Twentieth Century Chronicle

Page 217

In the positional warfare between the Russian army and the Wuhan army in the Liaoxi Corridor, the Russian army made far fewer command errors. However, the Wuhan army continuously improved its tactics, causing the Russian army to suffer increasing losses in positional warfare, to the point that the Russian soldiers eventually completely lost the idea of ​​defeating the Chinese.

Therefore, the Russian army had different psychological differences towards the Chinese and Japanese armies.

As for the Japanese army, we couldn't defeat them because our generals were incompetent commanders, not because we couldn't beat them. As for the Chinese army, this is Chinese land, and they have a reason to sacrifice for it. No matter how many times we defeat the Chinese, we can never conquer them; we will only bleed to death on this land.

By this time, Jordan knew that the Beiyang Army was unlikely to be able to suppress the military and political groups in Wuhan, but he had lost the opportunity to change course.

Since taking office, he had been advocating in London to support Yuan Shikai in order to balance the anti-imperialist forces within China and thus stabilize the political situation in China. Jordan even disregarded the suggestion to bet on the revolutionaries, believing that the revolutionaries would only create internal turmoil in China and threaten British interests in China.

Progressive diplomats in China who believed it was worth betting on the revolutionaries, after observing the political operation of the Qing Dynasty, especially the Boxer Rebellion, believed that the collapse of the Qing Dynasty was only a matter of time, because the Qing rule could no longer be self-sustaining and could only be guaranteed by the intervention of foreign powers. Therefore, Britain needed to find a new agent before the Qing Dynasty was abandoned by the Chinese, so that British interests in China could still be maintained after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty.

However, British vested interests in China opposed actively helping China to undergo change, believing that such risks were too great. The Boxer Rebellion had already shown that the Chinese people harbored an inexplicable resentment towards the foreign powers. They argued that once the Chinese were freed from the rule of the Manchus, the next step would be for them to expel foreigners from China. Therefore, helping China stabilize its political situation was in Britain's interest.

It was amidst this debate that Jordan was appointed Minister to China, as he was a supporter of powerful figures within the Qing dynasty to stabilize the Chinese political situation. However, although Jordan spent half his life as a diplomat in China...

However, he was completely unaware of the tremendous ideological changes that had taken place in Chinese society recently, and he still viewed China through the lens of the past. This was the root of his belief that the Beiyang Army could suppress the anti-central forces within China.

The performance of the Wuhan army in this war shattered his old understanding of China, and even his perception of the Chinese people became distorted. At least the people in Wuhan were different from the image of the Chinese people he was familiar with.

Jordan then realized that he could neither expect Yuan Shikai to suppress Wuhan nor find a loyal British friend in Wuhan immediately; his diplomatic strategy toward China had reached a dead end.

Chapter 702

Chapter 702

　Jordan's appointment as British Minister to China was not due to his deep roots in London, but rather because British stakeholders in China were unwilling to see their interests harmed. As London gradually shifted its power back to Europe, it also needed stability in East Asia. Thus, Jordan, who leaned towards conservatism and had served as a diplomat in China for a long time, was able to replace Satow as his successor.

In other words, London appointed Jordan as its minister to China based on a strategic consideration of the overall situation, choosing a diplomat familiar with China rather than sending a privileged second-generation rich kid from the country for a career in diplomacy. Therefore, Jordan was well aware that his diplomatic career was inseparable from his own proposed diplomatic strategy towards China; if his strategy faltered, London would immediately replace him to maintain order in East Asia.

Jordan's China strategy was essentially a replica of Britain's approach to European balancing politics. On the one hand, he advocated maintaining a balance between conservatism and revolutionary forces within China, aiming to change Chinese customs while ensuring the old order remained ineffective. On the other hand, he believed that a stable order in East Asia should be built on the basis of Sino-Japanese antagonism, not on Sino-Japanese reconciliation.

Only when a balance of power is achieved in both aspects will China's rulers need Britain to grant them the power to rule China; otherwise, once internal and external conflicts arise, China's rulers will be unable to maintain their rule. The situation in China after the signing of the Boxer Protocol was exactly what the British Empire hoped to achieve through this diplomatic approach. Russia, as a spoiler, received a relentless blow from Britain.

However, in present-day China, not only has the internal political situation lost Britain's control, but the rise of revolutionary forces, led by Wuhan, and especially after the victory in the war against Russia, has officially declared the death of the Qing Dynasty.

