On March 11th, in the evening, Chen Moran walked into the small movie screening room in the Qinzheng Building, this movie screening room is not so much a movie screening room, but just an ordinary room, it is really not a hall of elegance, a few green cloth sofas are simply placed in the room for a few leading figures, and people below the cabinet members can only sit on the nickel-plated folding chairs around them.

The film was watched by the director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, Zhang Jing, and related personnel, as well as Prime Minister Zhang Zhidong, Minister of War Cai Yi, Minister of the Navy Ye Zugui, Minister of Finance Guan Mingtang, and Foreign Minister Liang Dunyan and their respective subordinates, as well as some close ministers in the palace.

When Chen Moran walked in, everyone stood up solemnly, and after the people bowed to His Majesty, they sat down on a sofa in the center of His Majesty's first row, and then everyone sat down again, and then the electric lights were turned off, and the screening room was dark, and Zhang Jing, the director of the Imperial Intelligence Bureau, stood next to the screen and prepared to explain.

As soon as the film was played, the black-and-white silent film, the movie picture was full of chaos, the streets were full of demonstrators, and later, the people stopped in front of a palace, and after a while, the picture became more and more chaotic, and the cavalry could be seen dispersing the people.

Ten minutes later, the movie stopped, and Zhang Jing spoke.

"Your Majesty, this is a record of the petition procession that took place in the Russian capital on January 22, a bloody Sunday, and was filmed by the intelligence officers of the Investigation Bureau in Russia with a film camera."

Zhang Zhidong's voice sounded in the darkness.

"It's just a picture like this, it's hard to prove anything."

In the darkness, there was a Xiang Cheng who shouted.

"Director Zhang, keep putting it on."

Listening to the sound coming from the darkness, Dai Xiaoquan, who was sitting in a folding chair in the corner, wrote it all down on a notepad in the dark. He often told others that being able to write in the dark was a sign of a person's managerial skills, and as a close attendant of His Majesty, he believed that one day, he would become a great minister of the empire, and now he just had to learn.

"Keep it going!"

His Majesty's voice came from the darkness.

The next second the picture switches to another scene of a group of rioters occupying a building, and then it is constantly mixed with film pictures of demonstrations, general strikes and burning streets, this film is recently sent back from the diplomatic pouch of the legation in Russia, it is an intelligence agent in the legation in Russia, risking his life to shoot and bring back to the legation from all over Russia, in today's Russia, the Orient is not safe to walk.

Seeing that the atmosphere in the screening room was much more serious, Zhang Jing continued to speak.

According to a telegram sent back yesterday by the Legation in Russia, from January to March 10, there have been 564 uprisings in various parts of Russia, and in many places, even in St. Petersburg, Soviets have arisen in large cities like Moscow, where rioters and strikers have seized local power, and despite repeated repression, now the Russian Empire is sliding into the abyss of destruction,"

As he was making his introduction, the film continued to show magnetic cards, and from the screen, you could see the striking workers, women and children demonstrative, as well as the flames of the burned country estates, and everyone could feel the changes in Russia most intuitively from this film.

In the dark projection room, Zhang Jing's voice sounded again.

"This film and other intelligence suggest that the Russian Empire is ostensibly a powerful and terrible empire, but in reality, not only has Russia inevitably declined over the past few decades, but at the same time, the contradictions intensified by the war have made Russia increasingly unstable, and we have every reason to believe that the turmoil in Russia will continue in the next ten months, and at the same time, the power of the Russian Empire has been questioned, even after the end of the war, if the Russian Empire fails to solve the problem of domestic real holdings, There is reason to believe that the Russian Empire could be destroyed by a revolution. ”

Although it was groundless, Zhang Jing's words did not get anyone's objection, and Chen Moran said softly when he saw the changes in the pictures of the movie.

"Keep watching!"

The picture has become an oriental, even some familiar picture, this is a port in the book, on the port, a large number of soldiers are getting on the ship, and in the hundreds of thousands of welcoming crowds on the dock, the photographer deliberately aimed the camera at those fanatical people, and then moved the lens, "pray for war death" 3 black characters in the sun shining brightly, it looks particularly dazzling, and then appeared in front of everyone is a national unanimous book, the people who sent off the troops, and the people who bravely joined the army shouted "pray for war death" The soldiers are the workers who volunteer to work overtime to produce military supplies.

At this time, the people in the screening room were facing two completely different extremes, one seemingly powerful country was opposed to the war by rioting, and the other seemingly weak country was united by the unity of the whole country.

This time there is no explanation, only the most intuitive picture, and finally after the more than two hours of the movie is played, the moment the lights in the movie screening room are turned on, everyone is still silent, and behind the silence is endless thinking, everyone has too many questions in their hearts.

