In order to win over China, the Tsarist side said that it would no longer ask for compensation just to show its sincerity, and returned all the concessions in China, and also withdrew its troops from Mongolia and no longer interfered in Mongolian affairs, which allowed Xiao Zhenlei to seize the opportunity to achieve unification of China.

In order to prevent a unified China from being co-opted by Tsarist Russia, the Japanese cabinet had no choice but to grit its teeth and announce that it would no longer demand reparations, and said that it would recover all Japanese concessions in China and withdraw its concession managers, but it did not return the Bay Island, all the surrounding affiliated islands, and the land annexed to the Port of Arthur and the South Manchurian Railway that were ceded during the First Sino-Japanese War.

Xiao Zhenlei also knew that the purpose of the Japanese was to finally gain a foothold on the mainland, and they would definitely not return the seized land lightly, otherwise, there would be no need to fight the current Russo-Japanese War, and it would be better to withdraw troops directly from Korea.

For this Russo-Japanese War, not only did Tsarist Russia launch it temporarily, but even the Japanese side was in a hurry to respond to the war, both sides did not have much preparation, Tsarist Russia's main troop deployment and energy were in Europe, and suddenly there was no preparation for the war against Japan, and the Japanese side did not expect this kind of thing to happen at all, there was no preparation for war at all, after all, the world's economy has just begun to improve, this is caused by the arms race, Japan also wants to take advantage of the arms race to make a fortune, making money is the last word, I didn't expect a war to go to, so although Japan was actively preparing for war, it was a procrastinating attitude in its mentality, especially on the government side, and the war maniacs in the military were very active. But the funds are not in place, and the logistics can't keep up, and there is no way.

It was about the same on the Tsarist side. Although Tsar Nicholas II was very active in the war against Japan, the army and government below were also procrastinating. Judging not only from the mobilization of the army, but also from the point of view of the deployment of military supplies, it will take at least a few months to start a war, and it will not be possible to fight it for at least two or three months.

The Allies spared no effort to win over the Japanese side, and the distribution of the Iron and Blood Investigation Bureau in Japan showed that the envoy sent by the German Emperor had secretly arrived in Tokyo, and met with the Japanese Emperor, and then met with Japanese Prime Minister Gonbei Yamamoto. Yamamoto, this guy was born in the navy and was a former admiral, and he put forward a plan for the naval armament of the 88th Fleet, and it was much more convenient for the navy to spend on military expenses after he came to power.

However, one day in November last year, the famous "Siemens incident" occurred, and the Siemens incident exposed the inside story of the Japanese navy's senior admirals eating huge "kickbacks" in the naval armament ship building program, which was provoked by the German Siemens company, but it was not the original intention of the Germans, and the cause of this incident was that a staff member of the German Siemens company stole a very important document of the company. Among the articles is a telegram in which Siemens agreed to give a 25 percent kickback to Rear Admiral Tatsuto Iwasaki, the former head of the First Department of the Naval Administration's Headquarters in charge of weapons procurement at the Japanese Navy Ministry. After receiving a notice from the head of the German Siemens branch in Tokyo, the Japanese Navy knew that something was wrong. At that time, it was a tense moment in the plan of the 88th Fleet, and I thought that Admiral Gonbei Yamamoto was the prime minister, and it would be more convenient for the navy to get money. An inquiry committee was quickly set up to investigate the matter under the chairmanship of Admiral Idewa Shigeto. The result of the investigation was that someone had indeed taken money in Germany, and the Germans had only done the work of fitting the interior of the cruiser Kongo that the Japanese had ordered in Britain, and the British who were doing the work also gave money to the Japanese. And it was even more, and Vice Admiral Matsumoto, the original head of the Ship Administration Headquarters, took 400,000 yen from the British alone.

At the end of January this year. The media that got the news immediately reported it, and it was pushed back. All of a sudden, there was an earthquake. The Japanese parliament was in a mess, the media was desperately hyping up, and Yamamoto Gonbei's cabinet immediately became shaky, but at this time, Japan was framed and assassinated the crown prince of Tsarist Russia, and then Tsarist Russia declared war on Japan.

It happened that at this time the envoy of the German emperor came, which gave Yamamoto Gonbei on the cusp of a shot in the arm, originally because of the Tsarist Russia's declaration of war on Japan, the relationship between Britain and France and Japan began to cool down sharply, because of the Allied alliance, Britain and France are not good to continue to maintain the former diplomatic relations with Japan, so the Japanese side has been wary of Britain and France, but although the Japanese are arrogant, they also know that Japan alone can not compete with the Entente, and the Germans took the initiative to come to the door, So that the Japanese received diplomatic support.

Relations between Germany and Japan began to warm up sharply after the arrival of the Kaiser's envoy in Tokyo, which made the Entente extremely worried, because once Japan fully joined the Allied camp, it would pose a huge threat to the interests of the Allied Powers in the Far East, and the influence of Britain, France, and other countries in the Far East would drop directly to the bottom.

