The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 309 Sophisticated
Li Hongzhang's words surprised Yang Shixiang and Zhang Peilun.

Teng Yuzhao is only in his thirties, but now Li Hongzhang is going to recommend Teng Yuzhao to be the Governor-General of Zhili!

This idea is both crazy and shocking.

However, under the current circumstances, it is not impossible for Teng Yuzhao to serve as the Governor-General of Zhili, and he does not even need the court to make an exception for him.

The entire Zhili province is now supported by Teng Yuzhao alone. If the court can now allow Teng Yuzhao to be the governor-general of Zhili, it will indeed be a good choice, and there will not even be a second choice.

If Teng Yuzao were allowed to take office as the governor-general of Zhili, even if it was just to keep his own position, Teng Yuzao would fight hard and bravely, and would never dare to hide his own interests or cheat.

Especially after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, coupled with this invasion by foreign powers, and the fact that the imperial court relied entirely on Zhili Province to defend its authority, I believe the imperial court would no longer dare to ignore Zhili's defensive forces.

Even for the sake of its own safety, the imperial court would never dare to look down on it again.

It is almost certain that the province of Zhili will become a key defensive base for the entire country from now on. Therefore, a governor-general who has made great military achievements and even attracted the attention of foreigners will definitely be the first choice of the court.

In this way, it was a natural and logical thing for Teng Yuzhao to become the Governor-General of Zhili.

It is very likely that Li Hongzhang's recommendation was made by a group of dignitaries in the court, including Cixi. At this time, they were thinking that Li Hongzhang was just doing a favor that could be done without spending a penny.

What's more, Teng Yuzhao had the merit of saving the emperor, so recommending him to be the Governor-General of Zhili was almost what everyone wanted.

Yang Shixiang and Zhang Peilun were both amazed at Li Hongzhang's unexpected ideas.

Li Hongzhang's shrewdness and foresight are truly beyond the reach of ordinary people.

First, they took the initiative to send students from the Beiyang Military Academy to support Teng Yuzao, which not only showed goodwill to Teng Yuzao, but also added sand in the vanguard army. Even in time, it can be said that Teng Yuzao had strong support around him and in the vanguard army, which was the best of both worlds.

Later, he indirectly recommended Teng Yuzao to be the Governor-General of Zhili, the most prominent post of frontier official in the court. Even if Teng Yuzao did not remember the friendship of being Li Hongzhang's subordinate in the past, he would always be grateful to Li Hongzhang.

In particular, Li Hongzhang's move of secretly sending students to the Beiyang Military Academy was a brilliant move.

This move was not just a simple gesture to show goodwill to Teng Yuzhao. The most amazing thing was that this move allowed Li Hongzhang to almost escape unscathed from the group of provincial governors who signed the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement.

Although many people knew that the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement was brokered and promoted by Li Hongzhang's confidant Sheng Xuanhuai, now that he had taken the lead in "rebellion", it was believed that Cixi would never care about Li Hongzhang's mistakes anymore.

Yang Shixiang, who had always admired Li Hongzhang's vigorous promotion of Westernization and his foresight, now understood.

With the sudden emergence of Teng Yuzao, Li Hongzhang had already come to believe that the independence of Guangdong and Guangxi could not last long, so he had already given up this plan in his mind.

However, Yang Shixiang believed that it was not only too early but even a bit rash for Li Hongzhang to make such a judgment now.

"Zhongtang, Teng Xingfu is a good fighter, but the foreign powers are now at the gates of the capital. They will not return empty-handed. They will at least send more troops, especially Japan. They have suffered such a great loss, how can they just give up like this!"

"Once Japan increases its troops, the Russians will not remain indifferent. In this situation, I am afraid that the European and American powers cannot say much. Once the great powers arrive, how can Teng Xingfu's lone army stop the coalition forces? At that time, I am afraid that the vanguard army will be in great danger."

Li Hongzhang nodded and said, "In a short period of time, Russia and Japan will increase their troops, that's for sure. A German army of tens of thousands should have arrived at Dagukou and will arrive in the capital soon. The foreign troops besieging the capital are estimated to have nearly 200,000 troops soon." Yang Shixiang and Zhang Peilun both took a breath of cold air. Not to mention that there were tens of thousands of German soldiers who could defeat the French, even if there were 200,000 Japanese soldiers, that would be extremely terrifying.

