Super dictator.

The news that the Beiyang Fleet was almost wiped out made the Qing court seem to have been thrown a handful of cold water. The court that had summoned up a little courage immediately withered, and various high-profile arguments for peace were immediately released.

The capital was shaken, and the whole country was shocked.

The great powers were in an uproar.

After Ding Ruchang led the remaining few wrecked ships back to Dagukou, he felt ashamed to face others, and finally ended his life in the cheapest way-suicide by swallowing opium, leaving the mess to Liu Buchan.

Li Hongzhang, Governor of Zhili and Minister of Beiyang, locked himself in his room after hearing the news, and did not go out all afternoon.

According to the servants of the Governor's Mansion, Li Hongzhang kept muttering in the room: "Zijie misunderstood me, Zijie misunderstood me!"

Li Hongzhang believed that it was because he followed Wei Jichen's suggestion to break out that the Beiyang Fleet was destroyed.

If there is no breakout, and the port of Liugong Island is defended, maybe the reinforcements will arrive at the last moment, maybe the Japanese fleet can't attack again and again, and finally give up?

People always have a fluke mentality. Li Hongzhang is in this mood now. He cannot accept the complete annihilation of the Beiyang Fleet. will be sad.

In the entire Qing Dynasty, I am afraid that only Wei Jichen, who came from later generations who knew the fate of the original Beiyang Fleet, felt a little sad and rejoiced—at least he still kept some more fire for the Chinese Navy, and sank a few Japanese ships. You must know that in the original history, the Japanese The ship is not lost, but has gained many ships for nothing.

Of course, his thoughts cannot be shared with others.

February 2th is the Lantern Festival. In the Summer Palace, Lafayette had already invited a group of actors and acrobats, and lanterns were hung all over the palace.

However, the festive celebrations that were supposed to be joyful came to a halt.

The opera singers and the acrobats waited for a long time but did not wait for the arrival of Lafayette. Under the leadership of the eunuchs in the palace, they quit the Summer Palace again without knowing why.

And he didn't even get the reward. You must know that Lafayette was the most generous at this time in the past.

In the Hall of Mental Cultivation, Cixi was lying weakly on a chair, with two young maids beside her helping to relieve the acupoints.

Several military ministers, headed by Prince Gong Guiziliu, knelt on the ground with a decadent expression on their faces. Even Li Lianying, who has always been well-behaved, lowered her head and didn't know what to do.

Cixi sighed softly, waved her hands feebly, and said in a tired voice, "I'm tired of my family, and I'm going to bring Li Hongzhang to Beijing to negotiate peace with the Japanese as soon as possible."

At this moment, no one understood Cixi's mood, whether it was regret, disappointment, or despair. In short, this time, she had decided to negotiate peace no matter what, and it was useless even if Guangxu objected.

Prince Gong and the others did not dare to stay any longer, and stood up tremblingly. The atmosphere in the palace was so oppressive that one could hardly stand upright.

The destruction of the Beiyang Fleet was the last straw that broke the camel's back. The Qing Dynasty had completely lost the confidence to continue fighting.

In the Forbidden City, Guangxu sat on the dragon chair in a daze, staring at the front with empty eyes.

"Zhen, Zhen." Guangxu said two words of "Zhen", but didn't know what to say next.

After a long time, Guangxu's sluggish eyes finally loosened a little, and he asked aloud, "What is the Queen Mother's order?"

Guangxu has always lived in the shadow of Cixi, respecting, fearing and hating Cixi. At every critical moment, whenever he has no idea, the first thing he thinks of is his own father who always seems to be flattered.

Li Hongzao was physically and mentally exhausted, so he pulled himself together and said back and forth: "Lafayette has sent Li Hongzhang to Beijing as soon as possible to discuss peace talks."

"How is Liaodong?" Guangxu asked with some expectation.

Li Hongzao quickly said: "The situation in Liaodong is not optimistic. The Japanese have increased their troops in a large scale in Liaodong. After Li Guangjiu and the others regained Ximu City, they suffered heavy losses and were unable to move forward. Song Qing led the army to attack Fuzhou. Now the enemy and us are still fighting against each other. Can't stand it."

Guangxu suddenly lost all thoughts, and could no longer be in the slightest interest.

There had long been rumors that Li Hongzhang was to go to Japan to negotiate. Therefore, as soon as Cixi's edict arrived, Li Hongzhang wrote to the US Minister to China, Tian Bei, asking him to tell the Japanese government that he had obtained full responsibility for the peace talks, and asked the Japanese about the peace talks. place and time.

In order to fully prepare for the peace talks, Li Hongzhang even immediately set up his own team for peace talks and hired foreigners with a lot of money, including former U.S. Foreign Ministry lawyer Costa, former U.S. Vice Consul Bidger, and Dr. Cibacis, a doctor at the French embassy in China. Waiting for 33 people.

Li Hongzhang did not know that on the issue of China, Russia is the most greedy, Japan is the most vicious, and the United States is the most insidious. The United States, which lacks strength, is good at watching the fire from the other side, taking advantage of the fire, hiding behind the scenes and instigating other countries to invade China, and presenting itself as a friendly third party , plot against China.

Take the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of [-]-[-] as an example. There is also the shadow of the United States behind it. The United States sent warships to invade North Korea before, but was repelled by North Korea in one fell swoop. The United States government, unwilling to be reconciled, encouraged Japan to invade the mainland, so as to gain from it. benefit.

