating the east, so that the imperial court is completely powerless to resist, and then looking at the northeast place, the three generals of Shengjing, Jilin, and Heilongjiang are more independent, unable to coordinate the pace of external resistance to foreign enemies, internal appeasement of the people's livelihood, and even the three northeastern provinces are rampant bandits, and the people are miserable, the root cause is because according to the old system, the important land of the northeast subject country, there is no province, only three generals, divide the local military, government and civilian policies, the generals of the three provinces are all high and powerful, since the founding of the country, they are all held by the banner people, and today's situation, how can it be compared with yesterday, Today's predicament in the east is not to completely reform the official system, build a province, and set up a governor, but not for it! ”

When he spoke, Sang Zhiping was completely worried about the country and the people, but his eyes full of worry were staring at Tang Haoran while he was generous and worried about the country and the people, and when he said the last sentence, he included Tang Haoran's expression in his eyes at all.

Unless the official system is completely reformed, a province is built, and a governor is set up, but it cannot be done!

Sang Zhiping's words only made Tang Haoran's heart skip a beat, although he had already been mentally prepared, but the sudden mention of this matter by others still made his face change slightly.

This is not the position of his dreams, although it is a dream, but it is not easy to get this position, at least until now, there has not been a "big man" to express support, even if it is Li Hongzhang, it is only to keep his current position.

In fact, Tang Haoran didn't know Li Hongzhang's thoughts, the reason why Li Hongzhang was willing to protect himself was probably to keep himself as a bargaining chip to wrestle with the imperial court, compared with the governors of the three eastern provinces who were close at hand, the Korean unified supervision was more secure, at most it was a hidden danger.

But if he is appointed as the governor of the three eastern provinces, it will not only be a hidden danger to Beiyang, I am afraid it will only be a thorn in the heart and a trouble in the heart of Beiyang, so how can he be willing to serve as the governor of the three eastern provinces? I'm afraid that for Li Hongzhang, now his own strength has aroused his jealousy.

So I can suppress it in every possible way, and I am thankful.

How to break through this dilemma?

Even Tang Haoran is ready for disarmament, but it really can't be done, and he can exchange disarmament for the governor of the three eastern provinces. After disarmament anyway. It's not that mobile police units can't be established. It's not that armed police can't be built.

Recently, when he was struggling with how to break through this predicament, and even had already made plans for the worst, Sang Zhiping sent it to the door, but his opinion was...... I guess that Zhang Zhengtai meant! If it weren't for his Zhang Zhitai's instructions, how could Sang Zhiping come here with Young Master Zhang?

In contemplation, Tang Haoran didn't speak, just quietly picked up the teacup. After taking a sip of tea, although the fragrance in the entrance was the same as in the past, Tang Haoran didn't have the heart to taste the fragrance of the tea, but just thought about another question.

However, what did he want in return for giving himself such a big gift?

Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong...... In the bottom of his heart, he thought about these two unavoidable characters, these two can be said to be different, but no matter what the difference, among the eight local governors in China today, these two are the most capable of causing "trouble" to themselves. As for the other six people, Tang Haoran really didn't take it seriously.

And there is no possibility of these two joining forces. In the past, the two of them competed with each other for the "false name" of the so-called "No. 1 governor in the world", but now, what are the two of them fighting for?

The first governor of the world obviously can't attract the two of them anymore, I'm afraid that for these two, sooner or later they will have the heart of "self-reliance", so they will do everything possible to stumble on each other, and for Zhang Zhidong, isn't he ...... It's Li Hefei's stumbling rope!

In other words, Zhang Zhidong needs to contain Li Hongzhang by himself, after all, the Northeast and Zhili are connected by land and sea, and many conflicts of interest during this are naturally inevitable, so of course he is happy to see himself in the position of Governor of the Northeast, so as to watch himself and Li Hongzhang fight with the tiger.

This Zhang Zhidong!

The abacus was as shrewd as in the past, the corners of his lips raised slightly, the smile on his brow was fleeting, and after putting down the teacup in his hand, Tang Haoran was not polite, but said bluntly.

"Ziran received great favor from the imperial court, and at the age of twenty-three, he is only twenty-five years old, and if he is governor of the northeast, how can he serve the people,"

Although Tang Haoran was polite, everyone knew that Sang Zhiping did not mention the candidate for the governor of the Northeast, but now he said that he directly understood and told Sang Zhiping that this governor must be himself, and he is going to decide this position.

Tang Haoran's answer made Sang Zhiping breathe a sigh of relief, you must know that on the way here, the thing he was most worried about was that he was not interested in the "Governor of the Northeast", or that he was aiming at China rather than the Northeast, now it seems that this move is the right bet, without waiting for Sang Zhiping to speak, Zhang Quan, who had been a "companion", hurriedly said.

"Brother Ziran, this is probably the old brother who can stop the ambition of the Russians now, in this case, who else can take this responsibility except for the old brother? Who can do this? ”

Zhang Quan's words made Sang Zhiping secretly smile bitterly, knowing that he could not take it back, he did not continue to talk about this issue, but looked at Tang Haoran and asked rhetorically.

"Ziran, if the court gets rid of the traitors in the court, Ziran you ......"

"Mr. Zhongzi, at that time, Ziran will definitely stop the army! Personally ask the court for the guilt! ”

After the true and false words came out of Tang Haoran's mouth, Sang Zhiping asked again.

"What about the North Korean army?"

