Chapter 256 Force others

China has been rich in land and materials since ancient times, and its culture is ahead of the world. Therefore, it is called "China". It regards the surrounding ethnic groups as "Yidi" and has always been contemptuous. Therefore, China's diplomacy has been regarded as great since ancient times, so that foreign countries should be subordinates to pay tribute and guard the rites of vassals. There is no reciprocal diplomacy, and this regard is respected. After the death of the Ming Dynasty, The Qing Dynasty turned into a "self-esteem" and unmotivated heart.

In 1840, Britain provoked the Opium War by force to achieve the purpose of opening up the Manchu retreat by force. The Jiangning Treaty of 1842 stipulated that the Qingzheng axe should open up five coastal ports for foreign trade and suppress the taxation of imported goods, thus paving the way for political, economic and military aggression. Since then, France, the United States, Russia and other countries have invaded China one after another.

In the following 20 or 30 years, the flower shelf of the foreign affairs movement and the strongest fleet in the Far East of the Beiyang Marine Division was the last layer of paper armor used by the Qing Empire to cover up the shame. The Qing Dynasty temporarily suppressed the tiger and wolf heart of the powers with this set of things, and the fiasco of the First Sino-Japanese War finally broke the layer of paper armor. Let the great powers see through the essence of their extreme decay and weakness, and dispel all concerns about China's resistance to strength, thus triggering the frenzy of carveling China in the last five years of the 19th century.

The Rebellion of the Boxers ended with the peace treaty of Xin Chou, which lost power and humiliated the country in 1901. After this chaos, China was completely reduced to a third-class country at the mercy of others. Its international status was even worse than that of the banana republic in the Americas, and the limited sovereignty that originally remained was also completely lost.

As a symbol of the deline of state power, in addition to the crazy grabbing of rights and interests such as road rights, leased land, and exemption of gold, the great powers can also prove that the fear of the depletion of state power is the gunboats of the countries cruising in the Yangtze River. The gunboats of the Yangtze River, the countries sailing wantonly in the lifeline of Central China, are the most depleted of state power. Good proof.

In the great uprising three months ago, the rivers and mountains in the south of the Yangtze River were restored. At the beginning of the restoration, the most worrying thing for the ruling axe was the threat of gunboats in various countries. For this reason, they even had to choose the way of sunken ships to block the channel. When preparing for the worst, it was ostensibly aimed at the Great Qingshui Division, but in fact it was located in Gunboats from various countries in Shanghai.

Gunboat diplomacy has always been the most important diplomatic activity of the great powers to promote their colonial aggression by the threat of force, and the arrogance of the great powers at the negotiating table has always been the quality of their gunboats. Like any semi-colonial country, the fleets of various countries stationed in China have always obeyed the orders of their own envoys, despite the need to fire. Local orders, but domestic envoys can order the fleet to arrive at a certain port to deter them in order to gain an advantage on the negotiating table. Gunboat threats have always been a sharp weapon for the great powers to try again and again at the negotiating table.

On September 14, 4602, when the scorching sun of the autumn tiger was burning the earth, the British, American and the Yangtze River cruisers gathered in Shanghai. In contrast, the three cruisers "Haiqi", "Hairong" and "Haicho" arrived at Wusong Military Port from Yantai, and the training fleet "Haitian" and "Haihai" The five warships, almost equal to the full force of the Chinese navy, gathered three destroyers and five gunboats, and held a military exercise at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The French and German warships and the British and American Asian fleets went straight to Shanghai.

For a while, the Chinese and foreign fleets were tense in Shanghai. The situation in Shanghai immediately attracted the attention of the whole world, at least the whole Far East. When the Chinese navy conducted exercises offshore, as many as 11 army divisions boarded ships in Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Anhui and other places. Jiang reinforces Shanghai.

For the sake of tariffs, Nanjing not only made an unyielding posture, but also put on a posture of preparing to fight a "war of defense" in Shanghai. For a while, the troops carrying guns between Beijing and Shanghai went to Shanghai one after another. On the other hand, along the front line of Suzhou, after the mobilization and recruitment of the ruling axe, hundreds of thousands of people began to repair. National defense fortifications were built, and factories such as Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and Pudong Machinery Factory in Shanghai also began to prepare for internal relocation.

In the early morning of September 14, as soon as the citizens of Shanghai opened the door, they were surprised to see that overnight, the whole of Shanghai had changed, and the streets of Shanghai had changed. At the originally flat street entrance, there were suddenly more sandbags, barbed wire, and trenches dug overnight. On both sides of the street, you can see that the fortifications and live ammunition were being reinforced. Restoration of officers and soldiers.