"You have asked us who our enemy is. Why him? I didn't give much explanation, I think after everyone has seen this movie, maybe you can get some answers! ”

Chen Moran's tone was a little deep, he sat on the sofa, his eyes were still looking at the white movie screen, this was the last time he breathed before the war, to be precise, it was the understanding of the unified cabinet, they had to realize that this was China's number one enemy, at least now.

"For China, whether it is Russia or this book, it is a problem that we can't bypass, or an imaginary enemy that can't be bypassed, you once told me that Russia is China's biggest imaginary enemy, indeed, we have land borders, Russia occupies too much of our territory, and it is eyeing our territory, so he should be our imaginary enemy, right?"

At this time, Chen Moran stood up, walked to the screen, and turned to face his cabinet ministers.

"However, in my heart, there has always been a question, whether a weak enemy who is full of evil diseases is a greater threat to China, or an enemy who is thriving and forging ahead with the whole country is more threatening!"

The crowd was dumbfounded for a long time, this is an answer that everyone knows, a weak empire is unable to expand its own power, and the backward country needs to step on the shoulders of other countries to be strong.

"This thriving enemy, the whole country is forging ahead, his territory is small, resources are insufficient, in order to develop he must expand externally, must seize overseas markets and resources, such a country from his rise, expansion has long been a part of his life, can anyone tell me, for such a country, who is the object of his expansion? Will it challenge the great powers of the South Seas, or will it expand into what they see as a weak power? ”

There is still only silence, but behind this silence everyone knows the answer to His Majesty's question, for the sake of this, there is no more suitable object for China's expansion, the country has been weak for a long time, and they can use up China's wealth little by little according to their old privileges.

"For the Russians, the Crimean War cut off the talons of their westward expansion, and the Russian War cut off their talons of eastward expansion, and the expansion of the double-headed eagle has been cut off, and even itself has become weak, and he will not be able to pose a substantial threat to China for the next twenty years, but what about the Ben?"

Looking at everyone, Chen Moran's voice was not loud, but it was enough for the people in the entire screening room to hear it clearly.

"After this war, by virtue of the achievements of defeating the Russians, it has become the first power in Asia, and the yellow race has defeated the white race, and it will not only become the object of learning for the Asian countries, but also squeeze into the ranks of the world powers, and it will inevitably carry the power of new victories and carry out the needs of expansion.

Standing next to the window with a thick blanket curtain, Chen Mo fell into deep thought, and then he said softly.

"Liang Qing, the embassy in Yue will report on the situation of the book every day, and I want you to tell you about the current situation of the book."

"Your Majesty!"

Liang Dunyan stood up and bowed to His Majesty by the window.

"At present, because the war consumption far exceeds the expectations of the country, up to now, the country has spent nearly 1.7 billion yuan in military spending, five times its fiscal revenue, and only the monthly interest is repaid, that is, close to the monthly financial revenue of the country, and the war expenditure has far exceeded the country's ability to repay. Most of the rice fields in the villages have been abandoned, and in order to fight on the front line, they have forced the purchase of grain, resulting in a shortage of grain in the country, and in order to protect the interests of the commercial class, they have adopted a policy of high rice prices, and there has been a large-scale famine throughout the country......

After Liang Dunyan finished explaining the situation in his own country, Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and others, who had not known why, understood what His Majesty meant, and His Majesty meant that he wanted to take advantage of the fire to rob, perhaps it would be more appropriate to use the fire to take advantage of the favorable opportunity when he had already exhausted his wealth in the war to cut off his ambition to expand to the mainland, so as to ensure national security in the next ten years.

After Liang Dunyan introduced the situation facing his country, Chen Moran turned his gaze to Cai Ye again.

"Cai Qing, let's introduce the situation of the army!"

"At present, since the Battle of Fengtian, although the army has pursued the Russian army with all its might, according to the information we currently have, although Dashanyan ordered the troops to cover up their supply difficulties with a strong attack, but after the Battle of Fengtian, the troops participating in the battle suffered heavy casualties and consumption, and they needed to replenish or replenish, so they were unable to pursue the Russian army, and the 13-month war has exhausted the spirit of the army, although the current army has nearly 340,000 troops in the northeast, but its casualties are 170,000, and the current army is called the army, Far from the elite division of thirteen months ago! Moreover, the year-long war has caused many officers and men to become war-weary, and according to our information, some units of the Chinese army did not behave actively when they received the order to pursue, and everyone from officers to soldiers was eager to end the war. ”

Nodding, Chen Moran spoke.

