A cold snap from the Arctic Ocean still hit Tokyo with light snow. Despite the cold wind, a single snowfall brings a taste of the New Year to Tokyo.

The flavor of the New Year, perhaps I am rapidly westernizing, but some habits that I have learned from China for thousands of years cannot be abandoned, just like this Chinese New Year.

However, unlike the excitement and joy of the people's celebration of the approaching Spring Festival, the military and political leaders in Tokyo are physically and mentally burdened, and all of them seem to be exhausted.

At dawn on the fourth day of February, Ito Hirobumi received the holy order to "hurry into the palace". He got up immediately and quickly entered the palace. It was introduced to the Emperor's harem, where the Emperor lived for the first time, and it was the living room of Emperor Meiji, and it was the first time Ito Hirobumi, who had been the Imperial Household Minister and Prime Minister.

He took off his shoes and went into the bedroom, and saw that the emperor was still dressed in white house clothes, as if he had not yet washed, and seemed to have stayed up all night anxiously waiting for the dawn to summon him into the palace. What remains to be discussed is still a question of determination to go to war.

"At the invitation of Prime Minister Gui, at today's meeting of the elders and ministers, I will have a major decision to announce!"

Meiji, who had his back to Hirobumi Ito, slowly turned around and looked at Hirobumi Ito, who was bowing.

"Therefore, I would like to hear Aiqing's opinion!"

Meiji, who had a worried face, looked directly at Hirobumi Ito and said in a deep voice.

"It's okay to speak up!"

Ito Hirobumi raised his head and bowed again, "Your Majesty, please!" ”

Ito's voice was not loud, but it was enough to reach Meiji's ears.

"The national disaster is coming, if we are still like now, just seeking a small Kang'an, one day, we will face the invasion of foreign enemies again, and it will not be the black ship attack that will inevitably repeat itself, but will threaten the survival of our country."

Hirobumi Ito looked up at Meiji, who had turned around again.

"Now only loyal and brave courtiers can fight to maintain the immortality of the country!"

Ito's words made Meiji fall into deep thought, his eyes dark in the night sky, but his heart was calm. Today...... Today is going to decide the fate of the book!

Standing in the corridor, quietly looking at the gloomy sky outside the corridor, Chen Moran held a cigarette in his hand, spit smoke rings from time to time in the outer garden, and then stared at the smoke spreading in the breeze.

Chen Moran now is completely different from the past, judging from his neat clothes and straight back, he is obviously not as negligent as he was in the past. The collar of his shirt was white and stiff, and the creases on the leg of his trousers were ironed straight. Not only has there been a completely different change in his dress, but even his appearance has also changed, his skin is no longer white, but a little darker, and his eyes have become deeper, but he has lost the melancholy of the past, like the average person who has passed the age of thirty, after three years of coming to this time and space, the corners of his eyes have been full of wrinkles, and he seems to be deeper than before, because he is always used to frowning slightly.

"It's today!"

When he tore open the long wall calendar with long marks in the morning, Chen Moran knew that if the so-called butterfly effect did not affect Yue Ben, then today, Yue Ben would make a decision The moment of their order, not only the moment when Yue Ben would decide their fate, but also the moment when Chen Moran saw the fate of the meal in the morning, which also befell him.

"Su Song Taidao Ruihan strictly investigated the industrial company's over-production of the building......"

Correspondingly, the 12th battalion of soldiers from Duanfang was transferred to Dangtu County and Shanghai County, and they were undoubtedly ready to do it to the right industrial company, they were ready to do it, and they were not ready to do it.

"Although Ben can win, he will never be the real winner!"

