"What is Russia's attitude?"

"We are required to give up control of Fengtian and Liaoyang; all Japanese troops in Liaodong are under the command of Russia; the signed open treaty recognizes that Russia has absolute rights and interests in Manchuria, and Japan does not pursue any rights and interests in Manchuria; the rights and interests of the Korean Peninsula are shared by Japan and Russia, but Russia has priority."

"What? This is really too much. It is clearly asking us to surrender to Russia, and we must never agree."

"Yes, we will definitely not agree to such conditions, otherwise how can we be worthy of the heroic warriors who died in Manchuria."

"The Russians are too arrogant. They are all beaten up by us. Of course, they dare to make such excessive demands. We should teach the Russians a good lesson."

"Forget it, the overseas Chinese army is less than 50 kilometers away from Liaoyang, and overseas Chinese are still sending additional troops to Liaodong. We are now unable to teach the Russians a lesson. I'm afraid it is because the Russians have seen through this that they have given us such excessive conditions."

"Hmph! Do the Russians think that overseas Chinese will only attack us, not attack them? It's so short-sighted."

This is the Japanese cabinet meeting, and all the attendees are Japanese cabinet members or veterans. Seeing everyone's indignation, Prime Minister Kae Taro coughed softly and said, "Everyone, now we are discussing our next plan. Don't say anything that doesn't matter."

After hearing this, everyone calmed down from their indignation, but no one spoke for a while. After all, no one knew what to say at this time.

At this time, Hirobuki Ito said: "So what is the attitude of the French government?"

Foreign Minister Sutaro Komura smiled bitterly and said, "France also hopes that we will make some concessions to Russia."

Kazumatsu Fang Masayoshi said: "Why do you want us to give in to Russia? Overseas Chinese send troops to Liaodong, the target is not only us, Japan, but Russia is also their target."

Komura Sutaro said again: "And we have heard a rumor in France that Russia is still negotiating with overseas Chinese to jointly deal with our Japan, and then share the interests of Manchuria equally."

The veteran Inoue Kin sneered and said, "Silly, how can Chinese overseas be so easy to share with? If we Japan lose, then the next one will be overturned by Russia. The Russians are really stupid."

Hirobuki Ito shook his head and said, "The Russians are not that stupid. This is just a means of putting pressure on us. It is possible for Russia and overseas Chinese to negotiate, but overseas Chinese will never share the interests of Manchuria with Russia, so there is no possibility of them reaching an agreement."

After the East China government joined the war, Japan was also actively carrying out actions in addition to issuing a government statement. However, Japan's actions were mainly diplomatic and military, and it could only require the Japanese troops stationed in Liaodong to strengthen their vigilance and shrink their defense lines during this period, and wait for instructions from Japan in the next step. This is also a matter of no choice. Although the East China government's maritime closure operation lasted less than 10 days, it has brought great pressure to Japan, because the maritime closure of the East China government is not a small fight like the Russian Vladivostok squadron. At least 10 ships patrolled Japan's maritime transportation lines every day. Although it cannot be said that it is seamless, there is indeed not much space left for Japanese ships. The Japanese joint fleet was severely damaged and could not attack at all, so it was powerless to do anything about it.

Now Japan has invested nearly one million military personnel in the Liaodong Peninsula, and consumes hundreds of tons of various materials every day. It turns out that at least 5 transport ships in Japan arrive in Lushun or the Korean Peninsula every day. However, under the blockade of the East China government, only 6 ships arrive on the Korean Peninsula during this period. Other transport ships are either sunk or captured by the People's Army Navy or forced to return to Japan. Although Japan has collected some materials on the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese army in Liaodong has not yet been short of a situation, as long as the maritime blockade of the East China government is not lifted, this situation can only last for about 3 months at most.

Japan can only place its hopes on diplomacy now. The first diplomatic measure Japan took was to improve relations with Russia, and this decision was supported by Britain. Therefore, with Britain's active handling, France also participated. After several rounds of contact, Russia agreed on May 16 that the ambassadors of both sides to France would negotiate.

Although this result disappointed Japan, it turned out that Japan wanted the two ambassadors to Britain to negotiate, because Britain was an ally of Japan and would definitely be biased towards Japan during the negotiations. However, Russia was not stupid and insisted on negotiating with its own ally France. In desperation, Japan could only agree to Russia's request. After all, Japan now has something to do with Russia.

However, although Japan was mentally prepared for some unreasonable demands against the Russian Congress, it did not expect that the Russian Congress spoke out loud and put forward conditions that Japan could not accept. The rights and interests of Manchuria and North Korea were implemented after the war, but Russia asked Japan to sign a public treaty, which was unacceptable to Japan, because once it was signed, no matter whether Japan finally enforced or not, it could not be explained in China; and giving up control of Shenyang and Liaoyang is equivalent to allowing Japan to give up the Liaodong Peninsula.

