On the sea of ​​Lujianwan, the wreckage of more than a dozen Japanese warships were burning on the sea, with fire burning and thick smoke covering the sky.

The Japanese troops transport fleet was attacked by a group of warships from the Qing Empire Navy at its doorstep. This in-person humiliation was enough to comfort the pain of the Gaosheng troops being sunk by the Japanese navy.

During the Battle of Lu Jianwan, the Anyi was sunk, and the Japanese naval flagship Waves was severely damaged. Although Waves survived, the hull was seriously damaged, and the keel had been burned and deformed. After repair, it could not serve the Navy.

More than a dozen ships from the third fleet of the Japanese Fourth Division were destroyed in Kamiwan, killing and injured more than 6,000 people. The matter quickly spread. At the same time, news of the first batch of British troop transport ships and the second batch of American troop transport ships were attacked by the Qing Empire Navy in the waters near Amami Island.

After the news came out, the Japanese Consul General in China, Dong Lin, immediately wrote a note to Yi, Minister of Affairs of the General Office of Liya, and raised the most solemn protest, saying that this was a war provocation.

〖General〗Li Yamen Minister Yi said that the incident is being verified and refused to make any reply to it.

Lin returned without success and reported Yi's attitude to Japanese Foreign Minister Muro Otsumi. Muro Otsumi immediately reported the situation to Kuroda Kiyoshi Cabinet and discussed countermeasures with key officials of various military departments of Japan and the Navy and Army.

Muro Otsuki said: "At the beginning, the Prince firmly disagrees with the Army's continued increase in troops to Amamijima. Now it seems that Prince, your judgment is correct. The Qing Empire did ignore international practices and openly attack our troop transport fleet and frigates. This is an undeclared battle!"

Chief of the Army General Staff, Prince Chihito Arisugawa Miya, just smiled bitterly and sighed: "I still haven't insisted on my own opinion. If I insist on dissuading, it will not cause the troop transport fleet and frigate to lose more than 20 ships in vain, and the Fourth Division will also cause more than 10,000 people!"

"This is not the fault of the collection either!"

Prime Minister Kiyotsuki Kuroda said: "You didn't insist at the beginning, because the Department of Army has too much objection. Are you worried that some people in the Department of Army will take the opportunity to mutiny?"

On the side, Muro Osun Hiroshi, Ito Prime Minister Hirofumi, and Naval Command Minister Shiki Karayama and others nodded and understood Prince Chiren's actions at the time.

Hirobuki Ito asked: "Now the Army Department should be more at peace, right? It has lost the First Division, the Fifth Division, and the Fourth Division, and the Most of the losses. They should be awake, right?"

Prince Chiren waved his hand and sighed: "They still shouted to take revenge and prepare to start a war against Qing!"

Mu Ao Zongguang frowned and said, "Our navy has not been built yet. Isn't it ridiculous to start a war against Qing Dynasty? Prince, you can't be lenient, you must suppress their unrealistic ideas!"

Hirobu Ito snorted coldly: "How do you ask the prince to take action? The militants in the Army Department are all supported by Prince Nori Kitashirakawa Miya!"

Everyone was silent. It would be easy to say that others took the lead in causing trouble, but it was Prince Nobukuo, the brother of Emperor Meiji.

Prince Noha Kitashirakawa was born in Kyoto and was the ninth son of the Fushimi Miyagi family. He was the son of Emperor Toshiki. During the Meiji Restoration, he was elected as Emperor Tobu by the Shogunate Ouha Oshiro. In the Shuchen War, he was defeated by the Satsuma Nakashu clan, and was called "the enemy of the court" by the court. Later, he was placed under house arrest in Kyoto and ordered to become a monk. In the third year of Meiji (1870), he was pardoned and returned to secular life and went to the Prussian military academy for further studies.

After returning to the country, he served as the commander of the Grand Division, made great contributions in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and was promoted to Lieutenant General of the Guard Division.

On the surface, the Meiji Restoration was successful and the shogunate collapsed. In fact, the national regime and economic lifeline were still in the various vassal forces of Japan. The last vassal kings in various places did not die one after another after 1920. Before that, the influence of various vassal kings influenced the political situation of Japan. For example, Hirofumi Ito, Wan Inoue, etc. were the vassal officials of the Nagashu vassal officials, Muro Omomizu, and Kiyotaka Kuroda were the vassal officials of the Satsuma vassal officials and

The family of vassals, Karayama Shiki was a vassal of Kishu. The 9 Meiji elders such as Hirofumi Ito came from the vassals and vassals under the vassals of various Japanese vassals. They respected their respective vassals as if they were Emperor Meiji. It can be said that although the vassals of Japanese vassals had no title as vassals, their strength was comparable to that of the US governor. Prince Nokua controlled Sado and Izu, twelve vassals, and were loyal to him and had a strong strength.

