On the evening of April 17, 1895, Wang Yuze held a joint meeting of the Cabinet and the General Staff Headquarters in the conference room of the diplomatic mission in western Sichuan. The contents of the Treaty of Shimonoseki signed between the Qing Dynasty and Japan had been transmitted back.
"This morning, Li Hongzhang has signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki with Japan on behalf of the Manchu Qing government. The treaty requires North Korea to be completely "independent", which in fact recognizes Japan's control of North Korea; cedes my country's Liaodong Peninsula, Taiwan Province, Penghu Islands and other places ; Compensation of 200 million taels of silver; Allow Japan
Capitalists set up various factories in China's treaty ports; they opened Suzhou and Hangzhou as treaty ports. Such a treaty that humiliates the country cannot be accepted by any Chinese. In addition, Western Sichuan will no longer remain silent and allow the Manchus to sell out their country's sovereignty!
Wang Yuze said with a serious face.
The cabinet members who attended the meeting, the Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff of the General Staff Headquarters, and the Minister of the Navy Zhang Cheng were all in great moods. As early as last summer, Western Sichuan had already begun preparations. Both the cabinet and the military had already
Preparations have been made. The army and navy have completed
Preparations before the war can launch an attack at any time. As for the navy, after the first batch of four "Chengdu" class heavy cruisers and the second batch of "Leshan" class light cruisers were launched, there have been four second batches of them.
"Chengdu" class heavy cruiser and the third batch of "Leshan"
The construction of the light cruiser has begun. In addition, the Ship Design Institute in Western Sichuan is also actively designing the latest class of battleships in Western Sichuan. According to Wang Yuze's requirements, the concept of cannon giant ships will be brought to the extreme. However, even with
With the joining of Barclays Smit, Sichuan
The West Sichuan Navy is still very weak in the field of battleship design. The design of this new type of battleship is still continuing, and construction is expected to start next year or even the year after that. This has forced the West Sichuan Navy to build four more heavy ships.
Cruisers are used as battleships.
"We in western Sichuan have been waiting for so many years. Now the Manchu and Qing Dynasties can't even defeat Japan, and they have signed such a traitorous treaty and have been spurned by the people across the country. This is an excellent opportunity for us. We
We must take this opportunity to overthrow the Qing Dynasty and unify the country!" Cabinet Prime Minister Liang Xingrong said first. Over the years, western Sichuan has been preparing for this day. Now, this day has finally arrived.
"The Ministry of Finance has prepared a special fund of 100 million yuan to support this war. If it is not enough, you can continue to borrow money from the West Sichuan Bank!" Finance Minister Wang Wenhua said. Of course, a one-time provision of 100 million yuan will
There is also huge pressure on the finances of Western Sichuan. In fact, the fiscal revenue of Western Sichuan last year was only 225 million yuan, an increase of 20%. This is all due to the large-scale infrastructure construction in Western Sichuan.
, which has enabled the economy of western Sichuan to develop rapidly. However, now
Western Sichuan is still building large-scale infrastructure such as railways and highways, steel plants, heavy equipment manufacturing plants, non-ferrous metal smelting plants, etc., coupled with the army's military expansion and war preparations, and the navy's large-scale shipbuilding, these fiscal revenues have been exhausted.
Not much. It can be said that the 100 million yuan in military expenditures provided by the Ministry of Finance were all borrowed from banks. However, everyone has great confidence in Western Sichuan. After defeating the Manchu Qing, they will definitely gain huge wealth.
I will definitely be able to repay this debt when the time comes, and there will still be a lot left over.
Although the Manchu and Qing government was a little poorer, the privileged classes were all extremely wealthy. Li Lianying alone had tens of millions of taels of property, plus the Manchu clans, if they were all confiscated
, at least one billion taels of silver can be collected. With this money, large-scale construction after Western Sichuan unifies the whole country will be guaranteed. Therefore, the cabinet will naturally use all its strength to support Western Sichuan in winning this battle.
"Commander, give the order! The army and navy are already ready. We must speed up and defeat the Manchu Qing, lest the Manchu Qing pay the war indemnity to compensate the Japanese, which is 200 million taels of silver! Pay it before the Manchu Qing
This compensation was overturned by us before, so naturally we will not admit this debt!" Cai Yun said with some urgency.
"Haha!" Everyone laughed. It was obvious that they wanted Japan to be in vain! Japan has been preparing for this war for decades. It has invested almost all its wealth in this war.
Among them, I hope to defeat the Manchu Qing in one battle.
Bite off a big piece of fat from the Manqing to make up for their previous investment and make a fortune at the same time. If the Manqing was overthrown by Western Sichuan before they paid the compensation, then they would have earned nothing.
Is it? Even the Japanese government will go bankrupt because of this.
"This is a good idea and can be implemented. However, we must prevent the Japanese from jumping over the wall! The Japanese have a large number of troops in the Liaodong area. If we launch an attack and the Japanese also launch an attack on the capital, it will be a bit troublesome.
!" Xiong Wu said.
