The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 490: The Imperial Court is Unkind
Although Yang Shixiang had set out from Baoding last night and traveled more than 300 miles overnight and was already very tired, he still just washed up quickly and hurried to follow Teng Yuzhao to the flower hall.

Today's banquet was specially hosted by Teng Yuzhao to welcome Yang Shixiang, and the only guests were Wei Jinghai, Liu Changfa and Xu Shichang.

The banquet in the flower hall was almost ready, and several cold dishes had been laid out. As soon as we sat down, the hot dishes began to be served.

Although there are not many types of dishes, they are very exquisite.

There were six dishes: Fuqi Feipian, Taibai Duck, Fish-flavored Shredded Pork, Cold-mixed White Meat, Braised Donkey Meat, and Fish in Vinegar. Teng Yuzhao even personally filled the glasses of wine for everyone.

Teng Yuzao raised his wine glass and said to Yang Shixiang, "Lianfu, you have traveled all the way to Wuchang, thousands of miles away, and then rushed back to Baoding, and then hurried to Longhu Village. It must have been hard along the way. Today is a special reception for you."

Teng Yuzao pointed at the dishes on the table and said, "You and Juren have seen the world, unlike me and Ningbo who are country bumpkins. Although these dishes are not famous, they are made by the chefs Ningbo invited from Yongqing. They can not only cook Beijing cuisine, but also Sichuan cuisine."

"Let's drink this glass of wine first, and then taste it. How do you think these dishes taste?"

Yang Shixiang, with a happy face, thanked Teng Yuzhao and Wei Jinghai repeatedly, and then they drank the wine in their glasses.

Without waiting for the food to start, Yang Shixiang rushed to fill Teng Yuzhao's glass with wine and toasted him for his great victory. Only then did they start eating.

While eating, they asked each other whether the journey was smooth and other small talks. After three rounds of drinks, the conversation started to get down to business.

"Lian Mansion, it goes without saying that you have met Li Zhongtang on this trip, but have you met Zhang Xiangtao?"

Yang Shixiang put down his chopsticks and said, "On the night I arrived in Wuchang, Marshal Xiang invited me to the Governor's Mansion and hosted a banquet in the Governor's Mansion. In addition to Marshal Xiang, there were also the commander of the Seventh Town, Liu Yuanshou, and the editor-in-chief of the Ta Kung Pao, Qian Fuzhi."

Seeing a hint of surprise and joy in Yang Shixiang's eyes when he talked about Qian Fu, Teng Yuzhao nodded and said.

"To be honest with you, Mr. Lian, Editor-in-Chief Qian and I have known each other since the time of Governor Yu. After Governor Yu passed away, I funded him to start the Ta Kung Pao in Wuchang. To avoid suspicion, this matter was not publicized. I guess Zhang Xiangtao has already guessed something."

Teng Yuzao's words made Yang Shixiang's face flash with joy. He quickly glanced at Xu Shichang who was thinking about something, and then looked at Teng Yuzao in surprise.

Yang Shixiang’s meaning was very clear. Whether such a confidential matter could be revealed in front of Xu Shichang.

Not only did the Ta Kung Pao overwhelmingly advocate support for the Vanguard Army, it even occasionally published articles criticizing current affairs. This showed that Teng Yu-zao had already made plans for public opinion propaganda, and if his political enemies knew about this, it would become a handle for Teng Yu-zao.

Although Teng Yuzao did not believe that Xu Shichang had completely surrendered to him, and he could not even guarantee whether Xu Shichang had completely sided with him, at least Xu Shichang had not made any move to prove him. However, based on his historical understanding of Xu Shichang, Teng Yuzao was not worried that Xu Shichang would do something bad to him.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "Lianfu, the people working here today are all our own people, so please continue."

Teng Yuzhao's words "we are all one of us" clearly showed that he approved of Xu Shichang. Xu Shichang just smiled and nodded to Yang Shixiang.

Yang Shixiang responded to Xu Shichang with a smile in surprise. He was surprised that Xu Shichang had gained Teng Yuzhao's approval so quickly, but he still had a lot to say to Teng Yuzhao, so he kept his mind focused and continued speaking.

"Marshal, at that time, Wuchang had just received the news of your great victory in the Qingzhang River Valley. The subsequent victory reports had not yet reached there, but Marshal Xiang was already shocked and was eager to ask me for relevant military intelligence. I could only briefly tell him the battle situation of the marshal setting an ambush east of Shexian and annihilating more than 60,000 Russians in one battle, as far as I knew."

"Marshal Xiang was shocked, but he was full of praise for the Marshal, saying that the Marshal was the most outstanding general in the Qing Dynasty in more than 200 years. This battle has greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese people. He will fully support the Marshal in fighting against the foreign powers."

