Master Yuan, start!

After the Sino-French treaty ceding Taiwan, Kang Youwei angrily gave up writing and no longer had any interest in the imperial examinations. Taking advantage of Empress Dowager Cixi's concession to the imperial party, he founded the Chinese Repository in Beijing and distributed it free of charge to scholars in the capital.

He even established the so-called "Qiangxue Society", which was dedicated to translating Western books, introducing Western methods, and promoting the study of self-strengthening and saving the country. For a time, he was very famous in the capital and became the best among the provincial scholars.

However, he was too flamboyant, and the petition to the emperor caused the Qing court to be wary. In addition, there were good and bad people within the Qiangxue Society, and many people were dissatisfied with Kang Youwei's dominant position and tried to challenge it.

It happened that the Qing government was conducting a large-scale search in the capital after Gongche submitted the petition, so he left Beijing and went south, wanting to persuade Zhang Zhidong to establish the Qiangxue Society in Shanghai. However, Zhang Zhidong appreciated his idea of ​​advocating Western learning and introducing Western methods, but was unwilling to offend Cixi and establish the Shanghai Qiangxue Society.

Therefore, Kang Youwei traveled between Wuhan and Shanghai. On the one hand, he continued to publish the International Repository in Shanghai, and on the other hand, he often rushed to Wuhan to persuade Zhang Zhidong through the relationship with Zhang Zhidong's aide Yang Rui.

After more than a year, Kang Youwei saw that nothing could be done and could only live in Shanghai in despair, relying on the International Repository to promote his idea of ​​"focusing on the study of China's self-strengthening."

After hearing the news that Yuan Shikai defeated the Japanese and opened schools in Incheon, he began to think about going to Korea for refuge in late 1887.

Zhang Zhidong, who was transferred to Wuchang to serve as the Governor of Huguang, was not idle either. Although he did not want to offend Cixi, he was also well aware of the importance of Westernization.

With the help of his aide Yang Rui, Zhang Zhidong decided to organize foreign affairs in the three towns of Wuhan. The construction of the Hanyang Ironworks also began in Guishan at the end of 3, three years ahead of schedule.

There are many scholars who have similar experiences as Kang Youwei, such as Zhang Tiejun from Fujian.

After the French occupied northern Taiwan and gained a foothold, they gradually compressed the Qing army's space for activities southward. Liu Mingchuan, who was holding on to southern Taiwan, had his range of activities getting smaller and smaller. He was able to survive until now by relying on supplies from small ocean-going ships along the coast of Fujian.

Due to international opposition and mainly fear of causing diplomatic disputes with Britain, the French did not dare to completely blockade the coasts of Fujian and Taiwan again. So, under the leadership of Courbet, the French Far East Fleet occupied Xiamen Island in Fujian as a punishment, and threatened that the French army would not return Xiamen until Liu Mingchuan withdrew from Taiwan. They wanted to use this to make the Qing government give up its support for Liu Mingchuan.

After hearing the news that his hometown had been occupied, Zhang Tiejun, a Fujian native far away in the capital, ran around the capital to contact Fujian scholars, hoping that the Qing court would increase its support for Liu Mingchuan. He even proposed to transfer Yuan Shikai's army south to deal with the French.

After receiving Liu Mingchuan's blood letter stating that "it is our responsibility to defend the island, as long as the people are on the island", the Qing court was still afraid that the French troops would invade Fujian, so it decided to let Liu Mingchuan withdraw to Penghu in exchange for the French withdrawing their troops from Xiamen.

When Liu Mingchuan saw the Fujian supply merchant ship bringing the Qing court's order to "abandon Taiwan and move to Penghu," he angrily tore up the order, stating that as long as he was on the island, he would never abandon it even if he died.

However, after the person who announced the decree informed him that Li Hongzhang, then Governor of Guangdong and Minister of Nanhai, had no objection to the order, Liu Mingchuan became so angry that he spat out blood from his mouth and fainted.

The remaining generals of the Ming Camp did not know what to do when they saw this. They could only call a doctor for treatment while pulling Liu Mingchuan and a group of military generals onto the boat.

