In the northeast, in the territory of General Jilin, Andong County on the border between China and North Korea.

This place, is the Dandong City of later generations, since the thirteenth year of Tongzhi border land ban, every summer when the water rises, this small county governance, has become prosperous, the dense primeval forest on the border of China and North Korea cut down logs, are released by the Yalu River, loaded at the mouth of the river, directly transported to the Qing Dynasty's various seaports. Thirteen years ago, Tongzhi was just a dilapidated village called Shahezi, and there was a small post station, but now it has a bit of a prosperous county governance.

However, since the outbreak of the First Sino-Japanese War, all kinds of timber merchants, shipwrights, mountain goods merchants, and eastern merchants who bought Korean ginseng have disappeared. It is said that the army is in Korea, and the war between the two places has been set off in southern Liaoning, and the warships with plaster flags on the Yellow Sea are shuttling back and forth.

It's not just businessmen, in Andong County, there are already several leaders of the banner soldiers outside the border led by Jilin generals, as well as several battalions of Jilin training army, the situation has been unstable in recent years, and there is also Xu Yifan stirring up the wind and rain, the Sino-North Korean border can be heavily armed but here in Andong County, there are two or three thousand soldiers and horses from all walks of life in the heyday, and there are not a few businessmen who chase the army and set up a special business in the military camp. Since the army landed in southern Liaoning, Guangxu sent telegrams to the generals outside the Guan. Jilin Manchurian General Enming was ordered to be cautious, no matter whether he fought or not, he always had to do it, and all the troops here were withdrawn and ready to return to southern Liaoning.

After all these actions, Andong County was more than half empty, and those tax dogs of the Zhongjiangtai Taxation Bureau were also afraid of the war and slipped back to the hinterland. Those merchants who came to Anton to open restaurants, inns, and big car shops and pots also locked their doors and went back to avoid the military disaster.

At noon, it is the bustling scene on the street, and the restaurants are crowded with people, frying and frying, and the aroma is overflowing. Now on the street, it is deserted, except for a few old men leaning against the corner of the wall to bask in the sun, I saw a group of people and horses, Le Ma standing at the door of the county town Tuweizi, looking south.

This Biao people, even in summer, wear leather jackets, which is a must-have dress for people in the Northeast all year round, sleeping at night, who knows if it will cool down, and it is terrible to freeze without medical treatment. Now that it is the head, many people say that the sleeve of the leather jacket is removed and put on the waist, revealing a long dagger that is two feet long and inserted into the belt. These men were riding Liaodong horses, their manes were all long, untrimmed, and they couldn't stop shaving their hooves there, and they didn't know how long they had been waiting. Every man carries a big gun, including a five-grain fast made in Hubei, a German Mauser, a Remington of Citi, and a four-petal fire old-fashioned earthen gun, an iron plate Kaisi single-headed bullet gun, and everything.

In addition to those riders with deep beards and big poles, there are also men dressed as grain households wearing thick cotton and leather robes. On the ground in the northeast, who doesn't know what the relationship between the grain households and the big poles is. When the big pole is strong, you can give the grain households an insurance ticket to collect money, and when the grain households are strong, you can instruct the big pole to protect the village and protect their caravan business, and some of the grain households are simply horse thieves, and the officers and soldiers are honest farmers, and the officers and soldiers will turn into a farmer when they leave, and start a business without capital, and collect taxes and money on the caravans.

Today's meeting, the horse thieves don't talk about it, Jilin local, those famous big grain households on the border of China and North Korea, the leaders of the platoons, and the old leaders of digging ginseng, have basically arrived! In addition to the grain households on the border between China and North Korea, several black and white people in the interior of Jilin, stomping their feet, and trembling in all directions, have also arrived!

The few open storefronts on the street secretly lowered the boards and closed the windows, and even the old man basking in the sun on the street corner slipped away quietly.

I don't know how long I waited, but I heard the thunder of hooves in the distance, and the muffled sound of knocking on the ground. The floating soil on the soil fence in Andong County fell straight down. Needless to say, the sharp-eyed gunners had already climbed the wall, looked into the distance, glanced at it, and shouted in surprise and joy: "Boss!" I saw the Canglong banner! Jiang Junshi, they have really arrived! Hundreds of brothers on horseback, all of them are one German horse! ”

The people below love the colors. Immediately, the unicorn fought in the northeast outside the mouth for more than ten years, with heavy righteousness, big face, and enough hands, although now it is a sick and crooked half-old man raised by the Xu family, in the land outside the mouth and outside the gate, it was really famous in all directions! I don't know how many people have received his favor. Jiang Ziming, his most powerful assistant, is also a hero who everyone mentions Brother Duqiao. Immediately, Qilin found a home through his daughter, this banner has not yet arrived, and under Xu Yifan's arrangement, Jiang Ziming is also constantly using his original connections to recruit and arrange these Jianghu characters in the Northeast.

