At the same time as the internal reform of Tohoku, Japan has finally waited for the person they have been waiting for for a long time, Hirobumi Ito. However, in contrast, the situation in Japan is more complicated than in the Northeast, where the big merchants are considered to be the only ones, while the situation in Japan is much more chaotic. Conservatives, centrists, reformers. Within each faction, they can be subdivided, opposing each other and tilting against each other. Therefore, Japan's political reform did not take notice until 1885.

In the first half of 1883, the French did not launch an offensive against the north in Annam, as they did in later generations, mainly because most of their maritime power was wiped out after a war with the Great Shang. Although Colonel Guba had already arrived in Annam with the new French Tokyo fleet and reorganized the French detachments in China and Japan, under the strong pressure of domestic public opinion, their primary target was changed from Annam to Yingkou. However, it is clear that Guba does not intend to accept the mercy of the French people, and is using various reasons to delay the attack on Yingkou. And the French ambassador to China, Bao Hai, is also helping him, at least on this issue, the two are on the same page.

Back at the end of July 1883, today was the first junior high school graduation ceremony of Dashang Affiliated College, which was attended by Wang Yi and delivered a speech.

These people are the first batch of students of the Dashang Affiliated Academy, the oldest of whom is already twenty-two years old, and the youngest is fourteen years old. They studied for a total of seven years from elementary school to junior high school, and out of more than 1,000 people, a total of 500 were admitted to high school, and more than 400 people entered various enterprises of Dashang, and the rest of them either repeated their grades to prepare for the high school entrance examination again, or were admitted to the military academy of the Dashang Insurance Corps.

However, Wang Yi, who was standing on the podium at this time, didn't think so much. He looked at all the students and for the first time had a peculiar sense of pride. He knew that from this day on, China began to have its own educated middle school graduates. The students from other grades around him were watching, and Wang Yi began to speak at this time.

"Students, I'm Wang Yi!"

"Hello Headmaster!"

Some of the students cried, after all, after living in the Dashang Affiliated School for seven years, it was impossible to be without feelings.

Wang Yi didn't care, and continued: "Students, from tomorrow, you will either enter high school, or join the work, or become a soldier, but I am here today to say that you will always be good students of my big business." ”

The students below applauded excitedly.

Wang Yi smiled at this time: "Students, when you are about to graduate and walk out of the campus, the principal will nag you a few words at the end. As you may already know, the world is not as perfect as you think, there is killing, there is poverty, there is violence, there is corruption, there is corruption, there is a lot of squalor and ugliness. But the headmaster would like to tell you that none of this has anything to do with you, and that it is all the fault of the adults. And when you enter society, you may have to face all kinds of problems, some of which you can deal with, some of which you can't, and sometimes you may be forced to fall into some dirty rules and be forced to go with the flow. Sometimes you may lose yourself, forget yourself, be sad, be in pain, and shed tears. But there is one thing that the Chancellor wants you to remember, and that is that your alma mater will always support you! If you have any questions, you can always go back to your alma mater for help. The society outside is also a school, but it is more cold-blooded and cruel there. The principal's expectation for you is very simple, as long as you can make the world a little better than yesterday, you will live up to the training and care that your alma mater has taken care of you over the years. ”

This is Tong Qianjia leading all the graduates to say: "Our school motto is ......"

"Tianxingjian, a gentleman strives for self-improvement and reads for the rise of China!"

After that, we started to take a group photo, and all the teachers were in attendance.

Qianjia and Shen Yazhi were both admitted to high school and continued to study, but the two girls were no longer as relaxed as before. The curriculum of high school is more difficult than that of junior high school, and Wang Yi also began to instill some knowledge that is only available in later generations. As a result, many students who studied well in junior high school began to find that they could not keep up, and there was no way to do it.

In August 1883, King Annam finally died of illness, two months later than in history, and then France, who had been honest for half a year, finally found a way to divert the attention of the people at home and launched an attack on Vietnam.

On October 16, the French attacked Hue Haikou.

On October 17, it invaded the capital city of Hue.

On 23 October, Annan was coerced by force to conclude the Franco-Vietnamese New Peace Treaty, the first Hue Treaty, with 27 paragraphs. According to this treaty, France made Annam its protectorate and controlled Annam's internal and foreign affairs. The French minister He Luo (Mu Mang) immediately posted a notice, declaring that the entire territory of Annam belonged to the law and expelled the Black Flag Army from the country.

On December 13, 6,000 French troops, led by Gu Ba, launched an attack on the positions of the Qing army and the Black Flag Army stationed in Shanxi (northwest of present-day Hanoi), and the Sino-French War officially began. The Qing lord fled to Xinghua to Xinghua in advance of Tang Jiong, the governor of Yunnan, and then fled back to Yunnan privately. The Black Flag Army and the 5,000 troops of the Qing Yunnan Defense Army fought against the French army, and from the 15th to the 17th, the bloody battle lasted for three days, killing more than 300 enemies. On the 17th, Shanxi fell, Liu Yongfu, Tang Jingsong and others broke through and retreated to Xinghua (in the northwest of Shanxi).

"I didn't expect Annan's situation to be so erosive." Wu Xiao sat beside Wang Yi, shook his head and sighed.

The same is true of the current chief of staff, Wang Xiaoxiao. "This Tang Jiong is really ......"

