The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 591 Generals, do you still remember that telegram?

"Then issue 120 million banknotes first, and when the dollars and gold coins gradually come back, you can increase the amount of banknotes issued."

Teng Yuzao also reminded, "Issuing banknotes is a big deal. This is also the trend of the world. We are the first to start this and we must do it well, otherwise domestic banknotes will be flooded. So you can only issue a moderate amount. You must remember this."

In order not to embarrass the people present, Teng Yuzao immediately spoke to everyone present.

"In short, in a word, our military expenditure is not a big problem. You can rest assured about this."

"Shouson, your merchant fleet must be prepared. In the near future, you must gradually shift the focus of your shipping business to the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Guangdong, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia."

Since everyone had understood that the Zhi army would not lack military funds even if it joined the war, Teng Yuzao no longer continued the topic and instead began to arrange matters concerning the shipping company.

"You will be in charge of the shipping business for Zhishan Province and rent ships from foreign shipping companies. It would be best if the sailors on their ships are all foreigners. It would be even better if they have ships from British companies."

All merchants in Zhili and most Shandong provinces were willing to use the ships of Beiyang's own shipping company for transportation. In particular, the business of all large state-owned enterprises in Zhili and Aurora-related companies was all handed over to Zhou Shoushen's Beiyang Steamship Company, which enabled the business of the Beiyang Steamship Company headed by Zhou Shoushen to develop rapidly.

Now, the Beiyang Steamship Company has new ships joining almost every month. It is not only the largest shipping company in northern China, but also the second largest shipping company in Asia after Japan's Mitsubishi Kabushiki Kaisha.

He was very worried that once he joined the war, the Japanese navy, whose naval power was far stronger than his own, would also launch a blockade of Tianjin and the Shandong coast, and then his large amount of goods would not be transported.

Now export goods are his lifeline. Many merchants and enterprises are concentrated in northern Zhili, especially near Tianjin. They pay a large amount of taxes every month. The goods they produce are not very accepted domestically.

As for Teng Yuzhao's arrangement of using foreign-flagged ships to transport goods, even trying to have sailors be foreigners, this was also a precaution taken by Teng Yuzhao to prevent the Japanese Navy from sinking civilian ships again.

An example is the sinking of the troop transport ship Gaosheng by the Japanese Navy during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. He still remembers this incident clearly.

At that time, it was the commander of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet, Heihachiro Togo, who ignored all objections and arbitrarily ordered the sinking of the British passenger ship Kowshing. Today, Heihachiro Togo is still the commander of the Combined Fleet.

If Togo Heihachiro ordered the sinking of foreign merchant ships again this time, no matter which country they belonged to, it would be disadvantageous to Japan. If it was an American ship, that would be the best.

Zhou Shoushen nodded and agreed to Teng Yuzhao's arrangement.

Because Zhou Shoushen also knew very well that Teng Yuzhao was taking precautions against retaliation by the Japanese Navy.

Teng Yuzao's words puzzled Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing, and they even felt that they were looked down upon by Teng Yuzao.

Sa Zhenbing's face flushed as he said, "Marshal, do you not trust our navy? If so, why did you spend so much money to buy warships for the navy?"

"Or, the Marshal does not recognize my ability, Sa Zhenbing, then I will submit my resignation to the Marshal now."

As Sa Zhenbing spoke, he stood up angrily.

Ye Zugui's face also flushed, and he stood up with Sa Zhenbing.

The actions of the two made Teng Yuzhao laugh and cry.

"You two have misunderstood. Please listen to what I have to say first."

Sun Shijun and Zuo Baotian on the side also hurriedly reached out and pulled the two back to their seats.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Tonghou, Dingming, our warships are of superior quality, but they cannot compare to the Japanese in terms of tonnage or quantity."

"The six old ships left in the Beiyang Fleet after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 are still capable of fighting, but their participation in the war does not pose much of a threat to the Japanese Navy and is almost useless."

"So, we can only concentrate our strength and use all the new ships together. Only in this way can we deal a fatal blow to the Japanese when necessary."

"If we allocate some ships to escort you, are you sure you can win?"

Teng Yuzao's words made Ye Zugui and Sa Zhenbing laugh in shame and apologize to Teng Yuzao repeatedly.

Teng Yuzao then said to Zhou Shouchen, "There is one more thing I want you to do. That is, you need to discuss with merchants in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hankou and other places to see if you can find partners and eventually establish a shipping company that uses airships. We will use airships to transport those wealthy people who don't want to take ships or trains to and from the above-mentioned places."

