Yama Prefecture Akito's attitude was approved by most people, of course, this is also related to his identity. He is one of the few important officials since the Meiji Restoration began.

Then Japan held negotiations with Britain, and Britain once again assured Japan that it would put pressure on the East China government to prevent the East China government from participating in the war. And if the East China government really teamed up with Russia to deal with Japan, then Britain would fulfill the treaty of the [British-Japanese Alliance], send troops to participate in the war, and help Japan.

After receiving the promise from Britain, the Japanese government finally settled down and set the tone of this negotiation, which was neither consultation nor proposal, but formal requirements. Of course, Japan still did not want to completely turn against the East China government now, so it was like making some final efforts and was willing to promise the East China government that China's interests would be safeguarded after the war, and that an agreement could be signed with the East China government to ensure that it would withdraw from the Northeast within 6 months after the war ended and the occupied areas would be handed over to the East China government.

Of course, Japan's goal is just to stabilize the East China government. After the war, it is so easy to give up the place occupied by Japan. You can rely on any reason to find any reason.

However, this trick certainly cannot deceive time travelers. In the old time and space, they have seen too many people who are faster than turning a book. What kind of treaties and agreements are torn and withdraw whenever they say they want. The so-called "contract spirit" is essentially the "deal spirit". Its own strength is the best way to maintain the treaty. A treaty without strength is a piece of wiping paper. Therefore, the East China government immediately rejected Japan's request and insisted on whether to participate in the war will be decided by the East China government based on its own judgment of the situation and will not change due to Japan's attitude. For the promises and signing agreements made by Japan, the East China government's reply is that unless Japan now handed over Lushun to the East China government for management and expressed sincerity, the East China government can trust Japan.

This requirement is obviously unacceptable to Japan. This is not only because Lushun was captured by Japan's losses and generals, and it was almost driven by human life. In the subsequent wars, Lushun was also an important transportation node for Japan. Although Japan could transport materials through the Korean Peninsula, North Korea's transportation was very backward at this time. Materials crossed the Korean Peninsula and were transported entirely by people and horses. Lushun was the southern endpoint of the Central and Eastern Railway. After disembarking, the materials could be transported directly on the train to Liaoyang, Shenyang and other places, which could save a lot of manpower and material resources. Therefore, such an important strategy was of course impossible for Japan to give it to the East China government, because it was at this time.

The results of the negotiations naturally ended unhappily, and the originally unsolicited cooperation between the two sides broke down. Of course, this result was long ago expected by the Japanese cabinet. Therefore, the Japanese government did not care about the breakdown between the two sides. Of course, the lack of supplies from the East China government did cause some trouble to Japan, but it would not affect the situation in the entire Northeast region. Moreover, the guarantee from Britain also made Japan quite fearless, thinking that the East China government would only say a few words verbally and might not dare to really send troops to participate in the war.

Sure enough, when Komura Sutaro left Qingdao, the British Consul in Qingdao, Irving immediately met with Li Sanjie, expressing the British government's concern about the situation in the Far East, believing that the war between Japan and Russia has come to an end, and peace will be restored in the Far East. He hopes that the East China government will not intervene in the war, complicating the regional situation, which will affect the interests of Britain. Of course, the UK also promised that after the war, China's interests will be safeguarded, and said frankly that Britain would not want Japan to become stronger after the war.

However, the UK's attitude cannot be accepted by the East China government, so the words of how to argue with Japan were given to the UK intact. But like Japan, the UK is not surprised by the East China government's attitude, and firmly believes that after the UK puts pressure, the East China government will definitely act cautiously.

However, Japan and Britain did not meet each other. Just three days later, the East China government officially signed the [Delivery Jinzhou Agreement] with Russia, and Russia officially delivered Jinzhou to the East China government.

In fact, when we were struggling with Japan and Britain, the East China government had been maintaining negotiations with Russia, but Russia seemed to be more urgent than the East China government and had almost no obstacles in the negotiations. The only condition was that the East China government could only enter 3,000 soldiers in Jinzhou. After the East China government accepted this request, the two sides reached a consensus.

Russia was in a hurry to bring the East China government into the Northeast game, and there was no way to do so, because at this time, the country was in chaos.

The Russo-Japanese War lasted for a year, and Russia suffered repeated defeats, losing its troops and losing its generals, losing its city and land. Although the upper class in Russia still lived a life of life of being drunk and dreaming, it had a great impact on the middle and lower class. Some intellectuals and petty bourgeoisie lost confidence in the Tsarist government, and the war also had a great impact on Russia's social economy. Prices rose, a large number of small and medium-sized factories went bankrupt, people's unemployment or their actual income dropped sharply, and a huge social crisis was brewing.