Even after Emperor Guangxu abdicated, the remnants of the Qing dynasty still held sway in local areas, and many within the Beiyang clique still harbored nostalgia for the old regime. This situation did not indicate that the Qing rule was particularly popular, but rather that before a new order was established, those who had benefited from the old order were desperately trying to whitewash themselves and gain political advantage in the process of establishing the new order.

However, after the establishment of the new republic, it won its first foreign war and gained the Chita Republic as a staunch ally. This gave the whole country confidence in the new republican system. At this point, no matter how the remnants of the Qing Dynasty tried to whitewash themselves, it was all in vain.

When Wuhan, riding the wave of its victory in the foreign war, launched a comprehensive purge of the old order under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty, those who were originally neutral immediately severed ties with the previous dynasty, declared themselves supporters of the republican system, and denounced the Manchu imperial system.

At the end of 07, after the emperor abdicated, the political influence left by the Manchu Qing dynasty still occupied an important position in Beijing. Although the Manchu nobles lost their positions, the Han Chinese officials who were loyal to the Qing dynasty still expressed their recognition and nostalgia for the Qing rule. For example, the Qing officials and reformists in the late Qing dynasty felt that the Qing dynasty was not yet at the point of collapse and could still be maintained if it was saved. They believed that forcing the emperor to abdicate would leave the country without a leader, which would only make the people more confused and bring about greater disasters.

However, this argument disappeared automatically with the victory in the foreign war. Everyone believed that it was precisely because the emperor abdicated and the country was placed under a republican system that the whole nation was able to unite as one and focus its efforts on foreign wars without any distractions, which led to this victory. Therefore, the claim that the Qing Dynasty ruined the country is correct.

Because of the intense hatred people felt towards the Qing dynasty's rule, those local forces that still longed for the Qing were gradually isolated, while the forces supporting the revolution were greatly strengthened. Thus, starting in early 08, a new round of political purges primarily targeted those former officials who still held ties to the Qing dynasty.

Yuan Shikai also took advantage of this trend to reorganize the personnel within the Beiyang Army, removing the spies planted by Manchu nobles and relatives. Those old figures who claimed to still be loyal to the Qing Dynasty were all ousted in this round of political purges.

For a time, severing ties with the Manchu Qing dynasty became a new trend in officialdom, because people realized that loyalty to a foreign dynasty could not gain the recognition of the people who were awakening to national consciousness. On the contrary, it might label them as traitors and thus completely exclude them from the new order.

Thus, in less than a year, the republican system was stabilized, and the imperial system representing the Manchu Qing dynasty became a symbol of the ignorance of the old era that the people despised.

By August 1908, the revolutionary forces, which did not hold a dominant position in national politics, had become the object of mainstream society's admiration. Students who had returned from studying abroad, regardless of whether they had previously supported the revolution, would now boast that they had supported the Tongmenghui or the Labor Party while abroad and that they were pioneers of the anti-Manchu revolution.

In Wuhan and other southern provinces where the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) had not yet reached, these overseas students easily seized power from the local gentry under the guise of revolutionary pioneers, becoming representatives of local power in the new era.

The ease with which these people seized power further spurred those young intellectuals who had no way to advance. After the abolition of the imperial examination system, these local young intellectuals lost their path to advancement. Apart from teaching and joining the army, there was almost nothing they could do. Now they saw a new path to advancement: to devote themselves to the revolution.

Thus, the political changes in China in 1908 were even more dramatic than those before the emperor's abdication in 07. Before the abdication, at least there was an emperor above, and people could use the emperor's name to suppress revolutions. Now that the emperor had abdicated, Yuan Shikai, although opposed to the revolution, did not have the courage to openly break with Wuhan. He could only engage in some minor actions within his own territory. In public, Yuan Shikai could only state that the revolutionary actions in Wuhan were beneficial to the country, in order to show that he had completely broken with the Qing Dynasty.

As a result, local officials had effectively lost control of local politics. The Nanjing Mutiny made local officials realize that blindly suppressing revolutionary actions might be seen as a supporter of the Qing Dynasty by Wuhan and attacked. These officials could not withstand the political purge in Wuhan, so they naturally dared not continue to openly deal with the revolutionaries.

As a result, officials with a modicum of morality chose to temporarily return to their hometowns to observe the situation, while those without a moral compass chose to join the revolution. As for officials who attempted to defend the Qing Dynasty, they were expelled or even executed by local forces.

