After the snow in the first year of Guangxing covered the streets and alleys of Beijing, the emperor hurried back from Europe, not too late, and just in time for the royal sacrifice during the Spring Festival.

Time moves faster than the wind, although the winter is long, the people who do not worry about food and lodging are the best to know how to spend time, turning the winter of 1896, the spring of the second year of Guangxing began to spread green life on the damp land again. Regardless of spring, summer, autumn and winter, everyone plays their own role in their own position, and each person's actions will affect the fate of others, changing the position and role of others.

In April, Vice Admiral Hayashi Tae-tsang, commander of the Imperial Zhenyang Fleet, was tasked with leading all of his capital ships to Busan, North Korea, for joint exercises with the Japanese and Korean fleets.

The fleet completed its assembly at the base of Liugong Island in Weihai, Shandong, bathed in the refreshing sunshine of the Yellow Sea in spring, sailed out of the Bohai Sea, and sailed towards the Korean Strait. This fleet with the dragon flag fluttering was large and tightly organized, divided into two main columns and four sub-formations, the fleet armored battleships and fleet armored cruisers formed the main column of battleships, the protective cruisers and light cruisers formed the main cruiser column, and the destroyers formed four sub-formations to escort the front and rear of the main column.

Admiral Lin Taizeng was dressed in a white tweed admiral uniform with double rows of gold buttons, with a black dragon pattern and three yellow straight stripes around the cuffs - indicating his rank of vice admiral, wearing a navy brimmed hat inlaid with the navy emblem of the Blue Dragon Anchor and a yellow dragon pattern, and shiny white leather shoes, standing on the command tower of the armored warship of the "Feidian" fleet, which was newly commissioned last autumn, holding up the monoculars inlaid with golden dragon patterns used in the Dadonggou naval battle, and inspecting the first elite fleet in the Far East under his command with an expressionless face.

The flagship "Feidian" was at the forefront of the main column of the battleship, and its sister ship, the newly commissioned "Zhendian" in March of that year, followed closely behind, and their two main chimneys were full of vigor spitting gray-black soot, the tall mainmast, the red bottom of the golden dragon battle flag flying in the wind, and in the front and rear of a square main turret with an inclined plane, the huge 305 mm heavy gun muzzle seemed to devour all life, and on the bow of the ship, the golden dragon pattern was dazzling, showing the history and honor of the Imperial Navy. As the first warship to be born in the Empire's own shipyard, the "Feidian" has a huge body with a standard displacement of 12,800 tons, a maximum speed of 17 knots, and a hedgehog-like cannon dense from head to tail: two twin 305 mm long-barreled main guns; twelve 150-mm rapid-fire guns; Eight 75-mm rapid-fire guns and a number of machine guns. In addition, the battleship was equipped with two twin 406-mm fixed torpedo tubes. The battleship was wrapped in uneven iron armor from head to tail, with the main armor belt eleven to thirteen inches thick (one inch equals twenty-five .4 millimeters), the waterline armor belt six to eight inches thick, the deck armor about four inches thick, the boiler room and engine room reinforced armor shell six to ten inches, the main turret front armor twelve inches thick, the side rear armor six to ten inches thick, the top armor four inches thick, the turret seat reinforced four inches armor, and the secondary gun protective armor cover only one to two inches thick. The whole battleship has a strength of 686 officers and sailors, and when it is the flagship of the fleet, it can accommodate a staff group of 26 people, and the carrying capacity of 1,700 tons is enough to ensure that the battleship can cruise at a speed of 12 knots for 3,500 nautical miles.

