To oppose Britain is to get close to Germany, but to get close to Germany will naturally offend France, and if you offend France, Russia will be involved, just such a simple logic. At a time when China and Germany were doing business and expressing friendship, the anger of the French was the greatest, and Russia, based on geopolitical affairs, also began to be wary of China, and the diplomatic environment was suddenly extremely bad. Russia, in particular, has a great influence on China's political situation.

It was because of this that Xie Jintai was anxious, and in the end he was unable to order tens of millions of francs of textile machinery from the French and promise Russia its special interests in the Western Regions, so he reluctantly suppressed the matter. Now, if the Japanese cruiser is sunk, Britain and Japan will make trouble again, France will be dragged out with Britain, and Russia will be unwilling to run out lonely to ask for benefits, which is also the reason why Xie Jintai said, 'Don't hurt me'. always makes amends and curries for his crimes, not only is public opinion scolded, but he himself is also uncomfortable.

"Chong'an!" Yang Rui suddenly raised his voice, "The Japanese are looking for us all over the Pacific Ocean, Moffitt and Yu Sanbao finally escaped to the Philippine Sea, but they were still found by the dogs, and they opened fire as soon as they met, even if the Japanese watched the cruiser being sunk by us, then they deserved it!" Yang Rui's attitude towards Japan has always been tough, he is not worried about sinking the Japanese cruiser but happy.

"It turned out that the Japanese deserved it, but as soon as this incident happened, they would definitely retaliate." Xie Jintai still shook his head. He knew that Yang Rui was preparing for war, but was he ready now?

"It is difficult for the Japanese to judge that the cruiser was sunk by us, four thousand tons sank seven thousand tons, and they themselves do not believe it." Yang Rui emphasized. "Now the most likely thing to be recognized by them is. The exchange of fire between the Nisshin and us led to a fire, and the warship sank to the bottom of the sea due to an explosion at the ammunition depot...... Just tell me about it. How can this be done? ”

"It's all like this, what else can I do? The wicked will sue first. Xie Jintai came back to his senses from complaining. Taking advantage of the fact that the Japanese did not know that their cruiser had sunk, they immediately sent a note to them with great fanfare and stern wording, and then they must not say that we sank it afterwards, but said that the two ships avoided it after the exchange of fire, and what happened to the cruiser has nothing to do with China. And on the side of the fleet, you also have to find a way to make everyone stop talking nonsense, for fear that some officers and soldiers will not be able to control their mouths when they are excited. ”

"Good! That's it. Yang Rui immediately agreed with Xie Zhangtai's suggestion. On the fleet side, you can rest assured, you can still tell them to shut up within a year. ”

At 6:30 p.m. that night, a sternly worded note was sent to the Japanese legation. After receiving the note handed by the first secretary Mizuno, the Japanese minister Enjiro Yamaza said disdainfully: "I hope that the navy can be more capable and neat, and don't let any of the people of Shina escape back." ”

"Your Excellency, this note ......" Mizuno understood what the Empire was doing, but what he didn't understand was how to respond to the Shina people.

"I'll think about it next month." Enjiro Yamaza tossed the note aside, and pushed the time back to a dozen days later, when the people of Shina who had sunk to the bottom of the sea had already been eaten by fish.

Foreigners' notes to China must be replied to immediately, but China's notes to foreigners are often incomplete. For this. While sending a note to the Japanese Legation, Chinese and foreign reporters in the capital received a telephone call from the Information Office of the Prime Minister's Office, saying that they had extremely important news to announce. Since the Manchurian people who have nothing to do but carry cages and walk birds have been cleaned up, there are fewer and fewer leisure places in Beijing. When I heard that the Prime Minister's Office was going to hold a press conference at night, reporters from all over the city, including the secretaries of the legations, rushed to the Prime Minister's Office. These people are watching jokes, and the second is that there will be refreshments at the press conference as usual. The Prime Minister's Office is air-conditioned, and it's so hot at night. Go there just to blow the air conditioner.

The slowest of the foreign journalists was Morrison, who, unlike other foreign journalists, had a good impression of the Baister's government, and although many of the Times articles were edited and published because of the Anglo-Japanese alliance, in the eyes of foreigners, the situation in China was gradually improving, and the giant was no longer asleep, and began to try to stand up.

