Master Yuan, start!

"As mentioned before, after Crown Prince Nicholas was attacked, he rested in Kyoto for half a month, and then returned home on a Russian warship." Ming Ye reported the recent intelligence between Japan and Russia one by one.

"Well, Nicholas just left like that?" When the assassination happened, Xu Shichang was busy dealing with the affairs of the Confucius Mansion and did not follow up on the matter, so he wanted to know the latest situation.

Yuan Shikai could only express helplessness upon hearing this. He also wanted to keep Nicholas in Japan for the rest of his life, so that Russia and Japan would become mortal enemies, but it was just a thought.

As it is now, it is extremely difficult to get the intelligence personnel of the Red Confucian Society to provide the bomb. This is based on the fact that he relies on his memories of his previous life and knows the assassin's name, and that this person is also mentally ill.

2 If the assassin Tsuda Sanzang was a Japanese with a normal mind, the Red Confucian Society members who provided the bomb might be reported, arrested, or even cause a diplomatic conflict.

However, even so, did Nicholas return to Russia as in history and was unwilling to go to war with Japan?

4 What is going on here that I don’t know? Yuan Xiangcheng frowned, feeling very puzzled.

The reason why Zero was confused was that this assassination was much more serious than in the original time and space. In the original time and space, Nicholas and Prince George were only slightly injured.

In this time and space, Prince George of Greece was directly killed by a bomb. If Russia wants to win over its Orthodox brothers, it cannot help but take action.

"It's said that after the Japanese Emperor personally went to the Russian warship to apologize, Crown Prince Nicholas didn't accept it," Xu Shichang also read the follow-up news in the newspapers. "But he didn't say anything final, just that he would bring the message to Athens and respect the Greek king's decision."

"Juren, you're talking about official news, but there's a lot of speculation going on behind the scenes." Yuan Xiangcheng knew more information, so he explained it in detail:

"Nicholas refused to give a clear answer, which greatly annoyed Emperor Meiji. However, he could not stop him, so he simply sent Prince Kitashirakawa Norihisa back with Nicholas to Athens to personally apologize to the Greek royal family."

"Prince Kitashirakawa Norihisa?" It was the first time that Xu Shichang heard such a strange name.

"The Japanese imperial family doesn't have a surname; they use their titles or imperial titles as their surnames," Yuan Xiangcheng explained. "So this person's name is actually Nohū, and Kitashirakawa-no-miya is his title."

The reason why Yuan Xiangcheng had some impression of this "Prince Kitashirakawa Norihisa" was thanks to a book on modern Taiwanese history that he read.

This man was the nominal brother of Emperor Meiji and the adopted son of the previous emperor. He was shot and killed during the attack on Taiwan in 1895 in the original time and space.

Later, during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan, the Japanese authorities deified this man, continuously elevated his historical status, and even built a shrine for him in Taiwan. That is why Yuan Shikai's name appears repeatedly in Taiwanese history books.

"If the prince goes and asks for forgiveness, will the Greeks agree?" Xu Shichang sneered. The Japanese were really dreaming.

After staying with Yuan Shicheng for a long time, Xu Shichang had a certain understanding of European history, so he naturally didn't care about the Japanese actions.

In his opinion, this man was a prince in Japan, but what was he in Europe? In Europe, where crowns were everywhere, which country did not have several royal families?

"I hope they won't agree." This was all the information Yuan Xiangcheng had before, and he didn't know what happened next.

However, at this moment, Ming Ye stood up, took out a telegram from his pocket, and said solemnly: "Chief Instructor, this is the information just sent from Tokyo Station. I haven't had time to verify its authenticity yet."

Ming Ye held out the telegram, and Yuan Xiangcheng took it with a smile. However, the more he looked at it, the stiffer his expression became.

"What's wrong?" Xu Shichang turned to look at Ming Ye: "What's in the telegram?"

Ming Ye didn't dare to speak, but just stared at Yuan Xiangcheng.

"So that's how it is. So that's how it is." Yuan Xiangcheng silently read it for a long while before placing the telegram on the table. He sighed deeply, "They are truly worthy of being the heroes of the Meiji era who led Japan from an agricultural country to an industrial one."

Hearing Yuan Xiangcheng talking in riddles, saying things like agricultural country, industrial country and so on, Xu Shichang didn't bother to guess and just picked up the telegram to read it.

After a moment, he put down the telegram with some sympathy.

"Prince Nohū presented the Chiyoda and Itsukushima to the royal family in the Greek capital, and the King of Greece gladly accepted them."

The telegram school was about the Japanese government's final solution to the assassination.

After Nicholas returned, Japan sent a prince to Europe together, which coincided with the launch of the Chiyoda and Itsukushima cruisers ordered by the Japanese in France.

