Because the Sixth Division had a brigade guarding the banks of the Yalu River, the division commander Sakai Fengren led the division's main force of nearly 8,000 Japanese troops to receive a call for help from the Sakata Wing and reinforce the prisoner of war camp in Zhennampo from Pyongyang City.

Sakai Fengren did not care about the responsibility of Sakata Sanyu to abandon the prisoner of war camp, but took the reinforced 8,000 Japanese troops, gathered more than 2,000 remnants of the Sakata Wing, and rushed to Zhennanpu.

However, by the time the Japanese army arrived at Zhennanpu, the prisoner of war camp had been emptied, leaving only the bodies of the soldiers killed in the battle of the Sakata Wing.

The Japanese army rushed to Nanpu Port, not far west of Zhennanpu, but when the Japanese arrived at the port, the Second Fleet and the transport ships carrying marines and Qing prisoners of war had already left for a long time!

Captain Sakata said to the commander of the Sakai Division: "Division Commander, does the Combined Fleet know the news?" Will it intercept ships carrying prisoners of war? ”

The commander of the Sakai division nodded and said, "Before leaving Pyongyang, I have already sent a telegram to the base camp!" I hope the combined fleet will intercept the enemy! ”

After receiving the telegram from Sakai Fengren in Pyongyang City, the Japanese base camp immediately notified the commander of the Combined Fleet, Ito Yukō, but Ito Yukō believed that the task of the Combined Fleet now was to continue to train hard and prepare for another decisive battle with the Beiyang Naval Division! Ito Yuxiang didn't take the Qing prisoners of war who escaped, and threw the telegram from the base camp aside, and he didn't even send a warship, let alone intercept it!

Jiang Hui, the commander of the Second Fleet, was worried all the way back to the voyage, and he was relieved until he entered the Weihaiwei waters, and finally safely escorted the marines and Qing prisoners of war back to Weihaiwei.

Fewer than 12,000 prisoners of war were rescued by the marines of the Naval Academy, and more than 3,000 Qing prisoners of war were tortured to death by the Japanese army in just a few months.

The prisoners of war were arranged to live temporarily in the Sailor School in Beigou Village, and Lin Daxin very much hoped to incorporate the elite veterans of the Huai Army who had gone through the war into his Dingbei Army.

Therefore, Lin Daxin took great care of these prisoners of war, not only treating the wounded soldiers among the prisoners of war, but also eating the same level as the Dingbei Army. And Lin Daxin also issued a new set of clothes from the inside out to each prisoner of war!

Lin Daxin often came to the prisoners of war and said to the prisoners of war: "Although you were captured by the Japanese army, you are still the heroes of our country!" Because after all, you fought bravely on the battlefield against the Japanese invaders, and there is no shame in being captured when the entire battlefield fails! ”

The prisoners of war were grateful to Lin Daxin, not only because Lin Daxin sent troops to rescue them from the hellish prisoner of war camp, but also because Lin Daxin did not discriminate against them, these prisoners of war, and gave them the respect they deserved.

Lin Daxin also sent soldiers from the Dingbei Army to publicize the treatment of the Dingbei Army among the prisoners of war, but before the soldiers of the Dingbei Army could open their mouths to solicit them, a large number of elite veterans of the original Huai Army took the initiative to ask to join the Dingbei Army.

Lin Daxin happily asked the Dingbei Army to set up the recruitment location next to the prisoners of war's residence, and then almost most of the veterans of the Huai Army were recruited by Lin Daxin to the Dingbei Army.

When Li Hongzhang got the news and knew that Lin Daxin had sent people to North Korea to rescue a large number of prisoners of war, when Li Hongzhang sent people to pick up these prisoners of war, he only received less than 4,000 prisoners of war.

And these prisoners of war are either green battalion soldiers, or old, weak, sick and disabled, so that Li Hongzhang, who knows the situation, is very dissatisfied with Lin Daxin, the Huai Army has lost troops after several major battles, and these rescued veterans of the Huai Army can be used as seeds for the Huai Army to be reorganized in the future. Now these veterans are swallowed up by Lin Daxin's Dingbei Army!

When Li Hongzhang was annoyed, Lin Daxin sent someone to Li Hongzhang to send 1 million taels of silver to the Beiyang Governor's Palace, Lin Daxin wrote a letter to Li Hongzhang, saying that his Dingbei Army is almost all recruits, and now the war with the Japanese is about to start again, Lin Daxin hopes to use these prisoner veterans to supplement his Dingbei Army recruits, improve the combat effectiveness of the Dingbei Army, and prepare for the upcoming defense of Lushun!

Li Hongzhang looked at the 1 million taels of silver and the letter written by Lin Daxin, smiled helplessly and acquiesced to Lin Daxin's actions! However, Li Hongzhang's dissatisfaction with Lin Daxin did not decrease because of 1 million taels of silver. Li Hongzhang felt in his heart that Lin Daxin, this kid, was now hardened and no longer under his control!

The imperial court also knew that Lin Daxin had incorporated most of the rescued prisoners of war into the Dingbei Army, and seeing that Lin Daxin's Dingbei Army was getting stronger and stronger, the hearts of the court magnates began to be more and more wary of Lin Daxin.

