The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 316: Comparable to the Champion

Zai Yi's passionate statement made Cixi and Ronglu a little excited, but Gangyi and Wang Wenshao had no reaction.

However, the expressions of these two people are different.

Gangyi still had a bewildered look on his face, while Wang Wenshao had a sarcastic look on his face, looking very disdainful.

Wang Wenshao was not only angry about not receiving any notification from the Grand Council regarding the Western Hunt, but also because he was a staunch advocate of peace.

To be precise, Wang Wenshao was a rational and calm person. In principle, all the peace advocates in the court belonged to this faction, including those who signed the Southeast Mutual Protection Agreement, who could generally be classified into this faction.

It's just that these people seemed too calm, even cold, when the country was in danger due to foreign invasion.

Even though the Qing Dynasty had long been corrupt, we still had to drive out the foreign enemies first.

Seeing that Cixi and Ronglu were both moved, Wang Wenshao stood up and said, "Empress Dowager, what Prince Duan said is completely absurd."

Wang Wenshao's words made Cixi and Ronglu calm down quickly. They looked at Wang Wenshao, wanting to hear what he had to say.

Although they experienced the hardships of the embarrassing Western Hunt, the Grand Council was almost completely controlled by the pro-war faction, and even had the strong support of the iron-hat prince Prince Zhuang. Most importantly, Cixi had killed five pro-peace ministers before declaring war, which made the pro-peace ministers in the court silent, and no one dared to publicly propose peace talks.

Despite Cixi's covert and overt operations on her way to the west, no court official dared to be the first to jump out and advocate peace talks. Only Cixi and Ronglu discussed privately how to negotiate peace in order to end the war that forced them to flee the capital as soon as possible.

At this moment, Wang Wenshao stood up, which made Cixi and Ronglu's eyes brighten. After looking at each other, they both looked at Wang Wenshao and waited for him to speak.

Wang Wenshao glanced at Zai Yi with contempt, and bowed to Cixi, saying, "Teng Xingfu is indeed a good fighter. I don't deny that. I even think that Teng Xingfu is the best general in the entire Qing Dynasty at this time."

Wang Wenshao then changed the subject and said, "Although Teng Xingfu is a good fighter, he is still far behind the coalition forces of the great powers."

Ignoring Zai Yi's angry glare, Wang Wenshao hunched over and continued, "I have read all the battle reports about Teng Xingfu and found that most of the victories he won were obtained by trickery. This does not prove that his vanguard army was stronger than the foreign coalition forces. So, in my opinion, the battles he fought can only be regarded as victories, not great victories."

"Even Teng Xingfu is like this, let alone the other armies. In my opinion, this war can no longer be fought. It is better to negotiate peace with the foreigners as soon as possible."

"What nonsense!"

Zai Yi's face turned red when Wang Wenshao scolded him, and he couldn't help but scold him angrily.

"Looking back through the ages, which of the military books and strategies handed down did not emphasize winning by strategy? And which famous general did not use strategy to command a battle?"

"Besides, there are also many examples of Teng Xingfu's victories in direct confrontations with the foreign coalition forces, such as in the Beiyang Naval Academy and Dongjuzi, and even this time in the capital, where he wiped out more than 30,000 British, American, Japanese, and Russian troops in one battle. Isn't this a direct confrontation with the opponent?"

"These battles were not only direct confrontations, but also victories over the larger force with the smaller force!"

"Also, if you can win by strategy, why do you have to win by bloody battle?"

"Besides, when Teng Xingfu first started his army in Tianjin, he had no more than a thousand soldiers, and only a battalion of 500 regular soldiers. If he didn't use strategy, would he have to fight the foreigners head-on and end up with his entire army annihilated and in great defeat?"

Zai Yi, who was trembling with excitement, turned around and bowed to Cixi, "Empress Dowager, Wang Wenshao is old and senile. I request that you dismiss him from his post and let him go home to retire." Wang Wenshao was almost choked to death by Zai Yi's criticism. At this time, Zai Yi asked Cixi in person to expel him from the court. He was so angry that his face turned red as blood, veins bulged on his forehead, and he pointed at Zai Yi with a trembling finger, but he was unable to utter a word.

Although Ronglu had been suffering from illness in recent days and was very weak, he still hurriedly got up to support Wang Wenshao, and comforted him in every way, and finally helped Wang Wenshao to sit on the chair.

Cixi did not agree with Wang Wenshao's words, but she did not care whether Wang Wenshao's words made sense or not. All she needed was someone who dared to publicly propose peace talks.

While stroking the bronze pestle, Cixi spoke to Zai Yi.

"Prince Duan, Lord Wang is just speaking the truth. Although what he said about Teng Xingfu is not accurate, his words do make sense."

Cixi sighed softly, stopped Zai Yi who was about to speak again to defend Teng Yuzhao, and asked.

"In the blink of an eye, Teng Xingfu has defended the capital for nearly a month, and even killed more than 30,000 Japanese and European and American powers. It is not easy. Lord Wang is right. Teng Xingfu is indeed the most powerful general of the Qing Dynasty. It is no exaggeration to say that he is the most intelligent and brave man in the Qing Dynasty who has turned the tide. His achievements are comparable to those of the Champion Marquis in the Han Dynasty."

"But, Prince Duan, do you think that the capital can be defended?"

Cixi's words left Zai Yi speechless.

Zai Yi took a deep breath, his expression becoming somewhat gloomy. "Empress Dowager, according to the news from Teng Xingfu and the Zhili region, the Russians, Japanese, British, and Americans are all increasing their troops. They have already increased their troops outside the capital by 30,000 to 40,000. The Japanese have increased their troops the most. In addition, more than 7,000 Germans have also arrived outside the capital."

Zai Yi was worried that Cixi would be frightened by the coalition forces' reinforcement, so he quickly added.

"The Japanese increased their troops mainly because Teng Xingfu had killed more than 30,000 Japanese soldiers from the Fifth Division in a few battles, almost completely wiping out the Fifth Division that had been rampant in Liaodong during the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895."

"Now, the Japanese have no choice but to dismiss the commander of the Fifth Division, Yamaguchi Motoomi, and at the same time withdraw the Fifth Division, which has no combat effectiveness, back to the country and transfer the Third Division to join the war."

Cixi shook her head slightly and said, "I have heard what you said. In addition, the Germans not only sent only these 7,000 soldiers, they also have 20,000 to 30,000 people, and they will rush to the capital within ten days."

"According to this calculation, the number of foreign troops in the capital will probably reach hundreds of thousands."

"Although Teng Xingfu recruited many Boxers in Beijing to join the vanguard army, how can these people be put to good use without adequate training?"

"Besides, we can't let Teng Xingfu defend the capital to death. Wouldn't that mean that the only army capable of fighting in the Qing Dynasty will be wiped out there?"

"If that is the case, then the Qing Dynasty will be humiliated by foreigners!"

"So, there must be some peace talks."

Today Zuima broke his promise again. I just received a call from a friend who needed Zuima’s help to deal with some matters. The three chapters I promised can only be made up tomorrow.

Zui Ma bows and apologizes to all book friends!
I will have to put off thanking the book friends who voted for Zuima until tomorrow.

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(End of this chapter)