"He also said that the Hanyang Gun Factory would provide full support, and that both explosives and purchased gun barrels would be fully supplied to the vanguard army."

"He also said that he had never been submissive to anyone in his life, but now he has great respect for the Marshal in military matters and believes that it is completely impossible for him to do all this."

"Also, in front of me, I have instructed Liu Yuanshou, the commander of the garrison, to take the troops of the Seventh Garrison to the north of Hankou under the pretext of field training, and then use the recruits to replace the soldiers of the Eighth Garrison who have been training for a long time, and then disguise these new recruits as new recruits and rush them to Zhili to join the vanguard army."

Yang Shixiang added, "Marshal Xiang was also surprised that we could make our own cannons. He was especially interested in the fact that our cannons could quickly follow the troops on the mountain march. He also wanted to ask me for details."

"This is the treasure of our vanguard army. I just said that I don't know much about military affairs, so I evaded the question."

The mortar needs to be kept secret for the time being, and the longer the better.

As for the Seventh Regiment, when the imperial court agreed to expand the vanguard army into a regiment, it not only gave the number of the Seventh Regiment to the Seventh Mixed Brigade of Huguang, but also gave the number of the Ninth Regiment to Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army in Shandong. Now, the Seventh Mixed Brigade of Huguang has become the Seventh Regiment.

Teng Yuzhao naturally understood the court's intention of expanding the 7th Mixed Brigade and the Wuwei Right Army, which could not participate in the war, into towns. After all, the court did not want to see the Vanguard Army dominate the world, especially the expansion of Yuan Shikai's Wuwei Right Army, which was obviously intended to check and balance the Vanguard Army.

"Marshal, I wonder if we can receive those people?" Yang Shixiang asked with some concern.

Teng Yuzao smiled and said, "I got it. These people are of great use. Otherwise, our vitality would not be restored so quickly. Let Ningbo tell you the details."

Wei Jinghai nodded and said, "Mr. Lianfu, from the mountains to the outside, our vanguard army has killed and captured more than 380,000 foreign devils, and also seized hundreds of their cannons, but we have also suffered heavy casualties."

"Especially when we were chasing the British, French, and German coalition forces that had escaped from the mountains, we suffered the heaviest casualties, with a total of more than 100,000 casualties, and nearly 20,000 killed in action alone."

Wei Jinghai said with some regret, "After the foreign devils who fled all the way to Tianjin were picked up by the foreign devils in Tianjin City, we were unable to fight anymore. Not only were the casualties too heavy, but the troops had been fighting continuously and were already overwhelmed."

"Fortunately, the foreign devils didn't know the real situation and didn't dare to act rashly, which gave us time. With the help of more than 70,000 new soldiers from Luzhou Prefecture and nearly 40,000 soldiers from the Seventh Town, we were able to recover quickly. These people from the Seventh Town were of great help to us."

Teng Yuzao took over Wei Jinghai's words, "Now it's all right. Although the Russians urgently transferred more than 20,000 troops from outside the Great Wall, the Japanese also transferred a newly formed division from their country and replenished the Eighth Division's troops."

"But the Japanese 4th, 5th, and 9th divisions were completely crippled by us. The Japanese had to transfer these divisions back to the country for reorganization and replenishment. Now in our Zhili territory, there are only the 8th, 11th, and 12th divisions of the Japanese."

"Now, the foreign devils have about 100,000 troops in Beijing and Langfang, and more than 200,000 in Tianjin. The total number should be around 450,000."

"But our military strength has also recovered to 260,000, which enables us to confront the foreign devils who lack artillery in the plains."

Seeing Yang Shixiang's worried look, Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Lianfu. We have nearly 300,000 new soldiers in training in Luzhoufu and Yongqing's Sixth and Eighth Towns. In addition, a large number of our lightly wounded soldiers are returning to the team one after another. Soon our force will reach more than 300,000."

"Moreover, the foreign devils have lost hundreds of cannons. Even though they have a large number of troops, they dare not easily cause trouble for us."

"At present, our first and second towns are stationed in Zhuozhou and Gu'an respectively, the third town is stationed in Bazhou, the independent column is in Xianghe, the fourth and fifth towns, the sixth and eighth towns that are currently training new recruits, and the two expanded artillery towns are all in Yongqing."

At this point, Teng Yuzao pointed at Liu Changfa and said to Yang Shixiang with a smile, "The Lian Mansion probably doesn't know yet, but we are not short of cannons right now. Not only have all our mortars with a caliber below 100 mm been deployed to the towns, but each town also has a mountain artillery mark."

"Especially our Liu Zhentong, who has been promoted to the artillery director of our vanguard army. He is in charge of two artillery towns. The second town has a heavy mortar detachment and a heavy artillery detachment, and the caliber of both is over 100 mm."

