The press conference, which began at 2 p.m., ended quickly, in which all the reporters forgot to ask about the fighting of the Baath Army in Taiwan, and were all concerned about the details of the annihilation of the Russian Siberian Army and the subsequent Sino-Russian war. At the press conference, although many reporters mentioned why the Renaissance Society was able to annihilate the Russian army so quickly, but Lu Bicheng, who was a civilian non-military personnel, could not answer such an extremely professional question, so after the press conference, the explosions in Beijing City to celebrate the victory over Russia were heard, and reporters kept speculating about how the Renaissance Army did it.

Yang Rui didn't care about the reaction of the reporters, all he cared about was the reaction of the ministers of various countries and the governments of various countries. While he was waiting, the French minister Immanuel Kant arrived as promised.

"Your Excellency, I remember that you only said that you were fighting against the Russian army on Chinese territory, but now the press conference is going to spread the war to Vladivostok, is this the result of your country's change of position?" In the summer, the French was covered with sweat, and he didn't want to be in such a hurry, but China's victory over Russia was like a rope tied to France's neck, and he had to come to find out the news.

"Mr. Minister, I still don't want to get involved in the war in Europe," Yang Rui looked at Kant who was sweating very happily, he wanted to say that the war against Russia completely depends on the attitude of the British, but he did not say this kind of thing because he knew the principles of diplomacy. After all, France is not Britain and cannot make decisions in place of Britain. "I just want to drive away the Japanese in front of me, as long as the elimination of Japan is not hindered, then there is no need for our army to attack Russia."

'As long as the destruction of Japan is not hindered...... There is no need to attack Russia. Kant looked at the breezy Chinese in front of him, and thought about this last sentence repeatedly in his heart. Unlike British diplomats, who often thought of themselves as if they were supposed to be like themselves, the French were keen and extremely observant. and possess persuasive eloquence. Kant breathed a sigh of relief after fully understanding why China was preaching that its army was going north to Harbin. It also began to consider its final position of France in the Sino-Japanese war.

From Russia's point of view, it would be better for Japan to be defeated. After all, France had little interest in northern China; However, from the position of the British, when the Russian army was annihilated and it was unable to draw troops from Europe to the Far East, it was inevitable to support Japan with great fanfare, which was not only what it should do from the position of allies, but also the core of British diplomacy - the balance of power. When Russia was strong in Europe, Britain supported Germany, and now that Germany is strong, then she will turn to France and Russia. Now it is clear that China wants to crush Japan while Britain is unable to get away from Europe, and this will not be tolerated by Britain. Especially this morning, the Chinese army invaded Taiwan, which gave Britain a pretext to act.

But in the context of a great war in Europe, what will Britain choose? A declaration of war on China, or a painless condemnation and blockade of China? Of course, this is all a Downing Street matter, and France is not involved, but what if Britain really chooses to go to war with China and push China to the side of the Allies? What if China really attacks the Russian Far East and helps Germany contain Russia?

Take the position of France. Any attempt to weaken Russia and contain Russia is unacceptable, but if China really wants to do this, France has no way to stop it - 200,000 Russian troops cannot bring Beijing to its knees, and with those few ships of the Far East Fleet, China can compromise?

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister. I fully understand the justice of your country's war against Japan, and also understand the justice of expelling Russian troops from the country, but if your army attacks Vladivostok. In our country's view, that would be equivalent to joining the Central Powers and making enemies of the entire Entente. I think even if your country is victorious now, after the end of the war in Europe. Victories from the past will also disappear.

For the sake of lasting peace in the Far East, France is willing to mediate the war between China and Japan and between China and Russia. to make peace. Your Excellency Prime Minister, the Japanese are preparing to launch a new offensive, your country's army is still in the northeast, if you do not negotiate peace at this time, but send troops to Vladivostok, then Beijing is very likely to be occupied by the Japanese, which is extremely unwise......" Kant pondered deeply and finally threw out his own solution, that is, China and Japan, China and Russia negotiated peace.

