1890 King of Southeast Asia

In Ryukyu, although Lin Pingzhi withdrew from the negotiations, he still stayed in Ryukyu, but he did not contact anyone privately.

Three days passed in a blink of an eye. Tang Shaochuan, who suddenly became tough, let Britain and France know that Nanhua began to exert its strength, but they did not know what tricks Nanhua had.

At the suggestion of the British, the two came to Lin Ping's bed, but were stopped and not allowed to enter.

"What should I do? I feel something is not good. Nanhua seems to have made up its mind to go it alone." John always felt a little awkward based on the news of the past few days.

He reported to London and asked London to pay attention to Nanhua's diplomatic actions.

The conclusion is that in three days, no unusual movements were found in Nanhua's embassies in European countries.

The United States is even more impossible. The American warships are still being repaired in Nanhua's docks, and the soldiers spent a not-so-good Christmas in Hawaii.

Before the two sides clarify this matter, there will be no further cooperation.

It is precisely because Nanhua did nothing that John felt more and more uneasy.

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"Indeed, in the past, Nanhua would… pull one or two friends into whatever it wanted to do, just like this time, before proposing mediation, it also pulled us in." The Frenchman touched his chin.

He originally wanted to say that the South France Alliance was targeting Britain, but suddenly remembered that Britain and France were already friends.

"If Nanhua goes it alone, what will be the impact on us?" he asked.

"First of all, our energy is in Europe, and we can't spare the energy to check and balance Nanhua in a short time. Nanhua may gain hegemony in the Far East, or even control." John said.

"This is a problem. We have too many interests in the Far East. India, French Indochina, and the Yangtze River Basin are all things we can't give up."

"Also, if Nanhua has a conflict with us, it will definitely look for a friend. This target must be able to contain us and have no direct conflict of interest with Nanhua. Even conflict of interest with us." John's face was a little worse.

"Russia. Or... Germany." The Frenchman's face was heavy.

"Yes, the Japanese are not strong enough to resist the attack from the Russians and the South China, even with the support of us and the Americans." John nodded.

"What's more terrible is that they contacted the Germans. In that case, we will be passive, damn..." The Frenchman held back for a while and began to curse.

"It seems that our policy needs to be modified to a certain extent, and we should also consider South China's ideas."

"Yes, France respects its allies. As for the Japanese, they can always get some spoils. At worst, I can help them and give them a loan with the most favorable interest."

"That's right, if you want to blame, blame the Japanese for not winning. What you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get it at the negotiation table."

"Yes..."

The two of them changed their attitudes tacitly, like brothers.

Of course, no one dared to say that they were like brothers, that would only be considered irony by them.

…………

For Director Lin, these few days have been very difficult.

I don't know who spread rumors in the country, saying that the front-line soldiers were not doing well, suffered heavy casualties, and tens of thousands of people died in battle, as if it were true.

Most people don't believe it. How could the invincible Imperial Japanese Army, which had defeated the Russians, be defeated by the cowardly and incompetent Qing soldiers?

This defeat was made up by the Japanese civilians themselves. Tens of thousands of people died, isn't that a defeat?

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Under the packaging of the Japanese, this peace talk was the emperor's gratitude to the two countries for peace and friendship, and he gave the Qing people a chance by putting aside past grudges.

But Director Lin knew that the war on the front line was indeed not going well, and tens of thousands of people had indeed died. Japan's defense line in the north was unprecedentedly empty, and the Russians were ready to move. The Japanese police had already discovered many Russian spies.

The headquarters kept asking about the progress of the negotiations. Although he didn't say much, Director Lin felt the urgency of the headquarters.

Yes, it was urgent, and there was an urgent need to end the war and put the remaining soldiers in the north to guard against the Russians.

There is an urgent need to get the spoils of war to give Japan a shot in the arm for its increasingly tense domestic situation.

But! The damn Tang Shaochuan suddenly said in a tough tone during today's negotiations that he could accept Japan's compensation demands, provided that Japan also accepted the compensation demands of the Qing Empire, otherwise the negotiations would be suspended and the outcome would be decided on the battlefield.

Just when Director Lin was wondering whether Nanhua had taken action, a questioning telegram came from the headquarters.

"There was a sound of artillery fire at Shanhaiguan, and it was confirmed that the large-caliber artillery of the Qing Empire was put back into use; Nanhua naval warships left Shanghai, and Zaifeng was recruiting soldiers on a large scale..."

At the end of the telegram, the headquarters questioned Director Lin in a stern tone, what was going on with the negotiations?

"You can't go on like this, go give Lin Pingzhi a visiting card and say that I want to talk to Nanhua." Director Lin thought for a long time, but still couldn't think of a way to bypass Nanhua.

It's all the army's fault, it's not up to the mark at all. If he had won on the battlefield, or if there hadn't been a disastrous defeat at Shanhaiguan, how could he have gotten to this point.

…………

On the 23rd, the Qing Empire was undergoing a tense and fierce power exchange.

The young and powerful Manchu nobles, led by the regent, were against continuing the war and were eager to end it, and were willing to pay some price for it.

The price here refers to compensation. Land cession is not an option, at least not in Fengtian.

The old Westernization faction headed by Yuan Gongbao advocated delaying the process to gain the greatest benefits.

Just when Zaifeng was impatient and ready to use extraordinary measures against Yuan Gongbao, Yuan Gongbao gave him a surprise.

"What did you say? Say it again?" Zaifeng showed a happy expression and stood up from his chair.

"At present, our army is weak, and there is no mutual command and no communication, which led to a series of tragic defeats under the Fengtian City.