Thus, in the first half of 1908, Jordan witnessed a catastrophic change in the Chinese political situation. The balance between conservative and revolutionary forces that he had envisioned never materialized. The current political forces in China consisted only of radical revolutionaries and moderate reformists, while the rest were old reactionary forces that were to be overthrown.

If it were merely a matter of China's internal political situation spiraling out of control, Jordan could have covered up the failure of his foreign policy toward China by colluding with Morrison. As the Times' correspondent in China, Morrison was tasked with reporting on the situation in China to London. In other words, Morrison was essentially the British Foreign Office's informant in China, to determine whether there were significant discrepancies in the reports from diplomats in China.

After experiencing numerous instances of diplomats acting arbitrarily abroad, the British Foreign Office finally lost trust in these bureaucrats who were only concerned with bringing honor to their own careers. Neither the wars in Afghanistan nor the wars in Tibet were actually London's initiative, but rather the personal plans of colonial officials.

Even in the Boer War, it was the local colonial officials who concealed some intelligence, inciting London's discontent with the Boers and ultimately turning a diplomatic issue into a war. The reason these colonial officials did this was to gain access to the gold mines discovered by the Boers and to further reduce Germany's cooperative partners in its African colonies.

Therefore, foreign correspondents of major British newspapers, especially political journalists, almost always attract the attention of the Foreign Office and become its channels for understanding the situation on the ground. If Morrison was willing to conceal the truth from Jordan, then London would be unable to determine that the situation in China was spiraling out of control.

As for why Morrison did this, it's because Morrison is also a member of the conservative faction on China. In his report to London regarding the appointment of Jordan, Morrison made many complimentary remarks, to the point that London genuinely believed that Jordan had an extremely deep network of connections in China, just like Sadao in Japan.

As for the other covert British customs system in China, it gradually lost influence over the British Foreign Office due to the dispute between Hart and the British government over succession, coupled with the republican system's active reclaiming of power from the customs service. Therefore, Jordan and Morrison were almost able to decide on policy towards China and report it to London, thus forming official policy.

Now that the leaders of both Japan and China have put forward the East Asian peace theory, this has shattered Britain's postwar goal of a balance of power in East Asia, and Jordan's diplomatic policy toward China has thus failed. London is naturally dissatisfied with Jordan, because this is not the new East Asian order that Jordan described to London.

Under these circumstances, Jordan had no choice but to consult Morrison on countermeasures.

Morrison was a complete novice in politics. His rise to prominence in The Times was entirely due to his literary achievements, whether it was his early travelogues on foot in China or his reports from Beijing during the Boxer Rebellion. These works catered to the British public's curiosity about overseas adventures, which made him famous in Britain.

Politically, however, he lacked independent thought. He neither conformed to the values ​​of the Conservative Party nor took the Liberal Party's propositions seriously. This was because he always considered himself an Australian, and Australians have a kind of naive imperialist mentality. They oppose the principle of equality in liberalism and believe that there are intellectual differences between whites and people of color. Therefore, it is normal for whites to rule over people of color, and abnormal for the opposite to be true.

However, Australians also opposed London's many interferences in the colonies, believing that London treated them as superiors to the colonial governments, which was clearly too imperialist. It should be noted that Australia and London were equals, and both were loyal to the British Crown.

Therefore, Morrison's diplomatic approach in China was chaotic. On the one hand, he believed that he had a responsibility to guide Chinese youth toward Western civilization, which was a responsibility of the civilized world to educate a barbaric people. On the other hand, he opposed Chinese intellectuals using Western ideas to oppose the unequal treaties signed with the great powers, believing that this was not in line with the spirit of the contract.

Morrison was well aware that the rulers in Wuhan were far more civilized than the Beiyang military and political clique. However, in order to safeguard the interests of the British Empire, he actively supported Jordan's China policy, believing that Yuan Shikai should be supported to counter Wuhan and prevent the Wuhan regime from unifying China, which would be a disaster for the British Empire.

It was under the encouragement of Morrison and Jordan that London increased its support for Yuan Shikai after the abdication of the Qing emperor. This support primarily involved helping Yuan expand his army and pressuring Japan to gain control of southern Manchuria. While these actions by London were not the key factor in Japan's concessions on the Manchurian issue, they were arguably the final straw that broke the camel's back.

