Chapter 73 Missed

September 29, 1894.

Hiroshima, Japanese Army Base Camp.

These days, the drunkenness that has been flooding all over the base camp has disappeared, leaving only a sultry and irritability as before the storm is about to come. Even the weather that should be sunny in autumn in Japan has seemed to be as hot as summer.

Figures came and went, while the generals and senior civil servants of the army and the army were gathered indoors, and each was covered in sweat. However, no one thought of wiping it, just staring at the map and the telegrams that were shuttled back and forth.

The decorations on the balcony a few days ago were not removed, and a few bottles of foreign wine were still placed on the white tablecloth. However, no one went to the balcony to place wine and sing and revel. The sea breeze mixed with hot air blew, lifting up the white tablecloth high, but it was a bit like a shroud of a burial.

"………………Tian Bei, the US ambassador to China, has called, and Li Hongzhang tactfully stated to him that he will be irresponsible in the future and will no longer be responsible!"

A messenger from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rushed into the conference room of the base camp. Before the people arrived, he had already reported the latest telegram he received loudly. The messenger was dressed in neat Western dress, but the white hard collar had already been pulled open to him, and his neat grease head was messy, and he just rushed in and shouted.

A few sniffling sounds came from the room, and several army generals jumped up first, and the chairs were pounding.

"The Chinese people are the most cunning! Nothing they said can count!"

Some generals sat in the crowd, with stiff body and straight eyes, Baron Richie, the second foreign official, asked loudly: "Diplomatic personnel are all vulnerable, and they should all be cut off! Who made sure to the military headquarters that they could have a solid grasp of Li Hongzhang? He also suggested that the army start demobilization? Who was fooled by the Chinese? Now Li Hongzhang has said that he is irresponsible. The words you said at the beginning to suggest that the army be demobilized has shaken the determination of His Majesty the frontline Emperor to fight to the end! The military headquarters will never bear this responsibility!"

Hirai sat there blankly without moving his eyes. He turned out to be just the Japanese ambassador to the Qing Dynasty. After the war started in Japan, he was recalled to the country. Because he understood the domestic situation of the Qing Dynasty, he was dismissed as a deputy foreign official, as a representative of the diplomatic department participating in the base camp. He did not assume the overall diplomatic responsibility - from a fundamental point of view, after the establishment of the base camp, the power of the entire Japanese empire was concentrated in the hands of Hirofumi Ito for a while. The steps and channels for negotiations with Hirofumi Ito themselves were controlled by Hirofumi Ito. Not to mention that he was a subminister of Foreign Affairs who had a certain level of talk, even the foreign minister could not speak.

However, the Japanese Foreign Minister was originally an old army senior General Muro Osunami. He is now in the process of fighting in Shandong with the Third Army. Now the negotiations are not good, and the situation has turned over. If these army leaders don’t vent their anger at him, who will they vent their anger?

He didn't want to tell the difference, and he couldn't tell the difference. He himself was confused. He had been on mission to the Qing Dynasty for more than ten years, claiming to have a deep understanding of all aspects of this ancient empire. Since the Meiji period, the people who are interested in the empire have put less effort into the Qing Dynasty?

This old empire has disintegrated and lagged far behind the times. Not only has the national strength declined to a certain extent, but even the declined national strength cannot be mobilized. As long as you kick it hard on the door, the whole old house will collapse. In a extreme, an empire that is not a modern nation-state cannot survive in this world at all. It is increasingly doubting that many people in the Qing Dynasty can understand the term modern nation-state!

The development of the past situation was indeed as expected by most empire famous people. Although the situation in the Korean War had a minor setback, the attack on the Qing headquarters had been quite smooth. The Qing central government did not have the ability and courage to mobilize national forces to fight. Once the national forces were mobilized to fight, it would inevitably lead to the weak balance situation formed by Cixi's hard work. The Qing central government no longer dared to face the situation after this balance was broken. I would rather continue so lifelessly.

