Tianjin, Beiyang Minister's Office.

Early in the morning, Li Hongzhang was lying on the rattan chair and was closing his eyes to recuperate, which was a habit of him, and he would lie on the rattan chair for a while every morning.

The events on the Korean front made him a little uneasy, and he had already received a telegram from Kaesong, saying that Nie Shicheng and Zhang Yi were assassinated by Japanese assassins on the way back home after reviewing the new army, although Zhang Yi was safe and sound, but Nie Shicheng was indeed seriously wounded, in order not to affect the progress of the Sino-Japanese war, Nie Shicheng insisted on recuperating on the Korean side and commanding the battle at the same time.

Li Hongzhang understood what Nie Shicheng meant, he was afraid that once the imperial court selected others to be stationed in North Korea, would he be able to obey Zhang Yi's words and bend the bottle like him, but he was very uncertain, once the new commander could not control the situation in North Korea, the situation of painstaking management might be in vain.

Therefore, Li Hongzhang did not hesitate at all, and agreed to the telegram between Nie Shicheng and Ma Yukun.

Li Hongzhang sat on the rattan chair and shook his head gently, just like this, but he suffered from Gongting, his body was seriously injured, and it was not easy to persist on the front line, and he didn't know if this guy could support it, after all, he was already nearly sixty years old.

Just when Li Hongzhang's mind was turning, Zhang Peilun walked in from outside the door and said repeatedly: "My lord, my lord, Kaesong telegram, something big has happened!" ”

Li Hongzhang's heart was shocked, and he hurriedly asked, "What's the matter, could it be that Nie Shicheng's injury has worsened and he can't hold on?" ”

Zhang Peilun shook his head and said, "No, Brother Gongting's body can still support it." It's just that yesterday evening, the intelligence agency in Kaesong got a major piece of military information from the headquarters of the Japanese army in Seoul, and it has just been forwarded. ”

Zhang Peilun handed the telegram to Li Hongzhang, and then said: "The Japanese base camp has decided to launch all the navies to attack Yantai in early November, in an attempt to defeat our Beiyang Naval Division in one fell swoop. ”

After reading the telegram, Li Hongzhang's face changed greatly, and he said: "Youqiao, immediately pass on my order and summon all the important people in Beiyang who are here to discuss matters here!" ”

Zhang Peilun went down to convey the order, while Li Hongzhang sat down on a rattan chair, his face extremely pale.

Today's Japanese Navy has added three giant ships, each of which has a combat power above Dingyuan and Zhenyuan, which Xue Fulin told him at the beginning, he didn't expect to arrive in Japan so soon, and what he didn't expect was that just after arriving in Japan, the Japanese Navy went to China to launch a naval offensive, how could his Beiyang naval division be able to stop it?

In the past, if you can't stop it, the naval division can still run, this time, the Japanese navy is still behind with more than 10,000 Japanese army, once the Beiyang naval division leaves Yantai to avoid the war, then if the Japanese army in the back lands in Yantai, it will not take long to go straight to Beijing, but I don't want to say that the black yarn can't be saved, even if the life of the family can be saved, it is difficult to say.

Run, can't run; Hit, can't beat. It's a dead knot that's hard to untie!

Just when Li Hongzhang was worried, all the dignitaries of the Beiyang First Department in Tianjin rushed to the Beiyang Minister's Mansion one after another.

Sheng Xuanhuai, Yang Shixiang, Zhang Peilun and others were all present, and unexpectedly Ding Ruchang, the admiral of the navy, was also in Tianjin, and he rushed over at the right time.

Seeing Li Hongzhang's gloomy face and frowning, everyone felt that the situation was a bit serious, and asked one after another.

Li Hongzhang sighed and handed the telegram to Ding Ruchang, after all, this matter was directly related to the Beiyang Naval Division, and Ding Ruchang looked at the telegram carefully.

Before he could finish reading it, Ding Ruchang's face turned extremely pale, and he hurriedly said, "Lord Zhongtang, this, this is true?" What to do? ”

Everyone looked at Li Hongzhang and Ding Ruchang.

Li Hongzhang sighed and recounted the experience.

Everyone is shocked, what should I do?

Li Hongzhang sighed and said: "Dead knot, this is a dead knot!" The battle cannot be won, and there is no retreat...... Tell me, talk about it, and see if there's any good way? ”

Everyone was silent, what can be done, although the Beiyang Navy Division has mobilized the elite warships of the three naval divisions of Nanyang, Fujian, and Guangdong, but in terms of strength, it is only on par with the original Japanese Navy, or even slightly inferior, and now the Japanese Navy has three new warships with such strong combat power, how can it be resisted?

Ding Ruchang said hatefully: "Lord Zhongtang, Weng Tong has misled the country, if he hadn't allocated us naval funds over the years, we wouldn't have fallen so far, I really want to kill this old guy!" ”

Li Hongzhang looked at the crowd and it was difficult to have any good plans, he shook his head helplessly, old, these people are already old, they can't keep up with the development of this world, they are still in the original sword and sword shadow, and they have no deep understanding of the rapid development of the Western world in the past few decades. Although Sheng Xuanhuai and others have outstanding knowledge and are superior to others, they are not military generals after all, and they are still laymen in fighting with the marching army.

Nie Shicheng is still lucky, he found a genius Zhang Jianzhi under his hands, and helped him fight to block everything, what about himself, the big war is imminent, and no one is available. He is clear about the commanders of the Huai Army, how many catties and taels there are, and now he knows what the so-called elite combat power of the Huai Army is, and he knows it well, and it is because of this that he is worried, the current Huai Department battalions are simply impossible to be the elite opponents of the Japanese Army!

Zhang Jianzhi! When Li Hongzhang thought of this name, his eyes lit up. That's right, isn't this telegram sent by Zhang Yi instead of Nie Shicheng, there is a ready-made little Zhuge who doesn't ask, what's the use of worrying here?

Li Hongzhang shouted: "Youqiao, quickly call Kaecheng and ask Zhang Jianzhi to see if he has any good strategies to solve the current crisis!"

Zhang Peilun agreed, and hurriedly turned around and went out to send a telegram.

Li Hongzhang looked at everyone present, and sighed again. Twenty years ago, it was this group of people who followed their own expeditions in the south and the north to fight in the east and west, and created the prestige of the Beiyang family, and now they are still in the hands of these people?

No way! I, Li Hongzhang, resolutely do not allow Beiyang to decline, I still have Tianjin Wubei Academy in my hands, as well as Zhang Jianzhi, and Yuan Shikai, Beiyang, it's time to reshuffle the cards and update the blood!

In Kaecheng, Zhang Yi stood in front of Nie Shicheng's bed.

Nie Shicheng was holding the telegram sent by Zhang Peilun on order.

"Jianzhi, how do you think you should reply to this matter?" Nie Shicheng coughed one after another, gasping and asked.

Zhang Yi pondered for a moment and replied firmly: "Eight words, please enter the urn, close the door and beat the dog!" ”