"This Peng Yulin is really ruthless!"

Just after talking to Peng Yulin on the phone and getting the first-hand battle report from the front line, Li Yongji shook his head slightly, pinched his forehead with his hand, and said with a wry smile to himself: "I asked him to be cautious, he is good, and he will wipe out everyone in the first battle." Well, let's wipe them all out, the most important thing is that he actually secretly shot Hood, Pemberton and other senior generals, he really dared to do it. ”

Indeed, in the Memphis counteroffensive planned by Peng Yulin, because it collapsed too early, the actual losses of the Pemberton regiment were not large, and most of the officers and soldiers surrendered after they could not escape.

Among them, the losses were mainly low-level officers and soldiers, but high-ranking generals such as Hood and Pemberton basically did not lose, but most of them surrendered voluntarily in despair.

Originally, this was nothing, but what made people speechless was that after Peng Yulin's people caught these prisoners, they were not bad to most of the junior officers below the captain, but they were quite ruthless to those senior officers above the captain.

The most typical thing is that when Peng Yulin's people hit the headquarters of the Pemberton Legion and confirmed the identities of Hood, Pemberton and others, they actually opened fire without saying a word, which eventually led to the killing of all the main leaders of the Pemberton Legion, and none of them survived.

After that, when taking in the prisoners, Peng Yulin's people also specially divided the prisoner barracks according to their ranks, among which the officers above the rank of captain were held alone, and then they were all shot and killed without exception, and the public announced that the city was killed in battle.

Obviously, this kind of thing was instructed by Peng Yulin in advance, and without his advance instructions, the people below would never dare to mess around like this.

And Peng Yulin did not hide this, or rather, he did not hide his intentions to Li Yongji, but made a phone call to Li Yongji and talked for two hours. That's when his intentions were made clear.

It turned out that Peng Yulin's statement was that no matter how he poured dirty water on the coalition army, saying that the other party attacked him first, and his troops were forced to counterattack, but there is a big problem here, that is, the parties of the Pemberton Legion, that is, Hood, Pemberton and other senior officers all know the details and know what the facts are.

So. Once these prisoners are put back, these high-ranking officers will say the same thing, and the coalition junta will definitely know the truth of the matter, and no matter what it says, it will make its own side passive.

Therefore, Pemberton simply did not do anything, and directly shot all the officers above the captain level and killed them as battlefield deaths, so as to do so. The number of insiders was reduced to the greatest extent, so that there was no evidence for the forced counterattack, and the expeditionary force could only use the rhetoric of the expeditionary force.

Not to mention, Li Yongji heard this. I also think it's a reason, after all, just like Peng Yulin said, the Pemberton Legion had sent someone to negotiate with Peng Yulin before, so that he could remain neutral. It certainly won't be hyped up in the Pemberton Legion, so there are certainly not many people in the know, and only some high-ranking officers will know about it.

As for the junior officers. Not to mention the possibility of knowing, even if they know some news, their status is too low, and it is not credible to say it, and they can give the expeditionary force an advantage in the future when there is a war of words.

Of course, Joseph. Johnston is also in the know, but they are enemies of the Union junta, so their words are not credible at all, and even if they say it, the expeditionary force is not afraid.

What's more, Joseph didn't dare to say it, after all, after this battle, the Mississippi River Army under Joseph's leadership had no way to retreat, and it can be said that it had completely turned its face with the Union junta, and there was no possibility of recruiting peace.

Therefore, at this time Joseph. The Johnston group can only go all the way to the black, and go all out to hug the thigh of the expeditionary force, otherwise, with his small body, he is definitely not the opponent of the Alliance Army.

In fact, Joseph. Johnston was in an awkward situation, and on the face of it, his troops had mastered a vast area of the lower Mississippi River, and they were the well-deserved landlords and masters of the area, and had properly become a warlord.

But in reality, his position is precarious, because he faces two behemoths at once, one is the Union Army of the United States of America and the other is the Union Army of the Union States of America.

It can be said that either of these two parties can easily crush him, a small warlord, and the reason why he can still get away with it is that the other party has not reacted yet.

Therefore, in order to continue to maintain independence, Joseph. Johnston not only relied on his own military strength, but also had to do more diplomatic work, not only to find a way to befriend the Northern Army, but also to hold the thigh of the Eastern Expeditionary Force and get the full support of the Eastern Expeditionary Force, or the Eastern Bloc.

