It was already very late at night, in the royal courtyard deep in the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, the imperial capital of the Chinese Empire, an oriental-style palace towered in the hinterland of the royal palace, and the modern oriental-style palace building of Bai Sè was majestic and magnificent, which could be compared with the Palace of Versailles or the Tsar's Kremlin, and this modern oriental-style palace building was, to some extent, an attempt at a new style of Chinese architecture, a combination of modern European architectural technology and traditional oriental architectural aesthetics.

The majestic royal palace was the last building of its kind in the world built for the enjoyment of one person, and the construction and maintenance of such a magnificent palace was, in fact, more often than not, deliberately built as a "show" of imperial decency, not shabby, but in the end it was financed and repaired by the royal family a few years ago.

The eaves of the palace consist of large eaves in the Oriental style. The corridors of the palace are also oriental, with the lamps under the corridors shining evenly with soft orange light, and the royal garden, which exists as a summer resort, is mostly idle, but at this time, according to custom, the royal family has moved here after June.

Under one of the corridors of the palace, there stood several close shì, and at the window of the room behind them, emitting a soft light, here was the study of His Majesty the Emperor of the Chinese Empire, and most of the time, the emperor himself preferred to conduct official business in the study, especially in the imperial palace.

However, whenever the royal family moved into the palace as usual, usually the emperor himself would never "work overtime", and the emperor also needed to rest, not to mention that there were a large number of affairs officials who controlled the progress of the entire empire, and there were also prime ministers and cabinets to deal with daily affairs, and only when they had disputes or major incidents, they would enter the government building to ask His Majesty.

People who are familiar with His Majesty's habits often do not disturb His Majesty at night, but tonight is unusual, when Chen Moran was enthusiastically observing the starry sky with his son at the palace observatory, a palace NV official hurriedly came to report, Prime Minister Yuan Shikai, Minister of Foreign Affairs Liang Dunyan, Minister of War Cai Yi, and Minister of the Navy Liu Guanxiong were anxious to see His Majesty.

At this time, it was already 9:030 p.m.

"It's ...... at this time"

Looking at the time, Chen Moran's brows furrowed slightly, with the political sense of smell cultivated over the years, he could have a hunch that at this time, several ministers were in a hurry, and something big would inevitably happen. And recently...... Thinking about the changes in the situation in Europe in recent months, and the major events that are about to happen today in history, Chen Moran understands that perhaps, something really big will happen.

“…… I still think that if there is a war, we must fulfill our obligations as allies......"

In the waiting room outside the study, the Minister of War Cai Ye still insisted on his attitude at this time.

Over the past year, the situation in Europe has deteriorated, and according to the information available to the General Staff Intelligence Directorate, war could break out in Europe at any time. Just a few hours ago, the War Department received information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Russian Tsar and a number of important ministers were discussing the situation in the Balkans, and if Austria-Hungary intervened in the Balkans by force, then Russia, as a supporter of Serbia, was likely to intervene in the Balkans.

This would likely lead to a war between the European powers, and at the cabinet meeting, the cabinet members at the meeting argued over China's position, and Cai Yi, as the Minister of War, stubbornly believed that at this time, China must abide by "international credibility." ”

"Matsuha, I need to remind you that the Diet is still debating whether to renew the treaty of alliance with Germany......

Liang Dunyan's words only made Cai Yi's voice dumb. Unlike the Army's pro-German, Liang Dunyan, who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that he could not talk about being pro-British, but he did not approve of China "making a statement" at this time.

"Okay, you don't need to argue, after all, whether you say it or not, it will ultimately be judged by Your Majesty."

At this time, Liu Guanxiong fell in the middle and got up the mud.

And Yuan Shikai stood there steadily, squinting at the three people in front of him, five years ago, after being promoted from the "Governor of North Korea" to the prime minister, Yuan Shikai found that this prime minister was just a superficial scenery, and in real terms, it was not as great as his North Korean governor.

Nine years ago, according to the Sino-Japanese peace treaty, Korea was reattached to China and then a vassal state of China, but in the fifth year of the empire, there was a conflict between the Korean national army and the royal family, and the royal army created by China finally even had a military mutiny, arresting and executing a large number of ministers, and the Korean kingdom of Bī Yi Xi fled to the palace of the governor of the dynasty. ,

At that time, Yuan Shikai, who was the governor of North Korea, was instructed by the emperor to send all the Korean royal family to Nanjing, and then sent a large number of troops to the Korean Peninsula.