London did this because of Jordan's advocacy of confrontation between Japan and China, and his support for Yuan Shikai, which he believed could limit the expansion of revolutionary forces within China. However, the current East Asian peace treaty proposed by Japan and China means that Jordan's proposal to support Yuan Shikai has not achieved London's desired goal. Instead, it has created significant trouble for Britain in establishing a balance of power in East Asia.

Morrison, like Jordan, sensed something was amiss, realizing that if London began to investigate, both he and Jordan would lose their honor. However, after a long discussion behind closed doors, they still couldn't find a new way to salvage the balance of power in East Asia.

Jordan frankly told Morrison, "I spoke with Inland Revenue Commissioner Tang Shaoyi about the issue of peace in East Asia. Tang said that peace in East Asia is something China desperately wants, but China is also a passive recipient because it has no power to challenge the East Asian order. When Japan takes the initiative to propose peace in East Asia, Prime Minister Yuan can only respond positively, otherwise he will be questioned by others."

After all, although Premier Yuan was nominally the head of the Republic's government, in reality, his orders could only be implemented in the territories controlled by the Beiyang Army. As for the areas beyond the Beiyang Army's control, local officials often carried out Premier Yuan's orders based on their mood.

As for Wuhan, they now control the National Assembly, and any government order that does not conform to Wuhan's interests will be declared invalid by Wuhan on the grounds that it violates the interests of the people.

Under such political circumstances, peaceful coexistence with Japan was a necessary condition for ensuring stability in the north. The Beiyang government could not afford to be attacked from two sides, especially since both enemies were stronger than it. After Japan relinquished its claim to a special status in Manchuria, Yuan lost the motivation to continue hostile to Japan. "How are your talks with the revolutionaries in the south going?"

Morrison remained silent for a while before finally giving a pessimistic answer. He explained, "Because of the purge of former Qing Dynasty representatives that began at the beginning of the year, the revolutionary party has completely taken over the mainstream in Parliament. Apart from the Labour Party, the influential parties in Parliament that lean towards the revolutionary stance include the Huaxing Society, the Restoration Society, and the Central Committee of the Tongmenghui."

Although Song Jiaoren of the Huaxing Society believed that the Labor Party's land reform policy dealt with the landlord class in a simplistic and brutal way, he still believed that the Labor Party's position in China was irreplaceable, at least because the Labor Party's land reform policy did change the face of the countryside.

As for Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, although they benefited landlords and peasants, to this day, not a single county or even a township has been willing to implement the land reform plan based on the Three Principles of the People. Therefore, he rejected the suggestion of uniting with the Tongmenghui, stating that the Huaxinghui would not deviate from the political line of the Workers' Party and that they were willing to be a loyal opposition party.

As for the Restoration Society, it is now almost completely fragmented. Xu Xilin and Datong Academy have expressed their support for the Labor Party. Although Cai Yuanpei is willing to talk with the Tongmenghui, he believes that the Tongmenghui Central Committee must first be reorganized to prevent internal dictatorship. Currently, the Tongmenghui Central Committee is almost entirely composed of Cantonese people, and he cannot persuade other members to join the Tongmenghui as mere figureheads.

As for Zhu Zhixin of the Tongmenghui, he did express Sun Yat-sen's desire for cooperation with us, but he demanded that we provide loans and arms directly, which would obviously damage the mutual trust between us and the Beiyang government and Wuhan.

As for figures like Liang Qichao, although they enjoyed considerable prestige in intellectual circles, they had little influence in political circles or within the military. Expecting them to confront Wuhan was unrealistic; at most, they would only criticize Wuhan in the newspapers.

Morrison went on and on, but Jordan heard no good news. This only further confirmed the failure of his proposed China strategy. So he couldn't help but interrupt him and asked, "What about inside Wuhan? Don't they have one or two people who are willing to befriend the British Empire?"

After a moment of contemplation, Morrison said, "Of course there are people who have a favorable impression of the British Empire, such as His Excellency Li Yuanhong, the commander of the Yangtze River Fleet stationed in Nanjing. When I interviewed him, I was very fortunate. During our conversation, Commander Li also expressed his heartfelt respect for the British Empire."

However, before Wuhan's authority waned, even Commander Leigh, who was favorable to the British Empire, would obey Wuhan's orders to carry out blockade operations on the Yangtze River, without any regard for the risk of conflict with the British Empire that this action would bring.