The "earthquake" was followed by two new fleet armored cruisers "Blowing Clouds" and "Colorful Clouds" that were newly commissioned at the end of last year, with three chimneys and a single mainmast and a auxiliary mast, and the superstructure was similar to that of the "Feidian" and was equipped with the same powerful main gun firepower - two twin 305-mm long-barreled turret guns. Secondary armament consisted of ten 150-mm rapid-fire guns, eight 75-mm rapid-fire guns, and two triple 406mm rotatable torpedo tubes. With a standard displacement of 10,500 tons, the internal volume of the "Caiyun" exceeds that of any of the four old warships such as the "Longwei", and it can be equipped with more powerful boilers, loaded with more coal, has a maximum speed of 20 knots, a maximum range of 3,600 nautical miles / 12 knots, and a crew of 647 people. However, the armor of this class is slightly weaker than that of the "Flying Lightning", with the main armor belt eight to ten inches thick, the waterline armor belt five inches thick, the deck armor three inches thick, the boiler and engine room reinforced by six to eight inches, the front armor of the main turret ten inches thick, the side and rear armor four to six inches thick, the roof armor three inches thick, the turret seat reinforced by three inches, and the secondary gun armor cover one to two inches thick.

The former flagship "Longwei" had to succumb to "Caiyun", followed by two old comrades-in-arms - "Fengxiang" and "Zhenyuan", and "Dingyuan" was unable to participate in this voyage because it coincided with the overhaul.

The above seven ships constitute the ranks of the main column of warships, and the "Jianbuk"-class armored coastal defense ships and the "Xinyuan"-class armored cruisers, which played a major role in the Korean War, were removed from the roster of the Zhenyang Fleet as early as last year and reassigned to the local fleets as reserves. Lin Tai did not have any nostalgia for the past, he was reluctant to replace all the capital ships under his command with the "Electric" class and the "Cloud" class, all of which were giant ships and cannons, sweeping across the ocean, however, he did not expect the Ministry of Defense to throw the warships in front of him one by one like magic, he could only wait, besides, he was not the only one waiting. Turning around, a long snake formation of the main column of the cruiser appeared in the telescope, two Knife-class protective cruisers purchased from Germany lined up in front of the column, the "Broadsword" mast was led by a three-color detachment flag, and the sister ship "Modao" followed closely behind. These two ships are jointly designed by China and Germany, both built by the German company Volkeng, with a standard displacement of 4,750 tons, a maximum speed of 22 knots, and a full load range of 3,000 nautical miles per 12 knots. It is equipped with two twin 210-mm guns, eight 150-mm rapid-fire guns, four 75-mm rapid-fire guns, and two triple 406-mm torpedo tubes. As a protective cruiser, the Knife class was equipped with armor belts up to six inches thick on the broadside of important parts such as boiler rooms, engine rooms, and ammunition rooms, with deck armor between two and four inches thick, and the command station welded from four inches of steel plates.

The 10 ships of the Rain-class light cruisers "Heavy Rain", "Thunderstorm", "Spring Rain", and "Summer Rain" with a standard displacement of 3,620 tons and the 3,150-ton Wind class light cruisers "Chasing the Wind", "Hurricane", "Super Wind", "Gale Wind", "Zephyr" and "Yunfeng" formed a column of 12 ships following the two Knife-class protective cruisers.

The eight snow-class fleet destroyers were divided into four two-ship formations, which served as the fleet's vanguard, rearguard, and left and right flanks, and in addition, six water-class fleet torpedo boats followed the main column of the battleships and formed a separate lightning strike column.

Lin Tai once put down the monoculars, held them in both hands, looked at the blue sky and white clouds that had not been polluted by soot in the distance, and remembered that two years ago, during the naval battle off Incheon, the weather was so wonderful, but he was defeated in that battle. The general of the defeated army can still be used so heavily to become the commander of the Imperial Zhenyang Fleet, in Lin Taizeng's opinion, it is really a grace and a great luck. But the Ding Jieyun incident that occurred last spring really shocked the navy, six generals were executed, and then two lieutenant generals were assassinated.

"People are not afraid of shadows, I believe that no one in the navy will be involved in any conspiracy, please do your duty, do not have unnecessary pressure, let alone affect the normal work."

The commander-in-chief of the navy, Liu Buyun, once appeased the navy officers in this way, but Lin Taizeng was still relieved, secretly found Liu Buyun, and asked him how to deal with it once the purge was expanded to the navy.

"Let it be, and let it be."

