On the afternoon of August 22, 1902, in the office of Lin Daxin, the governor-general of Shenyang City, Lin Daxin, Wang Yan, the supreme administrator of the northern provinces, Wu Peifu, chief of the general staff of the Dingbei Army, Jiang Hui, chief of the general staff of the Northeast Navy, and Li Kun, director of the Military Intelligence Bureau, were discussing the current war in Japan.

Wu Peifu said: "Principal, Zhang Limin, commander of the Second Field Army in Saga Castle on Kyushu Island, Japan, and Deng Zichao, commander of the Third Field Army, jointly sent a telegram that the remaining Japanese troops in Saga Castle had been evacuated at night last night, and early this morning, the entire Saga Castle had been occupied by our army, but according to the principal's intentions, the troops were ready to rest in Saga Castle for a period of time. ”

Lin Daxin frowned and said: "Even if Japan takes the initiative to retreat, our capture of Saga City is equivalent to more than 40,000 casualties, although such losses are much less than those of the Japanese, but the Japanese have dozens of cities as big as Saga City, if we capture them one by one, the losses will be too great." ”

Li Kun said: "According to the information obtained by our military intelligence bureau, the Japanese have carried out a national mobilization, not counting the Japanese army, the so-called self-defense forces have reached nearly 10 million, most of the men over the age of 14 and under the age of 50 in Japan have joined the self-defense forces, and even the Japanese are ready to organize young women and train them into organizations similar to the self-defense forces to resist the Dingbei army that we landed on the island." ”

Lin Daxin's brows furrowed even deeper, even women used it, the Japanese are in a ruined boat, and they are going to fight themselves to the end.

Wang Yan said at this time: "Dashuai, now we have captured Hokkaido Island. There aren't many Japanese on it, and we could have turned this big island into our new territory, and the remaining islands of Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku in Japan. With a large population, and with such strong resistance from the Japanese, we were able to defeat all three large islands in the end, and we probably didn't get anything but a pile of ruins, and I felt that the gains outweighed the losses. ”

Jiang Hui continued: "At present, our navy has bombarded all the coastal cities on the remaining three large islands in Japan, including many large coastal cities including Tokyo, the capital of Japan. They were all bombarded by our naval guns and turned into a pile of rubble, but the Japanese had already withdrawn from these coastal cities and went to those inland cities to resist our army. Next, our navy can only block the connection between the three large islands, and the others are already powerless. ”

The remnants of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy did not know where they had fled, and the Northeast Navy bombed these large cities along the coast of Japan. It really became idle. There is no way to do this, no matter how powerful the warships are, they will not be able to go ashore, and they can only completely block the three large Japanese islands.

Lin Daxin touched his nose and said: "It's true that the gains outweigh the losses if you continue to fight like this, but you can't just let the Japanese go, do you have any good ideas?" ”

After Lin Daxin finished speaking, several people pondered for a moment, and Wu Peifu first said: "Principal, the Japanese are holding on to a big city like Saga Castle. With hundreds of thousands of troops at every turn, we might as well besiege such a big city without attacking it. It may not be long before the besieged Japanese will have to run out of food, and then we will have a lot less trouble. ”

Before Lin Daxin could say anything, Wang Yan said in disagreement: "This will not work, our hundreds of thousands of Dingbei officers and soldiers are currently on Kyushu Island, and the pressure on our logistics is already not small, if we only encircle but not attack, then this battle against Japan will become a protracted battle, and our logistics will not be able to bear it." ”

Lin Daxin looked at the map on his desk, which showed the 4 big islands of Japan, at present, Hokkaido Island has been completely occupied by his own Dingbei Army, and Kyushu Island has also captured a small piece, but if he captures other territories in Japan, the price paid by his own Dingbei Army must be very large, Lin Daxin couldn't help but hesitate a little, whether to completely solve this evil neighbor around him, or to accept it when he sees it, and end the final battle of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Lin Daxin thought for a while and said to Wu Peifu: "Order the troops that land on Kyushu Island to strictly guard against the Japanese counterattack during the rest period, and order the Fifth Field Army and the Seventh Field Army, as well as the other 9 integrated divisions preparing to land in Japan, to enter Kyushu Island. ”

In Utsunomiya Castle in the middle of Japan's main island of Honshu, Emperor Meiji brought his family to the Japanese-style courtyard where Prime Minister Saionji and Japanese War Minister Katsura Taro came here to meet Emperor Meiji.