"It is true that the United States can win, but after this war, the expansion of its power will inevitably arouse the suspicion of the great powers, especially the United States, which has shown a potential conflict of interests in the Pacific several years ago in the Hawaii crisis. If the United States loses Russia's counterbalance, the United States will have to consider the threat posed to it by the rapidly rising and powerful naval power in the Pacific! And Ben also needs to adjust the order of his imaginary enemies in the Far East, now Russia, he said that it must be the United States. ”

"Britain said that the alliance has made the United States more vigilant against Britain and Ben in the two oceans, and that the confrontation between the United States will force the United States to find a suitable ally on the other side of the Pacific! And who else but China can take on this task! ”

"After this war, the real winner is none other than China......"

Thinking of Jiang Fangzhen's words last night, Chen Moran showed a slight smile on his lips, maybe the Qing Congress missed the opportunity to form an alliance with the United States, but he must seize this opportunity, not only for diplomatic needs, but also for political and military needs.

"China is the real winner!"

Take advantage of the favorable opportunity of this war to achieve national recovery, take advantage of the post-war vigilance of the United States to form an alliance with the United States, and then ...... Be sure to take your chance!

Just when he was thinking like this, there was a rush of footsteps behind him, and for the first time, Chen Moran saw Guan Mingtang with some burnt on his face.

"Zheqin, why are you in such a hurry, is something wrong?"

You don't need to ask Chen Moran to know what happened, it must be for the sake of Pudong.

"However, this morning, the tax collectors of Shanghai County have entered Pudong to start collecting taxes, and some officials have ordered the company to stop work immediately with the order of Su Song Taidao!"

Guan Mingtang, who was burnt-faced, frowned when he spoke, although he was ready, but he didn't expect it to come so quickly, so that he wasn't ready at all.

"What should come will come!"

Chen Moran just whispered.

"Now it's just right!"

"Yes...... We need more time! ”

Guan Mingtang said, originally leaning against the corridor to smoke, puffing out clouds and fog one after another, this will make him take a deep puff of cigarettes, he rarely smokes, but today since one bad news after another in the company, he has smoked a pack of cigarettes.

"Well, then, you should go and see the British Consul in Shanghai, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. McCarrie of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey called, and he said that if we need it, he could go and see the American Consul, Mr. Gunner, who is the leader of the Consular Corps in Shanghai, and if Guna wishes, ......."

"Consul Men and I have a good relationship, we have a mutual friend, he and Admiral Fisher were born into a family of colonial officials in Ceylon, and the two have known each other since childhood, as mentioned in Fisher's letter, Men Nestley also took good care of me and the estate, and Guna was a Republican, although because of the antitrust Theodore? Roosevelt caused the Rockefellers to be quite dissatisfied with them, but that didn't prevent Gunnar from getting Rockefeller's support in the future, so if we got their support, ours would be able to get through it, wouldn't we? ”

As he spoke, Chen Moran turned around and looked at Guan Mingtang, and then he threw the cigarette butt out of the corridor.

"The end result? Is it true to internationalize the Pudong issue? ”

Chen Moran smiled coldly again and looked at the garden outside the window.

"I will go to them for some help, but this help is limited, and I will never take the risk of expanding the concession to beg them!"

"I want to ......"

Guan Mingtang puffed out a puff of smoke and turned his head to look directly at Chen Moran.

"You must be ready, just waiting to start an uprising, aren't you?"

Chen Moran's refusal made Guan Mingtang realize that he was no longer willing to wait, with his surname, was it possible for him to allow the officials to attack the industrial company?

Chen Moran shook his head and re-lit a cigarette.

"It's not the best time yet!"

Then Chen Moran turned his gaze to the garden outside, with a slight hesitation in his eyes.

"We still need time, at least until the things in the Northeast are decided, we can't take the plunge!"

"But if it weren't for the help of the British and American consuls, I think it would be difficult to drag it on."

"It's a day to be able to drag it out!"

Taking a deep puff of cigarette, Chen Moran furrowed his brows.

"Ruihan likes money, we will take the silver and let him drag things out for a few months, anyway, the investigation, court trial and the like, it can always drag on for a while, if there is no uprising, the only way to preserve Pudong is to turn Pudong into a concession, I will never do this, but you can ask for appropriate help, for example, through Guna to express dissatisfaction with the Qing Zheng axe, after all, there are also American businessmen's buildings here, and you can also ask to see Zhang Zhidong, well, he will definitely help us!"

