In the British Prime Minister's official residence at No. 10 Downing Street in London, England, during the meeting of the Eight-Nation Alliance, the Japanese ambassador to Britain proposed to solve the problem of the three armies of Britain, France and Japan in Fuzhou City, which suddenly fell silent in the conference room, the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait and the fiasco of the Eight-Nation Alliance's naval joint expeditionary fleet made Fuzhou City suddenly become isolated, and without the right to control the sea, the three army forces in Fuzhou City would be supported by troops and logistical supplies, if it was only in the face of the attack of the Qing Dynasty's new army in Fujian Province, The British, French, and Japanese armies with more than 100,000 troops in Fuzhou may hold out, and even the 100,000 British, French, and Japanese armies defeat the Qing Dynasty's new army and have no problem attacking the city in Fujian Province.

However, the British, French, and Japanese armies in Fuzhou City are not so simple to face the enemy, on the island of Taiwan, the Dingbei Army has gathered hundreds of thousands of troops ready to go, and now the Northeast Navy has won the naval battle, holding the Qing Dynasty's sea control over the southeast coast in its hands, and the Dingbei Army on the island of Taiwan may land in Fujian Province in the next few days, and then attack Fuzhou City, if there is no accident, it will not be long before this is a sure thing.

The Japanese ambassador also knew that the Japanese army in Fuzhou City was in danger, and the Army of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Hong Kong could withdraw to Vietnam, that was because there were not too many Qing Dynasty troops in Guangdong Province and Guangxi Province, and it was not far from Vietnam, but the British, French and Japanese armies in Fuzhou City had no place to retreat at all, and it was unrealistic to withdraw to Vietnam as well, not to mention the distance, and the new Qing Dynasty army around Fuzhou City was not a decoration, and would not let the 100,000 army forces of Britain, France, and Japan leave lightly. The Qing Dynasty army had gathered no less than 300,000 troops. These included the Wuwei Army, the Beiyang Army, and the Dingwu Army, as well as the new army trained by the southern governors of the Qing Dynasty and the troops of the patrol battalions of the southern provinces.

British Prime Minister Arthur? Balfour saw that everyone was silent. So he said: "Regarding the situation in Fuzhou City, I don't know if there are any countries that have built them. After all, there is an army of 100,000 of our eight-nation alliance there, which is a force to be reckoned with, and it is best to find some way to rescue these 100,000 troops. ”

Arthur? After Balfour finished speaking, the ambassadors of several European countries shook their heads, without the sea control of the southeast coast of the Qing Dynasty, the troops in Fuzhou City were already isolated and helpless, and there was no place to escape, so how could they be rescued. Will another joint expeditionary fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance Navy be formed? With the survival of the 13 dreadnought battleships of the Northeast Navy, the idea of re-fighting for sea supremacy is definitely a self-defeating rhythm.

Arthur? Balfour saw that everyone shook their heads, and no one could come up with any way, so he sighed and said helplessly to the Japanese ambassador: "There is also our British army in Fuzhou City, but now we can no longer do anything about Fuzhou City, so we can only let the British, French and Japanese armies in Fuzhou City figure out their own way." ”

Although the Japanese ambassador had long expected such a result, he couldn't help but look even more gloomy, His Majesty the Emperor was very worried about the five divisions of the Japanese Army in trouble in Fuzhou City. It seemed that the idea of pinning hopes on this meeting would not come to pass, so the Japanese ambassador immediately sent a telegram to Japan.

Japan's Meiji Emperor is now very bad, completely frightened by the sea battle in the Taiwan Strait. Emperor Meiji never expected that such a powerful Eight-Nation Alliance Navy would be defeated, which was definitely bad news from the blue.

Because the remnants of the two warships of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, one south and one north, all fled directly to the Japanese mainland. There was no chance of finding a port to send telegrams to Japan, and the Japanese Navy did not have any radio stations. So the Japanese were on the evening of June 17, from the embassies of the other countries of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Japan. After receiving the news of the naval battle in the Taiwan Strait, and knowing that the part of the Japanese Navy's combined fleet that was operating with the navies of various countries, it had suffered heavy losses, and none of the eight Kongo-class all-steel battleships had escaped, and those large fast armored cruisers, fast protection cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats that had escaped were preparing to bypass the island of Taiwan, take the Bass Strait, and return to the Japanese mainland through the Pacific Ocean.

When Emperor Meiji received the bad news, he was terrified and began to worry about the fate of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet and the 100,000 Japanese Army that had set out from the mainland.

Finally, in the second half of the night, that is, at about 2 o'clock in the morning of the 18th, the remnants of the warship led by the commander of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, fled back to the Sasebo Naval Base, so that Emperor Meiji finally felt at ease, but Emperor Meiji would rather not have such peace of mind, and it took a lot of effort to re-establish the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, which sank again.

