The dark clouds once again shrouded the sky over the capital with the biting cold wind, and the members of the coup group led by Ci'an, Cixi and Guizi Liu, who were depressed, felt stuffy in their chests and could hardly breathe. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Relying on the heroic performance of Luo Bingzhang and the Qing army in Shandong, after almost miraculously repelling the Northern Expedition army of Shi Dakai, a famous general of the Taiping Army, the coup group in Beijing felt that they could take a breath and felt that the Qing court had hope of making a comeback. However, the coup clique never dreamed that Wu Chaoyue, another enemy, even if he was dragged down by Yungui, only used a small part of his military force, and with the cooperation of diplomacy, he once again forced them into a desperate situation and forced them into a corner.

Under the pretext of Wu Chaoyue's assassination, Wu Jun's division threatened to break through the Yinglan Slope of Kaifeng Lingchi, and the coup group once thought that Wu Chaoyue was making a fool, and one foot had not been pulled out of the Yunnan-Guizhou quagmire, and the other foot could not wait to step into the rotten quagmire in eastern Henan.

However, Wu's surprise attack to take the important town of Luoyang was like a slap in the face, a slap on the coup clique's full of ridicule, and once again told the coup clique an ironclad fact -- playing with the eyes of the army and tactics, Wu Chaoyue has not lost so far!

Then, before the coup group recovered from the fear of being threatened by the Wu army in Shanxi, a new blow came, Wu Chaoyue unscrupulously helped the Taiping army buy the British Aspen fleet regardless of previous suspicions, completely crushing the Manchu court's use of this fleet to promote the Taiping army and the British to turn against the dream At the same time, it also helped the Taiping army lay an overwhelming advantage over the Qing army on the sea, so that the Taiping army could smash the capital through the sea is no longer an empty word, but a possibility!

Wu Jun Liu Kun broke through the Yellow River defense line and captured the salt pond in Jiezhou; Wu Chaoyue betrayed the country to seek glory and successfully established formal diplomatic relations with Britain, France, the United States and other Western powers, allowing most Western powers to remain neutral in China's civil war, while crushing another dream of the Manchu court to borrow teachers to help suppress it.

What made the No. 3 person in the coup group even more annoyed and embarrassed was that the assassin he sent to pretend to be Wu Jun to assassinate members of the British mission was captured alive by Wu Junsheng in Shanghai in a short period of time, and he was betrayed as the mastermind behind the scenes. What will be the reaction in the UK next, what will be the plans of the British government and army, and the dangerous consequences of the horror Devil Six dare not imagine anymore.

Fortunately, Devil Six also has a punching bag that is Peng Yunzhang, the former Minister of Military Aircraft, who was ordered to incite Ye Mingchen's family to make trouble in Hubei and prevent Wu Jun from formally establishing diplomatic relations with the British government. The devil who was angry in his heart then used this as an excuse to openly accuse Peng Yunzhang of being perfunctory, ineffective, greedy for self-protection, and did not dare to offend Wu Jun too much, so angry that Peng Yunzhang directly resigned.

In the end, Ignatiev, the only Russian minister who refused to formally establish diplomatic relations with Wu Chaoyue, cleared Peng Yunzhang's grievances, and said fair things for Peng Yunzhang when he met with Devil Six to talk about this matter, and sneered: "Gong, you asked people to incite Ye Mingchen's family to make trouble and protest, in fact, you are not to embarrass Wu Chaoyue, but to help him gain more favor from the British." ”

"Are we helping him? How did you help him? Devil Six asked suspiciously.

