Chapter Seventy Crisis

  Whether from the current or long-term perspective, severely punishing Wei Ruigui is extremely valuable. This value is more reflected in Tan Yankai's eyes at present, and it is also true for Weng Tonghe and others - as if they have gained some inspiration, after tasting the benefits from Wei Ruigui this time, the Qingliu began to ponder how to take advantage of other Beiyang generals, but this also requires opportunities.

  Unlike Tan Yanqing, Tan Yanqing hoped that through a series of strict investigations, the Northern Warlords' attitude towards war could be greatly improved, so as not to have incidents where they did not fight back during battles. On the other hand, the Qing officials led by Weng Tonghe wanted to make Li Hongzhang feel embarrassed through strict investigations, in order to achieve their goal of overthrowing him. Tan Yanqing could only feel more disappointed with the Qing officials led by Weng Tonghe. He had never wanted to stand on Weng Tonghe's side anyway, and now he felt even less guilty about giving advice to Li Hongzhang.

  The political storm triggered by the Wei Ruigui incident unfolded in Beijing and Tianjin, and with Empress Dowager Cixi's 60th birthday celebration, former favorites like Ronglu who had lost in political struggles and been demoted to remote areas took advantage of this opportunity to return to Beijing. These people also joined the mahjong game as one side, each standing in their own camp. Their participation made the already chaotic situation immediately become a mess. In Tan Yankai's eyes, it was like a play, with actors taking the stage and performing various unbelievable acts, while he simply recorded the events that took place during his time in Beiyang in his diary.

  Because the Russian Minister to China, Pokotilov, is currently on vacation and residing in Qingdao, he may return to Russia soon. Therefore, Tang Shaoyi and Li Jingfang made a special trip by small steamer to Qingdao to visit Pokotilov. Tang Shaoyi and Li Jingfang bore this special mission. Meanwhile, their opponents, the Japanese, were also actively engaging in diplomatic activities at this time, with the British as their target.

  Japanese Minister to the UK, Aoki Shuzo, also relied on his more than 20 years of diplomatic experience and familiarity with the foreign policies of major powers. He emphasized to his home government that Britain valued Japan's role in checking Russian expansion southward. Aoki's advice was supported by Yamagata Aritomo and Mutsu Munemitsu, who believed that under these circumstances it would be extremely disadvantageous for Japan, having suffered a severe blow before the military adventure had even begun, and that the only way to regain strategic initiative was to closely align with Britain.

  After getting domestic support and authorization, Aoki Shuzo immediately launched diplomatic work. In fact, such work had already begun - with the deepening of Japan's Meiji Restoration. Japan was very dissatisfied with the treaties signed by the Tokugawa shogunate with foreign powers in the past and was actively seeking to revise them. Aoki Shuzo used Russia's construction of the Siberian Railway to pressure Britain, making concessions through the British, and made a correct judgment. After getting formal authorization at home, he hoped to complete the signing of a new treaty with Britain as soon as possible.

  Japan's unusual activities in the UK were immediately sent back to China by telegram by the Qing ambassador to the UK, and also reported that the UK was building large ironclad warships for Japan. After Li Hongzhang received the telegram, he forwarded it to Qingdao. The first message Li Jingfang and Tang Shaoyi received after landing was that Japan and Britain were seeking to revise past treaties. After reading the telegram, Li Jingfang and Tang Shaoyi looked at each other, both feeling a sense of foreboding.

  "Bo Xing, this is not a place for conversation. You and I should find a place to discuss this telegram quickly and then make arrangements!" Tan Yanke said.

  Li Jingfang slightly lowered his hat and nodded, at this time the situation had changed in such a way. Undoubtedly, it was extremely unfavorable for the Qing Dynasty. If Britain really stood on Japan's side, the Qing Dynasty could only choose Russia, which would make the price in the negotiations exceed their tolerance——at present, the contact between Beiyang and Russia to seek Sino-Japanese reconciliation had not been authorized by the Emperor, and Beijing had not even received such news!

