On April 5, the Japanese government officially sent a diplomatic note to the East China government, notifying the East China government to send a delegation to negotiate cooperation in Nagasaki on the 10th, and hoped that the East China government would come up with a detailed plan.

By this time, the joint fleet had already launched five attacks. In addition to two blockade operations, there were three tentative attacks. Each time it was announced to win, or even a big victory. In fact, except for the first time, it was considered a small victory, the actual results of the other few battles were all lackluster. Because it was the second blockade operation, it could almost be considered a defeat. The military command also felt the severity of the war. After all, for Japan, this was another battle to bet on the national fortune. It could only win but not lose. Maybe the East China government really needed to participate in the war. The negotiations between the two sides had been postponed once, and it was difficult to push them again. Therefore, without waiting for the East China government to urge them, they took the initiative to send an invitation to the East China government.

Nagasaki is one of the two home ports of the Japanese Navy. It is located at Wu Port. It has a naval guard office and is an important base of the navy. Since the cooperation between the East China government and Japan is non-public, it is too noticeable to choose to negotiate in Tokyo. It is necessary to be more concealed in Nagasaki. The reason why the Japanese consider it so carefully is because of the Japanese's personality of paying attention to details; on the other hand, it is because the East China government rescued 29 Japanese soldiers and sold them to Japan for a big favor, so the Japanese government had to consider it more for the East China government.

After receiving the diplomatic notes from the Japanese government, the East China government immediately began to study countermeasures. Although the East China government did not intend to really cooperate with Japan, it was still perfunctory at this time, and on the surface it had to do the same thing as the real thing, so it should not be too careless.

The first thing is to determine the candidates for the delegation, because this time the talks are not only about military cooperation, but also about civil affairs management cooperation, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must participate. Li Sanjie naturally occupied a quota, and the others were Navy Chief of Staff Han Chao, Fleet Commander Zhang Wei, Army Chief of Staff*, and Political Commissar Zhang Liyong. There were five people in total, and there were eight deputys, all composed of crossing soldiers, with 15 entourage personnel, totaling 28 people.

In the next two days, we negotiated the cooperation plan of the East China government. Although the East China government did not want to negotiate with Japan, we could not deliberately make a random offer. After all, the Japanese government was indeed gathering elites at this time, so it is definitely obvious that it is possible, so we must grasp the degree.

On April 7, a delegation from the East China Government set out from Qingdao. Since Japan and Russia were in a state of war at this time, they did not take a merchant ship, but sent the cruiser Yizhou to send them to Nagasaki.

At 3 pm on the 9th, the Yizhou roar arrived in Nagasaki. Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Sutaro and Navy Minister Yamamoto Homoto were led by two people to welcome them at the dock and arranged a grand welcoming ceremony. The guard of honor and military band were all arranged. Even Emperor Meiji sent his adopted son Prince Tofumimiya as an envoy to welcome him. At the same time, he also thanked the East China government for saving 29 Japanese soldiers and awarded royal medals to members of the delegation. As a result, it took more than an hour to complete the dock.

The Japanese side prepared a gorgeous four-wheeled carriage for the delegation and sent them to the hotel where they were staying. On the way, they saw the streets, the shops were hung with Japanese flags, naval flags, banners to celebrate the victory of the war, and leaflets to support the Russo-Japanese War. There were also many tour groups, speech groups, and young people wearing imitation Japanese military uniforms on the streets, shouting slogans or giving speeches, and they also attracted a large number of people to watch, and people applauded from time to time.

Not long after, the group arrived at the hotel. After checking in, they rested for a while. The Japanese side prepared a sumptuous banquet for the delegation, including both Chinese and Japanese styles, as well as traditional Japanese literary and artistic performances. In short, the Japanese side did a very thoughtful job in etiquette specifications.

At 10 a.m., the two sides formally held a consultation meeting. In addition to Sutaro Komura, Honbukie Yamamoto, and Prince Hiroshimiya, there were also the deputy head of the Army General Staff Headquarters, Katsuki Gentaro and the Minister of Operations, who rushed over overnight yesterday, and Colonel Matsugawa Toshio, the Minister of the Operations Department, formed the Japanese negotiating members.

After the negotiations began, Gentaro Otachi said first: "Now that Japan and Russia have started a war, it is really difficult to fight Russia alone by relying on our Japan to fight against Russia. If you can send troops to help, of course it would be great. I just don't know what your plan is for sending troops?"

Han Chao said: "After the last talks, we have been preparing. Now we can dispatch 3-4 divisions of the Army at any time, each of which has more than 80 artillery pieces; the Navy can dispatch about 10 warships, including 2 battleships and 2 large armored cruisers. In October, it is estimated that 10 army divisions will be dispatched; the Navy can dispatch 20 warships."