"You still don't understand the West too much." Ignatiev pointed out: "The British political system is completely different from our Russia and your Qing Dynasty, they allow the people to raise their voices and allow the people to hold demonstrations and protests. Therefore, in their opinion, the protests and demonstrations against the establishment of diplomatic relations between them and Wu Chaoyue on the land of Hubei are a manifestation of Wu Chaoyue's despicable bastard learning their advanced system, and they will not only be angry because of this, but will appreciate Wu Chaoyue's enlightened Westernization even more, be able to accept their advanced political system, and have a better impression of Wu Chaoyue's hypocritical bastard. ”

While understanding that Peng Yunzhang was wronged, Devil Six was also completely speechless. Fortunately, Ignatiev didn't dwell on this matter and continued to slap Devil Six in the face, but just asked Devil Six: "Gong, about the elimination of the two rebel armies of Wu Chaoyue and Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, I don't know what your country's plans will be next?" ”

"Of course, I fully rely on your country's help." Devil Six was not polite, and said: "As long as your country can lend a helping hand and do your best to help our country eliminate these two damned rebels, then the whole country will be grateful to your country and thank your country with all their might." ”

"You don't have to give everything you have, what we Russians like the most, you know very well." Ignatiev smiled very treacherously and said: "If your imperial court can make another small concession on the issue of territorial division, then our government will definitely do its best to help your country put down the rebellion, and even directly send troops to participate in the battle, it is not without consultation." ”

Devil Six smiled bitterly when he heard this, and while secretly scolding the Russians for being insatiable, he no longer dared to offend the only Russian who was currently openly on the side of the Manchu court, so he could only promise Ignatiev to immediately play Ci'an and Cixi to start negotiations on a military alliance between Qing and Russia as soon as possible. Ignatiev nodded with satisfaction, and said: "Gong, I have to remind you, the sooner the better, the time is very unfavorable for you now, if I guess correctly, after this winter, Wu Chaoyue that bastard will definitely make a big move on the battlefield." ”

"Mr. Ignatiev, why do you have such a judgment?" Devil Six hurriedly asked.

"It's very simple, Wu Chaoyue, that cunning bastard will definitely not give you time to rest."

Ignatiev was also a bit of a gentleman, pointing out: "Wu Chaoyue is a bastard who understands modern military affairs very well, and knows that his poor industrial capacity is definitely no match for our Russians, and he also knows that most of our Russian industrial base is in Europe, even if you provide large-scale military assistance, it will be difficult to send a large number of guns and ammunition to the Qing country in a short time." Therefore, he will surely seize this time gap to launch a large-scale attack on you, seizing the population, land, and wealth, so that even if you receive our assistance, you will not have enough resources to launch a counterattack against him and lay the foundation for his total victory. ”

Speaking of this, Ignatiev paused and pointed out: "Most of the soldiers of Wu Chaoyue's rebel army are southerners, and it is difficult to adapt to the cold climate of the northern winter, and at the same time, a large number of his soldiers and materials are now forced to throw themselves into the Yunnan-Guizhou battlefield, so I conclude that within this winter, Wu Chaoyue may not make a big move, but when the climate warms up next spring, Wu Chaoyue's bastard will definitely launch a large-scale attack on you!" ”

After that, Ignatiev said: "So Gong, you must hurry up, a large number of weapons in our country to aid you are already on the way to the Qing country, if you can give us Russia a satisfactory answer as soon as possible, then after our weapons are sent to the Qing country, we can immediately equip your soldiers to help you resist Wu Chaoyue's rebels." If you continue to procrastinate as before, then it will be too late for you to regret it. ”

Frightened by Ignatiev's coaxing, Devil Six did not dare to have any neglect, and entered the palace on the same day to report the matter to Ci'an and Cixi, as a result, although Cixi and Ci'an were not happy with Ignatiev, they did not dare to take it lightly, and appointed Devil Six as the Minister of Plenipotentiary Negotiations on the spot, and led the people of the Military Aircraft Department to negotiate a military alliance with Ignatiev.

The difficulty of the alliance negotiations between the Manchu court and Tsarist Russia is only higher than that of Wu Chaoyue's negotiations with the British envoys, and the British have to at least have to be reasonable, and Wu Chaoyue also knows how to exchange interests and take advantage of the contradictions between the Western powers.

In order to take advantage of the fire to the greatest extent, Ignatiev not only put forward the territorial claims north of Shanhaiguan on behalf of Tsarist Russia, but also set his sights on a large area of territory in Outer Mongolia and the northwest. And once the devil six agreed, it was equivalent to giving half of China's land to Tsarist Russia, so even the traitors such as the devil six and Cixi did not dare to let go easily, coupled with Ci'an's resolute opposition, the negotiations quickly reached a deadlock.

