On the night of August 10, 1894, the Qing Empire was in Beijing.

The "Subordinate Division", the actual ruling group of the empire, is holding executive meetings in the residence of Liu Yun, the chief of the general staff, and such meetings are held two or three times a week in peacetime, and almost every day during the war, and the decisions generated here affect the strategy and operation of the entire empire.

There is very little nonsense in the meetings of the substrategist department, everything is about efficiency, and the simple layout of the conference room goes well with this.

In an ordinary wing room in the inner courtyard of the mansion, a few simple electric lamps were placed, a long oak dining table was placed in the center, a dozen camphor wood chairs with backrests on the four sides, and there were hooks and horizontal strips for hanging maps on the walls. On one side of the wall, there are several blackboard shelves, and on a few cases under the blackboard shelves are simple stationery such as drawing pens, chalk, small wooden sticks, and chapel erasers. On the other wall are four large glass cabinets filled with documents and books, and on one of them is a golden chiming bell, which was originally presented by the British minister to congratulate Guangxu on his pro-government, and Guangxu gave it to Liu Yun as one of the rewards after the coup d'état, and Liu Yun placed it in the conference room of the Ministry of Conspiracy, giving it the opportunity to be a witness to the countless secrets of the empire.

On this day, the chiming clock, carved with the image of a horse-drawn carriage and a medieval burgher, was silently listening to the sound of conversation coming from the oak table.

Zhang Zhigao, 27-year-old vice minister of foreign affairs, is reporting on the situation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "Japanese Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu entrusted the British minister this morning to send a letter requesting negotiations with our country, and the ministers of Russia, the United States, and France all sent notes today, expressing their willingness to mediate the Sino-Japanese dispute and end the Korean War."

"Foreign Minister Zeng Jize asked Premier Weng for instructions, and Premier Weng ordered me to contact and consult with the General Staff and give him a report on countermeasures, which will be presented at the cabinet meeting tomorrow, so we will make a decision today." Vice-Minister Wen Yi continued.

Liu Yun clasped his hands on the table and looked around at the crowd: "What do you think about this?" ”

"It's impossible to negotiate now!" Colonel He Xin, Vice Minister of the Army, shouted, "Although we defeated the Japanese navy in the Battle of Dadonggou, they would never have signed a treaty as we demanded if we had not inflicted heavy losses on land that they could not bear. ”

"Moreover, on the front line of Pyongyang, the Japanese army has the advantage in terms of troops," Major General Zhu Tao, chief of the Intelligence Division of the General Staff, continued, "according to today's telegram from Commander Chung of the Northern Army, the Japanese army has been carrying out reconnaissance attacks for several days, and just yesterday it attacked and harassed our troops' positions at Sinseongcheon, northeast of Pyongyang, with a cavalry wing, in an attempt to cut off our army's supply lines. In addition, except for the 7th Division, which landed on 3 August, which was scattered along the defense and supply lines at key locations between Busan and Seoul, the other four divisions and the 1st Janissary Brigade were assembled around Pyongyang. Based on other intelligence analysis, the Japanese army is preparing for a large-scale offensive, and the goal may be to capture Pyongyang in one fell swoop and change the situation on the land battlefield in order to add bargaining chips to the negotiations. ”

"That's just right." At this time, he got up and walked to the huge map of North Korea hanging on the wall, picked up a few small wooden sticks on several cases and pointed at them: "The Japanese army has lost its ability to control the sea, and if they do not retreat in time, once our navy can completely block the Korean coast, more than 100,000 Japanese army officers and men will lose reliable supplies, and this will become a meal on our army's plate." At present, our army has assembled in Pyongyang all the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the 1st Janissary Division and the 2nd Praetorian Guard Division, two Praetorian Marine Regiments, with more than 45,000 personnel according to the establishment of personnel, and in addition, the 5,000 reserve troops transferred from the Janissary Supplementary Reserve Army have also been sent to Pyongyang to replenish the losses, minus the number of losses of the army since the beginning of the war, which is exactly the full number of personnel.

The end of the wooden stick in Yang Zhengjin's hand was removed from the Pyongyang area on the map and placed on a large circle marked "Seoul."

