On June 9, 1883, Tang Jingxiang, the Chinese minister to Siam, was sitting in the main hall of the Grand Palace in Bangkok, looking at the palace buildings while waiting for Siam's reply.

Three days ago, on behalf of China, he issued an ultimatum to Siam that if China did not receive a satisfactory answer to the question of Siam's territory in Laos after three days, then China would resort to force. And today, is the Zuihou day of the ultimatum.

Jieji Imperial Palace is a very peculiar building, it reflects the ambivalence of Siamese who wants to learn from the West and wants to maintain its own national traditions, and the whole architectural style has both Siamese and Western architectural concepts, quite a bit of China's "middle school for the body, Western learning for use" meaning.

The construction of the Jieji Imperial Hall began on May 7, 1876 and was completed in 1882. Built by Singapore-based British architect John and his team Henry 61 Rosley Group, it is entirely in the style of the Victorian era in England, but when completed, it was built with a golden square spire characteristic of Siamese Buddhist temples, combining elements from the East and the West.

But in Tang Jingxiang's opinion, this combination is very reluctant and rough, just like a person in a suit and leather shoes, but wearing a melon skin hat on the top of his head, which looks a little nondescript.

He was in his heart when Chulalongkorn's second son, Prince Chanthaburi, came out and announced with a blushing face that King Rama V had agreed to all the demands of the Chinese side, and then refused to say a word more.

Although Chulalongkorn once had the idea of fighting with China, after painful thinking, Zuihou decided to endure the humiliation and seek satisfaction.

He is not a weak man, but firmly believes that bravery must be manifested at the right moment. In the previous situation in Asia, any politician could see that the Sino-Japanese war was inevitable, so patience and waiting were the only correct strategies.

Even so, Chulalongkorn still felt a great humiliation, and after announcing that he had agreed to China's demands, he became so anxious and resentful that he became seriously ill and bedridden.

When the news arrived in Beijing, Ding Yuntong was quite surprised. This Chulalongkorn is really extraordinary, he endures what ordinary people can't bear, judges the situation, and makes a wise decision, so that tens of thousands of square kilometers of land, saying that he will give up, is really a big deal.

Because the main force of the Siamese Army is holding the south bank of the Mekong River, relying on China's current armed forces in the Lao region, there is no certainty of victory. However, if it further increases its troops to the south, it will affect its strategic focus toward Japan, and in this way, China will no longer be able to continue to press.

Chulalongkorn's retreat, looking at the nest, was the most haode to deal with, indicating that he was already determined to stab him in the back during the Sino-Japanese War, but Ding Yuntong couldn't do anything about him for a while, and Ding Yuntong felt helpless diplomatically for the first time.

It seems to add another fire to the Ryukyu issue, which is getting hotter and hotter. On June 17, 1883, with the support of China, the Ryukyu government-in-exile was established in Beijing. This government still honored Shang Tai, who was under house arrest in Tokyo, as the king of the Ryukyus, with Shang Dehong as the minister of state, and Cai Dading and Mao Jingchang as the left and right chief historians, and officially submitted a diplomatic note to the Japanese legation in Beijing, strongly protesting against Japan's invasion of the Ryukyu territory and demanding the immediate release of King Shang Tai.

At the same time, the government-in-exile sent explanatory letters to embassies complaining about Japan's atrocities.

Takehiro Enomoto, the Japanese minister to China, claimed that all this was a conspiracy and that the purpose was to humiliate Japan, so he refused to accept the diplomatic note.

At the same time, the Japanese embassy also sent people to state to the embassies of various countries that the Ryukyus were Japan's inherent territory and that the so-called government-in-exile had no legitimacy at all.

Enomoto Takehiro even asked China to hand over Shang Tokuhong and others to the Japanese government, and his logic was that the Ryukyus were Japanese, and the Ryukyuan people were equal to Japanese, so these people were guilty of treason.

Ding Yuntong's response was very simple, he hosted a banquet for Shang Dehong at the Ziguang Pavilion in Zhongnanhai, officially recognized the government-in-exile, and demanded that Japan return Shangtai and withdraw from the Ryukyus.

At the same time, Cheng Biguang, commander-in-chief of the Chinese patrol fleet, was directing the formation to patrol the waters of the Ryukyus without interruption on the flagship "Dengyingzhou." The reason why this 1,258-ton gunboat was originally named "Dengyingzhou" was to deter Japan.

Not to be outdone, Japan claimed that it "will not make half-step concessions on the territorial issue" in the face of China's diplomatic offensive and constant cruises, and at the same time took measures to divide the navy into three fleets.

The first standing fleet, that is, the main fleet, includes: Fuso, Mupong, Kongo, Hiei, Tsukushi, Yamato, Musashi, Kaimen, Tenryu, Yaeyama, Nisshin, Kaohsiung, etc., a total of 12 warships, all of which are new warships purchased from abroad or built domestically, and are the essence of the Japanese Navy, and the fleet commander is the captain of the armored cruiser Mupong and Rear Admiral Ito Yuhiro.