Prince Norika, the Emperor Tobu, did not give up the dream of "Japanese" Emperor. His various actions showed that he was ambitious, but Emperor Meiji and Prince Chiren did not dare to activate Prince Nebu before there was enough evidence that Prince Norika was killed, and often he could only swallow his anger.

Hirofumi Ito, Kiyotsuki Kuroda and others all understood this political method, so it was not convenient to ask in depth.

"At least the loss of the Fourth Division can weaken Prince Nengju's strength. In a sense, we have to thank the Chinese."

The Fourth Division, also known as the Dajun Division, is a direct unit that Prince Nojiu has been running for many years. Prince Chiren was not very concerned about the losses of the Fourth Division, which was one of the reasons why he did not stop the Army Department from sending the Fourth Division to reinforce Amami Island.

Kuroda Kiyotsuki said: "Amami Island is alone overseas and is a springboard for controlling Kyushu. This time, the Qing Empire Navy destroyed the Fourth Division and destroyed Prince Noku's plan, which is a good thing."

Foreign Minister Mu Ao Zongguang immediately coughed and said, "I wonder if we are off topic?"

Prince Chiren immediately smiled and said, "What the foreign minister said is that now is the time to be consistent with the outside world, and our own internal problems are already secondary."

Everyone nodded in agreement. After all, compared with Prince Nengjiu and the Qing Empire, it is obvious that the next one is the most urgent task.

Kiyotaka Kuroda said: "This time we lost a lot. We lost the Ryukyu Islands, and the 1st and 5th Divisions were all destroyed. The 4th Division lost more than half. The Navy lost four warships and more than a dozen warships. The direct personnel and materials were lost as much as 20 million yen (2 million British list)."

Prince Chiren sighed and said, "Without a decent navy, we can only bear the losses this time. The Qing Empire will not compensate us!"

Then Shiki Karayama said: "If I had known that there had been so much loss, I would have bought a few more decent warships to come back, so that it would not have made the Qing Empire Navy so arrogant!"

In the past, this statement would definitely be criticized by everyone, but now the facts are in front of them, and they can't help but refuse to recognize them.

Kuroda Kiyotsuki said dejectedly: "After this incident, I will persuade the cabinet and the government to increase their investment in the navy. We must speed up the pace of rebuilding the navy and recover this bloody debt in the future."

Shiki Kawayama suddenly became furious, and he was so happy to hear this. Even the unhappiness that the Japanese navy lost four warships and more than a dozen warships was covered up.

Mu Ao Zongguang asked, "The most urgent task is. How should I explain to His Majesty the Emperor and the people, and the great powers are also watching us?"

Hirofumi Ito said: "1 You must declare war on the Qing Empire, otherwise it will be difficult to explain."

Prince Chiren asked worriedly: "But we have no navy to compete with the Qing Empire's navy. What should we do after declaring war?"

Kuroda Kiyotaka explained: "I think the Tripitaka and the External Prime Minister mean that declaration of war is just a gesture. As for how much it can play, the people must also know that we do not have the strength to continue the war with the Qing Empire.

At that time, we can mobilize the hatred of our citizens to develop our economic and military power, which may be the only benefit we can get!”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Mu Ao Zongguang added: "We can use the British and Americans to make a fuss. This time the Qing Empire navy attacked their merchant ships. The two countries will definitely not give up and will attack the Qing Empire. It would be great if they could form an alliance with us!"

Hirobuki Ito said: "It can be used, but you can't trust all the British and American countries. They may not offend the Qing Empire for us. Besides, Britain and Russia are mortal enemies. We are allied with Britain and the United States. What do the Russians think? We can't do the thing of picking sesame seeds if we lose watermelons!"

After half a day of discussion, the Japanese government submitted a letter of breaking up with the Qing Empire on the afternoon of June 1 and declared that it had entered a state of war. On the morning of June 2, the Japanese Emperor Meiji Murohito approved the declaration of war from the Japanese cabinet and officially issued an edict to declare war.

