With everyone's eagerness to wait, Chulalongkorn finally made a decision, but this decision left all the ministers dumbfounded.

Chulalongkorn announced that he would immediately leave for Europe and the United States to conduct a careful examination of the political and economic systems of the advanced Western countries. And his son, Prince Chanthaburi Jiti Yekorn, will be honored as the crown prince and at the same time assume the position of regent, temporarily taking over all militaristic affairs, and the core of all policies will be the four words "good-neighborliness and friendship".

Such a decision is difficult for those ministers who are eager to fight, but someone does, that is, Ding Yuntong thousands of miles away.

Two days later, in the imperial palace in Beijing, Ding Yuntong received the report and couldn't help but smile when he saw Chulalongkorn's unusual decision.

Chulalongkorn is known as the greatest monarch in the history of Siam, and it is not for nothing. Seeing the war between China and Japan, he was not only able to endure it without making a move, but also crossed the ocean and walked away, his acting skills are really extraordinary.

Doing so can first paralyze China and make people feel that he has no Jihua to take advantage of the fire to rob.

Secondly, when the time is ripe, Siam sends troops to attack, and if the situation in Zuihou is unfavorable, the attack fails. He came back to clean up the mess, pretending that he was not in the country, and put all the blame on the crown prince, leaving a way out for diplomatic peace.

It can be seen that this person is insidious and vicious, fierce and cunning, and he is mentally prepared to sacrifice his son.

Ding Yuntong secretly sneered in his heart: "Don't worry, deal with you slowly, it's useless to run away." Since you are prepared to sacrifice the crown prince, as long as this prince is not too stupid, it is inevitable that he will resent his father, then China will be able to make good use of him in the future. ＂

Thinking about Siam, on September 26, the secret report of the military commander came, the content of which surprised Ding Yuntong, the war in Seoul was unfavorable, the military capital of Huijicang was burned down, and the Japanese cavalry entered from the east gate and exited the north gate, galloping across the sky as if entering a no-man's land.

He now has three sources of intelligence at his disposal: the conventional communication system, the secret agent system of the Military Judge Advocate General's Department of the General Staff (referred to as the military command), and the espionage system of the Central Ministry of Internal Affairs (referred to as the Central Union). The work of these three often overlaps, but there are differences in the focus of the military command, which focuses on the control of the army, while the central command is mainly responsible for internal rule.

Then Yuan Shikai's telegram came, and the first thing he came up was to ask for punishment and punishment.

The telegram gave a detailed picture of the battle on the 25th, and the content was roughly similar to the report of the military commander. The generals knew that there were many secret agents in the troops, some of whom were ordinary staff officers, some of whom were logistics personnel, and some of whom were even just ordinary soldiers, and they were absolutely pervasive, so they did not dare to lie about the military situation.

According to Yuan Shikai, Colonel Zhang Guangqian's dereliction of duty and incompetence caused a Japanese cavalry to suddenly rush into Seoul without warning. And he was confused by the Japanese army and failed to surround the enemy. By the time reinforcements arrived, the Japanese had already burned down the Huijichang and marched away from the north gate. The Guards at Mount Esa, outside the East Gate, fought fiercely, and although they pushed back the enemy, they lost nearly half of their personnel, and two Korean battalions were routed. According to several wounded and captured Japanese soldiers, the commander of the Japanese army was named Akiyama Yoshiko.

When Ding Yuntong saw this, his heart was excited, this Autumn Mountain was very familiar to him. In the First Sino-Japanese War in the previous life, the culprit of the Lushun massacre. Later, he shined in the Russo-Japanese War, and even defeated the famous Cossack cavalry, known as the first in modern Japan, and a famous cavalry general in Zuihou. Until the 21st century, the Japanese right wing published the manga to praise Akiyama Yoshiko.

In this battle, the losses were heavy, and most of the thousands of stone grain were burned, and none of the remaining ten were burned; Second, the Japanese army swaggered in Seoul and came and went freely, which also had an impact on the morale of the troops.

But it was not without gains, first of all, the troops of Mount Esang were still able to repel the Japanese army in an extremely unfavorable situation, which fully reflected the combat effectiveness of the Guards. Secondly, I also understand the opponent, a person like Akiyama Yoshiko, who is good at military and dangerous moves, is a difficult opponent. Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has been in turmoil and ideological turmoil, and the so-called troubled times produce heroes, and naturally a large number of talents will emerge, so we must always be cautious and cautious in the war against Japan, and be vigilant to the entire army.

