At this time, Li Hongzhang smiled slightly and said: "When the old man was in Shanghai, he also heard that the nobles set up industries in Tianjin, built factories to breed production, and supported agriculture. www.biquge.info It's just that the political commissar of Qin also knows that now I am in the midst of an eventful autumn in the Qing Dynasty, the invasion of foreign powers, and the western tour of the second palace, so the imperial court did not reward the nobles at the very time, and asked the political commissar of Qin to make more representations to the nobles, and the old man can guarantee that as long as the two palaces return to Beijing, after the court settles down, it will definitely entrust the nobles with important responsibilities, and will never live up to the materials of the nobles to govern the country and secure the country. ”

Of course, Qin Zheng knew in his heart that Li Hongzhang's words were not only to defend the Qing court, but also to imply that he would negotiate agreements with various countries as soon as possible, so that the Empress Dowager Cixi and Emperor Guangxu could return to Beijing safely, so that the Qing court would reward the traversers.

However, the traverser has his own plans for the traverser, and the negotiations with various countries will not be easily conceded, and the traverser's requirements for the Qing court are to divide one side, which is not so easy to meet, but these requirements need to be discussed in secret, and they have not yet reached this point, so Qin Zheng did not follow Li Hongzhang's words, and said: " Western countries, including China's close neighbor Japan, all regard the development of industry, the opening of trade routes, the development of industries, and the opening of schools and education as the way to enrich the country and strengthen the army.

Although Li Hongzhang knew that Qin Zheng had taken the conversation away, these words also touched Li Hongzhang's heart, nodded, and said: "Yes, the old man has been doing foreign affairs for more than 30 years, just so that my Qing Dynasty can enrich the country and strengthen the army, and no longer be bullied by other countries, but it's a pity that Jiawu ......" Speaking of this, Li Hongzhang shook his head again and did not say any more.

And Qin Zheng took over Li Hongzhang's words this time and said, "Is it a pity that Zhongtang failed in the First Sino-Japanese War?"

Although Li Hongzhang didn't want to mention the First Sino-Japanese War, Qin Zheng took over the topic, and had to say a few words, so he had to smile bitterly and said: "The old man has been doing foreign affairs for more than 30 years, and he has single-handedly built the Beiyang Naval Division, which was known as the first navy in Asia at that time, but in the First Sino-Japanese War, he couldn't defeat a small country. ”

Qin Zheng said: "Zhongtang, I think that the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War was not the fault of the Westernization Movement, but because the Westernization Movement of the Qing Dynasty was not carried out enough, not good enough, and not thorough enough. ”

After the First Sino-Japanese War, public opinion throughout the country almost unanimously accused Li Hongzhang and the Beiyang Naval Division, believing that the failure of the First Sino-Japanese War was entirely due to Li Hongzhang's improper command, and the Beiyang Naval Division was greedy for life and afraid of death, and some people pointed the finger at the Westernization Movement, believing that the Qing court had done Western-style affairs for more than 30 years, spent a lot of financial and material resources, and spared no expense to build a Beiyang Naval Division.

Therefore, after the First Sino-Japanese War, the Westernization movement of the Qing court fell into an obvious bottom period, and a large number of Westernization officials also lost power in the court, but now Qin Zheng said that the failure of the First Sino-Japanese War was not the fault of the Westernization movement, which naturally made Li Hongzhang feel quite popular.

Qin Zheng then said: " We believe that in the First Sino-Japanese War, the command of Zhongtang was indeed improper, and the tactics of the Beiyang Naval Division also had many mistakes, but the defeat of the Qing Dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War was not the responsibility of Zhongtang alone, it was not the responsibility of the Beiyang Naval Division, it can be said that the defeat of the Qing Dynasty in the First Sino-Japanese War had extremely complex reasons, and it was caused by many factors, but as far as we know, although the First Sino-Japanese War ended for more than five years, the Qing Dynasty, from the imperial court to the people, either shirked the responsibility, looked for scapegoats, or was entangled in some trivial matters, and it seems that the lessons and lessons have never been seriously summed up。 ”

Sa Zhenbing was a first-hand witness of the First Sino-Japanese War, and after the First Sino-Japanese War, the whole country almost unanimously put the responsibility for the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War on Li Hongzhang and the Beiyang Naval Division. Regarding Qin Zheng's statement, he suddenly felt a sense of knowledge. Moreover, in the past few years, Sa Zhenbing and other survivors of the Beiyang Naval Division have also discussed the reasons for the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, but they are only limited to some technical aspects, such as the Beiyang Naval Division has not added a ship for seven years, has not assembled rapid-fire guns, has not assembled flowering shells, etc., and sometimes a person thinks quietly, Sa Zhenbing vaguely feels that these are not the main reasons for the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, and now listening to Qin Zheng's words, he can't help but say: "It seems that you are very familiar with the First Sino-Japanese War!"

Qin Zheng nodded and said, "Although we have been settling on an overseas island, we have not closed the island to defend ourselves, we are only operating in secret, and our identities have not been revealed. We mostly know about the major events that have happened in various countries, and the land of China is our homeland, so we are even more concerned about the affairs of the Qing Dynasty, and the First Sino-Japanese War shocked the whole world, because it was the Battle of Dadonggou, the first battle of ironclad ships, and the focus of naval research of various countries, how could we not know?"

Sa Zhenbing said: "Don't hide it from the political commissar of Qin, in the past few years, I have also reflected on the First Sino-Japanese War, but because of my intelligence and stupidity, I have not been able to understand it, I don't know if the political commissar Qin can advise in the next two, the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War, where is the defeat of my Qing Dynasty." ”

After the Sino-Japanese War, they naturally reflected on the reasons for the defeat, but they did not know how overseas Chinese would view the defeat of the First Sino-Japanese War.

