Chapter 242 Forbidden City Meeting

In the spacious and magnificent Forbidden City of Beijing, Yuan Shikai, with a bare head, was lying on the fragrant soft bed. Last night, he hugged a beautiful concubine and lived happily until midnight, so that when the sun shone brightly at 9 o'clock in the morning, he still lay in his concubine's bedroom and did not get up.

A little eunuch at the door strode over quickly and hit the door hard for a few times. This was the third time he had come to awaken Yuan Shikai, and the first two times had no effect.

"Your Majesty, the ministers have been waiting in the hall for an hour. They are anxious to see you, so you can get up and go to court." The little eunuch shouted in a nearly begging tone.

"Dog slave, why are you shouting? Let them wait a little longer, saying I'll be there soon." Yuan Shikai made an unhappy voice inside.

"Your Majesty, sleep a little longer. You haven't been here for half a month. I miss you so much." The beautiful concubine in her early twenties stood up with her half-naked pink and white **. The deep ravines made Yuan Shikai's eyes stay on it again and then yin smiled and reached out to pinch it hard.

"It's so bad." Mei Fei said coquettishly, a hint of blush appeared on her face, and a feeling of emotion was heard from her eyes. A scent of disgusting charm came out of her beautiful eyes.

"When I go and dismiss those long-winded ministers, I will come back to continue the warmth of last night with you." Yuan Shikai said with a smile and pinched the concubine's pink little face.

Then Yuan Shikai got out of bed, put on his clothes under the service of the palace maids and eunuchs, put on a golden dragon robe, and a golden crown. He walked out of the concubine's bedroom with red faces.

"Get up." The eunuch shouted, with gold inlaid on all sides, and the spacious and elegant carriage immediately rose from the ground, and Yuan Shikai was carried forward slowly.

"It's better to be an emperor than when I was in Beiyang." Yuan Shikai stretched comfortably and muttered lazily.

When he arrived at the entrance of the Qianqing Palace Hall, Yuan Shikai, with a big belly, swayed down the imperial carriage. With the help of the eunuch, he slowly walked up the stone staircase made of white marble, walked leisurely into the Qianqing Palace, and walked in from the side door beside him.

"The Emperor is here." When I walked to the door of the hall, the little eunuch's crisp and loud voice echoed in front of the hall.

Yuan Shikai quickly walked to the golden dragon throne, waved his sleeves and sat down, and glanced downwards with majestic appearance.

"Long live my emperor, long live my life." The ministers immediately knelt down on the ground and shouted long live the mountain. At this moment, it was the most comfortable time for Yuan Shikai.

"I have delayed some small matters for a while, so I have been waiting for you for a long time. Please report any matters for you." Yuan Shikai looked around the ministers around him, and saw that everyone was as usual and there was nothing unusual, so he immediately asked.

Cao Kun, who was strong, took two steps forward and bowed respectfully, "Report to the emperor, the Japanese envoy sent someone to urge the emperor to send troops again. The Japanese asked the Chinese Empire to advance from Henan to Shaanxi and Hubei to attack the Zhenguo Army camp of China, otherwise they would not guarantee their promise of protection to the Chinese Empire."

"The Japanese have waved their big sticks at us again. These Japanese devils only know how to threaten me and force me to obey their domineering commands. It's really outrageous." Yuan Shikai's face suddenly turned dark when he heard this.

Since the establishment of the Chinese Empire, it has been restrained by the Japanese everywhere, so that the Chinese Empire's decrees need to be accepted by Japanese consultants to dare to implement them. If the Japanese raise any objections, they must be carefully considered. Yuan Shikai, the puppet emperor, is considered to be extremely cowardly, but as long as he walks out of the Japanese's sight, he is still the supreme emperor of the Nine Five, and the emperor admired by thousands of people. Yuan Shikai knows very well how to find a balance between the two to comfort his complex and unbearable mood.

"Cao Zhongtang, thank you for your hard work. I am also in a state of distraction. I don't expect that the Japanese will come to urge you again and again. It seems that it will be impossible to delay this time, otherwise the Japanese will be really angry." Yuan Shikai nodded to Cao Kun and responded.

Cao Kun was already the Grand Central Hall of the Chinese Empire at this time, equivalent to the official position of the prime minister, in charge of military and political power.

