At Jingshi, Yongdingmen Station, a three-car green special train slowly stopped on the platform.

There were not many people on the platform, except for more than a dozen Praetorian Guard officers and soldiers dressed in black cavalry uniforms, all of them were high-ranking officials of the empire: Lieutenant General Liu Yun, chief of the Imperial General Staff, Major General Zhu Tao, director of the Intelligence Division of the General Staff, Major General Ma Chengwu, director of the Logistics Department, Niu Jin, minister of industry and commerce, and Mo Ning, deputy minister of finance.

Wen Yi rubbed his head and jumped out of the car, and Liu Yun and his party greeted him.

"Something happened again." Liu Yun said this as soon as they met.

"Say it." Wen Yi replied with a wry smile, his head a little swollen.

"On the way, I said, eat lunch first, you rest for a while in the afternoon, and have a meeting tonight to discuss countermeasures."

Surrounded by guards, everyone left the station and drove to the Jinguang Hotel under the name of Niu Jin in four two-wheeled carriages, escorted by six Praetorian cavalry guards in front and behind.

In the carriage, which was slightly more stable than the train, Wen Yi took the Hademen cigarette handed by Liu Yun and lit the fire himself: "Let's say, it looks very serious, after calling so many people to come, this lunch should be restless." ”

Liu Yun nodded lightly: "It was very sudden, and it completely disrupted my plan." Remember the last time I told you about Tokugawa Ieyasu? ”

"Don't sell it, tell the truth."

"There was a coup d'état in Japan."

"Oh?"

Wen Yi groaned for a while, blew a long breath of smoke, and raised his head to Liu Yunyang: "Go on?" Details? ”

"Former War Minister Oyama Iwa and former Navy Minister Saigo Norido announced yesterday the establishment of a provisional military cabinet, with Oyama Iwa as interim prime minister and Saigo as interim military governor, and the military cabinet will take over all state powers, stop negotiations with us, and issue a proclamation they call the Emperor's Edict, urging the Japanese military and civilians to put the general righteousness first, obey the military cabinet, and prepare to fight to the death against foreign enemies. The whereabouts of Prime Minister Hirobumi Ito, Chief of Staff of the Base Camp, Prince Arisugawa Chihito, War Minister Seiki Okazawa, and Navy Minister Shikinori Kayama are unknown, and it is estimated that they were either killed or detained.

"What a coup d'état, it's really energetic." Wen Yi shook his head, took two more puffs of cigarette, and threw the remaining half of the cigarette under his feet to extinguish it.

"A gentleman like you deserves a pipe, smoking paper cigarettes is too bad for your image." Liu Yun teased him.

"No way, get used to it - what do you think about the coup d'état in Japan?"

"The intelligence is insufficient, the situation is unclear, and we have to observe for a while before we can draw conclusions."

"I think your dreams of ending the war as soon as possible have been shattered." Wen Yi never showed mercy when talking to Liu Yun.

"Then let's break it, what to do next, we still have to have a few plans, no matter what the trend of this coup is, we must be able to come up with a feasible solution in time."

Wen Yi nodded: "Well, generally speaking, the direction of the coup d'état is nothing more than failure and success, and failure is divided into failure due to internal struggle and external interference, as well as defeat by internal and external enemies, of course, success can also be divided in this way." If die-hards like Oyama Iwa take power, it will inevitably be bad for us, so we want the coup led by him to fail, so we will intervene, so the war will continue until we are sure that there will be a rational and sensible new government. ”

"Hey-" Liu Yun sighed, "People are not as good as heaven, we must carry out further mobilization, now our main force is gathered in Korea, once the Tsar Lao Maozi secretly transports the troops to the border and kills them from the northeast, the problem will be complicated." ”

