"What the hell are they planning?" Yang Rui asked, he looked at Liu Boyuan and Zhang Shi, and understood very well that the recent series of things were not accidental, but what were they going to do?

Liu Boyuan said: "Sir, I still can't figure it out for a while, but many things are also very strange, and then there is the news from Xu Chongzhi of the 30th Division that someone is lobbying him, but he only says that we are dictatorial and autocratic, but he is not asked to do anything." ”

"Sir," Liu Boyuan finished speaking to Zhang Shi, who was the head of any bureau at the beginning, and he was not used to it, "The eyeliner in the alliance reported that Chen Qimei left Japan in a hurry last month, and he should have arrived in China, but it is estimated that he took the line of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so we couldn't find out our whereabouts for a while; Other intelligence shows that Sun Wen is close to the Black Dragon Society, and although he said that he was going to return to China to appear in court some time ago, the Japanese reacted that he had no intention of returning to China at all. ”

"The Japanese still have Sun Wen, don't you want to eat the bait before?" Yang Rui suddenly thought of the Northeast.

Zhang Shi shook his head and said, "No, if you want to eat bait, you will always wait and see the lobbying, but there is no movement over there." Actually, I'm most worried about this," he said, pointing to the map, his finger just pointing underneath.

"Fujian?" Yang Rui was surprised and then very agreed, "It's indeed a good place!" But in what name are they? Xu Chongzhi's 30th Division, that is, the original 10th Town, is now in Anhui, and there are not many people on Lin Shuqing's side. Difficulty: They want to lure Nanjing's fleet to Fujian to stand on its own? Impossible! Resisting the foreigners and navy will do it, but who dares to rebel? ”

Yang Rui couldn't imagine in what name the alliance would cause chaos, even if Song Jiaoren was assassinated like history. He is also on guard, Song Jiaoren has people from the Security Bureau around him, and Song Jiaoren is in the capital. It's not impossible to assassinate him, but if it does, the murderer and the like can still be caught immediately. Yang Rui meditated, and several other people were also puzzled, and then Bei Shoutong introduced the matter of the navy, saying that the situation over there was temporarily stable, although Moffitt had not fully established his authority. But his personal safety is worry-free.

After a little bit of the navy's affairs, seeing that Leo, who had begun to talk about business, finally cheered up, and he limped to the map with a wooden whip. The curtain covering the map was pulled open with a 'bang', and the combat map hanging on the wall inside was terrifying, and on the top was written a few words: Combat: C.

On the way to bring Xie Tailai, Yang Rui had already said the intention of bringing him, that is, war is not just military. It's diplomacy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Staff, the Security Bureau, and the Intelligence Bureau, these four departments must work together to complete the strategic deception of Japan.

Yang Rui now understands warfare, and Xie Jintai has also learned and watched a lot about war, and he can be regarded as understanding some truths: In real war, there are not so many strategies and so many art of war, and those who have strategies and the art of war are only battles, and the war of the whole country is fought. It's all a hard-fought confrontation, a confrontation of strength. It doesn't have any art of war at all, only rhythm. What the commander has to do is to make the war go at his own pace, and in order to get to this point, he must rely on strategic deception. Now Yang Rui pulled him over to talk about 'deception', and then the diplomatic issues of wartime and various countries.

Xie Zhangtai looked at the 'C' and was thinking about whether there would be 'A' and 'B', Leo chattered, because Yang Rui had already known the plan, and Bei Shoutong next to him only translated it to him: "The reason why the last Japanese attack failed was because they underestimated our resistance, and the troops were added in one by one, so their attack was finally resisted by us, and finally because of the flood, they were cut off from logistics and finally besieged by us." Therefore, we can estimate that the next time the Japanese attack, they will not be so hasty and careless, and they should gather enough of their forces to storm one place, and finally defeat and encircle us. ”

Leo's expression was grim, during the Russo-Japanese War, the Revival Army had fought with the Japanese army, although the Revival Army won and the Japanese army was defeated, but he was not happy at all, because most of the Encirclement Army was surrounded and annihilated by Japanese reserve troops, or it was a tired and incomplete army. Although he did not underestimate Japan in last year's battle, he was still a little surprised when the Japanese regular division rushed up.

Compared with the field divisions of the regular Renaissance Army, the physical quality of the soldiers and the overall quality of the officers are superior, and the will to fight is indistinguishable between the two sides, and the Revival Army is superior to them in the use of weapons and the tacit cooperation between infantry and artillery. Then there is the Japanese army's extremely stubborn implementation of frontal suppression, flank attack tactics, but this can only be effective against opponents who are not strong in firepower and weak in fighting will, Leo can think of what the result of this tactic on the patrol team will be a thousand miles, but this is completely ineffective for the Revival Army and the peasant soldiers who have received three years of short military training.