The trend of resistance to the end of the country was aroused - in other words, the will of a modern nation-state was revitalized. Either wisely and educated people had spontaneously gained this recognition. Or there was an epoch-making figure who appeared and led the trend with his victory until it swept everything. Looking at the Qing Dynasty, how could there have been such an amazing figure? As long as the water and land strength of the Beiyang was concentrated, Li Hongzhang, who was already the first-class figure in the Qing Dynasty, had collapsed. Who could replace him and be the mainstay of this great empire to resist and fight to the end?

Li Hongzhang was indeed collapsed, he was not a person who could surpass the times.

The Qing Dynasty's central government also decided to surrender. They were afraid that the status quo would be broken, and they were even better than surrendering to Japan.

The local governors and governors in the Qing Dynasty did not express any fierce expressions. The Qing Dynasty's citizens were also chaotic as usual, because no one led such a trend, allowing people to follow and let the thunder oscillate into the depths of this old empire!

When the Qing Dynasty's request for peace was sent, the naval and army elites who used the Japanese country's deeds to make a bet on the country were so ecstatic!

Open your eyes one step ahead of time and I am even more fortunate to gather so many capable people and patriots in the Meiji year - the 2,000-year history of the Japanese Shenwu Age, and never had such luck! I have worked hard for twenty years, always planned and arranged for twenty years, and looked coldly at the old empire across the sea, and gambled on everything to do all the desperate military and martial arts in 20 years. This poor island country has the opportunity to reach the highest point in Asia for the first time in more than two thousand years!

These Japanese people have not had so many super talented people in two thousand years. It can be said that before this battle, they had tried all their energy to infer the outcome of the war and arranged it step by step. Even with such a weak family background in Japan, they were almost at the end of their lives. This is different from Xu Yifan's combat scale in a corner and did not easily seek the supply scale of the battle. It is a huge war that spans two seas and supports the full attack of more than 100,000 troops overseas. Moreover, Xu Yifan does not have to maintain a huge consumption of a modern gold-eating beast - the Navy.

Although it can be said to be a bet that will be a big boon for the country, from Hirofumi Ito to the specific commander of the troops who commanded the war, everyone believes that the war is 70% sure.

However, Xu Yifan appeared in the Qing Dynasty.

This comet-like figure in East Asian politics has changed the battle situation so profoundly. All the plans and ambitions of these people have failed!

The Qing Dynasty announced peace and surrender.

Xu Yifan will not surrender.

He had a powerful force that destroyed two Japanese field divisions. He occupied the inside position in western Liaoning and southern Liaoning. He incorporated tens of thousands of Qing troops in southern Liaoning, and he seemed to know that as long as he continued to fight, Japan would be difficult to continue!

The most important thing is not these, but that he has already started a tide. The Qing Dynasty did not have the strength to continue fighting, but that there was no mainstay leading them to fight. Xu Yifan had already replaced the dusty Li Hongzhang and became the hope of the world for a while!

It was not that Rijiyi had evaluated Xu Yifan and his power at the beginning. Japan's channels for collecting information from the Qing Dynasty were multifaceted and multi-level, but the evaluation of Xu Yifan, the information summarized by various channels, and the final conclusions were similar. The diplomatic department's evaluation of Xu Yifan was particularly high because he knew some of the inside stories of Xu Yifan in Southeast Asia. He believed that he had considerable power. However, everyone believed that Xu Yifan was in the east of the sea and was not as good as Li Hongzhang, and he was aided in all aspects of the Qing Dynasty's political arena.

There are many, and the financial resources are strong, not a force that surpasses Li Hongzhang. Everyone also thinks that Xu Yifan is very ambitious. When the Japanese army attacked the Qing headquarters and Li Hongzhang, ambitious people like him should follow the traditional Chinese history, according to the traditional way of Chinese history, they should follow the army to observe the provocation. The more miserable the Qing headquarters and Li Hongzhang were defeated, the more he had the chance to take advantage of the situation. The Qing Central Committee had disliked Xu Yifan. His strength was the capital for his life. Will he fight his capital for the Qing Dynasty?