"Holding Pyongyang does not mean that our goal has been achieved, the real goal of our army should be to strive to annihilate as many Japanese troops as possible on the Korean Peninsula, to weaken the Japanese army's ability to defend its homeland to the greatest extent, so as to force the Japanese government to meet our demands. To this end, the Operations Division formulated an operational plan for 'destroying Phong,' preparing to land on Asan, where the Japanese army was loosely fortified, south of Seoul, to increase the number of attack points, and to encircle the Japanese army together with the Northern Army Corps to annihilate it on the front line of Seoul. It is planned to use more than 16,000 troops directly under the 1st Janissary Division and the 1st Brigade as the first batch of landing troops, which will be landed on August 20; The first follow-up troops were planned to be the 10th and 11th Brigades of the 4th Janissary Division, which landed on 1 September; The second follow-up force was set to be the 1st Infantry Division, which landed on 10 September. The above troops totaled 54,000 troops, which were unified into the Southern Army Corps, with the Third Supplementary Reserve Division as the supplementary reserve, and the proposed commander of the Corps was Major General Ding Jieyun, commander of the First Praetorian Division. At the same time, the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Praetorian Guard Division and the Janissary Hussar Brigade plan to arrive in Pyongyang by August 22; The 3rd Praetorian Division, the 8th and 9th Brigades, and the 5th Praetorian Division, which is currently being organized, are scheduled to arrive by September 3; The 2nd Infantry Division was to move to the vicinity of Wonsan by September 10. The above troops were successively incorporated into the Northern Army Corps, which was still under the command of Major General Zhong Xiahuo. The specific operational intention was that the Northern Army Corps would first use one brigade to strengthen other units to cut off the connection between the Japanese Wonsan Group and the Seoul Group, and then organize the main force cluster to go south to break through the front line of the Japanese Seoul Group and press the enemy forces to the south, and the other part to defend Pyongyang to prevent the enemy Wonsan Group from copying the rear route of our army. At the same time, the Southern Army Corps divided its troops to the north, blocked the enemy's retreat from the south, achieved strategic encirclement, and strived to encircle and annihilate most of the Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions in the Seoul area. After that, the main force of the Northern Army returned to attack Wonsan, striving to annihilate the 5th and 8th Divisions of the enemy's Wonsan Group and the headquarters of the 1st Guards Brigade. ”

"In this way, is the pressure on the Northern Army a little greater? In order to withstand the attack of the enemy Wonsan group in Pyongyang and to encircle the enemy Seoul group with the Southern Army, it is necessary to take into account the limited number of troops and the commander's command ability. He Xin, the deputy minister of the army, interjected.

Yang Zhengjin replied unhurriedly: "The total strength of Ji Lu's transfer to the Northern Army Corps has reached 130,000 according to the establishment, and there are also 50,000 reserve troops of two supplementary reserve divisions for the Northern Army Corps to supplement its losses, so there should be no problem in terms of troops. Moreover, if our army can strengthen the blockade of the Korean coast, so that the Japanese reinforcements and supplies cannot go ashore, the enemy will have fewer and weaker the more they fight, and the pressure on the northern army will naturally be greatly weakened. It was indeed a bit difficult for Zhong Xiahuo to deal with the operations in two directions at the same time, so the General Staff Department had made a decision to appoint Brigadier General Wu Beinian, commander of the Praetorian Teaching Brigade, as the deputy commander of the Northern Army Corps, to be responsible for the operations in the Wonsan direction. Still have questions? ”

"Nope." He Xin shook his head.

"Then, as Director Yang said," Liu Yun sat still, and said calmly, "our army is about to launch a large-scale offensive to encircle and annihilate the more than 100,000 Japanese troops on the Korean Peninsula, and no substantive negotiations can take place until the end of this land battle." However, if the great powers come to the door to mediate, they cannot but give them some face, and besides, negotiations can also confuse the other side into thinking that they can obtain what they want by peaceful means, and they will not be willing to withdraw their troops from Korea and provide us with the opportunity to annihilate them all. The Navy's current mission is to support the Army in launching the 'Extinguishing Harvest' operation, providing escort and beachhead fire preparation, and after the landing site is consolidated, it will be changed to blockading the Korean coast to prevent the Japanese from sending troops and supplies to the Korean Peninsula. Before the Navy can completely blockade the coast of Korea to Japan's important seaports, negotiations are an indispensable smoke bomb, and one of the prerequisites for us to be able to completely annihilate the five elite divisions of the Japanese army. Therefore, Vice Minister Wen can clearly tell Premier Weng tomorrow that we accept the proposal for negotiations, but we will hold talks for the time being without judgment, and use the harshest conditions to make them unacceptable, and at the same time keep using small and insignificant concessions to keep the negotiations going. ”

