St. Petersburg, Hermitage.

Although it was 1 a.m., the office of Tsar Nicholas II was still brightly lit and the figures were moving, and fierce debates were heard from time to time.

However, although there are only more than 10 people in the office, they are currently important officials in Russia, namely: Chairman of the Ministers Committee (equivalent to Prime Minister) Vette, Secretary of Finance Kokswov, Speaker of the National Defense Committee Nikolaevich, Foreign Minister Ramsdolf, Minister of Internal Affairs Plevi, former Minister of Imperial Affairs Bezobrazov, Minister of the Navy General Billylev, Minister of Army Sakharov, Marshal Alexeyev, Field Marshal Currobatkin, etc.

The reason why the Tsar and a group of important officials stayed up late to deal with it was naturally the situation in the Far East. Due to the time difference, news from the Far East was midnight when it reached St. Petersburg, so the Tsar and important officials had to stay up late to deal with the Far East affairs so that they could grasp the dynamics of the Far East and make targeted handling plans at the extreme.

Although it is still during the armistice period, and the participation of the East China government in the war has greatly reduced the pressure on Russia, it has also made the direction of the war more complicated and unpredictable, in the early war, Russia has always been in a disadvantaged position. If it were not for the East China government in the war, Russia would have probably completely lost the war. Therefore, Russia also closely monitored the further development of the situation and looked for opportunities to reverse the adverse situation. He did not dare to underestimate any news from the Far East.

Ramsdolph said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has just received a telegram from the French Consulate. Japan has officially rejected our request and proposed that it either accept the conditions proposed by Japan or not make peace with Japan."

Sakharov sneered and said, "Didn't Japan take the initiative to make peace with us? Now they have been beaten to a mess by overseas Chinese. What qualifications do they have to talk about the conditions with us? The yellow-skinned monkeys always seem to be unable to distinguish the situation."

Ramsdorf shook his head and said, "I don't think so. The target of overseas Chinese is not only Japan. We are also the target of attacks by overseas Chinese. But we have not had contact with overseas Chinese now. It can be said that Japan is blocking us and blocking the bullets of overseas Chinese for us. But if Japan falls, the guns of overseas Chinese will be immediately aimed at us."

Nicholas II nodded and said, "Where are overseas Chinese? Are there any new progress?"

Ramsdolph said: "No, the overseas Chinese are still responsible for attacking Fengtian. They attack Liaoyang. After defeating Japan, they will negotiate the territorial issues of the three northeastern provinces based on the [Delivery Three Northeastern Provinces] treaty." After a pause, they said: "Overseas Chinese also said that if we reject their conditions, they will attack Fengtian, so that we will not get anything."

Nicholas II frowned and said, "Damn yellow-skinned monkeys, they all look the same."

It turned out that Russia had a good plan. Now the Japanese and East China governments are fighting, so both sides need to pull Russia back. In Nicholas II's imagination, the Japanese and East China governments should be competing to show concessions to Russia in order to obtain Russia's help. Russia can also take the price and take advantage of it. But unexpectedly, they all saw through Russia's goal. Not only did they not accept Russia's bidding, but they were tougher than the other, which also disappointed Nicholas II. Why not follow his own script?

Ramsdolph said: "Your Majesty, it's actually good. Let's let these two yellow-skinned monkeys fight each other. When they fight to the point of losing both sides, we will pick the last fruit."

Sakharov said: "No, I think we should accept the conditions of overseas Chinese, send troops with overseas Chinese to recover Fengtian. Because Fengtian is the most important city in the Far East, once we regain Fengtian, we can win the initiative in the Far East again. Even if we negotiate with overseas Chinese in the future, Fengtian is an important bargaining chip in our hands. Japan is now very weak. It is impossible for them to defend Fengtian at all, and it is difficult for them to cause great losses to overseas Chinese. Therefore, waiting blindly will only waste the opportunity."

Ramsdolph said: "I don't think this is a wise choice, because before this, we have been losing military failures, so we will lose Lushun, Liaoyang, Fengtian and other places in succession. Therefore, we can no longer easily intervene in the war. And once we re-capture Fengtian, we will face the guns of overseas Chinese and fight with overseas Chinese, and we have little chance."