"Extra! Extra! [number] The ruling axe issued the Declaration of Self-Defense and Anti-Japanese War!"

"The ruling issued a statement that China will never give up any part of its territory, and will never succumb to gunboat diplomacy. In case of aggression, it can only implement the gifted right of self-defense."

Xun, accompanied by the restoration of officers and soldiers who appeared in the construction of fortifications on Huajie Street in Shanghai, the whole of Shanghai was boiling, and there were people who were panicked, but there were more shouters. Countless "Chinese flags" stretched out on both sides of the street, and the business and academic circles took to the streets to express their condolences to the officers and soldiers.

"The war of resistance to the end, never compromise!"

Early in the morning, with the release of the "Declaration of Self-Defense and Anti-Japanese War" by the ruling axe, tens of thousands of students and citizens in Nanjing gathered on the streets. People shouted slogans, first demonstrated in front of the consulates of various countries, and then submitted a petition to the ruling axe consultation office to support the ruling axe resolution. Then they marched along the road to the ruling axe. Tens of thousands of marches surged on the streets like waves. The most impulsive young people shouted slogans over and over again, shouting and shouting.

The unanimous voice of the whole country echoed over Nanjing. Every shout was transmitted from the outside of the ruling axe to the inside of the ruling axe. Outside the gate of the ruling axe, the unarmed soldiers stood in front of the ruling axe, and the young people sat there and kept shouting.

"Long live the rule!"

"Restore the state power!"

"Never compromise!"

... The stormy shouts kept coming to Chen Moran's ears, who was making plans with the officers of the staff. Listening to the roar outside, his expression did not make any changes. The release of the Declaration of Self-Defense Anti-Japanese War, even without discussion in the consultation office, was just in the face of the tough statement of the Beiping Mission. The purpose of the statement issued in the name of the ruling axe is to show its attitude to all countries.

"...In a word, if the Anti-Japanese War is carried out, the front line of Suzhou and Hangzhou is the necessary line, and the direction of Beiping is bounded by Baoding. In addition, our army must not retreat half a step!"

In front of the military map, Jiang Fangzhen explained the combat plan formulated in response to the interference of various countries during the restoration.

"It's the same sentence. If you plan for the worst militarily, you don't need to consider any political factors. You just need to think a little bit about how to win this war. As for the political solution, it's the matter of the ruling axe and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Baili, how many divisions can we transfer to Shanghai?"

"Five divisions!"

"Then transfer three more divisions. These three divisions can walk slowly!"

Chen Moran frowned and said that from the beginning, he had been gambling. This was a big gamble. The bet was that the countries would never fight with China for the sake of tariffs. Only Russia and Japan had the ability to attack China on land. Not to mention that the two countries fell into the northeast battlefield, they had reached an agreement with Japan. Yesterday, Ben quietly withdrew the Marines from Shanghai, and at the same time informed the ruling axe of the chaos within the mission, indicating that he was about to fulfill the agreement.

"Is there anything wrong with the navy?"

Turning his head and looking at Ye Zugui next to him, Chen Moran asked coldly.

"If the war is together, the navy will go all out to sail to the South China Sea and strive to sink and capture as many merchant ships as possible!"

Ye Zugui replied that although the navy held exercises at the mouth of the Yangtze River, in fact, the navy did not have a plan to fight in Shanghai. According to the plan, the navy will go to sea to carry out a battle, with the main mode of attacking merchant ships from various countries without any protection capabilities, when the navy is fighting at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

"At present, the training fleet has arrived at various ports in Guangdong. If there is a war, the training fleet will disguise the merchant ships of other countries and sail into the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean to attack merchant ships of Britain, the United States, Germany, France and other countries. In addition, the navy has reserved 1,300 mines in the direction of Zhenjiang, which can complete the Yangtze River mined in one night."

When Ye Zugui reported, Chen Moran just nodded. Everything was carried out according to the plan. The worst plan of this battle was to carry out a war of resistance for at least two or three years.

Looking at the rule, Ye Zugui continued to report another thing.

"In power, the commander of the British Asian Fleet said that if China insists on going his own way, he will order the fleet to seize the two ships of "Zhenhai" and "Dinghai" on the high seas!"