"Okay, I think now everyone knows the reason, for us, it is nothing more than a problem, that is, to take advantage of the fact that the capital is extremely weak and unable to fight again, to concentrate the elite to drive it out of Liaodong, and the fact that the country itself is unable to fight again, to force us to sign a peace treaty."

"Your Majesty, but the Russians!"

Although this plan has long been agreed, there is another variable in this plan, that is, the Russians.

"Five hours ago, Zhang Hao had reached an agreement with Russia, and Russia had already expressed its acceptance of China's move of "armed defense of neutrality" and was willing to cooperate, and at the same time, Russia promised to fulfill the withdrawal agreement signed with the Manchus two years ago after the end of the "war of neutrality", and ...... another."

Chen Moran was silent for a moment, his eyebrows twisted into a ball, the agreement seemed to be made by him, but when it was really to be fulfilled at this time, it was so unacceptable.

"The Russians agreed to hand over the South Manchurian Railway to our country free of charge, but only if we must win this war, otherwise everything is empty talk, and as for the Eastern Railway, Russia agreed to sell it to our country at the cost of all the assets of the Eastern Railway Company, including the Eastern Railway and the equipment along the line and the railway stations, at a cost of 241,893,149 rubles and 38 kopecks......"

"The Russians did a fair job this time!"

There was a slight murmur in the darkness, and most of the people in this room knew that even two years ago, the entire Eastern Railway was worth 375 million gold rubles. In addition to railway assets, the Eastern Railway Company has assets worth 11.5 million gold rubles, including 20 ships, several terminals and canals. In addition, the company has its own telecommunications office, mines, forestry farms, schools, hospitals, courts, road guards, etc., and now the market value of the Eastern Railway is worth at least 500 million gold rubles.

Buying 500 million or 600 million rubles of the assets of the China Eastern Railway for 240 million ruuls cannot but be said to be a very cost-effective "business."

"Justice?"

Without asking who said it, Chen Moran just sneered.

"The Eastern Railway was built on Chinese soil, and all assets should have been Chinese, and in the treaty, there was also an additional clause, if China took back the South Manchurian Railway and acquired the Eastern Railway, the tracks could not be changed, and the width of the rails should be the same as the Russian rails, and in wartime, Russia had the right to use the railway to transport troops and transit materials free of charge, which is the so-called justice!"

When venting the dissatisfaction in his heart, Chen Moran couldn't help but sigh in his heart, at least now the problem of a country has been solved, although he is dissatisfied with the additional terms, he can imagine that Zhang Hao was able to basically make the Russians accept the conditions he offered when he was secretly talking with Witte in St. Petersburg.

Originally, he even considered redeeming the railway with a loan of 500 million ruyus, but in the end, the railway was successfully redeemed with less than half of the budget, although there were still some uncertainties in the process.

"In any case, at least now we don't need to think about the Russians, and in due course, Russia will be our help, and they agree to establish the highest channel of direct contact between China and Russia after the start of the war, so that the two sides can cooperate, and of course this is not written into the treaty, which is in line with our requirements."

After being silent for a while, Chen Moran suddenly asked Jiang Fangzhen.

"Baili, how long is there?"

Dai Xiaoquan, who had been making records, couldn't help but tremble when he heard His Majesty's question, this meeting gave him too much shock, before watching this "movie", he never thought that the battle that decided the fate of the empire was silent, and it had entered the countdown.

"Two days!"

The answer of the chief of staff made the people in this room who had not learned the news until today a shock in their hearts, in the dark, Dai Xiaoquan vaguely heard someone gasping, he could completely imagine the shock of others, this war turned out to be opportunistic, but on the battlefield, in the end, it still has to rely on strength to speak, can China win?

In this kind of thought, Dai Xiaoquan wrote a few big question marks with a pen in his notebook one after another, and he cast his eyes on His Majesty who was standing there without saying a word, and then he noticed that His Majesty was not wearing a white navy-style military uniform today, but changed into a tea green army uniform, which was the first time His Majesty was wearing a Guards Army uniform.

The empire has the Guards Army and Navy, but the full names of the two are different, the Imperial Guards Army, the Imperial Royal Guards Navy, the difference between the two words, makes His Majesty's military uniform mostly white naval uniforms, but today he changed into an army uniform, looking at the brilliance of the golden embroidered dragon on the leadership of His Majesty in the light, Dai Xiaoquan vaguely realized that perhaps after this battle, the Imperial Guards Army may increase the crown of the five-clawed golden dragon on the military flag, just like the navy, to become the royal army.

"Hmm!"

Nodding, Chen Moran glanced at Jiang Fangzhen and Cai Yi before speaking.

"If I win this battle, I will hold a victory review on Guangfu Avenue in Nanjing! Please, gentlemen! ”

(To be continued)