Wen Yi smiled and shook his head: "It's not that easy, they just swallowed Hokkaido, it takes time to digest, didn't the intelligence department say it, the Russian army was hit hard by the Japanese in Hokkaido, and life is very difficult." Moreover, Britain and France were very dissatisfied with Russia's behavior, and were putting pressure on Russia in every way to spit out what they had swallowed, which was of course difficult, but it still made the Russians have to worry about expanding into the Far East. In addition, even if the Russians really attack, we have enough strength to defend the homeland, and there are more than 60,000 Wehrmacht troops and 40,000 reform troops on the northeast and Mongolian fronts, as long as these 100,000 people can hold off the other side for ten days and half a month, the main force can return to the division and kill. I guess the Russians are not ready for a full-scale confrontation with our country. ”

"The conclusion of the intelligence department is this, Zhu Tao's kid is serious, I am at ease with him." Liu Yun said and looked back at the carriage behind him - Zhu Tao and Mo Ning were sitting in the car.

"Liu Yun, have you ever wondered why we are so busy?"

Liu Yun suddenly heard such words, paused for a moment, and replied blankly: "Ideal, ideal, what are you doing with this?" ”

Wen Yi smiled and craned his neck: "It's nothing, just ask." ”

"Phew-", the coachman shouted and stopped the horse, and the most luxurious Jinguang Hotel in Beijing stood proudly in front of the carriage on the left.

Liu Yun patted Wen Yi on the shoulder: "Homesick, you should find a woman to forget her." ”

Wen Yi straightened his collar and exhaled: "What can you completely forget now?" Don't talk about it, tired. ”

While some people are feasting on delicious food in a luxurious hotel, others are crammed into a wrecked fishing boat, scared and starving, and worse, they don't even agree on where to go.

"How about going to the Philippines? The governor there has some friendship with me. "Said the Minister of the Navy, Viscount Vice Admiral Shikiri Kayama.

"It's too far, it's better to go to Russia, there is still a chance to bypass the Tsushima Strait now." The director of the Military Internal Affairs Bureau of the base camp Manabe Buntobu Infantry Osa said.

"Whether you go to the Philippines or Russia, you are very likely to be captured by the Qing Navy." The director of the military and interior affairs bureau of the base camp and the Minister of War Okazawa reminded the two humanitarians.

The chief of staff of the base camp, Prince Arisugawa Chihito, licked his chapped lips: "No matter what, after all, we can't fall into the hands of the two traitors of Dashan and Saigo, instead of going to the territory of the Westerners, it is better to simply go to China, and the foreign minister of Mutsu is still in Shanghai, so it must be of help to us." ”

Okazawa nodded in agreement: "The Spaniards have no strength or reason to help us, and the Russians want to annex us, so we can only turn to the Qing State for help." Moreover, there were still 60,000 to 70,000 imperial troops in Korea, and as long as we could make appropriate agitation, organize them into rebel armies, and with the support of the Qing army, return to Tokyo, kill the rebels, and rescue the emperor, we would still have a chance, and Japan would still have hope. ”

Prince Chiren looked around at the few people in the gloomy cabin, and his voice was low and hoarse: "So, what do you disagree with?" ”

Manabe Wenwu suddenly put his hands on the ground, and his forehead was pressed against the damp wooden floor: "Your Royal Highness, the Qing Kingdom is still our enemy, if you bring the Qing army into Japan, it is equivalent to luring a wolf into the room!" ”

Without waiting for Prince Chiren to speak, Okazawa immediately reprimanded him sharply: "Nonsense, the Qing State is just jealous of our country's interests in Korea and has no intention of destroying Japan, as long as the Qing State recognizes the control of Korea and appropriately opens the market, the Qing State will definitely be satisfied." Now that the Russian army has landed in Hokkaido and plundered our imperial people, if we defect to Russia, as you say, the Russians will make us puppets, and then invade Honshu, and even all of Japan, then we will be sinners of the imperial country, and we will bear the infamy for eternity! ”

Prince Chihito nodded slightly: "What General Okazawa said is the meaning of this prince, this king is responsible for the important task of rescuing the emperor and ensuring the national system, and he will aim to defeat the rebels and thieves such as Daiyama and Saigo, and other small things do not need to be thought about." According to the current situation, it is indeed the best policy to seek help from the Qing State, so let's decide so. ”

