After losing the strength of two large battalions, he finally recaptured Yuanbao Mountain, but the huge cannons of Yuanbao Mountain were blown up by the Yue army, and they had lost their original tactical value.

Even so, Liu Mingchuan was still very happy in his heart.

What made him a little unhappy was Lu Guangquan's department, this recruit battalion actually blocked the third-line attack of Yue Ben, and seriously injured two artillery wings and two brigades of the Yue army.

He didn't think that Lu Guangquan's troops were strong, but he saw that those strange bolts were too strong, and he noticed that Lu Guangquan had at least hundreds of those bolts, so Hu Chuyuan must have them in his hands.

But why not give it to him?

This made Liu Mingchuan realize that the cooperation between him and Hu Chuyuan was divided into factions after all, and he believed that the Hunan army, which was closer to Hu Chuyuan, must have it, but he did not have these Huai factions.

He really wanted to lock up the supply, and resolutely refused to supply Lu Guangquan, and see how miserable Lu Guangquan's gang could die.

But he knew in his heart that he had to talk about factions at this time, but he would not take the opportunity to fight, otherwise, Lu Guangquan would die, and Hu Chuyuan would attack him sooner or later.

Regarding the situation on the battlefield, Hu Chuyuan received a telegram from Fengcheng County the next day, he did not say anything, but called Huang Jianxun over, and asked Huang Jianxun to transfer another group of recruits and more than 2,000 Qingxu regiments to train, enter Fengcheng County along the Dayang River, and set up a new supply point in Fengcheng County to supply Lu Guangquan specifically.

The county magistrate is not as good as the current management.

According to the setting of the imperial court, Hu Chuyuan's authority is much greater than that of Liu Mingchuan, but he cannot cross Liu Mingchuan to personally intervene in the Dandong defense line.

He sent a telegram to Liu Mingchuan, asking Liu Mingchuan to rely on Lu Guangquan as much as possible, his words were still very tactful, but they were enough for Liu Mingchuan to understand - this is not an ordinary guest army, if Lu Guangquan is framed, it is to frame him Hu Chuyuan.

After Liu Mingchuan received the telegram, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed, because he did hold another person's telegram in his hand...... Li Hongzhang's telegram.

They are all Huai people, and they know very well in their hearts that once Hu Chuyuan has his own military system, the Huai army will be sad, Li Hongzhang's governor of Zhili is about to be unable to keep it, and let Hu Chuyuan replace the Huai army in the army, where will the Huai army go?

Liu Mingchuan silently deliberated in his heart, and in the end, he decided to play a slippery head, not to offend the two, let Nie Shicheng guard Zhen'an Town, Liu Shengxiu guard Yuanbao Mountain, and Zuo Guigui guard Toad Pond, and he himself formed a solid defense of his lineage.

Subsequently, he alone asked Lu Guangquan's troops to guard the defense line of Jiulian City, and dispatched the Song Qing Army, which was unable to form an army, and Ma Jinxu's Department, who still had some combat strength, to Lu Guangquan.

Liu Mingchuan has calculated, in case Lu Guangquan is defeated, he can still defend Wulongkou, and the responsibility will be shifted to Hu Chuyuan.

As soon as these arrangements were implemented, Hu Chuyuan got the news and immediately sent a telegram to Liu Jintang, who was stationed in Gushan, to transfer a large battalion of Zhang Yuanchun to the north, and merge with the recruits of Huang Jianxun's Huguang Battalion in Fengcheng County to form a new Huguang Fourth and Fifth Battalions, and a Qingxu regimental training battalion to follow.

Not only that, but he also asked Liu Mingchuan for a Northeast regiment training camp.

In order to prevent Zhang Yuanchun, a veteran general of the Hunan army, from making a stumbling block, he specially asked someone to write a handwritten letter to Zhang Yuanchun, which contained a silver ticket of 100,000 yuan.

At Lu Guangquan's place, he also approved a military ticket of 6 million silver yuan for Lu Guangquan to pay his military salary, and made various preparations for Liu Mingchuan's internal investigation of news.

After a little rectification and a re-estimation of the opponent's firepower, starting from November 10, 1890, the army organized three large-scale attacks on Lu Guangquan's troops, suffering heavy casualties.

By 17 November, after four attacks, the three divisions had suffered nearly 13,000 casualties, and the two Korean volunteer brigades had been disabled, leaving more than 20,000 corpses on the battlefield.

Most of the corpses drifted down the Yalu River, and the blood also stained the river red, which made people look horrible.