"Peace?" After hearing this, Yang Rui smiled and said, "How can you negotiate peace, how many billions of silver are the Japanese going to pay our country?" ”

Yang Rui's compensation was calculated in 100 million, which immediately made Kant hold his breath in his heart, and he smiled bitterly: "Since it is a peace negotiation, it is a truce between the two sides, and the Japanese army will withdraw from China." ”

"Huh...... Mr. Minister, since this is the case, it is better to wait for the Renaissance Army to surround Tokyo for a few months before negotiating peace. We don't ask for a penny. Yang Rui sneered. I still say that I don't want anyone to interfere in the war between China and Japan, and the war in Europe has nothing to do with China. ”

"You're blackmailing!" Kant was a little excited, France is still a strong country no matter how it is said, and now China is completely threatening, not only does not accept mediation, but also threatens with the war in Europe, which makes him extremely angry.

"Mr. Minister, this is not blackmail, this is an explanatory attitude." Yang Rui looked at the angry Frenchman and corrected, and then served tea to the guests. At this time, what he should do has been done, and the next thing is up to Britain and France to choose.

"Sir, the Chinese are blackmailing us!" The French, who had left the Yin'an Palace, did not return to the legation, but went directly to Zhu Erdian, who, as an ally, had to work in concert with the British.

"The Chinese have been blackmailing!" Zhu Erdian took a puff of cigarette and said very depressedly. He felt that he had failed in the past three years, that Britain was completely unable to control the political situation in China, and that he was worried about vested interests. Three years ago, if they supported Japan's attack on Beijing, the result would have been much better than it is now, at least they did not have millions of troops, and they did not have a self-sufficient military industry; And now, the cunning man in the Yin'an Hall seized the favorable opportunity when the countries could not pay attention to the Far East and wanted to bring Japan down in one fell swoop, which would completely rewrite the order in the Far East established by the Beijing Protocol thirteen years ago. There is nothing to rewrite, since the order is established, there will always be a day of subversion, but the key is that this subversion should be led by Great Britain, but the reality is not at all like this.

"Sir. France's attitude was still to reconcile the war between China and Japan...... "Kant expressed his views euphemistically, and what he really meant was that he hoped that the Entente and China would not be at a stalemate. Now the British have offended Turkey by seizing the Turkish battleship. If China is really forced to the side of the Allies, the chaos in the Far East will be out of control.

"Yang Jingcheng will not agree to a truce. He wanted to take advantage of our inability to intervene in the Far East to completely defeat Japan. The Taiwanese Chinese will occupy it, and North Korea they will occupy it. Zhu Erdian said.

"What! North Korea ......" Kant thought that Chinese's attack on Taiwan was just an attack, "how is this possible?" ”

"How could it be?" Zhu Erdian asked rhetorically, "That man planned this qiē years ago. Originally, if there was no war in Europe, he would not have succeeded, but now ......" Zhu Erdian said this, suddenly smiling bitterly. He himself did not understand why Europe had fought so easily, but he also understood the Empire's choice of Europe before Asia.

"So what should we do?" Kant only thought that the Chinese should not contain Russia before, and did not think at all about the Sino-Japanese war to change the pattern of the Far East, but now when Zhu Erdian mentioned it, he began to panic, Annan is in the hands of China, China wants to occupy Korea, then Annan is still far away?

"We can't do anything. Two options, either Germany wins. dominate Europe; Either China will win and dominate the Far East, you choose. Zhu Erdian looked at the Frenchman who was a little anxious and smiled helplessly.

"What a goddamn war!" Kant scolded fiercely. In fact, it goes without saying that France must have chosen China to dominate the Far East. If Germany dominates Europe, will France still have colonies?

