295 Yuan Shikai is looking for a way back

Inside the door of the Penghu Temporary Office, Ji Gete looked at Ji Weishan, who was sitting opposite, his eyes were spitting fire, and his teeth were crushed, in order to make an excuse, this guy was so shameless that he wanted to duel with himself, and used a battleship against an armored cruiser

Unfortunately, after discussion between the Minister of the Navy and the President, he believed that France was not ready to fight a large-scale naval war in the Far East, and the current situation in Europe did not allow the fleet to pour out of the nest, not to mention that France's main interests were still in Africa, so it had to accept mediation and let Taiwan and Penghu become autonomous. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

This yellow-skinned heretic made France lose the opportunity to enter Taiwan, and also let himself miss the opportunity to become a French hero.

But now

In the face of the angry Gigot, Ji Weishan was comfortable, even a little sleepy, and even the fierce quarrels around him didn't seem to be excited, because he knew very well that his task was accomplished, and the French could not do it at all when Britain and Germany did not want France to occupy Taiwan and Pengpeng.

As for how to deal with the rest of the things, that is what the Government Council needs to consider, this young master does better than any country, a soldier is a soldier, he fights with a gun to protect his family and defend the country, and he should not interfere too much in political matters, so his mind has already flown to the shipyard.

In the Ryukyus, four Duke-class battleships have been named, and in two months, the battleships under repair will join the fleet, and the four Jinghai-class light cruisers will also be delivered in the next two years, in addition, the armament department has begun to design destroyers, which are more than twice as large as those currently in use, and can have a high speed of more than 30 knots.

However, this was not his concern, and he was surprised and surprised that the Ryukyu Shipyard's No. 6 dock had been rebuilt on the day of his departure, and according to the workers, it would be converted into an enclosed dock similar to that of Honolulu.

This made him unconsciously look forward to it, you must know that due to the location, the Ryukyu shipyard was originally closed to Honolulu, and the strict entry and exit management policy and the establishment of the Lushun base camp all the envoys from various countries flocked there, so now there are a lot fewer eyes in the Ryukyus.

In the case that Honolulu has four closed docks, it actually takes time and effort to close a large dock, and the mystery in this makes him very tempted, especially after the last closed dock was built Jinghai-class, so what will happen this time?

However, no matter how he inquired, he didn't know why the dock was closed, and what was the use of the dock after it was closed, you must know that with his current status, he could already know anything about the army, including several classified research and development projects, but this time he couldn't find any news, there were only two possibilities, one was that no one really knew what was being built, and the other was that it was a high-secret project similar to the Jinghai-class that was announced to senior officers after it was halfway through construction

What warships, it is worth once again taking such a high level of protection with a high level of secrecy

After consultations between all parties, in the unlikely event of a war, Li Mo also said that he would not garrison troops and would not interfere with Taiwan's autonomy, while Germany was anxious to digest Kyushu Island and did not have the energy to come to the southeast coast to confront Britain and France.

The negotiations on the issue of Taiwan-Peng autonomy went smoothly, but at the same time, the posture of Young Master Li on the Taiwan issue to march into the southeast made Britain and France very worried, and when the German representative left, he immediately grabbed Tang Shaoyi, who pretended to leave.

With the Pacific Fleet becoming increasingly threatening and technologically aligned, Britain and France realized that if they did not face the reality of a strongman rising in the Far East, they would undoubtedly be dragged into an endless competition and attrition, and even war.

Therefore, both families hope to take this opportunity to restrain Li Mo and his army from allowing him to expand unlimitedly, otherwise the southeast coast will be encroached upon by him.

After learning about the attitude of the two countries, Tang Shaoyi was very "angry", thinking that this was a deliberate attempt to suppress himself, and was extremely dissatisfied that he could not accept such a problem, and would even appeal by force if necessary, which obviously made the two countries very dissatisfied.

Unless a full-scale war is passed, it is difficult to really contain Li Mo, but the domestic politics and international situation do not allow them to fight, especially when this guy hooks up with Germany is extremely tricky, and the negotiations have reached an impasse.

On 3 September, when two Jinghai-class light cruisers suddenly appeared in the South China Sea and arrived in the waters near Hainan Island and confronted a French cruiser, this contradiction became even more prominent, and Britain and France realized that if they continued to play hide-and-seek with the Pacific Fleet endlessly, they would not be able to gain stable interests in the Far East. ※※※※※ I ※ I ※ ※

At this time, after soliciting Li Mo's opinion, Tang Shaoyi gave a compromise plan, that is, with the Yangtze River as the boundary and Taiwan as the separation, the Pacific Fleet would not enter the waters along the southeast coast within Taiwan, and at the same time said that as long as the merchants of the two countries abide by the laws in their jurisdictions, they will be able to ensure the free passage of merchant ships of the two countries along the southeast coast and in any waters within his jurisdiction.