The language was calm, and Chen Moran thought in his heart about the people who could help him.

"Yes, and Yuan Shikai, the governor of Zhili, isn't his relationship with us not bad? I remember he still owed me tens of thousands of pairs of boots,"

Thinking of this, Chen couldn't help but laugh, this thief still owed him silver.

"In short, when we go to court in Shanghai, we have to drag things out, and over there we make money and relations, and cry out for us in the court, and it's best to pull the newspapers, don't we control a few newspapers? Let those newspapers publish commentary articles such as "Shen Wansan in this world" to muddy up the water in this pool, and it will be delayed for at least half a year, and this half a year will ......"

As he spoke, his tongue suddenly swept away, his brow furrowed again, and then he muttered for a moment before continuing.

"In the past six months, we will further expand the army, and we will ......"

With a calm heart, Chen Moran smiled bitterly.

The current expansion of the army has suffered the loss of the epoch-making ammunition of the "invention", the unique 7.62 * 57 bullets, so that the company even when ordering rifles, it also needs to take into account the caliber problem, if not so directly from Germany to buy more than 100,000 rifles, it will save a lot of effort, not to mention the problem of ammunition supply.

"Anyway, it just takes time!"

"I ...... I'll try to buy you as much time as possible! ”

In Chen Moran's sigh, Guan Mingtang also reluctantly answered, he knew that the company needed time to train troops, needed time to produce weapons, in addition to time, the company also needed a more appropriate time.

As the two spoke, the sky was completely overcast. At this time, the sky had completely darkened, a whistle wind and a damp rain rushed in the face, and the clouds of different shades pressed low, squeezing each other in a disorderly and orderly manner.

"It's really dark clouds now!"

While sighing at the clouds in the sky, Chen Moran squinted his eyes and looked into the distance again, his face as calm as a child who had just woken up.

"Many things can only be exhausted, dare not do anything, no matter whether the thing succeeds or fails, we must at least do a little, whether we do our best, if we do our best, even if we fail, we will not regret it......"

"What if...... What if it fails? ”

As soon as the words came out, Guan Mingtang hated his crow mouth, and actually said such an ominous word at this time.

"Can't Defeat ......"

To say for sure, Chen Moran's eyes looked at the withered yellow grass in the garden, would he really not be defeated? Maybe!

"I'm prepared for the worst and I'm sure we can win!"

At this time, Chen Moran was cold and quiet, he just looked at the garden quietly. At this time, the rain fell, a drop of rain that was blown into the corridor by the wind, and the cool rain dropped into Chen Moran's neck, he was so excited that he shivered, looked at the increasingly misty and miserable scenery for a while, and turned back to Guan Mingtang and said.

"It's going to rain, Zheqin, you hurry inside! The company can't do without you! ”

After that, Chen Moran threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it, then walked towards the end of the corridor, and after entering the house, he went directly to the room with the best sunlight on the first floor, at this time, the baby's cry was heard in the room, and at the moment of pushing the door open, Chen Moran's face was overflowing with a smile that only a father would have, this is his daughter's room.

The moment he pushed the door open, Chen Moran saw his wife, Ji Li, holding her daughter in her arms and breastfeeding her carefully. And Chen Moran just stood quietly by the door and watched, with a happy smile on his face, because he loved his child, so Chen Moran was unwilling to hire a nurse to feed him, but asked Ji Li to raise the child by herself, fortunately, her milk was also enough. This kind of thing seems to be a pioneering thing in a rich gentry family like Shanghai, so it has caused all kinds of gossip from outsiders, but Chen Moran has always laughed at this, does it mean that you have to hire a wet nurse to be decent?

Finally, after breastfeeding, the daughter let out an even sweet snort and fell into a deep sleep. As soon as Ji Li put her back in the cradle and covered her with a small blanket, Chen Moran walked over.

