Open an aircraft carrier to fight against Japan

It turned out that the booklet read: Selected Japanese domestic speeches, time: 1895-1896. Lin Yuan opened it and found that it recorded the political comments of several mainstream media such as "Asahi Shimbun" and "Yomiuri Shimbun". There are also speeches made by the emperor to his subordinates on important festivals.

Lin Yuan couldn't help admiring the Russian intelligence agency, they were able to grasp such detailed Japanese information, and since he didn't have an intelligence agency in Japan, the only channel for information about Japan was the Japanese in China, but these people all They are middle- and lower-level people, and many of them can’t even read, so it’s hard to get information about the dynamics of high-level Japanese and the whole society from them.

Giles smiled and said: "The information in this booklet is very rich. I believe you will be interested. I can tell you that Japan has regarded China as the number one imaginary enemy. Today, Japan's domestic expansion is like crazy. **Preparation, everything that the army needs will be given priority."

"Moreover, Japan has signed a large warship purchase contract with the United Kingdom, and built a naval naval port in North Korea's Incheon Port. This military port is extremely advanced and can berth ships of more than [-] tons! In this way, Japan will They have the power to control the entire Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea, and your Chinese Beijing and Tianjin are under their threat."

"Not only at sea, but also on land. They also have a lot of advantages. They are currently stationed in North Korea, and they are under the guise of being invited by the king of North Korea, so they have nothing to fear in North Korea. I know that Mr. Lin Yuan, you started your business in the Northeast. , You Chinese have an old saying, how can you allow others to sleep soundly on the side of the couch, I don’t know if I’m right?”

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "You're right, I don't know what you want to do when you tell me this?"

Giles smiled and said: "My purpose is very simple. Although our Russian Empire and your Qing Empire have had some troubles, we still have the opportunity to cooperate in the future. The opportunity for our cooperation is Japan, and Japan's ambition to expand its power in China The power and strength cannot be underestimated, so I thought, can we sign a cooperation agreement to deal with Japan together?"

Lin Yuan smiled lightly and asked, "Then what benefits can we get from signing this agreement?"

Gilles laughed and said, "We can provide you with the loans you need, and the interest is extremely low, and we can also provide technical support for your railway construction. The most important thing is: there are many Chinese businessmen traveling between China and Russia. , if we sign this cooperation agreement, we will reduce the tax rate for these merchants, and the tax rate reduction alone will be enough for you to earn millions of taels of silver every year."

Lin Yuan nodded and smiled: "Very well, the conditions look very attractive. I have no reason to refuse, but there is no free lunch in the world. I want to ask, what do we need to do when you propose these conditions to us?" ?”

Giles laughed: "Give us back our Blagoveshchensk, Khabarovsk and Vladivostok."

Lin Yuan smiled disdainfully and said, "If I return these three places to you, I will become a traitor. I believe you will know what history books will say about me in the future."

Gilles quickly said: "I'm sorry, I didn't make it clear. What I mean is this. It turned out that those places were deserted places. We built those places after we Russians went. The reason why we are here The construction of those places is also for the well-being of the people on both sides.”

Lin Yuan sneered and thought to himself: "You are so ridiculous, it seems like you have never killed our people!"

Gilles went on to say: "This is what I think. We might as well put aside these prejudices. For the happiness of the people on both sides, is it so important who owns those places? Why don't we build these cities together and build them into the world's most traded cities?" What do you think of a developed place?"

Lin Yuan smiled and said: "Your idea is very good, then I would like to ask, who will take care of the security in these places, we Chinese? Or you Russians? Since we want to build the most traded area in the world, then Dealing with businessmen from various countries is indispensable, if there is a dispute, should they appeal to the court of that country?"

Gilles laughed and said, "Your questions are essentially about the ownership of sovereignty. I have already made it clear that we should abandon the prejudice of sovereignty and do everything for the well-being of the people on both sides."

Lin Yuan asked: "Protecting the lives and property of the people should be regarded as thinking about the well-being of the people, right? If the lives and safety of the people cannot be guaranteed, then what's the point of welfare?"

Gilles said: "I have already thought about it. We can use the international co-management method. There are already many international precedents. For example, the Suez Canal is now jointly managed by the United Kingdom and France. What do you think of the international co-management method? Sample?"

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "This Giles is really cunning. Hearing his words, every sentence is inseparable from the happiness of the people, as if he is the savior of the people, turning our Chinese land into a free trade zone and requiring international condominium management. , How shameless! Why don’t you build Moscow into an international condominium free trade zone!”

Lin Yuan smiled and said, "I'm curious, how did you come up with the idea of ​​using other people's inherent territory as a free trade zone?"

Giles smiled and said: "First of all, I don't agree that those places are your Chinese territory, because we have already signed a treaty with the Qing government, but I don't want to talk about this issue, we should stay in the negotiation and talk about it. The source of my idea is simply your idea!"

Lin Yuan frowned and said, "My thoughts, what do you mean?"

Gilles laughed: "I once studied an interesting science at the University of Leipzig, which gave me the power to read people's minds."

When Lin Yuan heard about the University of Leipzig, he remembered Xu Jingcheng’s mind-reading technique, and asked subconsciously, “Are you talking about psychology?” The University of Leipzig is a famous university in Germany. Goethe and the philosopher Nietzsche are all alumni of this university, and the University of Leipzig established the world's first psychology laboratory in 1879, which is recognized by the world as the birthplace of modern scientific psychology.

Hearing Lin Yuan's words, Gilles couldn't help but exclaimed, "You also know psychology?"

Lin Yuan nodded slightly, Gilles smiled and said: "I understand the reason why you attacked these three areas. In the eyes of the Qing court, these places are places of bitter cold. As far as I know, these places have always been used for exile. places, so they abandoned these places like shoes, and you sent troops to capture these places, you just want to get more meritorious service, and then take up a bigger official position, right?"

Lin Yuan couldn't help laughing out loud when he heard his words, and said after laughing for a long time, "Mr. Giles, you are completely wrong this time!"

Giles frowned and asked, "How could it be wrong?"

Lin Yuan said: "Those places have always belonged to us Chinese. I regained them for the benefit of our nation. As for myself, I really haven't thought too much about it."