The second reserve fleet, including Iwaki, Atago, Maya, Chokai, Oshima, Akagi, Tsukuba, Amagi, Katsuragi, etc., a total of nine warships, are small in tonnage, but have a certain combat power, and are a powerful supplement to the main fleet, the commander is the captain of the Katsuragi, and Rear Admiral Inoue Yoshikao.

The third is the garrison fleet, including Meng Chun, Chiyoda Katagata, Mt. Fuji, Xun Whale, Kiyoki, Longcheng, Fengxiang, Tateyama, Kotetsu, Ryuchamp, Manzhu, Qianzhu, etc., a total of 12 warships, all old warships, the commander is the captain of the Seihui, Yamamoto Gonbei.

Among the three fleets, the garrison fleet is specially deployed in the waters of the Ryukyus and is responsible for keeping an eye on Chinese cruising vessels; The standing fleet cruises the waters of Kyushu and the Tsushima Strait, ready to respond to the garrison fleet at any time; The reserve fleet was anchored in the Seto Inland Sea and prepared to deal with the standing fleet. The three fleets form an organic whole.

By mid-June, the Japanese military thought it was fully prepared, and that both the navy and the army had a clear advantage over China, and the time had come for war with China.

At the same time, the economic departments, especially the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for fiscal revenue and expenditure, have repeatedly warned that the entire national economy has been seriously deformed due to the huge military expenditures in successive years, and that if force is not used at an early date, these military budgets will be wasted.

Moreover, because China's patrol fleet confronts Japan's garrison fleet in the Ryukyu waters almost every day, the matter has been constantly exaggerated by major Japanese newspapers, and the belligerence of the Japanese people is also high.

But Hirobumi Ito, who was in charge of domestic and foreign affairs and trusted by the emperor, became the biggest obstacle to the main war faction, insisting that Japan must have the support of the West if it wanted to go to war with China.

However, the reality is that the Iwakura mission to Europe visited Europe without achieving any diplomatic results. Britain, France, and Spain are not interested in Japan's so-called "arc of freedom and prosperity." It is no wonder that in the past year, Western exports to China have increased several times, especially industrial machinery, lathe motors, chemical steel, etc., and orders have continued. China's agricultural products, which are of high quality and low price, are also highly favored.

In the face of such tremendous economic temptations, no country was willing to take sides, and only vaguely responded to Japan's "China threat theory" and laughed it off. Only Russia showed some goodwill towards Japan, but Russia's liliang in the East at this time was extremely limited, and it was difficult to deter China.

What is especially bad is that China promised to help the Jews restore their country, and the establishment of the Jewish state in Funsali, Jihua, has also begun to actually operate, which has made the Jewish capital in the European financial market almost one-sided in favor of China, Japan has difficulty obtaining foreign loan support, and Russia, the only sympathetic to Japan, is so poor that it cannot borrow money at all.

In the face of this diplomatic dilemma, Ito Hirobumi was more determined to thwart the reckless actions of the main war faction, so many people called Ito Hirobumi a "national thief" and declared that they would assassinate him.

At this time, Ito's student Saionji Konozo proposed a plan in which China would secure Japan's economic interests in Korea while recognizing the Ryukyu Islands as Japanese territory, and in return, Japan would recognize China's suzerainty over Korea, a plan known as the "Ryukyu-Korea exchange theory."

This compromise plan was enthusiastically supported by Ito Hirobumi, but was opposed by the majority of the people, and the army Qingshan Prefecture Aritomo proposed a corresponding plan, that is, to get at least half of Korea from China, that is, with the 38th parallel as the boundary, the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula must belong to Japan, which is the bottom line that Japan can accept, and is called the "38th parallel theory."

The two proposals were finally put in front of the emperor, and Meiji decided to use these two proposals as a basis for negotiations with China, and sent a diplomatic mission to China for this purpose, represented by Inoue Shin and Ito Hirobumi.

All kinds of uproar in the Japanese government and the opposition, including the news of the upcoming visit of the negotiating mission, were soon reported to Ding Yuntong through the spy network.

At this time, Liu Buyun, who was far away in Europe, sent a secret telegram that the two ironclad ships "Suzaku" and "Xuanwu" arrived at the port of Lisbon, Portugal, and had already rendezvous with the four elite cruisers.

Ding Yuntong immediately called Liu Buyun back and ordered the fleet to return to Asia immediately, advance to China, and advance to the war!

According to the time calculation, in more than two months, that is, by the end of August, the fleet will arrive in China, which means that the time for the war will be at the end of August!

Ding Yuntong felt that at this time, he should not only prepare himself, but also properly stabilize Japan, so he should show some sincerity in front of the visiting Japanese mission, give hope to the other side, and let the war break out according to his own timetable.

Therefore, contrary to the norm, he did not send Zeng Jize, who was known for his toughness, to negotiate with the Japanese side, but instead chose Li Hongzhang as the chief representative.

Li Hongzhang has always had a "ruffian tone" in diplomacy, and let him talk slowly with the Japanese, just waiting for the Zuihou moment to come.

At this time, the formation and training of all nine divisions of the Guards Army were almost completed, and Ding Yuntong asked the whole army to use these two months to seriously train and mobilize well, so as to make preparations for a magnificent war that might affect China for the next few hundred years.

The future will be exciting.