Chapter 56: Formation of base camp

When Liu Yun woke up, a faint sunlight had penetrated through the gaps in the curtains, which allowed him to barely see clearly the appearance of the woman beside his pillow.

This is a mature woman, with slightly furrowed eyebrows, a rosy and delicate mouth, and skin that is not fair enough but very healthy. Although she is already a mother of three children, she still retains at least her face.

The charm of her youth. In fact, she is only thirty years old this year. The so-called "young" should be traced back to fourteen years ago. At that time, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl, and her identity was sent to the emperor by Li Hongzhang.

After a lot of twists and turns, she became the wife of the powerful Duke Wu Wei. This must have been something she could not have imagined when she was a young girl.

Liu Yun looked at her quietly, without waking her up. He just kissed her gently on the forehead, got out of bed quietly, pulled a coat from the sofa to wrap around his body, and went to a corner of the room to wrap a silver frame.

In front of the floor-standing dressing mirror, I carefully looked at myself in the mirror.

Gray hair, wrinkles that are no longer sparse, loose and inelastic skin, dry lips, a fleshy chin, an obviously fat body, fourteen years, busy work, heavy pressure

, as well as various suspicions, betrayals, purges, and precautions arising from the huge power, ruthlessly destroyed his originally mighty and upright body.

Liu Yun deeply realized that he had indeed entered the fiftieth year of his life. The time machine could send people back to ancient times, but it could not restore youth to their bodies.

"Meaning, it must be meaningful."

Liu Yun said to himself in the mirror. The tired old man in the mirror didn't respond, but the woman on the bed made some movement.

"Sir, are you up yet?"

Liu Yun turned around and nodded to her: "I have an important meeting today. I have to go early. You can continue to sleep. I won't be back tonight."

Mrs. Liu obediently got back under the quilt. Although she no longer wanted to sleep, since Liu Yun asked her to continue sleeping, she felt that she should sleep until Liu Yun walked out of the room.

Liu Yun put on his coat and walked out of the bedroom. A servant had already been waiting outside. After the master washed up, he put Liu Yun into the formal military uniform of the Generalissimo according to the previous instructions.

He has a boat-shaped marshal's hat decorated with white feathers, a marshal's epaulette with diamond eyes and a golden dragon playing with pearls decorated with gold tassels, a three-breasted navy blue jacket with the hem close to his knees, and gold-threaded military trousers with shiny black leather shoes.

, there is a golden red rosette on the collar of the uniform, golden dragon patterns on the cuffs, and a huge first-class blue dragon with gold dragon eyes inlaid with diamonds and nine-layered dragon claws pinned on the chest.

A medal, and a ceremonial dagger with a silver scabbard and a gold handle inlaid with three-color gemstones tied between the belts.

After getting dressed and having his servants comb and put on makeup, Liu Yun saw that the person in the mirror was no longer the fifty-year-old man just now, but had become the heroic and fearless man more than ten years ago.

Liu Yun, the same Liu Yun, used the time machine built by the country for archaeological purposes to lead a group of desperadoes to Beijing in 1890. He held the emperor in power and commanded the world, suppressed the heroes, plotted against the great powers, and conquered Japan and Japan.

A new Chinese empire.

"This empire was created by me. It's mine. Yes, without me, there would be none of this. I can't let ignorant trash destroy the new empire I worked so hard to build at will. I still want to live and continue to live until I can see it with my own eyes.

Witnessing this empire reach the most glorious stage of its dreams..."

"But, can I really live that long?"

Liu Yun thought as he walked towards the restaurant. A simple breakfast - egg porridge and milk - was already placed on the dining table.

The new calendar on the wall of the restaurant is printed in huge green letters: September 2, 1903, the eighth year of Guangxing reign.

Zhongnanhai Royal Villa is the headquarters of the Empire’s war against Russia.

After the policy of war against Russia was approved by the emperor, the cabinet and the military independently submitted a letter to the emperor requesting the establishment of a war base before Congress held a secret vote on the war plan. On September 1, the emperor issued a secret edict expressing his agreement, and according to the cabinet

The request determined the rules for the composition of the base camp, and decided to use the Zhongnanhai Royal Villa as the location of the base camp. From September 2, the base camp for the Supreme Headquarters for the War against Russia began to operate.

