The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 484: Peace Negotiation
Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Don't worry about the prisoners. We won't release them unless they pay. Tianjin is destroyed. The foreigners even demolished the city wall. We need a lot of coolies to rebuild Tianjin. With these prisoners, we can save a lot of labor."

"Also, Kaiping Coal Mine also needs people to mine. These prisoners that the Russians and Japanese don't want can also be used to mine for us. As long as we give them some simple food and no wages, they can dig a lot of coal for us. Isn't that better!"

Teng Yuzhao's words made Liu Shijiu change from anger to joy. He slammed the table and spoke loudly.

"Yes, damn it. If the foreign devils don't give us money for food and medical expenses, these people can't go back. Pay money to release them. We need money in exchange for goods. Otherwise, we will never release them. It will cost a lot of money to build another Tianjin city. If you don't pay, we won't release them even if the Lord tells us to. Whoever tells us to release them will pay for the foreign devils."

Hu Dianjia frowned slightly after hearing Liu Shijiu's next words, but he didn't say anything in the end.

Since the battle of Dongxianpo, Hu Dianjia felt ashamed and spoke very little because he suffered a big loss. In the Battle of Hezhang, although there was a record of destroying the Japanese Fifth Division, not only did they suffer casualties, but also the cooperation of Liu Bingyi and Wu Peifu, which allowed the Japanese soldiers, including a number of senior Japanese officers, to break out of the encirclement.

After that, just in this battle, tens of thousands of foreign devils ran away, which was not just the case.

Although the responsibility was not entirely his, he was the commander-in-chief after all. Therefore, Hu Dianjia did not bother to refute Liu Shijiu's words of contempt for the court.

Teng Yuzhao understood what Liu Shijiu meant, which was that even if the court ordered him to release the hostages, they should not do so unless the court provided money to the coalition forces.

Of course, he, who always paid attention to observing the words and expressions of his generals, also saw Hu Dianjia's thoughts. After sighing in his heart, he waved to Liu Shijiu.

He put away his smile and said, "Since you are no longer worried about the large number of prisoners you have captured, let's discuss the next direction of the battle."

When the generals heard that Teng Yuzhao was going to lead his troops to continue fighting, they all became interested, and Liu Shijiu spoke first.

"Marshal, we have just killed nearly 200,000 foreign devils in two battles. Now our morale is high. We must take this opportunity to first kill the foreign devils in Lin County and Hejian, block the retreat of the more than 200,000 foreign devils attacking Luzhou Prefecture, and then kill them one by one."

Li Xianze also said, "Marshal, the 30,000 or 40,000 Russians and Japanese soldiers who escaped must have fled to Lin County. Although we don't know how many foreign devils there are, there must be at least several thousand of them. Once the remnants of the Russians and Japanese soldiers run there, they will be able to gain a foothold."

"Zi Yu's troops are insufficient. We must act quickly, otherwise the two groups of foreign devils attacking Luzhou will run away."

As soon as Liu Shijiu and Li Xiance spoke, others including Hu Dianjia also spoke up, and they all believed that they should attack Lin County and Hejian first.

Time was urgent, so Teng Yuzao didn't plan to ask for other people's opinions and spoke immediately.

"Although I also want to fight another encirclement and annihilation battle similar to the one in the Qingzhang River Valley, our troops have also suffered heavy casualties. Not only the Third Town, but also the newly expanded Eighth Town, the casualties of the other towns are also heavy. The combined casualties of the Second and Fourth Towns exceed 5,000, and the Fifth Town alone has more than 6,000 casualties."

"Moreover, our troops have traveled two or three hundred miles in the past few days, and they are also exhausted. Although their morale is high, we may not be able to fight a battle of encirclement and annihilation against more than 100,000 foreign devils who are desperate to fight."

Teng Yuzao sighed and said, "There is another situation that I will not tell you. Our mountain artillery shells can be replenished immediately from the captured shells. However, although the mountain artillery is light, it is difficult to move it to the mountains to bombard the foreign devils. The shells of the mortar, the weapon we rely on to defeat the enemy, are running out."

