Super Dictator

Although it was approaching late at night, the lights inside the Japanese base camp were still brightly lit and people were coming and going.

In order to be able to deal with the situation on the front in a timely manner, Mutsuhito deliberately moved the Japanese base camp from Tokyo to this place - Hiroshima.

The battle reports and battle conditions on the Liaodong front line were all collected here through telegrams, and then analyzed by the staff at the base camp, and finally reasonable battle plans were formulated and handed over to the Army Department and the Navy Department.

In the battle planning room, Emperor Mutsuhito of Japan, wearing a military uniform, sat at the head of the table.

It seems that there must be something important to discuss tonight, otherwise Mu Ren would not be there in person.

Sitting on both sides were important figures in Japan's military and political circles. In the government cabinet, there were Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi, Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu, and Interior Minister Yasushi Nomura.

On the military side, there are General Chihito Sukawa Miya, Deputy Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Kawakami Kōrō, Vice-Admiral of the Army, Major-General Gentaro Kodama, Vice-Admiral of the Navy, Lieutenant-General Saigo Yumichi, Vice-Admiral of the Navy, Major-General Junkichi Ito, Chief of Naval Staff Shiki Kayama, and Combined Fleet Commander Ito Yuhiro, Army Minister and Second Army Commander Oyama Iwa and others.

It can be said that these people dominated the Sino-Japanese War.

Now, they are formulating a very grand battle plan, which is the plan proposed by Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi to go south to attack Shandong and Taiwan and open up a second battlefield.

The commander of the Second Army, Dashanyan, also returned home because of this incident.

The strategic policy has long been determined. What they have to choose now is where to land in Shandong, how to land, and how to attack.

After a while of pleasantries.

Deputy Chief Kawakami Soroku walked to the front, pointed to a giant map of China hanging on the wall and said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, please see that Yanji, the capital of China, rests on the Liaohai Sea on the right, with Tianjin as the right auxiliary. With Shandong as the left auxiliary, Fengtian Jinzhou Zhishun and Weihaiwei in Fushan County, Shandong are the key to Liaohai."

A glimmer of light burst out in Kawakami Cao Liu's eyes, and he continued ambitiously: "If the imperial army wants to enter Beijing, it must first capture Lushun and Weihaiwei. Now Lushun has been occupied by our army, and Weihaiwei is still in the hands of the Beiyang Navy. If we don't take it, Weihaiwei, the Beiyang Fleet is cruising in the Bohai Sea, hindering our army's troop transport and affecting the Zhili combat plan, so it is crucial for the southern army to open up a second battlefield and destroy the Beiyang Fleet. "

All the Japanese present nodded their heads in understanding. Kawakami Caoroku's words were just an introduction. They came here to discuss opening up a second battlefield. Don't they know the importance of Weihaiwei?

Dashanyan, the commander of the Second Army, said: "It is urgent to capture Weihaiwei and annihilate the Beiyang Fleet. Some troops of our Second Army have begun to secretly gather in the Dalian Bay area. However, relying solely on the troops of the Second Army in Liaodong will be a little awkward." It is insufficient, so I hope that the base camp can reorganize the Second Army as soon as possible, increase its strength from the country, and dispatch the Shandong Combat Army. "

Chief of Staff Sichuan Gong Chiren is a veteran of the royal family, and Oshanyan mainly spoke to him. Sichuan Gongchiren looked at Mu Ren and said: "Your Majesty, Oshanyan Lord is very reasonable. We should send more troops as soon as possible. China then gathered around Dalian Bay and finally moved south to capture Weihaiwei."

Mu Ren looked unfazed by the collapse of the mountain. He did not speak, but nodded slightly. Everyone understood what he meant and began to continue the discussion.

The commander of the Japanese joint fleet, Ito Yuheng, stared at the map for a long time, and then said: "Gentlemen, Weihai Guards Station has strong artillery and it is extremely difficult to attack from the front from the sea. Therefore, I think we should attack from the rear by land. From the intelligence, we know that the Chinese forts have always been undefended in the rear.”

Kawakami Soroku agreed with Ito Yuhiro's opinion and nodded in agreement: "The Chinese are golden and jade, but they are defeated outside. We can first land outside Weihaiwei, and then go around to the rear. As for where to land, I think This place is more suitable.”

Kawakami Soroku pointed to a harbor not far from Weihaiwei on the map and continued: "This is Rongcheng Bay. After a long investigation, the former Imperial Navy Captain Guan Wenbing once said that if he wanted to capture Weihaiwei, he must first capture Rongcheng Bay."

The Japanese really coveted China's territory and had been plotting it for decades. Hai Wenbing had been dead for a long time. At that time, the Japanese were already seriously collecting all kinds of intelligence about China.