  "It seems that what Guan An expected is true, the British are unreliable!" Li Jingfang said angrily as soon as he put down his hat. This was not surprising, because a few days ago, the British Minister O'Conor had visited Li Hongzhang and expressed Britain's willingness to mediate in the Sino-Japanese dispute, but now the news from Britain clearly showed that O'Conor had been deceiving Beiyang.

  Tan Yanqing sat opposite Li Jingfang, pouring him a cup of hot tea and said: "This is an expected thing, the Japanese have been preparing for more than one or two days. Korea is a stepping stone for Russia to push its influence southward, with the Siberian Railway, this intention is even more obvious, can you say that the British are not anxious?"

  Li Jingfang furrowed his brow and said, "Although that's the case, this way we can only be tied to the Russians. Russia doesn't have a strong military presence in the Far East, if the British were to turn against us and intervene in the war, then we..."

  "It's no longer the era of the Opium War 40 years ago, various countries have their own interests in the Qing dynasty, and there are also various contradictions within them. The British practice independent diplomacy, which can provide some help to Japan, but it lacks a necessary excuse for Britain itself to take the initiative to launch a war. Moreover, the surrounding powers are watching with keen interest."

  Having grasped the most fertile Yangtze River Basin, supporting Japan is for the sake of expanding its influence southward. If it rashly goes to war, it will give other powers an opportunity to intervene in China and expand their interests. The British won't do such a foolish thing, let alone form an alliance with Japan!" Tan Yankai said.

  Li Jingfang nodded and said, "Now how should we face Kashin?"

  "Let's stick to our original plan for now. This telegram is both a tool for us to pressure Russia and evidence of self-deprecation, so let's not use it unless absolutely necessary. Before Japan and Britain officially announce the revised treaty, the Russians may not know about it, so let's first use Korea to tie down the Russians!"

  "I think we should report to Zhong Tang as soon as possible and finalize the matter of purchasing foreign weapons, otherwise the British and Japanese will get closer and closer, which is really not in our favor!"

  "Brother Bo's insight is far-reaching! Currently, there hasn't been a large-scale battle between China and Japan. If we consider international law, after the outbreak of war between the two countries, the major powers will likely adopt a conservative policy. The belligerent nations on both sides won't receive open support for weapons and other resources. As for the Beiyang Fleet's other warships, they're not a problem, although the production capacity for shells is relatively low, we can still produce them. However, the main cannons of the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, our 'Great Wall at Sea', are not something we can produce ourselves. We should take advantage of the fact that the major powers haven't yet imposed an embargo on us to stock up on all the urgently needed ammunition. At the same time, this can also be used as a reason to pressure the Ministry of Revenue, so that they won't be too harsh..." Tan Yankai said.

  The most urgent thing at present is to purchase the weapons and ammunition needed by the Beiyang as soon as possible, especially the 300mm and 210mm caliber shells used by the Beiyang Navy. The domestic ordnance factories have not yet had the capability to produce 300mm shells, and the 210mm shells are not sufficient in either quality or quantity to meet the needs of war. Especially the 210mm shells, almost all the main guns of the main battleships of the Beiyang are this type of shell, it can be foreseen that this type of shell will be the most scarce in battle.

  Apart from the urgently needed shells for the Navy, the large-caliber shells of the naval base and fortresses were also in short supply, and even more severe - Tang Boheng went to Dalian Port a month ago to coordinate the repair of the Jiyuan ship. He also inspected the fortress artillery shells, which shocked him - the shells delivered by Tianjin Machinery Bureau to Dalian Fortress over the years not only had poor quality propellant packages. In addition to requiring cleaning after each shot, the fuses for firing the shells were actually coal slag, and the explosive charges inside were non-explosive mud or soybeans!

