The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 232 The situation has changed
Just as Wu Peifu was about to urge his horse forward, he heard anxious shouts from behind.

"General Wu, General Wu, please stay! General Wu, please stay, my master will be here soon."

Junmen is a title for senior military officers. Generally speaking, this title is normal for second- and third-rank officials such as governors and provincial governors. But in general, the official being addressed must be at least at the level of a provincial governor to be worthy of the title of Junmen.

And Wu Peifu is now only a newly promoted fourth-rank commander, a very good position in the Green Camp. His rank is second only to the guerrilla general, and he is in charge of a battalion of troops.

Among the military officers serving outside the capital, those serving as deputy commanders of the Dusi and deputy governors of the Xuanweishisi are all in the same rank. If they are in the capital, a fourth-rank military officer can only be a second-class guard, cloud flag envoy, deputy guard lieutenant colonel, deputy vanguard lieutenant colonel, deputy cavalry lieutenant colonel, etc., which are military officers serving in the capital.

But the above-mentioned military officers in the capital city are everywhere in the streets. They are just cheap official positions and are nothing at all.

Even in a new army like the Wuwei Army, which was at the rank of captain, it was inappropriate for a dusi to call Wu Peifu a general.

If there is anything special about Wu Peifu's official position, it is that his title of Dusi was appointed by Empress Dowager Cixi.

Wu Peifu thought to himself that this person couldn't be calling him, and was about to urge his horse to leave, but when he glanced at the busy streets, he didn't see any officials nearby, and he became confused again.

But Wu Peifu still didn't want to stay and wait. He was not worried about the passers-by. Instead, he was worried about being laughed at by his own people.

So he urged his horse to walk a few steps along the edge of the street, and jumped off the horse in front of a teahouse, pretending to be thirsty.

Wu Peifu did not enter the teahouse either. He stood at the door and shouted to the tea master inside, "Give me five pots of Biluochun, all in large cups."

Then Wu Peifu spoke to the soldiers of the special guard squadron who followed him to the capital.

"It's a hot day. Let's drink some tea to cool off. It won't be too late to leave later."

When Wu Peifu went to the capital to deliver a memorial, Teng Yuzhao took out two hundred taels of silver from his own salary and gave it to Wu Peifu before he left. There were many places to spend money in the capital, and Teng Yuzhao didn't want his student to appear too shabby.

However, Wu Peifu did not spend much of Teng Yuzao's money, so what Teng Yuzao did was completely unnecessary.

This was because not only was the daily meals of Wu Peifu and his entourage paid for by Prince Duan's Mansion, but they were also of extremely high quality. Wu Peifu dared to guarantee that no one else in the Vanguard Army had ever enjoyed such high courtesy and delicious food. Even though his teacher Teng Yuzhao, who now held the high position of Chief of Staff of the Vanguard Army, had never eaten them, and might not even have seen them.

Wu Peifu had even eaten the Manchu and Han banquets, and he had tasted many delicacies from other places. In the past ten days at the Prince's Mansion, which is Zai Yi's home, he had never eaten the same dish twice at the banquet.

This time, Wu Peifu personally experienced what it means to "when one person succeeds, the whole family will benefit."

Because even the grass their Don River horses ate was fine feed, and each meal also contained grass mixed with eggs. These Don River horses had probably never eaten such high-quality grass before. Not only did their fur become more and more golden, but their fat was also increasing. So much so that Wu Peifu was a little worried about whether these dozen Don River horses, which had lived a good life for so long, could adapt to the "hard days" of the vanguard army.

Even the people from the palace who took them around the streets spent money like water. They went to Wangfujing, Dazhalan, Tianqiao, wherever was busy, and all the money was consumed by the people accompanying them from the palace.

Even in places like Qingyin Xiaoban and Tianqiao in the Eight Great Hutongs, the money for tips was paid by people from Prince Duan's Mansion, and there was no place for Wu Peifu to spend money.

Wu Peifu only insisted on spending dozens of taels of silver to collect various newspapers in the capital for Teng Yuzhao and to buy some translated books of foreign powers for himself at the Tongwenguan.

Therefore, Wu Peifu still has some spare money.