Wen Yi nodded, flipped out two pieces of paper, spread them side by side on the table, and held one up first: "Everyone, listen, this is the main content of the Shimonoseki Treaty." First, China recognizes Japan's control over Korea. Second, the Liaodong Peninsula, the entire island of Taiwan, all affiliated islands, and the Penghu Islands were ceded to Japan. Third, compensation for military expenses of 200 million taels of silver. Fourth, four treaty ports in Shashi, Chongqing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou will be opened, and Japanese ships can sail into the above ports along the inland rivers. Fifth, Japanese subjects were allowed to set up factories in China's treaty ports, and the products sold to the mainland were taxed only on imports, and they were allowed to set up warehouses in the interior. Sixth, in order to ensure China's fulfillment of the treaty, the Japanese army temporarily occupied Weihaiwei. I believe that the terms of negotiation that we have put forward to Japan can actually be formulated by reference to the Treaty of Shimonoseki. ”

Liu Yun said bluntly: "Wen Yi, the nonsense is free, you must have prepared the negotiation conditions, read quickly." ”

Wen Yi hurriedly picked up another piece of paper and read: "The main points of the negotiation conditions of the Chinese side. First, Japan recognizes Korea as a vassal state of China.

Second, it was agreed to restore the independent status of the Ryukyu Kingdom with the help of China and to recognize the Ryukyu Kingdom as a vassal state of China. 3. Cedion to China Tsushima, Iki Island, and the islands south of the Osumi Strait, including the Tugola Islands. Fourth, compensation of 100 million taels of silver for military expenses. Fifth, China leased Sasebo as a military port for a period of 99 years. Sixth, Chinese military and civilian vessels can berth freely in all ports in Japan, and all straits and waterways throughout Japan are fully open to Chinese military and civilian vessels. Seventh, the maximum tariff on Chinese goods in Japan shall not exceed 2.5 percent, and Chinese subjects will be allowed to set up factories in various parts of Japan, and the goods sold to the mainland will only be taxed according to imported goods, and they will be allowed to set up warehouses in the mainland. 8. Chinese subjects enjoy consular jurisdiction, residence and land lease rights in Japan. Ninth, China enjoys one-sided most-favored-nation status in Japan. Basically, that's all. ”

Liu Yun listened and bowed his head in agreement, and after listening to the last one, he added: "It is good to raise the amount of military compensation to 300 million taels, although they will definitely not be able to afford to pay so much money, but they can reduce 102,000 taels in the negotiation as a concession and delay their time." ”

Niu Jin, Minister of Industry and Commerce and Doctor of Industrial Management of Tsinghua University, interjected: "In this way, follow the Xinqiao Treaty, give them forty years, compensate 200 million taels of silver, excluding the interest of 5% per year, and during this period, the Chinese will serve as the general tax department of Japan." The 100 million taels of the indemnity, together with interest, are required to be repaid within the first 10 years in order to limit its government investment and regulation, and we can take advantage of the opportunity to infiltrate the economy until we control the lifeblood of the national economy. The remaining 100,000,000 taels were to be repaid annually over the next 30 years, and it was stipulated that they should not be repaid in advance, so as to ensure that our country would control its customs authorities for a long time and obtain high interest income. ”

Wen Yi said with a smile: "It is worthy of being a doctor of Tsinghua University, and it is wonderful to think about it." Okay, according to what Dr. Niu Jin said, the amount proposed to amend the article on compensation for military expenses is set at 40,000 taels first, and then gradually reduced during the negotiations, and the bottom line is 20,000 taels. ”

Liu Yun also felt that the plan couldn't be better, so he immediately made a decision: "The negotiation conditions have been set, and Wen Yi will submit it to the cabinet tomorrow." In addition, Wen Yi was responsible for recommending to the cabinet Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Zhang Zhigao and Vice-Minister of War He Xin as negotiators, and suggested that the venue for negotiations should be tentatively set as Shanghai. ”