Except for Manabe Daisa, everyone else shouted, "Your Highness is wise." ”

Okazawa got up and climbed onto the deck and said to the sailors: "By the order of His Royal Highness the Prince, we will set sail and turn the rudder and sail to Shanghai immediately." ”

The shipowner, Jiechuan Haikui, nodded and walked over: "General, Shanghai is a place for enemy countries." ”

Okazawa glanced at him: "What enemy country is about to become an ally, and you dare to disobey His Royal Highness's order?" ”

Jiechuan hurriedly knelt down and apologized: "The grass people don't dare, the grass people don't dare." ”

Okazawa said: "Get up - by the way, is there any water, His Royal Highness is thirsty." ”

Jiechuan responded: "General, there are still some in the water tank, but they are a little stinky, and I dare not give them to His Highness to drink." ”

Okazawa waved his hand: "When is it, still care about this, ask someone to boil it and send it over." ”

"General, please forgive me, the villain is in a hurry to start the boat, and he didn't bring any cooking utensils, only a few water bags, I'm afraid I will wronged His Highness."

Okazawa let out a heavy breath from his nose: "Forget it, raw water is better than nothing." ”

"Boat boss! There are several large steamers in front of you! A sailor shouted from the bow of the ship.

"What! Steamship? Frightened and frightened, Okazawa hurried to the bow of the ship, and followed the sailors' hope, and sure enough, he saw several steamers, marching in three columns, among which there seemed to be warships.

"The warships and transport fleets of the Qing army." The voice of Birch Mountain came from behind.

Okazawa turned around and said, "You say, where are they going?" ”

"It should be Okinawa, they received the loot in advance." Birshana said.

"There's a ship coming at us!" Jiechuan exclaimed.

Huashan raised his hand to shade the sun, staring at the shadow of the ship in the sea and sky, and a smile appeared on his face: "It's confirmed, the red background golden dragon flag, just as I was saying that I was going to the Qing country, I met the fleet of the Qing country, it is really the blessing of Amaterasu, so that we will suffer less, and the rebellion will be done!" ”

Prince Chiren also boarded the deck at this time, and after learning that there was a Qing fleet ahead, he excitedly slapped the mast: "Quick, raise the signal flag and ask for assistance!" ”

Huashan almost laughed out loud: "Your Highness, this is not a warship, just a broken fishing boat." ”

Chiren let out an "oh" and said, "Then raise the white flag, in short, we must let them notice us." ”

Huashan pointed to the Qing cruiser that was coming through the waves and said to His Royal Highness the Honorable Prince, "They have come. ”

※※※

In 1894, the calendar turned to October 1, which was an ordinary day. For some of the top officials of the Qing Empire, the day seemed to end in endless busyness, especially the poor Vice-Chancellor Wen Yi, who had set a new personal record of only 9 hours and 50 minutes in 72 hours of non-working work as of 6 a.m., and now fell asleep alone on a workbench piled high with papers in his study. At the same moment, the forty-year-old chief of the Imperial General Staff, Lieutenant General Liu Yun, was gently emerging from the warm bed, kissed his sleeping young wife, got dressed, knocked on the servant's door on the way to the bathroom, and began to make the necessary preparations for the day's work. It was also at this moment that Major General Zhong Xiahuo, the new commander of the thirty-year-old Imperial Reserve Army, raised a flag in the courtyard of the official residence that confused his family: a blood-red background, four small yellow five-pointed stars surrounded a large five-pointed star. At this moment, in the box of the New Paris Hotel in Shanghai, a group of Japanese dressed in the milky white naval uniforms of the Qing Empire are gobbling up around a table, they only have half an hour to finish this extremely sumptuous breakfast, and then they will cross the Yangtze River, board a special train to Beijing, and go to meet the Qing Emperor Guangxu and the important ministers of the empire, and pour out their grievances and dreams in the most beautiful and euphemistic words.