Both the General Staff and the Cabinet must take turns to send senior officials to the base camp for duty. The emperor comes every day to learn about the news and issue directional instructions. When the emperor is away, his attendant military attache will record the decisions made by the base camp at any time and pass them on to the emperor.

Transactional operations and the drafting and issuance of various orders are jointly presided over by senior military and political officials such as the Chief of General Staff, the Imperial Prime Minister, and the Minister of Defense, so that the power of all parts of the Empire can be used at any time to support the war.

This day was the first day that the base camp started operating. Liu Yun arrived at the Royal Courtyard early and strode into a Greek-style building surrounded by marble columns.

On the second floor, a plainly decorated hall is equipped with necessary equipment such as a long conference table, a map stand, a recording table, a dragon chair, and ordinary oak chairs. This is the royal conference room of the base camp. There is another hall next to the conference room.

It was set up as a telegraph room, with wires and machines installed and ready for use.

Liu Yun met Wen Yi at the door of the conference room.

"So early?"

"Each other."

The two exchanged pleasantries and walked into the conference room side by side. Before Liu Yun sat down in his seat, he was thinking about this question: "It seems that Wen Yi's situation is not better than mine. His wrinkles are deeper than mine.

His eyes are sunken in, his face is blue, his skin is dull, his body is thin, and his movements are slow. He may be suffering from some disease... He is a smart man, but his smartness exists for others.

, he wants very few things, so he can become the other half of my soul, the extension of my thoughts, and the tentacles of my power, but he should not think so... He seems to be dissatisfied with some of what I do.

"Yes, but he will not oppose me. Yes, I believe him, but I will not give up monitoring him. If he feels too tired, should I let him take a rest..."

The people who should arrive at the base camp today are taking their seats one after another. Since it is the first day, all the cabinet ministers and the chiefs of the general staff divisions all attended in person, and each brought one or two capable adjutants with them to avoid making any mistakes in front of the emperor.

The cabinet ministers and senior General Staff officials present today are:

Prime Minister of the Third Cabinet: Wen Yi, Duke of Zhide (51 years old),

Minister of Defense: Duke Liu Yun of Wuwei (50 years old),

Home Secretary: Viscount Mourning (38 years old),

Acting (i.e. acting) Foreign Secretary: Viscount Zhang Zhigao (37 years old),

Minister of Industry and Commerce: Earl Niu Jin (47 years old),

Minister of Finance: Viscount Han Lang (39 years old),

Minister of Science and Technology: Viscount Ma Feng (40 years old),

Minister of Transport: Baron Jiang Wentao (38 years old),

Acting Minister of Culture and Education: Viscount Russell Lan (36 years old),

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry: Viscount Tian Zhenghong (41 years old),

Minister of Health: Sun Wen (38 years old),

Minister of Justice: Kang Youwei (46 years old);

Chief of General Staff: General Yang Zhengjin (40 years old),

Director of the Operations Division of the General Staff: General Hooker (41 years old),

As the ministers and generals were whispering to each other, the thirty-two-year-old Emperor Guangxing was dressed in a navy blue special military uniform, with a precious star on his ribbon, an ancient golden scabbard sword, and shiny leather shoes as he walked into the conference room. Everyone stood up.

Bow to the emperor and say: "Long live my emperor, long live, long live the emperor, long live the empire, long live, long live the empire."

"My lords, please return to your seats."

The emperor said, sat down on the dragon chair, and said that before the war, everyone should work together as one, work together on national affairs, restore the country, and comfort the ancestors. Then he ordered Prime Minister Wen Yi to preside over the meeting.

Wen Yi first spoke eloquently: "...Congress will hold a secret meeting the day after tomorrow. Members must swear an oath never to 'reveal' the contents of the bill to anyone before the meeting. The declaration of war requires two-thirds of the House and the Senate.

It can only be passed with the consent of more than two members of the parliament. For this, thorough preparations have been made to ensure that the declaration of war the day after tomorrow can be passed smoothly. In this way, the military can freely decide the specific time to launch the action, and plan to do so in the short period of time before the army launches the attack.

, suddenly notified the ministers of various countries to declare a state of war against country e, and announced the status of the declaration of war passed by the Imperial Congress. The army immediately began to take action. However, it must be stated in the declaration of war that our country’s purpose is only to recover the territory captured by country e.

