The British consul issued a ceasefire request to the East China government, half of which was the result of Japan's diplomatic operations, while the other half was determined by Britain's interests.

The war on the Liaodong battlefield has come to an end, and in this stage of battle, the East China government naturally became the biggest winner; and although the Russian army was severely damaged in the Battle of Shilihe, it was considered unsatisfactory to recover Chenyang; only the Japanese army became the biggest loser, not only were they completely expelled from the Liaodong area, but also suffered heavy losses in the troops. Although after the Battle of Yalu River, thousands of soldiers swam across the Yalu River and arrived at the Korean Peninsula one after another, the total number of troops was less than 150,000, including more than 50,000 wounded soldiers; and there were only more than 200,000 logistics personnel who escaped the Yalu River, and the total losses of military personnel reached about 60%.

After the news reached Japan, the Japanese cabinet was like a loss because no one expected the Japanese army to be defeated so much. Although the senior commanders of the 2nd Army and the 4th Army successfully crossed the Yalu River and fled to the Korean Peninsula, which saved some of the senior commanders, this was simply disproportionate compared to the losses.

Of course, after the grief, the Japanese government still needs to find a way to clean up the mess. No matter how bad the defeat is, it cannot be so bad.

First of all, of course, the news is blocked, and this news must not be allowed to spread in Japan. In fact, since the People's Army joined the war, Japan has blocked the frontline news several times in China. Originally, prices have soared due to war issues and all industries have withered. However, there has been a stimulus of the victory of the war against Russia before the domestic situation can be maintained. If the news of the defeat spreads in China, it will inevitably cause great turmoil. We can only block the news first, and wait until the situation slowly calms down before gradually revealing it.

However, after the People's Army joined the war, the situation in Japan became worse and worse. At first, the joint fleet was destroyed, then Lushun was lost, then Liaoyang and Chenyang were lost, and now the Yalu River was defeated. There are more and more news of being blocked, including the news of the death of two senior generals Hirahachiro Togo and Nogi Hinomiki's deaths, so the funerals of these two have not been held yet, and their families have been controlled by the Japanese government. Now there is another Dashan Rock. Fortunately, senior generals such as Guyu Gentaro, Kuroki Weizhen, Obozu, and Notsu Dokun fled to the Korean Peninsula. Otherwise, it would take a lot of effort to control and appease the families of these senior officers.

The second is to immediately reorganize the troops fleeing to the Korean Peninsula. Although the People's Army won the victory of the Yalu Battle, it did not take advantage of the victory to march towards the east bank of the Yalu River, but turned back to fight with the Russian army in the Shili River. This also made the Japanese government relieved. However, Japan could not pin its hopes on the People's Army's failure to attack North Korea, so it must strengthen the defense of the Korean Peninsula.

But now that the East China government has control over the sea, it is basically impossible for Japan to send large-scale troops to the Korean Peninsula, so it can only find a way on the Korean Peninsula. Fortunately, the telegram lines between Japan and the Korean Peninsula are still smooth and can be contacted.

After consultations at the Japanese Army Base, the Japanese Army was ordered to establish a Korean headquarters on the Korean Peninsula, with Gentaro Ota as commander-in-chief, Kuroki as the chief of staff, and still serves as the commander of the 1st Legion; except for the soldiers of the 1st Legion and Yalu River Corps, other soldiers who fled to the Korean Peninsula were reorganized, and the 2nd and 4th Legion were rebuilt in North Korea, and each legion was temporarily organized with one division and one brigade; the Yalu River Corps was changed to the 5th Legion, which was considered to have a formal organization.

In addition to the original soldiers, a part of the logistics personnel will be selected for training, and strive to form two divisions in three months and two divisions in six months; and a North Korean security army will be established to form six divisions within half a year. If these plans are completed, the Japanese army's strength will be restored to more than 300,000 in half a year. Of course, this is just a quantity recovery, and there are huge differences in quality, but it is good to be able to do this.

According to Qiben's estimate, the battle between the People's Army and the Russian Army will last for more than half a year. Although the People's Army has a high chance of winning, the People's Army will also suffer a large casualties and consumption after half a year. At that time, Japan can attack from the Korean Peninsula again, and perhaps another fight.