Seeing that the popularity of the French was in a state of flux. Zhu Erdian was a little relieved, it seemed that he was not the only one who was deflated. He said: "We, including Russia, have no way to gather more than 200,000 troops to the Far East. In fact, even sending them did not work, and by the time the army arrived, the Japanese had already been defeated. We must have a million troops to defeat China when Japan is at its weakest, but it can't be. Now that I can't do anything about it, let's hope London can come up with a better way. ”

Seeing that Zhu Erdian said so helplessly, Kant also pretended to be very helpless, and he hurriedly left after a few words of indifferent gossip. Zhu Erdian must have sent the report and the construction of the Far East to London, and he must have sent the situation in the Far East to Paris, so that the old men of the Elysée Palace must have stopped the British from going to extremes.

After hearing that the Russian army had once again lost in the Far East, Tsar Nicholas II was furious and ordered the Minister of War to increase his troops in the Far East; Wilhelm II was overjoyed and ordered the minister in China, as well as Rutte, Xin Ci and others to once again draw China into the war; When France received Kant's telegram, it hurriedly sent an instruction to London, asking the ambassador to Britain to warn the British government not to push China into the arms of the Allies, and even if it wanted to punish China, it should wait until the war in Europe was over, and then France would completely stand on Britain's side and support Britain's toughness against China.

At 10 Downing Street, although it was a Sunday, the Cabinet in the midst of the war still held a cabinet meeting because of the war in Europe.

"Gentlemen, the situation in the Far East is deteriorating, and the Chinese declare that they have won a complete victory in the decisive battle with the Russian Siberian Legion, destroying the entire Siberian Legion; And they sent troops across the Taiwan Strait this morning, occupied some places in southern Taiwan, and are now attacking Taipei. According to the judgment of the Minister to China, Sir Zhu Erdian, the Chinese will take this opportunity to occupy Taiwan. "Foreign Secretary Edward. Gray looked at the people in the room, and while the war was over, he relayed the contents of Zhu Erdian's telegram, he looked at the appearance of everyone who didn't care, and added: "There is a good chance that they will retake Korea." ”

Taiwan may not be a big deal, but North Korea is touching everyone's nerves, and if this is the case, then Japan will be beaten back to its original shape. It would be fine if it did not form an alliance with Japan, but now that Britain and Japan are allies, if it is really weakened to such a position, Britain should take action from the standpoint of balancing the Far East or from the standpoint of fulfilling the Entente.

"Did the Chinese really exterminate the Russians?" War Secretary Lord Kitchener asked.

"Yes, the consuls in Mukden and Harbin have heard rumors about this, but we cannot determine the losses of the Chinese." Edward. Gray said. "Judging by the indications of the Chinese government, if we declare war on China, they will attack the Russian Far East, and maybe even ...... Myanmar and India. ”

"So. What can we do? "The news is indeed shocking, Prime Minister Asquith looks at the people at the table. Asked.

"We... We can blockade China with the Far Eastern Fleet. "India must not be violated. After a long silence, Admiral Winston Churchill said. He is actually very helpless, with Chinese money in his pocket, and at the same time he wants to blockade China.

When the Lord of the Admiralty had finished speaking, Lord Gikichina, the Secretary of State of the Army, said, "Sir, all the forces of the Army must support France, and although there are countless volunteers who have joined the army, it takes longer to build a rifle than a cannon. I know that everyone expects a war on the battlefield to be short, but war is unpredictable. Now we must prepare for a long war. Such a war could not end at sea or with the navy alone, it could only end with a few decisive battles on the continent, in which Britain had to assume her share of responsibility in proportion to her importance and strength. We must be prepared to put millions of troops into battle and be prepared to fight for them for several years, and we have no other way to assume our responsibilities to the Entente countries or to the world. [Note]

After Lord Kitchener had finished his tirade, the room fell silent again, and everyone agreed to these statements in a silent manner, and Prime Minister Asquith said to them: "Then how shall we give an account to our allies?" Now that Japanese warships are chasing the German Far East Fleet off Tsingtao and in the South Pacific, we cannot afford to lose this ally, who is an important force for us to maintain the balance of power in the Far East. ”

Asquith's question was actually addressed to Foreign Secretary Gray. What he meant was that since Japan could not be supported militarily, could there be a diplomatic solution?