Moreover, during the more than ten days he lived in the palace, Wu Peifu's taste buds had become more picky. Just as for drinking tea, he now found it difficult to swallow the ordinary tea that he used to drink.

Although a pot of Biluochun is not considered a good tea even in the teahouse outside Yongdingmen, it sounds comfortable.

During this brief delay, the horses chasing behind had already rushed out of Yongding Gate, and a young man in an exquisite silk shirt stopped his horse right beside Wu Peifu.

The man jumped off his horse, ran a few steps to Wu Peifu, swiftly brushed off his sleeves, bent his left leg forward, squatted with his right leg, supported his knee with his left hand, let his right hand hang at his side, and leaned his head and body slightly forward. He gave Wu Peifu a beautiful bow and then spoke humbly.

"Your servant pays respects to General Wu!"

"My prince has something important to discuss with General Wu. Please stay and have the carriages and horses stop for a while. My prince will be here soon."

Wu Peifu recognized this man. His name was Wang Huaidao and he looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

Although he was a steward in the palace, Wu Peifu couldn't help but feel a bit impressed by him.

At such a young age, he has become a steward in Prince Duan's Mansion. Needless to say, he is a very smart and shrewd person. These days, when Zai Yi was not in the mansion, it was this Wang Huaidao who accompanied them around to play.

However, Wang Huaidao's words still greatly surprised Wu Peifu.

Zai Yi actually came in person!

You have to know that Zai Yi is a first-rank official who serves as the chief minister of the imperial court's military affairs department in a position of prince. Not only himself, but also his teacher is in his hands.

Since Zai Yi asked him to wait a little longer, how could a small commander like him dare to ignore him? Moreover, people were trying their best to be nice to their teacher and himself.

And since Zai Yi came here personally, he must have something important to tell him, so Wu Peifu quickly nodded in agreement.

Wang Huaidao kept Wu Peifu and did not stop. He walked into a small teahouse, called the boss and threw him a silver ingot.

"From the Prince Duan's Mansion. My prince will be here soon. I would like to lend you the teahouse. Please send away all the other people except you and the tea master. I will also make you a pot of your best tea."

Prince Duan is now the most powerful prince in the capital, and he is also the biological father of the eldest prince. He is the future emperor!
Not to mention paying enough silver, even if the boss didn't give a penny, he would still be willing to support the most prominent figure in Beijing.

The teahouse owner happily pocketed the silver and hurriedly called for the teahouse in the back to make tea and prepare seasonal dried fruit snacks. The dozen or so tea drinkers in the teahouse immediately stood up and quickly walked out of the teahouse without waiting for the owner to say anything.

Those tea drinkers who were curious or had not seen the future emperor did not leave immediately, but mustered up the courage to stand across the street to watch the situation.

The teahouse had just been cleaned up when Prince Duan, accompanied by a dozen Goshahas, hurried to the teahouse on horseback, sweating profusely.

In the Qing Dynasty, the so-called Goshaha were the attendants and guards of senior officials, but these people were not hired by the officials themselves. They were regular government staff.

When he saw Wu Peifu, Zai Yi's anxious face finally showed a smile. While greeting Wu Peifu who saluted, he quickly dismounted with the help of a tall Goshaha, then took Wu Peifu's hand and hurried into the teahouse.

Although he had been riding horses all the way, Zai Yi was still in his prime, less than fifty years old, and the pursuit did not make him look too tired.

Zai Yi ignored the teahouse owner and tea doctor who were kneeling to greet him, and just hurriedly said "reward" to Wang Huaidao.

He pulled Wu Peifu to the tea table which had been set up, then let go of Wu Peifu's hand and motioned Wu Peifu to sit down.

Zai Yi just glanced at Wang Huaidao, and Wang Huaidao immediately walked out of the door with the teahouse owner and the tea doctor who stayed behind. Only Zai Yi and Wu Peifu were left in the huge teahouse.

Seeing Wu Peifu was about to pour tea for him, Zai Yi waved his hand to stop Wu Peifu and said, "Zi Yu, this is an urgent matter, let's not talk about those empty formalities."

After Zai Yi finished speaking, he went straight to the point.

"Early this morning, the Military Affairs Office received a report from the Shenjiying. The spies they sent out came back and said that the foreigners secretly sent troops last night and suddenly surrounded Anping."