When the Artillery Town was mentioned, Liu Changfa couldn't help but feel excited and kept grinning.

Yang Shixiang was surprised and hurried to congratulate Liu Changfa.

"Lian Fu, tell me why you rushed back so quickly. Are you here to sneak back?"

Teng Yuzhao promptly switched the topic to the question he was eager to know.

Yang Shixiang smiled and said, "As expected, nothing can be hidden from the Marshal's discerning eyes. This time, I came to Yongqing to meet the Marshal not on my own initiative, but was assigned by Li Zhongtang."

Seeing that Teng Yuzao's words came true, Xu Shichang couldn't help but prick up his ears.

Teng Yuzao lit a cigarette and said, "Mr. Lian, go on. What's the matter with Mr. Li?"

Yang Shixiang sat up straight and said with a wry smile.

"Marshal, first of all, Li Zhongtang asked me to tell you three things."

"First, three days ago, the foreigners had sent a private message to Marshal Hong through the British Consul in Hankou, Frederick, asking him whether the court had considered negotiating peace with the Eight-Nation Alliance. According to Li Zhongtang, the court was very excited when it heard the news and had sent a telegram to ask for his opinion."

"Li Zhongtang replied that now that we have achieved an unprecedented victory, it is time to stop and negotiate peace with the foreigners. However, Li Zhongtang followed the Marshal's advice and insisted that the peace talks must be formally proposed by the foreigners to the court first. Otherwise, the court would ignore the private attempts of Fu Leisi."

"The court has agreed with Li Zhongtang's point of view and has not yet made any statement on Fu Leisi's attempt to negotiate peace."

Teng Yuzao did not object to the peace talks, his only requirement was that the proposal must be made first by foreigners.

Everyone present was aware of this, so no one said anything.

Teng Yuzhao was very happy that Li Hongzhang listened to his advice. He knew very well that the imperial court had wanted to negotiate peace for a long time, but had not proposed it because of his successive victories.

If he had known that the foreigners were planning to negotiate peace, he would probably have been impatient. If Li Hongzhang had not dissuaded him, he would have taken the initiative to contact the foreigners.

But what made Teng Yuzhao unhappy was that the imperial court did not even seek the opinion of him, the only commander of the vanguard army who was fighting bravely for their country.

Although Teng Yuzao believed that Zai Yi, who was tied to him, would soon send him a secret letter, he was still extremely annoyed by Cixi's behavior.

Now, Zai Yi would write him a letter every ten days to inform him of the situation in the court. If there was anything special, he would write to him at any time. As long as Zai Yi knew about the major and minor events in the court, he knew everything.

But after all
Although Teng Yuzao remained expressionless and noncommittal about the matter, Yang Shixiang could still keenly notice that Teng Yuzao was a little unhappy.

Looking at Wei Jinghai, Liu Changfa, and Xu Shichang, they were already showing anger on their faces, but because Teng Yuzao did not express his attitude, Wei Jinghai and Liu Changfa did not say anything.

Yang Shixiang already understood in his heart that Teng Yuzhao was not aware of this in advance, which meant that the court did not seek Teng Yuzhao's opinion.

Thinking about the tone Li Hongzhang used when he told him to tell Teng Yuzhao about this matter, Yang Shixiang understood that Li Hongzhang was also somewhat helpless. But if he didn't mention this matter, Li Hongzhang would not be able to say the following words.

Yang Shixiang smiled bitterly and said, "Marshal, could it be that the court did not send a telegram to you?"

In response to Yang Shixiang's question, Teng Yuzao just smiled faintly and said nothing, but Xu Shichang could not help it and spoke angrily.

"As the saying goes, when the cunning rabbit dies, the bird is gone and the bow is put away."

"Since we want to negotiate peace, we no longer need the commander-in-chief and the vanguard army. The court will naturally not seek the opinions of the generals fighting desperately in the front."

Although Xu Shichang only said half of the idiom "the cunning rabbit dies", and did not say the following "the running dog is cooked", he was probably worried that this sentence might be unsightly and might arouse Teng Yuzhao's anger against the court, so he changed it to the relatively less harmful idiom "the bow is put away when the bird is dead".

Since Xu Shichang spoke first, Liu Changfa couldn't help but speak too.

"Marshal, since those fat-bellied fools in the court are so heartless, don't blame us for being unjust. We should just sit back and wait for the foreign devils to ask for compensation and cession of territory. Then they will come to you for help."

Wei Jinghai opened his mouth, but in the end no sound came out. He just waited quietly for Teng Yuzhao to express his opinion.

Yang Shixiang thought for a moment and suddenly laughed.

Seeing that Xu Shichang was glaring at him, Yang Shixiang hurriedly spoke.

"Don't be angry, Marshal. This may not be a bad thing."

(End of this chapter)