Master Yuan, start!

If Japan had not fought against the Qing Dynasty in Korea, the French would never have sent troops to occupy Korea. Korea would still be in Japan's pocket, and they could have taken their time to conquer it.

After much thought, Japan can only avoid losses by restraining itself from using force in Korea, but avoiding losses does not mean doing nothing. Ito Hirobumi still wants to make a safe profit.

So he sent someone to contact the commander of the French expeditionary force, Courbet, and promised that if the French army attacked the Qing mainland, Japan would provide logistical support in terms of food and troop transportation.

At the same time, it also supported France's annexation of Lianzhou Prefecture, Hainan Island and southern Taiwan, leaving only northern Taiwan to Japan.

Although Courbet led his army to capture Keelung, food supply was difficult due to the hostility of the local people. In addition, as the weather got warmer, non-combat casualties became more and more serious.

Therefore, Courbet contacted the Paris government as soon as he received the news and asked the Japanese to send a batch of supplies.

After several rounds of supply, the French Far East army led by Courbet established initial trust with the Japanese. They sent people to contact Paris several times in succession, exaggerating Japan's assistance and claiming that with the help of the Japanese, he could even try to capture the capital of the Qing Dynasty.

In the end, at Courbet's repeated requests, before stepping down, Jules Ferry refused to negotiate with the Qing Dynasty. At the same time, he allocated 400 million francs to the French Far East to support the war and authorized Courbet to sign a secret agreement with the Japanese to divide Hainan and Taiwan Island.

Ito Hirobumi's main intention was to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the French was heading north and send six armies from Ryukyu to attack and occupy Taiwan in one fell swoop. By the time the French returned after three battles, Japan's occupation of Taiwan would be a fait accompli, and several southern Taiwanese cities would serve as supply ports for the French.

It was impossible for the French to offend both the Qing Dynasty and Japan in the Far East, so they could only suffer this loss.

Courbet believed that Japan was just a small Eastern European country like Bulgaria, which was taking advantage of the struggle for hegemony among the major powers to jump around and seek some benefits.

When the great French army returns triumphantly from the Qing capital, the Japanese will naturally offer Taiwan respectfully. Giving them a few ports in northern Taiwan as resupply ports for their warships would be a worthy ally. No, the Japanese are far from being allies; they are merely partners in interests.

So, based on the calculations of both sides, Japan and France signed a simple treaty in Keelung City.

The treaty stipulated that Japan was obliged to provide the French with food and medical supplies before the end of the war. If ammunition was insufficient, gunpowder could be shipped from Saigon to replenish it. When the French army moved north, French soldiers could be transported to land as far north as the Shandong Peninsula. Japan also supported any claims made by France to Qing territory, but not including Korea.

Although the French were puzzled about why Korea should be included, they felt that it was so far away from Indochina and would not affect their colonization, so they simply wrote it down.

At the same time, France also promised to share Taiwan Island with Japan and carry out deeper economic cooperation with Japan.

In this way, the Franco-Japanese Keelung Treaty, which was full of naked interest transactions, was freshly produced.

Inside the restaurant, Saigo Jōmichi held the Franco-Japanese Keelung Treaty in his hand. Although he was very dissatisfied, he had to admire Ito Hirobumi's methods.

Through strategic maneuvering, without sacrificing a single soldier, Japan secured fertile land that was no less than Hokkaido, which only needed to be claimed by the samurai of the Great Japanese Empire.

At this moment, he felt that Taiwan was within his grasp.

"Mr. Ito, I really admire your methods. His Majesty the Emperor has previously asked his ministers to propose candidates for the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. I will definitely support Mr. Ito in the next meeting. But the men of my Satsuma clan are not incompetent either. When we attack Taiwan, please let the navy take the lead!" Saigo stood up and bowed deeply to Ito Hirobumi.

This bow meant that he, the leader of Satsuma Domain, was obedient to Ito Hirobumi, who was from Choshu Domain. It also meant that in the short term, the conflicts between the feudal clans within the Japanese government would no longer be the mainstream.

