After discussing with Hu Pinzhi and others, Cixi sent a telegram to the whole country through the telegraph station in Taiyuan that day.
The content of the telegram was: Liu Hai was rebellious, used his ministers to attack the emperor, and forced the Empress Dowager to flee far away. This was the source of the troubles in the world. Now the Empress Dowager and Emperor are stationed in Taiyuan, electrifying the whole world to fight against the national traitors, so as to stabilize the country.
This telegram was quickly spread across the country. After receiving the news that Cixi and Guangxu were still alive, the governors outside Liu Hai's control area expressed their support for Cixi and the emperor.
However, they only talked about it verbally and did not take any concrete actions.
At this time, the Western powers began to become active. They sent personnel to various places to lobby the governors in various places to buy their weapons, and hoped that these governors would hire military personnel from the great powers as consultants.
In order to be able to buy new weapons cheaply, governors in various places almost all agreed to the requirements of the great powers, or even for their own ambitions.
At this time, the entire Qing Dynasty became lively, and various places began to recruit troops and gather crops to store grain.
On this day, Liu Hai was at the Military Aircraft Department with several other military aircraft ministers, discussing when to go north to the Northeast to drive out the Russians.
Li Hongzhang has been engaged in diplomacy for many years and has a clear understanding of the Russians' true and false intentions.
If he were to go west to attack the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu, perhaps Li Hongzhang would say nothing but secretly deliver the message to the Empress Dowager Cixi.
But now Liu Hai decided to go north to the northeast to attack the Rakshasa Kingdom, so he naturally actively made plans.
"Master Guo, the Rakshasa Kingdom looks like it is right now, but in fact it is just a strong external force. Due to the long logistics supply, the current Rakshasa Kingdom simply does not have the ability to launch a large-scale attack. As long as the attack is frustrated,
Entering the stalemate stage, their logistics line will be able to overwhelm the Rakshasa army."
Liu Hai naturally understood this truth, "What Mr. Li is saying is that the Rakshasa Kingdom seems to be powerful now, but in fact it is just weak. As long as we give him a head-on attack, they will not even have a chance to fight back."
Zhao Jiahua sat there and thought for a while, and then said: "Then what is our bottom line? Should we keep fighting or should we guard the border?"
After Liu Hai listened, he stood up and walked around the room.
In fact, Liu Hai still prefers to keep fighting to regain the lost ground, but the current situation in the Qing Dynasty makes Liu Hai unable to move north with peace of mind.
"It's enough to expel the Rakshasa Kingdom from the national borders for the time being. As for regaining the lost territory, it won't be too late to do this after we stabilize the whole country."
But Pan Weibin spoke at this time, "Commander, the country is in chaos now. The governors are recruiting troops from all over the country, and the great powers are not to be outdone, and have begun to transport weapons to our country, the Qing Dynasty, to support these governors.
If I think we should take some measures, otherwise, when we expel the Rakshasa Kingdom and want to clean up these governors, we will have to spend some effort."
After hearing this, Liu Hai nodded, "These great powers are determined to destroy me. They got involved as soon as some unrest occurred in our Qing Dynasty. It seems that some measures must be taken."
Liu Hai thought for a moment, and then suddenly said firmly: "My order is to block the Yangtze River waterway from now on. Any ship from a foreign power that wants to pass through the Yangtze River must be inspected and all strategic materials are not allowed to enter the Yangtze River."
After Zhao Jiahua recorded Liu Hai's order, he hesitated and asked: "The commander-in-chief is just blocking the Yangtze River. I'm afraid the effect will not be very great."
Liu Hai nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Although the Yangtze River was the most prosperous waterway in the Qing Dynasty, blocking it would only delay the transportation cost and time for the great powers, and would not have any real effect.
"Then in your opinion, what should we do?"
"In my humble opinion, the navy should be dispatched to blockade the sea area, and all foreign ships must be inspected before entering the port."
Pan Weibin said from the side: "I'm afraid this won't be easy. The territory we control now is only a small part of the Qing Dynasty. There are large areas of water in the south that are not under our control. In the end, I'm afraid it will be beyond our reach."
Liu Hai laughed after hearing this, "You guys only focus on the country, but don't look at the world."
As soon as Liu Hai finished speaking, another member of Liu Hai's staff, Hu Youxing, who was born as a military minister, came closer and asked: "This official and others are ignorant, please give me some advice from the commander-in-chief."
As Liu Hai's status rises, he likes to hear flattering words more and more.
As soon as Hu Youxing complimented him, Liu Hai immediately became interested.
"Haha, okay, let me tell you something. Our Qing Dynasty does have a vast territory and long sea frontier. If we want to hold the entire Qing Dynasty, it is almost impossible. But we don't need to be on the sea frontier of the Qing Dynasty.
Tired of running for their lives, as long as we block the Strait of Malacca, all their ships from the west coming to the Qing Dynasty will be stuck by us."
The eyes of several other military and aircraft ministers lit up after hearing this. They really had not thought of this method.
