"On the day Sizhu got married, he must be wearing this clothes." Li Sizhu lowered his head and said softly, "I just don't know if there will be a day......

"Sister, don't worry, with my brother here, I won't let you be wronged in this life." Lin Yiqing looked at Li Sizhu and said loudly.

Hearing Lin Yiqing's loud answer, Li Sizhu's heart was sweet.

In the back room, Shen Youdan, who was on the sickbed, heard the answer between the two, a relieved smile appeared on his face, and he slowly fell asleep.

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"I am afraid that your plan for negotiations with the Qianguo people will not be realized." Rear Admiral Pofiriev, commander of the Russian Siberian Fleet (Far Eastern Fleet), looked at the Russian Minister to the Qianguo State and said.

"Nope! Not to that point yet! Bouzer waved his arms furiously, "These are two events, they can't be confused!" We can't let the Qianguo think that we will be weak and make concessions on the issue of Hokkaido! ”

"But it's pretty obvious." Pofiliev spread his hands and made a helpless gesture, "We have not received orders from His Majesty the Tsar, and it is impossible to attack them." If we had started a war with the Qianguo people because they had opposed the Imperial Army's occupation of Hokkaido, it would probably have ruined the victory that had already been achieved, and then what would the Qianguo people in turn demand from the Imperial Government? ”

"There is no such possibility." Bu Ce said calmly: "The people of Qianguo do not have the courage to go to war against the imperial government, because they are not as strong as us. We need not worry about the lack of troops in the Far East, we need to use our fleet to bring the Qianguo people to their knees. ”

It was heard that Butzer was determined to use the fleet to intimidate the Qianguo. Pofiliev was taken aback.

"Are you going to go to war with the Qianguo? Excellency? ”

"If you need to." Butzer sneered. Turned his head to look at Porfiriev. "Why, Your Excellency, do you think that with the strength of the Imperial Navy in the Far East, it is impossible to destroy the navy of the Qianguons?"

"Of course the Imperial Navy can do this." "However, the strength of the navy of the Qianguo country is not what it used to be, and the number of ships we have is more than theirs. But the warships of the Qianguo people are of better quality and very strong in combat, although they have not yet completed the assembly, and if there is a real war, I dare say, the Imperial Navy will not win easily. And it must be supported domestically. ”

"Oh? How could it be? Butzer was not very confident when he heard Pofiriev's answer, and he couldn't help but be slightly stunned.

"Yes." As if trying to dispel the idea of Butzer going to war against the Qianguo, Pofiliev said, "We now have more than forty warships, but only four ironclads. There were twelve cruisers. The rest are gunboats, if they fight with the navy of the Qianguo. If you want to win, you have to take a lot of risks. ”

Butzer heard the subtext of Pofiriev's words, which actually meant that he was not sure of victory, and he couldn't help but change his face a little.

"If there is going to be a war, we need to seize the time to gather our fleet and take the initiative to attack while the navy of the Qianguo country is not assembled." Pofiliev noticed the change in the expression on Buze's face, and simply handed over his hole cards to him, "According to our intelligence, the main ships of the Qianguo Navy are scattered in some important ports, and the ironclad ship captured by the Qianguo people from Japan back then." The Longxiang has been refurbished in the Fuzhou Shipping Bureau, replaced with a new type of engine and artillery, and is anchored at Dagukou, which should already be capable of combat, in addition to six cruisers and eight gunboats stationed there; two other cruisers are stationed in the Ryukyus to deter the Japanese; six cruisers are stationed in Fuzhou, eight gunboats are stationed in Taiwan, and four cruisers are stationed in Shanghai. Do you want me to do that? ”

Listening to Pofiriev's words, Buze's face stretched longer.

As a diplomat, he did not know much about the situation of the navy, but was accustomed to using the navy as a tool of diplomatic blackmail, but he did not expect that the strength of the Far East Fleet of the Imperial Russian Navy, which had once allowed him to rely on his strongest backing, would turn out to be such a situation.