Nie Shicheng, who was guarding Zhen'an Town on the Western Front, could hardly believe their eyes, he had never seen such a tragic situation after so many years of fighting.

Because Liu Mingchuan secretly acted as a ghost and did not let his artillery battalion cover Lu Guangquan, the damage to Lu Guangquan's department was not light.

Fortunately, Hu Chuyuan could not sit idly by, he did not hesitate to ruthlessly interrupt the supply to Liu Mingchuan, and forced Liu Mingchuan to give Lu Guangquan the entire fortress of Jiulian City to Lu Guangquan.

Beginning on November 15, Huang Jianxun joined the battlefield with the 5th Battalion of Huguang as a supplementary force, and brought a batch of 155mm caliber howitzers to Lu Guangquan, although the number was not much, plus the fortress of Jiuliancheng, it was enough to suppress the artillery front of the entire army.

The army continued to recuperate, waiting for the addition of the 11th Brigade and the replenishment of new soldiers.

On December 3, the army adjusted its direction and aimed at Nie Shicheng's department.

Now it is Liu Mingchuan's turn to suffer, Lu Guangquan can block the continuous attack of the Yue army, he Liu Mingchuan can not stop it, after Liu Mingchuan promised to provide more supplies, Lu Guangquan's three artillery columns stepped forward to assist in the defense and cover of Nie Shicheng's troops, which withstood the general attack launched by the Yue army on this day.

The weather was unusually cold, and the battlefield was extremely cruel.

A large number of corpses could not be disposed of, so they could only be burned temporarily, and more corpses drifted along the river, freezing along the shores, forming countless ice corpses, which was shocking.

Liu Mingchuan has reached the point of exhaustion, Song Qing's death and the rout of Iktanga have further weakened his forces, although tens of thousands of regiments have been transferred to supplement them, focusing on the problems of various factions, whether it is Zuo Guigui's troops or Nie Shicheng's troops, they have not been able to obtain troops.

If the fight continues like this, the Huai army will be finished.

How could Li Hongzhang allow this situation to continue, he had already sent a telegram to Liu Mingchuan, asking him to resolutely retreat to Fengcheng County.

Liu Mingchuan had a difficult choice for a while, at the beginning, he and Hu Chuyuan vowed to block the Yue army here before they got Hu Chuyuan's full support, but now it is good, if he retreats and lets Lu Guangquan face the attack of the entire Yue army alone, he and Hu Chuyuan will completely turn their faces.

He thought, maybe this is the situation that Li Hongzhang wants most!

Of course he didn't want to do this, but he couldn't be the master, Nie Shicheng and Zuo Guigui still had to listen to Li Hongzhang's scheduling. On the night when he was in a dilemma, the news that Hu Chuyuan suddenly arrived in Fengcheng County came.

Liu Mingchuan was greatly surprised, and hurriedly led his troops to Fengcheng County to greet him, and he hurried overnight.

When he received the news, Hu Chuyuan had already led Zhang Yuanchun's fourth battalion of Huguang to Tangshan Town, and when he heard that Liu Mingchuan came to greet him, Hu Chuyuan asked the troops to camp in Tangshan Town first, and meet Liu Mingchuan in his own Chinese army tent.

Soon, Liu Mingchuan rushed over with his men and saw Hu Chuyuan in the big tent.

Lu Guangquan and the others got the news faster, and they were not the direction of the main attack of the army, so they brought Li Kaiye to meet Hu Chuyuan early.

When Liu Mingchuan entered the big tent, Hu Chuyuan, Lu Guangquan, Li Kaiye, Huang Jianxun, Zhang Yuanchun, and other staff officers around Hu Chuyuan were discussing the situation around the map.

As soon as Liu Mingchuan came in, Hu Chuyuan saw him, got up and arched his hand and said, "Lord Liu, don't come to harm!" ”

Liu Mingchuan immediately smiled and said: "Thanks to the senior minister's Hongfu, Liu barely held Dandong, and he was about to continue to ask for help with the senior minister, and the senior minister had already arrived in Dandong, which really made Liu very happy and excited." ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled coldly and slightly, asked Liu Mingchuan to sit down, and then said to Li Kaiye: "Lord Liu is not an outsider, you can continue!" ”

"Good!"