Morrison thought he had arrived at the earliest, but Mr. Zhenxiong Nakajima of the Suncheon Times, Mr. W.C. Donald of the Far East Times, Mr. McCormick of the Associated Press, Mr. Feng Lepei of the Beijing News, and Mr. Tilis of the Lloyds of East Asia had already arrived; In addition to the newspapers of various countries in Beijing, the local newspapers in Tianjin, such as the China Times, the Beijing Daily, the Imperial Daily, the Yanjing Times, the Xinmin Cong Bao (republication), the Minbao (republication), the Beijing Daily, and the Beijing newspapers in Beijing, as well as the reporters of the major newspapers in Beijing from all over the world, also arrived. Morrixun looked at the time, there were still twenty minutes before the press conference, but he didn't want most of the reporters to arrive, he turned out to be the latest.

"George, have you heard, everyone is speculating that something happened to the fleet that came back from the United States." Donald, a reporter from the Far Eastern Times who was familiar with Morrison, whispered to Morrisun.

"Really?" Morrison's first reaction was that it was most likely true. In recent times, the main activity of the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing has been to try to communicate with other countries for the return of the fleet, but unfortunately only Germany is willing to provide a coal station for the fleet, and it is precisely because of this that the fleet will choose the South Pacific route for the return of the fleet.

"The Chinese are going crazy!" After thinking about it, Morrison subconsciously came to such a sentence. Now the China Times is reporting on the whereabouts of the fleet every day, and if something happens, China must retaliate.

"So what? George. "Donald knew that Morrison had a good opinion of the current government and thought that Yang was China's Bismarck." I'm not interested in the news of the Chinese fleet, sooner or later they will sink somewhere in the ocean. I'm here today to see ......" Donald's eyes wandered around the inner door of the press room, and he didn't see the shadow of Yiren before he came back to his senses and said, "I just want to see my angel." ”

Donald has no interest in the news, and is here entirely for the new press speaker of the Prime Minister's Office, Ms. Lu Bicheng, especially since it has been rumored that this beautiful lady who has never married has a love affair with the Prime Minister and will soon become the third wife of the Prime Minister - the thought of angels will be defiled by the devil, and Donald has been cursing this uncivilized custom in his dreams, the damned pagan country.

When the marriage law of the Great China was promulgated, although the Women's Revival Association and Qiu Jin tried their best to resist monogamy and polygonal concubinage. But the world is like this, Yang Rui thinks of the second, third, fourth, and N grandmothers in later generations...... Plus I have two in my own house. He did not insist on monogamy, but strictly ordered that no concubines should be taken without permission within the Revival Church. In addition, compulsory marriage registration must be voluntary, concubines must be agreed by three parties, concubines and their children enjoy the same right to inherit property, and men and women must be at least 18 years old for marriage, etc.; In the same way, the Qinglou that those moral gentlemen tried their best to abolish also continue to be preserved, and after more than a hundred years, which hotel did not have harassing phone calls, this thing was banned in vain, and the only thing to pay attention to was not to force good people to become prostitutes, and to pay attention to venereal diseases, which depended on the Women's Revival Conference.

In the new country, women and men have the same rights, but women want to have a three-eight festival and shout 'ladies first' to get some special treatment. Then wash and sleep. Yang Rui, who stayed in Shanghai for a long time in later generations, was very opposed to unconditional preferential treatment of women, because of this, Comrade Qiu Jin complained constantly, and in the end, several women had to be arranged to be officials in the Prime Minister's Office to show equality between men and women, and Lu Bicheng was one of them. This woman who loves beauty and shows off is very satisfied with the role of press spokesman, and although Yang Rui is very suspicious of this woman's IQ, he does not like her competitive temperament. But I was extremely satisfied with her noble and generous temperament, and I was happy to see her tigress-like occupancy in the foreground.

