At the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, the British-flagged transport ship Takasheng was sunk by the Japanese Navy. Subsequently, the British Minister to China, Ogne, held emergency talks with the Qing Dynasty Prime Minister Yamen and other ministers. In a report to London, Eugene said: "I told the prince that if he would allow me to speak frankly in my own name, I would like to ask if he thought there would be any Liliang who would deal a heavy blow to the adversary, if China decided to strike quickly, should war break out." The prince hesitated for a few minutes, and after looking around at his colleagues for a week, he grunted, expressing doubts that they would be able to compete successfully with Japan at the moment. Although it was a harrowing scene....... ”

This report was extremely important, and Britain therefore understood that China's complete lack of confidence in its military victory was undoubtedly very important diplomatic intelligence and of great strategic importance.

In the past, Britain had not been able to make up its mind about which one to support between China and Japan to contain Russia. Japan is vibrant and growing rapidly, but China is huge and looks good, albeit with many problems. Therefore, Britain has always struck a balance between China and Japan.

But after this test, Britain finally made a choice after internal disagreements and arguments, and completely leaned towards Japan, and openly supported Japan in the Gao Sheng incident, but asked China to compensate for the losses, after nearly ten years of quarrels, China Zuihou compensated Britain with more than 33,000 pounds, and Japan actually became an irrelevant outsider.

As time passed, Ding Yuntong was now confronted with a similar question, and he replied cautiously, slowly, in a low, religiously solemn tone: "Mr. Minister, I will not tell you how undoubted victory is like a wizard. I only want to be honest with you and your country, and if I lose on the battlefield, I will personally go to the front and lead the palace guards to charge the enemy. If we win, unless the Japanese emperor surrenders on his knees, I will not stop even if I reach Tokyo Bay. This is not a game, not a confrontation, not even just a war, but a life-and-death duel between two peoples. There will be no losers in the outcome of the war, there are only two possibilities, either we win and Japan dies; Either we die, and so does Japan. I repeat, there are no losers, only the dead. The loser can make a comeback, but the dead will never recover. This is my determination and will, and I would like to ask you, Mr. Minister, to convey to your government that if you want to withdraw your investment and avoid unnecessary losses, this is the time. ”

After being silent for a while, Pashali asked, "What if a third country intervenes?" How will Bixia respond? ”

Ding Yuntong replied categorically without thinking: "Even if my imperial palace is burned to ashes, I will turn the imperial palace of Japan into a ruin!" ”

"Bixia, your attitude is very important. ”

"More importantly, if your country can make an appropriate choice on the situation in East Asia, then China will also make friendly promises, such as protecting India from the threat of Russia," Ding said. ”

Pasha was completely convinced: "I admire Bixia's honesty, and I will try my best to fully convey it to China." ”

China's declaration of war edict, which quickly spread throughout Shijie by telegram and telephone, also shocked the Japanese government. Although everyone tacitly prepared for war, the Japanese always thought that they were the only ones who could pull down their cheeks and strike first, but they did not expect the Chinese government to be so resolute and resolute. Hell-bent on a sneak attack, China took the lead. It's like a thief who gets into the crowd and sneaks out of the crowd, but not only does he not catch anything, but his pocket is taken out. It's not that they can't afford to lose the goods, but the thief's trick of catching the thief makes people take advantage of it, and those who should take advantage of it suffer a loss. In particular, China's attack on civilian ships and its crying and crying out everywhere are so shameless and outrageous. It's really a thief who ran into a thief ancestor, and shameless met a shameless father.

Out of momentum, Japan also issued the Emperor's Edict Declaring War on the 19th, in which the Japanese side put forward three major reasons,

First, China obstructs North Korea's reform progress;

second, China's ongoing humiliation of Japan;

Third, China impudently attacked Japanese civilian vessels.

After the edict was issued, the streets and alleys of Japan were full of jubilation, and the Japanese people, who had been suppressed for a long time, were now stimulated by nationalist sentiments and went crazy. On the 20th, there were rallies and marches on an unprecedented scale in all major cities, and in Tokyo's first park, Ueno Park, more than 100,000 people gathered to cheer, sing and dance, and shout: "Great Japanese Empire, crusade against the barbarian kingdom of China!" ”

The thinker Yukichi Fukuzawa cried tears of joy even more, and published an article in the "Shiji Shimbun" calling for the Japanese people to fulfill the unfulfilled grand wish of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Konishi Yukinaga, Kato Kiyomasa, and others 300 years ago, and "take all the more than 400 states in the Central Plains and serve the emperor in Yanjing."

Tokufu Sufeng published "The Theory of Japan's Expansion" in the "National News", advocating that the start of the Sino-Japanese War was "a good opportunity for an expanding Japan to carry out expansion activities" and that "a lot of spoils of war can be obtained" through the war, and that "a base area for the expansion of the people will be established in the East, and the ditches of the expansion will be opened, and the obstacles to the expansion will be removed, so that Shijie can understand the expansion of Japan." "What he calls expansion is synonymous with expansion.

