But the current situation is temporarily stable after all, and only Britain and the United States sincerely do not want a war to break out in the Far East, especially in the case of tension in Europe, but Britain cannot influence the Chinese parliamentarians, and that group of illiterate peasants have no good impression of foreigners, and the opposition party such as the Kuomintang is too weak, only the Furen Literary Society began to frequently show favor to Britain and France according to the previous layout, but their influence is only in the two Guangzhou, and cannot affect the north, which is for Britain, The only use is to engage in self-protection in Guangzhou, as Gengzi did in the year of Gengzi, after the Sino-Japanese war, which will be a fatal blow to the Chinese central government.

What the British hope for the most is that if the southern provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Huguang and other southern provinces also join in self-protection, even if the war starts, it can end quickly, and Yang Jingcheng's revival will collapse. If the war does not break out, or ends as much as possible, it is necessary to constantly weaken the weaker side, which is the calculation of the British, so while urging the Sino-Japanese peace talks, they are also actively preparing for mutual protection in the southeast.

On the day Yang Rui returned to the capital, Liu Boyuan, director of the National Security Bureau, and Zhang Shi, director of the Intelligence Bureau, were already waiting in the Yin'an Palace before he returned home. The situation of various factions in Japan, the small actions of foreigners, Zhang Shi has introduced, but he still can't judge the day when the Japanese sent troops, Japan is now two forces fighting, on one side is the Choshu Domain, the Satsuma Domain, and the Emperor, on the other hand is the nobles, the chaebol, if there is a war, it can only be that the situation is really irreversible.

"Didn't that Japanese Taisho say that there is something wrong with the brain?" After listening to Zhang Shi's description, Yang Rui couldn't help but feel that history and reality were incompatible after all, so he wanted to know the reason.

"Sir. There is indeed such a statement, but this is just the statement of people under Xiyuan Temple. Last month, Japan decided to send a delegation to the capital for negotiations. Taisho was extremely dissatisfied, and he rolled up the edict in the National Assembly Hall as a telescope. This caused a huge shock in Japan; During a troop parade last month, he jumped off the reviewing stand and rummaged through a soldier's backpack. In Japan, the emperor is a god, and the gods cannot make these rude acts, and the Japanese people think that the emperor does not need to eat, and there is no need to ......be flattering," Zhang Shi said that it was rare to laugh, "Most people in Japan think that the emperor does not eat the fireworks of the world. It is a god sent by the heavens to govern Japan. ”

"There is no need to be flattering...... Yang Rui and Liu Boyuan also laughed, doesn't that mean that the Japanese emperor was born without an asshole.

Taisho had always admired the West, and he didn't want to be like the Meiji era, just a torii for a feudal lord, and he wanted to really gain real power in the country. If he goes to war with us, he can satisfy his ambitions, and secondly, he can gain a certain amount of power, which is what he wants most. Zhang Shi continued. Sir, if you really want to provoke Japan to war. First, we can make our actions in support of the Korean party members appropriately public, and second, we can appropriately stimulate Taisho, after all, he is nominally the supreme commander of the Japanese army, as long as he is provoked. Then he is very likely to bypass the cabinet and directly order the troops of North Korea or Liaoning to attack. ”

"Stimulate Taisho?" Yang Rui said, "This is indeed better than directly pulling down the face to support the Korean Revolutionary Party." Remember. In addition to paying attention to Japanese armaments, it is also necessary to pay attention to Japanese politics. It is best to instigate the internal struggle of Japan's internal forces, just as the Japanese instigated Qingliu to restrain Beiyang during the First Sino-Japanese War. War is only a continuation of politics. The Intelligence Bureau is the eyes and ears of the government to understand the inside situation, and if you do a good job here, you can make Japan's domestic forces unbalanced, and even subvert Japan. ”

"Understood, sir." After ten years of getting along, Zhang Shi is already clear about Yang Rui's thoughts, and he is now working according to Yang Rui's ideas, supporting the Guitaro cabinet to come to power, but he has a credit from the Intelligence Bureau.

