The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 248 Zhang Xiangtao is already busy with his own affairs

Teng Yuzhao led his special guard squadron and galloped all the way. Just half an hour later, they arrived outside Guang'anmen, closely following a group of signalmen sent by the headquarters' communication post to convey the order.

Prince Duan Zai Yi, who was in his early forties and a little thin, was only wearing casual clothes with short sleeves and not his prince's attire. Apart from Wu Peifu, he did not have any followers with him. After receiving the news that Teng Yuzhao would soon arrive at Guang'anmen, he went directly to the outside of Guang'anmen to meet him.

Although Teng Yuzao had never seen Zai Yi before, and Zai Yi was not wearing the clothes of a prince, when he saw Wu Peifu accompanying him, Teng Yuzao still reined in his horse at a distance.

After jumping off his big white horse, Teng Yuzhao walked quickly towards Zai Yi.

"teacher."

Wu Peifu, with an excited look on his face, rushed forward a few steps to introduce to Teng Yuzao, "Prince Duan has been waiting for you, teacher, for a long time."

Although he had expected it, Teng Yuzhao was still a little surprised when Wu Peifu confirmed it.

Not to mention that ordinary princes would not be like this, not to mention that the Prince Duan in front of him is the most powerful prince of the dynasty, and even more powerful and prestigeous than those princes. He is the Prime Minister of the Grand Council of Military Affairs, the biological father of the eldest prince Puyi, and the future emperor.

It is rare for someone to be so humble as to welcome me.

Even though Teng Yuzhao is now a second-rank official, as a military official, he is inferior to Zai Yi, who is now powerful in the court, and even to Ronglu and those governors and governors. No one will pay much attention to him.

Although he was a little surprised, Teng Yuzhao simply saluted Zai Yi.

"Teng Yuzao, the General Manager of the Beiyang Zhili Military Affairs, salutes His Majesty!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

Looking at Teng Yuzhao, who was covered in dust and had a tired look on his face, but still full of vigor, Zai Yi, who also had an anxious look on his face, could not help but praise him repeatedly.

"As expected, it's Teng Xingfu, who won consecutive victories and made the foreigners tremble with fear!"

Zai Yi took a few quick steps forward and grabbed Teng Yuzao's hand, saying with emotion, "He led his troops to the capital overnight, which shows that Xingfu is sincere. He is the pillar of our Qing Dynasty. The court is so lucky to have such a motivated and enterprising minister like Xingfu!" "It's just that Xingfu has worked too hard!"

When Teng Yuzhao said this, he saw that Zai Yi's eyes were actually moist.

Teng Yuzhao couldn't help but sigh. Under such a situation, the pressure on Prince Duan was extremely great. If the pressure was any greater, it would probably overwhelm the prime minister of the dynasty.

Zai Yi wiped the corner of his eyes with his hand and said, "Come with me into the city. I have prepared a banquet to welcome you, Xingfu."

Without giving Teng Yuzhao any chance to say anything, Zai Yi took Teng Yuzhao's hand and walked towards Guang'an Gate.

Outside a street-side tavern inside Guang'anmen, there were a dozen palace guards and Goshaha with swords on their waists standing. Zai Yi pulled Teng Yuzao and walked quickly into the tavern.

Although the tavern was not big and was obviously not a high-end place, it was brightly lit and the floor, tables and chairs were all cleaned spotlessly.

Looking at the dozen or so palace family members standing with their hands hanging down, Teng Yuzhao knew that Zai Yi had specially ordered someone to clean the place temporarily in order to welcome him.

As soon as he entered the tavern, someone came over with a tray carrying neatly folded wet towels. Teng Yuzhao hurriedly wiped his face with the towel and was pulled by Zai Yi to sit at a table in the middle of the room.

The dishes on the table were simple, just four exquisite side dishes and a silver wine jug.

Zai Yi waved to the palace staff serving in the tavern, and these people quietly left the tavern.

Knowing that Zai Yi had something to discuss, Teng Yuzao signaled to Xu Ting and Wu Peifu who were following behind him, and the two of them also retreated to the door.

Ignoring Teng Yuzhao's attempt to stop him, Zai Yi personally held the pot and filled the two of them with wine.

"Xingfu, the situation is tense and there is no time to make more preparations. This is just a glass of light wine to show my appreciation. Please forgive me, Xingfu!"

Zai Yi raised his wine glass and said, "Xingfu, come, let's drink this glass to the bottom."

"Firstly, I am here to thank Xingfu for taking the trouble to come to the capital overnight to welcome him. Secondly, I also wish Xingfu more success."

After Teng Yuzao thanked him, he and Zai Yi drank the wine in the cup. Although it was only a small pot of wine, it should be very special. It was soft and mellow in the mouth, and it should be the best wine in the palace.

After drinking this glass of wine, Teng Yuzhao felt much more refreshed.

Putting down the wine jug, Teng Yuzhao grabbed the jug and added wine to Zai Yi and his own cups. Just as he sat down, Zai Yi sighed and said.

"Xingfu, time is running out, so let's make it short."

Knowing that Zai Yi was about to get to the point, Teng Yuzao, who was sitting upright, looked at Zai Yi, who looked anxious and haggard, and nodded, "Your Majesty, please speak."