Finally, amid the wailing and anguished cries of the anti-French civilians in southern Taiwan, Liu Mingchuan and his Mingzi Battalion anti-French troops were forced to board a merchant ship bound for Penghu.

However, the worst news was not over yet. During the more than ten days that Liu Mingchuan was in a coma, the French did not withdraw from Xiamen Island as agreed.

Instead, they forcibly "leased" the artillery area in the southern part of Xiamen Island, and at the same time occupied the two islands of Lieyu and Kinmen to the east of Xiamen Island.

Courbet also claimed that as a "gift", the French would not attack the Penghu Islands where Liu Mingchuan was located.

After learning that his hometown was forcibly "leased", Zhang Tiejun convened the "Fujian Study Society" at the Fujian Guild Hall in Beijing, calling for reform and strengthening the country to save the crisis. However, it was cancelled by the head of the Ministry of Personnel. Disheartened, he went south to Tianjin. After hearing that Incheon was full of new-style schools and scholars were competing to learn new knowledge, he began to think about going to Korea to relax.

Liu Mingchuan, who was in Penghu, woke up and learned that the French had forcibly leased Xiamen Island. He looked towards Taiwan Island in the east, silent, and finally wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang in Guangdong. Without waiting for a reply, he took a boat to Shanghai, intending to go up the river and return to his hometown to spend the rest of his life.

In 1886, the year after the end of the Battle of Beijing during the Sino-French War, the Germans saw that their defeated French opponent could cede land even after the defeat, and they could no longer suppress their desire for expansion. After establishing colonies in Namibia, Togo and Cameroon in Africa, they turned their attention to Asia.

William I first used his relatives with the Dutch to gain a foothold in the northwest of Kaliman Island in the Dutch East Indies.

Later, in 1887, after hearing the news that the French had forcibly leased Xiamen, they took the Dutch north and forcibly leased the area of ​​Tanzhou Town, which later became Zhuhai, in the western part of Macau, which was adjacent to the Portuguese.

Seeing that the French, Germans and Dutch were coming with great momentum, Guangdong Governor Li Hongzhang could only respond.

Many warships of his South China Sea navy fleet were still in the docks of German shipyards. He only had the two giant ships Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, but not many escort ships. It was estimated that the South China Sea navy would not be completed until the first half of 1888.

So when he saw the combined fleet of the Dutch and Germans approaching, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to keep his troops in place.

So, under the coercion of Germany, France and the Netherlands, Li Hongzhang signed the Sino-French-Vietnamese Taiwan Treaty with France in Guangzhou at the instruction of the Qing court, acknowledging that the southern part of Xiamen Island, Lieyu Island and Kinmen Island would be leased to France for 30 years. The French would give a certain amount of "rent", but it only needed to be deducted annually from the indemnity previously paid by China to France. In fact, no money had to be paid, and it was also agreed that France would have the priority right to renew the lease after the expiration.

Li Hongzhang also signed the Sino-German Guangzhou Treaty and the Sino-Dutch Guangzhou Treaty with Germany and the Netherlands respectively, agreeing to lease Tanzhou Town to the Germans and the Hengqin Islands to the Dutch for 30 years.

The Germans originally had huge demands and wanted to forcibly occupy the entire area north of Macau and south of Xiangshan.

Later, with the help of the British consul in Guangzhou found by Li Hongzhang, Germany was forced to give up the Zhuhai area, which was as large as Hong Kong, and only "leased" the town of Tanzhou.

Moreover, the Germans guaranteed in front of the British consul that they would not install any large-caliber lethal artillery in Tanzhou Town, and promised that Tanzhou Town would only be used for trade between China and Germany in the future. Only then did the British give up.

In this way, after the signing of the Sino-German, Sino-French and Sino-Dutch treaties, people inside and outside the court were excited.

Over the past two years, scholars from all over the country have gradually gained a general understanding of the Western countries. France and Germany are one thing, but even the tiny country of the Netherlands dared to take a piece of the Qing Dynasty's pie, and even actually got it. How could this not make people angry?