"I am not stable at this time and I don't want to launch a large war, but I don't want to launch a large war, but I don't want Li Tiancheng to be a warlike person. It's not enough to destroy the Qing Dynasty before. It's going to fight with the Japanese with a big sword and axe. What is this guy thinking about? He doesn't want to do a good president, and he will mess up trouble in the south, causing peace to the people of the world." Yuan Shikai then said with a gloomy face.

"My dear friends, what do you think of the Japanese's request? Let me tell you."

"I think Li Tiancheng wants to fight the Japanese to the end this time. The Zhenguo Army has emerged in new weapons and its strength has skyrocketed. They are determined to fight the Japanese. The war will inevitably affect the safety of our Chinese Empire. We have to be careful and must not sit idly by." Feng Guozhang, the Minister of War, stood up and said.

"Feng Aiqing, how should we deal with it according to your wishes?" Yuan Shikai turned his head and looked at Feng Guozhang and asked.

"I think we might as well take advantage of this world melee, unite the Japanese and Britain, France and Russia to capture the fourteen provinces of China in one fell swoop, unify a large area of ​​territory in the south of the empire. At that time, we will have the territory of twenty provinces, and the emperor will truly realize the great cause of unification of the Chinese Empire." Feng Guozhang continued.

"We can't send troops without sending troops. Let the Japanese fight to the death with Li Tiancheng. Wouldn't it be better to reap the benefits of the fisherman?" Wang Shizhen, the Minister of Personnel, immediately stepped forward and retorted.

"I don't agree with what the prince said." Feng Guozhang glared at Wang Shizhen in anger and retorted.

"If we do not send troops, after the Japanese join forces with Britain, France and Russia to occupy the fourteen southern provinces, will they still obediently give us the rule? The Japanese will definitely divide these fourteen provinces with Britain, France and Russia, and most of the provinces will be directly assigned to the Japanese territory. At that time, I am afraid that the Chinese Empire will become Japanese subjects will not be far away." Feng Guozhang continued.

"Well, Feng Aiqing's words are reasonable. If you sit still, you will indeed lose a lot of benefits and make those foreigners get a bargain." Yuan Shikai nodded slightly and said.

"Cao Zhongtang, what do you mean?" Yuan Shikai turned his head and looked at Cao Kun and said.

"I think that Shangshu Feng's suggestion is quite pertinent. Now the Japanese are forced to do so. If the emperor does not participate in the war, he may not be able to escape. Moreover, if the Japanese have finished fighting Li Tiancheng, they still have resentment. The next one must deal with us. The only way at this time is to follow the Japanese and beat Li Tiancheng. In the end, the Japanese will take our share of our contributions and can still protect the Chinese Empire from being annexed by Japan." Cao Kun immediately advised.

"I really can't bear it when fighting this war will cause trouble for the people and money." Yuan Shikai's eyes rolled, and he waved his hand and pretended to be helpless.

Yuan Shikai was not feeling sorry for the people and the money was hurt, but felt sorry for him that he had to pay the money to supplement his military salary. If the tax burden on the people was too heavy due to the war and caused civil unrest, he would be considered uneasy, so he did not want to raise troops to fight again. Besides, Li Tiancheng is a difficult character. He was beaten to the point where he had no power to fight back before, so he dared not take the initiative to provoke trouble now.

"In my opinion, the emperor can fool the Japanese first. We can send troops to the front of the Zhenguo Army camp to fight. If the Zhenguo Army does not go to fight, we will not take the initiative to attack. Then we can send small troops to fight a small-scale guerrilla war. The Japanese are not in these war zones, and they don't know if we will work hard to fight. When the Japanese really fight with Li Tiancheng and fight on land, we will act again to see if we can pick up a loophole and move south to seize some advantage." Cao Kun suggested again.

"Father, my son-in-law thinks Cao Zhongtang's suggestions are very reasonable. If we really fight against Li Tiancheng, we will definitely lose troops and generals in the end, and we may not be able to get any advantage. We might as well follow Cao Zhongtang's suggestions and send troops to the front line to make an attacking attitude, and then judge whether we really want to continue fighting with the Zhenguo Army based on the battlefield situation." Yuan Shikai's eldest son Yuan Keding came out and agreed. He is now the crown prince of the Chinese Empire, and his crown prince robe shows his noble identity.

"Well, it seems that I have to do this now. I don't have many troops under my command. If I were chewed off part of it by Li Tiancheng on the southern battlefield, who else can be the support of the Chinese Empire in the future?" Yuan Shikai nodded and said.