The initiative was given to Russia. Since Lushunji was captured by the People's Army, if Shenyang and Liaoyang were given away again, Japan would have no place to establish a foothold on the Liaodong Peninsula. The Japanese army in Liaodong not only made it unacceptable to Japan, but even insulted them. Japan was fighting Russia on the battlefield, so these cabinet ministers had a sense of superiority towards Russia in their mentality, and now they wanted to let the Japanese army accept Russian command, which made them feel so stubborn.

According to Japan's idea, Japan and Russia's reconciliation was based on the areas occupied by the two sides as their respective spheres of influence, and they jointly formed a joint headquarters to fight against the East China government. In Japan's view, Japan and Russia are now in a relationship of dependence, and their lips are dead, so such conditions are of course not excessive. Japan also has its own selfish intentions here. Once the two sides join forces, the Russian army must go through the Shenyang and Liaoyang areas occupied by Japan. In this way, when the joint headquarters is formed, Japan can gain command of joint operations and command the Russian army to fight.

In fact, Russia is not unaware that the overseas Chinese are aiming to monopolize Northeast China and are also enemies of overseas Chinese. But after all, the Russian army has not fought with the People's Army now. Of course, in the Battle of Tsuma, the People's Army Navy made a spoonful of Russian fleets and Japanese fleets, but the situation of the Battle of Tsuma has not yet been spread. Moreover, when the People's Army Navy participated in the war, the Russian fleet had been crippled by the Japanese fleet, so the naval battle was ignored by Russia.

On the surface, the East China government is now fighting with Japan, while Russia is watching the tiger fight. At the same time, Russia and the East China government are indeed negotiating. In Russia's view, since it is negotiating, there is naturally room for easing. In this case, Russia, which has always been greedy, naturally has to speak out against the Japanese lion and must take advantage of it.

In addition, Russia has also a sense of revenge when it offers such conditions. During the Russo-Japanese War in the past year and a half, Russia was beaten to pieces by Japan, which made Russia look disgraceful and discredited. This also made it difficult for the Russians, who have always advocated themselves as fighting nations. Now that Japan has been asking for it, the arrogance in the Russians naturally emerges again: So what if you can fight a yellow-skinned monkey? In the end, you have to come and beg me in a low voice? Of course, you won’t make the yellow-skinned monkey have a good time.

As the mate of the two countries, France has no good feelings for Japan. On the one hand, it is the Europeans' instinctive arrogance and contempt for Asians, not to mention France, which doesn't even care about other European countries; on the other hand, the signing of the [Anglo-Japan Alliance] was aimed at the [Russia-French Alliance] as the imaginary enemy target, and France will definitely be biased towards its own ally Russia. Therefore, in France's view, Russia is willing to ignore past grudges, and it is already a great gift to Japan for its peace talks. Isn't it worthy of Japan's blood?

After a while, Hirobuki Ito said again: "So what is the attitude of Britain?"

Another focus of Japan's diplomatic measures is naturally its own ally Britain. As early as the second day after the East China government joined the war, the Japanese government asked the British government to cooperate with Japan to fight against the East China government in accordance with Article 3 of the [British-Japan Alliance Treaty]. However, the British government believes that Article 3 of the [British-Japan Alliance Treaty] is targeted at sovereign states, and whether the East China government is a sovereign state still needs time to determine whether the East China government is a sovereign state. Before the determination result is released, the British government cannot fulfill the agreement of the [British-Japan Alliance Treaty].

Britain's explanation made Japan very angry, but now Japan has a desire for Britain, so it can only swallow its anger. Moreover, Britain did not completely say that it was to determine the nature of the East China government, so it still left a glimmer of hope. So Japan put forward two conditions to Britain, one was to require Britain to take substantial actions and put pressure on the East China government, not to ask the East China government to stop the war, but at least to stop the blockade. The so-called substantial actions, Japan hoped that Britain would send warships to the Far East waters, even

It is a port that is anchored to Japan. On the one hand, it threatens the East China government and boosts the morale of Japan, or the UK takes the lead in launching a trade embargo against the East China government, which can also weaken the war potential of the East China government; on the other hand, it hopes that Britain will do France's work, let France try its best to convince Russia to make concessions and negotiate a joint agreement with Japan as soon as possible. It can be said that this is Japan's greatest hope. After all, Britain is still its own ally, and Japan believes that these two requirements are not high, which is completely possible for the British government to do.

After hearing Hirobu Ito's question, Sutaro Komura sighed again and said, "The British government had replied yesterday. At this time, it is not appropriate to send warships to the Far East waters. The UK has always advocated free trade and the government will not interfere with the operation of the economy, so it is impossible to issue a trade embargo against the East China government."
Chapter completed!