The trade between China and North Korea, Korean timber, Korean ginseng, gold, mink, since Xu Yifan took control of the Northern Dynasty, these trades, including trade routes, were controlled by him. The Jianghu men in the Northeast, I don't know how many people live on these caravan merchants, adhering to Xu Yifan's meaning, Jiang Ziming and the Dashengkui firm who came and went to this trade route, with a near-monopoly position, controlled almost all the border trade, and really accepted many heroes with this. Even when the domestic limelight was tight, Xu Yifan turned a blind eye and asked them to come to North Korea to avoid the limelight!

With a few prongs, Jiang Ziming brought the slip before he set off, so that Andong County had such a scene of a group of heroes!

Seriously, Xu Yifan didn't think about why he wanted to recruit these charlatans, what use could he be, and not make a bad reputation in the end. Purely because of the original study, I saw that these Jianghu men did not care about the court, and many of them were recruited by the espionage movement and became the flower horse team that served the devils, and during the First Sino-Japanese War, it really caused a lot of disturbance to the rear of the Qing army.

In the future, if you really return to China to run a party, the good ones will be absorbed, and the bad ones will be thrown away or even suppressed, can these guys still turn the sky upside down? If it weren't for the fact that the Manchu Qing Dynasty had sealed the border for 200 years, guarded such a vast land with a small number of banner soldiers, and did not set up liuguan for so long, which caused the weak grassroots rule in Northeast China, how could there be such a prosperous situation in the three provinces of Northeast China and friends in the rivers and lakes?

But he didn't expect that at this time, it would become a big help for him to return to China thousands of miles away!

The horse's hooves roared, and the hundreds of men who were in the black pressure were all out of the earthen fence of Andong County. I saw smoke and dust in the distance, a group of people and horses galloped to the front, and there were two flags flying high in front, one was the Canglong Banner of the Praetorian Guard, and the other was the recognition flag with Xu Yifan to four big characters!

"Lord Xu is back!"

"The Praetorian Guard is back!"

In these years, the men in the rivers and lakes read little, and there was no modern national consciousness that gradually emerged among the intellectual class, so in the first day of Xu Yifan's time and space, a large number of them were used by Yu himself in the Russian War. In the thirties, decades of infiltration, these Jianghu men began to have a division of national consciousness, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation fought hard for ten years, and the main force was mostly recruited by all kinds of heroes, but the artillery heads used by themselves were a few.

Although the national consciousness in modern times is weak and they have no respect for the emperor in the imperial court, it does not mean that they do not value heroes. The Qing Dynasty, all the armies were defeated, to the Oriental little devils to fight in an uproar, only the Praetorian Guard fought hard in Korea with the strength of an army, defeated two divisions of the army, and beheaded several generals, such heroic deeds, only in the drum book. Thousands of miles back to help is even more of a grand event, and the first person is still the leader of their generation, and they participate in such a grand event, which is a thing that the eight generations of ancestors have a bright face!

Not to mention Xu Yifan's friendship with them!

The two fast horses rushed first, and the two majestic men immediately were Dai Jun and Chen Bin, Du Qilin's henchmen, who didn't recognize them. After more than a year, the two of them have changed their appearance, their faces are cleanly shaved, their bodies are straight Western-style military uniforms, their waists are thin with armed belts, and their eyes are full of light under the big-brimmed hats. Long spears and short spears are draped, wearing a snowy saber at their waists, the banner is dancing above their heads, and they do not greet these characters with a straight face, they run to the front and hold the reins, and the two healthy horses are standing up with a long neighing tall man, and the front legs are kicking wildly, and the two sit firmly on the horses, and raise their hands to plant the two big flags on the ground, and a gust of wind comes, and the flag brush is unfolded.

