Ishinuma is a civil official. He had always hated war. Although he was engaged in diplomacy and worked Bu Khan. It is also well aware that the military is an extension of politics, and there are not only peaceful ways of exchanges between countries, but also ways of war, the so-called "there is no eternal enemy, only eternal interests" Back then, Britain and France were hostile to each other for many years, but later because of the rise of Germany and came together, and finally formed an alliance to form the Entente bloc, which is enough to explain what the norms of international exchanges are, everything is centered on national interests, and all government policies must be subordinated to national interests.

At present, China's national interests have been challenged, and the president is determined to use war to safeguard national interests, although Tang Shaoyi understands this very well, but at the same time he also insists that it is better to adopt peaceful means to solve the problem than in the last hurry, and if it is war for the sake of war, it will inevitably have some warmonger tendencies.

Therefore, in a certain sense, Tang Shaoyi's current position is somewhat similar to that of the British ambassador to China, Zhu Erdian, who can not fight without war, and if he really wants to fight, he must at least let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs know the clear strategy of the center.

On the one hand, the President ordered the propaganda machine to be activated to inflammatory reports on the "Java Incident" to the public, and also gave orders to the Admiralty to prepare for war, posing as a posture to fight with the Netherlands, but on the other hand, the President instructed the Foreign Ministry to intensify consultations with the Dutch Foreign Affairs Department to get the Dutch Government to accept the solution to the crisis he proposed.

This can be seen as the president's caution, but Tang Shaoyi prefers to see this approach as a smokescreen released by the president, the purpose is not to resolve the crisis through diplomatic means, but to confuse the Dutch government, in order to cover the actions of the Chinese naval fleet, after all, those two battleships have not even been launched for sea trials, even if they can be incorporated into the active service of the navy after five days, but they are not immediately put into battle, after all, personnel and machines need a run-in period, and this run-in period is not calculated in days, Rather, it is calculated in months, and without a few months of sea exercises, it is impossible for warships to form any combat effectiveness, and by that time, perhaps the Nanyang Detachment has already solved the problem.

To tell the truth, Tang Shaoyi is now speculating that the reason why the president turned the public's attention to the two battleships in Lushun that were still working in the dockyard with great fanfare may be to cover the actions of the Nanyang detachment, after all, that fleet is now in the Nanyang, the so-called "building near the water". Moreover, the strength was enough to deal with the Dutch East India Squadron, and even if Tangxiang's reinforcement fleet could not reach the South Seas in time, Lu Ping was confident enough to defeat the Dutch fleet.

Therefore, now Tang Shaoyi has been keeping an eye on the Nanyang Detachment, and several telegrams a day were photographed at the consulates of Sumatra and Bangka Island, asking the diplomats of the consulate to report to him every move of the Nanyang Detachment at any time, and once the fleet attacked, he would notify the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible, so as not to prevent Tang Shaoyi from being unable to keep up with the president's steps, because Tang Shaoyi knew very well that Mr. President was the best at cutting first and then playing, which was the case in the past when there was no government, not to mention the current presidential administration.

Tang Shaoyi now once again sees the danger of the whole country when the state power is controlled in the hands of one person, in the political period, the president's will is the country's will, the president's decision-making is the central decision-making, under this kind of political system, there is no force to stop the president's action, if the action goes well, there is no doubt that the national strategy can be completed efficiently, but if the action fails, it will undoubtedly be quickly rectified. It seems like a gamble that the country is dragged into a disaster, but the person who throws the Yizi is not a citizen, but a president who is high above.

With a sigh and a hint of helplessness, in this state of mind, Tang Shaoyi sat in the car and discussed the final mediation opinion of the British government with the British ambassador to China, Zhu Erdian, but in his opinion, the final mediation opinion of the British government, the president's side absolutely could not pass, because the British government still did not know or pretend not to know what the root cause of the Sino-Dutch conflict was.

As a big country in the East, China can never maintain a low profile in obscurity, with the increase of national strength, China also needs "territory under the sun", which can not only solve the problem of population growth in the process of China's exhibition, but also expand the sales market of goods, but because the European powers have carved up the whole world, China is facing the same strategic problems as Germany, is it so half-dead to be the follower of the great powers, or is it an angry blow, defeat the old powers, and turn themselves into new powers?

Germany's answer is to "go to war" Obviously, the Chinese president's answer is also "war", the difference is that Germany is facing the most powerful Britain, while the Chinese president has chosen to fight against the declining Netherlands, and the timing of the choice is precisely when the European powers cannot take into account the Far East, so the British government should not blame the Chinese president for not buying it.

As to whether the European powers will settle accounts after the fall, this question may not be on the purview of Mr. President at all.

Tang Shaoyi finally explained the issue to Zhu Erdian, which made the British ambassador very disappointed, so he had to say goodbye halfway and go back in the car of the British Embassy.

Tang Shaoyi smiled bitterly and instructed the driver to drive the car directly back to the house. Not long after, the car stopped in front of the Tang Mansion, and before he got out of the car, Tang Shaoyi saw the housekeeper rushing over.

"Sir, sir. Just now, the presidential palace called, telling you to go to the presidential palace as soon as you come back, and the chamber has already arranged for you to wait for you to come over, change your car and rush directly to the commander's hall to meet the president. ”

"Didn't say anything?" Tang Shao

The butler shook his head.

Tang Shaoyi pondered for a moment, didn't get out of the car, and directly ordered the driver to rush to the presidential palace.

