If the field is dry for a long time, it will not be able to grow crops, and people are the same, now it looks infinitely better, but Li Hongzhang, who is near dusk, is like this field, after many years of drought, he finally got this nectar.

Liu Jun's telegram was the best medicine for Li Hongzhang to quench his thirst.

For many years, he was in the court, either said to support the army and self-respect, or said to be a moth in the Qing Dynasty, and even as an emperor, Weng Tonggong, who was an official in the same dynasty, also wrote a poem and scolded, "The prime minister is thin in the world." ”

The head of the family doesn't know that oil and salt are expensive, in addition to being able to brag with a mouth, and writing a few words of Confucius with a mouth, and a few words of Confucius, he can slip his beard and pat the horse, shoot the emperor, and shoot the people blindly, so that Emperor Guangxu has alienated himself again and again. In the end, I had to eat with the woman in the back. It's sad to think about dying in.

Since the outbreak of the war, there have been many people in the imperial court who said in front of the emperor that his evil thoughts have wasted countless amounts of silver, but he has not been able to train a strong army, and he has been removed from his post to investigate.

It's good now. With such a big good news, how can Li Hongzhang let go of these people who once stabbed him, let alone forget this great opportunity to put gold on his face.

Hurriedly picked up Liu Jun's telegram and brought peacock feathers. Li Hongzhang roared out of Tianjin, came to the feet of the Son of Heaven, wept bitterly, and said that this great victory was a great victory that no one had ever come before and no one had ever won it again.

Everything was expected by Li Hongzhang, Guangxu was happy on the spot, rewarded the yellow jacket, and wore it in front of the emperor.

Li Hongzhang, who has always had revenge and rewarded, could let go of this opportunity, and did not forget to dig the well, while he mentioned Liu Jun to ask for credit, he also nominated the person who slandered him at that time. The purpose is to clean up these nonsense mouths.

All the victories are the master's Guangxu immediately became furious, pretending not to know in detail, and after comforting Li Hongzhang, he expelled a few imperial historians to calm Li Hongzhang's anger.

Li Hongzhang, who had always been wealthy, sent 33 battalions, more than 13,000 horses, a few tons of explosives, 10 field guns, and countless grains and grass to Lushun with a wave of his hand.

And this task is handed over to the Beiyang Naval Division, which has now been freed from the siege of the Combined Fleet.

After the defeat of the Combined Fleet at Arthur, Ito saw that his strength was greatly damaged, and he could not suppress the Beiyang Naval Division, which was full of tendons and flesh in the short term, and in addition to the lack of ammunition, he urgently needed to replenish it, so he had withdrawn from the Weiwai Siege three days ago and returned to Nagasaki. After the Itsukushima is repaired, he will come to compete with the Beiyang Navy Division and dominate the Yellow Sea.

Weihai, Liugong Island, Beiyang Navy Yamen Meeting Room, Ding Ruchang looked at the naval divisions sitting on both sides, coughed softly, and briefly explained the purpose of this meeting: "Lord Zhongtang has an order, let my naval division escort the army and equipment to Lushun, I don't know if you have a plan." With that, he passed the telegram on the table. Then look at the pipe belts of the ships of the naval division.

Dingyuan Guan took Liu Buyun to read the telegram carefully, and arched his hand and said: "Junmen, this escort is not as good as escorting the army to land on the same day, but the strength of thirty-three battalions, even if it is a transport ship to transport troops, there will be more than a dozen. ”

Seeing that Ding Ruchang had doubts, he knew that he was worried that if the main force was all dispatched, he was afraid that the Japanese army would come back to attack Weihai, so he said again: "Junmen, at present, the combined fleet has returned to Japan, replenished ammunition, and waited for Itsukushima to be repaired. From Weihai to Lushun, it only takes two days to go back and forth. Even if the Combined Fleet knew the news of the escort and set sail immediately, then before he came to Weihai, our sailors would let him return to Lushun. ”

Ding Ruchang listened to Liu Buyun's words, and thought about it, the crux of the problem lies in when the army will arrive in Weihai and where will the transport ships to transport the army be deployed.

"What you say is reasonable, but how do we deal with this transport ship, everyone knows that after coming from Toshima, foreign countries stopped leasing merchant ships for my sailors to use, how is this good?"

"Junmen, the subordinates see if the Junmen can send a report to Lord Zhongtang, asking if the grand master of China Merchants can borrow the merchant ship for use and return it immediately after the transportation is completed." Liu Buyun said again.

Lin Taizeng, the leader of the Zhenyuan pipe next to him, also said: "My subordinates agree with General Liu's suggestion and ask the steamship China Merchants Bureau to come forward to transport together, and with our naval division, it is possible to transport more than 10,000 troops and corresponding equipment." ”

Ding Ruchang nodded, this is the only way at present, after ordering the sailor to prepare for the escort, he immediately asked someone to send an encrypted telegram to Li Hongzhang. Request the steamship China Merchants Bureau to cooperate with the transportation.

