On September 7, 1883, in a solemn and awe-inspiring atmosphere, the enlarged Imperial Council of the Meiji Government was officially convened.

The meeting was convened under heavy pressure at a time when newspapers and publications were constantly accusing the government of being weak and incompetent and helpless about the situation in North Korea. Yukichi Fukuzawa questioned in the "Shishi Shimbun": "What is the end of the war of arms expansion for many years? What is the purpose of the people being thrifty and enduring heavy taxes? What is the purpose of buying new foreign warships? What is the purpose of the Japanese emissaries who repeatedly endured the humiliation of China, first with ugly portraits, and then at the torture and murder of their compatriots, but the government was powerless and had no ambition? ”

Within a few days, a large number of citizens took to the streets to demonstrate, demanding the severance of diplomatic relations with China and the start of war!

On September 6, there was even a "great rebellion case", a teenager named Kotoku Qiushui tried to carry a bomb over the wall to enter the palace, and after being arrested, he declared that "the emperor is incompetent and betrays the country to survive, so it is better to blow up and die." ”

At this point, the situation is pressing, the economy and people's livelihood are rumors, and the foundation of the Meiji government's rule has been shaken, and there is no other choice, so all the participants are in the main battle, without exception, including Ito Hirobumi and Saionji Konobo.

For a long time, Ito Hirobumi had insisted that Japan's national strength had not yet been fully strengthened, so he advocated that he should wait until he was sure that he would consider mainland policy, but now that the general trend is the same, he cannot oppose it.

The topic of the meeting soon changed from whether or not to go to war to how to go to war. The Secretary of Army and Chief of Staff Aritomo Yamaguchi took out the operational jihua that had already been formulated.

After a careful study of the Sino-French War, the General Staff Headquarters believed that China's successful control of the Emperor before the war was a key factor in being able to force France into peace. The control of the Vietnamese imperial court gave China a legal and logistical advantage, while the French army could not receive any support from the Vietnamese and was eventually dragged down by logistics.

Therefore, the unanimous opinion of the General Staff Headquarters was that "extraordinary action" must be taken to take control of the North Korean government before the war began.

Jihua's first step would be to use the assembled Japanese ronin, the Kaihua Party, and the pro-Japanese North Korean military training to stage a military coup. If it succeeds, it will reorganize the government, annihilate the big party, "invite" the Japanese army to land at Incheon, and expel the Chinese army, which is the most ideal result. Unsuccessfully, he took Gojong hostage and escaped from Seoul, went south to Busan, and followed the example of Emperor Edek and established a provisional government.

Therefore, the second step was for the Japanese army to land in Pusan, take control of the provisional government, force the implementation of the alliance between Japan and South Korea, and fight to the death with China. In this way, it is still politically advantageous. At the same time, the Japanese navy formed a combined fleet and waited for an opportunity to fight a decisive battle with the Chinese fleet in order to gain sea supremacy. The offensive method can be a surprise attack, taking advantage of its unpreparedness, to inflict heavy damage.

In this regard, the Navy has a strong sense of self-confidence, the first two phases of the expansion of the army have been completed, and the third phase of the two new warships ordered from Britain has been received and is on its way home. The two newly built cruisers in the country are also about to join the battle sequence. With such strength, China can be sure to win.

The Jihua of Yama Prefecture gave the participants full confidence in the war, and the meeting quickly adopted this combat Jihua. At the same time, it was also decided to set up a wartime base camp as a temporary supreme command organ to make timely decisions on the battlefield situation through the will of a small number of capable staff officers, chiefs of staff, and the emperor.

In order to paralyze China, the meeting also decided to carry out business as usual in diplomacy with China and not to show any abnormal situation.

However, Ito reminded others at the meeting that China's strength is still shrouded in a lot of fog, and its public naval and army strength is questionable, and it has been proved that Japan's spy network has always been under the surveillance of the other side, so the previous intelligence is completely untrustworthy.

At this time, the Minister of Imperial Affairs, Minoru Sanjo, announced a new piece of information, which was the intercepted telegram between Huang Zunxian, the Chinese minister in Japan, and the country, and the contents of the telegram had been deciphered by the head of the telecommunications division, Ai Sato.

Among them was a key telegram, an order sent by the Chinese emperor himself to Huang Zunxian. In the telegram, the emperor made it clear that he wanted to exclude the Japanese Shili from the Korean Peninsula, but the emperor was worried that Japan would use force to solve the problem, so he ordered Huang Zunxian to make every effort to collect information about the reaction of the Japanese government and the opposition, including the attitudes of various ministers, in order to determine Japan's policy. He also repeatedly stressed that if Japan showed any signs of preparing to send troops, it must report it as soon as possible, so as to give the country enough time to decide how to compromise appropriately.

Minoru Sanjo believes that it can be seen from this telegram that China is completely inward-looking, and its previous tough posture was completely false and intimidating. Therefore, Japan only needs to follow Jihua and solve the problem by force, and completely ignore China's various tricks.

At this point, Ito Hirobumi has nothing to say.

Japan deciphered China's telegraph code and thought it had extremely top-secret information, but they didn't know that this was exactly the trap of Ding Yuntong.

