After Liu Hai received the news, it was naturally impossible for him to swallow his anger. You came over to beat me, and I guarantee your financial interests in my territory. Isn't that stupid?
So Liu Hai immediately issued an order: Due to Geely's unfriendly actions against the Liangjiang area, from now on, all stores in the Liangjiang area will be closed and all its overseas residents will be temporarily quarantined.
With Liu Hai's order, the entire Liangjiang area was boiling. Over the years, because the foreigners were the subjects of the Qing Dynasty, they had always swallowed their anger. It would be a lie to say that there was no resentment in their hearts.
Now Liu Hai's order just gave these ordinary people a chance to vent their anger, so on the second day, many businesses were smashed, smashed, and robbed. All the people were imprisoned by the local yamen.
Liu Hai's action immediately alerted Jesse Mullan, the consul in Shanghai. As soon as this man saw Liu Hai's action, he knew that there was no way to negotiate this time, so he immediately sent a telegram to the domestic authorities, knowing that
The situation in Liangjiang area is serious.
At the same time, according to his guess, the concessions in the Liangjiang area may not be able to survive alone.
The Prime Minister, Earl Rosebery, now has no mood to protest after receiving the news from Shanghai, because at this point both sides have understood that war is inevitable.
Therefore, the Prime Minister directly urged the Admiralty to speed up the formation of the fleet and actively prepare supplies and ammunition so that the fleet could set off as soon as possible.
Both the House of Lords and the House of Commons were very angry after receiving the news. They had never suffered such a big loss in all these years.
Therefore, they passed a resolution that after the war, Liu Hai must be handed over for execution, and the Liangjiang area would be used as compensation and become a colony.
The Prime Minister, Lord Rosebery, was furious after receiving the notice from Parliament.
Because of this decision of the parliament, the government has been pushed into a corner, and if it goes wrong, it will fall into the quagmire of war.
Because the Prime Minister knew that the Qing Dynasty was different from those Indians. Once their bottom line was violated, even if the court surrendered, the people below would rise up to resist.
This was a bloody lesson they learned after several wars against the Qing Dynasty.
Although they can be defeated for a while, in order to maintain this colony, I am afraid that a large number of troops will have to be deployed in the far east. As a result, the military expenditures consumed are simply astronomical, and the government may not be able to afford such a large-scale operation for such a long time.
military operations.
But since the parliament has passed the resolution, the prime minister can only implement it.
However, due to the decision of the parliament, the government's combat strategy will change. In the past, it was only a sea war, but now it will be a land confrontation with Liu Hai's army.
This requires a large-scale army, and the army, to be honest, is far inferior to the navy, and its number is also limited.
In the end, Earl Rosebery had no choice but to deploy 50,000 troops at home and at the same time sent an order to the colonies, asking them to organize a 200,000 servant army.
After these orders were issued, the prime minister discovered that the military expenditure for this expedition had once again greatly exceeded the standard, and the current government could not come up with the money, so it could only push the mess back to Parliament.
Because the parliament made decisions without authorization and changed the combat strategy, the military expenditure was short. Now it is up to them to clean up the mess.
The Parliament was also a little helpless about the shortage of military funds. At that time, they only cared about their own happiness and forgot about this problem. Now the government has pushed the trouble back to the Parliament, and the Parliament really has no way to solve it.
At that time, when Western countries printed banknotes, they did not just turn on the money printing press as they do now and just print whatever they want.
At that time, banknotes were linked to gold, and the banknotes that were produced must have a certain proportional relationship with the gold reserves in the national treasury. If this ratio changed, the financial order of the entire country would be disrupted.
Therefore, they are in a situation where they cannot issue banknotes randomly.
Finally, the heads of major political parties such as the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party in Parliament held a meeting, during which they approved the amount of their respective donations and reached an agreement to divide interests in the Liangjiang area after the war.
With this agreement, various political parties and families actively donated money, and finally the expenses for the expedition were raised.
However, they also spent a lot of money this time. Once the war fails and they cannot obtain the same benefits, then various families and political groups in the UK will suffer a serious economic crisis. Therefore, it can be said that this time they must defeat Liu Hai.
Their side was actively preparing for war, and Liu Hai was not idle either.
