After a moment of silence, Ding Yuntong said: "This is very likely to be a very important clue, and it must be studied carefully." ”

"Your Majesty."

Waiting for Zhao Bingjun to retreat, Ding Yuntong played with this silk for a long time before putting it in his arms.

The more he thought about it, the more angry he became, and as soon as he slapped the dragon bed, the black stone meeting of the dog day actually killed him in the palace, which was really a big trouble!

Also, what does it mean to be promoted to the rank of official and to be promoted to the rank of knight?

The four big characters were imprinted in his mind, and they couldn't fade away.

On 9 October, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army began to land in Gunsan Bay, a large number of transport ships crowded into the bay, dozens of sampans to transport personnel and materials back and forth, and on the beach, people had already shouted and neighed, and materials were piled up.

Almost at the same time, Su Yuanchun's brigade of the 2nd Guards Division finally arrived in Seoul, accompanied by Daewonjun, the biological father of Gojong of North Korea.

Subsequently, the Korean government was quickly reorganized, and a new government was formed headed by Daewonjun, which took charge of the government and announced a series of decrees, stipulating in detail how the officials and people of the various provinces and prefectures of the DPRK should cooperate with the Chinese army, including the support of manpower and material resources, and if necessary, the local government must obey the dispatch of the Chinese army, and all cattle, horses, livestock, and men must be ready to accept the requisition of the Chinese army at any time.

At the same time, Gaozong was also imprisoned, and Ding Yuntong had long been extremely tired of his two ends of the first rat, neglecting relatives and neglecting relatives, and on this point, China and Japan had a rare agreement. Therefore, after Dayuanjun arrived in Seoul, Ding Yuntong immediately ordered Yuan Shikai to take coercive measures against him, and completely put him under the imprisonment of the soldiers of the Guards, the crime was very simple, that is, the small note carefully kept by Yuan Shikai, "Japanese soldiers come to guard", this evidence is enough to prove that Gaozong tried to use Japan to destroy the relationship between China and North Korea.

In addition, in the military aspect, the command of the Guards in the Seoul area was transferred to Major General Su Yuanchun, after all, Yuan Shikai was only a colonel, he could command the unassertive Major General Wu Zhaoyou, but this was only an expedient measure, and in the next large corps duel between China and Japan, Yuan Shikai would still return to his true character as a staff officer.

The previous battle in Seoul was just an appetizer, and the showdown between China and Japan had just begun.

On October 7, 1883, the Japanese envoy Shuzo Aoki arrived in St. Petersburg and was greeted by Russia, where Russian Foreign Minister Gilles held a grand reception ceremony. The Russian royal band dressed up and played the Japanese national anthem, "Kimiyo", and the 15-year-old Crown Prince Nicholas, as the special representative of Tsar Alexander III, took part in the ceremony.

Hand in hand, Aoki and Gilles rode to the outskirts of St. Petersburg in a luxurious horse-drawn carriage lined with Japanese and Russian flags.

Since the assassination of his predecessor, Tsar Alexander II, Alexander III moved to the suburban palace of Gatchina out of fear, and was known as the "Hermit of Gatchina".

Russia's enthusiastic attitude was not without cause, and its domestic public opinion became more and more strongly advocating expansion to the Far East, and a consensus gradually formed within the government that Russia had reached a stalemate in Europe and could not obtain an outlet to the sea, so it could only put its hopes in the Far East and strive for a good port at the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula.

Based on this consideration, and under the premise that there is not enough Liliang to intervene in the Far East at present, the Russian government has formalized two basic strategic principles:

First, immediately for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the plan demonstration and funding, jishu, engineering preparations.

Second, it supported Japan in destroying the suzerain-vassal relationship between China and Korea through a war.

At the Gatchina Palace, it took only a few days for Japan and Russia to sign a series of documents. Alexander III was able to satisfy Aoki's request to the fullest extent possible, and although Russia itself owed a large amount of foreign debt, he gritted his teeth and offered Japan a much-needed low-interest loan; At the same time, Japan was also allowed to lease Russian civilian ships in the Far East and send experts to Japan who were in short supply in various fields. In addition, Russia will sell a number of minesweepers to Japan and send minesweepers.

Because the Japanese cruiser Nisshin was sunk by mines in the naval battle of Rongcheng Bay, Japan did not have professional minesweepers at this time, and Britain, France, Germany, and the United States refused to sell minesweepers to Japan on the grounds of wartime neutrality. Therefore, Russia's decision is simply a relief for Japan.

On October 16, after a week of rushing to transport, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army finally landed in the mountains with all its troops, and they were greeted by the remnants of the Takashima Brigade that had retreated from Seoul.

The embarrassment and tragic condition of these remnants of the Japanese army greatly surprised the commander of the Sixth Division, Major General Gu Gancheng.

In order to avoid the pursuit of the Chinese army, the Takashima Brigade deliberately chose the uninhabited mountains and valleys to escape, and in groups of dozens or 100 people, they carried their wounded and sick brothers through the mountains and rivers, and groped in the direction of the mountains under the difficult conditions of no medical treatment, no medicine, and little food and food, and were constantly harassed by the North Korean military and civilians along the way. By the time the team reached the mountains, it was completely unorganized, with two-thirds dead and missing, and only half of Akiyama's cavalry force remained, with less than 10 horses left.