Seeing that Saigo Tsunemichi supported him to be the first Prime Minister of the Japanese cabinet to be formed, Ito Hirobumi naturally reciprocated.

He quickly walked over to Saigo Tsunemichi, helped him up, and said, "Saigo-kun, ever since your brother committed seppuku, there have been repeated criticisms from the court. But I know he did it for the sake of the Great Japanese Nation and is not a man who would bring disaster to the nation. Now that you have inherited his legacy, and if we work together in Satsuma and Choshu, there is no need to worry about the revitalization of the Great Japanese Nation!"

"Ito-kun, you..." Saigo Tsumichi only felt a sour feeling in his nose, and a hot current was about to flow out of his eyes.

Saigo Tsunemichi's ability to become the leader of the Satsuma clan in the government was also due to the contribution of his brother Saigo Takamori, who rebelled.

After the victory of the rebellion in the Southwest War, the Japanese government not only acquiesced to Saigo Takamori's seppuku, but also did not hold his family accountable. Instead, in order to appease the military forces, it allowed his younger brother Saigo Jōmichi to enter the government and become the representative of Satsuma Domain.

Therefore, Saigo Tsunemichi has always respected his brother, and Ito Hirobumi's words of recognition for his brother just now made him truly loyal to him.

"Don't worry, Ito-kun, Samurai will never be a coward!"

Chapter 44: Red Confucian Group

It was already midnight. On a warship sailing across the Bohai Sea towards Jinzhou Bay, Yuan Shikai and several of his close friends and trusted subordinates were discussing countermeasures in the cabin.

It can be said that all the people in the cabin are Yuan Shikai's "own people", so he spoke quite boldly and asked without hesitation about the situation of the officials sent by the Qing court to Korea in the past six months.

Ming Ye had been traveling frequently between Tianjin and Seoul over the past six months, so he stood up and replied, "General Instructor, the Qing court has only sent a few diplomatic and trade personnel to Korea over the past six months, and has not sent any other military officers to garrison Seoul."

After understanding the situation in Korea, Yuan Xiangcheng turned around and asked Xu Shichang.

"My name is Xu Shichang, Ju Ren. You travel frequently to Beijing and Tianjin and are well-informed. Do you know the current situation of the other four armies of Jiashen?" Yuan Xiangcheng only knew the level of his Jiashen Right Army and was not very familiar with the current situation of the other four armies.

Although officers from the other four armies also often studied at the Beiyang Tianjin School, most of those who enrolled were technical officers and soldiers with little background. The core personnel who truly controlled the power did not come for further studies.

Xu Shichang pondered for a moment, then slowly replied, "The front army of Jiashen consisted of over 1 men, and the rear and left armies consisted of around 2000 men, which is almost the same number as the Tianjin garrison of the right army of Jiashen. The number of the central army of Jiashen remains a mystery."

Ming Ye, standing by, asked in confusion, "Why is the number of troops in the Central Army unknown? Isn't the Central Army led by Ronglu himself, and given priority in the supply of weapons and equipment?"

Qu Nan knew that Ming Ye, as a Korean, did not understand the rules of the Qing Dynasty, so he carefully explained: "It is precisely because the Central Army is Ronglu's favorite and only recruits bannermen that he cannot recruit them."

"That's right. Even though those bannermen in the capital city are carrying bird cages and making a big splash in restaurants, few of them are willing to pick up guns and fight foreigners. Most of those who join the army are poor children of the Han Army Banner, but Ronglu also doesn't allow too many people from the Han Army Banner to join, so the central army will definitely not be formed in a year or two." Han Bei also added a few words at the right time.

After saying "that group of bannermen", Xu Shichang, Ming Ye and Sheng Fei in the cabin immediately stared at the two men, Nan and Bei, with strange eyes, which made Yuan Xiangcheng want to laugh.