, the land north of Heilongjiang and south of the Xing'an Mountains stipulated in the Treaty of Nerchinsk, as long as country e agrees to restore the legal border between China and Russia before 1860 in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Nerchinsk, the war can be stopped at any time

, China is willing to compensate for the losses of the merchants and people of country E who have settled in the occupied territories of China... For fear of causing trouble to the great powers, we had previously sent Foreign Minister Zeng and Deputy Minister Zhang to carry out frequent activities. Now Zeng has resigned due to illness, and the acting minister has been appointed.

Zhang Zhigao stated the results of the activity."

Acting Foreign Minister Zhang Zhigao later reported: "... Regarding the Sino-Russian friction, the great powers originally favored country e. Since the Hailanpao incident, European and American public opinion has mostly criticized the Russians for being cruel and barbaric. The Hague Peace Conference has been held to discuss

This matter also heavily criticized country e. However, public opinion is public opinion, and the behavior of each country's 'government' is different. France has an alliance with country e, and the French 'government' naturally looks after country e, saying that this setback is all

Because Chinese spies were causing trouble in the territory of Jiangdong E State, and the local Chinese were hiding firearms and intending to rebel, they were suppressed. However, from the perspective of legal persons, they secretly made E State make slight concessions to our country on the Far East issue in order to make it

Concentrate the main force in Europe to fight against the Germans with the French. The French put pressure on me in every possible way. On the one hand, they hope that our country will value peace and not talk about war lightly. On the other hand, they regard themselves as mediators between China and Russia and want our country to transfer Guangxi.

, the railway construction rights in the three provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan, if not, we will advance and retreat together with country e..."

"...As for the British, they have long been jealous of our country's growing strength, fearing that it would be detrimental to its colonies in the Far East. Therefore, they have long hoped that country e can oppress our country from the north. However, they are afraid that country e will be too powerful and even dominate the Far East, so they are worried about country e.

While providing limited financial arms assistance, the United Kingdom also stated that it opposed any actions that undermined peace in the Far East. After the Hailanpao incident, the United Kingdom suspended financial arms support to Russia and pressed for borrowings from country e. I am afraid that it secretly

I don’t want country e to cause trouble through this. However, the British are also very arrogant and unreasonable towards us. Their Indian soldiers have repeatedly invaded our Tibetan border. Our ambassador has repeatedly protested, but the British ambassador asked our country to withdraw its military and police stationed in Tibet to ensure that India

The British envoy asked me not to interfere in Tibet's internal affairs, and also asked our country to stop sending more troops to the Sino-Russian border. He even proposed that our country should implement a large-scale military campaign under the supervision of Britain, France and Germany.

disarmament……"

"Except Britain and France, the rest of the European and American powers all said that Country E was in the wrong, and either Country E should compensate our country for its losses, or an international committee should be formed to discuss the land issues on the left bank of Heilongjiang, or Country E should return part of the territory it had invaded, among others.

The United States is the most fair, followed by Germany and Austria. The United States stays out of the matter, so it is naturally fair. Germany is the enemy of country E, but it has its thoughts in it. Perhaps it hopes that country E will transfer its army to the Far East to reduce the pressure on its eastern border.

It is possible to let go of dealing with legal entities. Austria and Germany have close relations and seem to want to advance and retreat together, so they naturally agree with Germany's argument. However, the great powers are always the same. The German minister recently wrote secretly to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, hoping to sign a Sino-German alliance.

One of the articles of the covenant is that our country should choose a good port to lease to Germany, and Germany will assist China in developing its navy and army..."

"Don't even think about it!"

Minister of National Defense Liu Yun said loudly, his eyes slightly blazing, but due to the presence of the emperor, it was difficult to lose face and courtesy, so he had to lower his tone and speak calmly.

"The precedent of leasing a military port must not be set. Once Germany obtains the military port, Britain and France will not give up. If they are threatened by each other, how can they cope with it? Moreover, Germany is in far away Europe and is hated by Britain, France and Russia, so it is right to form an alliance.

If we are fighting together, how can we clearly choose to oppose Britain and France? When the coalition forces from several countries come to fight, we will be unable to cope with it. As Minister Zhang just said, I will say a few words so that we can make arrangements in advance."

The emperor did not speak, but everyone just said: "Listen to Duke Wu Wei's advice."

Liu Yun said in a clear voice: "In terms of diplomacy, Britain, France and the e-country share the same spirit. These three countries are all giants and should not be underestimated. If the three countries jointly send troops to attack, with our current strength, we will not be able to resist it. But Europe
To be continued...