"But ......"

"Without a land base, a pure navy will not have any future, and we can't be pirates, so what else? So I don't need to say more. ”

Lin Tai couldn't help but be a little afraid when he thought that his boss would say such a clear thing, he always felt that there was a strange atmosphere in the upper organization that ruled him, and there seemed to be countless conspiracies at the bottom of the dark world under the bright and glorious appearance. He couldn't understand what was real, and like most tools of our time, it was impossible for tools to know what their manipulators were thinking. Lin Tai sighed, feeling that he was wasting his time thinking about meaningless things, and the habit of being a soldier prompted him to return to the ten-inch iron-clad command cabin to review the plan for the joint exercise again.

"In a future war, the navies of China, Japan, North Korea, and the Ryukyus will operate as one, and in addition to the defensive navy of the Ryukyus, the main ships of the former three countries will be organized into a combined fleet to fight against a common enemy under the command of the unified command......

The reason for the joint exercise was very simple, but Lin Taizeng did not agree to organize a multinational joint fleet, he was never optimistic about the restoration of the Japanese navy and the construction of the Korean navy, nor did he believe in the actual combat effectiveness of the multinational combined fleet, and the magnificent ironclad fleet in his mind could only fly the dragon flag of the Chinese Empire.

Turning to Jules Verne's "Island of Machines," Lin Tai began his daily English homework – that the navy was more westernized than any other group in the empire. While Lin Tai was reading leisurely in the company of the sound of the waves, a group of East Asian dignitaries gathered in the Imperial Prime Minister's Office in Beijing to discuss the topic of building an East Asian political, economic, and military comprehensive cooperation group.

In the Huairou Hall of the Prime Minister's Office, Wen Yi, the Prime Minister of the Chinese Empire, was dressed in a black suit with a long hem, sitting alone on the north side of the long table, directly opposite him was Keisuke Otori, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Imperial Japan, and on both sides of the long table were Li Dongting, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Korea, Shang Horui, Prince and Regent of the Kingdom of the Ryukyus, as well as military representatives from China, Japan, Korea, and the Ryukyus, with an attendant officer and an interpreter behind each senior member.

In fact, the talks have entered their third day, and after a detailed discussion of political and economic cooperation, the topic has shifted to the aspect of military cooperation.

“…… As allies, we should naturally provide assistance to each other in accordance with the provisions of the Covenant -- it is a comprehensive political, economic, and military aid -- but because Russia is also encroaching on millions of square kilometers of our territory on the north bank of the Heilongjiang River, our country will be forced to devote most of its land forces to resolving the border dispute with Russia for some time to come......

Marshal Liu Yun, Chief of the General Staff of the Imperial Chinese Armed Forces, first gave a short overview of China's strategic direction in order to gain the understanding of its allies, Japan, and reminded the two vassal states, and then began to explain China's basic requirements for the reorganization and building of the armed forces of the allies and vassal states: "...... In order to deter Western colonists and strive for a stable economic development environment in East Asia, we should all step up efforts to build a well-trained and modern army, conduct regular joint exercises, coordinate in all aspects, and be able to support each other in wartime. To the Empire of Japan, our close ally, we hope that by 1904 you will reorganize a standing army of 155,000 men in accordance with China's establishment system, and that you will have the same number of combat reserve forces, and that you will be able to replenish 400,000 reserve troops within three months. In addition, we are also very concerned about the reconstruction of your navy, according to our known shipbuilding capacity in Japan, we believe that you can build various auxiliary ships including torpedo boats, torpedo boat destroyers and light cruisers with a certain amount of financial support, China can provide or build armored ships for you at a low price, and also encourage you to order various capital ships from foreign countries if funds permit, but we hope that the ships you order from foreign countries can facilitate the unification of logistics support between the two countries. We hope that by 1904 the Japanese Navy will have at least four fleet armored cruisers, ten light cruisers, and more than ten fleet destroyers, capable of carrying out offshore patrols and strait guard duties in the waters near the Japanese mainland......"

