Chapter 58 Yuan Shikai's class teacher returns to court

What is strange is that this time, Li Hongzhang, the "father of the Beiyang Navy", also stood on Cixi's side.He said: At this time, Japan's war power has surpassed that of our country.We should take the initiative to withdraw our troops from North Korea and buy time through international mediation.If we escape this battle, my country will have a period of strategic opportunity, and it will not be too late to confront Japan after its strength is sufficient. Li Hongzhang actually supports the resolution of the North Korean crisis through international mediation. Does he have no confidence in the army he created, or is he so foolishly loyal that he only obeys Empress Dowager Cixi's order?

Later, I found out that the reason why he did not support the war was that he had no confidence in winning the victory, which was completely contrary to the idea of ​​the main combat faction headed by Guangxu that the Qing Empire would easily kill Little Japan in a flash. Li Hongzhang believes that the dilapidated house in the Qing Dynasty is already in turmoil and it is difficult to maintain it.He said: During the military reforms in the first 30 years of the Qing Dynasty, the topics given to him by Lafayette Lafayette were all propositional compositions, which gave him extremely limited space for free play. He never did things in a real and free manner. , is always subject to various constraints, so things are not very reliable, like the navy is a paper tiger, it is not enough to defeat Japan (I have done things all my life, military training, and the navy are all paper Tiger, how can you really let it go and deal with it, but it is barely painted, ostentatious, and not exposed, it can still be perfunctory for a while, like a dilapidated house, patched up and pasted by a paper craftsman... ——Wu Yong's "Gengzi Xishou Cong Tan").

Therefore, Li Hongzhang was unwilling to waste the strength he had accumulated so hard in this uncertain decisive battle. He felt that he should wait a little longer, try his best to strive for a peaceful development environment, and start the economy. Of course, since these remarks were made by Li Hongzhang after the end of the war, suspicion of an afterthought cannot be ruled out. In fact, it doesn't matter what Guangxu and Li Hongzhang think. As long as the chairman of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi, doesn't want to fight, then they can't fight, and the Qing Dynasty will naturally not send troops.

Yuan Shikai, who was waiting wholeheartedly for imperial reinforcements, was finally disappointed. Yuan Shikai was in a very difficult situation at this time: on the one hand, the Donghak Party wanted to assassinate Yuan Shikai who enslaved them; on the other hand, the pro-Japanese faction in North Korea also wanted to kill Yuan Shikai; roadblock. At this critical moment, Yuan Shikai's martial arts skills and careful precautions played a role, and he successfully escaped many assassinations. Yuan Shikai understood that not only would it be meaningless to continue to stay in North Korea, but his own life would also be at stake.So he began to report to the imperial court, applying for a transfer to return to work on the grounds that he had dizziness, fever and body pain, and he wanted to return to China to recuperate.For such a damn reason, fortunately, Li Hongzhang gave him face and granted it.

At the beginning of July 1894, Yuan Shikai left the mess of North Korea to his loyal younger brother Tang Shaoyi, stepped on the deck of the return ship, watched the ship slowly recede from the shore, tears flashed in Yuan Shikai's eyes: Farewell, my lost youth!Goodbye, the place where I have struggled for twelve years!