At 6:59, the inner door leading to the press conference hall opened, and Lu Bicheng, a leftover woman dressed in a full costume but with a solemn face, was arranged by the leading staff. Approaching the podium in the lecture hall, she ignored the gazes of many Chinese and foreign reporters below, and only looked at the clock hanging on the wall. Just waiting for the moment when the second pointed to twelve, she opened the text jiàn folder. "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!" Before answering your questions. I have the following message to post:

At 5:33 a.m. Beijing time, the Japanese Navy cruiser Nisshin intercepted China's ocean-going fleet somewhere in the Philippine Sea, 800 nautical miles east of Taiwan...... "Sure enough, this is amazing news, before Lu Bicheng's words fell, the reporters at the venue were in a big uproar, but she swept her phoenix eyes, and the venue immediately fell silent," ...... At 6:14, without warning, the main guns of the cruiser Rijin opened fire on the cruiser Haiqi; At 6:23 a.m., an eight-inch shell from the cruiser Nisshin hit our cruiser Haiqi.

China's warships enjoy the right of free passage on the high seas, and the Japanese Navy's cruiser Nisshin rashly opened fire on China's warships, an act that grossly violated the sovereignty of Greater China and wantonly trampled on public international law and basic norms governing international relations. The Government of Greater China and the people of Greater China expressed their great indignation and stern condemnation of this barbaric and atrocity committed by the Japanese side. The Japanese side must bear full responsibility for this. The government of Greater China reserves the right to take necessary countermeasures......"

There was silence in the press room, only Lu Bicheng's clear voice echoed. According to the practice of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the past, if the government suffered losses outside, no one would know about it, but now the Japanese Navy is shelling Chinese warships, and the Chinese government is making a big public announcement, which is really unexpected.

The message was very brief, and after Lu Bicheng said 'Here is the time to answer the question', Masao Nakajima, a dwarf from the Suncheon Times, shouted: "Slander! This is slander! It is impossible for the Japanese Navy to shell the Chinese cruiser for no reason, and if there is an artillery bombardment, it must be the Chinese Navy that has provoked the Japanese Navy in advance......"

"Mr. Nakajima, if you want to act, please go out and turn left!" Lu Bicheng didn't want to deal with the Japanese at all, so she blocked Nakajima Masao with a word, and after that, she pointed to Moritsun, who was not leaning forward and raised her hand, "Mr. Moritsun......"

"Dear Miss Lu, I want to know what happened to the fleet now?" "At the time you said, now that the shelling has been going on for forty-six minutes, what is the situation of the fleet?" ”

"It is now dark in the Philippine Sea, where the shelling took place, and at 6:48 a.m., our fleet has left the warring ocean under the cover of night." Lu Bicheng replied according to the script. During the 34-minute artillery bombardment, Major Chen Zhaomei, deputy gunner of the Haiqi, Captain Chen Yizhong, gunner, Sergeant Chen Zhizhong, Sergeant Liu Peizhuo, Corporal Tang Xuehai, Private 1st Class Wu Alai, Private 1st Class Xu Chuanfen, Private 2nd Class Chen Qichang, and Private Ye Dingzhong, a total of 9 people were martyred, and 12 others were wounded. We strongly condemn the barbaric acts of the Japanese Navy, and if the act is the personal act of the Japanese Captain Masao Kutsumi, we demand that the Japanese side try him and those responsible; If the operation is led by the Japanese government, then the Greater China government reserves the right to take further action until the Japanese side punishes all kinds of people involved in this action! ”

Morrison heard Lu Bicheng mention 'reserved' twice...... rights'. When he asked if the Chinese government was going to war, the question was asked by the next questioner. Lu Hongkui of the Imperial Daily brought it up, "Please ask Lord Lu." If Japan does not punish those involved in this matter, what measures will Japan take? Will there be a war against Japan? ”

Lu Hongkui, a native of Tanzhou, Hunan, is very familiar with Yang Du, this Imperial Daily was opened in 1907 with Yang Du, Liu Mohe, and Fang Biao. The new dynasty is not an empire, but at Yang Du's insistence, the name of the newspaper has not changed. After all, China has an emperor. Relying on the gossip in Yang Du's Congress, the Imperial Daily changed its previous tepid appearance, and together with the China Times, Shuntian Times, Xinmin Cong Daily, and Beijing Daily, it became one of the five major Chinese newspapers in Beijing.

