Chapter 2 Selection

The night is already very deep. In the royal courtyard in the depths of the Zijin Mountain in Nanjing, Yanjing, the Chinese Empire, an east-style palace stands in the hinterland of the royal courtyard. The white modern east-style palace building is magnificent and magnificent, comparable to the Palace of Versailles or the Tsar's Kremlin, and this one is now To some extent, the palace architecture in the Daidong style is an attempt of a new Chinese style of architecture, a combination of modern European architectural technology and traditional oriental architectural aesthetics.

The towering and magnificent royal palace is the last building of the same type built in the world for one person to enjoy, and such a luxurious and majestic palace was built and maintained. In fact, this palace was deliberately built more often as a "show" of the empire, not shabby, but finally it was built by the royal family for several years. Pre-funded and repaired.

The eaves of the palace are large eaves in the east. The corridor of the palace is also in the east. The lamps under the corridor are evenly shining with soft orange light. The royal garden, which exists as a summer resort, is idle most of the time, but at this time, according to the usual practice, the royal family has moved here after June.

Under a corridor of the palace, there are several close attendants standing, and the window of the room behind them emits soft lights. This is the study of His Majesty the Emperor of the Chinese Empire. In most cases, the emperor himself prefers to handle official business in the study, especially in the Royal Garden.

However, whenever the royal family moves into the other garden as usual, the emperor himself will never "overtime". The emperor also needs to rest, not to mention that a large number of affairs officials control the progress of the whole empire, as well as the prime minister and the cabinet to deal with common things, only when they have disputes or major events, Only then will you enter the government building to ask your majesty.

People who are familiar with His Majesty's habits often do not disturb His Majesty at night, but tonight is abnormal. When Chen Moran was excited to observe the starry sky with his son at the palace observatory, a court lady hurried to report. Prime Minister Yuan Shikai, Foreign Minister Liang Dunyan, Army Minister Cai E, Navy Minister Liu Guanxiong was eager to see His Majesty.

At this time, it was already 9: 30 p.m.

"At this time..."

Looking at the time, Chen Moran frowned slightly. With the political sense he has developed over the years, he can foresee that at this time, several ministers are eager to see that something big will happen. And recently... Thinking about the changes in the situation in Europe in recent months and the major events that are going to happen today in history, Chen Moran understands that maybe something really is going to happen.

"...I still think that if there is a war, we must fulfill the obligations of our allies..."

In the waiting room outside the study, the army minister Cai E still insisted on his attitude at this time.

In the past year, the situation in Europe has deteriorated. According to the information held by the General Staff Intelligence Office, war may break out in Europe at any time. Just a few hours ago, the Army Department received information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the Russian tsar and several important ministers were discussing the Balkan situation. If Austria-Hungary intervened in the Balkans by force, Russia, as a supporter of Serbia, is likely to intervene in the Balkans.

And this is likely to lead to a war between European powers. For this reason, at the cabinet meeting, the cabinet members who attended the meeting disputed China's position. Cai E, as the Minister of the Army, stubbornly believes that at this time, China must abide by the "international reputation."

"Songpo, I need to remind you that the parliament is still discussing whether to renew the treaty with the German alliance..."

Liang Dunyan's words only made Cai E's voice hoarse. Unlike the pro-German of the army, Liang Dunyan, as a foreign minister, is not pro-British, but he does not agree with China's "sentations" at this time.

"Well, there is no need for you to argue. After all, whether you say it or not, it will be your majesty in the end!"

At this time, Liu Guanxiong fell in the middle and got mud.

Yuan Shikai stood there calmly and squinting at the three people in front of him. Five years ago, after he was promoted from "Governor of North Korea" to Prime Minister, Yuan Shikai found that the Prime Minister was just a superficial spectacle. In fact, he was not as powerful as his North Korean governor.

Nine years ago, according to the Sino-Chinese peace treaty, Korea was attached to China and became a Chinese vassal. However, in the five years of the empire, there was a conflict between the Korean national army and the royal family. The royal army created by China finally had a military change, arrested and executed a large number of ministers, and forced Li Xi of the Kingdom of Korea to flee to the governor's palace.

At that time, Yuan Shikai, who was the governor of North Korea, first sent all the North Korean royal family to Nanjing at the behest of the emperor, and then increased a large number of troops to the Korean Peninsula. While calming the military changes, the governor-general of North Korea directly appointed officials at all levels, and the former officials were arrested and executed in the name of "rebellion", and then it was only short. In just a few days, His Majesty's holy metaphor came from Nanjing. King Li Xi of Korea was robbed of his title because of his "incompetence to chaos", and the Korean royal army was also disbanded.

