"How so?" Sheng Haizhou's voice was surprised. Hurriedly reached out to the nose glasses and looked at them carefully. And then a face of loss and sadness!

The newspaper slipped from his hand, and the adjutant grabbed it with one hand. Looking at Sheng Haizhou's appearance, he was beating the drum in his heart, what was the big deal again? The fleet going north, or somewhere else?

When I opened it out and looked at it, a feeling of weakness that had been drained of all my strength hit my heart. No wonder Sheng Haizhou, the secretary of the navy, is so discouraged, even the adjutant himself is full of despair.

Of course, the news that Tokyo reported to Katsu Kaishu was not a message from the Hiroshima Fleet, which was transporting troops to the north, but the army counteroffensive that had just ended. Tens of thousands of troops have suffered a heavy setback! Nearly half of the corpses were ambushed.

"Could it be ......, this is what happened to the current imperial kingdom to challenge the Qing Empire, a country of decaying bosses?" Is it really just that the imperial kingdom is not fully prepared, has not developed to the point where it can be challenged, or is it simply impossible to defeat? Katsu Haizhou, the backbone of the Meiji Restoration, is also unprecedentedly slim at this moment.

He never doubted the loyalty and courage of the army soldiers, and no matter how contradictory there were on land and sea, no one's big phalanx would be wrong in this point of fighting. However, it was the Army's all-out operation that caused an unprecedented defeat for Japan. Only forty percent of the tens of thousands of troops returned, and the only batch of artillery fire also fell into the hands of the enemy, and there was no time to even blow it up. A large number of soldiers died on the battlefield, and then the defeated soldiers were pursued by the Qin army for more than ten miles, and the corpses were all over the field. Now the Qin army has reached Shinagawa, which is a stone's throw away from Tokyo!

As the head of the navy, Sheng Haizhou's attitude towards the army is naturally a bit like that. After all, Japan is now. Military spending is mainly inclined to the army, and the navy is not even one-fifth of the army. However, the failure of the battle to conquer Taiwan was attacked by Youpeng in Shanxian County, mainly due to the failure of the naval battle. He was forced into a corner by Aritomo Yamaguchi directly in front of Emperor Meiji, and naturally he was also unlucky to yearn for the army. When the wine is dry, he will also stinky with his relatives, friends, and subordinates: "It's better to let the army suffer a little!" ”

But he absolutely did not expect the army to incur such a fiasco!

The Japanese army is now only 10,000 troops at full strength. In addition, because of the new expansion of Hiroshima and Nagoya last year, the latter two have not yet been filled, and with the Meiji Emperor's guards, the entire Japanese army is only about 50,000 men, less than 60,000 soldiers. Now Taiwan has lost 3,000, Ryukyu has lost several hundred, Tama River has lost 4,000, and Daejeon has lost another 5,600, which is more than a quarter of a loss. It will cast a heavy shadow on Japan's confidence in the victory of the 'War of Resistance'.

Sheng Haizhou won't be able to do it for long. He was also a stalwart of the Meiji Restoration, looking at the overall situation. He was well aware of what kind of disaster the defeat at the Battle of Daejeon would cause to Japan. Foreign Minister Terashima Mune, who was holding talks with Li Hongzhang in Tianjin, was going to be affected. No matter how corrupt the Qing government is, it will not see the benefits drilled into its mouth, and it will grit its teeth vigorously.

If Japan can defeat Liu Siam, Terashima Sonori's attitude will suddenly become tougher, and with the mediation of Britain, France, the United States, Russia, and other countries, Terashima will be able to sign an agreement with China that will not harm Japan's interests. At most, the Ryukyus will be left there for a few years, and then send troops back when the turmoil has passed. It's still effortless.

But now......

"The imperial country is difficult, and the national fortune is in danger!"

Sheng Haizhou immediately got off the ship, made a carriage parked at the dock, and rushed to the palace without stopping.

Shinagawa.

A large number of Qin soldiers continued to storm the hastily constructed defensive line of the Japanese army. Strike while the iron is hot. Throw a stone to take advantage of the opponent's fall into the well. Now Liu Xian Ke will not give the Japanese army a chance to breathe at all.

Taking Shinagawa was equivalent to cutting off a major line of communication between the Japanese army and the sea batteries. You must know that the Odaiba forts built by the Tokugawa shogunate are all located on the surface of the Shinagawa Sea. In later generations, those forts were also called Shinagawa Odaiba.

Artillery spews shells, and the Japanese Army, lacking fortifications, suffered heavy losses in the continuous artillery fire. Meiji had completely handed over the main force of his guards to the army. But now the strength of less than 7,000 people in the full battle really can't stop the onslaught of the Qin army.

The superiority of artillery fire in modern warfare was too important before the appearance of air bombers. Before the advent of tanks, artillery did not live up to their reputation as the "god of war".

……

The Forbidden City in Beijing, the whip sounded three times.

Outside the Huanghuang Taihe Palace, a group of courtiers quietly walked into the main hall according to their ranks. Until the death of Emperor Xianfeng, the Qing Dynasty has not seen this kind of powerful dynasty for a long time.

When the queen mother of the two palaces lowered the curtain to listen to the government, she had to go to the military aircraft department or the prime minister's national affairs yamen when she reported to the center, and the ministers gathered to discuss it and ask for permission in front of the queen mother of the two palaces. Then it was sent to the various departments, and the process went like this.

Now the Tongzhi Emperor is in power, but the Great Dynasty Meeting has not been called a few times. Emperor Tongzhi himself is really not a qualified emperor, not to mention that he is the same as his two ancestors, who succeeded to the throne at a young age, even if his father and his grandfather are compared, it is not good.

These days, there are rumors of the war against Japan in Beijing.