The judgment of Xu Yifan's force after the war broke out was that Xu Yifan was likely to take advantage of this war and retreat from North Korea to Manchuria, which would likely include Ji and Hei, make way for the main road, and then take the opportunity to pick the advantage of Fengtian. No one thought he would resist firmly.

No one expected that Xu Yifan would resist resolutely and even caused the army to suffer a great loss. He even returned from the army for thousands of miles, and when the world was surrendering, he shouted out that deafening sound.

Xu Yifan, don’t surrender!

This turbulent tide was so great that the Meiji elites raised by Japan's 2,000 years of accumulation of energy have the possibility of their lifelong efforts being shattered!

Looking at the red eyes of the generals of the army, Ri Yiyi could only sigh in his heart. He didn't mind the anger of these soldiers. He just felt that his heart was so empty that he was panicked. Where should this war end?

At the beginning of the war, we must think of how to end. Japan faced a great power with a few soldiers, and was asking for a flash of lightning to shock the fainted opponent. The purpose of the war was to launch three places at once and carry out the war at the same time.

But what should we do when the war cannot end?

The wind outside was getting louder and louder, but the sea breeze didn't blow into the conference room of the base camp. The pressure was getting lower and lower, making everyone feel breathless. Everyone was sweating like rain and their face turned ashen.

The sound of footsteps came from outside the house, and the eyes of the staff at the base who were sitting in the house turned around. Now all the diplomatic information came, and all military information was suspended. The sound of footsteps outside must be the messenger. Who knows what unlucky news was sent again! The dozens of people sitting in the house seemed to have been hypnotized collectively, with all kinds of gazes - crazy, dull, unwilling, despair, anger, irritability...... At this moment, they gathered together, turning neatly and slowly. Even breathing was held at this moment.

In the silence, a messenger who specializes in conveying diplomatic intelligence walked to the door with a pale face, holding a piece of intelligence mail bag in his hand, with a closure, but looking at the messenger's expression, he clearly knew what the information in the mail bag was.

"…………The Qing Dynasty has issued an edict to seek peace, which was done by Weng Tonghe without authorization...Weng Tonghe has been dismissed from office and returned home. Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty personally issued an edict not to negotiate peace with the empire, but appointed Xu Yifan and Li Bingheng as imperial envoys from both sides of the north and the south to fight the empire to the end!"

Everyone's hearts in the room seemed to fall to the bottom of the valley, and the feeling of falling from the tower seemed to be heard!

Rizhiyi closed his eyes. He did not have the wisdom to sort out the messy thoughts now. He just deeply felt that East Asian history has been deeply different from now on.

The brief silence in the room was quickly broken, and several blood-red generals of the army and navy jumped up and knocked on the table like crazy.

"Punish these unfaithful Chinese people!"

"The imperial army has 100,000 tigers. When the decisive attack is taken, it will wipe out all Qing troops that dare to resist!"

"Start the Zhili Plain War! Burn the war to the feet of Beijing, capture the Qing emperor to Tokyo, and capture Xu Yifan to Tokyo!"

"The Imperial Navy has never been defeated in East Asia. It is even more impossible to fail now! It will bombard Tianjin again, sweep the coast of Qing Dynasty, in Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Taiwan... land at all ports of Qing Dynasty! Even if the navy has one soldier and one ship left, it will fight to the end!"

"The Zhili Plain is in battle, the Zhili Plain is in battle! Let's fulfill Kawakami's last wish for him!"

The battle of Zhili plains was the final battle that Kawakami Kawakami was in charge of the final battle when he was alive. Now that the war has gone on, all the Japanese troops have been sent out and trapped on three battlefields, the navy is even more exhausted. Even if Xu Yifan is not blocking southern Liaoning, according to the power that the Japanese army now has, it is impossible to fight in Zhili. The second and third army, which maintains the ability to fight, has exhausted all Japan's supply capacity. How can we carry out such a big offensive? Now we are yelling to advance this final battle, which is utterly dreaming.