After talking about foreign affairs, when he was about to talk about internal affairs, Li Zilong came in and reported that Song Dunchu asked to see him, and seeing that there was nothing important on Liu Boyuan's side, Yang Rui asked the two to step back and meet Song Jiaoren directly.

Soong Jiaoren was the leader of the Kuomintang, and the Kuomintang was a synthesis of the League, the gentry, and the Beiyang forces. It had very little influence in the Congress, but it had a great influence among the gentry and the merchant gentry, because no party could fully represent the interests of the gentry except the Kuomintang. The outbreak of the war between China and Japan had very little impact on the peasants, but it was a great deal for the merchants, and it was a great deal to know that once the war began, there was a danger that foreign goods could not be brought in, and there was also a danger that local products could not be transported.

When he was in Shanghai, the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce raised this issue with Yang Rui, and Yang Rui emphasized that foreign trade is not important to China. There is no industry in China, only agriculture, and the commodity rate of agricultural products, except for silk tea, is soybeans in the northeast. In the war in the Northeast, soybeans can be shipped out of Vladivostok, and because of the rise of India, the bulk of tea exports is Russia, and as for raw silk, who of you has the ability to sell raw silk abroad? If you don't sell it abroad, who are you worried about?

Yang Rui's on-the-spot questioning made the atmosphere of the dinner extremely bad, most of the compradors in the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce are compradors, and the background of the compradors is a foreign company, and the background of a foreign company is a foreigner. These doglegs, who are only responsible for receiving goods in the production area and selling goods in the production area, are actually worried about the foreign trade of the master, which really makes Yang Rui angry, and he feels that it is completely correct to only support the Ministry of Industry and prudently support the Ministry of Commerce at the beginning.

When Yang Rui was waiting for Song Jiaoren, he suddenly recalled the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce on the way to inspect, and he was still annoyed in his heart, he really wanted to hear what Song Jiaoren would say, and see if this person was in love with those compradors.

Song Jiaoren heard that Yang Rui had returned to Beijing and hurriedly went to the Prime Minister's Office to ask for a meeting, but when he entered the Yin'an Palace, he saw the leaders of the "East Factory" and "West Factory" withdrawing, knowing that Yang Rui was not slacking off on himself, he was a little more sure in his heart.

Since the general election, although the Kuomintang is weak, it is one of the only two opposition parties, especially the Kuomintang has a force in most provinces of the country, and its sphere of influence is much larger than that of the Furen Cultural Society. But it is this kind of limelight that puts Song Jiaoren in extreme danger, if it weren't for the effective defense of the 'East Factory', his bones would be cold now.

"Huh. At the beginning of the retreat, I haven't seen you for a long time...... "Yang Rui saw Song Jiaoren. Without waiting for him to speak, he greeted him with a smirk.

"The Prime Minister has a lot of opportunities, and Jiaoren shouldn't have bothered today. However, the situation between China and Japan today is very bad, and I have to come. Song Jiaoren opened his mouth to apologize, he really chased too closely, and when Yang Rui was still inspecting various places, he kept sending telegrams.

"It's fine." Yang Rui asked Song Jiaoren to sit down, and then said: "You are a shareholder in this country, and I am a part-time worker." It's perfectly reasonable for you to worry about losing money, you say, what's there to worry about? ”

Yang Rui's part-time job was praised by Song Jiaoren the most. He felt that this was much better than what Sun Wen said about a public servant, and he smiled when he heard this: "Prime Minister, is there a need for a big war between China and Japan?" ”

"Hehe," Yang Rui knew what Song Jiaoren was trying, so he immediately changed the topic and said, "At the beginning of the day, this question has to be asked to Japan, several incidents were provoked by them, if China and Japan are really a big war." That must have been Japan's invasion of our country. But don't forget, at the beginning of the founding of the country, they wanted to seize Northeast Mongolia, and a few months ago they intercepted our naval fleet. We've all been hit in the head. Don't you resist? ”

"Prime Minister, the East China Sea incident is just a private interception by the Japanese Navy, and its purpose is to prevent our country from getting that ...... What a hydraulic press qì. It is not really a full-scale war with our country. Now the negotiations between the two countries are difficult, if the talks really collapse. The two countries are going to war. It has only been two years since the founding of China, is it appropriate to go to war now? Song Jiaoren said.