Three days later, all of the above-mentioned people had a temporary end: Wen Yi was admitted to the hospital; Liu Yun learned that his wife was pregnant again; Zhong Xiahuo was severely criticized by Liu Yun; The group of Japanese met Emperor Guangxu, Prime Minister Weng Tonghe, and Chief of General Staff Liu Yun.

A secret treaty was signed with the names of four people: Prince Arisugawa Chihito, Chief of Staff of the Imperial Japanese Empire, Okazawa Sei, Minister of War of the Imperial Japan, Weng Tonghe, Prime Minister and Duke of the Qing Empire, and Liu Yun, Chief of the General Staff and Marquis of the Qing Empire.

There are three main points of the treaty: first, the Qing Empire did not recognize the military provisional government established by the Japanese rebel soldiers through a coup d'état; Second, the Qing Empire supported the Provisional Government-in-Exile headed by Prince Arisugawa Chihito and provided it with all kinds of assistance, including military force; Third, the Qing Empire considered it necessary to take all means to maintain the legitimacy of the Japanese Imperial Family and the legitimacy of the government, and the Provisional Government-in-exile agreed that the Qing Empire's armed forces should freely enter and leave the territorial waters of Japanese territory in order to achieve the above objectives.

Soon, the treaty bore fruit: more than 60,000 remnants of Japanese troops on the Korean Peninsula accepted the leadership of the Provisional Government in Exile and were officially reorganized into the Rebel Army on October 15, with Lieutenant General Okazawa as the commander, under the command of six detachments, of which the fourth, fifth, and sixth detachments formed the Central Army Corps, and Okazawa Sei was also the commander. On October 17, the Qing army drew the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Janissaries Divisions and the 1st Infantry Division from the Korean Front to form the Japanese Dispatch Army, which was commanded by Major General Ding Jieyun, commander of the Korean Front. On October 21, the joint headquarters of the rebel army and the Qing army was established in Busan, North Korea, with Major General Ding Jieyun, commander-in-chief of the coalition forces, Lieutenant General Okazawa Sei, deputy commander-in-chief, Brigadier General Wu Beinian, chief of staff, and Lieutenant General Shiki Kayama, deputy chief of staff.

A big war is about to begin.

The humble wooden house in Liu Yun's mansion was starting to open in an orderly manner again, and the temporary heart of this empire was still in an irreplaceable position at this time, and the fate of countless people was decided by it, and the different activities of countless people would eventually determine its fate. A vast empire of more than 300 million people cannot be at the mercy of a dozen people in a hut for long, and if the people in this hut are unwilling to face this deadly problem, then the hut will become their own grave. Nothing is eternal in this known world—except death.

Major General Zhu Tao, director of the Intelligence Division of the General Staff, is reporting on the situation on the other side of the sea: "...... Although the Daisen military government issued three edicts on behalf of the emperor, the authenticity of the edicts was questionable, and the powerful factions in the Japanese archipelago did not fully obey the military government. As of 20 October, Lieutenant General Senda Fukuguchi, commander of the 10th Division stationed in Shikoku, Major General Date Shoji, commander of the 28th Independent Brigade stationed in southern Kyushu, and Major General Shinichi Gote, commander of the 25th Independent Brigade stationed in the Ouetsu area, had sent people to contact the government-in-exile. …… The Daisen military government relied mainly on the 1st Guards Brigade of Major General Tamarashi Miyazaki, the 1st Division of Lieutenant General Mori Komoto, the 2nd Division of Lieutenant General Kunimasa Yamaguchi, and the 4th Division of Lieutenant General Itatsune Ishitoshi, totaling more than 85,000 men. Among them, the 1st Guards Brigade and the 1st and 2nd Divisions were assembled on the Tokyo-Osaka line, and the 4th Division was assembled in Kitakyushu. The 9th Division in Hokkaido has been broken up by the Russian army and is forming a guerrilla force with the local people's army to fight the Russian army, which can be counted in the available power of the Daesan military government. In addition, at the instigation of the junta, the People's Army, composed of some reserve troops, ronin, and peasants who lacked regular weapons, was rapidly developing, and as of October 20, there were four main known Civilian Armies: the kamikaze team headed by Naoyuki Ikawa was the best equipped and the most well-organized, and there were currently 30,000 people gathered near Osaka; The White Tigers led by Iwamatsu Kei are divided into two major groups, the left and right, with poor equipment and weak organization, and there are currently 50,000 people gathered near Tokyo; The Blood Sakura Brigade, led by Masahara Miyazaki, barely had any firearms, and were all armed with bows and arrows, Japanese swords, and bamboo guns, and the organization was rather chaotic, with about 30,000 people gathered in Kitakyushu; The sword-drawing team, led by Toyoji Harada, former deputy director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, had no firearms, and almost all of them used Japanese swords, but they were very well organized, and 20,000 people were now gathered in the Honshu area east of Kyoto. ”

