The "short-haired thief" is powerful, this is the conclusion that Li Hongzhang drew from the intelligence gathered. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

The 150,000 army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was actually defeated by the 20,000 army of the "short-haired thief", everyone feels incredible, but what happened, is it strange, everyone wants to know why.

From the intelligence, Li Hongzhang knew why the Han army was so powerful, because the Han army was equipped with more advanced firearms than the Manchu Qing Dynasty: firearms (heavy machine guns) that could quickly spit out bullets, rifles that could fire repeatedly, small revolvers, long-range and powerful artillery, and artillery with a very fast firing speed.

These firearms are powerful, and the "short-haired thieves" relied on these sharp firearms to easily defeat the Manchu army without their knowledge.

Oh yes, the intelligence also describes that the "short-haired thief" can cast a spell to turn the night into day, Li Hongzhang scoffed at this, casting a spell, how is it possible, it is better to say that the "short-haired thief" has the help of immortals behind it, and the sky is going to die in the Qing Dynasty, Li Hongzhang thinks that it should be something that the "short-haired thief" made can illuminate the night.

However, the "short-haired thief" has this kind of thing, so there is no need to be afraid of night battles, which is not good news for the Qing Dynasty.

No longer thinking about what made the "short-haired thief" light up the night, Li Hongzhang set his eyes on the elite firearms equipped by the "short-haired thief".

Some of these firearms are so powerful that even Li Hongzhang has never seen them, could it be that the Westerners invented new weapons and then sold them to "short-haired thieves"?

Li Hongzhang felt that this was very likely, and hurriedly sent his men to ask the foreigners, asking them if they knew about those sharp firearms, but the results made Li Hongzhang a little disappointed, the West does have similar weapons, but the power or rate of fire is not as good as the information Li Hongzhang got as described, even Li Hongzhang himself wondered if it was those defeated soldiers in order to reduce their own guilt, over-boasting about the weapons of the "short-haired thieves", but this is not what one person said, but hundreds of people said so, They can't be complicit.

Li Hongzhang could not get a specific answer, and there was a little speculation in his heart, guessing that the "short-haired thief" invented it himself, but quickly threw away this idea, how is this possible, the Chinese can invent such sharp firearms?

In the end, Li Hongzhang could only attribute the problem to the defeated army, the power of the "short-haired thief" firearms was not so strong, but the defeated army all exaggerated the power of the "short-haired thief" firearms, as if only such an explanation could work.

However, the explanation of the sharp firearms of the "short-haired thieves" alone is not enough to explain why the 150,000-strong army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was defeated by 20,000 "short-haired thieves".

If you want to talk about firearms, the Qing army also has them, and they are equipped with relatively advanced rifles and relatively advanced artillery, even if they are not as good as the firearms equipped by the "short-haired thieves", it will not be too far behind, and the Qing army still has a numerical advantage.

After thinking about it for several days, Li Hongzhang finally understood why the Qing army lost.

The first is the problem of firearms, the firearms equipped by the Qing army cannot catch up with the firearms equipped by the "short-haired thieves"; the second is a tactical problem, and the third is the problem of the Qing army's own system.

The issue of firearms is well illustrated, so I will not explain it.

Tactical issues are very important, five battles, basically the "short-haired thief" relying on the fortifications to defend, and the Qing army attacked, the way the Qing army attacked was not right, before the "short-haired thief" was found to be powerful, he ordered the whole army to press, in the vain hope of winning with more people, but in the end was easily defeated by the "short-haired thief" powerful firepower, if the tactics were changed, the Qing army did not take the initiative to charge, but also built fortifications and the "short-haired thief" against it, then the "short-haired thief" could not defeat the Qing army so easily.

As for the system problem of the Qing army itself, this is very serious, not to mention the empty salaries of the generals, so that the number of soldiers in each battalion is insufficient, and there are not a few officers and soldiers and generals who smoke big cigarettes in the 150,000 Manchu army, and Li Hongzhang himself does not know how much combat strength is left in such an army, and it is impossible for Li Hongzhang himself to defeat the "short-haired thieves" by relying on 50,000 still elite troops alone.

In addition, Li Hongzhang saw the information about the "short-haired thief" army coming out of the territory of Siqi Province, the soldiers of the "short-haired thief" were very elite, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty could not catch up, and it can be seen from the queue of the "short-haired thief" army that it was neat and tidy, and even the pace was the same when walking, and the Westerners' army might not be able to catch up, although this does not show how much combat strength this army has, at least the discipline is very good, and it can also be seen from the battle between the Manchus and the "short-haired thief" that the combat effectiveness of this army is also amazing.

"Alas, why can't such a strong army be used by the Qing Dynasty?" Li Hongzhang sighed.

From the elite army of the "short-haired thief", Li Hongzhang can also see that the Yan clan has really been preparing to rebel for a long time, such an elite army can be trained in a few months, and no one will believe it when they say it, at least it will take more than a year, and now it has only taken much time for the Yan clan to rebel and conquer the entire four provinces.

Recently, many ministers in the imperial court impeached Weng Tonggong and other Qing school ministers, saying that Weng Tonggong and other Qing school ministers proposed to confiscate the Yan family, which caused the Yan family to rebel.

For this kind of thing, Li Hongzhang wants to scold people, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is surrounded by foreign enemies, and there are internal troubles, and now he is still going to internal fighting, can the Qing Dynasty still be good?

Li Hongzhang doesn't think about it so much, they just make trouble if they like, just do their own thing.

Li Hongzhang saw from the elite army of the "short-haired thieves" that the army is not much more expensive, and an elite army must have good discipline and be equipped with all kinds of firearms, so that such an army can be called elite, and only such an army can resist the "short-haired thief."

Such an elite army of the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not need much, only 100,000 people, which could not only exterminate the short-haired thieves, but also deter foreign enemies.

Li Hongzhang reported that the Empress Dowager Cixi wanted to train the new army, and the new army that was trained could defeat the "short-haired thief", and the Empress Dowager Cixi immediately agreed.

Of course, the Empress Dowager Cixi is not stupid, Li Hongzhang can train a new army, and it is necessary to use Manchu people to train a new army, which Li Hongzhang naturally agrees with.

After that, Li Hongzhang was thinking about how to train the new army.

Li Hongzhang didn't know how such an elite army should be trained, but Li Hongzhang found that the army of the "short-haired thief" was somewhat like the army of the Westerners, of course, it was just like it, and there were still many differences.

However, it was this image that Li Hongzhang decided to turn to the Westerners for help, and let the Westerners help the Manchus build a powerful army.

Later, Li Hongzhang personally visited the envoys of some Western countries in China, but there was no willingness to train Western-style troops for the Manchus.

Just when Li Hongzhang was disappointed, the British took the initiative to come to the door and said that they were willing to help the Manchus train Western-style troops, but it would cost a lot of money.

It is not a matter of spending money to solve the matter, but the wealthy businessmen have donated tens of millions of taels of silver, and it is enough to train the new army, Li Hongzhang hurriedly agreed to the British.

Preparations for the Manchurian Army began in earnest.