After receiving the telegram, Li Hongzhang agreed to Ding Ruchang's request, and immediately ordered Sheng Huaixuan to transfer the ship to Weihai. Act with the Mariner.

On the evening of December 3, all the Qing troops and weapons and ammunition transferred from various places arrived in Weihai, and Ding Ruchang, in order to prevent long nights and dreams, began to ship them that night, and in the early morning of the next day, except for leaving Zhenyuan and a few training ships to defend Weihai, the main forces all set sail to escort the army. The huge fleet, like a black dragon, took advantage of the cover of the night to slowly leave the port and sail towards Arthur.

Before the fleet departed, Ding Ruchang sent a telegram to Liu Jun to get ready.

The mighty fleet, after leaving Weihai, put forward full speed and headed for Lushun.

When Liu Jun received Ding Ruchang, it was already three o'clock in the evening.

Noisy from the bed by Zhong Lin's pig's voice, Liu Jun's eyes drooped, and with the help of Wu Xiaoyan, after putting on a coat, he came to the brazier in the outhouse.

After reading the telegram, Liu Jun's face was full of sleepiness and disappeared outside the nine clouds. The mind was full of the 33rd battalion of military horses. Happily patting his hands that were frozen into steamed buns, Liu Jun said happily, "You go and inform Li He, Wu Datong, and go to the study to see me immediately." ”

Zhong Lin nodded, turned around and walked out of the room. Putting down the telegram in his hand, Liu Jun looked at Wu Xiaoyan, who was still asleep, kissed him on the forehead, and began to get dressed.

"Why don't you sleep, it's not dawn yet." Wu Xiaoyan was awakened by the sound of Liu Jun getting dressed, opened her eyes and asked with concern.

"I just received a telegram from the sailor division that the sailor transporting the army has already set off, and I will arrange to meet it." Speaking of this, Liu Jun had already dressed and sat on the edge of the bed, and he put Wu Xiaoyan's hand outside into the quilt: "Silly, the weather is tired, and you still put your hand outside." ”

Wu Xiaoyan sighed, and when she saw that Liu Jun was leaving, she asked softly, "Hey, bring the cloak on, it's cold outside." ”

"I know, go to sleep, you don't have to wait for me to eat tomorrow, you and Xiang'er eat first." After speaking, Liu Jun opened the door and rushed to the county government.

Wu Datong and Liu Jun both lived in the county government, so the two met in the living room, and the two exchanged pleasantries for a while, and Li and Zhong Lin came to the guest room together.

Liu Jun briefly told everyone about the situation: "I just received a telegram from the Admiral of the Naval Division that the main force of the Beiyang Naval Division has escorted more than 13,000 army troops and two horse battalions of 6,000 people to set off from Weihai. It is estimated that it will arrive in Lushun tomorrow.

Wu Datong and Li He glanced at each other, and they both said happily: "Master, this is a good thing." ”

Liu Jun nodded: "It's indeed a good thing, since our campaign, we have not been seriously attritional, especially the second regiment of the first brigade and the third regiment of the second brigade, both of which have been reduced by more than half, and the cavalry regiment, which has also lost a lot of troops in this battle. In addition, the sailors not only escorted reinforcements this time, but also ammunition that we urgently needed. As you all know, in this battle, although we annihilated many enemies and captured a lot of guns, we still had a very short supply of bullets. This transport fleet is loaded with the ammunition that Lord Nakado gave us. So we must let all these things arrive safely in Lushun and be loaded and unloaded into storage. ”

"What the master said makes sense, but the question is what should we do?" Wu Datong thought for a while and asked.

"That's what I think, Lao Li, after dawn, you immediately lead the Hashidate and the Pingyuan out of the port, find the escort fleet, and then join the escort fleet."

"Don't worry, I'll leave as soon as dawn." Li He stood up and saluted.

"Lao Wu, you work hard, tomorrow issue a notice, gather the people, set up a military camp outside the city, the salary is three yuan a day, including food and accommodation, please tell everyone, try to build it before noon the day after tomorrow, and don't let the new troops crowd the city."

"Don't worry, I'll go and post a notice in a while." Wu Datong stood up and lowered his head slightly and said, he is not a soldier, he just bowed his head slightly to show respect.

Liu Jun thought for a while, worried that he would not be able to complete it on time by relying on the people alone, so he said to Wu Datong: "In this way, I will hand over the second regiment, the third regiment and the cavalry regiment of the second brigade to you." ”

Looking back at Zhong Lin, Liu Jun said: "Zhong Lin, you lead the first regiment tomorrow to take a good rest on the road from the military port to the arsenal in Lushun, and then guard this section." It is convenient to transport, and at the same time, do not let the Japanese spies take advantage of the loopholes. Also, I will have someone inform Li Rong to transfer the strength of a regiment and come back to assist you. ”

"Head, don't worry. I promise to complete the task. ”