Japanese representatives looked at each other and Gentaro Ota said: "To be honest, the Japanese Army plans to take action in May, and is expected to invest 10-12 divisions to land from two places respectively. If you can dispatch 6 divisions in May, you will also choose two landing sites to form a situation where four arrows are fired at once, and you can defeat the Russian army in one fell swoop."

* shook his head and said, "Sorry, if it was in May, we could only dispatch up to 4 divisions, and to carry out landing operations, we also need the cooperation of the navy and sufficient transport ships. We may only dispatch 3 divisions and log in at most one location."

Zhang Wei said: "If we just cover the army's landing, the Navy can do it, but we have to transport the army ashore and also equipped supplies. At present, the Navy will find it difficult to do it because it requires sufficient transport ships to be collected in advance, and it is estimated that it will only be completed in June."

At this time, Yamamoto Honbuki said: "If you can dispatch more warships in the navy, you don't need battleships, preferably cruisers. Now the Russian Vladivostok squadron is attacking our transportation line, and our fleet is mainly fighting in the direction of Lushun, and is unable to expel the Russian fleet and protect the maritime transportation line. I hope your navy can provide help in this regard."

Zhang Wei said: "As far as we know, the scope of activities of Russian warships is mainly in the Sea of ​​Japan, which is about 1,500-2,500 kilometers away from us. Therefore, let us help Japan to escort. The labor force is too much for expeditions. In addition, there are also many problems in information exchange. I think it is better for Japan to draw some warships from the joint fleet to be responsible for escort work, and our warships can fill the gap in Japan's direction in Lushun. In this way, Japanese warships escort in the familiar sea area, and the distance is short, and it is convenient to supplement and exchange information. In the direction of Lushun, it is closer to us. It is easier to deploy our warships, and this arrangement is more suitable for both of us."

In fact, the two requirements put forward by the Japanese Navy and Army were purposeful. The army had formulated a landing combat plan in the direction of the Korean Peninsula and Dalian. German retired Major General Jacob Mekel made a suggestion to the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, believing that the Japanese landing combat in the direction of the Korean Peninsula and Dalian should be a feint attack, aiming to restrain the Russian army's forces, and then concentrate the main force to land near Jinzhou unexpectedly and attack and advance towards Fengtian (Chenyang).

Major General Merkel is an outstanding German tactician. He served as the deputy director of the German General Staff and taught at the German Army University. Most of the later famous German generals came from his disciples. Since Merkel came to Japan in 1885 and coached the Army University for three years, he brought out students from the 1st to 6th periods. He was known as the instructor of the modernization of the Japanese Army, so he had a good impression of the Japanese Army. Although Merkel has retired now, after learning that Japan and Russia started the war, he still paid attention to the Japanese Army, so he gave advice to the Japanese Army.

Although the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters did not agree with the roundabout operation plan from Jinzhou to Liaodong Peninsula, because it stretched the front line too long and the logistics pressure was too great, it did give the Army Department a reminder that even if the East China government hopes to participate in the war, it would be better to hand over the task of landing in Jinzhou to them and let the People's Army land in Jinzhou first, so that a considerable portion of the Russian army could be attracted, and then the Japanese army attacked from the Yalu River, and the pressure would be greatly reduced.

The navy's idea is even more serious than the army. It simply leaves all dirty and tiring work such as escort and defending transportation lines to the East China government to do. It is not gratifying to do this. Even if it ultimately defeats Russia, the main contribution is still from Japan. When distributing the results, Japan's interests can be maximized.

Overall, the ideas of the navy and the army are very contradictory. On the one hand, they want to use the military strength of the East China government to reduce Japan's pressure; on the other hand, they do not want the East China government to perform too prominently in the battle, which will affect Japan's distribution of interests after the war. It is best to leave all the dirty, tiring and cannon fodder to the East China government, while Japan is doing things that can steal people and show off.

However, the East China government obviously did not give it in vain. In terms of the army, the time for the war was postponed to June, but the reason was reasonable. The landing operation of Bijing is indeed more complicated and the preparation time should be longer. If Japan wants the East China government to send troops first, then all the plans formulated by the Army General Staff Headquarters will have to be revised, which is obviously not worth the effort for Japan.

In terms of the navy, the East China government's management was even more sufficient. The Sea of ​​Japan was originally on the side of Japan, allowing the warships of the East China government to travel thousands of miles to the Sea of ​​Japan to escort, while the close-knot Lushun was handed over to the Japanese fleet. Such an arrangement would not make sense no matter where it was.

Seeing that the soldiers on both sides were a little frozen, Komura Sutaro said: "I think the club's tactical plan is put aside first, and we will discuss the cooperation between the two sides to establish a joint command. If the joint command is established, it will not be too late to negotiate the tactical plan."
Chapter completed!