Under the encouragement of these celebrities, the country once again set off a donation campaign for the "Korean Heroes", poor citizens donated their only money, jewelry, food, clothing, etc., the people were as religious as pious, pinning their hopes for the future on the victory of the war, and everyone was eager to get a piece of the "spoils of war". During this day, the number of people who went to the Yasukuni Shrine reached 200,000, hoping that the "heroic spirits" of the shrine would protect the heroes of the Korean Peninsula.

These heroes were indeed in trouble, and on the morning of the 19th, the left battalion of the New Army commanded by Min Yongyi had entered Pyeongtaek and quickly launched an attack. Originally, ants bite elephants to death, with the advantage of ten to one in numbers, plus a little heavy weapons, should have the upper hand, but the fighting quality and courage of the North Korean soldiers are really not flattering, Miura Wulou, Toushan Man and other dozens of people, brandishing katanas, rushed over like a whirlwind, and immediately beat the North Korean soldiers in a hurry, leaving two Grusen guns and running.

At this moment, there was a sound like a burst of beans, and the only machine gun in the new army was fired, and the bullet rain was like a gust of wind, causing the ronins to stagger, rushing to the Miura Wulou in front, like a fallen leaf in the wind, being hit by bullets and flying into the air, falling several meters away, and immediately dying with a whimper. The human body is so fragile and small in front of the mechanical physical liliang.

The morale of the North Korean officers and soldiers, who had already been scattered, was greatly boosted, and they re-surrounded them, and cut down all the ronins who were lying on the ground with injuries and meat sauce. The remnants of the ronin and the Enlightenment Party had to retreat into the county government, Min Yongyi led his subordinates to surround the county government, and also let people set up the Grusen cannon, seeing that it would not be long before the other party could be completely annihilated.

At this moment, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly sounded in the rear, and from far and near, the sound had become like thunder in an instant. Just when everyone was puzzled, a large number of Japanese cavalry immediately appeared in front, the one in front of them was holding a short-barreled Spencer M1865 carbine, and all of them were brandishing sabers in the back, roaring like lightning, and soon the Korean troops were scattered and scattered.

Commanding this cavalry was none other than Akiyama Yoshiko, who commanded a cavalry brigade to march at a gallop and arrived in Pyeongtaek in just one day, just in time to save Taketian and Kim Yujun and others. Akiyama Yoshiko was a well-known cavalry expert in the Japanese army, and when a student asked what a cavalry was, he smashed the glass of the classroom with his fists on the spot, and then raised his bloody fist and told the students that this was the cavalry (which means speed, liliang and casualties), and was recognized in the army as a future cavalry general.

After learning about the situation from Takezoe and others, Akiyama Yoshiko ordered his subordinates to occupy all the most Haode buildings in the city, and as a military camp for the follow-up large army, the locals did not dare to complain in the slightest under the threat of bayonets. At the same time, he also sent several batches of cavalry posts to reconnoiter the situation in the north and gather intelligence for the next step of the march.

On the evening of September 19, in the Grand Palace in Bangkok, Siam, King Chulalongkorn was lying on his bed, covered with a thin blanket, and a British doctor sat next to him.

In the past few months, Chulalongkorn has been feeling tightness in his chest, loss of appetite, dizziness, weakness in his limbs, and has not improved after taking many medicines. As everyone knows, this disease is a heart disease, and the medicine stone is naturally ineffective.

At this time, Chulalongkorn's second son, Prince Ji Di Yegong of Chanthaburi, came in and whispered a few words, and Chulalongkorn immediately lifted his spirits, lifted the blanket and jumped up. It turned out that China and Japan had declared war, and he finally had a chance to wash away his shame.

Chulalongkorn immediately convened a military conference, in which he vetoed the proposal to launch an immediate attack, arguing that it should wait until China had suffered heavy casualties and had no spare strength to take care of the south. At the meeting, it was decided to carry out secret mobilization to reserve various materials such as food and munitions, and at the same time to assemble ferries on the south bank of the Mekong River and prepare for forced crossings at any time.

In the imperial palace in Beijing, Ding Yuntong was also making preparations, and he knew that Siam would inevitably attack. He ordered the navy and army in the direction of the Lancang River to prepare, and the left precious division in the Shangliao area entered the first level of combat readiness. As for the defense of the Vientiane area, Ding Yuntong handed over the patrol army under the command of Pan Dingxin.

Before the restructuring of the army, Pan Dingxin was a member of the party, an important minister in the army, and his authority was very high. But Ding Yuntong had a bad impression of his performance in his previous life and excluded him from the command team of the new army. was originally the commander of the army, but as a result, he became a general of a second-rate army, and his military rank was just a colonel, and those who were originally at the same level as him have now become lieutenant generals, presumably Pan Dingxin's heart is very depressed. This time, he commanded 23 battalions and a patrol force of 12,000 troops to defend Vientiane. This is also a chance for him to have a chance to reconsider him if he has a haode performance.