At the beginning of the sixth year of Guangxu, Song Xiaofei took Qiuyi from the waterway to Yantai, hired a carriage, entered Dengzhou City from the West Gate and met Wu Changqing, and went to North Korea together.

Dengzhou City was opened as a treaty port in the Xianfeng period, and there were many Chinese and foreign merchants and inns. The spring breeze blows, and the air is filled with a moist fishy smell along the way.

That day, Song Xiaofei rested in the carriage with his eyes closed, but there was a strong hurricane in his mind, his understanding of the history of North Korea was limited to kimchi and a few major events that were not impressive, and the time of this Dayuanjun coup seemed to be advanced because he and Liu Mingchuan went to North Korea last time, that is to say, the wheel of history has changed, and what the future will look like is a little unpredictable.

Song Xiaofei had been training in the Li Hongzhang shogunate for four or five years, and had grown into a mature and capable young man, and he tried to calm himself. Half an hour later, the carriage stopped at the Admiralty's office in Dengzhou, which was a red house built by the Germans, and there were stone lions at the door, a combination of Chinese and Western.

It was already afternoon, Song Xiao flew into the living room, and there were already five or six people in gray robes, one of whom was long, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a small black mole above his right eyebrow, with a gray beard, about the age of his early fifties, and a row of energetic generals stood behind him, all standing straight, with red tops and feathers, wearing arrow sleeves and horse coats, wearing sabers at his waist, and black combat boots under his feet.

Song Xiaofei had done his homework before he came, and knew that this person was Wu Changqing, who had just been promoted to the commander of the water division, and he was also a tiger general under Li Hongzhang, the word Xiaoxuan, resourceful, good at reading, loving talents, and was called a Confucian general, and exchanged greetings with Yuan Baoqing, so he stepped forward and saluted, saying: "Comfort Pavilion to meet Uncle Xiaoxuan!" ”

Wu Changqing and Yuan Shikai haven't seen each other for many years, and when they saw Song Xiaofei at this time, they felt that something was wrong, but they couldn't tell where they were, so they said: "Virtuous nephew, I haven't seen you for seven or eight years, you are thinner than before, and your voice is more rough." ”

When Song Xiaofei heard that Wu Changqing and Yuan Shikai hadn't seen each other for seven or eight years, they were much more relieved, took out Li Hongzhang's letter of introduction, handed it to Wu Changqing, and said: "Over the years, my biological father and uncle have passed away one after another, and the Yuan family is not as good as before. As for the voice, my Adam's apple is thickened. In the future, he will rely on Uncle Wu to take care of him. ”

Wu Changqing said that this is natural. He took Li Hongzhang's letter, looked at it, and praised Song Xiaofei: "The future is terrifying, the virtuous nephew has really grown up, young and promising, all of a sudden, he will live in the fourth grade, and your father must be very relieved under Jiuquan." Come, I'll introduce you to the brothers who are here. ”

At this time, the people sitting stood up, all of them were Wu Changqing's staff, he introduced them one by one, first introduced a thin and tall talent Zhang Jian, a native of Nantong, Jiangsu, twenty-seven years old, had the name of a prodigy when he was a child, but he just failed to pass the exam, Song Xiaofei hugged his fists and smiled at this famous industrialist in history: "I also failed to pass the imperial examination twice, but you are sympathetic to me." ”

The back row are all middle-aged Huaijun camp officers, including the former battalion management band, the named commander Huang Shilin, and the rear camp management belt Wang Degong, etc., Song Xiaofei saluted them, and the two pretended not to see it and ignored him. Both of them are military attachés, and they have followed Wu Changqing from birth to death since the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom period, and they despise "airborne cadres" like Song Xiaofei, especially civilian officials from the staff.

Wu Changqing saw that Song Xiaofei was not welcomed, but it was not easy to reprimand them, so he said: "Shilin, get merit, and get the door out of the tiger, Weiting has been defeated in North Korea before, don't underestimate him." This time I will enter the court, I am going to let him be in charge of the battalion, and each of the three of you will lead a battalion of 500 people, who is a hero and who is a hero, and then we will see on the battlefield. ”

Huang Shilin laughed: "The one who defeated me must be Liu Liumazi, look at this boy in front of him, oily head and flour, fine skin and tender meat, I dare to bet on my head, he is probably scared when he hears the sound of gunfire." ”

Wang Degong also joined in the fun and said, "I gambled with Brother Huang." ”

The soldiers and staff present all laughed at each other, except for Zhang Jian. How did you come for the first time, of course, you can't be looked down upon, otherwise you will have no face in the future, Song Xiaofei said quietly: "It seems that Lord Huang and Lord Wang are very fond of gambling, let's have a big one, don't bet on the top of your head, if you have a kind of gambling on your head." ”

As soon as these words came out, even Wu Changqing was taken aback, this young man seemed to be a weak scholar, but he acted decisively and resolutely, and had courage, and he was impressed by Song Xiaofei.