Simply put, these people's respect for the British Empire was not enough to offset their awe of the Wuhan government. They were not confident that they could lead their men to rebel against the Wuhan government, even with our support.

According to my investigation, Wuhan's strength lies in the resources and armed forces controlled by the Workers' Party itself. Those forces outside the party are merely ornaments for their power, not its source. Our painstaking efforts to instigate several rebellions only provided Wuhan with an excuse to purge these forces from the party.

The relationship between Britain and Wuhan is not yet irreconcilable. I believe that such a suicidal approach should not be used, at least not now.

Chapter 703

Chapter 703

Inciting local rebellions was a traditional tactic used by the British Empire in its colonies. It was this skillful use of the tactic that enabled Britain to control the Indian subcontinent at minimal cost, ultimately making it the most solid foundation of the British Empire.

The independence of the thirteen North American colonies was essentially a result of the French replicating British diplomatic tactics, which instigated the rebellion in the thirteen colonies.

However, the French were too honest; instead of making the white colonists of the thirteen North American colonies bleed dry, they exhausted their own national strength.

The French defeat taught the British a lesson: never let allies play a passive role in a war, or the spoils of victory will fall into their hands.

The Boer War and the Tibetan conflict left a profound impact on the British, making the British Empire a target of public criticism.

As long as the British Empire dares to act alone, its enemies will unite to provide various forms of support to their adversaries.

This campaign against Russia in East Asia can be considered a major diplomatic success for Britain. The British drove the Russians back to Europe from the Far East with almost no effort.

This not only kept Russia within the Anglo-French encirclement of Germany, but also incidentally resolved the problem of Russia's expansion in the East and its encroachment on British sphere of influence.

It was precisely because this diplomatic strategy was so successful that London was no longer willing to confront Chinese resistance directly, and instead tried to use Japan's power to counterbalance anti-imperialist sentiment in China.

Of course, the ideas of London's upper echelons did not completely align with those of British commercial forces in China.

These British businesspeople in China were still immersed in the Victorian era's Britain's dominant position in the world.

Therefore, Britain's strategy toward China was actually disconnected at both the top and bottom levels.

London is trying to repair relations with China and is attempting to portray the British Empire as Santa Claus protecting China.

However, British merchants and residents in China viewed China as another India. They believed that they enjoyed inviolable privileges in China, and that protecting their interests was the responsibility of Chinese law.

Morrison favored London's diplomatic strategy, while Jordan, who had served as a diplomat in China for a long time, believed that maintaining the privileges of British personnel in China was the priority. After all, the Royal Fleet would handle the anger of the Chinese, but he, as a diplomat, would have to bear the brunt of the anger of the British in China.

However, Jordan could not afford to take the blame, because his actual actions, which contradicted London's foreign policy, led China's diplomacy with Britain toward confrontation. After all, he was not a British nobleman with deep roots, and he could not make the country's policies revolve around him. If problems arose, he would have to take responsibility himself.

So when Morrison said that relying solely on personal relationships would not be enough to get Wuhan's allies to oppose Wuhan, Jordan knew that it would be too late to solve China's political problems on his own.

Without the public commitment of the British Empire, these Chinese would not have been able to confront Wuhan head-on.

Will the British Empire then publicly make some kind of guarantee in its fight against Wuhan?

Frankly, that's not possible right now.

Although the newly appointed Foreign Secretary, Viscount Grey, was a hardliner who supported the Boer War, he was also an elite with excellent diplomatic strategic vision.

Upon assuming office, Viscount Grey shifted British diplomacy back to Europe, believing that Germany was the greatest challenger to Britain's global dominance. He argued that if the Germans were not deterred from their ambitions to challenge the British Empire, the challenges facing the British Empire globally would not cease.

Therefore, Viscount Grey agreed with the Admiralty's proposal to consolidate global power and shift the focus back to Europe, especially to build the most powerful home fleet to meet the challenge of the German High Seas Fleet.

Viscount Grey's diplomatic strategy effectively conveyed to Jordan and other overseas diplomats that the British Empire's current diplomatic focus lay in Europe.

As long as stability is maintained in regions outside Europe, we can wait for the situation in Europe to become clearer before taking any action.

However, Sir John Jordan was well aware that what Viscount Grey wanted to maintain was to preserve the status quo, not to have the British Empire's influence expelled from the area under the guise of peace.

For London, the root of all problems lies in the instability of Europe. Problems elsewhere can wait until the European problems are resolved before dealing with them. But for Jordan, when London feels that he is no longer in charge of the situation in East Asia, it will simply abandon him immediately.