"Escape. War is not something I want to provoke, many times it is imposed. Many times, the more you give in, the more you will be bullied, but you will tear your face and fight, and that life will be better. Yang Rui said.

"But what if you lose?" Song Jiaoren looked at Yang Rui, who was doing nothing, and felt that he was not half touched by the war between China and Japan.

"If you keep fighting, you won't lose." Yang Rui said lightly: "As long as you fight for a few more months during the first day of the first day, Japan will not be able to fight; When Japan and Russia fought, as long as they fought for another half a year, Japan would be driven to the beach by Russia. If there is a real national war with Japan, as long as the war lasts more than two years, then they will have to kneel before us. I really can't think of Japan, so why be afraid? ”

"Became a brother!" Song Jiaoren heard that Yang Rui's fighting spirit was fierce, so he suddenly stood up from the chair, and saw that Yang Rui was still nothing, so he had to sit down heavily. "You're gambling with the whole country!"

"We're already at the table and we're losing all the time. Since you have been losing, then you should put on what you are going to lose in the future, what's so scary about this? If you don't fight, you will lose slowly, and if you play, there is still the possibility of winning, isn't this the best choice? Yang Rui glanced at Song Jiaoren when he drank tea, "What people are most afraid of is being content with the status quo." In the past, we lived in a tiled house, but then we were beaten a few times, and we were driven to live in a thatched house, and then we were beaten badly, and we were driven to live in a pigsty. At the beginning of the retreat, is this pigsty so worthy of nostalgia? ”

Feeling that Yang Rui was bent on going to war, and he came up with such a set of rhetoric, Song Jiaoren was immediately angry, and after Yang Rui finished speaking, he said heavily: "I'm just worried that the pigsty won't be able to stop in the end!" After he finished speaking, he felt that this was inappropriate, and then said: "In ancient times, when the Wu Kingdom destroyed Yue, the Yue King Goujian was ten years of life and gathering, ten years of lessons, and then reproducing the population and gathering material resources, which finally swept away the hatred. You are only in your thirties, can't you wait for ten years? ”

"Gou Jian's kind of person is so vicious, he shamelessly tastes the pulled by King Wu, what if he wins?" Yang Rui is very shameful of Goujian, if he is Goujian, since he takes the initiative to attack Wu, then he should be willing to gamble and lose and die on the battlefield. "The Japanese have already attacked us twice in succession, do we have to wait for the third time! Now the public opinion of the whole country is boiling, as long as the government is cooperable with Japan, then there will be no foreign war in the future, and there will simply be a civil war. At the beginning of the retreat, I just said, either we live in a tiled house, which is open and bright, or we are open and bright. As for living in the pigsty, at the beginning of the retreat, are you sure that the children who grow up in the pigsty will have a chance?! ”

Yang Rui's words made Song Jiaoren speechless, and he was silent for a while before he asked in a low voice: "What about the UK?" ”

"Britain?" Yang Rui smiled, "What big things can those little shopkeepers do?" The heroism of Nelson's era has long been squandered by them, and as long as we do not move the interests of foreign merchants and affirm the position of Britain, they will not act rashly until we see the signs of victory or defeat between China and Japan. Besides, Britain has a lot of trouble in Europe, and he really has the heart to send troops, and he did it two years ago. Now if China and Japan go to war, the United States and Germany will support us, Russia and France are more likely to remain neutral, and even if Britain sends troops, it can only be a small number of troops and navy in the Far East. I really don't know what the British Navy is for us now. What is the threat. ”

"Don't forget. Tianjin is just a stone's throw away, but there is no defense over there! "Song Jiaoren heard Yang Rui talk about the shape of various countries. Finally found a loophole. You must know that the China Times once praised the former Ming Dynasty as 'the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies', so to speak, once the Japanese soldiers come to the city, China can't be like the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and flee to Chengde, Xi'an.