This proposal was immediately echoed by the British, who had to temporarily shrink their forces and pay less attention to the Far East as the situation became more and more dire and the intricate rivalry in the African colonies was emerging.

Although France is very angry about the loss of Taiwan, and there was a call for crusade against Li Mo in the country, but there is really no way to start a war immediately, not to mention that now Li Mo has become a wing, not only has he built the world's fourth fleet in just a few years, but also has passed the test of actual combat, and this is the home of the people, and the long-distance raids of Japan and Russia have proved that once the main fleet enters the enemy's waters, it will be very dangerous, so it can only reluctantly agree to this condition.

However, on the second issue, there was a big controversy between the two sides, that is, Li Mo proposed that while the Pacific Fleet did not enter the waters off the southeast coast, the two countries should also ensure that the merchants in their jurisdiction had the right to enter and leave the southeast coast and the overseas colonies of the two countries, and should not interfere with it by any administrative and military means.

The respective businessmen have nothing to go in and out of the overseas colonies, anyway, everyone is doing business, and the two countries don't want to be small ~ just say ~ to get into trouble with Li Mo because of some trivial things, but entering Hainan to open mines has caused strong dissatisfaction from France, although France has not officially occupied Hainan Island, but it is too close to the Beibu Gulf, once Li Mo's hand is extended, God knows if he will fight Vietnam and Cam Ranh Bay's idea, especially the Pacific Fleet's ability to drill into the mine-covered harbor, it is chilling to think about.

Seeing that the two sides were deadlocked and the negotiations were about to fall apart, Britain was unwilling to give up this opportunity to restrict Li Mo to reconcile, and finally when Li Mo threw out a killer weapon and did not interfere with the two countries to continue to occupy the colonies on the southeast coast, France conditionally agreed to Li Mo's request.

The French naturally don't know that Master Li has played tricks, and the Shilu Iron Mine and Tiandu Iron Mine in Hainan are all treasures that he has coveted for a long time, and they are currently in the process of local mining, and the small output is pitiful, and it has not attracted the attention of the outside world.

In particular, the Shilu mining area, if it is made public, I am afraid that Britain and France will be jealous, and even there will be a war, but fortunately it is located in the living area of the Li people, and the transportation is inconvenient and it is difficult to mine, and the French obviously do not know that there is enough treasure buried there to cause war. As for the Tiandu iron ore next to Sanya, the French have tried to mine, but they have not seen the seedlings after drilling a hundred feet, so they have also given up, although the reserves of millions of tons there are not much, but it is rich in iron ore, and it is easy to mine, and it can be put into production after getting it, alleviating the expanding demand for steel.

The deceived French nodded and agreed to Li Mo's request, but also made strict restrictions on the mining area, and did not allow warships to enter Hainan waters, and even made strict restrictions on the number of soldiers to protect the mines.

After more than ten days of negotiations, the three parties finally signed this "Colonial Communication Agreement", and this is also a major breakthrough in the diplomacy of the Chinese Government Council led by Li Mo, when Tang Shaoyi returned to Lushun with this secret agreement, everyone clenched their fists excitedly, not because of mineral deposits, nor because of Taiwan's autonomy, but because of the division of the power of the Yangtze River demarcation, as well as the agreement on the access of their respective colonies, representing the first time that the Chinese got the tickets for the club on the busy Tianjin docks, the shouts of the porters came and went, Cargo owners watched the shuttle boats shuttling back and forth, and at the same time, they always looked at the two long berths extending from the port area into the deep water area in the distance from time to time.

The quay, which was all made of ash, pierced the sea like two sharp swords, and four huge ocean-going vessels occupied all the berths, and the four cranes made of thick logs on the pier were constantly rocking their arms back and forth.

This scene makes other people's eyes hot, you must know that the water depth of Tianjin Port is insufficient, and large ships need to be connected by small boats to load and unload goods, which is not only laborious and laborious, but also increases the cost in vain. Directly on the dock, with the help of that kind of crane, it was all done in the morning.

Such a quick result naturally attracted a hot gaze, but no one dared to have any ideas, even those princes Baylor did not dare to make up their minds, it was very simple, because it was the property of Zhao's shopkeeper.

Who is Shopkeeper Zhao?

Now this problem is known to almost everyone in the area of Zhili in Tianjin, and everyone knows that Shopkeeper Zhao and his Sihai Commercial Bank are the properties of the one in the north who put them here, not to mention the ordinary green-skinned hooligans, even if it is Rong Lu, the governor of Zhili, they are all blind and unwilling to ask.

