As the situation in North Korea changes, Western powers are paying more and more attention. France and Russia have begun to show their tendency to support Japan because of their own interests.

"Emperor, in the past few days, envoys from various countries have expressed concern about the situation in North Korea, especially Britain, France, the United States, Russia and other countries. Moreover, I have heard that Russia and French envoys have privately found Japanese people and expressed their willingness to provide assistance to Japan. If Russia and France intervene, the situation in North Korea will deteriorate sharply."

As soon as Prince Chun, who was in charge of the affairs of the Zongli Yamen, finished speaking, the other ministers in the Yangxin Palace immediately whispered softly. These old ministers had experienced the Second Opium War more than ten years ago and were still very afraid of the West.

Zai Tian had actually thought about the secret activities of envoys from various countries in the capital. At this time, he heard Yi Huan say this and said, "All countries pay attention to North Korea, just for their own interests. And this is exactly what we can use. Do you remember what we did when signing the treaty between North Korea and the United States and the North Korea-British?"

After North Korea signed the first trade treaty with Japan, the Americans immediately led warships to force North Korea to sign the contract. At that time, the person in charge of signing the contract was Ma Daozhong, who is now in North Korea. Later, Britain adhered to the principle of equalizing interests and subsequently signed a trade treaty with North Korea.

But Yihuan didn't know what Guangxu wanted to say when he mentioned this matter at this time. "I am so foolish, please let the emperor make it clear."

Zaitian looked at Yihuan and spoke inwardly. Although his father was serious and absolutely loyal, his sensitivity in Westernization was indeed much worse than Li Hongzhang.

"When we signed a treaty with Britain and the United States, we clearly stipulated that China is the suzerain of North Korea, and all treaties and actions against North Korea must go through our country. At that time, in order to sign the contract smoothly, Britain and the United States recognized this. Therefore, we can take advantage of this and negotiate with Britain and the United States. On the one hand, we promised to absolutely guarantee their interests in North Korea, and on the other hand, we should also show that this incident was a provocation by Japan. The Qing Dynasty is peace-loving and does not want to have armed conflicts with any country, but if other countries ignore our interests, our country will never let the meat of mermaids."

Yihuan was just a little clear. It turned out that the emperor had laid the foreshadowing today before, and he couldn't help but admire and was even more proud. Other ministers were also surprised by the emperor's meticulous thoughts and the enemy's opportunity.

"Where is Russia and France?"

"It doesn't matter if France is not determined. The situation in Vietnam is now undecided. The French government is subject to parliamentary constraints and should not cause trouble. At most, it is just to support Japan verbally. The ultimate goal is to hope that our dynasty can make concessions in Vietnamese affairs. In this regard, you can call Li Hongzhang to delay and delay with the French in Shanghai. As for the Russians."

Speaking of this, Zaitian stopped a little.

"The Russians coveted North Korea for a long time. After using the Aihui Treaty to obtain land east of our Ussuri River, they immediately built a military port and named it "Vladivostok". The ambition to conquer the East is obvious and must be guarded. If the North Korean incident is not handled well, eight out of the Russians may interfere with each other by force in pursuit of benefits. Once the Russians are involved, the development of the situation will be difficult to control."

The Grand Secretary, Prince Li, who was standing below, said: "Can you secretly contact the Russians, follow the examples of Britain and the United States to sign treaties and grant their interests so that they can remain neutral?"

"No!"

Although Guangxu's voice was still immature, it was particularly firm.

"The Russians are different from Britain and the United States. They live far away from abroad and seek benefits are nothing more than gold, silver and minerals. However, the Russians are all within reach and connected to me by land, but the people they seek are my lands and people in the Qing Dynasty. The benefits they seek are completely different. If the Russians get North Korea, they will inevitably further peek at the land of the dragon outside our pass. At that time, will they even give up their ancestors' foundation?"

When Yi Zong saw that, although he did not agree with it, it was not easy to argue about anything about his ancestors' foundation, so he stepped down in disappointment.

Yi said on the side immediately: "What should we do with the emperor's will?"

Zaitian said: "At present, it is best to force Japan to sign the contract as soon as possible."

"I'm afraid Japan will not give up." Yi said immediately.

"Hmph, it's not necessarily. Although Japan is seeking a lot, following the Western and integrating its military and military force, its small country's strength is declining. There are only a few ships available in its domestic warships, less than 10,000 sailors, and only tens of thousands of troops. If it rashly starts a full-scale war with our country, although our country will inevitably suffer heavy losses, Japan may have accumulated over the years of accumulation and destruction. The Japanese are currently cautious, and I think they will definitely not bet on it."