Huang Shilin was provoked by Song Xiaofei, and patted his chest: "Bet on it, whoever is afraid of whom, when the time comes, please ask Lord Wu to adjudicate and see who has the greatest credit in our front, middle and back camps." ”

Song Xiaofei asked Wang Degong: "What about Lord Wang?" ”

Wang Degong was silent.

On the seventh day of February, all military supplies were ready. In the morning, at the port of Dengzhou, the distant mountains and near the water were plunged into a thick fog, and the four warships "Weiyuan", "Tai'an", "Zhendong", and "Yuexin" were lined up, and the whistle sounded for a long time, and they were ready to fire.

Song Xiaofei was on the gunboat "Yuexin", and at this time, Wu Changqing walked over with a person, "Virtuous nephew, look who is coming." ”

Song Xiaofei saw that it was Ding Ruchang, who was transferred by Li Hongzhang to the Beiyang Navy Division after returning from North Korea, and he brought Concubine Min's envoy Kim Yunzhi to help this time. Old friends met and exchanged pleasantries for a while, and the three of them got on the gunboat "Yuexin" together, and Wu Changqing, Zhang Jian and others got on the "Weiyuan".

The warships needed to go to the port of Yantai to refuel the coal, so despite the strong winds and heavy rain at that time, the four ships still set off on time. On the way to Yantai, Song Xiaofei and Kim Yun-sik learned in detail about the internal affairs of North Korea at that time, and found out that there were two major political forces in North Korea: the "Great Party" was loyal to the suzerain, China, and the "Enlightened Party" was close to Yueben.

On the battlefield, one minute is one more chance of victory, and it is relatively close to Seoul, and after the four ships finished filling coal in Yantai, they increased their firepower, emitting black smoke, and were reluctant to sail towards the Han River day and night.

After five days and four nights of wild running, the boat arrived at the Han River, when the sky was already dark, the boundless sky was raining heavily, the wind and waves on the Han River were urgent, the warship shook violently, although the soldiers were wearing raincoats, but it was too thin, a turning over wave hit, people were like chickens in the soup, some Huai soldiers did not stand firm on their heels, the hull shook and rolled to the side of the ship, Song Xiaofei also grabbed the iron ring on the ship, so that he was not shaken down.

Wu Changqing originally ordered which ship to land immediately when it arrived at the riverside first, and went straight to Gyeongbokgung Palace, but the "Weiyuan", "Tai'an", and "Zhendong" arrived one after another, but they did not land. Wu Changqing had some doubts in his heart, and he didn't know if he had arrived in Seoul first, and if he had arrived first and set up an ambush on the shore, the Qing army would have thrown himself into the net.

Huang Shilin and Wang Degong saw that Wu Dashuai's ship was not moving, and they were unwilling to take that risk. Song Xiaofei shouted at the two of them: "The landing should be sooner rather than later, once I arrive, occupy Gyeongbokgung Palace, and subdue the Dayuan Jun, there will be nothing to do with us." If you don't dare to go up in the front and back camps, I will take the brothers in the middle camp up first. ”

Huang Shilin shook his head and said, "If you want to be a hero, you can land first, I won't joke with my brothers' surnames." ”

Wang Degong also retreated, and echoed: "If you want to send you to death, you can go." Even if it's the first work, you have to have a life to enjoy it. ”

Song Xiaofei was so anxious that when the wind and waves were a little less, he immediately ordered the soldiers to land with him. Considering that the risk of this landing was indeed relatively large, Wu Changqing's intention was to let the Huai army voluntarily choose not to go ashore. What embarrassed Song Xiaofei was that after the Twist Army was pacified, the Huai Army had relied on the big tree of Li Hongzhang for nearly ten years, with sufficient food and salary, and was a bit more comfortable, and the blood surname was not the same as when Li Hongzhang was founded, and he had no confidence in Song Xiaofei's "airborne" pipe band, and among the about 500 Huai troops on the "Yuexin", only Ding Ruchang and more than 20 soldiers said that they could follow ashore to have a look.

Just as Song Xiaofei took out the M1847 revolver and was about to take the 20 people off the ship, Zhang Jian came by boat to relieve him, Zhang Jian said that he was willing to follow Song Xiaofei to attack Gyeongbokgung Palace, and Kim Yun-sik also asked to go to the Joseon Palace together.

Zhang Jian, a weak scholar, was willing to take risks, and he was a "red man" beside Wu Changqing, and there were more than 200 Huai troops on the battleship "Yuexin", who followed Song Xiaofei with the Zhongying Pipe to land quickly and entered the city from Chongli Gate, just south of Seoul.

Later facts proved that Song Xiaofei's decisive landing was correct, and if they had been an hour late, Yueben's army would have arrived at Gyeongbokgung Palace.