"Mr. Prime Minister, China has become difficult to dissuade since the revolution, and I think it is impossible to negotiate the Sino-Japanese war directly with the Chinese." Gray said. "The only thing that can dissuade China is the United States. However, the Americans ......did not want us to form an alliance with the Japanese to protect their vested interests in China, and they wanted to gain something in China for a long time. Now the relationship between the Chinese government and the Americans is extremely harmonious. If China is willing to share some of the benefits it receives from Japan to the United States, then the Americans will always support their expansion in the Far East. Now it may be Taiwan and North Korea, tomorrow it is likely to be Myanmar or Annan. ”

"Can't you do something?" The Prime Minister asked again.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd. George also said. "Where did the money come from for China's war, and can we use the method of controlling the money to bring the Chinese government to its knees?"

"A small part of China's money comes from the United States, and most of it comes from China, which may allow HSBC to influence it, but it doesn't have a significant effect...... Gray explained.

"Sir, are you saying that we have absolutely no influence over the Chinese government?" Asquith interrupted.

"That's right." With some hardship, and at the same time a little unwilling, but Edward. Gray nodded in acknowledgment.

"Maybe we should change a minister to China!" The prime minister threw the pen he had been holding on the table, and it was clear that he was not satisfied with the frustration in China's affairs.

"Gentlemen, the only way now is to send the Far Eastern Fleet to blockade the Taiwan Strait and prohibit China from increasing its forces in Taiwan again. I guess that's the only thing we can do, even though the Japanese will lock it down as well. Churchill said. But until we capture the German Far East Fleet, all we can send is a few old cruisers. ”

"What if there is a conflict with the Chinese's submarine?" Edward. Gray asked. He agreed to send the navy to fool the Japanese, but what if a fight broke out?

He asked, and the room fell silent again. If war were to be declared on China for the sake of Japan, Great Britain's interests in China would be completely lost, and at the same time, it would probably force China into the camp of the Allies, which was absolutely impermissible.

"I think we should put pressure on the Chinese government from within China to make a truce with Japan." Agriculture Secretary Lucas, who has not spoken, said. He fought in the South African War and lost a leg.

"It can't be," said Edward. Gray shook his head, "China is not a democracy, although she looks like a democracy. There, Yang Jingcheng's Revival Society rules a single party, and the other parties hold less than 10 percent of the seats in parliament, and we can't deflect their policies internally. ”

"Edward, I will personally call the Japanese later to explain to them the difficulties of Britain, and I am sure the Japanese will understand this, and besides, the Far East Fleet will immediately assist the Japanese in the blockade of Taiwan and some other places. We cannot afford to lose Japan as an ally, but no matter what happens in the Far East. None of us can push China to the side of Germany, that's our bottom line. "After all avenues have failed. Prime Minister Asquith has finally made a decision, and he is actually helpless. The Chinese are simply a Jedi overturn, they have all been beaten to the capital, and the northeast has also been beaten to Mukden, but the shape shì has still been reversed.

With Prime Minister Asquith's decision, the meeting continued, and after the meeting was dismissed, Churchill, on the way back to the apartment, deviated in a different direction, and after greeting an acquaintance on the way, he returned to the apartment with great ease.

Churchill relaxed. Yang Rui, who received the call from London, was not necessarily relaxed, although Churchill did not say what the British bottom line was, but the attitude of not declaring war made Yang Rui issue a message to blockade the entire Bohai Sea and the coast of Taiwan. This was carried out in conjunction with the Taiwan landing in the previous plan, but at Hsieh's request, it is now carried out in two steps, for fear of completely angering the British.