"Don't worry. The Second Army is not vegetarian! Yang Rui said. If you are only here to worry about the war between China and Japan, then I can only say that. With that, he picked up the teacup.

Seeing that Yang Rui splashed water and didn't enter, Song Jiaoren let out a long sigh and hugged his fists. But after he left, Yang Rui didn't stop. Li Zilong immediately reported to the British minister Zhu Erdian for a meeting.

Yang Rui had already thought of the British coming back, but he didn't want him to be in such a hurry, didn't he say that the Japanese were going to do it? Thinking of this, Yang Rui said to him: "Then please hurry!" ”

Zhu Erdian and Yang Rui have met and clashed many times, and he has an indescribable dislike for this 'unreasonable, disrespectful and disrespectful' Bismarck of the East, but as an envoy to China, he has to deal with this person often. Suppressing the unhappiness in his heart, Zhu Erdian saluted and asked directly, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister." If your negotiators do not make concessions in the peace talks, they will face a terrible war......"

"Mr. Juerdian, we have given in. I'm talking about last year's negotiations, when we basically met all the demands of the Japanese. In addition to a formal apology and reparations, but what is the result? Yang Rui said this and laughed a few times: "Openly intercept our fleet and sink our ships." The more concessions are made to such countries. The more arrogant it is. We will not make the same mistake a second time, Japan so does not formally apologize. Compensate for the losses of our country, punish the relevant personnel, then start a war, what is there to regret? ”

"Your Excellency, if there is a war, China will be abandoned by the civilized world, and!" Zhu Erdian tapped the ground with his walking stick to accentuate the majesty of his speech, "Great Britain and Japan are in an alliance, once a war starts, according to the alliance agreement, Britain will also join the war, and China will ...... at this time."

"Mr. Zhu Erdian, I said last time that floor tiles are very expensive, a piece costs a penny, it takes more than 1,000 kilometers to transport it from Jingdezhen here, and the freight costs eight cents, and it makes no sense to hit it hard except to make noise, hey! This is really not gentlemanly behavior. Yang Rui shook his head and said tauntingly, interrupting Zhu Erdian's conversation again. The floor tiles made Zhu Erdian's face turn blue with anger, but he finally endured it very gentlemanly. "I have always had a high respect for Britain, and the reforms of the government have not and will not touch Britain's vital interests. But, Mr. Jurdian, if Britain also enters the war, it is very likely that what your country has gained by seventy years of hard work will be taken away by another country in the event of a defeat by Japan. Do you really want to put these things on the table? If that's the case, all I can say is a shame. You know, if you lose, you will have nothing, and if you win, you will not gain anything, so I think that the person who made this decision should really be hanged by the king of your country. ”

"Your Excellency, are you a threat?" Zhu Erdian didn't know why, he was irritable when he saw Yang Rui, and when he heard him hint that he should be hanged by the king, he couldn't suppress his roar.

"No, it's just advice. I really don't want to be your enemy. "Yang Rui's anger at him is pleasing to the eye." Now your country has been supporting Japan's aggression against us, Mr. Zhu Erdian, we can also do what Japan can do, I really buy it to see what value they still have in deserving of your country's support. Don't they just have a navy, and in a few years our country can also build a fleet, isn't this the end, the Anglo-Japanese alliance, how good it would be to replace it with the Anglo-Chinese alliance......"

Yang Rui has been talking to himself, not taking Zhu Erdian's threat seriously at all, and even continuing to mention the Sino-British alliance. Zhu Erdian knew that this was nothing more than a fool's dream, with China's geographical and national strength, once it was really revived, it would inevitably threaten all of Great Britain's colonies in Asia, including the jewel in the crown of the British crown: India. It can be said that the contradiction between China and Britain is a contradiction at the Asian level, while the contradiction between Britain and Japan is only a contradiction between China's sphere of influence, and the two cannot be compared at all.

