Seeing that Yi Zhizhi was content not to allow Wei Yuan to go to mourn, Zhao Wenlie was very entangled in his heart, not knowing whether to persuade or not, Bao Shichen and Wei Yuan were like-minded, and they were friends for decades, as early as when Tao Shu was the governor of Liangjiang, the two were in the same Tao Shu shogunate. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Bao Shichen passed away, and his son Bao Zongfu also sent a telegram to Wei Yuan, it is not easy to dissuade Wei Yuan, but what Yi Zhixiang said is also reasonable, in the current situation, Wei Yuan is indeed not suitable to withdraw.

Seeing that Zhao Wenlie was silent, Yi Zhizhi paced back to his desk, picked up an article he was writing, and said: "England is the first power in the world, and the war between the two countries is imminent, but public opinion is chaotic and the direction .....is unclear. ”

In less than half an hour, Wei Yuan hurried over, and as soon as he entered the door, he shook the article in his hand, and said: "Sir, as soon as this article is published, it will inevitably cause an uproar....... This would shake the very foundations of the imperial court. ”

"It's a great opportunity." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Britain, France and other countries joined forces to invade, for the Qing Dynasty, this is a battle of life and death, the Qing Dynasty must unite the people's hearts and unite the strength of the country, in order to win this war related to China's century-old national fortunes and the survival of the nation." ”

"But now the war has not broken out!" Wei Yuan pondered and said, "Is it to postpone the publication and wait until the situation is clear?" ”

"First delete the part that is difficult for the imperial court to accept." Yi Zhizu groaned: "The idea of the Chinese nation has been put forward for several years, but the repercussions caused are not great, with the help of this war, I hope that the idea of Chinese nationalism can be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, this article is signed and published." ”

If it weren't for the fact that the article was signed by Wei Yuan, there might not be many people paying attention to it at all; since Bao Shichen, Wei Yuan was Yi Zhi's number one aide, and everyone knew that this article must have been instructed by Yi Zhi, and the officials, gentry, and businessmen in the southeastern provinces naturally attached great importance to it.

What is the Great Chinese Nation?

The great Chinese nation does not take race as the standard, does not take the region as the boundary, does not take the bloodline as the domain, does not take the religion as the boundary, but takes the cultural rites as the measure, and all the nationalities that accept the Chinese culture are the great Chinese nation!

If Yi Di enters China, then China will be. All the nations conquered by China, all the nations that are willing to accept the Chinese culture, are members of the great Chinese national community!

What is nationalism?

Internally, we recognize, maintain and carry forward the historical and cultural traditions of our own nation, firmly believe in the superiority of our inherent culture, and resist the impact of foreign bad culture on our national culture. Decide the fate of our nation on our own with the outside world, oppose external oppression, and oppose any interference by external forces!

The most basic proposition of nationalism is the pursuit of the supremacy of the interests of the state and the nation.

After reading this article, the first thought that came to many people's minds was that this was a signal that Yi Zhizhi released a peaceful relationship with the imperial court, and the Qing Dynasty entered the Central Plains, in order to prove that it was right, it had widely expanded the distinction between Huayi, and Yongzheng had compiled the "Great Righteous Jue Mystery" when he was in power, thinking that the Qing Dynasty was orthodox and correct.

On the same day, local officials in the southeastern provinces received telegrams from Yi Zhixin, calling on local officials, gentry, and celebrities to write articles to criticize or echo the article "Great Chinese Nationalism", and the quantity and quality of the articles published would become one of the performance evaluation items of the southeastern officials.

"Great Chinese Nationalism" immediately attracted much attention, and local officials and gentry and celebrities in the southeastern provinces almost all reported it by hand, carefully pondered and discussed, and many officials even went into battle shirtless, personally wrote articles, searched their intestines and scraped their stomachs, racked their brains to write a good article full of flowers, once they entered the eyes of the law of contentment, they would undoubtedly get the opportunity to rise to the top.

On the second day, newspapers in various localities were full of articles on nationality and nationalism, some of them praised and agreed, and many of them criticized and criticized.

The newspapers were soon divided into two camps, the Huayi Debate, the Theory of Nationalities, the Great Nationalism, the Theory of Narrow Nationalities, the Theory of National History, the Theory of National Thought, the Theory of Benevolence and Love for the World, the Theory of a Single Nation, the Theory of Western Nationalities, and so on.

