The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 499 Get it first on the battlefield

Teng Yuzao said slowly, "What I just said is just to avoid the foreign devils asking for land and compensation during the peace talks, so we should take the initiative."

"Next, let's discuss the matter of war criminals. The foreign devils massacred a large number of civilians in Zhili in the name of hunting down the Boxers. The Tongzhou Massacre was the worst, with nearly 100,000 casualties. The exact number needs to be investigated by Shuntian Prefecture."

"According to preliminary statistics in Zhili, the total number is more than 85,000."

Although Teng Yuzao spoke with great confidence, Xu Shichang did not quite believe the number of people in Zhili who were massacred by the Allied Forces as Teng Yuzao said.

This was because he had followed the vanguard army out of the Taihang Mountains, chasing the coalition forces all the way, and had been by Teng Yuzhao's side the entire time. All correspondence had been reviewed by him, and if there really were such statistics, he would not have been unaware of it.

Especially after what Teng Yuzao had just said about the huge loss figures for Zhili, he was skeptical about what Teng Yuzao said. In his opinion, the figures Teng Yuzao said should be about the same if cut in half.

As for the number of people killed in Tongzhou, she still believed it firmly.

Teng Yuzao continued, "This large-scale massacre of civilians cannot just pass by quietly. The culprits for this massacre of civilians are naturally the leaders of the coalition forces. These people must be listed as war criminals and must be held accountable."

“We need to find a way to publish this massacre of civilians in foreign newspapers so that the people of the powerful countries can also see it. Although the Boxers burned churches and killed foreigners first, the armies of their civilized countries are also slaughtering our civilians, and it is a large-scale and organized massacre that is even worse than before, even to an outrageous degree!”

Although Teng Yuzhao's angry words were spoken in a low voice, every word was of great weight. Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang were stunned and speechless for a long time.

After a long while, Yang Shixiang smiled bitterly and said, "What the Marshal said is very true. The crimes committed by the foreign devils in Zhili are really too numerous to list, but..."

"But if we also make a list of war criminals like the same people did, the peace talks will probably be a failure. If we do this."

Yang Shixiang did not say the rest of the words, but just responded with a wry smile.

Everyone understood what Yang Shixiang meant. If that were the case, the foreigners would probably not talk about it, and it was not impossible for them to send more troops if they were forced into a corner.

Teng Yuzao also sighed deeply and spoke in a low voice.

"Although the crimes committed by the great powers are unforgivable, the situation is stronger than people!"

"From what we can see now, it is simply impossible for us to hold them accountable for their crimes. In the final analysis, our national strength is still weak. We must face this reality."

Teng Yuzao said helplessly, "But even if we can't hold them accountable in the end, we still have to say this. Didn't the foreign devils list the so-called culprits and hold accountable those in the court who condoned the Boxers?"

"Although these ministers and local officials are ignorant and even committed murders of foreign missionaries like Ting Yong, they are court officials after all. If they are to be held accountable, it must be done by the court. How can we allow the foreign devils to manipulate us?"

"These officials will be dismissed sooner or later, but that's a matter for the future. The court has already dealt with provincial governors like Yu Xian, and even military commanders like Dong Fuxiang, who has been dismissed from his post as president of the Wuwei Rear Army. This shows that the court has already started to deal with them."

"As for the foreign devils, they should not dwell on this matter any more. The purpose of presenting this list of war criminals is just this. If they insist on pursuing them, then we can pursue them together. Otherwise, neither side will mention any culprits or war criminals."

It was not until this time that Yang Shixiang and Xu Shichang understood Teng Yuzhao's intention and they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Teng Yuzao waved his hand and said, "This matter is settled. The specifics will still be decided by the court. Juren should also write this proposal into the memorial." "Also copy the contents of the memorial to Li Zhongtang and Zhang Xiangtao."

Teng Yuzao took a deep breath and continued, "Lian Fu, I just said so much about this peace negotiation, which can be summarized into the following points."

"No cession of territory, no compensation. All the armies of the great powers must withdraw from our territory, and then we can restore relations with other countries. This is my bottom line!"

Although Teng Yuzao did not say anything more, Yang Shixiang could feel that if the final result of the peace talks exceeded this bottom line, Teng Yuzao would never accept it, and it was not impossible for him to do something extreme at that time.

When he thought of this, Yang Shixiang not only did not feel any uneasiness, but even had a faint sense of anticipation in his heart.

"However, there are three points that I would like to strongly recommend to the court."

Teng Yuzhao picked up his glass of wine on the table and drank it in one gulp. After the spicy wine went down his throat, he felt the anger in his chest subsided a little, and then he continued speaking.

"First, the foreigners can no longer hold out. They are the ones who want to negotiate peace with us, not us begging them. Therefore, the place for the peace talks cannot be in the areas controlled by the foreigners, but can only be in the areas controlled by us. The ideal place is Baoding."

"Second, the imperial court will only negotiate with envoys from foreign powers, not with the invading coalition forces."

"Third, if the foreigners propose a ceasefire before peace talks, the imperial court must firmly reject it. The vanguard army now has a local advantage and cannot tie its own hands and feet. Before a peace agreement is reached in the peace talks, the war will not end and the fighting will continue without stopping."

Teng Yuzao sat back in his seat and said to Yang Shixiang, "Go back and tell Li Zhongtang that in order to urge the foreign devils to start peace talks as soon as possible, I will order the artillery to cooperate with the Fourth Regiment to start attacking the foreign devils' strongholds outside Langfang in half a month at the latest."

"Commander."

Xu Shichang asked in confusion, "Didn't you say that we have too many new recruits and we can't fight again until at least the end of the month?"

Teng Yuzao said helplessly, "There is no time left. The peace talks will begin soon. We must take advantage of the fact that we have not started yet to bite off two more pieces of meat from the invading coalition forces. Otherwise, if the imperial court can no longer withstand the pressure from the foreign devils and is eager to seek peace, we will no longer have a chance."

"What we need to do now is to eliminate the foreign devils in Langfang and the capital as soon as possible. By then, even if the foreign devils want to intimidate the court again, the nobles in the court will no longer be afraid, and they will no longer give the foreign devils the benefits they want."

"Besides, the timing is right now. The peace talks have not started yet. Even if the foreign devils want to force the imperial court to let us cease fire, there is no way to contact the imperial court in time. Even if they add fuel to the fire, the foreign devils can't do anything. Therefore, it is urgent to eliminate the more than 100,000 foreign devils in Langfang first."

Wei Jinghai added in a firm tone, "Mr. Lianfu, as long as we can eliminate another 200,000 foreign devils, even if the foreign devils want to increase their troops, they will definitely not be our opponent unless they send more than a million."

"The foreign devils can't gather a million-strong army in a short time. In the end, they can only admit defeat and may even pay us compensation!"

Teng Yuzao said, "In short, we all need to understand one thing, that is, what we don't get on the battlefield, we can't get at the negotiation table."

"What we have to do now is to be the first to get what we want on the battlefield!"

(End of this chapter)