However, the biggest problem facing the Japanese army now is the shortage of weapons and ammunition. Now there are about 140,000 Japanese troops, and more than 50,000 wounded soldiers. Of course, the wounded soldiers will not carry guns across the Yalu River. Among the other more than 80,000 soldiers, only about 70,000 were crossed through bridges in the early stage, so they naturally carried all the weapons and ammunition. The remaining 15,000 people basically swam over, which would be good enough to save their lives, so they still have weapons. Although the Japanese army also stored a batch of weapons and ammunition in North Korea, the total number was no more than 100,000 guns. Even if the old-fashioned rifles equipped by the North Korean army were included, there were less than 150,000, and the gap was more than half.

But the Army has no way to solve this problem, and can only help the Navy. Although the Japanese navy and army have always been in disagreement, they are quite sympathetic at this time. Moreover, the Navy also knows that this is not the time to make trouble. After all, once Japan is over, the Navy will have to be buried with each other, and no one can escape. Therefore, as the Navy promises, it will try its best to find ways to transport weapons to North Korea.

Although the base camp still wanted to take another shot, the cabinet knew very well that this opportunity was extremely slim. It was enough to thank God for being able to escape from this war with decent urgency. Military efforts actually created bargaining chips for Japan to withdraw from the war with decent ease.

The Japanese cabinet believes that two conditions must be met for decent withdrawal from this war. One is to protect Japan's interests on the Korean Peninsula, but appropriate concessions can be made. For example, in North Korea's economic power, Japan can only ensure control over North Korea; the other is that it cannot pay compensation, because compensation is equivalent to admitting defeat, and Japan has no money now. Although this result has not achieved the goal of Japan provoking a war, it is an acceptable result.

However, it is not easy to achieve a decent withdrawal. The East China government will never let Japan go easily. It is far from enough to rely solely on restoring military power. After all, at the peak of Japan's military power, the East China government is not afraid, let alone the army that is just a mess. Therefore, in addition, Japan must also find powerful external forces to compete with the East China government. Of course, the only external forces that Japan can find is Britain.

So the Japanese government formally proposed to the UK, requiring the UK to comply with the provisions of the "British-Japan Alliance Treaty", send troops to participate in the war, and assist Japan.

In fact, after the Battle of Tsuma, Japan asked Britain to send troops to participate in the war, but Britain made excuses on the need to discuss whether the East China government is a country or not. There is still no clear statement yet. The Japanese political elites are very clear that the probability of Britain sending troops is not high, otherwise they would not discuss whether the East China government is a country.

But Japan still made a request to participate in the war, which was to kick the ball to Britain again. After all, Japan and Britain are in alliance and signed international treaties. If Britain really let Japan ignore it, it would be a major blow to Britain's national credibility. Therefore, even if Britain would not send troops to participate in the war, it would also use other resources to put pressure on the East China government to help Japan withdraw from the battle decently.

It should be said that Japan is still confident in Britain. After all, Britain is still the world's strongest. In addition to its military capabilities, it also has huge diplomatic resources. Therefore, as long as the UK is willing, it can be done.

After receiving Japan's diplomatic letter, the heads of the British government were also very troubled. Of course, the British government was unwilling to participate in the war. At the beginning, it signed an alliance treaty with Japan just to restrain France and let Japan go to a one-on-one pk with Russia. Unexpectedly, an East China government emerged from the middle of the journey. In fact, the UK was also vigilant about the East China government participating in the war. It repeatedly expressed its attitude that it did not want the East China government to participate in the war, but the East China government simply ignored it. It took action when it was time to take action, which also made Britain very embarrassed.

National interests and face are not completely unrelated. After all, Britain and Japan have signed an alliance treaty. If Britain really sit idly by and watch Japan, then what will other countries think of Britain? And which country will form an alliance with Britain?

If Britain had arrived 10 years ago, it would not care about forming an alliance with other countries, because Britain was still insisting on "glorious isolation" at that time, and it was impossible to sign an alliance treaty with Japan. But now Britain has no way to adhere to "glorious isolation". Not only has it formed an alliance with Japan to fight against Russia, but it is also actively bringing relations with France and promoting the two countries to form an alliance to jointly curb Germany. But if Britain abandons Japan, will France still trust Britain all? Even if Britain signed an alliance treaty, it would be a different dream. It is just thinking that it would be a tragedy to die and not die. It is impossible to work together to deal with Germany.

In fact, the situation in the Far East is very in line with the interests of Britain. Now both Japan and Russia have been severely damaged. Even if Japan can withdraw from this war with decent ease, it will inevitably be severely damaged. It can only rely more closely on Britain and is willing to be the British thug and spokesperson in Asia. Although Russia recovered Shenyang, it actually suffered greater losses than Japan. Because of its great losses in the navy, the strength of the Far East has greatly reduced, it does not pose a practical threat to Britain.
Chapter completed!