Now that I think about it, Liu Hai was really far-sighted and seized the Strait of Malacca, a major transportation channel, early on. In this way, almost all trade in East Asia was under Liu Hai's nose.
As long as Liu Hai is willing, he can quickly cut off all ties between the Western powers and East Asia.
Liu Hai looked at the admiring looks in his men's eyes, and felt a little lifted.
"Okay, let's make this decision. I will issue an order to the Strait of Malacca in my name soon, asking Liu Da to block the Strait of Malacca and inspect passing ships. All weapons, equipment, and strategic materials are not allowed to pass through the Strait of Malacca."
After saying this, Liu Hai walked around the room excitedly, and then continued: "But this is also a temporary solution, not the root cause. As long as those great powers want to interfere with our domestic affairs, there will always be a way. For example, India and
Tibet borders Tibet, Myanmar and other places are also connected to our Yunnan and other places. It is possible to transport a batch of supplies from the Indian Ocean without passing through Malacca."
After Liu Hai said this, he began to calm down, "Hu Youxing, in the name of the Qing Dynasty, you notify the embassies of various countries and ask them not to sell weapons privately to various parts of the Qing Dynasty. If it is discovered that all the documents signed with the Qing Dynasty have been
The treaty will be abolished by me here."
After hearing this, Hu Youxing was silent for a moment, and then said: "My lord, will this arouse resistance from the great powers? Our main target now is the north. If the great powers get involved, we may be exhausted."
"It's okay. You may not understand their naval strength. I can tell you responsibly that our naval strength is the best in the world today. If the great powers dare to make any moves, our navy can wipe them out in the Indian Ocean.
superior."
While Liu Hai and others were discussing how to prevent the great powers from selling weapons and ammunition to the Qing Dynasty, a young eunuch outside suddenly knocked on the door.
"If anything happens, come in."
After listening to Liu Hai's words, the eunuch hurriedly came in and kowtowed to Liu Hai first, and then followed the rules and followed the rules. The military ministers present also bowed.
"Returning to the country, sir, there is a telegram from Japan."
"Bring it over and let me see."
Then the little eunuch quickly delivered the telegram to Liu Hai.
When I took a look at the bangs, I burst into laughter.
Li Hongzhang next to him looked at Liu Hai and laughed. He stood up in a daze and asked, "Why are you laughing, sir?"
After Liu Hai finished laughing, he shook the telegram in his hand and said to several others: "The Rakshasa people began to lose their composure and even sent out their warships in Vladivostok, hoping to dominate the sea.
, to quickly open up the situation."
After Liu Hai finished speaking, he handed the telegram loosely to Zhao Jiahua who was standing aside.
Zhao Jiahua picked it up and took a closer look. The content of the telegram was that the entire Pacific Fleet of the Rakshasa Kingdom had been dispatched and headed south, hoping to find the main force of the Japanese navy for a decisive battle.
After reading it, Zhao Jiahua handed the telegram to others. He thought for a while and then said: "The Russian Pacific Fleet is still quite powerful. I heard that there are seven ironclads alone, and the Japanese only have two.
Can a Sovereign-class battleship be able to withstand it? Or is there a question?"
"You don't have to worry about this. Before our Northern Expedition, I had already dispatched the battleship Qin Shihuang to go north to support Japan. With this battleship, plus the warships of Japan, we can withstand the Russian Pacific Fleet."
After listening to Liu Hai's words, Li Hongzhang thought for a while, and then said: "My lord, we should not take it lightly. On the whole, the naval strength of the Japanese country is not inferior to that of the Rakshasa Kingdom, but in fact, this group of naval personnel of the Japanese country
They are all newly recruited, and the original old people were all eliminated by the Duke during the war, so they are probably still a little inferior in controlling warships."
After listening to Li Hongzhang's words, Liu Hai thought about it silently and found that it did make some sense.
However, Liu Hai did not completely agree with Li Hongzhang's opinion, because since the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the Japanese navy could be said to be under Liu Hai's control.
Liu Hai knew very well about the training of the Japanese navy. Although they were all newcomers, they trained very hard.
Coupled with the natural tenacity of the Japanese country, if it really fights, it will not be inferior to the Rakshasa Kingdom. Those people are saying, doesn't there still be a battleship Qin Shihuang?
With this Iowa-class battleship, even if it is slowly worn away, it can wear away the seven armored ships of the Rakshasa Kingdom's Pacific Fleet.
"In my opinion, it is better for the Japanese fleet to go north for the time being. If they are defeated, I will send the main force of the Nanyang Navy to reinforce them."
After Liu Hai said this, he added, "It's time for the Japanese combined fleet to see blood. These recruits haven't fought yet. From now on, they will be my vanguard in conquering the world, so they need to be trained well."
"
Li Hongzhang next to him heard Liu Hai say this and his heart beat. Is Liu Hai so confident in his current actions? He even thought of opening up and expanding the territory before the Qing Dynasty was stable.