  Tang Boheng hastily inspected the ammunition stored in the fortress for the Beiyang Fleet, and the result still made him break out in cold sweat - among the nearly 4,000 rounds of ammunition used by the fleet. Except for the nearly 1,000 rounds provided during his tenure as the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, which were roughly qualified, the quality of the remaining ammunition was almost the same as that used by the Port Arthur artillery. Such ammunition would not explode even if it hit the target. Even if we take a step back and consider these ammunitions as "armor-piercing shells", the beans and mud inside do not meet the standards for armor-piercing shells, and they can only be used for shooting practice - the Beiyang Fleet's target ships are made of wood, so they can be used on them. Of course, some of the ammunition provided five or six years ago was manufactured according to requirements, but over the years, the propellant inside the ammunition had lost its effectiveness, and even if it were fired, it would still be a "dud".

  It was such a shell, according to Tang Baoxin's observation, that the Beiyang Fleet did not have enough shells. According to his calculation, the total number of shells carried by the entire Beiyang Fleet was less than 600 - if they really wanted to fight, the Beiyang Fleet would run out of such low-quality shells quickly, and this fleet, which was considered a strong fortress by the Qing dynasty, would soon be exhausted in battle. Before Jiyuan set sail for war, Fang Boqian had an idea - he replenished enough ammunition directly from the Tianjin Machinery Bureau, which was better than what they could get from Lushun in terms of both quality and quantity. Moreover, since he had a falling out with Ding Ruchang, it was uncertain whether they could get sufficient supplies from Lushun. In this regard, Fang Boqian used his own small abacus to save a life.

  —

  Tang Baowen had been following Li Hongzhang for a long time, so he naturally knew what these meant to the Beiyang. He didn't make any noise about it, but instead put the case in front of Li Hongzhang - at that time Zhang Shiyuan still had a position in Tianjin Machinery Bureau, and his close relationship with Li Hongzhang was all within Tang Baowen's calculation. This matter could only be decided by Li Hongzhang himself.

  The result was not beyond Tang Bowen's expectation, Zhang Shiyong was transferred away, and he truly gained the full power of Tianjin Machinery Bureau - if it is said that Tang Bowen has no ambition for fame and fortune, this is a lie, he also has the ambition to do something. The Tianjin Machinery Bureau was his first place to be sent out, and under such circumstances, it was easy to make a name for himself, and in the machinery bureau, as long as you weren't too black-hearted, the extra 2,000 taels of silver each month came easily...

  "In my opinion, on the one hand, we should urgently increase our orders for artillery shells from Germany or Britain as soon as possible. The quality of their shells is guaranteed and they have a large stockpile, so direct shipment may allow us to get them before the powers blockade China; on the other hand, we also need to make alternative arrangements and order some from Russia. Most importantly, this time when we meet with Khsheni, we must reach a secret agreement..."

  "...must still be able to secretly supply the Beiyang Army with bullets after the Western powers have blockaded us." Li Jingfang said.

  "This is a very important matter, I am willing to follow your lead. You and I will now draft a telegram to reply to Master Zhongtang, strongly stating the key points and getting a quote from Kasini for purchasing weapons and ammunition... Just need to be careful not to let the Russians sabotage us, the high-priced cannonballs they sell us don't have any other quality issues..." Tan Yankai said.

  In this era, the Western powers have come to realize that China is not the same as the indigenous people of South America 200 years ago, nor are they the African black slaves who can be slaughtered and enslaved at will. This country with a history of 5,000 years cannot be moved by their words alone, and the colonial policies used in the Americas and Africa are extremely unsuitable here. It would be better to turn to economic plunder, which is more practical. Especially after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the Western powers have come to realize that this corrupt Qing dynasty is their best target for slaughter, and if the Qing dynasty were to collapse, their plan to nibble away at China would also come to nothing. Business is the most practical thing.