Europe has already started shipping business, and Teng Yuzao also wants to make some attempts in this regard to help people in shipping companies gain more intuitive understanding of flying.

As for Ning Xingpu's trading company, Teng Yuzao only told Ning Xingpu that his trading company should only purchase grain from Japan, and all other business with the Japanese should be stopped.

As for Zhou Xuexi, the instructions were much more detailed. Teng Yuzao explained clearly what could be sold and what could not be sold, especially the merchandise that would be exhibited and the personnel arrangements.

As for Cao Jiaxiang, the explanation was even simpler. He just had to maintain public order and especially keep a close eye on the foreigners in the concession to prevent them from gathering intelligence.

After explaining everything to everyone, Teng Yuzao announced the end of the meeting.
Half a month later, at midnight on February 8, in Lushun, in the meeting room of the Russian Far East Governor's Office.

The luxurious conference room was filled with smoke. Except for the gloomy-faced Lieutenant General Nikolai Lenaevich, the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Far East Army, who was sitting on the sofa next to the conference table and drinking quietly with a glass of vodka, everyone else in the conference room was either puffing on expensive South American cigars or holding glasses filled with vodka or French brandy, smoking and drinking, while talking and laughing loudly and discussing the woman they had just met at the dance.

Since the ceasefire in Zhili, Lenavich led the Russian army to withdraw outside the Great Wall.

Although in the battle in Zhili, not only Russia, but all eight countries suffered losses, and the losses of Russia, Germany and Britain were equally heavy, the nobles of St. Petersburg were still very dissatisfied with Lenin, and even the Tsar was furious about it.

Lianavich had received a telegram from a good friend telling him that once he returned to the country, he would most likely be dismissed from his post or even tried by a military court.

Fortunately, with Alexeev's insistence, he was not only kept in the Far East, but was even recommended by Alexeev as the commander of the Far Eastern Army. However, Lenavic, who escaped the disaster, was not very grateful. On the contrary, he was eager to return to his position as the commander of the First Siberian Army, and the farther away from Zhili, the better.

This time, when Alexeyev suddenly found it, Lenavich had a premonition that something big was about to happen, which he didn't want to see.

Among those in the conference room were Major General Samsonov, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Tsarist Russia in Far East Siberia, Major General Renningkamp, ​​commander of the 3rd Siberian Cavalry Division, Lieutenant General Anatoly Mikhailovich Stessel, commander of the Port Arthur-Jinzhou Defense Zone, Lieutenant General Kostache Smirnov, commander of the Port Arthur Fortress, Major General Kontrachenko, commander of the Port Arthur Ground Forces, and Major General Roman Isidorovich Kontrachenko, commander of the 7th East Siberian Infantry Division.

Lenavich, Samsonov, Renninkamp and Kontrachenko were stationed in Fengtian, Liaoyang and other places. They had just returned to their bases last night. Before they could even sit down, they were urgently recalled to Port Arthur by their governor, the highest-ranking military commander in the Far East, Alexeev. They had just arrived half an hour ago.

They were summoned to Lushun originally to hold a military meeting, but unexpectedly, after arriving in Lushun, they heard that Alexeyev had had so much fun at the dance party that he stayed up all night and even got drunk, so he was still sleeping.

Although these people were very angry, they did not dare to say anything to Nicholas II's uncle, their governor, and could only wait in boredom in the conference room.

Fortunately, Stessel, Smirnov and Kontrachenko were awakened from their sleep and rushed over, and the conference room gradually became lively.

They asked each other, but no one knew what had happened. They only heard that their governor seemed to have received a telegram from St. Petersburg yesterday, but at the ball in the evening, their governor did not mention anything.

Although they were getting a little anxious waiting, they all knew the habits of their governor very well. When he was drunk, he would get furious unless he was sober or something very special happened. Now that he was drunk and in his sleep, no one would mess with him.

So, these people brought Alexeyev's vodka and brandy, and even asked his servants to bring Alexeyev's South American cigars. They drank and smoked while chatting enthusiastically.

Although Alexeev would have a bad temper if he was woken up from his sleep after being drunk, he was usually relatively kind, especially when it came to sharing his collection of wine and cigars with his men and friends, and he was never stingy.

Although these people knew that this must be another emergency, except for Lian Navic, no one cared at all.

