British Consul Irving in Qingdao and French Consul Morell came to the Foreign Affairs Committee together to officially convey the attitudes of the two governments to the East China government. The Far East War had affected the interests of the two countries, so the two countries decided to mediate the war to restore peace in the Far East, and would fully consider all interests, and recognize the fact that the East China government occupied Jinzhou. At the same time, it also believed that the East China government hoped that the East China government would maintain the status quo before the mediation results came out, so that it would not take new military actions.

In addition, the two countries publicly declared in the media that the purpose of this mediation was to bring peace to the Far East, so any peace-loving organization should not refuse mediation between the two countries.

The East China government quickly responded to the proposals of Britain and France, expressing the conditional welcome of mediation between Britain and France, because the Northeast was originally China's inherent territory. Japan and Russia fought on China's territory. Regardless of the nature of the war, it was the greatest infringement of China's sovereignty. Therefore, the mediation between Britain and France must be fair and notarized, and based on China's territorial sovereignty, Japan and Russia must be required to withdraw from China's territory unconditionally and hand over the three northeastern provinces to China. Otherwise, the East China government will not recognize the mediation and will not accept the conditions of Britain and France.

It turned out that after Britain and France made mediation voices, the East China government made a serious study. No matter what the real purpose of Britain and France was, or whether they really planned to take a fair and notarized position, at least at the beginning, the mediation between Britain and France could indeed occupy the high point of public opinion. Therefore, if the East China government flatly refused, it would obviously put itself in a disadvantageous position in public opinion.

So after discussion, the East China government decided to adopt a conditional welcome attitude towards the mediation between Britain and France, requiring that mediation must be based on the unconditional withdrawal of Japan and Russia from the three northeastern provinces. Of course, this is completely reasonable, because the Northeastern region is indeed China's territory, and the Qing court and Russia also signed the [Transfer Treaty of the Three northeastern provinces], which can also make itself invincible and kick the ball to Britain and France.

In addition, the East China government also believes that neither Japan nor Russia will agree to a ceasefire at this time, because it is Japan. Therefore, when Japan and Russia fight again, the East China government will have sufficient excuses to participate in the war.

The reply from the East China government did not make Britain and France difficult, because the prerequisites are not important, Guan Jian was the final agreement, and the two countries aimed to make a ceasefire between Japan and Russia, rather than meeting the requirements of the East China government. Anyway, in the end, as long as Japan and Russia stop the war, it will be fine. Whether the East China government is satisfied or not is not something that both countries care about. Now as long as the East China government has this attitude, it will be fine.

After the East China government expressed its attitude, the Qing court also issued its own statement, expressing its gratitude to the mediation between Britain and France, and hoped that Britain and France could uphold justice, and the Qing court would fully support and cooperate with the two countries, etc.

In fact, after Britain and France announced the mediation, the Qing court wanted to express an attitude of supporting the mediation between the two countries, but Li Hongzhang believed that we should not rush to express our opinions, and wait until the East China government's attitude came out, because what if the East China government rejected the mediation between the UK and France? It is best to be consistent with the East China government at this time. Sure enough, the Qing court did not express its attitude as soon as possible, but only expressed its support after the East China government expressed its conditions to welcome the mediation between the UK and France.

Although neither Britain nor France took the Qing court seriously, the Qing court was a legal sovereign state in the Northeast region in Mingyi, and even in Mingyi, it was the sovereign state of the East China government. Of course, no one would take this relationship seriously. However, the Qing court expressed its welcome to the mediation between Britain and France and added authority to this mediation. Moreover, Britain and France agreed to the East China government, so they went to Japan and Russia to look for Japan and Russia respectively. According to the idea of ​​Britain and France, it was easier to convince Japan and Russia to cease the war than to persuade the East China government, because Japan and Russia are their own allies, and now they are exhausted and have owed a lot of debts. It is when they need support from allies, and they are financially supported, so both countries are full of confidence.

What Zhituhu expected was that both Japan and Russia had rejected the truce and expressed their willingness to continue fighting. Russia said that the war was first initiated by Japan. If the truce was, Japan would have to be responsible for the war, otherwise Russia would never surrender to Japan and would be confident of winning the final victory; Japan issued a statement, believing that the truce at this time was meaningless. The reason why Japan launched the war was that Russia expanded in the Far East and infringed on Japan's interests. Therefore, the condition for the truce was that Russia withdrew from Northeast China. Of course, if Russia refused to withdraw, Japan would also have full confidence to drive Russia out and restore peace in the Far East.