$607 80*45 Lao Han

In places like Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Tianjin, which had closer contact with Western things, spontaneous gatherings of scholars to protect the country and the people were launched, advocating "protecting the country," "protecting religion," and "protecting the race," that is, protecting the country's political power, protecting the independence of the Chinese race, and protecting the holy religion.

Under the control of an invisible hand, the civil forces in the north gradually formed a trend of "saving the country and eliminating foreigners".

The joy and pride that Yuan Shikai brought about by expelling the Japanese army were shattered by the Qing court's concession in just half a year.

During the period when Li Hongzhang was negotiating the treaty with Germany, France and the Netherlands in Guangzhou, some court officials even suggested that Yuan Shikai lead his troops south to fight another battle with the French and Germans. The morale of the Chinese people could not be destroyed in vain.

However, just when the Qing court had not yet reached a decision, something happened in Korea again.

It turned out that after the Russians saw that the Germans and even the Dutch had taken advantage of the Qing Dynasty, they became dishonest. The two sides had originally agreed to hold boundary demarcation negotiations in Hunchun in August while the weather was still good.

However, as soon as Wu Da, Yiktang'a and others arrived in Hunchun, the Russians excused themselves by saying that it was inconvenient to travel and asked them to meet in Vladivostok. The two were undecided and could only rush to Korea to meet Yuan Shikai first and then go to Vladivostok together.

Just before the two men arrived in Seoul, the Russians' dilapidated warships appeared in Yongxing Bay, Korea, and some soldiers landed to check the beach conditions, which shocked the local officials and they quickly sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai.

Yongxing Bay is located in the eastern part of North Korea, almost at the same latitude as Pyongyang, facing the Sea of ​​Japan. It is a rare large natural harbor in the central region of North Korea's east coast and an ice-free port in winter.

It has always been coveted by the Russians. The Russians initially wanted to obtain a winter-freeze-free port in the Far East, and their target was only Yongxing Bay in North Korea.

In terms of latitude, Lushun and Yongxing Bay are at the same latitude, and the port conditions of Yongxing Bay are even better than those of Lushun.

The eastern part of the Korean Peninsula is nourished by the Tsushima Warm Current, a tributary of the Japan Current, while Port Arthur is affected by the cold current along the coast of mainland China. Moreover, Yongxing Bay is located in the western part of the Sea of ​​Japan and is in the same sea area as Vladivostok. Theoretically, Yongxing Bay is more suitable as an ice-free port for the Russians than Port Arthur.

[It was just that the Qing Dynasty was too weak later, and the Russians had no choice but to take advantage of it, so they forcibly "leased" the ice-free port of Lushun after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 in the original time and space.

Seeing that the Russians were eyeing Yongxing Bay in Korea, Yuan Shikai, who had just stabilized Korea, had to be on guard. He first sent a telegram to the capital to explain the Russians' ambitions, and then transferred the Jiashen Right Army to the Korean-Russian border area to guard against the Russians taking advantage of the situation.

UWhen the Koreans saw this situation, they naturally leaned towards Yuan Shikai. After hearing that Yongxing Bay was spied on by the Russians, scholars from all over the country brought their own dry food and rushed from the densely populated western part of Korea to the sparsely populated eastern part of Korea, just to help Lord Yuan.

At the same time, they also did not understand why the Qing central government was weak in dealing with the issues of Germany, France and the Netherlands. Why did the Qing Dynasty, with its soldiers and warships, still make concessions to foreign countries?

Some scholars even stopped Yuan Xiangcheng in Seoul, expressing their support for Yuan Xiangcheng's fight against Russia and their willingness to spend all their family wealth to provide military supplies for the Jiashen Right Army. At the same time, they asked Yuan Xiangcheng not to easily obey the orders of the Qing court and to protect the integrity of the Korean Golden Bowl.

Yuan Shikai was naturally delighted to see that the people had their support. After comforting these scholars, he promised that he would never give the Russians any opportunity to take advantage of the situation and would definitely protect Korea.

