Jinmen, Zhili Governor's Yamen. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After the Japanese army arrived at Uiju City, the next morning, Song Qing's telegram was sent early and delivered to Li Hongzhang.

For this result, Li Hongzhang had expected it before.

Yesterday, Li Hongzhang received clear replies from the East as conveyed by the ministers of Western countries.

- Unless the Qing Dynasty surrenders, peace talks are exempt!

Hearing Dongyang's rampant answer, Li Hongzhang was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood.

Who would have thought that this student, who had studied the Qing Dynasty for more than 200 years and had always been obedient, would show such wolf ambitions after a little more wings.

When he returned to the house last night, Li Hongzhang sat in a chair in a rage, and he didn't even have the strength to get up and get into bed.

As a result, when I got up this morning, I received this telegram that the Japanese had entered the city of Uiju.

"Send the message to the ,—— of the Kyoshi"

Li Hongzhang's haggard face was full of exhaustion, he hesitated slightly, and said to Li Jingfang: "Also send a telegram to all yamen in Tianjin, and post notices to vigorously recruit soldiers; This battle ——, not over for a while. ”

"Son, I'll do it."

Li Jingfang endured the panic in his heart, quickly stood up, took the telegram from Jiulian City, and walked towards the telegram room.

Zhang Peilun looked at Li Jingfang's back as he disappeared into the corner of the door, and felt a little surprised in his heart.

Since the brother-in-law came back from taking merits in North Korea, his father-in-law has relied on him more and more, discussing everything with him, and unconsciously, he has ignored a lot of his own opinions.

"Zhongtang, this Song Qing is really too confused this time; If he listened to Zhongtang's hints, he took the initiative to give up the defense line of the Yalu River, which was unsafe, in advance, and formed a heavy army to guard the dangerous passes on the front line of Xiuyan, Phoenix, and Kuandian; ”

Zhang Peilun thought about it and said: "Even if the Japanese soldiers cross the Yalu River, as long as they can't hit the line of Liaoyang, Haicheng, and Yingkou, the imperial court has nothing to say; But the current defense line of the Yalu River has become an axe hanging over our Beiyang head! Once lost, this axe will fall on the head of our Beiyang-"

Speaking of this, Zhang Peilun shivered all over his body.

If this defense line of the Yalu River is really as vulnerable as He Changying predicted, and Pyongyang was lost the previous time, the imperial court threw two army generals under Zhongtang into prison.

So who should be the scapegoat for losing the Yalu River defense line this time?

The Wu Yi Army of Ye Zhichao, the commander of Zhili, was stationed in Ninghe County, 40 miles north of Jinmen, for more than 10 years, and had 30 battalions in its heyday, although it was repeatedly cut, it still has 10 battalions.

Although the 10 battalions of soldiers were paid a lot by Ye Zhichao, the combat power of these 3,000 troops has always been the strongest in Beiyang under Nie Shicheng's intensive training for many years.

Wei Rugui, the commander-in-chief of the Sheng army, led the 17th battalion of infantry and horse training troops stationed at the small station of Jinmen, and was the most trusted military general in Zhongtang, and because Wei Rugui's empty salary was not very serious, the strength of the Sheng army was now the first in Beiyang.

Below it is Song Qing's 14th Battalion Yijun Qinqing Army, Zhang Gaoyuan's 16th Battalion Songwu Army, Dai Zongqian's 8th Battalion of Suigong Army, Ye Zhichao's 10th Battalion Luyu Defense Army, Wu Yuren's Renzi Army Principal and Deputy 6th Battalion, and Liu Shengxiu's 11th Battalion Ming Army.

As for some of the Gong Guards who were dismantled before the war, leaving only two or three battalions, they are not qualified to be scapegoats.

The reason why the imperial court caught Ye Zhichao and Wei Rugui last time was because they had two armies, one with the strongest military strength and the other with the most troops.

And both of them are from Feixi.

What's more important is that these two tiger armies are lying on the side of the couch of the Beijing Division, which is just a hundred miles away from the morning and twilight.