"Xingfu, the Queen Mother had already said that she would summon you today, but the foreigners attacked so fiercely that the shells even flew into the palace. The Queen Mother had no choice but to leave the palace in a hurry to hunt in the west."

"Before leaving, the Queen Mother asked me to ask Xingfu a question: How long can you defend the capital?"

Teng Yuzhao knew that Cixi was still unwilling to give up the capital so easily, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Your Majesty, although the source of the Vanguard Army's ammunition is captured from foreigners, we have captured a lot recently. Even if the Vanguard Army fights the Allied Forces for a month, the ammunition is enough to cope with it. I am even determined to sacrifice my life to kill the enemy."

"However, if that really happens, the capital will probably be destroyed. The Queen Mother and the Prince are only going west for hunting this time, not moving the capital. They will have to come back eventually."

Teng Yuzhao's words were very clear. If they were not afraid of destroying the capital, it was not impossible to have a big fight here, and even defending it for a month would not be a big problem.

Seeing that Teng Yuzao seemed to want to persuade him further, Zai Yi gritted his teeth and waved his hand to stop Teng Yuzao.

"Xingfu, I understand. You are right. This capital is the capital of the Qing Dynasty. We will return sooner or later. We must not destroy it all."

Zai Yi hesitated for a moment and asked again, "Xingfu, I want to ask you one more question. In your opinion, under the current circumstances, we will definitely not be able to win this battle against the foreigners?"

Although Teng Yuzhao did not want to provoke Zai Yi at this time, he also understood that Zai Yi was also unwilling to give up after the defeat, but he nodded helplessly.

"Your Highness, I am not bragging. If it were still just like the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and our enemy was only the Japanese, with me and the vanguard army here, we could command the battle without any constraints. We would definitely not lose, and we would not cede territory or pay compensation. We would even defeat the Japanese on land."

"It's just that we are now enemies of all the powerful countries in the world at the same time, and we have no external support."

Seeing that Zai Yi's face had become somewhat gray, and even revealed a hint of despair, Teng Yuzao could not bear to continue speaking, so he took a deep breath and spoke.

"Under the current situation, if the whole country can be united, even if I can get support from Huguang, I have the confidence to hold out against the Eight-Nation Alliance for a while longer."

Zai Yi exhaled a breath of foul air, and said angrily and resentfully, "Don't even mention that Zhang Xiangtao signed the "Southeast Mutual Protection" agreement. As for the affairs of Huguang alone, he is already too busy to take care of himself. How can he count on these people?"

Seeing that Teng Yuzao was somewhat puzzled, Zai Yi said with a complicated expression, "Last night, I just received a secret report sent by Hubei Governor Yu Chang. Half a month ago, the Hubei rebels Tang Caichang, Lin Gui, Qin Lishan and others who were in close contact with the traitors Kang and Liang in Japan established a so-called "Autonomy Association."

"They have organized tens of thousands of gangs in Huguang to start an uprising, calling themselves the Self-Reliant Army. They have been wiped out by Zhang Xiangtao and the British. Huguang is currently doing its best to hunt down the gangs and eliminate the banditry. They don't care about the life or death of the imperial court."

The Self-Reliance Army that Zai Yi mentioned was an armed force organized by Hubei native Tang Caichang, Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao, with the intention of "serving the king" in order to achieve the goal of constitutional monarchy.

This Tang Caichang was closely connected with Kang and Liang, and also had close ties with the Sunwen Revolutionary Party.

Students studying in Japan, including Lin Gui, Qin Lishan, and Shen Xiangyun, successively participated in the event. In the 25th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu, which was last year, Tang Caichang, Lin Gui and others returned to China. At the beginning of this year, they initiated the establishment of the Self-Reliance Society in Shanghai, which was called the "Eastern Translation Society" to the outside world. Under the cover of teaching Japanese, they secretly organized the Self-Reliance Army.

Taking advantage of the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance and the turbulent situation, they originally planned to launch an uprising in Hubei at the end of July or the beginning of August. In addition to establishing the headquarters of the Self-Reliance Army in Hankou, Tang Caichang also contacted secret societies along the Yangtze River and even instigated part of the Green Camp of the Qing army to participate in the uprising and formed the Seventh Army of the Self-Reliance Army.

Qin Lishan commanded the vanguard army, stationed in Datong; Tian Bangxuan commanded the rear army, stationed in Anqing; Chen Youlong commanded the left army, stationed in Changde; Shen Xun commanded the right army, stationed in Xinti; Lin Gui commanded the central army, stationed in Hankou; a separate general army and a vanguard army were set up, and Tang Caichang was appointed as the supervisor of all the armies.

However, because Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao and other royalist factions discovered that Tang Caichang had close ties with the Sunwen revolutionary party, they were worried that he would be making things difficult for others, so they suspended the aid they had already promised. In desperation, Tang Caichang had to decide to postpone the uprising.

However, Qin Lishan of Datong did not receive any notice of postponement of the uprising and still launched the uprising as scheduled. He was defeated and fled to Japan.

Tang Caichang heard the news and decided to start the uprising on the 23rd of last month. However, the news was leaked again. Governor Zhang Zhidong then joined the British and sent troops to surround the headquarters of the Self-Reliance Army in the British Concession in Hankou on the 21st. Tang Caichang, Lin Gui and others died, the Self-Reliance Army collapsed, and the uprising failed.
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(End of this chapter)