Prince Norihisa Kitashirakawa "arbitrarily" decided to donate the two warships to the Greek royal family as compensation for the death of Prince George of Greece.

"The Japanese are really good at this." Xu Shichang couldn't help but admire him.

"Yes, after the assassination, how could Japan not appease the anger of other countries?" Yuan Xiangcheng knew that Japan was far from being able to compete with Russia at this time:

"On the surface, this was Prince Nohū's personal act, but in reality, he must have received Emperor Meiji's approval. Otherwise, he would never have donated the warships."

"The telegram also said that Japan was in an uproar because of this. Many students and civilians pointed the finger at Prince Kitashirakawa Norihisa, saying that he was selling out the country's most important treasure and should be convicted!" Xu Shichang talked about the reaction of Japanese public opinion.

"Haha, they are really eating with a bowl in hand and cursing when they put down their chopsticks." Yuan Xiangcheng felt that this group of Japanese civilians were really stupid. They didn't even realize that they had avoided a war of national destruction.

"That's right. There are at least nearly a hundred Japanese navy officers on the Itsukushima and Chiyoda. Could Prince Norihisa have bribed them?" Ming Ye didn't believe that a prince had such ability.

"It's nothing more than using this Prince Nengjiu as a scapegoat. We can explain it to Russia and Greece externally, and the emperor and the government won't have to bear the blame for the loss of warships internally." Yuan Xiangcheng saw it clearly.

"But I'm afraid that the title and position of Prince Beichuan Gong Nengjiu will come to an end from now on."

"Look at what the telegram says. Emperor Meiji has decided to strip Prince Kitagawa Norihisa of his imperial status, demote him to a commoner, and never allow him to return to the imperial family."

"What a cruel emperor." Xu Shichang couldn't help but be surprised.

According to the Qing Dynasty's custom, as long as it did not involve a dispute over the throne, even if one failed in the political struggle, the only penalty would be the deprivation of salary. If the situation was more serious, the only penalty would be imprisonment.

After Empress Dowager Cixi seized power from Prince Gong Yixin and expelled him from the Grand Council, his status as an iron-hat prince remained unaffected, except that he was not allowed to participate in the affairs of the Grand Council.

"The Itsukushima cost 300 million Yao Zhao units, and the Chiyoda cost 150 million Yao Zhao units. Based on the current exchange rate, that's a total of 300 million taels of silver to buy peace."

When Yuan Xiangcheng learned about the price of the Chiyoda, he was also amazed: "The Japanese are really willing to spend a lot of money."

Itsukushima and Chiyoda were both major warships of the First Group of the Japanese Combined Fleet during the First Sino-Japanese War. The Chiyoda was hit by three shells from the Beiyang Fleet but survived, and was once considered a "lucky ship" by the Japanese.

Given Yuan Xiangcheng's understanding of the superstition level of the Japanese, it is hard to say whether he would give it away if he knew Chiyoda's future deeds.

"The Japanese are willing to emulate Goujian and Han Xin, sleeping on straw and tasting gall, suffering humiliation, and even losing two warships, just to avoid conflict with Russia."

At this point, Yuan Xiangcheng couldn't help but sigh. At that time, there was Emperor Meiji in the Japanese political arena, and among them were Ito Hirobumi, Inoue Kaoru, Yamagata Aritomo and other anti-shogunate heroes who led Japan towards modernization.

The political tactics of this group of people are far superior to those of the army staff officers during the Showa period who only knew how to rebel and act on their own.

If it were in later times, this group of advisers would not have suffered even a little loss and would have probably been clamoring for war long ago.

Using two main battleships to exchange for peace would certainly be considered a great humiliation by them. I'm afraid that the prince would be assassinated on the dock as soon as he returned home.

Japan during World War II was more like a child, relying on the axe made by its parents and waving it around recklessly in East Asia.

Today's Japan is the pioneer that has truly created an axe from scratch.

Presumably, the fact that Prince Kitagawa Norihisa was able to "sell warships without authorization" and still be safe after returning to his country was due to the indelible contributions made by Ito Hirobumi and Kuroda Kiyotaka, the two bigwigs from Nagasu and Satsuma.

Of course, the liberal democrat Shigenobu Okuma also had to appease the radicals within his group.

"Surviving with a broken arm, what a hero!"

But, can you, Japan, avoid disaster? Yuan Xiangcheng's eyes lit up.

He didn't believe that Nicholas II was indifferent to the assassination. In the original time and space, during the Russo-Japanese War, one of Russia's excuses for starting the war was disrespect for the Tsar.

It's about the assassination attempt on Nicholas in Japan.

Nicholas himself was not very fond of Japan's reaction, especially after the assassination, when the whole of Japan fell into a state of "self-proven" madness.

