The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 279 I still have to blame someone first

Teng Yuzao no longer paid attention to Resar, but turned to the other envoys of the great powers and continued speaking.

"It's not hard to understand what I mean. For example, when Napoleon invaded Russia, it's hard to say that the Russians defeated Napoleon. The real reason was that Alexander the Great, who had failed all the way, dragged Napoleon into the extremely cold weather of Moscow. Napoleon's defeat was not because he was defeated by the Russians, but because he was defeated by the cold."

"Gentlemen, the situation is the same now. Although there will not be as severe cold as Moscow in the Qing Dynasty, there are things as terrible as the severe cold in Moscow for all of you European countries."

Teng Yuzao's tone was already filled with determination. "Although we cannot see any hope of winning this war for the time being, we can afford to delay it. Time is our cold weather."

"As long as we persist in fighting you, even if our vanguard troops are wiped out and even I, Teng Yuzao, die for our country, you will definitely be the ones who fail in the end."

Teng Yuzao slowed down his tone slightly and continued speaking.

"You all should know that the vanguard army is getting stronger and stronger, and you have suffered heavy casualties along the way, so you have to continuously send in reinforcements. However, there is always a limit to how many reinforcements you can send, unless you only send your colonial troops, but the combat effectiveness of these troops is also very poor."

"Moreover, even if we use these colonial troops, it will still cost money. It will cost a lot of money. This amount of money alone is not something that some of your countries can afford."

Teng Yuzao lit another cigarette and continued, "As far as I know, among the so-called great powers that now form the coalition, the Russians and Japanese are short of money to spend on invading our country. Their military expenses are borrowed from bankers in Britain, France, and Germany."

"If this war drags on for a year or more, I find it hard to imagine that the bankers will be able to lend money to either country."

Teng Yuzao knew very well that the military expenses for Japan and Russia to join the Allied Forces were borrowed from private bankers in Britain, France and Germany. These loans not only had high interest rates, but also had limits after all.

Teng Yuzhao believed that these ministers would be aware of this matter.

Because Teng Yuzhao had already seen the clues from the solemn expressions on these people's faces.

Both Resar and Komura Jutaro seemed to want to deny it, but they probably thought of the scene just now, so before they could even open their mouths, Dou Nale had already spoken with a smile.

"Dear General, I don't know where you got this information from, but I want to say that even if it is true, they will get sufficient funds, because those bankers know very well that the final victory will definitely belong to our side."

Dou Nale decided to take the initiative. Although their identities were still between diplomats and prisoners, at least that was how he thought, he could not completely follow Teng Yuzhao's rhythm.

Because he found that this Qing general was very different. Dou Nale believed that he was completely different from all the old and even stupid Qing generals he had seen before. This man was not only extremely strong on the battlefield, he was also more intelligent and wise, and his way of thinking was very similar to that of Westerners.

Dounale felt that it was difficult for a Western gentleman to be absolutely confident in his judgment of the development of things in front of him.

Dounell tried his best to appear relaxed, picked up the glass and took a sip of the brandy in it. The aroma of the brandy made his thinking smoother as a British man with some French ancestry.

"I am very grateful for your honesty, General. The strategy of prolonging the war is indeed an impressive and good idea, but the question is, how can you afford it?" Dou Nale shrugged and said, "The wealthy provinces in the southeast will not support you. How much money can the poor provinces in the inland areas give you? You will also lack military funds, not to mention that your sources of weapons and ammunition do not exist at all."

"It is hard for me to imagine that the general's vanguard troops can hold out under such circumstances."

"What's more, we will continue to increase our troops and will never give the general a chance to drag out this war."

"Hahahaha", Dou Nale's words made Teng Yuzao couldn't help laughing out loud.

Teng Yuzao quickly stopped laughing and said to Dounale apologetically, "Sir Dounale, please forgive my impoliteness."

"As for whether we can hold out, you don't need to worry about that. As long as our troops have food and pay, they can hold out. In other words, as long as we have pay and food, we can hold out. Even as long as we have food, we can hold out."

"Besides, our vanguard army's military expenditure is not much, not to mention that the court can still afford to pay the salaries of the vanguard army of tens of thousands of people. Apart from that, we don't need any other military expenditure because we don't need to buy weapons and ammunition, which will save a lot of military expenditure."

"As for the source of our weapons, we have to thank Li Zhongtang, the current governor of Guangdong and Guangxi. He has accumulated a rich fortune for Zhili over the years. Not only does he have a large amount of silver and food, but he also has a lot of weapons and ammunition, which is enough for us to use for a while."

Teng Yuzhao sighed and said with a very regretful tone.

"However, it is a pity that I heard that there are still a lot of weapons and ammunition in the Xigu warehouse in Tianjin, most of which were purchased by governors from various places. These have been snatched away by your coalition forces. There is even a lot of silver in Tianjin, which has now gone into the pockets of your coalition forces."

The weapons and ammunition in the Xigu warehouse area, the Tianjin East Bureau, the Coastal Defense Office, the Salt Administration, and the missing silver from the merchants all had to find a place to go in advance. Teng Yuzhao didn't mind putting the blame on these foreigners.

Moreover, the most appropriate destination for these things, and of course the most likely destination, is the pockets of the coalition forces, or even the personal pockets of the coalition officers.

With Morrison, a reporter from The Times, present, the content of this conversation would definitely be published in the newspaper. Teng Yuzao estimated that the coalition forces would not be able to react to his words for a while.

By the time the news appears in the newspapers, or even when they are questioned in their own country, it will be too late for them to refute the facts, because public opinion will overwhelmingly believe that they are the culprits and that all their excuses are sophistry, and are just weak tricks to cover up the evidence of their crimes.

In the end, this matter will become an unsolved case, because the great powers will even be suspicious of each other, and they will all think that either the officers have hidden these riches, or one of the great powers intended to embezzle them and secretly hid them.

Teng Yuzao continued calmly, "Also, we have some captured weapons and ammunition to replenish our stock. The only problem is that our weapons are of various types."

"For example, my troops now have not only the Japanese Type 30 rifle, the Russian Mosin-Nagant, the German Mauser, but also the Mannlicher and Lee-Enfield rifles of your British Empire, as well as French and American weapons. There are too many types of weapons."

"It does cause us some trouble, and we have to carry more ammunition."

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(End of this chapter)