Chapter 2 Let's go

The night was already very deep. The street lights at the front door of the palace were shining evenly. Several guards in guarded army uniforms in front of the palace stood there with live ammunition, all of them straightening their chests and raised their heads, and their young faces looked bright.

Today is the first day of His Majesty's accession to the throne, but the royal guards of the army in front of the palace still feel that after nightfall, the atmosphere of the palace has become strange. Tonight, a grand banquet was held inside and outside the city. This is a traditional banquet given by the emperor, and everyone can go there to enjoy a rich dinner. With rice wine, this may be the most expensive part of this accession ceremony, accounting for almost half of the total expenditure.

However, His Majesty was abnormal and did not appear at the banquet, while the guards saw Jiang Fangzhen, Chief of Staff, Liang Dunyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Cai E, Minister of the Army, Ye Zugui, Minister of the Navy, and Yuan Shikai, Minister of Internal Affairs, and then His Majesty's itinerary changed. In the future, he will attend the reception in the evening as usual. A banquet between people from all walks of life and foreign envoys and consuls.

At this time, any official, gentry, minister and observer in Nanjing can, with their unique political sense, have a premonition that something must have happened today. Otherwise, for any emperor who has just ascended the throne, he will never fail to attend such a banquet.

"Do you know what happened?"

There is a Western-style building on the east side of the palace. This Baroque-style building is the government building. In the banquet hall on the first floor, the band plays cheerful dance music, but there are not many people who go to dance. Most of them are talking about today's strange things, while guessing what made the new emperor give up. Attend the banquet.

The golden-walled chandelier hangs in the center of the banquet hall. Li Yijing, dressed in a cyan Chinese-style Confucian skirt, with an unspeakable eagerness, carefully observed the people around him with different expressions. The explanation of the palace attendants was that "Your Majesty is entangled in state affairs", so of course he can't attend the banquet. What kind of state affairs is it?

Are they Yulie's people?

She turned her eyes to Song Jiashu. He and his family received an invitation from the emperor. In Shanghai, everyone knew that he was the sponsor of the Xingzhong Association. Did they launch any uprising?

No, the army and the vast majority of the people support him to become emperor. What else will happen?

She turned her eyes to the minister of various countries again. At this time, she noticed that the minister had quietly gathered into a small pile. The Dutch minister in China, Krober, was humbly hovering around the minister like a "social flower" on his face. His face seemed to have some anxiety. Why is that?

Is it a foreign matter?

"Baba! "BaDa!"

The timing of the golden bell on the main wall interrupted Li Yiqing's thoughts and examination. She couldn't help lifting her beautiful eyelashes and looking up at the golden bell.

"It's already ten o'clock!"

Based on her guess, she had a hunch that something big would happen today, if it would involve foreign countries and related to China.

At this moment, a message slowly spread in the crowd.

"Dutch military and police opened fire on overseas Chinese in Surap, killing and injuring dozens of expatriates, and thousands of people were arrested!"

Hearing the news, Li Yiqing's beautiful face became bloodless in an instant, and the hunch in her eyes full of wild surnames was correct.

When the news spread in the banquet hall, in the conference room on the third floor of the Qinzheng Building, Foreign Minister Liang Dunyan, the Army Minister Cai E, the Minister of the Navy Ye Zugui, the Minister of the Interior Yuan Shikai, the Finance Minister Guan Mingtang and the Prime Minister Zhang Zhidong, who had just received the notice, sat on both sides of the long table, and as the emperor Chen Moran, the emperor of the country, sat in the first seat. Chen Moran, dressed in a white navy uniform, was meditating there, and his face was blue and white.

At the beginning, Foreign Minister Liang Dunyan was eager to see the emperor. It was not that there was a major event in China or a lot of trouble in diplomacy, but for the "Sir Shui Incident". The Chinese in Surquay, Java, East India, went to the streets one after another, held parties, raised the three-color Chinese flag, and set off firecrackers to celebrate China. The establishment of the empire and the accession of the emperor. The Dutch colonial authorities actually sent military and police to intervene by force, shooting and killing three overseas Chinese, injuring more than a dozen people, and arresting more than 100 people.

Then the Minister of Internal Affairs Yuan Shikai came to see him again. The Minister of Internal Affairs was responsible for overseas Chinese affairs. He brought a report of the further deterioration of the situation. The angry Chinese took a closed-door strike to protest. The Dutch colonial authorities then dispatched a large number of military and police to force the opening of the market and arrested more than a thousand people.

"When the empire was first established, it was as bearable as the Qing Dynasty. The political axe gave up its responsibility and ignored the expatriates. If it is not saved quickly, the lives and property of the Chinese people will be more threatened, and..."

Zhang Zhidong looked at His Majesty with a pale face and understood what His Majesty was thinking at this time. At the time of the accession ceremony, the Dutch did this undoubtedly equivalent to slap him in the face.

"Your Majesty, when your majesty ascended the throne, the Dutch actually killed my overseas Chinese and arrested my overseas Chinese. Who can bear it and who can't bear it!"

With that, Zhang Zhidong straightened his chest. At this time, he was still wearing a black Chinese-style uniform.

"This diplomatic incident is related to the lives of the people of the country. Your Majesty should make an order to transfer Liu Jingren, the Chinese minister in the Netherlands, to make head-on negotiations with the Dutch political axe to preserve the country and comfort the overseas Chinese. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs should call the Batavia Chinese to express their condolences and inform the expatriates that they have tried their best to negotiate with the Dutch envoy..."