Wen Yi hurriedly made a note, and answered in his mouth: "I know the way." ”

Zhu Tao, director of the intelligence department, did not forget his duty and reminded Liu Yundao: "As I said just now, the Japanese army is about to launch a large-scale attack, and the war department has not yet made a satisfactory response. ”

Liu Yun turned to Yang Zhengjin: "Your problem, you can solve it." ”

Yang Zhengjin still said word by word in his slow rhythm: "The combat department will come up with an operational plan overnight and submit it to the chief of the general staff before noon tomorrow, and then send the task to the front line." The initial idea was to disrupt the deployment of the enemy's forces by means of short assault tactics, forcing the enemy to postpone a full-scale attack, and buying time for the follow-up troops to rush to the battlefield. ”

Zhu Tao replied: "No problem." ”

The next topic is on.

※※※

At the same time, in a different place, on the other side of the sea in Japan, it was already late at night due to the time difference.

In Tokyo, the headquarters of the Imperial Japan's wartime command was located, and the Imperial Council of the base camp attended by the emperor was in full swing.

"The Navy is incompetent, implicating the whole situation! Your Excellency Viscount Huashan, why don't you go to caesarean section! ”

Vice Admiral Kawakami Cao, the army staff officer and director of the military station at the base camp, was scolding Vice Admiral Shikiri Kayama, a naval staff officer.

Shiki Kayama, who once accompanied the Combined Fleet to Incheon and died under the threat of the guns of the Qing Army's armored cruiser "Jianbei", was willing to endure such humiliation, and replied with a raised voice: "Kawakami-kun, what about your army? The strength of the four elite divisions could not break through the defense line of one division of the Chinese army, and if the army could have taken Pyongyang earlier, the navy would not have to risk going to Dadonggou to break through the sea transportation of the Chinese army! Speaking of caesarean section, the contemptible person is very willing to complete the steps of cutting off the head for Your Excellency! ”

The chief of staff of the base camp, the chief of staff, Prince Arisugawa Chihito, who had been gloomy since the beginning of the meeting, couldn't bear it anymore and shouted: "Enough! You all feel glorious when you shout and curse in front of the emperor and lose the battle, don't you? ”

Chihito turned his head and was about to explain to the emperor, but he saw that Emperor Muhito, who had never flinched in front of his subordinates since the Boshin War, looked depressed at this time, rubbed his neck and said to everyone: "I'm tired, you Aiqing continue to discuss, and then report back to me when you have the results." With that, Muren got up from his seat and walked out of the conference room listlessly.

As soon as Muhito left on his front foot, Kawakami immediately shouted at Shiki Kayama: "After the Wuchen Rebellion, the navy family business that our country spent more than 20 years of hard work to establish was completely destroyed in half a day, you say, shouldn't the senior naval officers be fully responsible for this?" ”

Huashan Ziji took a bite back: "In the neutralization and bloody war, the army misused personnel, wasted the lives of 6,000 officers and soldiers in vain, and failed to capture an inch of land. ”

"Viscount Lieutenant General Kayama, let's stop here." Admiral Saigo, the Minister of the Navy, saw that his subordinates were so foolish and lost face in the navy, so he had to come forward to scold him in person.

Here, the Minister of War, Earl Oyama Iwa, the army general, also stopped Kawakami Caoroku. The confrontation between the army and navy finally subsided for the time being.

Prince Chihito hurriedly interjected to the point: "Ladies and gentlemen, His Majesty the Emperor has entrusted the problem to us to solve, and we, as subordinates, should not disappoint him." At present, the most important issue is whether the DPRK troops should be withdrawn immediately or continue to be stationed. ”

"Nonsense, it must be withdrawn immediately, otherwise it will only be a dead end." The military attache chief of the base camp, Major General Okazawa, could not change his bad habit of speaking unabashedly, even in the face of the prince.

