"Do you think I can't think of such a simple strategy?" , Li Hui's face was uncertain, he had already thought of a similar strategy, but if he wanted to control the more than 10,000 Qing troops in Lushun Fortress, he had to send at least a few thousand rebels to go over together, in this way, it would be very dangerous if it was detected by the other party, even if the power and reliability of the flowering shells equipped with the Lushun Fortress cannon were not good, it was still very destructive on the transport ship, and if it was not good, it would lose all the thousands of elite soldiers

For the rebel army, which has always had outrageously low casualties, such a risk is too great, it is better to send a regiment to land at Huayuankou first, and then quickly seize the Jinzhou Isthmus, as long as the position is built, the powerful firepower of a regiment of 12 75 ladies and 54 heavy machine guns is enough to easily seal the narrow terrain there, not to mention more than 10,000 Qing troops, even if it is the current 100,000 Western Army, don't think about rushing through. After sealing the land route, Li Hui sent the navy to block the sea route, so that Lushun was completely isolated and helpless, and with its extremely unbearable performance in history, it should be easy to make a forced landing.

Compared with the strategy of camouflage surprise attack, although this method takes a lot more time, it is much more secure, and there will be basically no casualties, and Li Hui naturally will not choose the latter. So it's no wonder that Li Hui feels angry, Lao Li is simply doubting his IQ!

Fortunately, Li Hongzhang had already prepared for this, and replied unhurriedly, "You can let Youqiao go with you, and the other party will definitely not suspect it." ”

"Zhang Peilun, that's your son-in-law, what is the difference between him going to help us deceive us and writing a letter yourself?" , Li Hui was surprised, but Li Hongzhang smiled and did not answer.

Li Hui's brain is not slow, and he soon figured out the twists and turns, although Zhang Peilun is Lao Li's beloved son-in-law, but in the case of being captured, his personal "rebellion" will not implicate Lao Li, at least he will not let Lao Li also bear the notoriety of "rebellion", at most it is just "no way to discipline".

After thinking about the difference, Li Hui's face turned a little pale, but he still couldn't help but question, "Lao Zhongtang, what is your attitude towards the Manchu Dynasty, if you want to say that you are loyal, why do you want your son-in-law to help us, if you want to say that you are unfaithful, why do you refuse to do things for me?" ”

"Actually, that court, that court, has long seen that there is no hope", Li Hongzhang sighed faintly and replied, "It's just that the old man doesn't want to become a second minister who has been stinking for thousands of years, so he forgives his fate." ”

When Li Hui heard this, he immediately sneered unceremoniously, "Ten thousand years of stench? If you are stubborn like this, you will be left with a stench for 10,000 years! When the new China is established, the old moral standards will be replaced by the new, and loyalty to the monarch will no longer be a virtue, but will be replaced by nationalist and patriotic ideas. On the eve of the liberation of the world, you died as a loyal minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the future history books will only be marked with the two big words 'traitor'! And then he has been scolded by later generations! Don't be obsessed with it anymore! ”

"In fact, the old man understands, and has long understood, that the world is undergoing unprecedented changes, and the previous moral norms are likely to change greatly in the future." , Li Hongzhang muttered, his tone became more and more urgent, and his tone became higher and higher, "But the old man can't pass his own level, if the old man admits the new moral outlook, then wouldn't the previous decades of life experience all become mistakes?" You are asking the old man to deny his life! The old man is old, and it is impossible to change the things in his concept, so he would rather hide in the shell like a snail and deceive himself. ”

Li Hui has always been a character who eats soft rather than hard, and when he saw Li Hongzhang dragging his elderly body and almost crying and begging for himself, his heart suddenly softened again, and he was about to give up for a while. But after he sent Zhang Peilun over, he found that there was actually no hole to exploit here

After all, Zhang Peilun is 25 years younger than his father-in-law, and it is easier to turn the corner in his thinking, and he has already accepted his fate at this time, and he has long been ruined because of his clear name, and he has been somewhat broken and broken over the years, and he doesn't care much about adding another infamy.

Therefore, unlike his stubborn father-in-law, Zhang Peilun simply expressed his sincerity, and also said the key to the problem, "In fact, it is not so difficult to let go of the family, as long as you destroy the Manchu court first. And if in the process of conquering Beijing, he can persuade a few big people who are no less powerful than Jiayue, he does not have to be at the top of the list of ministers, and the possibility of agreeing is even greater."

"I see, anyway, I was going to attack Beijing, so it would be a matter of waiting a few more days. Now most of the troops are concentrated in Tianjin, enough for two-front operations, Lushun side will ask Youqiao, if everything goes well, when Lushun is taken, maybe the battle of Beijing has not yet started. Li Hui was in a good mood and couldn't help laughing.

The reason why it takes so long to attack Beijing is nothing more than the drag of artillery, after all, Beijing is the imperial capital for hundreds of years, and the city walls are tall and strong, unless the enemy is defeated by the wind, it is difficult to take it without artillery.

Although this possibility is actually very large, we should still be cautious when calculating before the war, otherwise once we develop the bad habit of seeing no one in our eyes, we will pay a heavy price for it sooner or later in the future.

Due to the long delay this time, the enemy finally sensed the danger in advance, but because the Manchu government had always neglected intelligence work, the situation of the rebel army was still very little known for several days, which naturally made the young Guangxu Emperor thunder and angry, "I don't know where the enemy comes from!" Tianjin City is lost, I don't know! You still don't know how many soldiers and horses the enemy has, what weapons and equipment! I don't know if you ask three questions, what's the use of keeping you? ”

But Guangxu's anger was not vented after all, the real ruler of the Manchu government stopped the emperor's impulse in time, although the Empress Dowager Cixi was also very dissatisfied, but she at least knew that at this time must first stabilize the hearts of the people, and such a thing as killing ministers in vain must not be done

However, Cixi is not Xie An after all, and she does not have a reliable world-class army like Beifu Bing in her hands, so although she temporarily calmed down the interior, it did not help much to solve the problem. And Li Hongzhang's absence made Cixi lose one of the most important think tanks, and her defects of being proficient in power but not good at solving specific problems were completely exposed, and in desperation, Cixi thought of the "devil six" (to be continued) who was intertwined with her grievances. )