Think about it, during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese had only a few troops in Liaodong, while our side not only had the Beiyang Army several times larger than the Japanese Army, but also had troops from many provinces participating in the war. However, except for Nie Gongting who won a small victory, all other armies that fought against the Japanese ended in failure, and some troops even collapsed at the first contact with the Japanese army. "

“Even if it were Teng Xingfu’s vanguard army, they would never be able to win the battle against 200,000 Japanese soldiers alone, not to mention that they would be facing a coalition force of nearly 200,000 foreign powers!
Seeing the expressions of the two men, Li Hongzhang continued, "You don't have to worry about this. Just like in Tianjin, Teng Xingfu is definitely not a stupid person. He is very flexible in using troops. He will never defend the city to the death. Once he inflicts heavy casualties on the foreigners, he will definitely lead his troops away."

Li Hongzhang continued, "Just think about it. The city of Tianjin alone caused tens of thousands of casualties to the coalition forces. If tens of thousands more were killed and wounded in the capital, then if the foreigners attacked Shanxi, Shaanxi, Niangzi Pass, Taiyuan City, Xi'an City and other strong and dangerous cities, how many more would they lose."

Yang Shixiang suddenly realized and asked in surprise, "Zhongtang, Teng Xingfu and Zhan are not on good terms. Could this be their intention?"

"Correct!"

Li Hongzhang praised, "Teng Xingfu's move is extremely brilliant. From my perspective, his strategy is to procrastinate and exhaust the allied forces, which will eventually tire out the allied forces."

Li Hongzhang's words made Yang Shixiang's heart beat fast. After thinking for a while, he said humbly.

"Prince, I am very curious about what Teng Xingfu did. I also want to go to Teng Xingfu's army to take a closer look. I wonder if you can recommend me?"

Zhang Peilun was shocked at first by Yang Shixiang's attitude of "a good bird chooses the right tree to roost in", but then his expression became indifferent, and he was even unwilling to look at Yang Shixiang any more.

Li Hongzhang seemed to have expected this. As soon as Yang Shixiang finished speaking, he reached out and took an unsealed envelope from the desk and handed it to Yang Shixiang.

"This is the letter of recommendation I wrote to Teng Xingfu for you. I believe that he will accept you for my sake. At the same time, I will also send a telegram to Rong Zhonghua, asking him to help the court agree to transfer you to the Vanguard Army."

Without waiting for Yang Shixiang to say anything, Li Hongzhang took another sealed letter from the desk and handed it to Yang Shixiang.

Seeing that Li Hongzhang had already made arrangements for him, Yang Shixiang could not help but respect Li Hongzhang even more.

Knowing that Li Hongzhang had already seen through his thoughts, he couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Li Hongzhang continued, "Lianfu, this is a letter I wrote to Yushan. Please take it to Yushan on the way."

The Yushan mentioned by Li Hongzhang is Zhou Fu.

"Yushan is most familiar with the affairs of Beiyang Zhili. With his help, Teng Xingfu will save a lot of trouble in all the food and salary payments."

Yang Shixiang was even more surprised that Li Hongzhang wanted Zhou Fu to come out and assist Teng Yuzao in order to allow Teng Yuzao to take over the post of Governor-General of Zhili smoothly.

"Zhongtang, wasn't Lord Zhou ill? Has he recovered?"

Li Hongzhang shook his head, a bitter look on his face as he said, "Yushan doesn't have any patients. He was disillusioned with the Beiyang government after the First Sino-Japanese War. Now that Teng Xingfu has given him hope, he will definitely be willing to come out and help Teng Xingfu."

Li Hongzhang looked at Zhang Peilun and Yang Shixiang, who had different expressions, and said, "You may not know yet, but Yushan's son Zhou Xuexi is now secretly helping Teng Yuzao. This was agreed by Yushan."

Li Hongzhang looked at the surprised Yang Shixiang and said, I have told Rong Zhonghua that if the foreigners want to negotiate peace, I am willing to negotiate with the powers, but I will need the help of the Lotus Mansion at that time.
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(End of this chapter)