In addition to the expensive and convenient ash wharf, what makes people blush is the buying and selling of the four seas firms, from the mink ginseng in the northeast, to the sugar tobacco leaves in the South Seas, and then to the pancreatic nail matches These daily necessities, almost all of them are big deals. Even if foreigners now want to enter the deep-water berth of Zhao's shopkeeper to unload, they must say hello in advance.

Especially those low-level porter coolies, who has seen foreigners nodding their heads and begging the Chinese to do things, that is, on the docks of other people's houses, foreigners don't even dare to put a fart, and they have to pay honestly when they use the docks, otherwise they are afraid that they will not even be able to get out of Bohai Bay and will be blocked by big ships.

And what makes them red is that after the last wharf was built, they recruited hundreds of porters and coolies, and half of the special wharf loading and unloading company, and now those companions not only no longer have to worry about eating the last meal, but take everyone's blushing wages every month, so that those who hesitated at the beginning regretted half to death.

In this unconscious, the sky seems to have slowly changed, in the past, Tianjin was a place where foreigners and nobles were rampant, and now the young master Li occupies Lushun and the three northeastern provinces, and after playing with Bohai Bay, even with these coolies and porters, the status has improved a lot, and the foreigners do not dare to beat and scold and whip at will, and those palace nobles are too late to hide.

Beside it, under a crooked-necked tree near the wharf, there was an unmarked carriage parked, and the thick curtain made it impossible to see the situation inside.

These cavalrymen were all dressed in soap-colored military uniforms, carrying foreign guns, and their sharp eyes were constantly looking around, showing their unique momentum from other soldiers of the Great Qing Kingdom.

In the carriage, Yuan Shikai stared at the four huge sea ships, looking at the piles of goods that were constantly unloading from the ships, both envious and hateful.

While envying the other party's daily progress and making money, mastering such a huge wealth, and establishing a huge sailor and power that many foreigners are amazed by, he also hated that the other party had put his hand into the heart of the Qing Dynasty, and threatened not to help the Wei Party

Yuan Shikai sighed, lowered the curtain to cover the slit, knocked on the wall of the car, the coachman immediately waved his whip, and the cavalry around him also flew on both sides to protect him.

On both sides of the road, all kinds of garden houses continue to pass out of the car window, many years of Westernization movement, plus this is an early treaty port in the north, so walking in the streets and alleys of Tianjin, you can see Western-style buildings everywhere and asset compradors dressed in Western clothes but combing long pigtails.

Yuan Shikai squinted at the soldiers who were following left and right outside the window, retracted his gaze and looked at Wang Yingkai who was sitting opposite, frowned and asked, "Shao Chen, what do you think we should do now?" ”

Wang Yingkai was originally from Haicheng, Fengtianfu, and since he met Yuan Shikai, he found that this person was ambitious, had a wide range of means, and was far from being an ordinary person, and his family background was prominent, and he also had a friendship with Gonggong Li, so he always followed him and became his confidant.

After the Pacific Army occupied Lushun, he knew that the loss of the three northeastern provinces was inevitable, especially the rapid expansion and penetration of the other party in the three provinces in the past two years, which made him feel throbbing.

I originally thought that Japan and North Korea could drag each other's footsteps, but I didn't expect that Japan would not survive even a year, and its national strength would be exhausted, especially the sailors built by the whole country borrowed money were also completely wiped out, which surprised everyone.

Now that Li Mo has sat firmly in the three northeastern provinces, if he is willing to let his army enter Zhili and march into Beijing in the blink of an eye, as for the foreign backers that the imperial court thinks they are, he has already seen through them, those foreigners are villains who only talk about interests and are in danger of running better than anyone else

Hearing Yuan Shikai's words, Wang Yingkai didn't know his thoughts, and got 20,000 guns that he urgently needed, but he also exposed the purpose of his side, Li Mo's words were equivalent to sandwiching them and the entire Beiyang Army on the fire, which also made him have to praise the hatred of the young master Li's intentions, and he saw people thoroughly, and said with a wry smile: "Dashuai, it seems that there is no second way for us." ”

Yuan Shikai nodded, he relied on foreigners to secretly buy 20,000 guns from Li Mo this time, originally had the idea of helping the Wei Party to support the emperor, because at that time, Guangxu had to continue to rely on him in order to recover the imperial power, as long as he cleaned up the Huai Army and the Hunan Army, then he was the emperor of the Qing Dynasty, even if it was easy to support an emperor, but now that Young Master Li, a seemingly arrogant and unreasonable sentence, let his preparations go to waste, but just give up? Yuan Shikai is not a person who is willing to fail, and he can judge the situation better than anyone else, so he immediately said: "Shao Chen, do you think we should walk around with that Li Mo?" ”

"Moving around? What do you mean? ”

"Shao Chen, you and I have been friends for many years, and I don't hide it from you, yesterday I got a tip-off that Li Hongzhang brought 5,000 Huai troops, plus 5,000 Guangyong, and immediately joined forces with the French to start purging the ** party after arriving in Guangdong.