This is what Sang Zhiping really cares about, now the North Korean army has the possibility of entering the customs at any time, it is easy to ask God to send God, in case the North Korean army hits the pass, and feels that the world can be taken away, I don't know how much trouble will come when the time comes.

"Since the original telegram promised, our troops stationed in the DPRK will never enter the customs and not a single soldier!"

True and false, false and true, although even Tang Haoran himself didn't believe it, Sang Zhiping nodded, looked at Tang Haoran and asked.

"If the court has no intention of getting rid of traitors, then you ......"

"That ......"

With a painful look on his face, Tang Haoran said slowly.

"That Ziran can only resolutely wave the Jingshi to get rid of the traitors in the court!"

No one believes the words "except for traitors in the DPRK and China", but there are many people who believe it, just like the rebels will say what "do the right thing for heaven", but God knows, what kind of way they are doing, and now when Tang Haoran said this sentence, Zhang Quan asked on the side.

"Brother Ziran, I don't know who this traitor in the court is in the eyes of my brother?"

Faced with Zhang Quan's question, Tang Haoran, who was still impassioned, squeezed out a smile, looked at Sang Zhiping with a smile and asked. "I don't know who Mr. Zhongzi thinks this traitor in the DPRK is?"

This is a seemingly simple rhetorical question. It seems to answer Zhang Quan's question. It doesn't matter if you're a traitor. There is only one excuse for this traitor, and what really matters is that everyone gets what they need.

"When Chu Ziran was in North Korea, he was victimized by traitors and had to raise troops to protect himself, how can the world not know? Since the politics of the world today are handled by the council, there are naturally people who are in charge of Ziran! ”

Turning the conversation around, Sang Zhiping, who was originally generous, said softly.

"Ziran, you can be relieved, although this council will have Li Zhongtang as the leading minister. But after all, there are still seven ministers in the world! ”

This is undoubtedly telling Tang Ziran that when he came to Seoul this time, he represented not only Zhang Zhidong, but several governors, in other words, his position as the governor of the Northeast was settled.

"Oh! Thank you Xiangshuai, thank you adults, you can have adults to uphold justice for Tang, and Tang can not believe in justice and be guaranteed. Just ......"

After a slight pause, he looked at Sang Zhiping. Tang Ziran shook his head helplessly and sighed.

"The adults saw Ziran's grievances, but the court didn't necessarily see it! Maybe ......."

After a long sigh, Tang Haoran's face showed a little grievance,

"Maybe now the emperor is still thinking about cutting off my head! It's just that in this world, there may be how many people think I'm a rebel and a thief! ”

"Ziran, when the time comes, when the holy decree comes down, who will dare to say this? Again...... There are adults who are looking for Ziran, why do Ziran need to worry about this? Therefore, Ziran, in the current situation, it is best that you can postpone sending troops to the Guannai, so that you can mediate in the middle and make the court wake up! ”

didn't get any promises, and even after the banquet, Sang Zhiping had to admit that Tang Haoran couldn't see the original innocence at all, although he showed his attitude to him, but on the issue of the boycott, he didn't give an inch, so that every time he talked about the boycott, he was talking about him.

"Ziran, if this soldier doesn't stop, it will be difficult, you will have to fight all the way to the capital, if you hit the capital, have you ever thought about how to protect the face of the court at that time? How do adults stand up for you? ”

After the dinner, in the study of the South Bee Palace, there were no outsiders, and Sang Zhiping asked with a rare half-reprimand and half-concern as an elder.

In Sang Zhiping's view, with Zhang Zhidong and others coming forward, there is no need for him to hit the capital again, and more importantly, when he hits the capital, the face of the court will be completely torn off.

"Mr. Zhongzi, the face of the imperial court was torn off decades ago, what face do you have now?"

Tang Haoran, who understood the concern in Sang Qiaping's words, said apologetically:

"As for the adults...... Mr. Zhongzi, you tell me, if I strike now, Xiangshuai and the others come forward to open their eyes for me, how likely is it that the court will make concessions? Mr. Zhongzi, this is not Zhao'an! ”

Zhang Zhidong and they were afraid that they would enter the pass, and hoped that they would strike the army, and Li Hongzhang also hoped to negotiate peace, but if the army was dismissed, how could the Manchu Qing Dynasty grant the so-called "ancestor of the ancestors" to themselves, not to mention that the current situation was no longer that they wanted to withdraw, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not give in, so it was necessary to fight, even if they entered the capital, they had to fight. Otherwise, it's really a wedding dress for someone else!

"Well, six, sixty......"

After pondering for a moment, Sang Zhiping looked at Tang Haoran and spoke for a while.

"But this sixty percent is about the same, after all...... Hey, I didn't think it through......"

Shaking his head, Sang Zhiping looked at Tang Haoran and said:

"Ziran, if you hit the capital, and the court still won't give in at that time, what will you do......

Tang Haoran didn't answer Sang Zhiping's question, but just looked at him and said,

"Mr. Zhongzi, in fact, you know that no matter what, the general trend of the world has changed!"

"Yes! It's changed ......"

Sang Zhiping glanced at Tang Haoran a little distractedly, then stopped talking, and just turned around to go out, he turned back to look at Tang Haoran and admonished:

"Ziran, don't forget, this has been from suffering to the present, the people are suffering, dying, and the people are suffering. If this army continues, I don't know how many people will suffer...... Hey......"

Shaking his head, Sang Zhiping smiled bitterly, looked at the young man he admired very much, and sighed.

"I'm going back to my hometown in Gubeikou at the end of the year, if it's in the future...... If you have the chance, Ziran might as well go and sit with me! ”

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