Emperor Meiji's illness has not been good these days, after the Japanese imperial doctor diagnosis and treatment, came to the conclusion that Emperor Meiji's illness is completely caused by the rush of fire, so he prescribed some medicine to Emperor Meiji, but unfortunately Japan is almost in turmoil at present, and no panacea can make up for the trauma of Emperor Meiji's soul, and this fire cannot disappear for a while.

When Emperor Meiji saw his two confidants, he asked urgently, "Ahem, how many troops have withdrawn from Saga Castle?" ”

Prime Minister Saionji and Japanese War Minister Katsura Taro looked at each other, and Saionji Kobo motioned for Katsura Taro to come, so Katsura Taro sighed and said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, about 270,000 people were finally withdrawn from Saga Castle, but among them, there are 160,000 officers and soldiers of our Imperial Japanese Army, and the remaining 110,000 are warriors of the Self-Defense Forces. ”

Saionji continued, "These 270,000 troops will be withdrawn to Fukuoka Castle, and together with the two divisions in Fukuoka Castle and the 300,000 warriors of the Self-Defense Force, we will gather more than 600,000 troops in Fukuoka Castle and continue to fight against the Dingbei Army at Fukuoka Castle." ”

Emperor Meiji smiled bitterly after hearing this, and said: "In this way, we lost 700,000 people in Fukuoka Castle, plus 800,000 in 30 kilometers east of the Sasebo naval base, and in just a short time, our Great Japanese Empire has lost 1.5 million people on Kyushu Island, and if there are a few more such battles, our Great Japanese Empire will not have much strength on Kyushu Island." ”

Saionji Gongwang said: "Your Majesty the Emperor, I have ordered the troops on Kyushu Island to organize some women and set up a women's volunteer team, and our Great Japanese Empire will definitely fight until the last moment." ”

The so-called women's volunteer brigade in Japan. It is to let Japanese women, with explosives strapped to their bodies, act as suicide squads.

Emperor Meiji sighed and did not raise any objections to the organization of any women's volunteer team, after all, Japan has reached the moment of life and death, and any little help must be used.

Emperor Meiji asked again, "What happened to those coastal cities?" How's Tokyo doing? ”

Saionji Konobo and Katsura Taro couldn't help but show gloomy looks, and Emperor Meiji understood at a glance, "Say, what kind of bad news haven't you heard these days." Emperor Ben is used to it, what about those coastal cities and our Tokyo? ”

Saionji Gongwang said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the warships of the Tohoku Navy have carried out destructive shelling of all the coastal cities of our Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku islands in these days. Because most of our cities are wooden houses, the fires caused by the explosion of the shells set fire to almost every coastal city, and a big city like Tokyo caused a fire. It hasn't been extinguished yet. We don't have to have any illusions about these coastal cities anymore. ”

Emperor Meiji coughed, "This is something that has been expected for a long time, but this time the loss of our Great Japanese Empire will be unprecedentedly huge, and I hope that we can pay such a price and keep our Great Japanese Empire from continuing." ”

Katsura Taro said aloud at this time: "Your Majesty the Emperor, rest assured, although we have suffered a lot of losses on Kyushu Island, we have also brought a lot of losses to the Northern Army, so that Lin Daxin can see the price that must be paid to occupy our entire Great Japanese Empire." I believe that as long as we continue to stick to the established strategy, we will definitely keep the Great Japanese Empire in the end. ”

Emperor Meiji nodded. There was no expression on his face, no matter how difficult it was now, he had to persevere, there was no other way, and I hoped that Amaterasu would bless the Japanese Empire.