In recent times, in order to safeguard their own interests in the East and to protect the safety of their expatriates, Western countries have sent their navies one after another, such as Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States, Spain, Portugal, and other countries have formed the Far East Fleet to carry out activities along the coast of Qianguo and in various parts of the western Pacific. or 3 or 5 ships; Or 10, 8 ships, of which the Russian "Siberian Fleet" is quite considerable. The number of ships is always maintained at about 20, and all kinds of warships such as ironclad ships, cruisers, gunboats, motorboats, and mine-strike ships are all available, which is very strong in terms of combat effectiveness. The reason why the Russians kept so many ships in the Far East was to be able to compete with the naval power of the British in the Far East. Since Britain's focus in the East is India, and its naval strength in the western Pacific region is somewhat insufficient, although Britain has always been very vigilant against Russia's expansion in the Far East, it is difficult for Britain to resist Russia by relying on its own strength, so Britain naturally chose the largest power in East Asia -- Qianguo -- as its partner to counter Russia. This time Russia occupied Hokkaido, which can be said to have aroused strong uneasiness in Britain and Qian, who openly expressed their opposition to Russia's occupation of Hokkaido, and the enraged Russians sent more than 30 warships to Japan, and then openly sailed to the coastal areas of Qianguo on several occasions to show off their military might, thus greatly tense the situation in East Asia.

"I need to make the government understand the gravity of the situation, and let the dazed officials feel that war is likely to be imminent." Butzer also revealed his true intentions to Pofiliev in order to facilitate Pofiriev's actions.

"Okay." "Still, I think we need support. ”

"I'll send a telegram to the Admiralty requesting that another fleet be sent to support me." Butzer agreed.

During the build-up of the Russian fleet, Butzer deliberately traveled before Tianjin and Japan, and repeatedly consulted with Pofiliev about the details of the threat of force. With the support of the Siberian Fleet, Butzer decided to take the opportunity to make counter-representations to the Qianguo, focusing on the three demands of preferential treatment of the minister, the expansion of trade privileges at various ports, and trade on the northwestern border. But first of all, he was still asking about the responsibility of the Qianguo to take in the Satsuma military and civilians. and the fact that the word "Russia" is not mentioned in the edict on the dispatch of the envoy is critical of these two matters. Section on preferential treatment of ministers. Bu Ce demanded: 1. The envoy in Beijing should meet the emperor at any time; 2. Correspondence between princes of close clans and foreign envoys; 3. Forbidden places and permitted foreign envoys to travel; 4. Exchanges between ministers of various ministries and foreign envoys. In the section on trade issues between the various ports, Buce also demanded: 1. The tax bills should be valid for all Chinese and foreign merchants; 2. Rectify the taxation, and prohibit the taxation in the concession; 3. Ports along the coast, along the rivers and along the lakes will be added; 4. The opium tax shall be collected by the customs by the customs. With regard to trade on the north-west border, Butzer asked the government of the Qianguo to order local officials to negotiate a charter with the officials sent by Russia. In addition, Bu Ce also made a special effort to ask the Qianguo government to issue a clear decree ordering all provinces to properly protect foreigners who travel with licenses.

In the face of Butzer's blackmail. The Qianguo government was very angry, and Prince Jing first explained to Russia that Buze had taken in the Satsuma soldiers and civilians, citing the old practice of the return of the Turhut Mongol tribe to the east, and expressed extreme indignation at Russia's occupation of Hokkaido and the sending of the navy to threaten the Qianguo. The Celestial Empire should inquire about it, but your envoy took the opportunity to persecute the Qianguo in this way. If we want to open more ports and forcibly collect taxes, we must know that Russia has violated international law by using the Japanese government to extort land in the name of thieves, and your minister has taken the opportunity to extort money in the name of extortion. ”