Kawakami Caoliu immediately pushed him back: "What are you talking about! One and a half divisions of the Chinese Army are now being flanked on both sides by our five divisions on the front line of Pyongyang, and our army is planning to launch a large-scale joint attack in preparation to conquer Pyongyang in one fell swoop and encircle and annihilate the Chinese Army, at which time our army will have a land advantage on the Korean Peninsula. Diplomatically, we will contact Russia again, and we will induce it to exert pressure on China from the northeast, and we will not be afraid that the people of China will not submit to us. ”

This time it was the turn of Admiral Saigo, Earl, to refute him: "To put it lightly, now that the people of China have the right to control the sea, they can freely cut off the sea supply lines of our army, and they can land on one or several coasts to attack the rear of our army. Even if the army is really able to capture Pyongyang, once it loses supplies from the sea, the back route will be cut off, and it will not only have to spit out all the things it has swallowed sooner or later, but it is more likely to be surrounded by the Chinese until the whole army is annihilated. ”

"Frustrated!" The Earl Dashan Yan Army General shouted dissatisfiedly, "At this point, if you still say such depressing words, the imperial kingdom will really be saved!" ”

Kawakami Caoroku took the opportunity to counterattack: "The contemptible people have already said that we can contact Russia and deal with China together, as long as they are given enough benefits, with Russia's Far East Fleet, the army can still send troops and supplies to Korea, and there is no need to worry about the people of China attacking the rear of our army with landing operations." ”

"How naïve!" Okazawa sneered, "Why should the Russians listen to us, interests?" What benefits do we have for them? Kawakami-kun, don't you know that Russian bears can never be fed? Could it be that we defeated the DPRK and then gave it to the Russians with both hands? ”

"It's always okay to share benefits!" "Besides, Russia's expansion ambitions in the Far East are very large, and the Russians will never sit idly by and watch China grow stronger and create obstacles to their own expansion." Recently, I have sent someone to contact the Russian minister, and I believe that satisfactory results will be achieved in the near future! ”

Shiki Kayama thought he had grasped the handle of Kawakami, and couldn't wait to blurt out: "Hey, this is a matter for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you are privately contacting foreign ministers as a lieutenant general, what is this!" ”

"Couldn't the Army lay the foundation first if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs didn't think of it? According to Your Excellency, the Army and Navy should be unrelated, and we should not get together for a meeting! Kawakami replied unceremoniously, which made Earl Oyama Iwa feel very faceless, and reminded him again to be more restrained.

"Anyway—" Prince Chihito hurried out to play the round, "you all know what Prince Ben means. On the Russian side, I will personally go to liaison, the army can act according to the original plan, and the navy will step up the rush to repair and refit the existing warships to escort the convoy. Once Russia has pledged its full support to our country, the army can continue to advance, even if it crosses the Yalu River, with the aim of forcing China to recognize our control of Korea. As for the terms of negotiation proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the two countries will be adjusted from the north and the south, which are controlled by the two countries, to the country will control the DPRK alone. If something else happens—"

"Even if there is no support from the sea, our more than 100,000 army can still cross the Yalu River, seize the ammunition and food of the Chinese people as supplies, and attack Beijing all the way!" Kawakami interjected aggressively, this time Dashan Yan had to pull him and remind him not to be too presumptuous with His Royal Highness.

After a pause, Prince Chiin continued: "If the Russians are unwilling to help, the navy must fully assist the army to withdraw from Korea as soon as possible, save its strength, and defend its homeland. ”

Kawakami shouted desperately, "Against! The army must not retreat, we have five divisions and another brigade, we can still win without the navy, Your Highness, please think again. ”

Shiki Kayama scolded beside him: "Those who play monkeys on the streets of Edo will only be noisy and shouting." ”

Kawakami heard clearly, stepped on the conference table and pounced, just crushing Birshan, who pushed him away with a forceful fist, and the two scuffled together.

The two counts, Saigo and Oyama, hurriedly rushed up and pulled their men apart.

Prince Chiren sighed and watched the chaotic situation helplessly, while the other personnel in the base camp sat in their seats even more helplessly, pulling their faces and not saying a word.

"Bell, bell, bell—" The large self-striking bell hanging on the wall of the conference room rang, like the sound of a spirit coming from the underworld, and everyone couldn't help but fall silent.

Chiren saw the pointer clearly, and said to himself, "Twelve o'clock in the night, the darkest hour has come. ”