After Liu Hai closed down all enemy personnel and shops on his territory and sent them to concentration camps.
Immediately, through Shanghai County, an ultimatum was issued to the concession in Shanghai, requiring the concession to hand over the management of the concession to Shanghai County before March 15, 1897. If the concession could not complete the handover on its own, then the Qing Dynasty
The Governor of Liangjiang will send troops to complete this mission.
After receiving the ultimatum from Shanghai, the management of the concession and Jesse Mullan, the consul in Shanghai, already understood that there was nothing to talk about this time.
So they immediately began to evacuate important personnel in the concession, and at the same time began to burn important documents in the consulate.
The expatriates and businessmen in the concession also got the news. These people now no longer care about the loss of property. They first sent their wives and children to the French Concession next door, and then began to sell their properties in the concession.
However, because the merchants of the Qing Dynasty were not fools, they had already seen that this time the war between the governors of Liangjiang and them was inevitable, so they all sat there and watched, not daring to collect their property casually.
Therefore, many businessmen began to sell off their properties and goods in order to sell them as quickly as possible.
Moreover, the intensity of the sales this time was very high, and some were even twice as high as the original price. At this time, the merchants in the Qing Dynasty could not bear it any longer, so some people began to take over these sales and properties.
Liu Hai did not stop him after he learned about this situation, because after accepting the lease, Liu Hai still needed the efforts of these businessmen for the prosperity of Shanghai.
Three days later, with the cooperation of the Shanghai Nanyang Marine Corps, Shanghai County began to take over the entire Shanghai Concession.
This time, due to the participation of the army, the takeover was very smooth. In just one day, the largest concession in Shanghai was returned to state management.
After handling matters within his own territory, Liu Hai convened important generals of his navy and army in Nanjing to prepare to save the current situation, hold a combat meeting, and unify the thinking within his group.
On March 18, 1897, in Nanjing, the lobby of the Liangjiang Governor's Mansion was bustling with excitement. All the naval generals and army commanders under Liu Hai gathered together.
Before these navy and army generals came, they knew that the purpose of this meeting held by Liu Hai was to have a tough battle.
Therefore, they are now whispering in the lobby while Liu Hai has not yet arrived, discussing with each other the strategy of this war.
Army generals, you are not too worried about the enemy's invasion, because after the previous war, the main generals of the army have understood that there is a huge gap between the weapons they are equipped with and the ordinary armies of various countries in this era.
, there is no need to worry about their attacks.
The navy does not have the advantages of the army. Although they know that they have four giant ships, their other warships are not much more advanced than those of other countries today.
Once a war breaks out, these naval generals believe that although they can inflict heavy damage on the other side, their own side may also be completely raped.
While they were having a lively discussion downstairs, Liu Hai led his staff from the back hall to the front.
As soon as Liu Hai entered the lobby, these generals immediately stopped whispering and stood on both sides seriously.
Liu Hai sat expressionlessly in the middle of the lobby, while several of Liu Hai's staff stood at the front.
After Liu Hai sat firmly, he looked down, and then said: "You must also know about our two rivers and the foreigners. This war is inevitable."
When Liu Hai said this, he looked at the people below with his eyes. He saw that the expressions of the people below were different, and some people even showed disapproval on their faces. It seemed that Liu Hai supported his defeated generals and fought against foreigners. Some people
Don't understand.
"I know some of you don't understand why I work so hard to help outsiders. I'll tell you the reason now."
As soon as Liu Hai finished saying this, the generals below immediately cheered up.
"The first reason is that any country is now our vassal and will be the vanguard of our war in the future, so we cannot abandon them."
"The second reason is that our opponent this time has huge colonies, as well as economic and political interests in East Asia, and these places are too close to our Nanyang. Such a small sea area cannot accommodate two maritime powers, and they must be driven out.
Go to East Asia."
"The third reason is that there is a turmoil in the court, and unpredictable changes will soon occur. At that time, our Liangjiang region will determine the world, and the Western powers will definitely interfere. They will never allow a foreign country to appear in the Far East.
A powerful country they cannot control."
After Liu Hai said this, his whole body was full of murderous intent, "So through this war, we want to show them what will happen if they dare to interfere?"