It was not until more than an hour later that the Governor-General Yevgeny Ivanovich Alexeev, in pajamas and sleepy-eyed, walked into the conference room in a daze, supported by two attendants.

Alexeev was originally the Governor-General of Kwantung Province appointed by the Tsar. On August 12 last year, the Tsar ordered the establishment of the Far Eastern Governor-General's Office, and Alexeev was appointed as the Governor-General of the Far East, directly reporting to Nicholas II.

Alexeev, the Governor-General of the Far East, had a very wide jurisdiction, including the vast Far East region including Amur, Primorsky, Kamchatka, Sakhalin Island and other areas east of Lake Baikal.

Moreover, Alexeev also held military and political power over the Port Arthur Leased Territory and the Eastern Province Railway Concession, and even had the right to handle diplomatic affairs in the region with neighboring countries.

As a result, Alexeev alone was in charge of the military, civil affairs, foreign affairs and defense affairs of the Far East.

The foreign affairs and defense powers were originally jointly managed by the three ministers of finance, foreign affairs, and army of the Tsarist Russia, which shows that they were deeply trusted by the new Tsar.

Since the Far East Governor's Office was located in Lushun, it became Russia's military and political center in the Far East.

After Alexeyev sat down at one end of the conference table, the attendant following him not only immediately brought him a cup of hot coffee without sugar, but also handed him a hot towel. After Alexeyev wiped his face, someone placed an opened bottle of brandy and a crystal clear high-heeled glass filled with brandy on the conference table in front of him.

Alexeyev stretched himself, then took a cigar from a servant that had only been smoked a few puffs. After taking a deep puff, a puff of blue smoke came out. He leaned back in his chair comfortably, and said to Lenavich with a kind smile.

"Oh, my dear General Lenavich, I'm so sorry!"

"Due to some things that happened, I have to call you to Lushun again."

Knowing that Alexeyev was about to get to the point, the Tsarist generals in the conference room pricked up their ears and waited for what to say next.

But Alexeyev stopped talking, picked up the steaming coffee cup in front of him, took a sip, exhaled a long puff of alcohol with satisfaction, and then continued speaking leisurely.

"Generals, do you all remember the mysterious telegram we received on the evening of the 4th?"

When this matter was mentioned, not only did Navich look depressed, but Samsonov, Renninkamp and Kontrachenko, who came with him, also showed helpless expressions.

On the evening of the 4th, Alexeev received a strange unsigned telegram from inside the country.

Although low-power wireless telegraph machines had already appeared, and even the great powers such as Britain, France, Germany, and the United States had begun to equip their armies with small batches, that thing was too expensive and the Russian army could not afford it.

The Russian army is still using wired telegraph for communications, including communications with various places and troops in the Far East, the Qing embassy in Beijing, and St. Petersburg thousands of miles away. They also still use wired telegraph.

Apart from the mark that this telegram was sent from the Telegraph Office in the capital of the Qing Dynasty, it is impossible to tell from the content of the telegram who sent it, because the content of the telegram is very concise, just written.

"The Japanese Cabinet has decided to formally submit a note to Russia on January 6th through the Japanese ambassador to St. Petersburg to sever diplomatic relations between the two countries."

At first, Alexeyev thought that this strange telegram was sent by Acting Minister Plasson, but the embassy staff forgot to add the signature due to urgency or negligence, so he called the embassy to inquire.

Plasson, who was acting as minister in place of Resar, quickly replied that neither he nor any member of the embassy staff had sent the above telegram to Alexeev.

The concession had been forcibly taken back by the damnable Qing Dynasty's Zhili Governor-General Teng Yuzhao, who claimed that Russian concession personnel had sheltered and condoned assassins who tried to assassinate him. In Zhili, except for a few Russian businessmen, there were no more powerful and influential Russians.

While Alexeev sent a telegram asking Plasson to find out as soon as possible whether the warning telegram was sent by a Russian businessman, he also urgently summoned senior Russian military officers in Fengtian to come to Lushun for discussions.

After discussion, senior Russian generals including Lenavich unanimously agreed that although the Japanese not only stopped negotiations with Russia on the division of interests in Qing Dynasty's Northeast and Korea, but even arrogantly submitted an ultimatum to Russia on January 13, no one thought that tiny Japan would dare to do anything to provoke the Russian Empire, and they all agreed that this inexplicable telegram could be ignored.

However, this matter was of great importance after all, so they decided to report it to St. Petersburg and let His Majesty the Tsar and relevant ministers know about it.
Kuropatkin

(End of this chapter)