How can those people in the court not take care of it?

On the side of the couch, how can you allow others to snore!

"Huo Guang monopolized the power of the DPRK, and Emperor Xuan Taoguang raised obscurity and gradually reduced his wings."

In Zhang Peilun's mind, this sentence suddenly popped up, making his face suddenly turn white and his heart shuddered.

Now looking around the entire Beiyang Theater, in addition to Lord Zhongtang, who has always been a thorn in the emperor's side, where is there a higher Beiyang minister than Ye Zhichao?

"You've figured it out?"

A mocking sneer erupted on Li Hongzhang's wrinkled old face: "Even if this war cannot be avoided, as long as the imperial court judges the situation and loses the face of North Korea, it can completely push back the war for ten or eight years; Then the country was angry and tried to be strong, and trained the troops to the death——, but the court was unwilling! ”

Li Hongzhang lit his cigarette pouch: "The imperial court has always regarded Beiyang as a thorn in the flesh, how can they let go of such a good God-given opportunity to weaken Beiyang?" After the victory, the imperial court had face, and of course Beiyang suffered heavy losses, and the little emperor just supported other factions to continue to suppress Beiyang; If you lose—"

Li Hongzhang's voice was full of sadness: "Then the tree will fall and scatter!" ”

Zhang Peilun's heart almost stopped when he heard it, it was not that he couldn't understand this truth, but this was the first time Zhongtang said it so bluntly, how could he not help but be shocked.

"Zhongtang, it's not that there is no room for redemption; Weng Tonggong is so nonsense, Lafayette is not confused. ”

Zhang Peilun tried his best to suppress the fear in his heart, and his voice was dry, persuading Li Hongzhang.

"Not confused? Hmph—"

Li Hongzhang let out a cold snort in his nose: "She is pretending to be confused by looking at each other coldly!" Lafayette has guarded the Qing Dynasty for decades, and now he is going to enter the garden to recuperate, after all, the world is their love for Xinjueluo, although she didn't say it explicitly, but she is also waiting for the old man to take the initiative to tell the old man and make way for the emperor. ”

Li Hongzhang said angrily: "Our Beiyang, Huai Department, lackeys who have been to the imperial court for decades, the emperor's impulsive and ruthless character of nepotism, how dare I let it go easily!" ”

"Why can the teacher barely die in infamy, and why is the Hunan department still prosperous? It's not because Lafayette is a rare stoic figure in our Qing Dynasty, because in front of the Hunan system stands our Beiyang; Let me ask you, when Lafayette enters the garden in the future, he will completely let it go, the emperor wants to take the Beiyang knife, who can resist it! ”

Sweat rolled down Zhang Peilun's head and face, soaking his handkerchief.

"I have been vigorously cultivating Yuan Shikai and Sheng Huaixuan before, just to wait for me to retreat, our Beiyang still has the ability to bargain with the imperial court, but this Qing-Japanese war has broken everything;"

Li Hongzhang closed his eyes tiredly, and said faintly: "When the defense line of the Yalu River is defeated, that is, when I step down for my father, the people and officials all over the world shout and shout to kill me Li Hongzhang, just like the teacher back then." ”

"Wait for another two years, and when the emperor sits firmly in his position, he will start to knife the Hunan and Huai systems, and calculate the general account of the past few decades; The officials in this world are all ordinary black crows, who is not greedy? Whoever finds out will have to lose their heads and go to jail! And the gentleman falls, Jiaqing is full-"

Li Hongzhang hadn't finished the words in his heart so happily for many years, opened his eyes and glanced at Zhang Peilun, who was sweaty, and said with a smile: "You have been refusing to enter the company all these years, it seems that you are still right, you should also rest; In less than two days, we will move out of this governor's palace, and from now on, the imperial court, Beiyang, and the Yalu River in Liaodong, let's all put it down. ”

"Zhongtang, what about He Changying?"

For He Changying, a young, capable and capable new-generation general who seems to be very righteous enough, Zhang Peilun is still very willing to be a 'brother-in-law' with him.