First of all, the small Japanese country was bold and sent the army and navy to conquer Taiwan under the banner of avenging the Ryukyus. The men of the four nine cities laughed at Japan! You are a small country that dares to touch the tiger whiskers of my Celestial Empire?

The whole city of Beijing is in the United States, and there is more exciting news coming later. Liu Xian and Zuo Zongtang are really gentlemen, not counting the navy and army that ate Japan, they also joined forces to fight the Ryukyu Kingdom, and swept away the Japanese soldiers who occupied the Ryukyu Kingdom.

In the teahouses and restaurants in Beijing, Liu Xian and Zuo Zongtang have become popular figures. China, which has not yet been severely bitten by little Japan, has a general contemptuous attitude towards Japan among the people. Yes, it's true that my Great Qing Kingdom can't defeat the foreign Yi from the open sea, but it doesn't mean that the Great Qing Kingdom can't clean up this little neighbor around me! And that Ryukyu is a subject country of my Great Qing Dynasty, or the most deferential subject country, Japan, a small country with the size of a sesame seed, dared to seize it, this is a slap in the face of my Great Qing Dynasty!

Before the mediation agreement was submitted to the Prime Minister's Yamen, both the court and the people were very open to the matter of the Qin-Chu coalition army cleaning up Japan. Although the Qin-Chu coalition did have some violations, such as when they went abroad to fight, they did not give Beijing a word of support. But now that the Qing Dynasty has benefited, the bigwigs in Beijing City have also endured.

Then in the face of the joint mediation of Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other countries, Beijing's knees weakened and knelt without hesitation. There is no big discussion among the people about this, because there is no deep hatred for Japan, and the name of foreigners is still good in Beijing and China. Even after Liu Xian won the victory in France, the bones of the government and the people seemed to be a little tougher.

In the eyes and mouths of many civil politicians in Sijiu City, the battle of the Great Qing Kingdom should end here. Sure enough, news came from Fuzhou soon, and Zuo Zongtang listened to the order. However, however, the Qin army still chose to go to Japan. Because their coach Liu Hou had already gone to Ryukyu one step earlier.

There was no order from Liu Xian, and the written documents from Beijing were not delivered, just a group of foreigners, who could not scare the Qin army. Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses continued to drive to the Ryukyus, and then Liu Hou seemed to not know some things in Beijing, and continued to kill Japan with his team!

The people and officialdom exploded the country. Many people scolded Liu Xian for disobeying orders and being bold and reckless, but he was a chaotic army, and he was crowned with the big hat of a feudal town; There are also many people who impeach Liu Xianam, saying that he has no court in mind, in short, the crime is the same as the previous category, and they all wish that the court could deal with Liu Xian immediately, the difference is that there is no mention of the sensitive word 'feudal town'; and many people say that Liu Xian will only anger foreigners by doing this, and fight a country with his own strength, the disparity is very different, and in the end it is still the Qing State that suffers, and so on. Anyway, I can't wait for Liu Xian to do it for the imperial court immediately, and I am not optimistic that Liu Xian can win against Japan, for fear of offending the foreigners, and occupies the mainstream among the court officials.

Britain, France, the United States, Russia, and other countries exaggerated the strength of the little devils in order to show their eyes to the little devils, and also analyzed the many disadvantages of the Japanese army in the Battle of Hengchun in Taiwan, and other unfavorable conditions, so as to prove that the Japanese army was completely annihilated by more than 3,000 troops in a few days, not because the Japanese army was inferior in combat effectiveness, but because the advantages of the Qin-Chu coalition army were too great. All these reasons and remarks that promoted the fighting spirit and desperate spirit of the Japanese army were published in the newspapers, and a lot of 'words and swords' were provided to those in the officialdom. But among the people, praising Liu Xian, praising him for being a good breed, slandering the soft bones of the court and being afraid of foreigners, but it is beyond reproach that it occupies the mainstream.

After a qiē discussion and discussion, neither the head of the palace nor Prince Gong gave a definite word. Li Hongzhang negotiated with Japanese Foreign Minister Muneri Terashima in Tianjin, and the envoys of Britain, France, the United States, and Russia all appeared, and all of them were involved in the middle, and many newspapers of foreigners in China were published one after another.

Not to mention the reaction in the officialdom, the hearts of the common people were immediately raised to their throats. Looking at this posture, if Liu Xian defeated the war in Japan, the foreigners took the opportunity to suppress it, and the Qing Dynasty clearly occupied the [Ryukyu], but it would be like a loss......

At this time, the news of the victory of the Tama River reached Tianjin and Shanghai. When the people were boiling, the shouting and shouting of Liu Xian in the officialdom was immediately cleared.

Yesterday, the Military Aircraft Department received a military report from Tianjin that after the Battle of Tamagawa, the Qin army broke the Japanese army again at Daejeon, a suburb of Tokyo, and has now marched into Shinagawa. It's like fighting Beijing has already taken Tongzhou, and the army has already seen the head of the city wall of Sijiu City.

The foreigners have been vigorously promoting propaganda for the Japanese these days, and the Qin army has slapped their faces in two consecutive battles. The bigwigs in Beijing City are very complicated in their hearts, if they can, they don't want the Qin army to be defeated. For the Manchu Qing Dynasty, every qiē was a floating cloud, but the right to rule was true.

But now that Liu Xian has won, let's think about the long term and eat the meat in front of him first. Emperor Tongzhi was also very excited in his heart, the faces of the foreigners were swollen, and it seemed that the Great Qing Kingdom could also force Japan to bow its head and admit defeat. This great martial arts of breaking the country and surrendering its monarch began in the Jiaqing period, and it was the first time in the seventy years of the Qing Dynasty! (To be continued......) R1292