Sakharov said: "Our previous defeat was mainly due to insufficient preparations, which was taken advantage of by the yellow-skinned monkey of Japan. He won several battles by chance. Now we have gathered 600,000 troops in the Far East and are well prepared. Even if overseas Chinese do not participate in the war, we will launch an attack on Japan and take back all the losses before. This time, even overseas Chinese cannot stop our army."

Ramsdolph said: "The battle ahead can be said to be inadequately prepared, but when the Battle of Fengtian occurred, the war had been going on for a year. If it was still inadequately prepared at this time, it would be difficult to convince. Marshal Curobatkin, do you think we can defeat overseas Chinese?"

Curobatkin's expression was also a little embarrassed. He was the supreme commander of the Russian army in the Far East, but he was dismissed from the Far East because of the fall of Shenyang and being dismissed from the Far East. Now Curobatkin does not hold a position in the Jiayi Department for the time being, but he has been commanding on the front line for more than a year and is very familiar with the situation on the front line, so he is also allowed to attend this imperial meeting.

Seeing the Tsar's eyes looking at him, Curobatkin coughed and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for your frankness. The Russian army in the Far East may not be ready to go to war with overseas Chinese."

Although Curobadkin was a soldier, before the war between Japan and Russia, Curobadkin opposed the war because he knew too much about the Russian army in the Far East. Although Russia has gathered 600,000 troops in the Far East, Curobadkin knew very well that simply comparing the number is meaningless. Since the war between Japan and Russia, the Russian army's logistics in the Far East was completely messy, and there was no improvement when Curobadkin left office. Moreover, Curobadkin did not think that his successor, General Linevich, could have any qualitative changes in a few months.

Sakharov was quite dissatisfied with Kurobatkin's attitude and was about to refute it. At this time, Bezobrazov, who had not spoken, said: "Your Majesty, and everyone, I am a layman in the military, but what I want to tell you is that we need to win a victory in the Far East. I believe that you have not forgotten the bloody incident that happened in February this year. Although this crisis has been temporarily suppressed, the social dissatisfaction has not been completely resolved and may erupt at any time. Now we are like sitting on a crater, and we may be crushed to pieces at any time. Therefore, now we need a victory to divert the domestic crisis, calm down and ease social dissatisfaction, and at the same time enhance the prestige of the government."

After hearing Bezobrazov's words, everyone's faces were a little unnatural. The "Bloody Sunday" incident in February this year still made the ministers still feel scared. Everyone knew in their hearts that Russia is now full of crises and may intensify at any time. On the one hand, the social contradictions accumulated over the years have reached a critical point, and the huge military expenditure of the war has become the last rice apple that suppresses camels and lols; on the other hand, the continuous defeats of the Russian army in the Far East battlefield also severely hit the confidence of Russian society and disappointment with the government. After all, war is the thing that the Russians are most proud of. Losing the war is because of the loss to Japan, the yellow-skinned monkey, which is of course difficult for the Russians to accept.

At this time, if the Russian army can win a victory on the battlefield, it is to recover a major victory like Chenyang. Although it cannot completely resolve the crisis, it can also greatly alleviate the crisis and buy enough time for the government to completely resolve the crisis. And now is the time when the Japanese army is weakest, and the victory of this battle is almost within reach. Therefore, Bezobrazov's words are very attractive to Nicholas II and other ministers.

At this time, Witt said: "Your Majesty, I agree with the advice of the former Minister of the Imperial Palace, we need this victory."

Like Hirofumi Ito and Akitoshi Yama Prefecture, Vit and Bezoblazov were a pair of political enemies in the Russian political arena. Before the war between Japan and Russia, he firmly opposed the war, while Bezoblazov was the representative who advocated war against Japan. Since Nicholas II also favored the war against Japan, the pro-war faction temporarily gained power. Vit once resigned as the Minister of Finance to express his dissatisfaction. However, with Russia's continuous military defeats, Nicholas II recruited Vit and asked him to serve as the chairman of the ministerial committee, which was equivalent to the position of Russian Prime Minister, which shows that Russia is also preparing to end the war.

Witt said again: "But after achieving such a victory, we should negotiate with overseas Chinese to resolve the Far East issues, and we must never have another war with overseas Chinese."

Although Vette has always been at peace, he also understands that the current situation in Russia does require a victory to ease the crisis. Therefore, he also agreed to the Russian army to cooperate with the People's Army to fight and regain Shenyang. But Vette is more aware that Russia can no longer fight, and this battle can only be the last battle, and he must never go to war with the East China government.
Chapter completed!