The strong will of the Baxing Army to fight was because the Japanese had been surrounded and annihilated by them, and they had a psychological advantage and fought on their own soil; And the peasants and soldiers did not retreat from the battle, mostly because of the land at home - the agricultural reclamation company was mobilized before the war, and the kind of land that hit the small nose was strong, and the kind of land that was landed was not to repay the loan, and the land was directly sent to reward the land; Those who don't give it and run away will go back to the gate with the whole family to beg for food. The mobilization, although crude, was extremely effective.

"The last Sino-Japanese agreement has confirmed that the Anbong Railway will be converted into a broad-gauge commercial line, so that it will intersect with the South Manchurian Railway in Mukden, and a railway bridge over the Yalu River is also being built, and once the railway is completed, Japan will have a direct transportation line from Busan, North Korea, to Shenyang. Judging from the standards of the Japanese rectification, this railway was built entirely on the basis of a military railway, with a slope of less than 3 percent, a turning radius of more than 600 percent, and a simple repair station and short fork roads every 20 kilometers.

At the time of the Franco-Prussian War, a monorail could run eight trains a day on a single track and twelve on a double-track railway; Now, it has increased to 40 and 60 columns, respectively. At that time, 350,000 soldiers were deployed in one day using nine double-track railways, an average of more than 2,500 people per day per railway. Now, on average, more than 10,000 people will be transported per rail per day. We can't know the mobilization efficiency of the Japanese army, but judging by these three railways in the northeast, it is well organized. In ten days, the Japanese were able to carry 300,000 soldiers from two directions to Tohoku.

I did not calculate the time of mobilization of the Japanese army and the time of sea transportation, but it is clear that the time of the Japanese war was obviously closely related to the construction of the Yalu River Bridge. In terms of engineering, two years or two years and six months. Three months have passed since the construction of the railroad and the bridge, which means that the conditions are ripe for the start of war in Japan in June 1914. At that time, not only will they enter the Northeast from the direction of Korea and Lushun, but they may also be able to come from the place where they thought of it last time and did not come......" Leo's whip struck heavily in one place, "here! Tianjin. If landing from here, then the Japanese army could approach Beijing along the railway. ”

"We will face two wars in two years, one in the Northeast. One is in the Kannai. According to the information investigated by the peripheral personnel, the Japanese still used the tactic of frontal pressure and flank detour, that is, they initially invested heavy troops in the northeast to attract the main force of our army to fight a decisive battle. Then when the battle in the Northeast Battlefield was fierce. Then land from the Shanhaiguan line or from any suitable port in the Bohai Bay, cut off the railway inside and outside the Guanguan, or directly attack Beijing.

In my opinion, the most likely target of the Japanese attack is Beijing, because the occupation of Beijing will demoralize all of us, and our emperor," Leo said to our emperor, his face suddenly smiled, and he seemed to understand Zhu Kuanji's ancestral teachings. "Our emperor cannot leave Beijing, once Beijing is lost. Then the emperor will be captured, which is unacceptable to us.

The Japanese need two years and three months, and in our case, we can reorganize 40 first-line divisions and 20 second-line divisions, that is, newly formed divisions, with a total strength of up to 700,000 people. However, due to the transportation barrier, our mobilization capability was weaker than that of the Japanese army, and only Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Hubei, Zhejiang, Zhili, and the three northeastern provinces were connected by rail, and the other remaining areas could not effectively support the operation. At the same time, these railways are not in our hands, one of them is still a meter-gauge railway, and the capacity of the Jinghan railway is also extremely weak. After the start of the war, there were only five provinces that could effectively support the war in Guannai: Zhili, Shandong, Shanxi, Shanxi, Henan, and Jiangsu.

The intent of Operation Plan C is that when the Japanese army mobilizes the whole country, we will first attack the Korean region before its main force has completely entered the northeast, so as to delay the war on the Korean side, and Tianjin and the entire Shanhaiguan railway will also be taken over before the Japanese army arrives, so as to prevent the Japanese army from landing. ”

Leo knew what he could say to Xie Jintai, so he just gave a general introduction to the shape of friend and foe. The focus was on telling him that Korea, Tientsin, and the Kanwai Railway would be occupied by our troops in advance, and what would be the diplomatic consequences of such an approach.