Li Kaiye agreed, and then continued to point to the map: "Ladies and gentlemen, the total strength of the army is still maintained at about 40,000 people, with the first, second, and sixth elite divisions, plus the ninth brigade and the eleventh brigade. Major General Nogi Noshinori's 1st Brigade has been scrapped, the 6th Kumamoto Division has suffered the heaviest damage, and the situation of the other two divisions is not good, although a large number of new recruits have been replenished at present, but these troops are all temporarily transferred from the country, and they are not well prepared, if we can turn the passive into the active and attack suddenly, even if the losses are a little larger, we can also hit the morale of the opponent. ”

Speaking of this, he drew several routes of advance on the map, and continued: "If we can unite all armies to attack together, and if our army can lead the army over the mountains and mountains, send troops from Changdian Town, cross the Yalu River, bypass the defense line of the Japanese army, penetrate into the rear flank of the enemy army and launch a sudden attack, occupy the enemy's artillery positions, and then cooperate with the main army in front and rear, we will inevitably be able to drive the Yue army to Donggang and mobilize troops to intercept it at Donggang, then we can win a complete victory." ”

Hu Chuyuan nodded slightly and said, "This is a feasible tactic, but it just requires all armies to fight together." ”

Liu Mingchuan was secretly happy in his heart, no matter what the final result was, he could immediately solve the dilemma in front of him, as for whether Lu Guangquan's casualties were heavy, it was none of his business.

He pondered that the tragic point of death was okay, just enough to offset the power in Hu Chuyuan's hands, so that the imperial court still had to rely on the Huai army.

Thinking of this, he and Hu Chuyuan arched their hands and said: "Senior Minister, I also think this plan is very good, and I am willing to personally lead the troops to fight and cross the Yalu River from Zhen'an Town." ”

Lu Guangquan said: "That's not necessary, just wait for the Yue army to continue to attack your army, and transfer the Donggang regiment training to Langtou Town and Wen'an Beach, and prepare for a decisive battle with the Yue army." ”

Liu Mingchuan couldn't help but be a little worried, and said: "I'm afraid it's not appropriate to expect the regimental training troops to go up to a decisive battle, right?" ”

Hu Chuyuan said: "Don't worry, Lord Governor, the possibility of the army fleeing to Langtou Town is very small, and the tenth ** is to flee to Longchuan and Turtle City, especially in Turtle City, they overhauled the fortifications, and deployed the 14th Brigade and a Volunteer Brigade there. If we win this battle, we will continue to march into Dingzhou, from Dingzhou to the north, and attack Guicheng from the north and south. ”

Hearing these words, Liu Mingchuan was both happy and worried in his heart, happy that he was a great victory, he was also a great achievement, and worried about the great victory, the Huai army suffered heavy losses, and it was impossible to recover again, I was afraid that it would be replaced by the new army secretly built by Hu Chuyuan from now on.

Liu Mingchuan wanted to fight this battle and win a big victory, but the condition was that Hu Chuyuan was only responsible for raising materials, grain and grass, and the battle had to be commanded by him, and the final fruits of victory would also belong to the Huai army.

Otherwise, is it just that the sacrifices made by the Huai army in front of them are just cheaper for others?

In the factional dispute, Zuo Zongtang and Li Hongzhang are not exempt from vulgarity, and Liu Mingchuan is also impossible.

Seeing that he was hesitant, Hu Chuyuan knew in his heart what he was worried about, so he didn't talk about it for the time being, that is, let Lu Guangquan and Li Kaiye formulate a specific battle plan, make a draft for the time being, and not rush to implement it.

After all the generals retreated first, Hu Chuyuan asked Liu Mingchuan to sit down again.

At this time, he sighed: "Lord Liu, I rushed over in such a hurry this time, not to counterattack the capital, but to resolve the situation of your siege. The so-called generals are outside, and military orders are not subject to it. I asked Lu Guangquan to send someone to help you, but he just didn't agree, and in a hurry, I came over in person. ”

Liu Mingchuan was secretly surprised, and immediately sighed: "Thank you, Senior Minister, Liu is grateful." ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled bitterly and said, "But...... It's not easy for me to say anything when I come here, it's not that Lu Guangquan is unwilling, but no one in the Huguang camp is willing to help the governor in an emergency. How do you make me good? ”

Liu Mingchuan knew it well, and hurriedly said: "Senior Minister, this matter is purely a misunderstanding, this official really didn't know the foundation of Huguang Camp in advance, and only thought that it was a new army trained by Liu Kun and others, so there was some misunderstanding, and I hope that Senior Minister will forgive me." You and I are both ministers with full authority in Qincha, I am marching and fighting in Dandong, and you are in Lushun to dispatch, which is really related to the cold of lips and teeth, and you can't sit idly by. ”

