Chapter 67 Section sixty-seven

"Li Hongzhang is really amazing!" Zai Yi shouted loudly: "The Russians protect him, and the Kaiser also protects him! He has done things for foreigners!" "That's not what you said!" King Qing used the words of Empress Dowager Cixi: "There is no country in China or abroad that can fight endlessly." "I didn't fight! But I want to make peace." "Then..." King Qing's voice was extremely heavy, but he lost his breath all of a sudden, dragging out a long tail.He wanted to reply: "Then you can fight! Let's see how capable you are?" This was an angry thought for a while, and before the words came to his mouth, he knew that he couldn't say that, and he cut it off abruptly, which is why he had such a weird idea. tone.

"My lord!" Chongqi said: "This is the Military Affairs Department, just dispatch troops and generals, how can we talk about peace?" Although King Qing may not have much talent, he was able to deal with Chongqi and his ilk with ease. He immediately replied: "Okay! Let's talk about military affairs. Now outside Dagu, there are many foreign warships arriving. Outside the customs, Russia They also have bad intentions. Not to mention whether there are any changes in the south, the situation in these two places alone is difficult enough. The outside of the customs is the fundamental place, and it is beyond reach. , the armies of various countries are rushing straight in, please advise, how can we keep the capital?"

"Of course Tianjin must be defended!" Zai Yi replied quickly. "Then, is there enough troops?" King Qing also said very quickly: "There are only Nie Shicheng and Ma Yukun's two armies there, and if there is one miss, it will be a big gap!" "If there is a gap," Xu Tong said confidently, "The God of Justice will be able to plug it." King Qing smiled and remained silent.It was an expression of contempt to laugh it off, and of course Xu Tong felt very uncomfortable.However, he still didn't dare to offend King Qing, so he looked at Zaiyi with a look of pleading for help.

Zaiyi has also seen that the Boxers are not reliable, but it is inconvenient to say that the Boxers are useless, and on the other hand, although the Boxers cannot "destroy the foreigners", they can also be used to "help the Qing Dynasty" - to help the eldest brother take over.Zaiyi has already stolen one of the twenty or so royal seals hidden in the Jiaotai Palace. If necessary, he can take advantage of the ignorance of the Boxers to break into the deep palace and usurp the truth first, and then use it for private possession. The imperial seal, the imperial edict, and the name of the false Yizhi are later.Therefore, knowing Xu Tong's intentions, he had no choice but to pretend he hadn't seen him, and answered what King Qing said.

"Reinforcements will arrive in Tianjin soon. Xia Xinyou, the commander-in-chief of Dengzhou in Shandong, is already on his way, and Yuan Weiting will send another 3,000 people." Zaiyi paused for a moment, then said in a very excited voice: "Li Jiantang Volunteer to volunteer, we have already recruited sixteen battalions of Xiangyongs to go north!" As he spoke, he took out a telegram and showed it to King Qing. King Qing was greatly surprised that Li Jiantang was Li Bingheng, a man who started from a prefecture and county, and became a governor, with a reputation of being a virtuous person.Last year, due to the resolute recommendation, the imperial envoy inspected the Yangtze River Navy. This was a mission specially set up for Peng Yulin, and his status was higher than the governor. Therefore, the eight governors along the Yangtze River jointly called Ronglu and suggested "self-protection in the southeast" That is led by Li Bingheng.However, this is the only telegram listed. In the future, regarding self-protection in the southeast, only under the contact of Sheng Xuanhuai, the governor of Liangjiang Liu Kunyi, the governor of Huguang Zhang Zhidong, and the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi Li Hongzhang presided over the consultation.Although we know that Li Bingheng's attitude has changed, but it is surprising that the master and the other will fight for the master and lead the army to serve the king anyway, so I read Li Bingheng's telegram very carefully.

In the telegram, of course, there was a generous statement of loyalty and enthusiasm, but there were only four important words in it: "Western soldiers specialize in water skills, but not good at land warfare. If you draw them deep, you will definitely wipe them out." Seeing this, King Qing shook his head greatly: "This statement is too dangerous! Beijing and Tianjin are close together, where does the 'introduction to depth' lead?" He said to Zaiyi: "Second brother, don't listen to him! Thinking that it doesn’t matter if Tianjin is lost, and you can set up an ambush to invite an attack. Back then, the monk king was so brave, it was because of this idea that he suffered a big loss.”

"Oh? What's going on?" "In the eighth year of Xianfeng, the monk king guarded Dagukou. That is to say, the foreigners were not good at land warfare. They withdrew their Beitang troops and let the enemy land on the shore. But the foreigners' guns are powerful, and the terrain of Tianjin is full of hills and hills, condescending. King Monk's 3,000 Heilongjiang cavalry team fought until only seven people remained, and when King Monk knew he had miscalculated, a big mistake had already been made." King Qing added: "If you really want to say that foreigners are not good at land warfare, I don't think so. The soldiers of the embassy in Dongjiaomin Lane are less than a thousand, and the Gan army is several times larger than them, and they are still unable to attack. It is conceivable who is good and who is not."

King Qing's previous words were exaggerated, they were insulting Zaiyi, Xu and Chong, who didn't understand military affairs at all, but the latter few words were plausible, which made Zaiyi feel a little bit stinging, and he looked a little angry from embarrassment! "Uncle Qing, don't build up other people's ambitions and destroy your own prestige. Although Gan's army is large, its weapons are not good enough. If Rong Zhonghua hadn't made trouble to hinder his legs and was willing to give cannons, the embassy would have been razed to the ground long ago!"

"The cannons were fired in the capital, and they were fired from south to north. Even the empress dowager can't take responsibility for this matter." The meaning of these words is that they are afraid of ruining the spiritual seats of the ancestors and ancestors.It was very useful for King Qing to move this big hat, but Zaiyi was at a loss for words, and even more unreasonable. "Uncle Qing, anyway, no matter what you say, you can't change your generals before the battle, and Li Shaoquan must never be transferred directly to the governor!" King Qing felt that his words were harsh and displeased, so he put on a big hat again: "Is there any decree?"

"There is Yizhi..." Zaiyi suddenly cut off the words. Although it was only half a sentence, the unfinished words can also be guessed from the tone, which is "no way" or "doesn't work".King Qing was terrified, thinking in his heart, Zaiyi was going to defy the order openly!It seems that the disaster is not far away. After a long silence, he got up and left without saying a word.