To tell the truth, the Japanese nation is definitely hard enough, with the current absolute weakness, it is not easy to fight like this with the Dingbei Army, the Dingbei Army can be said to be the strongest army in the world today, that is in the just-concluded Russian battlefield, defeated the elite of the armies of many European powers, the Japanese rely on simple equipment, and even the self-defense forces with cold weapons, and the Dingbei Army with aircraft, artillery, and tanks, although their own casualties are very heavy, But in any case, it also brought a lot of losses to the Northern Army, which surprised many people.

At the British Prime Minister's official residence at 10 Downing Street in London, England, British Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Bannavin took the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Marquis of Lansdowne, to his office.

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Bannavin said, "Marquis of Lansdowne, have you seen the latest battle report in Japan?" ”

The Marquis of Landsdowne nodded and said: "I have seen it, Your Excellency the Prime Minister, I didn't expect the Japanese to be so tenacious, I originally thought that when the Dingbei Army landed on the Japanese mainland with the cooperation of the Northeast Navy, there would be a one-sided situation, maybe it won't be long before the country of Japan will disappear, I never thought that the Japanese would be all soldiers, and there were already 2 battles on Kyushu Island that invested up to one million troops, although in the end they all ended in defeat for the Japanese, and the Japanese also suffered very large losses, However, in any case, it also brought a lot of losses to the Northern Army, and it seems that it is not easy for the Northern Army to completely occupy the Japanese mainland. ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Ban Navin nodded and said: "The determination of the Japanese to resist is really surprising, the intelligence shows that the Japanese weapons are not enough, as a result, they let civilians fight with all kinds of cold weapons, and this kind of civilian armed with cold weapons has gathered more than 10 million people, I really don't know what words to use to describe it, in short, I think that since Japan has such a strong war potential, I think that Japan should still save the country." ”

The Marquis of Lansdownne asked, "What does Your Excellency the Prime Minister mean?" ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Bannavin explained: "Lin Daxin's current power is very strong, his Dingbei Army and Northeast Navy can be described as the strongest army and navy in the world, our British Empire wants to regain its honor, not only to seek its own development, but also to find some trouble for Lin Daxin, I think Japan is a good trouble." ”

The Marquis of Lansdowne frowned and said: "I understand what His Excellency the Prime Minister means, but we, the United Kingdom and several other powers, have just been defeated by Lin Daxin, and we are now beyond the reach of Japan, plus the Northeast Navy has completely blocked several large islands in Japan, and we cannot send any form of support to the Japanese, and now Japan can only rely on themselves." ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Bannavin shook his head and said: "Marquis of Lansdowne, you still don't fully understand what I mean, I am not preparing to support Japan now, but preparing to carry out diplomatic mediation, after all, the Dingbei Army can be regarded as having lost a tooth in Japan, I believe that Lin Daxin in his heart, he may not be willing to pay a very heavy price for a small Japan, let his elite troops pay a very heavy price, if we can make Lin Daxin end the war with Japan, it is also equivalent to the end of the war between the Eight-Nation Alliance and Lin Daxin, Japan will become our pawn against Lin Daxin after the war. ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin was already thinking about what kind of support he was prepared to give to Japan after the war, so that Japan could become a time bomb buried next to Lin Daxin.

The Marquis of Lansdowne suddenly realized: "In this case, maybe it is really feasible, after all, we Britain and Japan are also allies of the Eight-Nation Alliance, and we Britain stand up to mediate, which can be regarded as the past." Your Excellency Prime Minister, we don't need to find a few more countries to mediate this matter. ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin shook his head and said, "Don't! Don't! In that case, maybe Lin Daxin will think that several of our countries are putting pressure on him, you must know that Lin Daxin's temper is notoriously bad, don't backfire, then it's not beautiful. ”

The Marquis of Lansdowne nodded and said: "It's okay, with our British in the middle, if Lin Daxin intends to end this war, he will let the Japanese go, if Lin Daxin is not willing to end this war, even a few more countries are in vain, then I will immediately contact the Japanese first, and then contact Lin Daxin." ”

Prime Minister Henry? Campbell? Banavin said: "I believe that the Japanese will very much agree to end this war, but I don't know if Lin Daxin's final conditions for Japan will be greatly reduced?" (To be continued......)

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