After listening to Pei Shoutong's translation, Xie Jintai said: "According to the Tianjin Treaty, our army cannot garrison troops in Tianjin, let alone occupy this place. And Tianjin had to occupy ...... When the time comes, we will inevitably fall into diplomatic isolation......"

"Mr. Chong'an, if the two countries declare war, there is no reason for the legation to prevent us from entering Tianjin, right?" Bei Shou is the same way.

"Tianjin is a concession area, and the concession is on both sides of the Haihe River, and if there is a war here, then even if both sides are intentional to avoid harm, it will be damaged in the end. The legation will certainly strive for neutrality outside Tianjin, and prohibit the two sides from going to war here. Xie Zhangtai twisted his beard and thought.

"That is to say, Tianjin will become a third country, and Japan will do this harmlessly." Pei Shoutong then asked.

"Of course, what do you think the foreigner will do?" Xie Jintai said: "All they care about is business, as soon as we enter Tianjin, under the battle between the two armies, how do they do business." And if you are neutral from the outside, you can do Japanese business, so why not? Foreigners boast of their civilization, but in fact they are the most greedy and ruthless. I wonder if it will be possible to get the legation to guarantee that Japan will never land from Tientsin, in exchange for Tientsin, which our troops will not enter. And once the Japanese enter Tianjin, they will be diplomatically isolated, which is good for us. ”

He said this way, some people believed it, some didn't believe it, but Yang Rui didn't believe it, he said, "The British don't want China to go to war, but this time Japan dares to go to war, that is, it must not be afraid of the interference of Britain or other countries, that is, even if the legation is a guarantee, it is invalid." We cannot pin our hopes on the Legation. Of course, whether Tianjin should be defended or not, it is of little significance. That's a different story. ”

"But even if Tianjin has a nine-nation concession!" Xie Jintai was worried, he was stunned in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Once we enter, de jure. Japan did not have the restriction that it could not land from Tianjin, but we ......."

"What bullshit jurisprudence, this world's cannon is jurisprudence!" Yang Rui said disdainfully, "After solving Japan, do I have to worry about other countries?" Once again, I'm not afraid of the Eight-Nation Alliance! When the time comes, a few concessions will be reserved for them, and that will be a big face. Yang Rui said this. With a wave of his hand, he asked people to pull up the battle map, and then said to Xie Zhangtai. "The most important thing for China and Japan to go to war is diplomatic preparations, as well as negotiations with Britain and the United States in wartime. At least, the foreign trade routes of Shanghai and Guangzhou should still be kept smooth. Even if merchant ships flying our flag are not allowed to pass. American-flagged merchant ships must always be able to pass. And then what I want to ask the most, the Anglo-Japanese alliance doesn't mean that if either side is attacked, then the other side will have to fight together, I'm afraid that if we attack Korea in advance, Britain will send troops, you see, can China and the United States form an alliance against the Anglo-Japanese alliance? ”

Yang Rui couldn't conclude that the next Sino-Japanese war would be fought if it was not dead. If there is no fighting, then China and Japan will declare war on each other. When the Fuxing Army invaded Korea and Tianjin, it was afraid that the British would intervene, and even if they did not send an army, the navy would be enough to choke.

"Ahh Xie Jintai was shocked when he heard this, he looked at the people who pushed him down, and said: "Although President Taft is friendly with us now, the next president may not be, if Roosevelt can be elected, I am afraid that he will not be fooled with his cleverness!" Moreover, judging from the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance and the Anglo-American Arbitration Treaty, even if the United States wanted to intervene in the Far East, it would inevitably be offset by the Anglo-Japanese Treaty.

In fact, we don't care about Britain, the reason why the third Anglo-Japanese alliance should be revised is mainly because Britain is worried that Japan will fall to Germany, once this happens, Britain will be attacked on both sides, which is the last thing they want to see, and then Britain is afraid that it will be involved in the contradiction between Japan and the United States, once Japan and the United States go to war, if Britain is involved, then the United States will have a great threat to his many dominions in the southern hemisphere, especially Canada, which has a border of thousands of kilometers with the United States, once Britain and the United States are at war, then Britain will lose more than it gains.

Therefore, when the Third Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance was signed last year, in order to prevent itself from being involved in the conflict between the United States and Japan, the alliance treaty was specially amended: it stipulated that if a third country infringed on the interests of either party, Britain and Japan should join forces to fight, but if the third country was a country that had concluded an arbitration treaty with either side of Britain and Japan, then the obligation of belligerence did not apply to this third country. In other words, the United States was not among the targets of the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Although the British made high-sounding rhetoric and stipulated that either side should be between Britain and Japan, he knew that Japan would not join the arbitration treaty because the arbitrators in it were all Westerners.