With this great achievement, and the support of the queen mother, it is logical for him to take over as the governor of Liangguang, once he takes over the Liangguang, with his friendship with Zhang Zhidong and Liu Kunyi, and Sheng Huaixuan in it, it is imperative for them to unite, and the southeast will be an iron plate even if we will only be a chicken tail in the future

What's more, now the Wei Party and the Queen Mother in Beijing are incompatible, and the conflict is only a matter of time, if it was before, I would definitely have the situation to fall when I was treated, but now speaking of this, Yuan Shikai smiled bitterly: "Whether we choose the emperor or the queen mother, I'm afraid we won't be able to interfere, so it's time to think about the way back for us and tens of thousands of brothers." ”

Wang Yingkai somewhat understood what Yuan Shikai meant, and asked, "So what are you going to do?" ”

"There is a lot of trouble in Shandong recently, I want to take this opportunity to temporarily transfer the army in our hands to Shandong, and we have already suppressed bandits to gain a firm foothold first, if it is really not good, we will go to Henan and Shanxi, no matter this matter, as long as there are tens of thousands of guns in our hands, then no matter who wins the world in the future, we must also give us a little face" Yuan Shikai said this, and the fierceness in his eyes flashed.

But Dashuai, the meaning of Li Mo's words was not finished before Wang Yingkai finished speaking, Yuan Shikai cut off his words in one fell swoop: "This is no problem, the Wei Party has no soldiers and no power, as long as I don't leave, and then hand over the news at the moment, they won't be able to make a big deal, so you might as well take the opportunity that they need me at this time to get more benefits, and then find a way out."

Now we can no longer get involved in this muddy water, the reason why Li Mo dares to blatantly talk about the Wei Party must be that he has been ready to march into Zhili at a critical moment and Lushun has been lost, his army starts from Lushun, and it only takes one day to reach Tianjin, not to mention that at this moment his naval division is in full swing, and there is no way to confront him in various coastal areas, so we must not continue to spend here any longer, otherwise I am afraid it will not be enough for him to be bombarded by ships."

"That's right, but how do we get started?"

"This is very simple, the emperor needs me recently, and I believe that the transfer of troops will not embarrass us, so I am ready to take this opportunity to get the military power of Henan and Shanxi, both of which are far from the coast, Li Mo's naval advantage cannot be brought into play, relying on the tens of thousands of troops in his hands, and dealing with the Russians, I am afraid that I will not have time to deal with us for several years."

"The marshal is right, Li Moda's advantage is the water division, once he leaves the water division, his army is not a three-eyed immortal." Wang Yingkai said.

Yuan Shikai continued: "In addition, you immediately send those two Japanese to Li Mo, these two people can't stay in your hands. ”

For Li Mo? Wang Yingkai frowned, and said with a little pity: "Dashuai, that Akashi Motojiro is a good person, isn't it a pity to give it to Li Mo?" ”

"It's a pity" Yuan Shikai's eyes were cold: "It's just two lost dogs who have broken the country, if Japan can contain Li Mo, it will be of some use, but at this moment, it is in our hands, in case it is leaked, it will offend Li Mo, it is better to do personal favors and leave a way back." ”

As for the person, Yuan Shikai turned his head to look at Wang Yingkai and suddenly smiled: "Hehe, the things that the Japanese play are all leftovers from our ancestors who have played for thousands of years, they hum, if you want this kind of person who has learned the four dislikes, it is better to have a few more Shao Chen."

"Hehe, the handsome Miao praised."

"Okay, it's decided at this time" Yuan Shikai waved his hand, as if he was in a bad mood, and he didn't want to talk about this time, so he said: "In a few days, you will go to Beijing on my behalf, and give me a little gift for Gonggong Li, in a word, it will be said that the Pacific Army has won the war again, so I also hope to expand some manpower, and see if I can select some people from the Tianjin Armed Forces Academy to assist the army, and you can talk to Gonggong Li, can you find a chance to talk to Lafayette, and hand over the 20,000 people in Shanhaiguan to me to practice together, and prepare for the recovery of the Northeast in the future." ”

In the sound of the horse's hooves, Wang Yingkai understood what Yuan Shikai meant, knew that he was no longer optimistic about the Qing Dynasty, and began to arrange a back road for himself, his eyes couldn't help but twist to the direction of his hometown on the other side of the sea, and sighed in his heart