At the same time, the British ambassador to China, Dou Nale, also submitted a protest to the General Office of the Li Yamen, demanding that the Qing Empire Navy release the captain of the Royal Cruise Company, Hoss and his crew, and at the same time make solemn representations about the sinking of a British Navy ship in the Qing Empire.

Similarly, the US ambassador to China, Tian Bei, protested to the General Office of General Li Yamen, demanding the release of Captain James and his crew, and expressed anger at the sinking of five American Naval warships in the Qing Empire. He also raised the harshest protests and regarded them as war provocations.

Yi was so anxious that he was about to go crazy. He went to the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace to complain to Guangxu and Cixi, and at the same time complained to Wang Chenhao, saying that all this was initiated by Wang Chenhao. If the Qing Empire had a quarrel or even started a war with the United States and Britain, it would be Wang Chenhao's fault.

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Beijing, the Golden Mirror Hall of the Forbidden City.

Wang Chenhao was summoned to the palace and explained the cause, process and result of the entire incident to Guangxu and the civil and military ministers of the court. In the end, Wang Chenhao took out the Shuwen, whom King Shang Tai from Ryukyu, thanked the Qing Empire for help.

"Congratulations to the emperor, the King of Ryukyu expressed deep gratitude for the help and help from the Celestial Kingdom to the Ryukyu Kingdom. He pointed out that our Celestial Army regained the Ryukyu territory and thanked him: the Celestial Navy blocked the attack of the Japanese navy and the troop transport ships, defended the Ryukyu territorial waters and thanked him again: the Celestial Kingdom is willing to accept the Ryukyu people and let the Ryukyu people bathe in the favor of heaven. Everyone thanked him at the same time, and the Ryukyu Kingdom is willing to always shine on the Celestial Kingdom."

Guangxu asked Wang Chenhao to state the attack on the Japanese troop transport fleet, but Wang Chenhao said a few words lightly, but said a lot of other things and answered the questions that were not questioned.

Despite this, more than half of the civil and military ministers in the court stood up and applauded, echoing Wang Chenhao's words.

Emperor Guangxu sat on the dragon throne above, and could see clearly the situation below, knowing that Wang Chenhao had successfully won over half of the court officials. Although he was unwilling to accept it, what Wang Chenhao said was reasonable and Guangxu could not do anything to Wang Chenhao. Emperor Guangxu was now smart, and as long as he did not catch enough handles and evidence to kill Wang Chenhao, he would not provoke Wang Chenhao again.

"Wang Aiqing made great contributions to the court, and I will definitely receive many rewards."

"Thank you, Your Majesty! This is what I should do, I dare not seek credit and reward!"

Wang Chenhao recently discovered that Guangxu's attitude towards him has changed. He was not as stern as before, and his face was like a dead father. Although Wang Chenhao didn't know Guangxu's intention and purpose, he would not believe that Guangxu let him go, but since Guangxu was talking to him with a smile, Wang Chenhao beat the snake and went up the pole, and the well water did not interfere with him.

However, Emperor Guangxu changed his tactics, but Weng Tonghe and Li Hongzao did not change their views on Wang Chenhao, especially when Wang Chenhao smashed most of the civil and military officials with a lot of money, they were extremely jealous, but their faces were not as traitor as Wang Chenhao, which made them stand even more opposite to Wang Chenhao. Seeing Wang Chenhao proud, they immediately attacked.

Weng Tonghe took the lead and said: "The Emperor's Shanghai Army sunks British ships and American ships for no reason and seizes crew members from Britain and the United States, causing the British and American ministers to protest solemnly to the General Office of the Li Yamen, and even said that this was a revenge against the war provocations and threats of war between Britain and the United States. These were caused by the lack of discipline and arrogance of his subordinates.

Guangxu turned to Wang Chenhao and asked gently: "Is what Wang Aiqing and Weng Aiqing true?"

Wang Chenhao immediately replied: "Your Majesty, British and American ships carry Japanese soldiers, which has violated the British and American policy of neutrality in the dispute between Japan and Ryukyu. In order to safeguard the territorial waters of Ryukyu, our navy soldiers sent troops to intercept British and American ships in order to safeguard the territorial waters of Ryukyu, the vassal state of the Celestial Empire. After being persuaded by our navy soldiers, the foreigners of the British and American ships realized that they were wrong to do so, so they were willing to hand over the ship. Later, the Japanese army on the ship held British and American crew members hostage and forced them to shoot at our navy, so our navy soldiers had to fight back in self-defense and also to rescue the British and American crew members on the ship. Therefore, the fault is not on us."