With a sudden head raised, Chen Moran stared at Ye Zugui, and everyone turned their eyes to the government. As we all know, the two ships that sailed out of Portsmouth 15 days ago were not only the warships expected by the navy, but also the same ladies and ladies on the ship.

"Where have they been?"

"They will sail into Manar Bay between the Indian mainland and Ceylon tomorrow. According to intelligence analysis, if the British navy intends to rob the ship, they may take action in Manar Bay or Malacca!"

Silence. For a few minutes, Chen Moran couldn't speak. How nice it would be if there were no wives and children on the ship! But... opening his mouth, Chen Moran found that his throat was a little astringent. When he finally spit out a voice, Chen Moran's heart was in pain.

"Soldiers are ashamed of disarming. This is the creed that I once taught Guangfu officers and soldiers. Warships are the weapons of naval officers and soldiers. There are only warships that have lost their war, and no surrendered warships. They sent a telegram to Cheng Biguang and told him to sail at full speed, and strive to strive to make a decision by the British to go back to China to seize Malacca, and block the news. The officers of Britain and Germany on board know the current situation! If you are stopped by the British... You need to know that the ship can't be captured. General Wangcheng's troops are loyal to the whole Chinese navy!"

"ruling, but madam..."

"Tell your wife that it's up to you to leave and stay!"

When he spit out a sentence, Chen Moran only felt an uncontrollable tingling in his heart, so that his hands couldn't help shaking. After saying that, he closed his eyes in pain. His hands trembled gently, and he knew what choice his wife would make.

"Don't blame me!"

When he muttered this sentence in his heart, tears would gushing out of Chen Moran's eyes. He suddenly looked up at the roof and said in a trembling voice.

"Okay...Okay, you are in charge of military matters!"

They left the military staff room in a daze. When they were about to walk to the backyard, they happened to meet Zhang Zhidong and Yuan Shikai. As soon as they saw that the government was still more than a dozen steps away from him, they knelt on the ground.

"Xiang Shuai, comfort pavilion, you... why are you!"

In two steps, Chen Moran stretched out his hand to help the two people up, but the two of them knelt there.

"ruling,"

There were old tears on Zhang Zhidong's face, and Yuan Shikai kowtowed beside him. He was really scared by the courage of the government. Originally, he thought that the naval exercise was just a demonstration, but from the current situation, the government was really ready to do a big job.

"For the world's plan, please take back your life. The disaster of Gengzi can't be repeated!"

"In power, although the powers are too strong, our country's strength is weak, and we can't start a war with the great powers. Today, we should put construction first priority. He said that the national strength is prosperous, and we can take back the national power with our own interests. I hope you can think twice about it!"

The two kowtowed their heads and begged that the development of the situation was far beyond their expectation. On the one hand, they were in power, they dispatched troops and on the other hand, they moved to the factory in Shanghai. This meaning was very clear, but the most unexpected thing for the two people was that at the beginning of the government was clearly said to show their hearts, but now the action of the government is obviously to be on Hai and Pingjin fought a war of resistance!

"Cuncerer, comfort pavilion!"

Their behavior made Chen Moran nod with satisfaction, and even they could coax their actions, not to mention those confused public envoys, as long as they believed that they were ready to fight with them.

"Thank you for your compassion for national affairs. If the war begins, please help you win this battle silently! Do the same move of the whole country!"

Chen Moran's words made Yuan Shikai tremble all over. He must have said this to himself.

"Although the original plan remains unchanged... But if the great powers force people too much, they can only silently let go of their hands and fight a beautiful war of the Patriots in Pingjin in Shanghai!"

With that, he gave another look at the two, and then the three of them walked to the garden in the backyard, in the garden. Looking at the calm lake in front of him, Chen Moran just said something.

"This time, we should sing a good play to the great powers. If we want to change the attitude of the great powers, either win their respect on the battlefield, or we must win their respect with determination!"

"Governing, you mean..."

Yuan Shikai was slightly surprised. Could it be that the government made such a big move just to "sing"!

"It took me a month to plan this matter. Now that the people's feelings have risen, we still need to cooperate militarily. What we want is to let the great powers know the difficulties and retreat. They understand that the Restoration Army is different from the Qing Army. If the victory or defeat of this battle is five or five, can we change their attitude towards us? It's just this time!"

Chen Moran suddenly looked solemn and stared at the southern sky.

"Whether it's forcing people with force or real war, it's actually a gamble, but now our bargaining chip may be the determination between you and me!"

(to be continued)