The newspapers of the northern provinces, which were originally watched from the sidelines, immediately became lively after Su Shun, the Minister of Military Aircraft, published a supportive article in the "Beijing Daily", but almost all of them supported it.

After a period of time, the voices of criticism in the newspapers became less and less, and when the argument between the two sides was coming to an end, Wei Yuan published another article "On the State" and pointed out: Territory, people, and sovereignty are the three elements that constitute a state, sovereignty is the core of the national concept, and defending sovereign independence and territorial integrity is the bottom line of the survival and development of a country and a nation, and it is also the most basic dignity of a country and a nation!

The next day, newspapers of all sizes in the southeast published an article entitled "The Chinese Nation Has Reached the Most Dangerous Moment," which listed the facts and current situation of the three major Asian empires, the Mughal Empire, the Persian Empire, and the Ottoman Empire, which had trampled on their sovereignty, seized territory, colonized plunder, plundered economically, plundered, plundered, and enslaved the people after they were invaded by Western countries.

He also pointed out that the Qing Dynasty was facing a huge war of joint invasion by Britain, Britain, Russia, Spain, and the Netherlands, which was an unprecedented battle for China in 3,000 years, and it was a life-and-death war.

Finally, the article appeals that once the war begins, there is no distinction between north and south, no distinction between men and women, no distinction between young and old, no matter who they are, they all have the responsibility of defending the land and resisting the country, and they should all have the determination to sacrifice everything, resolutely fight to the end, never compromise, never surrender!

At the end of this article, Yi Zhizhi did not use the pen name of Changle Jushi, but used his real name.

As soon as the newspaper came out, the southeastern provinces immediately caused a sensation, and there was an uproar in the market, Yi Zhicontent, as the great treasurer of Yuanqi, as the commander of the Yuanqi New Army, who had never been defeated in the Eastern Expedition and the Western Expedition, the Southern Expedition and the Northern War, actually openly called for the mobilization of the whole country in the newspaper, called for a war for the whole country, and shouted that there would be no compromise and no surrender, which showed that this battle must be too great, and the Yuanqi New Army was not sure.

Newspapers of all sizes in the northern provinces published and reprinted this article one after another, and the government and the opposition were shocked and discussed.

Shanghai, Zhenhai Mansion, Changle Book House.

Yi Zhizhi, who was sitting on the desk, listened to the footsteps, and he didn't need to look up, he knew that it was Wei Yuan and Zhao Wenlie who could come in directly without going through, and after glancing up, he smiled and said: "There are still a few words, the two of you will sit first." ”

Wei Yuan and the others have long been accustomed to it, and sat down directly, Zhao Wenlie casually put the newspaper in his hand on the coffee table, and Lin Meilian, who was waiting, came in to serve tea, Yi Zhizhi put down his pen and got up, lit a cigarette, paced over, and caught a glimpse of the newspaper on the coffee table, and then he said: "Came for that article?" ”

Zhao Wenlie smiled: "The war has not officially broken out yet....... But the big shopkeeper's article has another meaning? ”

Yi Zhizhi smiled and said: "Then Huifu might as well talk about it, what is the deep meaning?" ”

Seeing him ask rhetorically, Zhao Wenlie groaned before saying: "The big shopkeeper wants to use the war pressure of the British and French invasion to promote the identity of the Chinese people with the country and the nation, and enhance national cohesion?" ”

"That's just one point." Yi Zhixiang took a puff of cigarette and reminded him: "What will the British and French ministers think when they see this article?" ”

Wei Yuan's eyes lit up, "Sir, this is a heart-to-heart battle?" ”

"It is naturally best to let Britain and France know the difficulties and retreat, but this possibility is not very likely, and Britain and France will not take us seriously." Yi Zhixiang said unhurriedly: "However, my attitude is enough to make the British and French forces dispel the idea of starting a war on the southeast coast, because they can't afford to start a war with Yuan Qi in the southeast, and even if they win, they can't achieve their goal." In this way, it is very likely that the Anglo-French army will cross the southeast coast and go straight to fight the Beijing Division! ”

Heart-to-heart warfare? Zhao Wenlie secretly sighed when he heard this, before the battle began, he had already calculated, and after a slight groan, he said: "Will the court react in any way?" ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "No, I have already called to tell the court to keep silent." ”

Zhao Wenlie said with a smile: "Now I am looking forward to the outbreak of this war as soon as possible." ”

"No matter how fast it is, it will have to wait until next year." Yi Zhizhi said: "However, there should be a small fight in Nanyang." ”

For Yi Zhi's article, the imperial court remained silent, but the governors of the southeastern provinces did not dare to remain silent, and sent telegrams one after another, resolutely saying that they would do their best to support Yuan Qi to carry out the war to the end!

