At the end of August 1900, in Weihaiwei Liugong Island, Shandong, it was surrounded by a group of people. And if there are people who are familiar with Taiwan's military system, it is obvious that these troops are all from Taiwan's Guards Division, which is Taiwan's most elite marine army. However, in addition to the Guards Division, there is also a part of Li Yuanhong's Marine Corps here. Even, even Wang Guorui's chamberlain director Li Zhanfeng also came here. According to the general management, the staff officers of the attendant room also followed Wang Guorui's actions, and since Li Zhanfeng is here, then Wang Guorui is probably here.

As soon as these staff officers arrived, the engineers began to build the platform, and in just a few days, the platform was built. However, all kinds of flowers began to be visited in the surrounding area, but these flowers were all white flowers, not the bright and brilliant flowers that most people imagine. All the soldiers here have solemn faces, they often joke on weekdays, and no one here dares to joke at all. Even, everyone's faces were very solemn, and they didn't say a word.

When the platform was built, Li Zhanfeng immediately went over to see Wang Guorui.

"Lord Wang, you can go in!" Li Zhanfeng said.

Wang Guorui soon walked to this Liugong Island, and Wang Guorui was followed by Hu Wei, Zheng Hong, and Qiu Baoren, the chief of staff of the Navy, and even many senior officers from various departments under Wang Guorui, and senior officials from government departments also came. And everyone didn't know what was going on, so many officers came here. Obviously, something very big must be happening here.

When Wang Guorui stepped onto this high platform, he took the initiative to say: "Today, what I am doing is mainly my senior Chinese military officers, and everyone should know it." Since 1840 in modern China, the Manchu court has been decadent and weak, and the Manchu court has not wanted to forge ahead, so it has been repeatedly invaded by Western powers. ”

In this crisis, the Manchu court did not think about how to strengthen itself and save the country. Instead, he continued to be an ostrich, holding the idea of the Heavenly Empire in the past, and continued to close himself off from the country. After the Western powers knocked on the door of the country again and again, in order to survive and protect the privileges and interests of a very small number of them, the Manchu court did not hesitate to sacrifice the interests of our hundreds of people and all strata in China, in exchange for their remaining opportunities. ”

"And I, the Chinese people, when the Western powers invaded, were still exploited by the rotten imperial court. They collected the taxes paid by the people. Eating the people's fat and people's ointment, but not thinking about how to make the country rich and strong, and then let China rise again. They rely on the offerings of hundreds of our people, and do not think about how to make profits for the people, but act as a prestige on the heads of the people, and use the wealth of the people to satisfy foreigners. Measure the material resources of China and form the joy of the country. It is better to be with friends than with domestic slaves. This is what the rotten Manchu rulers thought. ”

"But I'm here to introduce another country. That is Japan, which is across the sea from China. And so it is with them. They also experienced the isolation of the country, then the development was sluggish, and finally it became a feudal country. However, they were all invaded by foreigners, and since 1853, they have also been caught in a black ship incident. And then bullied by the great powers. However, they embarked on a different path with our China, and under the leadership of Emperor Meiji, they gradually embarked on the road of reform and prosperity. ”

"But those Manchu aristocrats in China, they are still ostriches, and they don't know what to do. Since then, this past our subject country. In the past, we simply looked down on a small country, but since then it has surpassed it. And this small country has ambitions that cannot match them, they are not willing to be an island country, they want to be a continental country. And they have set their sights on our China, on their former suzerain. They put the target of their aggression on China, and at that time they were preparing for decades to invade our China. However, we Chinese aristocrats did not want to look at the world squarely, they were completely unaware of the threat on the side of the couch, and they still measured Japan with the eyes of the past. ”

"As a result, in the year of the First Sino-Japanese War, that is, six years ago, they launched an aggression against our China. They invaded from both land and sea, and then brutally invaded our China. And our Chinese military and civilians took desperate resistance to the Japanese invasion. Unfortunately, because of the decay of the Manchu aristocracy, the resistance failed, and countless martyrs spilled their blood on the battlefield. ”

"Back then, during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Empress Dowager Cixi of the Manchu Qing Dynasty was brewing her 60th birthday. And the funds spent on the 60th birthday, the Manchu household department alone also allocated 30 million taels. In addition, the expenses of filial piety, looting, and various names of various officials are no less than 50 million. Do you know what fifty million taels of silver means? He could buy the Beiyang Naval Division's warships five more times, and the cost alone was enough to form more than two Beiyang Naval Divisions. If it is used on the army, it is enough to arm more than twenty divisions according to British standards, and if it is used according to German standards, it can also obtain more than ten. ”

"If it is used to mobilize an ordinary traditional army, it is enough to mobilize almost no less than 800,000 troops to fight."