"The issue of economic support for Korea was discussed yesterday, and according to the financial plan drawn up by the Ministry of Finance of the Great Chinese Empire for the Kingdom of Korea, we know that Korea's military expenditures cannot be compared with those of the Japanese Empire, and that it cannot bear the same military obligations, but we still hope that Korea will have at least a certain regional defense capability in future wars of anti-colonial aggression and will be able to fight in coordination with the Chinese Imperial Army and the armies of allied Japan...... We need the DPRK to have a standing army of 75,000 men according to China's establishment by 1904, as well as the same number of combat reserve troops, and the mobilization capacity to replenish 250,000 reserve soldiers within three months. In view of the financial capacity of the DPRK, we do not encourage you to order ships directly from foreign countries, but we can propose to Japan to build auxiliary ships for you at a low price. We want the DPRK to have a defensive fleet by 1904, including two fleet armored cruisers, eight light cruisers and ten destroyers......"

"As for the Ryukyu Kingdom, we are not prepared to let the Ryukyus bear too many military obligations, as long as it can ensure domestic stability, it is enough, for this reason, the General Staff of our empire has drawn up a plan for the formation of troops before 1904 for you, you only need to form a standing alert force with a total of 5,000 people, and maintain a sea patrol force composed of six ships under 1,000 tons, and you will complete your military obligations......"

"In order to be able to effectively lead the combined forces in peacetime and wartime, a permanent joint command is needed. The General Staff of our country has drawn up a plan for the structure of the Joint Command, which will be distributed to you after the meeting. First, the Joint Command is a coordinating body that does not have specific military command authority, but it can provide practical services for peacetime exercises and wartime coordination of the coalition forces. Second, the Beijing Division, which is headquartered in China, is commanded by a Chinese general and a Japanese general is the deputy commander. Third, the headquarters has various functional offices, which are responsible for logistics, equipment, intelligence, training, and operations, and its chief and deputy officers are officers of various countries, and they are co-located in fixed locations......"

After Liu Yun's tirade and some bargaining discussions, the talks on military topics came to an end.

Before the end of the meeting, the Imperial Prime Minister Wen Yi said to everyone, especially to the Japanese Foreign Minister: "We East Asian countries have the same race and the same culture, and we have a fine tradition of cooperation in history, and in this grim period when the tide of colonization is sweeping the world, we should work together as one to resist the aggression of the white colonizers, establish a political, economic, and military alliance with a unique culture, and then gain our due position on the stage of the world and compete with the white forces that now have an absolute advantage!" ”

"That's right, we can't leave Asia and enter Europe wholeheartedly, Confucianism is the foundation of our culture, whether it is old or new, we can't abandon it lightly, and those who advocate total Westernization must introspect." North Korean Prime Minister Ri Dong-jeong replied that his words were aimed at Japan.

"Naturally, it is not advisable to completely Westernize, Japan has never planned to leave Europe and enter Asia, and the Japanese cultural circles have always attached great importance to the study and evolution of Confucianism." Japan's foreign minister, Keisuke Otori, hastened to say that he knew how to cater to the leaders of the leading allies.

"Well, I hope you all have a good time at the royal banquet tomorrow night." Wen Yi nodded to the vassals and foreign dignitaries.

This was the first joint meeting between the Chinese Empire and its vassals and allies, and from then on, every spring, Korea, Ryukyu and Japan would take the opportunity to send Spring Festival pilgrimages to participate in the East Asia Integration Joint Conference, until the republican system replaced the imperial system and the East Asia Integration Joint Conference was renamed the East Asia Alliance Conference, a practice that lasted for decades.

From the second year of Guangxing, 1897, East Asia formally formed a force that affected the comparison of the world's forces, and the traditional white forces were different, it was not only the power of the yellow race, but also the power of the Oriental neo-Confucian culture, and the same as the advanced powers of Europe and the United States, it adopted a parliamentary democracy, vigorously developed industry and commerce, and built a modern army and navy. At this time, its requirements for the world and the general direction of future development have been blurred by various superficial and substantive disputes.