The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 505 Can Teng Xingfu create silver?

Seeing that Li Hongzhang looked somewhat lonely and depressed, Zhang Peilun hurriedly spoke.

"My opinion is exactly the opposite of yours, Master."

"This manuscript is indeed very inspiring. Since the founding of the Qing Dynasty, or even since the Han Dynasty, has there ever been a time when the Qing Dynasty demanded war reparations from foreign races?"

"Just this one point alone will make people applaud Teng Xingfu greatly. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is a great article."

"However, the only thing in the article that I feel is a bit exaggerated, or it can be said that it is Teng Xingfu's failure, is his grand plan to promote Westernization."

Zhang Peilun sighed, observed Li Hongzhang's expression and continued.

"The Beiyang Navy was founded by Zhongtang after going through countless hardships. Zhongtang should know better than anyone that the total cost of the Beiyang Navy, including dozens of large and small warships, would not exceed 40 million taels of silver in the past 20 years. But it took Zhongtang a lot of effort and effort to raise these 40 million taels of silver."

"If the Prime Minister had had 1 billion taels of silver, or even 100 million taels of silver to purchase the Beiyang Navy, the outcome of the Sino-Japanese War would never have been like this!"

Having said that, Zhang Peilun, who originally wanted to comfort the somewhat lonely Li Hongzhang, had already shown an expression of reluctance on his face and quickly changed the subject.

"Not to mention the expensive navy, with this large sum of money, even the armies on the road will not necessarily be defeated."

"But in his article, Teng Xingfu actually asked for 1 billion taels of silver. Where did he get such a huge amount of silver?"

Zhang Peilun took a deep breath and said with a helpless smile.

"Of course I understand that this is a big piece of fat meat thrown by Teng Xingfu to lure the foreigners, but this piece of fat meat is too illusory. I am afraid that the foreigners..."

Li Hongzhang waved his hand to stop Zhang Peilun from speaking and showed a bitter smile.

"Youqiao, your current thinking is still the same as mine in the past. You must know that times have changed. Beiyang is no longer the Beiyang of the past, and Teng Xingfu is no longer the same as I was in the past."

"Teng Xingfu, the governor of Zhili, now has to abide by the laws of the Qing Dynasty and appoint and dismiss officials with the approval of the court. He can retain not only taxes but also almost everything else. No one can stop him. This is one of the reasons."

Li Hongzhang sighed, "Although I have attached great importance to talent cultivation in the past, I have not only vigorously established the Beiyang Naval Academy, Beiyang Military Academy, Beiyang Medical and Pharmaceutical Academy, and various technical academies, but I have also tried my best to persuade the court to send young children to study abroad to prepare for the long term."

"But deep down, they are still too superstitious about the power of powerful ships and guns, so that in terms of talent training and selection, although they have done some superficial work, they are actually a bit negligent."

Seeing Li Hongzhang's face full of regret, Zhang Peilun hurriedly began to persuade him.

"But, Zhongtang"

Li Hongzhang waved his hand, signaling Zhang Peilun not to interrupt, and continued speaking along his own line of thought.

"Let's not talk about the navy, just talk about the Beiyang armies on land. Think about it, Xiaoqiao, when it comes to quick-firing guns and cannons, the equipment of our Beiyang armies is not only not worse than that of the Japanese devils, but even better than them, but we still suffered a crushing defeat." "In the first Sino-Japanese War, the Beiyang armies were driven all the way from Korea to Liaodong by a small country like Japan. If there had been no peace talks, I'm afraid they would have been driven into the interior by the Japanese devils. This situation is really embarrassing!"

Li Hongzhang sighed again and spoke word by word with a somewhat gloomy face.

"Youqiao! Think about it, what are we missing?"

Without waiting for Zhang Peilun to answer, Li Hongzhang continued speaking.

"Now I think that money, guns, and cannons are all good, but the only thing that is lacking is talent."

"Although there are a large number of students from the Beiyang Military Academy in the various armies of the Beiyang government, they are hardly ever given important positions. The commanders of the various armies are all veterans who rose through the ranks when the Taiping Rebellion was suppressed. None of these veterans, including the outstanding Nie Gongting, know how to use Western firearms, or how to command their subordinates to use Western guns and cannons to fight against the Japanese in order to maximize their power. How can we win if we use such laymen to command the battle?"

"No wonder Westerners say our army is just ancient people using modern weapons to fight, and that we don't know how to fight at all."

"This time, Rong Zhonghua organized the Wuwei Army based on the Beiyang Army. Although it is much better than the Beiyang armies in the past, it still has the same problems. Nie Gongting, who died for his country, the aging Song Qing, and the brave and brave general Dong Fuxiang are all like this."

"Even the Right Army President Yuan Weiting did not understand Western warfare and military affairs, but Yuan Weiting was a smart man after all. He understood the essence of using barbarians to control barbarians and using barbarians' skills to control barbarians."

"Yuan Weiting, like Teng Xingfu, freely employed students from the Beiyang Military Academy, which made the Wuwei Right Army completely different from other armies. Although they had never fought against the coalition forces of foreign powers due to their participation in the Southeast Mutual Protection, I believe that even if they were not a match for the coalition forces of foreign powers, they would not collapse at the first blow like the Green Camp's Yong."

Li Hongzhang, who was getting more and more excited as he spoke, suddenly stopped talking. His expression then became somewhat bleak again. He sighed and continued.

"But even if Yuan Weiting had recruited more than 130 outstanding students from the Beiyang Military Academy, such as Duan Qirui, Wu Dingyuan, Shang Dequan, Kong Qingtang and others who went to Germany with Teng Xingfu, they were not as good as Teng Yuzao, who led a group of students who had graduated or not yet graduated from the Military Academy."

"It was because Teng Yuzao was well versed in Western military tactics, and even surpassed him, and was able to defeat the generals and marshals of the Western powers."

After sighing deeply, Li Hongzhang said with deep emotion.

"During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, Teng Xingfu was at his lowest point. After running into obstacles everywhere, he had no choice but to return to the Military Academy to teach. I am so angry! I was blind to such a talent and let him be buried in the dust!"

"You must know that people with great talents are often like Han Xin and Sun Wu, who are either noble or unruly, showing off their talents and having difficulty getting along with ordinary superiors and colleagues. Once such people have the opportunity and meet a mentor, they will escape from that small fish pond and soar into the sky without any hindrance."

At this point, Li Hongzhang couldn't help but look up and sigh.

After a long time, Li Hongzhang paced on the ground, and seemed to have finally suppressed the sadness and unwillingness in his heart, and then he spoke again.

"Look at this time. When Teng Xingfu first started his army, he only had a few thousand men under his command. However, in less than a year, he managed to defeat hundreds of thousands of people and made the coalition forces of the great powers retreat and not dare to easily attack him."

"If something like this hadn't happened, would you believe it?"

(End of this chapter)