Han Bei also realized that he was being stared at. He straightened his military uniform, raised his head slightly and said proudly, "Why are you looking at me? Although I am a bannerman, I am a Han army bannerman. My ancestors are real Han people."

"The head instructor once said in the school that as long as one's heart is devoted to China's rejuvenation, regardless of origin or region, all are members of the Red Confucian Corps and comrades!"

Seeing that everyone had almost finished their discussion, Yuan Xiangcheng stopped talking about the topic of the ZhongD group: Jiuba Er~sisan+Umbrella0 and turned to talk about the development of the Hongru group.

The Red Confucian Group was an underground political organization established by Yuan Shikai when he opened the Beiyang School in Tianjin.

Soldiers and people with anti-Qing ideas from Incheon and Tianjin were selected to join a secret society. Red represents blood and Ru represents Confucianism.

Yuan Shikai claimed that Confucianism had long become a tool for foreigners to enslave hundreds of millions of Chinese people under the rule of the Qing Dynasty, and was stained with the blood of the people.

Now he wants to use the blood of the Tartars to cleanse and reshape Confucianism, to restore a bright and clear world to the land of China, and to restore the most original Great Harmony society described in the books of Confucius and Mencius.

To this end, he proposed a three-step strategy. The first step was to expel the Tartars and restore China. He first rescued the Chinese land from the hands of the Tartars and built a China that belonged to the Han people.

The second step was to defeat the corrupt Confucian scholars and reshape Confucianism, rescuing Confucianism from the control of the corrupt Confucian scholars of the Qing Dynasty, criticizing the outdated concepts in Confucianism such as the ruler-ruler relationship and the minister-minister relationship, the Three Bonds and Five Constant Virtues, and raising the banner of putting the people first, the country second, and the ruler least, and re-arming Confucianism with the idea of ​​Great Harmony.

The third step is for all Chinese people to closely unite around the Red Confucian Group under the leadership of Red Confucian thought, shoulder the heavy responsibility of reviving Confucianism, aim to emulate the Han and Tang dynasties, and spread the glory of Chinese civilization to the whole world.

Of course, what the new Confucianism will say at that time will depend on Yuan Xiangcheng's words. Traditional Confucianism is so rotten to the core that it cannot be revived. Only by injecting the essence of Marx and Engels' thoughts into it can Confucianism be reborn.

Each generation has its own interpretations and extensions. If the aspects of Confucianism that care for the people and advocate for enlightenment are beneficial to the present, then use them. If the aspects that advocate upholding ethical principles and moral principles are not beneficial to the present, then discard them.

This was the most basic need for Yuan Xiangcheng to establish the Red Confucian Group. He needed a group of people to help him realize the action of transforming Confucianism and reshaping Confucianism.

As for the supreme leader of the Red Confucian Group, it was naturally Yuan Xiangcheng, the man who founded it. However, the Red Confucian Group was still in its infancy and did not yet have a clear hierarchy. It only established that Yuan Xiangcheng, as the leader, had the power to control all matters within the group.

Ma Xiangbo, Xu Shichang, Duan Qirui and others were responsible for the political and educational department, propaganda department, foreign affairs department and other group affairs respectively, and at the same time tried their best to absorb talents who were committed to opposing the Qing Dynasty.

During the period in Tianjin, the Red Confucian Group held a meeting once a month on average. At the beginning, only Yuan Xiangcheng and Xu Shichang attended the meetings. Later, as the organization grew further, Ma Xiangbo, Duan Qirui, Ming Ye, Qu Nan, Han Bei and others were absorbed into the group.

When Yuan Shikai announced his plan at the meeting to first establish a foothold in Korea, manage the Northeast, and then wait for an opportunity to advance to the capital and conquer China, everyone present was shocked.

Anyone who has been in contact with Yuan Shikai for a long time can see his inner disdain and contempt for the Qing Dynasty, but no one expected that he had such big ambitions and actually wanted to change the dynasty.