"War is also one of the rights reserved by our Government for further action." In the eyes of everyone's concern, as soon as Lu Bicheng's cherry mouth opened, the venue was in chaos again. Although everyone knows that there will be a war between China and Japan, the Prime Minister's Office has always stressed the need for peaceful coexistence with its neighbors, and this is the first time that the Prime Minister's Office has explicitly stated on a formal occasion that China and Japan will go to war.

After the reporters listening to the chaos below, the headlines of tomorrow's newspapers are already in my head. Dai Tianqiu, the chief writer of the People's Daily, looked at Huang Yuansheng, a special reporter from the Shanghai Times and the Beijing Special Newspaper in Beijing. asked with a smile: "Does Brother Yuanyong support a war against Japan this time?" ”

Huang Yuansheng is a native of Jiujiang, Jiangxi, with an outstanding literary name, good at criticizing current affairs, and belongs to a neutral reporter who scolded Yang Rui and Sun Wen. Although the People's Daily has resumed publication in China, its position has always been against the current cabinet, so the two have a very good personal relationship.

"The Japanese shells hit their heads. If we are not ready for war, then the current Cabinet can resign. Huang Yuansheng was also really angry when he heard that the Japanese Navy was behaving like this. This is simply an act of banditry.

"Can you win?" Dai Tianqiu said indifferently. "This is at sea, our navy ...... Ay! ”

"If you can't win, you won't fight?" Huang Yuansheng asked rhetorically. "How do you know if you can't win if you don't fight?"

When the press conference hall was in a hurry, Yang Rui received a telegram that the Rijin had been sunk, and he handed the telegram to Xie Zhangtai and said, "It's sunk." It sank to the bottom of the sea in five minutes, and sank so quickly that none of the officers and men on the ship would survive. ”

Xie Jintai followed the telegram that weighed as much as a thousand catties, and after reading it carefully, he said weakly: "It's done, are we ready for war?" ”

"Not yet, we need at least half a year." Yang Rui replied very simply: "But no war starts when you are ready, this time the Japanese must be soft, otherwise the domestic situation will be unfavorable to us." ”

"Just for that press?" Xie Zhangtai said, he still doesn't know what can do anything.

"Sort of." Yang Rui was eager when he thought of that thing, "That thing is the third in the world, it cost so much money, and I am unwilling to get home safely." ”

"But didn't Germany also say that it could buy us a 5,000-ton hydraulic press? The newspapers also say that 5,000 tons is enough at our industrial level. Xie Jintai said, "Isn't it inappropriate for you to get more than 10,000 tons?" ”

"Materials first, technology second, processing equipment third." Yang Rui repeated his theory of industrial foundation again, "This hydraulic press belongs to the processing equipment, and it is the key to determine how large steel ingots we can process." This machine is the largest in the world, and it will not be outdated in another fifty years. Now when we are weak, people are willing to sell, and when we are strong, as soon as the foreigners are blocked, then who else dares to sell? And this thing is too big, thousands of tons of machine, unlike other processing machine tools that can be secretly transported back. I can be sure that in thirty years, we will have this one chance.

Chong'an, it's not that I'm short-tempered. Do you know, in addition to silk tea, we sell the best diesel engines every year, last year the world sold more than 30,000 units, 450,000 horsepower, sales of nearly 50 million yuan. But these are small horsepower diesel engines, and we can't sell marine diesel engines to the German MAN company, why? The smelting process of cylinder block materials is not as good as Germany, and the large diesel engine crankshaft is not as good as Germany because there is no large-tonnage hydraulic machine processing. The largest marine diesel engine is not as good as Germany, that other low-power marine diesel engines are naturally considered inferior to Germany, but marine diesel engines are the most profitable market, and now every year the diesel engine ships are doubling and increasing, as long as the diesel engine single engine horsepower is big, that people dare to build how big.