UAfter receiving the news from Yuan Shikai, Cixi, who was originally struggling with whether to let Yuan Shikai go south to fight, immediately decided to give up and instructed Li Hongzhang not to get entangled with the three countries anymore. Since there was no guarantee of victory, he should decisively sign a treaty with Germany, France and the Netherlands and agree to lease land.

N The British Minister to China, Eugene, was overwhelmed by the sudden change in the situation in the Far East. On the one hand, he had to deal with the French's unrealistic ambitions for southeastern China, and on the other hand, he had to stop the threats posed by the Germans and the Dutch to the Hong Kong colony.

: After seeing that the French and Germans had occupied a piece of land around Hong Kong, the British colonial governor of Hong Kong, Des Voeux, also sent a telegram to Hart and the British Minister to Hong Kong, asking whether they should take the opportunity to expand the scope of the Hong Kong colony.

Ogene couldn't make up his mind, but Hurd, who had lived in China for a long time, knew that this was not a good time.

"Your Excellency, the British Empire has already invested enough in China. Occupying additional land means we will have to spend more money to build forts and erect artillery batteries.

You know, the Chinese coast is already full of our British goods. If we want to expand the range of goods, we can only go upstream along the Yangtze River, a journey of thousands of miles, and Great Britain does not have enough manpower to complete this step.

2. If we just occupy a few more ports along the coast, it will not have much practical significance for the export of goods from Great Britain, because the three most important seaports of the Qing Dynasty have already been occupied by the British Empire. If we ask the Qing people for more, it will instead cause resentment within the Qing Dynasty, which will be more than the gain.

Fourth, you must know that the scholars of the Qing Dynasty have worked hard in the past two years to change the country's number one enemy from Great Britain to France. Why should we bear the firepower for the French?

Great Britain enjoyed the greatest economic benefits in the Qing Dynasty without having to bear the greatest political cost. This is why London agreed to the French lease of Taiwan, in order to let these Gallic young men see what Britain's balance was.

3. Colonies should focus on developing the economy and not always think about occupying more land. The French managed Algeria as if it were their own country, but they still couldn't assimilate the Algerians. Instead, they created the problem of the "Black Feet", which is bound to cause big problems in the future.

Zero land can bring no profit, only genuine commodity trade can bring profit.

You see, ever since the French forced the Qing to lease Taiwan, their goods have been boycotted by Qing scholars in Shanghai and Tianjin. Even arresting and imprisoning a few scholars who advocated a boycott of French goods in newspapers has done little to improve the situation. Ultimately, they can only sell at a lower price, resulting in a loss of profits.

From the perspective of economic interests, Hart explained to the new minister, Eugenie, why the colonies in China should not be expanded at this time, which prompted Eugenie to nod in agreement.

He then explained from the perspective of the global situation why it was not appropriate to attack the Qing Dynasty at this time:

"What's more, the Russians are not particularly well-behaved in Afghanistan. Although we and the Russians signed the London Protocol more than a year ago, which stipulated the spheres of influence of the two countries in Afghanistan, the Russians have still been supplying weapons to several Khanates in Central Asia, but they have not personally intervened.

The greedy polar bear has now turned its attention to the Far East, wanting to obtain an ice-free port in winter. I think we should not let the Russians get what they want no matter what.

We must support the Qing as we supported the Ottoman Empire, and lock the Russians in the Sea of ​​Japan, just as we trapped them in the Black Sea during the Russo-Turkish War.

Only a polar bear in a cage is a good polar bear.

What's more, even if we don't help the Qing Dynasty, at least the British Empire should help Yuan Shikai and help him stabilize the situation in Korea, right? "Hard looked at the Chinese ambassador Ogeno who was standing aside.

"Why? Just because Yuan Xiangcheng and you have a deep friendship, do we have to sacrifice the interests of the British Empire to meet your personal needs?" Ogen asked with some confusion.

Seeing that Ogene had misunderstood, Hurd quickly extended his hand to explain: “NONONO, I am a qualified diplomat and will not affect national interests because of personal feelings.