Then, with the support of 300,000 troops, Yuan Shikai, the governor of North Korea, who had the "cheap power", then announced that he had accepted North Korea as a province of China, with the exclusive power of the governor.

In the next three years, in the face of the subjugation of the country, there were ups and downs in all parts of North Korea, with supporters and opponents, while Yuan Shikai treated his supporters with leniency and asked His Majesty to give them a lower title. To the opponents, he did with an iron fist. However, in three years, North Korea returned to calm.

However, everyone knows that after the seemingly smiling Yuan Shikai was transferred from North Korea to prime minister, European and American newspapers once named him "butcher prime minister". He had the blood of more than 100,000 North Koreans. However, although he was also criticized at home for his iron fist in North Korea, it did not prevent him from being promoted to prime minister.

In the afternoon, when I received an emergency call from St. Petersburg. Yuan Shikai was playing mahjong with several friends in the Prime Minister's official residence. Today, he was very good luck. After several rounds, he had won thousands of yuan, and even almost won a house. It can be said that he was quite good luck, but in the end, the "sane thing" disturbed him, and he had to send the winning house back to his friends.

After receiving the emergency telegram from St. Petersburg from his assistant minister. As soon as he finished reading the urgent telegram, he knew that in the end, I was afraid that he would have to ask His Majesty. Since he was promoted to the position of Prime Minister, the reason why he felt that the Prime Minister was not as good as the Governor-General was that he was the only governor of China, and he also had the right to "act cheaply". Whenever he thought of being a prime minister. Restrictions, it is difficult for him to hide the inexplicable melancholy that the occasional budding prime minister is not as good as the governor.

In the office, after Yuan Shikai grabbed the phone, the first thing that came to mind was Army Secretary Ku Cai E. He clearly knew that this kind of thing must be discussed with military intervention. Then, the meeting was held for an hour. As he expected, there was a dispute at the meeting. Finally, the four ministers made an appointment to come to the Royal Garden.

In the small living room next to the study, around the urgent electricity in Russia, Chen Muran, Yuan Shikai and others have been talking about the white fish belly in the east.

The topics discussed are complicated and complicated, but a few of them are unquestionable. "At this time, we must remain neutral and must not do anything that causes misunderstandings in other countries!"

"We should take the opportunity to launch a war against Russia, so as to seize all the lost lands of the Qing Dynasty, and even further advance..." and its specific method.

"If Germany and Austria-Hungary are involved in the war, Britain, France and Russia will inevitably declare war on Germany and Austria. After that, Russia's rear will inevitably be empty. At that time, it can attack Russia from the three directions of Northeast China, Mongolia and Xinjiang Province, so as to ensure China's interests..."

"We must take into account the factors of the United Kingdom and the United States..."

"Then attack the Southern Ocean. At that time, Britain will not be able to stop us..."

When the discussion was coming to an end, Chen Moran, who always listened to the words of the three people, touched his beard with his hand, and then fell out these words:

"Yes, expand to the north. From our point of view, it is most suitable for our broad interests. This is the ideal of our empire."

In a word, Chen Moran made a conclusion that there are only 106 infantry divisions in the Royal Guards Army, of which only 36 first-level divisions, that is, full of divisions, but 20 of them belong to the Sanbei region, and only 30 divisions of B, that is, 20 divisions are not satisfied with the division, and 20 of them belong to Sanbu. In the north, it can be said that half of the Chinese army is used to guard against Russia.

It can be said without hesitation that no matter how calm Sino-Russian relations seem, but in fact, for China, Russia has always been the biggest potential enemy on land and also the biggest threat. Over the past six years, the Army Staff has been carrying out a variety of defense and offensive plans, among which Most of them are aimed at Russia.

Your Majesty's words only made Cai E happy. Just as he was about to speak, he listened to His Majesty's words.

"But not now!"

Chen Moran made a conclusion about the night's talk with one sentence. He looked at the three ministers in front of him and continued to speak earnestly.

"Perhaps, now our national strength has made some progress, and at this time, the situation of the great powers competing for the world by force has appeared, but now if we rush into the battlefield of the great powers for the great powers, if we don't choose an ally carefully, I'm afraid we will lose all this now!"

Looking at them, Chen Moran knew that they would not think of any changes in the country in the north in the future, nor would they see that the real winner of the unprecedented war was not the European powers killed on the battlefield, but the United States watching the change.

(to be continued)