The Canglong banner was full of gunsmoke bullet marks, as well as wisps of blood, making the Canglong with teeth and claws seem to come to life, just fluttering above the heads of those stunned Jianghu men. The four big characters on the other flag are even more powerful. The two of them didn't say anything, and with their crotch strength and hands, they pulled the neighing horse in mid-air and pulled it half a circle, landed steadily, and held the flag.

Under the two banners, hundreds of cavalry swarmed in, as if thousands of troops were coming. The movements are uniform, the army that has seen blood and fought battles is incomparable to no number of horse thieves, and that kind of momentum really makes people staggering on horseback!

Many of these cavalrymen were familiar faces, and they could have sat down together to drink wine and eat meat. Now it is neat and silent, even the posture of controlling the reins of the horse is exactly the same, the horse team continues to surge, stop in front of the two flag gates, and naturally spread out to both sides, everyone straightens up on the horseback, silent, there are more and more horse teams behind, extending farther and farther on both sides, but seven or eight hundred cavalry, the leader of the forest can not hide it!

In the end, a horse team came out with a long face and a slight beard, it was Jiang Ziming, he pinched the horsewhip forward, and smiled at the good men who forgot to salute when they looked stupid: "Are they all here?" ”

This greeting woke everyone up. Du Qilin's team was known for running fast and fighting the ground outside the mouth, and now in addition to this fierce momentum has not diminished at all, there are also more strict purging and killing in the army, I don't know how many little devils have added the lives of little devils to each saber (in fact, these cavalry have more deterrent Koreans, and there are many Korean souls on the knife, and they have not seen any battles with devils...... ）。 One by one, they were all stunned, and when they heard Jiang Ziming greet with a smile, they hurriedly hugged their fists, and the small ones jumped off the horse to fight a thousand, and those grain households who were a little bit more responsible and sat on the ground to share the spoils, a few of them were so trembling that they couldn't even speak.

"Master Jiang...... Ginger-sama! Let's get the slippery, and everyone who can come is here! ”

"Lord Xu's caravan comes and goes every year, separating the ginseng wood in our stack, the amount is also sufficient, and the price is small, everyone admits that we are used, there is no second word!"

"Fight the little devil, the matter of honoring the ancestors, I heard that we lost all the way, although it is an official family, it is enough to hold your breath! What else is there to say about today's events? ”

Jiang Ziming's gaze swept slowly, and he suddenly said coldly: "What about the blind man Huang Er in Jiulian City?" ”

In the crowd, a man hurriedly rolled the saddle and dismounted, and bowed to the ground: "Master Jiang, our host has sent Xia Malaria, and he is not happy, so let the little one come to the meeting, what is the explanation, and the command is ......"

Jiang Ziming sneered: "A few years ago, Huang Er's blind man also took his team across the river to collect the ginseng and leather goods in the hands of North Korean refugees. Even if he doesn't come, what about his team? What about his good horse? Just come to you guy, what's the use? ”

Jiang Ziming waved his hand resolutely: "Bundled!" Shenjiang! "Without the Praetorian Guards, the people on the other poles jumped off their horses and tied up people, and the person who delivered the message to Huang Er was still wailing: "Third elder...... Four Less...... Say a favor! "A rag is blocked, and you can't say a word.

Jiang Ziming didn't look at the man, and the demeanor of the heroes who followed Du Qilin back then was revealed, and he yelled: "Lao Tzu is now in charge of military affairs!" If there is less than one, a few lives are counted as [***] hair! Huang Er's blind man is a little close to Enming, so he dares to take it big like this? Lao Tzu came this time, and he was going to kill a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood with the devil! The dense forest of Changdian is good, the Xiangshan of Kuandian is good, and the big shelf of Liu Dajia in Phoenix! ”

With his roll call, the three of them stood up, and the two horse thieves, a big grain farmer who eats all black and white, all bowed their heads respectfully and obeyed, and the team they brought with them also followed.

"Go to Jiulian City and slaughter Huang Er's blind man all the way! If you can't pass on the slippery sons, do you still want to be righteous? Fucking eats us and drinks us every year, now is the time for the two sides to fight their heads and kill a few more flags! Is it true that the Kirin team changed to a vegetarian diet? ”

The three teams led away with a loud voice, and there was no objection at all. slaughtered Huang Er, a blind man, a local tyrant, who has food and take, and the support of the Praetorian Guard, who has won a hundred battles, is afraid of hair. The blind man of Huang Er was also caught by a few horses, kicked and beat away, and sent to the Yalu River to sink the river.