Of course, Jordan did not want to be abandoned by London. He had spent decades in China and was about to retire with honor, returning to Britain to receive a medal in recognition of his service to the British Empire. Was he going to be forced to retire in disgrace?

However, Jordan was also aware that Morrison would not share his thoughts. After all, Morrison's career was not yet over and there was no need to gamble everything now. Moreover, he was not responsible for any problems with Britain's China policy, since Jordan was the Minister to China.

Therefore, he hoped that Wuhan and the British Empire would break off relations, so that the failure of the China strategy would not be a problem of his operation. Morrison, on the other hand, might not want to see this, because it could shake the foundation of Britain's decades-long operations in China.

Jordan and Morrison did not continue the discussion on the issue of armed confrontation in Wuhan, because both were well aware that without the intervention of the great powers, China no longer had the armed forces capable of resolving the situation in Wuhan.

After much deliberation, Jordan finally concluded: "We must disrupt the reconciliation between Japan and China, otherwise all the policies we have promoted in China will be meaningless. A China that does not feel threatened from the outside world will not listen to us."

Although Morrison knew that Jordan's idea was correct, he couldn't help but complain, "But how are we going to separate them?"

"Having just achieved victory in the war against Russia, Japan is able to voluntarily restrain its desires and propose peace in East Asia. How can we expect them to launch an invasion of China?"

"This doesn't align with the various restrictions we've imposed on Japan before. If we did this, both the Japanese and Chinese would likely suspect our motives."

Jordan knew that Morrison was right; Britain's previous diplomatic direction was to prevent Japan from expanding in Manchuria and the Russian Far East after the war.

They only allowed Japan to occupy the Korean Peninsula, but not to expand its influence to Manchuria and the Russian Far East.

Once Japan expands its influence into these two regions, it means that Japan has acquired a piece of land larger than its mainland.

This land is mostly plains and has a lot of undeveloped land. If Japan were to develop it, it would be like another United States.

But no one expected that Japan would curb its ambitions. This was equivalent to Britain punching air in the East Asian issue, which instead exposed its own intentions.

Thinking of this, Jordan sighed and said, "Japan is hiding its ambitions. I don't believe they have given up their idea of ​​expanding on the continent. They are just taking a step back and trying to alienate the Chinese from us."

“If the Chinese abandon their reliance on the protection of the British Empire and instead cooperate with Japan, then Japan will have an opportunity to establish itself on the continent.”

Morrison couldn't help but complain, "Sir Satow's instruction to the Japanese was truly outstanding. The fact that the Japanese are so knowledgeable about the British Empire's diplomatic strategy and can come up with solutions is probably due to the knowledge they gained from Sir Satow."

Jordan did not respond to Morrison's words, because he and Sadaoyi were, after all, colleagues.

If he were to casually criticize Satow's diplomatic methods, it would only damage his reputation once the news got out, since British diplomats are different from French diplomats.

French diplomats consider personal ability unnecessary; only obedience to government orders is considered a fundamental quality of diplomats.

British diplomats, on the other hand, advocated for maximizing individual capabilities while upholding the interests of the British Empire, since the history of British overseas expansion was essentially a history of countless individual ambitions.

Morrison was not a diplomat, so his criticism of Satow was an outsider's assessment and would not attract much attention from diplomats. If he had echoed Satow's views, he would have faced resistance from the diplomatic system because he would have been undermining the diplomatic traditions of the British Empire.

Of course, Jordan inwardly agreed with Morrison's assessment of Satow. In his eyes, this colleague who had married a Japanese woman and had a mixed-race child was indeed an oddball. London also seemed to have doubts about Satow's loyalty, which was why it removed him from his position as Minister to China.

However, when the topic of Sadaoyi came up, Jordan had some inspiration. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Perhaps we can use the power of the Koreans to disrupt the reconciliation between the Japanese and the Chinese. For the Koreans to gain independence, a confrontation between Japan and China is necessary, which aligns with our position."

Morrison didn't know much about Koreans; his main activities were in China and Southeast Asia. He only traveled to Manchuria for an interview during the war, which led him to criticize the atrocities committed by the Japanese army and express concerns about Japan's ambitions.

However, he knew that Jordan had been transferred to Korea as minister, and although the time was short, he had at least come into contact with the Koreans, so he adopted a listening posture.