In other words, on the matter of Joseph. As far as Johnston is concerned, in the short term, the Union forces have no possibility of détente, and can only continue to fight.

As for the Confederate Army, if it had been before, he could still consider surrendering to the Northern government, but in the current situation, surrendering the North would be tantamount to adding fuel to the fire, not only greatly angering the Union Army, but also possibly annoying the Eastern Expeditionary Force in New Orleans.

It's not enough to provoke the Confederate Army, but if it angers the Eastern Expeditionary Force, then Joseph. Johnston has no hope at all, so in the final analysis, his biggest backer is still Chinese.

It is precisely this point that understands this, so Joseph. Johnston was so cooperative with Peng Yulin at the beginning, because as early as the beginning of the war, he had already expected the future, and he knew very well how he would go in the future, so he completely fell to the Chinese, and became a lackey or agent of the Chinese in order to obtain funding from the Chinese.

In fact, this is just like the local warlords in China in the early twentieth century, most of them were funded by imperialism behind them, and once they left the funding of these bigwigs behind them, they would soon be beaten back to their original shape.

Now Joseph. Johnston was similar, although he didn't want to stand on his own, he just wanted to seek more power in the Union government, not to be manipulated at will, so he grabbed the military power, but helplessly, the situation was not under his control, the Union government's order to beat him into a rebellion, and the Pemberton Army's initiative to attack, so that all this was disrupted.

To the present Joseph. As far as Johnston was concerned, the Confederate government had become enemies with him, and it was impossible to reconcile them anytime soon; As for the military junta in the north, there is no sincerity. In other words, there is sincerity, but his thighs are not thick enough to protect him at this time, after all, the northern military government is now unable to protect itself.

Therefore, the only lifesaver is the Chinese who call themselves the Eastern Expeditionary Force, and only with the help of these people, or financing, can he continue to gain a foothold here.

That is, understand this, Joseph. Johnston fully cooperated with Peng Yulin. He did not dare to say anything about Peng Yulin's approach, but tried his best to defend the other party, splashing the results of that battle, or dirty water, on himself, so that the Mississippi River Army became the main force in the counterattack in Memphis City, and as for those Chinese led by Peng Yulin, they cooperated and said that they were attacked by the other side for no reason, and then forced to send troops to fight back.

To prove that the Chinese are the victims, Joseph. Johnston also had to make a statement. It is said that the coalition forces not only attacked him, but also wantonly attacked the international friends who helped them, resulting in heavy losses for the international friends, that is, the Chinese. Therefore, President Davis was asked to immediately launch an investigation and explain the fact that the Pemberton Regiment wantonly attacked his own people and his international friends without orders.

As can be seen from the statement, Joseph. Johnston still refers to himself as a member of the Confederate Army. Think of this, or the war with the Pemberton Legion, as a private act of the Pemberton Legion. Failing to directly target the Davis government is tantamount to providing a step for both sides.

As for the fact that he was beaten into a rebellion by the Davis government and the Mississippi River Regiment was beaten into a rebel, Joseph . Johnston didn't even mention it, after all, only a few people knew about it, to be exact, only the people of the Pemberton Regiment knew about it, and most outsiders didn't know about it.

The reason why it is hidden is also very simple, that is, the Union Army is in a confrontation with the Northern Army at this time. Johnston's contradictions will definitely attract the attention of the Union Army, and if they take the opportunity to let the Union Army make another westward expedition, retake the Mississippi River Valley, and cut off the east-west connection between the Union government, it will really be worth the loss.

Furthermore, Joseph. Johnston came from a well-known family, and his family power was quite large in Virginia. There was no real unanimity among the Richmond government on Johnston's approach.

So put Joseph. Johnston's betrayal was actually Davis's personal behavior, and it was he who secretly gave orders to the Pemberton Legion, hoping that they would quickly take Memphis and retake the Mississippi River Legion to the center.

In other words, Davis's intention was not to deal with Joseph. Johnston personally, but wanted to take the city of Memphis, and the other was to regain control of the Mississippi River Corps and fight for control of the lower Mississippi River.

At the end of the day, Davis and Joseph. Johnston's problems were mainly conflicts of interest, and the problems between individuals were not big, and even Davis wrote a personal letter to Hood and others, asking them to be kind to Joseph. Johnston, all you need to do is defeat him and take back his power, and he must not hurt the other party.