The attitudes of both Japan and Russia surprised Britain and France, and then they realized that the current situation in the Far East is more complicated than they imagined, and there are more players participating in this chess game than they appear. It turns out that although both Britain and France hope that Japan and Russia will cease fire now, some people hope that the war can continue. It represents Germany and the United States.

Germany and the United States are both emerging countries. When they rise, the earth has been divided up by the old empires. They can only get a little leftover from the fingers of the old empires. They will either cut off a piece of meat from the old empires. However, challenging the old empires is also very risky. If you win, you may not get much spoil. Moreover, old empires like Britain, France and Russia are not so easy to deal with. It is best to have a country to fight against the old empires. Whether it is win or lose, it is beneficial to Germany and the United States.

Now Japan and Russia have finally fought. Germany and the United States hope that they can fight both sides and lose. It is obviously not enough now. Therefore, it is best to continue the war until both sides shed their last drop of blood. In this way, Japan and Russia will lose their ability to expand in the Far East and other regions, while Germany and the United States have hope to fill the gap left by the two countries. US President Roosevelt once told German Ambassador to the United States, Steinberg: "From the interests of our two countries, we hope that the war can be delayed for a long time. In this way, Russia cannot threaten your country's interests in the Balkans, and Japan cannot threaten our country's security in the Philippines."

So just as Britain and France were preparing to make a ceasefire between Japan and Russia, Germany and the United States provided support to Japan and Russia. The United States provided funds to Japan so that Japan could have money to continue the war, while Germany assured Russia that there would not be any tensions on the borders of the two countries during the war, allowing Russia to transfer its troops stationed in Europe to the Far East to continue the war. Therefore, Japan and Russia also had capital to reject the demands of their allies.

Of course, Japan and Russia have different attitudes. In fact, Russia hopes to have a truce in this way, but does not want to give Japan the impression that Russia is eager to have a truce in a truce. Instead, it deliberately puts forward a tough stance. This not only allows you to fight for more benefits in future armistice negotiations, but also allows the Russian government to establish a tough image in front of domestic opposition, which is conducive to easing the domestic crisis.

Russia has a way toward the attitude of its ally France. As long as it is approaching Germany, France will immediately put down its posture to keep Russia. This trick has been tried and done in the past. Therefore, Tsar Nicholas II sent an invitation to German Emperor William II, and met on the Baltic Sea in the summer. The Tsar believed that if France received this news, it would immediately make a friendly attitude to Russia, such as providing funds for Russia.

Japan must not have a truce at this time, because at this time, Japan cannot reap any benefits that can repay the debt, so what is waiting for Japan is the bankruptcy of the country. Even if Britain does not watch Japan go bankrupt and provides funds to Japan to repay its debts, this is just a drinking poison to quench thirst. The conditions for Britain to provide funds are probably extremely harsh, and Japan needs to sell a large amount of national interests. As a result, Japan is completely a vassal of Britain, which is no different from the bankruptcy of the country. The achievements of the Meiji Restoration in the 30 years and the benefits of winning the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 will be wasted. Now Japan has no way out, so it can only grit its teeth and continue the war.

As for the ally Britain, Japan believes that even if Japan did not follow the UK's advice this time, Britain would not give up on Japan easily. Now Britain still needs Japan to help maintain the situation in the Far East. Therefore, as long as Japan's attitude is firm, Britain can only continue to support Japan, and of course, it can only gamble like this now.

It should be said that although the British-Japanese alliance is dominated by Britain, Japan still has considerable initiative. In the alliance, it may not obey the British orders and can fully safeguard its own interests. This is completely different from the US-Japan alliance in the time traveler's era, when Japan was completely subordinate to the alliance and had no ability to say no.

At the same time, Japan also decided to launch the Fengtian Battle immediately. First, it caused the fact that the war was still going on, forcing Britain to continue to support Japan; second, taking advantage of the fact that the East China government had just intervened in the Northeast, it would take at least one month to prepare for the formal participation in the war. Japan could use this period to first completely defeat the Russian army, capture Fengtian, and occupy the most important city and strategic points of the Liaodong Peninsula. Only in this way can the East China government's military intervention be blocked and the People's Army can be cut off.

The contact with the Russian army prevents the two sides from joining forces to deal with Japan; third, Russia's Second Pacific Fleet has entered the Indian Ocean and is expected to arrive in the Far East in April and May. If Japan can first capture Fengtian and resolve land battles before the Second Pacific Fleet arrives, and then Japan can deal with the war at sea wholeheartedly and then annihilate the Second Pacific Fleet, Russia will not be worried. At that time, even if the East China government participates in the war, Japan can face it calmly.
Chapter completed!