In December 1904, a priest named Gabon organized workers at the Putilov Steel Factory in St. Petersburg to hold a strike, and proposed requirements to the factory, including revoking the dismissal decision, implementing an eight-hour working system, setting up trade unions, nurseries, minimum wage lines, and improving sanitation conditions. However, these requirements were strongly rejected by the factory and threatened that workers participating in the strike would re-enlist new workers if they did not resume work.

Seeing that the strike could not achieve results, Father Gabon decided to expand the scale of the strike. Although the priest was a religious person, he was also a social activist. He was keen on poverty alleviation and relief, and held a social reformist attitude. In 1902, he also organized the Mutual Aid for the Poor, also known as the Gabon Association. At that time, the Gabon Association had more than 10,000 members and 11 branches, which had considerable influence in Russia.

So on January 18, nearly 25,000 people joined the strike in 6 factories. The number of people who agreed to the strike in all walks of life in St. Petersburg was increasing, and various parties in Russia spoke out, posting slogans and speeches, echoing the strike. However, the strike action was gradually departing from the track of a non-political movement. Father Gabon further proposed to convene a constitutional conference to protect the freedom and equality of the people, and stop political demands such as the Japanese war.

On January 20, there were 382 factories participating in the strike, with a number of 150,000 people. The security in St. Petersburg deteriorated rapidly, and a large number of violence, looting, smashing, and burning incidents broke out, and the entire city of St. Petersburg fell into a state of paralysis. Tsar Nicholas II did not dare to stay in St. Petersburg. On January 8, 1905, he led his family to the imperial village in the south of St. Petersburg to avoid the place of right and wrong. The Russian government issued a warning: if the situation is unstable, tough measures will be used. He quickly dispatched 15,000 troops and 5,000 police officers to deal with the accident in important places in the city.

The situation did not change with the Tsar's escape, but instead worsened further. On January 22, Father Gabon organized a petition parade to the Winter Palace and submitted a petition to the Tsar to express the hardships and oppression of the working class and the people at the bottom of society. He asked the Tsar to carry out social reforms and end the Russo-Japanese War, and hoped not to have time-out work and reasonable treatment.

In the end, the parade led by Father Gabon was about 30,000. Although there were dozens of skirmishes with the police along the way and there were casualties, they were still within a controllable range. After the team arrived at the Winter Palace, more and more people were in the controllable range. By the afternoon, there were more and more people. Since Nicholas II was still in the imperial village at that time, no one came forward to receive the petition, and no one came forward to appease the crowd. People's emotions became more and more excited, and the soldiers guarding the Winter Palace became more and more nervous.

At 1:30 pm, the army came to the Hermitage Square, intending to disperse the crowd, but the crowd was unwilling to leave; at 2 o'clock, three warriors rang out, the army shot at the crowd, and the cavalry rushed towards the crowd, waving sabers to drive the crowd; and soldiers guarding at the Toroyski Bridge, the Arc de Triomphe, Nikolai Bridge, the Admiralty and other places also shot, and the people fled in panic and rushed to push, a large number of people were beaten to death, trampled to death or squeezed to death, and the crowd was not completely dispersed until 5 pm. Every family in St. Petersburg was locked in the doors, and no one went out, and there were only three or three college students and workers on the street to rescue the wounded and transport the dead.

January 22 is Sunday, so this incident is called "Bloody Sunday". After the incident, the official claimed that the number of casualties was 96 dead and 333 injured, and some claimed that the death toll exceeded 4,000, but generally estimated that the number of casualties should be around 1,000.

Of course, it is meaningless to pursue the specific number of people at this time. After all, it has entered modern society now, so it is definitely not a good thing to use the army to shoot the people of its own country. It is even worse for Russia, which is in the war against Japan.

"Bloody Sunday" soon spread from St. Petersburg, causing a great storm that affected the whole country. Countless landlord manors were burned down and countless factory machines were smashed. In addition to strikes and demonstrations, ethnic uprisings broke out in Finland, Poland, the Caucasus and other regions, and the country even had a crisis of division.

Moreover, Russia has never had a good reputation internationally, so after the "Bloody Sunday" spread, governments of various countries strongly criticized Russia's brutality, and media and newspapers criticized Russia. The stock exchanges in Paris even refused to issue Russian bonds, and those who had purchased them also refunded their orders, making Russia very passive in diplomacy. Germany and Austro-Hungary Empire even began to plan that if there was a civil strife in Russia, they would prepare to send troops to interfere, and of course they would take advantage of the situation to rob.

The Russian government naturally knew that the current situation and crisis was at least 3 or 4 months before it could reach the Far East, and it was good that the army could defend Fengtian and launch an attack on Japan. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible to rely on victory on the battlefield as soon as possible, and use victory to enhance the prestige of the government and gain support from the people. But everyone knew that it was impossible. The Second Pacific Fleet would take at least 3 or 4 months to reach the Far East. It would be good that the army could defend Fengtian and was unable to attack Japan at all. Therefore, it was absolutely impossible to rely on victory to resolve the crisis.
Chapter completed!