I ask the regent to rectify the military system, expand the army, establish a unified command center, coordinate the national army, and fight a decisive battle with Japan for the sake of the country.

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Of course, in order to avoid the chaos of the separatist regimes in the late Tang Dynasty, we, the ministers, cannot be responsible for all these things. Please ask the regent to take full responsibility and select one person to be responsible for specific matters."

Yuan Gongbao looked helpless. After this battle, only the first and fourth towns of the Beiyang Six Towns were well preserved.

And the first town was Manchu, and the control was not in his hands.

In this war, the central government mobilized no less than 100,000 new troops and patrol camps from various provinces. There were voices in the court to reorganize these troops into the army.

This army, like the Beiyang Six Towns, was awarded a number by the Ministry of Army and was directly led by the Ministry of Army.

Yuan Gongbao knew that since this matter had been proposed, it would definitely be implemented later. After all, it was a good opportunity to strengthen the power of the central government.

As long as these people were supplemented with artillery, they could probably form eight towns. Yuan Gongbao used this as a condition to exchange for the right to continue to control the six towns of Beiyang.

(A town has 13,000 people, but it is impossible that they are all infantry. There are also artillery and cavalry, which need to be supplemented.)

"Good! Good! Yuan Gongbao! I misjudged you. It turns out that you are a loyal minister who is loyal to the country! Lord Yuan, please accept my respect." Zaifeng said excitedly.

"Don't dare, don't embarrass me, my lord. I still want to live two more years." Yuan Gongbao hurriedly stopped him.

Fortunately, Zaifeng was just pretending.

"But, Your Majesty, you can reorganize the army. The towns on the frontline have suffered heavy losses and are waiting for additional personnel and equipment.

Do you think you can move them? It will be good to strengthen the frontline and give Tang Shaochuan more confidence in the negotiation.

Reorganizing the army also costs money. If you can save a few in the negotiation, you will have more money, right?

These foreign troops in the capital are all loyal to our dynasty. If we add some cannons, we can probably organize eight towns. This will cost a lot of money!" Yuan Gongbao said tactfully.

"So you have this idea. Forget it. For your loyalty to the country, you can go to the arsenals to transfer a batch of weapons. As for the personnel, it will take a lot of people to reorganize eight towns. You can figure it out yourself!" Zaifeng said generously.

It's not that he doesn't want to intervene, but the frontline is not a good place. None of his subordinates are willing to go there. Besides, if they end up like Zaixun, how embarrassing it would be?

Moreover, if Shanhaiguan was broken because of his random intervention, how much face would he, the regent, still have? After all, he knew what kind of people he had under his control. Besides being his own brother, Zaixun was really the most knowledgeable person among his people.

And after the reorganization, the eight towns plus the first town, against the remaining five towns of Beiyang, basically two against one, the advantage is on me!

Since Yuan Gongbao is no longer a threat, of course it is better to be stronger, because only when you are stronger can you get things done.

"Yes, yes, yes... Thank you, Your Highness, thank you, Your Highness." Yuan Gongbao stood up and prepared to say goodbye.

"Also, when purchasing the cannons for the eight towns, you need the one that is ten out of five, so that people can't say that the court is petty. As for the money, according to your purchase method, loan!" Zaifeng said generously.

"Uh, yes, I will contact them right away, then I will..."

"Let's go, let's go." Zaifeng waved his hand impatiently, sinking into the fantasy of holding a large army.

…

After dealing with Zaifeng, Yuan Gongbao received another telegram, 800 rounds of 305mm shells had been delivered to Shanhaiguan Camp.

“Send a telegram to Xu Juren, and ask him to fire a few shots to see if the shells are real. By the way, don’t fire into the sea, these are shells for land, don’t fire behind the mountains, it’s not good if it causes panic.” Yuan Gongbao said in a good mood.

As for Zaifeng’s eight towns? Yuan Gongbao, who knew Mangui’s ability well, was not worried at all. It would take less than a year for these 100,000 troops that were still usable to lose order and pose no threat.

And this time, he reached an agreement with Zaifeng, and the regent should not target him specifically in the future, killing three birds with one stone.

Another one was to prevent Zaifeng from interfering with the six Beiyang towns.

…

In Shanhaiguan Camp, Xu Juren looked at the telegram, held his beard and nodded.

"Gong Bao called to remind the Japanese and help Shaochuan relieve some of the pressure. I heard that the negotiations were not going well. It was a troubled time!" Xu Juren handed the telegram to a group of officers.

"Now there is enough ammunition. Do you want to fire one more shot to boost the momentum?" Duan Zhiquan immediately understood what Xu Juren meant.

"How is the repair of the fortress?" Xu Juren did not agree directly.

"The repair of Fort No. 5 has been completed. Fort No. 6 cannot be repaired for the time being. Several bunkers were built with sandbags and wood, but as long as the Japanese artillery is suppressed, they can't advance to Fort No. 6 at all." Duan Zhiquan said.

"As long as the cannon sounds, morale will be restored immediately." Cao Zhongshan also said.

"Okay! For each gun, try two shells, straight ahead, maximum range!" Xu Juren nodded fiercely.

…………

"Baga! This is a provocation!" Xiaochuan threw the battle report of Nanhua's firing on the ground and said two words fiercely.

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After a while, Xiaochuan called the messenger.

"Send a message to the headquarters, the Qing army's large-caliber artillery shells have been replenished. It is understood that this kind of artillery shells cannot be produced by the Qing Empire, and must be imported. The Qing army is provoking."

"That's it, go." Xiaochuan sat down tiredly, took out the wine pot and drank the wine.