Ci'an's unwavering opposition actually pinched the lifeblood of Tsarist Russia, Wu Chaoyue had openly turned against Tsarist Russia, Yang Xiuqing and the Taiping Army had never been a bird of Tsarist Russia, and Tsarist Russia wanted to seek interests in China through political and diplomatic means, in fact, there was only the last option left for the Manchu court. And now the Manchu court is unwilling to make big concessions, and the Tsarist side has no way to force the Manchu court to comply.

In desperation, the cunning Ignatiev had no choice but to make two preparations, one was to continue to negotiate with the Manchu court as much as possible, and the other was to decide not to rush to push the Manchu court into a corner, and to wait for the Wu army and the Taiping army to march north again, and then force the desperate Manchu court to sign the traitorous treaty.

In addition, in order to prevent the Manchu court from falling quickly and losing the target of blackmail, Ignatiev did not even dare to use the gun and ammunition aid promised by the Tsarist side to the Manchu court as a bargaining chip, threatening the Manchu court, whose military power was already crumbling. Therefore, during the negotiations, after the first batch of arms provided by Tsarist Russia to the Manchu court was sent from Siberia to the capital, Ignatiev did not dare to play any tricks, and immediately handed them over directly to the Manchu court to show the sincerity of Tsarist Russia's assistance.

Restricted by the national strength and the distance between industrial areas, the first batch of weapons aided by Tsarist Russia to the Manchu court was not particularly sophisticated, except for more than 1,600 Lizhi rifles that are world-class main battle rifles, the rest of the rifles are all front-loading smoothbore flintlock pistols that have gradually become obsolete in Europe, and there are more than 40 advanced artillery pieces with relatively high technical content, but the quality is still inferior to the main battle artillery of Britain, France and other industrial countries.

However, even so, in order to compete for this batch of weapons and equipment, the alcohol prince who controlled the forbidden army in the capital and the monk who controlled the Qing army in Zhili still almost didn't fight in the early dynasty, even if the devil Liu Yi said that Wenxiang still ordered arms in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, and it would soon be sent to the capital, the alcohol prince and the monk prince still refused to give in, and they all rushed to equip this batch of weapons first.

In the end, Ci'an and Cixi, who still tasted the sweetness, came forward to finalize the matter in person, and decided to continue to use good steel on the knife edge, and give priority to the supply of this batch of advanced weapons to the front line, and the rear army continued to wait for follow-up weapons, which finally blocked the mouths of the monk and the alcohol prince.

The matter is not over, Ci'an still imagined the same as last time, still sent this batch of weapons to Shandong and handed them over to Luo Bingzhang, but the monk and the prince stopped doing it, and protested: "Empress Dowager Dong, does this make the strength of the Han barbarian Luo Bingzhang too strong?" Let's not forget the lesson of Wu Chaoyue's traitor, the imperial court trusted Wu Chaoyue too much in the traitor, and let him control too much military power, so the current situation was caused. At this time, if we don't guard against Luo Bingzhang a little, let this old barbarian become the second Wu Chaoyue rebel, then who would dare to imagine the consequences? ”

Not to mention, the monk and the prince's foul mouth really made a little sense this time, considering the dangerous consequences of the strength of the Shandong New Army directly under Luo Bingzhang, Ci'an and Cixi also considered his opinion carefully for the first time. Finally, after a whispered discussion, Ci'an and Cixi also changed their minds and decided to hand over this batch of arms to Tomin'a, who was barely able to fight a little battle among the Manchu generals, so that Tomin'a, who could still pose a threat to the supply roads of the Wu army in Henan, could use these weapons to surprise Wu Chaoyue.

"Like Luo Bingzhang, try to block the news as much as possible, secretly send this batch of weapons to Henan and hand them over to Tomin A, and ask Tuo Minga to think of a way to make good use of this batch of foreigner guns that suddenly appeared in Henan as much as possible, like Luo Bingzhang, to give the court a surprise." This is Cixi's personal confession.