Then, with the support of 300,000 troops, Yuan Shikai, the governor of North Korea, who had the "right to cheap", then declared that Korea was a province of China and exercised the exclusive power of the governor.

In the following three years, in the face of the collapse of the country, all parts of Korea can be described as turbulent, there are supporters and opponents, and Yuan Shikai treated the supporters with leniency, asking His Majesty to grant him a low-level title, and against the opponents, he was iron-fisted, but in three years, North Korea returned to calm.

However, everyone knows that after the seemingly smiling Yuan Shikai was transferred from North Korea and promoted to prime minister, European and American newspapers once named him "butcher prime minister", and he had the blood of more than 100,000 North Koreans on his hands, but although he was also attacked at home for his iron fist in North Korea, it did not prevent him from being promoted to prime minister.

In the afternoon, when receiving an urgent telegram from St. Petersburg. Yuan Shikai is playing mahjong with several friends in the Prime Minister's residence, today he is very lucky, a few rounds down, has won thousands of yuan, and even almost won a house, it can be said that the luck is quite smooth, but in the end the "business" disturbed him, he had to win the house back to the hands of the card friends.

After receiving an urgent telegram from St. Petersburg from the hands of his assistant minister. As soon as he read the emergency telegram, he knew that in the end, I am afraid that he would have to ask His Majesty for this matter, since he was promoted to prime minister, the reason why he felt that the prime minister was inferior to the governor, was that he was the only governor of China, and at the same time, he was also the governor who had the right to "act cheaply".

In the office, as soon as Yuan Shikai grabbed the phone, the first thing that came to mind was the Minister of War Ku Cai, who clearly knew that this kind of thing must be discussed by the military. Then, the meeting lasted for an hour, and just as he had expected, an argument broke out at the meeting, and finally the four ministers met to come to the royal garden.

In the small living room next to the study, around the Russian emergency call, Chen Moran and Yuan Shikai and others kept talking about the next day.

The topics discussed, the controversy is stacked and complex, but there are a few that are undoubted,

"At this time, we must remain neutral and never do anything that causes misunderstanding among other countries."

"The opportunity should be taken to wage war against Russia, thereby seizing all the lost territories of the Manchus, and even advancing further ......" and its specific methods.

"If Germany and Austria-Hungary are involved in the war, Britain, France and Russia will inevitably declare war on Germany and Austria, and then the Russian rear will inevitably be empty, and then it will be possible to attack Russia from the three directions of northeast, ménggu, and Xinjiang, so as to ensure the ...... of China's interests."

"The United Kingdom, the United States must be taken into account......

"Then we will attack the South Seas, and by that time Britain will not be able to stop us......"

When the conversation was coming to an end, Chen Moran, who had been just listening to the words of the three of them, stroked his beard with his hand, and then threw out the following sentences:

"Yes, expansion to the north, from our point of view, is best suited to our broad interests, this is our imperial ideal".

In a word, Chen Moran made a conclusion that the Royal Guards Army has a total of only 106 infantry divisions, and only 36 of them are Class A divisions, that is, fully equipped divisions, but 20 of them belong to the Sanbei region, and only 30 B divisions, that is, they are not fully equipped divisions, and 20 of them belong to the Three Norths, so to speak, half of the Chinese Army is used to defend against Russia.

It is safe to say that no matter how calm Sino-Russian relations may seem, the fact is that for China, Russia has always been the biggest potential enemy on land, as well as the most threatening enemy, and for the past six years, the Army Staff has been conducting a variety of defensive and offensive plans, most of which are directed against Russia.

His Majesty's words only made Cai Yi's whole person happy, and just as he was speaking, he listened to His Majesty say again.

"But not now"

Chen Moran made a conclusion for this night's conversation with one sentence, looked at the three ministers in front of him, and continued to speak earnestly.

"Perhaps, now that our national strength has made some progress, and at this time, the situation of the great powers competing for the world by force has emerged, but now, if we venture into the battlefield of the great powers competing by force, if we do not choose an ally carefully, I am afraid that we will lose all that we have now."

Looking at them, Chen Moran knew that they would never have thought of what kind of changes would happen to that country in the north in the future, and they would also not see that in that war of unprecedented scale, the real winner was not the European powers that tore apart on the battlefield, but the United States, which was quietly watching the changes.