Zai Yi took a deep breath and said hurriedly, "The foreign troops were divided into two groups. One group was composed of Japanese and Russian troops, with more than 60,000 people. They were the group that surrounded Anping. They fought with Xingfu's vanguard for most of the night. The battle was very fierce. The spies said that the foreigners' artillery fire was so fierce that it was impossible to distinguish them. It was not until the early morning that your vanguard retreated. Now the foreigners have occupied Anping. Xingfu should have retreated to Xianghe. You can't go to Anping now."

This news only surprised Wu Peifu a little, but he was not too worried.

Although Wu Peifu had no idea how the foreigners suddenly appeared in Anping without anyone noticing, he absolutely believed that with a teacher like him around, the vanguard army would be able to overcome the danger.

"Can you find Xingfu as soon as possible?"

Wu Peifu nodded and indicated that he had a solution.

Before leaving, Teng Yuzhao instructed Wu Peifu that if any unexpected events occurred, he should rush to Gu'an or Zhuozhou, west of the capital, to find him.

Zai Yi finally felt relieved when he learned that Wu Peifu was able to find Teng Yuzao.

Perhaps because he was running in a hurry and felt thirsty, Zai Yi reached out and took the teapot on the table, and while pouring tea for himself and Wu Peifu, he continued speaking angrily.

"There are also more than 30,000 foreign troops who have arrived near Tongzhou early this morning. The guards of the city include a part of Ma Yukun's left army, more than 20 battalions of Green Camp soldiers, and tens of thousands of Boxers, with a total force of over 30,000. However, they only fought a brief battle with the vanguard of the foreigners before abandoning the city and fleeing to Gaobeidian. They really deserve to die."

Zai Yi slammed the table hard, causing the cups, plates and fruits on the table to clink.

"Fortunately, all the people in Tongzhou have already fled, and the remaining ones are the elderly and weak who can't walk. Otherwise, the people in the city would be in trouble."

Zai Yi took a deep breath before continuing, "It's a pity for Li Jiantang! Most of the soldiers he recruited were new soldiers, and they also fled. Li Jiantang had no choice but to commit suicide by taking poison."

The Li Jiantang that Zai Yi mentioned was actually Li Bingheng, with the courtesy name Jiantang, and he was from Anzishan, Zhuanghe, Guandong.

When he was appointed as the Censor of Guangxi in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, Cheng and Feng Zicai shared the responsibility of fighting and defending, and won a great victory in Lang Son.

Even Peng Yulin, a fierce general of the Hunan Army, praised him highly.

Two years ago, the court was planning to appoint him as the governor of Sichuan. However, Li Bingheng offended the Germans, and due to the intervention of the Germans, he was dismissed from his post. It was not until a few months ago that he was appointed as the minister in charge of inspecting the Yangtze River Navy.

In the first half of the year, Li Bingheng was once listed on the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement initiated by Zhang Zhidong, Liu Kunyi and others.

After the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Dagu, for some unknown reason, Li Bingheng suddenly changed his attitude. He strongly requested to recruit soldiers to defend the capital, and was the first to respond to Empress Dowager Cixi's request for all provinces to send troops to defend the capital.

After arriving in the capital, he strongly advocated war when summoned by Empress Dowager Cixi, and even wore a red headscarf, shorts, and went to fight with the Boxer Rebellion leader.

"Zi Yu, don't worry. Although there are more than 60,000 foreigners, according to the spies' reports, they should not have gained any advantage. At dawn, they began to transport thousands of wounded soldiers to Langfang."

"In addition, the foreigners also set up dozens of large piles of firewood in the wild and burned the bodies of their fallen soldiers."

Seeing that Wu Peifu was somewhat distracted, Zai Yi hurriedly said, "Oh, the spies said that the uniforms of the bodies burned by the foreigners were not gray like your vanguard army."

Zai Yi's words made Wu Peifu feel more at ease. The city of Tianjin had safely escaped the siege. He did not believe that the hastily encircled circle by the foreign devils could stop his teacher.

Zai Yi took a deep breath and said, "Zi Yu, there have been some changes to the originally agreed matters. Listen carefully and then go and inform Xingfu immediately."

Thanks: The book friend with the title of Tiger for the reward!!!

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(End of this chapter)