"He is Zhang Zhidong, Zhang Peilun was promoted, and he also fought in the early years, but no matter how you look at it, he is old, and he has lost the sharpness of the year." Wang Yi said with a smile. "But we can't actually help with Annan's affairs, so let him go."

"Then you don't have to give all the warships to the horsetail, after all, their military strength is weak. Zuo Zongtang urged several times for this matter. "Wang Xiaoxiao did not give up, and built yì Dao.

Wang Yi thought about it and nodded, but then said: "The ship can go to Mawei and do things for Nanyang." But as long as they have a tael of silver left unpaid, the ship will always be in our hands and will not be returned. In addition, Yan Fu was sent with the ship to tell him that as long as the French came, they would be sunk regardless of the reason. If the local officials dare to entertain the French privately, they will be punished with treason. ”

Wang Yi's words were endless, and Wu Xiao and Wang Xiaoxiao couldn't figure out what was going on. But since he ordered it down, just tell Sù Yan Fu to do it.

"By the way, now Li Hongzhang is no longer worried, and he has come out to take charge of Beiyang again, and Zhang Shusheng has gone to Liangguang to be the governor. Are we opening a port in Guangzhou? "Wu Xiao built yì at this time." After all, our relationship with Lao Zhang is not bad. ”

"I also agree, Zhanjiang is very good."

Wang Yi shook his head and said, "It's too far, and it's too close to the French, our strength is not that far!" In the past three years, I am not ready to fight new battles, except for the forcible occupation of Russian territory in the north. The new government has just been formed, and it is still in trial operation, and once we engage in military confrontation with foreign countries, we will have another civil strife, and I am afraid that our vitality will be greatly damaged. Besides, the Russians are currently planning to build warships, and our side cannot stop. ”

Wu Xiao also knew that Wang Yi had become more and more cautious about Yiqi after this rectification movement.

From 1883 onwards, China would enter an eventful season, and Wang Yi chose to recuperate at this time, and Vietnam could not take care of it for the time being, and the first thing to face was the Russian expeditionary fleet, although this fleet had not yet taken shape. As far as Wang Yi knows, in 1882 the Vladimir Monomakh was launched, belonging to the Dmitry Donskoy class. This year another ship of the same class, the Dmitry Donskoy, was launched. The Admiral Nasimov will also be launched next year, and several Catherine II-class dreadnoughts will be built in the coming years. And now the dreadnought under construction at the Dashang Shipyard has now reached a bottleneck, and although the development progress will not stagnate, it will be one or two years later than originally estimated.

If the Russians fight to the death, now they are not the opponent's opponent with the Dashang Navy alone.

Wang Xiaoxiao began to talk about the North Korean intelligence, and the first person to appear in front of Wang Yiyan was a North Korean named Jin Yujun. He was the leader of the Korean Enlightenment Party, and he was extremely unfriendly to the Qing Dynasty and regarded Japan as a teacher. What Wang Yi didn't expect the most was that it was not long after the end of the Renwu Military Rebellion and the signing of the Treaty of Jewupu. The North Korean government sent Pak Yong-hyo as an envoy to Xiuxin and Kim Ok-du's advisers to Japan to apologize.

Wang Yi wondered, you didn't suffer a loss, which crime do you blame?

It is said that this is the third time that Jin Yujun has traveled to Japan. From this time on, Japan began to take the opportunity to support the Korean Enlightenment Party. Emperor Meiji personally received the Korean mission. The Japanese government mobilized influential people in the government and the opposition to give preferential treatment and enlightenment, and agreed to extend the payment of the 500,000 yen indemnity stipulated in the treaty for 10 years. In addition, without a government mandate, the Yokohama Shojin Bank lent a huge sum of 170,000 yen to the Busan Tariff and the Tancheon Gold Mine as guarantees, paid 50,000 yuan in compensation, and 120,000 yuan was used to establish the cultural industry. With the assistance of Japan, the enlightenment movement led and promoted by Kim Ok-gyun and others was in the ascendant.

However, the Busan tax and the Duancheon gold mine are under the control of the big merchants, and the gold and jade are purely empty gloves and white wolves. But even though it knew so, Japan agreed to borrow. Wang Yi understands that the ambition of the little Japanese son is immortal.

In March 1883, Kim Ok-gyun persuaded the Joseon king to carry out social reforms, and established a modern printing and publishing agency, the Bowen Bureau, and in October of the same year, Japan's first modern newspaper, Seoul Xunpao, was published as a mouthpiece for propagating the idea of enlightenment.

At the same time, Kim Ok-gyun took advantage of the appointment of Park Yong-hyo, a prominent member of the Enlightenment faction, as the governor of Seoul (equivalent to the mayor), and established the Police Patrol Bureau and the Provincial Governance Bureau, and carried out some reforms in the police system and civil engineering and construction matters. The Enlightenment Party also selected 61 students to study in Japan, and recruited 1,000 Japanese officers and noncommissioned officers to train two battalions of the new-style army for the DPRK.

Kim Ok-gyun used his position as a foreign yamen senator to negotiate with Japan, and the Japanese government presented the Korean king with 425 rifles and 50,000 rounds of ammunition in the name of the emperor. Recently, these newly trained troops have often been haunted near the North Korean branch of Dashang, and Xi Benxiong and Kim Zhiying have repeatedly sent messages to the headquarters to prevent the possibility of a military mutiny happening again.