National strength is the most real thing, especially when conducting offensive national wars, it is even more false. There are so many refined standing troops, ships transport tonnage, foreign exchange for purchasing arms, and production capacity, and no false. Japan started from a foundation that was nearly twenty times weaker than the Qing Dynasty. Although it has taken advantage of opening its eyes to see the world in recent years, national strength must be accumulated for a long time. Fighting on the enemy's territory, transporting every soldier to the enemy's territory, and shooting out every bullet is a reflection of national strength. Japan has already put the accumulation of decades to the limit in this war!

But when the soldiers knocked the table so loudly and the bubbles splashed, who would dare to say something more?

I just don’t know who it is, and muttered in a low voice: “Your Excellency Ito will make the final decision………”

A sentence reminded these soldiers, and they all stared at each other with wide eyes and looked around: "Where is Your Excellency Ito? In this situation, he needs to unify everyone's will and report to His Majesty the Emperor to fight to the end! Tens of thousands of soldiers sacrificed their lives, and the lords of the Kawakura of Yama Prefecture became gods. We have no choice but to continue fighting!"

Where is Hiromori Ito? Even Hiromori, who had his eyes closed, opened his eyes and looked around. Hiromori Ito must have known this news for a long time. He always controlled the progress of the war with his iron fist. At this time, what kind of countermeasures will Your Excellency Ito use to deal with it? He must have a solution, right?

The sea breeze became stronger and stronger, and dark clouds were piled up in the sky. The wind finally blew into the conference room of the base camp. The sea breeze with wet water came in, blew the windows ping-pong, and the orderlies hurriedly closed the windows. The atmosphere that was so suffocated in the house seemed to have loosened because of the sea breeze. The soldiers pulled open their collars randomly, gasped heavily, and their roars became louder. When they heard from outside, it seemed that the conference room of the base camp was no different from the asylum.

Just when these roars reached the highest point, a cold voice came from the entrance: "Who wants to fight to the end?"

Everyone stopped the voice and turned their eyes to see Hirofumi Ito, standing at the door, dressed in neat clothes, handing the hat to the standing orderly soldier, looking like he was dressed up in a dress to see Hiroshi Tokyo. His face was still, his hair was neat, but his eyes were deep and big, as if he hadn't fallen asleep for several nights.

He strode to the front of the conference table and glanced at the messy desk. Some documents, maps, ashtrays filled with cigarette butts were everywhere on the growing conference table. Everyone held their breath and looked at his actions, especially those soldiers, all of whom were blushing.

Ito Hirobuki glanced around with cold eyes, and suddenly swept the messy things in front of him, pushing them to the ground. The rumbling sound scared everyone's hearts.

"The empire did not have Lu Chen, why are they so panicked?"

His voice was calm, which made everyone feel unconsciously proud. An army officer took advantage of the situation to stand up, knocked his horse boots and bowed his head and saluted: "Your Excellency! Please give an order to the entire army immediately to completely defeat the Qing Dynasty! The empire still has strength. Please let the people of the country not be willing to surrender, so let them perish!"

With one sound, all soldiers stood up, and everyone bowed their heads. The feelings were particularly excited, and tears flowed, looking at Hirobu Ito!

A light flashed among the dark clouds in the sky, illuminating the gloomy room, and everyone's faces were pale.

Ito looked at the soldiers coldly and said lightly: "Forget it... it's time to end. I will rush to Tokyo and report to His Majesty the Emperor to end this war. The final guidance of the base camp to the army and navy is to prepare for retreat and demobilization, other matters, and political and diplomatic resolution."

At this time, the thunder came from a distance, and it was repeated in the dark clouds in the sky. However, no matter how the thunder rolled, it could not compare to Hirobuki Ito's words!