When Zaitian talked about Japan, he felt as if he was full of heroism, and he swept away the repression he had just talked about Russia.

"Issuing an order to make the Beiyang Navy prepare for the war with all its might, and all ships are ready at any time, and they are ready to support North Korea and even send troops to Japan. Then, the Nanyang Navy is ready at the same time, and they are ready to support Beiyang at any time. Song Qing and Ming'an are ordered to rectify the Yi army and Jilin army training respectively, and to be prepared to send troops to North Korea at any time. Heilongjiang General Wenxu is also required to rectify the military training to prevent the Russians."

Everyone was shocked when they heard the little emperor's arrangement. Yi hurriedly said, "A large army has consumed more than ten thousand yuan. Now the national treasury is empty, so I hope Your Majesty will think twice. Moreover, if you cross the sea to attack the Japanese, it is difficult to have a certainty of victory. The Nanyang Navy also needs to take into account the French. I believe that this move is absolutely not allowed!"

Other ministers also agreed with Yi, and a group of people fell to their knees in the Hall of Yangxin.

Seeing that the ministers did not approve of her, Zaitian was not in a hurry and smiled and said, "I'll be there, my dear friends."

Yi still knelt on the ground and said, "Please take back Cheng's life."

Seeing that Yi couldn't afford to rise, the other ministers naturally knelt together, only Yihuan, Zhang Shusheng, Zuo Zongtang and other few people stood there.

Seeing that the scene was awkward, Yihuan quickly whispered: "Your Majesty, will this matter be left to the Military Affairs Office and the Zongli Yamen for further discussion and come up with a safe charter?"

When Zaitian saw Yihuan coming forward, he couldn't argue with him, so he said, "All my dear friends have misunderstood my meaning. Please get up and listen to me."

When everyone saw that the emperor's tone was soft and forced to continue, they seemed to be bullying the emperor's young and not beautiful, so they were calm and listened to what the emperor said.

Zaitian saw everyone up and nodded, "I understand in my heart what my family is concerned about. But can all the ministers know that 'If you seek peace with peace, war will inevitably be inevitable; if you seek peace with war, you can avoid war'? I have made many arrangements just now, not to start a full war, but to make an illusion. The so-called war is never too tiring to deceit, so that the Japanese think that if they do not sign a contract with our country as soon as possible, they may face a full-scale attack on our country. And the Russians will also consider whether they will suffer heavy losses if they intervene rashly. In this way, on the one hand, they put pressure on the Japanese and also make the Russians worry about gains and losses. This has laid the foundation for us to fight for peace talks and gain time."

The ministers then realized that what the emperor was doing was a plan of doubting military affairs, and they were immediately ashamed of what they had done just now.

In fact, the IQ of civil and military officials in the court is not inferior to Zaitian, but everyone was afraid of being beaten by Britain and France twenty years ago. Now, when it comes to going to war with foreigners, they all only turn their calves and not their brains.

At this time in North Korea, another fierce conflict broke out between China and Japan.

On the 26th, Ma Daozhong went to Incheon to meet the flower house.

At this time, the initiative of the situation in North Korea was firmly in the hands of China. Even the father and son of Dayuan were designed to be under house arrest by Yuan Shikai. There were many trump cards in his hand. Ma Daozhong was naturally energetic during the negotiations and asked the Japanese army to evacuate North Korea immediately. He almost completely denied the various terms required by Japan.

At this time, Inoue Kin already knew that the situation in North Korea was no longer under control. As the foreign minister of the peace faction, Inoue Kin ordered the Hanyao to stabilize the situation and try to obtain certain benefits through negotiations. At the same time, it also began to set off to go to North Korea in person.

At this time, Japan's bottom line of peace talks had been reduced to four items: compensation, apology, garrison and opening up of trade. However, the meaning of the flower house had other ideas.

Huafang knew that the reason why the empire was so passive at the moment was because he was confused and rashly withdrew from Seoul, so that the Qing army took advantage of the situation and took the initiative. If he could not gain more benefits for the empire in negotiations, then what he had to wait for after returning was likely to be a septum.

Therefore, on the one hand, Huafang insisted on the previous unreasonable demands in the negotiations, and on the other hand, it encouraged water and militants from the army to provoke the Qing army. Huafang still believed that the always weak Qing army would not have a real military conflict with the empire, and even if there was a conflict, the well-trained imperial army would definitely defeat the Qing army.

By then, with military advantages, the initiative in negotiations will be returned to you. In this way, you will not only offset the mistakes you made before, but may also become a hero of the empire.