There were a few hundred men left, standing there silently, envious of the three teams with fat differences, and they were so frightened by Jiang Ziming that they couldn't speak.

"Lord Xu's army of tens of thousands is going back to the division! In the past two years, if it weren't for Lord Xu's acceptance and support, how many people would not be able to survive? How the Kirin team is now, everyone is watching. Lao Tzu is the registered chief soldier of the imperial court, and he wears the second top, and the top has long been red! Besides, it's another thing to beat the little devil and give the ancestors a long face, so let's see if you can do it! Take a step forward to eat meat, take a step back and gnaw on the soil, you yourself understand! ”

"Master Jiang, just give the order to come down!"

"All lead the flag, each lead the team, all the way down! Lord Xu returned to the Northeast to meet the devil to the death! The team along the way, bring their own guns and horses, the old rules, if you can fight, you can fight, you can bite, if you can't fight, you can escape, anyway, don't let the devil have a good time! A devil's head, fifty taels of silver! If you don't want to be an official, follow me Jiang Ziming, and give you back the result of being a wife! Which way to get the slipper and don't come forward, three knives and six holes, the chicken and dog are not left, and Huang Er's blind man is the end! Even if you save a small life, don't stay in this place outside the gate! ”

For the men in the rivers and lakes, there is no great name for righteousness, but it must be good again, and the knife will be bright, and then with the prestige of the Qilin team! The men in the rivers and lakes who were boiling with blood were restless one by one, and loudly reported the name of their team.

"Dadong Goutou Riverside is good, lead the flag to pass on Dagu Mountain, after the flag arrives, our team will go to Liaonan!"

"Anton Lao Yang is good, lead the flag to Phoenix City, after the flag arrives, our team will go to southern Liaoning!"

"Shuikou Chen's family, lead the flag to pass on the Worm Rock, the Worm Rock Tiger Mountain Black Tiger is good, it is my brother-in-law, after the flag arrives, the two of us will go to Liaonan!"

"Phoenix Mountain Qinglong is a good ......"

One by one, the big flags of Xu Yifan's arrival were handed over by Jiang Ziming to the various teams that had gathered, and after these teams received the orders, they didn't say anything, and the teams scattered, holding the banners of Xu Yifan's arrival.

These flags, along countless roads from east to west, were handed over to the next station of large poles and grain households. Those mountain Zhuangzi, after receiving the flag, while packing up the guns and horses, sent flying horses to pass the flag to the next road. From North Korea to southern Liaoning, these teams relay back and forth, passing without sleep. The banner of "Xu Yifan arrives" is displayed everywhere, spreading the news as quickly as possible. At this speed, fast horses can travel hundreds of miles every day, and in just a few days, they can mobilize the teams on the road from North Korea to southern Liaoning, and all kinds of guns and horses will gather to harass and attack the army brigade!

Even if these horse teams had limited combat effectiveness and would never be able to engage in even a round of frontal assault with the well-trained regular army, their scattered troops for requisitioning food, the small groups of cavalry with reconnaissance and guards, and the small forces that attacked separately would no longer be able to take refuge, and the baggage troops of the army would also be in a state of panic. Coupled with Jiang Ziming's regular cavalry of the 800 Praetorian Guards, it may be able to drag it until the return of Xu Yifan's army!

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As the sun fell, steel warships slowly swirled around on the sea, turning their bows to the west.

In the distance, the coastline of Gai Ping, in the gradually lowering night, can no longer be seen clearly, only the white wave line can be seen, lapping the tidal flats along the coast.

This fleet fluttered with naval flags, and wisps of black smoke from chimneys floated.

This is exactly the main force of the combined fleet that defeated the Beiyang Naval Division of the Qing State. This fleet covered the landing of the Second Army at the entrance of the garden, and then covered a small landing at Gaiping. There were also several salvos fired at the retreating Qing columns with main artillery.

Yesterday, the "Yaeyama" notification ship sent a joint telegram from the headquarters and the Navy's Command Department.

The headquarters of the Combined Fleet resolutely broke into the Bohai Bay, approached the line of Dagu in Jinmen, and shelled the coastal batteries of the Qing Kingdom to demonstrate the deterrent power of the Combined Fleet. Around 15 September, they turned to the direction of Shandong, using the Miaodao Islands as a temporary anchorage, waiting for the arrival of the ships covered by the local fleet, attacking the general base of the Beiyang Naval Division in Weihai, and at the same time sweeping Yantai, Dengzhou, Laizhou and other important places in Haikou, Shandong.