"In short, the military strength available in the Japanese archipelago is as follows: about 35,000 regular troops support the government-in-exile, about 9,000 regular troops are neutral, and about 85,000 regular troops and 130,000 civilian troops support the Daisen junta."

"What is the state of military movements of the surrounding powers? A brief overview? ”

Liu Yun said with his chin on his hands.

Zhu Tao flipped through the folder and was ordered to report: "Russia continues to increase troops in Hokkaido, and as of October 20, four infantry divisions and one cavalry brigade have been deployed in Hokkaido, about 49,000 people. In addition, the total strength of the Russian army in the coastal area of the eastern section of the border has increased from 65,000 in March this year to 100,000, the number of troops on the front line of Outer Mongolia in the central section has increased from 16,000 to 28,000 to 30,000, and the strength of the front line in Xinjiang in the western section has increased from 10,000 to 18,000, for a total increase of 55,000 to 58,000 troops. In addition, the British armed expedition team has invaded Tibet many times in recent months and has assembled an expeditionary force of no less than 5,000 people on the Indo-Tibetan border under the name of entering Nepal to exterminate anti-British elements. In recent days, two cruisers of the French Navy have been cruising close to the coastline of Taiwan, and have been expelled by our patrol fleet many times, and an infantry brigade and a cuirassier regiment of the French Army arrived in Haiphong of Vietnam at the beginning of this month, bringing the total strength of France in Indochina to 20,000? ”

"Finished?" Liu Yun asked.

Zhu Tao flipped through the folder twice more and responded: "The United States has not made any big moves, do countries like the Netherlands and Spain also need to report on their military movements?" ”

Liu Yun twisted his neck: "Excuse me, you've worked hard, sit down." ”

On Liu Yun's right hand, Wen Yi, who had rested for half a month at the emperor's order, appeared in good spirits at the meeting of the substantial department named after himself, unlike usual, he had very few words today, and when everyone was discussing serious issues, the forty-one-year-old middle-aged man actually had a few sweet smiles on the corners of his mouth from time to time.

"I heard that Wen Yi found a woman?" Luo Sulan, vice minister of culture and education, whispered to Zhang Zhigao beside him.

"It's beautiful." Zhang Zhigao said.

"Nonsense." Russell Lan said.

"Zhang Zhigao!" Liu Yun shouted at the end of the oak table, and Zhang Zhigao hurriedly stood up.

"The situation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the past three days is briefly summarized."

"Yes!" Zhang Zhigao winked at Luo Sulan and flipped through the folder: "First of all, the most important thing is that this morning, the British minister sent a note asking the Chinese government to apologize for the interception of the British caravan, which was actually an armed expedition, in the Yadong Valley of Tibet, and to guarantee that similar things will never happen, and at the same time to dismantle all checkpoints from Yadong to Lhasa, and withdraw the Tibetan army and the Central Army stationed there. ”

"It's a fart!" He Xin, the vice minister of the army, banged the table and shouted, was glared at by Liu Yun, and quickly reined in.