Britain, France, and other countries began to notice China's role in Asia, and if China could join the Entente, then as long as China was provided with sufficient weapons and ammunition, it would be completely possible to contain Japan with China's population and vast strategic depth, and with Tsarist Russia, Japan would not have to worry about it, so Britain and France sent telegrams to the embassies in China one after another, asking the envoys in China to immediately contact Xiao Zhenlei, and as much as possible to draw China into the Entente camp.

Xiao Zhenlei soon saw the specific content of this top-secret information, the content of this information was: When the Kaiser's envoy met with the Japanese emperor and Prime Minister Gonbei Yamamoto, he put forward a strategic idea, that is, as much as possible, he could win over China as an ally and work with Japan to contain Tsarist Russia in the Far East, and Tsarist Russia was bound to deploy more troops in the Far East, which would weaken Tsarist Russia's strength on the Western Front. The pressure on the Eastern Front would also be much less, and with the addition of China and Japan, Tsarist Russia would soon be defeated and surrendered. Moreover, Japan's own strength is not bad, coupled with China, which has a large population and abundant soldiers, it is not difficult to defeat Tsarist Russia, and when the time comes, Germany, Japan, and China will be able to divide up the vast land of Tsarist Russia, and China's national strength is relatively weak, and in terms of subordination, Germany and Japan must be the mainstay, and China will be supplemented.

This plan makes the Japanese emperor and Prime Minister Gonbei Yamamoto extremely excited, if this plan can be realized, then Japan is invincible in Asia, and can swallow all the territory of Britain and France and other countries in the Pacific region, if the Entente can be completely defeated, then the Allies can carve up the world, this is a huge benefit that is unimaginably big, the Japanese have never thought of being able to carve up the world, the three inches of the Kaiser's envoy finally said that the Japanese emperor and Prime Minister Yamamoto Gonbei, However, there are still many details of this matter that need to be discussed in detail, and it is not possible to achieve results in a short time, but the plan to win over China can be carried out first, so Germany and Japan, like the Entente countries, sent telegrams to the Chinese embassies in China, asking the envoys in China to immediately ask for a meeting with Xiao Zhenlei and make every effort to win over China.

For the Allied Powers, it is no longer possible for Japan to join the Entente, and it is also impossible to remain neutral, because Tsarist Russia has declared war on Japan, and Japan's only choice is to join the Allied Powers, as long as China is drawn in the Far East, but the Allies' motivation to win over China is not as great as that of the Entente, because Germany does not have many interests in the Far East.

What makes the Japanese happy is that the Allies took the initiative to come to the door, which is much more beneficial to Japan in the next alliance negotiations, and what is beneficial to Japan now is that Britain and France have not yet declared war on Japan, which allows Japan to have more time to prepare and deploy, in fact, the British and the French know that they themselves do not want to go to war with Japan in the Far East, and the sharp cooling of diplomatic relations with Japan is also because there is an alliance with Tsarist Russia and it is also a last resort, and it is better not to declare war at this stage. Britain and France themselves also need time to prepare.

Xiao Zhenlei soon received a call from Cheng Baguio, saying that the British and French ministers wanted to see him, because of the support of a strong intelligence system, Xiao Zhenlei knew the purpose of the British and French ministers coming to see him this time, and in the next meeting, Xiao Zhenlei has always been calm and full of aura, this is the so-called "There are enough chips in your hand, everyone has to look at you!" "The situation, right?

Xiao Zhenlei met with the British and French ministers Zhu Erdian and Pei Ge in the reception hall, and on such a diplomatic occasion, Zhu Erdian and Pei Ge no longer had the arrogance and domineering attitude of the Qing Dynasty ministers and Yuan Shikai before, but they still maintained an attitude of neither humility nor arrogance.

Xiao Zhenlei invited the two of them to tea, and asked, "What are the two ministers who came to see me today?" ”

Zhu Erdian and Pei Ge glanced at each other, and Zhu Erdian said: "Your Excellency, the world situation is extremely tense now, you are a wise and wise person, you must have seen it very clearly, we came here today to hope that your country can join the Entente camp!" ”

Xiao Zhenlei smiled when he heard this, and asked, "Mr. two ministers, why should I join the Entente?" What were the benefits of joining the Entente? ”

If this must sound extremely disgusting to ordinary people, this is also a little too shameless, a head of state blatantly wants benefits, speaks openly, and is too uncultivated, but if you really regard the emperors, kings, prime ministers, presidents, etc. of the great powers as gentlemen, then you are very wrong. Xiao Zhenlei wants benefits and interests not for the sake of individuals, but for the interests of the country, even if the means are scoundrel, no matter how shameless, no matter how shameful, despicable, and do everything, it is okay, because in the face of national interests, there is no difference between evil and justice! If they have to be distinguished, then what all countries do to other countries is evil, because it's all for profit! (To be continued......) R1292