It's not that Ding Yuntong is so wise and wise, nor is it the vast power of Xue Fucheng's intelligence team, to put it bluntly, it's not worth half a penny, because the Japanese did it like this in the previous life, and it is naturally the same in this life.

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan had already figured out China's telegraph code by bribing Chinese officials and other means. He even set a trap and deliberately handed over a government document written in Chinese to the Chinese minister, Wang Fengzao. Then the telecommunications section used the intercepted telegram of the legation to compare the contents of the document and quickly deciphered the telecommunication code of the Chinese legation.

Therefore, during the war, the secret telegrams of various departments in China, even including the communication and telegrams between Li Hongzhang and China during the negotiations at Shimonoseki, were all made clear by Japan, and both the battlefield and the negotiation table were one-way transparent.

In view of this, the telegram sent by Ding Yuntong to Huang Zunxian was purely an act, and even Huang Zunxian himself did not know the details, but the password used to communicate with the military, including the DPRK, was a completely different system.

At this moment, Ding Yuntong was reviewing Yuan Shikai's call. Telephone calls can be used to inform of emergencies, but there are policy measures that need to be well thought out, and need to be planned and communicated later, or telegrams are appropriate. He knew in his heart that once the North Korean government's three prohibitions were promulgated, it would do great good to the self-sufficient small peasant economy of North Korea, and there would be little harm. But for Japan, it was a bolt from the blue, and it was inevitable that there would be a war, but before the war started, it would definitely try to control the government through riots.

At this point, you don't need experience from a previous life, you can understand it with a little political logic. Therefore, in his telegram, Yuan Shikai also worried that the Kaihua Party and the Japanese would soon make a reckless move, and advocated a "preemptive strike" against the Kaihua Party.

It's funny to say that although the Enlightenment Party admires the West, it despises Chinese culture. But after all, he has been immersed in it since he was a child, and the depths of his soul have long been brainwashed and washed. Although the goal is to follow the Western path, when the means are used at the critical moment, the old ways of China in the subconscious will emerge unconsciously. For example, when it comes to coup d'état, what flashes in my mind must be a "Hongmen banquet" or something, nothing more than a dinner, a few beautiful women singing and dancing, drinking three rounds, a drop in the wine glass, and a soldier on both sides, and so on, there will be no new tricks.

Therefore, Ding Yuntong thought about it for a while, called Yuan Shikai back, and asked him to pay attention to one point: If one day, someone in the court organizes a banquet party, then the riot will begin.

At the same time, Ding Yuntong also emphasized such a principle to Yuan Shikai: Concubine Min and Gaozong are not really pro-China, even if Japan is excluded in the future, for their own power and in order to contain China, they will collude with Russia. Therefore, if the Kaihwa Party launches a coup d'état, what extreme measures are taken against Concubine Min is not a bad thing for China, but a good thing, and it can also unite the hearts of the North Korean people and officials.

In view of this, Ding Yuntong ordered Yuan Shikai not to carry out a preemptive strike against the Enlightenment Party. While defending ourselves, we quietly waited for the uprising of the Enlightened Party. Then strike preemptively and smash the opponent in one fell swoop, and Zuihou can use the chess piece of Dayuan-kun. In this way, all of China's actions in North Korea are justified and famous.

On September 8, after receiving Ding Yuntong's reply, Yuan Shikai finally came to his senses. Originally, during this time, he watched the Japanese embassy and the ministers of the Enlightenment Party, coming and going, ready to move, and he was also a little apprehensive in his heart.

Yuan Shikai found two deputies in the military and government, Wu Zhaoyou and Ma Jianzhong. After discussion, Colonel Jang Kwang-qian was asked to lead a regiment to garrison Inchon to prevent the Japanese army from suddenly landing at Incheon. At the same time, Wu Zhaoyou led another regiment to set up a large camp next to the Muhua Pavilion to protect his own safety, while Ma Jianchang, Ma Jianzhong, Chen Shutang and others still worked as usual, and the whole situation could be regarded as loose on the outside and tight on the inside.

On the other hand, the Japanese and the Enlightenment Party are already sharpening their knives.

On the same night, the Enlightenment Party held a secret meeting at Park Yong-hyo's house, and all the core figures of the Enlightenment Party were present, including Kim Ok-kyun, Hong Young-sik, Park Yong-hyo, Seo Kwang-beom, Seo Jae-pil, Yoon Zhi-ho, Yoon Yong-kwan, Park Qi-hyun, Wu Jian, and others, as well as the two commanders of the training army, Shin Bok-mo and Jung Lan-kyo. Also present were Captain Shinzo Isobayashi, the military attache of the Japanese Embassy, and Ogoro Miura, who commanded the ronin Shili. These two men represent the official and civilian militarist groups in Japan, respectively.

At the meeting, the Kaihua Party decided to hold a military coup, and the date of the action was set on September 11, so the Japanese side called it the "911 Incident", and the Kaihua Party hated Concubine Min for being pro-China for a while, pro-Japanese for a while, fickle attitude, cunning like a fox, and had been fooling Gaozong, so they all cursed her as a "fox spirit", and the main target of this coup d'état was Concubine Min, so the action code name was:

"Fox Hunting"!