Emperor Meiji pondered for a long time, then sighed and said, "Withdraw." ”

He felt that Hirofumi Ito was right, he still had to retreat when it was time to retreat, and only in this way could he lay a good foundation for further progress in the future.

As the saying goes, endure the calm for a while, take a step back and open the sky, this is the principle.

And Ito Hirofumi was relieved to see that Meiji agreed, and he leaned over and said respectfully, "Yes, Your Majesty." ”

"Okay, Ito-kun, please deal with the retreat, I'm a little tired and want to rest." Meiji said with a tired face.

Recently, in order to fight against the Taiping army, Meiji has worked hard and tired, and he is really tired, and he doesn't want to do anything now, he just wants to sleep.

"Yes, Your Majesty, the minister will retreat first." Hirobumi Ito agreed, bent down and respectfully withdrew.

Meiji watched Ito's back disappear from the doorway, then sighed softly before getting up and lying down on the single bed that he usually used to take a nap in the study.

After a while, Meiji fell asleep.

And after Ito Hirobumi withdrew, he immediately went to deal with the retreat from Osaka.

At this time, a subordinate came to report, and an envoy from the Taiping Army asked to see Ito Hirobumi outside the city.

The Taipings? Ito Hirobumi was a little surprised when he heard that it was the Taiping Army, he didn't know what the envoys of the Taiping Army were doing in Osaka at this time.

So, to see or not to see?

Ito hesitated.

I don't see it, it's a bit unreasonable, the two countries are at war, and they don't kill it. Besides, people are courteous to see.

But if you want to say that you will see, he can't cross this hurdle emotionally, after all, the Taiping Army is the enemy, and there is nothing good about coming here at this time, so it is better not to see it.

Therefore, Ito Hirobumi was also a little undecided for a while.

He paced a few steps around the mansion with his head down, glanced at the study where Meiji was resting, and couldn't make up his mind in his heart.

If the explanation is not here. He's going to be a little easier. However, now Meiji is also there, and one carelessly, Meiji blames it. It's not easy for him to do.

What to do? Well. Let the messenger in first. Listen to what he says first, if it's not like that, it's not too late to deal with it later.

Come to think of this. So he asked his men to call the messenger in.

The envoy of the Taiping army entered the mansion, saw Ito Hirobumi, bowed without humility or arrogance, and then presented the letter confessed by Li Hongzhang to Ito Hirobumi, and then he waited for Ito Hirobumi's reply.

Hirobumi Ito took the letter, opened it with some confusion, and read it carefully.

As he read it, his face changed, and after reading the letter, Ito Hirobumi's face became quite ugly.

In the end, he tore up the letter in his hand in a fit of rage.

Then he cried out, "How can this be true, how can it be true." ”

Hirobumi Ito is really angry.

However, what did Li Hongzhang say in the letter that made Ito Hirofumi angry like this?

It is undeniable that the content of Li Hongzhang's envelope is to talk about the matter of peace talks.

It's just that the letter he wrote was extremely exquisite, almost written in a condescending manner.

In the letter, Li Hongzhang mentioned his intention to negotiate peace with the Japanese army in a straight manner, but he also stressed that the precondition for such peace talks was that the Japanese side could agree to several key conditions put forward by the Chinese side.

First, after the peace talks, the Japanese side needs to pay tribute to China, and then pay tribute every year, and come to the court every year.

Second, Japan must dismantle all its armed forces and have China send troops to Japan instead to protect Japan's security.

Third, Japan must vow never to fight again.

Fourth, Japan's financial power is vested in China.

Fifth, Japan's diplomatic power is vested in China.

In addition to this, Japan has autonomy.

To put it simply, China has to control Japan's military, financial, and diplomatic powers.

To put it bluntly, the Japanese can only be used as puppets of China.

Where this is peace, it is completely an ultimatum.

And Li Hongzhang's move is indeed wonderful, and it is wonderful.

Of course, he knew that most of the Japanese would not agree to such conditions, because, according to the character of the Japanese, such conditions would be a great shame for them, but as long as the Japanese did not agree, then the Taiping army would have an excuse to fight again.

And this is also what Huang Xu thinks in his heart, Li Hongzhang has seen through Huang Xu's thoughts, and this is indeed handy.

In this way, he can be regarded as having completed the task assigned to him by Huang Xu, and Huang Xu can also confidently tell Sù Sakurako that the Taiping Army has done what she confessed, but the Japanese side does not agree.

For Huang Xu and others, this may be the best outcome.

And after Ito Hirobumi tore up the letters and lost his temper, he made up his mind in his heart, he thought, this Taiping army dared to insult them like this, then he would not be polite.

In his view, Li Hongzhang's condition is an insult.

So, Ito Hirobumi ordered that the envoy of the Taiping Army be dragged out and beheaded, so as to establish his authority.

And, after that, he was also ready for a big battle with the Taiping army, and ordered the whole city to be on guard against the attack of the Taiping army.

After dealing with this qiē properly, Ito Hirobumi even more believed that the retreat was urgent, and they must withdraw before the Taiping army attacked again, otherwise, it might be too late to retreat.

Therefore, after Meiji slept well, he reported the matter to Meiji as soon as possible and pleaded guilty to Meiji.

In other words, he made some decisions without waiting for the Meiji Holy Judgment, tore up the Chinese side's peace opinion, and killed the envoy of the Taiping Army, which was not in accordance with the rules.

Therefore, Ito Hirobumi must plead guilty.

Ito Hirobumi thought, Meiji is not here, he has the right to make decisions, but since Meiji is here, if he still uses this kind of discretionary power, it is not enough respect for Meiji and a bit arrogant.

This is a taboo, a taboo of the emperor, and for this alone, he has to plead guilty.

However, in this matter, Meiji did not blame him, because it had happened, and it was useless to say more, besides, now was the time when the monarch and ministers were needed to resist the attack of the Taiping army, so it was inconvenient for Meiji to blame Ito Hirobumi too much, so he could only let this matter be revealed.

Besides, he also agrees with Ito Hirobumi's way of dealing with it in his heart, he also thinks that the Chinese side is too deceitful, and they don't put the Japanese Empire in their eyes at all, and they have no sincerity at all, if they agree to the conditions offered by the Chinese side, then what is the difference between it and the death of the country, there is no difference at all, besides, even if they want to lose the country, they can't die in this way, they have to meet the final moment in a more noble way, that is, a battle to the death, even if it is death, the Taiping army will have to pay a large enough price.

Because, fighting to the death is more in line with their Japanese bushido spirit than seeking perfection in grievances,

However, it must be said that although the Taiping Army now has the upper hand, it will not necessarily be able to destroy the Japanese Empire.

So, it's too early to draw any conclusions at this point.

You have to wait and see.

After the necessary preparations, everything was ready, so the Japanese soldiers and civilians withdrew from Osaka in an orderly manner under the command of Ito Hirobumi and withdrew to the next station, Kyoto, where they were to deal with the Taiping army again. (To be continued......)