Diesel engine crankshafts are an example, and others such as large-caliber artillery, dreadnought armor, heavy-duty locomotive axles, large bridge supports, large ship keels, and cranes of more than 100 tons need hydraulic presses. Industry is the backbone of the country, but this hydraulic press is the backbone of industry, the backbone of this backbone, which is worth our war. ”

Yang Rui's marine diesel engine alone is enough to impress Xie Jintai, China has always exported minerals, agricultural products, imported manufactured goods, in addition to monosodium glutamate, soap, and the fake butter that deceived foreigners, the only thing that can be taken is tractors and diesel engines. The Chinese people are complacent about selling tens of thousands of diesel engines a year, but the top level of the government knows that tens of thousands of diesel engines are better than selling 1,000 marine diesel engines, and that is what makes money. Xie Jintai used to think that domestic technology was inferior to Germany, but he didn't want to be inferior to Germany in metallurgy and processing equipment.

"Good! I understand. I understand. Xie Jintai kept repeating, he walked back and forth in the room, and when he was thinking about such negotiations with Japan, he suddenly smiled and said, "It is done, if the hydraulic press is brought back, it will be bad...... I mean, when the Americans made that thing, they deliberately gave us bad ......."

"Our people followed us all the way when it was built, and it was also when it was loaded onto the ship. In fact, the Bethlehem Company wanted to sell it, and in 1900, they sold one to Carnegie Steel, which was the second 10,000-ton hydraulic press in the world. Yang Rui looked at Xie Jintai a little strangely, "Hey, didn't you always say that foreigners have professional ethics before, why are you suspicious now?" ”

"I didn't ...... I just heard you say that this thing is so important, the backbone of the backbone, and I started to worry. Xie Jintai said with a smile, although he often said good things about foreigners, he still didn't trust them in his bones.

"Think about how to settle the matter of the Nisshin." Yang Rui ordered, "Don't make it difficult for the Japanese to find out that their warship has sunk and start a blockade with great fanfare." ”

"Actually, if those warships of the Japanese Third Fleet are stopped outside the mouth of Wusong, then what should we do?" Xie Zhangtai said.

"Who said that the fleet should unload the cargo directly to Nanjing? The shipyard is in Nanjing, but the unloading place will not be Nanjing, otherwise the Japanese will have to wait for the rabbit. Yang Rui said. You go back and think about how to deal with the Japanese in the next few days. The fleet travels more than 300 nautical miles a day, and they can return home after a maximum of three days, and you can withstand it for three days! ”

Yang Rui gave Xie Jintai an order to resist for three days as if he was ordering on the battlefield. In fact, this is not simpler than fighting a war, in these three days, first, we must take the initiative morally, second, we must threaten the Japanese without provoking the Japanese, and third, we must take into account the anti-Japanese situation at home. There are many requirements, but the most important thing is how to fool the Japanese for three days so that their pursuit is somewhat restrained. Xie Zhangtai thought about it all night, and held another press conference at 8 o'clock the next morning, that is, he admitted that the current domestic and naval command and the ocean-going fleet were missing, and suspected that the fleet had been sunk by Japanese warships.

At this time, the Japanese searched the sea and could not find the Rijin, and when they were trying to let go of their cheeks and say that the Risshin had been sunk by the Chinese Navy, Beijing preemptively said that it had lost contact with the ocean-going fleet and was suspected of having been sunk by the Japanese side, which made them confused and inexplicable. Could it be that the Nisshin and the Shina fleet have died together? Many Japanese people think so, and many Chinese think so.

In order to make the scam more realistic, the Chinese Navy sent warships to the Philippine Sea to search for warships and civilian ships, and some cruise ships of the steamship China Merchants Bureau and Tiantong Shipping Company also went to the ocean east of Taiwan 800 nautical miles. Officially, after the press conference, Xie Zhangtai personally went to the Japanese Legation in Minxiang in the eastern suburbs to inquire about the Japanese minister's visit to the Japanese Navy's sinking of a Chinese warship and merchant ship, while Yang Rui sent a letter to British Minister Zhu Erdian and US Minister Rui Bingen, hoping that they would uphold justice and uphold public international law on the matter of the sinking of the Chinese ship by the Japanese warship.

Qiē and qiē, as if the fleet was really sunk by the Japanese, Yang Rui wanted the ship to come back at this time, and as for the scam being exposed after coming back, then he couldn't care about it. (To be continued......)