Since entering the conference room where the imperial meeting is held, Yuan Shikai has been observing His Majesty's look. He has no skills. It is someone else's evaluation of Yuan Shikai. He is by no means from a professional background, but he is proficient in officialdom. Naturally, he is good at observing his face. Looking at your majesty who was slapped in the face, he naturally understands. What he is thinking and what he wants to do.

"Your Majesty!"

Yuan Shikai stood up and bowed first.

"Nation without force as a backing will never be valued by the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a weak country, and its military and national strength are inferior to ours. If we do not strongly fight back against the provocations of such small countries, I am afraid that the empire and your majesty's statement will be damaged. What's more, this is the first case of negotiations at the beginning of the construction of the empire. I ask your majesty to send a fleet to Sishui. Protect overseas Chinese!"

"Fleet protects overseas Chinese!"

It is undeniable that Yuan Shikai's advice happened to Chen Moran's heart. The Dutch gave him a loud slap in the face, and he had to hit him back anyway... Thinking of him, he turned his eyes to Cai E, Ye Zugui and Guan Mingtang. If it was normal, it was easy to do, but he saw that another thing had entered the final countdown. At that time, public opinion has turned around. Compared with that incident, the Surakah overseas Chinese case is hardly worth mentioning. If that battle is successful, the prestige of the country and your own prestige will definitely rise to the peak. At that time, it will take Yuwei to negotiate the Surakah overseas Chinese case with the Netherlands, and you can subvert without fighting.

"At a moment like this, if you don't negotiate decisively and strongly, I'm afraid it will hit the hearts of the people"

"Northern things should be considered first!"

"If we don't do it, then the hard-won hearts of the people will be destroyed, which is also not in line with the hearts of the people"

"Are we going to war with several countries at the same time?"

"You only need one teacher, up to two teachers!"

"But we still need a fleet!"

"Anyway, I'm not going to fight at sea!"

"What's more, if the fleet goes to the Southern Ocean, everything will be easy to explain. At that time, we can not consider the fleet at all!"

... Thinking of the debate in the afternoon, Chen Moran fell out these words:

"We must prove China's determination to protect overseas Chinese with our own actions, and at the same time tell overseas Chinese that the Chinese Empire and the Manchu Qing Dynasty are fundamentally different!"

Hearing His Majesty's words, Zhang Zhidong, the newly canonized emperor, stood up quickly.

"Your Majesty, this... In case of agitation by the great powers, I'm afraid that the consequences will be unpredictable..."

Looking up at Zhang Zhidong, the "transitional prime minister", Chen Moran turned his eyes to Jiang Fangzhen.

"Baili, tell me, if there is no navy, can we complete the Yuanhunting plan!"

Yuanhunting plan? Zhang Zhidong, Yuan Shikai and Liang Shuyan all looked surprised when they heard this noun. This... What's going on!

"Your Majesty, in the combat plan formulated by the General Staff, and..."

Jiang Fangzhen cast a modest look at Ye Zugui when answering, and Ye Zugui just smiled bitterly.

"Haipong will mainly rely on coastal defense fortresses. At present, 15 coastal defense fortresses from Guangdong to Shandong have been built. Although they cannot protect the rights and interests of the sea, anyone who attempts to attack our coast is bound to pay a heavy price. In addition, for the northern region, the non-permanent coastal fort has also been built. If necessary, The artillery can be placed in place within three! Therefore, when the staff makes the battle plan, it is mainly based on the army! However, the navy's war in the ocean is also one of the plans of the staff!"

After a short pause, he continued to say.

"Your Majesty, in my opinion, the timing of the Surabaha incident is very appropriate. If it is done properly, it can provide the best cover for the Yuanhunting plan, and at the same time make his country have an illusion in the judgment of the situation, which is conducive to the implementation of the Yuanhunting plan"

"What do you mean!"

"Order the fleet to go! The Surakao incident was used to create a tense fake between China and the Netherlands. On the one hand, it negotiated with the Dutch, and on the other hand,..."

"Secretly cross the warehouse!"

Without waiting for him to finish, Chen Moran understood what he meant. The biggest shortcoming of the Yuanhun plan now is how to hide China's strategic purpose, such as creating a tense situation in the south on the grounds of Surabaru, then... Thinking about it, Chen Moran no longer has a trace of Yu.

"Tonghou, order the fleet to go! Go to Surakia to protect overseas Chinese!"

"Yes!"

When he stood up, Ye Zugui's breathing seemed a little short. There was no naval business in the Yuanskari plan. Perhaps sailing to Nanyang was the only option for the navy to cover up this embarrassment.

"Song Sheng, immediately protest to the Netherlands to show our attitude, um... Let's discuss the specific conditions again! This time, we must vent our anger for the overseas Chinese!"

"Your Majesty!"

His Majesty's intention made Zhang Zhidong stand up. He looked at His Majesty, who was sitting at his head, and raised the questions in his heart, which were also the questions of Liang Dunyan and Yuan Shikai.

"I don't know what your majesty's Yuanhunting plan is, and what is the goal? When was it made and why I didn't know this plan before! Your Majesty, please solve the confusion in Weichen's heart!"

(to be continued)