Yuan Shikai also admitted frankly in the telegram that the original strategy was to prepare for a steady counterattack, after all, there was food in his hands, and he was not panicked. But now that most of the grain has been burned, and more importantly, the enemy has a speed advantage and can sneak attack the rear at any time, so that it is impossible to transport grain from outside, and there are still hundreds of thousands of people in the city.

After thinking about it for a long time, Ding Yuntong called Yuan Shikai back, first of all, not to reprimand, but to encourage, praising the various troops for not being chaotic, although they were quite embarrassed, but if they calculated well, the loss of troops was not large.

After all, it is natural to be passive in the face of future famous generals like Akiyama, so Ding Yuntong did not punish Yuan Shikai, the so-called victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, and the defeat of generals depends on the cause and effect, especially in the face of strong opponents, not only to see the results, but also to see whether they work hard.

Therefore, Ding Yuntong ordered in the telegram that Zhang Guangqian, the colonel of the Guards, had always been free and loose and had poor command, but now he was derelict in his duties and seriously violated military discipline.

As for food, this is a problem, but Ding Yuntong has already thought of a solution. In the previous life 1948, the country. During the siege of Changchun during the communist civil war, in order to save food, the besieged country. The army deliberately opened the city to release a large number of people, and the communist. Army Commander Lin. Biao ordered: prohibit the people in the city from leaving the city, and make Changchun a dead city. As a result, 600,000 people starved to death, and the consequences were even greater than those of the South. Jing Massacre. Kill, country. The two sides accuse each other of being war criminals.

The wisdom of the virtuous in the past life can be imitated by future generations.

On September 28, according to the emperor's will, Zhang Guangqian was officially executed.

Yuan Shikai believed that Akiyama's tactics were elusive, and the enemy brigade had already crossed the Han River from the flank, so in this case, the troops needed to change their defenses and transfer back all the troops scattered there, so as not to give the enemy a chance to intersperse and cut off and break through. After consulting with Wu Zhaoyou, Yuan Shikai ordered to abandon the positions outside the East Gate and the West Gate, and gather his troops in Seoul and the north bank of the Han River.

Wu Zhaoyou led two battalions of more than 1,000 troops, plus the troops of Li Zuyuan of North Korea to guard the north bank of the Han River; Fu Diankui, Zhu Xianmin, and He Zengzhu each commanded a battalion, and the remnants of Zhang Guangqian's battalion of more than 200 people were personally commanded by Yuan Shikai.

Two Korean generals, Han Gyuji, have been killed, but Yoon Tae-jun is still alive, Yuan Shikai ordered him to gather those scattered troops, although it is not possible to fight, but to maintain law and order in the city, search for Japanese spies, etc.

He believed that since there was no flexible mutation of the Japanese army, it was necessary to use static braking, stabilize himself first, wait for the opponent to make a move, and then look for an opportunity to give a blow.

As for the problem of food shortage, the emperor has already given a solution, and it is miserable, and he can't care so much.

On September 30, a large Japanese army had arrived on Mt. Asaga, and Takashima Tonosuke and Akiyama Yoshiko stood on the top of the mountain looking at Seoul. For the next move, Akiyama Yoshiko gave three strategies.

The next strategy is to retreat south and wait for backup, Takashima shook his head and refused, this is too slow;

The middle strategy is to pounce on the whole army and storm Seoul, Takashima shook his head again, this is too urgent, the opponent's defense is solid, and he is afraid of huge casualties and nothing;

The best strategy was to build up the momentum of the large army, and Akiyama led the nimble cavalry troops to attack the opponent's transportation lines in all directions, so that the city could not be reinforced.

Takashima greatly agreed, this plan is wonderful, hundreds of thousands of people in the city, for a long time, without a fight, will wait for the opportunity to move.

The two felt that there was great hope for victory, and at this time, their subordinates reported that Seoul suddenly opened the east gate today, and a large number of people flocked out, helping the old and the young, densely packed, crowded with people, and came straight to Mount Esan.

Takashima and Akiyama suddenly looked at each other, which one of the Chinese are playing?