"Go on." Liu Yun maintained his usual expressionless face during the meeting.

Zhang Zhigao simply put down the folder and reported directly: "...... The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately reply to this, and planned to discuss it at tomorrow's enlarged cabinet meeting. In addition, yesterday, the Russian minister sent a confidential letter requesting consultations with China on the border issue in Xinjiang's Pamir region. On 23 October, that is, the day before yesterday, the French minister sent a note requesting negotiations with China on the issue of Taiwan's mineral exploitation rights, and the German minister also made a similar demand, with the Germans demanding to obtain the right to build roads and mining minerals in Shandong, and the US minister note proposed to hold consultations with China's plenipotentiaries on the issue of revising the "Sino-US Draft Treaty on Commerce, Commerce and Navigation" again......

"Alright, please take a seat." Liu Yun said.

Zhang Zhigao had no choice but to sit down in his mind while the notes and official letters from Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain and other countries were still circling - his strong memory had enabled him to obtain a CET-8 certificate in professional English in his first eighteen months of university.

Next, Finance Minister Han Lang reported on the financing of military spending: "...... In the current fiscal month, 7,580,000 taels were transferred from the state treasury to the military expenditure account...... As of this month, 31,760,000 taels of naval bonds and lottery tickets have been collected, of which 2 million taels have been transferred to the Beiyang and Jiangnan No. 2 groups to pay for shipbuilding expenses, and the surplus of 1,760,000 taels has been temporarily deposited in the treasury's emergency expense account...... The government's plan to reduce expenditure has not been realized, mainly due to ......"

Niu Jin, minister of industry and commerce, then reported on this month's industrial production: "This fiscal month, the whole country reported a coal output of 490,000 tons, pig iron output of 75,000 tons, and steel output of 51,000 tons, and it is expected that the plan to produce 5.2 million tons of coal, 800,000 tons of pig iron, and 500,000 tons of steel this year can be successfully completed......

"That's just fifteen or twenty years ago in Russia." Chancellor of the Exchequer Mo Ning muttered to Han Lang in a low voice.

Han Lang rubbed his chin and said, "That kind of thing that can't be helped, it's useless to say it." ”

As the meeting continued, Yang Zhengjin reported on the troop mobilization plan of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters; Wu Dingguo, director of the Training Division, and the director of the Logistics Division reported on the mobilization of personnel and materials; Hu Ke, director of the Equipment Division, and He Xin, vice minister of the Army, submitted a general plan for the development and production of weapons, but the final decision was in the hands of Liu Yun alone. Even Wen Yi has no right to make decisions without Liu Yun's prior consent or hints. This is the so-called "collective dictatorship of the subconspiracy".

There is no doubt that Liu Yun is a dictator.

For a particular time, a country needed a strong leader to accomplish certain tasks that incompetent aristocrats and rappy politicians could not: such as resisting foreign aggression, sweeping away divisions and unifying the country, such as fundamentally reforming stagnant societies.

However, this particular period of time must not last long, because nothing can guarantee that the person who has absolute power will always be right. When the power in the hands of the powerful can be not effectively contained, when the powerful can use the power in his hands to do whatever he wants, and when the powerful man has a crazy dependence and obsession with the power in his hands, then the power will not only become a poison that corrupts him, but also will become a vicious curse that will fall on the heads of millions of innocent people.

Wen Yi knew very well that once the six-year transition period was over, he would have to do everything possible to end the current state of affairs, let Liu Yun step down from the throne of absolute power, let the democratically elected cabinet really hold power, and let democracy replace dictatorship, not only for the sake of the overall situation, but also for Liu Yun's sake.

But what will Liu Yun think at that time? Will he be as overwhelmed as countless people in power throughout history? After all, Liu Yun is not a god, he is also a human being, a living person, a person with rebellion and ambition in his veins. I don't know if there will be a day when Liu Yun will think of himself as a noisy crow on the way forward and shatter with one shot - his own words are indeed too much.

Wen Yi thought of this, and his heart was confused.