Shen Ke smiled, patted Sigende on the shoulder a few times, then raised his thumbs up and said, "You guessed it right!"

Hannagan's heart tightened and asked tentatively: "Is this war inevitable? I really don't want to see the war between my two hometowns!"

Sigende patted Hannagen's shoulder to show comfort. Shen Ke restrained his smile and patted Hannagen's shoulder and said, "It is undeniable that I have been in China for a long time. It is a lie to say that I have no feelings for this country! Just-"

"No need to say it!" Hannagan interrupted what Sinko was going to say later, "I understand! I understand!"

Shinko nodded, understood Hannagan's mood, and said, "Don't worry! Judging from the current situation in Northeast Asia, the Japanese have controlled the Korean Peninsula, which is a great obstacle to the Russians' Northeast Asia plan! Before the war against China, the Russians have to settle the Japanese first. The Japanese army is not so easy to deal with, so we will not take any action against China in a short period of time!"

Sigende echoed: "What the Minister said is! Now the weakest in Northeast Asia is not China but Japan. According to the rule of "picking soft persimmons and pinching", the guns of the great powers of various countries will be aimed at Japan in the short term!"

Hannagan had to accept reality and said lightly.

Shen Ke suddenly remembered something and asked Hannagan, "You are Li Hongzhang's adjutant and the Beiyang Navy's teacher. How much do you know about Wang Chenhao?"

Hannagan looked up at Shinko and asked in confusion: "What is this for you, Lord Minister?"

Sinko said: "Berlin used all resources to thoroughly investigate Wang Chenhao, but found nothing. Therefore, Berlin requires us to collect all information about him in China and not miss any clues!"

Hannagan replied: "I have met him a few times, and I don't know more than you know. Personally, Wang Chenhao, a young man, is an excellent strategist. His grasp of the global situation is like a prophet, which is not something we can understand! His identity is very mysterious, and all the news from the channels seems to be eventually classified into one place, which is what he released by himself. No one knows whether he is lying! He is like the powerful Sun Wukong in Chinese mythology, Journey to the West, as if he jumped out of a stone!"

Sengke and Si Gende looked at each other, and both of them had this feeling.

Hannagan looked at Sinko and asked, "Why is Berlin paying attention to him so much?"

Sinko then explained: "According to a friend of Berlin, Berlin used all agents to collect Wang Chenhao's information. Although he found nothing, he found that Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Japan and Austria had used a lot of capital to investigate him. It can be seen that the great powers of various countries attached great importance to him, so Berlin had to pay attention to him!"

Si Gende asked at this time: "But we haven't noticed any signs of people from other countries approaching Wang Chenhao during this period?"

Shen Ke smiled and said, "All countries have their own interests in China, and they are very careful when taking every step! Now all countries do not take the initiative to approach Wang Chenhao because everyone can't control Wang Chenhao's pulse, so they all plan to observe him secretly!"

At this time, Hannagan suddenly said: "I hope you should pay attention to me! After Wang Chenhao's wedding, Li Hongzhang brought him into contact with the entire Beiyang system. The people I saw these days were important members of the Qing Empire and the backbone elites of Beiyang, and several of Li Hongzhang's main aides Zhou Fu, Yang Shixiang and Zhang Peilun were all secretly guiding him. According to the Chinese customs, all signs indicate that Li Hongzhang intends to cultivate Wang Chenhao to replace Beiyang!"

Then Shen Ke suddenly realized, figured out many joints that he had not figured out before, and blurted out: "No wonder all countries are vigorously investigating Wang Chenhao. If he really takes over the Beiyang, not only will the Qing Empire be reshuffled, but it will directly affect the interests of the great powers in China!"

Si Gende couldn't help but sigh: "It seems that Berlin already knows this, he is better than us!"

Shinke smiled bitterly and joked: "Of course! Otherwise, we can also join the cabinet and become prime minister!"

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Germany, France and Russia interfered in Japan and returned Liao to China. As the parties involved, Japan was angry, frustrated and helpless.

I originally thought that the Liaodong Peninsula and North Korea were compensated as compensation, but unfortunately, the dream of Huangliang was shattered after a month of hard work.

In order to prepare for this war against China, the Meiji government of Japan has been preparing for 30 years. Finally, it has tightened its belt and formed a joint fleet to surpass the Beiyang Navy to become the first navy in Asia. In the end, it ended up being wiped out. The naval development suffered a devastating blow in 30 years.

Although the Japanese Army won the victory, it was far from being able to make up for the losses of the navy. In particular, Japan's 50 million pounds of war bonds were depreciated and sold, and the collapse of the stock market triggered the Japanese economic turmoil, which made the economic achievements of Japan's Meiji Restoration return to the "Before Meiji" situation overnight.