Fortunately, after spending time together day and night, everyone was gradually impressed by Yuan Shikai's talents. He wrote three articles under the pseudonym "East Asian Nationalist" and published four articles on the rise of a great power in Shenbao.

This made these people have an inexplicable sense of trust in Yuan Shikai, thinking that with such a person who had such a deep understanding of the international political situation and history, following him in the uprising against the Qing Dynasty might not be a bad omen for them.

Inside the cabin, Yuan Xiangcheng was seen trying to understand the current situation in Korea and inquiring about the situation of the other four Jiashen armies.

Ming Ye keenly sensed Yuan Xiangcheng's concern and asked, "Chief Instructor, are you worried that the French army is too powerful and the rest of the Jiashen army will be unable to stop them? This could ruin the Korean anti-Qing campaign agreed upon at the meeting."

"If the French really go north to Beijing and Tianjin, and the Qing government asks us to return to defend Jinzhou, can we defeat the French with such a small number of people?" Yuan Xiangcheng was unsure.

"Chief Instructor, the new troops of our Jiashen Right Army in Tianjin and Incheon are not bandits, nor are they militias. They are troops that believe in Red Confucianism. It is normal that they are forming slowly.

"But our fighting spirit is in no way comparable to that of the militia. We've consistently held the upper hand in several exercises against the Jiashen Fifth Army. If we hadn't deliberately lost to the Jiashen Front Army to avoid attention, it would probably be our Jiashen Right Army defending Beijing and Tianjin right now," Sheng Fei explained.

"That's right, Weiting, don't worry too much." Xu Shichang also stepped forward to comfort him.

"Chief Instructor, you must have confidence in our Red Confucian Corps and our new army. Bannermen like Qu Nan and Han Bei are willing to abandon the Qing Dynasty and join us, which shows that we are on the right path."

Seeing this, Yuan Xiangcheng could only put aside his inner anxiety and hope that things would develop for the better.

Chapter 45 Reactions from all parties

Just as Yuan Shikai and others disembarked and garrisoned the Jinzhou Port Fort, thousands of miles away at Keelung Port, the French were preparing their troops. The high-flying tricolor flag indicated that the proud Gallic rooster was going to severely punish this arrogant Eastern power.

Before receiving medical assistance from the Japanese, the French camp in Keelung was on the verge of an epidemic. Because the French expeditionary force was not adapted to Taiwan's climate, large numbers of French soldiers began to be decimated.

For Courbet, where 10 deaths in battle were considered a heavy loss, more than 60 people died in non-combat situations in less than a month, and more than a thousand people were unable to carry weapons due to illness. Mosquitoes, snakes, ants, malaria and dysentery became major problems plaguing the French army.

As planned by Liu Mingchuan, Keelung City had become a ghost town. The people in the city and its suburbs were evacuated, and the port and coal mine were blown up.

In order to protect hundreds of seriously wounded soldiers, Courbet had to build defensive fortifications day and night. However, despite Liu Mingchuan's efforts, Courbet could not even find anyone to build the fortifications and was forced to send people to hire contractors from Hong Kong to build them.

The cost of defending Keelung was very high. Just when Courbet could no longer hold on and wanted to retreat to Penghu, the Japanese sent Courbet the medical supplies he needed most.

With the assistance of the Japanese, the French commander Courbet did not die of illness in Penghu as he did in the original time and space. After receiving the aid, Courbet even held the initiative on the ground battlefield in Taiwan for a time, forcing Liu Mingchuan to withdraw from northern Taiwan.

After briefly clearing out the Qing troops near Keelung, Courbet immediately sent people to take over the defeated French troops on the Vietnamese battlefield.

In the Sino-French War in this time and space, the naval commander Courbet did not die, but the one who died was the army commander Negri who was only injured in the original time and space.

On the Vietnam battlefield, in order to rescue friendly forces besieged by the Qing army and the Black Flag Army in the Battle of Tuyen Quang, Negri was forced to attack from Lang Son in an attempt to turn the tide of the war.