There was even a Japanese woman who committed suicide by disembowelment in front of the hotel where Nicholas was staying in order to gain his forgiveness of Japan.

It was good enough that Nicholas was not offended and was able to suppress his anger, mostly because the Japanese government found the British as its backer and used two warships to shut the Greeks up. Russia finally chose to give up due to logistical difficulties.

Thinking of this, Yuan Xiangcheng decided to add fuel to the fire and not let it go.

"Mr. Juba, please contact the Governor-General of Amur in Russia and ask him if he wants to pledge his loyalty to the future Tsar and if he's interested in building a railway from Siberia to Vladivostok."

"Railway?" Xu Shichang didn't understand why the topic suddenly came up. "What does the railway have to do with this?"

"Of course it is related." Yuan Xiangcheng replied with a gloomy face:

"Don't want to fight? After the railway is built, even if we don't want to fight, we'll let them fight!"

Chapter 171 Couple and the Northeast Market

Tang Shaoyi finally returned from Zhang Zhidong in Wuchang, and with him came Yuan Xiangcheng's predecessor's "wife" and "son"

When Yuan Shikai led his army into the Pass, Henan Governor Yu Chang arrested all of his family members in his hometown of Xiangcheng County.

But seeing the overwhelming offensive of the National Defense Army, Yu Chang felt a little hesitant, so he released most of the people, leaving only his wife Yu and eldest son Yuan Keding.

After Cixi arrived in Wuchang, Yu Chang heard the news and rushed over, and handed the two men over to Zhang Zhidong.

Originally, Cixi wanted to take out her anger on this mother and son to take revenge on Yuan Shikai, but fortunately she was stopped by Zhang Zhidong.

Zhang Zhidong believed that the disaster would not affect his family, and he had also received help from Yuan Shikai in setting up the Hanyang Iron Works, so he asked Tang Shaoyi to take the two of them north.

Counting the time, it was found that the mother and son had been away from their hometown for some time, and now they were rushing from Hubei to the Northeast, and they had been wandering outside for more than a year.

It was already 1891. According to the life trajectory of the original time and space, Yuan Shikai should have had 2 sons and 3 daughters, but in this time and space, Yuan Xiangcheng still had only one son, Yuan Keding.

The several concubines that Yuan Shikai took in during his stay in Korea had long been dismissed by Yuan Shikai.

How to deal with these two people? Yuan Keding is a child and easy to deal with, just send him to school.

But what about Yu?

The remaining memories in his mind told Yuan Xiangcheng that he and his "wife" Yu did not get along happily. Yu was one year older than him, and it was an arranged marriage.

However, it just so happened that their relationship was not good. The two had not slept together for a long time before they traveled through time. Now it would be better for them to continue to maintain the status quo, which would relieve Yuan Xiangcheng of so much psychological burden.

After all, appearance is secondary. In his heart, Yu is always someone else's wife, which feels weird.

Yu's arrival brought a new touch of color to the Governor's Mansion, where female members of the family were rarely seen.

The governor's wife came with her legitimate son. Even if Yuan Xiangcheng wanted to keep a low profile, there were still many people making a big fuss about it.

However, the hustle and bustle outside had nothing to do with Yuan Xiangcheng. Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of him, Yuan Xiangcheng suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Dad, why is it still so hot in the north?" Yuan Keding held Yu's hand and spoke in a childish voice.

At the age of 12, he was no longer considered young. However, I don’t know if it was because people at that time did not pay attention to nutritional balance or if it was due to genetic factors, but Yuan Keding’s height only reached his thigh, and was estimated to be around 120cm.

This child is not afraid of strangers. Although Yuan Shikai has only returned to his hometown once since he was born, he can still call out clearly.

It is true that a person’s character can be seen from his childhood.

In the original time and space, it took a certain amount of courage for the child in front of him to publish a fake newspaper to fool his biological father Yuan Shikai and create the illusion that everyone in the world supported him to become emperor.

“When it’s hot, it’s hot everywhere, including the north.”

However, Yuan Xiangcheng had no intention of playing the role of loving father and filial son with him. He just said a few words in response and had Yuan Keding taken away.

Only Yu and Yuan Xiangcheng were left in the room.

"From now on, let your feet go." Looking at Yu's tightly wrapped and even slightly deformed feet, Yuan Xiangcheng spoke first.

"I dare not. How can the family rules of our ancestors be abolished because of me?" Yu replied quietly.

No wonder Yuan Shikai didn’t like talking to her. I could just say one word and she would talk back to me, Yuan Xiangcheng secretly complained.

He also wanted a revolutionary partner, not an arranged marriage with a wife with bound feet, but it seemed that the task of transformation was still a long way to go.

Yu refused to cooperate with the request for unbinding of feet, and Yuan Xiangcheng wanted him to participate in related work in the future. How could this be possible?