"It will probably take time to capture Lin County. It is better for us to keep Lin County for the time being and use the strategy of "encircling Wei to save Zhao" to help the foreign devils. We only pretend to attack Lin County and lure the foreign devils back to rescue, thus lifting the siege of Luzhou."

When they heard that Teng Yuzhao was not going to attack Lin County and was going to adopt the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao, Pan Jinshan and Liu Bingyi, who felt ashamed for letting more than 30,000 coalition troops escape, suddenly became interested and were eager to ask for a fight.

"Marshal, this time we have to eliminate more than 200,000 foreign devils. I want to fight!"

"Marshal, I want to join the battle too!"

Seeing that only Pan Jinshan and Liu Bingyi wanted to fight, while Liu Shijiu and Li Xiance. Li Jinyu all looked thoughtful, Hu Dianjia was a little stunned, and Teng Yuzao smiled and asked. "Brother, why don't you ask for a fight? What do you think?"

Teng Yuzhao's question made Liu Shijiu feel more confident. He chuckled and said with a sly smile.

"General, I have heard the story of Pang Juan and Sun Bin from a storyteller. Logically, the next step in the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao is to launch an ambush. That's how Sun Bin planned to attack Pang Juan."

"It's just that you just said that although our troops are in high spirits, they are also very tired. After continuous fighting, they seem to be a little powerless. The most important thing is that we don't have many mortar shells left."

Liu Shijiu said with emotion, "To be honest, if we didn't have so many mortars and other inconspicuous small guns in these two battles, we would have suffered a lot even if we won."

"So, I think that when the Marshal talks about besieging Wei to save Zhao, he will definitely not be like Sun Bin, who only wants to ambush the foreign devils. The Marshal must have another clever plan."

Teng Yuzao looked at Li Xianze and Li Jinyu, "What do you think?"

Li Xiance said, "Marshal, Brother Liu and I have similar ideas. If we don't have many mortar shells left, this battle will be difficult to fight. Why don't we just stop while we're ahead and just take Lin County?"

"Since Lin County is the headquarters of the foreign devils after they entered the mountains, there must be ammunition and supplies inside. As long as we take Lin County, the remaining two groups of foreign devils will have to withdraw even if they don't want to."

Li Jinyu also nodded and said, "I thought so."

Teng Yuzao looked at Hu Dianjia and Hu Dianjia said, "Marshal, we have killed more than 200,000 foreign devils in two battles. The foreign devils have been seriously injured. They should have realized that if they want to destroy us, they must continue to send more troops."

"But the Marshal said that except for the Japanese and Russians who may continue to increase their troops, it is probably difficult for other powers to send troops, and they don't want to see these two countries gain more benefits."

"I think that we only need to force the remaining foreign devils to give up attacking Luzhou Prefecture. Then the foreign devils will probably take the initiative to negotiate peace with us, and this war will be over."

Teng Yuzao has already begun to turn this discussion on the next direction of operations into a teaching session. He really wants the generals under his command to look at problems with greater depth and breadth.

Next, the opinions of Liu Changfa and Zuo Mingyang were basically the same as those of Liu Chengxiang and Liu Shijiu.

Teng Yuzhao was not completely satisfied with these people's opinions. Except for Hu Dianjia, everyone else's thoughts were still on combat. Only Hu Dianjia thought about how the coalition forces would react after this battle.

Although Teng Yuzhao did not agree with Hu Dianjia's view that the war would end soon, Hu Dianjia was still one step ahead of these people in thinking outside the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Teng Yuzao couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Hu Dianjia, who seemed to be very loyal to the court, and couldn't help but sigh in his heart. Teng Yuzao tried to collect his thoughts and said.

"Xuan Qing is right. The foreign devils should be negotiating peace soon."

Teng Yuzao's words made all the generals look shocked.

Teng Yuzao waved his hands and said, "Don't be like this. Even if the foreign devils did not take the initiative to negotiate peace, the court might have been frightened by the foreign devils who repeatedly increased their troops. There is one thing you don't know yet. The court has already sent Li Hongzhang to Wuchang, with the intention of being prepared to negotiate with the foreigners at any time."

(End of this chapter)