The ease of Beijing is the heaviness of Tokyo! After receiving internal information from Shina yesterday and learning that the cruiser had come to Japan to break diplomatic relations, Prime Minister Katsura Taro was extremely displeased; This morning, when he learned that the China Army had landed in Taiwan, he was even more uncomfortable when he thought that the Navy had been hit by the China Army's plan to transfer the tiger from the mountains. But disaster doesn't come alone. In the afternoon, the news from Beijing said that the Chinese army had completely annihilated the Luguo Siberian Army, and it was unbelievable that something could happen, according to the news from Beijing, the Chinese were extremely accurate. Coupled with the fact that the Lucian Army had lost contact for several days, this news did seem to be true.

The Manchurian army in China had more than 600,000 men, while the imperial army in Manchuria was only more than 200,000. Although it is not known how many people the Chinese army lost after destroying the Lucian army, even if it lost 100,000. There are more than half a million more. Originally, there was a Lucia army, which could also make the people of China worried. But now that Lucia's army is gone, and Europe is at war again, they have no worries.

With more than 700,000 troops against more than 500,000 empires, can the war be won? If it had been before, Katsura Taro would not have thought about this problem at all, but after more than half a year of fierce battles, he finally found that the Imperial Army had no advantage over the Shina Army, and even in some aspects, in fact, it was at a disadvantage in many aspects. Now the Chinese army and the imperial army are evenly matched, but they have an absolute numerical superiority, the reason why there is only one million troops now is not that there are not enough people, but that the guns are not purchased, if you really wait for the Chinese to arm two million army, then the empire ......

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency Dashan Yan built an early decisive battle!" Major General Yoshiichi Tanaka, deputy chief of the General Staff Headquarters, said, "Once the Shoshi Army is transferred to the pass, there will be no hope of victory in the war." ”

"But what if the war can't be won?" Katsura Taro asked, unlike the initial belief in victory, he now suddenly had a feeling that the blade was on his back, and if he was not careful, the Imperial Army was likely to be wiped out.

"In the event of a victory, we can also retreat under the cover of the Navy." Chief of Staff Hasegawa Yoshimichi said.

After he finished speaking, Yamaya, the deputy chief of the Navy's Military Command Department, added, "Considering that Qingdao is about to be taken over by China, if the China submarines are not as many as the British suggested, the Navy can complete this task." ”

Seeing that the Navy suddenly brought up the matter of submarines again, Hasegawa sneered, "Can't the Navy deal with submarines now?" ”

"The British can't deal with the submarines of the Independence Nation either." Hasegawa disdains it, and Yamaya others also disdain it, it's the army that wants to go to war, and it's the army that wants to retreat now, it's really a group of red deer.

"Kato-kun, if the Chinese army attacks Taiwan, will Britain be able to start a war against China in accordance with the alliance agreement?" Katsura Taro ignored the land and sea struggles, he focused on the British attitude.

"Your Excellency, Britain is now in the middle of a war in Europe, and it is unlikely that it will intervene in the Far East." Foreign Minister Takaaki Kato, who used to be ambassador to Britain and is very familiar with the situation in Britain, said again: "The best way now is to make peace with Shina......

As soon as he said this, everyone present snorted, and Chief of Staff Hasegawa said: "It seems that an alliance with Britain is such a treatment, and if you know this, it is better to form an alliance with an independent country." ”

"Hase-kun, Britain really can't send hundreds of thousands of troops to the Far East under the current circumstances, and they may only send the navy." Takaaki Kato, as a mockery of the United British faction duì army, did not care. However, when he said this, the navy was unhappy, and Yamaya said, "Britain can only send the Far East Fleet, but what can the Far East Fleet do?" The East Asian Fleet of the Independent Nations still needs our assistance, and without us, the situation of Britain in the Far East and the Pacific will be even worse. ”

"Stop arguing!" Katsura Taro stood up and said, "The army is ready to fight a decisive battle with the Shina army, and the navy will do its best to destroy the cruiser fleet of the Shina army, and the empire will fight here!" (To be continued......)

PS: Note: The entire paragraph is excerpted from: Winston. Winston Churchill, Memoirs of the First World War, I, p143