It can be said that it is precisely because of the inability to hurt Joseph. Johnston's order restrained Hood and Pemberton's offensive actions, and even when they bombarded Memphis, they were aimed at the city walls and bombarded them, and they didn't dare to attack the city to kill or wound people, for fear of accidentally injuring Joseph. Johnston.

On this point, Joseph. Johnston also vaguely guessed, so after the battle, he took the initiative to put the main responsibility on himself, declaring to the outside world that he was the main planner and implementer of this war, and tried his best to downplay the fact that the Chinese entered the war.

But at the same time, Joseph. Johnston also showed goodwill to the Confederate junta, and in the name of the commander of the Confederate Western Theater, he described the Pemberton Corps as a rebel bewitched by the Confederate military junta, and his actions were counterinsurgent, in order to protect the interests of the Confederate Army in the Western Theater.

In a word, Joseph. Johnston was the victorious side of the war, and the behavior of the Pemberton Legion was not above board enough, and the outside world rarely heard of this matter, so he could say whatever he wanted, and even beat himself upside down, saying that he was the counterinsurgency side, and the Pemberton Legion was a rebel army bewitched by the Northern Army!

Joseph. Johnston believes that as long as Davis is not brain-pumping, he will definitely recognize the result announced by Johnston, admitting that the Pemberton Army is a rebel army and Joseph is quelling the rebellion, otherwise, the contradictions between the two sides will really be made public, which will not only be a great blow to the Allied government, but also an unbearable result for Davis, and he may be impeached for this reason, leading to early resignation.

From this point of view, the elimination of Hood, Pemberton and other insiders is not only a good thing for the Chinese, but also for Joseph. Johnston, even for Davis and the others, is a good thing.

Because these people are dead, then they can't be put back into the Union government, and naturally the truth of the matter can't be released to the public. Johnston still has a buffer between them, and everyone can still maintain a basic balance, and there is no need to escalate the conflict in advance.

In fact, Peng Yulin's method of killing the enemy's high-ranking officers was first proposed by Joseph. Johnston, because it is in his best interest to do so.

On the contrary, as an outsider, Peng Yulin actually did not attach much importance to this aspect, after all, in any case, his troops took the initiative to participate in the war, and should still be the leading party, it can be said that without his participation in the war, without the intensive bombardment of naval artillery, it would not have been possible to achieve such a big victory.

Therefore, it is actually very difficult to conceal the truth, unless all the officers and men of the Pemberton Regiment are killed, it is impossible to really hide the fact that the Chinese took the initiative to participate in the war and were the main attackers of this battle.

Therefore, Peng Yulin knew very well that it was impossible to kill high-ranking officers such as Hood and Pemberton, and it was impossible to really keep his mouth shut, at most, to conceal the verbal agreement reached between him and Pemberton's army before, so as to maintain the trustworthy image of the Chinese army.

However, the matter of killing the other party's senior officers, no matter how secretive it is, will eventually spread the wind, which is certainly not a good thing for the image of the Chinese, so at the beginning, Peng Yulin was quite hesitant about this proposal and did not want to be this evil person.

However, later Peng Yulin thought twice and felt that Joseph. Johnston was even more inappropriate to be the villain, after all, once he did, Joseph. Johnston's relationship with the Union government would have become even more fragile, and it was clear that, for the time being, Joseph had become more vulnerable. Johnston's continued stay in the Confederate junta is the best outcome, better than they really tear their faces.

So in order to maintain Joseph. Johnston's image gave the Union government a better step, Peng Yulin took the initiative to be this villain, and he didn't even tell Li Yongji about it before, and waited until the matter was over to tell him, just to let Peng Yulin bear the consequences and let Li Yongji pick it out if the matter was revealed.

I have to say that Peng Yulin did think enough and enough, and he was loyal, but he didn't get Li Yongji's appreciation, thinking that he shouldn't hide himself in this matter, didn't Li Yongji even have this responsibility, and he still had to take the blame from his subordinates?

Thinking of this, Li Yongji exhaled lightly and decided not to criticize Peng Yulin anymore, after all, he had already said what he needed to say on the phone, so the most important thing at the moment was how to deal with the aftermath and how to maximize the benefits of winning this battle.

"Well, no matter what, the identity of your own victim must bite and not let go." Li Yongji touched his nose and continued to mumble, "With the two identities of the battlefield victim and the victor of the battle, I can finally reopen negotiations with the envoy of the Alliance State." Hey, it's better to settle the matter of the armistice between North and South America as soon as possible before returning home, otherwise, I will always be a little uneasy. (To be continued......)