"Ito-kun, where do you think it is more appropriate to land in Rongcheng Bay?" Sukawa Palace Chihito looked at Ito Yuhiro, because Ito led the combined fleet to attack the Chinese fleet several times and surveyed China's terrain around the Bohai Sea. .

When Ito Yuheng saw everyone looking at him, he felt a little stressed and did not dare to make a random decision, so he replied: "I will further investigate the specific landing location, and I will submit the investigation results to the base camp as soon as possible."

Dashanyan smiled and said: "That's very good. By the time Ito-kun completes his investigation, our Second Army will have almost been assembled. At the right time, we will land in Shandong and attack Weihaiwei."

While everyone was still discussing the march route, a senior staff officer hurriedly pushed in the door with an urgent message.

The ministers who were disturbed by him all looked at him with displeasure. The senior staff officer was sweating on his forehead, so he could only bite the bullet and report: "Your Majesty, the commander of the First Army, Your Excellency Yamaxian Youpeng, has an urgent call. Coming from the front.”

There was an urgent telegram from Youpeng in Shanxian County, which was worth seeing. Mu Ren nodded slightly, and a guard came forward to receive the telegram and then handed it to him.

Mutsuhito took it, his movements were light and elegant, showing the style of the Japanese royal family.

Unfortunately, it would have been better not to read it. As soon as he saw Mu Ren's face, his face quickly turned ugly, and his hand holding the telegram was trembling.

It seems like great news.

All the ministers were secretly looking at him. When they saw Mu Ren's expression changed, they couldn't help but make assumptions in their hearts.

Mutsuhito immediately calmed down the anger in his heart, and said slowly with no trace of joy or anger on his face: "Gentlemen, friends from Shanxian County violated the instructions of the base camp for winter rest and ordered Katsura Taro's third division to capture Ximu City."

Although Shanxian Youpeng went against the wishes of the base camp, he managed to capture Ximu City. Kawakami Caoroku said: "Although Shanxian Jun has slightly overstepped his authority, the matter has come to this, so we have no choice but to give up. Fortunately, the Chinese army did not interfere. , captured Ximu City without any danger."

Mutsuhito threw the telegram to Kawakami Soroku, and said calmly and powerfully: "This is the record of Shanxian Aritomo. Take a good look at it."

Kawakami Cao Liu hurriedly picked it up and took a look. His expression also changed drastically. He saw a brief description of the enemy's and our casualties: On the 20th, they attacked Ximu City, surrounded and annihilated Wei Jichen's troops, and killed more than 1,400 enemies. Wei Jichen led the remaining troops with only Five hundred people escaped, and the empire lost more than 1,600 warriors. I am frightened and beg for forgiveness. I hope that the base camp will replenish the troops of the First Army. I will avenge this. I have friends in the mountain county.

After Kawakami Soroku read it, he passed it on one by one, and finally returned to Mutsuhito's hands.

Everyone was silent, not knowing how to speak.

Shanxian Youpeng not only disobeyed the orders of the base camp and attacked privately, but also caused heavy casualties to his own army. Even if Ximu City was captured, Liaodong's next spring operations strategy was disrupted.

"Youpeng in Shanxian County is arrogant and arrogant. He ignored the orders of the base camp and went his own way, causing heavy losses to the First Army. Gentlemen, how do you think he should be punished?" Mu Ren glanced at everyone's face one by one and asked in a low voice. road.

The base camp adopted the combat plan proposed by Ito Hirobumi. Since Yamagata Aritomo was so disrespectful and did not take himself seriously, Ito Hirobumi naturally felt uncomfortable.

What's more, in the current Japanese political circles, only Yamagata Aritomo can compete with him, so Ito Hirobumi said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I think Yamagata Aritomo should be dismissed from the post of commander of the First Army, otherwise everyone will follow his example. , ignoring the orders from the base camp, the empire’s command system has not yet fallen into chaos.”

Ito Hirobumi's words that added insult to injury made Mutsuhito's desire to withdraw from Yamagata Aritomo even stronger. He opened his mouth and was about to speak.

Kawakami Caoliu had a friendship with Shanxian Youpeng. Seeing that Shanxian Youpeng was going to be in bad luck, he couldn't help but said: "Your Majesty, from another perspective, it is a good thing for Shanxian Jun to attack Ximu City."

Some people in the war room looked at Kawakami Soroku in confusion, while some others were thoughtful.