"The First Cavalry Army and the Second Cavalry Army are ready. After the battle starts, they will once again enter the grassland from Yulin, Shaanxi, and enter Rehe from Suiyuan and Chahar to guard Shanhaiguan and prevent the Japanese troops from moving south.
The army stationed in Shaanxi will also launch an attack on Shanxi with all its strength, approaching the capital city and taking over the capital city in one fell swoop!" Wang
Yuze said. Western Sichuan has stationed three divisions of troops in Shaanxi, namely the 3rd Division, the 11th Division and the 12th Division. After the army expansion, the 22nd Division and the 23rd Division were deployed.
Shaanxi, bringing the total number of troops deployed in Shaanxi to five divisions and more than 90,000 people. With the cooperation of two cavalry corps, there will be no problem in capturing the capital.
"Commander, where is our navy? What is our mission? Do we want to attack the Japanese combined fleet immediately?" Zhang Cheng, the Minister of the Navy, said. Now the Western Sichuan Navy is already strong, with four 10,000-ton battleships plus
Four heavy cruisers close to 10,000 tons have made the Western Sichuan Navy the most powerful fleet in Asia. Even if the United Kingdom has dispatched two "Sovereign" class battleships to join the British "China Fleet", it is far from the Western Sichuan Navy.
Navy rivals.
"How prepared is the Marine Corps? Can it be put into actual combat?" Wang Yuze asked. While the Navy is desperately building ships, the development of the Marine Corps has not stopped. So far, four Marine Corps brigades have been built.
.
"Report, Commander! After nearly a year of training, the Marine Corps Brigade is fully ready for combat!" Zhang Cheng reported.
"Okay! After we start the war against the Manchus, the navy will escort the Marine Corps to land in Taiwan and Penghu, disarm the Qing troops in these places, and prepare to fight the Japanese. In addition, the army will also send a division
Garrison in Taiwan." Wang Yuze said.
This is to seize all Japan's spoils before Japan lands in Taiwan! By then, not only will the Japanese not be able to get war compensation, they will not even be able to get the land ceded by the Qing Dynasty. Let them prepare hard.
Decades later, in the end it was still all in vain.
"Yes, Commander! We promise to complete the mission!" Zhang Cheng said.
"Commander, will this cause Japan to go to war with us?" Liang Xingrong asked.
"Of course, even if Japan does not go to war with us, we will declare war on them after the Manchu Qing Dynasty is solved. Perhaps, the Japanese will go to war with us before the Manchu Qing Dynasty is overthrown. However, this does not matter.
Big deal. As long as the navy defeats Japan's combined fleet, Japan will definitely lose! Can the navy defeat Japan's combined fleet?" Wang Yuze asked.
"Report to the Commander-in-Chief! Although the Japanese Navy displayed extremely strong combat effectiveness in the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Western Sichuan Navy is confident of defeating them at a small cost!" Zhang Cheng said with great certainty.
"Okay, that's no problem!" Wang Yuze said with a smile. Wang Xiao worked hard for so many years and never saw Western Sichuan unify China until his death. But now, all this will finally come true under his leadership.
"Commander! Although the army currently has 23 infantry divisions plus one teaching division, two heavy artillery brigades and two cavalry corps, if we unify the country, this number of troops will still be too few and we will need to expand the army again!"
Defense Minister Jiang Xingguo said. The current territory in western Sichuan is only equivalent to one-third of the country. It is still insufficient to guard such a vast territory with this small amount of troops.
People in the cabinet frowned. In their opinion, with the current military strength in western Sichuan, there is no problem in defeating the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Even adding Japan will not be a big problem. Once the whole country is unified,
Western Sichuan requires a large amount of money. If we continue to expand our military, it will inevitably put greater financial pressure on us and is not conducive to economic development.
"How much more military expansion is needed?" Wang Yuze asked.
"At least twenty divisions!" Jiang Xingguo asked.
"Disdain, twenty divisions are too many!" Before Wang Yuze said anything, the cabinet had already objected.
"Twenty divisions are definitely not many. After overthrowing the Manchus, we still have to defeat the Japanese. In addition, the Russians in the north have always coveted our northern territory. It is difficult to guarantee whether they will take advantage of it this time!
"Xiong Wu said.
Regarding this statement, Wang Yuze nodded. The Russians wanted to occupy Northeast China and Mongolia. This was not something that could be done in a day or two. Overthrowing the Manchu Qing Dynasty was just a small matter, but if they wanted to defend their ancestors' foundation, they would have to fight in the west of Sichuan.
Tried my best.
"Okay! Just follow the requirements of the Ministry of National Defense and expand the army by twenty divisions!" Wang Yuze said. Now that Wang Yuze has made the decision, even if the cabinet is dissatisfied, they have no choice but to accept it.
"Everyone, starting from tomorrow, it will be a new era for us. The new China requires everyone to unite and fight. Please!" Wang Yuze said solemnly.
"Don't worry, Commander, we will do our best!" everyone replied excitedly.
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