【今天第二更,求推荐票】

"Where did you come from a good strategy? Change the soup and not the medicine! It is better to ced Taiwan than to ced Liaodong!" Li Hongzhang was obviously very dissatisfied, but he did not stop Wang Chenhao from continuing. He wanted to hear the following.

Wang Chenhao continued: "The Liaodong Peninsula is connected to North Korea, which makes Japan a whole; and the Liaodong Peninsula is one of the gateways of the Qing Empire, and its strategic position is extremely important. If Japan knows that we are willing to cede, it will definitely agree to give up the demand for compensation and cede Taiwan."

Li Hongzhang glared at Wang Chenhao with anger and said, "Of course! This is more cost-effective than compensation and cede Taiwan. Of course, Japan will choose to pick up the benefits of the greater!"

Wang Chenhao snorted coldly and said, "That is why the Japanese will take the bait! But can they get what they want? Will the Russians sit idly by and watch Japan get the Liaodong Peninsula and North Korea?"

Li Hongzhang frowned and said, "What do you mean is that if we sell the Liaodong Peninsula, the Russians will definitely intervene?"

Wang Chenhao nodded. In order to convince Li Hongzhang, he had to analyze Tsarist Russia's current core interests and strategic situation.

Wang Chenhao believes that from Russia's global strategic layout, we can see that Russia's main purpose of territorial expansion is its foreign goal.

Tsarist Russia's expansion in Europe was blocked by its allies. In West Asia, Central Asia fought against the Turkish Empire for centuries but failed to enter the Mediterranean as it wished, and could only be trapped in the Black Sea. After hundreds of years of expansion in East Asia, Tsarist Russia found that their policies were continued and obtained East-West Villa and Vladivostok from the Qing Empire.

However, because Tsarist Russia's center of gravity was in Europe and was 20,000 miles away from the far east, although it had always wanted to use troops to expand its aggression against the Qing Empire, due to the long front line and the influence of the Russian-Turkish war that had never stopped, the Tsarist Russian government was unable to implement the 1856 Asian Plan to launch a full-scale war against China.

But Tsarist Russia has been preparing for it. Since the Beijing Treaty in 1860, Tsarist Russia began to build a Far East naval base and build a Far East fleet in Vladivostok. In 1862, the Tsarist Russian government renamed Vladivostok to "Vladivostok", which means controlling the East, which shows Tsarist Russia's ambitions. In 1887, the Vladivostok naval base was officially completed, and in 1890, Russia established the Siberian region fleet and the Amur region fleet, and officially entered.

However, at this time, the Qing Empire and the Japanese Empire had established a powerful Asian navy. The Tsarist Russian navy was at a disadvantage due to the supply problem of Vladivostok base, so he did not dare to start a war rashly.

The Tsarist Russian government, at a disadvantage, decided to build the Siberian Railway to connect St. Petersburg with Vladivostok. In 1891, the construction of the 9,288-kilometer Siberian Railway started. Once the railway was completed, it would not only solve the supply problem of Tsarist Russian Far East Navy, but also the army could also transport it. That was the time when Tsarist Russia resumed its full invasion of China.

Wang Chenhao's understanding of Russia's Asian policy surprised Li Hongzhang, so he said: "What you said can only show that Russia has the will to destroy me, but you also said that the Russians have difficulty in supplying. If they want to destroy, I have to wait until the Siberian Railway is completed. How can the Russians help us deal with the Japanese before this?"

Seeing that Li Hongzhang heard something, Wang Chenhao felt it was effective, so he continued: "Although Russia does not have the power to launch a large-scale war in the Far East, they have been preparing for the construction of the Vladivostok base, the formation of the Far East fleet, and the construction of the Siberian Railway. These are all preparations for future wars."

Wang Chenhao came to the map of Hanging Wall, gestured to Li Hongzhang on it, and continued to explain: "Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula are also the Russians' targets, because the Russians have long planned to annex our three northeastern provinces. They first surrounded Heilongjiang through the Treaty of Aihui, and then went south to surround Jilin through the Treaty of Beijing. Originally, their plan should be to force us to give up North Korea and Liaodong Peninsula through a treaty. Unfortunately, the Russians had not had time to take action, and the Japanese could no longer help but take action first. If the Liaodong Peninsula fell into the hands of the Japanese, and North Korea was also Japanese, then it would break Russia's plan to surround our Northeast!"