The unkempt, ragged, exhausted and miserable appearance of all the officers and men greatly shocked the Japanese troops who had just arrived in Korea, and shocked and frustrated the fanatical officers and men. Zuihou Takashima Tomanosuke also committed suicide by disembowelment, taking the responsibility for the defeat of the army.

Guganseong received an order from the base camp to go north and capture Seoul as soon as possible in order to boost the morale of the Imperial Army.

On October 18, the Japanese 6th Division began to move towards Seoul.

In Seoul, Su Yuanchun referred to Yuan Shikai's opinion and made corresponding military deployments:

Based on previous experience, since the Han River was effective in defending the southern end of Seoul, it would be easy for all Japanese forces to force their way across the river head-on, and it was highly likely that they would adopt a similar tactic, making a detour from the upper reaches of the Han River, attacking from the west or north, and likewise outflanking the Chinese army's rear route.

Su Yuanchun believed that the Japanese army could not cut off the supply line as before, this kind of thing could not be repeated, and there was a great risk of being surrounded and annihilated, so the Guards could no longer rest on their laurels and retreat in Seoul, but should take the initiative to attack, choose a little ambush for the Japanese army, and sabotage the deployment of the Japanese army.

So which one to choose?

First of all, it is necessary to determine where the Japanese army will cross the Han River. After careful analysis, from Seoul to the west is the triangle where the Han River and the Imjin River meet, and beyond that is Incheon, which is covered with a dense water network and numerous swamps, which is not conducive to the concealment and detour of large forces, so the Japanese army will not cross the river in the west of Seoul. More than 30 kilometers to the east of Seoul is the intersection of the Han River and the North Han River, and after this fork, it is also very troublesome for the Japanese army to cross the two rivers.

Therefore, Su Yuanchun and Yuan Shikai agreed that the Japanese army would cross the river between more than 30 kilometers, and if the next army was ambushed near the intersection, and the Japanese army would suddenly launch an attack halfway through the river, it would definitely be able to catch him by surprise.

At this time, Wu Zhaoyou still had a total of more than 2,000 people, and Su Yuanchun handed over Seoul to Wu Zhaoyou and Yuan Shikai for defense, and he personally led his subordinates to this brigade to Longtanli, a small town at the intersection of the Han River and the North Han River, to ambush.

This plan was praised by Ding Yuntong, and from this point, it can be seen that Su Yuanchun's command experience is indeed better than Yuan Shikai's, and he is more active in fighting, and Yuan Shikai is still a staff officer who can give full play to his talents.

While Ding Yuntong had to pay attention to the war in North Korea, he was still pondering the silk day and night, thinking and studying the words "Addition of Officials and Promotions" back and forth, like a string of beads being dismantled and connected in a different order, and then dismantled again.

These four words were hidden by Ji Changxing in the mezzanine of underwear, and they must have their special meaning. If it was the promise that the "Wu Dog" made to Ji Changxing after the fact, and then Ji Changxing hid it ceremoniously, then he was too naïve and brainless, and this possibility could be ruled out.

So the biggest possibility is that Ji Changxing left this silk on his body in the hope that once he was killed, the imperial court would have the opportunity to see this silk, so as to leave clues for solving the case.

So these four words should be hinting at the murderer, but who will the murderer be?

Ding Yuntong's head hurts, but he always misses the point.

At this time, the chief eunuch Fan Changlu came in, he was also an old man by Ding Yuntong's side, he had been diligent and diligent for many years, and he was serious in his work, and he was deeply trusted by Ding Yuntong.

Fan Changlu knelt down and said, "Bixia, the finale of tonight's welcome party is still waiting for the Holy Judge." ”

Ding Yuntong suddenly remembered that today the Ministry of Construction specially held a welcome banquet for a group of newly arrived Jewish experts, as well as a variety of theatrical performances.

In order to show the grandeur and also to show the importance of the central government, the finale of the theatrical performance was designated by the emperor himself.

Ding Yuntong took the list of candidates and looked at it, and casually ordered a Peking Opera famous Dan Yang Yulou's "Thousands of Miles to Ride Alone", and the following is the content introduction of the title: Guan Gongyun is looking for his brother for thousands of miles, and the Hou of Hanshou Pavilion is sealed with gold. It is the story of Guan Yunchang of the Three Kingdoms who left the gold and silver official seals that Cao Cao rewarded him with, and traveled thousands of miles to find Liu Bei.

Ding Yuntong has no interest in this kind of opera, in his opinion, the reason why opera is popular is because the people's spare time life in the old era was too boring, and for him, a time-traveler, watching this kind of slow-paced stuff is a complete waste of life.

Ding Yuntong threw the program list to Fan Changlu and said with a sneer: "It's not bad for these boring things to fool foreign devils, it's just a fresh look at the colorful ones." ”

Fan Changlu took the list and said with a smile: "What the emperor said is very true, these singers are for the sake of fighting, and they are Guan Gongyun Chang and Hanshou Pavilion Marquis, isn't Hanshou Pavilion Marquis Guan Yunchang?" It's just too much nonsense. ”

Fan Changlu's casual words made Ding Yuntong stunned.

"Guan Yunchang is the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion, and the Marquis of Hanshou Pavilion is Guan Yunchang." Ding Yuntong muttered to himself, and he was stupid all of a sudden.

Suddenly, there was a "hiss", as if a lightning bolt flashed in Ding Yuntong's mind, and the fog in his heart disappeared, and he suddenly felt like an initiation, and instantly understood the meaning of the words "plus official and promoted to knight".

He finally knew who the "Wu Dog" was.