Seeing him shirk, Hu Chuyuan couldn't help but sneer and said, "Lord Liu has so much energy, just forget a misunderstanding." I asked Huguangying to come over to help you quietly, just because I was afraid that you would have factional opinions, and told him not to compete with the Huai Army, everything is based on you and the Huai Army, and the Huguang Camp is only responsible for setting up a hand and staining the light. It's good that you have not started the battle, and you will push out the entire Huguang battalion to be cannon fodder for the Huai army. You...... Be careful, half of the generals here have stayed abroad, and they are all carefully selected talents by Zuo Zongtang back then, and they should have a promising future in the imperial court, not to mention a general soldier, even if you don't look down on the sentry commander at all now, then you were also born in Changsha Martial Arts Academy, and you may be a commander in the future. They are really going to be pulled out by you to be cannon fodder, Lord Liu, I might as well say a cruel word to you, our matter will be over, don't say that I can't be sorry for Lao Zhongtang, even Liu Kunyi and Liu Jintang will definitely not give up with you. ”

Liu Mingchuan was greatly surprised, and hurriedly explained: "Senior Minister, we don't have to be so angry, we are all serving the imperial court." As for this matter, it is true that I am confused for a while. ”

Hu Chuyuan snorted very unceremoniously.

Liu Mingchuan was proposed by him to be reused, and he could step on it with one foot back then, as long as he wanted to step on it, it was not a very difficult thing.

This kind of thing, Liu Mingchuan knows it in his heart.

Hu Chuyuan said again: "Your Excellency Governor, you, don't care about the Huai Army now, think about your own shortcomings first." If you have a position in the future, Huai Jun will have a way out, if you don't have a position, and you still count on Li Zhongtang, then you are really a mistake. If you want to continue to sit on the throne of the governor of the three eastern provinces, it is not difficult, the key is whether the battle in front of you can be fought well. If you listen to Li Zhongtang's words and deliberately drag it out like this, not wanting the Huai army to be completely damaged, then I can only say, you hold on slowly, and I will leave with the Xiang army and the Huguang camp. ”

Liu Mingchuan sighed in his heart, he knew that Hu Chuyuan was not here to play anything else today, this was a showdown.

In this way, he only has two choices left, either to join forces with Hu Chuyuan or with Li Hongzhang, no matter what the generals below think, he must choose a path.

If he doesn't choose, he still wants to sit in the middle and watch the wind, Hu Chuyuan will immediately ask the Beijing division to be replaced, and the Hunan army will come over to fight this battle. Now Liu Jintang is guarding Gushan with five large battalions of Hunan troops, and he will change it, and he will definitely not be ambiguous with you.

What's even more vicious is to draw troops to isolate and sit idly by, then these Huai troops of his Liu Ming will be waiting to be sent to death.

Liu Mingchuan was helpless, and pondered for a while before saying to Hu Chuyuan: "I'm afraid this matter still needs to be discussed with the generals, our army has suffered heavy losses, the number of each battalion is already less than half, morale is low, and it is already very difficult to defend itself, where is there still the ability to counterattack?" ”

Hu Chuyuan continued to sneer and said, "Then who is to blame?" I finally bought 400 machine guns secretly from the United States, Lu Ying, a sailor in Port Arthur, kept 50 of them, Liu Jintang sent 100 of them, and Lu Guangquan brought the remaining 250 of them. Originally, there were a hundred for you, but let him take it and bargain with you as an exchange capital in exchange for support, and now you still expect him to give you the gun? He is a person who can take care of the overall situation, but those generals up and down the Huguang camp, who doesn't want to chop you into seven or eight pieces? ”

"...... this?"

Liu Mingchuan was speechless for a while, but now he realized that he had calculated so much at the beginning, but he had calculated himself.

But he understands that in the end, it was Hu Chuyuan who calculated him, and it was Hu Chuyuan who explained it from the beginning, if he Liu Mingchuan treated Huguangying well, then he would divide the gun, and if he didn't treat him well, then he would not divide it, and let Huaijun send him to death.

Thinking of this, Liu Mingchuan didn't know whether to hate or be sad.

He felt sad in his heart, he always felt that the opportunity was given to him, but he didn't grasp it, and now that he is in this situation, he has no face to go back to see Emperor Guangxu.

Hu Chuyuan said: "Forget it, Lord Liu, I am from Huizhou, you are from Hefei, I will not die without help." What's more, it was me and the emperor who made you go out of the mountain again, if you really can't stop it, it will be difficult for me to explain to the emperor when I return to Beijing. At the beginning of the year, I thought about it for you, among the young generals who came back from studying in Germany, there was a man named Duan Qirui from Hefei, Anhui Province, and his grandfather Duan Pei had served as the commander of the horse team under your account, and after he came back from Germany, I transferred him to Lushun, and asked him to take some generals from Anhui and Jiangxi to prepare a new Jianghuai battalion, which was not much, only one infantry column, more than 1,300 people. I specially brought them this time, including the few Maxim machine guns left in Port Arthur, you should be careful, don't treat them as cannon fodder, although they are still young, they will be the new backbone of your Huai army in the future. ”

As soon as he heard this, Liu Mingchuan was so excited that he really wanted to kowtow to Hu Chuyuan and admit his mistake.