Qi Shan, the governor of Huguang, published an article in the newspaper, saying that the southeast coast had fallen, and the two lakes would inevitably become the next target of Western countries.

Qi Shan's statement, the governor of Liangjiang, the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the governor of Liangguang and the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou all issued statements in the newspapers, resolutely supporting Yuanqi, and the governors of the southeastern provinces were not far behind, and issued statements one after another.

Shanghai, the U.S. Consulate, Bo Jia looked through the newspapers, and secretly thought that it was the wisest choice for the United States to stay out of the matter, and once the war broke out, the Far East would definitely be a bottomless quagmire of war.

The French Consulate, Minister Bourblon secretly prayed in his heart that His Majesty the wise Emperor would never send troops to wade into the troubled waters of the Far East, and it would definitely not be a wise choice to go to war with a huge empire with vast strategic depth and a population of 400 million, and with perseverance!

However, when he thought of the telegram sent by Foreign Minister Walski, he felt a little apprehensive, "The death of Mr. Marai has left an unbearable impression on the Emperor's government...... Therefore, our government is obliged to demand compensation for Glory. ”

Compensation for brilliance? Make up for the fart! The Qing did not offer compensation at all, but strongly protested against the French missionaries who did not abide by the treaty and secretly went into the inland provinces to preach, and could only hope that His Majesty the Emperor would not be dizzy, and there was no need to drag the entire French Empire into an unfathomable quagmire for the sake of a damned missionary.

Hong Kong, the Governor's Office, Bao Ling put the documents extracted from the Chinese newspaper into a drawer, slowly paced to the balcony to look at the still busy Victoria Harbour, the Qing State had declared war on the British Empire, and also captured Hong Kong, forcing the 3,000 British troops stationed in Hong Kong to surrender, and the war between the two countries was inevitable.

Fighting for the country? No compromise? Never surrender? In his opinion, it was all a joke, and with the poor fleet of the Nanyang Navy, which was small, could it be the opponent of the British Royal Navy, which was invincible at sea? The Qing State, which had lost the right to control the sea and had a coastline of more than 10,000 kilometers, was a little girl with flowers and branches for the British army, and could only be ravaged by the British army!

He slowly turned his gaze to the south, at this time, the main fleet of the invasion of China should be on the way, right? He had enough of being under house arrest in the Governor's Palace.

Nanyang, Xiaokuba Island, temporary stronghold.

On a lookout stand hidden in the greenery, the originally bored lookout post suddenly shouted as if it had been beaten with blood: "Fleet! A fleet! From the West! ”

Before the words fell, a few green figures immediately sprang out of several tents and climbed onto the lookout frame flexibly like apes, and one person was just about to raise the telescope when he was stopped by Lao Wei, "Your telescope can't be used!" Reflective, reflective know? If you want to die, don't pull us along. ”

A veteran hurriedly said: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, the newcomer doesn't know the rules...... As he spoke, he hurriedly scolded: "Don't put it away quickly." ”

"Do you see which country's flag it is?"

"Rice Flag."

"If the guess is correct, it should be the British East India Fleet stationed in Colombo, Ceylon."

"I think so, we have detained two groups of ships that have come to inquire about the news during this time, and the British must have noticed that something was wrong in the three ports of the Strait of Malacca."

"It's still early, you guys watch first, I'll go down and breathe." Lao Wei slipped down as he spoke, the trees here were lush and impermeable, it was noon, the sun was at its peak, and it was really sultry.

In just half an hour, the fleets that came could already see clearly, a total of twenty-five, one color battleship, and four third-class battleships, Lao Wei's saliva was about to flow down, "It's gone, it's gone, this time it's really a big fish!" His voice trembled a little, "Go down, be careful, don't smoke, don't talk loudly." ”

One of them asked softly, "Do you want to send a report?" ”

"Nonsense!" One person said softly: "Hurry up, go and send a telegram, this is a big fish that has been sent to the door on the initiative, you must not let them run away." ”

Lao Wei waved his hand and said: "It's not urgent to send a telegram, it's not too late to send it when they go over, some people are very sensitive to the sound of telegrams." ”