  Li Jingfang believed that giving the Russians a military procurement order would not only find new sources for the various large-caliber shells urgently needed by the Beiyang, but also attract the Russians and form an even more solid alliance on this basis. Tang Yanshen also thought it was a very good method. As for this "professional diplomat", he looked at him with new eyes - Li Jingfang's arrogance was not right, but this guy had a lot of substance inside.

  After receiving the telegram, Li Hongzhang's reply to Li Jingfang and Tang Yanqi was: It is possible to consider purchasing various caliber shells worth 300,000 taels from Russia, as well as some naval vessel spare parts. This order is not a lot, but it is still quite attractive to the Russians - in the past, China's military market has been dominated by Britain and Germany, and the North Sea Fleet ships are almost all purchased from these two countries. Li Hongzhang himself is also a "follower" of the German Krupp company, and other countries including Russia, France, and the United States have very limited shares in it.

  In three days of talks, Li Jingfang subtly expressed that if Russia intervened in the Sino-Japanese War and mediation was successful, China would find a suitable outlet for Russia's Siberian Railway in Korea and strengthen cooperation in Sino-Russian arms trade.

  Perhaps the bait offered by Li Hongzhang was too enticing for Khitrovo, who was still on vacation. He would return to St Petersburg in a month's time but asked Russian Minister Counsellor in China, Pavlov, to go to Tianjin and continue talks with Li Hongzhang.

  Kashenev was also the first formal foreign diplomat that Tang Shaoyi had met in this era, and this bearded Russian gave him a very cunning impression. He did not understand Russian and could only serve as a seat warmer, with Li Jingfang using Russian to negotiate with Kashenev. Since Li Jingfang and Tang Shaoyi could only represent the Beiyang government, which had not received formal authorization from the imperial court in Beijing, this meeting was destined to have no results and was merely a preliminary intention - if the Russians were willing, Li Hongzhang would formally submit a secret memorial to the imperial court, with the Russians mediating the dispute between China and Japan.

  Although the relationship between China and Japan suddenly became tense after the Battle of Asan, leading to a declaration of war on each other, the mainstream faction within the imperial court was still in favor of going to war. However, there were many people who hoped that China would not really go to war with Japan, and they also put forward their own methods to resolve the disputes between China and Japan. Apart from Li Hongzhang of the Beiyang government hoping to sacrifice some of China's interests in Korea in exchange for Russian mediation, Zhang Zhidong, who was far away in Hubei, also put forward his own opinion - to allocate a portion of silver to provide to Britain and other powers as compensation for their mediation in resolving the Sino-Japanese disputes.

  Of course, Zhang Zhidong's secret memorial was presented to Empress Dowager Cixi. This matter is almost unknown to anyone. When Tang Shaoyi and Li Jingfang were negotiating with Komura in Qingdao, they also did not receive any information on this aspect. However, the methods of resolving the Sino-Japanese dispute proposed by Zhang Zhidong and others are the same as what Beiyang is doing now, only the consequences are different.

  "I'm advocating for peace, am I also to be counted among the 'Han traitors' and 'national betrayers'?!" Tan Yankai asked himself on the small steamer returning from Qingdao to Tianjin, gazing out at the vast ocean. Although during this trip to Qingdao, Tan Yankai was only serving as Li Jingfang's staff officer, providing advice and strategy, and did not directly participate in the conversation with Kakhiani, this experience still left him with much to ponder.

  In Tan's view, from the written data, if the Beiyang really fought with Japan, it would not necessarily lose to Japan. In fact, there is a great possibility of winning this war. Unfortunately, written data cannot become an advantage in reality. It is hard to say how the Beiyang Navy, led by outsiders and insiders, will perform. How many people like Wei Rugui are there in the Beiyang Army? With an advantage of 2,000 troops, whether it's equipment or terrain, everything was on the side of the Beiyang, but Wei Rugui only killed a dozen Japanese soldiers before being defeated by 800 Japanese troops and retreating to Hancheng.