Qin Zheng said with a smile: "I don't dare to give advice, but we did make a serious summary of the First Sino-Japanese War, but the space is huge, and it is not something that can be explained clearly in one sentence or two, and when we arrive in Tianjin, I will show it to you." But at this point, I can offer you a way to reflect. ”

Sa Zhenbing immediately said: "I want to hear about it." ”

Qin Zheng said: "[Sun Xiao's Art of War] has clouds, soldiers, major events of the country, the place of death and life, and the way of survival, which must not be ignored...... All these five will not be asked, those who know will win, and those who do not know will not win. ”

This passage is the opening part of the "Art of War: The Beginning of the Strategy", which basically means that before the battle, we must first estimate the comparison of the strength of the enemy and us, the possibility of victory or defeat in the war, compare, divide, and study the political, military, and other basic conditions that determine the outcome of the war from a macro perspective, and predict the course and final outcome of the development of the war. The five conditions given by Sun Xiao to determine the outcome of the war are: Dao, Heaven and Earth, and General Law. Tao refers to national politics, heaven refers to the time of heaven, earth refers to the terrain, general refers to the generals who fight, and law refers to the state system.

Li Hongzhang, Sa Zhenbing, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang are all people who have read [Sun Xiao's Art of War], and naturally they also know the meaning of this passage, and vaguely understand Qin Zheng's meaning, they used this passage to divide the results of the First Sino-Japanese War before the war, but they didn't understand how Qin Zheng divided the comparison of the strength of China and Japan before the First Sino-Japanese War from this paragraph, so they were all at a loss. Dao Heaven and Earth will be the law, in addition to "will", how should four of the points be calculated?

Qin Zheng then said: "Dao Heaven and Earth will be the law, this statement is a little difficult to understand, so I will slightly modify the five conditions given by Sun Xiao to determine the outcome of the war, called the monarch and the minister, the soldiers and the people, you were all important ministers of the Qing Dynasty, and you also have a considerable understanding of Japan, so please share it, before the start of the First Sino-Japanese War, who is more holy among the monarchs of the Qing and Japanese countries? The ministers of the Qing and Japanese countries did their best for the country and did their utmost to help their own country win the war; the generals of the Qing and Japanese wars were the ones who sacrificed their lives and fought hard, and the soldiers of the Qing and Japanese countries were more brave and tenacious and fearless of life and death; and the citizens of the Qing and Japanese countries were the whole country and unanimously supported their own battles. ”

After listening to Qin Zheng's words, Li Hongzhang, Sa Zhenbing, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang were all silent, because according to Qin Zheng's statement, the comparison results of these five aspects are too clear.

Before the First Sino-Japanese War, the Emperor Meiji of Japan was recognized as a wise monarch in the world, and before the First Sino-Japanese War, he took the lead in ordering the saving of 30% of the palace expenses and the purchase of warships for Japan; while the Empress Dowager Cixi, the de facto ruler of the Qing court, moved the navy and military funds to build the Summer Palace, while the Guangxu Emperor, the supreme ruler of the Ming Dynasty, was completely unclear about the general situation of the world, and he was also blind to the comparison of strength between China and Japan.

However, Japanese ministers such as Ito Hirobumi, Mitsunoku Mitsumune, Yama Prefecture Aritomo, Kayama Shikiri, and others all made concerted efforts to help Japan win the war during the period before and after the First Sino-Japanese War; while the Qing court seemed to be the only one in the Qing court who was fighting against Japan again, and the Qingliu led by Weng Tongxi in the DPRK and China continued to attack Li Hongzhang in an unfavorable manner, and at the local level, other local officials did not give Li Hongzhang much support, and the Nanyang Naval Division even refused to send warships to assist the Beiyang Naval Division in the battle.

On the battlefield, Ito Yuxiang and Heihachiro Togo of the Japanese Navy, Aritomo Yamaguchi, Katsura Taro, and Oyama Iwa of the Army all took the lead on the battlefield and commanded the battle; while on the Qing court's side, even if the Beiyang Naval Division fought well, there were also escapees like Fang Boqian, and the army's chief general, Ye Zhichao, was even more greedy for life and afraid of death, and was defeated all the way, resulting in the total defeat of the Qing army. The generals are like this, and the soldiers are naturally the same, the Japanese soldiers are not afraid of fighting to the death, but the Qing soldiers have no fighting spirit and are defeated at the first touch.

The people of the two countries, the Japanese people, almost unanimously supported their own war, donated money and materials, bought ships and built guns for their own countries, and even the children's game was to defeat the Dingyuan and Zhenyuan ships; and a considerable number of the people of the Qing court did not know that there was a war between China and Japan.

It can be said that the comparison of these five aspects ended in the complete defeat of the Qing court. It's just that although Li Hongzhang, Sa Zhenbing, Zhang Peilun, and Li Jingfang knew it in their hearts, they couldn't say it, so they could only smile bitterly. And Li Hongzhang is even more keenly aware that Qin Zheng has no respect for the Qing court in his words, on the contrary, he is quite disdainful, it seems that his estimate is not wrong, the return of this group of overseas Chinese, just want to find a place in China to divide the territory, and never think of allegiance to the Qing Dynasty. It seems that if you want the Queen Mother and the Emperor to return to Beijing safely, you must not only make peace with foreigners, but also pass the pass of overseas Chinese.