Kawakami Soroku explained to Muruhito: "The Qing government sent Liu Kunyi, the governor of Liangjiang, to mobilize the Hunan army to deal with our army, and Lord Shanxian's attack on Ximu City will definitely make Liu Kunyi think that our army will launch a massive attack on Liaoyang, Fengtian and other places. This will cover up our army's actual intention to attack Shandong. In this way, Liu Kunyi will definitely send all his troops to Liaodong, which is a good thing for us to attack Shandong. "

Although Kawakami Soroku's words were just thought of, they were quite reasonable.

The expression on Mu Ren's face was slightly better, but he had long been dissatisfied with Shanxian Youpeng for repeatedly disobeying his orders. He said lightly: "Even so, he has been repeatedly defeated by the Qing army, and he is no longer suitable to be the number one." Army commander."

"Your Majesty, if you publicly remove Yamagata-kun from the position of commander of the First Army, Yamagata-kun will definitely commit suicide by caesarean section in order to save his face as a warrior. Why don't you specially recruit Yamagata-kun back on the grounds that you need to return home to recuperate?" Kawakami Cao Liujian couldn't persuade Mu Ren to take back his life, so he had to do the next best thing and try to save some face for Shanxian Youpeng.

Mutsuhito didn't want Yamaxian Youto to be too embarrassed, so he nodded in agreement after hearing what Kawakami Soroku said.

"After Yamagata Aritomo returns to China, the commander of the First Army will be replaced by Nozu Michizuki, the commander of the 5th Division." Mutsuhito thought for a while and immediately appointed a new commander.

The Minister of War, Commander of the Second Army, Oyama Yan, suddenly spoke slowly and said: "Wei Jichen has won many battles and has become a thorn in the side of the Japanese Empire. There are friends in Shan County who specially sent troops to encircle and annihilate him. I quite agree with it, but it is a pity that we have to let him go this time." He ran away. Alas, time and fate."

Wei Jichen's name kept appearing in the information of the staff at the base camp these days, along with news of the Japanese army's continuous defeats, so everyone here was relatively familiar with him.

Kawakami Caoroku obviously had different opinions and said with a smile: "No matter how brave Wei Jichen is, he can't change the decadent trend of the Qing army. As long as the empire annihilates the Beiyang Fleet and opens up the Shandong battlefield, it can directly enter the Zhili area of ​​​​the Qing Dynasty. It is just around the corner to break through the gates of Tianjin, enter the city of Beijing, and tie up the enemy chief Guangxu."

Chief of Staff Qichuan Gong Chiren shook his head and said: "Although Wei Jichen cannot change the overall situation, he continues to make the empire lose face, which greatly encourages the resistance of the Qing soldiers. I only have two words for this person, get rid of him."

Mu Ren, who had not spoken for a long time, said without hesitation: "The base camp will immediately formulate a plan to deal with Wei Jichen. Whether it is assassination or encirclement and annihilation, we should get rid of this person as soon as possible."

Although Mutsuhito spoke slowly, his voice was filled with anger. He had already read the story of Japanese general Aritomo Yamagata, and the things about him in the story made him so angry that he broke countless vases in the palace that day.

"Hey!" Seeing that the Emperor had said this, Kawakami Soroku lowered his head and agreed.

Foreign Minister Mutsu Munemitsu saw that everyone was silent and thinking about how to deal with Wei Jichen. At this time, he finally found an opportunity to speak and said solemnly: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, the Qing court has hired American Foster as a peace advisor, and sent Zhang Yinhuan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Qing Dynasty, and Shao Youlian, the Governor of Hunan, as plenipotentiary ministers. They will enter the empire soon to negotiate peace with me." Ito Hirobumi frowned and said, "The Qing court actually hired an American as a legal adviser." Mutsu Munemitsu knew that it was time to show himself, and said with a smile: "Foster and I are close friends. The ambassador to the United States, Shinichiro Kurino, sent a telegram saying that Foster had just visited him not long ago. Speaking of the legal adviser, he smiled and said that it would not harm the interests of the empire and that the spirit of friendship he had for the empire remained the same." "It seems that the Qing court has found the wrong person. It's just that the Qing court wants to negotiate, and I'm afraid you don't agree." Ito Hirobumi was very relaxed after hearing this, and smiled and teased. Navy Minister Saigo Tsunemichi smiled and agreed: "The Empire has not yet annihilated the Beiyang Fleet, and has not yet made the Qing Dynasty feel the pain. It is indeed too early to talk about peace."

Mutsu Munemitsu said: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can negotiate peace with the Qing Dynasty's plenipotentiary minister to paralyze the Qing court, while humiliating the Qing people to their heart's content. Why not do it?"

Everyone smiled knowingly.

The entire combat meeting of the Japanese headquarters went very smoothly. If the rather disgusting name Wei Jichen had not appeared in the middle, it would have ended perfectly.