In the face of Prince Jing's cross-examination, Bu Cewu continued to harden himself, first declaring in a scoundrel manner that "there has always been inequality in trade between the two countries, and the revised conditions he proposed have nothing to do with Russia's occupation of Hokkaido," and insisted on the previous extortion conditions as a means of countering the Qianguo. On the issue of Hokkaido, Butzer said that the Russian Government and the Japanese Government had already reached a secret agreement that "has nothing to do with other countries" and cunningly declared that "Russia's occupation of Hokkaido is for the sake of Japan's happiness and is also beneficial to the Qianguo and will not pose a threat to the Qianguo." Prince Jing has, in accordance with the method proposed by Li Shaoquan, set the conditions for the "anti-blackmail" to be carried out against the Russian side: 1. The Russian navy should withdraw to the mainland, and the total number of ships in East Asia should not exceed 20; 2. Raising the import tax rate of tariffs in the country; 3. Russia ceased to support the remnants of the Agubo regime in Xinjiang, returned Bai Yanhu and other fugitives to the Qianguo, and publicly announced it to other countries; Fourth, Russia withdrew from Hokkaido and was not allowed to send warships to Japan again.

Prince Jing's counter-request surprised Butzer, and he was furious and resolutely refused, and Prince Jing also rejected all of Bützer's demands. Butzer left the table in anger, and the first round of negotiations between the two sides broke down.

In order to exert pressure on the Qianguo government, Buce angrily left Beijing and went to Tianjin, and threatened to lower the flag and return to China; he thought that the Qianguo government might be afraid, so he sent someone to retain him and resume negotiations, but Premier Yamen sent him an official letter, saying that "on the matter of Hokkaido, Qianguo will directly negotiate with Japan" and that "on the matter of negotiating a treaty," Russia wants to negotiate, and it is enough to talk to Li Shaoquan, the governor of Zhili and minister of trade and trade in Beiyang, and "there is no need to come to the General Administration for questioning."

Seeing that the Qianguo government did not buy it, Bu Ce was furious, believing that only by using military means could the Qianguo be subdued, so he went to Tianjin and waited for the Russian fleet to assemble in order to use "military exercises" to demonstrate Russia's powerful force and force the Qianguo to submit.

After arriving in Tianjin, Buze did not immediately go to see Li Shaoquan, but arranged for Polenko to go to Tokyo, Japan, and demanded that the Japanese side not have any contact with the Qianguo on the Hokkaido issue, and sent Oshkin, the secretary of the embassy, to return to China to make a detailed report. Only then did he go to meet with Li Shaoquan to discuss negotiations, and by this time the negotiations between China and Britain had clearly divided into three aspects, namely, the annexation of the Saxons, the occupation of Hokkaido by the Russians, and the commercial taxation. With regard to the annexation of the Sa people, Li Shaoquan said that there was nothing to talk about, and that the reintegration of the Sa people was "a precedent in the past," and there was no reason for the Qianguo not to accept it; In the case of Hokkaido, the General Administration has instructed Minister He Ruzhang to make representations to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it is inconvenient for him to intervene; On the issue of commercial taxation, Li Shaoquan said that Hurd had already submitted a report, which involved various trade, judicial, and administrative relations between China and foreign countries, and demanded that the imperial court must consider it comprehensively before it can decide on the trade-off between profit and loss, and this is "the state is", which must be decided by the imperial court, and it is inconvenient for him to make the decision. Therefore, no matter which of the above three types of negotiation items are made. It was tantamount to rejecting Butzer. See Li Shaoquan replied like this. Butzer repeatedly threatened that he had asked his government for military reinforcements in the Qianguo area.

Face the threat of Butzer. Li Shaoquan was angry, but still unmoved. Through the information provided by the French side, he had learned of the movements of the Russian fleet, and immediately ordered all ships of the Beiyang Naval Division to prepare for battle, and sent telegrams to Ding Yusheng, the Minister of Shipping, and Shen Youdan, the Governor of Liangjiang, reminding them to pay attention to the new development of the situation and "gather all ships and come north to help." After receiving the telegram. Ding Yusheng and Shen Youdan quickly assembled most of the main ships of the Naval Division and the Nanyang Naval Division, and went north to Dagukou to join the Beiyang Naval Division to deal with the threat of the Russian fleet.

At this point, war was on the verge of breaking out.

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