Heihachiro Togo eventually brought back only 3 Kongo-class all-steel battleships, 3 Kumano-class all-steel battleships, and the flagship of the Japanese Navy's Combined Fleet, the Fuji.

That is to say, 4 battleships were sunk, plus another part of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy lost 8 battleships, Emperor Meiji didn't want to count it, he can say that he squeezed out the funds by cutting down on food and clothing, and finally recovered the size of the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy from the last war, this time it was several years of hard work, and one day back before the liberation, Emperor Meiji really wanted to cry without tears.

The bigger blow is still to come, Togo Heihachiro sent a telegram in Sasebo asking for guilt, in addition to describing that the Northeast Navy has that kind of desperate dreadnought battleship, Togo Heihachiro also told the Meiji Emperor another piece of news, the 100,000 Imperial Army that followed the Navy Combined Fleet was very heroic and did not give in to the Northeast Navy, but now those 5 divisions may no longer exist, Togo Heihachiro is very sorry for this, the combined fleet he led is really powerless, Under the bombardment of those dreadnought battleships of the Northeast Navy, most of the warships in the navy were able to escape with the blessing of Amaterasu, and for the army of 5 divisions, Heihachiro Togo could only say sorry.

After Emperor Meiji received a telegram from Heihachiro Togo, he didn't sleep for the rest of the night, and sat alone until dawn, and hurriedly came to the palace of Japanese Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang, and saw Emperor Meiji with dark circles, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, he could understand Emperor Meiji's mood very well, and originally thought that Japan's entry into the Eight-Nation Alliance this time was an opportunity to take revenge, but it turned out to be sad again, this is the first time Japan has been sad?

Emperor Meiji saw Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang, and said gloomily: "Prime Minister, you are here, alas-you should also know, I didn't expect it, I really didn't expect it, the navy of the Eight-Nation Alliance was still defeated, and this Northeast Navy was going against the sky, Togo Heihachiro said on the telegram that the Northeast Navy actually had the kind of dreadnought battleships that the British had just built, and there were more than a dozen at once, this Lin Daxin was really hidden, and he didn't take it out until this time." ”

Prime Minister Xiyuan Temple Gongwang said with a wry smile: "It is 13 dreadnought battleships, and the entire Eight-Nation Alliance did not expect that this time the Navy of the Eight-Nation Alliance will have a very large loss, and the plan to open up the battlefield on the southern front has basically come to naught." ”

Emperor Meiji sighed and said: "Our Great Japanese Navy Combined Fleet has suffered heavy losses this time, and the efforts of the past few days have been basically useless, and this time we have also lost five army standing divisions. ”

Prime Minister Saionji Gongwang also sighed, and then said: "Our Japanese Navy Combined Fleet has directly withdrawn to the Japanese mainland, but the navies of Britain, France and Germany have fled to Hong Kong, and just this morning the Northeast Navy has appeared outside the port of Hong Kong, blocking the fleets of Britain, France and Germany in Hong Kong, and the 90,000 land forces of the countries of the Eight-Nation Alliance in Hong Kong have also been blocked in Hong Kong by the Northeast Navy. At the same time, we also discussed the continuation of the war against Lin Daxin and the Qing Dynasty, and our Japanese ambassador to Britain also went, and there was a telegraph machine at the venue, so that we could know the content of the meeting at any time, and we could also send it to the venue if we had any suggestions. ”

When Emperor Meiji heard this, he thought about it for a while and said: "We really have a big problem, our Japanese army still has 5 divisions in Fuzhou City, and now that the navy is defeated, those 5 divisions are not equivalent to being trapped in Fuzhou City, we should let the Eight-Nation Alliance think of a way to rescue our 5 divisions!" ”

Prime Minister Xiyuan Temple Gongwang couldn't help but smile bitterly, Emperor Meiji thought very well, but the problem is that Xiyuan Temple Gongwang himself can't think of any way to rescue the troops in Fuzhou City now.

Without the right to control the sea, there is no need to think about the sea route, but the land route is surrounded by the troops of the Qing Dynasty, and there is no place to run, it seems that the Japanese Empire is going to lose 5 divisions again, what a lot of disasters and difficulties!

However, Prime Minister Saionji did not block the telegram sent by Emperor Meiji to Britain, and he also had to let the Eight-Nation Alliance know that our Empire Japan had paid a huge price for this war, not to mention the navy, the army had already had five divisions in the sea, and now another five divisions were in danger, and Japan was doing its best.

Sure enough, after Emperor Meiji sent a telegram to Britain, it didn't take long for him to receive a reply from the Japanese ambassador to Britain, saying that these countries of the Eight-Nation Alliance were really powerless against the troops trapped in Fuzhou City, which was not a lie, but there were still British and French armies in Fuzhou City.

However, after Emperor Meiji received the telegram, his face became even more gloomy. (To be continued......)