May 8, 1915, 9 a.m., Yanjing, Zhongnanhai, Spring Lotus Zhai.

At this time, all the nominal and powerful figures in Yanjing's military and political circles gathered together to attend a special emergency meeting convened by President Yuan Shikai.

Facing a room full of military and political dignitaries, Lu Zhengxiang's voice, who read the ultimatum sent by himself, was particularly depressed and sad.

“…… In view of the attitude of the Chinese government, although it was deeply regretted that there was little room for further negotiations, the imperial government was ultimately attached to maintaining peace in the Far East, and hoped to conclude the negotiations satisfactorily in order to avoid the dispute of the current situation. In the midst of intolerability, and in consideration of the affection of the political axes of the neighboring countries, the fifth item of the amendment proposed by the imperial political axe at the previous time, except for the matter concerning the exchange of official documents in Fujian Province, which has been agreed upon by the representatives of the two countries, the other five items may be recognized and separated from this negotiation, and shall be negotiated separately at a later date. Therefore, the Chinese political axe should also forgive the friendship of the imperial political axe, and promptly comply with the other items, namely, the items No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4, as well as the items concerning the exchange of official documents in Fujian Province as recorded in the amendment proposed on April 26. The Imperial Axe hereby reiterates its exhortation, expecting that the Chinese Axe will be satisfied by 6 p.m. on May 9 in order to satisfy the reply, and if the reply is not met by the time due, the Imperial Axe will carry out such means as it deems necessary......"

After listening to the full text of this ultimatum, the whole room was silent for a while, as if the sound of a needle falling to the ground could be heard.

After reading the ultimatum issued by Yu himself, Lu Zhengxiang briefly explained the situation of the negotiations and his future plans in a painful voice:

“…… The political axe of our government has always respected the wishes of our neighbors, and has always sought the goal of seeking a peaceful settlement with the intention of our neighbors, which is well known to our people, even our friends. It is a pity that this or the use of excuses to coerce or increase the number of troops under the pretext will eventually be an armed negotiation, so that this goal cannot be achieved. This time, the ultimatum withdrew No. 5 without discussion, and all articles that infringed on sovereignty and asserted one's superior position were all revised with great efforts, and it was officially declared that in the future, Jiaozhou Bay would be returned to China, and although it had the right of residence in the interior of South Manchuria, it would be subject to our police, laws, and taxes, and would be the same as our people. Although the sovereignty, internal affairs, and covenants of the nations can still be preserved, the extension of the Luda, South Manchuria, and Anbong, and the loss of rights and interests on the part of South Manchuria has been huge. …… In the event of a rupture, it will be difficult for our country to win, and the losses after the war will probably be doubled compared with what is now required, and the overall situation will be corrupted, and the lives will be ruined, and it will be even more unimaginable. The envoys stationed in Beijing and friendly countries also came to persuade them tactfully, not only to have China's sovereignty and internal affairs, but not to be too stubborn, and to discuss the political axe repeatedly, but to look at the national situation internally, to observe public opinion externally, and to familiarize themselves with the interests and disadvantages, thinking that they would tend to avoid ......."

"No! Never! Army Chief Duan Qirui suddenly changed color, stood up, and said loudly, "The method of avoiding is absolutely not feasible!" ”

"Tell me about it, Shibaquan." Yuan Shikai, who couldn't hide the look of frustration on his face, glanced up at Duan Qirui, and said in a weak voice.

"The original intention of these treaties is to annex our country! Just like when they annexed North Korea! Duan Qirui said loudly, "For today's plan, the only way to do this is to refuse to sign it, return the ultimatum, and if you really use the soldiers to offend me, you should be united and resist with all your might!" ”

"But my country's current national strength has not recovered, no matter the strength of the navy and army, it is too far from the original, once the army is exchanged, it will definitely be defeated!" Secretary of State Xu Shichang said worriedly.

"As the old saying goes: Rather than broken jade! Not for the tile! For the broken jade, it can still inspire the people, unite and rise up, and not be a slave of the country! If you bend your knees and seek perfection, even if you can survive for a while, the people's hearts will inevitably be lost! Those who win the hearts of the people win the world, and how can they win the hearts of the people to establish a country? Duan Qirui said angrily.

"Now is the life and death of our country! If you sign, it will be tantamount to being cocooned and self-bound, and you will commit suicide by drinking! Cai Ye said loudly, "It is the duty of my generation of soldiers to protect the family and defend the country, and it is better to borrow one from the city than to sign and shame the country!" Fight to the death! Now that the country is in distress, I am willing to lead the ministry to be backed by the political axe and prepare for the forerunner! ”

"Although my country is weak, I will refuse to infringe on my sovereignty and restrain my internal affairs, as listed in the fifth trumpet." Yuan Shikai sighed, and tears seemed to be about to flow, "But my country's national strength is not full, and it is really difficult to meet this soldier at present......"

"I'd rather fight guerrilla warfare with Yu himself, than give in because the enemy is strong and I am weak!" Cai Tinggan, a military senator of the presidential palace and also Yuan Shikai's English secretary, also got up and said.

This admiral, who was once captured by the army and returned to the mainland in the first year, is still as strong as in the past.