The last time we went to war with Japan, Britain did not participate in the war, in addition to not being able to spare a hand, and because Japan and Russia had eased the contradictions, and even had the intention of turning enemies into friends, which the British did not want to see, and we did not really touch Japan's interests - the third revision of the Anglo-Japanese treaty in early July last year, although this treaty still has provisions for military alliances, but when the treaty was signed, Britain refused to agree that Japan would include 'Britain must recognize Japan's interests near its borders'. 'near its borders', it means Manchuria. The deletion of this point is also in consideration of the fact that the United States has already intersected the Northeast, and it is inevitable that it will have contradictions with Japan. ”

After Xie Jintai finished speaking, there was a long silence, and only when Yang Rui lit another cigarette did he say: "I want to say that as long as Japan declares war on us first, then our attack on Korea will not cause British interference, and if we declare war first, as long as we do not go too far into the territory of Korea, then Britain will not interfere." ”

"It can't be!" Yang Rui said: "The reason why they want to attack Korea is to advance the battlefield in the northeast to the mountainous northern part of Korea, and the Japanese are building the Anbong Railway and the Yalu River Bridge, they are in order to facilitate the dispatch of troops to the northeast, but in fact, it is also conducive to us sending troops to Korea, of course, with their arrogance, they will not admit this."

The battlefield is in Korea, so it is not our territory that is broken, it is only North Korea that is broken, this is one, two, in a decisive battle on the plains around Liaoyang, even if we can win, the battle damage will be very large, and the consumption, especially the consumption of artillery shells, is also very great, which is why Japan was dragged into Shenyang to fight street battles last year. Anyway, you have to find a way to come out, how can we look up so that the British do not stand up when they take the initiative to declare war and attack Korea. ”

I thought that China and Japan would start a war earlier. After beating the Japanese, he was no longer so arrogant, but now the question raised by Yang Rui made it difficult for him, Xie Zhangtai smiled bitterly. I could only light a cigarette, and when I smoked and then smoked, I said: "If Britain doesn't go to war, then the Americans should have contributed more, Germany would have been better, but he was too far away, and if the Americans wanted to help, Roosevelt would not be able to come to power." ”

"Roosevelt couldn't come to power. Aren't we secretly supporting his candidacy for president now? Yang Rui said dumbly.

"yes. But Roosevelt was too shrewd, and for the Northeast, he recognized Japanese interests. As for Taft, he did not recognize that Japan had special interests in Tohoku, which is why he wanted the Northeast Railway to be neutralized. Wilson, the Democratic candidate, is a Ph.D. Reading a lot of books will naturally be a bit pedantic. In order for such a person to get his help, it would have to be simpler to convince Roosevelt, for example. Xie Jintai said, "Moreover, his public opinion is not high now, and our support for Roosevelt is only in secret, and it is still too late to change course." ”

"I'm afraid that the Democratic Party is not willing to fight outside." Yang Rui knew that politics was immoral, but he was worried that Wilson was too soft, Roosevelt was the outside and soft on the inside, and Taft was the inside and out.

"Not necessarily." Xie was not worried: "Now we are handing over the bonds to Mobil to underwrite. But the beneficiaries of these bonds are Morgan's steel companies, which will establish diplomatic relations between China and the United States this year. After the establishment of diplomatic relations, we will cede more interests in the northeast, and at the same time issue foreign debts or government loans again, which can drag the United States into the contradiction between China and Japan. It is possible to invade Korea, but we must not rush into Korea without any warning of war from Japan, because if we do, we will not be able to gain the sympathy of American public opinion, and then the American capitalists will use public opinion to move President Wilson. ”

Xie Zhangtai's meaning Yang Rui understands, that is, between China and Japan, China had better not start a war in advance, once this happens, it will lose the possibility of US intervention, and if the United States does not intervene, then Britain is very likely to persuade China to send troops in vain in accordance with the Anglo-Japanese alliance agreement. Last year, Yang Rui could say that he smashed the Yangtze River, but two years later, in order to earn money for the First World War, he didn't dare to say anything about breaking the Yangtze River anymore.

