解$: (1) ① $
设$223=x,$则
$\begin{aligned}原式&=x^{2}-(x+1)(x-1)\\&=x^{2}-(x^{2}-1)\\&=x^{2}-x^{2}+1\\&=1\end{aligned}$
②
设$3.456=a,$
则$2.456=a-1,$$5.456=a+2,$$1.456=a-2,$
$\begin{aligned}原式&=a(a-1)(a+2)-a^{3}-(a-2)^{2}\\&=a(a^{2}+a-2)-a^{3}-(a^{2}-4a+4)\\&=a^{3}+a^{2}-2a-a^{3}-a^{2}+4a-4\\&=2a-4\end{aligned}$
将$a=3.456$代入得:
$\begin{aligned}2a-4&=2×3.456-4\\&=6.912-4\\&=2.912\end{aligned}$
$ (2) $
设$123456788=x,$$123456786=y,$
则$M=(x+1)y,$$N=x(y+1)$
$\begin{aligned}M-N&=(x+1)y-x(y+1)\\&=xy+y-xy-x\\&=y-x\end{aligned}$
因为$y-x=123456786-123456788=-2<0,$
所以$M<N$