However, when Nigri led more than 1500 people to attack Zhennan Pass, he was intercepted and defeated by Feng Zicai. This time, the bullet that hit Nigri's chest in the original time and space directly hit his head.

When the French army led by Negri saw that its commander was killed, its deputy general Hebenzhe retreated in panic, and the entire army was immediately defeated. Some French troops were even captured by the Qing army. The French army retreated all the way and was forced to abandon Lang Son and other places.

After veteran General Feng Zicai and his companions disarmed part of the defeated French troops, they were about to pursue the victory. However, Guangxi Governor Pan Dingxin and a number of Huai Army generals had received a signal from Li Hongzhang in advance, so they decided to quit while they were ahead and were unwilling to expand the war.

So the soldiers watched helplessly as the French ran back to Hanoi, calmly organized their armaments, and even sent people to retrieve the captured French soldiers.

Zhang Zhidong, the then acting governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, was so furious that he sent a telegram to the court to severely criticize Pan Dingxin.

Yi also requested to take advantage of the situation to pursue the enemy, or at least try to attack Hanoi with the assistance of the Black Flag Army and the Vietnamese people, forcing the French army to come out to fight and weaken the French strength.

Who knew that when this memorial was submitted, it was rebuked by Li Hongzhang. Li Hongzhang and the Qing court decided to seize the opportunity to seek peace and ordered the withdrawal of troops along the line and a ceasefire.

0 The French prisoners captured on the spot should be handed over intact and healthy to the French army in exchange for the captured Qing soldiers. At the same time, the prisoner exchange should be used as an excuse to negotiate with the French on the specific details of seeking peace.

7 Of course, the Qing court claimed to the outside world that they had won a great victory at Zhennan Pass and defeated the French. However, at the request of the French army, and considering the pain of the French soldiers who had been away for thousands of miles and were homesick, the Qing court "stopped fighting and made peace."

When the news reached the capital, the scholars who had just finished the spring examination and had not yet had time to return home heard the news and wrote letters to the court, requesting the court to press on and pursue the victory and not give the French a chance to breathe. However, their letters fell on deaf ears and received no response.

However, these were still good things. When the soldiers on the front line in Guangxi heard the news of the request for peace, they were all "heartbroken and angry". Several of them could not contain their anger and beat up the French in custody, and were even imprisoned by Guangxi Governor Pan Dingxin.

After the news of Yi's imprisonment was reported, an additional report was published.

Since the beginning of the Sino-French War, Si Shenbao has been following and reporting on the war by relying on its powerful information collection capabilities at home and abroad, with the help of news from foreign newspapers and domestic official channels.

From the Three Self-Government War to the great victory at Zhennan Pass, the group published over a hundred editorials on Sino-French relations, echoing the Qingliu faction in the court and praising Chen Baochen, Zhang Peilun, Zhang Zhidong and others who advocated war.

At the beginning of the war, the Sixth Report pointed out that the French "bully the weak and fear the strong" and that China must "prepare for war with strength" and "defend against them with strength."

After learning that the front-line soldiers were taken into custody after the great victory at Zhennan Pass, the newspaper used an entire page to describe the incident in a lavish manner. The eight big words "The victors are imprisoned, and the soldiers are innocent" were printed in a prominent position on the newspaper.

For a time, there was an uproar in the court. The Sino-French "capitulation" situation that Cixi and Li Hongzhang had imagined did not occur. On the one hand, the Qing army was not powerful enough to wipe out the French army.

On the other hand, neither the people nor the court officials believed that the French army would admit defeat. If they did not pursue the victory, they would probably face revenge from the French army after resting.

Just when Li Hongzhang was in a state of panic, things suddenly took a turn for the better. The French troops on the Vietnamese front agreed to negotiate and exchange prisoners.

Li Hongzhang, unaware that Japan and France had colluded and who had been trapped in a delaying tactic, was overjoyed and immediately ordered Zhang Zhidong and Pan Dingxin to contact the French to discuss peace talks.