At that time, the Manchu court, when the country was in trouble, did not think about how to resist the enemy, and was still celebrating the birthday of a decadent Empress Dowager Cixi. If the wealth spent is used on the real battlefield, I think that even if the Japanese cannot be completely defeated, they will be guaranteed not to lose. However, the decaying Manchu Qing was reluctant to spend on the army and resistance to foreign humiliation. But in this kind of thing, he is actually extravagant, and he doesn't care about national affairs at all. There is a cause and there is an effect, and the Manchu government delayed the fight against the invaders for some inconsequential things, so they will inevitably have evil consequences. The First Sino-Japanese War was lost, not because the soldiers did not want to resist, not because they were afraid of death, not because they were unwilling to sacrifice for the country. It's that with this group of pig-like leaders, there are ghosts who can win battles! ”

Hearing Wang Guorui's long introduction, many officers were very shocked. Because they heard these data, the Manchu Qing Dynasty spent no less than 50 million taels on Cixi's birthday, which was enough to buy the warships of the Beiyang Naval Division five times again. It is even possible to form more than two Beiyang naval divisions, and to form no less than 15 divisions and more than 200,000 troops of the Western standard. Even if it is used to mobilize an ordinary traditional army, it is enough to mobilize no less than 800,000 troops.

If China had a new-style army of more than 200,000 people at the time of the First Sino-Japanese War, or a navy several times larger, then the First Sino-Japanese War might not have been lost. Even, even if we take a step back, if we use this tens of millions of taels of silver to mobilize 800,000 to 1 million traditional troops, then the Japanese will not be able to eat and walk around. Although the Japanese seem to be advanced in weapons, they are not necessarily very powerful. They had very few machine guns, their army was only tens of thousands, and in the millions of traditional armies, even the struggle was enough to consume the bullets of the Japanese, and finally defeat them.

If this is the case, it is simply impossible to lose the First Sino-Japanese War, and it is simply impossible to lose to Japan. China's war potential is far better than Japan's, even if Japan has gone through the so-called Meiji Restoration, in fact, its strength is far inferior to China's. China's use of the cost of the Empress Dowager's birthday to arm the army was enough to drive the Japanese away.

"On the battlefield of the First Sino-Japanese War, those soldiers really died unjustly!"

Many of the officers present thought so, because of the First Sino-Japanese War, the army and navy officers and men on the front line went to fight against Japan and sacrificed a lot of people. However, those high-ranking officials in their rear did not think about their sacrifice at all, and only paid attention to the so-called Cixi's 60th birthday. It actually cost 50 million taels of silver to celebrate his birthday, which was enough for China to defeat Japan. China lost to Japan, not militarily, not in terms of national strength, but in a group of pig-like leaders.

They were reluctant to spend money for the sake of national affairs and to fight against the invaders, but when they celebrated the 60th birthday of Cixi Lafayette, they actually spent money like water. And this birthday banquet completely lost China's national fortunes. Therefore, these Chinese troops died very unjustly, and they were all very unworthy. If they had knowledge, they didn't know what they would think of these bureaucrats and aristocrats in the imperial court, and how they would have treated their Empress Dowager Cixi? They are reluctant to spend money to fight the invaders, but they are willing to spend so much money for their birthdays, which is simply too unworthy for their deaths. If the imperial court can spend money on the military, then maybe they will not die at all, and they will not pay for it in vain.

"Today, on this Liugong Island, that is, the camp of the Beiyang Naval Division. We do not forget the past and the future of the future, and we cannot afford to make the mistakes of the Manchu court back then. Moreover, today we are here to pay tribute to our martyrs who are protecting the interests of the country and the nation and protecting our homeland security. Although they may not be members of the same government as us, they are all Chinese. They all sacrificed their lives for the country, and that was enough. Therefore, we are here today to sacrifice to them, representing the respect of our descendants of Yan and Huang in China. ”

"Now, the sacrifice begins!" Li Zhanfeng, the director of the attendant room, immediately shouted. (To be continued.) )