When he arrived at the traffic control area in front of the presidential palace, Tang Shaoyi changed to a car sent by the chamberlain to pick him up, entered the presidential palace directly, and rushed to the commander's hall.

When he arrived at the Commander's Hall, Tang Shaoyi saw that the office building of the Commander's Hall was brightly lit, there were many vehicles in front of the building, most of them were cars with military plates, staff officers and adjutants came and went, and everyone had serious expressions, and there was a pre-war atmosphere.

"I'm afraid it's really going to be a war Tang Shaoyi sighed and got out of the car. The adjutant of the chamber who followed him over rushed to the commander's hall, then entered the office building, went up to the second floor, sat in a lounge for a few minutes, and then followed an adjutant to the reception room, where he met Zhao Bei, the president of the Republic of China, and also saw the German ambassador to China, Rex.

Rex was invited to the presidential palace by the president with a nod and did not pass the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which made Tang Shaoyi somewhat dissatisfied, but he did not complain because he knew very well that there were more important things to talk about now, and as for the matters within the scope of his authority, it was not so important.

"I don't know what happened when Mr. President called the Ministry of Employment?" Xi Shaoyi asked.

"The German Government intends to make contact with the Government of Tsarist Russia, but the Russian Chargé d'Affaires in China, Mr. Kosovetz, refuses to meet with Mr. Rex, so I intend to ask your Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get in touch with the Ministry of Finance to sort out the problems of the Russian banks in China some time ago. He had direct contacts with some Russian politicians, and since Kosovez did not want to make diplomatic contacts with Germany, he simply asked Mr. Rex to go directly to the three eastern provinces to get in touch with the Russian politicians there to see if he could get on the line with the tsarist government

Zhao Bei explained, Tang Shaoyi was a little surprised, and then quickly understood that this was Germany's strategy of "long-distance and close attack", and now that the Russian civil war was raging, the provisional government promised to continue to fight against Germany in order to tie up with Britain, so. The German government may have intended to use the tsarist government to see if it could add some chaos to the Russian Provisional Government. This prevented Russia from attacking Germany head-on on the Eastern Front, thus freeing up enough forces for Germany to first resolve the stalemate on the Western Front in Europe.

But to tell the truth, Tang Shaoyi was skeptical about how much practical support Germany could provide to the tsarist government, and unless China was used, it would be impossible for German warships to approach Russian territorial waters.

Tang Shaoyi agreed, exchanged a few words with Rex, and the other party said goodbye very politely.

After Rex left, Zhao Beicai told Shao Yi the main purpose of the German ambassador to China.

"Chief Tang, Rex came not only for the contact between Germany and Russia, but also for the Nanyang crisis, the Dutch government entrusted the German government to mediate the current Nanyang crisis, the German government does not want to force the Netherlands to the side of the Entente, but very much hopes that our country will provoke a dispute in the Far East, so the German government's position is very strange, Rex told me that if our country declares war on the Netherlands, Germany will not take any action. And if we do not declare war on the Netherlands, then Germany may be able to hand over the British Straits Settlements to our administration after the end of the war in Europe. ”

"What? Surrendering the Straits Settlements of Britain to our administration after the war in Europe? The Germans are shrewd in their calculations, isn't this just painting bread to satisfy hunger? Besides, Germany is now in decline, and the United States has declared war on Germany, and at this time the German government is still dreaming of defeating Britain, but I am afraid that the German politicians will go crazy, and the German foreign affairs department will also go crazy

Tang Shaoyi shook his head as he spoke, indeed, seeing that Germany had fallen to this point, as an Oriental diplomat, he was also saddened by this, and this was one of the reasons why he advocated peace, as powerful as Germany was not the opponent of the Entente, why should China carry the banner of this "Asian leader"? Carefully counting the map of Asia, in this era, how many truly independent Asian countries are there. This? Asia against Europe, which is a very risky move.

Zhao Bei stood up from the sand. Pacing in the reception room with his hands behind his back, Tang Shaoyi was still sitting on the sand and didn't say much.

There was some silence in the reception room for a while, Zhao Bei stopped in front of a map hanging on the wall, looked at the map, and after a minute, turned around and glanced at Tang Shaoyi.

"Chief Don, in view of the fact that the Dutch government has not been able to respond to the "Java government" for a long time. The sinking of the steamer in port has given a satisfactory answer to the central Government of our country. I have decided that my Government will formally sever all diplomatic relations with the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and you will do it immediately, and you must complete all the formalities of severing diplomatic relations within half an hour! small

"What?" Has the president made up his mind to go to war with the Netherlands? Not even an ultimatum?

As soon as Tang Shaoyi heard this, he immediately stood up, thinking of the last time he fought against Japan, and he felt a sense of déjà vu for a while.

"Yes. The Admiralty and the War Department unanimously asked for war, the fighting spirit of the officers and men was high, and the feelings of the people were raging, and it was a good time to start a war against the Netherlands. I have just officially issued an operational order to the Admiralty and the War Department, and in half an hour, the Admiralty will attack! ”

"So fast?.

Tang Shaoyi originally wanted to persuade him, but after thinking about it, Zhao Bei's decision was probably not changed by anyone, so he just said a few words, then sighed, and sat back in the sand weakly, he knew very well that this Nanyang war was inevitable, and once the war started, the situation in the world would change drastically.

Perhaps, the main theme of this era is war.