This first question had been asked by Japan in order to clear the ground for all subsequent steps in her diplomacy in the peninsula. Korea had technically renounced the suzerainty of China, and Ōtori now suggested, on July 3, a thorough reform in the official organization and the financial, judicial, and military institutions. The king and the government not only concurred with the Japanese minister, but also issued edicts calling for a reform. Suddenly a change came, on the 18th, when the Seul government declared that the presence of the Japanese troops would hinder the execution of the necessary reform. It was of course plain that, as soon as these troops left, all hopes of reform would be lost. The change had apparently been caused by the arrival of Li Hung Chang's telegram that an overwhelmingly large army was coming from China to crush the Japanese forces in Seul. Ōtori at once repaired to the Korean foreign office, where he expressed his surprise at the sudden breach of faith on the part of Korea, and urged her answers within three days to the following two demands: an order for the evacuation of the Chinese troops from Asan, whose presence had become unnecessary since the Tonghak insurrection died away; and a declaration that the existing treaty between Korea and China which contained clauses intimating the former's dependence upon the latter was henceforth null and void. The three-day limit expired without eliciting any answer from the government. By this time--July 22--the city of Seul was in a state of intense excitement. Ōtori resolved to see the king in person, and, early in the morning of the 23d, started toward the palace in a palanquin under the escort of his guard. Korean soldiers fired at him, the Japanese troops responded, and within fifteen minutes the Korean guards were dispersed and the city gates were taken, followed in the afternoon by a complete control of the entire capital by Japanese forces. This was the first bloodshed, and unfortunately it was Korean blood that was shed. It is necessary, however, to note that the Korean resistance was a result of the extremely unstable politics at Seul which had enabled the pro-Chinese, corruptionist family of the Min temporarily to control the situation. With their fall Korea naturally turned about and allied herself with Japan against China. The old patriot Tai-wen-kun, father of the king, who again assumed the grand councilorship, with his unabated rigor ordered punishment of the Min, commenced a radical official reorganization, nullified the Chinese treaty, and, what was more, requested the Japanese troops to drive away Chinese soldiers from Asan. This last request at once placed the forces of the two empires in certain hostilities with one another. It was carried out on July 29, but before that, on the 25th, the first act of war took place unexpectedly on sea.