…………

Coincidentally, on the same day, Wu Chaoyue also officially handed over the task of capturing Xiangxian and Xuzhou Ercheng and expelling the Qing army Tuoming Abe to Zeng Guoquan, and at the same time, in order to increase the chances of victory and curry favor with Zeng Jijing, who was biased in the future, Wu Chaoyue also divided 800 pin guns that Prussia aided him and handed them over to Zeng Guoquan's new Hunan army equipment.

But it's a pity that Zeng Guoquan, who was deeply influenced by Zeng Guofan, was still not greedy enough, and said to Wu Chaoyue with a salivating face: "Weiting, it's too stingy, why did you give me a half-battalion of foreigners to shoot quickly?" You have so much ammunition in your hands, can't you equip a few more battalions? ”

"Uncle Nine, don't force me, okay?" Wu Chaoyue said with a wry smile: "In the Qinwang rebellion army I initiated, only the elite veterans or meritorious troops who have undergone strict training can be equipped with firing pin guns, and the other main forces can only be equipped with carbines or front-loading guns at most, and the rest are all arquebuses. If you're not enough, I really can't explain it to the soldiers. ”

Knowing that only Wu Chaoyue's most trusted army was qualified to equip a firing pin gun, Zeng Guoquan no longer insisted on it, and thanked his future niece and son-in-law for the first time a few years later, saying: "Cheng, I have received your heart." Don't worry, I will make good use of these precious weapons, and I will definitely not disgrace you and make it more difficult for you. ”

At the end, when Zeng Guoquan asked Wu Chaoyue what else to explain, Wu Chaoyue thought about it and said, "Uncle Jiu, there are three points that you must remember. First, you must trust the Shu Bao army that fights with you, especially the two generals Shu Bao and Mulaqi, and do not be suspicious of them in everything because they are Manchu Mongols, and be honest with them. It turns out that the subordinates of the two of them may still have different intentions, but they themselves are absolutely reliable. ”

"Second, don't fight the idea of annihilating the Tomina army and inflicting heavy damage, first of all, your strength is not enough, it is difficult to do this, and secondly, I also explained to you that leaving this waste enemy behind will do more harm to us, so the tactics of the Tomina army are just one sentence, and the expulsion is gone."

Speaking of this, Wu Chaoyue hesitated for a moment, but still said: "Third, Uncle Jiu, don't blame the little nephew for being rude, I have understood your combat characteristics, and I know that you are good at defending, especially good at defending instead of attacking, forcing the enemy to take the initiative to attack, but I don't want you to do this this time." ”

"Henan is not as good as the Yangtze River, fighting along the Yangtze River, Huguang's grain can be sent to the front line through the waterway, and the consumption on the road is very small. But Henan can't, land grain transportation is not only dangerous, the cost is also extraordinarily large, supporting you to fight with your favorite tactics, for me is too burdensome. ”

"So Uncle Nine, I hope you use your brains to fight this time." Wu Chaoyue pointed to his head and said: "While being invincible, try to win by surprise, make good use of the advanced weapons I gave you, as well as the cavalry equipped with advanced revolvers in Shu Bao's hands, and find a way to achieve victory at the lowest cost and in the fastest time, and be a real world-famous general." ”

Wu Chaoyue's subtle point made Zeng Guoquan, who was accustomed to fighting in a hard village, a little embarrassed, but fortunately, after several years of setbacks, and after seeing Zeng Guofan's fate and Wu Chaoyue's infinite scenery with his own eyes, Zeng Guoquan, who had carefully reflected on the reasons, also made a lot of progress, and quickly nodded and said: "Don't worry, I will block the news of equipping the firing pin gun, secretly equip and train secretly, and wait until the critical moment, and then take out a surprise from Tomin'a's chaotic army." ”

Wu Chaoyue smiled, nodded and said: "Remember that sending scouts and meticulous work to probe the enemy's situation, and use tactics and wisdom to win by surprise, is based on a detailed understanding of the enemy's situation, which is very important." ”