With a bang, an army officer kept holding the saber in his hand and landed on the wooden floor.

Another officer immediately slapped the table and said, "The Empire was not defeated, why did the Army and Navy suffer such humiliation? Your Excellency, are you serious about what you said? Your Excellency, please do not be a traitor to the Empire!"

"Your Majesty the Emperor will never agree with such a rebellious behavior! Your Excellency, please take back what you said!"

"This is the traitor, the traitor!"

"The army and the navy do not obey the base camp's unscrupulous guidance! Otherwise, the kings who have become gods will face the imperial people without face! They sent their children into the army to fight to the death for the empire. They worked hard and took out the last copper plate, not to let us admit defeat!"

"The army and the navy also have the right to report the tent. We will swear to ask Your Majesty to personally guide the war and carry out this war to the end!"

At this time, not only the military staff of the base camp, but also many civil servants and staff jumped up and spoke loudly. Several officers even stood up and put away the official documents and strode out. The soldiers who stayed in the field had lost their usual attitude of being ordered to Hirofumi Ito, clenched their fists and shouted, and their fingers were almost pointing to his face.

And Hirobu Ito just looked coldly at these elite staff at the base camp who had become crazy.

Outside the house, heavy rain poured down.

I don't know how long it took, but these aides all left angrily. There is no doubt that the Army and Navy will exercise their power to report the tent and oppose Hirofun Ito, a decision that they cannot understand.

Although Xu Yifan of the Qing Dynasty did not surrender and turned the overall situation around, Japan still had the upper hand in the entire war! If you fight again, you can still seek a decent ending!

In the conference room, only Hiroi was left. Hirofumi Ito stood there silently, and the lightning outside the window made his face bright and dark. His back, which had been straightening, gradually bent down at this time.

Hiroi stood up gently, walked to Hiroki Ito, bowed his head and bowed: "Your Excellency..."

Ito seemed to have woken up at this time, looked at him, and smiled bitterly: "Hiji, do you object to me too?"

Rizhiyi shook his head slowly: "I believe your judgment, but it's hard to figure it out..."

Ito smiled bitterly: "Who doesn't understand? It's just that you don't want to admit failure!"

He looked depressed: "Wars are never about the success or failure of killing people, but just a continuation of politics... The empire rose up and carried out the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, which was nothing more than following the overall changes in East Asia. The British and French powers needed a force that could balance Russia's expansion in the Far East. The empire was a small country, which was easier to control than the Qing country. So they were happy to see us defeat the Qing country and share the dividends we defeated... But once the war ended, especially in Manchuria, it gave the Russians an excuse to get involved...... The British and French powers would never want to see this situation happen. Once we cannot win quickly, we can only admit defeat! Without their support, the empire would never be able to defeat the Qing country alone!

…………If the war continues to be stalemate, all kinds of forces will be involved. It is difficult to guess what the outcome of the Qing Dynasty will be. But after all, it is easy for big countries to survive this storm, and they have room for buffering. The small Japan has only no share! We have won respect. For the future, we have to retreat. If we continue to fight, we will only lose all the chips in our hands! Everyone understands this truth, but they do not have the courage to admit it………We can only retreat and wait for the next chance………”

Hiroi just listened silently. On weekdays, it was impossible for Ito Hirofumi to express his thoughts like this in a long and long way. At this time, Ito Hirofumi was the loneliest person in Japan.

"Your Excellency, if we return, will there be a chance next time?"

Hirobu Ito did not answer for a moment, but just walked to the window and looked at the heavy rain outside the window. Outside Yupin Harbor, the deep black waves were rolling, and white foam was spreading on the sea like slanting fog. A fishing boat that had no time to return to the port was undulating among the mountain-like waves, in danger.

"We... may have missed the best opportunity in more than two thousand years... I really want Japan to stand at the top of Asia... Even if it's only a hundred years..."
Chapter completed!