8,000 veterans of the original elite of the Huai Army, and even many low-level officers who graduated from the Armed Forces Academy, also joined the Dingbei Army. This group of veterans of the former Huai Army who newly joined the Dingbei Army began the training of recruits that they must go through to join the Dingbei Army, and Yang Erwa is also among the 8,000 veterans. Yang Erwa and his brother Yang Dawa also joined the Dingbei Army, Yang Erwa followed the recruit training, Yang Dawa was admitted to the wounded soldier hospital of the Dingbei Army because of her injury, and waited for the injury to heal, and then carried out recruit training.

Lin Daxin decided to disperse these veterans into the five integrated divisions from the sixth to the tenth to enhance the combat effectiveness of the five divisions that were established later. It was already mid-February, and Lin Daxin guessed that it was not far from the Japanese attack again, and in order to ensure the foolproof nature of the Lushun base, Lin Daxin sent the sixth and seventh divisions and two newly formed divisions to Lushun, so that in one Lushun, there were already more than 90,000 troops of five divisions of the Dingbei Army.

Lin Daxin's whole mind was used on the war that was about to break out with Japan, and even the two incompatible beauties Ding Xueshan and Du Juan, who were entangled with Lin Daxin every day, knew that Lin Daxin was worried about the war that was about to break out, and the two girls were not so tense!

But on February 18, Lin Daxin was interrupted by a bad news that he was trying his best to deal with the Japanese.

Li Hongzhang, who was in the Governor's Mansion of Zhili, urgently called Lin Daxin, and the telegram said that a powerful Italian fleet had made an expedition from the Italian mainland to the waters of the Qing Dynasty, saying that the Qing Dynasty's seizure of Italy's four ironclad battleships and more than 2,000 Italian naval officers and sailors was a contempt for Italy, and now the Italian fleet came to let the Qing Dynasty take a look at the consequences of offending Italy!

Now the Italian fleet has shelled several port cities on the southeast coast, causing massive losses of people and property!

The Nanyang Naval Division was no match for the Italian fleet at all, and the gap between the two sides was too great. Liu Kun, the governor of Liangjiang, ordered the Nanyang Naval Division not to hit the stone with an egg, and all of them hid in the Shanghai base of the Nanyang Naval Division. Moreover, this Italian was provoked by the Beiyang Naval Division, and the Nanyang Naval Division should not be allowed to carry the black pot, Liu Kunyi sent a telegram to the imperial court, saying that the Italian fleet was extremely powerful, and the Nanyang Naval Division was difficult to resist, and asked the Beiyang Naval Division for help!

Li Hongzhang received a telegram from the imperial court at the Beiyang Governor's Palace, and the imperial court ordered the Beiyang Naval Division to immediately return the Italian warships and naval personnel to Italy! Li Hongzhang couldn't help but smile bitterly, the house leak happened to rain overnight, and he was about to start a big war with Japan, but the Italians jumped out again.

Now that the 4 Italian ironclad battleships are in the hands of Lin Daxin's kid, Li Hongzhang has no way to force Lin Daxin to hand over the 4 warships. And now the Japanese Combined Fleet has purchased a large number of British active warships, and its strength has increased greatly! The Beiyang Naval Division has 4 powerful Italian ironclad battleships, and they may not be able to defeat the Japanese Combined Fleet with confidence!

If the 4 warships were returned to the Italians, Li Hongzhang seemed to see the scene of the defeat of the entire Beiyang Naval Division at the hands of the Japanese Combined Fleet! Therefore, Li Hongzhang did not ask Lin Daxin to return the 4 ironclad battleships of the Italians, but asked Lin Daxin to deal with the Italians, so as not to have another incident before the big war with the Japanese!

Li Hongzhang hinted to Lin Daxin on the telegram that since Lin Daxin was not short of money, could he discuss with the Italians to buy 4 ironclad battleships!

Lin Daxin received a telegram from Li Hongzhang, and secretly hated the Italians in his heart It was really rampant, you Italians signed a secret treaty with the Japanese in order to get Qingdao in Shandong, and sent a mercenary fleet of 4 ironclad battleships, which almost changed the tide of the Battle of the Yellow Sea.

As a result, the navy of the Naval Academy captured 4 ironclad battleships intact, and the Italians forcefully asked the Beiyang Naval Division to return the 4 warships, but after being rejected by Lin Daxin, now they are thousands of miles away, sending the Italian fleet to Daqing, and shelling several southern port cities even more arrogantly and unreasonably!

It really made Lin Daxin angry, but now the weather is getting warmer and warmer, which means that the war with the Japanese is about to start again! At this critical moment, the Italians jumped out, and Lin Daxin was a little hesitant whether to break the money to avoid disaster! I bought 4 ironclad battleships with money, calmed down the Italians, and endured the most important Sino-Japanese war!

But when Lin Daxin was still hesitating, the Italians gave the Qing court a treaty and made even more unreasonable demands! The Italians said that only the Qing Dynasty agreed to all the conditions of the treaty! Italians will stop shelling the Qing coastal operations!