"The strength of China's navy and army is not comparable to that of the capital, but China's territory is vast and the population is large, and the country is absolutely unable to swallow the elephant with the power of a snake. Although the army was able to take advantage of the momentary fierce profits and occupy a large part of China's territory, it could not gain a foothold for a long time. And his unwarranted forcible occupation of our land will be condemned by all countries, and will not be tolerated by the West, once the European war is over, Britain and the United States will inevitably intervene. Duan Qirui said, "If this agreement is signed, my country will have no choice but to sit back and wait for the country to die." ”

"After several years of development, China's army has reached a certain scale, and it can still reluctantly fight with the Chinese army, but once a war breaks out, it will still be difficult for our navy to protect itself, and it will never have the strength to fight against the warships. Xu Shichang shook his head and said, "And it is said that it has the advantage of the navy, and it can transport the army to land on the coast of our country at will, and our army cannot cover up everywhere." From this point of view, it is better to endure the humiliation of the moment and learn to practice the ambition of lying down and tasting courage in order to plan for the future. ”

After listening to Xu Shichang's words, Duan Qirui and other main battle generals also became silent for a while, and some people seemed to feel the pain of the shame of losing the country on themselves, and began to cry silently.

"Although the people have a powerful navy, they may not be able to use it this time." Someone in the crowd standing in the back row suddenly said.

"What do you mean by that?" Yuan Shikai raised his head and asked in some surprise, his eyes searched the crowd, and soon he saw a quiet and elegant soldier.

"Ben dared to persecute our country in this way because they thought that a great war in Europe was raging, and the great powers were powerless to look east for a while. As a matter of fact, the great powers have been paying close attention to the development of the situation in the Far East, but because they have nothing to do with the interests of the great powers in China for the time being, and the so-called 'matters are not in the air, they are hanging high,' so that no one is willing to stand up for our country, and once they say that the war is going to war against our country because of our rejection of its ultimatum, the flames of war will affect the sphere of influence of the great powers in China, and the great powers will never sit idly by, and they are likely to unite to intervene at that time. Yang Shuoming met Yuan Shikai's gaze and said slowly, "Most of the places along the southeast coast of our country are the spheres of influence of Britain, France and the United States, and if this fleet wants to take action against our country, in order to prevent the interference of the great powers, these places will basically not be considered, and as far as our country is concerned, as long as we hold a few strategic points, we can completely prevent it from attacking our interior." ”

Listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Yuan Shikai couldn't help but be stunned on the spot.

"There is some truth in what the general said." Lu Zhengxiang listened to Yang Shuoming's words, and seemed to remember one thing, "According to the secret report of our Minister to Lu, the British Minister to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that if the British Minister wants to use coercive means against our country, he must consult Britain's opinion. This may be corroborated by this. ”

Moreover, although Ben frequently mobilized troops in South Manchuria and Shandong, it was nothing more than a trend of intimidation, and it itself was not ready for an all-out war with our country. As long as our country shows its determination to resist to the death, once the war situation expands, all countries will inevitably intervene in order to protect their vested interests in China. Yang Shuoming continued, "This can be called the method of 'promoting peace through war', that is, using a war to force Yuben to re-understand our country and change its policy of coercive pressure on our country." ”

"War for peace? ......" Yuan Shikai was taken aback, he thought for a long time before he nodded slowly.

"War is not enough for peace! Non-war is not enough to win the hearts of the people! Non-war is not enough to establish authoritarianism! Yang Shuoming looked at Yuan Shikai and said in an extremely sincere tone, "At the beginning of Xinhai, the north and the south negotiated peace, and the country was nominally unified, but in fact, each place did its own thing, and my president was the first month to pacify the battle of Ganning. If the Battle of Ganning was an excellent opportunity for reunification given to the president by the anti-party, then the '21 Articles' of my own time are actually equivalent to giving my country's political axe a good opportunity to clean up the hearts of the people and consolidate the authoritarian power. He turned his head to look at Duan Qirui, and then said to Yuan Shikai, "Even if the war is unfavorable, as long as the people's hearts are still there, there is still a chance to recover." And if this agreement is signed, as General Duan said, even if we can survive for a while, the people's will will inevitably be lost, and if it is not for the fact that the president of our country will not be able to wash away the infamy of being a traitor, and the disrepute of the princes and political axes present here will also be discredited, and they will not be able to cheer up from now on, then our China will not die and die. ”

After listening to Yang Shuoming's words, Yuan Shikai and all the participants fell into silence.

Duan Qirui stared at Yuan Shikai's face tightly, Yuan Shikai's face was cloudy at this time, and it was obvious that there was a fierce struggle going on in his heart.

"Yes! As long as this word is signed, I, Yuan, will have to be pointed at the backbone and scolded as a traitor...... Just like Li Zhongtang back then...... "Yuan Shikai at this time suddenly burst into tears, which frightened Yang Shuoming.

Yang Shuoming looked at Yuan Shikai's tearful appearance with some amusement, and for a while he couldn't guess whether he was really crying there with Li Hongzhang's self-metaphor, or if he deliberately pretended to be such a pitiful picture.

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