If you can't send troops in advance, it can only be a threat from the sea, but thinking of that bad navy, Yang Rui just shook his head. Yang Rui thought of the navy, and Xie Zhangtai also thought of the navy, he said: "Actually, in the past two years, if we order four dreadnoughts, it will still help prevent Japan from landing in Korea and Tianjin, and maritime defense is the real defense!" At present, Japan has ordered four of the latest dreadnoughts in Britain, with a caliber of 36 mm of main guns, and if we also order four dreadnoughts in Germany or the United States, even if they are the same caliber as Japan's main guns, if our dreadnoughts have thicker armor and faster speeds, they will still pose a great threat to the Japanese landing fleet.

Japan's Kongo said it was going to be launched this year, and it only started construction at the beginning of last year, which means that the ship took a year to build, and it will be completed in another year. Now there are two years and three months to leave the war, and if we make it now, it will still be too late. The navy is purged, just reprimand those officers, don't punish too much, and when the time comes, we can still fight the Japanese by removing capable personnel to drive those four dreadnought battleships, at least, and our situation at that time will not be as aggrieved as it is now. ”

Xie Zhangtai unexpectedly proposed a plan to build a large navy to build four super dreadnoughts. He only made Yang Rui laugh when he said this, and he shook his head but didn't say anything. Xie Jintai didn't know why, and asked again: "Actually, is what I said wrong, there are thousands of people in the navy now, and these people have taken out the four dreadnoughts on the elite, if they are built faster than the King Kong, for example, the speed is 30 knots, and the armor is thicker, then the Japanese will not dare to go to war if they do not solve these four battleships." ”

"Japan's Kongo cost 2.3 million pounds, that is, 17 million taels, if you want to be stronger and faster, I am afraid it will cost more than 3 million pounds, one is 22 million taels, four is 90 million taels, and then counting the mess, that is, 100 million taels, plus the supporting military ports and military expenses, the amount spent on these four warships will not exceed 150 million taels, a lot of money, which is cheaper than fighting directly on land. But you say, who are the four battleships looking for to be the captain? Which of them has been the captain of a dreadnought? Yang Rui asked rhetorically.

"Who's going to be the captain?" Xie Zhangtai, he only had the idea of building a big warship after looking at the military expenditure of the army last time, after all, fighting at sea is better than fighting on land, and now the artillery shells for fighting a war are too expensive. "Captain's words, Sa Zhenbing is okay, Cheng Biguang is okay, isn't there a commander named Shen Shoukun, he counts as one, and finally ...... During the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there was a cruiser as big as the Haiqi, the captain was Liu Guanxiong, it is said that he had the best technology and was loyal to his duties. ”

Haiqi and Haitian are 4,000-ton British-built cruisers, Haitian was ordered to transport arms from Shandong to Jiangyin eight years ago, and sank on Chashan Island outside Wusongkou.

"Chong'an, you still don't know anything about these people. I said that the navy is just a bunch of rotten people and no one believes it, they just think that I am prejudiced against Fujianese, but I really am not!! Yang Rui smiled bitterly, his best classmate in college was from Fujian, and he was not prejudiced but had a sense of intimacy with Fujianese, "Although Sa Zhenbing has no problems with himself, as a Fujian, he will not purge the fleet, as the commander of the navy, has he ever managed those people below?" No! He is just with the mud, dealing with the top over and over again, and pleasing the bottom over and over again, can such a person be handsome? I don't dislike Cheng Biguang's exclusion of the party, but Shen Shoukun, who is it? This person is simply as cowardly as a mouse, thinking that he hid in the concession because he was high, and he entered the concession only because he was afraid!

And Liu Guanxiong you said at the end, you were confused by those things that were deleted and modified, now the navy is all Fujian, plus Yuan Shikai Libao, the British are friendly with the Fujian people in the navy, who dares to tell the real situation! Liu Guanxiong said that in order to complete military affairs, he sailed in a foggy night and sank on the rocks. But what's really the case? It was Liu Guanxiong's wife who wanted to celebrate her birthday, and this bastard had to rush to Shanghai the day before his wife's birthday banquet, so he ignored the dissuasion of his subordinates and advanced at full speed, and finally caused the ship to be destroyed and people died......"

Before Yang Rui's words fell, Xie Zhangtai's face turned red, and he hurriedly said, "Actually, what you said is true?" ”

"Of course it's true! Otherwise, how can I say that the navy is rotten to the bone, a 4,000-ton ship, just for a woman's birthday, no! Yang Rui said calmly. He has long been angry about the affairs of the navy, and what he has to do now is to completely rebuild. (To be continued......)

PS: Note: Tang Xiang inscription, Hua Jueming recorded "Memoirs of the Xinhai Revolution"]