The support behind the United States is also the reason why Japan is determined to start a war. Who knows, the Qing government is too reckless, and Japan's ambitions have also expanded rapidly. After winning North Korea, they want to get China. If it is not that the country is no longer strong enough to support the war, Maybe the war will continue to expand.

In addition, the British also supported Japan's invasion of China, because the British felt that it would help curb Russia's development to the Far East.

Li Hongzhang paid a lot of money to hire American consultants, which is tantamount to attracting insiders.

The news that the Chinese navy was destroyed and the Qing government was eager for peace talks spread to the big powers, and the reactions of the countries were also extremely fast.

Russia, Gatchina Palace.

Tsar Nicholas II, who heard the news, held an emergency meeting that night to discuss the situation in the Far East and comprehensively expound Russia's strategy in the East.

Russian Foreign Minister Robanov warned at the meeting: "Sino-Japanese peace talks are imminent. The news from Japan is that they want China to cede the Liaodong Peninsula and Taiwan. Japan's war is the result of our construction of the Siberia Railway. European powers And the Japanese are probably aware that China will be divided up in the near future. If Japan occupies South Manchuria, it will be a threat to us. Therefore, we cannot allow Japan to occupy South Manchuria. If there is a need for war, we will act resolutely, so that we If we become China's savior, China will respect our service and therefore agree to peacefully modify our borders."

The Russian Navy Minister, Vice-Admiral Terdov, said in a strong voice: "Your Majesty, the Far East Fleet is ready and ready to participate in the battle at any time."

The Sino-Japanese War allowed the Russians to see through China's weakness. On the one hand, they envied the Japanese army's ability to conquer cities and territories. On the other hand, the Russians had long regarded Northeast China as their possession. intolerable.

Nicholas II had just ascended the throne last year, when he was full of ambitions, he tried his best to implement his Great Russia plan.

In the plan, not only China, but also Korea and Japan will become his colonies. The Russians are so ambitious that they are even more ambitious than the Japanese.

When Nicholas II heard that several ministers agreed with Robanov's words, he couldn't help but nodded and said: "Let the ministers in China and Japan keep abreast of the progress of the Sino-Japanese negotiations. Once there is a situation that is unfavorable to our country, the joint Other countries put pressure on Japan."

In the eyes of these great powers, although Japan has won the victory, the fruits of victory cannot be swallowed by a small country like Japan.

There is also a plot going on in the German imperial palace, and Wilhelm II of Germany is also ambitious. He is actively promoting his own world policy and wants to find "a place under the sun" for Germany all over the world.

But when he picked up the globe to look for it, he found sadly that the flags of Great Britain and the British Empire were planted everywhere.

The Sino-Japanese War made him feel like seeing a spring in the desert. It turned out that the East was far from being developed. The Qing Dynasty, a huge and decadent dynasty, could not even win against the Japanese?

Rich resources, cheap labor, and a vast market, can we give up?cannot.

Wilhelm II sat on the throne, German Prime Minister Hollen Roche, Foreign Minister Marshall and Navy Minister Holman were impressively listed.

Foreign Minister Marshall first described the situation in the Far East, and then concluded: "China has failed repeatedly, and even the Beiyang Fleet has been wiped out. The empire must intervene."

For the destruction of the Beiyang Fleet, He Ermen sighed endlessly, because the capital ships of the Beiyang Fleet were all purchased from Germany, and he was somewhat moved.

As for how to intervene, because the Sino-Japanese peace talks have not yet started, he only has one general direction, which is to help China, and then get rewards from China: a place or a port as a bridgehead to develop power in the Far East.

William II was very interested in this. If he could get a huge reward just by pretending, why not do it.

William II's left arm was atrophied due to illness, so he held a pair of gloves in his left hand. This made his left arm look a little longer to others. At this time, he was so excited that he put all the gloves on his left hand on the table. Excited asked, "Will the Chinese agree?"

"The Chinese have a saying that they can repay their kindness. If the empire has helped them, most of the Chinese would not be able to refuse this request." Foreign Minister Marshall said unhurriedly.

"So, should we send a huge fleet to the Far East to deter Japan?" William II asked Prime Minister Helen Luoxi.

He Lunluoxi shook his head and said disdainfully: "Your Majesty, to deal with the Japanese, only one warship is enough. I believe they dare not go to war with the empire. After all, the war with China has exhausted them."

German Foreign Minister Marshall echoed: "We are just going to express our position. What's more, compared with our country, I believe that the Russians are more reluctant to see Japan gain the land of Liaodong. Therefore, we can unite with Russia to mediate this situation together. A war, let the Japanese accept it as soon as it is good."

William II suffered from a brain disease, which caused him to be a little impulsive and reckless, and also a little arrogant.

He Lunluoxi said that it is enough to send only one warship, but that just means that he does not take the Japanese to heart, and does not really suggest sending only one warship.

At this time, William II didn't even think about it, and said to the Secretary of the Navy Holman with a face of fanaticism: "Send an armored ship from the imperial fleet to the Far East."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Seeing the weird expressions on the prime minister and foreign minister's faces, He Ermen could only agree helplessly.

"Is there any problem?" William II couldn't help but ask inexplicably when he saw that the expressions of the two were not right.

While He Lunluoxi replied that there was no problem, he thought in his heart that after the meeting, he should ask He Ermen to add two more warships.