After the defeat of the Beiyang Naval Division, the Combined Fleet had gained all the initiative at sea, and it could cruise the sea in the east and west, without any resistance.

After Vice Admiral Shoyu Ito informed the whole fleet of the target, the officers and men of the Combined Fleet, who were already full of morale, were even more satisfied. All ships raised arrogant signal flags one after another, indicating that they had accepted the great order.

"Breaking through the gate of the Qing Kingdom's capital division, you will fight to the death."

"Combined Fleet Wuwei, crown the whole Qing country!"

"One bullet and one hit, it will not be a false shot."

"Imperial martial arts, such as the first rise, clear people's blood and water, stain the sea red!"

Vice Admiral Shosuke Ito, on the other hand, looked at the floating steel rafts and was silent on the stern verandah of the flagship of the Hashidate. One stop is a long-term immobility.

The adjutant walked over lightly and said in a low voice: "Your Excellency the Commander of the Great Mountain Rock Army, I personally wrote to His Excellency the Commander before leaving, and it was sent by the notification ship, Your Excellency ......"

Ito waved quietly and asked the adjutant to present the letter and read it silently by the light of the stern headlight.

“…… Your Excellency must know that the First Army of the Army has been wiped out in Korea, and General Yama Prefecture, Lieutenant General Kawakami, Lieutenant General Nozu, etc., have become gods one after another. The land where eight million gods live, is in danger of survival. With a small number of troops facing a big country, there is no other way than a quick victory.

We are fortunate that the empire rose up to be one step ahead of the Qing Dynasty. The Yamato nation, with one heart from top to bottom, is small but strong. Although the Qing country is large, how can it cheer up, teach to inspire the spirit of national cohesion, and even civilize with millions of dim-witted banner people and tens of thousands of Han people? In today's world, since the French Emperor Napoleon, the wave of national awakening has been overwhelming. Those who want to be enlightened, the people's spirit must first be vigorous, and the way to change is also.

My kingdom of God is one for all generations, a single nation-state, fortunately. The Qing Dynasty is small and big, and wise people can already expect that there will be no changes in Dingge, and there will be no reason for civilization. To say that the whole country attacked the Qing country, which seemed to be a behemoth, although it was cloudy and Menglang, it really had a way to win.

After the Qing State broke the warable army on land and water, the Qing State must seek peace. 100,000 soldiers on land and sea, for this goal, liver and brain, 60 million people, for this goal, diligent service.

It is expected that there will be soldiers in a big country, and the Qing country is only more than 200 years old, and the people will destroy it and enslave it. However, China has existed for more than 3,000 years! Xu Yifan of North Korea was able to train elite soldiers, drum up morale, and break the first army of our army in one battle!

If the Qing Kingdom is encouraged by this, although it is defeated, it will not surrender, and the struggle will always be entangled. With the national strength of the empire, it is undefeated and defeated. Our life's work has been put into flowing water! The dream of rising, is it Huang Liang?

At this time, there is only one way to fight. I hope that Your Excellency's artillery will shock Zhili Haikou, supplemented by the destruction of naval soldiers on land. The conquest of the Third Army will surely break Shandong. The contemptible people in southern Liaoning, there is already the idea of not returning, and they should resist Xu Yifan, who will return to the teacher, for the princes. I have always been convinced that the Qing country is in power, and there is no will to fight to the death!

Your Excellency's fleet should not be contemptible to the people, and there is no contemptible second army under the command of the contemptible people. Rush into the sweep, destroy, and deter it!

The empire is lonely in the corner of the sea, and the luck of a hundred generations is the only way to fight today. I wish you a long and prosperous military journey. ”

The army seems to have opened up in this situation......

Ito silently put away this private letter, the letter was full of Chinese characters, from beginning to end.

The final battle is coming......

This decisive battle will be fought on several battlefields at the same time, and it is unimaginably tragic and magnificent. This is also a decisive battle between the two empires, betting on the luck of the next hundred years! Ito was fortunate to be able to do his best for this war.

In any case, he believed that the empire would win the final victory. Because he has already gambled everything, but the Qing people will never gamble on everything! Whether it is Li Hongzhang or Xu Yifan, they are all fighting alone!

(To be continued)