Guangxu had long understood in his heart that Wang Chenhao must be confident and did not expect Weng Tonghe to easily catch Wang Chenhao's braid.

"What Wang Aiqing said is very true!"

Wang Chenhao immediately thanked him, and then said in a shocking voice: "I want to impeach Weng Tonghe and deceive the emperor!"

As soon as these words came out, the hall was in an uproar, and Guangxu and the civil and military officials were stunned. "Weng Tonghe was even more surprised.

"I am loyal to the court and the emperor, how could I deceive the emperor? Don't slander people!"

Guangxu returned to Hui Shen'er and asked, "Wang Aiqing said that Weng Aiqing deceived the emperor, is there any evidence?"

Wang Chenhao smiled and asked Xiang Guangxu, "Your Majesty just heard what Lord Weng calls Weichen?"

Guangxu was stunned for a moment, then Wang Chenhao turned to the civil and military officials and asked, "All the officials, Weng Tonghe just called me the Minister of the Navy, but was there any such thing? Don't tell him that you didn't hear such a loud voice!"

Prince Qing Yi* immediately took the lead and said, "That's right! Weng Tonghe said that!"

A group of civil and military officials nodded immediately and agreed.

Wang Chenhao turned around, looked at Weng Tonghe, and said with a smirk: "Mr. Weng is so polite!

I, Wang Chenhao, is just a mere minister of the Navy. The minister of the Navy is a respected Prince Gong. The minister of the Navy is a first-rank senior official or above. Lord Weng promoted me to the post, but he still took the emperor and the empress dowager seriously? Besides, Britain and the United States did not say that they used war to retaliate against us. What are you not deceiving the emperor or the emperor?"

Weng Tonghe was stunned. He just wanted to add fuel to the fire, but he didn't expect that Wang Chenhao would make a fuss about this.

"The emperor forgives his crime, but the old minister is just a mistake."

Guangxu was also annoyed that Weng Tonghe was too stupid, and he could also make such low-level mistakes.

"Mr. Weng, you are an important minister of the court. Is it okay to just make a mistake? Today I am here. If I am not here, then there is rumors outside that I will become a minister of the Navy. Do you think I am self-proclaimed and want to rebel? You must know how much the emperor values ​​you. Your mistake almost ruined my name as a loyal minister."

Weng Tonghe was so angry that his whole body was thrust, and he pointed at Wang Chenhao and couldn't refute it even if he said a word.

Guangxu rolled his eyes and knew that it was Wang Chenhao's intentional revenge, so he sternly said: "Weng Tonghe, you should pay attention. As an important official, you should think twice before speaking."

"Emperor, old minister"

Weng Tonghe was still waiting to be refuted, Guangxu interrupted him and said, "Punish you for three months of Dai Lu as a punishment!"

Weng Tonghe was so frustrated that he was fined half a year for Dai Lu last time, and then he was fined another three months. How can Muke live in the future?

Seeing that Guangxu had punished Weng Tonghe lightly in a few words, Wang Chenhao was ready to say that he would be fined three more months.

At this time, Li Hongzao said, "Your Majesty, even if Lord Wang said it right, we have the right to attack British and American ships. However, the third batch of Japanese troops transport fleets are no longer in Ryukyu territorial waters, but at the doorstep of Japan's home. The navy sunks two Japanese ships at the doorstep of Japan's home and destroys more than a dozen Japanese military ships. This is an active provocation. The Japanese now declares war on our North Korea. This is the crime of starting a war without any consequences."

Li Hongzao suddenly changed the subject, which helped Weng Tonghe to help him to solve the siege, and also pointed out Wang Chenhao's weakness. He really didn't think of any good excuses.

"Report to the Emperor, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese navy also attacked our naval fleet without declaring the war. Now we are repatriating the other person with the same method, which can be regarded as avenging the thousands of soldiers who died in the Battle of TOKIMA."

Guangxu nodded, and Li Hongzao asked Wang Chenhao and said, "So did Lord Wang admit to provoking it? Then you have to take the responsibility of taking the battle!"

Wang Chenhao laughed and said, "Mr. Li is good at speaking, but he is good at taking responsibility for the war. I, Wang Chenhao, cannot bear it! You are the generals who are abroad and are not subject to military orders. The navy is far away in Ryukyu and I am in Beijing. I have no idea what urgent actions they have made."

Well, Wang Chenhao saw that he had no choice but to push him and leave his relationship with him.@.
Chapter completed!