The Japanese government owed a lot of debts in the UK, and the money could no longer be repaid in a short period of time. For this reason, the Japanese government met with the British ambassador to Japan many times to discuss debt issues, and the Japanese ambassador to the UK also ran around Downing Street and requested the British cabinet to rescue the Japanese economy.

The two parties in the British cabinet have different attitudes towards this. The ruling Liberal Prime Minister theearlofrosebery believes that the rescue of Japan should continue to be carried out and loaned to Japan to maintain the Japanese economy, with the goal of using Japan to control North Korea to resist Russia's expansion southward expansion.

However, in the Far East, Germany, France and Russia, the three countries of Germany, France and Russia, joined forces to interfere in Japan and returned Liao to China, and secretly attacked Britain. In this Far East game between Britain and Russia, Britain and Japan were defeated by Russia, and the British-Japanese alliance was defeated by Germany, France and Russia, causing Britain's influence in the Far East to decline seriously and greatly reduce its influence on China. Britain's strong image in Europe was also stained.

Under this circumstance, the British opposition Conservative Party began to launch political attacks on the ruling party, saying that the ruling party's support for Japan's war against China was a foolish act. Not only did the huge loans Britain had to be recovered easily, but it offended China. The interference of Germany, France and Russia and Liaoning could only make China grateful to them. This was equivalent to Britain forcing China to Russia's side, seriously affecting Britain's interests in China.

The Marquis of Salisbury, the leader of the Conservative Party, was giving a speech tour around the country to canvass the 51st Cabinet election. So he took the opportunity to criticize the incompetence of the ruling Liberal Party, and ended up winning the election.

The Liberal Party suffered a crushing defeat in the 51st Election, and Rosbury's hope of re-election fell into vain. At this time, the Japanese government's request for economic rescue from the UK was "shelfed" by the ruling party.

The Japanese government sought to borrow money from other European countries, but other powerful people were also cautious. Germany, France and Russia formed a group to target Japan in the Far East. They did not dare to borrow money to Japan easily, so they watched.

Soon, Japan sought help from the United States.

American politicians far away in the American continent also want to interfere in Far East affairs and expand US interests overseas. Unfortunately, the financial crisis in the United States caused a recession in the United States, while Democratic President Cleveland is a man who loves literature and hates martial arts. He refuses to expand the foreign market and advocates expanding the domestic market in the United States to resolve the financial crisis.

The US government is powerless in response to Japan's request, because the financial crisis caused the American people to cash out a large amount of gold to maintain their value, causing the US gold reserves to plummet. In addition, the government urgently needs funds to save the financial market, so it is unable to borrow from foreign countries.

The Japanese government saw that it could not raise loans in a short period of time, so it could only reduce fiscal spending and save itself. Fortunately, the British government and Japan still have two years of alliance, and Japan is still very important to the UK and is a bridgehead for checks and balances between Russia. Therefore, the Rosbury Cabinet approved the extension of the repayment time of Japan's debt and cut loan interest.

In this way, the Japanese government does not have to repay huge usury in the short term, and the economic pressure has been reduced sharply. Despite this, the Japanese government is still burdened with heavy war debts. On the one hand, it accelerates the control of North Korea and colonial plunder, and on the other hand, it cuts fiscal expenditures and suspends subsequent funds for foreign purchase of warships. In this way, the construction process of a number of advanced warships such as Fuji-class battleships was forced to stop.

Similarly, the Japanese government has increased its exploitation of Japanese citizens and imposed various taxes to repay debts.

Japanese Cabinet Prime Minister Kiyotaka Kuroda formulated a five-year economic recovery plan for this, and the Japanese military also revised its defense outline due to the reduction of military expenditure by two-thirds, shifting its focus from external expansion to strategic defense.

When Japanese Foreign Minister Muro Osamu held a press conference, he pitifully said that the Japanese Empire would not be able to join the club of the great powers in the next five years, but he insisted that the Japanese Empire would not fall.

In response to the Japanese foreign minister's answer, the Qing Empire's "Direct Report" joked that Japan was sluggish and retracted, which caused a burst of hilariousness among the Chinese people.

The construction of two Japanese Fuji-class battleships has been suspended, which has made the officers and soldiers of the Beiyang Navy breathe a sigh of relief. If the Japanese Navy obtains the Fuji-class battleship, then the two ships of the Beiyang Navy's Dingzhen are no match for them at all.

While the Chinese were mocking the Japanese Navy, not only enlightened people asked when the Qing Empire would add ships and cannons to the Beiyang Navy.
Chapter completed!