Looking at the daughter in the blue, Chen Moran gently wrapped his arms around his wife's slender waist, neither of them spoke, just looked at the sleeping daughter in the cradle, the daughter's long eyelashes were serenely put together, and there was a dreamy smile on the corner of her mouth. When his fingers touched his daughter's face, Chen Moran smiled, does her daughter, who is now sleeping in a dream, know what she will bring to her in a few years?

Thinking about it in his heart, the left hand that was pregnant with his wife increased his strength, and Chen Moran knew what he wanted.

"Ji Li, thank you!"

Looking back at his wife, Chen Moran didn't know how many times she had said such a thing, she gave herself a home and a daughter, what a complete home this is!

"...... right"

Ji Li just wanted to say something, but Chen Moran understood her mouth, he knew what she wanted to say, she had always been very concerned about not giving birth to a son for herself.

"There's always a chance in the future!"

This sentence Chen Moran is also used to comfort himself, giving birth to a daughter, there will always be some disappointment, but fortunately, there is no family planning in this era.

"You know what? Ji Li, today...... It's the day that determines the future! ”

When he said this sentence and diverted Ji Li's attention, Chen Moran cast his eyes to the northeast, where, did he make a decision there?

"Don't let me down!"

In the evening, it was decided to go to war. Emperor Muhito entered the Senkusa Hall and said to the members of the Senate who had been discussing for a whole day.

"This decision was not made by me. However, things have come to this point, and I have nothing to do. ”

The old ministers and ministers, including Hirobumi Ito and Aritomo Yamaguchi, were stunned by the emperor's words, and they were only left with sincere fear. At this time, Ming Shi said in a low voice as if he was talking to himself.

"If I lose this war, I don't know how to apologize to the Imperial Ancestors. Furthermore, in front of 30 million people, what face will I face each other? ”

As he spoke, Meiji burst into tears. Tears poured down her chest. Emperor Meiji has always been proud of his fortitude and decisiveness, and this has never been the case. The elders and ministers present were speechless, and only felt that the weight of responsibility on each person's head was unprecedented.

"Just as you decide!"

Meiji's face was streaked with tears when he said this, and he was scared and even terrified.

At the end of the last Imperial Council, after a heated debate among the elders and ministers, Meiji made the final decision, and he made up his mind to go to war, and at the end of the Imperial Council it was nearly 6 p.m. and twilight had sunk. After returning to the inner palace from the Sensa Hall, Meiji's face was abnormal, in addition to his pale complexion, even his hands sometimes trembled involuntarily, and his whole person fell into silent contemplation.

Meiji, who is 52 years old and suffering from diabetes, is far from being as full of enthusiasm as when he decided to start a war against the Qing ten years ago, Russia is a much more powerful and terrible opponent than the Qing State, and the terrible prospect of losing the war makes him continue to walk his mind, when he returns to the "Phoenix Room", facing the queen, he comes back to his senses and says to the queen next to him intermittently.

"The decision to finally break off diplomatic relations with Russia was completely unavoidable, not my original intention."

After two or three minutes of silence, he said to himself.

"I'm really sorry if this war loses......."

looked like he couldn't finish his words, and this appearance just made the queen's heart tighten.

That night, Meiji tossed and turned, and stayed up all night. Meiji, who still lacked confidence in victory, was shaken again, and he almost hurriedly called the chief attendant of Tokudaiji.

After the chief attendant of Tokudaiji Temple arrived at the harem, Meiji said in a helpless tone.

"I want to send a telegram directly to Emperor Nicholas ......."

When the chief attendant of Tondaiji Temple learned that he intended to use a last resort, he quickly dissuaded him when he had a direct conversation with the Russian emperor, and even gave up Korea in exchange for a contract.

"Foreign Minister Komura has sent a telegram to Russia to conclude diplomatic relations and severance of diplomatic relations, and now ...... Your Majesty, there is no more chance. ”

(To be continued)