He was annoyed, he knew that Hu Chuyuan had thought about him before and after, why did he listen to Li Hongzhang's arrangement and secretly send Huguangying to the front of the battle to kill someone with a knife?

Thinking of this, Liu Mingchuan immediately got up and stood up, the person was already in tears, and said, "Senior Minister, Liu...... Liu is grateful, please don't worry about the matter of repaying virtue with grievances, it is Liu himself who listened to slander and [***] his mind for a while. Rest assured, from now on, you will let me go east, and I will not go west. ”

Hu Chuyuan sighed and said, "My lord, don't care about this, as a native of Huizhou, how can I sit back and watch the Huai army run out." Now it is to save the country, and it is also to keep the real power in the hands of you and me, even if the loss is great, we will have to take it. But you can rest assured, I have already prepared the silver here, as long as we win this battle beautifully, why is it difficult to rebuild the Huai army in the future? ”

Liu Mingchuan immediately said: "Okay, Senior Minister, let's settle this matter, Liu personally went into battle, supervised the counterattack of the three armies, and must take a head for you and me!" ”

Hu Chuyuan smiled with satisfaction and said, "Okay, then I'll sit in the Toad Pond for the adults." ”

Liu Mingchuan showed the courage of an old soldier at this time, and hugged his fists and said: "It's hard work!" ”

Hu Chuyuan also hugged his fists and said: "Master Lao is charging ahead!" ”

Speaking of this, both of them laughed heartily with relief.

In fact, as long as Liu Mingchuan makes a decision, abandons Li Hongzhang, and defects to Hu Chuyuan, everything will be easy to do.

Hu Chuyuan didn't come with you, when people came, money came, and equipment came.

That night, he privately gave Liu Mingchuan three million silver yuan as a reward to the army, ready to swear to the death.

In addition, he also introduced Duan Qirui to Liu Mingchuan, so that Liu Mingchuan could use it carefully, and stop snubbing them because these people are young, among the more than 1,300 people, more than a dozen people have returned from studying abroad in Germany and the United States, and 43 people graduated from Tianjin, Nanchang, and Jiangning Wubei Academy.

Over the years, Hu Chuyuan has spared no effort in cultivating talents, especially through the arrangement of the Fuxing Society, many real talents have been absorbed one after another, including Duan Qirui, who may create a republic in the future.

Duan Qirui had never really fought before, and had always arranged his infantry column to train in Lu Guangquan's Huguang battalion, and only recently prepared for the new Jianghuai battalion alone.

By the time Hu Chuyuan had finished Liu Mingchuan, the overall situation of the entire counteroffensive had already been settled, and more than 60 merchant ships were ready to go in Gushan Port, about 50 kilometers away from the mouth of the Yalu River, and as soon as Hu Chuyuan gave an order, the Hunan army would land in Yanzhou, North Korea, and cut off the retreat of the three divisions of the Yue Army.

Hu Chuyuan believed that the victors of this battle must belong to the Chinese.

To be precise, the victory belongs to the Han people, to him.

As long as this battle is won, the Huai Army and the Beiyang Naval Division prepared by Li Hongzhang will completely lose their value...... The Beiyang and Nanyang sailors were not moved, and they were not given any chance.

Once the war is over, the credit of the army will go to whomever it deserves, and it is not Li Hongzhang anyway, and the navy has no Li Hongzhang's business.

From then on, Hu Chuyuan could justifiably squeeze Li Hongzhang under him, especially through the large-scale decisive battle of the army, while consuming Xianghuai, he also cultivated his future descendant army, and he no longer had to have adulteration with Xianghuai.

After the war was over, he almost suppressed Li Hongzhang, and his Huguang Corps, Jianghuai Corps, and Fujian and Zhejiang Corps gradually surfaced and became a new force to replace the Hunan and Huai armies, and had an official number and establishment in the Qing court.

If you want to see the dawn, you always have to face darkness, and this is the dark side of Hu Chuyuan.

It's just that Hu Chuyuan didn't expect how tragic this fateful ending battle would be, at least, he was far from imagining it now.

(To be continued)