"I wonder when this war will end? This Li Tiancheng is a master who loves to cause trouble. In the past few years, he would not do a good emperor, but he wanted to engage in hypocritical democratic politics. Recently, he has not taken advantage of the opportunity of many powerful people to rest and accumulate national strength. He ran in to stir up such a large mass of shit. It really makes me feel very uncomfortable." Yuan Shikai complained again.

"Cao Zhongtang and Feng Shangshu, the two beloved ministers, go and worry about the matter of sending troops. I haven't had a good rest yesterday and am a little tired. If nothing happens, just leave the court." Yuan Shikai remembered that his beloved concubine was still waiting for him on the bed. He could not forget the gentle lingering last night, and immediately waved his hand to the bottom.

Yuan Shikai's Chinese Empire currently has six divisions of about 70,000 troops, of which two divisions were expanded with the help of the Japanese. The army hired Japanese military advisers and instructors, and used Japanese training troops. The weapons and equipment were gradually replaced by Japanese 38 large caps and German Mauser.

Due to the limited financial resources of the Chinese Empire, a large amount of activity funds need to be paid to the Japanese garrison every year. The equipment of the Chinese Empire's army is still mainly rifles. The number of artillery is insufficient. Each division has less than 30 artillery types, which is much lower than the number of nearly 100 artillery pieces of Japanese artillery pieces. The light weapons of the troops are also mainly rifles. Light machine guns and heavy machine guns are only available at the company level or above. The Japanese light machine guns have been equipped with infantry squads, and each infantry squad has a light machine gun.

In terms of overall combat effectiveness, including tactical literacy, individual shooting accuracy, combat will, etc., Yuan Shikai's troops are very different from the Japanese army.

In order to show the Japanese a gesture, Yuan Shikai began to transport troops to the northern part of Xinyang, Henan, which is located in the Wusheng Pass, the north-south transportation throat. The Zhenguo Army had a division of troops stationed in Wusheng Pass.

The Zhenguo Army currently adopts the three-three system, each division has three brigades or two brigades and one independent regiment. Some divisions have only one brigade and several regiment-level units. Each standard infantry division has two professional artillery battalions, with nearly eighty artillery pieces of various types, and some divisions have more than one hundred artillery pieces.

A division generally has 100 military vehicles, each of which can transport forty soldiers, 200 motorcycles, each of which can carry three people, and the other two reinforced motor units. The motorcycle infantry division each has 2,000 tricycles, making it the division-level unit with the largest number of motorcycles.

In addition to the two motorized infantry divisions with fast maneuverability, the Zhenguo Army currently has two armored divisions, each equipped with 100 armored tanks and more than 100 artillery pieces. These four divisions are the ace troops of the Zhenguo Army, and the two armored divisions are the aces among the aces.

Currently, these four divisions are stationed on the front lines of Shandong and Anhui, and will be put into use as the main force for combat against Japan. The new 28th Army of Zhenguo Army stationed on the front lines of Jinan, Laiwu and Liaocheng has three divisions with a total of 20,000 troops. It is the most powerful force of Zhenguo Army. The troops are equipped with an armored division, a motorized infantry division, and an ordinary infantry division.

There are three divisions of the 36th Army stationed in Xuzhou, Fuyang, Anhui, and Huaibei. The 36th Army also has an armored division and a motorized infantry division. These two armies mainly face the Japanese army in North China.

The remaining troops stationed in Shaanxi and Shaanxi. Hubei are all ordinary infantry divisions. Currently, there are only four divisions of troops, facing mainly the army of the Chinese Empire.

The Zhenguo Army's active army has a total of 125,000 troops, and there are two Marine Divisions with a total of 24,000 troops, a reserve force of about 100,000 troops, and a 30,000 guard troops responsible for the inner guard. They are distributed in various provinces and cities. If a land war breaks out, they will be used as the second-tier troops.

The Japanese army in Shandong currently has three divisions with a total of 40,000 troops. The 18th Division is in the front line of Zibo and Weifang, the 12th Division is in the Binzhou area, and the 22nd Division is in the Dezhou area, in a triangular defensive situation.

Among them, the Japanese army in the Dezhou area is close to an infantry brigade stationed in Yucheng by the Zhenguo Army. The frontier positions of the two sides have had fired for several days, but there were no major casualties, and neither side has taken further large-scale military operations.

In order to show the Japanese a posture, Yuan Shikai pushed the Second Division stationed in Handan, Hebei to the direction of Liaocheng, Shandong and ten kilometers to the direction of Xuzhou...

More to, address
Chapter completed!