Li Hongzhang followed Wang Chenhao's direction and discovered the problem for the first time from the overall situation. At this time, Russia had formed a semi-encirclement of the northeastern region of the Qing Empire. Russia's Amur Military Region and Binhai Prefecture Military Region had already included Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces, and North Korea and the Liaodong Peninsula were the next targets to surround Shengjing.

Li Hongzhang looked at Wang Chenhao in surprise again and said, "I didn't expect that Chen Hao has such a clear view of the overall situation, which really opens my eyes and benefits a lot!"

"Zhongtang Lord is too rewarded!" Wang Chenhao struck while the iron was hot and continued: "The Russians want to monopolize our Northeast. Japan lacks domestic capital and also want to occupy our Northeast. One of them is a slow black bear and the other is a hungry jackal. Now we are a giant dragon that is sick and cannot climb up. In order to survive, we can only chop the dragon's claws and throw them. Both bears and jackals cannot swallow the entire dragon in one bite, so they will choose to eat the dragon's claws first. There is only one claw, so the bears and jackals will definitely fight because of robbing food."

Wang Chenhao's metaphor made Li Hongzhang feel ashamed, but it has to be said that it is very appropriate, which is the current embarrassment of the Qing Empire.

"If we throw out the bait to cede Liaodong, can the Russians really interfere strongly?" Li Hongzhang had already believed Wang Chenhao's words at this moment.

Wang Chenhao felt that he could only be a living horse. After all, the intervention of the Three Kingdoms in history was a real event that happened in Liao. He believed that the Russians would definitely interfere, so he answered with affirmative answer: "The Russians would definitely interfere! In addition to strategic needs, the Russians need to build a Far East naval base. North Korea and Liaodong have unfreezing ports that the Russians need, so they will not sit idly by!"

Li Hongzhang was obviously struggling in his heart. If it was true as Wang Chenhao said, it would be the last way to shock the Japanese wolfish ambition to end the war; but if the Russians do not intervene, then Li Hongzhang would have to bear the reputation of selling traitors who betrayed the Liaodong Peninsula, and the deep interests in it made him cautious.

"Chen Hao! Do you know that if this matter fails, if I, Li Hongzhang, have the name of a traitor, no one in the Li family will be able to lift him up and become a rat crossing the street that everyone calls for! "

Wang Chenhao naturally understood that the people never understand the difficulties of the national leaders, and they only look at the final result of the matter.

"Chen Hao's words come from the heart! Master Zhongtang should have heard of it. Chen Hao has admired Miss Youyi for a long time and regards her as Chen Hao's future wife. You are her father. How could I never cheat you!"

Only then did Li Hongzhang remember that Wang Chenhao had such a thing, he naturally knew what happened between Wang Chenhao and Li Youyi. Now that Wang Chenhao has made it bluntly, Li Hongzhang felt much more relieved.

"Well! I will listen to your gamble again! If it is as you expected, I will make the decision to marry Youyi to you!"

"Thank you, Lord Zhongtang!" Wang Chenhao was extremely happy.

“应该叫岳父大人才是!”

Outside the door, Zhou Fu and Yang Shixiang stepped in, followed by the staff who were discussing the matter just now.

It turned out that they did not leave immediately. Seeing Li Hongzhang alone, Wang Chenhao ran over to listen to the corner.

At this time, Zhou Fu, Yang Shixiang and others had already heard Wang Chenhao's strategy. From the start of shock to the moment Qingpei was all reflected on their faces.

"Wushan, what do you think of Lian Mansion?" Li Hongzhang was not surprised. Obviously he had discovered it a long time ago. It's a pity that Wang Chenhao might have been too involved, so he couldn't notice it.

"Of course, congratulations to the Lord Zhongtang for adding another good son-in-law!" Zhou Fu nodded to Wang Chenhao and replied with a smile to Li Hongzhang.

"Congratulations to Lord Zhongtang for adding another good son-in-law!" Everyone congratulated each other.

"So everyone agrees with Chen Hao's plan!" Li Hongzhang couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seemed that this plan had been recognized by everyone and was worth a bet.

"Why don't you call me father-in-law!" Yang Shixiang pulled Wang Chenhao over and kicked him at the wrist. Wang Chenhao fell to his knees in pain.

Wang Chenhao hurriedly called him father-in-law in a hurry. Li Hongzhang laughed a few times, obviously very helpful and hurriedly helped him up.

There was a burst of cheers in the hall, and everyone stepped forward to congratulate.
Chapter completed!