When Yang Rui muttered about the Sino-British alliance, Zhu Erdian stood up, then took out a shilling from the inner belt, threw it on the coffee table and said contemptuously: "This is the money I paid for the floor tiles, including the last time, and the rest is a tip." ”

"No, I will have someone exchange the remaining part for a steel brick, so that you don't have to pay any more compensation next time." Yang Rui was not annoyed when he heard this, and said that the tip was an indemnity.

Send away the second lobbyist, and the next one will be his own people. After welcoming several members of the Standing Committee of the Fuxing Association to the inner study and warning Li Zilong not to see any more guests in the afternoon, Yang Rui looked at everyone and said: "Is this time because of the war between China and Japan?" ”

Yang Rui said that China and Japan started a war instead of Sino-Japanese peace talks, which made Cai Yuanpei stunned, he glanced at Yang Rui, and said: "It is for this matter that the negotiations on the Chong'an side are about to end, and if you still have a-for-tat confrontation with Japan, then the war will be inevitable." What do you think? But don't be rash. ”

"What do you think?" Yang Rui looked at the two people except Xie Jintai and Yu Huizu, he knew that it was time for him, and the plan of the staff should also be explained to them.

"Everything else can be conceded, but the Japanese government must formally apologize to our country!" Qiu Jin insisted. Although she is the last member of the Standing Committee, she has always expressed her heart like a knife and never concealed it.

"I agree with Xuanqing's statement." Du Yaquan continued. "If we can't get the Japanese government to formally apologize this time, then something bigger will happen next time."

After Qiu Jin and Du Yaquan finished speaking, Xie Jintai did not speak, he was the general representative of the Sino-Japanese peace talks, and Yang Rui had already explained a lot of things to him before leaving Beijing; And Yu Huizu, he is responsible for the direction of all the funds, and Yang Rui is thinking about what he is very like.

Yang Rui was silent for a while, and only after the white lights that were on guard near the sign in the study were turned on, did he speak: "Actually, everyone has already had a meeting, and since everyone is here today, then the matter can be explained." ”

After Yang Rui finished speaking, he wanted to give the bottom but didn't know where to start, after all, the entire Wanli plan was too big and extremely amazing. While he was thinking, the other members of the committee looked at him, these people had long known that the General Staff had planned a war against Japan, but they did not know the details.

After being silent for a while, Yang Ruicai said: "When the General Staff Department formulated the Chongzhen plan a few years ago, it had already begun to work on the war plan against Japan. They formulated a total of five battle plans, and after comprehensive consideration, the General Staff felt that Plan E was the best......"

Hearing that Yang Rui said that the General Staff had formulated five plans, Xie Jintai suddenly remembered the Plan C he saw when he went to the General Staff last time, and suddenly felt a little lost in his heart, feeling that his status in Yang Rui's heart was still not important, but thinking that everyone present except Yu Huizu was afraid that everyone else didn't even know about Plan C, and he felt some comfort in his heart.

Yang Rui didn't know what Xie Zhangtai was thinking, he was only introducing the background of the Wanli plan: "...... So, in the end, what the staff presented to me was Plan E. Considering the content of the plan, Plan E was renamed Wanli, and its main purpose was to completely abolish an unequal treaty between China and Japan, and to recover the Japanese Concession, Kwantung Prefecture, Port Arthur, and the South Manchurian Railway, as well as ...... North Korea and Taiwan! ”

"Ahh Several people present gasped and couldn't help but speak.

Cai Yuanpei preemptively asked the question that several other people wanted to ask: "How is this possible?" We don't have a navy, how can we take back Taiwan? ”

"There's nothing impossible about it." Yang Rui said: "It's not that you can have sea control with dreadnoughts, after so long in the East China Sea naval battle, which large Japanese warship dares to approach China's coast, or cruise on the Yangtze River?" We have already ordered 150 submarines in Germany, and we are preparing to build about 50 of them ourselves. In addition to submarines, more than 1,200 aircraft were prepared, which was enough to deal with the Japanese Navy. (To be continued......)