However, our British company is cooperating with Yuan Shikai to build a railway through Korea, and it is only half completed. If the Russians invade Korea and a conflict comes between Yuan Shikai and the Russians, who will guarantee the subsequent railway construction?

After all, not every Qing Dynasty leader could see the value of railways so highly. The queen of the Qing Empire even made the decision to pull a train with horses. How can we be sure that the person who succeeded Yuan Shikai would be as open-minded as him?

Moreover, if we choose to help Yuan Shikai in Korea, the cost will be much lower than helping the entire Qing Dynasty."

"So that's how it is. Sir Robert Hart is indeed the gentleman in Great Britain who is most familiar with the nature of the Qing people." Eugene, who had just been in China for two and a half years, apologized for his recklessness and expressed his admiration for Hart.

Naturally, Hart would not take such a small matter to heart. He turned around and asked Eugen, "Besides that, Your Excellency, don't you think that Yuan Xiangcheng and His Excellency Napoleon of France have similarities?

Napoleon also showed his talent in his twenties. At the age of 20, he defeated the Austrians, became a hero of the French, and gained great prestige. At the age of 26, he led an expedition to Algeria and Egypt, defeating the Mamluks and Turks on land.

Yuan Shikai also defeated the French at the age of 26, becoming a hero in the hearts of the Qing people and gaining countless fame and fortune. He also led an expedition to Korea and defeated the Japanese at the age of 28.

Ogene only thought that Yuan Shikai was a general who had become famous in recent years in the Qing Dynasty, and did not connect him with Napoleon.

Hearing Heard's comparison, Eugen was also shocked. How could the two be so similar? Am I going to witness the rise of an Eastern Napoleon in this life?

Then he asked tremblingly, "Are you saying that Yuan Shikai will sneak back to the Qing capital like Napoleon did, then launch a coup and become the ruler of the country?"

Hud felt that Eugenie was a little naive. Although Napoleon had died of illness on an isolated island for more than 20 years when he was born, he knew very well that even the Paris at that time was by no means comparable to the current capital of the Qing Dynasty, and the people of the Qing Dynasty had not awakened at all.

"Hahahaha, that's not the case, Mr. Eugene. The social situation in the Qing Dynasty is very different from that in France more than 80 years ago. Even if Yuan Shikai returns to the capital, he will not be able to command the governors of various provinces. On the contrary, it is more likely to trigger a war that will affect the entire country.

I'm just saying that since Yuan Shikai has close cooperation with Great Britain, has the same military strength as Napoleon, and even has the same height as Napoleon!

So why don’t we invest in an Eastern Napoleon, just like our predecessors in Great Britain invested in the anti-French alliance?

After all, it is easier to cooperate and share benefits with a single person than with a messy group of people. "

Chapter 93 Japan and the Sea of ​​Japan Crisis

The chaos in Guangdong, Fujian and North Korea has further added fuel to the already unstable situation in East Asia.

The Japanese were unwilling to give up their dream of conquering the mainland. After three divisions were driven out to sea by Yuan Shikai, Japan experienced a wave of dazzling political struggles.

The contradictions between the Satsuma faction and the Choshu faction, which had been reconciled, began to rift again. The Satsuma clan, whose main power was in the navy, wanted to take advantage of the army's defeat in Korea to gain more ministerial positions in the Ito cabinet, which was mainly composed of the Choshu clan.

Ito Hirobumi naturally refused to agree. He had already made concessions. If he made concessions again, the Chosu Cabinet would probably fall.

After the Meiji War, the two most powerful clans in Japanese politics were Choshu and Satsuma, and officials from the two places competed openly and secretly in the Meiji political arena.

Ito Hirobumi, who came from the Choshu clan, had to rely on the Southwest War to eliminate the influence of the Satsuma clan in the army.

Later, taking the opportunity of forming a cabinet, he reached a political deal with Saigo Tsunemichi, the younger brother of Saigo Takamori, the leader of the Satsuma clan. The two sides reconciled, with the Choshu clan not interfering in the navy in exchange for the Satsuma clan stopping making trouble and cooperating with the Choshu clan in the government.

This made it possible to form Japan's first cabinet after the Meiji Restoration.