The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 229 War or Peace
When Cixi saw that everyone had stopped laughing, she also stopped smiling and looked at Wu Peifu and asked calmly.

"Zi Yu, I read your teacher's memorial. Teng Xingfu said that he believes that the Qing Dynasty cannot win this battle. Am I right?"

Wu Peifu was a little embarrassed to answer Cixi's words. The attitude had already been made clear in the memorials, so Wu Peifu simply did not give a direct answer.

He stood up and said with emotion, "My master said that no matter what the court decides in the end, he will obey the Queen Mother's order. For the sake of the Qing Dynasty, my master is willing to shed blood on the battlefield without regrets."

Although Wu Peifu's answer seemed irrelevant to the question, his words were not only powerful but also very clear. Cixi naturally understood that Teng Yuzhao was making his attitude clear to her.

He only mentioned that he would obey her decree, but did not mention the emperor at all. There was no doubt that he was on his side.

Although Cixi's heart was slightly moved, she remained expressionless and continued to ask, "Teng Xingfu thinks that as long as we persist in fighting, the foreigners will be the first to collapse?"

"Yes, that's what Master meant."

This time Wu Peifu did not evade the question, but gave a very clear answer.

Wu Peifu went on to say, "My master also said that even if the Qing Dynasty cannot win this battle, it must be fought."

"Then why?"

Cixi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Since we can't win, it's better to talk sooner rather than later, right?"

"Otherwise, the Queen Mother will allow me to report."

Wu Peifu also made up his mind and said, "My teacher said that if we negotiate peace with the foreigners now, they will definitely ask for exorbitant amounts of money. Not only will they intend to interfere in the government, they will also demand a huge amount of compensation, and most importantly, they will demand the cession of large tracts of land."

When Cixi heard that the great powers would interfere in state affairs, a cold light flashed in her eyes, with a hint of murderous intent, but she didn't seem to care about the indemnity and cession of territory. Wu Peifu was anxious and couldn't help raising his voice.

"Queen Mother, my master heard that the Tsarist Russia alone had a Yellow Russia plan, which intended to draw a straight line from Mount Qomolangma on the Xinjiang border to Vladivostok, and assign all the land to the north to Russia."

Wu Peifu's words shocked Cixi, Zai Yi, Ronglu and Gangyi so much that they were all stunned in their seats for a moment.

If this were true, the Qing Dynasty's land would have shrunk by at least one third!

Seeing that his words finally attracted the attention of Cixi and others, Wu Peifu added fuel to the fire.

"My Queen Mother, this time, Tsarist Russia used the excuse of "protecting" railway expatriates as an excuse to have Tsar Nicholas II personally serve as the commander-in-chief and dispatch more than 170,000 troops in five routes to invade the three northeastern provinces. This is a clear proof."

"Once Tsarist Russia invades the territory of the Qing Dynasty, other powers will inevitably follow suit and forcibly cede our territory. At that time..."

Wu Peifu's words shocked Cixi, Zai Yi, Ronglu and Gangyi so much that they were stunned. It took Cixi a long time to come back to her senses and she nodded to Wu Peifu.

"You" Cixi wanted to say "Greetings", but she changed her tone when the words came to her lips, "Ziyu, you have been exhausted all the way, please go back and have a rest. There will be an imperial edict for Teng Xingfu later. You are his student, so you can take it on his behalf and then go back to report."

After watching Wu Peifu leave the flower hall, she shouted a few commands at the palace gate and led the small group of people out of the palace in an orderly manner. Cixi signaled the eunuch to close the door of the flower hall, took the small bowl of ginseng soup handed to her by Li Lianying, took a sip, and after calming herself down, she looked at the three people and spoke slowly.

"You have all read Teng Xingfu's memorial. Tell me what we should do in this situation. Should we go to war or make peace? What should we do?"

Naturally, all three of them had read Teng Yuzhao's memorial, and they all felt extremely heavy in their hearts. However, due to the presence of Wu Peifu, and the fact that they had all been in officialdom for a long time, although they could not say that they were calm in the face of emergencies, they had no problem keeping up appearances, and they could even joke with Wu Peifu. Now that Cixi asked about it, the three of them could not help but take a deep breath, with solemn expressions on their faces.

When Cixi asked questions, Ronglu and Gangyi could wait and see and not answer, but Zai Yi was the chief military minister, so he had to answer.

Zai Yi's mood now can be said to be extremely heavy, but what he is worried about is not whether to cede land or pay compensation, but whether his son can replace Guangxu as the ruler of the Qing Dynasty.

He had long since stopped believing in the Boxers' lies about being invulnerable to swords and guns, and he even had the Boxers' magic boxing arena set up in his home dismantled.

If the Boxers were really invulnerable, why couldn't they even take down Dongjiaominxiang? And why did Tianjin, which had tens of thousands of Boxers, fall into the hands of foreigners?

But if the Boxers cannot be relied upon, then who can he rely on?

Relying on the Wuwei Army led by Song Qing, Ma Yukun and Dong Fuxiang, which had been defeated repeatedly? Obviously, it would not work.

Not to mention Song Qing and Ma Yukun, although Dong Fuxiang's Wuwei Rear Army was courageous, it was obviously still a long way from being able to fight against the foreigners. It was the Boxers and the Wuwei Rear Army that besieged Dongjiaomin Lane.

But if Song Qing and Dong Fuxiang are not reliable, then the only one can be Teng Xingfu who has suddenly risen recently. However, now the most capable general of the Qing Dynasty has also believed that the Qing Dynasty cannot win this battle with the foreigners. How can Zai Yi not feel discouraged?

Fortunately, Teng Xingfu was not completely helpless. At least he came up with a plan, and it seemed to make sense.

It is definitely not possible to stop the war and negotiate peace with the foreigners. The foreigners are strongly opposed to the dethronement of Guangxu. They even disagree with Cixi's behind-the-scenes rule. Just for this reason, not only will he not agree to stop the war and negotiate peace now, but if the foreigners still insist on their stubborn opinions, Cixi will never agree to peace talks.

Zai Yi's face changed for a while, then he gritted his teeth and said in a resolute tone, "Your Majesty, although Teng Xingfu is still young, his thoughts and concerns are incomparable to those of experienced people who are good at planning for the country. I think every word he said is full of wisdom, and I agree with him."

Cixi nodded expressionlessly, then slowly drank the ginseng soup in the small bowl and looked at Gangyi again.

Although Gangyi was far inferior to Ronglu in terms of position and closeness to her, Cixi knew that Gangyi was the core figure of the pro-war faction in the court and the second most important figure in the Grand Council after Zai Yi, the chief grand councilor. His opinion was naturally very important.

Gangyi stood up and said, "Empress Dowager, the foreign powers have been coveting the territory of our Great Qing for a long time. In recent years, a lot of land has been taken away by the Russians. If they take away a large piece of land, the birthplace of the Great Qing will be lost, not to mention the East Asia Japan and other European and American powers. So I also agree that this war must be fought!"

Cixi still nodded calmly and turned to look at Ronglu, the biggest peace advocate in the court.

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(End of this chapter)