Japanese soldiers were basically firmly determined by the landlord war faction. Under the hinting of the meaning of the flower house, on the 28th, the Japanese Army first launched an attack on the Qing army's positions.

It should be said that the overall quality of the Japanese army at that time was better than that of the Qing army. But there were always exceptions in everything. The Qing Dynasty had millions of troops who could always choose a few who could fight, but Wu Changqing's "Qing Army" was one of them.

Although Wu Changqing was relatively weak in diplomacy, he was also a powerful general who came out of the sea of ​​corpses and blood. He was still very good at leading troops to fight, not to mention that the Qing army also had the advantage of geographical advantages and harmony.

The Japanese army attacked several times outside Seoul, but they could not break through the Qing army's defense line, but instead lost hundreds of people. Seeing that the strong attack could not be done, the Japanese army had to temporarily stop.

At this time, at sea, Japan also dispatched the warships "Kingang", "Hire" and "Hijin" to launch an attack on the Beiyang Navy.

The Beiyang Navy currently has only three warships in North Korea. The China Merchants Steamship, which originally came together, has already carried the North Korean Daewonjun back to the Qing Dynasty. Ding Ruchang also arranged the escort of the "Dengyingzhou" gunboat, which was a waste of time in the naval battle. Therefore, the number of warships between China and Japan at sea is equal.

However, the total tonnage of Japanese warships is much larger than that of the Beiyang Navy.

The Japanese "King Kong" and "Hirui" ships were both iron-clad ships with a speed of more than 2,200 tons, with a speed of 14 knots. Three 170mm guns were installed at the bow and stern respectively, and three 150mm guns were equipped on both sides of the hull.

The displacement of the three ships of Beiyang Navy is only 1,200 tons, and 300 tons. Among them, the two ships of "Super Yong" and "Yang Wei" are equipped with two 26-diameter 254mm Armstrong breech guns, with a speed of 16 knots; the general speed of the "Weiyuan" ship is only 11 knots, but it also has sail rigging, and the downwind speed can reach 16 knots. The main weapon is 1 190mm Armstrong breech guns, and 6 120mm Armstrong breech guns are located on both sides of the ship.

The Japanese fleet had a larger tonnage, but the Beiyang Navy had obvious advantages in speed and firepower.

In today's world, the navy is still in an era of drastic changes. Although ironclad ships have long become the basic equipment of various countries' naval forces, the layout of naval guns still adopts the traditional two-side layout. That is, the so-called ironclad ships next to the ship. Such a naval gun layout can enable ships to obtain the maximum amount of artillery firepower at the same time when fighting on the side. Just like in the Battle of Faltega, once the ships of both sides approach the range, they need to adjust their course, reduce their speed, and then fire the guns to see who can't stand it first.

At the beginning of the naval battle, the two ships "Super Yong" and "Yang Wei" fully utilized their speed advantages, leading the "King Kong" and "Hirui" running everywhere. Although the Japanese ships were slightly inferior in speed, they were almost the same. They could tightly bite the two ships in the Beiyang from the beginning. In this way, between chasing and escaping, the Japanese ship "Hirui" with a speed of only nine knots was left far behind, and the two ships "King Kong" and "Hirui" were separated.

On the other hand, the "Weiyuan" pulled to the flank, avoiding the two Japanese main battleships, and targeting the "Rijin" with weak defense and firepower.

After understanding the combat intentions of the Beiyang Navy, the captain of the "King Kong" Captain Ma Xin and I immediately asked Ren Li Jingfan: "Your Excellency, the enemy ships are circumventing the rear of our army. They should want to deal with the backward "Rijin". Should we return to support?"

Of course, Renli Jingfan could see the intentions of the Qing army, but at this time, the two ships "Super Yong" and "Yangwei" in front began to slow down their speed in order to cover the "Weiyuan" ship. If they return to the "Rijin", they may lose the opportunity to attack the Chinese warship. Moreover, Renli Jingfan was also worried that when he turned around, he would be chased by the Beiyang ship with a faster speed. At that time, the first person would be difficult to take care of, and it would be even more unfavorable. It would be better to take a gamble, hoping that he could sink or severely damage the "Super Yong" and "Yangwei" in front of him before the Qing army's "Weiyuan" ship attacked the "Rijin".

"No, don't worry about the 'Rijin'. We will attack the two enemy ships in front of us with all our might!"

"Yes, your lord!" Arima Xin executed the order without hesitation, and the "King Kong" immediately whispered the flag to the "Hirui" to inform the other commander of the combat intention.
Chapter completed!